“That was quite the spectacle,” said Alwyn, sitting on the rock near my cage. “You’ve got Gutrender rattled.”

“Why would he be rattled? It’s not as if I can do anything to him, is it?” I argued.

“Firstly, you’re the only one who’s ever made it through without dying.”

“Barely.”

“Barely is still success. Secondly, he was hoping you’d die in a pathetic way and silence some of those among the greenskin leadership who say you’re a demon sent to kill them all.”

“Why would they even think that? It’s not as if this place has TikTok with one minute shorts of me killing the orcs, is it?”

“Do you think the scrying stone at the Timeless Tower was the only one?” she replied, raising an eyebrow.

“You have one here?” I asked. “Of course you do. So the head of the goblin army has been watching me in action?”

“Mmm-hmm,” she agreed.

That meant everything I could do was already known to him. “That’s why he asked you to hex me? To stop me having my powers in the gauntlet?”

“Oh no, that was all me. When I said he’s seen you, I meant he’s seen what I wanted him to see.”

“He doesn’t know about my gifts then?”

“Not an inkling. Your trick with the demon? Exquisite. Your pillars of holy light? Magnificent.”

I was confused, which seemed to be my state of mind for at least half my time on Kherrash. “But why keep it to yourself?”

“Let’s just say I’m no fool. I’ve seen the onslaught of Milton’s forces. I know which way the war ends if we don’t crush the two armies that are marching on the mountains.”

She paused, as if that was enough of an explanation. “I have no idea what you’re talking about.”

“Gutrender has been scared into paralysis. When he saw the wall hold and the barbarians flood into the south, he’s decided to just hunker down in here. You know as well as I do that he could survive in here for years without your friends being able to get inside.”

“You’re talking in circles and making my head pound. Get to the point.”

“The point is simple. I want you to kill Gutrender when you face him in the pit.”

“I don’t stand a chance without my powers. He’ll cut me to pieces.”

“And that’s why, despite your previous trickery, I’ll release the hex while you’re in there.”

“What if I can’t help myself and throw a few demons your way?” I asked, holding her stare.

“Then I replace the hex and you get torn to pieces.”

I scowled at the sorceress. “And what do you get out of it?”

“An army, and the freedom to choose what to do with it,” she said, matter-of-factly.

“The greenskins will follow your orders? Why wouldn’t they worship me as their leader instead?”

“Because you’ll pledge to me once you’ve won,” she replied, smiling her shark smile.

“And why would I do that?”

Alwyn waved her staff at me. “Because I can tear your mind apart. And if that’s not enough of an incentive, then you’re forgetting I can strike at your friends with impunity. I’ve ridden the same trails they’re marching through. A fiery tempest raining down on them might upset their plans. Imagine Sunlith’s skin peeling from her bones.”

“You want the army so you can attack, rather than hiding out in here? More of my friends will die anyway. Forget it.”

She wagged a finger at me. “I said the freedom to choose, remember. What if we emerged from Whitespear as the conquering heroes, the orcs army cowed at our back?”

“Aren’t you forgetting your crimes? The kidnapping of the other sorcerers. The tens of thousands already dead after you advised Gutrender? I doubt the Dawnstars will be too forgiving.”

“What proof have they that I was advising him? Your word? Guesswork by Ilfred? I can weave a suitably believable story of imprisonment and torture, don’t you worry. I just need you to agree that if the time comes, you’ll play along. Isn’t that worth your life and the lives of your friends?”

I kept my lips locked tight. Was this one of those occasions where I could bypass the boss fight by securing an alternative means of success? Possibly, but that didn’t alter the fact she was a raging, psychotic bitch who was responsible for suffering on a massive scale. If she lived, then what were the chances she would just inveigle her way back into Milton’s good graces and then take over the weakened kingdom that way? I looked behind me at the rock. I returned my gaze to the hard place sat in front of me. I was days away from rescue and completely stuck.

“Ok,” I sighed. “I’ll do it. On one condition.”

“And that is?”

“You promise me the fighting is done. The orcs go back to their caverns, and you go back to being an advisor. You know my gifts. You know why I’m here and for whom. Believe me when I say you can’t win this.”

Alwyn gave it some thought, and I could almost see the lies flickering behind her eyes. “Agreed!”

