Beginnings

[Therak]

Been working a bit on writing about Theraks past, I'll be posting more parts in here as I finish them.
It's not much for now, but hopefully I'll be getting somewhere with this.

The snow was covering the hills leading up to the alterac mountains, turning them into a gleaming white and untouched wonderland. The air was still, clear and crisp and the morning sun made the temperature almost too warm with all the fur and wool on.
With bow in hand a shape crept through the snow. Grey wool and fur covered him from head to toe, he had pushed his white cloak back, to allow himself to reach the quiver more easily.
In a landscape like this there was no way to avoid leaving tracks, but the snow was a fine powder, and as the wind would pick up a little when the sun was higher up in the sky, any tracks would be gone soon enough. Besides, animals didn't rely as much on seeing the tracks, as much as smelling them.
He stopped, in the treeline a doe had appeared, alone. It sniffed the air, as he slowly drew an arrow, nocking it to the bowstring.
In a smooth movement he drew the arrow to his ear, aimed and released it. The arrow flew true, and the doe took a few steps before falling over.
Dinner secured, there was no longer any need for stealth, so he picked up speed and quickly found himself by the doe, it was dead and cooling in the snow. The blood had turned the snow into slush, so he dragged it off a few steps before tying its legs together, and lifting it up on his shoulders.
As he turned to leave, he saw a child huddled under one of the trees, watching the doe hungrily. He looked half starved, and wasn't wearing more then rags. He couldn't have been more then five or six winters. Filth caked him to the point where you almost couldn't see that his skin was green.
”You hungry?”
The child nodded, hesitantly. It was clear that even hungry as he was, he wasn't going to blindly trust a stranger.
”I'm camped in a cave not too far away. There'll be food enough for both of us, and I have a spare cloak that you can have... This is no weather for a child to be out alone in, not dressed like you at least.”
He didn't look to see if the child followed him, but set a comfortably slow pace back towards the cave.
A few moments later he heard the child follow, careful to keep his distance. Excellent... This was something he could work with.

A while later they were sitting on opposite sides on the fire, the child had a whole leg to himself, tearing into it like he hadn't eaten in a week. From the look of him, that may very well be the case.
”I could use an extra pair of hands here... You'll be working for your food... But by the looks of it, you'll be better clad and better fed then on your own...”
The child stopped eating for a moment, staring at him through narrowed eyes.
”And you're just going to give me this chance?”
The chuckle that erupted from the elders throat was warm. Surprisingly so, even for himself.
”No, don't get me wrong... I don't like to see children suffer or starve. But I am getting old, I have things to pass on, and no one to pass them on to.”
He smiled, the child wasn't stupid. That was something at least, still young enough to be impressionable and intelligent enough to hopefully learn enough...
The child kept staring at him for a few moments, before nodding.
”I guess... Do we always eat like this?”
”No, can't hunt up all the prey out here. Then there'd be no food next winter. Sometimes I get ahold of bread, sometimes oats. We eat what we can get ahold of... But we'll always eat.”
He took a bite from his own piece of meat before continuing.
”What's your name then?”
”I'm called 'shitstain' and sometimes just 'runt'”
”Hardly names worthy of an orc... I guess I'll call you Therak. Will that do?”
The child nodded slowly, in a way making him seem far older then his appearance suggested.
”And your name?”
”Hrm... I gave that one up... Think of me as a kindly uncle... That'll do, you can call me 'Uncle'”
It was late before they were done with the dinner, and had gotten Therak cleaned up, it was a cold bath in a stream, scrubbing with some kind of porous rock, getting the filth off him and leaving his skin sore.
The cloak was a welcome warmth. Even if the cave kept the wind out, the coals in the brazier only warmed so much. Therak was wrapped in it, a book that was looking comically oversized in his hands. He couldn't understand the squiggly shapes in it, but his new 'uncle' had assured him they made sense once he got the hang of it.
”That letter is an A, that one is a D, then there's another A, a P and finally a T. It forms the word 'Adapt'. Which means that you change according to the situation. Like a rabbits fur becomes white in winter.”
Therak noddes slowly, tracing the letters with a finger, at a first glance everything had looked the same on the page. But the more he looked, the more he could see the pattern. There were spaces every few letters, apparently indicating words beginning and ending. What the dots that popped up every few words or so didn't quite make sense yet.
”Why do I need to know this? It's alot of words, isn't it enough that I know what the words mean?”
His uncle smiled faintly, nodding.
”Knowing what the words mean are important. But books containt not just words, they combine into knowledge. It's an excellent way to gain that knowledge without having someone teaching you. Knowledge is power, sometimes the information you thought was useless, can be just the thing you need. If you apply it right.”
Therak frowned, his full stomach, and being warmer then he'd been for days wasn't helping his concentration. His brain worked overtime to process the barrage of information, and he didn't last another hour before he simply nodded off.
His uncle nodded to himself, he thought the kid would be asleep sooner. There was a strong undercurrent of stubborness in him, it would serve him well. If it could be harnessed that was...


