The Sargent squinted from the sun as he stared down into the valley. In fact the Sargent always squinted. After being a scout for so many years it was permanently chiseled onto his face. He had been a scout for fifteen years and he was damn good at it. He was rarely seen by the enemy and he always had at least three escape routes ready. He could kill a man from the bushes as quickly and quietly as any assassin. He was a damn good soldier, and now he was stuck training these new recruits because of the new "expansion wars".
Sgt. Welm was an Orc. He stood almost seven feet tall with arms like tree trunks. The tusks jutting out of sides of his mouth were razor sharp and his skin was a brownish red like clay. He was brought to Elyria as a boy and sold to a soldier as a slave. By the time Welm was twelve he had grown bigger than the soldier. The soldier sold him to the pits when he became fearful of Welm.
Welm did very well in the gladiator pits. He was strong, tough and most importantly he learned fast. Welm beat every opponent and he made his kills spectacular, not for the joy of it but because that's what the fans expected. He would often rip organs out of his defeated foes and drink the blood to the roaring of the crowd or paint his body with the blood. This gave Welm no satisfaction but it got him noticed. And to get out of the pits you had to be noticed.
Welm who had no name until then became known as The Butcher. He embraced this title and began fighting with two large meat cleavers. The Butcher won his final fight and his freedom after besting five armed and armored men. He was sent out nude with no weapons. He took three arrows in the chest and a spear in the leg but finally killed the last man. He knew it was his freedom fight and walked out of the arena with no grandstanding at all. He was free and would never have to fight for others amusement again.
As he was leaving he heard the announcer speaking to the crowd, praising his accomplishments. Telling the onlookers how he had upheld the finest traditions of the pit. That he bested hoards and beasts and how he overcame overwhelming odds. Something clicked in his head when he heard that word, and from then on he was called Welm.
Welm immediately joined the Army. There were no Orcs in Elyria and he knew no one would give him work. He didn't know how to be a true Orc so he couldn't go back to his homeland and all he knew how to do was fight and kill.
Welm did well in the Army. He was never fully accepted but he was respected. Those who didn't respect him feared him and that was almost as good. Welm fought in two wars and helped put down several revolts. He liked being a soldier and he was damn good at it.
Everything changed when the expansion wars started. The barbarian clans on the western boarders of Elyria were united under clan chief Urg of the blue flame Orcs. Chief Urg strong armed almost every clan of the wastes and the mountains under his control. Some of the clans were human or goblin, but most were Orcs. The barbarian clans had never been a threat to Elyria before because they had always been too busy fighting amongst themselves, but now that they were unified they had started attacking settlements on the boarders. The Elyrian Army decided that it would not do to have an Orc of their own fighting at the front. It woud decrease morale and confuse their own men. Welm's captain suggested he work as a spy and infiltrate the enemy but Welm had not even seen another Orc since he was a child and he had no more idea how to be an Orc than he did to be a cloud.
So Welm was sent to train new recruits. Let them see an Orc up close his superiors said. Let them learn your strengths and weaknesses so that they can better fight the enemy. Welm was furious but he saluted smartly when given the order because that is what a good soldier did, and Welm was a damn good soldier.
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11 years, 10 months ago
23 Jun 2012 02:22 CEST
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