Archive of Our Own

Mosquitoes danced over the water's surface as the sun was on its way down. A bright green frog sitting at the lake's edge caught one with his sticky tongue. Several frogs croaked into the fading light, unaware or not minding the larger creature behind them, who had yellow ochre skin, a broad face and neck similar in shape to theirs but with short hair growing on top, and big forward-facing yellow eyes.

Cherry only had his head above the water – it was just shallow enough for him to sit on the bottom – and puffed out his cheeks as he released a deep ribbit from his throat. He liked listening to the frogs, who were distant relatives of the ribbipud, or so he was told by the elders. Similar to how the small hair-covered apes were distant relatives to the larger ape-like two-legged creatures he often saw. He had observed three kinds: apeoids with skin tones ranging from light pink to dark brown who had round ears, other apeoids with paler complexion and pointy ears, and lastly apeoids with several hues of grey, yellow and green skin who had mouth bones sticking out of the bottom of their mouth like tusked hogs. The ones with the round ears sometimes had hair on their face as well, unlike the others.

Cherry’s eyes followed the movements of the mosquitoes as he thought about the creatures he had observed over the years. Suddenly he shot out his tongue into the swarm, retracted it and smacked his lips. Not very substantial, but it was food, and they had a pleasant taste.

His thoughts returned to the apeoids. The pointy-eared ones came to this lake most often as there was a settlement not too far from here. They had learned the ribbipud language and often spoke with the elders. The elders met them at the shore of the lake as their houses were too small for them; an adult ribbipud reached an adult pointy-eared’s hip when they stood up straight. Cherry liked them; they were gentle and wise, and they even protected them from large predators. The green ones were the most dangerous of the apeoids – they were hunters and their smallest prey was around his size.

The last time he had seen the green ones was around three years ago; he had just turned fifteen and had gone on a journey to another ribbipud village. They had witnessed the green apeoids fighting the round-eared apeoids from a distance. The ribbipuds from the other village had said some of their kind always went missing whenever the tusked apeoids – their word for the green apeoids – were in the area.

Another ribbipud emerged from the water behind him.

“It’s time for the hunt,” he croaked. “A few more days before the dholes move through the area again and we should have food ready for when they come.”

“Coming, dad,” Cherry replied and waded further into the lake until it was deep enough to swim. The dholes – fox-like predators with orange hair – moved around a lot as they followed their prey, and they came close to this lake twice a year. The pointy-eared apeoids generally kept them away from them, but sometimes they still got to the lake, and they had to stay inside when that happened. The dholes were fast, good jumpers, decent swimmers, and they had sharp claws.

Cherry followed his father to the other side of the lake where wooden huts floated on the water, attached to the shore and each other with ropes. Some ribbipud sat on the wooden decks of their huts; others used rope bridges to cross to other buildings. Their skin tones were several hues of ochre: yellow, red and brown. Cherry was part of the hunters, who dedicated their lives to bringing food back to the village. All ribbipud could hunt small animals when they were hungry; small fish and mice could be caught with their tongue and swallowed whole, and berries, worms and insects could be found anywhere. The hunters brought back larger prey, so others could devote time to master other crafts, such as building houses and furniture from branches, making rope from reed, or guarding the village. That was one thing that set the ribbipuds apart from frogs, who ate to live and lived to eat. They had learned to preserve food, and the use of fire allowed them to stay awake during the winter, instead of hibernating. The cold made them slow, and most chose to hibernate, but it was no longer a necessity. Those who stayed awake devoted their time to study and doing chores.

One group of ribbipud swam with spears to the centre of the lake to hunt big fish that would be cut into swallow-size pieces and smoked for later use. Others picked up some stones for their slings to hunt birds in the fading light. Cherry joined the group that would hunt rodents and hid in the reed where he waited patiently. When he spotted a mouse, he shot his tongue out. The mouse squeaked as he pulled it in. While he could swallow it now, the goal was to collect them, and it was generally recommended not to swallow live mice because they could claw and bite. Most ribbipud had a stone knife with them to quickly decapitate and declaw a mouse, but bashing in the skull worked as well. When rodents were too big to catch with their tongue, they either jumped at them to kill them with their knife or used their sling.

When the hunters were pleased with their catch, they returned to the village. The rats they found were cut up to remove the head, tail and limbs and put in a smoker to preserve for later use. While his father was handling the meat, Cherry went to the biggest building in the centre of the village: the community house. It was large enough to house all ribbipud in case of important meetings. He heard music and songs before he opened the door, and he smiled broadly, puffing out his cheeks and letting out a pleased ribbit. The moment he stepped inside, he joined in with the song and clapped his hands as he danced to the tunes of the reed flutes. A few ribbilets jumped to the music. While there were similarities between ribbipuds and the much smaller frogs, they didn’t have limbless tadpoles hatching from the eggs, but small ribbipuds. Cherry took two ribbilets by the hand to dance with them as he ribbited along with the others.

Before dawn, when the sky turned a lighter shade just before the sun was up, Cherry swam through the lake. While he loved the rich orange colours of dusk and dawn, the bright sunlight hurt his eyes, so he always made sure to be back at the village by the time the sun peeked over the trees. A strange sound caught his attention. At first, he thought it was the grunts of a swine, but it wasn’t the same. There were different tones, and there was definitely a melody to it. He stayed low and used his arms and legs to gently move himself towards the sound. Staying between the reeds, he watched one of the green apeoids, although this one had pale skin and wasn’t as tall or broad as others he had seen. Body-wise, it reminded him more of the pointy-eared apeoids, as this body lacked a lot of the bulk the others showed, but the tusks were a clear sign he belonged to the greens. And the pale skin wasn’t as pale as the pointy-eared; it had some greyish-lightgreen hues. Among the ribbipuds was a saying: the greener the apeoid, the more dangerous it is. He noted the long black hair tied together behind the head and touched his own hair, short and thick, as everyone else of his kind had. Apeoids had various hairstyles, and at times he was envious of that. Now, his attention was mostly on the sounds coming from the apeoid’s mouth. He slowly blinked one eye and then the other. If he stayed here and didn’t move, the apeoid wouldn’t see him. There was no danger in listening to the strange song. At times he closed his eyes to enjoy the mysterious tune.

When the orc was done and walked away, Cherry turned around and swam back to the village, where he told the guards he had spotted a green apeoid on the other side of the lake. The guards exchanged worried looks and thanked him for the information. The news was brought to the elders, who decided that they would need to send out scouts to watch their movements. Cherry volunteered, and so did many of the hunters.

After a good day of sleep, evening came along. Cherry swam alongside the edge of the lake to see if any of the apeoids were in sight. He saw the pale one from the night before. With silent movements, he followed him until he stopped. Cherry waited to see what he would do next. As he had hoped, the apeoid started his song again. The melody was the same as the night before. He softly croaked along until the apeoid stopped and tried to find him. Cherry hid behind the plants. The orc started his song again, but a larger and greener apeoid came along. Cherry silently sank deeper into the water and watched them snarl and growl at each other. The pale one nodded at the end and followed the large one.

Back at the village, he reported about the pale orc from before and another orc with whom he had left. Some of the hunters had left the safety of the water, and one had found a camp full of green apeoids, not far from the settlement of the pale pointy-eared apeoids.

The next evening the scouts all patrolled their lake again, Cherry included. He swam straight to the place where he had seen the singing apeoid, whom he referred to as Grey in his mind because he was not as pale as the pointy-eared ones, but not as green as his fellow apeoids. He had thought about the song a lot; it was so different from any of the songs he knew, and how was it that they could sing like that while being built so differently? Those tusks didn’t seem to hinder at all. And who could have thought those growls and grunts could sound so well? At times the sounds it produced were almost familiar.

Cherry waited for a while, hiding between the plants. As he had hoped, Grey returned. Cherry remained between the plants as he gazed over the water before taking in a breath and opening his mouth to sing. The same song again, Cherry listened to it at first, opened his mouth and let out a pleased ribbit, and croaked along to the melody. The apeoid stopped. Their eyes met. The moment was over in a second and dragged on for an eternity. Cherry knew he had to hide, but this one didn’t seem hostile; he didn’t even carry any weapons. Cherry croaked again, emulating the melody and trying to mimic some of the sounds. The apeoid grunted at him, with a raised tone at the end. A question? It sounded like a question, and between the grunts some sounds were familiar, as if he used sounds similar to what ribbipuds used, but in a different way. Another moment of silence, and then the apeoid started singing again. Cherry joined in with soft croaks of his own, mimicking the sounds Grey produced as well as he could. He quickly hid when he saw another orc approach; this one was as broad and tall as most orcs but had a light, yellowish hair colour instead of the usual black, and his skin had hues ranging from dark yellow to dark green. Cherry silently swam back and slowly went underwater. At the village, he again told the others about where he had seen the apeoids, but he didn’t say anything about the singing.

***

Duffy went to the lake shore and gazed over the water that reflected the stars. He took in a deep breath to smell the wind that rippled the water. The scents here were so different from back home. So much green and life. And strange creatures. His eyes moved over the surface. Last night he was certain he had heard a frog, but somehow it sounded like his song. Maybe the frog lived here, maybe he would hear it again. Duffy took in a breath and opened his mouth to sing.

