First Beta-ed by slytherin-mafia around the year 2008.
Renewed Beta-ed by emmithar at the date of Saturday March 06, 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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"When I stand before God at the end of my life,
I would hope that I would not have a single bit of talent left,
and could say, "I used everything you gave me".
--Eram Bombeck
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"Talking"
"Elfish and Black Speech"
'thoughts'
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Chapter Five
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Kaghed laid the child on his bed. He stepped back as the female witch healer, Brura, checked over the human child, ignoring everything else. She was at first hesitant, as she had never treated a human before. But that quickly changed as just one look at the poor child told her that he was like each and every child she had ever treated in her life.
One of her daughters, the youngest of all her five children, was almost the same age as this child on the bed. Kaghed wondered what she was thinking, and about the human as well. Would someone be looking for him? Would they believe him dead or worse? What if his parents were dead? Did humans even look for their own kind when they went missing?
After what felt like hours, Kaghed watched as the witch healer applied alcohol and pieces of herbs onto the wound, wrapping it into cloth. There was nothing else to do, Kaghed knew, remembering his father coming home one night having bite wounds. They had to apply more alcohol and herbs and change the wound every few hours. Brura picked up a cup filled with sleeping herbs. She sat up the child, whose eyes were slightly opened.
"Here, young one. Drink," Brura calmly whispered to the child. After a few attempts, the child drank from the cup. Quickly the liquid took effect; the child closed his eyes and fell into a dreamless sleep. Brura gently placed him, laying his head on the pillow and covering him up with a thick blanket. She turned to the warlord.
"Have the child take this drink every few hours, to numb the pain." Brura gave him a sack of herbs to put in the tea. Kaghed took it, unsure fully of what to do with it. "Do not alarm him, talk to him quietly and gently when he wakes. Change the bandage every few hours to keep the wound clean, you must. Let him walk around, do not. Rest for some weeks, he needs. May the Gods and the spirits guide him, they will."
"Some weeks?" Kaghed asked. Did she mean that the human child had to stay with him for weeks at a time, in his home and in his bed?
"Of course, my lord! A wound like that, have those scars for the rest of his life, he will. Take it easy for long time to let it heal and all, it will. Your son or your new charge, is he?" Brura asked him smiling.
Kaghed stared at the healer. His son? Surely she didn't think he would impregnate some female out of wedlock, especially a human? "He is my charge for the time being," he told her. He wasn't truly lying. He would have to take care of the human child until he was strong enough to go back home. 'Wherever his home is.' Hopefully wherever this child came from, they could bring him back there, when he was healed. If not, he feared that this child would never go back home to his family, until he was old enough to live on his own. Judging by the looks of the child's age, it would be more than a decade or more, unless was he related to elves... then that would be more of a problem. For both his people and the child's sakes.
"I thank you for your help, Brura," Kaghed said to her. Brura smiled, bowing her head in respect as she left.
Kaghed turned to his new charge that lay on the bed, sleeping peacefully, slightly smiling. 'He won't be peaceful when he finds out where he is,' Kaghed thought, knowing that this child was taught to hate him and his people. Why did Mordor have to fight against the free beings of Middle Earth all those thousands of years ago? What caused them go into madness?
Because of that kingdom, allying with a wizard that called himself the Dark Lord Sauron, and now known as the Great Eye, everyone viewed his people as evil. He wondered many times if Mordor ever thought that Sauron would betray them and in the end enslave them for all eternity.
The Kingdom of Mordor had fallen long ago, breeding in dark magic for thousands of years after Sauron took the throne over the lands. There was no true orc that was from there. All of them were dead now. His people, his very own kingdom that he now ruled, was the only true kingdom of their kind. There used to be a few of them, yes, scattered into tribes throughout Middle Earth. The Kingdom of Matryia, the kingdom next and beyond the Lands of Mordor, where legends and myths say orcs and elves had once lived together in peace, and at one time one kin. That was before the curse that Sauron cast among them. It was before the Second Age. Before everything was lost. Before he was even born.
Kaghed stepped closer to the human, checking him as if to make sure the witch healer didn't miss anything . As usual, Brura didn't. Kaghed picked up the dagger that was found at the same clearing where they found the child. He guessed it belonged to the human. Kaghed picked up a wet cloth, the same one that Brura had used for cleaning the child's face. Kaghed then started to clean the blood and mud off from the small knife. As he did so, thin carvings were seen on the halt and the dagger itself.
