710
Though it was clear the proving master was trying to get a rise out of the one armed orc, Wrut didn’t move and continued to stay in a rigid stance whilst keeping his eyes focused into the middle distance.
“I have learned to accept what I am, master. It is good to make such peace, and know one’s limitations.”
Ulag spat on the ground to show what he thought of Wrut’s limitations and then stepped back to look over each of them.
“Very well. If you want a proving? You have one. Rolk!” he yelled for the Berserker alpha.
Nothing happened.
“Rolk!?” Ulag turned around and scoured the training field with his gaze. “Where the bloody hell are The Berserkers?”
“They’re with the healers, master.” Nullik happily filled in.
“What the hell are they doing with the healers?” Ulag’s right eye twitched with rage.
“Er… well I’m not rightly sure, master,” Nullik hesitated. “I heard that they ran afoul of Dregolf and his war-pack yesterday. Don’t worry, master. Last I saw, the healers were doing a good job of putting them back together. All the broken bones were set and I was told that Rolk’s face looked a lot less like an inflated sheep’s bladder than when he’d first been brought there.”
For a brief moment after that it seemed like the Runts’ first proving match of their return might have been against their proving master. At one point Gregory was pretty sure that steam was going to start whistling out of Ulag’s ears on being informed his favourites had been injured without him being alerted to it.
“Bear Claws!” Ulag finally yelled.
Immediately, a group of seven orcs ran through the training grounds to present themselves in a similar line to that which the Runts had formed.
Gregory glanced over to them and what he saw was not encouraging. They weren’t collectively as big as the Berserkers but they still looked like a bunch of over-enthusiastic Olympians with psychotic tendencies.
“Put these idiots back in their place! Proving begins at my signal.” Ulag yelled before looking over the runts dismissively. “Shouldn’t last long.”
The other orcs gave a collective howl of approval and then began to file out of the training area towards the seating around the proving pits.
As soon as the proving master had stormed off, the Runts gave a collective breath of relief before looking to each other warily.
“Alright guys, time to skin some bears.” Gregory said.
They all looked at him in horror.NôvelDrama.Org owns all content.
“Not fucking literally! Jeez! I mean it’s time to put all this work we’ve been doing into practice. I reckon we should run the falcon on them. What do you think?” he asked Ulf.
“The falcon? Do you not think that the turtle might be better suited to holding off their attack?” Ulf asked.
“Probably, but if we let that lot charge us down properly then we’re going to be in trouble. Besides, we only get one chance to show off our secret weapons before everyone clues in on them.”
“I don’t know…” Ulf looked around at his other pack mates to check their thoughts on the matter.
“Gregory speaks truth,” Wrut noted.
“I like hitting better than I like blocking,” Frun agreed.
“I always liked the falcon,” Frelki added.
“Shit, worst comes to the worst then those healers looked like they had some really comfy beds over there, and after all this training I could use some shut eye. Why not?” Nullik grinned.
Ulf nodded his agreement and then looked back to Gregory.
“Falcon it is then,” he clashed his baton against his shield to signal them to start moving out.
– – – – –
As they walked down into the proving pit, Gregory wished that he’d had some time that morning to warm up his skills properly. He started hopping on the spot until Frun noticed and gave him a concerned look as if he might be losing his mind. Not wanting to worry anyone, he stopped and offered Frun what he hoped was an encouraging nod.
Many orcs began to pile into the seating area around the pit. The pups were the first to take their seats, but it seemed that when it got around that the human was fighting again more curious orcs started appearing to watch. They weren’t exactly supportive in their curiosity, and seemed to want to watch him get pulverized again. He heard a few jeers and shouts from the crowd. They were definitely annoying, and that frustration ignited a familiar flame of anger in his chest. The sensation was oddly comforting, and for the first time that morning he felt the desire to hurt something start rising up to challenge that little voice telling him to run for his life.
It didn’t take much searching before he saw the familiar red hair belonging to Janette amongst the collection of green bodies. She gave him a little wave when he looked at her, and he felt a flush of calming heat run through him when he spotted Algra seated at her side. Strangely enough, it seemed the area around the pair of them was very quiet as no one seemed to want to insult the human within reach of his mate.
“Gregory, are you ready?” Ulf brought his attention back to the pit.
“Yeah. I’ll hold with Frun and Wrut. You settle behind us until we’ve taken the first charge.”
“Are you sure?”
“Hey, I’m the one with the shield. Just get ready to bite back, ok?”
“As you wish.” Ulf nodded.