Un-Beta-ed Chapter! Pm if you wish to beta this chapter. Please email the chapter. Thanks.
First edited Thursday, 21 May 2009 Reason for Edit: Because to make it easier for me to update is to put Today or Ancient people of our World and put them in my stories. In this case, I'm using the Mongols as the Orcs. Not to be mean or anything if any of you (who's reading) is a Mongol. It is not because I hate you/them, I love Mongols and I can see how orcs can be like Mongols!
Last Hope of Mankind
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Summary: Au Estel age 11 has been captured by orcs after he was attacked with pack of wolves. Why haven't they tortured him yet? Why did they take him to their village and treated his wounds? Was everything that he was taught about orcs since birth been false all this time? Are they any different from elves, humans and nay other beings? And why has this orc child keep pulling his hair as if wanting to play with him? What would Estel learn form them that would help him during the War with the Ring and when he is King? Or will he in the end be killed by the other family that he only knows by calling him a traitor?
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"Do not kiss your children so they can kiss you back.
Kiss them so they can kiss their children and their children's children."
-- behind a sugar packet at Chumash Casino Resort,
Santa Ynez, CaliforniaUSA
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"Talking"
"Elfish and Black Speech"
'thoughts'
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Chapter Nine
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Kaghed woke up early the next morning.
It took him few moments to comprehend of where he was and why he was lying on a bed. For the first time in a long time, he had decent sleep. It felt as if a large amount of heaviness was lifted off his chest. He felt refresh.
Gently he tried to sat up, but quickly found out he couldn't move. Mokûrz was sound asleep on top of him. His small thin arms tightly wrapped around his chest as if keep him on the bed making sure he will stay with him; not to leave him.
Kaghed laid back his head on the straw made pillow. It was nice to just lye here and rest, ignoring everything in the world….
After what felt like hours later, Kaghed knew he and Mokûrz had to get up. He is a Warlord; his reputation is on the line. Also he promised Brura that he and Mokûrz to met her at high noon.
"Mokûrz. Koh u git nalt. (Estel. Time to get up)." He said at his charge.
"Numa (No)." Mokûrz muttered Elvish sleepy under his breath.
Kaghed shook his head. How can this human speck Elvish to him when he spoke the Black Speech to him? Kaghed tried again, little amused at how this human refuse to get up. Having a human might not be a bad thing after all. And to think last night he didn't know what to do with him; worrying over nothing.
Slowly Mokûrz got up and yawned. The human looked up at him with his sad little eyes. Kaghed sighed.
"Skaatmab Mokûrz (Come on Estel)." Kaghed said getting up from the bed. Mokûrz watched his new guardian as he picked up something that Brura before had left. He kindly handed it to Mokûrz who saw it was clothes.
Mokûrz crinkled his nose at the clothes that been handed to him to wear. The clothes were old, guessing of how worn they are. The pants were made from some type of an animal, as the shirt was made from some type of cotton. It was fairly common clothes from an orc child, he guessed as he remembered Proshnak wearing similar clothes.
"Get dress, Estel. We have a long day ahead of us." Kaghed said, before he left they ger (tent) to let Mokûrz some privately.
Mokûrz sighed as he got from the bed and got dressed slowly not wanting to hurt himself from his sore wound near his neck and shoulder. Finished he slowly sat his elfin made clothes on the side, carefully folding them up. He took his elfin made belt and boots and quickly put them on not wanting to angry the orc if he got too impatient.
"Mokûrz, lat bârzuga (Estel, you finished)?" he heard Mokûrz said to him through the ger (tent) flap.
"Aye." Mokûrz told him. Kaghed walked back inside, slightly shock of how well Mokûrz looked in his new clothes. He smiled; yes soon Mokûrz would look like him and his people. No one would be any wiser that Mokûrz is human or not from a distance. It would be much easier to hide him from the orcs from Mordor if they ever do come back to the village.
"Skaat (Come)." Kaghed said. Slowly Mokûrz followed the orc outside the ger (tent). He was fearful of what he will meet once he is out in the open. Will he see dead men hanging from trees? Orcs eating their own kind over the fire?
