122343.fb2
*
Gunther, broken emotionally, and exhausted physically, from working his way through hundreds upon hundreds of bodies on the battlefield, stumbled into the cool darkness of the passageway leading down into the relative sanctuary of the Unguhur’s subterranean lands. His hair matted with sweat, and his face and hands smudged with dirt and blood, Gunther bore on his body the signs of the burdensome, grievous tasks that he had undertaken that day.
His Jaghuns padded along with him, their tails down, and one of them walking with a discordant gait, as it struggled with the wounds suffered in the fight with the Licanthers. They were reflections of their despondent master, and their movements were entirely devoid of the confidence and energy that they normally displayed. They had been able to muster excited barks when coming upon survivors, but now only sorrowful whines passed from their muzzles. They did not stray far from the woodsman, keeping close company with the man that had raised all of them from the moment of their first breath.
Gunther was barely able to make it through the main cavern, pausing every so often to lean against one of the tall stalks of the underground forest. His spirits were debilitated, lending him no motivation to spur his leaden legs forward. A few of the Unguhur workers nearby offered to assist him, but he wordlessly waved them off, as finally he trudged slowly down to the waterline of the wide, underground stream. The Jaghuns halted each time that he did, and they did not move again until he had taken a step, as they accompanied Gunther down to the waterway.
It seemed as if he were moving through a dark dream. Everything seemed so surreal, and his spirits were almost entirely emptied of the spark of life. The gruesome, painful sights that he had pushed to the far recesses of his mind had stormed back ten-fold.
He was caught in a mountain avalanche, not knowing whether he was tumbling down towards a cliff’s edge or not. No matter how much he resented it, and had fought it, the world had pulled him right back into the midst of its madness. Even more maniacal, the world had bluntly thrust him into the most ugly and degrading failures of mankind, in the form of the bloody war now underway.
He had seen the loathsome face of war before, but had never drawn himself so closely to the numerous, individual faces of it as he had that day.
His legs somehow carried him forward, as his stained leather shoes sank into the soft footing beneath. A lone Unguhur raft pilot, who was down by the moored objects, spared him the need to navigate his own raft. Gunther did not know whether he even spoke a word to the raft pilot, but the Unguhur must have sensed his great need. He accompanied Gunther and his Jaghuns onward, taking them through the water-carved tunnel that led on to the vast underground lake and Oranim.
The woodsman rode in dejected, exhausted silence as the Unguhur’s stone city loomed on the far shore of the lake. He almost fell into slumber on the raft’s surface, lulled by the smooth passage across the waters. When they had reached the shoreline before the city, the Unguhur raft pilot nudged him as gently as he could with his massive, stone-grey hands.
“Thank you, “ Gunther muttered in the language of the Unguhur, rousing himself slowly to full wakefulness, shaking his head to bring about some sense of clarity.
His Jaghuns disembarked from the raft, one less in number than had started out on the grim sojourn. Most of them leapt to the solid ground, but the injured one whined and yipped as it gingerly stepped from the raft. The sight stabbed into Gunther, as he sorrowed over the agony of the creature, as well as the death of its comrade, both the result of his choosing to become involved in the world of humankind again.
Gunther stared after the limping Jaghun as he set his feet upon the ground, and set off along the shoreline, listening to the echoes of distant voices and splashes, as large bodies broke the surface of the lake. Sound moved so very differently in the depths of the caverns than it did on the surface, but his ears had already begun to meticulously separate individual noises within the subterranean world.
Skirting a few Unguhur youth who were running along the edge of the lake, he continued up to the wide, rock-carved steps leading towards the lower level of the mass of terraced, stacked dwellings. The way had already become familiar to him, and he made no mistakes in finding the chambers that had been given over to the use of the refugees.
He left the Jaghuns with their other brethren in a lower chamber. His return had ignited a rush of enthusiasm, as the younger ones eagerly yapped at his heels, wagging their tails excitedly in their outright oblivion to his exhausted condition. He could not find it in him to begrudge their affectionate kindness, as he leaned over, rubbing and scratching their little heads for a few moments.
His face still remained expressionless, no matter how hard he wished to force a smile. The young Jaghuns were fortunate creatures in a way, as they had not registered the loss of one of their number, and would not bear the same pain that Gunther carried in his heart.
Moving carefully, as the youthful Jaghuns continued tussling about his legs, he moved over to the center of the chamber and ascended the ladder up to the next level. He shuffled forward across the roof and continued into the opening of the chamber in front of him. Once inside the entryway, he leaned his longbow against the wall to the right, setting his quiver down on the stone floor next to it.
