David had never seen an orc, nor any of the animals they rode, he had only heard of them. These orcs were huge, muscular, green, human-like, but crude creatures. They all wore helmets adorned with animal fangs and short pants, but nothing that would cover or protect their upper bodies. Hanging from their belts were usually huge axes, one or two also carried a mighty sword or hatchet.
With that, David’s worst fears had come true, only that he was still alive. So that it stayed that way even longer, he soon slowly withdrew again. But he could not believe it, orcs here? So far away from the front? What had happened? Had they won the war in a hurry after all or was this just a scouting party? But there were too many for a scouting party, it seemed to David more like a part of an army. With the mission to capture the most remote villages like Bala? He felt sick to his stomach when he thought that the orcs had won. But strangely enough, he didn’t feel any great fear at that moment, he was rather shocked and curious, so he took it upon himself to follow the orcs. David hid at a safe distance from the army for a few more hours, and then he took to their heels.
David slowly crept behind the army. He felt as if he was dreaming. The sheer number of different creatures, especially the orcs, made him think of a dream he had once had a long time ago. In this dream, orcs had also appeared, only as he had imagined them, with huge, sharp teeth like predators and faces like demons. He had heard many bad things about orcs, and his nurse had always told him stories about the cruel, child-eating orcs when he was a child. So had been these nightmares. Horrible with monstrous orcs and their mounts had always been skeleton horses in the dream. The reality was different, of course, but it was a spectacle. David had never seen anything like it in his little world. David had never seen an army, let alone one so impressive. He almost gained something like sympathy for the orcs as they sat on their predatory beasts and proud horses. The huge weapons they carried as if they were light as a feather and their discipline. They no longer seemed to him like cruel monsters as they marched in rank and file and step. But a gruesome opponent in battle they certainly were. Thus David also dreaded what he would hear from the rest of the country. And above all, he dreaded what would happen as soon as the orcs reached his home village of Bala.