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Azeroth Adventrue Journal - [ 03 ]
🕑 Added 2023-10-16 09:37:46 +0000 UTC"Hey Thrall," I hear a voice, gruff and deep it still sounded like a child trying to mimic the Orc's own voice, "How's your side?"
None of my muscles dared to as much as twitch even though the man sounded genial as he asked his question.
"Better," said Thrall with a surprising subservience clear in his voice.
"Good," the man said, "we will continue your training from today...and you will have another bunch of books to read too."
I tried to make sense of the conversation, but the man's tone changed from nearly delighted to what I'd imagine one chewing on a lemon to sound like.
"Yes, Sergeant," said Thrall and I just listened, my breath held in lest the man notices me.
I almost sighed in relief as I heard him starting to walk away, the sound of his retreating footsteps was a delightful sound to my tired nerves but then it stopped only a few steps in.
"Ah, I almost forgot," he turned his heels and started walking back, I held my breath and stared into the darkness as the torch held in his hand made the shadows jump around and enlarge. When his steps didn't stop in front of Thrall's cell I might have gotten a heart attack were I not so young.
Not three seconds later a rather large man appeared beyond the bars, illuminated by the flickering light of the torch. I stared at him, petrified as his brown eyes deep beneath layers of scares and a scruff beard stared at me with a trace of surprise.
"You are awake," he stated, his eyes narrowing at me, "and clothed."
If I could die from stress this would have been the moment for that.
"Well, that's a surprise," he ran his gaze appraisingly over me but thankfully my loose clothes concealed most of my body, not that his gaze was lecherous in any way, "not my problem."
With a shrug, he turned and walked away, "I'll come back in a few hours and take you to train Thrall."
The orc grunted in affirmation as I heard the heavy door slam shut and the same clinks of keys turning in locks as before. Then, and just then, I let myself breathe. Breath as in gasp for breath like I was being waterboarded for the last three minutes and in a sense I was, I couldn't breathe and nor could I move. I slumped back as air rushed into my lungs, the warm stone radiating mana into me proving far too little comfort at the moment.
What's going to happen to me?
I asked the question without much thought and just like before information came rolling in without a care for my mounting headache, it was so weird, some came as descriptions, some as tales or even retellings by people I didn't even know. Books, it was as if I was reading books, not even actual real-life books but fictional stories but then there were interspersed between them cold hard facts too. As I said, it was all very confusing but by the end of it, I had a bleak short-term future laid out in front of me.
Aedas Blackmore was a severe alcoholic obsessed with power and as treasonous as he was prone to drunken bouts of anger in which he raised his hand upon any who couldn't hit back. He took the young daughter of his assistant as his mistress and she was regularly left with bruises, none of his servants or even guards were safe from him but the one he loved to beat up the most was his slave, one orc slave trained to be an obedient gladiator especially so. Thrall.
To my mind, it was incomprehensible how the green giant didn't tear his head off yet but from these stories, I got the feeling that he lacked in acknowledgment, he starved for it, to be known, to be honored for his loyalty and service. Such was the mindset of one born a slave. A sad thing to behold and even more so when I knew he could break me out of here.
Stories, they are just stories. It could all be a sick game of some mage planting false knowledge into my head to watch me squirm.
My palms landed on my squishy cheeks with a light slap and I groaned as even that stung more than I intended, it was already itching though as my ring started to heal along with the rest of my injuries. If I continued like this my whole body would itch from the healing. I shivered at the thought.
I sighed as I centered my mind again, to be brief my fate seemed to be all set up before me as either a sex slave or maybe a mistress for that alcoholic Lord if he was feeling generous. It should be illegal in the alliance to enslave an Elf or a Human but Blackmoore was the Lord overseeing all of the internment camps the Orcs resided in in this part of the Eastern Kingdoms, he was important and powerful, and as such he had leeway to bend the laws or for others to ignore him breaking it. Such was my fate.
I was a young elf, all of us being unnaturally beautiful by human standards and I found myself butt naked in a cold, damp cell under Durnhold Keep. It didn't take a genius to come to the same conclusion as me. Even if I had talents besides being hot in the future they shouldn't know of it. My stomach was twisting itself into one mighty know by now but I did my best to ignore it, I tried to focus on a silver lining or another possibility but unfortunately, I couldn't find any.
