Gorrka – the weak orc.

Chapter one – Happy birthday.

It was early morning, and only the quiet mumbling from the guards could be heard, as the rest of the camp was asleep. The sun was already up, the day seemed as it would be bright and clear, a nice early summer morning.

Heg’tar grunted as he adjusted his seat. The woman beside him, was pale, bleeding heavily and struggling with her labor. He had waited for hours already. Finally Heg’tar slammed his fist into the table next to him, scaring both his wife and the woman helping her. “Do something, woman” Heg’tar snarled. He then left the room, showing no more signs of affection or love.

Some might say he loved her. Others might disagree. Only thing to know for certain, was him being disgruntled on the very last day of her life. As the sun started setting, the cries from the woman quieted down, and the excitement was succeeded by anxiety. Something was wrong.

As the nights darkness drew closer, the section of the camp waited in anticipation, until a soft cry was heard. Once more an orc was born. Heg’tar rushed towards his wife, to see the newborn boy. His heir.

When he approached the bed, the caretaking female looked at him, her voice thick from sorrow, as she approached him: “I’m sorry. Your wife didn’t make it.” Heg’tar stumbled, his voice turned dark as he simply answered: “And the kid?” The female handed over a small bundle of clothes, inside was a baby orc. Heg’tar grunted with satisfaction as he realised his family would live on, to honor the Blackrock clan-name, aswell as the family name.

“She’s adorable, isn’t she?” The female babbled on. She seemed relieved, that Heg’tars focus had shifted towards the baby girl.
“SHE?” Heg’tar threw the girl on the bed, on top of his dead wife, growled and left the hut with no further words.
That night, several orcs were forced to brawl the enraging male, even the guards struggled to calm him down.

Luckily the main person in the story, Gorrka, was too small to understand much of this, or even remember it. She was just an ordinary little orcish girl, with an innocent view on the world. Neither did she know, what a turbulent time in orcish history she was born into, or how things would develop for her in the future.

The female orc, lifted the baby up from the bloodied bed, and carried her outside. Enough orcs had already died, this one should not face the same destiny. Might the ancestors be with her.

 

Chapter two – Life in Hammerfall.

Gorrka sat in a quiet corner. The little girl wasn’t sharing any sounds, and from afar, her surroundings might have suspected her taking a small nap, in the middle of the day.

Noone bothered to confront her. She was just a kid amongst others. And, frankly, she wasn’t the greatest helper either. She wasn’t peticular strong, or intelligent, actually quite the opposite of both. The grown up orcs, had enough to handle themselves. The humans rarely left them alone for long. The kids didn’t like Gorrka. She was strange.

Had anyone taken a closer look at the orc, they might have noticed her head resting on her knees. A shaking back, but no sounds at all.

It was another dry day. The sun was baking, and the dust whirled up each time a step was taken.

Gorrka was ofcourse crying, as so often before. Her face was grimed with unseen tears, and her little body shaking, from the effort of keeping quiet.

They had been after her again. The humans. She didn’t get why they even bothered with her, but a couple of them seemed to find pleasure in haunting her. Most likely as they enjoyed seeing her whimper.

“Address me with the respect I demand!” the human had galped, as he had kept beating her with his belt. Her skinny green body, was as usual covered in bruises, which she did her best to hide. The shame if anyone noticed her being beaten by a human… He had not stopped until Gorrka had repeated her apologies several times, naming the human “sir”.

“Gorrka! What are you doing? Lazy peon!” A voice sounded above her head. Gorrka wiped her eyes, pretending to rub out the sleep of her eyes. She peered up, only to face one of the Blackrock kids. A guy few years older than herself. He grabbed her arm, and without further hesitation, dragged her along with him, to face her father.

Gorrka loved and feared her father. Begging for his attention, yet always seeming to mess it up, for reasons she did not understand.

Heg’tar looked at his unpleasant offspring. What now?

Gorrka cowered, still being held by the older boy, she hardly dared to face her father.

“Aka’Magosh. She slept. In the middle of the day.” No sympathy was heard in the voice.

*Smack* A coarse hand slapped her face with the force of a grownup male. The gruff voice of her father, thundered above her head, as she struggled not to start crying again.

“Pathetic runt. You deserved nothing better than to have been drowned by birth.”

