{"sf1_id":681288,"sf2_id":null,"title":"The Hawthorne Accord - Chapter 6","author":"JakeXtraTall","words":6399,"posted_at":"2014-03-18T03:27:00.000Z","tags":["Adventure","Fantasy","Gay","Male"],"url":"https://fse.anthro.fr/stories/681288-the-hawthorne-accord-chapter-6","original_url":"https://sofurry.com/view/681288","image_url":"https://www.sofurryfiles.com/std/thumb?page=681288\u0026ext=.jpg","description":"","content":"The three kobolds, Beowul, Lox, and Stenwul ran like the wind as\nthey approached the site they'd camped at with the smith as their\ncaptive the night before.It\nwas night again and quite dark but their sense of smell was more than\nkeen enough to follow their own trail back to where their march had\nbegun that morning.They slowed to walking speed as they\napproached the site but they stayed on all fours to sniff out the area.\n They all circled the remains of their fire\nand almost as one they recognized a strange scent that had to be the\nboy they were searching for.  They followed the scent around the\ncamp and then out from it toward a large stand of trees.  As they\ngot to the trees they found that the scent was extremely strong here.\"The\nsweet whelp was in this spot for quite a long while, my loves.  I\nbelieve we may be in some trouble and will have some explaining to do,\"\nsaid Beowul.\"Yes, my dear,\" said Stenwul, \"the poor whelp must\nhave followed this far and then hid and watched.  Jake said the\nwhelp does not know our true nature so he must have wisely stayed\nhidden to wait for a chance to rescue his only life's love.\"\"It\nis indeed a calamity and a great tragedy as Jex said, my loves.  I\nfear for the whelp!  He must have fallen asleep and when he woke he\nfound we'd taken his sweet love away!\" exclaimed Lox.\"There is\nno time to waste, my dears; we must find which way he went.  If he\nhid here through the night then he must have left the tracks at the\ncamp after he woke up and discovered us gone.  Let us go back and\ncheck in a wider circle to see which way he went after that,\" suggested\nBeowul.The three kobolds ran back to the camp site and fanned out to search for more tracks.\"Here!\n He headed out from here back in a direction parallel to where he\ncame from.  He must be heading back home!\" exclaimed Stenwul.\"Oh, Great Mother, no!  He would be heading right back into the\nclutches of the human army that Jake said wants him dead!\" shouted Lox.Beowul snarled and growled viciously.\"If they have harmed a hair on his head I will eat their hands and feet and shit them back out into their mouths!\"Without a word he bounded forward along Neville's trail and the others followed.They\nwere running faster than they'd ever run before and it took them less\nthan thirty minutes to reach the spot where Neville had stopped to\nwitness the burning of his village.The\nkobolds all stopped and\nstared in amazement at the sight.  All of the buildings in the\ntown before them had\ncollapsed by now but were still burning in piles.  It was a\nhorrifying conflagration that had utterly destroyed the homes of all of\nthe innocent people of the village.\"Is there no end to the destruction these creatures will bring down against their own?\" lamented Beowul.\"Indeed,\ntheir soldiers are evil and as much as I love the humans, I do so enjoy\nsinking my teeth into their armies,\" snarled Stenwul.\"Let us\ncontinue the search.  The whelp's trail does not continue forward\nto the village.  He must have seen the carnage and decided to turn\naway from it,\" said Lox.\"Yes, I have his scent this way my\nloves,\" said Beowul, who had moved off to the left a little and picked\nup the boy's scent again.The three tracked the scent over to the corpses of the two soldiers that Neville had relieved of their water and rations.\"Look\nat the injuries on these men.  Their armor has been run through by\nsharp swords.  It has to be orcs.  There must have been a\nscout party coming to investigate the destruction of the human village\nand were set upon by this patrol,\" said Stenwul.\"One of the\nsoldiers has had his armor removed and his shirt taken.  The whelp\nmust have taken what he needed to sustain himself from these men and he\nheaded out that way along the mountains back towards the camp again but more towards the mountains this time,\"\nsaid Lox as he continued to sniff around and picked up the scent again.Stenwul had tracked the soldiers' trail back a ways toward town and then ran around at random in a wide area snuffling.