~Soulcleaver~
Part II: "Golden Sands and Bronze Dragons."
"Okay, look. We're here, and the area is there," Said the rough voice of the orc sounded through the barren sands, which had turned black as the night had overtaken the landscape. In the middle of no-where, there was a tent large enough to house the three of them and even a few more. A few steps away from the tent, there was a small fire that still burned; a few leg-sized scorpions hanging above the fire impaled upon lengthy sticks dug into the ground to be sturdy. "If we continue along this path, then we will be there by midday tomorrow."
There was a sudden meow in response, and then the slap of skin against skin. Huddled around the fire, the trio sat together – Bargar was curled up asleep on one end of the fire, opposite of Nuk'hara and Lita, who were both looking over a map. A few meows followed the slap, then a roar of anger.
"Damnit, Lita! You just wanna go to the coast to get some fish!" The kitten pulled its head from the map and looked up at the orc with large, hopeful eyes. A quiet rumbling came from the tiny figure, which caused the orc to slap his face again. "Last time, NO! If we continue following the footsteps, we'll be at our destination. We cannot afford to make a detour at the moment." The kitten opened its mouth in a hiss, rose back up, turned around and sat back down to ignore the orc.
"Oh, come on! Fine, AFTER we'll get you some fish. Deal?" Lita half turned her head back around to look back at the orc, meowing and twisting back around to sit in front of the map again. The left paw of the kitten suddenly slapped down on a marking of the map that was at the far south, on the mountain range. The orc leaned forward to examine the marking – it was a crudely-drawn doorway.
"Hrmm… Alright, we'll go there after this one. Right now, we've got to go here-…" His own hand moved up to the far eastern point of the map, stopping just in front of another marking. This one was a circle - symbolizing some sort of cave. "… And scout out what is going on. The goblin said that the tracks stopped there, and the job does pay well-…"
Nuk was suddenly interrupted by a loud shrieking from high above their small camp, causing Bargar to awaken and the three to look up at the sky. A silhouette flew above them, cloaked by the night and circling their camp. Judging by the outlines of it, it was a dragon and from the sound of its cry, it must've been a drake.
As if expecting an attack, Nuk'hara ran into his tent and came out with a rifle. It seemed pretty standard – single-barrel, plated with silver, thin barrel and bayonet on the end. By the time he had returned, however, the thing in the sky had gone causing Nuk'hara to roar in anger.
"Argh, damnit! Second time this week. SECOND TIME!" He tossed his gun down into the sand out of rage and disappointment. After most of his anger had subsided, he picked up one of the roasted scorpions, grabbed the tip of the tail, ripped it off and started to devour the rest. "Alright, so… Tomorrow, we continue. I would suggest that you get some sleep, Lita," he said, in a slightly still angry tone.
After eating his dinner, grabbing the map, rolling it back up, retying the map and picking his gun up from the sand, Nuk'hara headed back inside the tent and laid on the bed-roll, quickly joined by Lita as she jumped on his chest and Bargar, as he moved to lay beside his rider.
Several hours had passed since they all had fallen asleep, and the sun was just starting to come over the horizon. As it did, the light shined through a few small holes in the end, beaming down on the face of the orc. His face contorted to a slight sting as the sun shafts pained his eyes through the closed lids. Despite the fact that he hated being an early riser, he reluctantly started to awaken.
With a groan, he pulled himself up to sit on the sleeping mat, looking around and noticing that Lita wasn't on his chest and that Bargar was nowhere to be seen. This greatly bothered him and caused him to push himself to stand up and walk out of the tent. The light outside was brighter, so both hands moved up, balled into fists and rubbed at his reclosed eyes.
"Lita…? Bargar…?" he said with a groan. After a moment or two of rubbing his eyes, he removed his fists and opened his eyes, looking around for the two. He slowly started to turn around to face his tent, but stopped as he noticed something. There was no-longer a nothingness there had been last night. Behind his tent, where there SHOULD have been nothing but sand, there was a ring of mountains that opened up to him. His nose suddenly caught the scent of the salty waters of the sea. He had traveled a great distance overnight, and his companions were no-where to be seen…
"Something isn't right here…" the orc said in a hushed and slightly disturbed tone. He moved back towards his tent and came out a few seconds later wielding his axe and his rifle over his shoulder and on his back. He slowly started to walk forward, into the ring.
There was a single raised walk-way that lead all the way up to the actual entrance of the cavern which the mountains just barely concealed – it was a very large entry-way. On both sides of the walk way, were some large-scale ditches that dipped down at least five feet. Scattered around were boats, tents, large statues and even a fortress which were all buried in the sand – some buried more than others.
"By my ancestors…" Nuk'hara gazed over the area with an open mouth, his axe slipping out of his grip and the blade sliding into the sand with ease. His attention was suddenly ripped from the things buried in the sand and he stared directly forward.
A sand-devil had kicked up in front of his very eyes, and began to slowly form and shape itself into a large dragon that was sitting on its haunches in his path. The scales were a magnificent but shine-less bronze color and gold color as the sand. The wings were folded back, and a sort of beard extended from the tip of the elongated jaw down to the middle of chest. The eyes were a glorious emerald green with black slits that stared down at the orc.
"We've been waiting for you, orc..." the beast's voice rumbled as it spoke. "Or should I call you Nuk'hara?" The orc stared up at the dragon in shock, taken aback by its sudden appearance. It took a few minutes for him to regain himself; his mouth closed and lips curled up into a curious but excited grin.
"So, one of Nozdormu's own consorts has come to greet me. Things… Are starting to get interesting," he said in a quiet voice, still slightly taken aback. "Lead on then, drake. Take me where you will."
"As you say, orc." The dragon's head and neck lowered with that and Nuk quickly pulled himself on top of the neck and grabbed onto the scales for support. The dragon rose back up, turned towards the cave, unfolded its wings and flapped them hard. The flap caused the sands to fly up with her and cover her and the gate to her home from any peering eyes.
The dragon flew into the caverns with its orcish rider, taking him deep into unknown territory…
To be continued…
