The Third Age
Chapter 16: Orcs Bound
Amarra Lostanu
They Lady freed me, of that I am sure, from the grips of the blue crystal. She lay her hands upon me and I saw once more that which I had been missing. My life. My children, Kaylor and Kayden. And though my husband has long since vanished from sight, I have but one mission in life: spread the Word of Mystra; inform Lady Clarys of goings-on in the city; and serve Her Will in balance of good and evil.Indexplugin-autotooltip__default plugin-autotooltip_bigThe Story So Far
Chapter 1: The Blue CrystalChapter 2: Beating up a FriendChapter 3: The Battle of the Wyrm HoleChapter 4: Mugul Unleashed!Chapter 5: Queen of the OrcsChapter 6: Malus TriumphantChapter 7: The End of the MagistrateChapter 8: Efraim's GambitChapter 9: Mad with PowerChapter 10: Splintering PartyChapter 11: Ladiana's TrialChapter 12: Dutchess ClarysChapter 13: Malus's HistoryChapter 14: The Legend of the ThoraciChapter 15: Allentian VoicesChapter 16: Orcs BoundChapter 17: The Sheng…Nextplugin-autotooltip__default plugin-autotooltip_bigChapter 17: The Shenga
Guy's Thoughts
If the Shenga exists, he’s been running things for at least twenty years, keeping order so that he can control the city. Whoever’s been killing people with Blue Crystal, importing Ventrazi to terrorize the town, riling up a human sacrifice cult and openly threatening me, is not that calm, calculating figure who hides in the shadows. So either the Shenga’s real and something’s happened to change him, or this person is not the Shenga.
Three weeks ago, War Chief Balogog had stood on the hill top and looked upon the plain to the south, surveying the battle below. Somewhere down there, the Destroyer of Orcs, waded in and tried to turn the war to the advantage of the humans. Within three days, Balogog knew, the tidal wave of orcs would arrive and the humans would be overwhelmed. He would crush them, once and for all. He would crush the Destroyer of Orcs.
Tarfu, war chief of the Clan Red Bear, stepped up beside Balogog. “Your son is there, Balogog?”
Balogog stood straighter and nodded, barely suppressing a grin. “He fights beside the finest of the Kombahi. He fights to bring honor to his clan and bring me the head of the Destroyer.”
Tarfu turned and grimaced, his yellowing tusk thrust out. “You send your first born to the maws of battle with the Destroyer? Balogog, have you gone mad?”
“Mad?” thought Balogog then. He scratched his chin and hefted his massive war hammer. “Crushing the humans is not madness, it is glory, and my son Kromar will bring pride and victory to our clan.”
Tarfu grinned. “It is true your son should bring glory to your name, yet the Kombahi needs no more pride and victories. You rule the largest and the most powerful, Mighty Balogog.”
Balogog regarded his oldest friend and ally. “Clan Red Bear has ever been by my side, and you Tarfu, are my most loyal friend.” He watched Tarfu carefully, searching for signs of betrayal or fear.
Tarfu swept his hand across the plain. “The battle shall soon be over, Great Balogog, and I, your most loyal friend and ally, shall enjoy it with you!”
That had been three weeks ago.
When the elves of the Canolbarth Forest had joined the battle, the tides had changed. The Gendai augmented the humans of Allentia from the north and helped to turn the war by splitting up the orc hordes. The Gendai could attack from the trees and from the hills; orcs were most comfortable in open plains and in open combat. The elves, on the other hand, were sneaky, slimy, dishonorable. They did not fight warrior-to-warrior, but hid among the trees in the forest. Cursed creatures. Three weeks later, Balogog, Tarfu, Shurkul, and Gurak had been taken captive by the Gendai. Tortured and starved, none of the Orcan war chiefs had given up their comrades. The four orc war chiefs hung suspended, their arms above their heads and entwined with green vines. Their legs were bound by the vines and threatened to constrict their bloodflow. The four chiefs hung nearly thirty heads high and a fall would surely crush ribs and break legs.
“How many others of your hordes come?” The Gendai inquisitors had demanded.
Tarfu had spat at them.
“What sort of siege engines do you bring?” The thin inquisitor asked the hulking beasts.
Gurak laughed maniacally.
“We will get to one of you. You will all talk eventually. All of you.”
Through it all, Balogog, emaciated and on the verge of collapse, nearly broke when the Gendai had brought his son, Kromar, into the torture chamber. Kromar was near-death. Bloodied and beaten, his tusks broken off and his left arm all but dangling from exposed sinews of his once powerful biceps.
Balogog looked on in fear and hopelessness. How could this be? He was war chief and clan leader of the Kombahi, the largest and most powerful of all orc clans in the north. Balogog commanded over three thousand warriors and here, now, he watched in horror as the so-called high elves of the Canolbarth Forest were about to torture his son into submission.
