Why take an orc on a job that requires a delicate touch? Well Urim was his best friend even if he wanted to strangle the massive hunk of muscle.
He and Urim had been inseparable since they were boys. As a human growing up in orc slums, if not for Urim he probably would not have survived.
Arak was big. But that size did not stop the fact that orcs and humans did not particularly get along. Sylas was as human as they came. Half the size of any of the other boys he had grown up with, his skin was fair which the orcs called ‘pink skin’ or ‘pinkie’
He had been nine when they had smashed him for being a pink skin. He was coming back from the school house when the group of boys surrounded him. He was wearing his best clothes for school, starched wool breaches and a collard overshirt. You might not think he was exactly poor by looking at him at the time.
Each of them his own age but as large as any adult he had known. Human adults that is. Three of them each towered over him, six foot tall at least. He and Ir’kilat were friendly now, But when they first met it had been when the orc had knocked his front teeth out.
Sylus had stepped off of the bricked street and onto the mud that officially marked the slums and hadn’t had a care in the world as he walked down the path with a pocket full of sweets and a smile on his face. The boys had been playing war, which basically amounted to slap boxing in the street. The goal was to show no reaction when your opponent punched you. If you showed pain you were conquered. As the conquered party you had to do whatever your victor said to help him conquer the rest of the boys, if you disobeyed you would have war declared on you and you would have to do the whole thing over again.
The group of boys he had thought were adults just based on their size had pointed at him from the porch of a scrap wood hut just off of the muddy path.
Sylus had smiled at them and waved from across the street as they hopped up and jogged across the street. He didn’t particularly want to play war, he didn’t much like orc games, they hurt too much and he was too small to be any help when playing most orc games.
At first they had spoken in a tongue he had not understood full of rolling r’s and harsh gutteral noises but when the dark green skinned Ir’kilat had stepped in front of him he spoke in english.
“Play with us for nice shoes have of you”, Ir’kilat asked with a small smile on his face in heavily accented english. His tusks were already budding at nine and he stood no less than six foot even as a juvenile. Of course his father before the guards killed him had stood nearly 11 feet tall. Monstrously tall even for an orc.
Sylas had smiled at Ir’kilat and pointed at his own hut just down the road and said “No thanks my mamma is expecting me”
The two other boys he now knew as Sh’kikan and Grokon, who again were friendly with him now but had royally fucked him up when they first met had laughed at that.
Grokon who lacked tusks and had red eyes and brown skin, stepped forward and spat at him in orcish inches from his face. Sylas did not know what Grokon said but both Sh’kikan and Ir’kalat had roared with laughter at whatever he had said.
Sylus wanting to fit in, smiled and laughed with them. That is until Ir’kilat had punched him in the face.
Sylus didn’t feel the pain at first. He saw the blue flashes flood his vision, His nose cracked and he felt the sensation but not the pain. He felt something rattle around his mouth that he later knew to be four of his own teeth.
Sylus had opened his eyes to see Urum standing over him shouting in orcish at the other boys. Ir’kilat was trying to take his shoes off when Urum brought a foot down on his face that had crumbled Ir’kilat. Urum often reminded him of a pitbull. He was a ball of knotted muscle even as a kid. Urum had stood with Sylus between his legs as some sort of massive grey guardian angel shouting back at the gang of boys in orcish until the other boys just sneered and left. Ir’kilat brushed his hand under his chin at Urum but didn’t fight with him further.
Urum adopted Sylus that day. Thank all the fucking Gods for that. Sylus has been around humans up until his fathers debts had driven them to the slums.Course his dad disappeared one day because of those debts. His mom had tried but he started showing up with orcish marks on his arms and back. Orcs did not tattoo, they scarred your flesh with ruins for protection or a showcase of deeds. Growing up with the rest of the boys had taught him orcish, mostly because Sylus picked up orcish better than they picked up english. Urum had been his best friend for going on thirteen years since the day he had stopped Ir’kilat, Grokon and Sh’kakan from beating him to a bloody pulp. Sylus had never replaced the four teeth that Ir’kalat had knocked out of his mouth but they would always serve the reminder that not everyone that smiled was peaceful. His nose sat crooked on his face ever since that run in but other than that it worked just fine.But he was close with all the boys now, Ir’kilat had been the one to give him his first ruin.
