Chapter Five

Estel moved back to his chosen position and concealed himself among the bushes around the clearing. As his brothers had taught him, he remained still and hidden while he waited for the approach of his prey. The orcs soon began swarming out of the cave. Estel was greatly relieved to see the four missing elves walk out of the cave under their own power. Elrohir was limping badly, but they were all alive and seemed mostly well. He frowned as he watched the orcs form a circle around the captive elves. This could not be a good thing. It was time.

He had three arrows wrapped in flammable rags, and quickly lit them. In rapid succession, he fired two of the arrows into pre-arranged piles of leaves. These piles consisted of Narasea, fire-leaf, which burned with a radiance nearly that of the sun, and gave off great clouds of smoke. He had also included a great number of acorns, which exploded when exposed to flames. Combined, these objects used light, smoke and noise to create a lot of confusion. The third arrow, he fired into the midst of the orcs. It lodged in the leg of one unfortunate orc and caught his clothing on fire. The orc flailed around, bumping into other orcs, catching them on fire.

Into the midst of this chaos, Estel yelled out in Elvish, telling the four elves where to find the hidden weapons and antidote. He also told them of the meeting point where he had left the horses. He watched the elves dive for the weapons, then gulped as he saw a number of orcs head in his direction. They had pinpointed his location. It was difficult, but he forced himself to hold his position. 'Just a few more steps,' he thought.

The first row of orcs advancing on his position suddenly felt the ground drop out from beneath their feet. Estel had wanted to dig a pit large enough for the orcs to fall into. Given his time and tool constraints, though, he had only been able to dig a trench several inches deep. This trench caused several orcs to lose their balance and fall forward, directly onto the dozens of small poison tipped wooden spikes that Estel had prepared. The orcs who fell did not get up again, and the others stopped momentarily, confused. Estel looked around once more, getting ready to run, and his eye caught on an object in a nearby tree, above the orcs heads. Giving an evil grin, he fired one more arrow, knocking it out of the tree. As the hornet's nest hit the ground and broke open, a swarm of angry hornets flew out and began attacking every moving body nearby. As the orcs began screaming and swatting at the irritating insects, Estel stood up and started running. His heart was pounding in time to the dozens of booted feet he heard coming after him.

'This may be the stupidest thing I have ever done,' he thought as he led a large number of orcs away from the clearing. He held his sword in his hand as he ran, using it to cut the vines he had rigged as triggers for various traps. The first trap he set off sent small logs suspended on vines swinging down from the trees. The logs had poisoned spikes embedded in them, and at least ten orcs fell to the trap. The second trigger released several saplings that he had tied down. When the trees snapped back to their original position, they launched a rain of the small, sharpened sticks. Many more orcs fell to this second trap. He led the orcs on a chase through the woods, triggering a couple more traps as he went.

It took a moment for the silence to sink into Estel's consciousness. As he realized that the sounds of pursuit had ceased, he risked a glance back over his shoulder. The path behind him was empty. He turned back around and suddenly found himself flat on his back. His head was spinning, and his vision was blurred. As his vision slowly cleared, he saw a low hanging branch directly above him. The pain in his head was excruciating, and he slowly raised a hand to his forehead. The bump he found caused him to pull his hand quickly away, and he stared in confusion at the blood on his fingertips. A harsh voice spoke nearby and sent a shiver of fear down his spine.

"Well, what have we here? Could this mewling young human be behind all our trouble?"

Estel looked up in fear at the ugly distorted features of the creature looming over him. Despite the pain in his head, he lunged sideways, reaching for his dropped sword. A heavy, booted foot stomped down onto his wrist, pinning it to the ground. Estel could not help the short cry that escaped him at the sharp sudden pain in his wrist. A painful sting at his neck brought his attention back to the orc. He found himself staring up the length of an orc sword, which was now pressed against his neck.

The orc glanced at someone across Estel's prone form. "It will be easy enough to kill this frail human. Then we need to get back and help the others get those insufferable elves under control."

Estel panicked as he saw the orc sword rise high above his head. He knew these moments would be his last.