My History (Part Two)
I awoke in what I thought was at first a cave. For the most part I was correct. Then my eyes fell on the iron grate that barred me off in this small cell. It seemed the orcs had carved this out of the very cave that they called home. A small lamp on the cave wall directly opposite of my cell illuminated the place slightly. I stood up, my knees shaking weakly with the effort it took to stand. My whole body was in pain, my head throbbed angrily. I placed my hand gingerly on my head and felt a large bump larger than my fists. With a sigh I walked to the grate that kept me imprisoned and gave it a shake, it didn’t budge but it made quite the sound. The cave helped to amplify this noise down the tunnel. I peered out of the bars. To the left the tunnel went on for a bit lined with cells similar to my own and then stopped abruptly. To the right was a crude stone staircase that led to upper levels of the cave.
Perhaps the rattling of the bars alerted the orcs that I was awake. As I stared up the stairs I heard loud, heavy footsteps drawing nearer and nearer. I walked away from the bars, I began to tremble involuntary. The feet reached the steps and descended them slowly, one by one, as if to prolong my terror. Then an orc appeared. This orc was huge, massive, and very scary looking. He was easily the biggest of all the others I had seen. He was dressed in some dented plate mail over which was draped various furs and to my horror what looked like human skins. Exposed muscles bulged on his arms, he was a fine specimen of orc might. Hanging from his waist was one of the most gruesome of axes I have ever set my eyes upon, it looked both sharp and keen, fully capable of parting head from neck with ease. In his black eyes there was a certain keenness, an animalistic intelligence. Just his mere presence filled me with horror. Then he spoke.
“I is Glug, chieftain o' da orcs o' ‘dis cave.” He spoke in common surprisingly well for an orc, his voice about as pleasant as rocks grinding upon one another. He went on
“I izz da biggest, the meanest, and da strongest of dem all. Dats why me chief. Glug is master of them all.” He says with pride.
Despite the broken common he spoke I still sensed some intelligence in him, a deadly combination of brains and brute strength. He voice had both power and command in it, as if he was used to leading and getting his way.
“What is da name human?” He asked roughly.
“S-S-Solarion Tirandez” I stammered, not daring to look him into the eyes.
Glug laughed. An evil, brutish sound. He pulled a ring of keys from his side and opened the cell door. He walked inside my cell; slowly, purposely. Glug stopped about a foot in front of me. I could feel his warm and humid breath on my neck, making me tremble even more as goose bumps appeared on my skin.
“Solarion, Solarion, Solarion.” He said with a coarse laugh.
“Why should Glug not kill you? What worth you be to glug?” He taps his chin with one of his clawed fingers, pondering what use the boy could possibly be to him. Then a smile comes to the orc’s face, a smile with the realization of what use this boy could be.
“You speak yes?! You make words right?! You knows what words say?!” He says in a tone somewhere between excitement and anger.
I nodded slowly, wondering what that had to do with anything. These beasts don’t need to know how to read or write, they’re dumb and have more than enough strength to compensate for their lack of intelligence.
“What?! What you say? Answer Glug!” He roared, getting noticeably irritated.
“Yes” I croaked.
“I can read, write, and speak. My parents taught me, I-I-I enjoy it.” I said with a quiver that ran through my entire body.
He gave me a big toothy grin.
“Good! Dat good!” He says, hardly controlling his delight.
“Glug be needin’ someone to speak words to him and da rest o’ da boys! Glug like dem word books but Glug not know wha’ da words be sayin’ to him. Glug want hear stories of battles and fight’n and blood!”
I was astonished. This orc wanted me to
read. Of all things I would be
reading to these foul beasts. I sighed slowly. I guess it was better than being made into a stew, or worse. I was not totally reassured that I would be alive for too long, who knew what they would do if they ever became bored of me. Yet I knew it would be wise to play along at least for the present, resisting his demands would most likely have resulted in a close encounter with that axe.
I suddenly mustered up the courage to look up at the towering form right in front of me, my neck straining to look right up at his face.
“Sure! I can do that! I’ll read whatever you’d like for me to read to you!” I said with a mock smile on my face, trying my best to look delighted about the prospect of reading to these oafs.
Glug gave me a suspicious look, perhaps taken off guard by my apparent enthusiasm about reading for the rest of my life.
“Don be gettin no funny ideas now! Try some tricky games and ill eat yah alive!” He says with a special viciousness. I was very inclined to believe him and shook my head rapidly.
“Now!” He continued.
“You gona be readin’ for us and you gona write stuff dat I orders and keep it safe in da paper. . . “ He pauses in mid sentence to scratch his head and think.
“An youll do other stuff too! Once I see how good you are at dat!” He grins.
“We going to ‘ave da best ‘o times humie!” He roars with laughter as he leaves my cell, locks it, and returns to the upper levels, singing some horrible, horrible tune.
I heaved a great sigh. For the time being I was safe, safe from being killed or eaten by these savage beasts. I sat on the ground dejectedly. So this would be my fate, consigned to a small cell in the bowls of an orc cave, my only purpose to read stories and act as tribe “scribe”. A surge of sadness and despair suddenly coursed through me. I was overwhelmed by the sheer hopelessness of the situation I was in. It was surreal. Just a few days ago I was enjoying life as a child, now I was a slave. I began to cry. Silent tears streamed down my face as I realized this was going to be my life until the day that I die. I missed my family. I missed my mother Saphra, and my father Zelar, they probably believed I was dead, I hoped they would never forget me. Oh how I love them so! I missed my brothers; Vishnir with his dedication to Nashkell’s guard, his awe inspiring skill with the scythe, and his stubborn boisterous ways. And then Aragold, he was always so nice to me, he had the biggest heart in the world and his smile could warm the coldest day. I was so absorbed in my self pity and my sorrow that I didn’t even notice as an orc, laughing and taunting me as he did so, dropped off some water, a plate which what had what can hardly be described as food, and some very smelly blankets. Without even bothering to eat or wrap myself in the blankets I curled up into a tight ball and cried myself into a sleep that offered no comfort for my troubled mind and body.
