First Beta-ed by slytherin-mafia around the year 2008.

Renewed Beta-ed by emmithar at the date of Wednesday January 13, 2010.

Please feel free to visit their profiles on this website.

Thank you so much Emmithar! :)


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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"He who has faith has…an inward reservoir of courage, hope, confidence, calmness,
And assuring trust that all will come out well - even thought to the world it may
Appear to come out most badly."

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"Talking"
"Elfish and Black Speech"
'thoughts'

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Chapter Two

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'It's getting late,' Estel thought as he jumped off a tree root, landing softly on the forest floor. He looked around, searching for someone that would know how to get out of this forest. Estel snorted at the thought. What kind of a sane person would ever come into this cursed forest? No one that he knew or had heard of. He was hungry, and tired, a yawn escaping from him. It wouldn't hurt to rest for a while, would it?

Estel walked to the sheltered tree truck. Just below the tree were soft clovers, a perfect place to rest. Sleepily the boy curled into a ball, making sure that he still had his pocket knife in his hand in case he should need it. But as he fell asleep, he was unaware of the two dark figures that approached.

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In the darkness of the forest the two creatures moved without hesitation, talking back and forth in their own tongue. They were moving along when one of them came to a stop, his gaze drawn to a strange form nestled in the clovers at the base of one of the trees.

"Aye, Vashnak what is that over there? There by that tree truck?"

"Don't know, Proshnak. Let's go and find out."

Vashnak was a tall young youth of his orc tribe called Hellên Acerbus. He had long black dreadlocks that were pulled back into a ponytail with a ragged cloth. His clothes were worn and ragged, being hand-me-downs from his older brother Boshnak . The only armor he possessed was a silver chainmail that he had taken from a human corpse. The man had been killed by Vashnak's sword, which was now under his short del, strapped to his leather belt. Along with his sword were leather and cloth bags that he always carried.

Proshnak, the younger brother, was in a similar fashion. He did not wear any armor like his brother, however, and his own del hung loosely on him, easily showing that it was still too big for him. He was a young child, even by human standards. He too carried a sword, but it was lighter and smaller than true battle swords were. Proshnak looked quite like his mother; he was short like her, and unlike other orcs which bore brutal faces, his seemed to hold a gentler, kinder face. Proshnak still had his innocence, having neither been in a battle, nor causing any deaths. He had yet to even witness one, unlike so many of his kind.

The two orcs walked forward cautiously, getting a better look of the creature that was sound asleep by the tree trunk. The unknown figure was a youngling; Vashnak guessed by how small it looked. It reminded him of his younger brother. This creature, however, was unlike his brother. It was the palest creature he had ever seen, dead or alive. This thing also wore strange clothing, but it was not unarmed, a small hand knife securely in its grip. It was clearly that it wasn't a beast.

"What is it?" Proshnak asked his older brother, looking at him with fearful eyes.

"I don't know. I think it's an elf or a human maybe?" Vashnak thought out loud. He knew that his brother had never seen either before, and the only humans Vashnak had laid eyes upon were large, blundering creatures that were clad in so much armor they could barely move. Yet, the elders of their king always spoke of these strange evil creatures that would hunt and kill orcs. Since birth they were taught to stay away from them; the elves and humans. While other orc tribes spoke of war and revenge against the free races of Middle Earth, others, like themselves, had hidden away for many thousands of years, believing that time would pass and that others would forget.

"Maybe." Proshnak agreed. "You think it's good enough to eat? I'm hungry." Vashnak rolled his eyes to his idiotic brother's hunger for meat. This could be a human or an elf that was sent to kill them and he was worrying about his hungry stomach!

If this being was sent to dispose of them, then why was it sleeping here? Surely he should be doing something, even if it was only a simply scouting job. It seemed strange.

"You've eaten just an hour ago, Proshnak! And we can't eat it! It looks too young. And father did say elves and humans weren't good enough to eat anyway." Vashnak told him. He pulled his sword from his leather belt as he stepped away from the tree

Proshnak nodded, following him. "Yeah, you're right. What was I thinking?"

"I don't know. What were you thinking?" Vashnak said, again rolling his eyes.

"Let's bring her to the village!" Proshnak blurted out loud suddenly.

"Can't. He might be too heavy for us to carry him. And what if he wakes up? What then? How do we know this elf--human thing wouldn't kill us?" Proshnak argued, folding his arms. The creature looked small enough, but living things were often heavy. And there was no way he was getting close enough to touch it; there was no telling what it might be capable of. Even though their father would be proud of them for making the effort. What great hunters they would be if they could bring home such a kill?

"How do you know she is a he?" Proshnak asked him. Slowly Vashnak looked at his brother in disbelief. What kind of a question was that?

"I know it's a he, Proshnak. It looks like a he." How could he ask that kind of question anyway at a time like this?

"Well, I'm calling 'he' a she. She looks too much like a girl. She hardly has any hair, and look how small she is," Proshnak argued, only to end up being slapped on the back of his head. "Ouch! What did you do that for?"

"Because you are a moron!" Vashnak said angrily.

"I'm not!" Proshnak yelled back.

"ARE TOO!"

"I'M--,"

"WILL YOU SHUT UP!?" Vashnak yelled, making his younger brother fall silent. What if there was more than one of these strange creatures out here? They would be able to hear them, and surely they would follow.

"Why?" Proshnak asked bitterly.

"We need to tell father what we just found. Come on."

"Aye, okay. Shh, now. She is sleeping." Proshnak said happily, following his brother towards their village. As they did so, Vashnak rolled his eyes. Proshnak was still too young to realize the severity of what they had just found, and what it could possibly mean for all of them in the future.

(End of Chapter)



Words:
1,787

Vashank: an orc name that I found when I was looking through good Orc names though Google. It was in a list of names in a WoW (World of Warcraft) website that people just made up to make it look orc-ish.

Proshnak:
Another orc name that was in the list that I told you about above.

Hellên Acerbus: the word "Hellên" means "Tribe" in Latin and "Acerbus" means "death" in Romanian. I just put the two words together because it looked cool.

Boshnak: again a name from the list from above. As I type this story, I figured just to help me and you guys out the names with the names ending with "nak" are related into one another.

Del: is a cotton fabric wrap that look like a dress tired at the waist. Men's del could either be short or long. Women always have long ones. Dels were lined with fur for winter wear, while in summer they were just made from cotton. There was no pockets in a del, eating utensils and anything else you wish to carry was hung from your belt.

Please Read and Review!

--FireChildSlytherin5