Thank you all for reading and thank you so much to those who've reviewed! It means a lot.
Also I learned that when I add separating lines in Word they do not transfer onto here. Sorry about that! Must have been confusing... I'll go through again and fix any mistakes I can find :)
Chapter Eleven: Too Early For Painful Reminders
Aquila awoke to a sharp kick to the ribs from Kathleen. She started, thinking it was one of the Orc's, but hearing Kathleen's hissed demand for them to wake up and the other two women rudely kicked in the same manner, Aquila relaxed and cursed her friend under her breath. They all stayed lying down, as they adjusted their eyes to the pale blue of the sky above them.
"Guys," Kathleen whispered again. There was a grunt from Vicky. "Guys, we haven't eaten since we got here..."
They all took that in for a second, then there was a chorus of groans from each of them. Aquila sat up with a labored sigh and looked at the lot of them. Kathleen followed suit and they both started looking around the camp. Gîmog had Bûsnkaar attached at his side once again and they sat not too far off, Gîmog talking and laughing with the stoic giant. Well more talking and laughing at him.
"I have to pee, guys." Vicky said, pushing herself up as well.
"How do we even go about that?" Aquila replied, looking around them. "Bushes I'm assuming. No wipe for you." She giggled a little before realizing that the thought really wasn't funny at all and her expression dropped.
"What do I do?" Vicky said a little grimly.
"Guess we ask that asshole." Kathleen said nodding in the general direction of Gîmogrûz and the Berserker. They all looked immediately uncomfortable at the thought of asking that creep such a question and what he would say to it.
"How about no? Can't I just go off and do it?" Vicky said, looking pleadingly at Kathleen.
"Well we don't know if they have a designated... place... for that, or you know, where they all are." Isla said hesitantly.
"True... Kathleen, you mind?" Vicky said sheepishly "You're the... talky, uh, straight forward one."
"Fuck you." Kathleen groaned and glared at Vicky for a moment before standing with a huff and turning towards the only Orc they really knew at all. "Hey... big asshole, bully, uh, Orc dude, Gîmog!"
Gîmog raised an eyebrow and looked towards them to see the pairs of uneasy looking eyes and one pair of annoyed, insistent ones. Kathleen vigorously motioned for him to come over. He did not give his usual grin but instead, huffed, looked to Bûsnkaar and shrugged in their direction. They both rose and came towards the girls, still sitting in their blankets on the ground, and loomed over them.
"What d'you need, Nûrz-ash?" He said gruffly.
"I don't know what that means!" Kathleen shrieked at him. And there was the predatory grin. "Uhm," she continued "so what if we have to, you know, let go, water works, go to the little girls room, make water, yellow rain, flood Isengard, uh..." Gîmog's smile dropped a little and confusion showed at the corners of eyes. "Ugh, pee- we have to- pee, piss- she has to take a piss!"
Gîmog chuckled. His eyebrow was quirked as he smiled at them. He swooped his hand behind him, gesturing towards the trees.
"Piss where ever you want, girlies. Aint none'a my buisness."
Kathleen groaned loudly "What about the other guys? We don't know where they are. We don't need them watching us!"
Gîmog took a step closer to her and his shadow loomed over her in an intimidating manner. "You don't want'em watching, you go somewhere they can't see."
Kathleen glared at him and sighed, before taking a step back. His nostrils flared at the empty space she was just occupying and she did nothing to hide the disgusted look that inspired.
"Oi!" Kufdergaz was walking towards them holding a bag in one hand. "rations." He said pointedly and both Gîmog and Bûsnkaar turned towards him. Kûf reached into the bag and pulled out a few strips off dried meat, handing a few carefully counted out pieces to each Orc. He turned towards the girls and nodded, "Hold out your hands." The girls obliged, excited to be receiving food. He handed them each two long pieces and looked over his shoulder at Gîmog and Bûsnkaar before returning his gaze to the women. "I need to talk to you four about your work."
"Ugh." Aquila rose to stand before him. "What do you mean?"
"What the fuck can you lot do?"
He looked to each of them in turn as they all exchanged uneasy looks with each other. "Uh..." Vicky trailed off "Stuff...?"
"What do you mean, stuff?" His face hardened once again. Gîmog laughed from behind the leader and started walking back towards his previous spot, putting a piece of meat between his teeth and biting off a chunk.
"Well what exactly do you mean by What the fuck can you lot do?" Aquila asked, repeating what the leader had said in a falsely gruff voice "I mean, I can tell you exactly how to use your commas and semi colons, but something tells me that that wouldn't be particularly useful in the middle of Mirkwood with a bunch of grouchy Orcs-sorry!" Kûfdergaz had shot her a venomous glare.
