Mara’gash, daughter of Kara’gash the great Khan who they called the mountain, sister of an exile who they once called a beast and aunt of a girl that was like a daughter to her, was about to abandon her name.
Her head was ringing and her stomach in battle with itself. Slowly she gained consciousness and opened her eyes to a dimly lit hut. It was not simply made of wood but seemed like a tree just had grown perfectly with this small wooden cave inside. Its walls were decorated with skulls of both animal and orc and very few that even seemed like a combination of both. Bones of each hung above her, adorned with feathers and small bushy tails, banded together like a web that watched over her. It was all lit by what she did not know were called candles. Made of beeswax they covered the room in a sweet scent that was clashing with the fresh smell of leaf and grass in the warm breeze that came through a small entrance hole. Even the pelts she was laying on and under were carrying a scent of leaf and oak rather than beast.
Time was turning in her head as much as the room. She did not know how long she was staring and blinking at her surroundings and its scent but it was too long for her to flee before a fat green orc without a nose slowly stomped back into the room. The entrance behind him gave a short glare at a rising sun and trees below them, while they were resting far up on the greatest of them all. Its leaves sang in the breeze and the sun slowly started to aid the candles.
He snorted deep from his cut nostrils before he sat down at the end of the pelts and raised a word. “Know where you are?...what your name is…anything?” Mara blinked a few times and slowly sat herself up against the wooden wall. “That is a lot of questions…” she said while her headache carried her voice.
“Heh! Well there is a lot to talk…” he said after a small giggle before his voice became darker again. After she thought about the answers to his questions her burning eyes suddenly widened in panic “Kara!...” she said more loudly and was about to stand up “A girl..was she with me?! I need to~” Kazok waved his hand up and down in a motion to ease her “She is fine..” he said which at least kept Mara sitting “Even did good for herself I say. Strong for her age..” he stopped for a second and pierced his eyes directly into Mara’s gaze “Even for a darkling..”. Slowly Mara realised her situation as she saw his green skin and amber eyes more clearly. They had finally arrived in the land of their old enemy. The tribes of the south, those who did not listen to the elements and the Dragon, but to the spirits of beasts and trees. Those who had a pact with the Horned Croak, the arch druid.
The noseless man before her did not carry chains and metal in his skin like the shamans of the north, like her, but was adorned with symbols. A red colour made from the trees that were stitched into his skin. Some showing ancient hunts. Of wolf and boar. Others a great stag that watched over them. His cut off nose and bristling dreadlocks made him look more boar than orc. Even more so as his tusks seemed longer than most. He was a druid, she realised and spoke her fears “If you did anything to her..'' she started slowly but angry before Kazok interrupted her angry himself “I just spent an entire night of headaches mending you, you ungrateful piece of dung! Of course she is fine!” It took another long moment for Mara to realise what his words meant. She looked down herself and beneath the pelts where she now remembered the Wyvern had stung her. Dark Leaves she did not know layed pressed on it and she could feel a salve itching beneath them. Slowly she bowed her ringing head all so slightly at the noseless stranger. “Thank you…” it was clear she was still not at ease “but where is she?”. Kazok grunted annoyedly before he answered “A friend took her to gather the spoils of our victory…just something to get her mind off you until you are safe again.” “I am safe.” She quickly replied before he shook his head “You are awake..” There was a threat in his voice but before her spinning mind could come up with an answer he continued “She told us much…but I want to hear it from you, Darkling. Don’t think I simply trust you because you were stupid enough to run into a wyvern.” “Why save me then?” her question widened his eyes for but a moment before he shook his head yet again and more aggressively “Well…she asked…” “Kara?” it was clear her words made him struggle to keep his aggressive pose. After a short moment he straightened himself again “I ask the questions!” even her spinning head could notice his aggressive wall shatter a moment there.
His amber glowing eyes pierced the fire in her’s “Why?...”. The longest pause yet followed his question as many thoughts, memories and times circled her head. Finally she nodded and sat herself straighter up again to properly sit the same as he did. The shaman chains and stones that were pierced into the dark grey of her face and body ringed in response to her movement. There was one on each side of her face that went from a ring on each of her noses to other rings on her ears and tusks. A part of the mountain she carried with her, like all shamans of the valley.
“There are many answers to that one word..” she started slowly and looked at him. He nodded in return and took a leather bag from his belt. Slowly he reached over the pelts and to her as he offered it. She took it and realised it was a waterbag. Before she drank she raised an eyebrow at him. He grunted, annoyed. “By the oak…If you dare to think I'm trying to poison you I’ll throw you and your spawn off this tree!”. She nodded realising how stupid the thought was and drank quite a lot of the water inside the bag. “Thank you..” she said again before she handed it back and sighed. “I’m not sure where to start..” she almost whispered more to herself as her mind went far only to be brought back by Kazoks snorting voice “Why are you here, and not with your clan?”
