Escape from Guk - Part III

From the pen of Eylee Zephyrswell -- ''This tells the account of the escape of Kaltuk Ironstein and Nurgg Rockfist from Guk and the hands of the trolls. My friends told me the tale over many an open fire, quibbling over the specific details. I most often stuck to Nurgg's account, as he is not quite as prone to exaggeration as Kaltuk.'' Escape from Guk - Part III

The morning was just beginning to break as Nurgg emerged from Guk, and it was unlike any morning Nurgg had ever seen before. The sky was lit with an eerie purple cast, and veins of silver light threaded through what seemed like gold specked dust clouds high above him. Nurgg had met no one progressing through Guk, but he found where they had all gone.

The ground in front of the crumbling stone city was littered with bodies – all of them trolls and all of them with wounds that had bloated in shades of purple and blue and black. What enemy, he wondered, had come through here and not managed to lose one of their force, when the trolls had lost so many.

Kaltuk had begun to stir and mutter by the time they emerged and Nurgg hissed, "Quiet, Kaltuk. Quiet."

Kaltuk muttered something inaudible and seemed to fall back into unconsciousness as Nurgg stole across the earth, glancing from side to side. Just as he was about to enter a line of trees, a troll reeled up in his pathway, gripping a long, wicked blade. Panic surged up in him for just a few moments before he reminded himself, "A Rockchest doesn't fear one measly troll." Though the years might have taken their toll on him, it had taken a whole squadron of them to bring him down when he was caught. This one would not stand in his way. He raised the machete and brought it down quickly through the troll's chest, but just before he did, he started as he noticed the troll's eyes. They were completely black, and where the machete struck, darkness seeped out from the wound.

Nurgg broke into a run, pushing his way into the surrounding swampland and away from the carnage. He continued running, even when his feet stopped hitting dry land and started sinking deeper with every step, coming up with sick slurping sounds as the ground grew less and less sturdy beneath his feet. Finally, it was no longer possible to go above a walk, as he was trudging through knee deep water. Only then did he notice the way in which the swamp was completely silent. Despite his time beneath the ground, he knew immediately that something wasn't right. There should have been a buzz of insects and the flap of swamp birds as they flew through the low hanging trees and high stalks of willowy reeds, but there was none of that.

All of the sudden, a beast descended down in front of them. It was all Nurgg could do but react. Rockchest or no, the sight before him was enough to make any ogre quake. He swung wildly with the machete, aware only that what was before him was unlike nothing he had seen. It had no eyes, only an expanse of black skin and long, lashing tentacles. The noises it made drove him to want to drop his machete and drunken dwarf and clamp his hands over his ears, but he didn't.

Acting without thought, he slashed and hacked furiously. Finally, he managed to shove one of the machetes deep into the creature, and immediately he was struck by a single cry so sharp that he did indeed drop all he was holding into the swamp. Nurgg fell to his knees with a groan. After a few moments of waiting expectantly for death, he finally opened his eyes and dared to move. He felt blood, wet and sticky, as he drew his hands away from his ears. Kaltuk floated beside him in the water – face up, by good fortune, with his mouth agape – but the creature was gone, having disappeared completely and left no trace.

They encountered no more of the creatures, but Nurgg had often hidden the two of them beneath overhangs when he heard the sound of nearby combat. Frequently, these skirmishes concluded with the sound of trolls screaming in pain and defeat; only rarely did he hear anything that indicated any trolls had survived. Throughout the day, he heard many more of those unnatural wails and every time, he fought the urge to fall to the ground and cower like a child.

He walked far into the next night before it had been long enough since he had encountered combat that he dared to think of stopping to rest. By then, Kaltuk was snoring lightly and stirring more frequently. When he had finally found them a suitable spot to camp and had already gone about the business of stirring up a fire, the dwarf let out a monstrous yawn and sat up. Kaltuk blinked heavily and looked around in a daze, finally stopping and regarding the ogre. Nurgg sat stirring the fire, dimly aware of the dwarf's eyes on him, unable to stop going over the day's events in his head.

"Well?" asked Kaltuk, breaking the silence. "We survived, then? Or is this some vengeful god's idea of a blissful afterlife?" Nurgg looked up and caught the dwarf's gaze. Something in his face must have struck his companion, because Kaltuk's eyes widened. Before the dwarf could say anything else, Nurgg said, "You have first watch."

With that, he curled up by the fire and rolled over. Kaltuk gave no hint of protest, and in time, he fell asleep; but his dreams were troubled with the black, soulless eyes of the troll he had encountered, and the high, piercing wail of the creature that no doubt had something to do with them.

Nurgg woke up some time just before sunrise. Kaltuk sat cross-legged on the other side of the fire, which had burned low in the night, regarding him with curiosity.

"You didn't wake me," said Nurgg, sitting up slowly as the stiffness in his joints argued against moving.

"You seemed like a good sleep was in order," said Kaltuk with a faint smile. "Aside from that, I feel oddly refreshed. Just how long was I out?"

Nurgg shook out his stiffness as he stood. "Long enough," he said.

"Ah-hmm," said Kaltuk. "Now, would you mind explaining just what happened? And why it was you cried out in the night? I've not been sharing sleeping space with you for too long, but it's been long enough to know that's not usual."

Nurgg considered how to answer. "We escaped," he said. "But the trolls did not." He explained about their escape, and about the field of dead trolls, and the troll with the black eyes. Finally, he told of his encounter with the beast and of the skirmishes he did his best to avoid for the rest of their run. Kaltuk sat and took it all in with a surprising stillness. His brows were knit together tightly as he regarded his companion and the tale.

"I think it was fate that I came here," said the dwarf, when all that needed to be told had been said. "I think it's fate we ran from that place when we did. Nurgg, I would be very surprised if you and I did not have some great destiny waiting for us, and if these beasts didn't portent that Norrath has some very dire destiny coming for it."

Nurgg considered his companion's assessment before responding, "We should move."

Kaltuk laughed, and Nurgg was surprised to find how pleasing the sound of it actually was. "My friend," said Kaltuk, "you have proven thus far to possess a great deal of simple wisdom, but never have you uttered such wise words as those."

Around them, the sun seemed to strengthen as the overhang of the swamp began to thin, allowing resilient shafts of light to penetrate and brighten their path. Every step they took away from Guk seemed to remove a stone that Nurgg had been shouldering for, he realized, quite some time. The sounds of life had begun to return by midday, and Nurgg had to reflect that he had never been so glad to swat a biting fly.

"So, do I remember correctly that you were heard to say you wanted to hear my song some day?" asked Kaltuk.

"Maybe," grunted Nurgg. "Does that mean you have to be the one to sing it?"

"Ahh, there's no backing out of it now, my friend!" said Kaltuk with a grin. Perhaps it was indeed time for a song. Nurgg shifted on his feet, and tipped his chin to Kaltuk in ascent. The dwarf seemed to spring a little as he launched into it. "They used to sing it in all the bars of Kaladim! Back when the Church of Ale was growing in faithfuls by the day, with yours truly at her head. And it went a little something like this..."

''Why, let me tell you a story of a lad most dry! Always stone cold sober, oh it makes me cry... To think this lad didn't know the joy! Of a dark frothy ale... Let us pity that boy!''