The last four days had been brutal for Rasha and Vo. During a hunt, Rasha had put an arrow into a moderately sized deer and the two of them were following Kaya's tracks to locate the body when they were suddenly ambushed. Nearly two dozen humans surrounded them on all sides, many of them with bows and arrows knocked and ready to fire, though none of them immediately fired. After a prolonged standoff, Vo figured if they wanted the two of them dead, they'd be riddled with arrows by now. She dropped her walking stick, and slowly let loose the knot that held her quiver in place.
"They don't want to hurt us I don't think," she spoke in orc to her friend. "Perhaps there is a way to settle this peacefully?" Rasha growled to herself but considered her odds. She could cut down maybe a few of these men before she was killed, Vo was right. Hesitant, but convinced, Rasha lowered her sword slowly before dropping it at her feet.
"We mean you no harm," Vo pleaded with them praying they were even half as nice as Mercer had been to her. "Let us track our game and then we will return home."
The humans did not return the courtesy. Immediately, men rushed in to kick their weapons away from their feet and put blades to the flesh.
"Don't you fucking move, savage!" The human who walked up to Vo looked like he was about to spit in her face.
Another human briefly disappeared, only to come back with iron chains. Seeing this, Rasha no longer cared about settling this without violence. Like a bolt of lightning, she reached out and grabbed onto the blade by the base, sending deep cuts into her hands. In a panic, he tightened his grip to and violently jerked it around in an attempt to free it from her grasp. Rasha pulled the blade and by proxy the man closer to her, grabbing him by the throat with her other hand, and squeezing his life out. A dozen voices filled the air as arrows were knocked, threatening to shoot her. Rasha no longer cared, wresting the weapon from the man and moving forward toward the group, fully intending to use him as a shield if need be.
However, suddenly Rasha tensed up, paralyzed and unable to move, as magic flared from the staff of a middle-aged human woman.
'I hate this fucking spell,' she cursed to herself, trying to take comfort in the fact that the tiny man in her hand was choking, but he was quickly pulled away by his friends.
Vo was bound in shackles around her wrists and ankles while the man coughed. "You tusked bitch!" He yelled loudly, prompting him to cough some more. He picked up a club off the ground and brought it straight to the side of Rasha's head.
Vo watched as the rage in Rasha's eyes faded as they rolled into the back of her head and she fell limply to the ground. Vo shouted into the night sky, desperately trying to get to her friend, but the men who held her back were too much for her. A cloth was stuffed into her mouth and a band was secured around her head to ensure it stayed there. The two women were put into the back of a cart in chains, helpless as their captors began to take them south. A hooded goblin woman in the cart was bound in a similar way, she didn't even bother to lift her head to look Vo in the eye. There was also a pale white tiefling with long dark hair in a tangled mess behind her. Half of one of her horns had recently broken off, and she seemed to still be raging at her circumstances even after what was clearly multiple days of captivity.
One of the humans began to bandage Rasha's wounds, wrapping a cloth around her injured hand and head.
"Why bother, we're probably going to have to hit'em around again anyway," a bearded man spat.
"Because she is going to pay extra if they are in good condition, you moron. No one wants crippled slaves," the healer interjected, gesturing to the spellcaster who had already walked off and mounted her horse.
Vo snarled through her gag at the word 'slave', and how casually it had been thrown around. The men simply ignored her as they finished bandaging Rasha and bound her in a similar fashion. After they were secure, the cart began to move south. Rasha did not wake for several hours, but a bump in the road had caused her head to collide with the floor of the cart, aggravating her already splitting headache. She struggled to sit up, desperately trying to take in her surroundings. The girls could not communicate with each other, but Vo knew Rasha was upset with her. Vo tried to communicate hope to Rasha with her eyes, but it was to no avail. 

