Authors: Stephen Zimmer
The khan held her eyes for an extended moment, before looking back to Gunther once again.
“How do they attack?” the khan asked.
“The forces of the Unifier are invading Saxany. A great number attack farther away, at another place within our lands. A smaller army is now approaching the area near to your realm, coming through the land above us. They will surely find my home,” Gunther replied. “We were in great danger, and could not stay there.”
The Unguhur Khan and Khanum remained silent for quite some time, plainly reflecting upon the distressing news given to them by Gunther. Vuriant then raised her right arm, gesturing towards one of the elders seated to her left. As the summoned elder rose to his feet, Lee was amazed by the Unguhur’s immense height.
The soaring Unguhur rose up a full foot or so above the average Unguhur warrior, easily over nine feet tall. Though clearly older in years, he still retained a powerful, bulky muscularity in his physical appearance. This was certainly not a being that had let his body soften over the course of time.
The hulking Unguhur was dressed in the manner of the other warriors, garbed in tunic and kilt. Additionally, he wore a necklace with a pair of long, curving fangs, which were of a slightly lesser size than were the similar ones upon the khan’s necklace.
“Drubrell,” Treas solemnly addressed the gigantic Unguhur warrior. “We must help the surface kingdom. We must protect our realm. We must act. Gather your strongest warriors. Use workers so that you have a force of many. Find the enemy. Fight the enemy if they are here, above us. Let our council know what is found.”
The huge elder-warrior prostrated himself silently, showing that his aged body was still quite supple in its movements as he rose up to his feet again. Drubrell had a steely look about him, and Lee did not want to consider the fate of a human warrior that met this formidable creature under hostile circumstances.
Turning about, Drubrell then strode the length of the chamber and exited it without the slightest pause. While Drubrell was giving his respects and departing, Lee looked over to Gunther in hopes of getting some indication of the woodman’s reaction to what had just transpired.
The woodsman’s face had taken on an expression of great worry. Lee was taken aback at the level of concern evident in Gunther’s face, suddenly becoming highly frustrated, as he could not easily question Gunther at that moment.
“Hill-Dweller, Lee, Ryan, Lynn, and Erin. Rest now. Eat to your fill. We will tell you what Drubrell finds. The Unguhur Realm protects you now. You are safe,” Vuriant stated to the humans, exhibiting the strange manner of smiling that the Unguhur possessed. “You may leave now. Eranthus will see to your quarters.”
The audience before the Ungahur rulers, without any doubt, had come to an end. Gunther looked over to the others with him, as he prostrated himself before the Unguhur Khan and Khanum once more.
The four in Gunther’s care understood his desire well enough, and repeated the respectful gesture. As before, Lee found the act a little awkward to execute, though he managed it capably enough.
Once they were all standing, the group accompanied Eranthus back down the center of the chamber after skirting around the massive altar stone. Once again, Lee felt the weight of the stares coming from the throng of elders surrounding them, a feeling that did not dissipate entirely until he was well outside of the stone hall.
Eranthus and the spear-carrying warrior escorts guided them from the stone structure, and on to their lodgings. Their quarters were located not far from the great chamber, which came as a relief to Lee, as he was not enthused about surmounting another great flight of steps, such as the one that rose up from the shore level to the throne chamber.
The humans’ quarters constituted the third and fourth terraces of one of the common dwelling structures that comprised most of the Unguhur metropolis. Descending a few steps to one side of the landing before the great chamber, they set foot directly onto the roof of the edifice’s third terrace.
A square-sided hole was set in the center of the flat roof of the third terrace. The ends of a wide ladder poked up above the nearest side of the opening, which descended down well over a dozen feet to the flooring of a large, rectangular chamber.
The far end of the roof looked out over another similar terrace just below, as well as affording any onlooker a spectacular view of the cavern and subterranean metropolis.
