Setting up the Front Line

Kim wasn't she heard Lance right. "Orc?" she asked, feeling like she was watching a fantasy movie or video game sequence, despite all she'd been through so far in this world.

"Yeah, Orcs," Lance confirmed. "If you haven't seen them before, then you must have lived a sheltered life. They look like goblins, but bigger and end to kill before they do anything else. Although, if it was just a few people, they might be willing to talk or just pass them by, but a large group like this, they're going to attack and kill whatever they can."

"So, you're saying it might have been better if we came here without an army?" Kim asked dryly, feeling like she should make her annoyance clear to Lance.

"I said 'might' not will," Lance protested. "They're very unpredictable. They've even been seen to attack other orcs. Though, it's never clear if it's from a rivalry or if there's something else going on."

"Well, then you should have the army form up in ranks," Kim replied casually, wondering what she might learn about this army of hers from this situation.

"Ranks?" Lance asked, sounding rather confused.

"You know, form up in lines so when the orcs arrive, we can meet their charge and not have them sweep over us like a tidal wave," Elmo said, surprising Kim.

However, this only seemed to confuse Lance even more.

Kim sighed, feeling like she was having to baby sit a child in this case. "Have you even seen what an army looks like when they're about to enter battle?" Kim asked, starting to feel a little exasperated with the situation in general.

Lance shook his head. "No, none of us have," he replied.

Kim couldn't help but at least give him a few points for honesty, not that it did much to make up for the fact that they'd decided to play soldier when they didn't know the first thing about it. Aside from the walking and managing supplies.

"Fine," Kim said, deciding to deal with the matter later. "First, get everyone to put their equipment on. Whatever armor you have for everyone as well as whatever weapon they have to fight with."

Lance nodded, and ran off, telling everyone to get their weapons and get ready to meet the orcs charge.

"Should I see how far my Wind Wall spell can cover us?" Elmo asked.

Kim thought about it briefly for a minute before shaking her head. While they probably should do that, it might send the wrong message to her army that there'll always be time to get their weapons and armor before the enemy arrives. Rather than the fact that they should be keeping that with them at all times when they're wherever danger could be hiding.

Such as the entire trip they'd made so far.

"So, should we get ready to meet the orc's charge?" Elmo asked, sounding as nervous as Kim had expected him to be.

"In a minute," she replied, "Let's first find Jonas and Elin. It'll take the orcs a few minutes to get here, so we can at least take a minute to see where everyone ins."

"Assuming they're nearby," Kim heard Elmo mutter.

She would have liked to snap at him for that remark, but couldn't bring herself to do so. The kid had a point, even if she really didn't care for it.

Besides, she couldn't see what benefit she'd get out of doing so. They were already in a tense situation, and getting on Elmo's case wouldn't serve a purpose other than to assuage her annoyance. Which really wouldn't be useful to anyone and it might make Elmo less motivated to do what she was going to need him to do.

Namely using his magic to strike at the orcs in the middle of their forces. Doing as much damage as he could from behind their own front lines.

Not that she felt it was necessary to tell him to do that. She had a feeling he was intelligent enough to do that without needing to be coddled like the rest of her army seemed to be. Which wasn't something she had expected when they first started following her.

Fortunately for Kim, she didn't have to look very far before Elin came running up to her and threw her arms around her.

"What's going on?" Elin asked, sounding either nervous or worried. Kim couldn't be sure right at that moment. "They said something's attacking?"

Kim nodded. "Yeah, Lance said it's orcs. Though, his description was a little vague as to what an orc actually is."

"So, do we stand at the center of the front line?" Jonas asked, coming out from the crowd. "Or do we let them take the brunt of the charge?"

Kim shook her head in annoyance, already starting to walk towards where she was sure the front line would need to be formed, barely noticing the rest of her group following her. As much as she'd like for her incompetent army to see how much of a game this whole endeavor wasn't, she doubted she'd be able to live with herself If she let them get slaughtered without at least doing something to keep that from happening.

