Black Shadow | Souei

Chapter 8: Inherited Will

"Cursed One." An elderly looking ogre stared down at the emotionless girl, one of his sons holding her to the floor. Her hands were tied behind her, her feet bound together and her head pushed down onto the hard floor. One of the ogres surrounding her had a chain in his hand which led to a metal collar around her neck. Even then, she seemed to just tune everything out.

"We have a new task for you." The girl looked up, her eyes staring blankly at the elder ogre. He shivered as looking into her emotionless golden eyes was akin to looking into a back hole. They were so devoid of emotion, and it only made him fear her more. A monster that successfully cut off her emotions; he hoped she would finally get herself killed in battle this one last time. Despite the countless battles she had fought against orcs, lizardmen, goblins, ants and any monster this ogre village felt unsafe against, she had always returned. Sometimes alone, which made them wonder if she had fled the battlefield and left her fellow ogres to die. This thought made them despise the young ogre, despite her having been born only 11 years ago. Considering an ogre's lifespan, she would've been considered a baby.

"You are to go fight the direwolves that live to the east of us." He stared her down. "Alone."

The girl's eyes glanced down at the ground her face was currently being held against before looking back up with a gleam in her eyes.

"No," she replied simply, her voice devoid of emotion. "You're insane to think a mere child like me can defeat an entire direwolf pack alone."

"That's the whole point," the elder pointed at her horns, causing the young ogre to quickly look down. "Those horns are a curse upon our village. Unfortunately, we as ogres must uphold our traditions, even for a cold-blooded monster like you. We can't dispose of you ourselves, or the other ogres will blame us. But this village cannot contain your curse. We'll all die because of you. So you will go fight that pack and you will not come back."

"No. I will not fight." The ogre calmly refused the order. Despite being so young, she was used to the oppression. However, this was the first time she had stood up against the village leaders. "What will you do if I refuse? You're too scared to bring me into the direwolf territory yourself because you know its suicide for an untrained elder like you to drop off a trained killer like me."

The ogre holding her down hissed at her and reached for her arm, harshly pulling her up off the floor.

"You do not disobey us. We are in control of this village!" The young female ogre only stared into the eyes of the male holding her arm tightly. Her hands were still tied, but frost was slowly making its way over the ropes tying her down. Even the chains around her neck were getting colder and colder.

"I. Will. Not. Fight." She said, deathly calm. The ogre took a step back in fright, but anger quickly took over and he stepped forwards again, an arm reaching out for the collar. As soon as he touched it, he immediately let go, frost growing up his arm as he screeched in pain.

"You monster! What are you doing?" one of the other ogres in the room cried out, hurrying over the the one who was writhing in pain on the ground. His hand had turned purple by now and his fingers were brittle to the point they could break off and shatter into dust. The female ogre's eyes remained unfazed as she stared down the rest of the ogres. The elder reached for her arm, making sure to avoid the chain. Gripping her tightly, he pulled her close to his face and spoke in a low threatening tone.

"If you don't obey, we will slaughter all the young ogres in the village in the middle of the night. Then we'll release you and claim that you killed them. The village may not care much about your presence now, but we'll see about that after the children are dead. Are you going to cooperate?"