“I mean, the Runts are the least amongst the packs. Perhaps you should seek out another alpha to fight for?"

Gregory immediately shook his head at that idea. "No. ULf stuck his neck out for me. I'm not going to rub his face in the mud by asking around for better offers behind his back.”

Torren didn’t seem to have thought about it that way, and that seemed to bother him for a moment before he shrugged his massive shoulders.

“Well, if you need any help then I'll do all I can, Greg.”

“Thanks. Now, I should really go and Let them know I'm ready to rejoin them." He gave Janette's rump a gentle pat. She hopped up onto her feet and then pulled him close after he'd stood up.

The kiss she gave him tasted of apples and her own uniquely delicious flavour. It sizzled with a slow, deep passion. She didn't want to let him go. When they parted, he saw a tear had spilled down her cheek. The girl was obviously more concerned than she let on. After all, the Last time he'd left her to go to the proving grounds she'd nearly been left alone amongst the orcs.

“Hey, I'll be back," Gregory said, trying his best to channel Schwarzenegger.

Janette Laughed aloud at that, mirth momentarily replacing sadness in her eyes.

“Ok, first you're Conan and now you're the Terminator. Make your mind up." She sniffed and hugged him close.

He smiled and hugged her right back, only to realise that getting that close to a girl Like Janette Riley gave a guy the idea to never Let her go again. He felt the warm curves of her breasts pressed against his chest, the gentle embrace of her arms around his shoulders and he could still taste her on his Lips. It was a hard thing to let her go, especially knowing where he was about to venture off to.

So she made it easier for him and stepped away after giving him one last little kiss to say goodbye. After that, Gregory willed himself to turn away and found that most of the camp was looking at him. Most of the faces he saw seemed concerned, though some were merely curious. He walked through them and onto the dirt path, making his way towards the proving grounds and feeling not entirely unlike someone on his way to meet his doom. Strangely, he found himself smiling at that thought. He couldn't die out there, Janette would never forgive him and Algra would kill him all over again.

"Well then," he said to himself as he walked over the road, "I'd better go kick some ass.”

KOR OK KOK

The Runts were already halfway through the morning's practice routine when he arrived at the proving grounds. He walked over to them, trying to ignore the stares of the other orcs around him. When he arrived beside his pack-mates, he gave them a nod of greeting as they each stopped their sparring to marvel at the fact he was still walking After a brief moment of stunned silence, Ulf stepped forward to extend his arm out to the human.

"You return to us," he said.

"If you'll still have me." Gregory shook Ulf's offered arm in the orcish fashion with each holding to the other's forearm.

“More fists are always welcome."

“The First knows we couldn't do much worse," Nullik added.

ULf shot him a glare and the prankster immediately shut up. Gregory waited a moment before ULf looked back to him to size him up. "You will train with Ulla today."

At the alpha‘s orders, Ulla stepped forwards with a somewhat bloodthirsty smile framing her small tusks. Gregory Looked back to her and kept his expression cool. In truth he'd have liked to start out with the slim female orc in the pack, or even better, Nullik. They were at least his size. Ulla was larger and more muscular, though her figure retained a distinctly feminine shape. She reminded him of a somewhat more psychotic Algra.

Off to a brilliant start then.

He stepped past ULf for Nullik and the slim female to offer him a basic chest-plate and a single club. The slender orc introduced herself as Frelki and on closer inspection he saw that she was quite a bit older than the rest of the pups. He didn't rightly know how orc aging worked, but they shared many features with humans besides the tusks and the rich green skin. The rest of Frelki's features settled her somewhere in her Late twenties to early thirties. Even for a pack of supposed “pups” there was an even older orc amongst them. Seated on a fallen log, the massive orc with plenty of grey strands in his black hair was watching him whilst taking a drink from a water skin with his only arm. A dull metal pauldron-like piece of armour covered the shoulder where the other limb had been evidently cleaved away. The question of the one-armed orc in the Runts had been nagging Gregory for weeks, but he'd known better than to ask around about it. Orcs could get very touchy about matters of war and honour, and he guessed that One-Arm wasn't exactly still fighting in the proving grounds without one of his limbs due to his feats of honour and bravery.

Unfortunately, Greg had no time for curiosity or questions as he came to face Ulla. The rest of the pack quickly gave them some space and settled in to watch the impending beat-down. ULla was happy to get it over with and wasted no time at all in charging him down.

He could see the battle-rage burning fiercely in her eyes as she closed the distance between them. Weeks of training and a natural instinct for fighting brought forth the fear and the thrill of combat. Taking his favoured battle stance, he braced himself to meet that charge head on. It didn't help. He'd given too much ground allowing Ulla to easily dodge his overhead blow and smash her club hard against his chest-plate. The armour just about managed to stop his ribs from breaking all over again. It wasn't nearly as successful in keeping the air in his lungs, leaving him gasping and stunned. Ulla finished him off with ease, casually kicking him off his feet to send him plummeting forwards to the ground and finally turning her back on him.

“Well, that was encouraging," Nullik sarcastically whispered to Frelki.