Stars shining down on me

Please help me to see

Show me the way

I cannot stay

Moonlight show me the path

I have to flee the wrath

Guide me my way

I cannot stay

There it was. Duffy tried to find the origin of the croaking, and when he found it, he stopped singing. A giant frog was in the water and looked straight at him, but this frog had hair, and his face had some characteristics that seemed familiar. For a moment they just looked at each other.

The frog croaked again. It sounded as if it was singing his song. “Do you like my song?” Duffy asked him. He waited for a moment, but when the frog didn’t answer, Duffy sang again.

Wind hide my smell from those

once friends and now my foes

Hide me away

I cannot stay

Night cover my own track

Hide me from their attack

I’ll go away

I cannot stay

Footsteps behind him, Duffy turned his head to look over his shoulder. The orc that approached had light, yellowish hair, and his skin had hues ranging from dark yellow to dark green. "Andy." Duffy returned his attention back at the lake. The frog was gone.

“What are you doing here by yourself?” Andy asked.

“It’s gone.”

“What is?”

“A… frog, but bigger and yellowish. And, I don’t know, its face was like ours, but smooth and no tusks or ears.”

“Ah. Frogoid, probably. A fairly common race. Not as common as humans or elves are. The scouts saw some tracks; there might be a village nearby.” He put a hand on Duffy’s shoulder. “They are leaving on their raid on the elven settlement; we should get ready for when they are back.”

Duffy followed Andy to their camp. This was their third night here; shortly after they had arrived, he had visited the lake at dawn because no one at the camp had wanted to hear him sing. The second night he had returned and once again sang his favourite song, but the raid leader had sent an orc to bring him back because they had captured some elves who had likely been on their way to the settlement. The elves, two males, one female and two children, had begged to be spared, but they had been brutally slaughtered one by one. The raid leader had appointed the orcs for the kills and had given him the blade when it was time to kill the young elves. The children had cried when the others died, and it sounded just like orc children. Duffy hadn’t been able to kill the child and had dropped the blade. Another orc had picked up the blade in his place, and Duffy had looked away when the children were murdered. His reluctance to participate had led to a beating as punishment, but before the raid leader could force a promise to do better during the raid out of him, Andy had stepped up to take him as an apprentice. Now he would learn to be a healer and had to stay at the camp. He wasn’t sure if he could learn that, but he was glad he didn’t have to be a part of the raid anymore.

“Why do we do it?” he asked.

“Hm?” Andy turned to look at him.

“Why do we attack elves?”

“Oh, we have a long history. We attack them, they attack us. I suppose it all began…” Andy furrowed his eyebrows and shook his head. “Maybe not a conversation to have now.”

While Duffy wanted to know, he decided that it wouldn’t do much good to press him further on the matter. He’d ask about it some other time.

The orc camp was almost completely abandoned. The only ones left were two guards. Andy took Duffy to his part of the camp and showed him how to prepare the bandages and told him how he made the paste that he used to glue broken tusks, and the cream that helped heal bruises. Duffy tried to remember it all, but all he could do was nod with a dumbfounded expression. Andy grinned.

“No need to remember all the details right now; there’s plenty of time to learn it later. It’s really not that difficult, and you’ll be a fine healer later on. But reaching the same level of awesomeness as me, that is highly unlikely.”

Duffy frowned at him. “Awesome?”

“Well, I am incredibly handsome and very talented." Andy stroked his tusk as he examined him. "You could do with a little more meat on your bones and bigger muscles. The females want strong partners.”

“Is that why you don’t have a partner yet?”

Andy put a hand on his chest. “Ouch. The truth is, I want a partner who wants something more than just a strong orc. Or a partner who is stronger than me so she can go hunting and do the heavy lifting. I'd rather make my medicinal supplies than hunt or wrestle or move stone blocks around.”

When the orcs returned, the injured were brought in, and Duffy helped Andy to the best of his abilities. He wrapped a bandage around someone's leg as Andy instructed him and handed him a flask when he asked for it.

The raid leader joined them. “We won.” His eyes moved to Duffy. “Not thanks to you.”

“I’m sorry,” Duffy muttered without looking at him.

“Be glad you have orcs dedicated to the craft of healing,” Andy interjected. “Our death toll would be a lot higher without my expertise, and I need an assistant.”

“I didn’t ask for your opinion.”

“You get it for nothing in return,” Andy replied with a grin.

The raid leader grumbled and then turned to the orcs behind him. “Tonight, we feast!” he exclaimed, getting roars of excitement in return.

“You go have your feast, Poru,” Andy said as he moved to an orc who had a deep cut across his chest. “I want no part of it.”

Poru turned to glare at Andy. “You are a weakling.”

Andy rose to his feet and looked their raid leader straight in the eyes. While not as muscular as Poru, he was a little taller, and he used that to his advantage by straightening his back. “Me choosing not to fight and me choosing not to eat intelligent life is not based in weakness,” he stated with a calm voice.

“Why don’t you prove it?” Poru growled as he reached for his weapon.

The two orcs glared at each other. Poru’s hand was close to his weapon. Andy placed his hands in his sides. Other orcs gathered around them. One of the wounded orcs groaned.

“I have better things to do right now,” Andy stated, gesturing to the wounded orcs. He turned to Duffy. “Bandage.”

“My son will take part in the feast,” Poru growled, before turning his back on them and walking away. The gathered orcs dispersed as it was evident there would be no fight in the camp.

Andy looked from him to Duffy, who had picked up the bandage. “I can handle the things here if you want to go eat some elves.”

“Eat elves?” Duffy replied.

“Feast on the conquered enemy,” Andy explained, as he tended to the wounds of the orc in front of him. “It’s a thing we do in raids. Well, they do. I refuse to take part in it.”

“Why?”

“Why we do it or why I don’t?”

Duffy scratched his head, trying to decide what question he wanted answered. “Both?”

“We do it because of tradition. It shows our enemies we are superior and on top of the food chain. Everyone is nothing more than prey.”

“But you don’t believe that?”

“We are the strongest race, and I don’t particularly like elves either, but I believe intelligent races shouldn’t be killing each other and definitely shouldn’t be eating each other. Especially when there are common… when we have things in common.”

Duffy crossed his arms; it sounded like Andy had wanted to say something else. Something related to the reason they were fighting? “Why do we kill them?”

“Because filthy elves don’t deserve to live!” one of the nearby orcs roared.

Duffy kept his eyes on Andy, who shook his head. “I told you, I’m not going into that now. When we're back home, you can ask me again.”

“Okay. Then what makes a race intelligent?”

Andy examined him with a curious look in his eyes. “I consider species intelligent when they communicate, think ahead, build houses and tools, use their skills for things other than survival or procreation, show emotions like love and grief, and when they can adapt.” He gestured to a flask, and Duffy quickly gave it. “Obviously we are intelligent as we do all that. So are ogres, stone gnomes, humans and elves. Frogoids build villages and hunt with tools; I’d class them as intelligent as well.”

Duffy took in Andy’s words and was about to ask even more questions, but Poru came for him and dragged him to the feast. One of the dead elves was cut up by an orc, and the meat was thrown on a cast iron square with metal bars over the fire; while they could eat it raw, grilling the meat on the gridiron made it even better. Duffy had seen prey being butchered before; he had even cut up a swine himself, but even though elves were different, there were too many similarities. Elves walked upright on two legs, using their arms for weapons and tools, as they did. The faces of elves had mouths, noses, eyes and ears in the same place as they had.

Poru pushed a piece of meat in his hands. “Eat up, maybe you’ll do better during the next raid.”

Although reluctantly, Duffy took a bite from it. The taste wasn’t bad, but it didn’t feel right. They just had so much in common that it was hard to think of them as just prey. He chewed and swallowed and gave his piece to the orc next to him; the one bite was enough for his father, and he walked away from the celebrating orcs. Andy had left; the wounded orcs were all tended to, and when Duffy asked one of them where he was, the injured orc muttered "traps" with disdain in his pained voice. With nothing to do here, Duffy went back to the lake and watched the reflection of the moon. A gust of wind moved his loose hair and rippled the water, distorting the moon in the water. The mating call of frogs echoed in the darkness, but another kind of ribbiting caught his attention. He followed the sound and saw the frogoid from before.

“Hey there,” Duffy said. The frogoid ducked under water but came up again. The corners of its broad mouth lifted slightly. A smile. “Nice song.”

The frogoid croaked at him. It was hard to believe this was an intelligent creature. He thought back to the singing. It could have just mimicked the sounds, as some animals could. That didn’t make them intelligent, but Andy believed frogoids were.

“Can you understand me?”

The frogoid slowly blinked one eye and then the other, followed by a croak that sounded like a question.

“I better go, before they start looking for me,” Duffy said, and he bumped his chest as a greeting before leaving the lake. After the spoils of war were collected, they would leave. The last thing he wanted was to lead anyone to the frogoids.

