Two Characters that have been 'seen' but not really seen yet, coming into play. Wooh!
Chapter Ten: Thick Air In Their Clear Space
They had been at the new camp for hours before the four white skins returned with Gîmogrûz and Dhûrum. Kûfdergaz had been furious. It was always entertaining when Gîmog got on the leaders bad side, even if nothing ever came of it.
Snaagbûrz sat on the edge of the camp. Once he had finished building the fire pit in the center, filled and lit it, as was his job, he had sat himself down and started clearing out his space. He meticulously swept any stone, twig, or acorn from his chosen area. If there were stones embedded in the earth, protruding, he would pick them out with ruddy brown, clawed fingers, and smooth the ground over evenly.
However his attention was now focused on the returning group. Kûfdergaz has ceased his yelling and now seemed to be talking with the tark females. Snaagbûrz leaned back against the trunk of a tree, seated between the roots as he watched their conversation with a bored expression. There was a brief argument that was resolved quickly with a quick nod from the leader and the tarks, being led by Dhûrum and Gîmog, started making their way across camp towards the fire. Gîmog spotted him from a ways off and grinned at him deviously. To which the seated Uruk responded with a warning curl of his lip.
As he passed, Gîmog purposefully kicked a shower of gravel and sticks into Snaagbûrz's tidied area with a massive, leather clad foot. Snaagbûrz growled and shot up, standing towards his assailant. Gîmog took a moment to look amused by the offered challenge. He stopped and turned to square up to the other Orc. Dhûrum and the four women stopped as well and turned to watch.
Snaagbûrz stood about two inches taller than Gîmog's hunched form, though even his broad shoulders and thick arms were no match for Gîmog's hulking mass.
"Feeling brave today, are we?" Gîmog leered at him. Snaagbûrz's face was contorted in pent up fury as his brown and yellow eyes locked with Gîmog's red ones. Then Gîmog's face changed to surprise and his head suddenly shot backwards followed by his massive body toppling over backwards. Snaagbûrz's face gave way to surprise as well right before his opponent was dragged back by the hair and thrown to the ground by one of the white skins. Snaagbûrz starred at her for a moment in shock before his face hardened again. He looked over the female briefly. She had dark, chin length hair that framed her plump face, and even though her features were soft, her expression was not. Her hard brown eyes flared under her light brow. Gîmog was up on his feet again before anyone had time to properly react. Only now he rounded on her instead.
"What the fuck d'you think you're doing, bitch?" He roared at her, his face lurching forwards until it was just inches from hers.
"What the fuck do you think you're doing?" She screamed right back at him, jabbing his chest with a hard finger. He grabbed at the offered digit and engulfed her whole fist in his own.
"This was none'a your fucking business, girl." He began to squeeze. Kathleen emitted a short audible intake of breath at the increasing pressure, but quickly regained her composure, refusing to give him the satisfaction of seeing her afraid.
Snaagbûrz could see the menacing glint in Gîmog's eyes and for a moment he thought that the murderous lust that had once been a permanent fixture there was going to resurface. The air went still as the two glared at each other.
"Kathleen?" Another girl came forward; her strange ropes of hair were tucked behind her ears a back behind her shoulders.
Dhûrum stepped in front of her before she could move any further and faced Gîmog. "Leave it." He grumbled stiffly, looking to all three of them engaged in this fight.
Gîmog huffed in Kathleen's face, causing her to flinch away from the sudden rush of air, and looked over his shoulder at Snaagbûrz, releasing her now throbbing hand.
"You're lucky, filth. Better hope there's a woman 'round to protect you the next time." Gîmog chuckled and walked away. Dhûrum looked at the tormented Orc and met his eyes. He nodded curtly before walking away and urging the females to do the same. The woman, Kathleen, stood and looked at him for a moment.
"Next time my ass." She muttered to herself. She met his eyes and turned to follow the others.
Snaagbûrz spat and sighed. He didn't need anyone protecting him. He followed them with his eyes, and only when they were a suitable distance away did he thump back to the ground and look at the mess the attack had made of his space. He let out a long slow breath and rubbed at his temple. Moving his hand across the earth, he swept the worst of it away, then started again with his arduous task.
His mind began to wander. He'd never seen a white skin like the ones now in the middle of camp. Only one had the pale white skin that had earned their kind its name. The one that had pulled Gîmog down, her skin was a soft brown as well as the other two. It was strange. He looked up towards them again. They had taken seats near the fire. The females looked uncomfortable in this environment and one shifted awkwardly when Gîmog threw himself down a little too close.
Snaagbûrz turned and saw Strokarth coming towards him. He scooted back to make room for the light Uruk to sit. Strokarth was much different in appearance and temperament than any Uruk you could ever expect to meet. His skin was not the dark brown, red, or black that was common for an Uruk. He was very light coloured, and his eyes shone a bright shining yellow from under his brow, which, still being as heavy as his kind always possessed, was not lined with years of rage and horror that came with being ruled as they had been. He had an innocence about him, and his inquisitive nature entertained Snaagbûrz on most days.