Three years had passed, again it was winter. Therak was moving towards the mouth of the cave, keeping low in the night.
His eyes was straining to see, and he was listening for the slightest sound to give him a hint to where his opponent was hiding. He had a firm grip on the wooden blades in his hands, ready to defend himself if need be.
The game was simple, if Therak could reach the cave and get three hundred steps away from it again, he'd eat. If his uncle stopped him. He would not eat.
All the games they played were simple in that regard, there was never alot of rules, everything was allowed. Fail and he went hungry, succeed and he'd eat. He worked for everything, for his clothes, for his tools and of course, for his food.
The games varied from games like this, reach a spot, take something and get out. To games of memory, see what had changed in the cave, or remember which finger his uncle wore a ring on the day before. Some was about defending himself from an attacker, or he'd have to climb trees and cliffs.
He couldn't quite make sense of why he'd be doing all these things, but it didn't have to. He got to eat more often then not, and was warm enough during the winter.
The sound of something breaking the surface of the snow brought him back to the now, he twisted in the direction of the sound, bringing his weapons up to block, only to find that there was noone there.

He watched as Therak slowly crept up towards the cave, the technique was allright. A little sloppy with stopping to listen and watch, but much better then last time. He'd seen him watch the area for the better part of three hours, not bad at all. The child was beginning to understand the value of patience.
As the young orc was getting closer to the cave, he threw a stone off towards one side, watching the orc turn in that direction. Seconds later he slammed into the child, careful not to hit him too hard.
The orc rolled with the tackle, pushing his opponent off him, scrambling to his feet barely in time to block a flurry of blows from his uncle. He even managed to get a few strikes in of his own, poorly aimed, but still.

He made a few gentle swipes towards the small orc, easily parrying the few counterstrokes the child managed. He had to be careful, adapt his attacks to what Therak could manage to block and parry. Pushing his limits, but never too far. The little orc even caught him by surprise when he kicked up snow to cover a quick slice with the blade towards his thigh. Good initiative was to be rewarded...

Therak kicked up snow at his uncle, darting forward to slice at the thigh, feeling mighty pleased with himself as his uncle fell over, clutching as his thigh.
Leaving his uncle behind, Therak rushed towards the cave, jumping over the crude trap his uncle had set up earlier and snatched up the bag with the food. Then it was just a matter of jumping back out, running off into the night.
He'd be eating tonight.

[Rórir]

I liked it  You have a pretty dynamic way of writing and despite that nothing epic happened it was still an interesting read

[Therak]

And after a long wait, I finally got around to finishing part 2...


