Walking victoriously, Yarmagül didn't turn back even once to look at the man she left behind, wounded in body and spirit. Çekiçdöven's soldiers also collapsed; their weapons were falling from their hands one by one.
"The result is clear; all of you kneel and surrender!"
Their commander was dead; fire was shooting from their eyes. After Alyon's words, many thought of dying while fighting. The atmosphere was getting tenser with every passing second when Nafız shouted with a scornful tone of voice.
"Idiots! If you wait a little longer, there will be no chance for the clumsy oaf on the ground to survive!"
The siege army was startled. The red-eyed female orc was saying the young commander was alive. While the shields and axes falling to the ground shook the floor, a group of ten people ran to Çekiçdöven's side.
"Take this one and lay him in Dilber's miracle. Let him not die; I have business with this youngster!"
When her words, to which she added a wanton laugh at the end, finished, everyone remained in amazement. Only a pair of eyes harbored the intent of jealousy; this was what Nafız wanted to see.
"Yes, ma'am!"
Following the group carrying Çekiçdöven on their backs, Alyon stepped forward a few steps and addressed the captured soldiers.
"Orc warriors, listen to me, all of you! Although I warned you repeatedly, you were dragged into a war that is not yours. Your commander will not die; meanwhile, we will meet your needs too!"
While the enemy commander spoke, the heads of the warriors in Çekiçdöven's army were bowed. While thinking about what kind of humiliation they would encounter, the hulking orc would extend a helping hand to them once again.
"In that place surrounded by glaciers, unaware of everything, you were only training to the death; this is not your fault! Now, the time has come for you to learn the real situation of the Orc Steppes!"
When Alyon gave his signal with his hand, a crowded group coming out of the castle gates started walking towards the battlefield. Among the people, the majority of whom were orcs, there were some humans too; among them, the most familiar face belonged to the operator of the arena.
"Who are these?"
"What will they tell us?"
The army started boiling inside; they were looking curiously at the community approaching them.
"My kin! I was a hunter in the tribe of the person calling himself Ayıboğan, one of those sent to the Great Mountain to die. As a result of the agreement the tribe chieftain made with the creature owning the Great Mountain, we were sent to hunt without proper weapons in our hands!"
The facial expressions of the listeners would change in an instant; was such a thing possible? They had difficulty believing.
"Yes, you don't believe it, do you? While warriors protected the chief, we were constantly sacrificed as bait to the creatures until Chief Alyon and Nafız cleared the mountain and captured the tribe. Currently, we live in prosperity in the sacred lands!"
In the face of what was said, many warriors were looking at the speaking orc with disbelieving eyes; the idea that these were lies prevailed in their minds.
"I am a warrior from the Arid Region tribe. Look, don't you dare turn your faces away; look closely at my face!"
The speaker was among the warriors whom the armies of the city of Nikonya tried to burn alive; there was a large and deep burn scar on his face. His gaze was so sharp and his voice so booming that he was practically a living example of the description of an orc warrior.
"This burn happened while the traitor hunter chief cut the throat of the cowardly tribe chieftain and left us to die in the middle of the war. Who do you think saved us and brought the enemy to their knees? What was the main tribe, to which we sent wagons of precious stones every moon cycle, doing when they received the news of the war?"
No one in the siege army knew about the recounted event; the orcs, whose days consisted of training and eating, had no answer to give.
"Great Chief Alyon and his warriors took the army of the trade city prisoner. He taught the necessary lesson to those who treated us as if we were creatures lower than wild beasts! Do you know why I don't heal my face? In every reflection in the water, I see not myself trapped, but the traitors burned alive by the Blood God!"
The words of the speaker created a bombshell effect; it was evident from his every state that this orc was a formidable warrior. The words of such people were valid currency in societies ruled by power.
"A human ally of ours will give you information on some subjects; I say beforehand that I will not tolerate the slightest unruliness!"
Alyon was giving courage to Quintus trembling with fear by standing next to him, but the heart of the man remaining among one hundred and fifty thousand orcs was about to pop out of his mouth.
"Glorious orc warriors, what I am about to tell you involves the actions of the City Lord before this one; they have nothing to do with the current administration!"
Words were coming out of the magnificent showman of the Arena's mouth with difficulty. He was experiencing firsthand what the orcs he threw into the arms of gladiators in front of thousands of people felt.
"Newborn orcs were being sold as slaves in our city through merchants by the regional tribe!"
The orcs waiting on their knees suddenly jumped to their feet; let alone such a thing happening, how could it be possible for it to even be mentioned in front of them?
"Sit down!"
The hulking orc was expecting this reaction; he activated his bloodline power. The prisoners straightening up furiously had to sit back in their places with the same speed. Now they would understand how the female orc restrained her commanders during the war.
"Everything I am about to say is the truth. Here, the account books of the three noble families and the fight records of the arena are available; please check!"
Quintus was about to break from politeness; the slightest wrong move meant the end of his life. A few commanders stepped forward and took the documents the fat man left on the ground. Their eyes would pop out of their sockets while reading; orcs had been sold as captives, and as the lowest class at that.
"The human speaks the truth. I was a slave sold to the merchant as soon as born and reached adulthood at the city gates. I was sold like goods at the market; with a collar around my neck, I was forced to work until I fainted from exhaustion. Still, I was lucky; I wasn't among my kin who were sent to death with a dull sword shoved into their hands in the arena."
An orc who worked as a slave until the capture of the city spoke in tears. This person's body was just recovering; his bones hadn't gathered enough flesh yet. The anger of the siege army left its place to shame. How had they fallen into this state in their own lands?
"Lift your heads! I am Kuyag; I killed two bodyguards of the perpetrator of this cruelty with my own hands. I watched the slaughter of an arena full of rampant humans with these eyes. When Commander Nafız killed the City Lord, my chest swelled with pride just like all the orc warriors there!"
"Hey! Hey!"
Upon the captain's words, the warriors under his command shouted hitting their shields with the weapons in their hands. When the scene they saw fell into their minds, their blood boiled, and they were beside themselves with excitement.
"You are my prisoners now! I will neither tie you up nor stuff you into small cells. You will wait in your tents until I present my conditions to your tribe chieftain and receive an answer. No matter what, you are warriors with orc pride; I trust you!"
When his speech ended, Alyon turned his back and walked towards the city gates; meanwhile, a group was entering Çekiçdöven's tent to take the communication devices. A duel had taken place instead of a pitched battle, and the siege army was taken captive without shedding blood. For now, their plans had worked; the hulking orc's face was smiling on the way back.
"Provide them with food and drink. Let them not die and stink up the whole city!"
Nafız's disappointment was great. The prisoners in front of her were suckling lambs she was eager to slaughter; even while helping, she looked with disgust.
When the command echelon left, the two armies would begin to interact with each other. The warriors, hearing the headlines of the events that took place until today, found the chance to listen to what happened down to the finest detail.
These traitors rebelling against the main tribe were actually completely different from what was told to them. Wherever they went, they had brought glory and honor to orcs there.
They ate, drank together. Orcs were strange creatures; while dying to kill each other in the morning, they were singing songs shoulder to shoulder at night.