Ogre Squire Chapter 1: Once Upon A Raid
A young ogre finds herself in a sticky situation
In my head, I can still hear the sound. The beating of drums. The chieftans do it for a full day before the battle is joined. Sure, it gave the enemy time to prepare. But it also gave them time to fear.
As for how *I* felt. Well… let’s just say I was a little excited.
At the crack of dawn, I rolled out of my bed and raced towards the gorge. Beneath was the raiding party, fully-grown ogre men and women chatting and sharpening their weapons. All my life, I had idolized them. I knew the name of every warrior, and how much they had brought back from the last raid. And I was tired of waiting to join them.
I hopped onto the cliff face and slid down, enjoying the bumps and jolts as my heels caught crags and rocks along the way. I came to a stop in front of Krang-Ahn. At the time, I thought he had the best, coolest armour I had ever seen. It was made from the pelt of a slain wyvern, and it was decorated with seashells, gems, and the fingers and toes of past victims. It wasn’t cold and shiny like the humans’ boring armour. It was worthy of an ogre chieftan.
Krang-Ahn snorted. “I've already told you, Ukura. You cannot come on raids until you pass the trials.”
This was not the first time I had heard this. “Oh come on! You know I'm just waiting until the solstice so I can do those dumb trials. If I could have done them yesterday, I would have passed no problem!”
He raised one of his big, thick eyebrows. “What about last winter?”
I did my best pout. “I told you, I overslept! You can't hold that against me!”
“I can.”
Krang-ahn turned away from me, and started to saddle up a warg. If you’ve never seen a warg before, imagine a giant, feral wolf, but even meaner. This warg maintained its snarl despite being burdened with weapons and supplies.
“Anyway, Grandma Marka says that we shouldn't be raiding now,” I continued. “The humans had a bad harvest. If we take what little they have--”
“Your grandmother is a soft-hearted fool,” said Krang-Ahn. “What do we care about the fortune of humans? They've never cared about the pain they inflict on us.”
“But if their village dies out, who will we raid?” I said, remembering Grandma Marka’s words. In truth, I was mostly hoping to annoy him enough to let me come along.
“The humans will survive. They are like dung beetles.”
Krang-ahn climbed up the saddle on top of the large beast. He steered the warg around and addressed his troops.
“Men! Tonight we will feast on the sweetest meat, drink the finest ale in all the valley! The humans are weak, and cannot defend themselves! Our descendants will sing songs of this, the night the Karnum Tribe showed their strength!”
I’ll admit – I was pretty hyped up too.
Meanwhile, things were going on in the human village. Normally, nobody lived there but hayseeds who might wave a hoe or wood axe at you. But we didn’t know that they had brought in a real knight. A real cool knight: Althea, Knight of the Plains. Althea was a big human lady, almost as buff as one of us ogres, and she had beautiful red hair that was tied back in braids. She wore super-shiny armour and carried a sharp broadsword. I wouldn’t learn exactly what that sword could do until later.
Althea was sitting in the humans’ little tavern. (I wasn’t there, but I put this all together from what Althea told me later, plus I made some stuff up.) The pub was full of paintings and posters and that other stuff that humans put on their walls. Everyone had gathered to greet Althea, because of course they would.
“How many ogres usually come?” Althea said.
The village elder, some old white-bearded man, sat across from her. “A couple dozen. Our men fight, but there’s no overcoming their strength. To be honest, I had been hoping you would bring more soldiers with you. With just one person…”
He obviously didn’t know Althea. “I will be sufficient,” she said. Or something cool like this.
Back at the ogre camp, I was waiting on a cliff, seeing the warband assemble. There were about thirty of them, each with their own armour and weapons. Ogres, we don’t have smiths or anything, so we just put together our armour and weapons over time. They’re cooler that way.
Karya came up to me. Karya is someone I’ve always admired, ever since we were both little. She’d become a super cool warrior, with armour that even included some human stuff worked in. I knew that she took that from the mercenaries the humans had hired the last time. I wished I could be as strong as her.
“Worried, little one?” she said. (She always called me little one, even though she was only like four years older than me.)
“Karya!” I said. “No, I’m just… a little jealous of everyone who gets to go.”
