Tavor pointed his staff towards the building and a jet of water hit it, the pressure destroying the wood, but missing horribly. Before he could attack once more, however, a great eagle came to his aid and attacked Ravvon, and his body was dead beside the crocodile within seconds. The remaining orcs seemed to have seen what happened, for they started to back off in fear. He dropped to his knees and checked Ravvon's pulse, and he was dead.

The crocodile rose and turned to the eagle as she screeched towards him. He replaced his blade back to his belt and was about to start dragging the body towards the tavern, but then he dropped it. They wanted only the head, and nothing else. Maybe there was something good on Ravvon's body, and since the note said nothing about the belongings, it would be a shame indeed to leave it behind.

N'eveth dropped once again on his knees, close to the body, and brushing the cloak aside examined it, and his eyes fell upon a mithril dagger. He pulled it out and slid it into his belt; he'd make a sheathe for it later, but for now he had to rely on the tightness of the leather that held his khopesh. He glanced up at the eagle then slowly rose once again to his feet, then a chill ran down his spine.

A few orcs escaped. If they reached their masters they will tell them everything, and the quest will be ended. He leapt to his feet and sprang in pursuit after those that escaped, for their scent was strong even for a man, let alone a crocodile such as he. They weren't far, surely; it's been no more than a couple of minutes since the attack. He ran with his staff in one hand, ready to release the mist once more once he finds them, and his khopesh in his other hand, ready to block any incoming attack.

If he were lucky, he'd have a prisoner whom he can interrogate later. Then once again fear struck him, for he had left Ravvon alone, what if somebody stole the kill ? But now was not the time to worry; if he managed to track and take down an orc leader then he'd be given a bigger reward. After all, he had the box… The box ! The box was back in the tavern, the crocodile had left it on the table when the orcs appeared. How could he blunder so much in one day ?

He caught sight of the band of orcs escaping, and guessed there must be around five or ten left. In his anger, he threw himself forward, and an orc a few feet behind the others fell face-first into the ground as Tavor slammed into him. He turned and the crocodile threw himself upon the orc, holding his sword to the orc's throat, a dangerous light in his eyes. He pressed the blade against the orc and before the orc could warn the others slit his throat. He rose and glanced at the others. Thankfully, they hadn't felt the attack. He had to kill them, but he needed at least one alive, crippled so he could not struggle. The crocodile flicked his sword, and a few droplets of dark blood fell from the tip of the curved blade as he stood over the dead body. If the eagle was indeed the shape shifter, then she would have already placed the body where it should be, and maybe coming to his aid. If not, then the body is probably being eaten at this moment, and no reward will be given.

Aspect watched as the crocodile ran over and inspected the body under her claws. He went to his knees and went through the dead man's pockets. She stood over them and the crocodile stood, a few of the dead man's belongings in his hands. She got off the body when he saw started dragging it away. She turned her head to the side, confused and bewildered at this action. What is he doing? She walked after him, spreading her wings out for balance. He dropped the body and took off after a small group of orcs.

She went over to the body and gripped the his hair in her beak. With a twist of her powerful neck, the head came off in her mouth. That's all she needed and she hurried over to the Black Dagger Tavern. She shifted into her human form and ran around the building to the back door. There was an old worn sack by the base of the door and she threw the vile head inside. She left it there and took off after the crocodile. They had a head start on her, so it would probably be a while before she caught up to them. 

She dived forward, her hands extended towards the ground. Dog. Her hands became paws as soon as they touched the ground and she bounded ahead. Her long muscular legs made her appear to almost fly over the ground. The tawny mastiff soon caught up with the crocodile and the orcs. She watched him bring down one of the orcs that had fallen behind the rest of the group and swiftly delivered a death blow with his sword. He stood over it, watching the others run away.

She changed her course and ran up to him. Horse. She thought. Her paws turned to hooves as she changed forms again. She went up to the crocodile and stopped next to him, glancing at her flank. "Mount up Gator," she said quickly. Her muscles twitched, causing a ripple effect over her chestnut flanks. She flicked her tail and pranced, ready to be off and on the move. She flipped her lip and brandished her large straight teeth. "We can not let them get away."

Tavor took a deep breath and prepared to spring once more after the band; they weren't far from water, and they were few. Before he could move, however, he heard the sound of soft footsteps and turned as a dog came bounding towards him, then changed to a horse. She was here as he expected and hoped; the shape shifter, and she asked him to mount. He turned his head and glanced at the band of orcs, thinking they're safe themselves, getting farther and farther, unknowing of the danger pursuing them, of death that awaits them. He never mounted a horse before… Or anything else, for that matter, but now he had to. The crocodile had seen many people mount before so he had a general idea on how to get on, and after all, he didn't have to control to horse, just hold on.