***

After meeting with Grey, Cherry swam back to his village to report on the green apeoid activity. He couldn’t help but smile; it seemed Grey had come to listen to him this time. Grey liked singing as much as he did. Who would have thought that the green apeoids could actually enjoy music like that?

Cherry reported he hadn’t seen any other apeoids except for Grey, and the elders discussed what it could mean that one of them kept visiting the lake. Another scout had kept an eye on them from a distance and told them about the death of the pointy-eared apeoids.

The elders called everyone in for a meeting, in which they explained it was better to stay at the village as long as the green apeoids were around; it was simply too dangerous, especially since they had come up to the lake. Cherry reluctantly agreed; this meant he couldn’t meet up with Grey anymore, but he understood why it was important. One gentle green apeoid didn’t mean they would be safe from the others.

A shock went through the common room, and some of the ribbipud fell over. The one closest to the door opened it and opened his mouth in horror when he saw the ribbipud guards drop down with arrows in their bodies and the big green apelike creatures pulling the ropes.

“The green apeoids!” he screamed. “They are pulling the building to the shore!”

Screams of panic erupted. Cherry quickly opened the hatch. “Ribbilets and elders first! Swim to the centre!” he shouted. The gathered ribbipuds started leaving the building through the hatch, directly into the safety of the water. The elders and females took the froglets with them, and once those were in the safety of the water, the males escaped as quickly as they could. Cherry’s father locked eyes with him before jumping into the water.

When there were a dozen ribbipuds left, an axe splintered the wall of branches. Orcs came onto the platform to grab them. The last ribbipuds tried to escape, some successfully dodging the grabbing hands and jumping into the water, but others ended up in bags. Cherry ducked under one hand and jumped over another, but one of the apeoids managed to grab and bag him.

The bag swung from left to right, and Cherry yelped when he hit the back of the orc. The apeoid that carried him started running, and he continuously bumped into his back.

“Ouch! Hey! Stop it! Let me go!” Cherry croaked. “Help me!”

His knife! Cherry grabbed it and stabbed through the bag, cutting as quickly as he could. He dropped out of the bag, but the apeoid made a laughing sound and picked him back up, taking his knife between his fingers. It looked tiny in the bag hand of the apeoid, who threw him over its shoulder and continued to run. He screamed and hit the apeoid with his fist, but the apeoid didn’t react to it. He stuffed him into a cage with the other captured ribbipuds.

Cherry pulled on the door, but it didn’t move. On the ground in front of the cage were dead ribbipuds with arrows sticking out of their bodies. Cherry’s eyes frantically moved around as he tried to calm his breathing. The green apeoids had captured them. Was it his fault? He spotted Grey and the two of them locked eyes for a moment. He reached out a hand. “Help us!” Grey turned around, and Cherry lowered his hand. He backed away when two wrinkled green faces with yellow tusks and bad breath came close to the cage. They laughed and produced a string of sounds of which Cherry recognised a couple from Grey’s song. He made himself as small as he could.

“We’re going to die,” the ribbipud next to him whispered.

With trembling hands, Cherry took him in an embrace. While he wanted to keep the hope up that they were just taken captive, the stories about the green apeoids made it impossible to believe that.

***

“Fresh meat for the way back,” the orcs said as they gestured to the frogoids they had captured. “We followed the tracks to their village. We have these dead ones for now, and the live ones for later. They will stay fresh longer that way.”

“We’ll cut those up and hand out portions when we’re out of elf,” Poru ordered. “It will be dawn soon, so we’ll rest and give the injured a chance to regain some strength. Put everything on carts that we don’t need now. We will leave when the sun sets again. Duffy, get in the tent. It's almost dawn. You look like a gust of wind will blow you away." The other orcs roared with laughter, and Duffy complied. He was tired. 

The cage with the croaking frogoids was loaded on a cart, alongside the items they had collected from the elven settlement. 

“Silence!” one of the orcs roared and hit the bars with his fist to stop the croaking. “The next one to croak will be next on the fire!”

“That’s no use,” another orc laughed. “Those dumb animals can’t understand us.”

The orcs rested in their tents made of animal hides when the sun came up, except for some guards who kept an eye on potential enemies. Duffy couldn't sleep at first and kept thinking about the frogoids. He hoped he was wrong and that one frogoid wasn't among them, but one of them had looked straight at him and reached out to him. It had to be him. The singing frogoid. He had to help him.

When the sun set, the orcs ate their portions of meat and got ready to leave. Duffy helped pack up the tents and threw them in the second cart but couldn’t help but glance at the cage on the first cart several times. “Hey, where’s Andy?” he asked one of the orcs close to him.

“Went to check his traps,” the orc said, again with disdain in his voice.

He did his best to hide his disappointment. The one orc Duffy wanted to talk to wasn’t here. Silently, he continued to help pack up their camp and get the two injured orcs who couldn’t walk into the cart with the tents. There were more injured orcs, but most were too proud to be transported back to their village like that.

Andy joined them and showed two skinned rabbits. “An amazing catch, right?”

“You set traps,” the orc grumbled.

“And they were amazing traps!” He handed one of them to Duffy. “You haven’t eaten much yesterday. All I saw you do was nibble on some dried meat.”

“We have some elven meat left, and we’ll have frogoids to eat!” a nearby orc said. “Fresh and tasty frogoids.”

Andy scowled. “I’ll pass. I’ll have my rabbit and my rations of dried meat. And moss if I’m out of everything else.” His nose wrinkled at the mention of the moss; no orc liked eating it, but it was still considered an important food source. The moss that grew in caves had been one of their first food sources when they first started living in the harsh environment of the mountains, alongside bats and rodents, until they got better at hunting. These days they still ate moss when they travelled to war or a settlement they would raid, as moss is what kept them alive and it wouldn’t go bad, but they also had dried meat with them as meat gave them strength.  

“You rather eat moss than frogoids?” the orc laughed. “Fool.”

Andy shrugged at that and turned to Duffy. “Eat up, we’ll be on the move throughout the night.”

Duffy took the rabbit; it was already drained of blood and skinned – a ready-to-eat meal. Like other orcs, he could eat it raw; they only put meat on the gridiron if there was time and if they wanted to get the delicious scents and a better taste. “Can we talk?” After making sure Andy would follow him, Duffy walked to a place out of earshot of the other orcs. “The singing frogoid is among the captured.”

“That’s a shame,” Andy said with a mouth full of rabbit. “Eat up.”

“Do you think we can find a way to free him?”

“I’m not going to free them.”

Duffy stared at Andy and slowly clenched his fist when he realised the quick rejection was his genuine answer. Out of all the orcs who would understand, the one he trusted the most didn’t even want to try and help him. “Why not?! You think they are intelligent. You don’t think they should be our food.” He pointed to the cage. “Why would you let them die and be used for food?”

“I do consider them intelligent,” Andy said. “And I have been very vocal about that. Who do you think they will blame if they are let out of the cage? I value intelligent life, but I am an orc, and I’m bound by our laws. None of those frogoids is my friend or family, but I do have friends and family back at our village. Messing with our food is a crime punishable by banishment or death. You should know. Every orc knows the story of Jumy and how he was banished after being wrongfully accused of poisoning food. It was against the law hundreds of years ago, and it still is today. It doesn’t matter if they are still alive; they are captured and considered food now. Do you really want to risk banishment or death over one frogoid?” He gave Duffy a pat on the back. “Eat up, and don’t do anything foolish.”

Duffy took a bite from the rabbit as he watched Andy walk away. He couldn’t get himself to look at the cage and see the teary eyes of the singing frogoid.

The raid party started to move; the carts were each pulled by two orcs and the others jogged along. They were on the move for the duration of the night. The sun already peeked over the horizon when they reached the cave, and all the orcs went inside with the carts. Andy was the last to enter as he set a few traps first. They would eat and sleep during the day and be on the move again the following night.

The already dead frogoids were cut up, fried on the gridiron and shared among the orcs; only Duffy and Andy refused a portion. Duffy took some bread they had collected from the elven settlement instead. While Duffy was grateful for the rabbit earlier that night, he was still angry about the refusal to help and didn’t accept Andy’s dried meat. He went to the cage with the captured frogoids.

“I’m sorry this happened,” he said.

The singing frogoid ribbited at him, but that could mean anything.

“Duffy,” Andy said as he joined him.

Duffy glared at him. “What do you want?” he growled. If the orc didn't want to help him come up with a plan, he didn't want to see him.

“Is this your friend?” Andy asked, ignoring the question and the hostile tone Duffy used. Duffy nodded without looking at him. “Look, Duffy…” Andy waited until the young orc looked at him. “There is only one who can decide something is not seen as food anymore.”

“The chieftain.”

“Back home, yes. Here our raid leader is in charge. Your father can make that decision.”

“He won’t grant me any favours,” Duffy muttered. “He considers me weak.”

“I’m not exactly in the position to ask for any favours either. He considers me a nuisance.”

“Why did you go on this raid?”

Andy grinned and put his hands in his sides. “If the chieftain says you have to go, you don’t argue… a lot,” he made a dismissive motion with his hand, “I did protest. But I do like to go out and travel. I've done many raids before, and I’m not fond of elves, so pros and cons. The pros won.”