"You're all fucking useless aren't you?" He snapped.
"Well shit," Kathleen stood on the other side of him and glared up at his brown face. "how are we supposed to know what we need to be able to do out here?"
He growled at her. "Fine. I want each of you to go and have a chat with one of the boys. I don't give a shit who, anyone here can teach you something better that the shit-all you've got."
"We don't even know anyone!" Isla exclaimed.
"Learn that too!" He barked at her. He turned and left, grumbling, to hand out the rest of the rations to the camp.
They sat in silence for a moment, looking at each other.
"Well... I have to pee. Help me up." Vicky said to no one in particular and threw her hands up in the air for no one in particular to grab. Aquila and Kathleen grabbed one each and pulled her up.
"Let's do that." Aquila muttered. They all wandered off past the tree line, constantly looking around in a paranoid manner. They set up a guard system and a perimeter to make sure no curious Orcs could sneak their way up close to take a look. And so they devised a great strategic war plan as they all peed in the woods.
"I feel gross." Isla said, holding her hands up before her and looking at them disapprovingly as they walked back towards the sound of Orc chatter and crackling fire.
"Whatever, man, just don't stick your fingers in your mouth... or anyone else's mouth. Feel free to touch Orcs though; they're use to being dirty." Aquila said, a little too cheerily. "How are we doing this anyway? The whole learning thing?"
"Do we split up?" Vicky asked passively.
"Yeah." Kathleen answered "I mean, there are enough for one teacher each, why not?"
"Expand our horizons and what not, I suppose, huh?" Aquila said.
They broke through he trees and looked around. "Do we choose or something." murmured Isla, putting her arms back down at her sides.
"Guess so. We can't really choose what skill we want to learn or even who we like. Who the frick are these dudes? We just don't know." Aquila said in a mocking voice. "I don't know..." she trailed off.
"They all sorta freak me out." Isla said.
"Me too." Vicky agreed.
"I call the dude that dick picked on last night!" Kathleen cried. She took a step forward as if she were about to go and find the afore mentioned Orc.
"Wha-wait!" Aquila called out, reaching forward for her. Kathleen stopped and turned.
"What?"
"What are we supposed to do? I don't know how to deal with these guys."
"Just pretend they're like the ones we've read about." Kathleen smiled, turned again and walked away.
"But are they?" Vicky huffed.
"I'm not even sure that would be any better." Isla said sullenly.
"Nothing brightens a situation more that looking at it like you're surrounded by a bunch of rapists and murderers." Vicky said sarcastically.
"Oh shush your face, you can go talk to that little bugger that fixed your leg." Aquila groaned at her.
"Oh hey, yeah. He's alright." She perked up a little.
"What about us then?" Asked Isla.
"We just don't know. I mean, you could go with, uhhh, that dude. He looks harmless enough I guess." Aquila pointed across the clearing, past Kathleen, to a strangely bright eyed Orc. His whole demeanor just seemed... soft.
"I guess..." She looked up to Aquila's dark brown eyes. "What about you?"
"I don't know, I guess I could go with Kufder-whats-it." She shrugged.
"Fine. Do we... do we go then?" Vicky stammered.
"While we're still young, yeah." Aquila laid a hand in both of the girl's shoulders and gave them each a little shove forwards "Make mother proud!" She called after them as they made their way uncertainly into the open, looking around to their assigned "teachers".
Aquila sighed once more and looked around for her own teacher. She spotted Kûf to one side, seated between two large packs. She wasn't particularly thrilled about pairing up with the grumpy git, but it was him, or Gîmog, and the latter seemed even less pleasant.
"Well, what are you gonna do?" She muttered to herself under her breath as she started forward. She met his eyes as she grew closer and he rolled them at her, standing. "What's up, our fearless leader?" She said, awkwardly, now trying to avoid his intense Orange and yellow eyes.
"What are you doing?" He said not as harsh as she would have expected.
"We've decided to divide and conquer... you know, what with the learning." She shrugged and fussed her lip between her teeth.
He stood and took a step forward to peer around a tree, looking for the other three. He snorted and started walking, porpousfully towards Isla. Aquila realized where he was headed and caught up to him quickly.
"Wait, what are you doing?" She said trying to keep pace with his longer stride "It's better this way, we can all do our-"
"Your friend ain't gonna accomplish nothin talking to Strokarth. He's even more useless than you." He interrupted her, continuing forward.
Aquila looked to the fascinated Orc currently staring up at Isla as she fiddled with her hands behind her back and spoke with him. Both of them jumped slightly and directed their attention to Kûfdergaz as he got close and snapped at them. "You," He jabbed a finger in Isla's direction. "Come on, this one's useless." He said bitterly, shooting a disapproving look at the light coloured Orc who subsequently looked downwardly disappointed. Isla looked him over questioningly before back at Kûfdergaz, a little confused.