“Well, in that case, you shouldn’t have gotten lost during the Trial of Vision last solstice!” she said.
It was totally a cheap shot. “That maze was unfair!”
Karya set down her axe and knelt down a bit to throw her arm over my shoulders. I felt weird and warm, but didn’t say anything.
“Let me tell you something, little one,” said Karya. “Once you go on a few of these raids, you’ll come to dread them. There Is little glory, just scared farmers and a lot of carrying heavy things.”
I snorted. “Well, if it’s so dull, why not let me take your place?”
Karya winked. “Nice try, kiddo. I’ll see you at the feast tonight.”
Karya hopped over the edge of the cliff and skidded her way down the craggy cliff-face. I couldn’t look away from her. “So she still thinks I’m a kid, huh?” I said to myself.
Meanwhile, Althea had taken the human elder out to the plains between the human town and our home. A few of the younger human men had came with them, carrying human farm equipment like scythes and hatchets. Can you believe they try to use that stuff like weapons?
“This should be far enough away from the farms,” Althea said. “Are you sure they’ll come this way?”
The elder nodded. “Yes. It’s the same every year.”
One of the little human snots stood up. “Listen, I know you’re a knight and all, and we appreciate your help. But we’d like a little taste of battle too. And besides, there’s too many for one person to handle alone.”
“I fight alone for your protection,” said Althea.
“We can handle ourselves,” said the snot.
I would have flipped, but Althea just gave that guy a gentle smile. “Well then, you are welcome to watch. If at any time I am distressed, I will call for your aid. Agreed?”
The guy didn’t like it, butt he couldn’t say anything else. “Fine. Just don’t get too cocky.”
That was then the humans started to see us coming. There was a big cloud of dirt, and the rumble of our drums. Say one thing about us ogres: when we come for you, we let you know.
Back at camp, I watched my tribemates march into the distance, from the other direction. I stood up to stretch her arms, and finally noticed the axe on the ground behind her.
I would have stayed back at the camp. I really would have. But just after the group had left, I saw Karya’s axe. It was big and pretty and even had a bit of human skull stuck to it. I knew she couldn’t fight without it. So what else could I do, but pick it up and carry it to the battlefield? It was an emergency!
I took off down the cliff, in the same manner that Karya did. Okay, maybe I didn’t do it quite as gracefully as Karya. And I may have tripped over a root at one point. But I definitely landed on my feet, and that’s what mattered.
Now. To find Karya. And if I had to smash some human skulls on the way, well, that would just be a shame.
By the time I got running, the horde had made it to Althea. She was standing just outside of the village, her sword planted straight-down like a grave marker in front of her. The village elder and the skeptics from earlier stood a distance behind her.
The wheeled war machine rolled up in front of her, Krang-Ahn in the front seat. The other ogres folded out in him in flanks. The ogre chief leveled his axe, pointing at Althea.
“It would be best for you if you got out of the way,” Krang-ahn snarled.
Even in the face of so many of us, the knight stayed composed. “My name is Althea, holder of the Fifth Seat, Knight of the Meadows. The people of this town are under my protection. They have no grain to spare this autumn. Turn back, Krang-Ahn, Seventh of His Name.”
That startled Krang-Ahn. “You know my name, human.”
“I know much about you.”
Krang-Ahn laughed. “Then you know that one human can’t stand up to my army, no matter how many fancy titles you have. Stand down!”
Althea sighed and pointed her sword at him. “One more step and I will be forced to--”
Krang-Ahn hopped down off his steed and grinned, tauntingly.
“So be it.”
For a moment, I could see the image of a dragon behind Althea, its wings spread, fire blossoming from its jaws. Then, she swung her sword forward in a large arc. “Soul of Au’Gor! Hell’s Scourage!”
A wave of flames erupted in the same arc that Althea traced with her sword. The blast immediately knocked Krang-Ahn back. His monstrous mount reared up, but was also caught by the blast, burnt and knocked over. The flames radiated outwards, catching more and more ogres, carrying with them force as well as fire.
In a minute, the ogre army was broken, the armour and vehicles in pieces, the men and women cowed by burns and broken bones. A few were slumped over, unmoving. The plains were littered with fire.
And that was when I showed up.