Another orc joined them. “Duffy, Andy,” both looked up when their names were called, “Loku and Kely are in pain. They need healing.”

“Come on, Duffy,” Andy said as he gave the young orc a pat on the back. “Duty calls.”

Reluctantly, Duffy followed him to the cart with the two heavily injured orcs and assisted Andy as he treated them. When that was done, Duffy went back to the cage. The singing frogoid sat up when he approached.

“Duffy?” he croaked.

Duffy blinked and grabbed the bars. “T-that’s my name.” He put a fist on his chest. “Duffy.”

The frogoid mimicked the gesture. “Cherry,” he croaked.

“Cherry?” Duffy tried to mimic the sound the best he could. Cherry continued to speak to him, but he couldn’t make out what he tried to say; the ribbits and croaks meant nothing to him.

At dusk, the last of the dead frogoids was shared among the orcs. Out of the three traps, only one had caught a weasel, and Andy shared it with Duffy, knowing he didn’t want any of the frogoid meat and they would be on the move all night. Duffy begrudgingly accepted it.

They ran through another night and reached a thick forest when the sky started turning light blue. They set up their tents so they wouldn’t be exposed to the sun, and Andy took the time to set several traps. This time, took Duffy with him to show him how. Traps were considered an inferior form of hunting; real orcs hunted their food by chasing them with spears and killing them after showing their dominant strength and speed.

“I’ve been running all day, I’m not going to chase after anything,” Andy told Duffy. “And there are orcs who need treatment; I don’t want to be away for hours in the hopes of finding some meat. Trapping isn’t a sure catch, but if you catch something it’s easy meat.”

“Why are you teaching me this?”

“It’s good to know how to survive. Hunt all you want if that is what you prefer; it will give you good meat, and you will prove your strengths. I prefer to be smart about getting my food. By trapping, I have time for other things. I’d join a hunt party if one would go out, but with the captured frogoids no one is going to hunt.”

Once they were done, Duffy went back to the captured frogoids. He wanted to find a way to let them go. In the cave, there had been too many orcs around. Maybe he’d get an opportunity when everyone would be sleeping in tents, although there would be some guards keeping watch during the day.

Two other orcs came; one opened the cage, and the other grabbed two frogoids by the throat, one in each big hand. The other frogoids grabbed the arms of their friends and tried to pull them free, but the orc who held the cage open laughed and hit them with a stick. The remaining frogoids cried and sang a sad song as the others were taken away to be slaughtered.

Duffy felt sick. No animal wanted to die. Swine squealed before being slaughtered; that was normal. But this… this made them seem more like orcs than animals. They too sang songs for their fallen brothers and sisters. 

When the frogoid meat was passed around, Duffy refused and nibbled on some dried meat instead. He sought out Andy to tell him about the frogoid saying his name and the song they sang.

“Obvious signs of intelligence,” Andy said. “There is a whole lot we could learn about them if they wouldn’t be used as food, but that is not the orcish way.”

"Screw the orcish way!" Duffy spat. "This is not right."

"Be careful with that, unless you'd prefer to live as a solitary orc," Andy warned him. "Go to sleep."

During the day, when most orcs were asleep, Duffy lay on fur and tried to sleep as well, but his thoughts circled the frogoids. He could set them free; there were only a few guards up. He could… but Andy’s words echoed in his memories. Were these frogoids really worth being banished or killed over? Was he ready to leave his clan over a frogoid he had met just days ago? Eventually he did fall asleep in an uneasy sleep, and he dreamt about his mother back home, and about Cherry being roasted on a skewer over an open flame. He jolted up and lay back down. “Damn it…” he muttered.

At dawn they packed up and had a meal so they could travel through the night.

For their third and final stop before arriving home, they took refuge in an abandoned mine. More frogoids would be eaten, and Duffy felt more and more conflicted about the whole situation. He rubbed his temples with both hands as he thought about what to do. Should he turn his back on them, as Andy did? Should he just go elsewhere and wait until some frogoids were claimed before checking if Cherry was still among them? He couldn’t.

From where he stood, he had a good view of the cage, and like the day before, two orcs approached it. One of them grabbed Cherry by the throat.

“Wait!” Duffy roared as he grabbed the orc by the arm. “Wait!”

“What’s this ruckus?” Poru asked as he approached. “Duffy, what are you doing?”

“I want that one as my pet.”

Poru raised his eyebrows. “What?”

“My pet, I want that one as my pet.”

“Get a wolf as a pet; those are useful.”

“I want that one. He can sing.”

Poru spat on the ground. “Your mother raised you as a weakling.”

“I still want him.” Duffy looked his father straight in the eyes, and the only one disturbing the silence was Cherry, who had his webbed hands on the orc’s arm as he tried and hopelessly failed to break free.

“You can have him,” Poru said, “if you catch replacement food. Grab your spear and go hunt; if you bring something back before dusk, you can have it.”

“But… it’s daytime…” Duffy said.

“Show me how much you want him. Either you get food for us to eat, or we will eat that one. The choice is yours.”

Duffy looked from his father to Cherry and nodded. He grabbed a spear and went to the entrance of the mine, narrowing his eyes at the bright sunlight.

“Here,” Andy said as he approached him and showed a scarf and a waterskin. “Wrap this around your head to give your eyes some shadow. And rub some mud on your exposed skin. We don’t handle sunlight very well.”

“Thanks…”

“Have a good hunt.” Andy gave him a pat on the back. “For Cherry’s sake, I hope you’ll find something.”

Duffy wrapped the scarf around his face, leaving some space to look through, and stepped into the sun. He used the water to make mud and rubbed it over his skin as Andy had instructed, then he set out to find some prey that would be more meat than Cherry would provide.

Andy went to the cage that held the frogoids. “Cherry, right?” he said as he looked at him.

Cherry put his hand on his chest. “Cherry,” he croaked.

“Andy,” he said as he tapped his own chest.

“Andy?”

“Very good.” He scratched his cheek as he examined the frogoid; it was clear he had been crying. “A cruel fate he chose for you. You will be spared, but you will have to see your loved ones be killed. And if he sets you free or you will escape, you will go back to being prey. I wonder if it would have been more merciful if it would have ended for you today.” He could tell Cherry didn’t understand the words, but it was remarkable it had remembered and could speak their names.

Two orcs approached to get two more frogoids and slaughter them so they could bleed out before being cut up at dusk. One opened the cage; the other grabbed two frogoids by their neck.

“Not that one,” Andy said.

“What?”

“That’s the one Duffy claimed as his pet.”

“Come on, Andy, they all look alike,” the orc grumbled. “This frogoid or that frogoid, what’s the difference?”

“The difference is that this is Cherry, the one he wants as a pet, and the other frogoids aren’t,” Andy explained. “Just take one of the others since all frogoids are the same to you.”

“He’s right, just grab another,” the other orc said. “Doesn’t matter which ones we eat tonight.”

The two orcs left with squirming frogoids in their hands, and Andy turned to Cherry, who had been grabbed and released twice now. The fear was visible in his big yellow eyes.

“I'm sorry, little fellow. The best I can do is look after you to make sure you aren’t eaten before Duffy returns. I wish I could make it clear to you what is happening, and I’m sorry you have to go through this all.”

Meanwhile Duffy had made his way to the nearest forest and sniffed the air to find his prey. His eyes hurt, even with the scarf around his head, and the sun was unpleasantly warm on his skin. At times there were clouds in front of the sun that would reduce the brightness to just below painful, but those moments didn’t last.

There was a swine nearby; he could smell it. Duffy sneaked through the forest with his spear ready. A swine would either flee or attack, and they didn’t have a disadvantage in this bright light; he had to be very careful. At times he closed his eyes to shut away the light and relied solely on his senses of hearing and smell to get closer to the prey.

When the sound of a foraging swine reached his ears, Duffy lowered himself and tried to locate it by sight. When he saw it, he pulled back his arm, aimed, and with a powerful thrust launched the spear. It lodged in its rib cage, and it screamed before running away. Duffy jumped up and ran after the swine, following the blood trail until he found the collapsed animal. He pulled the spear out of the swine and let it bleed out, before he hoisted it up his shoulders, wavering under the weight, and started his way back to the mine. For other orcs, picking up a swine this size was barely an inconvenience, but Duffy wasn’t as muscular as the others. Despite that, he was determined to bring this catch back to others. Not only would it allow Cherry to stay alive, but maybe it would make his father proud as well.

When he made it back to the mine, the sun was already on its way down. The orcs were starting to wake up and prepare meals as they waited for the darkness to settle in. He walked to his father and dropped the swine at his feet. “Good enough? Can I have that frogoid now?”

“You can have it,” Poru said.

“Surely one swine is worth more than one frogoid,” Andy said.

“I didn’t ask for your opinion!” Poru snarled. “So don’t give it.”

Andy shrugged to that, not in the least bit phased by Poru, but he knew better than to continue arguing with the raid leader.

“You will keep your pet tied up until we get home,” Poru continued as he focused his attention on Duffy again. “Got it?”

