Other then himself there was only one person on this planet he cared about. He felt the gem would bring them closer for its beauty mirrored hers. He spent a lot of gold on it and he would not let it go wasted because some damned orc felt it looked shiny and it should be his. Damn over grown goblins. He looked around bringing the crossbow down and leveled. He began taking a glance around sniffing the air as they went along. Veo gave the crew a bit of a advantage went it came to scent. It was all thanks to his animal side. His ears even perked up as he began to focus in on the surroundings. Each step they got closer his heart began to beat just a bit faster. There has to be scouts some where,.... unless this group of orcs ain't that big. Which made him even more nervous, that either means the majority of this orc attack was mostly made up of wargs or the orcs in charge of them were much stronger then he believed. The wargs made it extremely hard though, their keen senses would make it harder to sneak on a orc camp. He then began to think about his crew, they were all probably wondering why this gem was so important..... he was a little embarrassed to say why. If they found out they would likely tell him it was worth the risk, but it was to him. He looked to everyone and spoke as quietly as he could. "Look, I aint going back to the village until I get back what is mine, you three don't have to follow me further if you don't want to. It is very important to me and I made a good amount of gold for it. If you feel it is to risky then you can turn back. I will stay."

He said what had to be said. He then continued farther and farther forward until he picked up the scent of the mangy mutts. One scent was stronger then the others and he began to look for it. He then found it, it was emerging from around a tree sniffing. He quickly crouched down and raised up the crossbow. This time he took his time to pinpoint the right spot to nail it. They had to do this stealthy or else this would end badly for them. As he was aligning his shot he saw a blur shoot bast him and nail the warg in the head. The blur was the arrow from a elvish bow. He looked behind him to see Elduin with his bow drawn and fitting another arrow in place. The shot was rather accurate, but that was expected from an elf. He nodded with thanks and looked forward once more. The warg did not make a single sound when it slumped to the snow lifeless.

Elduin moved in closer and put a free hand on the shoulder of the Satyr. "We are with you,... these orcs are a threat to anyone and it would not be wise if we let them roam these lands without putting them down. This time it was just bandits, next time it won't be." He said. He then looked to Eirika and smiled. "Besides we have a healer,... she does have a few combat spells as well so don't worry we are not totally outmatched." He then glanced forward and then back to the others. "Lets still be careful though." He added. He then continued forward with Veo and Eirika with him. Veo was a little more at ease with his allies being fully committed.

As they got closer and closer they were able to get a good view of the orc camp. It was a small camp with only four tents. There were five orcs and two more wargs. The orcs were most certainly big but not too big. They looked a little relaxed too. Hovering over the warm fire as they talked about the fight with the bandits.

"Silly humans think they were stronger then us,... they were nothing. Perhaps hitting wagons full of weak prey made them a bit weak themselves." One orc said. The fifth one had a scar down his face and shrugged at the others orc comment. He then removed from a pouch the gem. It was a rather large sapphire. Veo's eyes widened as he saw it. His eyes then narrowed as he rose up the crossbow. He then looked to Alice and then to Eirika. "Prepare to fight the remaining orcs,... me and Elduin will cover you from here." He said. He then looked forward and fired his bolt. The bolt nailed the orc in the chest knocking him to the ground.

Elduin then let fly his own arrow nailing its chosen target. The target was one of the wargs. Eirika drew forth he twin swords and instantly cast a spell. Herself as well as Alice would begin to glow a little with a golden light. "I just cast stone skin upon the both of us. It may still look the same but it will be as strong as stone." She said. She then flapped her wings launching herself into the sky and then flew above the four remaining orcs who in their dissaray began to look up at her.

"Kill the she elf!" One yelled. She came crashing down upon wonder taking him to the ground. She was about to finish him off when one of the other orcs came at her brandishing his axe and swung. She brought her swords up to block feeling the push of the orc's strength against hers.

Alice used the more direct approach, she charged forward towards the two closest orcs, wondering just how this stoneskin would affect her. As one orc charged towards prepared to ax bash her head, the huntress reflected again just how crazy this would have been if the orc group had been bigger. As the shield caught the blow and the village girl pirouetted underneath, slashing the orc's legs with her steel on the way, she reflected that she had proved herself crazy as well when she put her own hand on the satyr's shoulder and agreed to continue on this quest. And she was really being crazy now as she shoved the leg-slashed orc away with her shield arm and used her sword to temporarily deflect the other orc before being able to swing her shield at him. Then the blond realized something,"Where is the warg?"