Later that same night, a howl pierced the night air, one Vo recognized as her wolf Kaya. The guards took notice, gazing towards the tree line to scare off whatever wild pack might try to press their perimeter. This was the distraction she had waited for and she could finally enact her plan for escape. She quietly shifted into her wolf form, the shackles around her legs and wrists being too large to contain her new size. She wished she could free Rasha and the others, but the metal chains made that impossible right now. All she could hope for was to take out as many of them as she could and maybe acquire the keys from someone. Vo quietly leaped off the cart and moved to ambush the guards on watch, creeping under cover of darkness across the clearing, waiting to time her leap. With her refined hearing, she could tell Kaya was approaching. They would take them together. 
Just as Kaya entered into the range of their torchlight, Vo launched herself into the air, smashing into both men with a bone-crushing impact, knocking them to the ground. Opening her jaw wide, she bit as hard as she could into the back of one of their necks. There was a sickening crackle as his vertebrae snapped and he fell limp.
A terrible, pained yelp erupted from next to her as Kaya clamped down on the second man's leg and pulled him violently backward toward the forest, his screams surely waking the camp. In a panic, he had dropped his bow, so he unsheathed a dagger to stab at Kaya. Vo ran up and ripped open his throat before he could get up. Before Vo and Kaya could turn to face the rest of the camp, a volley of arrows came down on them both. A yelp from Kaya immediately preceded her fall to the ground. The young wolf desperately seemed to be trying and failing to move. She let out a whimper with each dying breath. Vo's wolf form was also riddled with arrows, and she had collapsed also, but she wasn't down yet. The arrow-ridden dire wolf stood with a deep angry growl and leaped forward into the camp in a last-ditch effort to kill anyone she could.
The attempt was in vain. After lunging at the nearest person she could, fire erupted from the darkness and singed her fur from tip to tail. Unable to maintain her form any longer, Vo collapsed onto the ground and reverted back to her orc body. As men surrounded her on all sides, she fell unconscious.

Vo woke up to harsh daylight and the feeling of every part of her body hurting. The weight of something heavy resting on top of her didn't help, though she couldn't see what it was. She groaned and rolled to one side to relieve some of the discomfort, chains clinking with every shift of weight. When she finally turned over, the weight that was previously on top of her was revealed to be the two dead humans that she had managed to kill, having fallen to either side of her. She was once again bound, more thoroughly this time, restraining her to the floor of the cart with a large metal collar clasped tightly around her neck. Looking up, she noticed the anger in Rasha's eyes had vanished, replaced with relief at seeing that Vo was awake and alive. The goblin looked down at her curiously, and the tiefling almost seemed proud, though it was hard to tell how gagged she was.
Unable to even sit up anymore, Vo simply laid her head down and tried to remain calm. Over the next couple of days, none of the prisoners were hurt physically but Vo was specifically deprived of food and water. All of them had trouble sleeping in the cramped car next to these bodies, further lending to their exhaustion. Soon they all became weak, unless the others could catch them, there was no other chance of escape.

―――――――――――――

Mercer, Elia, Kotane, Sorana, and a couple of other Guardians who volunteered were desperately trying to pursue a large number of... well on that part they weren't sure. They did know these were the people who had taken Vo and Rasha, but little else. They knew they moved on horseback, they knew they were headed south, and they knew they were armed. All of this put Mercer and his band at a disadvantage. After their first night on the trail, they happened upon the body of Vo's wolf, Kaya, who appeared to have bitten someone in an attempt to rescue her owner. An honorable death.
After the first day of travel, there was some good news. Sorana had discovered that these men were not skilled riders, they did not move many miles a day, and had made frequent stops. All of this meant they could catch up to the group, but they'd have to continue to move at the pace they had set for themselves, quickly and for many hours of the day. But it was clear to all: if they didn't find them soon, if they got too far ahead, then they would be lost forever.

It was now their third day of pursuit and Mercer had not slept well for any of them; what little he had slept was brief and dreamless. He was startled awake long before anyone in the camp when the morning was still dark. He decided to give the group a few more minutes of sleep, while he tried desperately to push past his exhaustion. When he could wait no longer, he woke Sorana up. The two had never spoken much, even after he became chief, but this kidnapping of her kin had put them on the same wavelength. To Elia and Kotane, it seemed as if Mercer and Sorana could even have whole conversations without either saying a word.
Sorana shot up quickly and dressed before waking everyone else up. No one dared to groan or complain about the lack of rest, but Mercer could tell it was beginning to wear on everyone; the summer heat had not been doing anyone any favors. For a moment he contemplated going at it alone with Sorana, they could probably move faster that way also. The only thing stopping him was knowing there were at least a dozen people he'd have to face, and even he couldn't rationalize those odds.
Sorana walked up next to Mercer's side and nodded, indicating the group was ready to move.
They left immediately, traveling for four straight hours before even Sorana was looking like she needed a break. Happening upon a nearby creek, the group stopped and everyone collapsed almost instantly to get a drink. Mercer was the only dissident among them, falling into a tree and sitting down to face the trail.
"Try to drink slowly, ladies," Elia garbled, pausing to take a breath.
Heeding the healer's advice, Sorana noted Mercer was not drinking any. She filled her waterskin and walked over to hand it to him. He smiled, gently exchanging her waterskin for his and bringing it to his lips. Sorana walked back to the creek to fill up his when she caught sight of what appeared to be a recently used campsite. Moving carefully so as not to disturb anything, she noticed the embers of their fires were still warm, the tracks were fresh, and some scraps of food had been dropped. It looked like someone had camped here as early as a couple of hours ago.
She returned quickly to find Mercer standing, shaking off his weariness and preparing for more running. Seeing the look on her face was all he needed. He quickly grabbed his glaive and rejoined his group by the creek.
"We are not far now. Sorana has discovered a fresh camp. The two of us will scout ahead, meet us there as soon as you can. Approach silently, and we will have the advantage." the warriors nodded, already preparing themselves to continue soon. Mercer and Sorana took off.

