Skirmish (Fangdarr): Meat
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.
Oh, that savory smell. It made Fangdarr’s mouth wet in eagerness with each step they took. His stomach groaned impatiently as if clawing relentlessly in search of sustenance. The orc cautiously picked his way through the trees while Gub trundled in a direct path onward. After a few dozen paces, the small cabin came into view.
“Gub, wait!” Fangdarr harshly whispered from behind a tree to the lumbering oaf. It was no use. Already the ogre had his hands extended forward as he leaned into his quickened pace, breaking through the last bit of brush outside of the home.
Fangdarr tensed from his hiding spot, expecting the sound of screams to soon follow. But when none came, he slowly relaxed and started padding closer—his stomach leading the way. He poked his head around the corner of the cabin window. Empty. Letting his hunger get the best of him, Fangdarr rushed over to the fire where Gub was already voraciously chomping on the leg of a stag that had been roasting over the flames.
The ogre patted the ground beside him, inviting his friend to join in on the meal. Without hesitation, Fangdarr ripped the other haunch off the cooked beast and sank his teeth in. The sweet and juicy meat pressed against his tongue with a rush of ecstasy after such a long delay since his last meal. Before the first mouthful had even slid down his throat, the orc eagerly took another bite. His eyes closed with contentedness.
By the time the orc had opened his eyes, Gub was already licking his fingers clean. To Fangdarr’s surprise, the ogre had managed to completely consume the entire leg—bone and all—in just a few bites. Gub gave a gap-toothed smile with juices dripping down his chin as he reached for the hanging meat. Before his hand connected, an arrow whistled through the air and dug itself into the ogre’s forearm.
Fangdarr rolled to the side in an instant and hid behind a tree. His instincts proved fruitful as a second arrow landed in the dirt where he had been sitting. Gub, on the other hand, was staring at his arm dumbfounded as to what had occurred. The stupid creature continued to stare at it—despite Fangdarr’s shouts urging him to take action—even as a second arrow pierced his chest.
Now, Gub was angry. It took a moment for the pain to register in his sluggish mind, but once he understood that he was being attacked, the ogre was up on his feet with a ferocious snarl. Fangdarr peeked his head around the tree he had tucked himself behind and could see two humans pointing their wooden bows at his ally. Roaring as he charged, one shifted their attention to him while the other, a woman, remained fixated on Gub’s advancing form.
The arrow whizzed toward the orc, clipping him in the left shoulder but hardly slowing him. Too great was his rage to care for such a thing. As he closed the distance, Fangdarr drew his enormous axe, growling as he raised it high.
Gripped by fear at the oncoming enraged orc, the man ahead fumbled with his bow awkwardly. With luck and quick wits, the man managed to withdraw a small knife after dropping his bow. As Driktarr came crashing down through his shoulder, the blade managed to cut through his assailant’s side and slice the orc’s kidney. The pain would have been enough to drop any to their knees, but Fangdarr felt no pain in that moment. There was only rage and the sheer intense rush of victory as he watched the splash of blood splatter against the man’s face. He could feel the axe drink the man’s vitality and stitch together the grievous wound that had been inflicted. The man looked on in horror in that final moment and watched the arrow in the orc’s shoulder crawl out and drop to the ground. What little light there had been in the victim’s eyes slowly faded as Fangdarr ripped his blade free from the man’s torso, pulling organs with it.
Though his rage was subsiding, Fangdarr turned to Gub and the remaining woman. He expected her to have been able to easily outsmart the ogre and keep out of reach while still firing off a few shots. However, his expectations of her skill were too high. As he turned his head, the orc caught the vision of horror on the woman’s face as Gub lifted her from the ground and pulled her toward his waiting maw.
Despite her incessant struggling, it was hopeless. She shrieked in terror until the moment her head disappeared within the stretched jaws of the giant creature. Fangdarr nearly shuddered at the crunch of bone as Gub crushed down on her skull. Even worse were the sounds as the ogre chewed nonchalantly on the woman’s lifeless corpse, blood dripping in streams down his exposed chest.
Torn between the triumph of victory and the thought of the innocent couple that had only sought to defend what was theirs, Fangdarr felt a wave of guilt and regret surge through him. Yet, he looked down at the newly formed scar across his side and smiled. This was it. This was what it meant to be an orc, he knew. He recalled the men that had chased down and decapitated his mother despite her innocence. These humans were no different than she and were met with the same brutality. There was no need for guilt. This was equality.