Been a hell of a couple of months, so here's an interlude. Disregard eloquent orcs nonsense. Ugarth is a pretty cool guy who doesn't afraid of anything, after all.
Ever since I can remember, I have lived among the of the Dragonmaw Clan, housed atop a hill in the Wealdath forest. It was a large town, born from the remains of a rich eladrin city. The eladrin were not happy with this, and so all were destroyed.
I spent my days between kindergarten and education in the ways of the adult orc, such as cooking, hunting, and even very basic spellcraft, until I was 12, the time when one was supposed to choose the job one would like to take with the clan. Each kid had an instructor for each skill, and every adult member gave a hand. All except Karg, the clan chief.
There was no family structure in the clan. A child of the clan was raised by the clan. One could, if he liked, tutor a particular child for a closer bond. My father chose to do that. A wonderful warrior and one of the closest to Karg, he taught me the martial arts. Of my mother I never had a clue. I didn't like that, but with every question on the subject, my father's lips were either sealed, or spitting out some harsh words: "No talk in practice! You are in the battlefield! You want your head on your neck, you watch the battlefield!". My shape was also very different from the other orcs, taller, thinner, shorter tusks... There was something weird they were not telling me, and I was going to find out!
After the night feasts, we had some moments to rest and talk, and then it was curfew for the young ones. One day, me and a couple of other runts had sneaked out when we heard voices from a nearby tent. Karg and about a dozen other grown orcs were there, including my father. The meeting had started a while ago, and the talk was about the coming-of-age of young orcs, and their future tasks to the clan. There were a few of us who wanted to follow a path they were not fit to follow, and those were the ones they talked about more. At the end, Karg pulled my father to the side to talk in private:
“Grom, I have to ask you about Ugarth..”
”Eh.. The kid fights well, but I can't decide on the best place for him in the army. Nag says he is good with the words, and even has a touch for the spells..”
“His forefathers...”
“Yes.”
“It is true all runts have to prove their worth, but you know yours is special. We are friends, but I will exile him, if that protects the clan!” Karg only stopped for a moment. “Nothing to worry about, of course, After all, he was born of the princess, and is grandson to Richard the Unmerciful!”
So ended the talk. The tree of us ran back to the dorms, where I had trouble sleeping, knowing the other two constantly whispering about me. The next day, I was summoned to Karg's tent before lunch. My father was there.
“ Ugarth, who told you your mother was a human?”
“ Uh, nobody,” I suddenly stuttered.
“ Do not mock me! The whole yards talk about it! Explain?!!”
I told them about last night, except about the the two that had accompanied me.
“And how was this known in the runt-yards?”
“ Mook and Ven woke up when I got back, so I told them what happened.”
“ I seems the kid has some tricks we might use. Ah, the harm is done. Grom, tell him your story.”
As my father walked me out, Karg still said:
“ We didn't tell you for your own good, runt.”
I would soon understand those words.
Original work C Ricardo Vilaça. Split to ease reading.
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