Mercer and Rasha crept through the trees as quickly and silently as they could. Around midday, they had finally caught up to the caravan. Stalking them from the trees and keeping their distance, they were able to ascertain that there were seventeen total humans. They also noticed Rasha, a tiefling, and a goblin were bound inside a cart, and a pile of bodies lay at their feet. They could not tell if any of the ones on the floor were alive, or where Vo might be. Mercer feared the worst. However, the caravan was moving much slower than they had been previously, the two of them found it rather easy to keep up with them and even pass them up as the day drew to a close. As night began to fall, the caravan once again stopped to camp. Mercer had no way of knowing if the other orcs had caught up or not, they just had to trust that they were in position. Mercer waited a few hours after the last bit of sunlight had graced the land and much of the caravan had gone to sleep before deciding to finally move in.
Mercer drew his glaive and ran in, beheading the nearest guard with one swing. Before his partner could react, two arrows flew out of the darkness into his chest and neck killing him instantly. Mercer grabbed a torch off the ground and tossed it onto a nearby tent setting it ablaze, partially to burn whoever is inside but also to signal the other orc who soon came charging from the tree line. Shouts and war cries filled the air, some from the orc rushing into camp and some from inside the tent that was now on fire. Everyone was awake now.
A spear tip jabbed through Mercer's side, surprising him and sending a wave of pain across his entire body. He screamed, falling to the ground to try to lessen its impact. With all he could, Mercer jabbed his glaive up into his neck and through the other side of the attacker's head.
Mercer stood, looking around and trying to evaluate the scene before him. With the element of surprise gone, Kotane cast a loud spell to shatter the lock on the cart and allow everyone to slip out one at a time while Elia did her best to defend them from slavers trying to protect their investment. As soon as she was free and as weak as she was, Rasha picked up a blade from one of the fallen and got to killing, helping Elia defend the cart. A few men came screaming out of their flaming tent also on fire, falling to the ground and desperately trying to put it out. Mercer wordlessly walked up to them and put them out of their misery. Mercer also noticed a woman rise out of the pile of bodies and shift into the form of a very large and angry wolf. He smiled, briefly caught up in the awesome beauty of his brides.
The fight had turned in their favor but it wasn't over yet. Looking deeper into the camp, a sorceress was sending flames at Sorana who was attempting to pierce her with arrows from afar. The sorceress conjured magical shields which caught every arrow leaving her completely unharmed, while Sorana was desperately trying to avoid these streaks of fire. Mercer charged the sorceress to get her attention but was interrupted by a wall of fire she manifested to cut off his approach. The heat was oppressive and forced him to pull back. Several trees in the forest began to catch fire as well.
"Mercer! They're setting the whole forest on fire!" Kotane screamed out, helping the tiefling and goblin off the cart.
"Kotane, get yourself and the others out of here now!" Mercer ordered.
Kotane did her best to put out fires with her magic and create a path for escape. Many of the girls did, including Vo who was once again out of her wolf form and being half-carried by Elia away from the fires and bodies surrounding the cart. Sorana pulled back as well but did not stop her barrage of arrows as she covered everyone's retreat. Rasha was the only one to defect, running straight towards Mercer. She looked tired and definitely wounded, but the determination in her eyes was undeniable.
"Please Mercer, kill this bitch." she spat, her mouth clearly full of blood.
Before he could protest, Rasha lifted him into her arms and shielded him as best she could before jumping straight through the flames and landing in the mud on the other side. Pulling himself away from her arms, Mercer did his best to pat out the flames and reduce her burns. Rasha did her best to look unphased, but her burns were pretty severe. She used her greatsword to help her stand, steeling herself at the sorceress who was just a few feet away. Rasha lifted the sword above her head and took a determined step toward her. Before Mercer could interpose himself between the two, three streaks of fire flew out of her hands and into Rasha all over her body, and she fell to the ground. Mercer rushed to her side to try and check on her, she was still breathing but it was shallow and ragged.
"Too bad, I'd have gotten a fortune for a warrior like her, after I had broken her of course." Her taunting was further highlighted as flames wreathed around her arms, her eyes glowing with orange as she stared down Mercer.
Mercer quickly rose to his feet and charged her, a white-hot fury in his eyes that this woman would dare harm his wives. He cast a spell that created illusory duplicates of himself, hoping he might confuse her. Not even allowing him the pleasure, the sorceress stepped forward, cocking back and then releasing a spell that covered a wide area in front of her engulfing all of Mercer's body and his duplicates. He staggered, having avoided most of the attack but he was finding it hard to ignore the burning sensation on his side as the duplicates vanished. One blast of hot air from a simple spell and Mercer was on the ground next to Rasha. With the little energy she had, Rasha grabbed onto him and held him tight. Mercer tried to speak; he wanted to tell her to run while he still could, to fight for her life. But instead, he found himself saying "I love you," and gripped her hand tighter.