To the back of the third terrace’s roof, there was a broad entrance, covered by a hide flap, which opened into a chamber that formed the interior body of the fourth terrace. Inside of that chamber was another high ladder that reached to another square opening in the ceiling. Lee noticed that the gaps between ladder rungs were quite wide, fashioned for the reach and size of an Unguhur.
It was not lost on Lee that he and his companions had been subtly placed in a position that would not allow for unobserved escape. To reach the ground, they would have to go back up and pass through the main landing to descend the towering flight of steps all the way to the bottom.
The only other alternative was to go through chambers and roof-holes, passing down through the lower two terraces until they reached the ground level. Lee had no doubts that the lower two terrace-chambers were occupied.
Either way, the Unguhur within the underground city would most certainly witness anyone attempting to depart.
Lynn and Erin quickly claimed the lower of the two chambers, leaving the uppermost one for Lee, Ryan, and Gunther. The two women slowly, and a little awkwardly, went down the ladder to explore the chambers that they had selected, while the males entered the higher chamber through its front entryway.
Once inside a chamber, Lee found the surroundings to be extremely oversized for a human. The height of the ceiling alone made him feel very diminutive.
The chamber with the square roof-holes was the first of two chambers situated on a given terrace level. The entry chamber appeared to be arranged for cooking and other domestic activities, provided with a shallow fire pit that was just offset from the hole in the ceiling. Like the great throne chamber, ledges had been carved into the walls that were more than adequate for sitting space.
The rear chamber was clearly intended to serve as sleeping quarters for a terrace’s occupants. It was accessed by a more narrow opening than was the primary entrance, and was also fully covered with a hide flap.
Light within the two chambers was provided by a couple of flat stones that each contained a copious swathe of the bioluminescent growths on their upper surfaces. The stones were not overly large, and though they were heavy, they could be carried by a human.
As the far chamber was nearly pitch black, Lee lugged one of the stones from the forward chamber to the back to provide some ambience. Following Lee into the rear of the two chambers, Gunther located a substantial pile of softened hides in one corner, upon which the humans could rest, or use to cover themselves like blankets.
As Lee handled the thick hides, he judged that only a few of them would be necessary to make sufficient bedding. In only a few minutes, he and Gunther had sorted the hides into three roughly equivalent piles, for each of the three males to use as they wished.
Ryan moved wearily into the second chamber, and flopped down upon one pile of hides, looking very fatigued. He let out a long sigh, shutting his eyes as his chest heaved with an extended intake of breath. Lee and Gunther did not bother to disturb him, as they made their way back out into the entrance chamber.
Lee then spoke to Gunther in a lowered voice, deciding to venture one question that had been burning ceaselessly on his tongue ever since they had left the throne chamber. “I saw your face when the Unguhur said that they were going to see to the enemy forces above. Why did you look so worried? It appeared to me as if something was really bothering you.”
Gunther paused, a heavy-hearted sheen coming over his eyes before answering. “It is the reason that I myself do not live in human cities. As I have long wished to be simply left alone, to live as I wish, so have the Unguhur as a race. They are not interested in the power struggles and affairs of the kingdoms of this world, or any other folly of humankind.
“In that respect, they are much like me. I want to be free to live my life the way that I choose to live … without anyone delegating my affairs to me, or helping themselves to the fruits of my labor.
“It has always been the cooperation … the assent … of the many that have engorged the greedy appetites of the few, filling their armies and their treasuries from the lives and labors of the greater majority. It is always from the willing assent of the many that the few derive their power. The noble relies on the agreement and continued obedience of the peasant … make no mistake about that.
“Do not misunderstand me, Lee, I do not begrudge any fortune made in an honest manner, but the world has gone far beyond concerns for honor, and honest living. It is now something else entirely, and it has little to do with virtue.
“So, as I prefer to be responsible for my own fate, as I see it, in a way, so do the Unguhur. Now, both of us are being drawn ever deeper into this greater conflict. I find it abhorrent to the core of my heart, and an absolute scourge upon justice, that a benevolent race like the Unguhur is being pulled into this hellish affair spawned by the Unifier, humankind, and whatever other darkness may be behind it all.