\"There\nis something else happening here, my sweet loves,\" he said, \"It may bear\nfurther investigation.  I have the scent of many other humans\naround the area.  They seem to go off in different directions from\ntheir village.  I can smell more oils and leather from\nother soldiers spreading out from here as well and they are fresher so they came out some time after.  I can only assume\nit is the poor dear civilians of the ruined village running for their lives and being hunted\nby their own wicked army!\"\"Oh no, the calamity is worse even\nthan we'd feared!\" exclaimed Lox, \"the poor whelp's kith and kin are out\nhere in the darkness running for their lives as well!\"\"We\nmust\nhonor our promise to Jake and make his life's love our priority, but we\ncannot leave these poor, sweet people in the lurch,\" said Beowul, \"Lox,\nmy dear, please track the direction of the orcs that killed these\nsoldiers.  I know that there was a large party of orcs and ogres\nwho were bound for the mountains to the south of the pass.  These\norcs must have been scouting for the larger party and\nthey would have quickly rejoined after seeing this\ndestruction.  Find\nthem and have them spread out and rescue the poor humans and take them\nto safety.  Tell them to be very careful as they approach because\nthe humans think us all to be vicious, mindless killers.  I need\nnot tell you what to do with any human soldiers you may find.  I\nshall miss you terribly my dear, sweet love, but you must go with haste!\"Lox\nnodded and crouched to all fours sniffing in a circle around the dead\nsoldiers and as he picked up the trail of the orcs he bounded swiftly\noff into the darkness.\"Sten, my sweet, let us go and find the poor whelp before anything more can befall him!\" Beowul said.The\ntwo sniffed around to relocate the strongest scent of the boy leading\nback out into the darkness and they began to run.  They hadn't run\nlong before Stenwul veered a bit off the trail and stopped.\n Beowul stopped as well to see what the matter was.\"Oh my,\nwe must go even faster, my love, and be on our guard.  I have\ndetected the strong scent of two more soldiers merging with the whelp's\ntrail.  They have seen his track through the grasses and are after\nhim!  They may have already caught him by now!\" said StenwulBoth kobolds went back to all fours and shot into the darkness as fast as their legs could carry them....Neville\nfell over occasionally as the rope yanked at his neck and he couldn't\nsee where his feet were going due to the sack over his head.\n They'd been walking for only a half hour or so by his reckoning.\n There were only the two men, the officer and another soldier who had\nthe rope that was tied to Neville's neck.Neville stumbled and almost fell once again.\"Keep to your feet or I shall drag you the rest of the way by your neck, boy!\" growled the soldier pulling the rope.\"Yes,\nwe need only ensure that you are still alive when we get you back to\nBraddock.  I don't think he'll mind if half your skin is scraped\noff from the dragging,\" warned the officer.\"Speaking of which, Blackwood, sir, if\nLord Braddock is not concerned about the condition of the boy when we\nbring him back, could we not use him a bit here while he's still fresh?\n We likely won't get a chance later once he's in the commander's hands,\"\nsuggested the soldier.Neville heard one man's footsteps\nstop, and then the other man's, and a moment later Neville walked into\nthe back of his captors and stopped.\"It's\ngood to see that you\nuse your head occasionally soldier.  There is officer material\nin you I think,\" chuckled Blackwood, \"I would definitely enjoy using\nthe\nboy thoroughly as I did not get a chance earlier.  I shot my load\nall over him and made a mess before I got a chance to stick my cock\nwhere it truly belonged, in his greedy cunt.\"Both men laughed and then one grabbed Neville and pushed him roughly face down on the ground.\"I\nshall use his hole first while it's snug,\" said Blackwood, \"It's been a whole day and it\nmust have gone back to a nice tightness after the use it got last\nnight.\"Neville felt hands push his jerkin up and roughly tear\nhis breechclout from him.  He heard the rustling of armor and\nclothes being partially removed and then two hands grabbed his hips and\nroughly pulled his ass upwards.  He then felt a large cock head\nbegin to press against his anus.