"Fuck," I whispered as I stared vaguely into the dancing shadows, imagining forms and people inside as one would in clouds. That one looked like a dragon, then maybe a murlock if I squinted hard enough.
"It's not that bad kid," Thrall tried to calm me, without barely any success but his voice was a better distraction than the shadows so I welcomed it.
"I don't want to be a slave Thrall," I said as my eyes teared up, stupid child body reacting to every emotion.
"You might not be," he said though I could tell he wasn't convinced of what he was saying, "Maybe they wanted a maid or something."
"Yeah," I said in a droll voice, "an all-you-can-use maid."
I heard some weird sound from his cell, somewhere between choking and coughing, "Surely not, you are barely a girl, I haven't seen any human your age getting married here."
"I awoke naked in a cold cell Thrall," I said sadly, "without any of my memories."
The tense silence hung in the air for a while before I heard the Orc sigh, "At least you wouldn't have to fight for your life every week."
"I'd prefer that to become someone's toy."
"'Toy,'...both are toys just the way they break them are different," said Thrall thoughtfully and I perked up at his line of thought.
"Do you want to escape from here?" I asked with a bit of hope.
"What for?" he laughed without any heart in it, "all of my kind are enslaved and it wouldn't be long before they throw me into another cell even if I manage to escape...if only I could earn their trust here...maybe my life would get better...I just have to prove myself."
I slumped back as I ran through what I knew of Thrall's 'early days' as it was called in the stories and came to the conclusion that it simply wasn't time yet, he'd escape but that needed a catalyst that made him lose all hope in ever earning the trust and confidence of the humans here. I had no way of making that even come sooner, the only one that could do that was his drunkard master.
Gods were real here and one might have wanted to play a sick game with me as not a minute after I berated Blackmoore the man came stumbling into the dungeon, his steps unsteady and a pair of guards following him closely with heavy footsteps echoing as they came. Metal clangs on the stone floor as their boots struck them with each step and I was painfully aware of their approach.
"Next time I lose money because of you I'm breaking more than your ribs," with that comment the man passed by Thrall's cell who remained silent throughout the encounter.
"Aren't you a pretty little thing?" was the first thing that came out of his mouth as he shone an oil lamp into my cell, his mouth curving into a crooked smile that could be framed and put into a museum as the trademark 'evil smile'. Still, it was effective on my poor self and I found myself scrambling into the far corner.
"Oh don't be like that," he said in a tone maybe intended to be gentle but sounding threatening to my ears, "do you want me to get the keys and get in there with you?"
I shuddered as I hugged my knees close to my chest, I tried to work my mind to come up with something, anything but I couldn't. I was weak and powerless while he was strong and powerful. I didn't need the mysterious knowledge to know that in the world the powerful lived as they wished and the powerless suffered so they lived.
"I don't remember giving you clothes," he frowned as he seemed to be deep in thought and I took the moment to run my gaze over him. He had a black tunic and pants on made of some rough cloth and he wore some leather armor over it covering mainly his chest and legs with a black cloak draped over his shoulder to finish the look. His face fit his clothing, rugged black hair ran down to his shoulder curling around as it did and his mouth was edged by a beard running around it.
"Did I?" he turned to one of the armored men behind him who shook his head, Aedelas Blackmoore's sunken black eyes were narrowed as they turned back to me, "Where did you get them?" his voice was even and cold as he fought through the alcohol coursing through his veins.
I averted my eyes, unsure if a real answer would net me a beating or a lesser punishment.
"I'll have you stripped and whipped if you don't answer me you stuck-up knife-eared brat," he seethed and the dark look in his eyes told me that he was imagining far worse things being done to me than what he spoke.
"F-from t-he chest," I said, my voice failing me as it cracked.
"Chest?" he turned to the armored man again.
"Uuuuuh...there is supposed to be a chest holding old clothes in the old guard's room I think, My Lord."
"That one?" he asked as he pointed towards the room I stole my clothes from and the armored man nodded his head.
