Darker Shade of Gray
Chapter 1 : The Voice of Saruman
"You will fear nothing. You will feel no pain or pleasure. You will do what you are ordered and not what you think is right." I shivered. It was Saruman addressing his hordes of uruk hai. He went on to describe exactly what he wanted from his evil army, but his opening words stuck in my head.
We are considered one of the most disgusting, foul, repulsive creatures to breath on Middle-earth. Out of all things evil we are the most hunted among men elves and dwarves. I am an orc, a small one at that. I stood on a ridge far above the gathering mass of bodies. It was a cold and gray day, the wind bit cruelly at my heels and face. Above there was nothing but clouds, below was an evil army, in front was a black tower, behind me were my sniveling relatives. But it was better then the Hole.
Saruman (or "master" as we're supossto call him) was giving us a briefing and showing off his newest accomplishment, the uruk hai. The uruk hai were just plain ugly and crude (worse then the orcs). As for the briefing nobody but the uruk hai were listening, something about capturing halflings and bringing them back. Hah if we caught anything worth catching we were more likely to kill it then to bring it back unharmed.
I rubbed my hands together and stamped my feet on the frozen ground in a futile attempt to bring some feeling back in them. We were all scantly clad. In the beginning we were given a little material and no time to make them in. Most of the garb we wore belonged to some poor fool you found dead in the Hole. I shivered at the thought. A stream of cold mist blew through my lips as my breath made condensation in the air.
Looking out over the army of uruk hai I noticed how much more stronger and bigger they were then the orcs. Soon there would be more, and then they wouldn't need us for battle anymore. Even that way of escape would be blocked off. But right now there was a chance, just as long as I got in on this assignment.
I turned my attention back to masters' voice "Those who obey and follow me will be rewarded. Those who do not will be punished." He was finishing up, good. There are not many things in middle-earth that disgust us orcs but Saruman is one of them. I realized that the uruk hai were taking it all in they actually believed he would reward them. Heh, not for long. "Not all of you will be able to accompany them on their mission, there are certain amount of weapons for each skill. When those weapons have run out the numbers are filled. The lines begin here, here, and here." He pointed to each door in turn.
I stopped listening. What if you don't go? Then you die in the Hole. Oh shit I have to get out. I grabbed my head with both my hands and shook. There were too many what ifs running through my brain.
"You will fear nothing. You will feel no pain or pleasure. You will do what you are ordered and not what you think is right."
But I was afraid, I did feel pain, and I was starting to think for myself. His words echoed over again in my head reminding me that I'm nothing but a slave. Did you think orcs willing participated in this war? No. We where happy when the elves were ruling, they left us alone. We were allowed to live in mountains and abandon mines. They might have hated us but at least they didn't turn us into slaves. We formed into different clans with different views. We were taken from our land one clan at a time so that we either served Saruman or The Dark Lord himself.
The only reason that we're doing this is fear. Oh not of death. Millions of us die just doing every day things. Death would be a joy ride compared to life. That's why all orcs are so eager to go to battle; there is always a slight chance they might die in it. Elves mow us down three at a time and we let them. If we really wanted to we would live and fight, but what's the point? Fight to get our masters on the thrown so we could be abused even more?
I will not speak of the thing we fear most, for it is to awful even for an orc.
The horde was starting to leave I quickly jumped down from the ledge and slid down the side of the cliff. There was a gathering line of orcs at the bottom. I slid into the closest line as fast as my freezing legs would carry me. It turned out to be the line of archers. Biting my lip I tried seeing over the tops of the other heads. How close am I? I begin to panic. Is it too late?
Slithering and ducking my way hurriedly around the crowd I managed to get three away from the front. I smiled, no one had noticed that I had cheated and no one was trying to stick a spear through my head. For once I was thankful for my diminutive size.
One, two, three, the orcs were given their poorly crafted weapons. Finally it was my turn. There was one more bow on the wall and it was mine. I held the bow in my trembling hand until I had calmed down. This was my only hope, my salvation. It lay in my hand, my way out of a lifetime in the Hole. I grinned and held it above my head so that the others could see it. I will always remember the look of hopelessness on their faces as it dawned on them that I had the last bow.
I turned and chose as many arrows as I could carry. They were heavier then arrwors should be, blunt and hurriedly crafted probably some by my own hand. I slipped the ------- on to my back and made my way toward the group. Never mind that I hadn't picked up a bow in my life, that didn't matter now.
