Prompt: By an Open Fire

Rating: T

Setting: Southern Mirkwood

Characters: Orc

Summary: An orc bemoans its fate and blames it all on the cursed elvish holiday of Ennyn Rhîw.

The flames from the open fire were warm, very warm and with every hiss, crackle and pop of the wood the flames' strength increased. The heat that radiated from the fire felt hot, far too hot on the bloodied, disfigured face of the orc that lay in the cold, blood soaked mud.

The orc moved its throbbing head ever so slightly so that he was able to look upon the fire – the pyre upon which his comrades burned. All of them, every last one of them had been cut down and were now being mercilessly tossed onto the roaring flames by the accursed elves.

It would be his turn soon – it was only a matter of time before they spotted him and then he too would meet a fiery end.

It was unfair, he groused as he tried and failed miserably to move. It seemed he was pinned to ground by numerous filthy elf arrows.

The orc fell still with a wet squelch and continued to bemoan his fate. It was just so unfair – he and his comrades had had no intention of even going anywhere near the elves – not this night. They were only trying to cross the woods and eventually make it to their kin in the Misty Mountains. Times were hard in Mirkwood, even Southern Mirkwood, and Grishlak, their leader had decided it would be best for them to head to the Mountains. There were better prospects there and a lot less of the bastard elves.

So they had plotted, planned and waited specifically for this night – this Ennyn Rhîw the elves all chattered so much about in their irritating voices. The elves were supposed to be off duty, preoccupied, eating, singing and giving thanks to their precious Valar. Grishlak had been so sure that they would be able to sneak through the woods and past the southernmost elvish village under the cover of darkness without detection from the distracted celebratory elves.

How wrong Grishlak had been.

The elves were not off duty at all and they certainly were not all that distracted. Nay instead they had been well alert and had spotted him and his fellows and thoroughly routed them in no time at all. He and his comrades had been no match against the elves who had showered them with deadly arrows from above. Bastard elves and their cowardly fighting tactics.

The orc snorted – stupid elvish holiday. It was obviously quite boring if the elves would still rather work and be out on patrol. Still, what else could one expect with elves – a holiday that revolved around eating and giving thanks? How utterly, mind numbingly dull. No wonder the elves hadn't been distracted – there was nothing about so silly a holiday that was worth any attention.

See if there was more bloodshed, more fighting, more shagging and perhaps a smattering of murder then the holiday might have had some spice, some flavour, some excitement about it. Enough so that it might have kept the elves occupied and too busy having fun to notice them.

But alas, Ennyn Rhîw was unexciting, dismally so, and as a result he and his comrades had been captured by doubtlessly bored elves and now this was it. The end. His mother would be forever ashamed that he had died at the hands of the Lul Gijak-ishi.

The orc watched with its beady, yellow eyes dismayed to see he had been spotted; one of the forest fairies now stalked toward him dagger in hand.

Happy Ennyn Rhîw indeed, the orc mocked with a snarl as it tried its best to lash out and prevent its imminent death.

Ridiculous, bloody boring, bastard elf holiday.

END.

Ennyn Rhîw – The Gates of Winter

Lul Gijak-ishi – (Black Speech) Literally: Flowers in the blood – an Orcish insult for Elves

A/N: So I decided to take a bit of an unusual twist with this prompt – going from an orc's point of view. I've tried to think out of the box with a few of these prompts and just see what I come up with. This one ended up being one of my favorites and I hoped you enjoyed it too.

Drop me a line and let me know you think :)