17 The Bane of Beasts

As Garrok walked through the city streets his thoughts wandered to his home and his past.

Garrok had been born to an orc warrior, Kurask Blackrend, one of the lieutenants in the orc clan, the Gnashers. After a successful raid on a human caravan of merchants travelling through their territory, he was placed in charge of the prisoners. One of them was a taller human woman. She wasn't as fragile as most human females. They began to communicate through the small bits of their language he had learned over the years. She remained his slave for years and eventually, they fell in love, a forbidden love. In secret, she birthed him a son, and they named him Garrok Blackrend.

He grew up in the clan but was also considered lesser because of his human blood. It was rare but not uncommon for half-orc children to appear in the clan. Orcs were known to spread their seed during raids and with their slaves. Children born of their actions were raised in the clan until they became of age to fight for their place against another member of the clan. The orcs of the Gnasher clan had a long-standing tradition of fighting for their place. If victorious they would be allowed into the ranks as an equal. No half-orc in the history of the clan had ever won. Each fight is to the death of the challenger or the intervention of the Chief if the challenger is victorious. Garrok's best friend Volcar, the chief's son had just been made a full clansman and his father Holgash decided that he would be the one to fight Garrok. Holgash wanted to make sure that an impure would not become part of his clan, he knew Garrok would be unable to defeat his son.

As Garrok and Volcar circled each other on the dusty ground in the centre of their village they locked eyes. They wore nothing but a loincloth and their chosen weapons. The entire clan encircled them waiting for the first to attack. Volcar stood nearly 7ft and weighed over 300lbs, of muscle. He was large, even for an orc. Raised to be a killer. Garrok knew he had no chance to beat Volcar in a contest of strength, but he was faster and if he could land a few quick strikes in well-placed areas Holgash would have no choice but to stop the fight.

Volcar attacked, swinging his large gnarled sword in a big arc. Garrok rolled to dodge the attack. He had spared with Volcar many times and knew that his left leg would be open for an attack. He extended his own weapon and sliced the exposed thigh. A thin line of blood-streaked out Volcar. Embarrassed that the smaller half-orc landed the first blow he went into a rage and for the next few moments, he attacked with reckless intent, with no regard that he fought his friend. Garrok did his best to defend but Volcar was too strong and with his free hand he grabbed Garrok. Pulling him in he bit into his shoulder. Garrok screamed in pain but used this moment to get another slice in with his axe. Volcar was in such a state he didn't even seem to notice the inches of steel penetrating his side. He lifted Garrok off the ground and tossed him. The half-orc rolled slide across the dirt as Volcar rushed in.

All Garrok could do was raise his shield from his prone position. The impact of the sword smashed Garrok's shield to pieces. The second took away the last piece of the shield. The third and fourth attacks slammed the hand of his axe causing him to lose strength-giving Voclar an opening. Garrok was in trouble. The fifth blow would surely end him. Reaching deep within himself he summoned the last ounce of energy. The fifth attack found the dusty ground as Garrok rolled out of the way. He swung, with all his remaining strength, back towards the sword now angled into the ground. The sound of steel clanging together rang out and the force broke the grip of Volcar, disarming him.

Garrok slowly rose to his feet, the blade of his axe pointed at Volcar's neck. He slowly raised his hands and backed off. He felt the wound on his shoulder and in his own rage, Garrok attacked the unarmed orc. He was blinded to his action and the metal clanged away harmlessly as Holgash stepped in defending the mortal blow with his own battleaxe. He was furious, he brought his axe around to kill Garrok but as Volcar's father had stepped in to defend him so did Kurask. Kurask dove in front of the large orc's attack. The axe found his chest embedding deep into his chest cavity. Kurask fell to the ground dying. He looked at his son.

"Run!"

Garrok ran. Carrying his father's battleaxe into the swamp, never looking back.

The memory faded. He looked around, his body had carried him through the districts and up to a large barn building. A sign painted out front read, 'The Bane of Beasts'. Garrok walked inside.

"Hello there!" a friendly elven man called from behind a counter. "What brings you to the Bane of Beasts?" He wore a colourful hat, had a few facial piercings and an elaborate ranger outfit. His entire ensemble was designed to have him stand out.

"What is this place?" Garrok asked while looking at all the trophy heads mounted on the wall. There were heads of creatures he had never seen before and others such as lions, bears and even a troll's head that he did recognize.

"This is where glory is found!" The elf replied with a laugh. "The Bane of Beasts is a hunting guild. We get contracts from civilians in the Empire to hunt beasts and such creatures." He eyed Garrok, getting a read for the half-orc. "You look like you can hold your own in a fight, are you interested in making some coins?"