Kaghed put his hand on his shoulder, giving him some comfort, the tent flab closed behind them.
Outside was beautiful, if one could call it that. Around the small village were thick trees, giving no sunlight to give at the bottom where the orcs made camp. Only the camp fires and firelight from candles was the only light given to them. Mokûrz saw male orcs surrounded the village, with their bows and arrows at the ready or with their families. He saw what looked like females doing house work, cooking breakfast on the campfires or with the small children. Children of all ages it seemed like, chase each other down the village clearing. The older children, maybe around his age were sparring. Others however seem to be with their mothers or father as if being taught to do something. All and all the village looked like any other village that Mokûrz ever been in.
At first glance the orc village was very normal, beside the orcs themselves. However Mokûrz knew that he cannot judge the village, not yet anyways. Knowing orcs from the battlefield, their society is very different from what he used to, especially from human and elfish standards. Of what he understand; their culture is made up with respect, honor and warfare. To be respect is to fight and respect others. To have honor is to honor the gods and honor the people.
"Mokûrz (Estel). Brura is waiting for us at her ger (tent)." Kaghed told him. Mokûrz nodded as he and Kaghed started to walk down the path of the small village. As they pass the villagers, theystepped aside from Kaghed and to Mokûrz, they looked at him in either in hatred of what he is or in curiosity. Mokûrz suddenly felt embarrassed as he side glanced at all of them. How can he live with these people if they hate him? And what about his elfin family?
Sadness again struck him. Are they still looking for him? Do they think he is still alive or dead? How can he look for them when Kaghed wouldn't let him leave the village?
Mokûrz looked ahead of himself. He will get this orc to trust him enough to find him family on his own. He will not runaway, Ada (father) taught him better than that. The orcs saved his life. For that, he will respect them and even, if time past, he might call this place home. And perhaps, he will even have them as allies, as Ada (father) always says 'it is better to have allies as friends then enemies as foes'.
But when will they let him go out in the Wild alone to even attempt to look for his family? Would that be years until he gets older? And what then, after years and years later, when they even remember him? They are elves, as a few years to him would be like forever, as to them would be like a blink of an eye. And what would become of his mother? Does she wait beside her window hoping her only son still lives? Or does she too, believe that he is dead, united with his father in the afterlife?
Or would it be that his brothers will find him first? Mokûrz hoped that would be the case. He doesn't know this forest well, as it was his first time going near it, as he, his brothers and few of the elfin guards was just passing through.
Mokûrz's thoughts stopped abruptly, when Kaghed suddenly stopped in front of him. Mokûrz stepped beside him to get a better look of what stopped Kaghed; it was the entrance of the home of Brura, the orc healer.
Her tent was a bit smaller then he thought her home would be. Unlike other tent homes that he pasted, her tent was the oddest of them yet; the entrance of her home had a ceiling that was held up with two long sticks that was draped with skulls, odd bones and feathers. There were symbols that he did not recognize, that dangled from them as if to warn off those that come into her doorstop to cause harm.
Kaghed slightly pushed him to get inside. Mokûrz slightly hesitated; he knew walking into a tent unannounced is rude, but maybe it wasn't in the orc society it seemed.
Kaghed followed Mokûrz into the ger (tent).
Inside was warm. He noticed that inside was the same design like Kaghed's; beds on the west and east, a fireplace in the middle, at the north was an alter and seats near the warmth of the fire.
Beside the fire, sat two young girls looking up at them as if not surprised of seeing them. The oldest one looked older then Mokûrz, around in what he guessed in married age around sixteen. The other however, was around his age as the most. Both girls had long dark hair, the same oddly colored eyes as Brura, wearing smiler clothes like him but more feminine made from leather, a bit brighter in color as it seemed to be normal for women around in the village to dye their clothes in blue and red dyes. To him it was weird of seeing females wearing male clothing. Was it normal for both genders of where the same type of clothes?
Kaghed nodded at Mokûrz, who sat near the younger girl, who smiled at him and started touching his hair.
Mokûrz was tongue tied. No girl ever touched him before. Was it normal for orc children touch people's hair? What makes his hair so unique? Mokûrz turned back to Kaghed, who he saw sat beside him.
