Gruk was a strong orc. He was big. He was tough. He was smart for his kind, he liked to consider himself as cunning as he was brutal. Unlike the other orcs of his tribe, he held a certain belief that intelligence also makes one strong along side brute strength. Though he followed the others in believing in their creator, the darkest of dark lords, Dommon, god of destruction, unlike the other orc he did not believe in superstition. ... Until members of his clan began to recently go missing, anyway.

Gruk thought there was always a reasonable explanation for everything in the world, and he liked to believe that he was a very forward thinking orc to not be scared by noises in the night that his clan mates attributed to ghosts and swamp monsters. He knew that he, his clan, and their great leader Enma were the monsters in the swamp.

Gruk, however, was not looking forward to the four man patrol he was being sent on to search for the fifteen missing orcs and soldiers that had vanished over the course of the last three weeks. Enma was highly displeased and blamed their vanishing on desertion; he said that if they weren't found soon, dead or alive, that he would start skinning his own soldiers one by one until someone finally told him where his men were going. The problem with this was that most of the rumors the clan were brewing up were about swamp phantoms and terrible orc-eating monsters coming out of the mists.

The murky, muddy, water sloshed in Gruk's boots as he headed up the party of himself, Mulg, Trekk, and Flunk, the four orcs and a small cohort of three annoying as shite little goblins slogged through the mire. In his left hand Gruk held a torch, the guttering flame doing little to alleviate the gloom of the misty swamp. In his right hand he held his trusted short blade, a jagged and chipped sword of orc make; crudely but efficiently crafted and designed to last as long as the life of its wielder. Orcs tend to live short lives, prone to conflict with each other as much as they are with other races. But Gruk wasn't worried about his future in this moment.

He was concerned with his present. Specifically, when he turned around and found that the orc that had been guarding the search party rear was nowhere in sight.

"What the fuck?" Gruk squealed, "Where the fuck'd Flunk go?" his porcine snout wrinkling in frustration and worry- not for his fellow orc, but for himself knowing he would have to explain another 'deserter' to Enma when they returned to base camp.

"He was right behind us." Mulg snapped, surly and irritable from all the water in his boots.

"Gheeeeeeh!" One of the goblins babbled, motioning erratically as it tried to sign something out to the orcs with flailing and wild gestures. Gruk paid the little bastard no mind at first, goblins were about as helpful as they were intelligent, and he did not view the little green snots as intelligent in the least.

Gruk could feel both his patience and his nerves fraying, and he suspiciously eyed Trekk.

"Flunk was behind you." Gruk snarled accusingly, tightening the grip on his blade. Trekk immediately picked up on the other orc's aggression and reached slowly for his sword.

"And?" Trekk growled. "You think he'd tell me if he was gonna ditch?"

"That's exactly what I think." Gruk growled.

"Calm the fuck down, both of you." Mulg grumbled. "If TWO of us go missing then Enma's gonna be in an even worse mood than when we left." He pointed out astutely. This made Gruk and Trekk pause briefly, their natural penchant for aggression warring with their desire to keep their hides when they returned to camp, and both of the porcine men slowly lowered their weapons.

"Let's backtrack. Gotta find him, or at least some tracks or something." Gruk said. Trekk and Mulg nodded in agreement while one of the goblins continued to jabber at them.

"Shut the fuck up!" The three snapped at the little snotty runt in unison.

It was as they turned to face where the goblin was pointing that all three orcs suddenly froze in unison. While they had been busy arguing and debating whether or not to start stabbing one another in the mud, someone... Or something had taken the time to string up Flunk's corpse from high branch in the gnarled and rotting tree high up behind them.

"Oh." Gruk said, eyes wide with horror as he watched the blood drip from the gaping wound in the dead orc's neck.

"Oh fuck." Mulg whispered in terror as he stared at the savaged corpse hanging from the tree limb.

