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Gauls · May 2, 2008, 12:25 AM

The orcs rushed in. Not even an alarm had a chance to be sounded. There were whooping calls being thrown up by the cheering orcs as wave after wave swept over the city. The 50 man militia managed to kill a couple orcs but sheer numbers overwhelmed their position killing a dozen of them before they threw up their hands to avoid the inevitable.

The city was rich in spoils. The orcs tore into the stores of food and would have eaten it all had the commanding orc put a stop to it. There were goblin archers on the banks of the coast still firing at the dozen fishing boats that made it off shore with about 250 survivors. The boats headed south and east hopefully toward safe lands. Some 20 residents managed to slip past the advancing horde by hiding in the fields and other nooks and crannies and waiting for the orcs to simply pass them by. Once clear, they would spring up and disappear into the growing darkness.

In all, about 100 citizens were slaughtered in the surprise attack. The other 600 citizens all huddled along the shore as the orc horde moved in closer. They were not going to kill them, they were going to subjugate them. The Peda Elder was among the captured. He was led around by the arm by his great-nephew, a 12 year old boy that never left his side. A burly looking orc was barking orders to his forces not to kill or spoil the town. It was obvious that the orcs had orders not to sack the city for some reason. Not fearing the orcs one bit, the old man had his nephew lead him over to the orc. Maybe this one could be reasoned with.

As they approached, the large orc looked down at the bent over old man. "Wa' ju want shara" the orc bellowed and pointed his axe at the elder.

"No... he just wants..." the young boy started to say to protect his great-uncle.

"Hush boy! Let it be!" he snapped gingerly then turned his attention to the orc. "You have attacked our peaceful city for what cause? Do we burden the orcs of Ire so that we must be punished?"

The orc glared at the old man, drew back a large arm and with a great swipe backhanded the old man across the face.

"Nar use "Ire" when talkin' 'bout da great city fortress of Orckon!" the orc roared as the old man fell to his knees. "Count ju selfs lucky! Da Gothmog Kitot say dat ju live today!"

The prisoners all looked to one another. It was a relief to hear but there had to be a catch. There were women, children, babies, sick, and old in the group. Surely they would have some mercy.

The orc commander waved a hand and goblins scurried in. They pulled out very young kids, tore babies from their mother's arms, and tried to pick at least one of every family that was represented in the group in all about 175 people out of the 600 survivors. All that was left was a capable group of hard laborers. So the orcs were thinking. The goblins began to lead the group they pulled out away from the shore and off into the ranks of the horde. As they left, there were screams and cries not to take them but to no avail.

"Now, ju left here now gonna serve as snaga to da Great Horde. Ju got machines here dat make food, machines dat fix boats, an' food. Lots of food. Dat wud da Gothmog say ju gonna work fer. Ju here keep supplies comin' ta Orckon forces, ju live. Ju send one shipment north ta Narim every cycle. Ju late wit shipment, urak kill one of ju family member or whelps an' send dim back to ju in box. Really small box."

There came gasps from the slaves. To add insult to injury, they were now being forced to supply the very forces that attacked them. It was an insult but one which none could do anything about.

"Ju nar send shipment at all or da shipment nar enough, da horde ju see here gonna come back an' bury ju alive, here on dis beach!"

The orc's words echoed into the dark that was setting in. The shapes of the orcs surrounding the group were cast in shadow from the fires that burned some of the homes in the city. The orc commander turned and walked back through the ranks of orcs and goblins. He stopped then yelled something out in orkish turning his troops loose to loot the town. No burning, no more killing unless attacked were his orders. The survivors were reserved to their fate.

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