When I finally woke, I was thankfully not being roasted alive, I was admittedly very confused. I was inside a distinctly lopsided cabin of large proportion made from whole, uncut logs. The lumpy mattress I was lying on, covered by what looked suspiciously like bear pelt, was resting directly on the dirt floor, and it was huge, extending several feet beyond me. I felt as though I was had been shrunk—a very odd sensation. But what caught my eye most about the strange house, and what struck fear into my mind, was the lighting in the room. A human skull was mounted on a stick with a red, flickering fire burning within. The irregular dance of the flames cast strange, constantly changing shadows over the room as the light escaped through the gaping holes where eyes and a nose had once been. Furthermore, the jaw was hanging slightly unhinged, causing the skull to look as if it were laughing in a mocking manner. I repressed a shudder and forced myself to look away from the hideous sight. Perhaps, I mused, I had been kept alive only to become an urgal's lamp. A horrible fate, I decided.
I was alone in that room for hours, yet it did not cross my mind once to try and escape. For one, I had no idea where I was, and the likely hood of actually surviving the spine after my escape was near zero, and also, for all I knew, there were urgals waiting to capture me or kill me as soon as I set foot outside the hut. But then, I mused, why would I have been brought there without being harmed or eaten if the intention of my captors had been to kill me immediately after I had been brought back. And it made even less sense considering the reaction that the one urgal had had when I had been stuck. My eyes once again fell on the skull torch and I shivered uncomfortably. I was not so much afraid as I was disgusted. My elven background favoring the avoidance of killing remained with me even though I had long since resorted to consuming animals to keep from starving when my reliance on plants could no longer sustain me. Yet still, the use of the bones from a living being, especially a sentient being, was abhorrent to me, and gave me a cold, uneasy feeling which I could not shake.
As I waited in that small, one room hut, my apprehension began to face as it was slowly replaced with boredom and hunger.
—Looking back, I cannot help but wonder at my younger self's priorities. One would think that it would be preferable to sit in boredom and hunger than to wait for the door to open, heralding me onto some unknown fate, perhaps even becoming an urgal's dinner. I had sat in anticipation of an urgal coming to get me for whatever they had planned, not considering the fact that urgals were known as man-eating beasts in my impatience for something to happen. Yet, perhaps, in the same situation today, I would act in the same manner. I have always hated being bored more than anything else. That is where a large amount of my dislike of travelling stems from.—
Finally, after it seemed that hours had passed since I had first woken, I realized that light was beginning to shine from cracks in the house and from around the fur-pelt door. It was morning. Before the light had started to leak in through the seams of the house I had not realized that it had been night, but now the absence of anyone having come into the hut had a plausible explanation. Also, I realized that I had a headache. I hadn't noticed before, but when I sat up, I immediately wished that I hadn't. I pressed a hand over my eyes, willing the pain away, and then when that didn't work, I reached for my magic and felt the irritating feeling of my connection to magic being suppressed.
I was drugged. That, or perhaps whatever they had knocked me out with in the first place, I assumed to be the cause of my headache. It was a while longer before anything of note happened. Then, the door opened.
I was stunned into silence. I had been expecting an urgal or kull, dressed in typical deer-pelt loincloths, and perhaps carrying a weapon, but before me stood something I had not ever considered before.
A female urgal.
Sure, I guess I shouldn't have been so surprised. Of course there were female urgals. There had to be. If there weren't female urgals, then… Well, I don't think I have to continue that explanation. The point is that the appearance of a female urgal in the hut took me completely by surprise. The dam, as I later found a female urgal was called, had fur of an almost charcoal color with patches that were slightly lighter toward her neck and head. Her hair, also black, hung past her waist in a thick, coarse braid. She wore a dress made of pieces of what looked to be fox pelts sewn together. I stared at her, unsure of what she wanted with me and still confused.
Then, looking at me with intelligent eyes, she waved her hand for me to follow, not speaking. Wincing as I moved my head, I rose to follow the urgal. Disobedience, I figured, would benefit me in no way. And, I justified by the death of the urgal who had harmed me, it was at least possible, if not probable, that the urgals were not intending on killing me.
Yet.
Unconsciously, I raised my hand to my cheek and realized with surprise that the wound was healed. Either I had slept far longer than I had thought, or there were those with magic among the urgals. Now that was both an interesting and startling idea.
