Xa'Gun followed behind his adopted father, Jukzuk, into the kitchen area.

"I brought some more mead. Got two kinds, son. What will you be having?" Jukzuk gestured to the two barrels of alcohol sitting just inside the door to the kitchen.

Xa'Gun grunted in question.

"Don't want mead?" Jukzuk swiveled his head to look at Xa'Gun.

"Is there any more of that juice that Demze gave me?" Xa'Gun rubbed the back of his head.

"Wait? That little girl made you something to drink? She didn't just serve it to you?" Jukzuk seemed slightly startled.

Xa'Gun grunted, again, in acknowledgment.

Jukzuk chuckled, "I don't know if you're lucky, or have the worst luck. It seems lil' Dem-Dem has 'actually' taken a shine to you."

Xa'Gun tilted his head not understanding his adopted father's words.

Jukzuk shook his head, "Son, Demze is... Well, she's Demze. Besides knowing her as a child, I've been talking to some of my old buddies, and I can't help but say..."

Jukzuk closed one eye and tilted his head for his ear to face the doorway that the two had just come through. Listening hard, he could still head Demze and Hellie arguing. This was good for what he was about to speak.

He lowered his voice, "Son, Demze is self-centered, and only thinks of what is in her and by proxy her sister's best interests. I don't wish to speak ill of my niece, but she might be a bit... I think the nice way to say it is eccentric. The usual way of saying it is she's a bit of a bitch. At first, I thought she was going to try to use you. Depending on what that is, I may or may not stop it, but I think... I think she might have, what humans in the east call it... Caught feelings."

Jukzuk's mouth was parched from speaking so much and so low in tone. He got his tankard and filled it with mead. tilting it to his head, he drained half in one go.

Again, he lowered his voice and locked his one opened eye onto Xa'Gun, "Son, it's okay to like orcess. It's okay to have fun with orcess responsibly... But don't set your heart. Don't be like me and fall in love..."

There was a pause, and Jukzuk finally whispered, "Love is the grave of a warrior's heart."

Nodding his head, he opened both his eyes and filled another two tankards up with mead.

"Have some water, for now, I'll take these to the girls." Jukzuk walked out of the kitchen area to leave Xa'Gun to think about the wisdom Jukzuk just imparted to him.

Shaking his head, with the coming headache, Xa'Gun walked to the holding area in the kitchen and looked over a few gourds that were kept for liquids.

He picked up one and hefted it. He estimated it would hold at least a bucket of water. Nodding, he filled up the gourd at the sink, touching the water stone-like Gorzoc, his master, had shown him.

He downed the whole gourd of water and filled it again. After doing this twice, he filled it up again for the third time and walked back to the foyer to see what his father and the two sisters were doing.

*******

A malnourished orc scrambled and scraped at the dirt in front of him, as his hands shakingly shoved the dirt along with the item that he was attempting to consume.

He coughed as he swallowed the dirt and the wiggling blackberry that went along with the ride.

Coughing more and gagging from the dirt in his maw, he could hear the laughing of other orcs in the surroundings, but he could only see one in front of him.

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"I'm glad that the ghost berry my stalkers acquired was good enough." A strange orc spoke with a pompous voice. He appeared to have a large round stomach, but other than his rotund belly, his arms, legs, and neck were vascular and chiseled. He had a dull gray and ashy skin complexion. He and his kind would stand out among the Blacktongues if lined up.

"Yes... Cough. Yes, it was needed. Cough." Slugga coughed some more. He had been exiled from the Blacktongue clan and cut off from the Ghostberries he so desperately wanted.

"Needed? No... Wanted? Yes..." A round of laughter again spoke, but then came a collective groan... Like the clenches of numerous stomachs.

"It seems that the Caste is hungry again. We must stalk soon... Slugga Blacktongue. You promised us an unlimited amount of these ghostberries. My stalkers can only collect a few at a time and at the cost of life and equipment..."

"I need more time." Slugga got to his feet, feeling much better now that the ghostberry began to work. A searing hateful heat spread from his belly, these were fresh ghostberries... Untreated by the Blacktongue clan. If not for Slugga's experience eating them in the clan, these raw berries would have driven him mad... If he wasn't already.

