Greenskins: Guide an Orc to save a Goblin Page 2

your people, truly I do. Your belief is not required though Wormy I for one believe in actions not words." He called out some type of grunting command, the other three surrounded him.

  "Wait, what are you doing?" I asked because I was getting a little panicky here with four armed Orcs. All by my lonesome as usual.

  "What? You didn't think I brought these three along for fun did you?"

  Then they attacked Kayhill and he beat the living shit out of them. Though I could see he was careful not to kill them before this little demonstration for me. When an Orc loses it and completely goes into a bloodlust they change from green to a deep red and it is fucking terrifying to watch. So of course these three guys all pop off and turn red at one time scaring the tiny goblin watching and drinking in the corner...Me. When they did, Kayhill said something again in Orcish and it was like they were frozen stiff. There was a shimmering band of reddish light moving from them into Kayhill, with another word they were green again and lined up in a row neatly behind him, and though their skin was green I could see that their eyes… They're damned eyes were red! I couldn't help but feel sorry for myself, why does this shit always happen to me? All I want out of life is a little bit of financial freedom and along come these gigantic green bastards forcing me into a confrontation with the filthy pink skins. I hate pink skins, they kill everything, what they don't kill they enslave. Still, it doesn't mean I want anything to do with this. I just want to get paid and go back to my hole in the ground.

  "Well God's damn it all! Even though they don't exist of course!" I said while jumping up, walking my way back over to Kayhill. "The rage eater, well hot damn then it is true!" Then a nice thought came into my mind, a thought of pink skins dying by the thousands.

  "What you need from me Kayhill buddy?"

  "I need a guide and knowledge." He snarled at me curling his disfigured scars into jagged lines.

  "For what? Just gather up the boys there in the line and run those pink skins through." I guess he didn't have Goblin humor because he sighed with a growl,

  "First, I need to steal ship and bring it to Orcshen so we can build a Navy for the Orcs to invade Northlight."

  "And what about the Timbershaw? What if they object?"

  "They have seen what you have Wormy and agreed to allow the harvesting of trees. Besides, what we need for our Navy is less than one percent of their lands. They understand the danger there and also know that this Emperor wants to exterminate ALL green skins."

  "Well, ain't you been a busy boy." I smiled while refilling my flask. I'm missing a few teeth but compared to the Orcs smile, I'm beautiful.

  "And I need new accurate details of the human landscape for this naval invasion. My only hope is we complete our ships before the humans launch their full scale extermination invasion."

  "I don't know, I'm kind of busy and haven't been to the north… In years." I stammered as Kayhill dropped a bag of gold coins bigger than my head into both of my hands. As I examined the weight, "On the other hand getting a crossing boat shouldn't be too difficult." I said as I took a swig, "I guess I'm your guide." I stuck my little claw out only to have it crushed by his humongous hand in agreement. Shaking the pain out of my hand I looked at the three little ducklings behind him ready to do whatever it seemed he wished for them to do.

  "What about these three?"

  "Oh them," he said stepping behind them and with one stroke of his human size sword, decapitated all three of them. "No witnesses," he growled and stomped past me heading in the direction of the harbor beyond. I stood there with my mouth open,

  "Fuck me," I took a bigger swig than normal from my flask before deciding to catch up to the maniac. Orcs man, they're just nuts.

  When I caught up to him he spoke first. "You think me crazy Wormy?"

  "Yep. But hey, who isn't a little off right?" He let out a chuckle that was more of a snarl, these Orc bastards can't even laugh right.

  "They volunteered for that Wormy, just to prove to you that I am the rage eater. They know the larger picture is more important than their lives."

  "Sucks for them to be out of the picture completely," I said. "If you are the rage eater, why not send someone else to get the lay of things in Northlight, aren't you kind of important? Human lands can be dangerous, even for one such as yourself. Just look at what happened to your brethren."

  "I trust no one that much Wormy only myself." I didn't answer, I felt the same way. With a quick nod I took the lead and we trudged through the muddy grounds after the long spring rains to reach the harbor master of South skills. One of the rare Goblin traders still traveling all the way to Northlight and doing business with Orc slaves, in the north green skins are only considered slaves and cannot speak to any pink skin on penalty of having their tongues removed. Trade is still allowed there because the humans see it is a good way to get more money from their green property instead of them just loafing around.

