A shadowy figure emerges from the edge of the woods. He brushes off the foliage and the sweat off his clothing. He chortles to himself as he sees the smoke rising from the longhouse at the bottom of the valley.
"I can take my time now. It shouldn't take much effort to surprise my gracious hosts."
The rogue disappeared into a blur and sang to himself little ditty.
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"AGHHHH!!!"
An orc screamed as he fell to the ground. The longhouse roared with applause and of praise. Another orc, raising his axe to the crowd, turned toward the head of the house. The massive orc stood up, meat hanging from his mouth, and growled toward the crowd. The fellow orcs growled fiercely in return, bloodlust in their voices. The Orc Hero stretched out his fist, a disgusting green thumb protruding to the side.
"Death…" whispered the rogue as he witnessed the fallen orc beheaded per the request of the Orc Hero.
The Orc Hero Let out another bellow and from the side doors of the longhouse came out smaller orcs, each with a massive plate of meat. Each peon set a plate of steaming meat at each tables. The orcs and orc ladies happily gorged themselves on the food before them.
The Orc Hero roared once again summoning the next participants to amuse his guests and himself. Drums beat and chanting started as two orcs, larger than the previous gladiators, came before the Orc Hero. The Orc Hero scrutinized the warriors before him.
He let out laugh that sent shudders into the rogue who was watching at the opposite end of the house.
The two orc warriors bowed and proceeded toward the large open space before the Orc Hero. One orc wore a small orcish helm with one horn protruding to the side, a massive claymore in one hand and a steel rimmed shield in the other. He roared to the guests, trying to excite them. His opponent wore nothing, save for a loincloth and a Savage's skin on his back. He swung his makeshift halberd, a two-handed axe attached to a metal pole, above his head. He started beating the ground with the end of his weapon. The other responded by clanging his sword and his shield together.
The orcish onlookers started growling chants that echoed throughout the longhouse. The Orc Hero became and impatient with the lack of blood and action. He slammed his fist upon his throne of bone and the two warriors charged at each other.
The spear orc had thrust his halberd at his enemy's head, successful only in knocking the helm of his head. The sword orc rolled to his side and started hacking away at the orc's unguarded side. The spear orc laughed as he received only a total of two wounds from the dumfounded sword orc.
"Savage-skin leather, pretty smart for an orc. Only a very good sword can hope to cut through such armor," commented the rogue as he looked on at the blood sport.
The sword orc attacked with an overhead strike, easily blocked by the spear orc. The spear orc tried to retaliate by driving the sharp end of his halberd into his enemy's head, only to be blocked by a shield. That gave the sword orc an opening, slashing the abdomen of the spear orc, the only part not covered by the Savage skin leather. The pear orc dropped to one knee.
Blood started oozing out of the orc's wound but he stood up once again. Fire in his eyes, he started swinging his spear in arcs, with the intention of beheading his opponent. The sword orc kept out of range of the spear, but whenever he tried to go on the offensive, he was forced to retreat due to the spear attacks. The sword orc was effectively kept on the defensive by the spear orc. Step by step, the dueling orcs inched closer to the wall where the rogue was watching.
The sword orc was visibly getting tired and the spear orc saw it as his chance to take the head of his opponent. The sword orc, though tired, was learning from his opponent, a feat that is quite uncommon among orcs. The spear orc went for one last thrust for the sword orc's head. The sword orc anticipated the attack and ducked to the left. The momentum of the spear orc, however, drove the spear deep into the wall, and precariously close to the rogue's face.
"That's it!" grumbled the rogue. "I think it's time for my presence to be known." The rogue fingered his Damascus, waiting for the perfect moment to "surprise his hosts."
The spear orc wrenched his spear from the wall and turned around only to meet a sword in the gut. The sword orc drove his sword deeper and ripped it out though the spear orc's chest. Blood and guts poured out of the spear orc soiling the ground. The sword orc put down his sword and shield and relieved the spear orc of his savage-skin leather. He raised the leather and roared and then became silent.
The guests and the Orc Hero cheered him on. The Orc Hero growled at the victor, signaling him to come to him. The orc still stood there, silent. The Orc Hero growled once again but the sword orc growled nothing. The Orc Hero was enraged by the orc's impudence and called for his guards. Suddenly, the victorious orc slumped to the ground, a multiple giant gashes across his back.
Murmurs spread throughout the spectators and then from behind fallen orcs came out a cat-eared rogue juggling eight bloody Damascus knives.
"I was rooting for that spear orc of yours. He was the only person to get that close to shutting me up," announced the rogue jokingly.
