The Former Demon Queen Versus the Skullcrusher Warband Part One

For the past six months, Armin only had one job: watching for orc raiders.

His office sat at the highest point of town, within the watchtower overlooking nearly the entire region. He could see everything from here—all of the houses and businesses, all the entries and gates of the city, and all of the lands outside them.

Today, his job was just like any other day. He greeted his mother first thing in the morning after waking up, and said hello to the girl he had a crush on while passing by her house on his way to the central market. She waved back at him, and he smiled, extremely proud of himself for taking the first step to actually talking to her.

Then, upon reaching the watchtower, he climbed to the top and began performing his job, looking through the multiple telescopes set up there, searching for potential intruders or trouble.

For a while, there was nothing. Until there was.

Armin saw the dust before he saw anything else, a huge brown cloud rising up from the eastern side of the town, approaching fast. At first, he thought it was a storm, but this wasn't the season for it. Then he saw something that made his heart drop.

Orcs. Lots of them. Easily over fifty, riding on horseback with sharp objects in their hands, wicked grins on their faces as they approached the town. Armin was nearly thrown into shock. But he knew his duty—to warn the guards, to give them time to prepare. So after calming himself down a bit, he grabbed the alarm bell and began ringing it with all his strength.

"Alert! Alert! All knights to the east gate! The Skullcrusher Warband has been sighted! Orc raiders on horseback, heavily armed! This is not a drill! I repeat, this is not a drill! Civilians, please seek immediate shelter. They are armed and dangerous, and they're coming this way now!"

He repeated the warning, his voice echoing through the streets, enhanced by the magical megaphone he was using.

"I repeat, this is not a drill! They are armed and dangerous, and they're coming this way now!"

But by then, it was already too late. They had already begun to flood into the city.

***

"Mary, come! We must leave!"

A panicked Lydia grabbed hold of Mary's hand and began pulling her back in a different direction, running with all her might. The entire market was suddenly thrown into mass hysteria. Women were calling for their children. Men were rushing to close their shops. People were running deeper into town, desperate to find safety.

How was all of this being caused by this group?

Who were they?

Why were they so feared?

"We won't be able to head back to the others right now, so we need a place to hide," Lydia panted, still leading the way, pulling Mary along. Mary still had the giant leather bag of oil containers slung over her shoulder.

"But Miss Lydia, who are these people?" Mary asked.

Lydia stopped and turned around, her face pale with fear. "Very bad news, Mary. These are very bad orcs."

Just then, a small battalion of horses ran past them, led by a woman in full body armor. She was in front upon a white horse, leading the group. Her face was scrunched up in anger, and her black hair was swinging behind her in the breeze.

"Knights, follow me!" she shouted.

Mary wished she could get a good view of what was happening. If this group was as fierce as they said, would the knights from the local militia responding to them be enough to fight them off?

Maybe she could help.

But what could she do? She couldn't just leave. Lydia had a tight grip on her hand.

As they resumed running, Mary glanced down at Gustav, who was darting alongside them. She needed him.

"I want to help the humans," she whispered, low enough so Lydia couldn't hear.

"This is a bad idea, my lady," Gustav replied. "It is the middle of the afternoon. Someone might see you."

"Please, Gustav," Mary begged. "I wouldn't want anyone to get hurt knowing we could do something to prevent it."

"Your heart is as pure as your soul is selfless, my empress," Gustav said, sighing in reluctant agreement. "Very well then, what would you have me do?"

"Thank you, Gustav." Mary smiled.

She nodded toward the direction where the knights had run.

"I need an excuse so I can get closer to the fighting," she said.

"At once, my lady." Gustav gave a curt nod before stopping, turning around, and running back the way they came.

Mary pretended to panic. "Oh, Miss Lydia! It's my cat! Gustav scampered off! I think he got spooked and ran back toward the guild!"

"What? Why?" Lydia asked, stopping, her expression doubling in worry.

"We have to follow him, please!" Mary begged.

Lydia appeared split for a moment, unsure what to do. The girl was understandably scared for her life, but she clearly didn't want to abandon Mary or her cat.

Seeing this, Mary decided to give her a little push.

"Please, Miss Lydia."

"A-all right, just stay close," Lydia finally agreed, turning to follow.

Grabbing hold of Mary's hand once more, Lydia turned back and began running all the way toward the Adventurer's Guild, toward danger.

"Mr. Kitty, would you please just stop running in that direction? It is not safe for you!" Lydia called out to the cat.

Mary followed close behind, with Lydia still guiding her along. All around, Mary could see people retreating deeper into the inner markets, desperate for safety. It broke her heart, seeing such a once peaceful hub of communal living ruined by these incoming bandits. And as soon as they left the inner walls into the wider town area, that's when she saw them.

The Skullcrusher Warband.

A large group of orcs riding on horseback, just as the announcer had said. Each one was at least eight feet tall, practically monsters with double the size of the horses they rode. They carried various assortments of weapons, tools that looked like they could cause massive destruction. Even though the knights led by the woman in armor had engaged them, they were still quickly outnumbered, and the orcs were already spreading deeper into the town.

"Gotcha!" Lydia announced as she spotted the opportunity to capture Gustav, who had stopped running and was now watching the chaos.

"All right, Mary, let's head back into the inner markets before—" she stopped. "What are you doing?!"

Lydia glanced back and noticed that Mary was hurriedly closing the inner gates, sealing off the market from the rest of the town.

"Ahh... ummm... mmm..."

Mary mumbled gibberish, unable to come up with a real excuse. She hadn't really thought this through. It was one of those moments where she hadn't allowed herself to think—she just acted. She had decided to keep all the bandits relatively in one spot, the outer markets. This way it would be much easier to track them down and deal with them, and they wouldn't be able to do further damage to the people hiding in the inner plaza.

The gates were fully closed, but she made sure to leave just a little opening for the people still running inside.

Now she just needed a distraction.

"Come on, Miss Lydia," Mary said, ignoring Lydia's question and grabbing hold of the elf's hand, very careful not to break it.

"I think we can make it to the Adventurer's Guild if we run," she said.

"Are you crazy?!" Lydia shouted, still clutching Gustav in her arms. "We got your cat, now let's go back in there and hide before we are killed."

Mary briefly stole a glance over Lydia's shoulder at the chaos unfolding behind the girl. The orcs were engaging the knights in brutal combat. The knights were losing ground quickly—outnumbered and overwhelmed by the massive orcs. It was only a matter of time before the local militia was completely defeated.

She needed to act now.

She needed to get closer.

"No, I'm not crazy," Mary answered, "but we need to move, Miss Lydia. Please, lead the way."

"O-okay, but I'm going to say this right now. I don't like this idea of yours."

Mary let go of the elf's arm and allowed the girl to run ahead while she followed from behind, still carrying the heavy leather bag of oil containers. On their way, Mary spotted a group of little girls surrounded by two of the orcs.

She quickly looked around and grabbed two frying pans with her free hand from a table at a nearby abandoned shop. Then she briefly stopped, leaned back, and flung both frying pans, one after the other, hard enough that they sliced through the air with sufficient speed, striking both orcs squarely in the back of their heads and knocking them out cold.

The little girls held each other as they ran for safety.

Luckily Lydia did not see.

"Mary! What are you doing? Come hide!"

Mary found the elven girl crouched down behind a merchant's shoe display. She quickly rushed over to meet her.