As the group crossed the wide draw-bridge, the buildings rose like steps in three directions. To their right a orc in a smithing apron shouted “Blades and clubs, the finest steel and bronze weapons in Som'nar!” Next to him an orc offered “Fresh fruits and dried fruits, the sweetest in the province!” Across the way “Leather goods, leather armor, leather pants, leather aprons, get your leather here.” The various shopkeepers offers drowned out most of the other noises of the city. Just past the gate was a sort of open air market, no doubt it was kept clear of buildings to serve as a staging ground for troops, but when not at war the city could use it for the tents and booths of merchants.

  A wide road left the market on either side, just inside the walls, and another wide road led deeper into the city, the direction the group took. The sergeant took point with a PFC, and the other two soldiers stayed in the rear of the group keeping Eric and Dr Cohen in the middle.

  Eric had worried about the soldiers carrying guns but every direction he looked he saw weapons. Here a young orc with a pair of daggers on her belt and another pair in her boots. There a orc with a heavy warhammer on his back. An orc couple with matching hide armor and swords walked together holding hands and laughing. It was clearly a martial society, and it was their race, not their weapons, that made them stand out. Orcs stared at the humans, but Eric made a point of showing the mark on his left hand and they would nod and move along.

  Food, clothing, and sundry goods stores dominated the main road. Eric heard less shouting of wares, but heard from a shop door “fourteen gold? Do you seek to beggar me? I cannot sell it for less than eighteen!” Orc children ran and played, and adults talked and haggled.

  After half a mile of trudging up the hill, Eric saw a jeweler, the first maker of smithed goods since the bazaar. An orc was looking at the gold and silver rings, asking the proprietor, “Do you think she would like this one?” Then a weapon-smith, selling swords, polearms, and spears. Next door to that a burly orc was standing as another orc fitted him with iron plates of armor.

  Curious, Eric went into the weapon-smith's shop. “Why are all the smithy shops up here?” He asked.

  The orc pointed outside at the pillar of black smoke. “All our stacks are diverted to there, so the heat and smoke don't affect the town. My actual shop is in the back, and I have three separate smoke hoods to duct away the smoke.” He seemed proud of the number.

  Eric said “Thank you, um, do you have any short blades, like knives or daggers?”

  The orc frowned, “I mostly work in longer weapons, but let me get out my stock, I'll warn you, these are mostly apprentice pieces my son makes as I teach him.” The orc went into the back, clinking and shuffling noises were followed by his return holding a wide and shallow box filled with knives and daggers.

  “Sergeant,” Eric called, “How about you and your guys each pick one, as a souvenir, my treat.” Soon the group was leaving, Eric a few silver lighter, but happy to have supported the locals. After they left Eric pointed out “Even these apprentice pieces can be enchanted, so are better than the best knives made in a factory.”

  Finally they reached the keep, and were able to look down at the town in both directions. One each side it looked like a triangle, widening as it went down the hill, homes further from the main road and shops and industry towards it. The towering square keep had heavy ballistas and several guards with crossbows manning walls of white stone. To one side Eric heard the laughs of a pair of cleaners on a scaffolding 20 feet up, and saw how it stayed so white. The heavy iron doors were open, so the group walked in, and were immediately stopped by a clerk. “Who are you here to see, and do you have an appointment?”

  Eric stepped forward, “The War-chief and no, I'm sorry.”

  The orc saw the tusk mark on his hand, “Just because you are an orc-friend doesn't mean you get special privileges.”

  “I understand that, but only the War-chief can agree to our request. We need a large number of high level warriors, and will pay appropriately in gold or trade goods. Our initial budget is two-thousand gold for a month of war, but we don't have the money on us because, well, we didn't want to carry two-thousand gold through the wilds.”

  At the mention of 2000 gold the orc visibly gulped. “Let me just, uh, see what her schedule looks like, she might be able to squeeze you in.” He hurried into the back.

  “Two thousand! Gold?” A gruff feminine voice bellowed. They could hear the clerk talking but couldn't make out his words.

  He returned and said “She has agreed to make time for you, this way please?”

  Eric and Dr Cohen decided to leave their escorts in the entry, not wanting to offend the war-chief. They followed the clerk into a room where a stocky female orc was sitting at a large, squat desk covered in paperwork. A full in box and half-full out box indicating how busy she was.

  As she stood up Eric realized she was short for an orc. Her skin was so pale he almost couldn't see the green, her brown eyes were friendly and long black braids fell from her head and curled around her. “I am Jatya, War-chief of Som'nar, I understand you need warriors?”

  Enjoying this book? Seek out the original to ensure the author gets credit.

  Eric looked at Dr Cohen, who nodded, letting Eric negotiate. “We are not sure exactly when, but a large force of Kappa have entered our world. We are fairly new to the rift and do not have high level warriors. We have a large military force, but they are low levels. We need a strike force, to counter the high level invaders and give our forces power.”

  “What are Kappa?” Jatya asked.

  “Er, some sort of turtle snake lizard thing? They have shells and mostly fight up close.”

  Katya grinned, “Orc-friend Eric, will you trust me?”

  Eric thought, the orc culture was based on honor and trust, saying no could be an insult. But on the other hand, he had just met her. He looked at her, and after a moment nodded, “Yes.”

  “Give me two days, and have your gold ready at the rift, We will have Kappa soup in three days!”

  Eric looked at Dr Cohen, “We can have the money ready by then?”

