It had been a while since Yargul had been in the clan and in that time, the orcs had forgotten just how strong he was. As such, there were a lot of challengers but after killing a few of the ruder ones with just his bare hands, the challengers suddenly disappeared. He harrumphed and headed home, casually blocking an attack from his sister.

They then glared at each other, his sister finally laughing, “Strong as ever I see.”

Yargul snorted and said, “I want to rest Urzul, leave me be.”

She then patted Yargul on the shoulder and left, “Then rest brother, you’ll be needing it.”

Yargul followed her with his eyes for a few moments, she had spoken many such words in the past and each time they foreshadowed a powerful challenger. But he decided not to think too much on it, he had defeated all of the challengers before and he would defeat this one. Besides, he possessed magic now and if things got bad, he would use it. But he would like to keep it a secret, for now, a hidden strength was a very valuable thing and it would doubtless be a very potent weapon. So he had absolute confidence that he would kill this impudent challenger his sister managed to find. He had forgiven her this long as she was family and she was too weak but he was going to put the foot down. He had already warned her last time so now, she was going to die.

He sighed, he wasn’t troubled by the fact that he was going to kill his sister, just deeply disappointed. He felt that his sister possessed strength, after all, they were siblings. It wouldn’t be right for her to be weak, but if she insisted to fly close to the sun, she was going to get burned. The weak must know their place and as Urzul refused to learn, she must be killed.

As he thought this, a burly orc stepped in front of him, “Yargul the Invincible, I am here to-”

Yargul grabbed the orc’s face and smashed it into the ground, giving the body a kick before moving on. He wasn’t in the mood to answer a challenge properly, he was still slightly drained from absorbing the magic and just wanted some peace and quiet. His sister who had secretly followed him stared in shock at the orc whose face was buried in the ground, to think that her brother would so easily crush her challenger? But that shock soon turned into hate, again he proved to be far stronger than her means, just how long did he intend to insult her!?

Urzul had by now taken Yargul’s success as a personal offense to her, she had spent her life being compared to the perfect sibling and it was no wonder that she would come to hate him. With a dark face, she retreated, wondering how she would find a new challenger that would be capable of killing her brother. Yargul was ignorant of all this and thought that Urzul’s challenger was still coming which was fortunate for Urzul, she still had a chance to live but Yargul knew that she wouldn’t take it.

But none of that mattered, right now, he just needed to fill his belly with some good meat and wine and rest, he’ll deal whatever it was he would need to deal with tomorrow. And that’s exactly what he did, he made his way to his residence, one of the better-made houses that his clan possessed. It was a single story building complete with open windows and a doorway with a bear hide acting as a door, hinges were a rare commodity that were reserved for city orcs and rich/powerful ones at that. Since good houses were quite rare, he had to fight many other orcs for this house, in fact, he had to kill the house’s previous owner. But because of that, he had a private home which no one could just enter, otherwise, they were subject to an immediate and painful death.

Yargul defend his home jealously, he valued his privacy and he went to great lengths to keep it. Many a young and daring orc had dared to tread through the open door of the house and without exception, each and every one was killed. As such, no orc dared to enter his house anymore, although when Yargul entered his house today, he noticed that it had been disturbed. He narrowed his eyes and immediately checked his armor and weapons which were fortunately still there. But then why did the intruder enter his home? Was it a dare by some of the little orcs? Suddenly, the scent of sweat and piss assaulted his nose, the scent of a slave.

What the hell was one doing here? A runaway? Yargul’s face twisted with displeasure as he growled, “Come out.”

No one came out and Yargul threatened, “You best come out now before I kill you.”

A thin, trembling figure appeared from behind his armor stand, looking fearfully at him.

Yargul glared down at her before sighing, “I’m too damn tired to deal with you right now. You are free to run or stay, just don't bother me.”

He then headed off to bed, revealing the full length of his tusks as he yawned. He lay down and sighed with relief, it had been a while since he last slept on something so soft. He immediately fell asleep, much to the relief of the slave. She then began to think about what to do, should she run or stay? If she were to stay here, she wouldn’t know what would become of her but if she were to run, she would almost certainly be caught and punished. She shivered, she knew what happened to escaped slaves, they were whipped with chains, often resulting in broken ribs and torn flesh.

Some even died although orcs tried to avoid that, slaves were valuable for they could do things that orcs could not like harvesting, orcs just weren’t cut out for delicate work and often would bruise fruits and ruin crops. They could learn but there were precious few orcs that were strong and also delicate with their hands, most orcs that turned to pursue the fine arts often neglected training themselves and were obviously killed early in life for offending a more powerful orc. Thus humans and elves were needed to do the things that orcs had no interest in doing, farming, forging and the like.

Anyways, the slave finally decided to stay, she was going to suffer terribly if she were to leave and she may suffer if she stayed, it didn’t take a genius to figure out which was the better option. So she decided to sleep, for some reason, this house was safe from the other orcs so she knew that she could sleep here. She soon entered a fitful slumber, nightmares reigning supreme in her dreaming mind.

