Too old for this...

[Uguu]

Part One:Never a dull moment.
Warning:Contains blood, gore and alot of death. It is assumed you have read this, before moving on.

Spoiler:

Durrak awoke to the sounds of another man, yelling. His hands rubbed at his eye as he struggled to clear his vision, wanting to know what was happening. With a flinch, snapped fully awake, his eye was drawn to a hand at his shoulder. "Relax, old one..." The voice was calm and reassuring, but did little to ease his mind as he could still hear the yelling. "I'm old, not deaf... what's happened?" Still foggy from his rest, his eye never noticed the slight frown upon the orc's face."Our scouts found a body, on the road. A child, from what I've heard." Durrak heaved a sigh as he shook off the daze and got to his feet, a grimace formed as his knees took the brunt of his weight. He never gave the other orc time to speak before he took a step out of the wagon, biting down from the impact of the short fall down to the dirt. Doing his best to ignore the throbing in his joints, the old orc moved down the road a short ways and soon found the location of the ruckus. "What... happened, here?" His words were met with a number of eyes as the group turned to face him. "One of your young was slain." The large Tauren in the back spoke rather calmly, considering the event. Durrak painfully walked up to the body, staring down at it, clearly upset. The small boy was horribly mangled, much of his face had been clawed off and his limbs were flayed from shoulder to wrists. His hands were missing, little more than bloodied stumps, and his legs were shattered from the knees down. A growl crept out from the orc's throat as he took to a knee, ignoring the pain as he examined to corpse more closely. One of the other orcs turned their head away from the scene, unable to stomach what he was seeing. Durrak's expression turned far more grave as he painfully got to his feet, heaving a wheezing breath before he nodded and began to speak. "This will not stand..."

The Tauren nodded once as he heaved his large spear from the ground, the other orcs began gathering a number of axes and swords before they lined up. Durrak closed his eyes for a moment before he patted his axe on the hilt. "The others shall tend to the fallen, we shall find what, or who, did this." With a silent nod, the four of them set off down the road, the other orcs in the wagon getting out to give the young boy a proper burial. The march was hard on the eldest orc, his old body wasn't as strong as it had been some fifty years past. Regardless, Durrak pressed on with the others, hellbent on finding out what had done this to such a young soul. The heat was harsh on the group as the sun glared down upon them all, the Tauren seemed almost unphased by it as one of the younger orcs clearly was. "What monster would do that... to a child..." "We shall find out, soon enough. Untill then, keep on your guard." Most of their trip, for some hours, was silent. Only a few times did any of them dare to speak, usually little more than something they'd seen along the way. The Tauren suddenly stopped along the trail, the orcs turning back to watch him as he ran a large hand across the dirt. Slowly, he stood back upright and directed his spear towards the tracks he'd found. "Boots. Heading that way." His spear swept through the air as he aimed it towards the west, the group set off as the Tauren continued to track the steps of what made these prints. After another hour, the sun had begun to set in the sky. Deciding it best not to travel in the dark, with whatever might have done that, the group made camp under a large tree. The youngest of the group was more than happy to finally rest. Taking the first in line to watch over the group as they slept, Durrak had little choice but to just endure his aching. The night went slowly for him, untill his turn was up and he was allowed rest.

[Uguu]

Part Twoamned rookie...

Spoiler:

The sun was raised once more into the sky, the heat began to wear down on the earth below it as the group begun to wake. "Get up..." The Tauren grabbed Durrak by the shoulder and shook him lightly, the old orc rubbed at his eye as he was shaken from his slumber. "To your feet... There is trouble." His words snapped the orc awake as he sat upright, reaching for his axe, only to find the camp was barren of gear. "What has ha-" "Your youngest fell asleep during watch, in the night. Someone has made off with your armor and weapons." His hand pressed against the dirt as he forced himself to his feet, quickly looking around campsite as he took a step forward."Damn it..." The Tauren held out a freshly made spear towards the orc, another larger one in his other hand. "Here." He didn't question the Tauren, just took the weapon as the two woke the last of their group and set off from the campsite in search of their gear and the thieves. Wearing down on the old orc, the sun was brutally relentless as it shined across the land around them. His joints were throbing as they took to a run, bounding from spot to spot as the Tauren continued to track prints. They stopped abruptly, the Tauren holding a hand out to halt anyone that may mistakenly run by him. "Humans, I see three of them." Durrak twisted a frown as he ignored his pains and got to a knee, holding the spear to his side as he glared out at the Alliance soldiers around the campfire. Armor and axes, even a few other things, were stacked by crates in the camp. It was clear they'd stolen the gear, but why they'd not killed the group was uncertain.