\"I know how much you love this, whore, so I will make it count,\" said Blackwood.Neville could hear the leer in his voice.Just\nas the pressure began to increase and the cock head was about to breach\nhis anus, Neville heard Blackwood grunt hard, but instead of the cock\nbeing thrust into him it was pulled away and simultaneously he heard\nthe other soldier cry out in pain and then be quickly stifled.  He\nheard the sound of metal scraping against metal a few times and then\nheard the bodies of both soldiers fall to the ground.  Neville was\nstill on the ground with the sack over his head so he had no idea who\nhad rescued him.\"Drag the bodies into the bushes and take their weapons, my love, and I will help the boy get free,\" a voice said.\"Yes, my dear,\" said another voice.There\nmust be two rescuers then.  Their voices somehow did not sound\nnormal.  They were a little more musical and sweet sounding than\nwhat Neville was accustomed to.He felt hands begin to work at\nthe rope around his neck and remove it.  Then they began to work\nat the cords tying Neville's hands.  His rescuer spoke to him as he worked.\"Please,\nboy, you may be alarmed when I remove the sack from your head and you\nsee me, for I am not human, but you must not attempt to flee.  You\nwould put yourself in much greater danger if you did.  Know this,\nwe have saved you from these foul men and it is our intent to bring you\nto a more permanent place of safety.  These woods are not a good\nplace for a boy to be on his own.  You can see I mean you no harm\nby the fact that I am releasing you from your bonds.  We mean only\nto help you.  We would never harm a civilian human.  It is\nagainst our laws.  Please stay calm and think on my words as I\nremove the sack,\" the rescuer said.Neville's first\ninstinct was simply to get up and run as fast as he could, but he\nrealized that so far any attempt to run from danger only got him into\nworse.  Perhaps it was time to have some courage and break the\ncycle.  They truly did not appear to mean him any harm and they\ncertainly saved him from a terrible fate at the hands of the madman\nBraddock.Neville finally felt his hands get freed and then the sack was pulled off of his head.He\nopened his eyes and they quickly adjusted to the low level of light.\n To his surprise, crouched before him was one of the green men\nlike he'd seen at the orgy.  The man had a smile on his face and a\nlook of concern in his eyes.  His partner emerged from the bushes\nand he looked exactly the same.Neville had been rescued from Braddock's men by a pair of orcs!Both\nseemed to have looks of concern for him on their faces rather than any\nhatred.  They were both dressed in very fine, long coats of splint\nmail.  Incredibly sharp looking scimitars hung at their sides.\n The swords looked capable of slicing through metal.Neville simply lay there on the ground and stared up in stunned silence at his saviors.\"What\nsort of people are these that their own armies mistreat their civilians\nso?  He is only a boy for Mother's sake!\" said the second orc\nin anger.\"Ease your tone, Tenimo, you will frighten the poor child,\" said the first orc soothingly.\"Yes, dear,\" was all the other said as he approached and stood behind the first.Neville\nwas in shock.  They seemed somewhat more polite than he would have\nguessed vicious monsters to be, and both were clearly male and\nsoldiers.  Why were they calling each other 'love' and 'dear'?\n What exactly was going on here?He sat up while rubbing at his\nwrists and faced his rescuer, who slowly leaned in and helped\nNeville to remove his gag.  The orc threw the gag aside and then\nrubbed Neville on the head and gave him an encouraging smile.\"I\nam Zebok and this is my life mate Tenimo,\" he said, \"May I ask what\nyour name is, and why you were out here alone and taken prisoner by your own\npeople?\"\"I am Neville Hawthorne.  I want to thank you for rescuing\nme from those men.  My fate would have been worse than I think you\ncan imagine at their hands.  I was out here alone primarily trying\nto get myself away from those soldiers.  I escaped them with\nhelp last night and have been running ever since until they finally\ncaught me.\"\"Help?\n Is there someone else out here we need to search for?  The soldiers\ndidn't kill them did they?\" Zebok asked, sounding deeply concerned.\"No,\nhe was captured by a group of evil kobolds last night.  