The last remaining warg was waiting for the most opportune moment to strike. Watching both women fight their chosen opponents. The warg would pace as he did this, waiting like a patient hunter. With all the fighting it did not want a orc accidentally hitting it with a axe or sword. For now it will wait, but even it was feeling a bit uneasy about this fight. One orc and its companion were down for the count. All that stood between life and death right now for it were four orcs who were no doubt fighting for their lives. Both of it's prey looked to be very skilled in their way of combat. For instance, it turned its head towards the elf woman and her large wings and twin elven blades, as she used the power and strength of a divine soul to push the orc back. To dislodge said orc she flapped her wings in the orcs direction causing a gust of wind to hit him just enough to have him stumble backwards. That was when Eirika struck, she lunged forward with her two swords hitting them up towards the axe launching it out of the orcs hands and into the dirt behind her. She then stabbed her two swords into his belly. The blades poking out barely out the back. The orc however counter measured by thrusting its head forward smashing it against hers. The stone skin took its effect though and what the orc thought was just flesh felt like he just hit his head against a stone wall.

He felt a surge of pain right away. Eirika then kicked with her foot pushing him off her blades. She then slashed with her right cutting across his jugular. The orc instinctively brought it's hands up to his neck to try and stop the bleeding but it was too late. She stood there and sighed and then remembered the other orc. This time she was too late, the orc came up behind her and wrapped its arms around her body and lifted her up and began to squeeze. Even with the stone skin she was beginning to feel the orc's strength match up against hers. She felt it was hard to breathe and felt she needed to do something quick. She turned her blades around and swung behind her. The blades hit the orcs side and all the creature did was grimace. She cursed and pulled the blades out and re positioned them to strike upwards and behind her. This time the blades nailed him under the shoulder in the arm pits. This action caused him to drop her, but doing so caused him to lose his arms as her next action was to turn around instantly and slash. Her opponents were done for. The warg watching this decided that it had seen enough. It fled into the woods hoping to get away from the two warriors.

The leg slashed orc desperately crawled and reached out for the human warrior's ankle, not wanting it said that a mere human had bested him. But Alice had seen the motion, and prepared. While the other orc still tried to push through her shield, which was surprisingly easier than she expected, she bent backwards and preformed a backwards cut at his neck. Bloodly liquid poured out and the orc collasped in to the snowy ground. The village girl then tried for a belly thrust of her remaining opponent, but he parried, pushed her blade to the side, and tried his own thrust.

The blond girl countered by sidesteping and catching the blade with her shield. Then while the orc was still vulnerable, she turned towards its side and stabbed through the exposed armpit. She then slid her blade up and prepared for a counterattack. But it never came. The orc collapsed from the blood coming forth and rested finally into the snow. Alice breathed heavily, not so much from exhaustion as of something she counldn't quite finger. The sight to the blood on her sword seemed to sicken her. As she tried wiping it off on the snow, Alice reflected upon their fallen foes resemblance to the blacksmith.

But she just kept shaking it off as well as the feeling of repulsion, thinking she shouldn't feel this way. Never hearing about the normal symptoms to killing humans and their kin, even if they acted monsterish most of the time. The village girl then turned to the one Veo had shot and spotted the blue gem. She storde over and picked it up, sheathing her sword and placing her shield as she went. "Well, here's your jewel, Mr. Veo,"Alice said as she held it out to him. "Whoever this is for must be really lucky."

Veo looked to at the sound of his name being called. He then saw the blue gem as it sparkled from what remained of the sun as it lowered ever closer to the ground. He put his crossbow away in its place on his back and took slow steps towards it. He then began to speak words that not even he knew he was saying out loud. "Finally, she will have it at last, it's beauty will mirror the one it is for...." He said as he reached her and slowly retrieved the blue gem from her hands. He then looked up towards her and smiled. His free hand clasping hers. "Thank you miss Alice, you do not know how much I appreciate this. It will be a great gift, for a most wonderful and mystical woman." He held it in his hand and lifted it up into the sky to watch the suns rays bounce off of it. He then placed it in his pouch and he had to bring the hand up once more to brush the tear from his eyes. "Finally I have my object of proposal. Just the gem though. This woman is a natural beauty who is one with the nature she surrounds herself with. There for no gold or silver shall touch it." He said as he patted his side. He then looked to the two elves and nodded in their direction.
"All three of you will be well paid for this, do not worry." He then took a glance around their surroundings and took note of the tracks of the fleeing warg.

"No time for celebrating just yet, we must go now before it returns with more friends." He said. He then looked to the sun and sighed. How much time had passed through this little adventure. He had no idea they had spent so much time outside. It felt like it was only mere minutes not hours. He sighed and then looked to the path they had come from. He then began to take that one path once more. Once they made it to the road they would make it back to the village. He would pay this trio and then head off towards the lake. He only hoped she would accept his gift for what it was and accept him as well. Perhaps she would even move into the village. That was doubtful ,but it would give the village a little extra protection from the outside world. He wouldn't mind at all if he had to move his shop to her location though either. He would find a way though. He then took a glance at Alice and then towards the blood. "It felt different then you expected didn't it? Taking the life of someone even though it was a orc. The first times are always the toughest." He said.

