Tales of the Trio: Unbroken

Act Two: Chapter Twenty

     When they woke up they felt their hands and legs chained. They are currently laying down on something wooden and are bumping meaning they're probably moving, it's also a hot sunny day. They sat up and realize that they are in a caged wagon, there was a few more caged wagons with them. They saw glimpses of their comrades in the other caged wagons, orcs marching them somewhere. Erendil and Mâku were on horses, probably acting as additional security. They've lost track of how long they've been traveling, barely fed and barely given water the only thing they were certain of was that they weren't in Idradale's land anymore. After more countless traveling around sundown they had reached a wooden fort that had metal applied to it's walls and spikes, the fort itself was surrounding an entrance to a giant mountain. The gates opened and inside were orcs everywhere, the wagons came to a halt in the clearing which then they were let out of the wagons just to be tied to one another forming a slave chain. They were escorted into the cave, they were marched deep inside way beyond the entrance. They finally came to another fort, they walked in and were forced to sit on the ground in the middle of the open. After what seemed like an hour of waiting two orcs came up to them accompanied by more of their guards. One had a black cloak and a spear, the other had spikes on their shoulders and helmet. The cloaked one spoke "My name is Azûk, I'm in charge here, but remember you are slaves so you listen to every orc here. You will do as you're told if you wish to survive. You've noticed that there are a lot of orc guards in and out of the cave. Reason isn't because this is a slave camp, the reason is that this is the source of the undead, a group of necromantic cultist serving a false god have been animating the dead for months and we've been suppressing them from leaving. You will be tasked with chores, maintenance, and fighting. We will arm you with weapons, no armor. It's simple here, you break rules or try anything you become our next meal, no excuse. This is your second chance, I've been informed that some of you are very skilled in fighting, I'm also aware one of you has magic. We have had more skilled humans and more magical users who have tried escaping and fighting back before, they failed and there's more of us now so you will fail too. Enough talk we have no time to waste. Yolmar take them to their respective camp." The one with the spiked armor marched over to them with the majority of the orcs who followed him in, he said something in orcish and the original escorts left. The group of prisoners were led outside the fort farther from the cave entrance. They saw a few tunnels leading away from the fort, so this was probably the center fort besides the front entrance. They also saw small camp sections of humans doing various task contributing their share of slave work, they went by many of these camps, lots of the prisoner slaves looked mis treated which was discouraging. Between each camp were checkpoints, presumably to act as a defense if undead broke through and to keep the prisoners from grouping up and revolting, when they got to each of these checkpoints some orcs left the escort. They reached the last camp and Yolmar said "This is your camp, the most dangerous since the only thing between you and the undead is you and the other humans. If attacked orcs will help fight but will let you die rather than risk themselves for you humans." He nodded and the orcs cut them loose and unchained them, Yolmar spoke again "You start tomorrow, I suggest you learn to sleep at the same time as everyone else to keep track of days and time since we're far from the outside." He left to one of the buildings with some orcs, the rest went to the other orc guard stations.