I was\nnot able to come to his aid and I lost him forever when I succumbed to my\nweariness and fell asleep while waiting for a chance to go in and get him\nout,\" said Neville.\"Evil kobolds?  Whatever do you mean, Neville?  Was your helper another soldier?  Was he armed and armored?\"\"No,\nhe was the town smith.  We were both unarmed and even almost\nundressed and completely helpless.  The kobolds were certainly armed and\narmored.  They came upon him in the darkness and hit him and\ndragged him into their camp and did things to him.\"\"This is\nmost confusing.  The kobolds are the sweetest and most loving of\nall the races, Neville.  They could not possibly have meant your\nfriend any harm if he was clearly a civilian.  It had to be a misunderstanding.\"\"But I saw them rape him!\" exclaimed Neville.\"I see.  Well,\nabout that, it is quite possible that they could not resist doing that\ngiven the circumstance, though they were breaking a law to do so.\n If they were alone with the man and he was unconscious they may\nhave succumbed to their almost uncontrollable desires.  They are a\nhighly sexual people and they are extreme xenophiles.  They are\npowerfully drawn to the human race.  I assure you they were not\nraping him but rather making love to him, and in their eyes they were\nshowing him how much they adored him.  They were not rough with\nhim, were they?\" Zebok asked.\"No, now that you mention it.\n When I think back on it I think they might have actually been\nquite tender.  At the time I was only seeing a rape by creatures I had always\nbeen taught were vicious and cruel so it may have colored my\nperception.  Do you really mean to tell me that they are sweet of\ndisposition?\" asked Neville.\"The sweetest you will ever know.\n You will fall head over heels in love with them when at last you\nmeet them I can assure you,\" Zebok said with a smile, \"They are my\nfavorites by far and I love them all very much.  Your face will\npositively ache from smiling if you spend too much time with them.\n There are no people in the world more pleasant than them.\"It felt\nto Neville like the weight of the world was lifted from his shoulders.\n If what the orc was saying was true, Jake was not only safe but\nwould be well cared for.\"That is such a relief!  I was\nsure they were taking him to their army to share as a meal or worse.\n Now I find they were in love with him?  On top of that, I am\nrescued by a pair of orcs who seem more polite than many people I've known,\nand who I was also taught are vicious and evil, and who are a loving, mated pair of males?  If what you're\ntelling me of the kobolds, and what I've seen so far of you is true, then\nthe only evil people I've encountered in the last two nights of hell\nhave been human!  It's like my world is turning upside down,\" said\nNeville.The\norc chuckled, \"Indeed.  You seem wise and mature well\nbeyond your years and quite a bit more open-minded than my previous\nexperiences with humans would have suggested.  You are eloquent\nand extremely well spoken as well for such a young man.  I am\ntruly impressed with\nyou, Neville, and am most pleased to have made your acquaintance.\n I assure you that most likely nearly everything you've\nlearned about the races has been false.\"\"I\nhave heard that orcs are green, kobolds have fur, and ogres are large.\n I feel that perhaps that is the extent of the truth that I've\nbeen exposed to.  The rest of what I've been taught seems more and more to be a complete\nfabrication,\" said Neville.The two orcs smiled at him and laughed.\"So if the kobolds were friendly, where would they have taken my friend do you think?\" asked Neville.\"There\nis a significant battle coming near here.  They would be under rules to take him back to\ntheir main force to keep him safe and to speak with their chieftain to\nsee if he has any information regarding the human armies that may be of use.\"\"Can\nyou tell me which way I can go to find the kobold army?  All I\ncare about is to get back to the arms of my love again,\" pleaded Neville.\"Your\nlove?  You mean he is more than just a friend to you?  I\nthought the humans did not allow the pairing of the same gender.\n It would come as a surprise to me if that has changed,\" said\nTenimo.\"Indeed, it would be news to me as well and a most interesting and important development,\" said Zebok.\"He\nmeans everything to me,\" said Neville, \"He is the love of my life and I\nhad only just revealed my feelings to him and he to me last night\nmoments before he was ripped away from me.  