  “Certainly,” Then the doctor paused. “Er, War-chief Katya, does it have to be coins? We generally use bars for gold. It would still be the same weight of gold. I can try to get it minted into coins or find old coins if you need.”

  “Eh, gold is gold, look at my city, minting coins is easy. Mining gold is hard.”

  Eric remembered something, “War-chief, one other thing, the invasion is a long ways away, we will pay for the entire time your forces are on Earth, but wanted to warn you that there will probably be a day of travel, and it will be by plane.”

  “Plane?”

  “A large metal tube that flies,” Eric explained.

  “With magic like this you need us? Then again, you look scrawny, I'm guessing you have many great mages but few warriors of the spear and shield.”

  Eric decided not to correct her. Instead he reached into his storage and pulled out several bottles. “I brought a few samples of Earth drinks and what we call condiments, spiced sauces for meats and other foodstuffs.” He put out several bottles of steak sauce, ketchup, mustard, soy sauce, whiskey, wine, and beer. “Knowing what your warriors like will make it easier for us to feed them in the war.”

  She unscrewed the mustard bottle, not realizing how the top worked, and sniffed, “You drink this?”

  “Er, no, that one generally goes on meat, either as a marinade or in sandwiches.” Eric tapped one of the whiskey bottles, “This is strong drink,” he tapped a bottle of wine, “Medium,” pointing at the beer, “mild.”

  Jatya opened the whiskey and sniffed, “oh, this has kick.” She pulled out three mugs and poured a double shot in each. “To new friendships!”

  Dr Cohen and Eric took mugs and drank, then Eric coughed “To new friendships.” Dr Cohen echoed him, seeming better able to handle hard liquor. “I'm not actually much of a drinker,” Eric admitted.

  Jatya laughed, “I can tell, don't worry about it. Your drink is good, my warriors will enjoy it, and we will have a feast and try out these combiments.”

  Dr Cohen cleared his throat, “Well, if we have an agreement, I need to return and get that gold to the rift for you.”

  “Yes, I understand. The thing I fear most in this life is,” she gestured at her desk, “Paperwork.” Everyone laughed a bit at the joke and Eric let the doctor lead the way out of the room.

  Eric was a bit disappointed that the trip back was uneventful. While not a warrior, he did enjoy the thrill of fighting off monsters. After they exited the rift Dr Cohen got on a helicopter back to Washington right away. Eric stopped in the Quonset hut of Major Abdullah.

  The Major smiled as he saw Eric enter, “Eric!”

  “Clark,” Eric greeted the Major, “I wanted to give you a heads up, we are going to be moving a major force of orcs through the rift in a few days. They are going to go fight for the US in Korea.”

  “About time, I can't believe we let Seoul fall.” The Major griped.

  Eric decided not to talk about what he had learned, and just nodded. “Yes, they will be high level, I don't know how many, but probably hundreds?”

  The Major looked at Eric, “You trust them?”

  Eric nodded, “Yes, the orc culture is, hmm, they place a lot of value on reputation. They had a fairly recent problem with high level corruption, and since then they are rather touchy about honor.”

  “Sounds good, I'll have my troops prepare.”

  Two days later Eric was at the rift with Dr Cohen. There were four cases, each with a number of gold bars carefully stacked. Eric had tried to lift one out of curiosity while the troops laughed, and while he could get one side of the case up he couldn't lift the whole thing. Then the soldiers started trying, and a few of them could lift a case but had to quickly drop it.

  War-chief Jatya walked through the rift first, “Are you prepared for my warriors?”

  “Yes War-chief Jatya,” Dr Cohen said formally.

  She walked back through and then returned, leading a flood of orcs. “The war-party is larger than I intended but there are youngsters who wanted to see your world. Don't worry, you are not paying for the ones below level ten, but if they reach level ten I expect you to compensate them.”

  Dr Cohen was surprised, but said “I think we can arrange for that.”

  One of the cases was open, “This the gold?”

  Eric nodded, “All four cases are for you.”

  Jatya grunted and picked up a case, tucking it under one arm. Three other orcs grabbed the other cases, and she went through the rift...and then returned without the cases. “My clerks will handle the gold. Where is this flying tube of magic?”

  The orcs had spilled out of the base, nearly 1000 being too much to fit in the area designed for 200. Dr Cohen frowned, “I'm not sure, we didn't prepare for this many. I will get more transport. It will take multiple planes.” He explained, and she nodded.

  “A flying tube that would hold nine-hundred seventy-two orcs would take a lot of magic,” she agreed.

  Major Abdullah joined them, “Er, you are warlord Jatya?”

  “War-Chief,” Eric quickly corrected.

  “Sorry, um, do your warriors wear, er,” the major pulled his dog tags from his shirt, “We call these dog tags, not the best name but, well, anyway, they make sure if something happens to us in combat that we can identify who died. Do your warriors have something like that?”

  She frowned, “No, should we?”

  Dr Cohen said “It would help us to make sure that if any of your warriors fall, we can return their bodies to you, so their families can mourn.” She shrugged. “I'll arrange to get them, and have a stencil machine at your staging point, use them or don't as you prefer.”

  The major lifted his pants leg, showing one on a chain around his ankle, “We fight with explosives and fire, sometimes a leg is all that is left. Sorry, I know you fight in wars, but our wars can be...different.”

  Jatya laughed, “We fight goblins, we know all about explosives. But these dog tags are a good idea, now that I think on it.”

  After a bit more discussion, the orcs were loaded onto busses and taken to the airport.