"You know, that might be better," Kim mused, an idea suddenly forming in her head. "Though, we might need to sacrifice some of Elin's MP in order to make this more effective."

"If doing that can reduce the amount needed for healing, then that might be more useful," Jonas replied calmly.

"Okay," Kim said, turning to Elmo as she reached where she felt their stand should take place. "What we'll need you to do is use your magic to try and direct the charge towards Jonas and me."

"What?!" Elin cried, sounding rather appalled at the suggestion. "You can't do that!"

Kim turned to look at Elin. "We don't have time to argue," she said flatly. "We'll need you to use your attack magic as well to do that too. So that way when they charge reaches me and Jonas, the rest of the army won't get hit as hard. Especially since I don't think they're ready for this kind of thing."

"Why do you think that?" Jonas asked.

"Let's just say that the leadership of the army doesn't know what's needed to get the army ready to meet this charge on their own," Kim answered dryly. "They seem to act like this is a game to them."

"Don't think too much about it," Jonas advised. "They're probably also used to being underestimated and belittled by their families."

Kim shook her head. "Doesn't matter here. Such luxuries would only serve to get themselves killed as well as others."

"Maybe, but that doesn't mean we have to let them die to teach others that lesson. I'm sure enough of them will learn that lesson from this experience alone. Whether they're able to apply that lesson would be up to them," Jonas merely replied.

Kim didn't say anything in response, primarily because she was confident that Jonas would be able to turn it back on her, no matter how she worded it. Much like someone she used to know from her past.

"So, when should I start using my magic?" Elmo asked, sounding a little uncertain after a minute of silence.

Kim glanced at him briefly and figured that he was just worried that she might turn on him, which satisfied her a little. It let her know that he feared her, which also meant that he'd be less likely to bother her if he didn't consider it important. The problem would come if she didn't think whatever he might think was important, was important as well.

"When they're about halfway down the slope," Kim replied.

"Sure he has that kind of range?" Jonas asked. "I think that might put them about a mile away."

Kim shrugged, not really caring. "If he can't reach it, I'm sure he'll at least be able to create something that will draw their attention."

"What'll you do if they don't move where you want them to?" Jonas asked, sounding more smug than Kim liked. Although, she couldn't honestly say if he really did sound that way or if it was her annoyance that was making her hear that in his voice.

"We'll deal with that if it comes to that," Kim said calmly, unable to stop from wondering why Jonas was asking her these things. It wasn't like she planned on doing this as a regular thing.

"Are you sure they'll run that entire distance?" Elin asked, sounding a little nervous.

"Probably," Jonas answered before Kim could. "Not sure if they'll be able to, but from what I could gather on my way here, orcs tend to have pretty good endurance for running like that. Especially with them running downhill like that."

Kim wasn't sure she like the sound of that. Especially if it turned out to be true. Mostly she was hoping that the distance they had to run would wear them out and some magical bombardment would help dissuade them from pressing the attack.

Or at the very least, whittle their numbers down so that it'd be easy for the army to pick them off. Although, she doubted that they'd be able to succeed at that if they were able to run the entire distance.

Which meant that this fight just got a whole lot more annoying for Kim. She doubted that Jonas, Elmo, or Elin would seriously get injured, not with so many rookie fighters in the army.

What she needed to worry about was if these orcs had anything like the hobgoblins, bugbears, or even that goblin mage. Those would certainly be problematic for them if something like that was present.

Not that she had much time to worry about that. With the speed the orcs were moving at, she estimated that they had ten minutes to get a defensive line formed out of the green soldiers who were mostly running around, not really showing Kim that they were ready for anything like this.

"Alright, Elmo, Elin. Start your magical barrage," Kim instructed, "Try to focus on pushing them towards the center of their ranks. If they don't do that, don't worry too much. Just deal as much damage to them on the sides of their column as you can."

Kim could only hope that by the time the orcs arrived where she stood, that enough of 'her' army would be ready to meet them.