Our people do not\napprove of the pairing of the same gender.  That is why he only\njust revealed his feelings for me.  He'd been hiding\nthem to protect me.  He is the love of my life and I am his.\"\"Oh\nmy, you should have said so in the first place,\" said Zebok, \"We take\nmatters of love quite seriously among our people.  Tenimo, let us\nbe off.  We will take young Neville here back to our main force at\nonce!\"\"To your force?  I thought you said they would take Jake to the kobold army,\" said Neville.\"They\nare one and the same, or at least they will be shortly if they are not already.  The orc\narmies were defeated when the humans sacked our city but we pulled out\nquickly when we knew our cause was hopeless in order to keep our losses to an absolute minimum.  We knew the humans\nwould assume we would regroup and move what was left of our forces to\nthe ogres' main keep to join up with them since they are the closest\nand the most powerful of our allies, so we did the opposite and marched\nhard and fast to join the kobolds who we felt the humans would strike\nat next.  We were within a day or two's march from each other when\nTenimo and I left and ran ahead to take a forward position and assess\nthe situation here ourselves,\" explained Zebok.\"Assess what situation exactly?\" asked Neville.\"These\nare military matters and I have perhaps said too much already, though\nyou would have discovered that much of it when we arrived at our main\nencampment.  I would prefer not to discuss these matters any\nfurther if you\ndon't mind, my dear boy.  Be at ease knowing we are taking you to\nour main force, which will be merging with the kobold army or has done so already.  That\nis where your love would be taken.  You will be reunited with him\nwithin a day or two, I promise,\" Zebok said and smiled warmly.The\norc had been crouched in front of Neville as he spoke.  Neville's\nheart soared at the news of his coming reunion with Jake and without\nthinking he sat forward and embraced the orc warmly.\"Thank\nyou so much, Zebok!  You have freed me from a horrible nightmare\nand saved my life.  Now you will bring me back to the arms of the\none I love.  You are truly wonderful!  I don't know how I\nwill ever repay you for this kindness!\" Neville exclaimed.The orc put his arms around the boy in a tight hug and patted his back.\"It\nis not a favor that would need repaying, my dear boy,\" the orc said\nwarmly, \"As I said, we take\nmatters of love quite seriously and the support of them our duty.\n Tenimo and I had dallied a bit too\nlong\nwith some friends of ours we ran into here in the forest.  We had\na bit of a celebration.  The two of us were just leaving to start\nback to our army when we found signs of someone running headlong\nthrough the forest, and then signs of a struggle.  We could see\nthat\nsomeone had been captured and was being led away.  We moved to\ninvestigate and followed you here.  We are past due heading back\nto the main force.  You will simply be our guest on a short\njourney we had planned to take anyhow and you will be wonderful company\nindeed.  It will be a pleasure to walk with you.  Let us\nproceed.\"Neville stood and looked around and found his discarded breechclout and tied it back on under his ragged shirt.The\norc looked at him and shook his head sadly and said, \"I do wish we had\nsomething better for you to wear.  You are in such a state!  Your\nbuff jerkin looks like it came from someone much larger.  Someone\nwho\nwas killed by an orc I would venture, going by the stab pattern.\n We do get a bit carried away with our scimitars.  You must\ntell me the whole story of your ordeal as we walk.\"\"It\nis such a relief to know that Jake is safe.  I think I may finally be\nrelaxed enough to tell the whole thing without being overcome by the\nfear I've felt,\" said Neville.\"My dear boy, you do not strike me as anything but courageous.  In any case you are quite safe\nnow with us.  Know well that your life's love is probably already with\nthe kobold army and being treated better than he's ever been in his\nlife.  I promise you that when next you see him he will likely be wearing a very wide grin,\" Zebok assured him....Jake,\nTithan, and Jex had\nbeen running at the best speed that the smith could maintain and they\nhad finally reached the kobolds' camp from the night before a while after\nthe first three kobolds had done.  