67 Chapter 67

The jakku that Aerwyn had sent to Setrhyn village released a cry in his mind to signify that it had the village within it's sights. He took one last look at the orc army that was no more than twenty minutes from Setrhyn before switching his consciousness to the jakku near the village. Setrhyn entered his view and elves could be seen scurrying around near the shattered wall.

They appeared to be in the early stages of constructing a new section of wall to replace the one that had been destroyed but Aerwyn didn't see Tylin or Master Ferlin amongst them. The only one he recognized amongst the crowd was Jeren, he worried that Tylin may be off using his undead to mine new stone for the wall or preforming some other necromancer duty given the state of Setrhyn and decided to pass the message along to Jeren.

"Fly down to the one in the green cloak. Make some noise too, so they know we're coming." Aerwyn ordered.

"SCREE!" The jakku cried out as it dove down towards Jeren, startling some of the villagers. It landed at Jeren's feet as he looked on with a furrowed brow.

"...What is one of Aerwyn's undead doing here?" Jeren asked himself aloud.

"Look at the damn scroll you fool!" Aerwyn screamed inside the jakku's head after a few moments of the confused staring match between the elf and the jakku, yet Jeren still did nothing other than stare suspiciously. The jakku picked up on Aerwyn's frustration and pointed to the scroll with it's arm spike which only now made Jeren notice the scroll around it's neck.

"...Is this from Aerwyn?" Jeren asked as he hesitantly reached out for the scroll.

"Damn it Jeren! Who else would it be from?!" Aerwyn raged inside the jakku's mind. The orcs would be arriving within mere minutes and he was stuck playing around with Jeren, he was tempted to order the beast to stab the foolish elf's foot and go look for Sera but he lacked the time to make such a dream a reality.

Once the scroll was within his hands, he unfurled it and his expression instantly stiffened as he read the scroll's contents.

"How much time do we have?" Jeren looked past the scroll towards the jakku that couldn't speak and Aerwyn wanted to rip his hair out in frustration from not being able to communicate properly.

"Hold your arms in front of your face and cross them for a moment then point towards the way we came." Aerwyn decided this would be the best way to relay that there was no time, he only hoped Jeren would get the message.

"..." It seemed to click in Jeren's head after a moment, giving Aerwyn some solace as Jeren began to shout out orders.

"Everyone listen here! Notify everybody in the village as quickly as you can! An army of orcs will be appearing from the west very soon! Go now!" The dozens of elves stopped what they were doing and looked to Jeren with confused stares.

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"GO!" Jeren roared and the startled elves finally began to move. Jeren wasted no time either, once the elves began to scurry, he ran towards the nearest guard tower and blew the horn, notifying the village of an immanent attack.

The jakku took to the air as soon as Jeren left and it now looked to the western forest. The orcs had already started to pour out into the open field, slowly marching towards Setrhyn. Aerwyn looked down at the village below him, only a handful of village guards stood in the gap of the shattered wall, nowhere near enough to stem the tide of orcs that would soon meet them.

At this rate the orcs will enter the village and a chaotic slaughter will follow. What's more he still didn't see Tylin, Nyris, Sera, or Master Ferlin anywhere and he wasn't sure whether he should feel glad at the thought of them being absent during such a battle. Whether Setrhyn falls or not, he would still fight the orcs here.

It wouldn't change much for Aerwyn as his goals required him to be at war with the orcs one way or another and while it was earlier than he would've liked, he wouldn't miss this valuable opportunity to gain some powerful undead warriors. He just needed to make sure not to alert the entirety of the orc race to his hostile presence yet. Much like with the humans, none could be allowed to escape lest he risk the orcs coming at him in full force before he was prepared.

Aerwyn paused his icy thoughts when he realized he sounded far too much like Tylin. While he did admire Tylin in many ways, Aerwyn didn't care for that cold and detached aspect of his personality. If Aerwyn had the ability, he would do all he could to save the people of Setrhyn. As if the cold elf had heard his thoughts Tylin appeared below him along with Nyris.

The pair of necromancers began summoning their undead as elves quickly rushed to the shattered wall from every direction within Setrhyn. The number of defenders kept growing by the second but it still wasn't enough to plug the hole left by the magic cannons bombardment. The orcs were now beginning to charge the last hundred meters that separated the two forces as Master Ferlin and Sera appeared at the rear of the elven line.

The orcs stretched their line as they charged in an attempt to overwhelm the elves and Aerwyn could only helplessly watch as the two sides clashed. The lesser orcs wearing furs made up the bulk of the orc's army and they were the first to make contact with the elves. Their towering two meter frames smashed into the unprepared elven defense, instantly pushing them back a few meters into the village.

The longer orcish line overtook the elven defense on both flanks and quickly began to encircle them as the true orcs entered the fray. There was only around fifty of them in total but their martial prowess was evident as they rapidly slashed through elves left and right. More and more elves were pouring in from behind but it wasn't enough to make up for the heavy loses that Aerwyn was witnessing.

The battle wasn't entirely one sided as Tylin's and Nyris's death knights appeared to be able to hold their own against the lesser orcs while Master Ferlin and the other rangers seemed to be finding some success as well. The main problem was the elves unpreparedness for the attack, there wasn't enough elves to hold the orcs at the walls. Now as more elves arrive from within the village they are cut down before their numbers can swell and actually make a difference.

"Fall back to the square!" Master Ferlin cried out as he witnessed the orcs gaining ground at a rapid pace, seemingly coming to the same realization as Aerwyn but this command posed it's own problems. The elves giving up the walls allowed the orcs free reign in the village, effectively allowing them to encircle the elves in the square and any elf caught outside of it will undoubtedly be captured or killed.

Despite all that, Aerwyn still agreed it was the right call. They were already being surrounded and taking more casualties fighting a losing battle made little sense. The orcs wouldn't be able to encircle them as quickly in the square and it would allow the elves more time to amass numbers that can actually make a difference in the battle.

Many elves were cut down in the ensuing retreat as the orcs began to give chase. One of the orcs in plate armor atop a bull like creature called out some throaty foreign words that Aerwyn couldn't understand which caused the orcs to momentarily cease their pursuit and break up into three groups. The largest of the three pushed on towards the square following the elves while the other two broke off and followed along the walls looking to encircle the elves once again.

It was possible the orc commander believed he had already won and was simply mopping up the leftover rabble, that would be the best case scenario for the elves as that sort of complacency could be exploited but Aerwyn didn't lay his hopes on it. It was more than likely this orc was a competent commander seeing as he attacked when Aerwyn and his undead were away and the elves were at their weakest point, having just fought a grueling battle.

No matter the case he needed to get to Setrhyn right away. Aerwyn opened his true eyes as his army of undead raced through the forest. Looking back towards the elves of Lyr, to his surprise they still appeared to be keeping up without too much trouble. He wasn't exactly sure how far he was from Setrhyn but he knew he was very close as they had been traveling much faster than the orcs since they had left the ships.

"The orcs have broken through into the village! Stick together when we arrive! None can be allowed to escape!" Aerwyn yelled loud enough for his undead and the elves to hear him. Moments later they entered the field surrounding Setrhyn.