The Orc Hero's eyes grew large at the rogue before him. Unexpectedly, the Orc Hero simply sat on his throne of bone and took off his Orc Helm, rubbing his temples in frustration. On the other hand, the other orcs in the house were not as complacent as the Orc Hero at the sudden appearance of a human in an orcish house. Several guests and guards unsheathed their weapons and charged at the rogue.
More than a dozen angry orcs charged at the rogue. One by one, orcs fell, knives jutting out of their skulls. Before the orcs knew it, six of their men were slain. They looked at the rogue who was still juggling his two remaining Damascus knives. He finally stopped juggling his knives, put himself in battle stance, and with a smile on his face said, "Anymore?"
An orc ran at the rogue, battle ax over his head. The rogue sheathed one of his
Damascus and drove the other at the throat of the orc. Two orcs behind him tried to stab him but instead they stabbed the orc that the rogue just killed. In the same instant, the rogue pushed the dead orc on top of his two friends, trapping the two under his bulk. Another orc grabbed him from behind but a well placed kick to the lower regions had him crying like a baby. A smaller orc, a peon in the eyes of the rogue, tried to psyche the rogue out, by swinging a claymore that was easily twice his weight. The rogue laughed and divested the sword, sending the peon running in fear. An orc lady who was sitting next to the Orc Hero caught the rogue off guard and lifted him by the throat. The rogue laughed at the snarling Orc Lady.
"You need more lipstick," laughed the rogue knocking out the orc lady with his buckler, which he got out for such an occasion.
By then, almost every orc was ready to rip the rogue limb from limb. A circle of green surrounded the rogue. Each of them shouting orcish profanities at the human who made fools of the great orc clan.
"ENOUGH!!!!" roared the Orc Hero.
With that word, the rogue jumped up and clung to one of the longhouse rafters. The other orcs were surprised at the Orc Hero. He yelled instructions at the other orcs and the discontented orcs returned to their seats. Orc guards then cleared the room of bodies while peons wiped the blood from the ground.
"What business have you here, human?" questioned the frustrated Orc Hero.
"Is that anyway to address an old friend? Anyway, I am here to deliver the payment for the services you have provided us."
"You caused all this ruckus, during my birthday, just to deliver that?"
"Don't worry a birthday bonus was added. You like suckling savage right? It's just a little tough though."
The Orc Hero responded by throwing a drumstick at the rogue. The rogue, too skilled to be hit by it and too hungry to ignore it, caught the drumstick on his clean Damascus.
"Thanks for being a good host," he said as he took a bite of the meat. "I'm just reminding you to keep your self available. Don't worry we'll keep our end of the deal.
"You better. I'm planning something new."
"We'll always be there to help you anyway we can, as long as it doesn't violate anything."
"Enough small talk, why are you here?"
"What do you mean? I'm here to deliver," said the rogue, throwing the bone on the floor.
"You wouldn't risk yourself being discovered by orcs unless it was urgent. You're not as stupid as others think you are, you know."
"Just keep your eyes open for anything strange."
"Don't worry you're not strange."
"Haha, very funny. There are things happening and we can't put our finger on it. So if you see or hear of anything contact us."
"That's all the information you know?' queried the Orc hero.
"That's all that I'm allowed to tell you. Anyway, I must be going now. And I think you should get your orc helm on again, you don't look good balding."
"And you don't look good wearing a girly kitty band," retorted the Orc Hero.
"Ahh, touché. 'To each his own' I guess. Just try to keep this secret from your friend, the Orc Lord, eh."
"He is about as much a friend to me as you are."
"Ouch, I'm so hurt. 'Till next time, Thorin" said the rogue, as he disappeared through the door.
The orc longhouse was silent. The Orc Hero couldn't stand the silent and barked orders out to the kitchen. Peons came out once more with food and soon the party was resumed. The whole rogue incident was forgotten.
Almost anyway.
"What would cause Zenal to appear more than twice in a week? What exactly is happening in the world of men?" pondered the Orc Hero, or Thorin as the humans have called him.
Thorin just ignored those ideas. He stood form his throne and jumped into the gladiator's arena. He roared at the two warriors who were supposed to fight. He stared at the both of them and dared them to take him on.
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Battlecries and crowd chants can be heard from the longhouse. Zenal couldn't help but laugh.
"Well that bogus story should make him keep up his guard. Tonight wasn't too bad. Nice food, some action, and mission accomplished."
He ran back into the forest with twice the speed he used coming in the first place.