Garrok turned to him, after staring at the head of a giant insect with large pincers. He wanted to kill something and this place seemed like the right place to be. "Sign me up."

"Perfect. We have open trials..." He flipped through a ledger looking for the date. "Today actually. They start in an hour." His excitement faded, "Unfortunately we only hire crews no singles, they tend to..." He drifted off. "Die too easily. Sorry mate." He closed the book.

Garrok sighed just when he wanted some alone time. "I have some people in mind."

"Wonderful, what do you call yourselves. Want to pencil you in."

"The Silver Sect."

"Well then..." he paused, waiting for Garrok to say his name.

"Garrok."

"Well then Garrok of the Silver Sect, can't wait to see what you and your team can do."

It wasn't too hard to convince the others to come to fight something for money. They were back at the Bane of Beast within the hour, ready to face whatever the guild would throw at them.

Three teams of four stood on the edge of a forest just outside the city's boundary wall. The afternoon sun burning down on them. Somewhere in the forest was their quarry. A random beast had been assigned to each group, The Silver Sect getting a wyvern.

The elf Garrok had met earlier walked out in front of the groups. "Alright! You have all selected your beasts. The first team to return with the head wins and will become the newest crew of the guild, the others if you survive, better luck next time."

The twelve hunters took off. It didn't take the tracking skills of Garrok long to figure out the direction of their wyvern. Each beast had been chained in an area with a member of the Bane waiting to free it upon the team reaching the location. The wyvern, having wings, would normally have posed a problem as it could just fly away so they clipped it to ensure it would not flee. A loud roar confirmed they were on the right track. Thirty, or so minutes later they arrived in a clearing with an angry wyvern tugging at its chain. It turned and noticed the Sect emerging from the trees. At this point the chain went slack, the wyvern noticed immediately and tried to fly away. It got a few feet off the ground before faltering and landing. This made it angry and it attacked.

The tail slammed between the sect, the poisonous tip nearly hitting Erigos as it sunk into the soft dirt. Garrok swung his axe at the tail but the wyvern whipped it back with lightning speed.

"Spread out!" Garrok yelled.

The wyvern spun around trying to figure out who it should kill. It chose Alissa, she was the smallest and to the wyvern the easiest target. Claws raked towards the girl, she mumbled something and that icy dagger appeared in her hand. The claws missed her but it followed up with its tail. It impacted her side, sending her tumbling. She stopped against a tree, and before getting to her feet she let the dagger go. It slammed into the creature. The magical ice crystalized over the scaley skin before exploding, tearing a hole in its side. It roared in pain. Sword, axe and dagger cut into the body and leathery wings as the wyvern was caught off guard by Alissa's attack. The wyvern panicked as the sect overwhelmed it. It lashed out at Erigos, he dodged the first attack but the lightning speed of the tail caught him in the chest. The poison from the stinger pulsed through his body and he fell to the ground convulsing.

Seeing Erigos fall Alissa went into a blind rage. She brought her hand up and screamed with anger. A large ball of fire shot out of her extended hand. It exploded against the side of the wyvern adding to the horrific damage she had already caused it. It wailed in pain and raised up on its hind legs. Rothox dashed at the tail which swung past him. He jumped onto it and stabbed his dagger into the meat carving a large gash. The tail flopped around like a broken twig. Garrok ran at the tail and swung his axe at the same part, finishing Rothox's work, cutting clean through. The wyvern fell backwards as it lost balance. Garrok turned and threw his axe. The blade went end-over-end and slammed into the exposed underbelly of the beast. The wailing stopped as the creature fell into a pool of its own blood.

Alissa rushed to Erigos's side. He was struggling to breathe. She bandaged his wound while casting a spell to remove the poison hoping he would stabilize. She looked at Garrok, "Can you carry him?" She had tears steaming down her face.

Garrok knelt down and scooped up the elf. He was heavy in all his armour but manageable. "He'll be fine Alissa, you removed the poison."

She tried to be strong and nodded an appreciation for the help and comfort.

Meanwhile Rothox worked on the wyvern's head and tail. He had ideas for the stinger. The head was large and awkward to carry but Rothox managed to drag it. Garrok got flashbacks of the young guard in Realt carrying the yeti head.

When they returned to the starting point, no other team was back yet, they had won. Garrok lay Erigos on the ground and the healer from the Bane came over to help him. As Garrok scanned the forest for the other teams he saw yellow eyes staring at him off to the side. Those eyes, he had seen them before. They were so familiar. He felt a voice call to him, he felt a pull towards the eyes. He couldn't help himself he had to find out who they were.

"Garrok, where are you going?" Rothox asked.

Garrok didn't respond; he was in a trance.