Emmaline stared agog as Otto cracked the whip over the rumps of the horses. The wagon lurched into motion and rattled off down the road. The beasts were at least as scared of the orcs as they were the whip and they hauled at their harnesses with far more effort than they had expended on the trip here. Neil helped Emmaline to her feet and she grabbed a bottle of wine from the abortive picture. The guards had just enough time to form a ragged line before the orcs hit them. The greenskins howled their war cries as the smashed into the line, pitching men off their feet with the impact of their hundreds of pounds of angry green muscle. Everything was a mass of flashing steel, screaming men and bellowing orcs. One of the creatures was down, its skull cleaved by a halberd, a second was pinned on a spear and being hacked to death by two of the guards. A wounded orc staggered close to Emmaline and she smashed the bottle down over its head. The heavy glass didn't break and although there was a satisfying 'chunk' the creature didn't fall. Rather it shook its head and staggered towards her. Neil yanked her out of the way and towards the other wagon. She had a momentary surge of hope before a brutish orc in armor of beaten iron plates leaped to the wagon. Its axe slashed down, beheading on of the beasts in a single slash that sprayed blood into the air. The other horse screamed and bolted, trying to drag away its companion as well as the wagon before a back hand blow took the throat out of the second horse.

"Shiz!" Emmaline cursed backing up and turning towards the woods, prepared to make a break for the trees, just in time to see another half dozen orcs, carrying a dead deer across their shoulders emerged from the wood. They took one look at the small battle, dropped their kill and charged towards the humans with an ear shattering 'WAAARRRRGH!' There was no escape.

"Run for the mine!" Emmaline yelled, her voice high and tiny with panic