Orcs Read Online Free Page A

Softened by the lengthening shadows, it was a scene that would have been familiar to his forebears. Save for the distant horizon, where the faint outline of advancing glaciers showed as a thin strip of luminous white.
    As he had a thousand times before, Stryke silently cursed the humans for eating Maras-Dantia’s magic.
    Then he cast off the thought and returned to practicalities. There was something he’d been meaning to ask Jup. “How did you feel about killing that fellow dwarf back in the house?”
    “Feel?” The stocky sergeant looked puzzled. “No different to killing anyone else. Nor was he the first. Anyway, he wasn’t a ‘fellow dwarf.’ He wasn’t even from a tribe I knew.”
    Haskeer, who hadn’t seen the incident, was intrigued. “You killed one of your own kind? The need to prove yourself must be strong indeed.”
    “He took the humans’ part and that made him an enemy. I’ve no need to prove anything!”
    “Really? With so many of your clans siding with the humans, and you the only dwarf in the Wolverines? I think you’ve much to prove.”
    The veins in Jup’s neck were standing out like taut cords. “What’s your meaning?”
    “I just wonder why we need
your
sort in our ranks.”
    I should stop this
, Stryke thought,
but it’s been building too long. Maybe it’s time they beat it out of each other
.
    “I earned my sergeant’s stripes in this band!” Jup pointed at the crescent-shaped tattoos on his rage-red cheeks. “I was good enough for that!”
    “
Were
you?” Haskeer taunted.
    Coilla, Alfray and several troopers arrived, drawn by the fuss. More than one of the soldiers wore a gleeful expression at the prospect of a fight between officers. Or in anticipation of Jup losing it.
    Insults were now being openly traded, most of them concerning the sergeants’ parentage. To rebut a particular point, Haskeer grasped a handful of Jup’s beard and gave it a forceful tug.
    “Say that again, you snivelling little fluffball!”
    Jup pulled free. “At least I
can
raise hair! You orcs have heads like a human’s arse!”
    Words were about to give way to action. They squared up, fists bunched.
    A trooper elbowed through the scrum. “Captain!
Captain!
”
    The interruption wasn’t appreciated by the onlookers. There were disappointed groans.
    Stryke sighed. “What
is
it?”
    “We’ve found something you should see, sir.”
    “Can’t it wait?”
    “Don’t think so, Captain. Looks important.”
    “All right. Leave it, you two.” Haskeer and Jup didn’t move. “That’s
enough
,” he growled menacingly. They lowered their fists and backed off, reluctant and still radiating hatred.
    Stryke ordered the guards to admit no one and told the others to get back to work. “This better be good, Trooper.”
    He guided Stryke back into the compound. Coilla, Jup, Alfray and Haskeer, their curiosity whetted, tagged along behind.
    The house was blazing furiously, with flames playing on the roof. They could feel the heat being thrown out as far away as the orchard, where the trooper took a sharp left. The higher branches of the trees were burning, each gust of wind liberating showers of drifting sparks.
    Once through the orchard they came to a modest wooden barn, its double doors wide open. Inside were two more grunts, holding burning brands. One was inspecting the contents of a hessian sack. The second was on his knees and staring down through a lifted trapdoor.
    Stryke crouched to look at the bag, the others gathering around him. It was filled with tiny translucent crystals. They had a faintly purple, pinkish hue.
    “Pellucid,” Coilla said in a hushed tone.
    Alfray licked his finger and dabbed the crystals. He took a taste. “Prime quality.”
    “And look here, sir.” The trooper pointed at the trapdoor.
    Stryke snatched the torch from the kneeling soldier. Its flickering glow showed a small cellar, just deep enough for an orc to stand without bending. Two more sacks lay on its earthen