This story contains depictions of sex acts performed between consenting males (human and otherwise ;) ). If you are underage or living in a region where such material is illegal, please read no further. This story is a fantasy written solely for entertainment, and as such no real persons or events are portrayed. If you like this story and wish to continue reading others like it, consider making a donation to Nifty. Enjoy :)
Chapter 1
I had never seen an orc before that day. I had heard of them, of course, tales I could scarcely say that I believed. Some said that they had jaws so large and powerful they could crack open a man's skull in one bite. Others said that their skin, which was more the consistency of a serpent's, was so black they were like a walking shadow. Twice the size of a man, and many times more violent, these creatures mostly kept to the deserts and mountains of the south, lands that men had long since abandoned, living in the remnants of ruined cities, which, according to legend, they had been largely responsible for ruining. After the wars of centuries past, orcs and humans had agreed on the lines of their own respective kingdoms and had avoided each other. The last time a band of orcs had been within two-hundred leagues of Isador was at least a century ago, such that no one living could remember what they looked like, which was probably why each story about the creatures was more fantastic than the last.
I had awoken that morning in my small bedroom in the far corner of the palace that I had inhabited since I was a boy to an uproar of whispered voices. When I asked the maid who brought me my breakfast what the matter was, why she looked so pale and frightened, she was hesitant to answer.
"Orcs, my lord, a band of them were spotted at dawn outside the city gates."
I swallowed, feeling my pulse begin to rise. "Orcs?"
"Yes, master," she said as though she wished it were anything else.
I thought back to all that I had been taught about the foreign brutes, the massive casualties from the old wars. If they were suddenly back in the heart of the lands of men, it could not be for good. "Are you sure?"
She nodded. "Everyone's talking about it, especially after your father agreed to see them."
I leapt from the bed. "They're in the palace, now?"
"In the throne room, master," she said, watching as I hurriedly dressed. "No one else is allowed in."
Of course he would bar anyone from seeing the creatures. He would do all he could to protect his people. Still, I knew ways of looking into the vast chamber where no one would notice my presence. I wasn't going to pass up the opportunity to see the black beasts of legend for myself.
"Thank you, Brigette," I said, donning my light blue doublet, adjusting my hose.
"There's something else, sir," she said.
I turned to see her standing by the table, biting her lip.
"What is it?"
"Your father," she said, "he's asked to see you. After you eat of course."
My father wanted to see me while he was meeting with a battalion of orcs? What could he want with me? I was no warrior or diplomat. I was the seventh son, the last of the king's children, largely ignored in favor of my older and stronger brothers. What use would I be in talks with foreign powers?
"Thank you for telling me," I said.
She nodded curtly, avoiding my gaze, curtsying roughly before running from the room.
My appetite left me as I watched her flee. Swallowing the knot of dread that swelled in my throat, I went to my armoire, picking out my favorite baby blue cap with a peacock feather extending proudly from the side. My gold belt notched, my blue loafers studded with sapphires enveloping my feet, I added the final touch, a thin gold necklace looped with pearls that extended down to my navel, a gift from the Queen of the neighboring kingdom of Insin who had told me that I was the most beautiful prince she'd ever seen, and styled just right as I was now, I almost believed her.
Beauty was my weapon, my only real skill. The bones of my face were striking and gracile, my blonde hair bright and gleaming, my eyes a rich, watery blue. I had always been pretty, tall and lean, but beauty was more than just looks. It lay in your style, in the way you carried yourself, the cadence of your voice, what you said, what you wore, and while I was not yet a master, I was fast on track to becoming one, which suited me well as the only accomplishment I could hope to achieve as the seventh son was a suitable marriage to a woman with a handsome dowry. I had already had several offers, mostly from older women, wealthy widows who saw in my youth and beauty the face of God. I'd turned them all down, not yet desperate enough to get hitched, wanting to find a woman who interested me as more than just a speaking partner. At eighteen none had, and while most other men my age had bedded many lasses over, I'd never so much as kissed a girl, kissed anybody for that matter. And if I found my attention drawn more to the bodies of warriors than their comely wives, I didn't think much of it, knowing that someday I would find the right bride.
Too excited to eat, excited and terrified, I made my way through the halls, walking to the center of the palace where my father was waiting for me, waiting with monsters. Servants whispered throughout the halls, growing silent whenever I'd approach only to whisper even more fervently as soon as I'd walked away. This was normal, as the servants were supposed to fall into the background when nobles walked by, but something in their manner, in the way they looked at me, made me feel like this silence was not the silence extended to a noble, but instead the silence that followed when someone was talking about you behind your back. I tried my best to ignore it, but their faces, hardly disguised looks of fright made me uneasy, more nervous than I already was.
The guards at the throne room door gave me a curious look as I approached.
"I was told the king wanted to see me," I said.
They nodded, the one on the right moving to open the door.
