It was a long, steep climb up the mountain side and the three became tired as the sun rose high in the sky."Feels like lunch time to me." said Darvid, "Let's rest and eat." They sat down with their backs to the hard grey stone of the mountain and looked back at the town. They could see all of it as if it was a map. Tiny ships sailed out over the sea and the streets were full of moving dots like ants. Above them the mountain seemed to go up for ever.
"We must try to get to the Great Doors before dark." said Darvid.
"Listen!" Soolin hissed. They all became perfectly still. There was a scraping noise a little further up the path. It stopped. Then it started again to the left of them. Tem thought he saw something moving behind a rock. Suddenly the noise was to the right of them.
"Tem, you stay here and watch our things." Soolin whispered. She and Darvid moved to the sides of the path. Tem watched them. Darvid moved like a bear, sword in hand, clambering over the the rocks at the side of the path. Soolin moved like a cat, slowly and silently. They both disappeared behind the rocks.
Suddenly there was a noise behind Tem, he looked round. He saw two short legs behind the donkey. Carefully he crept round to see what was happening. An Ork, the shortest Ork he had ever seen, was pulling the bags open and muttering to itself, "Food, food they must have. Where is food?"
Tem took his dagger from his belt and crept up behind the creature.
"What do you think you're doing?" he asked the Ork.
Without a word it turned and ran, straight into Darvid. Darvid grabbed it by the arms but found it difficult to hang on to the struggling creature.
It yelled at him, "Let go, let go! Big man not hurt Sneck. Sneck only look for food. Sneck starving."
"Well, Sneck," said Darvid, "You are the fattest starving Ork I've ever seen."
It was true. Sneck might have been short but was almost round. Soolin arrived and looked at the Ork. It just about came up to Darvid's elbow and wore a very tatty black leather shirt. It's legs were short and hairy and partly covered by a ragged leather kilt.
"What was it doing?" asked Soolin. Sneck shouted, "Sneck not it, Sneck she. Sneck want food, starving." Sneck stopped trying to get away from Darvid, she started to sob. "Sneck alone, no mother, no father, no brother or sister. All gone, gone away long ago, leave Sneck, run from Zorin."
The three humans looked at the strange creature, they couldn't just send her away.
"And what do Orks like to eat, Sneck?" asked Tem.
Sneck grinned. "Donkey, Sneck eat donkey."
"I don't think so," said Darvid, "But I'm sure we can find you something just as tasty."
So the four of them sat down to eat and Sneck told them of how she had been left alone as an Ork child and how she had lived until now, hiding from Zorin. She warned them that, as long as Zorin was alive, no other creature was safe.
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