untitled Warcraft fanfic
Posted: 2003-08-17 10:12pm
Chapter one
Draken Jordan eyes widened at the sight before him. The entire plain before the human army was covered by bodies. Green bodies. Orc bodies. Jordan knew that this was the army of rogue Orcs that the assembled army of humans were supposed to fight, by request of Chieftan Thrall. But, it was obvious that someone had done the deed for them, and as he and his fellow soldiers approached with caution, it became apparent that the battle was brutal. It was clear that many of the Orcs were running when they were struck down. This struck Jordan as odd, as the Orcs rarely, if ever, ran from anything.
The commanders, who were just as confused as their men, split the army into small groups of ten, each with their own task. Two of the groups stood watch while three more patroled the surrounding area. The rest were given the "lovely" job of either gathering the corpses and preparing them for burial or digging the large holes that the bodies would be buried in. Draken, a young foot soldier, took a break after he and another soldier finished tossing the body of a large and extremely heavy grunt into one of the pits. He looked around as he caught his breath, surveying the progress. So far they had put about half the dead into the mass graves. But, he knew it would take several more hours to finish. He didn't like that fact at all. The sun was already beginning to set and the sky was relativly cloudy. This put the entire army in danger. It would be very dark and he was sure his comrades were tired from digging holes or heaving bodies. Plus, they didn't know who or what had massacred nearly a thousand Orcs with such brutality, or if they were still nearby. He continued looking around and saw the few Elven priests that had accompanied them giving the dead last rites.
Hours later, the Orcs were buried and crude markers up placed, incase Thrall wanted the bodies returned. By now, the sun had set, the clouds had cleared away and the human army had set up camp several yards away from mass graves. The moon shone down on the human army as men sat around fires, some drinking ale, (the commanders were not about to deny weary men this pleasure) while others roasted rabbit. (which were easily retrieved from a nearby wooded area) Jordan leaned back and looked to the stars. His mind kept returning to the sight that he and the others had come upon eariler that day. "What possibly could've slaughtered an army of Orcs like that?" He thought to himself. He knew it couldn't have been a human nor a Night Elf army. Both races had signed truces with each other, a result of the great war against a demonic race that both the orcs and elves called "The Burning Legion." He had heard stories of the legion a few weeks before fighting in that massive battle, amazingly side by side with what was then the arch enemy of mankind. For a moment, the idea that the undead might've done it. He had seen and heard what these Scourge (as they called themselves) could do. He had heard and seen Ghouls rip both man and orc to shreds in a frenzy. The memories sent a cold chill down his spine. He lifted the flask to his lips and washed the chill away with luke warm ale. "There's no way the undead could be this far down." Jordan took another long sip from his flask and lay down, resting his head on his pack. He had worked hard today and was about to cash in on some well deserved sleep.
Unfortunatly for the young man from Duneshire, his stay in the realm of sleep would be short. The entire camp was woken by a series of screams. Human screams. Draken sat up, listening to the screams of pain...horror...of death. Jordan didn't have to guess the source of the gut wrenching sounds. It had to be the men standing guard out on the perimiter. Something was killing them and whatever it was, it wasn't being merciful. Jordan joined the other soldiers as they quickly put their lightplate and helmets on and grabbed their weapons. They rushed towards the now ebbing cries and what young Jordan and the others saw staggering their way sent perverbial ice siciles down his spine. A footman, stumbled towards his comrades. Both arms were missing, as was the skin and flesh from the side of his face. He bled from dozens of wounds on his face, neck and legs. He bore keep gashes on his back and chest. Gashes that Jordan seen before. It was years ago, when humans, orcs and elves stood shoulder to shoulder against a near unbeatable enemy. During the battle, he had seen a hideous grayish-white creature with black hair and a gaping jaw tear into an unlucky footman with its oversized claws. The marks the creature, which he later discovered was called a 'Ghoul', left on the poor man's torso as it tore into him were almost the exact same as the ones on the man who staggered, then collapsed before his comrades.
The human army stood infront of one of the hills that was situated in the rolling green plains. Each man stood in shock and fear at what they saw. Infront of them and fast approaching was something that filled every man with dread and undying fear - an army of the undead. Draken Jordan felt his bladder relax and release it's contents as the seemingly countless forces of the undead began to charge at army of eight thousand men and as he hefted his broad sword, the air was suddenly filled with screams of Hell itself. Jordan took a deep breath and wished he was back home, working the fields.