The orcs watching the incident laughed loudly, as noone of the imprisoned orcs felt any sympathy towards the weakling, who just had her heart broken by her father… again.

 

Chapter three – A question of memory:

Gorrka moaned softly. Her eyes were closed, but she could feel the sun dried grass beneath her cheek. If only she remained silent, they would not hurt her again. A black mark was starting to show on her temple, from the hit.

Another kick followed, and Gorrka screamed as she felt her kidneys being the target. “Sorry sir!” Gorrka curled up as a ball, trying to cover herself from the grown up human attacking her.

The male had grinned, then continued to kick her. The youngling, approximately eight years of age, tried to hide from the brutal beating, but the humans boots seemed to find any sore part of her body.
It had been a long night. Gorrka was hiding in a corner of the barrack, cautious not to drag any attention to herself. Her beaten up, bruised body was a mess. These days the humans had grown tougher on her, especially one of them. He was.. strange, beating her up, then stroking her, caressing her.. touching her.

Gorrka shook her head. Her eyes still closed. The young girl seemed horrified for a long time, then finally starting to cry without a single sound.

Heg’tar was glaring from the other side of the room. He had noticed his weakling hide, and her starting to cry, which finally made him react. He got up from his chair, walked to the pathetic runt and poked her with a foot.

Gorrka instantly stopped crying, as much as possible. Her wet grimed cheeks revealed the truth however.

“Quit moaning, whelp. Act like an orc.” He grunted harshly.

The young orc in front of him, made a very peculiar facial expression. First she looked like she was slapped, then breaking down, but suddenly her face turned oddly numb.

Heg’tar grunted, satisfied with the result and turned around.

Gorrka tilted her head slightly.

Why had she been crying anyway?
After all, she had not been the one being beaten.
That was her friend.
Yes.
Not Gorrka,
Never Gorrka.

 

Chapter four – Liberation:

Gorrka sniffed. Something was burning. She opened her eyes, trying to look through the twilight, but could see nothing but sleeping orcs nearby. It was early. Very early.

The smell of smoke grew, until Gorrka was certain something was on fire. Where more orcs would have yelled out loud, waking the others, she however just curled together cowering, protecting her head with her palms, shivering slightly.

Not long after, loud yells were heard through the camp. People yelling about the fire at first, then odd noises, like… people fighting?

The young orc girl, approximately ten years of age stayed in hiding that morning. Not daring to peak out, she had no idea what was going on. As the day progressed, the combat slowed down, until things felt safe again, as the sounds turned more everyday like.

In the end, it was the smell of food which dragged her out. As she approached the fireplace, she noticed how different everything seemed. No guards were seen, just orcs, many injured. Quite a few of the adults dressed in blue or black tabards.

Gorrka approached an orc with a blue tabard. She might have looked hungry, as the wise shaman simply just offered her a loaf of bread. She grabbed the bread, bowed and replied “Thanks sir”, which made the surrounding orcs stare her down. Gorrka blushed, confused as to what she had done wrong.

The bread-sharing orc blinked at her, seeming close to smiling, as he replied “No need for human titles, runt. Get ready for a journey, we leave by boat tonight.” Gorrka might have seemed utterly confused, as the Frostwolf, with a low rumble to his voice, continued to explain to the kid: “The camp has been liberated by Frostwolves and Warsongs, whelp. We are leaving with our leader Thrall tonight, aiming to build a new horde in Kalimdor.”

No more humans? Gorrka hardly believed her own ears. The leader of the Frostwolves would definately be strong, since he managed to liberate the camps. Gorrka tried to grasp everything which was happening around her. The humans gone.. no more beatings, no more punishments… orcs around her was busy packing their few belongings, trying to locate useful items within the human guard barracks.
Later that night, the camp was emptied, only leaving a small force behind, to secure the Hammerfall from humans. A long row of orcs, some on wolfes, others by foot, walked to the west, aiming for the sea.

Some from her clan objected to the plans stated by the blue tabards. The Blackrocks were not ready to simply follow the young shamanistic leader, with his odd ideas, and they took off in the opposite direction.

Gorrka had no choice, but to follow her father, who on his side seemed to feel obliged to offer his support to the Frostwolves, after the liberation. All a matter of honour.