Suddenly, amidst the crackling of the fire, a burst of feminine devilish laughter caught everyone's attention. A pale tiefling stepped through the wall of flame with an infernal glow about her. Her clothes singed away as she did, leaving her mostly nude save for some scraps here and there, but her skin and hair were seemingly untouched. She was covered in the blood of the men she had already killed. Her long black hair was in a messy braid, but still had an enormous length that brushed against the back of her knees where she standing. Closing both of her hands into fists, longswords appeared from thin air that she held out to either side of her.
"You are going to have to work a lot harder to burn me, witch." the tiefling cursed and lunged at the sorceress.
"Very well," the sorceress responded calmly, manifesting a blade of pure shadow to form, which she threw towards the tiefling. She quickly deflected it and closed the gap between them, but the sorcerer had already made another blade to fend her off.
As the two traded blows, Mercer used the distraction to muster as much energy as he could to pull Rasha further away from the fight into some cover.
"Stay down," he whispered.
"We need to help her!" groaned Rasha, as she tried to stand again.
Mercer shook his head but guided her back to a laying position, "I will just stay here. Please."
He was too wounded to fight, but that does not mean he can't still help. Using the powers of illusion he had available, Mercer weaved noises and sights to try and confuse the sorceress; such as footsteps behind her, or a human figure in her peripherals. The sorceress was quickly feeling overwhelmed and started to fall back a bit with every strike the tiefling attempted to make. Her back finally found a tree and feeling much more confident about her surroundings the fight was able to continue in earnest. The branches of the tree were on fire above them as embers fell upon them like flurries of snow. Looking at them, Mercer was certain the tiefling wouldn't be able to hold off for much longer.
That was when he noticed in the backdrop of the fight a little figure scurrying about. Dagger in hand, the small goblin was just waiting for an opportunity to strike. Using the last of his goddesses magic, he reached a hand out toward her and cloaked her with a spell of invisibility. Seeing her chance, the goblin charged forward, her little footsteps made even less noticeable because of Mercer's illusory assault. The tiefling swung with all her might causing the sorceress to have to sidestep to avoid being cut in half. The attack was a risky one, the tieflings weapon now embedded into the tree. Just as the witch raised her blade of shadow to strike down the tiefling, a knife was shoved straight through the back of her neck and cut open vital portions of her neck. The blade of shadow dissipated as she fell to her knees, and the goblin appeared out of invisibility on the woman's back, twisting the blade into the sorcererss' back with all she could muster. At last, the sorceress was defeated, falling face-first into the mud, the fires dissipated around them into just embers as she did.
Seeing their leader vanquished, any surviving members of the slaver band fled into the darkness, though that did not stop Kotane and Sorana from throwing spells and arrows to pick off as many of them as they could on the way out. The few minutes of fighting had seemed like forever, but at last, the battle was won. Orc changing could be heard echoing through the forest, but Mercer could not rest yet.
What was left of the fires illuminated the scene before them: Everyone was injured, some of which very badly. Elia did what she could to heal everyone but her powers were limited. Those who were less injured set up some structures for everyone to rest in. Mercer spent a long time by their side, ensuring that both Vo and Rasha would live. Vo was the only one who could talk him into getting some real rest. Knowing they were finally safe was all of the convincing he needed. After a watch schedule was established, those who were allowed to sleep finally collapsed into a deep and dreamless night.