Orcish Customs Ch. 01

Just so you know, chapter 1 is mostly set-up. There's a lot of nudity, but not much sex until the next chapter. Hope you enjoy!

***

Branches caught at Ash's sleeves as she ran through the forest. Breathing fast, her footsteps landed heavily, heedless of any obstructions on the forest floor - until her foot came down wrong on a thick root, sending her pitching forward to the ground. She hit the ground hard, breath driven from her lungs for a moment, and she could feel that one of her outstretched arms had landed right in a thornbush.

She scrambled back to her feet immediately, leaving long, shallow scrapes along her hand as she pulled it from the thorns, and began running again. She dared not look back to see if the bandits were still behind her. Why they were taking such pains to chase her down, she didn't know, but none of the answers could be good.

They had come down on the caravan so fast. Ash was on her way to the capital to take a position under the court physician, away from home for the first time in her life, and joining up with the caravan was supposed to be the safest way to travel. They were weeks out from her village now, and the strangeness of the traveling life had all but worn off. The seasoned travelers had been very kind to her, showing her old tricks for life on the road, and she'd found someone her own age to talk to in the form of the master merchant's daughter. She had been comfortable. Then, just a few minutes ago - although it felt like hours - the bandits had arrived.

The caravan had been circling for the evening when they attacked, shooting crossbows from the treeline. The guards had fallen as if struck by lightning. While the merchants and other travelers in the caravan were still too shocked to react, the bandits, still brandishing crossbows, had descended on them from the roadside and begun herding them into a group. Four bandits had gone straight for the master merchant's wagon, although he kept no money there; it was just where he and his daughter slept. There had been screams, and the bandits had emerged a moment later - just long enough to learn where the money was, Ash thought with a shudder - with blood on their blades. Then they'd joined the others in rounding up the rest of the traveling party.

Ash had been lucky, having stepped outside the circle to get a better look at a plant she'd spotted. It looked like a herb she'd learned the uses of in her studies, but taller and with narrower leaves than the ones that grew at home. She was several feet into the underbrush, trying to determine if it was the same species, when the bandits came. She'd stayed frozen with horror in the brush, watching the chaos - until one of the bandits bent to pick up something shiny. Ash had felt at her neck. Her necklace was gone. That catch that she'd put off fixing had gone again.

The bandit had looked at the necklace, straightened and put it in his pocket, looked at the trees, and made eye contact with Ash. Not knowing what else to do, she'd turned and run. Now she was crashing through the woods, praying to any and every god that the bandits would abandon the chase.

She tripped again.

This time, as she placed a palm on the ground to push herself back up, a boot came down next to it. She rolled away from it by reflex, and from on her back she looked up into the faces of two bandits. One of them drew his sword.

Ash screamed, and then the bandit... flew to the side. She scrambled backwards into a sitting position and looked in the direction he had vanished. A few yards away he lay slumped against a tree, groaning, a huge battle-axe embedded in his side. Ash looked the other way, to see where it had come from. There, emerging from the trees, was a hulking man in steel armor.

His helmet obscured his face, and it was painted with a complex design of black lines and curves. He turned from the whimpering bandit, seeming satisfied that he was no longer a threat, and fixed his attention on Ash. The slight turn visibly shifted his weight towards her, and Ash instinctively scrambled back a few more inches.

While Ash had been staring in shock at the new arrival, the other bandit had apparently been doing the same, and he had now recovered enough to charge. Now without his axe, the warrior simply stepped to the side and stuck out his arm - an arm so thick, Ash thought she might not have been able to wrap both hands around the bicep. The bandit ran into it and dropped as though he had hit an iron bar, the warrior barely budging. He crouched down and picked up the prone bandit, one hand at his neck and one at his waist, and tossed him over Ash's head and into the woods beyond, where Ash heard him thud as he landed.

Ash watched in silent amazement as the warrior walked over to the first bandit's body and pulled his axe free. He took a cloth from a pocket in his trousers and carefully wiped the blade clean of blood, then slung the axe over his back. He walked back to where Ash still lay and held out his gauntleted hand.