That history did not however stop Sylus from being over annoyed at Urum today.
In the thirteen years since the day Urum had saved Sylus, Urum had grown to an imposing nine feet tall of corded and banded muscle. His tusks protruded out of his jaw at least by half of a foot and his eyes were a black as onyx but sylus rather liked how they glowed like a cats in the dark. An outworldly green and blue when the light hit it. Urum wore simple leathers and a satchel the size of a cart on his hip but Sylus swore the gods forgot to give Urum a mean bone in the entirety of his body. Urum was the type of man to get robbed at knife point and forget he was a fucking giant. Probably apologise to the highwayman for taking so long digging through his satchel for coins. Sylus had seen Urum smash others out only three times and each time it was on behalf of another person.
Today he and Urum were in the basement of a very wealthy elf seeking to steal a crystal statue of Pyasana. The fragile crystal statue depicted the Love goddess laying on her back seductively without so much as a morsel of clothing covering her perfect form. The breaking in had been easy. Urum has just put a hand over the guard's face until he passed out and kicked the door in with such force that the hinges ripped out of the frame and sent the door flying into the manor knocking over a vase that was in the first hall of the manor. Urum had gaped at Sylus and just said “did you see that?”
Sylus had slapped a hand over his face and prayed to all of the gods that the elf was not still home because Urum had possibly just woken up the entire city.
“We are being sneaky Urum”
“Against small elf? Urum just punch elf one time and that that”, Urum said in english grinning proudly.
“Urum you got upset when I smashed that beetle in your hut last week”
“Well why have to pick on small thing, small thing no can squish you, small thing never hurt no one you is mean”, Urum said defenslessly. “How you like if small thing step on you? You not like that all”
Sylus rolled his eyes and said “it's called a bug”
Urum huffed and switched to orcish saying “Hoftij’ko leng du Ghis, ni’lo faki,”
‘Fuck the pinky toungue, it isn’t easy”
Sylus laughed at that and looked on the side of the grand marble staircase that spanned the center of the hall. There was a single metal pull hook hanging off the marble but there was no seam to be found for the door. The information he had gotten had said as much, it also had not mentioned how to open the door.
Sylus chewed his bottom lip as he looked at the side of the staircase wondering how to get it open until Urum had grabbed the hook and just pulled it. The door opened easily which meant it had not even been locked.
The door opened to reveal a stone staircase that descended down into the basement. The basement was the opposite of the grandeur that sat above it, it was all grey stone with a cobbled floor. Casks of wine sat against the wall and oddments of furniture sat gathering dust but the star of the show sat proudly dusted in the center of the room.
That has to be the definition of rich, something that is so valuable you don’t even do anything with it after buying it. Just shove it in a basement so nobody can find it…well no one except some orc and his human friend with a crooked nose.
“Careful Urum, be gentle with the statue”
Urum grinned and said in orcish “ ni corgi’,: sho hoftij erptific”
‘Don’t worry Im a fucking professional’
Urum then slapped the statue with a hand the size of a medium sized dog and the statue slid off the platform in one smooth motion and cleared the platform before slamming into the stone cobbled floor and shattering.
Urums mouth formed a shocked ‘o’ as he looked at the fragments of the priceless statue and then looked at Sylus whose stomach was on the floor.
Sylus stared at the shattered statue and ran his hand through his hair and stepped back feeling sick.
“Hoftij… ner’ki fyr..”, Sylus groaned at Urum
‘ fuck…. im gonna be sick’
Urum was still looking at the fragments and then back at Sylus, back and forth with the surprised ‘O’ on his face before saying.
“Ni jitorn. Ini vyk homtif’li ”
‘Don’t stumble, I can fix this’
Sylus switched back to English and shouted at Urum. “no you can’t unless you have a glass blower up your ass brother, We gotta get out of here”
Urum held up his hands in front of him towards Sylus still ducked low from the ceiling and said in orcish “ nish, ji nin nish?”
‘Trust or no trust?’