A night past and Yargul awoke, refreshed after a wonderful night’s sleep. He then looked around, seeing no sign of the slave in his room. At least the slave knew her place. He then stood and stretched, grunting with satisfaction as he did so. He then began to look for the slave, finally finding her shivering on the floor, her dirty face showing lines of white skin where her tears had flowed. Yargul took this moment to study the slave, noticing the long ears that she possessed although not as prominent as those of elves. Yargul guessed that she was a halfbreed, something all too common in orc culture as they needed slaves and they didn’t care who mated with who.

Suddenly, out of some unknown instinct, Yargul sat by her and reached out a hand, gently patting her on the head. The girl eventually stopped shivering, a small smile appearing on her face. Yargul stared at her smiling face, he had never seen such a smile before, one so pleasant and innocent. He suddenly stopped himself an shook his head, what would the other orcs say if they were to see him right now? He laughed at himself and remained sitting, waiting for the slave to wake up.

She woke up in peace, opening her bright green eyes which shown sharply against her dirty face. She yawned cutely before finally noticing Yargul sitting just opposite of her. She immediately recoiled, her eyes staring at Yargul in fear. Yargul smirked but said nothing, watching her.

Finally, he asked, “What are you doing here?”

Looking at his piercing gaze, the slave decided that it was best not to lie and said, “I-I ran away.”

Yargul snorted, “That much is obvious, but why in my house?”

She said, “In here I was safe, no one dared to enter.”

This story has been stolen from Royal Road. If you read it on Amazon, please report it

Yargul smiled with satisfaction, bragging, “Of course, this is my house. Anyone who enters my house dies.”

The slave froze and noticing this, Yargul said, “Relax, if I wanted you dead you would have died the moment I smelled your scent.”

She only slightly relaxed, staring at Yargul nervously.

Yargul then continued with his interrogation, “Who was your owner?”

She said, “A-an orc by the name of Zargu, he... he is my m-master.”

Yargul snorted, “That depends on whether or not I want to keep you.”

She looked at him swiftly, her eyes momentarily filling with a hope before falling into despair.

She said, “I-it’s no use, Zargu is too strong. H-he-”

Yargul chuckled, “Have you heard of Yargul the Invincible?”

She nodded, it was impossible not to. But why would he bring it up unless...

Understanding blossomed on her face as Yargul introduced himself, “I am Yargul the Invincible.”

She then looked at this unassuming orc with a hope that also quickly dissipated, she didn’t know for sure that Yargul was what he said he was.

Seeing her doubt, Yargul harrumphed, “If I decide to take you, I will personally go down and beat this Zargu to death.”

Reluctantly, the slave nodded, if this orc was truly what he said he was, then she would finally be free of Zargu.

But Yargul still had to decide whether or not he was going to keep her so he asked, “What can you do?”

She hesitated before speaking, “W-well... I can cook-”

Yargul nodded, “That’s good enough. As long as you can cook meat well, you can be my slave. Let’s go.”

Truth was, Yargul had already decided on keeping this slave but he still needed some form of excuse for Zargu, if he were to just start taking things, that would affect his reputation. The strong needed to be moderate, for if they were excessively abusive with their force, weaker orcs would have no problems with ganging up on them. And so they set out, Yargul only pausing to grab his trusty mace before gesturing to the slave to lead the way. She did so obediently, spending a thirty-minute walk in silence as they headed to Zargu’s farm. Upon their arrival, slaves working in the fields looked sadly at the slave by Yargul’s side, they thought that she had been caught and they would have to witness another cruel whipping.

As they approached the farm, Zargu and a few other orcs were seen waiting for them, apparently one of the slaves had told Zargu of their arrival.

Zargu had a pleased look on his face when he beheld the slave, taunting, “We’ll be spending some quality time together, you and I.”

Yargul smirked and said, “Unfortunately, that won’t be happening. I just came here to inform you that I will be taking her as mine.”

Zargu’s face twisted with anger as he put his face right in Yargul’s, hissing, “You better back off if you know what’s good for you.”

Yargul chuckled and grabbed the face of Zargu, drawing his arm back and throwing him three meters back.

Yargul said, “How brave of you to challenge me, the one who bears the title of Invincible! Well, it’s been long since I’ve last fought one so brave, I’ll be sure to not hold back.”

Zargu had stood up, boiling with rage but when he heard Yargul’s words, his face paled as he saw Yargul’s malicious grin. Suddenly, he caught himself, this orc was most definitely bluffing, Yargul himself wouldn’t stoop so low for a slave.

Zargu smirked, “You almost had me there, but I know you aren’t Yargul. Yargul wouldn’t do so much for some lowly slave.”

Yargul shrugged, “Believe what you like, but the fact is that I am Yargul.”

