The Waking of the Warriors

They all gathered, finding their seats around the round wooden table with the hollow center that had a bright, warm fire glowing. They were all there due to an alarming prophecy they seen. It is normal for seers to get insight on the child as they were being born to see how they're life was going to be but those were all always different. Seers from the centaurs, saytrs, dwarves, orcs, elves, humans, any creature she could imagine was there at the table. This was alarming enough that an emergency counsel was called. The head seers came up, one each from every race of magical creature on earth. The head seers raised their faces so that they shown in the light and to the horror of the world seers, their eyes were not there. They're sockets covered by a smattering of scarred flesh, they're eyes removed so that they could judge fairly among each seer. "We are all here for the prophecy given to all of us by our individual gods and goddesses." spoke the head seers as one. Raising their arms, hands out, palms up, "We must work with one another to find all of our strongest warriors and magic wielders to stop our oldest enemy," the fire rose to the ceiling images of beasts long forgotten, "the winter and summer seelie courts are gathering power and Faye that believe they have a right to rule all of this world." Gasps were heard across the room, some went to their knees to pay to their gods and goddesses, anger from the more brutish of seers, and complete stunned silence from the rest.    Oh, Odin... what am I to tell my lord and lady? They're daughter is still young but will become a strong witch for our coven. "You will all leave now, searching in your respective clans, ask your gods for help in search of the creatures we need for this war," they all smiled, coal painted gums and teeth bared, "for they may show us who they want for this fight and do not deny the gods will when you find the creatures they wish for the coming battle, they may just let the seelie take our world."         The gods and goddesses will show us our fighters? Shaking her head. Her age never slowed her down yet now with impending war. Her bones ached, she was tired. Raising a wrinkled hand to brush the white hair out of her face. Her blue eyes still sharp as ever as she looked around to the other seers conversing with their respective clans. The human seers coming up to her since she was the oldest of them all. "Gertrude, do we call upon our gods and goddesses to reveal our champions?" asked a man with the rich brogue of a Scotsman. His green eyes darkened with worry. She was about to answer when a young curvy woman with curly brown hair and eyes as blue as the Mediterranean spoke, " Of course not, the gods have better things to do than answer our idiotic questions about OUR warriors." An argument was starting between all the human seers. She got real tired of these young ones bickering amongst each other. Slamming the tip of her staff into the ground a couple of times quieted them down. Sighing, " We were given our answers the moment a child was born, who the strongest of witches are in each of your clans." Looking in every one of there faces, some were too young to know who were considered their strong witches. Leaning back on her chair, her back protesting slightly, " Those of you who replaced the seer of their clan, look in their books of which child seemed an oddity to them, those of you who have predicted the strong child after their birth find them, see what the gods have done to show us that these are our champions. " Standing up and moving her hand in a shooing motion to the other seers, "Go now before I start switching the lot of you. I must return to my coven now and look for my strong witch." *Diamond Creek mountain ridge forests* Sticking her tongue out slightly as she balanced on a log that was used as a bridge to cross a slow moving creek. The water is still cold this time of year even with Litha nipping at their heels. She graduated high school and is now on a camping trip with all of her friends. Her stupid twin brother still at home since he was a bully and he knew that her friends would gladly tie him to a tree for a bear. Hearing the deep rumble of a chuckle coming from behind her. Estrid looked back at the gorgeously tall, stacked, brown orc male behind her, smiling mischievously.       "Lass, if you don't hurry up, I just might toss you over my shoulder to cross this log." He was starting to make a move as if he was going to follow through with his promise. Crossing a bit faster to get out of hands reach of him, she stuck her tongue out and started to giggle as he growled at her. Teasing this orc was always fun for her, ever since the start of high school. He was already fully grown by then and her and awkward, gangly girl. She would still be considered small compared to his clans women but she had thighs, hips and an ass to die for. She knew her breasts weren't much but the way that orc looked at her as if she was a tall glass of mead on a hot day have her an idea that he didn't care.       Estrid was a five foot four inch, redhead, who's skin is milky white, covered in the lightest dusting of freckles. Eyes the color of chocolate, pretty red lips that bowed perfectly with a lower lip that was plump. She decided to wear light pants, boots, a green spaghetti strap shirt, and a long sleeve green/ blue flannel she rolled the sleeves up on. Her long hair braided back, hat on her head and sunscreen galore! Her and the sun are still not on speaking terms since the last time she blistered enough when she was a kid.       