Leonora was pacing around the perimeter of her small camp, clad in her quiet, chafing leather armor. The night sky was filled with the eerie crimson light of a blood-moon and nature all around her was quiet, holding its breath in anticipation of a threat that had not come for several hours. The unease of the area was already enough to grate the guardswoman's nerves; and now all of her party were out on a search and rescue mission because her two best scouts had gone missing!
More and more Leonora felt volunteering herself to lead this party into orc territory had been a mistake. The chance to catch Grub-Nug and his tribe of skirmishers had simply been too enticing and glorious to turn down, though. Catching the menace that troubled a popular trade route to the south of her home was something the young warrior could not ignore. She also had a reputation to maintain.
Leonora was the daughter of a duke. What she didn't have in her head she made up for with agility and brawn. A fact that annoyed her father more than it pleased him. He had always wished to push Leonore into the library to study and train her mind, kept insisting a strong physique alone will be useless if you don't have the wits to use them. Early in life Leonora had already given her father's words only little merit. The young woman had learned quickly that swiftness and brawn were more than enough to get your way with most things that couldn't be swayed with the weight of her family's name.
Now, though, as the only one of six party members remaining, Leonora was starting to regret not studying more. Letting everyone else do the dirty work while she 'scouted' camp sounded like something a leader would do. And it felt great to be able to boss people around and be met with a simple "Yes, Ma'am"; even if most of them were half-hearted.
A twig snapped somewhere in the distance. Leonora's breath caught in her throat. She heard nothing but the beat of her own heart thrumming through her temples. Her eyes darted around, frantically searching for the source of the noise. But all around her she just saw trees and shrubbery. The shrubs, yes. That must've been the source! Leonora drew her sword with shaky hands and blindly jabbed at the nearest growth, sending a terrified, bleeding squirrel to run for the nearest tree.
Though the animal's pained exclamations made Leonora jump back from the shrub, it put her more at ease to have seemingly found the source of the noise. Before she fully understood it, she was giggling with relief. It felt as though a boulder suddenly lifted itself from her shoulders.
Then an arrow streaked by, just barely missing Leonora's head as she leaned over to catch her breath. The projectile embedded itself in a nearby tree with a sickeningly loud thud. The stiffness that had waned from Leonora's body mere moments ago returned with a vengeance. Time slowed down, then. It took all her strength to look away from the arrow stuck in the tree to turn around and face the direction it came from.
When finally she managed to turn, Leonora saw the disgusting visage of a lightly armored orc, sneering at his miss. From the looks of it, the beastly warrior must easily have been eight feet tall. For a moment that felt like an eternity, the two simply stared at each other. One filled with dread, the other's lips began to quiver with amusement.
Not deeming her any kind of threat, the orc tossed his bow to the side and yelled "Oi! We's gots ourselves a live one! Breeding stock, at that!" with a sick tone of cheer in his gravelly voice.
Leonora's knuckles went white as her hand clenched around her sword. "Breeding stock? Don't make me laugh, you bi-pedal piglet!" the noblewoman heard herself shout, sounding leagues more confident than she felt. "I'm the daughter of a duke, trained in the art of the blade for nearly a decade! I won't be bred by swine such as your kin!"
A twisted, desperate grin had snuck itself on Leonora's lips. That — along with what she'd just said — gave the orc pause, before he broke into a fit of mocking laughter. From the shadows of the woods, two more orcs stepped beside the orc archer, their faces equally amused by the human woman's outburst. They looked vaguely the same to Leonore, though one of them towered even over the rest of his kin. The way they gave the latter a wider birth than the other orcs made the chances of that one being Grub-Nug, their leader, quite high.
The beastly orcs shared a few glances, whispered words, and grunts before the archer began his approach. "Tells you what, breeding lady," the archer orc began, "We's give you a little chance. You duel me. I win? We breeds. You win? Other duel. Much fair, yes? Name Grub-Bub, by the by. Scream it when mating."
Grub-Bub made a show of how he approached her unarmed, clearly convinced he could simply overwhelm Leonora; and she knew that was the only advantage she had.
The other orcs simply watched, leaning against trees and placing some minor bets on how long it would take Grub-Bub to defeat Leonora. It seemed the duel would be about as fair as it sounded.
