Not much had happened in the few days since the chieftain and Mrgglr had left the village. No further attacks or accidents, not even a sprained ankle. Smooth sailing on the macro level for our small community.
But on the third day, a new variable was thrown into the mix of threats we currently face. Our gnoll prisoner had woken up from his coma, and was very upset about his situation. Or at least I think he was. We didn’t actually speak the same language, so I had to work off his gestures and general tone. Still, it’s pretty hard to misread screaming, thrashing and snapping at my face.
Although the fact we couldn’t communicate threw a wrench in my plans. Maybe not a full monkey wrench, but a wrench nonetheless. With no common language, I couldn’t interrogate or bribe any information out of him. Torture would do even less, as nothing he could say would mean anything to us. It would just be a slow execution at that point.
After making sure his bindings were tight and reminding his guard to feed him, I stepped out of the indent we were keeping him in. The village didn’t really have a jail, so they just tied the prisoner to one of the support pillars of a hut and kept him underneath. Murloc huts are elevated, so he had just enough space to sit up straight.
As I walked towards Mrgglr’s hut, which was quickly becoming my personal study, I noticed something peculiar happening in the village center. A good amount of the adult population was crowding around one spot, and I could hear shouting and cheering, along with what resembled the scrapping of spears against shields. But one voice cut through all the noise and chaos even at my distance, a voice that I recognized.
With the chieftain and Oracle absent, control of the village ostensibly fell to the most capable Tidehunter present. There were only two fully fledged Tidehunters in the village, and it was a father-son duo. Unsurprisingly the father, Glrmgrlr, got his son Mrlgrgr to support him and took over as a temporary chief. He was not a terrible man, dedicated to the protection of the village, but he wasn’t the most qualified to lead any collection of people beyond his immediate family. He was too focused on being a tidehunter, on exterminating threats and on finding the next meal, short term things. He often left for days on extended hunting trips to try and find the largest game to bring back, ignoring less prestigious prey.
I managed to squeeze between the wall of murlocs, and got a clear look at what was happening. Glrmgrlr was standing in the middle of a hastily erected circle of stones, facing off against a large turtle. It was a bit taller than Glrmgrlr and thrice as long. He seemed to be making a show out of the fight, constantly stabbing at the turtle’s shell with his spear, then ducking away from a retaliatory bite.
The turtle looked pissed, and rightfully so. Every step it took caused vibrations to radiate out through the soft dirt, but Glrmgrlr was always able to stay out of its range. I tried calling for calm, but the crowd was too invested in the fight to hear me. After another couple minutes, Glrmgrlr seemed to have had his fun for the day, and nodded to his son standing just outside the ring. Mrlgrgr stepped in, along with four other murlocs who threw large, weighted nets over the turtle. It struggled against the ropes, pulling them taught and snapping at them with its jaw, causing a few of the cords to fray, until Mrlgrgr thrust his spear into its leg. It gave off a pained cry, then appeared to settle into a subdued state of shock. The crowd slowly dispersed, allowing me to walk up to the Tidehunters.
“Why are you doing this Glrmgrlr? You know Mrgglr is away with the chief. If you got hurt, I would be the only one who could help you, and I can’t do half of what Mrgglr can.”
Glrmgrlr waved a dismissive hand at me. “You worry too much, this beast wouldn’t be able to catch me even if I was sleeping.”
As he talked, the turtle turned its head and started to stare at me, a low rumble coming from his throat. “Well, why are you doing the whole dance and stab thing with it? The poor thing gotta be in a lot of pain.”
“Of course he’s in pain, can’t get him to stay down without taking one of his legs out of order. He heals quick though, in a few days he’ll be trying to bite my gills again.”
The turtle just looked so sad. I didn’t really have any authority over Glrmgrlr, but I would try my damndest to help this turtle out. “Well, if you’re not going to kill him, just let him go. Don’t parade him around the village.”
“Do you see the size of this thing? I’m not releasing him, he could feed the village for a week and a half. The only reason he isn’t on the table yet is because I found a better use for him.”
Glrmgrlr pointed at the scraped and chips on the turtle’s shell where his spear had struck. “Look at how tough this shell is. If I could control this beast, it would be a great boon for the village's defense. No gnoll claw is getting through that.”
Okay, I could see how having a massive fuck-off turtle on our side would be a net positive, but this is how he thought that would happen? “Well how are you going to tame it, by stabbing it a bunch? That seems counterproductive.”
Glrmgrlr scoffed, leaning against his spear. “It can’t be that hard. I heard my cousin can control a crab twice the size of you. If that idiot can do it, so can I. I just have to show it how much easier listening to me would be.” As he spoke, he twisted his spear, causing the sun to glint off its polished head and flash into the turtle’s eye. It flinched away, shutting it’s heavy eyelids and laying it’s head sideways along the ground.
The tale has been illicitly lifted; should you spot it on Amazon, report the violation.
Ah, that’s what it was. He was jealous of his cousin, and wanted to upstage him. I couldn’t let this turtle suffer just to please Glrmgrlr’s ego. It was cruel, how he treated another living creature like a fancy trophy to parade during a family reunion. “Maybe you shouldn’t antagonize the turtle that’s as big as a boulder? At least attempt to tame it away from the huts. What if it escapes and wrecks the village?”
Glrmgrlr tilted his head, shooting a harsh stare at me. “Now look here Brgllrm, I’m in charge until Glrrm returns from the grand council. You don’t get to tell me what to do, even if you are Mrgglr’s apprentice. If I want to display my martial dominance to the tribe, I will do so. I haven’t had a mate since Lrglrr’s mother passed.”