Sylus shot a look at Urum and pointed at the fragments on the stone floor of the basement and said “Hoftij nish, nin’ku pue’kir hostirk estij’
‘Fuck trust, no one can fix that’
Urum scoffed and held up his hand folded like a mouth and flapped it mockingly at sylus and said “ Kir’hoftij, ni nish”
‘Fuck you, no trust’
Sylus slapped his hand against his face and sighed before pointing at the shattered statue and yelling “LI’DU HOFTIJ’Ku!”
‘ IT’S FUCKED’
Urum’s bottom lip quivered and he crossed his arms before turning away from Sylus. For someone that stood over most men he cried a lot and seemed to always forget to get angry.
“Urum…ruin..all things”, the giant said in a voice like gravel. His back quivered as he sniffled and turned away from Sylus, His head still ducked to avoid the ceiling.
This narrative has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. If you see it on Amazon, please report it.
Sylus shook his head and pursed his lips, Urum was his vorkir, there is no English word for that. Deeper than friend. Someone you would kill for, die for. Sylus could care less about the gold the statue would have gotten, it was an honest mistake.
Sylus spoke to his in orcish and patted his massive wall of a back.
“Hoftij’lo giki, li’du nini hoko vorkir”
‘Fuck the art, its not shit vorkir’
Urum refused to look at Sylus, His grey form quivering as he said in english. “Urum no do nothing right”
Sylus grinned at his Vorkir and and stepped in front of him and said back in orcish.
“Urum ni jitorn, Kir’ya vorkir mini’
‘Urum don’t stumble, you’re still my vorkir
Urum finally looked at Sylus, his beady black eyes held a look of deep melancholy as he furrowed his brow. “No not is that, Urum almost free from stupid city. New beginning. Now gone”
Sylus grinned at Urum and patted his friends tree of an arm and said in english “one day Urum, come on lets smoke”
Urum smiled at that and said “sylus have …no know the pinky word…brokyr”, he finally finished in orcish .
“Hemp weed”, Sylus corrected in english as he walked back up the stairs and opened the cellar doors to the outside and stepped on to the cobbles of the uptown.
Urum crouched out of the cellar and stood to his full height as the both of them walked out of the shattered front door and onto the streets of uptown.
Elfs and well to do humans looked at Urum with wide fearful eyes and crossed the street to get away from him, Some visibly clutched their purses before passing as the duo walked down the finally cobbled streets of uptown. The elfs wore brightly colored silks and looked like they swallowed eggs when they caught sight of Urum in his leathers.
One weathered old man in purple silks screwed up his face and spat on the cobbles at Urums feet and said “go back to the wastes, savage”
Urum looked at the old man confused and said in heavily accented english “orcs not from wastes”
The Old man scowled at the giant with such confidence he might as well have been taller than Urum and said “whatever privy you pig faced tuskers crawled out from”
Sylus grabbed Urum by the arm, well in truth sat his hand on the leg sized bicep and said “ come on let's go”
Urum refused to budge and licked his lips at the old man and said “yummy pinky talk too much”
Sylus about died in place as the old man scurried off looking pale.
“Did you just threaten to eat a man Urum”
“Stupid pinky’s say we do”
“Urum, you know orcs don’t”
“They no know that”, Urum said in english as he continued to walk by Sylus’s side down the streets lit by Gas lanterns.
“Urum you can’t even eat meat off the bone”, Sylus chuckled
Urum’s face twisted like it did when he got all defensive “It taste different”
“Ni lo”, Sylus said in orcish as they made their way back to the slums.
“It don’t”
Here in the heart of the city the ballistas were practically on top of one another. Historically they were for dragons, dragons rarely attacked cities these days. The last attack had been years ago and the poor beast had taken so many bolts that Sylus wasn’t even sure the dragon was attacking. The dragon flew overhead and instantly got hit with so many bolts that the only roar the beast had given was a death rattle as it dropped like a stone to the houses and shops below. The only deaths had been by the weight of a beast turning bystanders to red pulp as it fell on them already dead.
The slums had no ballistas, during the last riot the fervent mob had taken them over and started launching bolts in the direction of city hall. The newsies had painted it as crazy orcs trying to assassinate the magistrate, funny how the death Ghi’lo who had been beaten to death by guards had never made the newsies cut. Ghi’lo was eight years old. Now they had mandatory curfew.