"Alliance dogs... They'll pay for this." Despite the pains in his knees and shoulders telling him otherwise, the old orc was more than willing to charge down the hillside and cut a swath through the men below him. "We should just ha-" Young and headstrong, the orc found himself smacked over the head by the blunt end of a spear. "Shut it... We need to be careful here." The youngest rubbed a hand over his head for a moment before he nodded, gripping the hammer in hand as he kept quiet. Well armed and heavily armored, the soldiers down the hill from them would be anything but easy prey for the group. "Hey, Jerry! The hell you say that broad's name was!?" Contrast to the shouting from the men below, the group remained silent as they observed their prey for some hours. "Girl's name was Sarah, think you know her?!" The youngest orc behind Durrak began tapping his foot against the dirt, everyone still watching the men at the camp as the sun began to set again. They watched, into the night, as the men began to lay down for their rest. Taking turns through the night to watch for intruders, just as the group had, the men placed one man at a time by a tree. "Stay here... I'm going to silence the watch..." To the orc's surprise, the youngest didn't question him or even speak. He remained where he was told to stay as the old one began his slow, and pained, approach to the campsite.

Carefully, he moved towards the side of the tree and readied his spear in hand, his eye kept locked onto his target as he prepared himself for the kill. It was over before it began, the soldier was busy enjoying his rations when the orc swung around the tree and drove the tip of the spear through his skull, punching through the bone and going out the other side as the trooper fell limp and dead. With a careful kick, the body slid off the bloodied spear and to the ground with a slight metalic thump. Durrak bit down to muffle any pained sounds he may give out as he moved into the campsite, grabbing his axe from a nearby crate along the way. He stood over one of the now sleeping soldiers as he lifted the axe up and took a knee beside him, bringing it down with everything his arm could muster. The blade of the axe found its target, slicing through the man's throat and clear to the bone, blood sprayed as he split the flesh and let the head roll across the dirt. Too slow... The other man snapped awake as he was splattered by the blood, grabbing for his sword to parry the axe as it was swung down at him. His foot smashed against the orc's chest as he kicked him back, getting to his feet to properly fight him off. Never saw it coming, the Tauren rushed in from behind him and ran a spear through the man's back and through his heart, sweeping his legs out from under him as the Tauren slammed him against the floor.

Heaving and grabbing his chest for breath, most of his body was throbing from the strain of the sudden fight as he slowly nodded at the Tauren. "Thanks..." Decimating the humans had done little to resolve he matter of the slain child from a few nights past, merely slowing them down as they gathered their belongings and set off to complete their objective. The youngest took another hard smack over the head, this time as punishment for having slept while on duty.

[Uguu]

Part Three:All my hate...

Spoiler:

Nearly six hours of marching onwards, the Tauren still tracking the prints they'd found nearly three days past. They began to lose hope that they'd ever find the ones that had butchered that child in such a horrible way, but they pressed on regardless. "How'd you lose your eye, anyway?" Questions. It's all the young one had for Durrak. Question after question, hours on end, he'd spit them out every ten or so minutes. Durrak stopped his pained strides, most of his body was aching from the journey. "I tore it out. Now, keep moving." Unphased, the Tauren kept moving. The younger orc, though, stopped dead in confusion. "Why... did you do that?" A valid question, as any of the last fourty or so that he'd asked. "An eye for an eye. Now, keep moving." Despite his wanting to press the issue, he decided it best to simply drop the matter and march onwards. The sun, the cursed bright orb, bore down on them with relentless fury as there seemed to be no relief in sight. Trees, none could be seen for nearly a mile. Just open stretch of desert, all for the group to cross in the search of the end of this quest. Abruptly, the Tauren took to a knee and snatched something from the ground at his feet. He held it out to the other two, nodding once. A blanket, tattered and filthy like hell. It was stuffed into a small sack the Tauren had with him, their march continued onwards as they knew they were coming closer to ending this. Just twenty minutes, all it took for them to happen upon the culprits of this crime. They sat themselves at the top of a hill, staring down at their foe from above.

