The Girl and the Orc - (A Middle Earth Story)

Tiger Speak

       The tiger paced back and fourth, snarling at the intruders. Who were these people? How dare they come on his island! They had no right to land in his cove. Intruders only made a mess of his island.
      Rain had noticed that as the tiger paced, something in his eyes flickered. It was almost human-like. She now understood that this was his island. His people lived here, and it was his job to protect his kin.
      One of the pirates pulled out his sword and went to charge at the tiger. Rain saw this, she couldn't let an innocent tiger die! "No! Wait!" She rushed to the pirate, pulling his arm back. The pirate reacted to this, and swung his sword, cutting into Rain's side. Rain gasped as she felt the pain piercing her side. The pirate looked at the girl with wide eyes, realizing what he had just done. He pulled his sword back, but it was too late, blood dripped from the wound in Rain's side, staining the pure white sand. She fell on her knees, dizzy.
      Bogwater rushed to the girl, tears stun his eyes. She couldn't die now! "Rain! Rain!" he cried out as he took her face in his hands. How could he have let this happen? She gave a weak smile at her friend, "Don't cry," she said before passing out in his arms.
      The tiger grew furious, now they were killing each other? On his island! The girl had saved him from the ugly pirate, now it was his turn to save her.
       "Bring the girl to me."
        Everyone drew in a sharp breath. The tiger was talking! How was this possible? 
        Bogwater was desperate. He couldn't live without Rain. Anything that would help her he would do. He picked the girl up in his arms and carried her to the tiger, laying her in the sand next to the beast. The Orc couldn't help the tears that fell from his face, what if she died?
       The tiger looked up at the Orc with his golden eyes, "I can save her, but you must promise that my kin will be safe in return."
      Bogwater nodded, "Yes, yes. Anything."
      The tiger nuzzled his nose against the girl's face. The poor thing had tried to help him, only to be stabbed by her own kind. It didn't seem right to him at all. He sniffed around until he found the wound in her side. "Mahoj Lënon Fuurø," he whispered into the wound. It was an ancient spell, passed down from tiger chief to tiger chief. It gave the chief's the power to heal, and the power to destroy, all with a few words in the ancient tiger language. The wound slowly began to disappear, and soon it was completely gone. No scar left in it's place. Even the blood that came from the wound was gone. Time had been reversed.
       Rain gasped as the life was whispered back into her. She had been gone from this world, only to be called back into it. She had seen her sister and her parents. They told her that her time had not come yet, that they didn't blame her for their deaths. That they loved her, and they would always be with her. They even knew about Bogwater.
       Her eyes fluttered open, trying to figure out how she could have come back from the dead. Bogwater gave a relieved sigh, pulling his friend into a tight embrace. He kissed the top of her head, brushing the hair out of her face. "I thought you were gone."
      "I-I think I was," Rain furrowed her brows in thought.
       "You were," said a voice from behind her. She turned, it was the tiger!
      "You saved me?" Rain now understood what had happened. The tiger saved her for saving him. His debt to her was paid.
      "Yes," the great tiger king nodded, "I couldn't let you die like that."
       Rain threw her arms around the tiger's thick neck, burying her face in his soft fur, "Thank you."  She then pulled back, giving a grateful kiss on the tiger's broad nose, "Thank you!"
      The tiger was shocked at the girl's actions. He shook his mane, giving a thunderous laugh, "You're quite welcome." 
       Havish came running up to the trio, after knowing for sure that the tiger wasn't going to attack them. "Rain! Are you okay?"
      "I am now," Rain smiled.
       The tiger laid down in the sand, the end of his tail flicking up and down. The smell the old man gave off was odd. Nothing like Rain's or Bogwater's smell. Tigers could tell by the smells others gave off if they could be trusted or not. The old man's smell was an odd one because it wasn't a smell he had ever smelt before, like a strange combination of goodness and evil. Rain's and Bogwater's scent was of pure good. Usually no ones's scent was of perfect innocence, but their's was. What was strange was how these too good creatures had got caught up in a sea of evil and greed. The pirates all smelt of selfishness. The Elves smelt of greed as well, but they were still mostly good. This was a normal occurrence, but the old man's smell was of something that the tiger could not put his paw on.
    Blackbeard and Lorsan were the next to slowly come up to check on the girl. The others stood a far ways back. The tiger had to hold back a gag as Blackbeard approached. His sent was awful, pure evil. Nothing about him was good. It was of lust and greed and selfishness and murder.
      The Pirate Captain helped Rain up to her feet, giving her a kiss on her hand, "Poor girl! I was so worried!"