It had not taken Tithan and Jex\nlong to discern that the other kobolds had run off following Neville's\nscent back towards town.Jake\nwas in extreme distress.  Neville must have assumed him gone\nforever; captured by evil monsters and taken away for who knew what\nreason.  The boy must have given up and done the only thing he\ncould think of, which was to go back home and do what he could to try to\nhelp his family.Jake and the two kobolds were now running in\nthe direction of town to see if there was anything that could still be\ndone for him, when suddenly they all heard a woman's scream of terror\nsomewhere well off in the distance back and to their right.It sounded as though someone were being murdered.They all veered right and began to run at speed towards the sound.As they ran they heard the woman scream again, this time much louder.Jake increased his pace and began to run so fast he thought his lungs might burst from the effort....Carvell\nHawthorne ran through the darkness pulling his wife Emma along with\nhim.  He did not know exactly which direction they were going and\nhe\ndidn't care.  He knew they were running in a roughly southerly\ndirection away from their village.  He needed to put some distance\nbetween them and\nBraddock's army.The men had been too drunk already when he'd\nreturned to the inn to follow through on their threat of using him\nmore.  They ate their meals and demanded more food.  They drank\nuntil nearly dawn before they finally succumbed and the last of them passed out at the table.Carvell\nand Emma finally managed to\nslip out the back but it was beginning to get light already.  The\ninnkeeper was terrified that they might be seen.  The guard at the\ndoor would have assumed the other had remained at the camp to fuck\nNeville and thus had not questioned the fact that he'd been left alone.\n There were bound\nto be guards coming to relieve the ones at the door of the inn soon\nthough, and\nthe other would quickly realize that the boy had never made it to the\narmy and one of the guards was in fact missing.  It would not be\nlong before the alarm\nwould be raised.Poor\nEmma was just too exhausted to run for\nlong as they had both been on their feet for more than twenty four\nhours and the last eight or so had been a night of terror.  It was\nnot safe to run in broad daylight as they would be too\neasily seen.  Carvell had found the deepest and thickest stand of\nbrush and trees he could and they lay down and hid in them, praying they\nwould not be found.  Emma succumbed to sleep very quickly and\nthe\ninnkeeper held out as long as he could so he could watch over her\nbut he too succumbed and fell asleep.The\ntwo woke in the night less than an hour after their only son had\npassed\nwithin yards of their hiding spot unbeknownst to any of them.\n They could see in the distance that their beloved village was\nin flames and most of the buildings, including their inn, had\ncollapsed.  Some were still standing towards the far side of the\nvillage, but they would not be for long as they were fully\nengulfed in flames.It simply didn't\nmatter.  They had their lives and that was the only truly precious\nthing.  Carvell was confident in the smith's ability to protect\nhis son so he knew his entire family was safe and alive for the time being.  The inn had been\nnothing more than a carefully ordered pile of wood and could be rebuilt easily enough.  His family was\neverything and irreplaceable.Now\nthat Carvell was able to get his bearings properly\nhe realized that they'd been running northward straight towards kobold\nand orc territory.\n He felt that would be too dangerous so he risked doubling back a\nlittle while heading further west and south now that it was dark enough\nto move around unseen.  His intent was to make a wide circle back\npast the ruins of the village and well away westward and then southward\nand then take refuge along the base of the mountains to\nthe south for the time being.  Their progress was slow as Emma was\nhaving difficulty moving through the trees and brush in the darkness.\n It had been some time since they'd woken and they'd been pushing hard and already\nthey were getting exhausted again from their headlong rush through the dark forest.Carvell's decision to move around to the south had turned out to be a bad one\nin the end.  