Ash took it, and he helped her to her feet. Standing, she could judge his size better, and he was still huge. A full foot taller than her own five foot nine, with a barrel chest and broad shoulders, he was the most imposing figure she had ever seen. Then he took off his helmet. His face was handsome enough, in a square kind of way, although the exact shape of his features was almost disguised by his tattoos, which matched the pattern on his helmet exactly. She noticed all these facts distantly, as if they were a distant echo behind her main thought: this man's skin was green, and he had inch-long tusks jutting up from his lower jaw. Ash thought of every story she had heard in the village inn about the fearsomeness of orcs, and swallowed the impulse to take off running again.

"What's your name?" asked the orc. His voice was surprisingly smooth, though just as deep as she'd expected. Nor did it have the brusque, angry tone she would have associated with a warrior like this. Instead, this imposing orc sounded genuinely concerned for her.

"Ash," she managed to get out.

"Hello, Ash. I'm Toruq. Are there more of these men?"

"No," she said. "Yes. I - There were more at the caravan, but I don't know if any followed me. I think... I think I was the only one to get away."

"Then it would be well to leave here before we find out. Can you walk?" Ash nodded. "Follow me."

Toruq turned and began to push through the forest. Ash remained still for a moment, then darted over to the body of the first bandit. Trying to ignore the wound in his side, she reached into his pocket to find her necklace. It was a cheap thing, only gilded, but she'd saved up money from odd jobs for months to buy it from a traveling salesman. It was the first thing she'd ever bought herself, before she'd even reached her twelfth summer. She'd kept it ever since, and now it was the only thing she had left from home.

She pulled out the necklace, and a crumpled piece of paper came with it. She quickly stuffed both in her pocket, and then, not knowing what else to do, she followed the orc into the forest.

*

After only a short walk - Ash supposed Toruq must not have been too far away, if he had been able to hear her running from the bandits - they reached what must be Toruq's campsite. It was sparse: a small firepit near a few fallen logs. Against one of the logs sat a large pack, next to which was a rumpled brown cloth that looked like a blanket.

Toruq gestured for Ash to sit on the other log, which she did. With the weight off her legs, she realized they had been shaking for some time, from fear and exhaustion both. Toruq took the blanket, spread it flat on the ground, and began removing his gauntlets.

"Where was your caravan going?"

"Tarandenne," Ash answered quietly.

The orc grunted. "I just left there. I would escort you, but I have to be home as soon as I can."

He placed the gauntlets gently down on the cloth, then began to unbuckle the breastplate. "We're closer now to my home than Tarandenne anyway. If you come with me, you could find safe passage from there."

"I - thank you," said Ash.

Toruq said nothing. He laid the breastplate down next to the gauntlets, then pulled off his leather shirt. The wide expanse of his chest and stomach was decorated with the same winding tattoos as his face and hands, and she could see the hair on it - grayer than the dark hair of his head, and becoming thicker in a line down the center of his chest. Although she couldn't see them, Ash knew that under a layer of fat, his muscles were like rock. He had the same build as Colim the blacksmith's apprentice, who won the hay bale toss every harvest festival back home. Ash had no doubt that Toruq could carry a hay bale as easily as she carried a bag of flour.

He laid down the shirt and bent to remove his boots, then began unlacing his trousers. Ash started, and -

Dear gods!

Toruq had removed his trousers, and now stood naked and seemingly unselfconscious before her. His legs were even thicker than his arms, and decorated with more of the same tattoos, as was - gods, she couldn't stop herself looking -

One of the black lines on his chest traced its way down to his groin, disappeared under a mass of black hair, then resurfaced to run all the way along the top of his cock. It was just... hanging there, thick and green, with his balls dangling below. It was longer than any she'd ever seen soft. It was like he had no shame!

It swayed from side to side as he walked back towards the firepit, seemingly not noticing how her eyes followed it the whole way there. He sat on the log opposite hers, his legs spread as if to frame it. Ash felt a bulge beginning to grow in her own trousers. Did he really have no idea what he was doing?

Toruq leaned down to reach into the pack, and pulled out a smaller cloth parcel. He held it up to her. "Food?" he asked. "We won't have time to hunt and build a fire tonight." Ash nodded, feeling like someone else was moving her head for her.