Slugga's eyes cleared, and he found himself within a cave... The temporary grounds for this band of demented orcs he had made a pact. He was deep on the westside of the Blacktongue Mountains... Far from his exiled clan.

A flash, sparkles, and Slugga was struck down by force.

"Do not get to your feet, grub. You had the right to stand among us prior to getting exiled and wasting our time. We should eat you right now... With a hot pot, and spices."

A sound of hard swallows issued, as the ravenous orcs surrounding Slugga all managed to control their hunger. Slugga could hear the sounds, but could not see the orcs... As it had always been... These demented orcs descended from the Cave Killer Clan... Sneaky, stealthy, crude, hungry...

Slugga coughed again, "Bu-"

Another hit came, and blood seeped from Slugga's lip.

"Say my name." The Orc stomped Slugga, again.

Slugga coughed again but was interrupted by another stomp.

"I didn't say to cough, I said to say my name."

"Glut... Glut'Var."

"Glut'Var what?"

"Gl-Glut'Var, Vice Chieftain of the Feaststalker Caste." Slugga coughed again, blood and dirt mixed in his mouth, as he spat.

"You're damn right... Soon to drop the vice. Now hear what I'm about to tell you, because the next time I see you, it better be with the keys to the fucking gates of the Blacktongue stronghold."

Slugga nodded his head.

"The gourmet spirit, the ravenous one, is hungry. It's a eat or be eaten world, Slugga. If we don't feed him something amazing during his festival... Then We are eaten. So, you are to get us the Ghostberries' recipe or the keys to the vaults. We care not which..."

"My exile ends in two months... I will return to the clan, and win back my position!" Slugga got to his knees and exclaimed.

"We gave you our special sauce to secure the kill, but you ended up in the wilds and clanless..." Glut'Var sneered, as he rubbed his belly.

"You said it was untraceable!" Slugga pointed his finger at Glut'Var.

A quick flash of light, as Glut'Var slid his dagger back into its holster on his back.

Slugga watched as his index finger fell from his hand, blood spurting from the end.

"Never point your finger at me, grub... Leave and remember that you have three months to secure the recipe or the ghostberries... That is when our festival starts. If you wish to have us honor our side of the pact, then you must pay the price... Leave now... We must feast, for if you stay... We will feast on you."

Slugga grunted in pain but didn't cry out. He grabbed his severed finger from the ground and held his bleeding finger stub. He ran out of the cave following the air currents, until the sun hit his face.

He huffed and started down the mountain in search of water.

After a time, he came to a small stream. He bent down and washed his hands in the water. Looking at his finger, he placed it back where it was supposed to be, and wrapped it in cloth torn from his ragged pants.

Gritting his teeth, he pored sap he squeezed from a fyre tree branch he snapped off on his way down the mountain.

The searing pain told him that the flesh was melted together. He just didn't know if it would reattach or not without a shaman's aid.

Slugga looked back up to the mountain he just came from, "Fuck you Glut'Var and all your cannibal gits. When I get back to the clan, I'll take over, and with the Blacktongue warriors, I'll crush you and see you eat your own balls... See how you like that meal." Slugga spat on the ground.

He looked back to his hand, as he felt his muscles swell. The Ghostberry was doing its job. From his emaciated and frail look, his muscles bloated to double in size.

Slugga flexed a few times and looked into the stream of water at his appearance. Hitting a double bicep pose, he couldn't help but say, "looking good." Seeing his bandaged hand though, he frowned. He turned and walked away from the stream to look for something to eat. Hunting in this area was getting harder with that damn caste of hungry orcs out eating anything that moves, crawls, swims, or flies.

"I can't wait to fuck when I get back..." Slugga remembered when Hellie disowned him during his exile.

"Fuck her... I'll have her face in Ulith's crotch, while I hit it from the back. Hell, I'll tie her up while I fuck all her friends in front of her! Fucking humiliate me. Everyone that humiliated me is going to either be fucked or wish they were fucked!"

Slugga laughter echoed in the forests around the west mountain.