“If you knew more about this ancient race of beings, you would know that it is no small matter that they decided so quickly to send a force of warriors to the surface … and likely determined to become part of a war openly on the side of one group of humans. What you witnessed this day was nothing short of monumental, and unprecedented, and I feel a terrible guilt for being a part of it.”
Lee could hear the alternating emotions of anger and sorrow, intertwining within the words and sentiments pouring forth from the woodsman. He could not argue with Gunther, for he had often felt many similar frustrations in his own society. To live under the auspices of one’s own self-determination, and to enjoy fully the fruits of one’s own labor, were worthy desires that Lee could not dispute.
While Lee had never been disposed to becoming an ardent, recalcitrant, hermit, as Gunther seemed to incline towards being, he found that he could relate very well to the obstinate woodsman. Many were the times that Lee had ended a long and arduous week, wholly weary of body and mind, and burdened with many worries and concerns, only to see that he had little to nothing in the way of material rewards, or personal satisfaction, left over for himself.
He had watched the frivolous, bloated waste that was made of the revenues collected through taxes by the rulers of his own age. He knew that in reality he had only one voice among millions to ever challenge those who felt entitled to use the fruits of his labor to support much which he found repugnant, or profligate.
In many ways, he envied the defiant independence that was so manifestly evident in Gunther. Lee knew that he would never have had the strength to break away, and live largely on his own, solitary merits, as Gunther had so obviously done.
The Unguhur were still a great mystery to Lee, but he could see the powerful bond that Gunther felt with the strange race of creatures. Their motivations for remaining isolated from the surface world and human kingdoms might have some considerable differences from Gunther’s own personal situation, but the presence of a desire for self-determination was unmistakable. The Unguhur were content to live out their lives in the relative seclusion of their underground society.
At the same time, Lee knew that it was almost certain that the turmoil and conflict of the upper world would mercilessly engulf both the woodsman and the Unguhur. The powers of the upper world would not hesitate for a moment to impose their will upon them. It was a loathsome truism that was present in every time, in every age, and, apparently, in every world.
Recognizing the sheer determination and strength inherent in the woodsman, and seeing the signs of similar qualities in the Unguhur during his early experience with them, Lee found that he had already grown strong in his sympathies. It was a tragic reality that the world was forcibly dragging the Unguhur, and Gunther, into conflicts not of their choosing or making, not so different from the state of affairs involving Lee and his three companions.
“I want you to know something, Gunther. We still do not know why we are here, and why we were taken away from our own world,” Lee said, after an uncomfortably long span of silence. “Most of it is a complete mystery, but I do know that I did not have a choice in the matter … none at all. But we are in this world now, and we must also face its troubles. Alongside you. Alongside the Unguhur.”
Lee paused for a moment, reflecting, as his eyes looked towards the brooding, somber countenance of Gunther. While undeniably bitter, the woodsman was resolved to the coerced situation facing them all.
“And then there’s the thought that what we are going through together is what we were meant to do,” Lee then continued, before the ponderous silence grew too weighty. “It is difficult for me to think there is no reason for all of this happening. I know that none of us have chosen this path. Certainly not you, not the Unguhur, and not us. Please, understand that, at the least, with what I now say. We will stand with you, do whatever we can to help, and we will share your risks.”
Gunther nodded slowly, his expression remaining dour. “Maybe you will … and you are well-spoken on this. But even in regards to yourself, I would question the All-Father Himself, though some would call that outright blasphemy. I cannot understand why you had to be taken from your world, and put into the middle of the terrible dangers that swarm in this one. Maybe it has some purpose, as you say, though I wish some manner of it would be revealed to both you and me. It has all confused me very much. These are indeed very dark and unpleasant times, maybe the darkest in the entire history of our world.”