My heart skipped a beat as his gaze interlocked with mine again, there was something in there aside from sadism now, I didn't know what he saw in me or saw me as but it wasn't an elf or even a girl.
"So you sneaked out?" he asked and I couldn't recognize the emotions in his tone, "stole from that chest the first thing after you woke up and sneaked back without anyone noticing you?"
"Y-yes?" I blinked at him, already imagining how whips would feel on my bare back.
"Good," he smiled, a dark, malicious smile, "Very good, you can be more than a bed warmer."
I shuddered, a wave of intense disgust ravaging through my body as the words left his lips.
"But maybe that'll be your reward if you are useful," he snorted at my reaction, "I like women with more meat and less..." he clicked his tongue as he searched for the word, "Ah whatever, maybe in five years when you grow up a bit."
"My Lord?" the other armored man asked uncertainly and for a moment I thought he was going to be my knight in shining armor and slay the evil human but my expectations were swiftly betrayed, "do you wish for her to be trained by the Sergeant?"
"Nooo," he snickered, "I have someone else in mind."
"Sleep well," he smiled at me, "if you disappoint me you'll wish for a bed as good as the stone floor of that cell, tomorrow you'll meet your...' teacher'."
He snickered as he turned to leave without another word to either one of us. Just like that, I could breathe again.
My breaths came fast and rabid, my lungs starved for air but my breaths couldn't get them there swiftly enough, panic started to set in from both the one-sided conversation and my apparent choking on air. My vision started to swim as from the edges of my vision darkness started to creep in, I felt light and my whole body started feeling numb from the tip of my limbs traveling toward my head.
"Kid?" Thrall's shout barely entered my ear as my vision was barely a dot in an expanse of darkness, my ears rang in a shrill cry that even overpowered Thrall's deep voice, "Breath kid, slowly, SLOWLY!"
His shout stiffened my whole body in fear but that moment was enough for my mind to regain control of my body and I breathed, it took everything I had to let the air slowly flow into my ravenous lungs but I managed it and in half a minute I was starting to feel better. My breaths were rugged and deep, my chest rising and falling with each shuddering intake of air.
"You alright?" Thrall's voice resonated in my skull.
"Yeah," I said between a wheeze and a sigh.
"Good," he said with a sigh of his own, "I'm sorry."
"What for?" I asked with confusion clear in my voice.
"It seems you will share the same fate as me," he said morosely.
"It's better than what I feared," I'd have shrugged if I found the energy to, "at least I might learn how to fight."
"What good is fighting for a slave," he asked with a clear voice.
"I don't intend to remain a slave Thrall," I said, "I'd rather die than find myself in the bed of that man."
"I can't say I understand," he said, of course, he wouldn't, he was a man and the feeling of being defiled and violated was almost alien to him but as a slave, I was sure he could empathize with my lack of freedom. For fucks sake, he is being beaten up every second week by that bastard, he knows it better than me.
"Sorry," I said weakly as I lay on my back.
"What for?" he asked, genuinely confused.
"I'm lamenting my fate here and you've been suffering it ever since you were born."
"You are weird or a kid," he noted.
"YOU are weird for an Orc," I snapped back, I was perfectly normal if a bit amnesiac.
"I wouldn't know," Thrall's voice was filled with a strange emotion but I could tell it was the weakest I've heard it so far.
"Oh," I'm being an ass again, "Sorry!"
"It's alright kid," he laughed, "how about you tell me what other Orcs are in return?"
"Uhm," I blinked, "Sure?"
My ears perked up as I tried to hear if anyone was keeping watch on us, long ears meant better hearing right? Well, maybe a bit but it was enough to know that nobody was watching us at the moment as I heard no breathing through any of the walls. Though if they concealed themselves with magic...
I shook my head at the thought, paranoia was good and all but overthinking could cripple me with indecision and if I ever wanted to escape from here I'd need to be decisive and grab any opportunity I got by the balls. Ewww, why did I think that?
