Greenskins were vile creatures, to be sure, but if there was any hope of survival against the combined forces of the Steam Coalition and the Irodiens, it was an alliegance. So, at Raelyn's command, a detachment of Scions and herself made for the United Clans to talk peace. Her demands were simple - no Seraphim get eaten, no Orcs, Trolls or Ogres get blown up or stabbed and they unite against the common threat that threatened to tear both their civilisations apart.

Not that it was that simple, of course. Orcs were, at best, hostile to outsiders, and she found herself having to move with extreme stealth, or fight for her life against a horde of angry and hungry Greenskins. Most were of relitavely little threat - the smaller, faster Seraphim found it far preferable to sprint away from the heavier, stronger Orcs, rather than engage them in open conflict - but they soon found themselves tired, disorientated and frightened. To go back posed as much risk as to keep going. Was it better to fight on than to turn back and retreat?

Raelyn had asked herself that question many times. She wasn't afraid of what happened at home - Arabella and Girus were both intelligent and capable leaders. Nor did she fear her fate if she stayed, as she was even faster than the Scions who accompanied her and far more intelligent than her adversaries. But she couldn't run the risk of her men deserting her, or worse. They had families, children, homes, things that relied on them. The Orcs, on the other hand, seemed to care little about such niceties, at least from her perspective. They just cared about killing and eating.

The troop was hard-pressed to keep supplies and morale high. They stayed off roads, hid whenever they saw or heard something even faintly Orky, and started slipping into villages to steal their food, which was tough and tasteless by Seraph standards. They couldn't risk news of their doing getting to the upper echelons of the tribes before they could explain themselves, which meant stealth was very much a necessary part of their everyday life. This must have been what bandits lived like, Raelyn thought, and for the first time in her life she felt sorry for all the criminals that had been exiled by her commands.

Eventually, the mission was no longer one of diplomacy and more one of survival. They never stopped moving, washed in streams and kept together at all times. Stealing food became a part of everyday life, to such a degree that they no longer cared about their victims. The Orks were brutal beasts, and Raelyn's men quickly adapted to match that brutality. On the few occasions they were seen, they didn't run but fought, using their superior agility and tactics to defeat anyone who dared challenge them. In a large group, they would easily be outmatched, but as luck would have it, the Greenskins who attacked them did so only in groups of three or four. If they even matched the number of Scions, death would be a certainty.

Eventually, they settled down in a forest. Tents were set and sentry patrols were drawn up. There were a couple of villages nearby, which one of the soldiers snuck into to take food from every day. It was mainly meats, and the soldiers ate it heartily - they long since abandoned any principle of distaste or refusal, and now the only questions where when they could get more. They knew it couldn't last but it was their only hope - escape was lost to them, the enemy was on all sides and any notion of diplomacy was forgotten.