Kaghed grinned at the look Mokûrz given him. It seemed that that the children in the village took a liking of him, which was good.
The older girl however wasn't too happy of having Mokûrz in the tent. She looked at him as if he was something unpleasant that deserve nothing but hell on earth. She stood up and told Kaghed something in the Black Speech and walked off.
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Kaghed and Mokûrz didn't have to wait long before Brura walked into the tent, followed by her eldest daughter.
"Welcome Warlord Kaghed, childe (1)Mokûrz." Brura said, as she sat down, as did the elder daughter sitting the furthest as possible from Mokûrz. Brura side glanced at her youngest daughter, Danica. "My youngest daughter took a liking to you, I see." She said turning to Mokûrz and her daughter.
Mokûrz looked up at the witch healer. He only knew few words in the Black Speech. He looked back at the female orc beside him. This is Brura's daughter? What the heck does she mean this girl like him?!
Brura smiled shaking her head at the bewailed look the human had on his face and turned to her Warlord. "Spoken to him yet, have you?"
"No. I was hoping you could help me." Kaghed said. Mokûrz beside him looked confused. Tell him what?
Brura had given him a look.
Kaghed turned to Mokûrz. "Mokûrz, in our," how can he put this? "Society, when a child is unable to care for himself or has no other family left to take the child in, a ceremony is preformed so that child would be adopted into a family of close friends of the child's family. The ceremony is a type of a blood ritual that my people do so that in the eyes of our gods and everyone else in the tribe that child is both blood and spiritually connected to one's new family."
Mokûrz nodded slowly. Why is Kaghed telling him this?
"Because we cannot find your family, it is my duty and an honor to raise you as my own son until we locate your family. Do you wish for me to take you in?"
It took Mokûrz time to put things together.
"You mean adopt me?" he asked.
"Yes." Kaghed said. Brura looked at them. Why must they have to speck in Basic?
Mokûrz didn't know what to say. Having an orc as your father was something he never thought would happen to him. What is up with people adopting him? First Ada (father) and now this orc?
"I—" Mokûrz tried to say.
"I will not push you to agree now. But it would be easier if you have me as you second father. I cannot protect you if you are not my son. There is a war rising, many of my kind do not like Man."
That was true, Mokûrz thought. The orc spoke the truth; even Ada (father) said war will soon rise on Middle Earth. However it is unknown when.
"Can—can I think about it, Kaghed?" Mokûrz asked him.
Kaghed smiled. He feared that Mokûrz would yell at him of telling him this. He turned to Brura. "I think Mokûrz need more rest."
Brura nodded. "Of course."
"I must speck with you alone." Kaghed said.
Brura nodded. "Danica, take Mokûrz home, you will." She ordered her youngest daughter.
"Yes Mama." Danica said slightly smiling. She stood up and grabbed Mokûrz's hand.
The two children ran out the tent, leaving the three adults in the tent.
(End of Chapter)
Words: 2,977
(1) Childe: basically a word from the Middle Ages, what people call the eldest son of a nobleman who had not yet attained knighthood or had not yet won his spurs. It is also a word what Vampires are commonly known to use as it signifies the "offspring" of a vampire, in this respect called a "sire" of the childe.
In this case in my story, I use it as the eldest son of the Warlord. Seeing that Kaghed does not have children of his own, Brura used that word, giving Kaghed a gentle push to adopt Estel/ Mokûrz. And also that fact that Estel/Mokûrz is eleven years old, not yet old enough to became a man.
Author's Notes: I'm fairly certain that I did in fact translate Elvish and the Black Speech somewhat okay in a certain degree. To any those who doesn't know, Italic are when people are specking in a different language, in this case Elvish and Black Speech. Sometimes I put the italics in "unknown" words, but I put (word) so you would know what they saying. The reason I am doing this is so you and I would learn two cool languages.
Sorry for the long wait. I have been busy. I'm getting married this December and I'm moving to an AFB in North Dakota shortly afterwards.
I know this chapter sucks, but I needed it to "glue" the other chapters into the story.
Read and Review!
--FireChildSlytheirn5