Duffy nodded; anything that wasn’t a confirmation could lead to Poru declaring Cherry to be food again.

“And its food will come from your rations.”

“Of course,” Duffy replied, and he made his way to the cage. There were only two frogoids left, but thankfully Cherry was still there. He opened the cage and took him by the hand. “Come on, Cherry, let’s go.”

Cherry reluctantly moved out of the cage and followed Duffy further into the mine, until they weren’t surrounded by orcs anymore. Duffy let him sit down and used rope to bind his hands. “I’m sorry, but this is the condition they gave me.”

Andy had followed them, carrying a wolf pelt and a waterskin. “Why don’t you rest a bit? You’ve been up all day, and we’re going to be on the move throughout the night again. I’ll keep an eye on Cherry.”

“Why would you do that? You didn’t even want to free them,” Duffy spat, glaring at the larger orc.

“For reasons I explained and stand by,” Andy responded with a calm voice. “But now that he is no longer considered food, I will help you keep him safe. Drink some water and rest; I have some rabbit for you when you wake up.”

Duffy looked from Andy to the frightened Cherry and nodded. He drank from the waterskin and lay down on the wolf pelt in order to get a little sleep before they would start the last part of the journey back to their village.

***

Cherry sat against the stone wall with bound hands, keeping his arms between his legs to try and stop the trembles. He looked at Grey, no, Duffy. Two of the green apeoids he knew by name now. Duffy, the singer. And the other was called Andy, and he had recognised him as the apeoid who had come to get Duffy at the lake, that night when they were taken.

His lips trembled. So far all others had died, and he would surely be next, but why wasn’t he kept in the cage? Should he try to escape? He looked from Andy to the sleeping Duffy; he was certain that was no evil apeoid. But would they let him escape? 

An apeoid approached, and Cherry hid behind Duffy, lying flat on the ground with only his eyes and the top of his head peeking over Duffy’s rising and falling chest. The apeoid paid no attention to him and offered Andy two pieces of meat. Cherry swallowed heavily, and his eyes filled up with tears; that had to be one of the ribbipud who had been taken away, he was certain of it. Much to his surprise, Andy raised his hand and shook his head, refusing the meat. The apeoids talked, and eventually the other took some strips of meat from his pouch and handed them to Andy before walking away with the two pieces of meat.

When all the apeoids were gathering their things, Andy woke up Duffy and handed him a rabbit. While he took a bite, he looked at Cherry and spoke. Cherry did his best to make sense of the sounds coming from the apeoid’s mouth, but that was hard. The blank stare caused the two apeoids to stare at each other, and eventually Duffy tore a piece of the rabbit and put it on the ground, gesturing to it while keeping eye contact. An offer of food?

Cherry looked from the meat to Duffy and back to the meat, before shooting out his tongue to pick it up. If his hands weren’t bound, he’d have used those instead. Duffy then offered the brown sack Cherry recognised as a water container, and he gratefully drank from it. Since they had been caught, no one had offered them anything to eat or drink. It showed Duffy wasn’t like the others, but he was a captive. Still… he could have been dead, and he was grateful he wasn’t. Maybe he had a chance to go back home.

When Duffy came closer, Cherry instinctively backed up, which made the apeoid pause. Duffy talked to him in their language as if he tried to explain something and gently reached out again. Letting out a trembling sigh, Cherry allowed himself to be picked up and laid over Duffy’s shoulder. Andy made some comments on it, and Duffy scratched his cheek. Then they moved to a cart, and Cherry bounced, uncomfortable with every step. Andy gestured to him as he spoke again, and Duffy made a sound that could be interpreted as agreeing. When they reached the cart with the injured apeoid, Duffy lowered him in while Andy spoke to the ones in the cart, who seemed too tired to do anything but nod weakly. Duffy tied him to the side of the cart, again saying words Cherry didn’t understand, but the tone seemed gentle and even apologetic. Cherry ribbited softly at him.

Just like the previous nights, the orcs travelled without breaks, jogging under the cover of the darkness. This was the first time Cherry took the opportunity to examine them. They all wore hard brown and grey clothes, but some had two bulges on their chest. Their stamina was impressive, but it also meant that even if he could escape, the orcs would catch up with him. Cherry heard ribbiting behind him and looked over the edge of the cart to the cage on the other cart. His eyes teared up. How he wished he could free her, but he couldn’t even free himself.

They arrived at the mountains when it was still dark, and after following a narrow passage, they entered a valley full of stone houses overgrown with grass. Apeoids in various stages of their life walked between the homes; short apeoids ran along, and what looked to be two elderly apeoids sat on a bench. To Cherry’s surprise, there were very few elderly apeoids, and he wondered why that was. There were many elderly ribbipud. One apeoid let a tiny apeoid suck on the exposed bulge on the chest, and Cherry stared at it. Was that a freshly hatched apeoid? It seemed so pale in comparison to the others, even paler than Duffy, who had a faint green and slightly greyish hue. His curiosity was piqued: what caused the apeoids to turn green?

When a couple of apeoids came to the cart to help their wounded out, Cherry pressed himself into the corner and made himself as small as possible. Where was Duffy? What would happen to him? One of them grunted a question as he pointed at him, and another answered.

After what seemed to be an eternity, Duffy returned, untied him and picked him up. He brought him into one of the stone houses and gently lowered him into a wooden tub with lukewarm water. Cherry looked from the water to Duffy.

“What do you want from me?” he croaked, but he could tell Duffy didn’t understand him.

After scratching his head, Duffy sat down next to the tub and started singing the same song as by the lake. Cherry listened first and joined in halfway, mimicking the melody with his croaks and trying to reproduce the sounds as much as he could. He missed his home, but he knew he wouldn’t be able to escape. For now, he’d be safe with Duffy.

Another orc entered the room, with braided hair and bulges on the chest. Cherry hid behind the tub when Duffy got up to talk to the new orc. Even though the wrinkled face was similar to most other orcs, the eyes seemed gentle, and so was the smile. Lorna was the word Duffy used, which Cherry assumed was the name of that orc. Unbeknownst to Cherry, the last frogoid was taken to the chieftain to be eaten.

The more time he spent with Duffy, the more he started to understand the apeoid language. The other apeoids that lived in the house rarely showed themselves in the room he stayed in, but Duffy slept here. There were moments he was just by himself, but Duffy spent most of his time in the room with him. When Duffy touched something and spoke a singular word, Cherry assumed that was the apeoid word for that object. In turn, he touched the same object, tried to emulate the sounds and told Duffy what it was in his language as well, although it turned out Duffy had a harder time emulating his language than Cherry had speaking Duffy’s language.

Water was the first word he learned; tub was another. Duffy had also brought a black stone and white chalk to try and draw animals. It turned out they used the same word for frog, and what he had called tusked hogs were called swine by the apeoids. And hair-covered apes were monkeys. Duffy even brought a goat to let Cherry touch the hair, and then Lorna let him touch a vest that felt the same. Cherry concluded they used the hair of the goat to clothe themselves. Duffy also showed that the goat produced a green liquid which he called milk; it had a funny smell but wasn’t bad in taste.

Cherry never left the house, but Duffy brought him meat and green goat cheese, and he gave him fresh water to sit in. He had also brought plant food once, which he had called moss, but that was bitter and hurt his stomach, and he hadn’t eaten it since then. Whenever he heard a mouse, he moved silently towards it and caught it. There wasn’t much prey here, but the occasional mouse or bug was a welcome change from the other meat which wasn’t as tasty to him.

There was one word he had heard a few times, and he still didn’t know what it meant. So, when Andy visited and he used the word, he croaked: “Orc?”

Duffy turned to him and tapped on his chest. “Orc.”

Cherry frowned at him and pushed his finger into Duffy’s chest. “Duffy.”

Duffy nodded and repeated the gesture. “Orc Duffy.” He then pointed at Andy. “Orc Andy.”

That’s when it dawned on Cherry: orc was what the green apeoids called themselves!

“Cherry,” he croaked as he tapped his chest. “Ribbipud”

“Frogoid is ribbipud?” Duffy asked. “Frogoid Cherry is ribbipud Cherry?”

Frogoid? What an odd name, but then again, maybe the apeoids, no, the orcs didn’t know what they called themselves, just as he hadn’t known how they called themselves. And the oid sound existed in both languages! While Cherry longed to be among his own kind again, the orc language and the similarities were exciting to learn about. “Ribbipud,” Cherry said as he nodded, tapping his chest. “Ribbipud Cherry.”

The two orcs started a discussion again, and Cherry heard Andy mention the oid sound; maybe he had noticed the same thing. Cherry sat on the windowsill, listening to their sounds. When he saw a moth, his eyes followed it for a bit, and suddenly he caught it with his tongue. The two orcs paused their conversation for just a moment when that happened.

Cherry stayed inside for several days, too scared to face the other orcs and only talking to Duffy and occasionally Andy and Lorna when they came into the room. One night, Duffy took him by the hand and led him outside. This was the second time he saw the village, and he looked around to take it in. During the raid, the orcs had been dressed in that tough brown and grey, which Duffy had explained was leather and metal, but here they wore other clothes. Mostly brown, orange and white, but it was softer, and Duffy explained the clothes were made of fur and wool. Cherry recalled Andy had worn fur when the others had worn leather as well.