He spun the blade in his hand and replaced it in his belt to his side and swiftly swung his body onto the back of the horse, and before they took off he whispered, his voice deep and strong, and the wind carried it no farther than he intended to, so the horse could hear him. He had spoken, "Ravvon ? The box ?", and felt the soft wind against his back; the wind moved with them.

Before they took off, he whispered something else, to make sure nothing goes wrong. "Don't kill them all. We need to extract what we can first." He then let out a low grunt as he adjusted himself on the back of the large animal.

Aspect stood still as the crocodile swung his leg over her side. He was slightly heavier than a normal man and his snout made him slightly top heavy. She was fortunate he had a good sense of balance or she could fall. She flicked an ear back as he spoke. She trotted forward and nodded her head. "The box is still in the tavern," she told him. "But Ravvon has been taken care of." She slowly picked up her speed, turning the brief trot into a swift lope. She wouldn't rush them until they were closer.

She felt the gator shift his positioning and caution her to not kill all of the orcs. She snorted as her long legs ate up the ground, her hooves sent up clods of earth in her wake. "No promises," she warned him. She picked up her speed and quickly overtook the escaping orcs. She caught one in the back of his leg with her hoof and proceeded to trample him. She kicked out with her hind legs, hoping the crocodile wouldn't fall and lashed out at another behind her. 

She lunged her neck forward and bit the shoulder of one, her large teeth sinking into the meat of his upper arm. Her ears flicked backwards and she twisted around, getting into good positioning so that the crocodile could use his sword. She spun and slammed her flank into an orc, knocking him to the ground. She stomped her hooves down into the earth and felt his bones break under her bulk. With a horrible scream, she reared and clawed at the orcs below her with her hooves.

 Tavor N'eveth pulled his curved sword from his belt and slashed at one orc, hewing his sword arm, and quickly hit him with the blunt of his sword, causing the orc to fall the ground, unconscious. He swiftly slid off the horse and charged at the enemy, and with ine mighty wave of his sword an orc lost his head. He quickly replaced the sword and grabbed repositioned his staff, as a thin layer of mist protured from it, this time not killing the orcs, but making them unable to stand.

 The mist dispersed pretty quickly, and the crocodile had his sword in his hand once more. He sprang forth, slashing and hacking at the weak orcs, who barely wielded weapons. He hewed the arms of one orc, then the head of another, leaving at last two survivng orcs ready to fight. He sprang and stabbed the two maimed orcs in their legs, crippling them fore good, then he quickly ran into the direction of the nearest tree and pulled some vines down, and as the shape shifter took care of the last two,nfor two were crippled and could not fight, he weaved a rope to bind them.

 He glanced behind him, and the two maimed orcs were thrown aside frim the pile of bodies and blood. They too will die soon from bloodloss, he knew, so he tossed the ropes close to the captives and went hunting, his blade drawn; hide would make good bandages, and they could get some food as well.

 It was a few minutes before he was back, holding two large hares, dead and skinned, ready for cooking.

Aspect felt the crocodile dismount and started attacking the orcs from the ground. Within a few minutes, the pair had decimated their numbers and had only a few still alive to interrogate. The survivors were wounded themselves and the crocodile disappeared to retrieve some kind of covering to keep them from expiring too soon. She stood over them, glaring and clicking her large teeth if they so much as shifted their weight on the ground. She smelled him return with the two rabbits at hand and allowed herself to shift back.

She brushed the dirt off her hands on her pants and took the hides from him, glancing up at his large yellow eyes. She slipped back to the captives and started to dress their injuries. She laid the hides over the cuts and pressed down to help stop the bleeding. She snarled at them and she felt the large orc she was helping whine softly under her hand. She squinted her eyes and him before finishing up and moving over to his companion. 

This orc was of a lighter build and as a result, the slash from the sword went much deeper than if he had been slightly heavier. She gripped his injured arm and turned it slightly to the side. She saw a flash of white among the blood and quickly covered it with the large rabbit skin. It wasn't long before it seeped through around the edges. When she took the hide off again, she saw him slump over on his side in faint. She glanced down at him before reaching into a pouch on her belt and pulled out a fine needle and thread. She crouched over the unconscious orc and started to sew closed the cut.

She glanced over at the crocodile, where he stood with the rabbits. "You said you wanted to interrogate them," she called over. The one orc that was awake looked up and glanced between the two. "Figure out what needs to be done and where we need to go. We can take these two fugitives with us if needed. I don't suggest that we let them go alive, at least not here. The bloody cowards, running away from a fight." She spit on the ground and tugged slightly harder than necessary on the string for the last stitch. She tied it and wiped the needle on her pants. She walked over and stood next to the crocodile as they decided about what to do.