      The tiger could smell Bogwater's scent turn to jealousy. He grinned to himself, the creature loved the girl.
       The Orc stood up, pulling Rain back to him, "If you were that worried, you would do something about the pirate who almost killed her."
      "It was an accident," Blackbeard shrugged.
      "An accident?" Bogwater scoffed, "He knew that he was going to kill the tiger, murder was his plan. If Rain hadn't got in his way, he would have killed the tiger."
       "I don't know what you want me to do about it."
      "I don't know!" shouted the Orc in frustration, "Something! Anything!"
       "I'm not going to punish my crew for something they didn't mean to do."
       "But you-"
       Rain placed a hand on her friend's shoulder, "Hey, it's okay. I'm okay now, let's just move on."
       Bogwater sighed, bringing the girl back into a tight embrace. "Never scare me like that again."
       "I won't make any promises," Rain laughed, resting her head on his broad chest. She was tired. Her heart felt heavy. Her parents were dead, she had no hope of saving them. She had tried so hard, but it still wasn't enough. They may not blame her for their deaths, but she blamed herself. She blamed her naivety and her klutziness. If Rain was only stronger, smarter, maybe she would have been able to save her family.
    The tiger could smell the girl's sudden sadness. He knew that the girl had died, her soul had left this earth and went to another one. She had seen someone she had loved there, her family perhaps? He felt his heart ache for the girl. She was the purest one out of the whole group. Her soul was of kindness and love. Her eyes, which had been full of hope before her soul left her body, were now clouded with pain. The tiger knew though, that she couldn't stay with her family. At least not yet. Her eyes told him that she still had a lot left to do with her life. There was still a glimmer of her aura around her body when she had died. There was still something she had not finished. One day she could go to be with her family, but now she had to help Bogwater. The tiger understood this was the thing she had to complete before she died. Her aura didn't want to leave because she knew that Bogwater could not be left alone with the pirates, she knew that they would turn him bad again. This was something that she had to prevent. The girl could only die peacefully if the Orc was in a good place, safe and without temptation of evil. If the girl had not needed this to be at peace, the tiger would have let her rest.
The tiger stood, "May I ask what you are doing on my island?"
Rain nodded, "We were sent to explore new lands and record what we find. We are to bring back reports to our country. The ones who sent us hope to find something that can stop the war that's been going on for generations."
"Seems odd that your leaders would send pirates for such an important job," the tiger tilted his head to the side in question.
"They actually weren't part of the original plan," Bogwater explained, "They just now ended up with us."
Blackbeard gave Rain a wink, "Fate brought us together."
Bogwater pointed a finger at the pirate, "Now, look here you littl-"
Havish cut him off, "Don't insult your superiors."
"Superiors?" scoffed the Orc, "This man is not my superior. He is a selfish, e-"
"I said don't insult your superiors," repeated the old man.
"What's gotten into you?" Bogwater demanded, "Ever since Blackbeard came around you've been acting as if you are the boss of everyone."
Havish ignored the Orc, turning back to the rest of the crew and marching back to the ships, "If anyone wants me I'll be in my room."
"That's right!" Bogwater cried, "Go pout like a baby now that you can't boss me around!"
"Bog, calm down," Rain tried to reason, "Its not worth it."
The Orc turned back to the girl, grabbing her by the shoulders and forced a rough kiss on her lips. Rain's eyes grew wide with shock as he kissed her. He pulled back with heavy breaths, "I'm gonna go look for clean water." He turned towards the forest, kicking at the sand in frustration before disappearing behind the trees.
Rain stood, still in shock, "Wh-what?"
Blackbeard sneered, he had to get rid of Bogwater. He was defying the rules that he had made in the contract. The contact stated, in fine print of course, that Havish's crew would ultimately answer to him. Havish's crew was now his crew. The Orc, however, was rebelling. If the Elves saw this, they would gain the courage to rebel as well. He would have a mutiny on his hands.
He had no idea though, that the Elves were already planning a mutiny.
The tiger decided that he needed to talk to Bogwater. The Orc was angry and hurt. He needed someone to talk to. The tiger snuck off and tracked the Orc down. Bogwater was sitting on an old stump, using it as a chair. His head slumped in sadness.
"Whatever is the matter?" the tiger questioned, sitting on the ground next to Bogwater.
"Everything seems to be going wrong," sighed the Orc. He went on to explain everything that had happened. From meeting Rain, to Gollum's betrayal, all the way to Havish selling them out to Blackbeard. The tiger listened carefully to his story. When Bogwater was finished, the tiger gave him one command.
"Bring your friend, Rain, to this place. There is something I must show you both."