'They're… friends. Or at least not hostile.'
'What?'
'Listen, Stryke. There might be an attack coming.'
'Says who?'
'They do.' She jabbed a thumb at Pepperdyne and Standeven. 'And I don't think we can risk ignoring them.'
'But — '
'If they're right, there's no time to waste, and — Can't you stop that fucking noise?'
'Huh? Oh, yeah.' He turned and gave his snoring sergeant a kick.
Haskeer leapt up, tangled in his blanket. 'Uhh? Fuck! Humans! ' He whipped out a knife.
'Calm down,' Stryke told him. 'We know.'
'But what — ?'
'There could be trouble.'
'Trouble?' Haskeer was still negotiating wakefulness.
'Yes. According to them.'
'According to them?' he replied, rubbing sleep from his eyes. 'They're nothing but lousy — '
'We appreciate you don't know who we are,' Pepperdyne said.
'We know what you are,' Haskeer rumbled.
'And you've no reason to trust us. But brush us off and you'll have a crowd of lunatics down on you.'
'Makes sense, Stryke,' Coilla said. 'We upset Mercy Hobrow and her Unis. If they tracked us here…'
Stryke looked from her to the humans. 'What's your interest in this?'
'You don't have time for our life stories,' Pepperdyne replied.
Several long seconds passed while Stryke studied their faces and thought things over. 'All right, we'll sound the alarm.' Haskeer started to object. Stryke waved him away. 'Better prepared than caught unawares.'
Haskeer gave a resigned sigh. 'So what do we do with them?' He nodded at the two men.
'Lock 'em up somewhere.'
Pepperdyne tensed. 'Nobody locks us away. We're part of this.'
'We can't have 'em running around armed,' Haskeer objected.
'I don't carry a weapon,' Standeven said. As proof, he held open his jerkin.
Haskeer was appalled. 'No weapon? Humans are crazy.'
'This one has a blade,' Coilla said.
'And if anybody wants it,' Pepperdyne came back defiantly, 'they'll have to take it.'
Coilla appreciated the sentiment. 'We can respect that.'
'But if this is some kind of ploy,' Stryke promised, 'being armed won't stop us taking it out of your hides. Now let's move.'
They left the hut. Stryke ordered the humans to wait, with Coilla keeping an eye on them. Then he and Haskeer set off stealthily to rouse the others, creeping from door to door. In their wake, orcs and dwarfs emerged, bearing arms and treading softly.
Tousle-haired, Jup and Spurral made their way across the clearing to Stryke.
Spurral looked indignant. 'What are they doing here?' she demanded, pointing at Coilla's charges.
'Warning us. They say. And before you ask, I haven't a clue who they are.'
'You believe them?'
'Best not to take chances.' He turned to Jup. 'Can your people get into a defensive pattern?'
'In their sleep. What are we facing?'
'Don't know. Or if. But could be big.'
'You've seen the state of our tribe. Not a lot of prime fighters.'
'You've got us.'
Jup nodded and moved off. Spurral glowered one last time at the pair of humans and went after him.
Haskeer arrived. 'The band's ready, Stryke. How do we deploy?'
'We need to be mobile. We'll split into five units, headed by me, you, Coilla, Jup and Dallog.'
'Dallog?'
'I'm not debating it. Get those squads sorted, and make sure you spread around the new recruits.'
He left Haskeer to it and jogged to where Coilla stood with the humans.
'I'm splitting the band into groups,' he told her. 'You're leading one. There'll be a hideaway for non- combatants. These two can go there.'
'Fine by me,' Standeven responded eagerly.
Pepperdyne gave him a contemptuous look. 'But not me.'
'You've no say in it.'
'I can fight, and you need every sword arm you can get.'
'Your place is at my side!' Standeven retorted.
His tone had Stryke and Coilla exchanging curious glances.
Pepperdyne ignored his master's petulance. 'I can be more use out here.'
'Do as you please,' Stryke decided. 'We've no time for squabbles.'
'You'd better stay with my unit,' Coilla said. 'Unless you want to be mistaken for an enemy.'
Pepperdyne nodded. 'Right.'
'Haskeer's forming the groups,' Stryke explained. 'Get over there, and take him with you.' He indicated Standeven. 'He can cower with the old ones and sucklings.' He thrust a finger in Pepperdyne's chest. 'And you. Make a wrong move, or get in our way, and you're dead.'
Practised at repelling intruders, the dwarfs were swift to take up positions. They occupied defensive trenches. Lookouts climbed tall trees. Archers were placed on the roofs of buildings. The five teams of orcs were stationed at strategic points across the clearing.
Those who couldn't fight, along with Standeven, took shelter in the sturdiest barn.
Wheam was assigned the job of guarding them. A meaningless role, given that if the enemy reached it, everything would already be lost.
The bout of furtive activity over, everyone settled in to wait. Nothing, not even birdsong, disturbed the early morning quiet.
Coilla's group sheltered behind a small cluster of bushes, ready to fire-fight where needed. Pepperdyne knelt beside her, his breeches moist with dew. Half a dozen privates under her command eyed him charily.
The minutes seemed unusually reluctant to pass.
'You'd better be right about this,' she whispered, scanning the tree-line.
'I am.'
'Sure? They're taking long enough showing themselves.'
'They'll come.' He twisted to face her. 'Do you know what you're going to be up against?'
'We've tangled with Unis before.'
'Lately?'
'Few years back.'
'Word in these parts is that they're even more ruthless now.'
'You're not from these parts then?'
He turned wary. 'Not really.'
'Then maybe you don't know about orcs.'
'These fanatics are savage. They're a death cult.'
She smiled. 'So are we.'
There was a shriek. Across the way, a dwarf plunged from the upper branches of a tree, his body peppered with arrows. Bolts winged through the greenery, slashing leaves and splintering bark; clearing the way for black- clad figures emerging from the forest.
Coilla snatched her sword. 'Time to show what you're made of, pink skin.'
Stryke's group was well away from Coilla's, and sharing one of the dwarfs' trenches. Jup's was stationed behind several hay wagons parked in the middle of the clearing. Dallog's had hidden themselves in and around an outlying barn. But it was Haskeer's group, concealed in undergrowth not far from the forest's edge, that took the
