Hey Everyone! This story isn't related to any of my other Azog x Rimkaur stories. I just thought one day what would happen if they had met differently. Also pretty overdue!
It is quite 'condensed'. Leave it to me and it would turn into another five chapters! (This will be about Two Parts, so just a... Short Story?) :)
Do you want to know what happens further? Would you read a part two?
'This One is Mine'
Part I
They always performed the ritual in winter... And this one was much colder that anyone had recalled. The village hunting party had come back empty handed once again. They blamed them... Always...
The Orcs...
And the ritual was just a palliation. A speck of hope the wildlife will return if the creatures let it.
Alai wrestled with the window latch to slam it shut before another strong gust chilled her stiff. She preferred to stay in the barn when her uncle was away, and this time it was longer than expected.
She'd always been an outsider. She hadn't seen why... Yet the young woman also hadn't expected that would play a part in their decision. Without a warning the barn door was leveled into the ground by a few men, she recognized the son of a village elder at the forefront, a split second later she saw only darkness.
Alainir awoke. Realizing where she was rendered her motionless. In that desolate snowy glade, torches aflame around her... The villagers resembled ghosts in a semi-circle. No gazes were sympathetic.
The offspring of an elder stepped forth. Alai detected the tweak of disappointment in his eyes. She didn't beg or cry alike the other two women to be left here at the mercy of the woodland. He harbored a hope to see her fall and beg him... Then perhaps he would take her as his, yet she wouldn't relent just as before.
The quiet at first the ominous melody wafted up into the trees as the ritual song echoed the dark forest. What are three women for the lives of a hundred..?
The man had approached once more, letting his knife free. A nick left on her collarbone freed the scarlet rivulet and as if a coincidence the wind gust flew forth into the trees causing a collective gasp. One by one the villagers scattered leaving only footprints in the freshly fallen snow.
One of the women cried so much she'd passed out, another still sobbed through the teeth chattering.
What was the point in whimpering? Alainir set her jaws. Orcs better get here fast or there'll be nothing left but icicles.
A rustle in the trees caused the conscious female to yelp and commence the feverish shivering once more. They peered into the darkness not knowing what to expect. There was no mistake though any woman sacrificed had never come back. There were no bones left either...
Two flaming dots in the darkness. Glowing alike embers. Then another pair, then another... The enormous wolves stalked towards the clearing. Yet none had any intention to pounce.
Alainir snorted. It came out on its own, she couldn't control it. This forced one of the sobbing females into shocked silence. It's not that she wasn't concerned for her well being... Not that she did not fear the near future yet simply laying the eyes on the riders caused that outcome.
They were so small..!
Were they Morians Ghintar talked of?
She could fight back given the right opportunity. There was hope after all. Each rider unbound a female keeping their arms tied. They were hauled onto the beasts to proceed.
Moria... Alainir continued her thought process. And there were two things an Orc male could possibly use a Human female for. Well three...
She had no idea what really was to come after.
x x x
When they were finally dragged off the backs of the Wargs the things that transpired appeared at first as an odd dream. A crowd, a large one... All eyes were on them.
The Humans were tied to the thick pole in the middle of the gathering.
Exhausted after a long ride the redhead focused her vision. The entire front row were males... And these were nothing like the ones who brought them there. All over six feet tall, muscled, battle weathered, terrifying... They was a certain hunger in their eyes.
She scanned the crowd.
He as if waited for her stare to plunge into his. Alai inhaled aquiver... His stare was incredibly intense, unwavering... He looked - at her... In a way as if no other was there. The Human frowned, she dropped her stare setting her jaws.
That Orc unsettled her...
The male in turn stepped forward. Cocking his head he didn't let his eyes leave the small frame. The nostrils flared.
'Rimkaur!' One powerful bellow has left his chest as he stuck his yatagan into the ground.
A few more males stepped up unsheathing their weapons, pointing in the direction of one they'd fight after.
It had begun.
x x x
The Sun has broken through the cloud cover, the rays bounced off the volcanic rock behind the throngs of Orcs, all cheering, all curious of what's to come. This was the show of prowess and the strongest would claim the reward.
The Orc whose gaze she'd met struck down his opponent. But yet another one leaped forth. The male attacked from behind hoping to get an advantage. He swung... Perhaps it was the angle of the attack, perhaps he moved too quickly... The top of the handle of his ax landed onto the nape instead of the blade. The weapon slid off the skull getting embedded in the shoulder. The force of the onset disabled the pale one. The opponent struck once more. Alai saw blood... The action was met with a howl from the crowd.
