Golden Eyes

10 - Mak'gora

A loud griffin's cry was heard, and she saw Lothar, sword raised, diving towards her. She let out a soft sigh of relief and exhaustion, before passing out and falling on the floor with closed eyes, drained of energy.

Lothar and his griffin had crashed into the army of Orcs, killing the monsters mercilessly. Lothar let his griffin protect him as he ran to Karandra's body, limp on the ground. His eyes went wide with fear and panic but he saw no injury on her skin, and only Orcs' blood on her armour. He kept his calm and threw her light body on his shoulder before running to Llane. He fell to his knee when he saw his friend dead. He then spotted Garona's dagger in his neck, and let out a low growl.

How could she betray them?!

He was about to grab Llane's body as well, when he felt Karandra moving on his shoulder. Trusting his griffin to keep them safe a little longer, he carefully laid her down on the ground.

"Lo-Lothar?" she whispered weakly, squinting her eyes to make the blurriness fade away.

"I'm here now," he managed to smile slightly at her. "I'll get us out of here, but I need you to stand up and walk on your own for that. I'll carry Llane. You just run to my griffin and jump on the saddle, you hear me?"

She nodded and he pulled her up before picking up Llane's body. They ran to his griffin, got on the saddle and took off, but were suddenly pulled back on the ground, and violently fell off their mount.

Karandra rolled on the floor with a pained groan but quickly stood up, coughing because of the dust around her, and raised her sword in front of her with trembling arms. Her eyes scanned around her. The griffin seemed fine, keeping the Orcs away from him further away. She saw Llane's body near the magnificent animal. She understood that the griffin was guarding it at all cost. She searched for Lothar, expecting him to be up and fighting, gathering her last drops of strength to join him and get out of here.

She saw his body lying face down on the floor. Her eyes widened suddenly and she ran to him in a rush.

"No, no, no, no, no..." she kept repeating before dropping to her knees and turning him on his back. "Lothar! Wake up! You have to wake up! Now! Lothar, please!" she begged in a yell, panting, crying.

She frantically shook him. She could feel the Orcs surrounding her, ready to attack them.

"Lothar, please wake up, I need you," she whispered as she cradled his face, lying him on her lap. "Lothar..."

She felt big, calloused hands closing on her arms and pulling her roughly to her feet while restraining her.

"No! Let me go! Let me go!" she growled as she tried to fight the Orcs off.

But nothing worked. She even tried conjuring up the golden magic but it was useless. She saw Blackhand make a gesture from the corner of her eyes. The Orcs then stood in a large circle around him and Lothar that was lying on his back, still unconscious. Blackhand picked up Lothar's sword from the ground. The two Orcs that were holding her brought her to the first line of the circle, forcing her on her knees as they kept her arms spread out so she couldn't move.

She was still crying and didn't stop to try and wriggle out of their grip until Blackhand's voice boomed.

"Shut up and don't move, half-breed!" he spat at her in the Orc language.

"Never!" she retorted with a fierce expression. "You're not my master anymore, you bloody bastard!"

Blackhand roared in fury and pointed the sword towards her.

"One more word and I kill him now!"

She clenched her jaw tightly, her eyes sending him a deathly glare. She then frowned slightly. What Blackhand just said finally registered in her mind. Lothar was still alive. And Blackhand was waiting for him to wake up so they could fight and he could have the honour of killing the Commander of the human army, since he didn't have the chance to kill the King.