Cherry asked the words for everything he didn’t know yet. He did know that froglets could be described as small and young while being two different things, so he made sure to keep asking questions until the difference was clear. Andy was tall, orcs with grey hair were old, the broad orcs were muscular, and Duffy was lean. The orcs with bulges on their chests were females, and they had breasts, from which the infants drank milk. They lived in stone houses and had meat and moss as food. He listened to the conversations around him and learned more and more of the language.

During one walk, Cherry was picked up, and he squirmed as he tried to break free.

“Let him go!” Duffy yelled.

“He smells good, and I heard frogoid meat is tasty.”

“I received permission to keep him as my pet; set him down!”

The orc threw Cherry to the side, who pressed himself against the wall of a house as the orc pushed Duffy.

Poru joined them. “Why are you pushing my son?”

“He doesn’t want to share the frogoid.”

“He doesn’t have to; he proved himself and earned the right to keep him as a pet.” Poru glared at the other orc until he walked away. “You are a weakling, Duffy,” Poru said without looking at his son. “You’ll have to get better at protecting your pet if you want to keep him.” Without another word, Poru walked away.

Duffy returned to Cherry and helped him up.

“What is a pet?” Cherry asked.

“Ah, eh, f-friend. Someone you like having with you.”

“I see. Where are we going?”

“Andy. I won’t have to go on the next raid if he teaches me how to be a healer.”

They found Andy sitting at a table outside, drinking from a mug. There were two other orcs with him, whom he introduced as his brother and the partner of his brother. Cherry had learned the ones with the bulges on the chest were females, but other than that there weren’t many differences between the two. Both had no facial hair and were roughly the same size – some males were even larger than females! Back home, ribbipud females were larger than males.

“Join us,” Andy said, gesturing to free seats. “Do you drink ale, Cherry?”

Cherry puffed out his cheeks as he let out a deep ribbit. “Ale?”

“A drink brewed from plants we find in the area. Do fro- ribbipud make drinks from water and plants or fruit and let it sit for a while?”

“No. Can I try it?”

“Sure! But be careful, we generally don’t give it to our children as they can’t handle it very well and you are about their size.”

Cherry took Andy’s mug and let some of the liquid flow into his mouth. The bitter liquid stung his throat, and he coughed as he made a disgusted face. “Did you use that moss in it?” He still remembered the bad stomach ache the bitter moss had given him.

“Yes, actually. We don’t particularly like eating moss, although we do on raids because of tradition mostly, but if there’s nothing else to eat we’re glad it grows in these mountains. Putting the moss in water with berries and letting it ferment for a while, that’s good use of the moss. And the goats love it, giving us milk and cheese in return.”

“I don’t really like the cheese,” Duffy said.

“That’s why you’re barely green; you only had one raid during which you ate moss, you don’t drink milk or eat cheese, and you don’t drink the good stuff.” Andy finished his moss ale. “I’m sure you didn’t come here to discuss moss though, so what brought you two here?”

“I want to finish what I started during the last raid.”

“The teaching or the conversation we had?”

Duffy frowned at him, but then he recalled what they had discussed during the raid. “Do you want to explain why we attack elves now?” 

“Oh, we have a long history,” Andy began. “We attack them, they attack us. I suppose it all began…” Andy paused and grinned as he turned to Duffy.

“I swear, if you will say you’re not going to get into that now again,” Duffy grumbled.

“It’s so tempting, but okay, I will tell you now. A long time ago there was a war between elves and ogres.”

“What does that have to do with us?” Duffy asked.

“You’ll see. Usually, ogres are solitary creatures; they live by themselves, and I suppose they get together to mate from time to time, but we know very little about their mating habits. Anyway, there was a time a group of ogres decided to band together for reasons that are lost to time. They built a fortress somewhere in the mountains and started to raid settlements close to the mountains, both human settlements and elven settlements. When they raided, they stole food and gold, and enslaved whoever they could. The slaves were brought back to their fortress. The war lasted for somewhere between 5 and 10 years; I’ve heard different numbers, but it’s usually within that range.”

“Where did you hear that?” Duffy asked.

“Oh, you know how we orcs like to kill the people we fight and eat the people we conquer? I prefer to talk to them. I have talked to orcs who knew about the war, but also to elves and humans, and the stories about this war were very similar, except that people aren’t exactly sure how long it lasted. Ehm, anyway! The elves were able to breach the fortress and kill the ogres. They went to free the slaves, and what they found was that some female elves were pregnant and there were several ogre-elf hybrid children walking around. The ogres had raped their prisoners, and that probably happened from day one. The exact numbers are also lost to history, but estimations are that there were at least fifteen elven slaves who each had one to four children from the ogres. The elves took the freed slaves back to their settlements, and they also took children born from them. The elves started referring to them as orcs.”

Duffy’s jaw dropped. “So we… we came from elves?”

“And ogres, yes. Obviously we got the best of both worlds because we are a strong and handsome race. Right?” he turned to his brother, who nodded to agree.

“So that’s what you meant! Not that we have things in common, but we have common ancestors?” Duffy paled. “And we… eat elves? Isn’t that like eating our own kind then?”

“No. I don’t think it is. They are elves; we are orcs. It’s been hundreds of years, and after so many generations it’s safe to say we aren’t ogres or elves, just the strong and beautiful orcs we are – me, of course, being the best example of that. Sure, we have elven blood in our veins, but have you taken a good look at us? We don’t look a whole lot like them. Orcs always preferred strong partners, so it’s likely that through selective partner choices, we now have more ogre blood than elven blood. Plus, in many clans, stone gnome blood was added to the mix as well. A stone gnome partner has been perfectly acceptable even before Jumy took a female stone gnome as partner and had children with her. We have had a non-aggression pact with them since the beginning. They have a similar origin too; the human slaves also had offspring.”

Duffy glanced to Cherry, who listened intently. “Why didn’t you want to tell me this during the raid?”

“You were already conflicted about the whole thing, and truth to be told, orcs like you are a reminder we do still have elven blood in our veins. But also because there is more to the story, although this is a part where the stories start to differ. The story passed down among orcs is that the elves hated the offspring and banished them to live by themselves in caves, hoping they would die there.”

Duffy jumped up. “What? Why? It’s not fair to be banished for that, as if it was their fault they were born like that! I’d have joined the raid if I had known that.”

“The elves say that they tried to give the offspring a place among them,” Andy continued as if he hadn’t been interrupted, “but that they were aggressive and attacked elven children, so they had no choice but to send them away in exile.”

“Oh.” Duffy sat down again.

“I believe the truth lies somewhere in the middle. Elves didn’t like what they saw but tried their best, and the orcs couldn’t adjust living in the elven settlement because there was too much light, and I can definitely believe orc children were too rough for the elven children. Anyway, the stories agree that the orcs left with the few elven mothers who couldn’t leave them alone.”

“Did all the elven women who gave birth to orcs go into exile with them?” Duffy asked.

“From what I heard, not all of them. Some already had elven children before they were taken and didn’t want to leave their family behind now that they were reunited. But some elven women went with them. They found a cave to live in, and the elven women taught the orcs how to survive. However, due to the stress their bodies had gone through while being enslaved, and the harsh living conditions without sunlight or the plant-based foods they were used to eating, they didn’t last long in the caves. From then on, the orcs lived by themselves, creating their own hierarchy. And as more children were born, clans started to spread out. And that is where we came from.”

Duffy stared at the table as he tried to give all this information a place. They were elves, partly anyway, and he finally understood why orcs dislike elves so much. Regardless of the reason, they had been sent away to survive in the mountains. He loved living in this village, but the first orcs had to survive here, and that couldn’t have been easy.

Andy turned to Cherry. “Do you have a story of origin for your people?”

“Our elders, old ones,” in his own language he called them elders, but he wasn’t sure what the orc word for that was, “they tell a story of the Tree of Life where all life came from. The seeds were carried by the wind, and plants grew where they landed. Between the roots was the spring of the First River. And the first creatures were made. All life in the water came from Aquera, who infused some seeds with their blood, and we ribbipud are one of the creatures they created, just like frogs. And we referred to you as apeoids; elves are sharp-eared apeoids, humans are round-eared apeoids, and you are green apeoids or tusked apeoids. I never saw an ogre, so we don’t have a word for that.” He flashed a smile when Andy assured him he didn’t want to see an ogre from up close. “You all came from the, eh, well, a big apeoid. That's what our elders told us.”

Andy nodded and waved his finger at Cherry. “I think they are correct; I remember a human talking about that. She used it to explain why humans don’t like elves very much. She called that big apeoid the Mamasapie, I think, and one day Mamasapie called her children to her: the ogre, the human, the elf and a monkey. She wanted to give them gifts, but the impatient monkey had run off before she could give it. Then when she wanted to give the gift of longevity to her remaining children, the elf took it all and left nothing for the others. Which is why they live so much longer than the other races.” Andy rubbed his chin and mouth. “On the other hand, an elf also mentioned the origin gifts that elves and the others received: they got long life, ogres got strength and humans versatility. So, again, truth is probably somewhere in the middle. I can definitely believe that the damned elf selfishly took that gift, but that doesn’t mean Mamasapie left the others with nothing.”