The crocodile watched as the shape shifter tended to the two orcs, then ca,e to stand beside him. She asked him a question, and he glared at the two orcs for a moment before turning around and grabbing the rope he had made earlier, then tossed it close to them.
"Get what we can… Then maybe release them somewhere they do not know, and if they struggle, we kill them." At this, he bared his teeth for a brief moment, scanning the area with his yellow eyes.

"We make camp here. Let them redt for a while." He reached for the large orc and grabbed his collar, pulling him roughly to his feet, and helping him through the trees into a clearing, where he pushed him into the ground, then he dragged the unconscious one close to thr other orc.

The crocodile broke several branches off trees, and grabbed some off the ground, then threw them into the center of the clearing. He piled a few twigs and branches, tossing the others aside, to throw into the fire later when needed. With the rope, he bound the two orcs to a tree. He lit a fire and over it hung the two rabbits, now entrails removed and thrown far away for the animals to feed upon. He walled over to the tree to which the orcs were bound and pulled down more vines and started weaving blankets as the hares cooked.

Surprisingly, the two orcs didn't struggle, even when the smaller one was once again aware of his surroundings and started stirring. The crocodile tossed the first blanket to the ground, and in a few minutes he was working on the third blanket, which the two orcs would share. Hopefully, the shape shifter had taken care of the hares, or they would no longer be edible.

Aspect looked at the large crocodile as he spoke. She nodded her head, it was a good plan and one she could carry out efficiently. She gave a crooked smile as he lifted his lip for a second, showing off his rows of teeth. She watched him walk over and drag the orcs into a clearing at the edge of the trees. He rested them next to each other and set about making a fire. He gathered an assortment of sticks and small logs before lighting the flame. 

She kept an eye on the orcs while he did this, making sure they wouldn't escape. Though she doubt they would with crocodile's enchanted bounds on their limbs. Shortly there after, he bound them to a tree next to the fire. He then went over and hung the two rabbits on a rod in the middle of the fire. They were dressed and ready to be eaten after being cooked. She licked her lips as she watched them cook. They were fat too, fat and healthy rabbits.

She traded places with the gator and he went to take over watching the orcs. To occupy the time she watched him weave baskets out of the vines and leaves from the surrounding trees. When the rabbits were done, she pulled them off the fire and laid them to the side. She had already eaten the crocodile's dinner before the battle started so she wouldn't be needing the extra food. She shifted into a basic dog form and laid down by the fire.

She cured up in a ball and licked the few injuries she found on her limbs. Mostly just small scratches and scrapes from fighting with the orcs. There was a small cut on her fore-paw from falling off the roof of the barn with Ravvon. It was minor, but she was compelled to lick it anyway. When she was done nursing her injuries, she flattened her ears and rested her head on her paws, staring intently at her captives. If they decided to run tonight, she would be quick to hear them and chase after them in this form. 

Tavor finished weaving the third blanket and tossed it to the orcs' feet. He paused as he heard a noise coming from the woods, then silently disappeared into the mass of trees, returning a few moments later, his now bloody sword to his side, with a few quails in his right hand. After plucking the feathers off the three dead birds, and throwing the entrails with ose of the rabbits', he left them over the fire to cook.

While the birds cooked, he turned to the pair of orcs, dropping to his knees before them, his eyes staring into theirs, instilling fear in theirs hearts. They had rested long enough. He pulled out Ravvon's dagger, then spoke, asking them who their master is, and they reluctantly spoke the name, Azuk. Then he asked them about more information, such as his location, but they refused to speak until the dagger was raised to the throat of the larger one, then, satisfied with the answer, the crocodile rose and left them.

He pulled the three birds and started feeding on them, pulling chunk by chunk of meat with his powerful teeth, then tossed the bones into the river and threw the blanket over the two orcs, one over himself, and sleeping through the night.

He woke in the morning to find the two orcs propped against the tree, the blanket loosely over them. He woke them with a powerful kick, then took them to the other side of the river, leaving them with only the blanket which he had weaved for them. They were stripped of their weapons and armour, and were covered in linen. Leaving them to their devices, the crocodile returned to he shapeshifter, telling her what he had managed to get out of the pair. Azuk was hidden in an old warehouse on the outskirts of the plains of Bohar, with a few guards so as to not attract attention to himself, but he was to return to the dungeon soon.

At this, he tossed the burnt twigs into the forest and immediately started moving North. They had no time to waste.