Elven records were vague at best regarding the possibility of urgals who were spellcasters. There were unconfirmed tales from humans, and it was confirmed that some could defend their minds from attack or invasion, but there was no definite opinion on whether the urgals themselves could do magic. After all, even humans with no magical talent could be trained to guard their mind and even sometimes offensively attack with the mind. Most of the time urgals were grouped with beasts rather than any of the sentient species. The dam gestured again for me to follow as she exited the hut. I stepped out, curious to see what lay outside the small, odd structure.
I was disappointed, and my curiosity went dissatisfied. Outside the door of the hut I had slept in were trees. Tall, thick, pine trees. There were no other urgals or buildings within my sight, and nothing else of any interest. I could see the shape of a small deer off between the trees, but nothing I hadn't seen before. The dam continued walking, and I followed, ignoring the consistent pulsing in my head. It was painful, but not debilitating. I was led to a large cave. My interest spiked again as my guide gestured for me to follow. As we neared she pulled back the furs which covered the door and pointedly looked toward the opening. I stepped inside. Despite the fact that she didn't seem to speak my language, it was clear enough what she wanted. Inside, I was once again rendered speechless.
There were eleven chairs, and nine were filled with urgals. But what surprised me was that they were all female. The urgal who had led me into the room took one of the empty chairs, and another urgal stood, walking over to examine me. The dam who stood before me now contrasted starkly with the first I had met. Instead of black fur, she had fur that was tan. In places, it was almost white. The urgal observed me a long moment longer before gesturing to the last chair. "Sit." She spoke. I started and stared at her in shock, hearing my native tongue. The dam had spoken in the Ancient Language.
I was too stunned to do anything but obey. I took the seat and stared at the almost white urgal as she continued to watch me. I waited for her to say something more, but she turned and said something I could not understand to one of the other dams. The urgal stood and left, returning with one of the rams whom I recognized as one of the urgals who had been one of my captors. The dams seemed to be having a discussion with him which quickly was becoming heated. I shrunk in my chair lightly, not wanting to become part of the brewing fight which I knew must have been about me. Some of the dams had stood and were shouting in their harsh language. It seemed to go on forever before the white dam stood and barked out a single word. The dams all stopped and turned, looking to the one who had commanded me to sit. She was speaking again, and the others were listening. They all sat, some looking rather angry, but they had quit arguing.
Once they had stopped, I realized that I had preferred when they had been yelling at each other. Their argument over, their gazes had all come to rest on me, and I had to put forth a conscious effort to keep from squirming in my chair like an errant child. They began discussing again, but I understood nothing. After a very long hour, whatever was being discussed about me had been concluded, and I had to wonder if I hadn't just been auctioned off as someone's new lamp. The white urgal looked at me.
"Uluthrek. You go. Nalak." She said, pointing at one of the dams. I frowned before realizing that 'Nalak' must be one of the dams. The word 'ulthrek' still remained unspecified. The dam in question was scowling at me. I nodded unsurely and stood. While the leader of the group knew at least some of the Ancient Language, it was clear that she was not fluent. As the dam whom I had been assigned to rose and left, I cast one glance back before following.
I followed up the side of a steep hill to where a cave cut into the side. Covering the cave's entrance was not a fur as I had been expecting, but rather an intricately woven cloth. It was drawn aside and I was brought through a long tunnel to a more open area of the cave where several other areas branched off. There was a noise from one of them and I turned in time to see a young urgal come running out. He stopped and began speaking in a rapid way before he spotted me. As soon as the child's eyes fell on me he froze with a stunned expression on his face which rapidly gave way to fear. He ducked behind the dam and looked at me like some wild animal.
The irony of the situation was not lost on me as the urgal eyed me like a wild beast. Eventually, with the dam speaking to him, he came out from behind her and approached me, looking me over with a frightened curiosity. I observed him similarly. In a strange way, the young urgal was rather cute. His size was similar to that of a five or six year old human child, and his too-large eyes added to the look. After a minute, he turned and ran back down the cave from which he had originally come. I was brought down a different path to where a small, rough mattress was laid in the corner. The urgal pointed to me and then to the room. I nodded, hoping that I had interpreted correctly that I was to stay in this room. She turned and left, leaving me unsure of what was expected, but the dam returned quickly with an armful of furs and a needle and thread. She laid it out and I saw that a blanket was being made. After observing my work for a few moments, she left again, and that time she didn't return for a long while.
As I worked, I wondered why I had been taken prisoner and just what the urgals seemed to expect of me. Nothing I could think of came to mind. Knowing that there was nothing I could do for the moment, I continued sewing, wondering just how I had gotten myself into that situation and wondering about the significance of the word ulthrek.
A.N. Sorry… again… Anyway, I will not be abandoning any of my fics, and now that it is summer, I should have time to write. Thank you for reading this.