Yargul hefted his mace onto his shoulder and Zargu’s eyes wavered uncertainly, Yargul did indeed use a mace but then again, this could be a copy.

So throwing these worries to the wind, Zargu drew his club and charged... and promptly got his head caved in by Yargul’s superior mace.

Yargul yawned, “Welp, I guess that’s the end of that. I’ll be taking my slave now.”

He turned and walked back leisurely to his home, the slave following him closely, not daring to look back. They arrived home thirty minutes later and Yargul suddenly remembered that he didn’t know the slave’s name.

He turned to face her much to her fright and asked, “What’s your name?”

She blinked in surprise and stammered, “M-my name is A-Ararys.”

Yargul then smiled for the first time, “Well then Ararys, let’s go on a hunt.”

She looked at him with confusion and Yargul explained, “I’m hungry and I want to see how well you cook. So I’ll have to procure ingredients but you will have to come along so you don’t run away.”

She tried to refuse but Yargul was adamant, assuring her, “Don’t worry, the animals out there are no match for me.”

Finally, she submitted, she was only a slave and that didn’t change even if Zargu was dead. So the two trekked out into the forest, although Yargul had to carry her on his back when she began to lag behind.

At first, she insisted that she could go on but Yarugl said “You’re the cook. If you’re too tired to cook you’re useless to me.”

So she just shut her mouth and allowed herself to be carried although her slave mentality told her to do otherwise. She was confused about Yargul, he wasn’t like any other orc she had ever met, albeit the fact that the number of orcs she met could be counted on one hand.

Eventually, she felt him slow down, he had spotted some prey. He made his way to a tree, whispering, “Climb up the tree and stay put, I’ll be back with food.”

As Yargul had promised, he soon returned with two dead deer, their necks snapped but otherwise intact. He dropped them unceremoniously at the foot of the tree and told her to come down. She did so obediently and Yargul set about making a fire, telling Ararys to slit the necks of the deer to bleed them. She looked around helplessly for a tool and with a chuckle, Yargul tossed a jagged tooth over to her. Looking at it uncertainly, she did as Yargul commanded and then waited as he made the fire, watching him. This was the first time that she had studied an orc so closely, most of the time she could only see their feet and legs, anything above warranted a fierce beating.

Noticing her gaze, Yargul asked, “What?”

Embarrassed, she quickly bowed her head, “I-it’s nothing.”

Yargul stared at her for a few more moments before shrugging his shoulders. It wasn’t his business what his slave did as long as she cooked food and didn’t run. When the fire was roaring nicely, he then set about skinning the deer as well as gutting them.

Once that was done, he said, “Now cook.”

Ararys hurriedly obeyed, she didn’t dare dawdle in her new duties. Yargul watched as she expertly handled the meat, this was obviously not her first time doing such things.

Curious, Yargul asked, “Where did you learn to prepare meat?”

Ararys said, “B-back at the farm, most of the female slaves w-were in charge of cooking, I learned it from the older slaves.”

Then remembering something, she said, “Um, I need herbs to season the meat.”

Yargul nodded and headed off again, making sure not to stray too far from the fire, if trouble came he would be able to arrive in time to kill it. Luckily, he managed to find a smattering of herbs, most of them being common ones that could be found just about anywhere. He dumped this in front of her and sat back down, watching as she began to tear the herbs with her hand, making a paste with them before rubbing it on the meat. But there was only enough to cover two legs and these she cooked first. Soon, the smell of cooking meat filled the air along with the smell of herbs which made for a mouthwatering scent to the two of them.

Ararys had never eaten such fine food and Yargul never really bothered to season his meat so he had high expectations. Finally, Ararys announced that the meat was done and Yargul grabbed both of them, inspecting their appearance first. The meat wasn’t burned, which was something that often happened to Yargul, and was a delicious looking brown with the aromatic scent of herbs mixing wonderfully with the smell of cooked meat.

He then took a bite and his eyes lit up as a new, delicious taste blossomed in his mouth. He didn’t devour the meat but savored it, eating slowly.

Finally, he finished and in a good mood, he handed over the other leg to Ararys, saying, “A reward for being a great cook.”

She hesitantly took the meat, glancing warily at Yargul to make sure that it was absolutely alright for her to eat. Seeing that Yargul seemed not to care, she finally took a tentative bite, then another and pretty soon, she was wolfing down the meat. As she did so, Yargul broke the bone of the leg and sucked out the marrow, praising himself over his decision about keeping Ararys. After two legs, Ararys was full so she just sat back and watched in awe of Yargul’s insatiable appetite, watching the two deer disappear into his gullet. When Yargul was done, both with the meat and the marrow, he smacked his lips and stood, motioning for Ararys to follow.

And so the two returned home, Yargul happy that he could eat such wonderful food and Ararys tentatively hopeful, perhaps her life may not be so bad now.