"What are the tarks doing back here?" He asked wide eyed. He positioned his body in a way that made it completely obvious that he was starring at the females near the fire.
"Don't know." Snaagbûrz grunted, running his hand over the ground distractedly.
"I ain't never seen any like them before." Strokarth said curiously, and looked back towards Snaagbûrz. "Have you?"
"Nah. They're different. Not from around here I'm guessin."
"Yeah." Strokarth said distantly."I wanna talk to 'em..."
"Gotta get past that git first." Snaagbûrz nodded to Gîmog.
Strokarth shuddered slightly at the thought of even talking to the brute.
Vicky sat closest to the fire. She was grateful for the heat of it on her back, though she almost envied the others, who, from their positions could warm their sore feet at a safe distance. The thought of her feet made them throb painfully and she grimaced. There was a less comforting heat at her side where Gîmog sat. She looked to Isla and met her eyes. Isla glanced up to the Orc then back, understanding and pity on her face.
Kathleen had her arms folded over her chest. She hadn't stopped glaring at Gîmog, who continuously met her gaze and starred back pointedly, malice etched into every harsh line of his face. It was as if he was testing her. The corner of his mouth curved up and opened as he was about to speak.
"Oi!" Kûfdergaz called in their direction. He looked at the big dark Orc and motioned for him to come. He obliged without a word. He hadn't sat down with the rest of them so simply uncrossed his arms and strode over to the leader. Aquila hadn't regained her composure since the incident on their way here and was the only one that hadn't looked up at the Orc's departure.
"What happened when we stopped?" Isla asked lightly, noticing Aquila's long, awkward silence. Gîmog chuckled, sounding like dry gravel in a cement mixer. Vicky and Isla looked at him quizzically before Aquila spoke
"Oh, you know..." She looked to them cautiously. She met Gîmog's knowing gaze and pursed her lips to the side. There was a moment of silence in which all eyes were on Aquila and Aquila's eyes darted around between them. Blue, brown, brown, red, brown, and back to blue. The snaps and crackled of the fire were the only thing filling the silence.
"Uh, no, we don't really know." Isla finally said.
"She went and grabbed herself a hand full of Orc a-"
"I DID NOT grab his ass!" She blurted out in a panic, realize how loud she was speaking halfway through. She quickly covered her mouth once she realized how she had shrieked. Kufdergaz and the other looked up from their conversation at the noise, but quickly returned. "Shit. It was an accident!" Aquila whispered. "It was just... lower... back... region." She motioned around in the air, trying to explain, and then rubbed her face with her hands in exasperation, pulling down on her cheeks and stretching her face oddly.
Kathleen finally uncrossed her arms as her face changed from anger to excitement "Oh my god." She cheered and clapped her hands "Aquila!"
"Shut up! I didn't mean to." Aquila said defensively. "He scares the crap out of me." They all looked over towards where the dark Uruk was talking with Kufdergaz. The leader was talking quietly for once and there were a lot of brief nods from the dark one.
Gîmog's chuckle was what brought their attention back to their little group "He can't do nothing to you, pretty ones." Gîmog brought two clawed fingers up and tapped the side of his temple. "Been screwed up, house trained. That bastard spent too much time 'round your kind." He chided.
"What do you mean?" Aquila asked hesitantly.
"Can't tell you that exactly, luv. Just know he holed up with 'em for a while after the war, and things went to shit. You want a real Orc," He laughed and turned to leer at Kathleen "You come to me."
"Yeah..." Aquila gave him a wary look of disgust. "They have been saying you're different." She said tentatively.
"Aye." He said, turning back to her.
"What does that even mean?" Isla asked.
Gîmogrûz let out a deep breathy chuckled and looked to each of them in turn. It was really quite unsettling. Then he spoke in his deep gravelly voice.
"When sharkû's breeding program got a little too... fruitful." He snickered to himself. "Too many newborns, not enough whips to keep 'em in shape. Old bastard was in over his head, buried in Uruk-hai piss and blood. So he asked for a little help from the eye." Gîmog looked pointedly at Kathleen, "The eye singled out the biggest and best of his army to lend a whippin arm." His sly smile broadened across his face and his eyes shone with mischief. "Some of them were deemed big enough and nasty enough to be sent down to the breedin pits and have their pick of whatever shit covered tark prisoner they wanted to stick a whelp into." He laughed grimly at their expressions of disgust and shock.
"And it only took one round for the bastard to see his fucking mistake when all the half breeds came out of the mud just as fucked up and disobedient as this fucking waste of talûn-karkû."
Kûfdergaz stood behind them with the dark Uruk at his side. The girls jumped when they made themselves known.
"That's fucking fucked up." Aquila mumbled.
"It's just like in the stories." Kathleen said in an airy far off voice, and then shuddered.
"Wonderful" Isla said "I assume all of the other horrible things that happened in the stories are also true."
"What the fuck are you talking about?" Kûfdergaz snapped.
"Nothing. Nothing at all."
Thank's everyone for reading. Please drop me a review if you like it or even if you don't. It's much appreciated :)
Translation:
Sharkû : Wizard or Old man
Talûn-karkû : Semen (haha sorry)