Quilboar. Six of the beasts, gathered around another corpse. Nothing in the way of details could be made out from the hilltop, but it was clear what they were doing to it. Why? It didn't matter, none of them cared the reasons. They had the group outnumbered, a solid two to one, so they decided it best to wait and watch. Eye for an opening, before striking them down. For nearly an hour they watched, the creatures jumped up and down as they hacked at the body. Blood was soaking the dirt around them as limbs were tossed about like a child's rag doll, axes hacking through bone as they crushed and slashed away. "Young one... catch them on their flank, when we move in..." There was a look of glee in the youngest's eyes as he nodded, gripping a pair of hammers as he prepared himself. He stopped, as a hand gently nudged his shoulder. "No screwing around... we need to butcher them quickly, once we charge." Another nod, as the old one turned himself around to face the imposing size of the Tauren. "Do not worry... I know what I shall do." A large spear. An old, worn axe. Twin hammers. Metal and wood, crafted into weapons of war, would be used this night to end life again. Three against six, size and strength against numbers and fearless maws of the beasts. Durrak knew full well their chances, but they'd attack them in the night, regardless.

A torch, stuck into the ground, gave a slight glow to light up around the campsite of the intended targets. Slowly, they spread out along the hillside and readied themselves. The Tauren, despite his size, was extremely skilled at keeping himself silent as he moved towards the Quilboars. Most of them were asleep, a trio of them keeping watch, as the group quietly closed in on them. Durrak abruptly jumped one of the patrols, his axe ripped through the flesh of the creature's throat and sent a cascade of blood across the already red dirt. The body fell to the ground, his arm catching it to avoid any further noise. Pain. Every part of him screamed for him to buckle and rest, the strain of the past few days finally taking their toll. His eyes were drawn to his left, the Tauren plunging a spear through the back of the skull of another Quilboar. Its mouth hung ajar as blood poured down its chest and onto the ground, bits of skull and brain began to leak from it as the Tauren let the body fall. Two down. The tally gave the old orc some hope for victory, another number going up as he watched the youngest smash both of his hammers against the sides of another Quilboar. Its skull exploded from the impact of the weapons and sent blood all around, hitting the ground with a thump.

All hell broke loose, as the third corpse hit the dirt. The remaining three suddenly jumped to their feet and bullrushed the group. The Tauren was unphased, grabbing his attacker up by the shoulders before slamming him against the dirt. His hooved foot collapsed the skull of the beast as he slammed his weight onto it. The youngest swung both of his hammers forward, catching the charging thing across the head as he sent it recoiling across the dirt. Durrak barely held his own, his attacker smashed against his breastplate and had him struggling to hold it back. His sheer size over the Quilboar was the only thing that kept it at bay, his axe ending it as he slashed it against the creature's eyes and blinded it. He swiftly cut its throat with another swing, putting it down for good. It was over, for him. His legs couldn' take it anymore and he dropped to the ground, everything put into just breathing as the Tauren rushed over to finish off the remaining Quilboar. Blood and bones, they were all over the ground at this point. The Tauren's hoof left bloody prints as he strided over to the old orc, making sure he was alright as the fight was finally done with.

Six hours later, they'd made it back to where they had started. By some grace of luck, they'd run into a group of merchants on their way towards the orcish capital and decided to carry the battle-weary three there with them. "Not too old, afterall..."

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The End.









Reigen is a hobbit.