Inside the borders of the Burning Sands, the Twelfth Squad of the First Verakh Company, Rikon camped. They set up their camp among the cliffs and use the terrain to protect them from the unpredictable rage of the desert.

"They should have started building the fortifications already." the marksman of the Twelfth Squad muttered as he cleaned his beloved weapon, making sure that it was sand free after they experience a sandstorm a few moments ago before taking shelter among the cliffs.

"I hate this place! It is all sand! Sand here, sand there and endless sea of sand!" their squad member who was their main map maker and started removing his armor while brushing away the accumulated sands that made their way inside his armor and clothes.

"Enough complaining. It's just for a week. And we are lucky since the fortifications might already have been completed after our return from this place." the Squad Leader of the Twelfth Squad said as he watched the raging sand from afar. The howling wind and the flying grain of sands that impedes his vision to see further away.

"Where do you think the other squads are at? I hope they are also in the same situation as us." one of them commented as he started to make a campfire to be used for their meals and also to keep themselves warm during the night.

"Mi doubt it, mon. Luk at di map dat di chief giv tuh us. Ongle fi wi squad inna di bordas of di burning sands. Di fourteenth a fifteenth wud be hanging back just behind di bordas of di Burning Sands. Eff mi did dem, mi wouldn't camp inna dis endless sea of sand." one of the trolls commented as he joined the orcs in the conversation.

"Yuh absolutely right, Jak'arr. Dere no way dat di othas wi like dis place." the troll who was tasked with cooking their meal butted in. "See, even Dakam agrees wid me." Jak'arr muttered as he leaned on a rock as he whistled a tune to chase his boredom away.

The leader of the Twelfth Squad shook his head and joined Jak'arr and found himself his own rock to lean his back on. Their squad is one of the few squads who had trolls as their members. Conversing with the trolls can sometimes be difficult because of the way they speak, even if they speak the same language. It just needs some getting used to the way they speak for you to be able to clearly understand them.

Eight different squads were deployed all around where the main army was at. They are three days march away from them as they scout the surroundings and the paths where the main army will pass through. A day of march away from the main army would be the Warg Cavalry, who are also spread in all directions to receive reports from the deployed Verakhs.

*****

"Get your backs on it! No slacking! I want the walls to be built quickly!" Sakh'arran shouted towards the Yurakks who were busy constructing the walls of the fort. Two wooden walls were being erected, with a distance of two meters apart. The center of the wooden walls was being filled with the dug up soil from the trench surrounding the fort.

Patrolling around the hinges of the place were the First and Second Warband as they broke into groups of a hundred men each to keep watch of possible hostiles around the area. Their fort was being constructed atop a hill, which has a few natural springs nearby for their water supply.

The Rhakaddon Cavalry were further away as they let their steeds grazed upon the grassy plains down below where the fort was being constructed at.

Trot'thar, being Trot'thar, is the main watcher of the entire Horde, as he had the ability to see further away than anyone else. Sitting on a branch atop the closest and tallest tree that he could find near the camp, he surveyed the surroundings.

To the south, he could catch a glimpse of the ongoing sandstorm. To the east was the sea of trees, to the west would be the vast open plains, and to the north were the hills and cliffs that they went through.

"See anything up there!?" Gur'kan shouted as he looked up to the top of the tree where Trot'thar is at. "Nothing worth my attention!" the orc atop the tree answered as seeds of fruit rained down upon the face of Gur'kan. "Tsch!" Gur'kan was annoyed and walked away and took shelter on a tree further away.

The groups of orcs who are in charge of felling down trees finally reached where they were. Gur'kan was the one who evaluates the trees if they are suited for the construction of the fort or not. "War Chief, which ones do we take down?" the leader of the group of orc woodcutters asked.

Gur'kan walked around the trees with his dagger and marked a few of them with his blade with an 'X' mark on their trunks. "Just find the ones that are marked with an 'X' figure." he said after he returned.

"Let's go!" the leader of the orc woodcutters slumped his axe in his shoulders and headed towards the trees. Sounds of trees falling down and crashing against the nearby trees before making a resounding thud after hitting the ground could be heard.

The woodcutters are armed with their weapons, the sword and the dagger, without their armor and shields. They also carried with them strange looking long blades which have a set of sharp teeth that are operated by two orcs. There were also two kinds of this tool that their chieftain gave them, which he calls a saw. The first one is the felling saw, and the other is the bucking saw.

The woodcutters used the felling saws as what they are called implies, to fell the trees. And bucking saws were used to cut felled trees into lumber. The two variations require slightly different designs. The felling saw has a narrower blade, allowing wedges to be more easily inserted, while the bucking saw has a wider blade, giving it more strength.