She finally got across the creek and looked behind her at the male crossing swiftly. His name is Crothu, a chieftains son of the Bloodwolf clan. He is to replace his father one day to rule his clan but right now she had him. His black hair pulled into a ponytail by a leather strap, that reached down his back. His six, sharp spike going down his forehead just stopping at the top of his eyebrows. Skin that was a mottled tan, brown, dark brown with hints of green on a body that made any man jealous. His eyes reminded her of a mixture of amber and rubies, with a face that had sharp cheekbones, a strong chin and jawline, eyelashes so thick it would make a beauty vlogger jealous, and lips that were heaven to nibble upon. His sharp tusks protruded slightly over his top lip and were pearly white. Black nails that were blunt right now until he flexed them and the sharp tips would show. His six foot seven tall figure was beautiful. He was barefoot for this walk, shorts hugging his gods send of an ass, his t- shirt draped over his shoulders showing the most amazing chest and stomach with a smattering of black hair going all the way down to the v that was hidden by his shorts. He was a heartthrob and he knew it. Females threw themselves at him and he would just tell them, politely, that he was not interested.          Her best friend, Elandriel, or El for short, was the one who invited him to the group when he kept looking towards us in school. The group wasn't real popular, but they were real friends. El was half elf and human, Ralgin is a dwarf, Lily was a tree nymph, and Xeni a satyress.     Elandriel was this beautifully thin and tall blonde woman. She did take after the tall, willowy elves, the few things she got from her human side was her huge breasts, wide hips, and sense of humor. Her mom was the elf and her father the human, how that happened everyone, including El, was confused.      Ralgin was tall for a dwarf. He says it's because his great grandfather was a human on his moms side but none of his other family members were tall. He was four feet and nine inches tall, stocky, brown hair, blue eyes and a real temper. He was fun to be around though, smart as hell and talented with computers. Usually a dwarf would be forging out knives, axes, swords, basically anything anyone needed, they'd go to a dwarf. Now creatures go to him if they need help or want a computer fixed.      Lily was an oddity within her clan. She was a lesbian. Her family loves her to death and will continue to love her because they are VERY open minded. Tree nymphs , or nymphs of any kind, don't do monogamy, they have multiple lovers. It wasn't odd to see an orgy going on in her house, they all would just avert their eyes so that they weren't looking at a bunch of writhing naked bodies. Lily was this tall, thick woman with green hair, silver eyes, chocolate skin and a coke bottle figure that some women dreamed of having.     Xeni was this quiet and reserved satyress. Unlike many of her race, they joined in on many of the nymph orgies, she didn't care about s*x. She was beautiful. Rosy cheeks, eyes the color of emeralds, Curly hair that was black as a ravens wing, skin that was tenderly kissed by the sun, hooves that were small and pretty, and leg fur that was soft as a cloud. She wore skirts, dresses, loose fitting pants and flowy shirts. She bound her breasts because, as she says, " They get in the way at the most inconvenient time." She loved to bake, that was just her thing. When someone bit into her baked goods, it was like the ingredients has s*x and that was their baby. She's had more than one male ask her out on a date after tasting one of her cookies. She'd flush and run away.        Estrid started to run from Crothu, a game they both knew ended up with her on her on his chest, deeply kissing and heavy petting that left them breathless. There was just something about this orc she couldn't get over. His thoughts were of his true mate, the woman that would bear him many half orc children. He knew she was his since high school and started to woo her.     Hiking further up the trail, Crothu stopped next to Estrid handing her a bottle of water. He watched her as she took half the water in one gulp, wiping her mouth with her shirt. She started to rummage through her little fanny pack for a orange bottle of sunscreen to apply liberally to her exposed skin. She was starting to get slightly pink on her nose and the tips of her ears. Crothu just loved how she fought a never ending battle with the sun and was starting to lose just a little.     Estrid watched him out of the corner of her eye, beads of sweat slowly dripping down his chest.     "I would like it if you two would stop eye f*****g each other," grumbled Ralgin. "We can feel the tension," El laughed, "before you know it Ralgin is going to get used by three different females."     All of them laughed, Ralgin turned four shades of red. Lily spoke up, " I'm sorry, but I would go for El or Xeni." Shrugging her shoulders, looking slightly apologetic but more amused, " women are the way I swing." El and Xeni started to giggle as Ralgin smiled and waggled his eyebrows.     Well stood up, tugging her hikers bag back on and buckling it back into place around her waist. "Alright, we are almost to the camp site, just 15 more minutes and we should be there."      Lily groaned as she hefted her back pack on her shoulders," Only, 15 minutes!?"  Xeni looked at her, " I offered my moms hiking bag but you said it looked too heavy."     As Xeni turned away to start hoofing it to the campsite, Lily stuck her tongue out and crossed her eyes. Ralgin could only shake his head and chuckle at the females.     