Twisted Fate (Orc Destiny Volume I) (The Blood and Brotherhood Saga) (5 page)

After a few moments’ thought he supposed that if the giants
were busy with the goblins, then perhaps it could work to his advantage. If
nothing else, goblins regularly entered the lands of the humans and often
carried weapons and armor stolen from other races. Perhaps he could scavenge
something useful from their corpses.

Decided, he changed course again, moving off the trail in
order to stay out of sight as much as was possible. It was only an hour before
he flanked the mouth of the pass, and nearing it he bent low to appraise the
nearest goblin corpse.

They were a small race, growing less than half his height,
and weighing only a fraction of his bulk. They had small wiry bodies in shades
of green and gray, striped through with patterns of darker hues. Their small
heads were angular with a mouth filled with small razor sharp teeth. Though
much of that was obscure with this particular specimen.

Part of its body had been smashed, apparently stepped on by
one of the giants, but even so he rifled through its clothing, finding nothing
but a twisted blade of goblin make and various bits of metal and small shiny
stones in a pouch upon its belt. He moved on. Three corpses later he located
half of a goblin with something useful. Around its neck it wore a thick
necklace of layered, metal chain armor. The thing was obviously too large for
the goblin, but ripping it free from the corpse, Gnak was able to pass his head
through the piece with little difficulty. It was a snug fit for his thick neck,
but protected the whole of his throat from damage. It was valuable armor. Removing
his own necklace from beneath the metal addition with some effort, he opened
the pouch upon his own belt and dropped the necklace in. Then it struck him.

Every goblin corpse he had found carried a pouch. Though instead
of teeth and bits of bone like he carried, the small leather or cloth pouches
held different sized disks of various metals and shiny stones. If it was
precious to them, could it not be useful to him as well? Dumping his own,
larger pouch, he discarded that which he could easily collect again if he chose
to. Then tying his necklace about his ankle, he returned to all the corpses he
had already picked through and gathered up the metal disks and stones. For more
than an hour he scavenged one corpse after another, working his way into the
mouth of the pass itself. He had found a very well-crafted dagger, and a piece
of armor a goblin wore upon its leg which fit nicely upon his forearm. By this
point his pouch sagged from the weight within it, filled with the metal disks,
jewelry in various fashions and the shiny stones in different colors. But still
he collected.

Another hour passed and the sounds of the battle within the
pass grew louder and louder. He now had five goblin pouches about his belt as
well, each filled to capacity. Nearly a hundred goblins lay within the pass,
each of them now stripped of the odd items they carried. Gnak was no fool. He
knew it had to be their form of currency, but so heavy was his belt becoming
that it threatened to snap beneath the weight. It was then that he made a
decision.

Scaling up the side of one of the walls that was made by the
gorge between the mountains, he found a deep crack within the stone. Carefully
untying each pouch but his own, he placed them into the crack, out of sight
from the ground below, or giant eyes above. Finished, he dropped back down to
the trail below just as things took a sudden turn. From out of the pass ahead
of him, goblins came running, rounding a corner in the pass, each of them
scrambling as the ground began to shake beneath them. Gnak ducked low into the
shadow of the stone wall and moved as quickly as he was able to exit the pass. Screams
echoed louder and louder as the reverberating steps of the giants approached. He
cleared the end of the pass just as the first goblins began to spill out as
well. Carefully circling a tree beside the entrance, he crouched in its shadow
and watched as the mass of goblins fled. They ran wildly, putting as much
distance between them and the pass as they could, with constant looks back over
their shoulders. Why they had wanted the pass cleared remained a mystery, but
the outcome certainly was not. Just when Gnak thought the spectacle finished,
he was proven wrong as his gaze returned once again to commotion within the
pass.