Uptown dropped off almost instantly into downtown, the fine brick paved roads dropping off into dirt pathways almost instantly as they got back into home territory. As the gas lanterns disappeared into the unlit night of the slums of downtown, Sylus pulled out a small pouch of hemp weed and passed it to Urum.
Urums eyes glowed in the dark so Sylus could see the excitement as he took hold of the pouch and smelled it.
“How get?”, Urum asked excitedly
“Had already, it was a celebration for the job…but no matter we celebrate anyway”, Sylus said, feeling sick to his stomach just thinking of the piles of gold they had just forfeited by smashing that statue.
“Sorry Sylus, Urum stupid”, Urum said, handing back the pouch of hemp weed.
Sylus looked at his friend and said “you’re not stupid, you just made a mistake”
Urum huffed and shook his head and said “ hate that mistake “
As the two approached their borough they could see the hulking masses of orcs playing hostage.
The sir had the ball and had to hold onto it as everyone else tried to forcefully take it. Alot of orc games were excuses to fuck each other up.
The commotion filled the street with the rolling R’s and gutteral sounds of orcish as the protector caught elbows and fists as his friends tried to take the ball.
“Low blow cock face”, the One holding the ball said in orcish
“Ask your mother how she likes my low blows” Another said as the group roared with laughter
Sylus could not see in the dark like his friends could . He could not even make out who was who in the dark except for Skylin who’s eyes glowed in the dark green. Everyones else had either black or red eyes and the black eyes.
Sylus sat criss cross on the road and pulled out a tinder box, Urum sat beside him and watched the boys play hostage.
Urum shouted at the group “get his legs”
The protector caught a fist to the face as another orc stole the hostage laughing before the thief immediately got snatched off the ground by his legs and dumped into the dirt. Sylus struck the flint into the kindling of the tinder box and tilted it into the pipe and pulled. Soon the cherry took in the pipe and the relaxation took over him.
He passed the pipe to Urum whose massive hands made the pipe look tiny. He pulled the pipe as the clanking of the plate could be heard. Guards.
Urum threw the pipe and refused to exhale as the cloaks rounded the corner, the soft yellow glow of the torch they held casting a soft light onto the tow of them. The boys playing hostage stopped and stared at the approaching torch spitting on the ground and baring their tusks at the guards.
Sylus looked up at the cloaks, there were five of them, the one who held the torch looked down at them with disgust, the torch light casting off of his armor as he said.
“What are you doing in tusker slums”
Before sylus could answer another of the cloaks said “probably a thrall to that trash”
Sylus scoffed and said “ I fucking live here, cog”
Urum tapped him on the arm and just shook his head no at Sylus, The cloak holding the torch kicked Urum in the gut and said “I wasn’t talking to you tusker”
One of the boys who were playing hostage shouted across the street in orcish “ Snatch up the buzzer”
Sylus could have laughed. In the slums a big ass crossbow was called a buzzer because the fletching ripping through the air sounded like the buzzing of a wasp. Big for an orc meant one bolt would pin these cogs to a wall even if they had plate on.
Urum spat on the dirt and said nothing.
Sylus felt his blood heat, He stood up into the torch light and said in pinky
“Touch him again and you ain't going home ”, Sylus said evenly as another Orc let out a shrill three toned whistle that filled the street. At the sound, Orcs started filling out of huts, some with buzzers, some with clubs the size of small trees. Ir’kilat stomped up shirtless, his torso a mural of scarred ruins.
The five guards looked uneasy as the orcs filled the street. Ir’kilat was by far the biggest orc in the city. He was as tall as his father, he towered over even Uruum as he stared down the gaurds holding Halberd that looked like a normal axe in his hands.
Sylus got into the gaurds face that was holding the torch and said “wouldn’t want you to have an accident so far from home, cog”
The man holding the torch gulped nervously and said “order of the magistrate, we are to sear-”
“And you didn’t find anything”, Sylus said cooly
The torch wielder just nodded and backed away nervously taking the other four guards with him who practically ran in the direction of uptown.
