Between Peaks

 

A hot stream of piss bored a hole in the thick snow and hissed like an agitated snake. The young Choggya tucked himself back into the heavy breeches and turned, shivering in the cold despite the thick, weighty clothing he wore. He took a weary glance in the direction he was headed and continued on, snatching a sturdy wooden staff from where it jutted upward, held in place by more than a foot of snow. Despite feeling tired he pushed on, feet sinking with every step, the difficult terrain making easy movement impossible.

 

He had been away from his small village in the north of Anukk for little under a year now, the dreams of travelling the vast world, seeing the many sights on offer, were now his to live. As he trudged onward he reflected that dreams like his always sounded better from the comfort of a fireside in the safety of a village. Not once had he considered how physically draining a day’s march amid the towering peaks of the Viraxian mountains, at the north most point of the continent Atroggoth, could be. Smiling ruefully, he adjusted his pack, took a swig of water from a sturdy canteen and once again took to the challenge of placing one foot in front of the other in a forward direction. It wasn’t that he loathed the long hikes, difficult terrain or other obstacles, quite the opposite; he found them enjoyable, a thrill that would be well worth remembering. It was simply that while he was enjoying these experiences, the initial enthusiasm drained away somewhat after a week of tough marching over the next snow covered hill, replaced by a desire to be on the other side, reminiscing about it in an inn somewhere, over a tankard of ale.

 

The steady snowfall had started to increase in severity several hours later. Looking at the sky covered by dark clouds, he assumed the weather would be bad. Conveniently he spotted a cave a way ahead and several feet from the ground, if he was lucky he would find it uninhabited. The storm built itself up around him, wind began to howl and the snow fell thicker and faster, limiting vision range. By the time he reached the cave and had hauled all five feet three inches of him inside, the storm was raging with a vengeance. Brushing snow from himself he advanced cautiously into the cave, striking up a torch with some flint and wood. Thankfully it was empty; nothing inhabited the small cave, although a smattering of chewed bones, lashed with faded dry blood, told him that a large predator had briefly nested here previous to his arrival.

 

The snow had all but covered the mouth of the small cave several hours later. Seeing little point in trying to prevent the snow from covering the cave mouth, the Choggya lit a new torch, set it down against the wall and unrolled his thick bedding. By the time the torch had burnt low, the outside was obscured by snow and he was fast asleep.

 

He woke. It was dark. Disoriented for a second he scrambled about groggily before remembering the cave. He felt around in the darkness for another source of light and eventually found one. Light sparked in the darkness and the wood in his hand caught fire. Setting it against the wall he gathered his belongings and turned to the wall of semi-ice that blocked the cave mouth. He wondered if the storm was done with.

 

An hour of continuous digging later, a hand broke the surface and scrabbled around in a small semi circle, clutching at the air. An arm followed shortly and finally the snowy land gave birth to a young, fresh faced, Choggyan male. The light red skin of his face stood out against the landscape and the slight wind brushed at the line of light, wood brown hair from the front of his scalp and disappearing into his clothes to stop between his shoulder blades. He stopped, neck deep in snow with one arm resting on the surface and breathed in the cold air, grateful for an open space. Once fully out, with his various packs and satchel arranged on him, he surveyed the landscape. It had changed dramatically. He rummaged in his pack for something to eat and, chewing slowly on a piece of cold meat, begun to discern his bearings and his direction. Half an hour later he set out northwest at the same old laborious pace.

 

Three days later he was standing on a shelf of rock, looking out on a view of the land below. He was tired. In three days he had covered roughly the same distance that he could have done in one and a half with steady ground beneath his feet. It was as he turned a corner between two high shelves of snowy rock creating a natural pathway, and came out into a widened circular area, that he was forced to stop. He would have turned and run had his legs not been frozen in terror. He would have cried out in dread had his throat not closed up and disallowed sound to pass from it, save a vague, quiet croak. On the other side of the clearing was another natural pathway between two high ridges that towered into the clear, icy sky. Between his position and that path, was an alarming scene.

 

The clearing was littered with sculptures. They were crude, with no discernable pattern to subject matter and no relevance to anything that the Choggya knew of. They were of varying sizes, and shapes, chaotic in their arrangement and material. They were mainly of a mixture of stone, bone and wood, the surfaces covered with patterns and markings. The strange workmanship gave them an unnatural appearance, so much so that they were intimidating and loathsome. Some stood out erect in the snow; others were nailed to the cliffs towering around, indifferent to the scene. Some were humanoid in form, others seemed bestial and others still showed nothing of forethought and planning, but were utterly random in the execution, thrown together at will in a bizarre frenzy of creativity.  However it was not this that held him in place. Oblivious to the bead of blood trickling down his chin and into the thick fur of his clothing, due to sudden, violent and unconscious biting of his bottom lip, he stared wide eyed at the centre of the clearing. Next to a large pile of wood set on an equally large slab of rock raised above the snow level and covered over with a large skin, with his back to the small Choggya, sat a behemoth.

