Nationstates Secret of Wuthspire excerpt

The scout stooped low to the ground and examined the tracks in front of him. They were deep and numerous, a lot of people passed here close together. He put his hand to the wind. Hmm, not too strong, the hills must cause a wind shadow here; in that case, these tracks could be as old as a month or as young as a day.
He crept forward, marking the prints in size and depth. With so many of them it was difficult to tell, but he could catalogue two or three different types. Now if he could only figure out what made them…
“Orcs”
The scout tumbled forward and pulled his knife, whirling to face the source of the voice behind him. There stood a grinning man with a large black beard, a bright red scar parting his face just below the eyes. The scout sighed and replaced the knife.
“Dammit Markus, don’t sneak up on me like that”
The man named Markus grinned wider, “I wasn’t sneaking, merely strolling. You need to open your senses, Hanz”

Hanz grimaced, it was true that he could stand to pay more attention to his surroundings, but without direct line of sight, detecting Markus was next to impossible for any man. Even now, with direct contact, he was tempted to think the man a tree instead of a man.

“Easy for you to say” He grumbled, rising from the dusty earth. “You have got to teach me how to do that someday”
“I told you a thousand times, all you have to do is run your natural energy through the ground and back, simple as ABC you now feel like part of the background.”
“Yea well not everyone is born with your natural talent…”
The smile faded “Common Hanz, you don’t believe that old story about the blood do you. You know I’m just a man like anyon-”
“How do you know that it’s Orcs?”
Markus sighed and gestured vaguely.
“The prints resemble the tracks we normally see when staking out an orc camp, though different is a few ways. That, and the smell”
“Is that what that is? I thought something had died”
Markus grinned, “Can’t miss the smell of an Orc party.”
Hanz grinned in return and brushed the dust off his scouts cloak. “In any case, we need to get back to base and tell Xeppolai about this, these tracks imply a huge party, if it’s a band of Orcs we need to get the info out right away”
“Nah you go ahead, I’ll stay and try to get a lock on em.”
Hanz frowned. “Are you kidding me? These tracks could be weeks old, the only reason I’m going back is to get a warm meal and a warm bed, hopefully with a hot date.”
“That’s certainly attractive, but I have a feeling that there is more to see here” he said, glancing over at the hilltops in the distance.
“Fine, whatever. See you tomorrow, don’t do anything stupid”

With that, Hanz turned his back and set off back towards the camp to the northwest at a loping run. He didn’t have time to be arguing with Markus now, and besides, it would take some real skill or big blunders for Markus to get in trouble he wasn’t already looking for. He gave one glace back in spite of himself. He already couldn’t sense anyone else.

Markus watched him go, keeping his eyes on him until he was out of sight, which wasn’t long due to the tress in the way. Hanz wasn’t the best at stealth, but he had eyes like a hawk. Hopefully he would get back safely, but for now…
Markus tapped his ring and ran the energy through his body down into the ground, twisting it and sending it through the blades of grass around him and back in through his shoes. Beads of sweat appeared on his forehead and he breathed out slowly, trying to match his rhythm with the life around him.

Good.

He set off over the hills at a stroll, anything faster would cause the connection to break or be significantly harder to keep going, and he was getting tired as it was. Every few minutes he stopped and made a mark on a handy tree or formed with rocks. He made a triangle with a line through it, the symbol of the scouts. With every one, he also put three dots and a squiggly line, he his own symbol. It would tell any other scout that he had been there and what direction he went and would be a handy guide for him if he needed to leave in a hurry.
At long last he reached to the top of the mountain he had been at when he spotted Hanz down below. It was a good thing he had, because if Hanz had come up here… they would have been spotted for sure.
In the valley below, was the largest group of Orcs he had ever seen.
He pulled out his knife and carved into a nearby rock the scout symbol, and he watched, and waited.