"B-by Dommon...!" Trekk squealed as he trembled from the thought that the dead orc had been right behind him when he was quietly murdered and hung by the ankles.

Whoever had done it must have still been nearby, and the three orcs suddenly found themselves standing back to back to back, self-preservation and paranoia quickly banding the pig-men together into a much more cohesive, if terrified unit.

One of the goblins choked, an arrow jutting out of its throat, prompting it to fall into the nasty swamp water with a burst of arterial spray.

The goblins scattered, screeching as they broke from the group and ran off terrified into the murk of the swamp.

"Where the fuck do you think you're going?!" Gruk shouted after them.

He felt Trekk tense against his back, and Mulg shuddered as the three orcs readied themselves for attack.

With a gurgle, Trekk collapsed to his knees in the swamp sludge, and toppled face forward, red blood staining the bracken green water in a slow bloom of warmth. Gruk and Mulg jerked, watching bewildered as Trekk slowly bled out before their eyes, with no sight of a culprit.

If you come across this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it.

"Keep your eyes open. Shout if you see anything!" Gruk hissed to Mulg as they shifted back to back once again.

"..."

"Come on, Mulg, just say you'll shout if you spot anything!" Gruk whimpered.

"..."

"... Mulg?"

Gruk dared to glance over his shoulder and froze, horrified.

Mulg was dead where he stood, eyes glassy and staring into the mid-distance as he teetered and tottered, stomach cut open, before he finally collapsed into a puddle with a splash.

Gruk was suddenly so very alone and so very scared.

Something moved in the corner of his vision, but it was gone by the time his head snapped that way to look. Then it was there again, so close and coming from the opposite direction. He jerked to look that way and it was gone.

"... Over here..." A whisper came from the mists and he looked that way next with a jolt.

The pain was sudden and quick; something biting deep into his back. He glanced down to see the crudely made blade of an orcish short sword sticking out of his stomach. Gruk trembled, legs turning to jelly has he slumped to his knees. As everything started to fade a shadowed silhouette stepped in closer from behind him, a hand clutching a razor sharp dagger darted in front of his dimming gaze and quickly opened up his throat.

Gruk was dead before he could taste the fetid swamp water that filled his mouth when he splashed down.

❧

"Man, did you SEE the look on their fucking faces?" Mau huffed, stifling a giggle with a bloodstained, gloved, hand. "They were pissing themselves terrified, Suvdaa!"

"You enjoy that a little too much. Are you sure you're right in the head, Mau?" Suvdaa asked calmly.

"Look, I happen to really just dislike orcs." Mau said matter of factly. "They smell, they're dumb, they worship Dommon, and they obey the Demon Lord, that's all I need to know."

"Yes, yes, I get it. You hate orcs." Suvdaa replied. "And goblins. And liches and gnolls and-"

"You stop that. I don't hate everything in this crapsack fantasy world." Mau grumped indignantly.

"Okay. Name me one thing you don't hate." Suvdaa challenged Mau.

"You." Mau said without missing a beat.

Andy turned so red nearby that even the tips of his ears were a shade of beet crimson.

Suvdaa stared in silence for a good long moment before she managed to rally.

"I walked into that, and that is fair." She acknowledged, grumpily. "But I still think you're enjoying 'roleplaying as the Predator' as you put it, way too much."

"Come on let me have this." Mau said, puffing her cheeks up, "It's not like we got to have any fun when we fought the Wendigo or the lich." She pointed out.

"That's because fighting the wendigo was terrifying." Suvdaa said in in a rare display of revealing her feelings. "These orcs are not only easy pickings, but it's kind of... Sad and pathetic." She said.

"I really need you to consider here:" Mau said as she flopped her back against a nearby tree, "I need to entertain myself somehow while battling the Demon Lord's armies."

Andy, who had been largely quiet for much of the conversation finally spoke up.

"But... Should you really enjoy killing so much?"

Mau paused, the question hitting her a little harder than she had expected it would.