 

In both height and width the creature was gargantuan. Even sitting, it dwarfed the small, scared humanoid, by some feet. The dense, heavy, slate grey scales would have suggested it had been carved out of the mountains around it, had it’s shoulders not risen and fell with the steady, rhythmic pulse of breathing. A long, powerful tail curled out behind it and around to the right, thicker than one of the Choggya’s legs at its thinnest end point, it flicked the air periodically with volatile force. A deep blue, sleeveless robe, enormous in size, covered its torso.

 

The Choggya’s breath came quick and fearful, interrupted by the occasional short swallow, heavy with withheld panic. His left hand fingered the small silver chain around his neck. A deep, foreboding growl sounded behind him, carrying eerily around the walls, playing off the rock faces. He tensed further, eyes flicking from side to side, wondering if he should turn around and face the owner of such a sound. The behemoth spoke. It was a harsh, guttural, short, sharp language that the small figure neither understood nor recognised. He was grabbed at the back of the neck by strong jaws in a firm grip and dragged effortlessly towards the giant at the centre of the clearing, and dumped without warning in front of it, face down.  Face buried in the snow, he made no movement or sound. A large finger dug itself partially under him and flipped him over with such force that he rose off the ground, twisted in the air and landed on his back with a dull, muffled, thud. He stared, wide eyed, at the face above him. The skull was vaguely reptilian in structure. The eyes were sunken into it’s head, the nose flat and wide and the ears practically non-existent save two small mounds either side of it’s head that cratered in the middle like miniature volcanoes of what was presumably flesh. Just below its cheeks jutted two tusks slightly curved, with the right one broken off in a jagged stump near the end. From this view he could see that the robe covered most of the creatures legs too, stopping short of it’s ankles. The overall appearance of the creature, he decided, was entirely intimidating.

 

The behemoth studied the creature his companion had dropped in front of him; it was a strange little thing. What skin was on display, mostly being the skin on its head, was a light shade of red. The face was inconspicuous, set with large eyes, wide with fear that stared up at him with awed terror, a small upturned nose, angular, slim eyebrows and a bloody bottom lip. A Mohican-like streak of a hair, the shade of brown found under the bark of an old tree, around two inches in length ran along the middle of its skull and disappeared into the heavy grey cloak that swathed its small form. Beneath the cloak he could see a heavy jerkin, which bulged with what seemed to be two more layers of clothing underneath. Thick gloves covered the hands and heavy brown breeches were tucked into heavy, coarse, fur trimmed hiking boots. It had with it a satchel and a pack, which lay to the side in the snow.

 

“What are you?” The large grey thing rumbled.

 

Taken aback that it spoke the common language, the small form in the snow was slow to reply.

            “Choggya” it stammered at last.

The behemoth nodded thoughtfully, picked the small thing up between two fingers and set it on its feet.

            “Hmmm, yes… this name was taught to me a long time ago as a child… I have not seen a Choggya before...” It paused reflectively. “Why are you here, little one?”

Still wide eyed the small ones answer was quicker this time, “Travelling... Viraanis… Island chain…”

            “Viraanis… That is west, yes?”

A nod of agreement.

            “Then why are you going east, little one?”

Looking somewhat dumbfounded the reply was quick and apologetic, “Oh, I’m sorry… the storm, I didn’t realise… The landmarks have changed…”

 

The small Choggya begun to hastily grab his pack and satchel, starting to head quickly back on his original route.  There was a short sharp command in the same guttural, alien language that he had heard before. He took two steps forward and found himself knocked down again. The same pair of jaws clamped onto him and dragged him helplessly back to his intended position. Rolling himself over he found himself looking into a large muzzle. The yellow eyes stared unblinking at him and then the large beast turned and padded back to the behemoth’s side and sat on its haunches, still staring at him in vague interest. It was only slightly smaller than the Choggya in height, covered in thick, silvery grey fur streaked with white. A thick ruff hung shaggily around its neck and upper back.

            “You will not go that way. For now you will stay here. In the morning I will decide what to do with you. For now I do not wish you to lose yourself in these mountains where you will freeze to death, or become easy prey for one such as Ket” announced the behemoth. “Ket will not harm you if I do not. For now, you are safe. I am Gmahg-Odeyth.”

The small red humanoid stared uncomprehending for a minute before his brain caught up with his awe and remembered his name.

 

            “Taehn”

            “Are you hungry?’

Taehn paused for a second in order to discern this. His stomach rumbled at him in answer.

            “Yes”, he decided.

 

Gmahg-Odeyth passed him a large chunk of meat and some bread, waving away the thanks and watching interestedly as the small creature ate with gusto. Taehn finished the food. Washed it down with water from the flask and studied his gigantic host.

 

            “What are you?” he asked after a time

            “I am a Gorloth”

            “A Gorloth?”

Gmahg-Odeyth gave a slow, easy nod.

            “What is a Gorloth?”

The features of the titanic creature lit up with something along the lines of bemusement.

            “That is an interesting question, little one. What is a Choggya?”