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She thought for a while what she could tell an outsider from the south, but soon it was clear she had no choice but to be honest if she and Kara were meant to have a future. “Our clan…the entire valley…maybe the entire north..is boiling with turmoil.” She looked at the orc skulls hanging on the walls and above her and asked herself if they were his or her ancestors. “The clans are turning on each other. Some because they are loyal to the Dragon and the Great Khan, others because they see him as a snake without honour…”
Kazok laughed “Ha! Bored warmongers! Of course they tear each other's throat if they can’t reach ours!! Hehahaha!” Mara’s flaming eyes pierced with anger at him and she started to doubt telling him anything before he looked back at her.
With widened eyes he seemed to realise that it was not the way to get answers. “Continue..” he said again in an act of pretended old wisdom.
She slowly nodded “Aru’Gal...the great Khan…chieftain of chieftains, master of the riders and speaker of the dragon's tongue.” There was something vile in her expression as she started to talk about him. “Some seers already called him the snake…his own father..my teacher..was one of those who saw a dark path with him…nothing but blood and pain, not just for him, but all the clans….” As she took a while to find more words Kazok spoke first “Visions…” he grunted “Nothing good has ever come from old orcs praying dark omen…” She nodded slowly and had her gaze locked on thoughts and candles. Kazok followed her gaze and saw into the candle fire. It stuttered for a small second without any breeze. “And you trusted their words?”.
She looked down at the pelts and then back into his gaze “It was not just the seers who saw darkness in him…he” she struggled for words but this time was fast enough to speak her own again “He tries to change the clans..and our ways. Where before our mines were holy. Only ever visited together with a shaman and only ever when a craft was important. When a child was to become an orc we went inside, sought metal and crafted a weapon.” She made a motion towards the chains that were pierced into her body and face “When a shaman took the path to answer the mountain. To sing the first song to snow, wind and summit…then their teacher chose the metal there with them.” She shook her head and made the chains sing for but a moment “But Aru’Gal…he says he does not want battles…but victory…” “Against us?” Kazok asked with an angry gaze. She nodded and continued to be locked with his gaze “All of the south…and for that he wants all of us to wear armour like the riders. To learn to ride the beasts like them…and sooner or later to raid…no…conquer the south.”
Now Kazok took a while. As much as he liked to mock them as weaklings, even one rider was dangerous enough. If the north would gather more there was indeed a danger. Before he could speak she continued “Kara and I fled because I couldn’t keep my mouth shut…I told him he was unworthy of his titles…that he was a snake…and even more that sooner or later the clans would rise against him…maybe even that the time of the great Khans is over..” Kazok made a grin “Hehehe…sounds like the type of man who does not like that…” A smile formed on Mara’s face before she answered “Not at all..” both had a small giggle only to end with Kazok “what a weakling…”. Kara nodded with an honest smile before it slowly turned away again. “Well..I also took blame for what happened to the mines…”
He raised a brow and was about to ask before she once again spoke sooner than him “My teacher…his father, the great Seer of the Singing Summit, he called upon the earth and closed most of the old mines, just enough so they could be part of the old rites again and not to arm a clan of herders and smiths to conquer” She made a long sigh “I took the blame instead of him, because I knew the clan might listen to him..but never to me..maybe there is even a chance that his son will..” She took a deep breath and continued as she glared back into his orange eyes “But Aru’Gal wanted my head…I did not let him take it…so he..” her words stumbled “He forced my brother…one of the riders to take it…” A disappointed grunt came from Kazok as she continued “But he..he could not…I am not sure if for me or because Kara jumped in…but he let me go..the only reason I took Kara with me was because I know she has an even loser mouth than I do…and I will not see that snake take her life only because he thinks his name should be an excuse for his size…”
They both remained silent for a good while until a warm breeze made Kazok speak again. “I believe you…darkling.” She bowed all so slightly with a hint of a smile. “I am Kazok Drak Nu’Arok, Druid of the great Boar and caretaker of the Bristling Pines. Tell me your name, and you shall be welcome in my forest.” She smiled with her answer “I am Mara’Gash. Shaman of the summit and the Valley, singer of the two winds and daughter of the mountain.” They both made a small bow in respect to the other orc and their titles. Both connected to the spirits, both healers and both carrying words with weight for their people.
But if Kazok had known that daughter of the mountain meant the Great Khan that slaughtered so many, and not a title he did not know, destiny would have followed a different path these days.