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I wrote this chapter in about six hours, a first for me.
Draken Jordan eyes widened at the sight before him. The entire plain before the human army was covered by bodies. Green bodies. Orc bodies. Jordan knew that this was the army of rogue Orcs that the assembled army of humans were supposed to fight, by request of Chieftan Thrall. But, it was obvious that someone had done the deed for them, and as he and his fellow soldiers approached with caution, it became apparent that the battle was brutal. It was clear that many of the Orcs were running when they were struck down. This struck Jordan as odd, as the Orcs rarely, if ever, ran from anything.
The commanders, who were just as confused as their men, split the army into small groups of ten, each with their own task. Two of the groups stood watch while three more patroled the surrounding area. The rest were given the "lovely" job of either gathering the corpses and preparing them for burial or digging the large holes that the bodies would be buried in. Draken, a young foot soldier, took a break after he and another soldier finished tossing the body of a large and extremely heavy grunt into one of the pits. He looked around as he caught his breath, surveying the progress. So far they had put about half the dead into the mass graves. But, he knew it would take several more hours to finish. He didn't like that fact at all. The sun was already beginning to set and the sky was relativly cloudy. This put the entire army in danger. It would be very dark and he was sure his comrades were tired from digging holes or heaving bodies. Plus, they didn't know who or what had massacred nearly a thousand Orcs with such brutality, or if they were still nearby. He continued looking around and saw the few Elven priests that had accompanied them giving the dead last rites.
Hours later, the Orcs were buried and crude markers up placed, incase Thrall wanted the bodies returned. By now, the sun had set, the clouds had cleared away and the human army had set up camp several yards away from mass graves. The moon shone down on the human army as men sat around fires, some drinking ale, (the commanders were not about to deny weary men this pleasure) while others roasted rabbit. (which were easily retrieved from a nearby wooded area) Jordan leaned back and looked to the stars. His mind kept returning to the sight that he and the others had come upon eariler that day. "What possibly could've slaughtered an army of Orcs like that?" He thought to himself. He knew it couldn't have been a human nor a Night Elf army. Both races had signed truces with each other, a result of the great war against a demonic race that both the orcs and elves called "The Burning Legion." He had heard stories of the legion a few weeks before fighting in that massive battle, amazingly side by side with what was then the arch enemy of mankind. For a moment, the idea that the undead might've done it. He had seen and heard what these Scourge (as they called themselves) could do. He had heard and seen Ghouls rip both man and orc to shreds in a frenzy. The memories sent a cold chill down his spine. He lifted the flask to his lips and washed the chill away with luke warm ale. "There's no way the undead could be this far down." Jordan took another long sip from his flask and lay down, resting his head on his pack. He had worked hard today and was about to cash in on some well deserved sleep.
Unfortunatly for the young man from Duneshire, his stay in the realm of sleep would be short. The entire camp was woken by a series of screams. Human screams. Draken sat up, listening to the screams of pain...horror...of death. Jordan didn't have to guess the source of the gut wrenching sounds. It had to be the men standing guard out on the perimiter. Something was killing them and whatever it was, it wasn't being merciful. Jordan joined the other soldiers as they quickly put their lightplate and helmets on and grabbed their weapons. They rushed towards the now ebbing cries and what young Jordan and the others saw staggering their way sent perverbial ice siciles down his spine. A footman, stumbled towards his comrades. Both arms were missing, as was the skin and flesh from the side of his face. He bled from dozens of wounds on his face, neck and legs. He bore keep gashes on his back and chest. Gashes that Jordan seen before. It was years ago, when humans, orcs and elves stood shoulder to shoulder against a near unbeatable enemy. During the battle, he had seen a hideous grayish-white creature with black hair and a gaping jaw tear into an unlucky footman with its oversized claws. The marks the creature, which he later discovered was called a 'Ghoul', left on the poor man's torso as it tore into him were almost the exact same as the ones on the man who staggered, then collapsed before his comrades.
The human army stood infront of one of the hills that was situated in the rolling green plains. Each man stood in shock and fear at what they saw. Infront of them and fast approaching was something that filled every man with dread and undying fear - an army of the undead. Draken Jordan felt his bladder relax and release it's contents as the seemingly countless forces of the undead began to charge at army of eight thousand men and as he hefted his broad sword, the air was suddenly filled with screams of Hell itself. Jordan took a deep breath and wished he was back home, working the fields.
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I wrote this chapter in about six hours, a first for me.