Braddock, in his anger over the loss of his captives,\nmust have ordered his men to search the woods.The innkeeper and\nhis wife continued through the forest in the dark and as they rounded some\ntrees they almost ran right into a pair of soldiers.\"Halt!\" demanded one of the soldiers.Emma\nscreamed.  Then she and the innkeeper both turned and ran from the\nsoldiers as fast as they could.  Emma tripped and fell.\n Carvell turned back and went down on one knee to help her up.  The two\nsoldiers were almost upon them.\"Move and I'll throw my axe at the woman's head!\" the soldier ordered while he pulled his axe and brandished it.The two realized they were caught and Carvell dropped his other knee and sat back on his legs and waited for the end.As the soldiers approached them a blur of movement came from\nthe right.  Carvell barely had time to focus before he realized it\nwas a kobold!The\ncreature leaped high through the air swinging a\nmace.  The soldiers did not even see him coming silently at them\nfrom high in the air to the side.\n As the kobold arced towards them his mace came\ndown on the first soldier's helm with\nenough force to cave in the side of it deeply and the reaction from the\nsolid hit started the kobold turning in mid air.  There was no\ndoubt the skull\ninside the helm was in worse shape as the soldier instantly began to\nfall in a\nlifeless\nheap.  Even as the first man was falling the kobold was still\nhurtling\ndownward towards the second soldier and he continued to turn as he\ncame in front of him and his jaws snapped shut on the man's\nexposed throat.  The kobold kicked his hind legs around in the\ndirection of his spin to accelerate it and he tore the man's\nthroat from his body in a spray of blood.  The kobold hit the\nground and\nrolled once onto his feet and turned back to face the soldiers and spat\nthe flesh from his mouth and snarled menacingly.The\nsecond soldier's lifeless body, with blood spurting from his torn open\nthroat, hit the ground just shortly after the first soldier with the\ncaved in skull, and the kobold stood and turned to face the two humans\nwith gore and blood dripping from his razor sharp teeth.Emma\nscreamed again and fainted.  Carvell Hawthorne knew their end had\ncome.  He was unarmed and this kobold was clearly a vicious killer.  He lifted his unconscious wife into\nhis arms.  He wanted to be holding her when the kobold finished\nthem both.Just as the innkeeper was beginning to resign himself to his fate the kobold did something most unexpected.He\nwhined a few times and went down on the ground and rolled onto his back with his paws in the\nair exposing his belly like the submissive pose a dog would take before\nits master.  He held that position for a few moments and then he\nspoke.\"Please\ndo not be afraid, my dear man.  My name is Lox, and I intend only\nto help you and your people to get to safety,\" said the kobold.\"You......what?\" asked the innkeeper, eyes wide and mouth gaping.\"You\nare in danger out here, my dear, as you have already seen.  I was on\nmy way to track down a force of orcs and ogres that are in the area and bring\nthem back to assist in the rescue of your people but I heard your poor,\ndear wife scream and I diverted here,\" explained Lox.\"Orcs and ogres?  You intend to rescue us?  Why?\" Neville's father was truly confused by this.Lox\nrolled back to all fours and then stood up and stepped back a couple of\npaces with his forepaws out to his sides and palms forward to show he\nwas no threat.\"You are the kinfolk of the sweet, wonderful man Jake and his life's love Neville are you not?\" he asked.\"Neville?!  What do you know of my son?\" asked Carvell now really becoming confused.Why\nwould a kobold know the name of his son and the town blacksmith?\n How would he know of the smith's love for the boy?  Why is\nhe being helpful?  It was all a bit strange and he began to wonder\nif he was hallucinating in the final moments of his life.  Perhaps\nthe soldier had thrown his axe and it was now firmly lodged in Carvell's\nskull and he was simply having a bizarre vision as he died.\"Neville is your whelp?!  Oh my, what a strange coincidence,\" said Lox.Just then Jake, Tithan and Jex came crashing\nout of the trees and stopped dead in their tracks at the sight before them.Everyone stared at everyone else in stunned silence for a moment.\"Jakobson!  Why are you here?  Why are you with kobolds?  Where is Neville?!\" asked the innkeeper.Jake's face became a mask of anguish as he approached Neville's father.