The last story is about a legend. Nobody is a hero of so many tales, like Dreaded Boldar the Gory, great warrior of the Krux clan, forged in steel, with many scalps hanging from his armor. The news, that he`s on his way, was brought by big black bat. There was written: "I`ll arrive in three days. DBG." From that moment everyone was talking just about him and uruki from Krux clan. Allegedly they were very tall, strong and warlike. With fire of battle in their eyes and never-ending bloodlust. They melted and cast iron into solid black metal. Their weapons were unbreakable and armor unpenetrable. There was a rumor, Boldar has a brother, who is even bigger and stronger than himself, but he`s holed up under the mountains, where he rules vermin and manages production. With dusk of the third day he indeed entered the camp by his heavy foot. Suddenly uruki was abashed, clearly hit by a most repeated tale in the camp, by which Dreaded Boldar the Gory, after he took a throng of prisoners, heated oil in a large cauldron and gradually eaten all of the captives fried in it. Boldar, however, behaved gently and almost quietly in the camp. Although he had a cauldron and oil with him, but he fried just pieces of caught animals and dried meat.
Besides famous names and known faces many more were coming for the burial who heard about the of the shaman. And so either to pay his respect or from a fear of being cursed they all came to see him off on his way. One of those was pilgrim called Viks. Young uruk in a long coat covered in dust of his ways. His clothes and his armor were stark. He was pulling along with him only few pieces of armor, a weapon and a stick with wild boar´s skull. Because I got interested by him I asked Maalfok to which clan does he belong? Maalfok didn´t know and so he went and asked him. When he came back he said that Viks belonged to clan Vorbait Ilid and because this clan has perished long ago he is wandering alone.
Even the bone grinded knife for food cutting proved that besides few armor pieces, weapon and his stick Viks didn´t have much belongings left. But even thou this unobtrusive visitor could attire attention. It happened during the fights in the ashes of the pyre into which he joined as well. He was fairly good and conquered even Loqok of Snaga clan. Loqok was talking himself out . By saying that his bad shaped was caused by the inconsiderable amount of black moonshine which he drunk the night before but Viks´ victory couldn´t be denied.
With their half-wild look and primitive way of living the uruki members of clan Uku-Roth reminded me of the clan that held me captive. Two young warriors; the first taller and the second smaller, came right at the beginning of the burial preparation and were acting like they belonged to the Snaga clan. After they made their camp they were assisting with the building of the pyre and the whole place to be ready for the re-union. Above their tents a flag with the wolf´s head of Naurrakur was flattering. The head was eating spine unnaturally curved into a circle. This is one of the signs of eternity.
The bigger of the Uku-Roth warriors was Gru-Push, tall and well built uruk, who gladly lent a hand. At the first sight he looked like a friendly being. Despite his appearance and sturdiness, the friendly nature of this ushatar almost made me lose my vigilance. Everything changed suddenly, when he joined a combat. Instead of a cheerful fellow, there was a furious bull running in the funeral pyre ashes, ruthlessly hitting everyone, who stepped into the circle. He crushed one opponent by one with his hands, hits of his shield was so mighty, that they stroke down some warriors like ripe dates, while the others flew limply in the air like rag dolls. It wasn`t a surprise, when he won all the duels. Later I noticed, that he`s wearing a brass medallion with complex lamination, and then I learned about the Hole, place, where warriors are going to win for themselves honor, glory and mainly wealth. The medallion ment full victory in one on one combat tournament in the Hole.
The smaller of the two was Draag Kemr. He proudly bore flag of Uku-Roth. In civilized world I`d desribe him as a squire, who takes care of warrior`s gear and matters of his camp. All of this was Kemr doing for Gru-Push, it is hard to tell, however, if Uruki have a word for a squire. Kemr was wiry and flexible uruk. He knew the roads and a little of hunting, he could repair or craft many things. He also knew basic rituals for speaking to the ghosts and regularly asked Frumi for success in battle. He also knew basics of common language. When I asked him about duels in the Hole, he replied proudly, that he was bearing Gru-Push`s flag in there and was telling his tale, as did other flag bearers, but his story was the best and scared other warriors a lot, so he also helped Gru-Push to win the tournament.
The story of Ujakrogtar clan was presented to me by Maalfok right after an incident when 2 orks on two huge equestrian wolfs bursted wildly right into the middle of the camp. He said that Ujakrogtar menas something like the wolf´s guard and it used to be very numerous clan which used to run along the great plains and lived as the other clans – from wars and caravans ‘robberies. This clan used to have many warriors but nobody haven´t heard of them for so long. It was a common assumption that they were scattered one by one to all of the sides of the world by the wind of the plains and thus it was considerable surprise the arrival of those two. Zoltar and Mozog, these were their names, came not only because of honoring the memory of the deceased but also for other businesses
Zoltaire`s companion was Mozog, the taleteller, strings instruments player and the dushatar of Wolfguard. He had calmer manners than Zoltar. He was friendly to another Uruki and they liked to listen to his stories. There was no doubt he was a skilled warrior. Taming of big mounted wolves was nothing easy, as was believed, and the rider was often eaten by his own beast. Mozog wasn`t finished with the fight either. Aas Zoltar, he joined the same sark* under leadership od Loqok.
*type of combat troops
*type of combat troops
Zoltar was huge ushatar dressed fully in thick leather armor. His face was weather-beaten bruised with many battles. He was wild same as the wolf he rode and his eyes had different colors. Maalfok said he used to often fight side by side with Snaga, mainly under the command of Loqok. They say that during his warrior career he
suffered countless injuries and broke nearly every bone in his body. But none of these stopped him he always got miracoulously healed and raised his weapon into another battle. Zoltar spent long moments over a black moonshine with Loqok and many other
leaders joined him as well. Slowly I was realizing that this reunion of clans was not happening only because of the burial but clan after clan new army was being established.
suffered countless injuries and broke nearly every bone in his body. But none of these stopped him he always got miracoulously healed and raised his weapon into another battle. Zoltar spent long moments over a black moonshine with Loqok and many other
leaders joined him as well. Slowly I was realizing that this reunion of clans was not happening only because of the burial but clan after clan new army was being established.
I was surprised to see some human women among the uruki horde. I didn’t communicate with them very much due to their beyond expectations poor knowledge of common speech or the fact that they shunned me and refused to talk to me. Every single one of them had obviously been living among the uruki for a very long time. One of them imprinted deeply in my mind – it was Skrik with hair resembling a nest of snakes. She was adorned with bones, feathers and wooden beads. She walked through the camp with her face tattooed and behaved very naturally in the company of all those inhuman creatures around her. Despite of the eeriness that emanated from her, there was something rather beautiful about her.
Her eyes, however, were ice cold and I quickly learned that there was something inhuman about her, too. Maybe that was the reason why she got along with all the monsters around her so well. She was one of the women who control the invisible power. Hers lied in voice and chanting. Her voice put all the listeners into a wild feverish trance, which made the uruki join her singing with their throaty cacophonic shrieks. Her chant, however, carried cleanly in that primeval forest of noises like a soft wave of an owl’s wing and, just like the claws of this nocturnal predator, it clenched in my ears and tore my mind apart in a spasm of wild madness, terror and shoreless allure.