“You’ll be happy just being the arch-sorceress again?”

“I will.”

“How will you convince the others that you’re not dangerous to them?”

“Little fly,” she cooed, “I was simply keeping them out of harm’s way. Did anyone get hurt? Of course not. I put them in the one place they were guaranteed to be out of the war.”

She had a really good point to argue there, but I had to know. “Why were they up there? What were you planning on doing with them?”

“I didn’t want them interfering with my plans.”

I sensed that was only half the truth, but left it alone. “How about you take that hex off then? I can get myself ready that way.”

“The last time I tried that your little friend gave me a nip.”

“Trust needs to be built over time. I’m trusting you, how about you show some towards me?”

“You might have me at a bit of a disadvantage right now, but don’t push it,” she snapped. “I’ll release you when you step in the pit for the first bout. I suggest you keep the more interesting tricks to yourself until Gutrender crashes in to kill you.”

“Use the element of surprise?”

“Yes, you could say it like that.”

“Do you know when I’ll be fighting?” I asked, nervously. There was still much that could go wrong. I wasn’t in friendly territory by a long shot. The whole horde could decide I needed to die and pile in to kill me after their leader fell. Hell, I could get killed in the first battle.

“This evening.”

I pulled a face, waving my arms to show the rock and lack of a sun to judge the time.

“A few hours from now. Get some rest,” she said, standing up. “And watch out for that.” She pointed at the dripping steel. “It’s getting worse. Hopefully it doesn’t snap open and drown you in molten metal before you get a chance to help me.”

I shimmied away from the slow drip and sat with my back to the door. “Thanks for the comforting thought. Can’t you see if there’s another cell free?”

“There are others, but they aren’t for gifted people like you,” she said, leaving me to stare fearfully at the leaking trough.

Minutes passed, feeling like hours as they counted down to the final confrontation. I chanced a look at my dead HUD, and one of the tabs was still active. Probably because it wasn’t linked to combat. My earlier efforts had netted me a new achievement.

Achievement Unlocked – Gauntlet Runner

Description – You were meant to burn, or fall, or be cut to pieces, or be blown up, but you just refuse to die. You’re like a British John McClane, minus the Christmas setting and bloody feet. Yippee Ki-Yay Mother Fucker!

Reward - +2 Dexterity

I heard renewed footsteps and expected Alwyn to be coming back for another chat, but I looked over my shoulder to see Kur carrying more food and water, wincing with each step.

“Hey! It’s good to see you, mate!”

He staggered to a halt and stared at me. “Really? No one’s ever said that to me before.”

“It’s a tougher crowd in here, I agree. I’m still happy to see a friendly face.”

“Even if it is green?” he countered.

“We can get you makeup that will hide that shade. How about a bit of white foundation and black lipstick? We’ll get you all gothed up? You can start hanging around graveyards and spooking people.”

He chuckled. “I have no idea what that means, but I like the sound of it.”

“It’s just me being silly because I’m nervous. How are you?” I asked as he slipped the food and drink in to me after I moved out of the way.

“Me?” he frowned. “What does it matter how I am?”

“I’m just making small talk, Kur. How’s your back feeling? They gave you a bit of a kicking.”

He scowled at me, obviously unused to any kind of interest in his wellbeing. “It’s sore, but getting better. The one good thing about being an orc is that we heal quickly.”

“You shouldn’t need to heal quickly at all,” I said, sourly. “The wankers should leave you alone.”

“Such is life,” Kur replied, hissing in pain as he sat.

“Would you be able to tell me more about it? Your life, I mean?” I tore at the crusty bread, expecting maggots to come pouring out. What I got instead was a puff of delicious scent from the freshly baked treat. Stuffing the chunk in my mouth, the soft dough was delectable. “This is so good,” I mumbled with my mouth full.

Kur grinned. “Thank you. And what would you like to know?”

“I’ve been thinking about the barbarians. I thought we would have to fight them, but in the end, we managed to gain their trust.”

“And you think the orcs might be open to this too?”

“I doubt it, but I thought I’d ask. It strikes me that a lot of their anger is driven by the goblin generals at their back. Once we wiped them out at the wall, the rest of the orcs fled.”

