Starting late, my first submission for Orctober. I’ll try to form a cohesive story through the month. It will for sure stars all my Orc OCs, which i should give more love tbh. No better month for that !
Word Count : 384
Short version : Dagrin, young Horde recruit, wanders through the Barrens searching for a rest. As he takes break in an oasis, he gets pulled away by two older orcs. What is going on ?
The Barrens are the best place to learn survival. For most young Horde soldiers, it is a mandatory passage to survive crossing this dry land. But not all people are made equal to endure those temperatures and the dangers lurking around. Dagirn was learning this the hard way, struggling to just keep going, his last motivation being the green patch of an oasis appearing in his vision. The young man swept the sweat out his dark hair and kept going, ignoring the exhaustion taking over his body.
Finally the shade of the little oasis welcomed him. As the heat calmed down, Dagirn’s pace fastened to the lake. He kneeled to drink the sweet, fresh water like an animal, as no manners are needed to survive. He has barely looked around, focused on the thirst. He didn’t see the large forms at the nearby hill. He doesn’t notice one of them looming closer, and almost screams when the massive green hand lands on his shoulder, pulling him close.
“Take Cover kid, now.”
Dagirn looked up. The orc looming over him seemed old, old enough to know better. He follows the motion to the hill, where another orc looking even bigger with his armor, judges him silently. The older one makes him sit near them.
“Pretty sure the Kolkars already spotted you. You were lucky we were taking a break here, or in the next minute your back would have become their target practice…”
Dagirn listened around, realising all the life hiding in this place. They were right, he would never had noticed in time… But now what ? The fight would still take place.
“Th...Thanks.”
“Let’s just get over with it” the second orc added, grabbing a greataxe of roughly his size. “If you survive this, runt, we’ll get to know your name.” He smirks, and jumped out of the hideout to face the centaurs.
The older one sighs, and gives that headstart to the warrior to observe the puny young man that is Dagirn. Clearly this has to be half-orc, lacking the orcish build despite the pale green skin and the tiny tusks pointing out. Dagirn stares back, and slowly gets up, grabbing a mace.
“I’m not waiting here.”
“Good” nods the old orc “Let’s see what you’ve got. I’ll be right behind you.”