Woah, that was a little hostile. I guess not being able to tame this turtle is getting to him. I kind of get it, I was constantly compared to my older sister when I was growing up on Earth, and it always stung a little when she would come home from a tournament, medal around her neck. Meanwhile, I would be studying to retake a failed test. But I never started abusing animals to vent that frustration! I just played video games, and stabbed things virtually.
Okay, so I wouldn’t be able to get him to give up directly, maybe I could find some other angle he would be more receptive to. If he wanted to show off to his extended family, maybe I could provide some way to do so. I just had to give him some goal to chase other than trying to beat this turtle into submission.
Raising my hands in surrender, I took a few of my tiny steps towards Glrmgrlr. “Sorry, yes, you're right. I overstepped a little bit there. But it’s a good thing you are here now, I was just going to ask one of the hunters if they could go looking for you. I have this new idea, but I need a skilled individual to make it work. Seeing as you are the most skilled individual in the village, it seemed like the perfect choice.”
“Really, and what idea could you have come up with? A new toy for the tadpoles to play with?”
“No, I was thinking of something to help us hunt more game on land. Something that would help everyone in the village, something that would lead to a feast larger than any before it, where your praise would be sung to all the villages on the coast. Tell me, have you ever heard of a sling?”
~
As Glrrm and Mrgglr paddled along the coast, Glrrm seemed to be in contemplation. After a long while of silence, he asked, “Hey Mrgglr, is it just me, or were all the other villages way more damaged than ours during the raids? I’m not complaining, it’s just weird that we lost one elder and most others lost half a dozen in tadpoles alone.”
Mrgglr sighed, recalling the atmosphere of the previous villages they had stopped at. The various villages along the Longshore coast acted as safe havens, spots where they could rest and have a quick bite to eat. But the atmosphere of each tribe was dreary. With each stop the situation seemed to worsen, with fearful tadpoles huddling together between groups of elders carrying looted clubs and sturdy walking sticks. Many villages had more hunters and foragers standing guard than looking for food, for they all feared the dangers of the forest or open waters. They had stockpiles of edible plants and tidehunters who worked tirelessly to provide more than they ever had before, but it was not sustainable. In another month or so, if nothing changed, they would start to starve.
“From my conversations with the resident oracles, it seems most of the attacks came during night, with the gnolls managing to achieve a level of surprise. Many were killed where they slept, with the supports of their huts felled. It seems that our case was a special one, where the raiding party attacked in broad daylight, making no means of concealment.”
“So either the band who attacked us were unrelated to the more organized ones who struck the other villages, or something tempted them to abandon their plans and commence an attack right away.”
“I believe it to be the latter. I inspected some of the belongings recovered in other attacks, and the quality and make of the arms bear a striking resemblance to the ones we found, although they both share a level of poor maintenance. Although I did find what appeared to be battle trophies, paws and teeth and the like, that came from other gnolls on their person. It seems to imply a level of infighting, perhaps encouraged by the higher levels to make sure no one is able to grow powerful enough to challenge their rule?”
“Or perhaps a combination of the two theories? Maybe these different bands are not exactly part of the same organization, just being supported by a larger force? It would explain the poor maintenance of their weapons in relation to their quality, and internal strife is quite believable on creatures as barbaric as the gnolls. Give them weapons, a bit of training, and then release them to cause havoc across the land?”
Mrgglr nodded as he looked towards the shore. That was a plausible theory, there just wasn’t enough evidence to prove one hypothesis over another. They would bring these up at the council, and a decision would be made on what to do. He just hoped the council would create a better plan than last time.
Glrrm continued. “But if our attackers had the same training as the others, why did they commence their raid in such an inferior way? They had to have known the advantages that surprise and the cover of night would have given them.”
“From what I can tell, they were enticed by the prospects of an easy meal. Specifically, of a lone tadpole, my apprentice, wandering close to the forest, where they were watching from. They must have thought it would be as simple as scooping up a stunned tadpole and vanishing before anyone noticed their absence. But once she started to cause a commotion, they had no choice but to press the attack. Get as much as they could before retreating back into the safety of the forest.”
Glrrm let out a high pitched whistle, air rushing through gaps in his teeth. “That apprentice of yours is a blessing from the Deep Mother. She’s what, six winters old, and already she has saved more lives than most murlocs do in a lifetime. I just hope she can handle whatever happens while we are gone.”
“From the dedication and skill she has displayed during our training sessions, I believe nothing short of another raid would be out of her abilities to resolve.”
“That’s some high praise, especially from you. I remember the last time you took an apprentice. All you let that poor boy do was carry your equipment and feed the injured. Hadn’t learned a thing by the time he was an adult.”
A heavy sigh escaped Mrgglr’s lips. “Yes, I was not as willing to accept an apprentice back then, I only did it to appease the council. They wanted to make sure a successor was available in case I died unexpectedly, which is understandable, but I was less comfortable with my mortality back then. I guess I saw the boy as a symbol of my impending death, and heaped my frustrations upon him. I restricted his talents and consigned him to a life of mediocrity to assuage myself, to believe that no one could replace me, and that I would continue to serve as oracle forever more.”
A silence followed Mrgglr’s small confession. As the seconds slipped into minutes, and minutes into hours, nothing more was shared between the two old friends. Eventually, they reached the next village, a small collection of huts built in a slightly different manner to their own, raised lower as they were built further inland, safe from the highest waves. But as they approached, noises could be heard in the distance. Metal clashing, screams of the dying, and the unforgettable, unmistakable cry of Aaaaaughibbrgubugbugrguburgle!
Both murlocs, although past their primes, broke out into a breaststroke fast enough to give an olympic swimmer a run for both their money and their medals. Their fellow murlocs were in need, and they would provide assistance, however they could.