Aj V

The elves had been greeted by a small group of their kin and had moved off to their own chamber after Marry was satisfied that all of the maidens were settled and watched over by their chaperones.

As the bustle had settled down Aj had gathered Hezekiah and in turn Meb and led them through a series of tunnels until they were laying in the location close to were Hezekiah had first seen Aj earlier in the day.

Aj saw the movement down the trail first and motioned to his companions to be still. Shortly after that they could all see coming out of the lower cut down bellow the orcs and goblins that had been following the caravan. The larger group must have waited for the smaller group to catch up because they were letting the smaller group take the lead. The party was being very cautious as it followed the trail that the caravan had taken earlier. There were about forty orcs and the same number of goblins followed by the ogre then the rest of the orcs from the second group. As the first orcs and goblins were reaching the point that the caravan had conversed with Aj, most of the second group of orcs were still in the slot canyon. The orcs were making one of the smaller goblins go first up the trail. Every time the small goblin stopped the large lead orc cursed him and threatened him with the spear that he carried. As the party passed the spikes with the heads on them they would pull the spikes out of the ground and through them from the trail with the heads still jammed on the ends. Aj said, “It will take me hours to put those spikes back up, I hope they turn around soon.”

Meb asked, “Why are they going to turn around soon?”

In answer Aj said, “Watch and learn my little friend.”

As the party below got closer to the entrance to the second canyon the little goblin became more upset. There seemed to be one goblin for each orc to supervise in the first group. With each step the little goblin became more upset wanting to go anywhere but up the trail. Suddenly the little goblin bolted from the lead orc threw a couple of stakes off the trail. The lead orc cursed and started to follow the little goblin then stopped as the little goblin disappeared with a scream into a covered pit that had long stakes imbedded in the bottom of the pit that impaled the goblin. The large lead orc moved back to the center of the path and pulled the next goblin forward and with a curse put his spear to the back of the goblin and motioned it up the trail. The goblin was watching the ground closely looking for were the caravan had trod.