    The trio looked around and to their sides the walls and ceiling was solid rock, behind and in front where the checkpoint walls were made from wood with spikes sticking out and orcs with crossbows on the walls. Their camp had just a few makeshift buildings and large tents, the other camps had more buildings and more stuff and people in them. Wesley and Marek walked over to the trio, the remaining soldiers behind them. Maximus said "Could be worse." Dominic said "Place is more appealing than you Maximus." A few people chuckled despite their situation, Lela started coughing a bit after she laughed, still not recovered from the stab. Wesley said "We just need to keep alert and not do anything to get beat or killed. We have to make it out somehow." Marek shook his head "You saw how many orcs there are." Wesley said "Don't be so negative Marek, think positive for once." One of the prisoners came over "Did you say Marek?"
Wesley: Looks at the man "Whose asking?"
Man: "I'm Axel, though none of you know me, I knew a girl here with magic powers who met Marek."
Marek: "Where is she now?"
Axel: "Unfortunately she's dead, she took control of the undead and tried to lead a lot of prisoners to their freedom but they were killed. She told us she'd come back for the rest of us if they made it."
Dominic: "What happened to the army that was supposed to be here already?"
Axel: "Apparently they were mostly killed by the undead, what was left were killed by the orcs. I don't know more than that, but let me show you guys the ropes."
He led them them around showing where to sleep, how to do certain jobs if assigned to avoid causing trouble, the only food they got was cold left over meat soup unless they were  lucky and it was still warm. That this spot was recently made and that's why there's not much here, they'll probably be given weapons in the morning. After the small tour they all went to their tents, just a hide sleeping bag and a cheap pillow for each them. The trio sat on their respective bag sharing a tent with two others who have been here for a while.
Dominic: "Guy's I think I already have a plan to escape."
Lela: "Don't make me laugh again"
Dominic: "I'm serious, it'll take time but I can use my magic to create a passage out through these rocks, and just close the path to conceal it."
Maximus: "How long will that take?"
Dominic: "Depends on how hard it is to live here, the more strength I have the more I can do."
Lela: "So a long time is what you mean, let's figure this place out and see if we can find a faster way."
Maximus: "We gotta be careful though because we don't know what kind of undead we're dealing with."
Lela: "We'll find out soon enough."
They decided to head to bed and so they slept.

     Orcs shouted at them all to wake up and it was time to eat and work. When the trio left their tent they saw a cart with small bowls and a few pots of soup, they took their portion, it was really cold and tasted really bad so they ate it quickly after Dominic heated it up for them. A orc beckoned some prisoners over who then wheeled over a cart with weapons. Everyone chose weapons based on what they fought with before, so the trio did the same. Yolmar came out "You slaves will protect the other slaves if any undead come. The others are going to mine, will send some orcs to make sure you go to the right place and work. Wait for the slaves to come from the other camp then go." They all waited by the wall and after some time prisoners came with pickaxes and carts, they all grouped up and set out, the orcs following closely behind them. The trio had no idea where this mining spot was and didn't want to fall behind so they stayed close to the center and followed along. They arrived at a small tunnel, it looks like they've been mining here for a week at least and seem to be rich with metal ores of some sort, the prisoners began to mine, others tossing the ores into carts and stones into other carts. The trio and their camp of prisoners were off a little ways keeping watch. Maximus and Dominic were starting to pace a little bored, Maximus asked "So we just stand here for hours doing nothing?" Wesley chuckled and said "If you had joined us you would've learned patience." Axel chimed in "Often we are attacked, quiet is good, quiet means not fighting." Much time had passed and nothing happened, they were chatting away during most of it, occasionally sounds echoed through and made them think they would be attacked, other times the orcs would beat a prisoner to satisfy their boredom, they ended up returning to camp, pulling the heavy carts to the other camps checkpoint and had to stay behind in their camp. The rest of the duration they cut wood that was brought to them or they helped build. After a few more hours they were done working for the day and allowed to eat again, this time Dominic heat up the pots so that everyone could eat it warm. They eventually went to bed and this pattern continued for a few days with the same schedule. Except one day when they heard moaning and the sounds of bones approaching them.

     The prisoners got their weapons ready, a large group of skeletons with rusty swords and zombies came into view, slowly making their way to them. One prisoner said "Okay guys this is an easy one but be careful none the less." Dominic asked "How do you know this is easy?" The same one said "Been here long enough to know this is just a scout group." Maximus said "Rather large for a scout" the prisoner said "When you can create undead and summon them, numbers mean little to them and it's more of a warning than a scout. Typically small groups come, but when they send this size it means more attacks or a large attack is coming." During this conversation the undead were still marching, they got into range and they began fighting. Maximus found the fighting easier than the prisoner said despite not being able to rely on a shield, even Dominic was doing a good job. Lela was able to outmatch their speed even with her wound. The zombies were a bit faster than the skeletons but easier to kill. This fight didn't last long, when they were defeated only a few had been sliced by the skeletons and a couple had been bruised from the zombies swings but overall it was a great success and now they knew more would be coming and it would be soon.