Wonderful 33.

The Nomads Plains...

"Where is it?" asks Halatai "Who knows" replies Amagin as the two of them look around in the darkness, they can see quite clearly as all three moons are in the night sky tonight. "Probably smell it before we see it" dryly says Amagin, which causes his cousin Halatai to chuckle.
The cousins are on herd watch, with the goats and sheep in the corrals in the ground behind them at the moment, after the boys returned them from grazing in the scrubby patches of bushes and tough, straw coloured grass that is occasionally found throughout the dry, arid plains of the nomads.
"Call for it" says Amagin, Halatai mutters "You call it" his cousin, who is holding their small lamp, which they haven't needed to light so far, shakes his head, then quietly says in a dry tone "I'd rather not". "Chicken" says Halatai, who like his cousin, and for that matter, most nomads of the plains, has never seen a chicken before in their lives, the son of the tribe's leader then adds "I'll do it, since you won't" Amagin is okay with that, as he doesn't particularly want to.
"Monster" calls out Halatai in a voice that's only slightly louder than what the two boys have been talking in, then he repeats it "Monster" though this time in the townsmen's language, the common language, which their uncle Saladén the far hunter, has been teaching the boys various words and phrases in.
After getting no response, Halatai then calls out "Dorc" this time they hear a grunt in the distance, followed by a word in a deep growling voice. The two cousins glance at one another, they both shrug, and Halatai quietly says "Might as well" then the two boys set off into the night, heading towards where they've heard the monster named Dorc.
Both boys walk with a staff, as well as their bows over their shoulders, not to mention daggers on their belts. They feel fairly safe in the night, knowing that nothing of note will threaten them, for anything dangerous that usually roams near the tribe's camp and grazing grounds, are no longer a threat.
For as Flalil, Amagin's little sister is want to say. There's no more monsters in the night, because the big green stinky monster on two legs has killed them all.
The two boys occasionally glance up at the night sky, for the only thing they really have to worry about, is passing wyverns, though the large winged creatures prefer not fly at night, though once in a while you might see and hear them flying in night sky.
"Dorc" says Halatai again, which is rewarded with another grunt, followed by a word in the nomads dialect, which causes both cousins to sourly smile because they've just been called cunts.
Amagin nudges his cousin walking beside him, and quietly says in their dialect "To the right" Halatai looks that way, and in the moonlight he sees a large figure standing about forty feet away. The two boys cross the flat ground to it, once they stand next to it, though not too close, as it fair reeks, Halatai says "Hey Dorc" in the language of the townsmen.
"Hey cunts" replies Dorc da Orc in the same language as he glances down at the two human children, one of whom says something he can't understand in the dialect of their people, as they don't speak the common language that well, nor does he really.
The ork warleader grunts as he hears the translation provided to him by lord Farque's sword which is across his back at the moment, the large ork then points to the ground a bit further infront of them, and he says "Foods" in the common language, and he makes an eating gesture.
The two boys lift their eyebrows at that, for they know the word food in the townsmen's language, but in no way do they see anything resembling it. They follow the monster, who they've learned is an ork, whatever that is. To where he's pointed, there he kneels down on the sandy ground, puts his face right down and starts sniffing.
In the light provided by the three moons in the night sky, the cousins Halatai and Amagin glance at one another and shrug, for they know the monster has an incredible sense of smell. Not to mention the other senses, as he can see in the night like it's the day, as well as see far distances, not to mention he has hearing that can pick up things from miles away.
The cousins, along with other members of tribe have learnt to communicate with the monster, speaking in a mix of their own dialect, as well as the language of the hated townsmen. Also with gesturing, and acting out things, which Halatai, Amagin and the other children of the tribe are particularly adept at, which the large, green, monster always seems to find amusing.
As he's down on all fours, Dorc da Orc grunts in satisfaction, the large ork then gets up, he takes a heavy sledge from his weapons harness, and he starts whacking the ground with the large hammer.
Halatai and Amagin back up a bit when the monster starts swinging it's massive hammer at the ground. With each strike they feel the ground slightly shake beneath their feet, they know Dorc must be hitting the ground extremely hard if they're to feel even just the slightest of movement beneath them.
"What's he doing?" asks Amagin in the dialect of the plains nomads "He's hitting the ground with that big bloody hammer" says Halatai who is the son of the tribe's leader "I know that" says Amagin in an exasperated tone of voice, who then goes onto add "Why's he doing it?". "I don't know" says the slightly older of the two cousins, who shrugs his shoulders before continuing on in a dry tone of voice with "Why the hell does it do most things?" Amagin is quiet for a moment, then he says "True".
For they, along with everybody else in the tribe, have learnt that the monster, the ork, Dorc, does the strangest of things, for the oddest of reasons. Though that's a fair understatement if there was ever one.
Dorc da Orc grunts as hears a loud crack in the ground beneath him, he hits the ground a few more times with the heavy sledge he's swinging. Then he grunts once more, then hurriedly jumps back after hearing a shouted warning in his mind from lord Farque's sword. The large ork waves the two children back too after he growls at them to "Get the fuck back" in the common language, which they vaguely understand thanks to his gesture to move back.
Dorkindle swings the heavy sledge again, reaching out in a long arc to do so, he hops back quickly as the ground gives way, and a decent sized hole falls in. Then after returning the sledge to his weapons harness, then not even bothering to look, the warleader of the ork race takes a couple of running steps forward, and jumps down through the hole in the ground.