Was anything fair when the stakes were this high?
The girl tied behind Alainir fumbled at her fingers in an attempt of comfort. The redhead stood still, the burly male approached to claim what was his. She set her jaws. A hand grasped her throat, quickly making its way down her body... The warrior grinned exposing the row of uneven, browned teeth, so amused at her shuddering. And she couldn't take her eyes of his face...
The little Orcs made a mistake... They didn't search them. Her freed hand quickly found the hilt of the stiletto she kept strapped onto her hip. The weapon found it's way slashing the flesh on the male's thigh.
As if it was nothing but a bug bite the Orc simply scowled yet the retaliation was much more severe. The hand flew across her face sending Alainir onto her back. The fragments of rocks dug into her skin, the girls behind her shrilled anticipating the same outcome for themselves. The woman gasped gulping in air, it's as if she was made of glass and was shuttered, a rivulet of blood snaked from her nose coloring her lips and teeth crimson. She strained, stood and staggered giving her head a shake. The spectators were blurry... She fumbled for her weapon.
Would another have submitted and cried herself all the way to the Orc's 'bedroom'? Alai stared in front of her as if to nowhere as is she herself was a mere spectator as the breaking point in her life unfolded before her. Alike a small wild animal faced with the opponent it knows it would never overpower she flew onto the fur clad back this time the dagger parted the skin on the right side of his torso. She found herself on the ground panting and writhing in agony, elbowed in the solar plexus. The male roared slipping the thin knife out his muscle, he stepped forward hailing the human to her feet. All at once the chilled air of the mountainous range prickled her frame, her dress lay in tatters at her feet. The hefty arm rose, he grumbled something in his tongue, struck... The force so formidable she couldn't see for the longest moment. The male retracted the fist...
Suddenly the limb as if detached by the force of nature itself fell to the ground. The Orc howled clutching at the stump. Grabbing for his weapon he spun - only to meet his end...
The Pale Orc scowled. He freed his weapon nearly splitting the corpse in two. The sound was sickening. Ink black spattered the glade. Same colored the victor's hands and arms.
Azog straughtened to his full height.
The sonorous growl reverberated the clearing, he scanned the crowd as if asking if anyone else would dare to best him.
Alai breath wafted in clouds of steam. The Orc approached. She looked up with non concealed bewilderment when he draped a fur throw over her stiff body. She expected violence... More battering, agony... Yet what he did froze her in her tracks.
She should have still fought...
The way she resisted the onset of another boiled the blood in his veins. Not only her outwardly appearance pleased his eye... The arms held her torso as if confirming he has succeeded. Alai's blood in turn ran cold when he stared down into her eyes again. The nature, the intent seeped out of those icy orbs. He didn't need to speak, she knew...
She was his now.
x x x
Why didn't she resist again? This one was no less terrifying. Taller... Skin pale as the tarnished snow, crisscrossed with rifts, deep gouges... Gods only knew how he acquired those... And his eyes, - he spoke with that stare...
Paralyzed...
The human was lifted and that is when she had realized she's just been unclothed in front of the entire population of Moria. Alai hid her face, but even the tears wouldn't come...
She came out of the stupor faced with a female. The Orc was nowhere to be seen. The human frowned. The Orcess narrowed her eyes. She was much older, yet one couldn't quite put a finger on it. She gestured rightwards and that's when Alainir realized there were on the shore of a lake. Beneth the ground. Stalactites and stalagmites comprised the massive columns that supported this enormous structure. The water appeared black just like the blood of the inhabitants. But the air, it was so fresh! Alainir couldn't help a sound inhale. Never in her life she had seen a place both so terrifying and so beautiful...
'Come.' The Orcess spoke Westron.
She rubbed the wet sand onto her skin slowly drowning in her thoughts... She wasn't a naive little fool, she knew what was to come after. He didn't nearly loose his life to eat her. The absentminded gaze lifted to find curiosity in the Orc female's eyes.
Alai pressed her lips, the female kept staring. It wasn't malicious... Then she understood.
'You wonder why I don't wail and rip my hair at my impending fate don't you?'
'Can you blame me?' The dark female's lips lifted into a gesture resembling a smirk. The mood lightened.
'Can't blame them either...' Alai thought of two other women. 'I don't cry because no tears would change my fate.' She exhaled. 'Won't change his mind either...'
The Orcess shifted then cocked her head as Alainir halted her sentence. There was something in the girl's face...