The cave had changed almost as much as Therak had over the past few years, rather then the bare and rough walls that had dominated it when he first came here. They were now hidden by several shelves, a desk that was awkwardly big for Therak as well as closets filled with different kinds of training materials.
When he'd first arrived he'd thought the cave small and cramped, but by now he'd realised the cave he'd seen then was just the mouth of it. Deep in the back, hidden in shadows and covered by a dark tapestry was a passage deeper inside to a much larger cave.
Therak was currently sitting at the desk, leaning over a book, trying to make sense of it.
By now he was fluent in both Common and Orcish, but his Uncle had decided Thalassian was next in his education, and so the book was filled with the intricate and elegant shapes of the elven language, explaining how to defend against and confuse mind magic.
The biggest problem with his reading was his uncle having a conversation with a High Elf over by the firepit, he had to keep track of that conversation while also reading and remembering what he was reading. They were speaking in hushed voices and in common, making Therak keep track of two languages at once and it was quickly giving him a headache.
The conversation was about how the two adults had first met, both trying to get ahold of the same information and quickly realizing if they worked together they would both succeed rather then being stubborn and stumbling over eachother.
The young orc didn't for a second believe the story to be true, that wasn't the point of it. It was a lesson in itself, just like everything else had been, besides there were too many things that just didn't add up.
His head was filled to the bursting with information in information, everything to some point built from what he'd learned before.  The languages of the lessons could switch at any point, any lesson could suddently become a fight to escape or he could suddently be given a cipher to work on and set time to solve it. There had even been a time when in the middle of their morning jog, Therak had to leave all his clothes and belongings and been told he'd be spending a week there, and wasn't allowed to return to the cave.
He didn't always succeed, far from it. But every time he was just a little closer, just a little better, just a little faster.

He quite enjoyed the idle conversation with his friend. It was relaxing to make it up on the spot like this, and hopefully Therak would be able to explain to him how he knew it wasn't true.
The child had grown both mentally and physically, but he still seemed to be too small for his age compared to the orcs he'd seen in the camps. He didn't worry about that though, if anything it was an advantage, he might be mistaken for a human in the right outfit, and in darkness.
The child must have been twelve by now, maybe thirteen, hard to say with his small frame.
The training was progressing at a harsh pace, and it was noticable in the kid. He didn't complain, but it was obvious he was getting headaches. It'd be time for a week of peace and quiet for him soon, autumn would soon be here and some more survival would be useful.
He clapped his hands, interrupting the lesson.
”Get some sleep Therak, we'll review tonight before breakfast.”
He watched in silence as Therak closed the book and headed out to the stream. He'd grown, but was it enough? Ten more years and he'd have turned the foundling into something to be proud of, but did he have ten years? Unlikely. Five was more reasonable, seven if he was lucky. What he was doing wasn't popular in the community, especially as he was supposed to have retired.
He'd had to call in favors all over the place, most to be left alone but some to get help completing the education.
Five years... would he be up to the task? An arrow loosed could never be taken back, no matter if the shot was good, bad or even aimed at the wrong target...
Therak woke with the dawn, tempted to pull his blanket around himself and refuse to go up. The autumn chill had finally seeped into the cave, making the notion of leaving the warmth distinctly unpleasant.
It was only a vain dream though, he knew he had to get up. With a sigh he left the warmth of the blanket and began pulling enough clothing on to stave off the worst of the cold and headed out to get water for making breakfast.
The sky was a dark purple, slowly growing into a bright red by the sunrise. It was all in all promising to be a bright and beautiful autumn day. The trees had began to lose their vibrant green in favor of yellows and reds. By now the Hinterlands would be stunning, but the mountains of Alterac had their own charm. After all, it was Home.
He filled two buckets at the stream, and then washed his face. The cold water did wonders to wake him up. He could feel its bite at his cheeks and forehead, but his head was clear and it helped with the constant throbbing of a headache.
Once back inside the cave, he put some wood on the remnants of the fire and leaned down to blow new life into it. Once it was crackling softly he set a pot above it to start boiling water.
Moments later his Uncle emerged from the inner cave, looking Therak over.
”Time to head out in the forest. One week then return here. One knife, no other tools or equipment. You can keep your clothes.”
His Uncle rarely wasted time on pleasantries, and this was certainly not one of those times.
Therak knew better then to argue, and simply emptied his pockets, and after a quick patdown he was set out into the mountains to survive.

