The five Men looked at the body of the Ape. It had been slashed, stabbed, and mangled by someone. Rips, bruises, and twisted limbs, and a severely broken neck that had bled down onto its chest.

"What could have done such a horrible thing to this poor brute?" said one of the mariners, with sadness in his voice.

"Perhaps this was what made the wailing sound." said Mabras.

"But what made that cackling noise is another story." said Neldor, cautiously.

"Do you think that this is what you saw, Mabras?" asked the first speaking mariner.

"Probably not, Cadril." said Mabras, "What I saw was larger than this Ape and had luminous eyes."

"No matter, we must continue on to search for the fire." said Neldor.

The five mariners marched on at least a league from the shore before they came close to where the fire had burnt. The Moon was now waxing into the midnight position, and the smell of cooked meat was in the air.

"It would seem," said Cadril, "that whoever set up that fire…has good skill in cooking."

They reached a clearing, and were aghast at what they saw. Several fire pits dotted the vast clearing, and around each of them, black shapes were running and dancing around them, . But these shapes were not of Men, but of-

"Ogres!" uttered Neldor to his frightened company. "We must hide!"

There were scores of the abhorrent creatures in the clearing, standing around the fires, which illuminated the land under the black, starless sky. The ogres stood nine feet tall, were clad in garments of mesh, and bore crude weapons in their hands. They had massive, razor-sharp teeth, and dark gray, nigh black skin. They did not seem to notice the comparatively smaller Men that hid in the shadows outside their campfires' light, as they seemed pre-occupied with each other.

"Perhaps the slain Ape was their doing?" said Cadril.

"One could only wish." denied Mabras.

They heard the Ogres nearest their hiding spot speaking to each other. They seemed to be speaking in broken Westron.

"What happen? What happen? Talk, or I kill you!" shouted one ogre, smashing a fist upon the head of another.

"What you talking, Melbrik?" replied the beaten ogre, scratching the bruise on his scalp.

"You know what I talk, Gunglip!" said Melbrik, angrily. "You let it run! You let it die! Poor, poor, beastie-thing."

"Oh, that what you talk?" said Gunglip. "Why you want beastie-thing? I not know where it go. Do not remember it. All I say."

Then Melbrik began wailing loudly. "Where beastie-thing go? Where it go? Where it go?"

Suddenly Gunglip turned and faced the direction where Neldor's company was hiding.

"Someone there! Come out!" shouted Gunglip, pointing in the direction of the mariners' hiding place.

It was at that moment that the mariners subsided their fear and disgust towards the Ogres, and decided to walk into the light. The ogres were surprised by the new arrivals, and ran up to meet them, with their weapons drawn forward. But Melbrik and Gunglip ran ahead of them and shook their comrades off.

"Not them. Maybe friendly." said Melbrik.

This seemed particularly unusual coming from the ogres.

"'Ay!" shouted Cadril to Melbrik. "Ogre, was your 'beastie-thing' an Ape? For that was what we found!"

"Uh!" said Melbrik in response. "Beastie-thing was Ape. You know where beastie-thing is?"

"Aye." said Neldor. "But alas, your 'beastie-thing' has died."

"What happen?" asked Gunglip.

"We don't know, we found it dead under the trees. We were on your way to this area, when we came across a dead ape. We do not know what killed it, though."

"Take us there!" demanded Melbrik, distraught. "We follow!"

"Very well." said Mabras.

And thus, the five mariners walked back through the trees, followed by Melbrik and Gunglip. The other ogres remained in the clearing, gawking at their comrades and the new arrivals, as they vanished into the Great Forest.

In the time it took to walk to the spot where Neldor discovered the dead ape, Cadril had the opportunity to speak with Gunglip.

"…We came here against our wishes, as a storm blew us off course, and wound up nigh this land. The rest of our crew is tending to the ship. But we have no knowledge on the whereabouts of this area. Where are we?"

"Big Forest." said Gunglip, bluntly.

"I never could have imagined." snarked Mabras.

"Big Forest in Southlands." continued Gunglip. "We not know much ourselves; Big Queen made Sarquindi come here."

"Who is this 'Big Queen' of whom you speak?" asked Cadril.

"Big Queen rule over Southlands." said Gunglip. "Sarquindi are Big Queen's warriors. Best warriors. Big Queen sent war band here."

"But why?"

"There something in Forest. Deeper in forest. Big Queen interested in it. What 'something' is, I-" Then it seemed that the ogre remembered something. "-No! No reason."

"But you just-"

"I not say Big Queen wanted something…I say 'Big Queen give Sarquindi leave.' We take break!"

"Very well, Gunglip." said Cadril, eyeing the ogre suspiciously.

An hour passed, and they finally reached the spot where the mariners found the dead ape. When Melbrik saw it, he was beside himself. He ran to his dead pet, picked it up, held it in his thick, padded arms, and bawled wildly.