Both Duffy and Cherry listened to the stories. “There is so much I didn’t know,” Duffy said. “Where did you learn all that?”

“I love talking to people. But somehow when I bring up how much we could learn from others if we wouldn’t eat them, they get annoyed.” Andy turned to Duffy. “I heard another raid is going to happen. Are you joining?”

Duffy shook his head. “I’m your apprentice now, right? If you still want me.”

“Of course! If you’re not a fighter, I will make you a healer. But, as I said, being a healer doesn’t mean you stop going to raids; you’re still needed, but you are often excluded from the actual fight.”

“Old Hanku is going,” Andy’s brother said. “I think it will be her last raid.”

“Aunt Hanku?” Duffy asked as he jumped up. Hanku was the sister of his grandmother and his mother’s aunt, therefore his aunt as well. “Why is she going?”

“Why not?” Andy asked.

“Younger, stronger orcs can go.”

“Sure, she’s old, and this raid might be the end of her,” Andy replied, “but if she wants to go, we shouldn’t stop her.”

“This is the caged frogoids all over again! You never do something when you know something should be done!”

Andy sighed and shook his head. “I explained why I wouldn’t let them go even though I personally disagreed with eating them. I’m an orc. We have our way of life. In your aunt's case, it would be cruel to stop her from going on the raid even though she will likely die from exhaustion or from the battle. There are a lot of orcs who don’t like the idea of getting weak and dying in a bed; they prefer to die in action. I suggest you visit her before she leaves, but don’t try to talk her out of it. If you emphasise her weakness, she will not appreciate that.”

Duffy wasted no time and ran away. Cherry remained at the table; Aunt Hanku had looked at him with nothing but disdain. Most orcs did.

“Are there other pets?” Cherry asked.

“There are two wolves, and one orc took a female goat as a pet; she can be used for breeding instead of food, so that was allowed.”

Cherry sat in silence as he took in the new information. Orcs being friends with wolves was something he could understand, but being friends with a goat? Either orcs were stranger than he thought, or Duffy hadn’t been completely honest… and Duffy had hesitated with his answer. “Andy, what is a pet?”

“I’d say… an animal companion is an accurate description.”

“Is that what I am?” he asked with a soft voice. “Do you see me as an animal?”

“No. Frogs are, just like wolves, swine, goats and monkeys. Ribbipuds are intelligent creatures as far as I’m concerned, and fall in the same category as stone gnomes and humans and the like.” Andy got up. “Let’s go to see Hanku and collect Duffy for his lessons before he’ll get drafted into the raid.”

When they neared the house, they heard Hanku’s granddaughter complain she wanted to go too.

“Not as long as your child needs your milk,” Hanku said. “There will be more raids, and your child will be able to drink goat milk soon enough.” She greeted Andy with a nod and ignored Cherry. “Duffy said he’s not going because he wants to be a healer.”

“And I’m grateful for that because I can use an assistant,” Andy said. “I will take good care of your nephew.”

“Feed him well and make sure he won’t get weak.” Hanku gestured to Duffy. “Barely any meat on his bones.”

Duffy was used to remarks like that and kept silent while Andy promised to keep him well-fed and let him carry heavy things to build his muscle.

“And how about a partner?” Hanku asked as she turned to Duffy, who shrugged at that. None of the female orcs in their village had any interest in him, and he didn’t particularly like any of them either.

Thankfully, Andy came to his rescue by saying that he, as a single orc, would attend the midwinter meeting and he would take Duffy along. That was enough to please Hanku.

When Andy was done talking with her, they went to his house, where Andy showed them how to make certain kinds of medicine. Later, when the sky turned lighter in the east, they went back to Duffy’s house. They shared some goat meat and sat down next to each other on the pile of fur on the ground.

“Will you sing that song again?” Cherry asked. “The one you sang at my lake?”

“You like Jumy’s Lament?” he asked.

Cherry puffed out his cheeks as he ribbited. “Who is Jumy? Andy mentioned him as well.”

“I’m not a great storyteller,” Duffy said, “and most of the story is told through songs, but I can give a summary.” He smiled when Cherry nodded enthusiastically; it was nice to be with someone who appreciated music and stories as he did. “There once was a chieftain called Moru who had two sons who were called Pumy and Jumy. They were born in the same hour and were equal in strength, but they had different ideas on how to run the clan, so they tried to gain followers. One day, Jumy was accused of having poisoned the food supply. In our culture, it’s the worst crime to do something with our food; it can lead to banishment or being killed, so Jumy left. They say he travelled far away and joined a group of stone gnomes, even taking one as his partner, and they had children.”

“Andy mentioned that!” Cherry said, recalling the story of the orc origin Andy had shared with them.

Duffy smiled at him. “Jumy is one of our favourite orcs to tell stories about.”

“Did he ever see his brother again?”

“Actually, yes. Jumy heard about an ogre attacking his clan and went to help his brother. After that he was allowed to return, and he became the blade hand of Pumy, who had become chieftain already.” He paused. “The lament is when he fled the cave, before he wandered the mountains alone and reached the stone gnome cave.”

“Sing it again?” Cherry pleaded. “I liked the melody, but I understand your language better now. I want to hear what he sang when he left.”

Duffy sang Jumy’s Lament for Cherry, who leaned against Duffy and closed his eyes to take it in.

Once the song was over, they closed the shutters to keep the sunlight out. Both Cherry and Duffy lay down on their pelts, with their back to each other as they usually lay, to give each other a sense of privacy, but Cherry couldn’t sleep.

“Hey, Duffy?”

“Hm?”

“I want to swim again.”

“Ah…” Duffy turned to his other side so he could look at Cherry. “There is an underground lake in the cave where we keep our supplies, and a mountain lake not very far from here. Mountain lions do visit it so it’s not really safe.”

“Mountain lion?”

“The skin I gave you to sleep on.”

Cherry touched the soft hairs. “I also want my knife back. They took it from me.”

“That is probably in the armoury. Why do you need it?”

“To remove the heads and claws of mice. I can swallow them, but I prefer to swallow them without the hard bits.”

“First thing in the evening,” Duffy promised and rolled back to his other side to sleep through the sunny part of the day.  

When Cherry woke up, he crouched down next to Duffy with his arms around his knees and waited for him to wake up. When Duffy opened an eye and saw Cherry so close, he yelled and jolted up.

“You scared me!”

“How can a small ribbipud like me scare a big orc like you?”

Duffy’s heart was still racing. “Don’t sit so close to me when I wake up.”

“Okay…” Cherry waited a moment. “Can we go now?”

“What?”

“Swim! You said I could swim today.”

Lorna entered the room. “Is everything okay in here?”

“I scared Duffy,” Cherry said.

“That’s okay, cutie. Duffy, will you pick up some leather and wool today? I need to make two vests and fix your father’s armour.”

Duffy nodded and took Cherry by the hand. “I’ll do that now and show Cherry a place where he can swim.”

“Enjoy yourselves!” Lorna said as she waved them goodbye.

They walked through the village that was waking up. Some orcs were already outside; other houses had the shutters still closed. They went to the other side of the village where the mountain rose high above them, and Duffy showed him the entrance to a cave. “We used to live in caves like this, and some clans still do. We use it for storage as we build houses in the valley. First they went to the armoury, and they looked for one of the ribbipud knives. Swords, axes and leather armour were all stored here. Cherry found his knife and put it back in his belt. He felt a bit better with his trusted tool back where it belonged. They continued towards the water when Cherry stopped.

“I think I hear a rat.”

“Yeah, they are a problem,” Duffy said. “They eat our food.

Cherry lowered himself, and with silent, long leg movements, he went towards the sound. The moment he spotted the rat, the rat spotted him. They moved at the same time; the rat started running as Cherry used his powerful legs to jump. He managed to grab the rat just before it was able to hide, and he quickly killed it with his knife. He quickly decapitated and declawed it and put it in his mouth. After swallowing the rat, he turned to Duffy. “That was a decent breakfast. Better than goat meat.”

“Wow…” Duffy said. “You know how hard it is to catch a rat?”

“It’s not that hard, you just have to be quick enough.”

Duffy grinned as he rubbed the back of his head. “I think we orcs lack that. Come, I’ll show you where you can swim.”

They went further into the cave until they reached a deep pool with clear water. Cherry immediately jumped in and croaked in delight. He swam around, dove under, came back up. “I missed this,” he sighed as he lay on his back and floated on the water. He puffed out his cheek and ribbited. “I miss my friends and family too.”

“If I release you… nothing is stopping them from hunting you as food again.”

Cherry ribbited sadly, and Duffy wasn’t sure what he could say. After a moment of silence, he asked: “You killed the elves, right?”

“I think they are all dead, yes. Some may have survived.