They were clustered around the main gates receiving last minute directions. There were few real orcs coming on the expideision most of them were uruk hai there were some goblins and a few unrecenisable creatures which I supposed were rejects from his first breeding attepts. I got
Chapter 1 : The Voice of Saruman
"You will fear nothing. You will feel no pain or pleasure. You will do what you are ordered and not what you think is right." I shivered. It was Saruman addressing his hordes of uruk hai. He went on to describe exactly what he wanted from his evil army, but his opening words stuck in my head.
We are considered one of the most disgusting, foul, repulsive creatures to breath on Middle-earth. Out of all things evil we are the most hunted among men elves and dwarves. I am an orc, a small one at that. I stood on a ridge far above the gathering mass of bodies. It was a cold and gray day, the wind bit cruelly at my heels and face. Above there was nothing but clouds, below was an evil army, in front was a black tower, behind me were my sniveling relatives. But it was better then the Hole.
Saruman (or "master" as we're supossto call him) was giving us a briefing and showing off his newest accomplishment, the uruk hai. The uruk hai were just plain ugly and crude (worse then the orcs). As for the briefing nobody but the uruk hai were listening, something about capturing halflings and bringing them back. Hah if we caught anything worth catching we were more likely to kill it then to bring it back unharmed.
I rubbed my hands together and stamped my feet on the frozen ground in a futile attempt to bring some feeling back in them. We were all scantly clad. In the beginning we were given a little material and no time to make them in. Most of the garb we wore belonged to some poor fool you found dead in the Hole. I shivered at the thought. A stream of cold mist blew through my lips as my breath made condensation in the air.
Looking out over the army of uruk hai I noticed how much more stronger and bigger they were then the orcs. Soon there would be more, and then they wouldn't need us for battle anymore. Even that way of escape would be blocked off. But right now there was a chance, just as long as I got in on this assignment.
I turned my attention back to masters' voice "Those who obey and follow me will be rewarded. Those who do not will be punished." He was finishing up, good. There are not many things in middle-earth that disgust us orcs but Saruman is one of them. I realized that the uruk hai were taking it all in they actually believed he would reward them. Heh, not for long. "Not all of you will be able to accompany them on their mission, there are certain amount of weapons for each skill. When those weapons have run out the numbers are filled. The lines begin here, here, and here." He pointed to each door in turn.
I stopped listening. What if you don't go? Then you die in the Hole. Oh shit I have to get out. I grabbed my head with both my hands and shook. There were too many what ifs running through my brain.
"You will fear nothing. You will feel no pain or pleasure. You will do what you are ordered and not what you think is right."
But I was afraid, I did feel pain, and I was starting to think for myself. His words echoed over again in my head reminding me that I'm nothing but a slave. Did you think orcs willing participated in this war? No. We where happy when the elves were ruling, they left us alone. We were allowed to live in mountains and abandon mines. They might have hated us but at least they didn't turn us into slaves. We formed into different clans with different views. We were taken from our land one clan at a time so that we either served Saruman or The Dark Lord himself.
The only reason that we're doing this is fear. Oh not of death. Millions of us die just doing every day things. Death would be a joy ride compared to life. That's why all orcs are so eager to go to battle; there is always a slight chance they might die in it. Elves mow us down three at a time and we let them. If we really wanted to we would live and fight, but what's the point? Fight to get our masters on the thrown so we could be abused even more?
I will not speak of the thing we fear most, for it is to awful even for an orc.
The horde was starting to leave I quickly jumped down from the ledge and slid down the side of the cliff. There was a gathering line of orcs at the bottom. I slid into the closest line as fast as my freezing legs would carry me. It turned out to be the line of archers. Biting my lip I tried seeing over the tops of the other heads. How close am I? I begin to panic. Is it too late?
Slithering and ducking my way hurriedly around the crowd I managed to get three away from the front. I smiled, no one had noticed that I had cheated and no one was trying to stick a spear through my head. For once I was thankful for my diminutive size.
One, two, three, the orcs were given their poorly crafted weapons. Finally it was my turn. There was one more bow on the wall and it was mine. I held the bow in my trembling hand until I had calmed down. This was my only hope, my salvation. It lay in my hand, my way out of a lifetime in the Hole. I grinned and held it above my head so that the others could see it. I will always remember the look of hopelessness on their faces as it dawned on them that I had the last bow.
I turned and chose as many arrows as I could carry. They were heavier then arrwors should be, blunt and hurriedly crafted probably some by my own hand. I slipped the ------- on to my back and made my way toward the group. Never mind that I hadn't picked up a bow in my life, that didn't matter now.
They were clustered around the main gates receiving last minute directions. There were few real orcs coming on the expideision most of them were uruk hai there were some goblins and a few unrecenisable creatures which I supposed were rejects from his first breeding attepts. I got