Eirika used the cloth from the orcs to clean the blood from her swords. She did not want her fine weapons to rust. She then sheathed them and looked about the battle field as small as it was. It was only a small camp, nothing much to it really. She then noticed in one of the tents a bundle of swords. Rapiers and short swords mainly ,but they were weapons. They must have been taken from the bandits. She walked over and pried them out and held the bundle under her arm. She then noticed the gem as she heard Alice's words. It truly was beautiful as the shop keeper had said. She then watched Veo, the satyr, step towards it tears in his eyes as he seemed lost in his feelings. She recognized such feelings and his chosen words that were spoken only proved it. He was in love and the gem was for a lucky woman. Who apparently lived outside the village and at the lake too. She rose a brow and was curious for a minute and then listened to his next movements. They were to leave and go back towards the village. She nodded and watched him walk off. She then followed in behind him and she could feel the warmness of the sun and looked to it. It would be dark soon and with it the freezing cold of the winter. If they needed to stop she would be prepared for them to do so. She had a few spells that she could cast to better their stay at night.

Elduin but a arrow back in its quiver and placed his bow in its place on his back. He then proceeded to follow the group. His thoughts of the matter he kept to himself. Taking small glances back towards the orcs. They would remove their heads and offer them to the Jarl ,but he did not know how the huntress would feel about it. Her reaction to the blood of the orcs was evidence of that. She was new to this kind of combat. However, the heads would provide a good income for them. He decided to go back for a short while drawing out his own sword. He then very cleanly removed the heads from the orcs and constructed a make shift bag from one of the tents to hold them. Once all five heads were securely placed in the bag. He looked for the mule which was showing itself once more as the fighting had stopped. He moved over to it and tied the bag in place. He then cleaned his blade and sheathed it. He then began to walk the mule in behind the group rejoining them from the back.

Alice's gaze turned back to the bodies in the snow, the satyr's words about the stone's beauty seeming distant and far away. The village girl tried to force back into her mind that these orcs would probably slaughter the town like they had slaughtered the bandits, but it still didn't remove the pain, the guilt she felt. But there was nothing to feel guilty about, even the blacksmith would have killed them and he was of their kin. But she did, and the idea of turning the heads in to the Jarl made her feel even guiltier.

"It felt different then you expected didn't it?" said Veo, bringing Alice back to reality. "Taking the life of someone even though it was a orc. The first times are always the toughest."

"I don't know what I expected,"replied the blond, joining with Veo as he started on the path back. "I thought I was prepared to kill bandits, to have... closure about what happened to my father. But if I had trouble with killing orcs, how can I possible stand killing human bandits?"

Veo tried to think of words to say that would make her feel better ,but he doubted they would work. It was worth a try though. "Did you know it was in the hands of orcs ,that the Jarl found Arielle? They were about to start carving her up when they showed up. They hoped that by devouring her flesh they would gain some of the elvish power within her. However, the Jarl came and saved her and by doing so eventually gained her as a wife. Today those orcs killed a couple bandits ,but those very same orcs could have even done more damage to the village if they had been allowed to venture as they will. Just try to think of it as protecting those you care about in the village. As bad as you feel right now, you would have felt ten times worse if we had let those orcs live and the result cost you your mother's life. With each orc we kill in this country the more safe the folks are back at home. We can go home knowing we can still enjoy a good stew at the tavern or see the faces we have grown so used to seeing." He said. He then looked to her and sighed.

He felt he would have to come true about the stone. "I paid heavily for this stone to give it to the lady of the lake. A nymph she is. She is quite beautiful in comparrison to this stone. As one with nature as she is, even she has a dislike for orcs. They will burn and kill anything in their path if left unchecked. There is no tell to how many lives we had saved. Those five orcs and their warg pets were enough to kill a group of bandits who outnumbered them quite a bit. It paints a picture on just how dangerous those creatures are." He then thought of the black smith and smirked. "Well the wild ones anyways. Our blacksmith is something different. What his story is I do not know. He might tell you it if you ask him." He said. He did not know if his words would make her feel better or give her closure. Bandits, especially human ones were more easier to deal with and could even be talked down if the right words were said. Orcs however could not be reasoned with. They were a dangerous sort and he most certainly planned on reporting the find to the Jarl. A find the man would not welcome at all.

"I personally thought the Jarl would have killed all of them by now. From what I know him and his men lead a large campaign to chase them out of this land. He was successful from what I heard, but after today I am not so sure. Something is driving them back into our land and the Jarl might send out scouts to find out what. Which might involve the Bloodmoon sisters." He said changing the subject. He had a bad feeling about the whole thing. That was not his problem right now and soon it won't be his concern it will be the Jarl's. He looked up at the sky once more as the sun continued to descend. With it would go the heat and the cold would return. He sighed and looked to Elduin and Eirika.
"We wont make it to the village before night fall so we shall start making camp now." He said.

With their help he began to unload the camping gear from the back of the mule. He removed three tents and three bedrolls. Together they began to set up each one so it would make a sort of circle. Once that was done they would begin setting up the fire and the spit that would hang above it. From there they would hang the pots in which they would cook their dinner. This would all take some time to get set up though. Elduin continued to look around as he helped out. He was unsure if they were safe just yet. That warg could bring back with it more if it decided to come back. That was not a good thought at all.