The forest was a deep, gemstone green. It was not a pine forest, but more of a woodland terrain, only thicker and vastly larger. I am beside Azog, a little closer than I would have liked, but Tenebrae and Lunam were mated and wanted to be as close as possible. I sigh, and Azog turns and looks me in the eye, "What's wrong Tahlia? do you not like riding with me?" the sadness and desperation in his voice made me almost pity him, had it not been for the fact he made me sit on his lap, feed and be fed by him and put on that goddamned leash. No, you sadistic, vile mound of flesh, I do not. I want my normal life back but no, you had to rip me out of my bed at two in the morning and bring me here. My ugly opinion took the chance to rear its abominable head. "Tahlia?" he re-iterates.
"It's not that Azog, I'm just thinking again. I am enjoying the ride, it is very kind of you to put aside the time to spend time with me," I say, mostly truthful.
"Are you sure there is nothing wrong my pet?" he probes.
I smile weakly, "I'm sure."
Azog pulls to a halt, me doing the same a moment after. He dismounts and untacks Lunam. "Do the same," he orders. So complying, I quickly and efficiently do the same, finishing before he does. If he noticed, he pretends he didn't, putting his riding gear on a fallen log. I do the same, once again admiring the quality of his gear compared to mine, and it appears to be the same colour leather as the collar, and leash. I make a mental note to look further into it later. He takes I hand and leads me further into the forest, extremely eager to get where he is taking me. I stumble, unable to keep up with him, and fall to the ground. He stops immediately, turns around and picks me up, bridal style. I squeal, and all he does is laugh. I can't help but giggle that bizarre hyena giggle which only makes Azog laugh louder. "You have a most beautiful laugh, you should laugh more often," he chuckles, succeeding in his attempt to make me blush. I snuggle into him as he keeps walking through the beauty of the woodland. I, on the other hand, is far too preoccupied tracing the scars on his chest and torso to notice the beauty of my surroundings, causing a quiet purr to escape him. He stops walking and places me down onto soft grass. I look around and survey the area. It is a large clearing, down one end, there is a crystal clear pool, taking up about a third of the clearing. Closest to me is a small cabin. I itch to investigate but resist the urge and turn to Azog, "this place is beautiful," I say in awe of my surroundings.
"Yes it is, I have no duties today and you say you have no training in weaponry, so I am going to teach you. I was very much serious when I said I didn't want you dying in a small skirmish," he asserts.
He guides me over to the small cabin, stopping outside and handing me what is clearly not an orc weapon. It is a pair of short swords and I realise these must be the weapons he took from me while I slept the first time I was here. He picks up a sword, an orcish one, with a small spike on the end for what, I don't identify. "Tahlia, for this, I need you to focus, what I am teaching you may someday save your life. Do you understand?" he queries. I nod and adjust my grip on the dual swords. "Good. Let's begin." He states.
For the next few hours, he runs me through how to use the weapons and I seem to learn quickly for as we are doing some mock sparring, I best him twice out of five rounds. "You are a fast learner; elves usually take days or weeks to learn what you do in hours. You are quite remarkable Pet," he says, not sounds even the slightest bit tired. I on the other hand, am covered in a fairly light film of sweat. "Come, let us cool off and bathe." I nod, not trusting myself to talk. He removes his boots, revealing large, bare feet. He proceeds to remove his complex attire with a grace and ease I could not muster in a millennia. Now naked bar is undergarments, he turns to me, and upon seeing me slack-jawed, lets out a deep peal of laughter. "Come now, it's not like I haven't seen it before," he rumbles and moves towards me, "If you don't remove your clothes, I'll do it for you." Even I can tell he is dead serious about it, so I remove my own clothing, down to my sloppy lingerie. I go to cover myself but have no time as he picks me up and slings me over his shoulder moving towards the pool, and threw me in. The water is lukewarm, but not unpleasant. I tread water and turn to see Azog behind, well now in front, of me. "That, Azog, was really mean," I pout. Knowing I meant it as a joke; he plays along, "Can you blame me Pet. After all, I am a monster,"
"You may be a monster, but you are a nice, fair one," I playfully retort. I swim towards him and once I am about a metre away, splash a minute amount of water on his face. I see an evil grin appear on his face, "Oh no you don't," I say, trying to swim backwards, away from him. He wades towards me, closing the distance fast, and scoops me up. I squeal, laugh and squirm all at the same time, trying to get away from him. "Take a deep breath Pet," he whispers. My eyes widen in shock and I have just enough time to suck in a breath before he disappears underwater, me following a second later.
The sight that greets me is serine, calm and overall relaxing. I see a few small fish and water plants until a thought hits me, where's Azog? I look around hurriedly before I spot him, lazily blowing rings of air towards me. I try to supress a giggle, wanting to stay under the clear water for as long as possible. He turns to me and smiles, a big Cheshire cat smile, by far the biggest smile I had ever seen from him; I swim towards him, a mischievous glint in my eyes. Noticing this, he drags me up to the surface and we both wade to the bank of the pond and clamber up to a soft patch of lawn.
As I lay there, sun-drying beside Azog, I turn towards him, "Azog?"
"Mhmm?"
"When we were travelling to get there, Zargulg said the last one died. Did you have a prisoner before me?"
He rolled to face me, "No Tahlia, I did not. The elf Zargulg was referring to was his and his alone. He is a cruel, sadistic orc, why you bothered to remember his name is beyond me. Forget him; he will not harm you so long as I'm around." He rolls back onto his back and closes his eyes languidly. I lie there, continuing to face him, admiring the way his toned body lying there in the sun. "You are still looking at me Pet. Why?"
I snap out of my trance, and sigh, "Sorry Azog, it's just, in all the books I read, orcs are cruel, horrid things that stamp out all beauty they come across. You are not like that, that's all."
Chuckling, he replies, "I am not like most orcs. If I told you, you would not believe me. Come now, we are both dry and the sun is setting. We must go and get our riding tack and go into the cabin, we have no hope of making it back to the keep by nightfall. We will stay here."