Crothu held out his hand toward Estrid waiting for her to take it before he started walking. She just had to smile since this would have never happened while they were in school.     Watching as all the orcs came in the door to school crowded around one specific orc. The chieftains son. She grew up watching all the orcs play in their compounds yard since they were stronger than most children. There was always one orc child that sat in the grass always reading, coloring, or doing something away from the other children. He was considered the smallest of them all. He was adorable.      When he was able to get away from all of the other teenagers. He always found the most quiet spot in the library. She always bumped into him there. They would talk about authors and which books were the best but never if they wanted to hang out together.      It ended up being El that shoved her foot through the door and insisted that he join them for lunch.    When Crothu came up to her the day before graduation to tell her that his father wanted him to marry a orcess from  a rival clan to keep the peace. Her heart almost broke in two, until he said that his mother was fighting it tusk and claw. She believed in true mates, her and his father were true mates that just happened to be in rival clans. His father was built like a stout tree, thick and unmovable, but it's his father's height and eye color that Crothu has, his build a mixture of his father and mother. Estrid believes that he got most of his good looks from his mother.        They were always talking stealing glances of each other. It was some kind of miracle that no one, other than their friends, caught on to their growing love for one another. Finally getting to their campsite, Lily was sprawled on the ground puffing like she ran the rest of the way, Ralgin was carrying a bundle of fire wood, El was placing her tarp on the ground so she could put her sleeping bag on it, Xeni was pulling out her guitar, Estrid was preparing an area for her sleeping bag, and Crothu put down the bag of provisions for the trip. It was so heavy that no one but him could trek up the mountain with it on his back.     Much to everyone's dismay, he pulled out his battle axe, how he hid it from view, no one would know. " How, on the goddess Sif, did you hide that?" Estrid asked.      Crothu feigned confusion, "What ever do you mean? I had this on my back the whole time." El started to rummage the sack that held all of their camping provisions. Cans of food were flying out, the pan, tea kettle, percolator, cups, then a little drawstring bag about 3 inches long and wide was in between her fingers. Crothu started to smile, Ralgin started to howl with laughter. "It's a damn storage bag! You had this thing the whole time!" Elandriel screamed. "This little thing could have literally saved my arms from cut circulation!" Lily cried out. That is what made everyone laugh and laugh harder. Ralgin was wiping tears of laughter, Xeni was holding her sides, Estrid was holding her head in her hands, and El just tried to hold in her laughter with her hand.       Crothu was still smiling after the laughter died down, "I brought my axe just in case a bear wanders into camp, can't be too careful." El just sat down and sarcastically asked, " But I thought that a big Orc like you could take on a bear?" He just snorted a laugh, "Well this big strong orc doesn't want to get into a hand to hand with a bear and need stitches that aren't out here."      At night, everyone was around the blazing camp fire, sticks in hand with hotdogs skewered on over the flames. The millions of stars lighting up the night sky since it was a new moon that night. Estrid just started to hum a little chant, then words followed:  Aldrnari Eldr bal bruni Logi seyoir (Sustaining fire, Fire, pyre, Conflagration  Blaze, heat, Flame, Cultivating heat)     Most of the friends were asleep, Crothu was still up and tending the fire. It still got cold in the mountains even when it is summer. Lily, El, and Xeni were cuddled up together, Ralgin had furs to keep him warm in his sleeping bag and Estrid was wrapped around him, her head in his lap. The copper strands tickling his thighs every breath she takes. Just having her near him or on him was exhilarating, the smell of her skin and hair smelled like huckleberries, lilac, and sage.      Estrid knew how much stress he was under, especially since his father has been trying to push the arranged marriage to Gashnak, the daughter of the Raven clans chieftain. She is Beautiful, she just doesn't have all the softness that Estrid has. He wants her to find her true mate, the male that wants her, will strive to make her happy and loved. There marriage would be loveless, duty ridden. Their children wouldn't know what true love would be between their parents. He knew, his parents loved each other, his brother and sister found it. His brother found a strong male that loves him. They've adopted a few children of different races since they haven't found a female that will have a child for them. Most females don't want to have the child they grew and birthed taken from them.      His sister has been blessed with twin sons for her first pregnancy. Her husband isn't an orc, like their father wanted, he's a dragon shifter. Crothu's nephews were going to be strong, stronger than most orcs. Her husband took great care of her, she says he is driving her up a wall with his worrying over her and their babies but she loves him.      That is what Crothu wants, that is what he will fight for. Sighing, he moved Estrid out of his lap, moved her to the sleeping bag and lain down next to her drifting off to sleep.