Zenora

Emily’s point of view:

“Where is Dolly?” I asked Dennis, who had a broken arm.

“Emily, I’m sorry…”

“WHERE IS DOLLY!” I shouted at him and he pointed to a bunch of dead trees from the way we came flying in. I ran there with tears in my eyes, Brock right behind me and when I got close, I saw her, lying in the snow with an arrow in her chest. A lifeless body of what used to be a bundle of joy in my life.

“NOOOOO!” I cried and screamed my lungs out. Brock grabbed me from behind and held me tight. My dear Dolly! Dead by those vicious Orcs! I hate them! I hate, hate them! I yelled to Brock that I should have stayed with them and I hit his chest while doing so. I blamed him for making me go through the portal, because of his decision, Dolly was now dead. I felt so guilty that she had to die without me protecting her!

Then I heard some weird laughter and turned myself around. An Orc was sitting against a tree, blood gushing out of his stomach. My eyes turned black with fury and I walked up towards him, slowly, while he was still laughing. Then he said more orcs would come to try and kill me but I couldn’t care less, I didn’t even respond to what he said. I now stood behind him and without any second thought, I snapped his neck. His limp body slid to the side and lay motionless in the snow.

All this time Brock just looked at me and did nothing, he couldn’t do anything right now. This was something I had to do, Dolly was my dog, my responsibility and I let her down. I took the arrow out of Dolly her chest and threw it away. I kissed her on the head and I petted her white fur. It took me several minutes to gather my strength to cover her body with snow until she was completely submerged. Hoping that other animals couldn’t smell her because of the cold snow and wouldn’t be tempted to eat her flesh.

Miles came running toward me and I held him very tight. “Show me what happened.” I said without a doubt, and an image rose into the back of my mind, just like when I had wanted to stop Rhydon, that time he rushed towards me.

I saw this black and white movie of Anna and Cirilya sitting on Rhydon. When a loud roar was heard from an Orc in the distance. Brock’s men came rushing forward, trying to protect them, but they were too late. An arrow came flying toward them and Dolly had no other choice but to jump in front of it. She saved Anna! Just like I had told my animals to do.

I got back to reality and hugged Miles some more. “I’m sorry you lost your big sister Miles. I’m so sorry for everything!” Miles howled with his nose pointing towards the sky and I cried with him. After a few more minutes we both calmed down. “let’s get you home.” I said to him.

Brock’s point of view:

Emily was so fierce during the battle, she had guided my men in the right direction, following her instinct and fighting those Orcs without a sliver of fear in her body. I never doubted her, she could handle herself, although I continuously kept an eye out for her, in case she did need any help.

And when she walked up to that laughing Orc, gazing at him with blackened eyes I knew it could be dangerous what she was about to do, but she needed to do this her own way. But when she snapped his neck, I was surprised by her strength though. It was a warrior Orc and a big one as well, where did she get the strength to break his neck?

But now she didn’t talk at all, my fierce little hunter, broken by the death of her dog. Somehow, I felt guilty as I’m the one who practically forced her to take Ulrick’s portal, instead of the long route. But then she might have been killed by that same arrow that killed Dolly. So, I had to let that go and be strong for her. Emily needed her time for grieving now.

Every wound and broken bone was mended or taken care of. All the supplies were gathered and inventory was made. Thirty-seven killed Orcs and five killed men in total. I’m proud of my warriors and hunters, we were with more people, to begin with, but still, the death count could have been much higher on our part. Unfortunately, Alani was killed as well. He was one of my trusted men, one that protected the others till the very last bit. He was shot with arrows three times before his body gave up.

I had sent the men with the worst injuries, including Dennis, Cirilya and Anna, back to the castle on Gryphons right away. Cirilya was still in a coma so she had to travel together with one of my men to hold her.

But we couldn’t all go back to the castle with Gryphons. Emily wouldn’t let me take her by Gryphon as she wanted to stay with Rhydon and Miles. So, I stayed with her with twenty of my men, riding on the horses that were still alive and some on Gryphons in the air to keep an eye out for any more intruders.

Arch had to come with us too on his Gryphon, as it had a broken wing from the arrow of the Orc hunter. He was really happy though that Nightwing was ordered by Emily to catch him and his Gryphon. They would’ve been dead if it wasn’t for her idea. Arch had tried to thank Emily but all she did was smile lightly and nod gently.

I had spoken with some of the men I had to send to the portal, to find out what happened. They had told me that they got surprised by Orc scouts as they were already waiting at the portal. Like they knew when Dennis and the others would come through it. Fortunately, they were able to kill the scouts before the others arrived on this side.

And then when Dennis and the others stepped through, several more Orcs came through as well. Just as I thought, they were being chased and needed to quicken their pace to reach the portal in time. During the little battle that followed, Cirilya got knocked off of Rhydon and another horse had stepped on her stomach in the ruckus. I guess that’s when she had contacted Emily, right before she passed out into her coma.

After this, they travelled as quick as they could, but got attacked soon after again where Dolly had received the first sign of the intruders.

Emily’s point of view:

My dear Dolly, I hope you didn’t suffer long. I hope you died instantly when you rescued Anna from what could have been her fate. I’m so proud of what you did! Saving my best friend. Please be in heaven, away from sorrow and away from pain. I love you!

Tears kept rolling from my cheeks as I was still broken to my core. It will take quite some time to heal. She was only three years old so had a long life ahead of her, but that ended abruptly by those wicked Orcs. If it were up to me, I’d chase every single one of them down and murder them on sight. Not only because they killed my dog, but also for the men, that they had killed today.

I remembered I got angry at Brock for not letting me take the long route with the others, but now I regret what I said. He made that choice to protect me and I know now why. Those vicious Orcs were ruthless, mindless beings, slaughtering everything in their path! Brock must have been terrified by the idea that they could have killed me instead.

For now, we are on our way to the castle, from here it would take about four more days to get there. Four more days to grieve over Dolly before life continued normally again.