“They kept the dholes away from us…” Cherry sighed. “I don’t think our village is a safe place anymore.”

Duffy rubbed his arm as he thought about it. An idea formed, but he needed to be sure about a few things first. “Are all ribbipud good at catching rats?”

“The hunters are.”

“You also kept my room free of insects.”

“They are tasty!”

Duffy watched Cherry’s carefree swimming for a while. “I’m going to pick up the stuff my mother wanted. Do you want to stay here for a bit?” After Cherry confirmed that, Duffy left to gather the things Lorna needed, but he also stopped at Andy’s place to tell him what had happened.

“So he catches bugs and rats,” Andy summarised. “You have a skilled little friend.”

“I think he’s lonely; he doesn’t have any of his kind with him.”

“Yes, I can imagine he is lonely.”

“And he worries about the safety of the others from his village.”

“Empathy is a clear sign of intelligence.”

“Do you think the chieftain will allow a non-aggression pact with the ribbipud?”

Andy slowly blew out some air. “If he does, this will be the first pact with something unrelated to us. Stone gnomes are similar enough that such a pact makes sense. Ribbipud are food… However, they are useful, and we have Cherry to prove they are intelligent because he learned our language. I think we can try to make a case. And if he agrees, we can get more ribbipud here to keep our village clean of vermin, and Cherry won’t have to be alone anymore. Why don’t you get Cherry and meet me at the chieftain's? You can make your case, and I will assist when needed.”

Duffy ran back to the cave to explain his idea to Cherry. Cherry’s eyes lit up at the idea of getting more ribbipud here. Although a part of him wanted to go back, another part of him liked being with Duffy, and this orc village was a new experience with so much to learn. If they could be beneficial to each other, they could also exchange stories and songs.

They went to the house of the chieftain, where Andy was. Other orcs present were the chieftain’s right blade and two raid leaders. Poru was one of them.

The chieftain sat on a bone throne and beckoned Duffy to step forward. “I heard you had an idea for me, young Duffy. Speak.”

Duffy began to explain why it would be beneficial to have ribbipud at their village by telling how free of bugs his room was and how Cherry had eaten mice and even caught a rat that was close to their food storage, and Cherry chimed in to say he could do everything Duffy had said.

“They’re just stupid animals,” Poru spat.

“They are more intelligent than wolves, and we let those live with us,” Andy interjected.

“I am so tired of you and your intelligent life,” Poru growled.

“Deal with it; that is my opinion, and I can talk about it as much as I want.”

“You are no orc.”

Andy straightened his back and put his hands in his side. “I am, and I will not have you say otherwise. I’m proud of my orc heritage.”

“Why don’t you prove it?”

Duffy stepped between them. “Father, Andy is just as much an orc as…”

“I didn’t ask you!”

“It’s okay,” Andy said. “I only object to killing intelligent life, so if Poru wants proof I’d be happy to smash his skull into the rocks.”

“You’re calling me dumb?!”

“Well, you are smart enough to understand that.”

Poru charged at Andy and grabbed his head. Andy punched him in the gut. They both drew a bone dagger.

“Enough!” the chieftain rose from his throne. “Let’s not spill orc blood today. Poru, I know you don’t like him, but he’s a good healer, and I want to keep him around. Andy, don’t antagonise Poru; he’s a good raid leader who brought us many victories, and he deserves respect.”

“Alright, chief,” Andy said as he put the dagger away again. “I can’t promise it won’t happen again, but I’ll try to mind my words around him.”

“And I won’t spill his blood, in the very least not in this village.”

“Remind me to never go on another raid with you.”

“As if I want you on my raids.”

The chieftain nodded slowly. “I’m glad you two reached an understanding about one thing.” He turned to Duffy and Cherry, who had hidden behind Duffy when the orcs had started fighting. “I find your proposal interesting, young Duffy. How intelligent are ribbipud?”

“Well,” Duffy began with a careful glance at his father. “I don’t know if you know Andy’s qualifications?”

The chieftain roared with laughter. “You spent time with Andy, yes? Do you think he’d be shy about it towards me? He bugged me numerous times, and while I agree some races can be as intelligent as we are, they are still our prey. So even if the ribbipuds are intelligent because they can talk and build villages and use knives and prepare food, why should these ribbipuds be more than prey?”

Duffy put his hand on Cherry’s shoulder. “Living together would be beneficial to us both. We are strong, but the smallest of creatures are still eating our food. Ribbipuds are predators like us. They can take care of the things that are too small for us, and we take care of the things that are too big for them. They have never killed any of our kind like humans; they don’t hate us like elves. They can be useful to us, like the wolves are.”

The right blade stepped forward. “You called them predators, but they are eaten by others. So they are prey.”

“They are predators, because they eat living creatures. Ogres have eaten orcs because they are bigger than us, and we consider ourselves predators. Ribbipuds are prey to more than we are because they are small, but they hunt and understand the pride of providing food for their family. And they sing and share stories, as we do. Even though we look nothing alike, in some ways there aren’t that different.”

The right blade turned to the chieftain. “I have no further questions for them.”

The chieftain nodded slowly. “Cherry, you learned our language.”

“Yes, chieftain.”

“And you can catch the rats in the cave.”

“Yes, and any vermin that goes into the houses.”

“How are you with snakes?”

“We kill them when we spot them. They eat our children, and the very big ones eat us.” He let out a sad croak. “My mother was eaten by one… But snakes are a kill-on-sight enemy. And when we kill a snake we cut it up and eat it.”

“I’ve heard enough.” The chieftain rose to his feet. “Any ribbipud who wants to can live in this village as long as they keep the vermin out. They can live in the cave with the pool; we get our water from the river anyway. I will organise a village meeting so everyone will know. Ribbipud, or frogoid as we know them, will be moved down on our list of prey and classed as ‘eat only when no other food is available, including moss’.”

“Permission to go and ask the ribbipud to live with us?” Duffy asked.

“You have permission.”

Duffy grinned and left the house together with Cherry; together they planned when they would leave and what they would take along. The journey would take 3 nights at orc speed, but ribbipud were unable to run that fast, so they’d need a cart. When Duffy mentioned this to his mother, she offered to come with them so she and Duffy could pull a cart with supplies and transport Cherry’s friends and family on their way back.

They left the village and stopped at the same places the orcs had stopped when they travelled back from the raid to their village. When they reached the lake, Cherry hopped ahead of them, excited to see everyone again. He came to a stop when he saw at least half of the buildings in ruins and most rope bridges destroyed. He stared at it in disbelief for a moment, and his heart sank.

“What happened?” Duffy asked.

Cherry rushed to his village and jumped from building to building until he reached the community house, which was one of the buildings that was still in one piece, and he knocked on the door. “Anyone there? It’s me, Cherry.” The door opened, and Cherry croaked in delight when he saw the face of his father.

“Cherry?” his father’s big eyes filled with tears. “I thought you were dead.”

They hugged each other, and other ribbipud came closer to welcome Cherry back.

“I’m okay, but what happened here?”

“The dholes came,” his father explained, “and a round-eared apeoid; it shouted and bashed in some doors and walls, and it killed some guards who tried to stop it, but it left. I don’t know what it looked for, but it turns out we didn’t have it.” He made a sad gesture to the ribbipud behind him. “After the apeoids and dholes, this is all that’s left.”

Cherry’s eyes moved over the gathered ribbipud. Two elders, four rope makers, two builders, three froglets. His father was the only hunter left.

“We can live with the orcs, the green apeoids,” Cherry said, and he explained what had happened since he had been captured and how they had gained the goodwill of the orc chieftain.

“You want us to live with the creatures that ate our friends and family?” one of the elders asked.

“We can, if we want that. I hate the orcs that did that, but there are good orcs as well. We can help protect other ribbipud if we show that clan and other clans that ribbipud are valuable and shouldn’t be used as food. And, we’ll be safe there. Much safer than this place now that the elves, the pointy-eared apeoids, are gone.”

The two elders looked at each other. “We were planning on going to the nearest ribbipud village and live there, but I suppose it’s good to have options.” The female turned to the ribbipuds. “Cherry has a good point; living with the greens will be hard knowing what they did, but it can be a good thing for our future. Those who want to can go with Cherry; those who want to go to the other village can come with us.”

“We can take you to the village,” Cherry offered. “Maybe some ribbipud there would like to live with the orcs. I find it fascinating; they are so different from us. I would like to stay with Duffy.”

“I will come with you,” his father said.

Cherry’s eyes lit up, and he hugged his father.

The ribbipud gathered their things and jumped into the cart. Duffy and Lorna followed their instructions to the ribbipud village Cherry had visited three years ago. There Cherry repeated his earlier talk and gathered some adventurous ribbipud to live at the village with them.

Once they returned to the orc village, the ribbipud were housed in the cave, and one of the builders made beds, tables and chairs for them. They kept the cave free of rats and went into homes when orcs complained about bugs or rodents.

Cherry and Duffy spent most of their days together and composed a song about how the ribbipud ended up living with the orcs, which Duffy promised to sing at the midwinter gathering so other orcs would likewise start seeing frogoids as more than just food.