So began the all too familiar 'dance' Leonora had grown to adore. Her fear subsided as she and Grub-Bub circled each other. Grub-Bub snarled and tried to scare her by baring his filthy fangs and feinting lunges, but that only helped the noblewoman regain her footing.
The beastly orc behaved just like the drunk and superior feeling guardsmen Leonora had learned her swordsmanship from. Just like them, Grub-Bub looked down at her, underestimated her simply because she was a woman. During training, Leonora enjoyed 'accidentally' breaking the fingers or ankles of particularly annoying sparring partners. Now, the human warrior realized, she could just let the stream of her rage flow.
And she did. When Grub-Bub went for another half-hearted lunge, Leonora did not dodge; instead she met the orc archer's hand with the blade of her sword. There was less resistance than the noblewoman expected when she sliced off the shocked orc's fingers.
Grub-Bub's scream of agony was cut short when Leonora used the lapse in the orc's attention to stab him in the neck, causing the foul monster to drop to his knees, his screams cut short to nothing but a gurgling of rushing blood that drowned out his voice.
A profound sense of victory washed over Leonora's body as she watched the twitching of Grub-Bub's limbs lessen and all but stop. His fellow orcs nearby watched, surprised as their kinsman bled to death. The remaining orc beside Grub-Nug, rallied by Grub-Bub's death, went into a blind fury and blundered towards Leonora, an ugly and battered axe in his hand. "Garum, stop!" the orc that must be Grub-Nug yelled, standing still by the treeline. But it was too late. Garum reached Leonora and tried to strike down the human woman with an over-head strike.
With the after-glow of her first kill boosting her morale, Leonora sidestepped the strike with the shortest hop she felt was safe, watching with glee the building contempt the orc felt at her continued survival.
When Garum tried to go for a side-swipe against the human, he nearly dislodged his own shoulder; much to his and Leonora's surprise the orc's attack had been so fierce he managed to embed his axe in the ground as though it were a spade. All this made him hesitate just a moment too long — Leonora had already cut at the nape of his neck.
Unlike Grub-Bub, Garum died a quiet, almost dignified death. Leonora all but forgot about the remaining orc, Grub-Nub. She only turned when the sound of something whizzing through the air disturbed the quiet. A rock struck Leonora in the side of her head, knocking her out cold.
***
Leonora woke with a start when someone pulled her up by her hair, sending bolts of blinding pain through her. She screamed, or tried to as she came back to her senses. The human woman realized she was now in a dirty, orcish tent. Grub-Nug met her wild gaze with a mocking smile. "You's cost me two good warmongers, breeding stock," Grub-Nug growled, his foul breath washing over Leonora's face, briefly blocking out the stench of the orc's body. "Will take lots of breeding to replace them."
The noblewoman kicked at Grub-Nug, only hurting herself in the process when she realized the orc had stripped her naked while she was unconscious.
"You's a good catch, will give you that," Grub-Nug continued, unbothered by the kick as he looked his prize over, a calloused hand toying with her jiggling bosom. The orc's touch was rough and uncomfortable, causing goosebumps to sprout in the wake of his fingertips.
Try as she might, Leonora was unable to break away from the orc chieftain's groping. She could tell he loved every little squeal, whimper, and insult that escaped her lips as he fondled her body. He didn't even flinch when she spit in his face. Grub-Nug simply smiled, genuinely this time, as he asked "Oh? You wants to get busy already? Sure, Grub-Nug prefers going into breeding stock dry anyway. Makes you cry more."
Grub-Nug forced her to stand then, bending her over and 'balancing' her by holding her hair still, tugging her back against his bulged loincloth.
Leonora cried out in pain as the chieftain pulled at her hair again, her backside grinding against his pulsing erection as she struggled to break away. The beastly orc stared down at her with blazing eyes, enjoying each passing moment of his new toy's agony.
The bald head and yellowed tusks of Grub-Nug shimmered in the sickly light of his tent as he finished reveling. Leonora could tell this would be her last moment of calm in a long time. Try as she might, the adrenaline pumping through her veins kept her firmly in the driver's seat, aware of every movement and touch the savage orc subjected her to.
With his free hand, Grub-Nug smeared his meaty thumb along