Skirmish (Fangdarr): Alone

Skirmish (Fangdarr): Alone

Follow along each week for Skirmishes of characters of the Orcblood Legacy Series. These are real events that take place during the story’s timeline but are not detailed in the book.

Fangdarr felt the sharp sting of the pronged iron as the woman plunged it deep into his abdomen. Momentary bewilderment caused the orc to stare down at the utensil and its wielder.

As the orc’s eyes met hers, she did not shy away. He saw within them the same fire and hatred that he knew lay behind his own. Beneath the furrow of her brow came her piercing gaze, channeling every bit of her sorrow and fury. Determined to bring an end to the monster that killed her child, the woman placed both hands on the makeshift weapon and pressed with all her might.

Fangdarr didn’t wince as the fork sank further into his stomach. His focus lay solely on his attacker, roaring in her rage. For the briefest of moments, the orc came to understand the reality of his actions. He had killed a child. Her child. Split her in twain as if she were no more than a log to split. His fury had blinded him from a horror so real that Fangdarr wondered what else he may have done in his enraged trance.

Is this what it means to be orc? he wondered. Kill without remorse. Bring pain to others. End daughters and sons. Mothers and fathers. Is this the height of our purpose? Suffering?

Pulling out the utensil, the woman plunged it into Fangdarr again in a fit of sorrow, this time into pectoral just above his heart.

With the piercing pain, Fangdarr’s mind cast aside all deeper thoughts to be replaced by a single, overwhelming truth. I will not fall to an unnamed human.

As quick as it had subsided, the orc’s blind rage returned. The outrage and anguish previously in the woman’s eyes turned to fear as their gazes met once more, knowing that she had missed her opportunity to avenge her child. She pulled out the fork and aimed to plunge it into Fangdarr again. The flesh the woman expected to meet never came. Instead, she felt the monstrous beast’s hand wrapped around her forearm.

Knowing she had failed, the woman wailed in her anguish. The few eyes of the surviving onlookers hidden in the room watched her in silence, too afraid to move against the invader as she had. She looked to her child for strength, as if her fury would be enough to break past the orc’s hold. Her free arm tried to lash out but was caught as well. Next her feet, kicking out with wild abandon in desperate attempt to disable the orc. Nothing worked. Her rage slipped away and she called out to her daughter with a dozen apologies.

The woman’s wails only grew louder as Fangdarr carried her to the next room. She begged those hidden for aid. But they only waited, hoping their window of opportunity would present itself at her expense. Seeing her friends hide caused the woman to thrash, shouting curses between her sobs. Her resistance only spurred the orc more, driven by dominating lust and power. The blindness of his state sifted out any thoughts detrimental to his course of action, save for one.

Is this what it means to be orc?

In a blink, the thought had vanished. Fangdarr squeezed through a small doorway as his victim sobbed profusely. Driven by an urge common among his kind, the orc stared into her eyes and she knew her fate. She watched as those who had remained concealed in the shadows took their chance to flee. None turned to save her. Not even a moment of hesitation. Her eyes closed as the unbearable pain began and she knew she would be forced to bear it all alone.