Dire fatigue was swiftly enveloping him, as every muscle in his body seemed to constrict. He paused for a moment, his normally powerful body now swayed with a severe paucity of energy. He slowly removed his baldric, and let it clatter to the floor, with his sword still sheathed in the attached scabbard.
He slumped down upon the mats spread across the stony floor. He did not even bother to pull the hide coverings over him, as he collapsed in a tired heap. In just moments, he was mercifully sent adrift into the numbing ocean of a dreamless sleep.
It was a tiny respite granted by his drained physical and mental condition. A thousand new personal demons had been created that day, adding their numbers to the legions that had existed before. A host of sleepless nights and nightmares pounded at the gates of his mind, but the abyss of unconsciousness had him confined for a few, short, precious hours.
The time passed altogether too quickly. As if echoes from another world, faint voices reached out to him through the murky depths of black sleep. The voices reminded him of the world that he had left behind, calling him back to cognizance.
When he became aware of them, his first impulse was to ignore them, and give himself over to the darkened embrace of forgetfulness. His world had been turned upside down, and his soul was spinning out of control in the midst of the horrors that he had done everything to avoid. The gray mists of nothingness beckoned invitingly, and there was even a part of him that did not really care if he ever woke up into the terrible world he had left behind.
Yet like a last ember stoked by a breeze, the part of him that was resolute and persevering heard the distant, clarion calls. Though only having a shred of willpower to grasp onto, that latter part of him clenched onto it with an iron grip. He willfully made the gradual ascent back into full consciousness, emerging the victor over the swirling, debilitating impulses that fought for control within him.
What had sounded like crisp voices belonged to one source, which rose steadily in clarity and volume, as he left the haven of oblivion. At the end, as he was on the cusp of waking, the sound filled his head like a booming din, conjuring a biting ache inside his head.
“What!” he barked out irately, mustering a burst of aggravated energy.
He heard the sound of shuffling feet, as someone moved backwards across the stone floor.
“Gunther?” inquired a startled, soft voice from the dim shadows beside him. It took Gunther a moment to register that the voice belonged to the outlander named Lynn. “Gunther, I really need to speak with you. I’m so sorry for waking you… but it is important. I promise I would not have done it otherwise.”
A part of him wanted to lash out, and command her to leave him alone. Fatigue had eroded his already thin patience for the travails of others, especially those that he had already paid a great price for.
He could not deny that there was an edge to her voice, which told him right away that something was indeed very wrong. He had awoken to find himself cast right into another dilemma. The world was relentless in its merciless cruelty.
Almost hating himself for it, he knew that he was the one choosing to embroil himself continually in the things that he had expressly sought to avoid. Gunther had arrived in the woodlands of western Saxany with a precise, dedicated purpose, when he had used axe and adze to cut the first timbers of his remote, woodland dwelling.
The gruff woodsman took a deep breath to temper the scathing fires of agitation that had arisen in him. Of the four outlanders, Lynn was definitely not the one that would be prone to needlessly rousing him. The young, headstrong male, and the moody female, Ryan and Erin, were much more likely to do something like that. The realization of that contrast was just enough to help him regain a vague semblance of rational control over his embattled emotions.
“What is it, Lynn? What is so important” he muttered thickly, through dry lips.
Slowly, he opened his eyes, the lids feeling as if they were made of stone. He gave a silent prayer of thanks to the All-Father, that the bright rays of daylight were not able to penetrate through the caverns to his sleeping quarters.
He could see the wide-eyed expression on Lynn’s face, and her hands were clenched together in front of her, faintly shaking.
“I think that Ryan and Erin left the caverns,” Lynn told him, following a nervous pause, before she drifted off again into silence.
The words struck Gunther fully awake, as if a whip had been lashed against his bare skin. He sat up with an abrupt start, causing Lynn to flinch.
“Gone? What happened? How do you know for sure?” he asked quickly, almost blending the questions together in his haste for immediate answers.
The sudden urgency produced a throbbing ache and dizziness within his drained head.
“They both have left this city,” Lynn replied. A look of worry and sorrow was prevalent upon her face, as he stared at her. “They wanted to go to the surface, to see the day again. Maybe it’s our fault, as Lee and I talked about how nice it was to breath the open air again, when you took us above earlier.
She looked down at the ground forlornly.
“What else? Do you know anything at all about where they went?” Gunther prodded her.
Slowly, Lynn brought her eyes back up, though she had not ceased her trembling.
“They told us that there was probably nothing to worry about… the battle above was over, and that there were other places in the forest that wouldn’t have enemy forces. They really believed there wouldn’t be any real danger above right now.
“Then they left, and were gone for a long time. Lee and I tried looking for them. We couldn’t find them, and then we got the help of the Unguhur. They put a search out, and found one who had guided Ryan and Erin on the underground streams, to a place where there is a passage that took them out to another part of the forest.”