"By Awdhîn, what the hell?" murmurs Halatai in a surprised tone after seeing what the monster just did, the two cousins glance at one another, then they edge forward to have a look down into the hole in the ground that Dorc has just jumped into.
There's not a good angle of moonlight shining down through the hole that's over eight feet wide, so Halatai quietly says to his cousin "Light the lamp" Amagin has already crouched down and is taking out his flint and striker, to light the lamp.
And as Amagin light the lamp, Halatai is certain he smells something down in the hole that isn't the monster, then all of a sudden they hear it say something, it sounds vaguely familiar, like catch, but slightly different, then something lands on the ground just a few yards away to the right from the two boys as they hear Dorc down in the hole, chuckling to himself.
With the lamp lit, and Amagin opening up the canvas hole, so that a beam of light comes from the lamp, he shines it away to their right, at the ground.
"Fuck" yelps Halatai who sees it first, the son of the tribe's leader takes his staff and whacks the deadly sand viper on the head as it slithers towards them in sluggish manner, he hits it a couple of more times just to make sure it's dead, then he looks at his cousin Amagin who mutters "Shit" in a stunned of voice.
The two boys share a look, then they move forward, and Amagin opens the hole in the leather covering on the lamp wider, and shines the light down through the hole in the ground.
They see it's a cave, and they spot the monster Dorc, who is rubbing the back of the head, they also see the floor of the cave is moving. As Amagin shines the light directly down, they see that the floor of the cave is covered with snakes, for the cave is a viper pit, containing hundreds if not thousands of the deadly creatures.
"Fuck, you didn't have to do that" mutters Dorc da Orc as he rubs the back of his head where the hilt of lord Farque's sword has just whacked him for throwing the snake up at the two boys above.
The ork weaponsmith who mutters "Silly snakes" as he's bitten multiple times in the legs by the sand vipers, knows that food out here in the nomads plains isn't exactly plentiful for the nomads. And having eaten snakes with them, which they cook over hot coals after rubbing a spice mix on the snakes that they catch and cut open length wise, the large ork who rather enjoys them cooked like that, knows that the snakes here in this underground cave will be a welcome bounty for the nomads of the tribe he's been living alongside for the last week or so.
Both Halatai and Amagin who are amazed the monster isn't dead as they see it getting bitten over and over again by the deadly vipers, both the more common brown, sandy coloured one, as well as the smaller, and rarer iridescent blue, almost black coloured one. As they know a single bite from either viper will kill a grown man, in mere moments in the case of the smaller rarer snake.
They back up when they hear the monster, say what they think is catch again, this time a bunch of snakes are thrown up through the hole in the ground and land near them, though this time none of them are moving.
To be on the safe side, both Halatai and Amagin whack each snake with their staffs, to make doubly sure that every viper is indeed dead.
Then the two boys start stuffing the dead snakes into the carry sack that Halatai has, all the while, more dead snakes continue to be thrown up through the hole in the ground.
Dorkindle grabs handful after handful of snakes and squeezes them, killing them as they bite him. The weaponsmith from the wolf tribe of orks then throws them up out of the hole above him, as he stomps around, squashing dead any of the other vipers who happen to be caught under his large boots. All the while murmuring "Silly snakes" and "Silly fucken snakes" then making hissing sounds at them in reply to the hisses directed at him by the deadly vipers, many of which are in a slightly torpid state, for it's the middle of the night and it's quite cool, not exactly the most active time for any snake.
Quickly Halatai's carry sack is full of dead vipers, and he runs back to the tribe's camp with it, to get more sacks, and other tribe members to help collect the dead snakes which are an unexpected bounty of food found for them by the monster named Dorc.
Amagin remains at the edge of the hole in the ground, whacking the dead snakes that get thrown up from the cave below by the monster, the ork, Dorc.
Soon Halatai returns with a half a dozen others of the tribe, including his father Chanük, and the boy's uncle, Saladén the far hunter. The new arrivals have all brought their staffs with their regular weapons, along with multiple carry sacks after Halatai has informed them at what is happening.
The brothers Chanük and Saldean look down into the hole, and see what's in the cave below "Damn" murmurs a surprised Saldean, who then has to duck quickly out of the way, as he's nearly hit by a bunch of dead snakes that are thrown up out of the hole in the ground.
The work into the night, filling all of the carry sacks they've bought, then after Chanük the tribe leader says to his brother "Tell him that's enough for now" which Saladén repeats in fluent common to the monster down in the cave below.
Dorc da Orc grunts, then stuffs some of the snakes he's just grabbed and killed, into his mouth and starts eating them, the large ork then mumbles around a mouthful of dead snakes "How the fuck me gonna get out of this cunt hole?" as he didn't exactly think of that when he jumped down into the cave.
After much grunting and swearing, where he hauls over a large rock, after he kicks away snakes that get in his way. Dorc da Orc stands upon the large rock, then jumps up and grabs the edge of the hole above.
Then after more grunting, growling and swearing in more than one language, and much exertion, the large ork pulls himself up and out of the hole in the ground.
Lying there on his back, breathing heavily Dorkindle just grunts in response to both Chanük and Saladén who thank him for what he's just done, after they thank him once more, the ork warleader waves a meaty, skillet sized hand, and tells them in the common language "No worries cunts" . . . . . .