“Please,” Balogog croaked, “remove my arms. Remove my legs. Spare my son. Please…have mercy.” Balogog knew that Kromar would be the future of his clan. His first born and most powerful warrior, the elves had used cunning and stealth and had captured the four war chiefs. And now they had Kromar and did not seem to be hesitating on using him to get to Balogog. The orc lord knew that his son was a warrior and would die for his clan, but Balogog did not want this. He would sacrifice himself for his clan, for his son. “Please. Kill me instead, if you would but let my son live.”
“My lord, we are forbidden into the forest,” Darkstar said.
Aeyn Malus looked over his shoulder and watched as his two vassals stood their ground, just at the edge of the forest. He turned slightly, sneering. “Thou fear the high elves, who dwell among the branches of the trees like monkeys?”
Darkstar shook his head. “No, my lord. But they are many and we are…but three.”
“Though few we may be, it is in her honor and name that power is secured.”
“What power, my lord?” Silver Spear spoke.
Malus’s eyes flashed anger and he strode purposely towards the two dark elves. They shrunk back in fear and bowed their heads. “Take to thy knees, O servants. When chance doth present itself upon this opportunity, thou wilt shiver as women and children?”
Immediately, Darkstar and Silver Spear fell to their knees, head down and eyes averted. They shivered and feared, yet made no move to join him.
Malus took in a deep breath and sighed. “If thy suspicions and faulty legends stay thy hands, then attend to the Uruk Hai. I shall call upon them soon. Be ready, slaves, for thine cowardices wilt not soon wither from memory. Our mistress shall know of thine refusals.”
“We serve you, O lord, and shall ever remain vigilant aside the forest,” said Darkstar, chagrined and chastised.
Malus left the two warriors at the edge of the forest. He ventured in and, through stealth and cunning greater than the Gendai, he quickly vanquished the captors. “Inquisitors of rank amateur,” Malus had muttered dismissively.
He had beheaded them in the name of Ladiana Nightkisser. And when he looked upon the four war chiefs and the fallen orc prince, he smiled malevolently. Using his double bladed naginata, he cut them free and stood before them, fearlessly. Though the orcs towered him by nearly four heads, Malus regarded them with calm assessment.
“I am Lord Aeyn Malus and thou orcs are in my debt.” He glanced down at the near lifeless body of Kromar, prince of the Kombahi. “Is this thine son and heir?” he asked Balogog.
Balogog, barely able to stand from sheer hunger and exhaustion, nodded humbly. He looked incredulously at a dark elf who had bested 10 of the high elves. He glanced at his comrades, other war chiefs of powerful clans, then looked back at Malus. “What is it you want of us, dark lord?”
“If thou wishest revenge upon the high elves and the humans, thou can attend to my command.”
The war chiefs looked among themselves, confused, yet knowing a more powerful force stood before them. They looked to Balogog to see what their strongest would decide.
Balogog looked at his son, then said, “I shall follow you if you lead us to the elves and humans. I shall fight under your banner and repay this debt.”
Malus nodded and motioned for them to take their knees. One by one, the orc war chiefs took to one knee and bowed their heads. “Thou may take commands from me, but know thee this: I follow another and if she but commands it, thine lives are forfeit as with mine.”
Three hours passed before Lord Malus and the four war chiefs emerged from the forest. Behind the stunned looks of Darkstar and Silver Spear stood nearly two hundred of the Uruk Hai. And behind them, stood four battalions of orcs. The mighty Kombahi and Red Bear clans. Soon, the Uul and the Rantasu would join, claiming Lord Malus as head of over five thousand orcs.
Amarra Lostanu
They Lady freed me, of that I am sure, from the grips of the blue crystal. She lay her hands upon me and I saw once more that which I had been missing. My life. My children, Kaylor and Kayden. And though my husband has long since vanished from sight, I have but one mission in life: spread the Word of Mystra; inform Lady Clarys of goings-on in the city; and serve Her Will in balance of good and evil.Indexplugin-autotooltip__default plugin-autotooltip_bigThe Story So Far
Chapter 1: The Blue CrystalChapter 2: Beating up a FriendChapter 3: The Battle of the Wyrm HoleChapter 4: Mugul Unleashed!Chapter 5: Queen of the OrcsChapter 6: Malus TriumphantChapter 7: The End of the MagistrateChapter 8: Efraim's GambitChapter 9: Mad with PowerChapter 10: Splintering PartyChapter 11: Ladiana's TrialChapter 12: Dutchess ClarysChapter 13: Malus's HistoryChapter 14: The Legend of the ThoraciChapter 15: Allentian VoicesChapter 16: Orcs BoundChapter 17: The Sheng…Nextplugin-autotooltip__default plugin-autotooltip_bigChapter 17: The Shenga
Guy's Thoughts
If the Shenga exists, he’s been running things for at least twenty years, keeping order so that he can control the city. Whoever’s been killing people with Blue Crystal, importing Ventrazi to terrorize the town, riling up a human sacrifice cult and openly threatening me, is not that calm, calculating figure who hides in the shadows. So either the Shenga’s real and something’s happened to change him, or this person is not the Shenga.