Path: usenet.ee.pdx.edu!cs.uoregon.edu!sgiblab!swrinde!pipex!uunet!not-for-mail From: guido@rbg.informatik.th-darmstadt.de (Guido Roessling) Newsgroups: rec.games.frp.archives Subject: STORY: Qelrik part 46 Followup-To: rec.games.frp.misc Date: 17 Oct 1994 12:04:37 -0400 Organization: UUNET Technologies Inc, Falls Church, VA, USA Lines: 230 Sender: smm@uunet.uu.net Approved: smm@uunet.uu.net Message-ID: <37u7al$joi@rodan.UU.NET> NNTP-Posting-Host: rodan.uu.net Back to the Lair... =================== Gernodt registered with some shock that some orcs had been carrying Dahlarin into the clearing. The mage was bound and gagged, and seemingly unconscious, since he was hanging limply between the orcs' arms. This did, with absolute certainty, explain why the supposedly illusionary orcs had behaved so strange, yet it didn't explain why the orcs where there. As if he had broadcast this thought to Kyle, Kyle started at that very moment to ask for the reason the orcs were here - if asking was the correct term for his angry demands. "Just what the hell do you think you're doing here? You *know* that this area is forbidden to you by treaty with the village of Trelham", he shouted angrily at the orcs. "Crossing the Indigo River could mean war!" He struggled against the orcs, but they held him tightly. "Up shut, Whelp!", screamed one of the orcs, as he slapped Kyle across his face. "*You* is it that river crosses! *You* is it that treaty violates!" The orc laughed as the others bound Kyle's arms and legs, including his upper thighs, so that he couldn't walk in a decent way, but just hop short distances at a time. However, this didn't suffice to stop his ire at their trespassing, and he continued shouting. "Us? We're not on the your side of the river!" "Ah," answered the orc. "But in Orc-land be you soon!" Kyle started to protest again, but a cuff on his ear and a foul gag placed in his mouth caused him to choke and fall silent. He realized with horror that the gag was made from the soiled clothing of the fallen orc, whom the others had lifted off the ground and put in a sack to transport the body back home. Several of the orcs cleaned up the blood from the ground and took pains to erase all indications that they had been there. Gernodt, bound and restrained by the net they had still kept about him, started pondering these facts. Being new to the area, he had not known about any treaty between villagers and orcs, and he certainly was surprised by Kyle's Kyle's animosity towards the orcs. It stood to reason that there had been a mayor battle with an orc tribe long ago, which in some way affected Kyle deeply. If a treaty had to be signed to spare both sides, the struggle must have lasted many years. A treaty which forbade each side to cross the nearby river. Now, it was quite obvious that some orcs had crossed it, thereby defying the treaty's regulations - which might mean some harsh retribution by the villagers, if the truth was revealed to them... And he was quite certain that this was not really what the orcs could hope for, judging by the means taken to hide their transgression. An ugly realization manifested in his head. If the orcs let them live, they'd risk that the villagers would learn the truth, and that just wouldn't do for them. So the only real choice the orcs had, now that they had encountered the men, was that they had to try and eliminate all of them, hoping that the deaths were simply ascribed to their lack of preparation - or blamed on Qelrik. After all, he had not exactly made a secret of the fact that he had some trouble with this evil mage, and it was to be expected that some of the guest of the inn would remember this fact, and hold Qelrik responsible for their death. Now, that might mean that even if they were to die... He angrily broke this thought, shaking a bit - causing the orcs guarding him to pull on the ropes to restrain him. How would the orcs know about Qelrik?... To his left, he noticed that one of the heavier built orcs was trying to lift his beloved sword, and seemed to succeed - which did surprise him a little, since he had not met many people, regardless of race, who had been able to lift his heavy sword. However, his surprise turned to even greater wonder when the orc managed to lift his sword completely, but then dropped it with a cry of anguish and a curse, for no apparent reason... The sword had barely touched the ground when the orcs, red in his face with anger, kicked at it, snarling curses in Orcish at it. Gernodt didn't manage to make out a lot of it, but the words "cursed" and "wicked" seemed to appear rather often. With a final snarl, the orc turned from the sword, indicating to the others that, to Gernodt's chagrin, the sword was to be left behind. At that moment, the leader of the small orc patrol barked the command to start walking back "home", and the prisoners were ushered along their way. Kyle started to make noises with his mouth, only to be harshly growled at, and was even hit twice more when this didn't suffice. At this point, Gernodt tilted his head so that he could look directly at Kyle, and shook his head warningly. He was met by Kyle's glaring eyes, as if to say that their capture had been Gernodt's fault. And indeed it must appear so to the youth from the giant man's inaction. Kyle had known that Gernodt was aware of the dangerous Orcs, and was beside himself trying to figure out the warriors actions. Gernodt felt his guilt deepen, especially seeing the bruises about Kyles face and the small amount of blood oozing from a cut lip. It would only get worse for the boy who, a short while ago, had held Gernodt in such high esteem. Instead of dwelling on this, however, he simply made a mental note that he'd make it up to the boy, and during the march, started thinking about what could be done to escape. After all, he didn't notice Finn anywhere, so she just might still be free, and Growler was also nowhere to be seen - although he was injured. But the two of them should certainly be able to find out what had happened, and either directly come to their aid, or at least manage to find aid from the village... And it might also turn out to be possible that they might escape on their own, since the orcs were not likely to know just how strong he was... He had, after all, not quite thrown his whole strength in struggling with the net, knowing in his heart that it was futile in any case. The net had been a perfect throw, he had to