Authors: Stephen Zimmer
The hulking creatures approaching them were indeed humanoid, each one standing well over eight feet in height. They had large, triangular ears that were pressed close against the sides of their broad heads.
Their faces had a distinctive concavity. Were it not for their greatly formidable nature, Lee would have found them to have a naturally melancholic expression. Large, forward-set eyes rested deep in their wide sockets, while their prominent lower jaws jutted forward.
Their thick, bullish necks were connected to immensely muscular bodies, warning any who looked upon them of great physical strength. They were also long-limbed creatures in proportion to their powerful bodies, the considerable lengths of their arms and legs rippling with chiseled muscle.
There was little mystery as to the identity of the oncoming creatures. Lee knew that the beings striding towards them were the Unguhur.
He could see why the creatures had once been called Stone Hides. Their grayish skin did indeed have a stony texture, though up close Lee could see that the creatures had a very light growth of thin, gray hairs along the surface of their bodies.
Most of the creatures wore a type of hide-skirt, similar to a kilt, which was wrapped around their waists and hung down to just above their thick knees. A select few wore plain hide tunics along with the kilt, both items appearing to be fashioned of a thicker, different kind of leather. These Unguhur looked to be larger and even more muscular than the ones with only the kilt.
Their massive hands exhibited fingers that ended in what looked like small spear blades. The same was true of their long feet. Lee could not help but conjecture that the creatures could readily tunnel through hard-packed ground without the need for any tools.
The ones wearing tunics were armed with what appeared to be great lances. The lance blades were made of a black stone that had been shaped long and sharp, making the weapon suitable for slashing or for thrusting.
Those with just the hide-skirts carried much shorter weapons, club-sized for the scale of the beasts. The crude, mace-like weapons held a large, obsidian stone lashed tightly to the end of their thick shafts.
The creatures bearing the lances moved to the forefront of the bare-chested ones, the latter clustering behind.
Altogether, sixteen of the creatures had come to stand before Gunther’s party. The huge beings made no hostile moves, though they kept some distance between the two parties. The ones in the front retained a firm grip upon their huge spears, though the sharpened points were tilted upwards, oriented towards the cavern ceiling.
Gunther turned to Lee and the others, and spoke in a lowered voice. “We must wait for one of the Unguhur leaders, versed in our language. One will come. These were the closest to us. Warriors and laborers, attending to this cavern.”
Lee nodded wordlessly to Gunther. He was not about to divulge the nature of their amulets to these creatures, for there was no telling what kind of interest or alarm that the magical amulets might invoke in the brutish-looking beings. He definitely did not want to risk gaining their ire.
It seemed like an age had passed, when five more of the Unguhur finally came forth from the forest. Like those in the forefront of the group before Gunther, four were wearing the tunic-kilt combination and bore great spears. The four warriors walked in escort around the fifth member of their group, keeping the distinctive individual centered within their midst.
The protected Unguhur, alone among the twenty others of its kind in sight, was unarmed. Clad in a full-length tunic of softer material, flowing almost like a robe, the creature wore a necklace made up of an array of very long, sharp teeth. Tan-hued hide armbands were wound snugly about each of its upper arms. Each of the armbands exhibited a single line of raised scutes, presumably from the hide of whatever creature had been used to fashion them.
“Hail, Eranthus,” Gunther proclaimed, lowering his head towards the approaching contingent.
“Gunther. You come. Been long. No wood? No trade? You bring others?” the robe-wearing one stated, as the last group of Unguhur finally reached the larger gathering.
Lee listened with the benefit of the amulet, but from the stilted delivery of the Unguhur, he surmised that Gunther was being addressed in the Saxan tongue. The creature spoke in a low, gravely tone of voice that fit well within the atmosphere pervading the strange underground world. It was obvious to Lee, watching the considerable deference given to the creature by its surrounding brethren, that the being held great authority amongst its kind.
It was difficult to read the expression upon the creature’s broad face, but the look in the creature’s eyes conveyed familiarity, and a sense of friendship, towards Gunther. The same eyes shifted to study the four humans with Gunther very closely. The creature’s eyes narrowed, furrowing the skin covering the prominent ridge of its forehead, as it applied scrutiny to the human guests.