"I don't enjoy killing." She said mildly, folding her hands behind her head with a sigh. "But it's been all I've known for so long know that I have to cope somehow." She replied, tone a little sour.

Andy immediately felt bad for asking and quieted back down as Mau continued.

"I don't remember the first time I killed someone." Mau said quietly. "I remember the event, sure. I was scared. My opponent was scared. We struggled and in the heat of the moment we both took a spill. I had gotten lucky and they landed chest-first on my blade in the fall, but... I don't remember what that person looked like, or sounded like, or smelled like. I don't remember what they were wearing or even the sound they made when they died. It's all just one big blur for me of moving from one deadly encounter to the next, and I learned really fast about the unfortunate truth." She muttered.

"Killing just gets easier the more you do it. And the more you do it, the more you need to live with yourself, your actions, and figure out how to cope with it."

Suvdaa cleared her throat softly in an attempt to clear the heaviness out of the air.

"We should probably work faster." Suvdaa said. "It's been three weeks of killing patrols and we still haven't cleared out half of that camp's soldiers."

Mau stretched lazily, taking the moment to drag her nails down the nearest tree. She didn't quite have claws, but her nails were still sharp enough to leave small trails down the rough bark as she casually turned the tree into a scratching post while they talked.

"I agree. We haven't even figured out where the hell they're keeping the witch's special person yet." Mau considered. "I say tonight we try and sneak in and figure out at least that much."

"Bold." Suvdaa said. "But you haven't taken into account that one of us can't sneak to save his life."

"Who?" Andy asked, perking up curiously.

Mau and Suvdaa sighed in unison.

Picking herself up from the ground, Mau dusted off the seat of her pants and arched her back in a stretch. "It's fine. Andy can hang back while you and I scope the place out."

Suvdaa nodded in agreement while Andy frowned.

"So you're just going to leave me behind?" He huffed and pouted.

"Can you keep quiet and out of sight?" Suvdaa asked pointedly.

"... Not as good as the two of you can." He admitted. "Okay, I'll head back to our camp and keep an eye on things there." He conceded while Mau and Suvdaa gave him each a quick nod and the trio split up to head off in separate directions.

They had a lot of ground to cover, and knowing that Andy's stew would be waiting for them when they returned was a fairly nice bonus to learning more about the enemy encampment.

"Just so you know." Mau said, casually, "That hag's moth has been following us since we left her hut."

Suvdaa frowned. "I noticed it too."

"And you didn't say anything?" Mau asked, sticking out her tongue.

"I felt it would have been pointless. It just would have worried Andy, and you probably would have just acted like you didn't care."

"I do care." Mau said a little more firmly. "But I'm not really surprised, either." She said. "She's probably watching us through its eyes to keep track on our progress. Or just watch the show we put on while thinning out the number of orcs in that camp."

"And why would she want to watch that?" Suvdaa asked.

Mau shrugged, "Hags are as vicious as they are mysterious; they love a good deal as much as they love some good old fashioned sadism. And considering that the orcs have someone she cares about... She's likely enjoying the show."

"Speaking of that..." Suvdaa said.

"I know." Mau countered. "She never said who we're rescuing." Mau replied. "Which is the big mystery, isn't it?"

Suvdaa nodded.

"I still think you took that deal too hastily. But if you know what you're doing, I'm not worried about it. And only you'll be the one to die if we fail, as far as I know, because I certainly did not make any pact with the hag." Suvdaa said before she took a vaulting leap up into the nearest tree branch. "I'll scout ahead in case any more patrols decide to come this way. You... Just do whatever, Mau."

"Yep." Mau said, slogging through ankle deep water. "I'll just keep LARPing as my favorite movie monster."

Mau could swear she heard Suvdaa mutter something along the lines of 'what the hell is a movie... And a LARP?' As she leaped from branch to branch.

It was still pretty far to get back to the orc encampment and would be dark by the time Mau got there.