grant - it had fit snugly, and not given him much of a chance. Now, if only he had his sword with him... But what exactly was there about his sword? Was it possible that it might hold more powers than he had known so far? It had been a cause for wonder for him at the start, when he noticed how comparatively easily he managed to lift and swing it, when others who did not appear to be much weaker were simply unable to lift it... And now that one orc had managed to lift it, he had held it only for a moment before dropping it with a sulphorous curse, and leaving it lying in the clearing... Where, hopefully, Finn would find it and think to bring it back to him! Just then they approached a skillfully hidden cave, the entrance to the orc lair probably. It soon became obvious that this was the case, since the orcs led them in single file through several branching passages, where Gernodt would easily have lost his bearings, if he hadn't concentrated on the lair's layout. He had to admit it was very skillfully done, and should be enough to mislead most invaders, since the passages were rather low (his back was already aching from hunching over) and were winding, never going in a straight line. He was certain that they had been on at least one passage that seemed to be built in a circular form, and that had about 20 branches on the small part of it that they had traversed. He knew that if the orcs had been careful not to give away their lair's layout to them, even he would by now be very unsure just where he was, or where he had come from... But the orcs seemed, as far as he could judge, to be taking a direct route - which did not bode well for them. If they were not planning to kill them outright, they would not be so careless - therefore, it seemed more than likely they did not intend to let them live. Well, there was nothing that could be done about it right now. Perhaps, when they finally reached their cells, they might have a chance to escape.... but for the moment, it would be hopeless to try it, and quite foolish. Better to wait some hours, lull the orcs' caution, and then try to break free, or hope for Finn to arrive... Taking the last bend, they came to a larger hall, which thankfully was also high enough for him to stand upright. One of the large passages leading from this hall evidently led to the cells, and that was the passage they were taken. Gernodt was quite surprised to notice that the orcs had somehow managed to acquire real steel for the gates of the cells. It seemed this was no simple orc tribe, but a rather skilled one. His thoughts were interrupted when they stopped in front of the first cell, which was free - except for the skeleton of a humanoid creature still shackled to the walls. He cell door was unlocked by the leader with a big key, and two orcs entered the cells. Removing the skeleton from the shackles by the fastest possible way, ripping and breaking off its hands and feet, they moved the skeleton out of the way. Then Dahlarin was brought into the cell, and shackled to the wall. His gag was removed, and replaced by a wad of woll that was attached to a large band of leather. The whole arrangement was se- curely bound over his head, going around the neck as well. It seemed very unlikely Dahlarin would be able to even make himself heard when he groaned. The mage chose this moment to regain his conscience. The blank look of his eyes was replaced by a look of confusion at where he was and what had happened. However, this was quickly replaced by a look of horror and then of despair when he registered his current position, and the fact that Kyle and Gernodt, still bound, where looking in his cell... Gernodt gave a short, grave nod of his head in Dahlarin's direction, trying to indicate that things were not quite as bad as they might appear right now by a slight twinkle in his eyes. Despite the fact that the mage seemed to notice it, it did not seem he was made any happier by it. Trying to say something, he was obviously frustrated when even he himself could not hear a sound coming forth past the gag, and he slumped in his bonds. With a vicious grin, the orcs left and locked the cell. Coming to the next cell, this one empty, they unceremoniously dumped Kyle in the cell after checking him for any hidden weaponry -- in which process they also managed to completely rip up his clothes "by accident". With a savage grin they left him there, unbound and unshackled. The orcs continued to lead Gernodt further into the orcish dungeon, past a number of cells, most of which were occupied, if only by skeletons of past prisoners. Finally, the orcs stopped at a cell. While four orcs pointed their swords at him, they began to strip him of the net. That done, they motioned for him to go to the manacles hanging high on the walls, seemingly intented for larger creatures like ogres. Reluctantly, but without any show of protest, he went there - after all, the only thing he might gain from resistance right now would be a wound. He was shackled to the wall, and the orcs retreated. *************************************************************************** This story is a collaboration of seven people: one German, two Canadians and four Americans. Comments about particular characters should be forwarded to their character's "owners": Finn Ambrose - Sheryl Ann Galchutt* - fi48@sol.acs.unt.edu Gernodt - Guido Roessling - dida@pu.informatik.th-darmstadt.de Dahlarin - Brent Hughes - bhughes@student.business.uwo.ca Kyle - J.E. Mason - ** no current mail address ** Fox - Barbara French - bcfrench@mailbox.syr.edu Will appear in future chapters: Gladrial - Jennifer Immel - bhughes@julian.uwo.ca Sir Percy - Bret Rudnick - rudnick@cfatrw.harvard.edu If you have WWW access, you can also read the chapters there. The site is http://rbhp62.rbg.informatik.th-darmstadt.de/~guido/qelrik.html ************************************************************************** ************************************************************************** Legal stuff about Qelrik All characters contained in this story are the sole and exclusive property of their authors. They are the copyrighted property of the authors, and may not be used for any reason without the express written permission of the authors. Qelrik is (c) 1993, 1994 Guido Resszling, Brent G. Hughes, John E. Mason, Barbara C. French, Jennifer Immel, and Bret Ryan Rudnick. Gernodt T'Slorung -- Guido Roessling Dahlarin -- Brent G. Hughes Growler --