Ir’kilat offered Urum a hand who took it and pulled him to his feet. Sylus only came to Ir’kilats belly button, He was massive with tusks like daggers he had filled into needle points. Ir’kilat had a ruin few had on his cheek. A pair of crossed swords. He had killed a gaurd and was considered a blooded orc. He had opposed the enemy to the highest degree. He also had x’s on each knee which meant he refused to surrender and would fight until he either won or he died. Ir’kilat did not really have clean skin anymore, every part of his body had ruins. Sylus’s favorite had been when Ir’kilat had asked him the pinky word ‘killer’ which had been cut into his forehead.
“ you didn’t have to throw the pipe brother”, Sylus said to Urum orcish
“Just in case, you know how they are. I’ll carve you a new one. Trust”, Urum said back as the streets cleared.
“Stop in for a night you two, got dust and drink. It’s gonna be fun”, Ir’kilat said as they followed him down the road.
“Could use it after the mess i just made”, Urum said with a sigh.
Ir’kilat laughed with a voice that sounded like stone and said “ don’t stumble. Giki will be there to cheer you up”
Urum smacked his lips and said “she doesn’t even see me”
Ir’kilat waved his words away and said “ Giki don’t stop about you, Urum this, Urum that. Give her the staff already vork”
“You think she will?”
“She’ll be more eager than a babe at the breast, trust vork”, Irkilat said as they came to his hut. The biggest tent on the street of so many hides the forest must have grieved the losses of so many.
As sylus stepped through the flap into the enormous tent he saw an entire side of beef spinning over the fire and a cauldron of oily black liquid. Krish. Despite looking like tar it tasted pleasant, alot like syrup except not as sweet. The only downside is it was made for orcs, which meant sylus would be following his rule of two cups for the night. Three would see him vomiting in the street.
Ir’kilat sat cross legged in front of the fire and sliced off a long strip of flesh and chewed it slowly as blood and grease ran down his fingers. A few orcs from his street sat around drinking Krish, Giki sat with her back against the tent wall cradling a cup of krish in conversation with another girl Sylus did not know.
Orc girls did not share the same characteristics as the boys, Thin and tall with softer skin. They usually had hair where the boys were generally bald. Giki had her hair dreaded in thick ropes of hair that reached below her shoulder blades. Her skin was a softer tone of grey and she preferred to wear trousers and a blouse where in orcish culture it was pretty common for them to just tie a hide around their hips and let their breasts hang free.
Sylus himself still had to look up to look even the girls in the eye who generally stood around seven foot tall. Sylus was by far the shortest one of his friends.
Urum asked sylus in a hushed whisper “ I can’t she will shame me for trying”
“Urum just have a few cups and stay away from the dust, else your staff will be a rope”, Sylus said to his friend.
Urum huffed and said “you go ask her for me”
Sylus looked at his friend confused and said “why? I don’t think she will respect fear”
Urum rolled his eyes and said “please vork, I’m so anxious”
Sylus rolled his eyes and nodded ‘yes’ before sighing and approaching the two girls. The friend that was next to giki wore nothing but a hide at her hips, Her hair braided in thin black ropes that cascaded down her shoulders. She regarded Sylus with curious red eyes and whispered something to Giki with a laugh.
As Sylus came close enough for his ruins to be visible Giki’s friend looked at him suspiciously and before sylus could say anything she said in english “why you have these things on your arm?”
Giki answered first and said in orcish “that is Sylus. He live here”
Sylus ignored the friend and said to Giki in orcish “Urum wants to share meat and drink with you”
Giki crossed her arms as she offered him an annoyed look and said “he is too proud to ask me himself? He sends his pinky runt to do his bidding?”
Sylus scoffed and raised his forearm that had the phrase “blood of blood” carved into the flesh of his forearm in orcish and said “Pinky nothing, do it or don’t but bite your tusks I have no desire to here any more of your words”
Giki laughed at that and said “Some one does not know all orc customs”
Her friend leaned forward and said matter of factly “She's showing interest in you”
Sylus felt his eyebrows touch the ceiling as he regarded Giki who crossed her arms and looked at him amused. Sylus looke back at Urum and shook his head no. Urum visibly deflated and threw back his cup and dunked it back into the cauldron refilling it. He turned back to Giki and said.
“I will abstain, it would pain Urum”
Gikki looked past Sylus and at Urum before looking back at Sylus and saying “Your friend I would say is not likely to remember this night”
“But I would”