"But then-"
"I'll take ya to Bûsnkaar. Come on." He spun around and started walking again. Isla looked at Aquila, who shrugged before they both followed him. He stopped once he got to where Gîmog was sitting and Aquila let out a little breathy "Oh."
"Get up you big bastard." He said gruffly to the big guy sitting on the ground. The berserker and Gîmogrûz made eye contact before the berserker rose from his seat, towering over Kûfdergaz. "Teach this tark something, would you?" He gestured to Isla, who shrank a little as his eyes followed his leader's finger. The berserker looked at Kûfdergaz and furrowed his brow in confusion.
"Just show her your fucking axe or fuck, anything! Teacher 'er how to work." He said, rubbing the bridge of his nose.
"I could teach her a thing or two." Gîmog offered snidely from the ground, grinning.
"I don't give a shit, make her of use to us."
"Not him!" Isla shouted without her own permission. She tensed when they all looked at her. "uhm..."
"Fine." Kûfdergaz said before she could defend her outburst. He looked to the huge standing Uruk again and threw a thumb over his shoulder towards Isla. "Go." And with that Kûfdergaz took off once more. Aquila sighed and looked for a moment between Isla and the massive towering form of the Orc. She smiled a little at the sight. They both looked equally unsure of what to do. Isla looked up and met her eyes and Aquila's amused smile turned to one of reassurance before she turned and ran to catch up with her teacher once more.
"What does he do?" She asked once she reached him.
"He looked at her over his shoulder and huffed."He's strong, don't know what he could teach her exactly, but any bustard is better than the foshan."
Aquila scrunched her face up for a moment in thought "I know that word... I think." They reached Kûfdergaz's original spot and stopped as he sat down.
"Means infant."
"That's the one." she exclaimed, pointing a victorious finger at him.
"Sit your ass down!" He snapped, quickly destroying her victory. She sat with a huff and crossed her arms.
"Alright. So what can you teach my worthless ass, huh?"
"Many things," He said to her. "Can show ya how to use a weapon, or track, fight-"
"Can you tell me who all of these guys are? I still don't know all their names."
The Orc sighed and locked eyes with her. "What good'll that do?"
"Well I won't be stumbling around, constantly confused by everyone. And it'll certainly make communication easier, which I guess is a main one."
He looked at her in silence for an uncomfortable moment. "Fair enough." He grumbled and turned away to look past her, out towards the others sitting around the camp. "You already know Gîmogrûz and the story of his useless existence."
Aquila nodded.
"You and he don't seem to get along very well." She added.
"I put up with his filth, as we all do." He left no room for more inquiry on the matter. He raised a dark clawed hand and pointed to the berserker who was now walking Isla away from his charge, off to teach her whatever skill it was he had. "The berserker is Bûsnkaar."
"And what's his story?" Aquila said curiously. Kûfdergaz huffed again and looked at her with a warning look. "Sorry! Everything is just really interesting to me." She folded her hands in her lap and pulled her mouth shut, looking at him expectantly. He turned back and sighed.
"Was born to kill and die, killed, didn't die, escaped. There's your fucking story."
"Wonderful." Aquila muttered unsatisfied, under her breath.
"Gazushum," He motioned to the small Uruk sitting next to Vicky on his linen blanket, he had a small chest open and was showing her various things. She looked completely confused. "Healer." Kûfdergaz said gruffly.
"He's smaller than the rest of you." Aquila noted.
"Do you want to know or not?" He snapped at her.
"Gah! Fine!" She cried, throwing her hands up defensively. He took a long deep voice. "But, I mean, he's small... and alive. That's different, right?" He released the breath in a loud exasperated manner.
"He was born back when Sharkû still gave a shit about his army. Would have been killed and fed to the Wargs, the healer of the time hadn't snatched him up an offered to train 'im."
"Why's he missing his stereotypical Uruk-hai locks?" Kûfdergaz looked at her, confused. "Hair?" She motioned to his long black hair falling down his back.
"Wouldn't bathe for a while, started getting rank, so Gîmogrûz cut it off." He said shortly
"That'll do, I guess. Continue." She folded her arms over her chest a looked forward.
"Snaagbûrz, had a rough time of it in his time before the flood." He nodded towards the Orc Kathleen was currently with. He was crouched forward and looked to be begrudgingly showing Kathleen something Aquila couldn't quite make out. "And the worthless child, Strokarth."
"Why is he so worthless?" Aquila asked, looking quizzically at the side of Kûfdergaz's face.
"Never learned nothin. He was only pulled from the ground a few days before the tree's tore our master a new one."