The week passed in relative comfort. Trapping rabbits were easy enough, he could make what he absolutely needed and there was plenty of water. He knew this place by now, it didn't offer too many challanges.
Upon his return to the cave, the Elf was there again. Something about his smile gave Therak a sinking feeling in his gut. Something was pressed up against his mouth. As he breathed in in surprise and was about to send an elbow backwards, everything turned black.
When he came to, he was tied securely to a chair. His Uncle and the Elf standing in front of him.
”Let's hope you remember what you read, we'll be putting it into practice. We want to know how many rabbits you caught the first day. You're to stop it.”
The elf closed his eyes, and Therak suddently felt a pressure in the back of his skull, followed by a feeling he could only describe as violating. Memory after memory was pulled to the front of his head, looked at and carelessly thrown aside. He'd never felt that disoriented before, and it wasn't long before he heard a voice.
”Three, a wolf had gotten to another two.”
The rummaging about stopped, and Therak finally started recovering his senses.
”How many traps did he set?”
Therak had to think quickly, recalling the lines in the book speaking about brute force being unlikely to work unless he had a talent for mind magic himself, and was stronger.
Instead he tried to focus on a different number, twelve instead of thirteen. Close enough to the truth but still would be wrong...
The feeling of his memories being examined and tossed about came again.
”Thirteen, but he's hoping I'll fall for him thinking twelve. Might have fooled a beginner.”
No luck there... What else had the book said?
”If they remotely know what they're doing, they won't take your word for it if you're thinking hard about something specific. Better to think of anything but, confuse them with a barrage of unrelated memories. It's your mind, you're in control of it. That won't work here though”
His uncles voice continued.
”How many different camps did he use?”
He tried trick after trick from the book, all failing. The whole day continued like this, a question and a demand he keep the answer hidden. Shortly after he'd fail, be given a new set of advice and then it continued. When it finally stopped for a break, the sun had set, and he was given a few mouthfuls of water.
”We'll continue tomorrow. You're not leaving the chair until you've succeeded.”
His uncle walked off, presumably to sleep while the Elf stayed a few moments longer, looking over Therak.
”Don't tell your uncle I helped you... But spend the night trying to push a different persona to the front, without those memories I seek. It'll be more successful then trying anything else. If I think there's no more depth then what I see, I've little reason to dig deeper...”
He walked off without another word.
Therak fell asleep almost instantly, exhausted by the repeated assaults on his mind.
His dreams were troubled nightmares. He was strapped to a table as a large shadow cut open his skull, and then used tweezers to pull a fraction of brain out at a time, examining it before tossing it aside.
He was being held down, as a giant squid pushed a straw through his skull, sucking the contents out with loud, slurping noisies.
When he woke his whole body hurt, his throat was dry and his uncle and the elf was standing in front of him again.
”How many knives does he usually carry on him?”
Again the pressure in the back of his skull...


He was sitting by the fire with the elf, Therak was still strapped in the chair and hadn't been allowed to leave for a week by now. The stench in there was revolting and the child wasn't making much progress.
”He's managed to create a small fake persona at the forefront of his mind. It's... not enough to fool more then a cursory inspection and I don't think we'll see much more progress in this. He just doesn't have the aptitude for it...”
His friend sounded tired, a week of that much digging into a mind, even one as poorly defended as Theraks was taking its toll. But if he said they'd not get further then...
”I guess we can't always get what we want... At least he'll pass a cursory examination. What about the other thing?”
The elf sipped his winecup before continuing, he didn't sound entirely happy with what he'd done.
”I've placed the trigger phrase and the instructions as deep as I dare. Unless something breaks it, it'll set him off. I can't say I agree with the method though... The damage it could do to his psyche-”
He raised a hand to interrupted the elfs talking.
”Is of secondary concern. We both know how important this may be, and you're being paid enough to put your scruples about it to the side. Let's leave it at that.”
The elf hid his frown behind another sip of wine.
”Besides, I won't be using the phrase unless it becomes necessary...”