Kaghed stopped, his eyes widened in shock as he recognized the carving of Elfish writing and ancient symbols that were showing. The dagger itself was beautiful, and he knew that his kin would never make such a beautiful dagger, for his people prided themselves more of how to make sharp, more war-like weapons than how they shined. Kaghed thanked the spirits of his mother, who before her death had taught him the enemies' writings, telling him countless times over and over again that it would come in handy someday later in his life.
He read the line on the handle.
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An amin a'maelamin ion Estel
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Kaghed sat down. Trying to think of what the words he just read meant. "To my loved… no," Kaghed muttered to himself. "To my beloved son, Hope? No. Estel is a name, I think."
Yes, Estel meant hope in Elvish. But the writing was on the handle of the knife, as if it was name of whom it belonged it to, not a prayer. Was this the child's name? If this was the child's name, he couldn't use it. Many men of his kingdom looked down on elves, mostly because the elves killed many of them.
'When he wakes, we will know of his true name,' Kaghed thought. If his name was Estel, he needed a new name. Something that meant the same or close to it.
'Mokûrz,' the name whispered into his mind. Kaghed smiled. Yes, a good name, meaning hope in Uruk.
Kaghed sat down on the head of the bed, as gently has he could, and started playing with the child's hair, like his own mother used to do when he was Mokûrz's age.
'Maybe this isn't going to be a bad thing, having a child in my home...' Kaghed thought as the child snuggled closer to him for warmth.
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'So warm,' was the first thing Estel thought as he slowly opened his eyes. Dull pain shot through his shoulder and down his arm. Painfully he sat up and looked at the bandaged shoulder. The bandage itself was of a dark colour, his blood was soaking though.
'Ada's bandages aren't like that,' Estel thought. He looked around in the unknown surroundings. He was in some kind of tent-like home. A fireplace was in the middle of it; there were strange decorations on the walls; fur pelts of creatures that Estel didn't want to know what they were and rugs of different colours covered the dirt floor.
'Where am I?' Just as Estel thought this, a man-like creature came though the tent door.
Estel stared at the creature in fear. It was an orc, he was sure of it! What was an orc doing here in Adar's home? 'Or what if I'm not at home? What if I'm in Mordor?' That couldn't be! Mordor was months away from where he and his brothers were when they had been attacked. Surly he hadn't been knocked out that long. Estel looked at the orc, waiting for it to attack him. Or if the elven children at home were right, the orc would eat him!
Estel looked at the orc, who stood there as if waiting for something. The orc was a tall strong looking male, with long black hair that was pulled into a ponytail with a worn out piece of cloth; it wore armor made from fur and leather. Its dark red eyes stared at him, to Estel's surprise with kindness and...concern?
The orc smiled... 'Smiled? Can't be. Orcs don't smile,' Estel thought to himself. He watched as the orc picked up something beside the bed. A sack of some sort. The orc moved closer to him and reached out to touch him...
Estel moved away, hissing in pain as he moved his shoulders and neck. The orc was in his way of escape. He was too sore to move any more. Estel cursed being a human again. Unwilling, Estel knew he was at the orc's mercy. 'Will the orc kill me quickly or painfully?'
The orc smiled sadly, shaking his head as if to tell him not to do that. "It's... okay. Not going to hurt, yeh," the orc said slowly to him. The orc spoke in such an accent, it took Estel a few seconds to understand what he had just said. Again, the orc reached out to touch him. Estel bit his bottom lip, waiting for the orc to throttle him. But nothing of that sort came. Opening his eyes, Estel watched, again surprised, as the orc unraveled his wet bloody bandage, revealing the ugly wolf bites, and discarded the blood stained cloth on the floor.
Estel stared at his wounds, wide eyed. Why did he only feel a dulling pain? Did this orc drug him or something?
