After a Little coughing and spluttering, he felt someone push a skin of water to his lips, and he took an opportunity to wash out his mouth and spit the sandy mix onto the floor before glugging down several mouthfuls of the cool, clear liquid.

“Hey! He's not brain-dead! Go Runts! Huah!" Nullik yelled from somewhere nearby.

Gregory cringed at the sudden loud noise, and carefully blinked his eyes open. It proved to be a bad idea as the world started spinning at breakneck speed.

“Will you hush!?" Valise hissed.

Ok, eyes not working. Try the other senses. He didn't seem to be in the proving pits any Longer. There was no background noise of hundreds of orcs cheering or murmuring, and there was some sort of wood beneath him rather than the sand. Valise's tent?

"Ugh, did I break myself again?" he asked.

"Very nearly. Drink this," Valise ordered.

A cool glass bottle was pushed into his hand and he quickly glugged down the contents without complaint. They tasted strangely sweet and slightly acidic to the point where he felt himself shiver. Shortly thereafter, his head stopped spinning enough that he could open his eyes and focus. Yup, he was in Valise's tent, and by the Looks of things it was dark outside. The Runts were all in attendance as well as

Janette and Algra.

“Did we win?" he asked.

ULf had been keeping his expression stoically concerned as his friend had come to, but at that question he grinned broadly. Quite a few other smiles soon joined his.

“We did," he nodded.

“But your head almost bloody well didn't!" Janette stood up, the volume of her voice making him flinch.

“What the hell did you think you were playing at!?"

“Duraz is clever, and he knows how I like to fight. He also doesn't underestimate me Like most of the other alphas do. I knew that if I gave him an opening to take me out he'd jump at the chance, and I figured he'd probably let his friends know to do the same thing. So, I offered him the target he was after, and he took the bait. They all jumped me, and..." He paused and looked over The Runts.

“Well the plan was for ULf to take the lead for a change, and hopefully pick up a few quick downfalls whilst they were on me. Best case scenario, they'd put me down and Look up to find themselves surrounded. Did it work?"

"Yes." ULf nodded.

“Ha! Like hell it did." Wrut grunted.

“I was sparing his feelings."

“What happened?" Gregory pressed.