Of course, it was the echoing call of the Old Man atop the mountain which had wrenched the Orc warrior’s attention away from his business. His head turned slowly to regard the direction in which the noise emanated; unsurprisingly telling him little, for the speaker was not in sight. However, at such a short distance the old Orc was fully aware that battle could be joined at any moment, which was why he remained alert and was slightly perturbed that the metal-clad human felt the need to half-shout at him. He wasn’t deaf after all.

When asked if he planned to kill him, the Orc’s lips flicked up in a grim smile, and he bared his teeth, but said nothing as the man seemed eager to continue. Talk could be weakness. The Orc’s opinions of his foe were actually improved by his further boasting that he had slain an Orc in the past, though Norak was unsure why he was supposed to be particularly bothered. He had killed hundreds of humans, though he couldn’t be sure if he’d cut any of their hands off. What it did show was that the human was trying to goad him, something only a confident fighter would do. Worryingly, he may also have been attempting to frighten him, which would be a terrible idea, most Orcs replace their fear with anger from a young age. Still, Norak was mildly impressed, hence why he hadn’t immediately drawn and thrown his axe through the cocky warrior’s breast-plate while he stood there. When the knight instead turned, heading towards the originator of the sound, Norak was unsure how he wanted to proceed.

It was then that he took notice of the small goblin and the horseman, though neither looked particularly formidable so his gaze swept over them. For a short while, as the human got further away, Norak remained standing stoically, though observant. Finally, he shrugged.

“We will see who speaks, then we may fight.” The Orc followed the human up, towards the point of Origin…