"Is it true?" I asked them. "Are there orcs in the palace?"
"Yes, my lord," said the one on the left.
I swallowed. "What are they like?"
"You'll see soon enough," he said.
"Don't keep the king waiting," said the one on the right.
I nodded, taking a deep breath, summoning all of my courage before I entered.
The large chamber of smooth gray marble looked the same as it did every other day, and I supposed that made sense. The content of a room did not change the look of the floor or the walls. However, I felt like the presence of orcs would cause some dramatic shift in the very stone. Little did I know that the spirit of a place could completely alter without changing its skin.
"Ansel," my father called.
Sitting stately on the golden throne, crown propped auspiciously on his balding head, my father beckoned to me, his arm extended, his face calm and serene, which was not the expression I expected from a man who was talking with potentially war-hungry beasts.
He was not alone on the dais, and as I noticed the darkly clad warrior to his right, I halted, gasping.
What I'd first mistaken for a man was not a man at all, but an orc.
He was tall, but not obscenely so, maybe a head or two higher than me, and while he was broad, he was not monstrously so, thickly muscled like any warrior, perhaps stronger than any I'd ever seen, but still if that was all I'd noticed I would have merely thought him a large, muscular man, a handsome one I would even hazard, but that was not all that I noticed, and from there things became very peculiar.
There was a prominence to his jaw that was striking. I doubted he could bite his way through a human skull, but he could almost undoubtedly crack through a walnut with ease, or, I shuddered, gnaw off a finger.
Dark long hair almost like a horse's mane fanned out behind him, reaching down to his thighs. Dark brown, almost black skin that shone like burnished copper had the visible texture of tough leather. Red eyes with the shape and pattern of a wolf's stared at me like I was a piece of meat, sizing me up with a half smile, black lips parting to reveal sharp, white incisors.
Clad in black leather with a red handprint on the chest, a claymore larger and thicker than any I'd ever seen before hanging from a notch at his side, he stood imperiously, towering and proud. He looked more like a knight than a brute, and yet something about him still terrified me.
"Ansel?"
"Sorry," I said, breaking my stare, starting my steps.
"Come and meet our guest."
I stood in front of the dais, bowing slightly to my father and the orc.
"It is a pleasure to meet you, sir," I said, wondering if Sir was the proper title.
"The pleasure is mine," he said with an even wider grin, revealing yet more shark-like teeth.
"Uruk here has journeyed quite a long way to meet you, son," said the king.
"Me?" I said looking from the king to the orc. "Why?"
"A proposal," Uruk said.
I gulped. The way he was watching me I thought he was going to eat me, or perhaps something worse.
"It has come to my attention that your kingdom is bankrupt," said the orc.
"What?"
Bankrupt?! How could we be bankrupt? I looked to my father to see some sign of contradiction, but in his eyes I saw nothing but defeat.
"I'm afraid it's true," he said. "The last few growing seasons have been blighted by disease. We've been living primarily off of the goodwill of our neighbors, but that goodwill has come at a price. I'm afraid if nothing is done we may risk starvation, revolution or war."
Starvation? Revolution? War? How had it gotten so bad?
"Why didn't you tell me?" I asked.
"You were a child," he said. "I did not wish to scare you, but now you are a man, and I can no longer protect you from the world. In fact now it is you who will protect me."
Me? How?
"What can I do?" I asked, flabbergasted.
"You can agree to my proposal," said Uruk.
Why did I think his proposal would be something abhorrent?
"Hear him out, son," said the king. "In the end it will be your choice."
I swallowed, turning to the orc. "What is your proposal?"
Uruk raised his hand, gesturing to the shadows in the back of the throne room. Heavy footsteps caused me to spin around, watching as six orcs carried three massive chests overflowing with gold and jewels.
"I am very wealthy," said Uruk, "as befits a prince."
Every prince except for me, apparently.
The orcs, far less austere in their posture as Uruk and much uglier, set the heaving chests on all sides of me, trapping me in a cell of riches. They propped open the lids so that all of the contents shone in the firelight, glinting and gleaming with more pageantry than my father's crown.
I turned to see my father looking at the gold with the hunger of a man starved, and I couldn't blame him. With this much gold we could buy anything we wanted.
"All of this could be put to your country, if you will but give me your hand," he said.
My hand? I looked once more at his jaw, at those razor sharp teeth. Holding my arms to my chest, I gulped back my fear.
"Is there not something else you could eat?"
The king glowered at me as though I'd made some grievous faux pas, but if I had, the band of orcs was not offended. Indeed they were roaring with laughter.
The orc prince sighed. "If I wanted to eat you, I wouldn't ask you," he said, baring his teeth. "I would just do it."
I blanched, backing up into the chest behind me.
"As delicious as you no doubt are," he said. "I am not paying for the opportunity to taste you. I wish for your hand..."
He held out his palm, lowering on bended knee. Oh God, no. It couldn't be.