“Enemy come?” the being then asked, looking back to Gunther.
Gunther nodded, and as he spoke he used physical gestures to illustrate and emphasize his words. “Bad times come in world above. Work of Unifier. Big army comes. There are many enemy. Had to leave home. Could not stay above. Too much danger. Come to warn Unguhur. Need home with Unguhur.”
At the mention of the Unifier, Eranthus’ facial muscles tensed into something akin to a snarl. The lips curled back far enough to reveal that the Unguhur had very sizeable teeth, accompanied with a set of extremely prominent, sharp canines. Lee could certainly tell that there was no love lost between the Unifier and the Unguhur, something that made Lee feel much more reassured.
“You safe. In Unguhur lands now. Come now. Who friends?” Eranthus asked, his eyes looking back inquisitively at the four with Gunther.
“Will give story. Maybe prophecy. Friends. Protect from Unifier,” Gunther replied.
“Gunther friends welcome. Gunther beasts welcome. Come. We go to Oranim,” Eranthus said. “Watch tunnel.”
Eranthus turned and spoke in a lower tone to the warriors that had escorted him. Lee picked out several words, listening as the Unguhur leader instructed the warriors to summon others, ordering them to watch over the long tunnel that led to Gunther’s dwelling.
When Eranthus was finished speaking to the warriors, two of the spear-carrying Unguhur cupped their hands to their faces, and bellowed back in the direction of the bizarre forest. In mere moments, a number of other voices were raised from places near and far throughout the great cavern. A trickle of Unguhur appeared shortly, covering the ground in swift, loping strides as they hastened to the summons.
Gunther did not have to explain to Lee that each of the giant creatures was worth several human warriors, if combat were to ensue. Lee found himself intensely grateful for the fact that Gunther was regarded as a friend by the creatures, for over thirty of the Unguhur now surrounded them. If the Unguhur had decided to become hostile, there was nothing that Gunther and all of his Jaghuns combined could have done to protect Lee and his companions.
The warriors gathered together, leaving with the ones that Eranthus had instructed and heading towards the lower tunnel entrance.
Eranthus then motioned for the humans to follow, adding the invocation, “Warriors there. Now, come.”
Only a couple of the warriors had remained behind, and these now escorted Eranthus, as the club-wielding Unguhur dispersed and moved back into the depths of the towering growths.
Eranthus led them on a path that meandered through the forest-like environment. Walking in silence, Lee took in the sights of the lofty stalks rising around them. They moved through many varieties of unusual growths, before they finally stepped out of the forest and entered a broad clearing.
His feet stepped once again onto a hardened surface, the ground no longer covered with the organic material that saturated the area underneath the fungal growths.
A short distance ahead of them, at the end of a gentle, downward slope, an underground river flowed. The dark waters of the river coursed with a slow current, patient and confident within the channel that it had carved out of the rock over long ages.
There was an area at the shoreline where there were a number of crude rafts, fashioned out of even lengths of some kind of thick stalk. Though Lee suspected that the stalks had been culled from something within the fungal forest, he could not tell for sure. The stalks were lashed tightly together, with lengths of hide rope.
Several large stones rested on the edge of the river’s shore. The end of a long rope of hide was looped and secured around each stone, the other tied to an end of a raft. There were two such anchoring points for each individual raft, arranged so that the length of a particular raft could be tethered right alongside the landing area.
A cluster of long paddles and some considerably longer poles lay prone upon the stony shore, with even more on the rafts themselves. There were a few Unguhur standing around the rafts, all looking upon the party’s approach with great interest reflected in their deep gazes.
As they neared the edge of the river, Lee and his companions hung back slightly, keeping a little distance between themselves and the flowing waters. Looking down the river, Lee could see that it traveled along the outer edge of the forest, curving out of sight into the depths of a tunnel that was not far downstream.
It was in that moment that Lynn suddenly flinched, and then aggressively nudged Lee. A startled look was displayed upon her face, and Lee followed the line of her sight to see what had suddenly unnerved her.