“I’m not surprised,” said Kur.

“I was just wondering if the orcs have always been so bloodthirsty? How much of their nature is beaten in to them, so to speak.”

Kur looked away, the horror plain on his face. “We’re taken from the breasts of our mothers before we can walk. The overseers spend years trying to inure us to pain, to drive out all fear, to instil a hatred of men that has endured for millennia. They’re mostly successful on all but the fear. What creature doesn’t fear death? It never made sense to me.”

“We learn that bravery can’t exist without fear,” I replied. “We fear death every bit as much as you do, believe me. It’s a shame the cycle can’t be broken. It’s like Kherrash is just going through the same shit, over and over and over again.”

“It’s how it has always been. Like the sun rising, or the rains falling. It just is.”

“I wish I could help. You could trade technology for food and other stuff like that.”

Kur smiled at my naivete. “The only thing we do with technology is kill better. I think your plan is doomed to failure.”

He was probably right. It had worked for the barbarians because their change in circumstance had been so recent and their minds were open to it. The greenskins had a thousand generations of violence and death baked into their very being. I was likely to be fed my own giblets over the negotiating table than reach an amicable resolution.

“It’s your fault I’m even talking about it!”

“Me? Why?”

“Because you’re just so normal. Reasonable. Friendly.”

Kur shifted uncomfortably at the praise, a mannerism I was becoming familiar with. “I’m the exception, remember.”

“What are the women like? Are they bred for war? Are they trained to ignore pain?”

“Like I said, they are treated well. They are the only reason we go on.”

“Are they forced to breed?”

“Not at all. They couple up like you humans are wont to do. Only the bravest warriors earn the right to marry. Orcs who rise to warchief are guaranteed their pick.”

“Even though your uprisings have been put down each time?”

“Let me try again. Warchiefs who make it back are guaranteed their pick. That way the bloodlines stay strong.”

“Didn’t the first hundred invasions failing make the leaders think about another approach?” I asked.

“Have you seen the current leader? He’s insane. His predecessors haven’t been much better.”

“And the goblins come from the same place the orcs do?”

Kur shook his head fearfully. “Oh no. The goblins come from a darker, deeper place. The two species never mix.”

“But the weaker goblins rule over the stronger orcs. I don’t understand it.”

“You said it before. Technology. Every time they rise gain, their machines are that much more dangerous. Anyone fool enough to go against their orders is mashed up or chopped to pieces. Given the choice between fighting or going in the roller blender, is it any wonder we fear them? They maintain discipline with wanton murder.”

“What do you think would happen if the link was severed between the orcs and goblins?”

Kur made to answer, but no words came out. He frowned as he thought about it. “Honestly? Probably nothing. The orcs would just appoint a new warboss to lead the fight.”

“That’s a shame. And what if Alwyn took over? You know I’ve got to fight in the pit later, don’t you? If I can kill Gutrender, she will become the leader.”

Kur shrugged. “The orcs only respect strength. She is human, but very, very strong. Her magic is her shield.”

“Do you know where most of her power comes from?” I asked.

“I’ve seen it,” Kur replied.

I shuffled closer to the bars if that was possible. “What is it?”

He saw it in his mind’s eye. “A rock that glows, the size of my fist. Pale blue, almost white, like the moon, held in the hand of a figure that has become part of the mountain. The miners found it by accident months ago. She arrived uninvited soon after.”

“You mean a stone like the one in the staff she wields?”

“No, it’s bigger. The figure is twice the size of any orc, and the rock is too,” Kur explained.

“If it’s so powerful, I’m surprised she hasn’t removed it.”

“She tried, with our help. The thick fingers are immune to pick or chisel, but the stone itself is extremely fragile. One of the miners accidentally chipped it and the rumour is Alwyn torched everyone within the room. No one’s been near it since.”

If the stone was as magically powerful as she thought, I thanked the gods that she hadn’t managed to pry it loose. She would’ve been a psychotic, pinched-faced, Galadriel, crushing all before her.

“Kur, do you want all this shit to be over? For a while, anyway?”

“Of course. As much as they hurt and humiliate me, they’re still my people.”

“Ok, I’ve got an idea,” I said, urging him to come closer.

I started to whisper in his thick, hairy ear.