A new hope

Andria felt an intense heat inside her stomach, rising until it was almost painful and then fading. Certainty washed over her that her child had been chosen by their god to free them. She also felt the gods will for the child to be named Rhandrem. The message spread through the orcs camp like wildfire after she told her friends, everyone agreed to place their hopes on the unborn saviour.

Andria was convinced her son would be born with green skin, so he would have to be hidden. They prepared a room, hidden deep inside an abandoned mineshaft, a place far too dusty and lacking in sunlight for the elves to stumble upon. That is where she gave birth to Rhandrem, a healthy, green-skinned, orc baby. They had to leave him alone down there during the nights because they number of orcs entering and leaving were always diligently counted. If an orc had been missing, the elves would have turned the mine inside out and found the boy. So they went on like nothing had happened... or at least they tried.

"Number 0431, where is your child?", the stern voice of Athrain, the elven commander, cut through the quiet process of counting. "What do you mean, Mistress?", Andria lowered her head while answering, not daring to look the elf in the eyes. "My paperwork indicates you're pregnant and, well, you're not.", there was a coldness in her voice that made Andria shudder. Of course they were monitoring and limiting orc reproduction, but she had hoped they weren't as rigurous a good decade later. "I- I lost it, Mistress.", she softly answered, "I gave birth in the mine but it was dead.". "Oh, how terrible.", the elves voice dripped venomous sarcasm, "The world is spared of yet another curse. Where is the body?".

Andria shuddered, this was bad, "The blood attracted the corpse centipedes, we fled and they took the corpse.". Corpse centipedes were nasty beasts of the underground, almost two meters long with a strong chitin and jaws. Their attacks had gotten more frequent recently and they were attracted by blood, but would Athrain buy the story? "How unfortunate, well I guess the little one was lucky, who would want a mother who abandons them like that?", her laughter was joined by many of the elf guards, "I would love to believe you, but law dictates that hiding a child is punishable by painful death. You can't produce the body, so I must assume you are hiding it.".

Despite the elf informing Andria of her death sentence, she felt relief. Despite her talk about law, it was merely her justification for commiting acts of cruelty. She had bought the story, that was all that mattered in that moment. The orcs didn't even protest when Andria was taken. All past uprisings invariably led to a brutal beat down and punishment. To cause more harm to their tribe would be a dishonor to Andrias sacrifice. She survived for almost a whole week on the cross, which was hoisted above the mine entrance, but eventually dehydration got to her, swiftly followed by the crows.

The child was safe. Rhandrem was safe.