No One Takes Our Reioi

     Rivhild carries Reioi's stuff as Tuipa tracks the band of Orcs who took her friend. Tuipa points at some footprints as she passes them, not breaking her stride . "It looks like there are some ogres mixed in with these Orcs."

"You can tell all that by the footprints?" Rivhild asks.

"Most can't by just footprints, but I'm an expert." Tuipa points her thumb at herself.

"Orges... aren't they the same as orcs?" Rivhild ponders.

Tuipa shakes her head. "They are similar, but no. Hmp, let me put it this way. Think of it like a circle, let's start with trolls, to one side of trolls there are ogres, then orcs, humans, the fair folk, changelings, then back to trolls. There are more folks that don't fit into the circle but have connections to folks in the circle." She takes a deep, gasping breath. "But we don't have time to get into that."

Rivhild nods and the two keep on moving. Soon they come to a freshly built wooden wall. "What is this place?" Rivhild asks with a gasp.

"An orc war camp. Reioi is inside. She's probably still alive, they like to smell the fear of their victims for a few days before they eat them." Tuipa explains.

"Why aren’t there any guards at the gate?" The winged child questions.

"Orcs don't do that. They want humans to wander in, so they can hunt them down inside the camp. That's also one of the reasons they keep their victims alive for a while, so others will be lured here as easy prey." Tuipa narrows her eyes, clearly planning her battle strategy. Without another word she unwraps her Kyoketsu-shoge from her waist and throws up the bladed end over the wall. It hooks into the wood on the other side. Tuipa gives it a couple good test tugs before she is satisfied. "Alright, you climb up first and stay quiet."

Rivhild nods and makes her way up the wall using the rope of the Kyoketsu-shoge, when she reaches the top, Tuipa is already climbing up. When she too reaches the top, the both of them look down over the war camp. They spot Reioi tied to a stake in the center of the camp, they watch an orc pause on her way to where she was going to harass Reioi briefly before going about her day.

"Here's the plan. We sneak over to Reioi, we cut the ropes, and then we fight our way out, because we are going to get spotted, we just need to make sure it's after we get Reioi free." Tuipa then drops down the ring of her weapon and begins climbing down.

Unfortunately, an orc down below spots the two rescuers while Tuipa is still climbing down. "Hey! We got some pests out here!" He calls out to his comrades.

Rivhild stands up on the wall and spreads her wings, casting a large shadow over the gathering crowd. Then she jumps, both Tuipa and Reioi scream, a few chuckles come from the crowd of orcs. Rivhild glides down and lands gracefully on her feet.

Tuipa; still in a panic, starts to pull up the ring end of her weapon. "Hold on! Don't start fighting just yet, let me-" she throws the ring over the wall, dislodges the blade end, and lets it fall to the ground. "Let me just get down first!" The crowd and Rivhild watch patiently as Tuipa climbs down. With a practiced motion, she brings down the ring end.

While Tuipa walks over, one of the orcs asks Rivhild; "So are you like very human looking harpy, or like a fair folk of some kind?"

"Neither actually. What is a harpy anyway, folks keep saying I look like one." She questions the orcs.

A guy from the back of the crowd raises his hand. "Oh I have a picture of one!" By the time he brings it up, Tuipa is standing next to Rivhild.

The orc shows Rivhild the black and white photo. “Oh so that’s a harpy!” Rivhild grins.

Tuipa covers Rivhild’s eyes without a moment’s notice. “Yes, that’s a harpy! A very naked harpy!” She shouts with fury. “Why would you show that to a child!?”

“A child who is old enough to be your grandma!” Rivhild points out.

“Barely!” Tuipa rebuts. She then swings the blade end of her Kyoketsu-shoge and strikes a pose. “I am Tuipa Mint, and you kidnaped my friend, prepare to die!”

Rivhild, inspired, strikes a pose as well. “And I am the goddess, Rivhild, the last born of the Destroyed realm! I stand with Tuipa in this battle!”

“Hehe.” An orc wearing armour steps forward. “A goddess, eh? Suppose if I eat you, I’d become immortal.” He spreads his arms out. “How’d you like an immortal captain, boys?” He laughs.

“Ah.” Rivhild raises two fists above her head. “You’re the boss, eh? Well then,” she sticks out her index fingers, “I only have one thing to say to you;” burning hot energy charges up between her fingers, “Sin Scorching Sunlight!”

The orc captain barely dodges. "Well well," he straightens his posture as the blast dissipates, "with a blast like that, I know for sure you are divine. What a shame, the last daughter of the gods, will be a delicious meal for me."

"I-I missed-" Rivhild gasps. She starts to cry golden tears.

The orc captain reaches for the crying child. "Don't touch her!" Tuipa screams as she swings her Kyoketsu-shoge, it wraps around the orc captain's arm until the blade finally lodges itself in this flesh. Tuipa pulls hard, forcing the captain to pivot to avoid any damage aside from what the blade did.

"Wow, all that, just to draw a few drops of blood. I hope you are proud of yourself; you just disarmed yourself." He grabs the rope and pulls, causing Tuipa to stumble closer to him, though she doesn't fall or let go. "You really think you're strong enough to win tug of war against me?"

"Tuipa, I-" Rivhild sniffs hard as she feels dozens of eyes on her. "I can't make another blast!"

"Aww," the orc captain mocks, "the little goddess can only use her spell once, poorly thing."

"T-Tuipa, I'm scared." Rivhild mutters.

Tuipa's heart shatters at Rivhild's admission. Her whole face twists as she locks eyes with the orc captain. His cocky expression wavers, before completely disappearing when Tuipa rips his arm off by running with the ring of her weapon.

The orc captain screams as he covers her bloody shoulder with his one remaining hand. An elderly orc comes forward. "That woman... is a priestess!" He pauses for a moment, watching Rivhild's crying face. "You have made her goddess weep. You still breathe, but you are already dead." The old orc looks behind himself. "The other priestess is free, and just as angry."

Reioi steals a sword from a crowd member before she can turn around. Reioi then stabs the orc woman she stole the sword from through the stomach. A chaotic battle erupts, Tuipa fights the captain, occasionally having to fend off some of his soldiers as well. Reioi battles most of the soldiers, quickly cutting down as many as possible, all while not caring about taking minor damage herself.

Rivhild watches as Reioi is cut on the cheek, dangerously close to her eye. The child whimpers as the tears flow with renewed vigor. Suddenly, an ogre grabs one of her wings. "Got ya, now hold still while I carve you up!" He raises his knife, which to a smaller folk would be a short sword.

The small goddess shoves at the ogre's stomach, causing him to stumble, but the blade comes down on her shoulder anyway. Rivhild's dress rips, but the blade doesn't cut her skin. The ogre doesn't give up, he raises his blade again, just as he was about to strike Rivhild again, a voice cuts through the battlefield; "The captain has fallen!"

Rivhild takes the opportunity to shove the ogre away, he stumbles backwards, the young goddess then tackles him. She punches his face in rapid succession, muttering nonsense and crying. She keeps punching him, even after his head is nothing but a bloody mess and his soul has long left his body. The battle is over; the orcs are dead. Reioi and Tuipa watch Rivhild stop punching on her own accord, the child still cries. “I-I couldn’t, I mi-missed.” She murmurs, barely loud enough for the others to hear.

The women hug the girl until she stops crying. “You did you’re best.” Reioi reassures her.

“Plus,” Tuipa adds, “you’ll get stronger, and you’ll get better at fighting with magic. It just takes practice.” The three then stand up and leave the war camp.