Toruq stood once more and walked around the fire to her, that cock moving closer and closer to her eyeline. He handed her the parcel. As she took it, her hand touched his finger, and she felt its warmth. She couldn't help but notice how small her own hand looked in comparison. He walked back to the pack, pulled out a second parcel, and sat down to unwrap it. This time, he put one foot up on the log, using his beefy thigh to rest one arm as he ate. His cock couldn't have been more on display if he'd been thrusting it in her face, and Ash blushed even deeper at the thought. She was now completely hard, her own cock straining against the fabric of her trousers.

After watching the orc eat for a moment, she remembered her own parcel, and unwrapped it. Dried fruit and dried meat. Simple traveling fare, but she realized she was hungrier than she thought, and tore through it greedily. Now that she had some food in her, she felt brave enough to ask the question.

"Are you, um... aren't you going to put your clothes back on?"

Toruq didn't look up from his meal. "If they haven't caught us by now, they're not going to."

She frowned. What did that mean? He must have thought she was referring to his armor. His speech seemed fluent enough, but perhaps he hadn't understood her. She tried again. "Don't you have other clothes besides your armor?"

This time he did look up. "No."

He stared at her for a moment, and she wilted. They finished their meal in silence, and the orc stood up.

"Rest," he said. "We begin traveling in the morning."

She stood as well, and they moved towards their respective sides of the fire circle. She would have to sleep on the ground, she supposed. Well, she couldn't expect a warrior traveling on his own to bring bedding for two. Or even for one, it occurred to her, since she had been wrong about the purpose of the large cloth. At least her traveling clothes were fairly warm -

"You'll need a blanket," Toruq said. It was half a question, as if the thought had only just occurred to him.

"If you have one," she said uncertainly. The orc returned to the cloth with his armor arrayed on it, reached down, and pulled it out from underneath, the armor pieces clattering against each other as he shook them to the ground. He handed the cloth to her, then bent down to painstakingly lay his armor out again on the ground. As Ash wrapped herself in the blanket and lay down, she noticed that he was giving her a perfect view of his ass, as broad and muscular as the rest of him. She could just make out a hint of darkness that suggested the tattoo on his groin extended to encircle the base of his balls as well.

Once he had replaced his armor, Toruq simply lay down near it, naked on the bare ground. That must have been how he was planning to sleep anyway. Ash finally tore her eyes from the sight of him, and finally drifted to sleep.

*

"Wake."

Ash blinked open bleary eyes, and was greeted by the sight of a thick green cock hanging above her head. She started to bolt upright, froze halfway at the thought of what her head might bump into, and turned around in her blanket to sit and face the orc. She began to remember the events of yesterday. The horrible scene she'd left at the caravan... the bandits chasing her through the woods, like something from a nightmare... the way Toruq had torn through her attackers like straw dolls... and the way he had stripped and sat in front of her, unashamed of his nakedness. He was still naked. None of it had been a dream.

"We should start walking. Eat." He held up a piece of jerky with a bite taken out of it, as if to illustrate the idea, and tossed another, unbitten, onto the blanket in front of her. "Take care of your business, if you have to, then return."

He turned and walked into the woods, presumably to do as he had suggested to her. In the light of morning, she could see even better the care that had been put into the design that spread across his back and down his legs... and across his ass, which hypnotized her with its movement as he walked into the trees.

After he was gone, she ate the jerky as if in a daze, allowing herself to begin processing yesterday's events - horror and confusion in equal measure. Then she rose and walked in the opposite direction from Toruq. Once she had gotten out of eyesight from the camp and then some, she found a place to do her business. No chamber pots or outhouses here, of course, but she had grown used to it over weeks of travel, and she knew which leaves were soft and smooth. When she was done, she paused for a moment to think.

Was she really going to go with him? Turn in an entirely different direction from her destination, towards a land of orcs? But what else could she do? She couldn't walk the rest of the way to Tarandenne. And for all the stories she'd heard about orcs, Toruq had been nothing but kind to her. Perhaps the rest of his people would be similarly welcoming, and she really could find passage to Tarandenne.

