“Let’s go,” sang Todd to Jembles. The young guard cursed and threw one last look over his shoulder. There was no one out there for miles. The two guards exchanged a glance and started to run.
Mano held two silver blades of different lengths in his hands. Silver would surely cut through the illusion, Mano thought. He was pointing one of them at the screaming Chroma when the guards arrived.
“Mano, put the swords away,” said Jembles.
Bill, a trader with simian features whom the guards let in to the village earlier that morning, came between the two and said in a conspiring voice: “But they’re disguised!”
Jembles frowned and turned to the monkey: “It is not ok to harass people just because they are wearing-”
A droning song interrupted his discourse.
“You either drop your disguise or leave this village right now.”
The orcs slumped their shoulders.
“We will leave.” Said one of the orcs dejectedly. “But please allow us to have some water?”
The orc held up a waterskin. Jembles frowned and stepped forward to take it. Whoever these visitors were, they sure were strange. With the waterskin in hand, he walked to the oasis in the center of the square and crouched down. The next thing that happened, happened too fast. So fast, that he turned back time to make sure it never happened. If that doesn’t make any sense to you. Let’s just say that Jembles had a very bad feeling about it. He saw himself put the waterskin into the water and in that same instant, all the water disappeared. It had not happened anymore. But he knew that it would and that he could not let it happen. Jembles gasped and turned around.
“Arrest them!” He shouted.
Todd’s hairs stood on end. He had known from the start that something was terribly wrong. Despite his years of experience, these orcs, or whatever they were, had still been able to deceive him. Mano slashed his silver blade at the orc in front of him. With a shimmer, the disguise fell to the floor in heaps of sand, revealing an insect-like creature, a giant mantis with a shiny black skin. Bill started screaming and ducked behind his cart. The other five orcs shimmered for a moment and dropped their disguises to reveal their true insectoid form. Todd gritted his coins and readied his spear. It was his duty to keep the village safe. With song he projected a message to his surroundings to alert the village:
“The village is under attack. Please remain calm and remain inside. This is not a drill. The village is under attack.”
Now that Bill was at a safe distance, he started throwing stuff from his cart at the five faux Chroma. Jembles grabbed his sword and ran towards Todd. But one of the insects blocked his way. Jembles blocked an incoming swipe from the mantis’ claw. Pushing the claws away he managed to stab the creature, cracking its thick shell and pushing the blade deep into the soft tissue underneath. The creature hissed and slashed at the orc with what Jembles had taken for his off-hand. Jembles tried to pull back his sword, but he wasn’t fast enough. With his left arm he shielded his body. The mantis cut it open and blood started seeping out. With an upwards motion, Jembles pulled out the sword from the insect and it fell to the ground. Unmoving. Jembles caught his breath and ignored the screaming pain emanating from this left arm. Then he saw his friend.
“TODD!” screamed Jembles.
Todd fell to his knees, there was confusion in his eyes as he looked for the owner of the voice that had called his name. The insectoid in front of him pulled a sharp claw out of Todd’s chest. Todd nodded. He understood now. His eyes searched and he saw a blue orc in golden armor running towards him. Jembles. He picked something up from the ground. His spear. He must have dropped that earlier. Jembles would make sure that he was avenged. He would make sure that his wife would get his well earned pension money. Todd smiled. It had been a good run. Perhaps a bit too long. He was tired. It was time to rest.
“NO!” Jembles screamed and he threw Todd’s spear at the mantis, who caught it, staggering, in its shoulder. Jembles threw himself after it, sword first and drove his blade through the creatures chest.
Next to him, Mano had decapitated one of the mantis and was fighting the other one.
“EEK!” screamed Bill, who was playing some kind of deadly hide-and-seek with the fifth mantis. He sprang behind his cart and the mantis slashed right through it. A yelping noise erupted from a moving bag. Bill grabbed a chain off his cart and swung it through the air. When the mantis came for him, the simian spawn jumped to the side and threw the chain around the mantis neck and pulled on it hard, so that it fell to the floor. With the creature on the floor, Bill ran forward and drove a dagger through the mantis forehead, cracking it open.
“Phew,” said Bill and he pulled his chain off the unmoving body. He looked at his cart, which was destroyed. One of the bags was trying to get away from the carnage. Bill turned to Jembles, who had just pierced the last mantis through its chest. The orc looked down, to where Mano had fallen. Mano’s body was gone and in its place lay a small beetle. Jembles looked from the dead bug to Bill, who grinned at him
“To be completely honest with you,” said Bill, while picking up the waterskin, “I had forgotten about it.”
“A- About what?” Jembles panted. He looked around to find that all bodies had been replaces with beetles. Only Todd’s body lay exactly as it had fallen.
Bill grinned at Jembles and said: “We are masters of disguise.”
Jembles shook his head. “What are you doing?”
Bill didn’t respond and walked towards the oasis.
“Stop!” Jembles shouted and ran after the monkey, panting, bleeding and confused. He ran after the simian spawn with his sword ready to strike. “Drop the waterskin.”
Bill turned around, still grinning and slowly shook his head. When Jembles threw his sword towards Bill, the monkey caught the orcs hand in a fluid movement and pushed the guards blade into his own chest. Jembles gasped.
“N- no-” He said as he watched blood seeping from his chest. He had to stop Bill. Jembles fell to his knees. There was no strength left in his body. He could only watch as Bill threw the waterskin into the oasis and the water disappeared.
It was quiet, except for the sound that had continued throughout the afternoon. A slow and monotonous laugh:
“Heh-heh-heh-heh-heh”
Jembles lay on his back and looked up at the sky. He could see the sun. The Sun was laughing.
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