Deep in the bowels of the ship, the dreary, leaky dark of the ship, amid the food stores and plundered cattle sat Cub and Shavie. Harding might have objected to allowing such a beast on her ship though which one was anyone's guess. In the dim below, Cub toyed with the dagger, turning its cool silver over again and again in his hands. This was it, this was his tool. A gift from the Stronger.

Cub had never thought much about morality. Cub had never thought much about anything really. Zhaveed knew what to do, Cub did it. Simple, really. Why did the rest of the world need to complicate things so much? When the strong speak, the weak obey. When the weak obey, they are strengthened for it. We live and die for each other.

They were Heroes. Statues and everything. They led by example, they showed strength in the face of danger and the weak were inspired. They stood between the spear and the masses and lived. 

Cub climbed in the mouth a dragon so his friends would live!

...If everything is so simple, why is it all so complicated?

...

Cub missed Zhaveed.
Zhaveed understood.
Zhaveed never asked Cub what he thought.
Zhaveed knew the burden of strength...

Cub continued to toy with the blade in his hands.
It was all too much. Too much. Too much! Too much noise! Too much thinking!

[b]RAUAUUGHHH!![/b]

Cub yelled in frustration and hammered his fist against the wooden beams benath him. 

"ONE! We live together. We die together. Zhaveed's tribe is my tribe. This is the rule!"

Again, cub pounded his fist against the wood.

"TWO! The Strong protect the Weak. They carry their burdens and are made stronger for it. This is the rule!"

Again a large gauntlet emphatically hammered the ship.

"THREE! The Strong challenge the Weak! Without outside danger, the Strong must test the Weak. This is the rule!"

A final time Cub smashed his gauntlet then removed it from his hand and drew the silver blade along his palm.

"These the Rules of Cub the Outcast as witnessed by Malacath, Pariah God and Patron of All Orcs. Sealed in bloodoath, I will uphold these rules and die a good death. "

Then silence.

Seething to himself, Cub sat a long while in the dark.

Shavie, unflinching, merely stood beside him in the dim below, his ragged breathing matching Cub's own.

"Shavie."

"Shavie, I'm going to go test the Moon Shadow now. If he's strong, he'll take us to Zhaveed."

"Shavie."

"I'm going home."