It seemed her only option. Ash nodded once, committing herself to the decision, then began to walk back to the camp.

At the campsite, Toruq was putting all his armor back onto its cloth. As Ash watched, he lifted up the corners and tied them together to make a sack - a great change from the reverence and care he'd shown when taking it off the previous night. Ash supposed it was only pragmatic, since he had no other way of carrying it. He put his pack over one shoulder and slung the sack over the other, carrying them like they were nothing, although Ash knew that together they must have weighed as much as she did.

Walking behind him, she could only see glimpses of his back muscles moving under the bags - but the firm muscles of his ass were once again on full display. Ash abruptly realized that it was unseemly to stand behind him and stare, and tried to catch up, but although Toruq was clearly walking slowly to accommodate her, the best she could do was remain a half step behind him, to the side.

As the day wore on, the orc made conversation, clearly hoping to put her at ease. "Why were you going to the capital?" he asked.

"I'm a herbalist," Ash said. "A journeyman healer. My master submitted me to finish my training under the royal doctor, and he agreed to take me on as one of his apprentices."

"Your master?" Toruq said. "You're training in the Order of Karela?"

The Order of Karela were the keepers of the world's greatest repository of medical knowledge, and therefore was the source of most of the world's doctors. Every member, including Ash, could trace a line from their master, to their master's master, all the way back to Karela, the Mother of Medicine herself.

Ash nodded. "Yes."

"The court will be very lucky to have you. Not many Order-trained healers come far into the mountains."

"Well, I'll just be one of many apprentices there." Then, thinking she ought to get to know her companion better, she asked, "Why were you in Tarandenne?"

"I'm a diplomat." Ash hoped she had successfully hid her surprise. It was not a profession she'd ever imagined an orc holding. "An ambassador from the Black Rock Horde to the Court of Tarandenne. I just finished conducting trade negotiations there." He paused for a moment. "Will this be your first time in the capital?"

"My first time in any city," Ash said. "This is the farthest I've ever been from my village."

Toruq stopped and turned to face her. Ash was once again confronted with the great wall of his chest, and she fought to keep her eyes from drifting down, though she could imagine how the sudden motion had set his cock swinging.

"Had you ever seen an orc before me?" he asked.

"No," Ash said. "There were none in my village." Or any village for miles around, she thought but did not add.

"Then you wouldn't know... Ash, I am so sorry. There are enough orcs in the cities that most humans there know our customs. Now I understand why you asked about clothes last night." Looking into his eyes, Ash could read real surprise and regret. "Orcs do not wear clothes," he continued. "To cover yourself is seen as a grave insult to those you are with, showing you don't trust them and think you need protection. I have never worn clothes except into battle."

Ash reeled. This was why he had acted like his nakedness was unworthy of comment. It was no strangeness on his part; that was just how orcs lived. But did that mean...

"Then have I given you offence?" She was terrified of the answer. She didn't know what she would do if he insisted she stay naked while she was with him.

"No," Toruq smiled, and Ash breathed a sigh of relief. "As an ambassador, I have spent enough time with humans to know your ways. You keep to your customs, and I will keep to mine. Yes?"

Ash nodded and smiled weakly, and Toruq resumed walking, with Ash trailing behind. Feeling a little more relaxed, she stuffed her hands into her pockets, where she felt paper crumple. She remembered the slip she had taken from the dead bandit's pocket, and pulled it out to look at it.

A short description was written on it. Early twenties. Brown hair. Five foot five. Childish voice. Ash recognized it as a description of the master merchant's daughter. It wasn't difficult - she and Ash had been the only young women in the caravan, and Ash was taller and blonde. But what could this mean? Had the bandits sought out the caravan specifically to find the girl? What could anyone want with her?

Ash must have made some sound in her confusion, because Toruq turned around to look. She showed him the note, and explained why it surprised her. Toruq took the note and held it for a moment, frowning at it, then gave it back. "I don't know what this means either, but I have a suspicion. A troubling suspicion. Hold onto this for me. I will want to show it to some people when we reach our destination."