Gunther shook his head, as he bitterly cursed his ill fortunes, his mounting irritation spreading abundantly across the features of his face. His countenance darkened, as he thought of the foolishness that so many people always seemed so eager to embrace.
Ignorance combined with stubbornness had brought a great number of people to their doom over the course of humankind’s history. Gunther had long ago stopped trying to fathom the rationale by which fools set about their ill-advised tasks, especially within the confines of his own land and time. Gunther was not about to start trying to understand foolishness brought over from a strange, unknown world, one that he had not even heard of until his encounter with the four now in his care.
Though he knew that neither Ryan nor Erin were anything like himself, he could not help but imagine what his own decisions would have been like, if he had been one of them. Had he been taken to another world against his will, and found himself blessed with a guide and protector, one that knew both the nature and land of that strange new world, he would have likely remained on his knees in extended thanksgiving to the All-Father. He would never have questioned anyone who kept him safe in the midst of an unfamiliar world, especially one caught up within widespread wars and turmoil.
Muttering further curses under his breath, he forced himself to stop worrying about what he would have done. The decision made by the two outlanders had never been his. No amount of agonizing over what would have been his own choice would change the circumstances.
“Then I suppose we must find them,” Gunther responded matter-of-factly, for there was nothing else sufficient to say, and he was not going to take out his ire on the messenger.
“What can we do?” Lynn asked him.
“Not much, but their idiocy will be putting others in trouble… myself, perhaps the Unguhur, and perhaps yourself and Lee,” Gunther said with grim certitude. His tone then sharpened. “Do not forget that, if you ever ponder such foolhardy notions.”
Lynn shook her head emphatically. “No, Gunther. I’m sorry. Please don’t think that we don’t appreciate you. Erin and Ryan are being very rash, and what they’ve done is their choice alone. One is still young, and the other I can’t understand sometimes. But it’s certain that both of them are being very, very stupid.”
“Rash and stupid… either reason can get you killed in these woodlands, even if there were no invading army,” Gunther remarked darkly, though not intending to mock her assertions.
Slowly, he drew himself up into a sitting position, and cringed with the motion. He would have thought such stiffness of body and muscle to be for someone twice his age. He moaned softly, as all extremities of his joints, and all the length of his muscles, seemed to cry out at once. It had been a long, long time since he had taxed his body to such an extreme.
The causes for his body’s weakened state flashed through his head. The war had not been of his own making. It was not of the Saxans’ making either, but he had foresworn taking part in the conflicts of kings and empires.
He had paid dearly for the several hours spent over the course of a couple hellish days, sifting through the numerous bodies. On countless occasions, he had lifted dead corpses, some still in their mail armor, to uncover others beneath, as he made certain that any who still had even a frail breath of life in them were not abandoned.
In some way that he could not yet fully fathom, the urgency of that horrible task was somehow expected of him, if he considered himself a true follower of the All-Father. Now, faced with responding to yet more ill-advised follies, something similar was being asked of him. As tired as he was, there was nothing to do but respond.
Gunther winced again as he stood up on his sore feet, still in the leather shoes whose soles were now nearly worn to their end. He leaned back, and twisted side to side, trying to ease the cracks and pops out of his weary body. There was little else to do but to put on his baldric, which was the only thing he had taken off when he had returned to Oranim. Even his belt, with his seax and affixed pouches, still remained wound around his dirty tunic, just above his breeches.
When he was finished stretching, he looked over at Lynn, who was standing patiently. At the very least, he could console himself that she had not been acting foolishly, and that she shared his ire towards the others.
“Let us go find those two fools,” he said, striding past her and out through the chamber’s entry way. “But do not expect me to give them a warm welcome when we find them.”
“I don’t plan to give them a warm one either,” Lynn replied.
When they exited the chamber, he saw Lee standing at the far edge of the rooftop, looking out over the underground city. Lee turned towards them as he heard them emerge, a drawn, tired look on his face.
“I didn’t know that they would be dumb enough to leave on their own,” Lee said, with an undercurrent of apology.
“People make their own choices,” Gunther retorted, pausing a second before adding, “and they are responsible for those choices. So if they come to an ill end before we reach them, then they are the only ones to blame.”
Neither Lee nor Lynn contradicted him, both continuing to look very downcast.
“We will not delay further. Take me to the fellow who guided them to the passageway,” Gunther said, walking over to the opening in the roof where the ladder descended down to the next chamber. His Jaghuns, having heard his approach, were already stirring, and milling around the base of the ladder.
Gunther fingered the hilt of the sword at his side, perhaps for emphasis, as he paused at the top of the ladder. “Out in these forests, there are many creatures that can endanger your life. If you go, we stay close together. Is that clear?”
