Turtle turned from Hawk to continue loading the truck with equipment. “We need someone to stay here and watch the base,” he said. “We can’t afford to all be gone and come home to find our place ransacked, invaded, or destroyed.”

“Then leave Kurl here,” Hawk said, his short blond curls bouncing as he followed Turtle back and forth, the boy grabbing large boxes with seeming ease and gracefully sliding them into the truck with surprising speed.

“We need Kurl with us,” Turtle said, referring to the orc not much older than Hawk, but nearly full grown by orc standards.