I had never seen anything like this. When ogres and humans fought, it was with clubs and axes and fists, and maybe a couple people died but it was good clean fun. This was something else. I had heard legends of the Knights of the Realm, who could do anything under the sun depending on who you listened to, but never thought I would actually see one.
I looked around, stunned. Krang-Ahn was lying face-down, his armour smoldering. Karya was on her hands and knees, her right leg badly burn, trying to get to her feet. All of a sudden, I got angry. I got really angry.
Not too far away from me, Althea was sheathing her sword. She thought the fight was over. I lifted Karya’s axe and charged towards her. I didn’t think I could win. I wasn’t thinking about anything really.
I swung down the axe in one giant arc, like I was hammering in a tentpole. Althea simply stepped back to avoid the blow. I pressed forward again and again, but each swipe was nimbly dodged. She barely looked concerned. With a snarl, I grabbed the top of the axe and shoved the blade towards her. Althea caught the half with one hand and, with the other, socked me in the gut.
The second her gauntlet hit my stomach, it felt like all the breath had left my body. I fell to the ground, panting. She hadn’t even needed to draw her blade.
“Do you understand now?” Althea said. “Your people must obey the laws of the realm from now on. No more stealing. No more raiding. If you want food, grow it, or trade for it.”
She walked ahead of me. I tried to get to my feet, but my body refused. Althea found Krang-Ahn and dragged him up to his knees. I could see that he was still conscious, but badly hurt. “Do you understand, Chieftan?”
Krang-Ahn gathered up all of the phlegm and blood in his mouth and spat at her feet.
“Very well,” said Althea. “You shall be taken prisoner, and brought to the Duke of the Plains. You shall serve as an example to all such leaders who take from their neighbours.”
Althea may have been a great fighter, but she didn’t understand ogres. In an ogre clan, respecting those above you was everything, and no one was more respected than the chief. (I wasn’t too good at this, which is why I always got in trouble.) If Krang-Ahn was taken prisoner, I knew the rest of the clan would throw themselves on the ramparts of the castle trying to claim him. Given what one Royal Knight had done to them, they probably would all die in the process. It would be the end of my tribe.
I didn’t have any good ideas, but I had a pretty bad one. “Wait!” I shouted. Althea turned around to look at me, an eyebrow raised. “Take me! I’ll be your captive. If the ogres trouble the villagers again, feel free to cut off my head.”
“Insolent pup…” Krang-Ahn muttered, clutching his chest.
Althea raised one of her thin scarlet eyebrows. “And who are you, that you would be such a valuable hostage?”
“I am Ukura, soon to be the strongest warrior in the land,” I growled, knowing that even for me it was an absurd boast.
Althea laughed. “Strongest warrior, you are not. But you have shown courage, and composure under fire. I have a different offer.”
My mind raced through a thousand things that she might say, but never landed on what came next. “I am without a squire right now. Come with me, and I shall train you in the ways of a knight. Consider it your village’s tribute to the realm, to make up for the damage they have caused.” Althea raised her sword towards Krang-Ahn, who had regained consciousness but was still struggling to get to his feet. “And if I hear of any more disruptions towards the people of this town, I will return and show you the full extent of my power.”
Beneath me, Karya was struggling to her feet. “Who the hell are you to tell us what to do? You come in here, burn us with your witchcraft, take one of us to be your pet, and tell us to bow down to the humans?” She hocked up a splash of blood and sunk to one knee again.
“I am a Knight of Albion,” said Althea. “And until you can best me, and all of my comrades, you shall follow the law of the land.”
“Fine,” I said. “I’ll be your squire.”
Althea beckoned me up. “Then let us go. A knight’s life is a busy one, and a squire’s even more so.”
“Wait… that’s it?” I felt a little deflated. “Isn’t there some kind of ceremony?”
Althea chuckled. “Ceremonies are for knights, not squires.”
She turned her back and walked away, knowing that none of us ogres could hurt her. I glanced back one more time at my village, I saw the fires still blazing across the plains. I was sure that some of our warriors were dead, and others would be crippled for life. Karya looked up at me with a mixture of horror and sadness. Everything in me told me to go back to my village and prepare for the next raid.
But instead I turned and followed Althea. And my life changed forever.