Return of the Penguins

CHAPTER ELEVEN

CHAPTER ELEVEN

Trelio used the wand to find where the key actually was. It had obviously moved with the Orc king, but they found themselves outside a throne room. The Orc king could be seen in the room guarded by at least six guards. Tantalisingly, Kolan spotted the key sitting on a cushion underneath the throne, in plain sight.

“It’s there,” whispered Kolan as they loitered outside the throne room.

Suddenly, Kolan, Trelio, Larros and Krolith found themselves surrounded by six other Orcs.

“You are needed on the front line! Why are you loitering here! Come with us!” said one of the Orcs.

Reluctantly, the party were led away from the throne room down a long corridor and out into a massive chamber, full of Orcs.

“You in reserve force now. Wait for Orders,” said one of the Orcs.

“We will,” grumbled Trelio.

Just as the group were about to sneak off, another large Orc appeared and pointed at them.

“You four, join me! To the front!” he shouted.

Sadly, Trelio, followed by the others, joined the line leaving towards an open cavern where they heard the sound of violent warfare.

The noise was unbearable. Hordes and hordes of Dark Elves were streaming towards a line of Orcs who were attempting to hold them off. But the line was full of gaps that the reserve was supposed to be filling. As Trelio came to the front of the line, it was clear to him that it had broken. The large Orc in front of him had been killed by a group of Dark Elves almost immediately and Trelio swerved to the side, followed by Kolan and Krolith. Larros, overwhelmed by the warfare, went full on into the Dark Elves and was cut to pieces.

Trelio, with the others, crawled back out of the cavern towards the corridor outside. The chaos of the battle still rang in his ears. In fact, he was noticing that his hearing was improving.

Suddenly he realised that the magic of the transformation was failing. They were changing back to human form.

“We have to find the key!” said Trelio.

“Let’s get back to the throne room,” said Kolan.

Krolith was glad that the Orcs were all engaged in a battle behind them. The party frantically ran back to the throne room as fast as they could.