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Ulf continued on insistently, having them charge at each other over and over again as if it might make two of their number magically gain 200 pounds of muscle in the space of a morning. By noon, the horns sounded out to call another proving match and Ulag had chosen The Runts again, and pitted them against another of the more dangerous proving packs.
Nullik turned a kind of pale-snot sort of green when he heard their names called out and his caustic humour shifted to outright pleading with Ulf to let them use Gregory’s tactics and weapons. For a moment, it seemed like Ulf might have been considering doing just that. He clearly hadn’t planned on receiving the call again so soon after their last match. It was virtually unheard of, but not remotely against the rules of the provings; especially since they’d sustained relatively little serious injury in their prior bout. Valise’s talent for healing had washed most of the bruises out of Frun in the space of 12 hours, and he now stood virtually renewed.
Nullik’s mistake was to mention Gregory by name in asking to take up their old weapons. If he’d just called them “the other weapons” then it might have worked. “Gregory’s weapons” on the other hand, were clearly not to be trusted by this new Ulf. He stubbornly shook his head and pointed toward the entrance to the provings with his club.
A few of the pack actually looked to the human amongst them then. Frelki and Wrut in particular were giving him pointed looks as if to say : do something! Unfortunately, the time for doing something about Ulf’s behaviour wasn’t just before they’d been chosen for a match. They were about to have enough of a fight on their hands without two of their number trying to fight each other whilst they were doing it.NôvelDrama.Org content.
So, he ignored the looks and focused straight ahead. He hoped that the proving had been the surprise that Ulag seemed to want it to be. He didn’t’ particularly want Janette and Algra watching him receive another stout ass-kicking, and he had a sneaking suspicion that was what he was about to walk into.
“What formation should we-” Frelki tentatively began.
“No formations. We charge when Ulag tells us.”
“Charging? Great idea! It went down so well in practice!” Nullik’s sarcastic tone had returned with a vengeance.
Ulf turned to him with that dangerous look in his eyes again. This time the other orc didn’t back down.
“What?” Nullik growled. “You’re going to hit me again, alpha? Well in a minute I’m going to get fucking beaten to shit out there because of you anyway, so fucking have at it!”
This stopped Ulf in his tracks, and there was another moment of uncertainty before he pushed it back down and marched forward out into the pit.
“Hey, Null. Cool it with him,” Gregory said once Ulf was out of earshot.
“But he’s-”
“Being an asshole, yeah I know. But we aren’t going to get anywhere out there fighting each other. Take it out on the opposition, alright?”
Nullik seemed like he might turn his sarcasto-ray onto Gregory for a moment before he held his tongue and gave him a short nod before following Ulf out into the sunlight.
“So you don’t have any ideas then?” Wrut asked.
Gregory was slightly surprised by that. Wrut had been doing well with his new shield, but he also continued to carry his family’s ancestral hammer to their training sessions as if it was a talisman. Of all the Runts, Gregory thought he’d be the one to welcome a regression back to their old ways the most.
“I think we should follow the alpha.” Gregory nodded, but his expression wasn’t entirely without sympathy. Then he turned and stepped out onto the fresh sand of the pits.
The others soon fell in line, and a few cheers of encouragement went up when the human stepped out into the pits. They weren’t the sort of cheers of some legendary hero. Most of them seemed more amused than actually encouraging, but it was a friendly sort of amusement.
“What kind of crazy are you lot going to pull out of your asses today then, eh!?” The shout went up from the stands. It had arisen from a veteran orc warrior with quite a bit of silver in his beard.
Laughter went up shortly after that, but it seemed more in the vein of good-natured ribbing this time than outright mocking. Those that weren’t laughing appeared distantly curious, and a few had leaned forward in their seats to take a more active interest at The Runts making another appearance.
Ulag appeared shortly after both packs had entered the pit, and took his usual seat before making a casual gesture for them to get on with it.
Ulf let out an enraged battle cry and led the charge right at the centre of their enemy’s line. The alpha of their opponents was a well-built orc with thick tied-back dreadlocks. He quickly released a roar of his own and his entire pack charged as one. The rest of The Runts didn’t make any noise and tried to catch up with Ulf, who had given them no warning of exactly when he was going to charge. Their opponents weren’t quite so cavalier, and they moved in a penetrating V-shape like a flying arrowhead.
Gregory winced privately as the tip of that arrowhead smashed directly into Ulf and he had three opponents on him before they could move in to support him. On the flanks, it seemed that Nullik and Frelki’s display in the last fight had earned them some considerable respect. They were no longer to be ignored, and two of the enemy pack had been singled out to face them directly. Watching his friends try to charge down two full-grown orcs head-on was just outright painful. He heard the crunch of the contact followed by a scream from Nullik.
Although after that he had little time to consider the others as one of the opposing pack had singled him out too. Frun and Wrut launched themselves out to support Ulf, but the alpha had already been virtually put out of action. He’d been brought down to one knee, and appeared to have taken a blow to the stomach that left him gasping for air.
The alpha he’d been facing delivered a final kick to Ulf’s jaw that sent him sprawling onto his back to put him out of the match. The three he’d been fighting then proceeded to hone in on Frun and Wrut with a distinct advantage.
Gregory had been doing his best to dodge the attacks of his own aggressor, and when he saw Ulf’s face half-planted in the sand he decided to take matters into his own hands.
“Spread out! Let’s try the hornet!” he yelled.