More than two hundred more goblins ran atop their fallen
comrades, sprinting as fast as their little green and black legs could carry
them. The ground shook more with every passing second. With the tree creaking
above him in protest, it was only a minute longer before the giants revealed
themselves. The first was a great brute of a male, dragging an immense club of
wood the size of a tree in one of its four hands. Stuck within the sides of the
club were various blades and bones from enemies it had smashed. He was a
hulking mammoth with dozens of wounds upon his feet, ankles, and shins, but so
thick were the tissue and scars there that the wounds did not appear to slow
him. From the effort of his chasing the goblins, the giant’s great maw opened
and closed with a whooshing sound as air was sucked into and out of his lungs. It
was a foe that none ever hoped to cross paths with unaware.

The second giant was a female near his equal in size. She
worn naught but a great loincloth, her immense sagging breasts flopping against
her belly with every step. She screeched at the retreating forms, waving her
hands in threatening gestures as the male continued picking off stragglers,
smashing them beneath his feet as if it were a game. Gnak saw his chance.

If these were the only two giants within the pass, he had an
opportunity. Slipping out from behind the tree slowly to avoid detection, he carefully
moved back into the mouth of the pass and into the shadows. Then it was all or
nothing.

Sprinting down the path, he dodged outcroppings of stone and
fallen goblins alike in an effort to make the first bend in the pass. Without
so much as looking back he rushed headlong, hoping that no more giants awaited
ahead, alert and ready to swat at him. More or less sliding around the first
bend, he heard nothing from behind that told him he was being pursued, but
ahead he saw something he had not been prepared for.

Skulls and bones. Millions of them were piled along the
sides of the pass. Between the piles the ground was slick with goblin blood and
gore, the majority of the dead having been smashed beneath the feet of the
giants. A limb lay here, a head there, but Gnak’s eyes automatically sought out
what he had spent the past few hours collecting. Everywhere the disks of metal
and stones lay scattered upon the ground. Belts with pouches littered the
ground, and scraps of weapons and armor lay in piles to either side of the path
along with the bones. It was like nothing he had ever before imagined. There
was enough metal here to armor an entire tribe of Orcs, and enough goblin
blades to reforge them into something more practical. The giants had been in
the pass for years it seemed, letting the dead and their belongings simply pile
up.

Sadly, there was nothing for Gnak to do about it at present.
His Catunga task was to capture an enemy and bring it back for sacrifice. A
human was what he sought, and a human castle is what his vision had showed him.
Visions were messages from the gods, and as such he had sworn to bring them a
human sacrifice.

Without further thought of the material wealth laid strewn
about the mountain pass, Gnak trotted along at an even pace, slowing around
each bend, staying alert for movement or unusual sound. It was not long until
he noticed the change.

Ahead there was a humming, almost musical in its quality. The
further he ran the louder and more distinct it became, and no more than a mile
more, rounding a curve, he found its source.

In a large opening in the ravine sat a giant. It was young,
showing obvious signs of immaturity. Where adults had muscle and knobby joints,
this giant had a thick layer of fat, that spread beneath it. If Gnak had to
guess, it was a giant child, pre-adolescent for sure, but still nearly fifteen
feet in height had it been standing. It was said that giant children were
faster than adults of their kind. Gnak would not take his chances with this
one, deciding instead to watch it for a moment to see its intentions.

With its back to him it swayed this way and that, humming a
tune as it snatched dead goblins up from a mound of corpses beside it. Tipping
its great head back, the giant child would drop a goblin into its wicked maw
before gnashing it over and over with its rows of teeth. Cracks and snaps
ensued with the occasional spurt of blood, but it was the humming that made
Gnak uncomfortable.

After a few more minutes the young giant picked up several
of the deceased goblins, and slapping one atop its head, it took up two others,
one in each hand and played at making them fight like dolls before he smashed
them together into a gooey mess of gore. Then its little song began anew, and
this time Gnak could hear the words now that the giant’s mouth was not full.

Goblin meat, goblin meat,

Goblin meat is good to eat.

Goblin meat is yummy yummy,

So it puts it in my tummy.

On and on it repeated the tune in a deep rumbling voice that
sent a shiver up his spine. Gnak wondered if the giant had a song for Orcs. He
dared not wait and find out, if discovered.