  "What about the Orc slaves in the North Kayhill?" I asked wondering what this sword wielding massive green psycho was going to do about them. Would he save them or kill them?

  "Fucking traitors," he growled angrily tightening his jaw and the wrinkles around his eyes and mouth, that answered my question.

  "You know, you would think the pink skins would know better than to mess with a giant race of warlike beings." But I suppose they think them incapable of assembly and order.

  "It was their navy Wormy, they knew we had no ships and our infighting was so bad they could manipulate our minds."

  "Wait… Was? Are you saying the Orcs have stopped fighting each other completely?" I asked as I swallowed the lump in my throat followed by another drink, understanding like few others what that meant exactly. Kayhill let out something that sounded closer to a laugh than I had heard from him yet. He slapped me on my shoulder with his damn ham sized fist, I rolled forward and sprung to my feet like nothing happened. I played it off very nicely.

  "Don't sound so scared Wormy, you think we would attack our green skin or purple skin brethren, as it were?"

  "I don't know, it's never happened, but neither has a rage eater in three or four generations."

  "Trust me wormy, the Orcs are unified with one purpose in mind, destroy the humans and colonize North light as New Orcshen!”

  "Nice," I whistled. "And after that, you guys become farmers? I mean what happens when there is no one left to hate? Does the rage eater serve a purpose then?"

  "No, he doesn't wormy. After we have exterminated the humans and colonize the north I will kill myself allowing the infighting to begin again. This will serve the purpose of allowing no threat to come to Goblins or Timbershaw."

  "Damn Kay, you Orcs live a short harsh life."

  "We are born, we live, and we die fighting on our feet." He said angrily while looking at me with scorn. I could see the disdain the Orcs held for the Goblin way of life in his eyes, stupid fucking Orc.

  We crested the last marshy Hill and before us lay the harbor of Amoz in Growlem. Harbormaster Amoz ran a brisk and successful trade, the harbor was always expanding. With Kayhill's gold getting a crossing with Amoz himself might even be possible. But I wasn't sure I wanted to spend weeks trapped on a boat with that old bastard, he was one of these old-school goblins as rich as they come, and just as cheap. He was meaner than a wolf in heat and that was only my impression of him from working a couple of summers in his harbor as a youth, before my assassin training. When I think on those days, how naïve I was, I couldn't even use my stealth abilities yet. Hah!

  The harbor was a beehive of goblin activity, there were only smaller boats used since Amoz used local and therefore, cheaper trees.

  "So many Kar'Edsh here." Kayhill said using the Orcish word for garbage to describe the goblin workers, I wasn't going to argue with him. We moved past their stares and wonder at seeing Kayhill among them. I enjoyed it, no one noticed me, I could have done anything. Amoz was whittling an oar on his front porch when we approached him.

  "Well look who it is, Mr. fancy
pants assassin. Too good to work in a boat yard, and who is this big ape with you? I bet he…"

  I dropped a handful of gold coins on his lap to change his tune.

  "Well why didn't you say so Wormy? What would you gentlemen need my old friend?"

  "Not much, just passage to North light on the next trading vessel." Kayhill said impatiently while tapping his sword.

  "Oh well, I thought it was a local venture, I don't think I…"

  I dropped another fistful of gold into his greedy lap. That seemed to change his mind completely.

  "Passage for us, or the next bag to drop is the big ape's fist." I said quickly nodding back to Kayhill while whispering in the old bastards ear. The old hard-nose didn't scare easy, but he knew a good deal when he saw one. The risk was small enough and the reward large enough to entice him.

  "The next boat leaves tomorrow at dawn be here. Now, if you will excuse me I have work to do." Amoz said shooing us away as he gathered every coin going back to whittling.

  "Come on Kayhill, let's get a drink and some place to stay for the night."

  "You expect me to sleep in a town full of Kar'Edsh?"

  "Unless you want to sleep in the woods, wherever you want but as for me I'm going to the bar to get drunk, and then finding a bed to pass out in, wake me before dawn."

  That's how it went too, I spent the night partying and having a good time while that crazy Orc spent the night alone