Orc

Chapter 1:

“Impossible. How can an Orc have a child?” said a low, angry voice. “Rahhazo, I know this is not so.”
“Look at her! She is a child! She is an orc! It is not impossible!”
A pair of orcs were arguing. One was female, the other male. To a human, there would be no difference. To most orcs, it made no difference. All orcs rose from the ground, from dark magic. None were born.
A small shape was lying on a rough bed, faintly moving. The female pointed at the shape. “She is an orc. She exists. Is that enough proof for you?”
The male shook his head. “Ra-nuk will not be happy. He will almost certainly turn her over to Solomon or even Sauron. This thing will most likely perish. It makes no difference to me. But I am curious. Are you her mother?”
“Does it make any difference if she is?” Rahhazo replied.
“The goth will want to know.” the male said, referring to their leader.
“I will not answer.” Rahhazo said, turning her back on the male. “But I will take her somewhere safe. She will be of no use to the army as a child. I will raise her, and then return with a full grown warrior. Please, Lursk, let me go.”
“You act as if I care... you act as if you care for the thing. Orcs do not feel, Rahhazo. We act. If we feel, we become as weak as the humans.”
“This is not emotion, Lursk. It is strategy.” said Rahhazo.
“I will go to the goth in one strike. You shall leave, and I shall tell him what I know. But be warned, Rahhazo. If you betray us, you shall die.”
“I know, Lursk.” said Rahhazo. “I will be going now.”

Lursk left, and Rahhazo let out a breath. She felt strange. Whenever Rahhazo looked at the child, she felt a strange tightening in her chest, and the urge to protect.
She was the mother of the orc-child. She had succumbed to the human desires. She was weak.
But looking at the orc-child, she felt differently. She felt stronger than she had ever felt in battle, even stronger than at her birth, when she sprang fully formed from the earth, like all orcs before her. Like all orcs, except for the one she had mothered in the normal way.
Rahhazo dressed in a coat, and slung her bag onto her shoulder. She then lifted the orc-child, and headed out the door without looking back.

Chapter 2

A strange thing was happening in the forest. Of course, strange things were always occurring in Middle Earth. But now, there was something the animals had never seen before.

A girl lived with an orc, yet the girl did not seem completely human. However, the girl grew up, every day looking more and more like a human.

On the girl's seventh birthday, something happened.

A rabbit was spying for the old man who lived nearby when she saw it. The house were the girl and orc lived was up in flames. She watched in shock as the girl dragged the orc out of the house.

"Mum! Mum!" she was crying. The rabbit's eyes opened wider. The rabbit turned to fetch her master.

"It's Alaza!" the girl said again, shaking the orc's shoulder. "Mum, please wake up!"

The rabbit froze. Mum? It thought. It's eyes were now the size of dinner plates. Master! She yelled in her mind. Master, come quick!

A old man cloaked in sea-blue was sitting in a chair drinking tea when he suddenly froze. He cocked his ear to the wind and stood.

I am coming! He shouted in his mind. I am coming!

The old man picked up a staff (also blue) and charged out the door, following the rabbit's mental instructions.

When he had reached the scene, the girl was quite still, holding the orc's hand. The man froze in shock.

"Child, stand back from the orc! It may not be dead!" he cried, brandishing his staff. "But how on earth did you manage to kill it?"

The girl looked up, tears in her eyes. The man hurried over. "Are you hurt?" he asked. The girl shook her head.

"I'm not hurt!" she said angrily. "And I didn't kill her!"

"Her?" the man said in confusion.

"Yes, her!" the girl cried out. "She's my mum! I would never kill her! And she's not dead! She can't be!"

The old man's eyes widened, but then he patted the child on the shoulder. "Let me see."

The girl hesitated.

"I won't hurt her. But she may just be stunned, if your lucky. The sun is bad for orcs."

The girl nodded, and scooted around to the side, picking up her mother's hand.

"She's so cold." the girl whispered.

The old man felt for a pulse, and turned to the girl. "I'm sorry."

The girl began to cry. The man reached out and patted the girl's arm.

How on earth did this happen? He thought, watching as the girl cried.

"Child, what is your name?" he said, interrupting the girl's grief.

"A-Alaza." she hiccuped. "That's Rahhazo."

"I am Alatar. Would you like to come with me? We can have a proper buriel for.. Rahhazo. We can find you a home."

"Mama said never to talk to strangers." Alaza said. "She said I had to hide, that people might want to hurt me or use me."

"Is that so?" said Alatar. "Well, I am a wizard- Alatar the Blue! My colleagues are Sauroman the White, Radagast the Brown, Gandalf the Grey, and my close partner, is Pallado, also the Blue. Perhaps you have heard tell of our order?"

"No." Alaza said, shaking her strange head. Alatar noticed for the first time the strange markings on her face.

"What are those, Miss Alaza?" he said sharply.

Alaza put a hand up to her face. "What are what? You know, it isn't nice to stare. You look strange too."

The different pieces of what Alatar had seen suddenly clicked into place. "You are half-orc."

Alaza put her hands on her hips. "Well, duh! What did you think I was- a chipmunk?"

Alatar was in shock. A half-orc!

"So that really was your mother." Alatar said, glancing down at the dead orc.

Alaza's eyes filled up with tears again. That was enough for Alatar to know. "Well, come on then. We must hurry from this place. Your mother was right. People would try to hurt you or use you. We must get you someplace safe."

"But, mum-"

Alatar pointed his blue staff at the body. In a flash, it disappeared.

"Already at my cottage." Alatar said. "Let us go."

He stood, holding out one hand to the orc child.

Alaza nodded. "Let's go."