She wasn't terrified she was nervous... Alainir could barely admit it to herself... Her finger raked the sand as the eyes watched it.
'Who is he..?' She finally let out.
'A Northerner...' Foshaalob uttered mysteriously. 'One thing I've never seen him do is fight for one...' She laughed but not mockingly, Alai couldn't quite figure the nature of it.
'Fight for..?'
'A sharlob... A human. Not the first time the human sacrifice has been brought, but the first time he was interested.' She gave the human a knowing look, which in turn made her stomach fill with algidity.
Thoughts flew through Alai's head stumbling over her near future. It was tenebrous just like these underground pasagges. Should she be flattered..? The female before her appeared much older, surely much wiser... But would it make sense asking her? She knows his intentions. The question would be how long... How long will he keep her..?
'It's time.' The Orcess uttered. Seeing a touch of darkness upon's human's face she rested her hands onto her shoulders. There was something about this girl. Her unusual demeanor... It had caught the elder, made her wish she could help her survive.
For now it was hard to force her words to abandon the tongue...
'Ye'll make it.' She patted her head alike a caring grandmother would. 'I'm sure of it.'
x x x
She sat alone in the chamber. To her surprise it had a window and Alainir watched the Sun-rays vanish as the mirk enveloped the valley. The crowd was gone as if never there, just a few Orcs sat on the black rocks. It just looked like they were enjoying the scenery, the air... Not sharpening their weapons or sinking their teeth into someone as one could have thought...
When she had finally heard the steps ascending the spiral staircase that led to his dwelling her heart had nearly leaped out the rib cage. That feeling of nervousness drove her insane.
The black of the passageway let the pale figure free, his chest and back now free of blood. There was no bandage however, the parted skin still oozed the inky fluid, yet he didn't seem to be bothered or at least concealed the pain cleverly.
The Orc pitched his nose and his eyes narrowed.
When he saw her down in the valley the shock of her hair shone alike a wildfire in the warm rays but it wasn't until her gaze met his he had become... blinded. The world had become empty with no one but her in front of him. He knew at that moment he would risk his life to feel that flesh upon his.
'Rimkaur...' He did not realize his lips spoke it out loud.
'Alainir...' She replied brazenly.
Azog leaned onto the door frame.
'Rimkaur.' He repeated almost as if teasing her except his tone was hard to read.
His voice deep and guttural he sounded almost displeased.
Was it the right time to ask questions. The human exhaled still avoiding looking at the Orc. Could she attempt..?
What will you do with me..? She sounded the question in her mind. But she wasn't a naive little girl... The way he acted, the way he sniffed her, the way he held her there down at the front gates...
She was so elated he killed that other one... The human caught herself and cut the thought abruptly.
'Anglatub?' She exhaled apace.
The Pale Orc cocked his head. He would smirk at her brazenness alone yet it seemed she was still full of surprises. He wondered how one from a little forsaken village would know his tongue.
'Azog.' He looked her straight in the eyes when she made a blunder in turning to face him. Once again suddenly he was overcome with that feeling. He was even more sure now...
She saw that darkness. As if his eyes welcomed the shadows of his dwelling...
The words were lodged in her throat. The human made an effort, concentrating her vision on his wound instead of those eyes. Yet to make a point she had to look up.
'What use you have for me?' She was trembling yet her voice was calm and assured but inside Alai berrrated herself. She watched the left side of his mouth creep up into a smirk. She in turn had to hold on to the door frame. Fear spread upwards in a chilled wave. She bir her lip.
'You must let me go Azog.' Despite weakness in her limbs she appeared poised. 'There is no one to take care of my... Mother.' (She lied, she had never met her mother).
The Pale Orc switched his weight from one leg to another, the Sun now almost fully beyond the horizon she watched his orbs come alight in the murk. It was challenging to look away. If she had fought him off would there have been another..? Would they have let her go? How foolish... How could she ever best him...
'What are you doing?' His voice was quieter but still had an impact. Every time he spoke shivers ran up her back.
'Attempting to appeal to your human nature..?' The words left her tongue without a thought and here was that smirk again.
'Sharlob, Orgizg.' The answer was straightforward. He watched the shadow of the body beneath the cloth. 'Htollatizg.'
Ghintar is Alainir's (Rimkaur's) uncle, who raised her.
Black Seech:
Rimkaur - Redhead
Sharlob - Human Woman
Anglatub? - Your Name
Orgizg - I am an Orc
Htollatizg - ... I dare you to guess this one my readers! ;)