Decided that the giant had no intentions of moving, Gnak
picked out a course through the wide opening ahead and began to creep forward,
ducking behind anything he could use for cover. Again the song became muffled
as the young giant stuffed more remains in its mouth, gnashing, grinding, and
spurting.

Ahead Gnak saw what appeared to be a huge, giant sized
bedroll and, watching the giant every step of the way, he sprinted towards the
heap. Finding a momentary respite behind the mound of hair, furs, leather, and
stench, his lip curled up in disgust. The smell of the apparent bed was more
than offensive. The scents of waste, sweat, and bodily fluids fought for
dominance within his sinuses, but Gnak was a born soldier and did not blanch. Instead,
he picked a path ahead and, leaping two dead goblins, he began to run. Here
there was no cover. If the giant did not see him it would be a miracle. No such
luck.

With a trumpeting scream that any adult would recognize, the
giant child announced danger to its parents. From behind and beyond, the call
was taken up by the immense adults, and the walls of the pass shook with their
now approaching steps and thunderous frightful screams. Gnak simply kept
running. He had a decent lead and he was fast.

Rounding another bend he found another pair of the giant
stinky beds and the crackling remains of a huge fire, but there was no time to
explore further. On and on he ran through the pass, first upward and then back
down, hoping no more giants lay in waiting ahead. Mile after mile the giants pursued,
their roars seeming to be ceaseless. Beyond the giants’ apparent camp the scene
was much the same as before, with piles of bones and discarded items, only here
the majority of the bones and items were different. These belonged to humans
and trolls. If he were not being chased, Gnak knew that he could find suitable
armor for his entire body here. Alas, he
was
being chased and as such he
ran and ran some more, rounding bend after bend, leaping and dodging
obstructions as they came. He only stumbled once, and barely so, after having
stepped upon a stone or something similar that rolled beneath his foot.

It was hours later, the sun already having set, when Gnak
emerged from the giant gash in the mountains, the last traces of sound from
behind him having vanished more than an hour ago. With the last light trailing
crimson stains in the sky, he looked out over a great valley below. It was wide
and open, a grassland as lush as any could imagine, and beyond the valley the
ground arose once more into a great plateau.

It would be easy enough to simply saunter down the slope to
the valley, cross it and climb back up the opposite side, but it was all open
ground. Dangerously open. No, instead he would skirt the valley, clinging to
the base of the forested mountains and foothills. From there he would again
turn north in search of the great black castle.

Deprived of sleep and in need of both food and rest, he
began his trek through the forested foothills of the mountainside. Signs were
all about that these grounds were regularly hunted. Both by human and troll. But
all signs were days or weeks old, and as such he kept alert but did not expect
an encounter.

With free time to think and explore while he sought suitable
shelter, Gnak’s mind drifted to the images he had seen at the Catunga ceremony.
He remembered the castle but it was of no use. Instead he focused on the memory
of the gathering of chiefs beneath the great chief. There he scanned the faces,
and realization struck him. In the vision, he was the chief of the Gathos clan.
He was a leader. It
had
to be destined by the gods. How else could
anyone explain his run-ins with both goblins and giants without so much as a
fight, let alone a scratch. If this
was
his destiny, the gods would see
to it that nothing went wrong. After all, the gods were all powerful. If they
had chosen him for this task, surely they would see him through it. Puffing his
chest out, Gnak strode through the woods fearful of nothing, confident that the
gods guided his every move.

It was not until near the middle of the night when he found
a suitable cave for shelter. It was neither very deep nor very well hidden, but
would have to suffice if he planned to get some rest. Plopping down upon one of
the three large rocks just outside the entrance to the cave, he opened his
bundled leather and pulled from it two strips of dried meat he had brought for
the journey. Eating both vigorously, he realized that his body would not be
satisfied by the meager meal as his stomach churned and growled loudly. He
dared not eat more, at least not until he could find a suitable source of food,
and as such prepared to get much needed rest.