One glance told him that he had their full cooperation.
With the remaining mature, healthy Jaghuns in his wake, Gunther strode down towards the shoreline. Regaining his stride, Gunther outdistanced the other two easily, prompting them to break into a mild jog just to catch up with him.
They did not have far to go, as Lee and Lynn pointed out the particular Unguhur that had conveyed Erin and Ryan to the passageway leading to the world above. It took a couple of moments to board all of them, Jaghun and human, and they set off across the lake. They worked their way to an area of the cavern located far to the right of the tunnel leading back to the underground forest beneath Gunther’s abode.
The Jaghuns appeared eager for the adventure, as they paced the drifting rafts. At a few points, they cast fidgety looks towards a pair of immense gallidils, cruising slowly along the surface in the vicinity. One was a behemoth of its kind, so large that it drew wary glances from their Unguhur guides. The huge creature possessed a back as wide as the raft, and a length that was many times longer than the watercraft.
The scaly giant paid them little heed, intent on gliding to other parts of the underground lake, and the streams and rivers beyond, where bountiful fish and other creatures supplied the needs of its considerable appetite.
They finally entered the stream exiting the right side of the cavern. The ceiling of the passageway was much lower than the one leading to the underground forest was, such that the tall Unguhur had to crouch as they worked their way down the smaller channel.
It was clearly a passage that was well-traversed by the Unguhur. There were many areas in the clefts, folds, and niches of the rock where the familiar bluish-light emitted from luminescent fungus patches cultivated to provide ambience. In the tighter confines of the tunnel, the light cast a strange pall over the water, raft, and travelers, as they continued on past several other offshoots and confluences over the course of a couple of leagues.
The Unguhur pilot presently slowed, and deftly navigated them off to the left as the passage widened on that side. He brought the raft to rest against a rough, thin shelf of rock at the stream’s edge. A thick, pungent scent reached Gunther’s nostrils, as they heard flitting sounds within the depths of the shadows above them.
Scattered about the upper ceiling of the adjacent small cavern were a fair number of bats. Gunther gestured to the others to keep their silence, not wanting to suddenly arouse the horde of tiny creatures nesting in the high reaches of the rocky ceiling.
The Unguhur gestured at an opening off to the left, accessible by the rock shelf. The opening was marked with more of the luminescent fungi. Gunther nodded in response, and signaled for Lynn and Lee to follow him. The Jaghuns were unloaded a moment later. The beasts stared upward towards the bats, though Gunther hushed them before they made any loud noises.
As they entered the passage to the surface, Gunther found that it was just big enough for a single Unguhur to move through. From the look of the two sides of the passage, it was also clear that some stone had been cut away, to further widen it.
After working their way through the damp passageway, ascending upwards on a pronounced incline, they found themselves in a small cave entrance that exited out of a hillside, just beneath a wide rock overhang.
The light of day again cascaded down through the leaves of the trees, the overhead sun having reached its zenith, at the summit of midday. Lynn, Lee, and even Gunther had to pause for a few moments, to take in several deep breaths of the fresh, clean air when they emerged from the cave’s mouth. Gunther blinked and squinted as his eyes readjusted to the daylight.
The Jaghuns took to the natural settings with open enthusiam. They were not creatures that could ever be entirely happy down in the dank, moist, shadowy underground world that the Unguhur had fashioned. They looked elated to be surrounded by forest and sky once again. They bounded sprightly down from the cave mouth, sniffing the air, trotting around the trees, and circling back to where Gunther and the others stood.
“I wish that I could let them run free for awhile,” Gunther commented, watching the creatures with a little regret. “Perhaps we will find your companions soon, and this will all be nothing more than a nice respite for my Jaghuns.”
His face did not crack a smile, as he looked around him. He took out some hemp-line, and set about restringing his longbow. As welcome as he found them, the woods were nonetheless a very unpredictable place, and precautions always had to be taken. It was not called a wilderness region without reason.
“I would think they would not go too far away,” he continued. He finished stringing the bow, and called out some signals to the Jaghuns, making a deliberate, sweeping hand gesture towards the trees before them.
The Jaghuns fanned out wide in the area before the cave, lowering their muzzles and sniffing the ground diligently. Examining the bow, and tugging on its line, Gunther started down from the mouth of the cave towards them. The creatures then appeared to hone in upon one track in particular, and padded away towards the trees.
“Come, we have fools to find,” he said to Lynn and Lee, before trotting off into the forest after the Jaghuns.
The Jaghuns’ forms disappeared amidst the trees ahead, pulled forward by their broad snouts, rooting assiduously along the ground’s surface to follow the distinctive scents that they had picked up.
*