A distinct pair of impassive eyes was poking above the water’s surface, set into two rising protrusions. The creature’s pale eyes reflected the glowing light within the cavern. A modest distance in front of the eyes was what looked to be a very pale, light tan bump that broke through the surface of the water. The creature was hovering just a short few yards beyond the bobbing rafts, staring intently towards the group of newcomers and the Unguhur alike.
At first, Lee could make out very little of the organism’s full form, concealed as it was within the dark waters. Finally, as realization dawned upon him, his eyes stretched wider with an upsurge of amazement and fear, wholly apprehensive.
Lee did not need to be an expert to judge the great size of the jaws belonging to the floating creature, gauging the span from the eyes to the tip of its elongated, tapering snout. He instinctively shuddered to think of the full size of the body extending beyond those unblinking eyes, easily larger than any crocodile or alligator that he had ever seen before.
“Gunther! What’s that? Tell me that’s not what I think it is,” Erin blurted out with fearful excitement, as she became acutely aware of what had captivated Lee’s and Lynn’s attentions.
The Unguhur, especially Eranthus, whirled towards Erin with looks of utter surprise, even as she exhibited an expression of stunned alarm towards Gunther. It was in that moment that she realized her careless mistake, seeing that the Unguhur had understood her words perfectly.
“Wizard Gift. Will tell story soon,” Gunther quickly added, while shooting Erin a highly annoyed glance.
Lee could not entirely blame Erin for the inadvisable lapse in discipline this time. The massive creature in the water was absolutely terrifying to comprehend, in proximity to the rafts that they were apparently going to board. He could not fault her for being shocked into committing the blunder.
The Unguhur leader nodded to Gunther, although some tension had now been brought between them. Its pensive voice replied to Gunther, “You tell soon. All speak?”
The leader glanced towards Gunther’s companions for emphasis.
Gunther’s face tensed, as he replied, “Yes, all speak.”
Eranthus regarded Erin and the others with confusion apparent in his expression. “You understand my words?”
With a sigh, Gunther looked to his four human companions, and back to Eranthus, whose already large eyes had widened further.
“A Wizard Gift. It lets them speak the Unguhur language well,” Gunther explained in a resigned tone. “I wanted to talk to you about this first, to explain it, so that you would not be alarmed.”
“What Wizard?” Eranthus asked Gunther, with palpable apprehension.
“The Wanderer,” Gunther replied firmly.
Lee could see Eranthus visibly relax at the open mention of the Wanderer.
“That is good,” Eranthus commented, the edge now absent from his voice.
“Nice going, Erin,” Ryan muttered under his breath, with more than a little disgust in his tone.
Lee did not reprimand the young man, as there was no use in hiding their capability anymore. Ryan had also taken notice of the cause for Erin’s outburst, and his eyes glanced back to the creature in the river.
“So what are they, Gunther?” Ryan asked the woodsman uneasily.
“Those are gallidils,” Gunther calmly informed Ryan and the others. “Do not be afraid of them, but be cautious. They have lived alongside the Unguhur race for much, much longer than I have.”
“They are so enormous,” Lynn remarked in unfettered awe.
“They are one of the greatest of their kind,” Gunther replied. “There is some talk in the world above of an even larger surface kin, living somewhere within the Shadowlands. But I did not see such when I traveled through those lands. These are not of that breed, but you will likely find nothing to rival them in all of Ave.”
“Doesn’t surprise me,” Ryan retorted.
“How can the Unguhur live so close to things like that?” Erin asked hesitantly.
“They do not have a taste for the Unguhur,” Gunther said. “There is also some interaction between the Unguhur and the gallidils that would bear witness to a rudimentary level of relationship. But all of you should simply use reason. They are creatures of the wild. I will give you one solid piece of reason. Do not swim in the waters and tempt the gallidils.”
Gunther grinned with a humorous sparkle to his eye, albeit brief, as he looked upon the faces of the four otherworlders. The woodsman was undeniably deriving a little personal enjoyment from the sight of their collective agitation.