With a slightly disgusted frown still on my face I slipped back out through the bars and strutted over to Thrall's cell and plopped down in front of the bars, sure I was warming up to him but the bars between me and the musclebound giant still worked wonders on my nerves. I stared into the darkness as I watched the shadow loom closer until the flickering light finally illuminated him, if only for moments.
I gulped but waved at him with a shaky hand.
He snorted and sat down close to the bars with only about two meters separating the two of us, he wore simple brown cloth pants and a dirty shirt I couldn't even tell the material of all held together by a rope on his hip much like mine. His hair was dirty and rugged but it was held together in a single black pony-tail.
"W-what do you want to know?"
"Everything," he said but a ferocious smile probably not intended as such crept onto his face, those tusks make expressions hard to read, "But let's start with what you think is important to an Orc who never learned much about his people."
"Uhm," tricky questions from the start, I grumbled to myself, "Well, I think Orcs first appeared something like fifteen years ago far down to the south."
"South?"
"Uhm," I tilted my head, I shouldn't know where we are, almost messed it up right at the start, "Do you know where we are?"
"They call it Durnholde Keep," he said offhandedly, "it is in the western part of the Hillsbrand Foothills."
"Okay," I knew that of course, "Do you know maps or something? The Eastern kingdoms?"
"I've been taught strategy and it included learning of the Eastern Kingdoms."
"Well," I tilted my head, "the first we heard of up north was the kingdom of Stormwind battling a horde of green-skinned monsters that ravaged and slaughtered everywhere they went," I averted my eyes, "next came the fall of Stormwind."
"I do know of that," he nodded.
"Oh," I opened and closed my mouth, "uhm, I'm not really sure what to tell you if you've learned some basic history, I'm not too knowledgeable besides rumors and stuff like that."
"That will do," he said, "I'm interested in what your kind thinks of us for example."
"R-right," damn, that rock sure is interesting, "Well we had this thing with the Trolls to the south of Quel'Thalas where we were basically killing each other for thousands of years and then during the second war the Warchief allied with them and besieged Silvermoon itself so I'd say Orcs are not well-liked."
"I see," he looked thoughtful, "it is so far off though, I was made to believe the goal of the Second War was the fall of Lordareon, why would they go and attack Silvermoon so far away?"
"It was probably the Trolls," I didn't have to fake the dark tone, it was a given with my knowledge of basic elven history, ", especially with their latest leader, Zul'jin and his fanatical hatred of us, I'm sure he only pledged his people to the Warchief if he helped him kill us off."
"So another race that hates us," he sighed.
"I wouldn't say hate," I said as I thought of how elves would react to that disastrous siege, disastrous for the orcs that is, "the siege ended like all prior sieges the Trolls managed, with a full rout and the Warchief abandoning his army to avoid encirclement and capture."
"Warchief" Thrall tasted the word, "what do you know of him?"
"Not much," I shrugged, lying with a straight face, the moment I thought of the word I was rewarded with all the people that ever held the title or ever will according to my dubious knowledge along with their brief histories, plus a headache, "I know he is called Orgrim Doomhammer and that he killed the Champion of Stormwind in single combat."
"Anduin Lothar?" Thrall asked, surprising me a little. I knew Blackmoore wanted to turn Thrall into some Orc warlord who obeyed him above all others to make a kingdom for himself and that this hair-brained plan of his needed the Orc to be strategically thinking and competent in military stuff but his knowledge should be spotty at best with the humans trusting him as far as they could throw him.
"Yeah," I nodded, finding my tired nerves lightening as the conversation went on.
Time was tricky to measure down in the dungeons and I couldn't manage it but I'm sure we'd been talking for a few hours by the time I could barely hold my eyelids from slamming shut and my yawns from escaping. I was wobbling even as I sat in place.
"I...think...I'll...sleep," I said to Thrall, stopping whatever he was going to ask next.
"Oh," he realized the state I was in, "Sure kid, get rest, they don't have much mercy during training here."
"URgh," I groaned as I stumbled my way back into my cell and collapsed promptly thereafter onto the floor but I think I started snoring softly even before my head touched the ground. My body unconsciously curled up into a ball to retain its heat as I hugged my legs and pulled my bare feet under my pants as much as I could.
Zzzzzzzzzzzzzz~~
