This choice: Bralga recruits some of her clan to become sumos as well. • Go Back... The next time the clan moved to better hunting grounds, a new yurt went up among the expected tents and dwellings in the Head-Crusha camp. Bigger then even the main tent where feasts and celebrations were held, the clan did not need to be convinced to enter and look around when the command was given to gather in the new tent.
"Come, gather around ring!" Bralga Head-Crusha shouted as the first Orcs entered the yurt. "Hurry! This important!"
The tent was surprisingly sparse, perfectly circular with wide open spaces and crude wooden benches around the walls. Subtle magical enchantments hung in the air overhead, keeping the expansive tent alight, especially on the center, where a wide circle of grass enclosed in chalk had been beaten and smoothed into a flat surface. Bralga herself stood proudly in the center, looking fiercer then usual as the sleeves of her silken deel stretched against her thick arm muscles.
"Clan Head-Crusha!" Bralga announced, unleashing a celebratory roar from her clan.
"Bralga!" a particularly vocal warrior woman called out. "Is this new combat arena?!?"
"This is...a sumo ring!"
Confused stares abounded as the orcs all gazed in wonder.
"Is...is new fighting style?"
Bralga nodded. "This new style of fighting that we shall master to conquer enemies!"
The reaction wasn't what she had hoped. The overeager orc from earlier looked intrigued, but few others did. Most looked confused, but some looked rather irritated. Was this why they had been made to hunt more, to raid foodstuffs and grains from traders instead of gold and valuables like they always had?
"We already best clan in all of Ookh!" one heckler cried out. "Why we need new fighting? Old fighting is best!" Shouts of agreement echoed off the tent walls. Bralga's confident snarl faltered slightly, but not entirely. She knew her desire to escape from the mundane boredom wasn't shared by the rest of the clan, but Bralga still knew what made her people happy, and knew what they wanted more then anything else.
"Will be hard to learn new fighting style, yes," Bralga admitted. "But will be helpful when we face....Clan Bone-Rippa!"
A thousand orcish eyes lit up at the mention of that name, in a way that could only grow from the deepest of animosities. The rivalry between Head-Crusha and Bone-Rippa was such an animosity. Their feud was the stuff of legends, baked into the very mythology of the orcish people in a way that could only be accomplished by the orcs. The last true equals to Bralga's horde, Bone-Rippa was an insurmountable foe, and above all a worthy adversary, and what more could a warrior want then a worthy adversary.
"Bone-Rippa...fight us?" one orc said incredulously.
"Bone-Rippas never offer to fight..." another piped in.
"Because they know we beat them if they come around!" Bralga announced as the silent confusion began to melt into a supportive rumble. "We learn new fighting style, so they think they have chance! But will we give them chance?"
"NO!" a dozen orcs roared.
"Then we need warriors to learn new style!"
"I will learn!" the headstrong warrior girl from earlier shouted, storming up to join her clan leader! Four other girls her age saw this display and, not willing to be called cowards, shouted their support and joined the small group, each volunteer receiving a tumultuous cheer.
"We will learn new fighting style!" Bralga cried out, both fists in the air. "And we defeat Bone-Rippa good! Because NONE CAN BEAT CLAN HEAD-CRUSHA!"
The din was so loud that you could hear roaring a mile away as every orc leapt to his or her feet, battering their shields and stomping their feet in celebration. Zudagog, sitting near the front of the rambunctious crowd, remained seated, grinning as he knew he received an appreciative glance from his sister. After all, without his help, Turgi Bone-Rippa would have never agreed to the sumo match to settle their long-standing grievances with their rivals. A fine warrior in her own right, Turgi had ascended to the head of her clan much in the same way as his sister had, through violence and treachery. Turgi, however, had watched her own father butchered by his brothers and had since lost the stomach for the inter-clan warfare that characterized the rivalry between the two clans, instead choosing to focus on hunting, raiding caravans, and shoring up what defenses she could. Her reign was in dire straits though, not helped by the fact that she tended to eat more then she hunted and fought, so when Zudagog offered her a chance to participate in this sumo match with Head-Crusha and earn some prestige in a less violent way, she jumped at the opportunity.
Was it an orcish way of doing things? Perhaps not, but Zudagog and to a lesser extent Bralga were out to make things different.. And that started with this slim chance of turning a rivalry into a friendship through a mutual love of fighting. You couldn't get much more Orcish then that, could you?
---
Buzzing with excitement, the orcs of Clan Head-Crusha finally filtered out of the yurt, the last of which being the gruff Zudagog, leaving Bralga and her volunteers behind.
"Now, have seat in front. Will give quick explanation of rules." Bralga said, undoing the sash of her tunic. "Thaciona will give you first meals."
"Meals?" one of the orc girls asked as Thaciona, the elfish girl who had been translating the manual for Bralga, stumbled forward with large bowls in her arms. "We need special diet?"
"Yes, sumo is much like wrestling, only you try to throw out of ring, and you have special body." Bralga finished undoing her fasteners and disrobed, leaving the volunteers in stunned silence.
"Do not be too embarrassed," Bralga chuckled. "This will be outfit you wear! Special for fighting style!"
Bralga being dressed only in a loincloth and a chest wrapping was indeed enough to stun to silence, but not as much as seeing the change in her physique. Her arms and legs still bristled with powerful muscles, but instead of the row of abdominal muscles they expected to see, the great clan leader sported a potbelly, gently wobbling as she adjusted her stance. The addition of this lump of fat drew their attention to her body for the first time and how different it seemed to be. Her arms, for instance, seemed to be thicker with more then just muscle, and now that they weren't hidden by the deel her hips were definitely looking a hair wider. Even her strong chin seemed to be widening out.
One by one, the girls realized what this new fighting style meant for them, reinforced when Thaciona dropped a heavy bowl of rice and meats in front of them. A couple made eyes towards the door, and only the loud and boisterous orc girl from earlier still looked eager to learn, but regret was setting in. They couldn't turn back now though. They made a vow by volunteering to help, and it would bring shame to their families if they backed out from a chance to fight those Bone-Rippas.
"Right, we begin with stances!" Bralga announced, beginning the lecture of the first chapter of the book, one that she had learned by heart at this point, as her trainees began to reluctantly dig into their meals.  indicates the next chapter needs to be written. |
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