Estel watched as the orc applied more alcohol, carefully to not hurt him, onto his wounds. Looking at it as if to make sure there weren't any infections, the orc then started applying herbs of some type. Seeing no infections, the orc started to wrap another clean cloth around his arm and his shoulder. Estel was more confused than ever before. Why was this orc helping him? All his life, the elves and his mother had always told him that orcs were only capable of death and destruction. And nothing else. If that was true then why was this orc healing him, like Adar would do if he was here? Or was this orc just healing him so he would be better sport to play with when he was fully healed?
Finishing, the orc looked up into his eyes. "What is yeh name?" he asked.
Estel bit his lip. It couldn't hurt to tell the orc his name, could it?
"Estel," he said, smiling slightly at the male. Maybe the orc wasn't so bad after all, but he couldn't let his guard down, it was an orc, after all. But then again, his sword was left in the battle field and his hand knife was not near him. Maybe this orc had taken it to make sure he wouldn't use it against him.
The orc smiled again, accepting this new forming friendship.
The orc placed his hand on his chest and said one word. "Kaghed."
"Is that the orc's name?' Estel asked himself.
"Kag... Kaghed?"
Estel repeated back, testing out this form of name, not wanting to be rude or anything. The orc nodded at him.
The orc sighed, his eyes looking straight into his eyes. "I can't call yeh, Estel, here, young Estel. Many men 'ere don't like elves much. I will call yeh Mokûrz. It means hope, too." Estel nodded his head slowly, not knowing why the orc was telling him this. It somewhat made sense. Orcs that he had met before Kaghed. cried in rage of seeing an elf and more so when anyone spoke in elvish. Maybe he could trust this orc, maybe just a little...
"Ur lat u? – Are you hungry, Mokûrz?" Kaghed, the orc, asked him. Estel looked at him. Was he repeating his question in his language and in common? Estel nodded slowly.
"Daggog ," the orc replied, pulling out something from his pocket handing him some rare meat. Estel took it from him. He never had rare meat before, living with elves most of his life, and they cooked their meat thoroughly. He watched as Kaghed started eating his share of the meat. Seeing it wasn't poisoned, Estel bit into it. 'This so good!' Estel thought, as he started to wolf it down like there was no tomorrow.
The male orc laughed. Estel looked back at the orc and going back to his small meal.
(End of Chapter)
Words: 3,186
(1) Witch Healer: or commonly known as a "witch doctor". They are tribal healer/Shaman/magician: in tribal societies, somebody who practices healing, divining, or other magical powers.
(2) Matryia: It is a large country, just beyond the mountains behind Mordor. It is said to be a thriving country before wars were fought when many traveled west into Middle Earth 1000s years before. It is said that Lord Elord's great-great-great parents were one of the millions who traveled west who helped founded Rivendell. There are few reading of Matryia, it said to be myth. Very few had traveled there and said to never return.
This country is MADE UP by me. So you won't find it anywhere else. I got part of the name after the Internet game "Guild Wars" however.
(3) An amin a'maelamin ion Estel: in elfish (I think) is basically translated to English reads "To my beloved son, Hope (Estel)".
(4) Daggog: translated from Black speech to English "here"
Author's Notes: Kaghed is going to start calling Estel, Mokûrz. Just telling you all that so none of you guys would be confused. And yes, Mokûrz means (I think) Hope in Uruk. The reason why Kaghed is calling Estel, Mokûrz is because that Kaghed wants to protect Estel from men in his village, thinking of getting revenge would do good in killed him, because of him being human and living with elves in his first part of his life, which to me would be bonus of one of the reasons to kill him. Also the name of Estel is in elfish, and most orcs hate everything elfish, so to me I would hate the language of my enemies too, so why don't orcs hate that Elfish language too?
"Good Orc(s) Challenge": To any Author out there that wish to do this Challenge. The story must be about one or group(s) of orcs that are "good", different from the Orcs that we see from the movies & books. In the story, you must show the way these orcs live, their families and their way of life, such as: their customs, their religion etc. Also make a believable excuse WHY and HOW these orcs are "good". In this Challenge, you must write a reasonable way to get these orcs to help any LotR Character that you choose; doesn't matter where in the time line, it is your choice. The Plot of the story is also your choice. This Challenge is NOT a one-shot. It MUST be a more then one chapter story. Good luck.
AND PLEASE, if you do this Challenge notify me, so I read it. :)
Read and Review
--FireChildSlytherin5