"...in marriage."
I froze, open mouthed and unbelieving. "But," I said. "You're a man."
"I'm an orc," he countered as if that somehow explained it.
"A male orc," I said.
"Of course," he said. "All orcs are males."
Then how did they... but, no, that wasn't important now.
"Then why do you want to marry me, a man? Wouldn't you rather marry a woman?"
He scowled. "I would not pay to bed a woman."
Bed?! Good God, what all did he want with me?
"Ansel, it is orc custom to have male... lovers," said the king.
So that was it. He wanted to wed me, to have me for his bed in ways I could not imagine. I shuddered at the thought of lying with this leather skinned monster even if he did mostly resemble a man.
"And if I say no?" I said.
"Your people will starve. Your kingdom will be lost," said Uruk.
I couldn't let that happen, could I? Even if it cost me... everything.
"And if I say yes?" I said, looking to my father who would not meet my gaze.
"You will come to live with me, where your every need will be met. Your kingdom will flourish. Your people will survive."
Surely there had to be another way. I listed every noblewoman who had talked of marriage, sorting out the richest, trying to find just one wealthy enough to solve our problem.
"Father, the Duchess of Isse has massive landholdings and has shown interest. Could she not help us?"
"I'm afraid not even she could pay off our debts," said the king. "You will never receive an offer as promising as Prince Uruk's."
If by promising he meant wealthy, I supposed he was right. How an orc prince was richer than any human noble I did not know.
"You have never shown interest in any of your numerous suitors, anyway," said my father. "Perhaps your interest lies... elsewhere."
It certainly did not lie with orcs, either!
"You are too rare a beauty to be wasted on women," said Uruk. "They will never appreciate you like I will. They will never be enough to fulfill your desires."
"And you will?" I glared.
He leered. "You do not even know the meaning of pleasure until you've been with an orc."
"I find that hard to believe," I scowled.
"You may find many hard things in your future," he said, hand falling to his crotch, "but that belief will not be one."
I didn't know if I wanted to scream or hurl. Would this be my life now? I closed my eyes, well aware that I had no choice. As I felt the tears welling, I ground my teeth. I would not cry. Whatever happened, I would not let him see me cry.
"Fine," I said. "I will marry you."
"Wonderful," said the orc, stepping down from the dais, approaching me. Oh God, what was he going to do to me now?
I flinched as he touched me, which only made him smile wider. He bent down, face inches from mine. Was he going to kiss me? My stomach twisted, and I had to fight back the urge to vomit.
But he didn't. All he did was smell me.
"Mmmm," he said. "A virgin. I would have paid even more had I known he was a virgin."
I gasped as his hand journeyed to clasp my buttocks. He bent forward so that his mouth was at my ear. "I cannot wait to claim you."
I did not want to know what he meant by that.
He walked away, and I could breathe again, but then he was back, a gold torque in his hands. He bent the metal as easily as if it had been naught but paper, placing it around my neck, twisting it to a close.
"Even in death, all will know you are mine."
How soon would that be? For the first time death sounded inviting.
"Come," he said, grabbing hold of my arm, pulling me backwards like I weighed no more than a rag doll. "I would get back on the road. We have many leagues to ride before we can rest."
"Wait!" I pleaded. "Can't I say goodbye?"
His face darkened with a frown. "Fine," he growled, "say goodbye to your pimp, but be quick about it."
Pimp?! I don't know what I was angrier about, the slander of my father or the implication that I was a whore, or, worse than both, the fact that under the circumstances, the very gold used to buy me at my feet, it would appear to be the truth.
He unclenched my arm, and I bolted, running to my father who gave me a weak smile.
"You've done more for your kingdom than you can possibly imagine," he said, grasping my shoulder as I kneeled before him. "If there was any other way..."
"I know," I said, tears beginning to spill. "Don't tell anyone, please. Don't let them know what has become of me. Tell them I died, or ran away, or..."
"Of course," he said.
"And tell mother I love her, and my brothers and sisters," I said.
"I will."
"And please don't think that I hate you, or blame you..."
"Ansel," he patted my shoulder. "Stay strong. Never let them break your spirit. Perhaps someday you can come back to visit us."
We both knew that that would never happen, but still I rubbed the tears from my eyes. It would do us no good to show how we felt.
I didn't know what else to say, what I wanted to hear. Nothing he said could change my fate.
"Goodbye," I said.
He hugged me. "You always were the strongest of your brothers. I hope that... one day... you can find some happiness."
I smiled at him to ease his conscience, but I knew that my days of happiness were over.
He wouldn't look at me as I left, staring at the gold I had won him.
"Come, my bride," said Uruk as I hesitated in the doorway, memorizing the image of the throne room I would never see again. "Or do I need to carry you?"
I hurried after him, hiding my face from the guards, praying that they would not spread rumors of what they had seen, and wishing most fervently that I had never laid eyes on an orc.