\"I am so sorry, Carvell; I have lost him,\" he said.\"Lost him!?  I trusted you with my son's life!  How could you lose him?!\" the innkeeper demanded angrily.Jex\nfelt he had to intervene and he moved in front of Jake and slowly\napproached the angry innkeeper while bowing low and presenting his open\nforepaws palm up.\"Please,\nmy dear man.  I understand your anger but I must tell you that it\nis my fault that your whelp is on his own and it is in no way the fault\nof your sweet friend!  My name is Jex and I\nmistook Jake for a threat and I incapacitated him, not knowing he'd\nbeen charged with guarding your whelp's life!  Please, do not be\nangry with him!  He is not at fault in the least!  I came at\nhim from behind and there was nothing he could have done to prevent\nit!  Please, do not blame your friend but rather turn your wrath on me where it belongs,\" he lamented.Carvell began to calm down and he realized he had spoken too hastily.\"I\nhave just seen what one of you is capable of when you decide to attack.\n Lox here saved my wife's life and my own in a most efficient\nmanner that those soldiers could certainly do nothing to prevent,\" said\nthe innkeeper, \"Please accept my apology, Jake.  I spoke without\nknowing the facts.  I can see your own anguish over your mistake,\nJex, and I shall try not to hold it against you either if you swear to\nhelp me find my son again.\"\"Jex,\nTithan, we tracked Neville far enough to see that he is still alive and\nhe had run off back along the mountains in the direction of our\nadvancing army.  The whelp was wise enough to turn away from the\ndestruction of his village and head northward.  He is moving away\nfrom the danger and has had\nmuch time to put some distance between himself and the human soldiers.\n Beowul and Stenwul have gone after him at their best speed.\n They will find him\nand keep him safe.  There is no longer any need for concern my\ndears.\n We discovered signs of an orc scouting party who were part of a\nlarger contingent of orcs and ogres heading south along the mountains\nand I was tracking back to their location to bring them back\nhere to assist with the rescue of the humans from their evil soldiers.\n We need to bring the whelp's sire and his sweet wife with us to\nthe orcs and enlist their aid to help us rescue the rest of the poor\npeople of\nJake's village!\" explained Lox.Jake asked, \"Carvell, is this true?  Did the townsfolk manage to escape?\"The\ninnkeeper nodded, \"I wasn't sure until now but it sounds like they did.\n I had no time to check when Emma and I saw our chance to escape.\n After you and I parted last night I stopped and informed Nestor Billings of our danger and asked him\nto organize a quiet exodus of the people.  It seems as though he\nsucceeded.  They were to scatter in the woods in order to be\nharder to catch.\"\"That\nis good news, though it will also make\nthem harder to find and get to safety, but if anyone can find them all\nquickly in the dark it will be the kobolds,\" said Jake, \"There is no\ntime to\nexplain in full, Carvell.  I can only ask that you trust me when I\nsay these kobolds, all kobolds in fact, are very kind and no threat to\ncivilians.  They are willing to help us find our people and take\nthem to safety.  It may be hard to believe but please, you must\ntrust me.  The orcs, kobolds and even the ogres are no threat to\nus.  They will protect us with their lives against Braddock and\nhis men.  We need to go with these kobolds and find the orcs as\nfast as we\ncan.  There is no time to lose if everyone is still out running in\nthe woods in the dark and Braddock's men are out here.\"Carvell\nHawthorne was completely taken aback.  The other races were going\nto protect them all against the human army?  He did not know what\nto say.\n His wife's safety was paramount for the moment though and he\ncertainly trusted his lifelong friend.He nodded firmly and he took his wife into his arms and lifted her up.Lox\nyipped and then moved off toward the trail of the orcs he'd been\nfollowing to the south and the rest of the party followed him.Jake took up the rear and as he ran he became more and more concerned as he wondered what might be happening to Neville.He prayed silently that Beowul and Stenwul would suddenly emerge from the darkness with Neville smiling between them.","previous":"https://fse.anthro.fr/stories/681287-the-hawthorne-accord-chapter-5.json"}