She was vaguely aware of the orc and war boar charging Alhandra but Yddith failed to see the paladin fall under the swine's ferocious charge or Riedel, the blacksmith, hacking at the orc as he rode by. Riedel pounded the greataxe into the monster's body with all the strength in his body, born of years spent pounding a hammer onto the anvil. Riedel's blow was strong enough to split the orc's armor, even as the orc's own blow was deflected by the paladin's enchanted armor.
Yddith did hear the piercing cry of the war boar as Alhandra slashed the boar's underbelly with the tip of her long sword, but she couldn't pinpoint the sound because the entire street was filled with blood and confusion. She saw the druid drive his cart through the midst of the armed townspeople, trying to slash them with the spikes on the wheels. She watched the townspeople wave their unfamiliar weapons valiantly at the onrushing cart, but sadly realized that none were able to score any damage on wolf, druid, or cart. The worst sight was Bisfel, the baker. His leg was sliced by one of the spikes and instantly he was paralyzed. The spikes were tipped with poison and it was readily apparent to anyone watching that the druid only needed to scratch his victims in order to incapacitate them.
Fortunately, Yddith was heartened to see that Krusk was winning his battle. Bleeding profusely and weakening by the moment, the ferocious orc simultaneously shouted syllables of praise to Gruumsh and tried to turn his mount and retreat. The boar refused, happily feasting on the poor miller's leg as the miller struggled to slice through the boar's hide with his axe. The distraction gave Krusk the opening he needed, and his greataxe sliced through the orc's flesh and spine. The broken body toppled from the boar's back in a spray of blood.
Yddith smiled coldly as Krusk pulled the huge axe free of the orc's ribcage and smashed it like a hammer against the boar's brainpan. The monster dropped in its tracks. The smile froze, however, as she saw the druid cut the harness from the dire wolf and order it to attack Krusk. Yellow fangs ripped away a hunk of both Krusk's armor and thigh.
Yddith winced as the wolf ripped into Krusk. She knew she needed to do something, but she learned only two tricks from the traveling sorceress and she had already used one. Frantically she looked for anything on the street that she could levitate to distract the beast. She saw no weapon light enough and no debris that looked useful. Then a bizarre inspiration took hold. Yddith breathed a soft prayer to Pelor and pointed her finger at a wet pile of road apples left on the street by Jozan's incontinent mule. She watched the lumps of manure rise into the air, then she waved her finger toward the wolf. Even Riedel sidestepped the floating stench with amazement as he advanced behind the other orc.
As Riedel maneuvered behind his enemy, Yddith dropped the mess on the wolf's head. She had heard that even blind wolves could fight by scent alone, but she hoped that this trick would both temporarily blind Krusk's foe and block its sense of smell. The manure plopped onto the wolf at the very moment that she saw the blacksmith bury his axe in the orc's back and Jozan unleash another spell.
Jozan was furious. Not only had they knocked Alhandra onto the ground in an unchivalrous charge, but the orc druid was obviously using some kind of poison on his cart's spikes. The cleric pulled a short, straight piece of iron from his pouch and lifted it toward the sun. He invoked the name of Pelor and brought the metal back down. Turning the iron piece horizontally, he grasped an end in both hands and thrust it in the direction of the last remaining orc warrior. The ceremonial gestures caused the orc to look up from his relentless hacking at the paladin and, for a moment, his eyes locked with Jozan's. A blinding flash as brilliant as sunlight erupted from the iron piece. The illumination engulfed the orc's sensitive eyes and snout, rendering the warrior helpless and unable to move.
Jozan was mesmerized by a combination of events. His flash held the monster, Riedel's fierce assault caused the orc to topple, and Alhandra thrust upward from underneath the boar. The orc's limp body landed face down in the street at the same moment as the boar's stomach opened above the paladin, dumping a mixture of blood, bile, and partially digested food onto her. Jozan ran to help the paladin, but Alhandra proved his aid unnecessary. She rolled out from under the still biting, snorting boar and managed to shove the beast's legs and throw it off-balance just as its tusks and snout burrowed into the spot where her head had been a moment before.
The rest of the townsfolk converged on the remaining orc soldiers. Though not very intelligent, the orcs were smart enough to realize that their leaders were dead. They were perceptive enough to know that their drummer no longer played the rhythm that made their blows effective. They were observant enough to see that one compatriot was retreating with a blade in his back and to realize that it wouldn't be long before it was the druid and the animals against half of the town. Simultaneously, they made a tactical decision far beyond their military experience. When the first orc moved, the others followed-each trying to catch up with the fast retreating drummer and mortally wounded fellow before the others could.
Had the orcs remained a moment longer, they would have seen what might have been an amazing reversal of fortune. Though it was the last thing Jozan wanted to see, he watched in amazement as the druid waved his hands in a circle and the branches of trees swayed with his motion. The wind began circling with the same motion and, quickly, a dense mass of gray cloud descended on the half-orc.
Krusk felt beads of grease forming on his skin, armor, and weapon as though he had worked in a charnel house for days without bathing. The cloud's sickening smell of mold and decay filled the barbarian's nostrils and nearly choked him before he could respond to the druid's approach. He doubled over briefly from the power of the stench and sensed that the presence of the greasy gray cloud had weakened him with some type of supernatural blight. Fortunately for the half-orc, the cloud's nasty effect weakened the dire wolf as well. Its coat was beaded with the sickening mist and it also coughed up some of the foul cloud. The barbarian used all of his concentration to connect, albeit somewhat weakly, with his target. He injured the wolf slightly, but he didn't kill it outright with one slice of the axe the way he expected to do. The partially blind wolf snapped at the air. The druid laughed.
Yddith could still hear the druid laughing when the cloud of unholy blight began dissipating. She no longer heard him laughing when the paladin charged. Yddith watched Alhandra run toward the druid waving her bloody, befouled sword in ferocious overhead circles. Yet, before the paladin reached him, Yddith observed an incredible transformation. The druid's face quivered. His muscles rippled, his body contorted, and his bones cracked. Hair covered his body thickly at an impossibly fast pace. Where the druid had stood before, a large wolf stood in the cart. As Alhandra closed on the wolf, Yddith saw it leap from the cart and run away.
Before anyone could ready a bow or crossbow, the druid-turned-wolf fled into the forest and all that remained of the assault force was the angry, blind dire wolf that continued slashing and biting at Krusk. As the wolf snapped, Krusk stepped nimbly to the side and brought the axe down with enough force to separate the animal's head from its body.
Yddith breathed a word of thanks as she saw Krusk's life spared. She ran out the door and into Krusk's arms as quickly as possible, paying no attention to the one-eyed citizens of Pergue dragging the boar carcasses to Imel's butcher's stand. She completely missed the healing miracle performed by Jozan.