Taehn searched for an answer but found quite soon that he could give none that was brief enough, but detailed enough, to supply the Gorloth with. He shook his head in defeat. Gmahg-Odeyth smiled at the Choggya.

            “It is not an easy question, is it?”

 

The Gorloth nodded. They conversed in this manner until night fell, at which point Gmahg-Odeyth advised Taehn to make his bed and sleep explaining that he would be resting nearby. Taehn, unsure of the extent of the behemoths hospitality, or his plans for him, found sleep difficult to muster inside his tent. Furthermore, he had not seen the huge animal, Ket, for quite some time. He doubted very much that the tent was off putting, or strong enough, to avert an attack, should the beast become hungry. Sleep did come eventually, and he awoke late in the morning, surprisingly well rested. As he clambered from his tent the sun caught his face and the light caused him to groan.

            “Ah, you wake, little one.” The deep rumble from behind him alerted him, somewhat startlingly, of Gmahg-Odeyth’s presence. Turning awkwardly he stared up at the towering figure, squatting nearby in the snow, a great spear resting across his enormous thighs. 

            “Good morning” Taehn said, eyeing the spear warily.

The Gorloth brought his hand down quickly, it disappeared from view for a second behind his great frame, but came back quickly bearing a large cup. He handed it to Taehn who blinked in surprise and looked at the contents. It was filled with various nuts, herbs and fruit, few of which Taehn could identify.

            “I would give you something more adequate, but…” Gmahg-Odeyth trailed off and indicated an enormous stone bowl the size of Taehn’s chest. Taehn laughed.

“I’ve never seen most of these before” He said looking into the mug.

            “They are edible, you have no need to fear that they are poisonous. If I had wanted to kill you I would have done it by now, little one.”

There was an uncomfortable silence. Taehn, unable to disagree with the simple logic of the giant creature, chewed thoughtfully at the food while Gmahg-Odeyth watched with amused curiosity.

 

 There was the soft padding of paws in snow accompanied by heavy breathing, Ket dumped a mall furry creature off to one side, lay down with forelegs encircling it and begun to eat the ragged, bloody bundle, snarling every once in a while as it tossed it’s head back and devoured a large piece of meat. Taehn watched, slightly uneasy, licking his lips occasionally at the loud snaps of a thick bone and soft, wet tearing sounds of the ripped pelt. Blood flecked the snow and pooled lightly under Ket’s head, sinking into the snow quickly and staining it.

            “What is that thing?”

            “In the common tongue Ket is called a Kysin, I think”

            “And the Gorloth keep them as pets?”

            “No. We Gorloth are able to form strong bonds with many different creatures, not just Kysin”

            “That’s impressive” Taehn said, carefully disguising his amazement. “So why can I not go that way?” he said, gesturing to the path behind him on the other side of the clearing.

            “I cannot tell you that. The only thing you need to know is that you may not follow it” Gmahg-Odeyth’s tone, whilst not outwardly threatening, did not invite pursuit of the subject matter.

 

At noon Gmahg-Odeyth stood outside Taehn’s tent and called him out.

 

            “I will take you to the bottom of the mountains some way west of here, you will die without a guide and I think that would be a shame. I will return in one day’s time with another to take up my position here while I am gone. Ket will guard you in the mean time.”

 

He spoke briefly to Ket in the strange language, as he had before and turning, the huge creature strode off; shaking the earth slightly as he went, the great tail snaking out behind him almost unnaturally, as he disappeared around a bend. Ket turned his head, looked Taehn over lazily, and went back to lying in the snow. Taehn studied the footprints left in Gmahg-Odeyth’s wake.  They were large and round, with six evenly spaced impressions jutting out from the main point, reminiscent of a large cog. 

 

The day passed without incident save some prolonged snow that continued into the night. In his tent, Taehn shivered, his toes were especially cold. He flexed them to warm them up, first the front two, then the two located either side of the foot under the ankle, and then all at once. He repeated this several times, it helped slightly. The snow still fell in the morning, Taehn had to dig the flaps of his tent out of several inches of it.

 

The snow had mostly abated by the early evening, some light flakes still fell, but in its wake there was an eerie grey mist. It wasn’t thick but Taehn found the way it limited vision to be alarming, anything beyond the insubstantial veil was turned into a rippling darker shadow moving gracefully about in the fog with mysterious animation. The flight of bird’s overhead and the occasional startling appearance of Ket, emerging from the haze seemingly at random, caused him to start several times. He was chewing on some rations when Ket, lying in the snow a few feet ahead of him, picked his head up, sniffed a little, and stared fixatedly at a spot in the distance. Intrigued, Taehn followed the animal’s gaze, but could see nothing of interest. After a short period of time the distant sound of muffled footsteps were audible. The enormous frame of Gmahg-Odeyth emerged through the grey followed closely by another, and to Taehn’s shock, larger Gorloth. The two great figures stopped in front of Taehn and Ket, a bird alighted on the shoulder of the second figure and Ket stared at it hungrily. There was a short conversation between the two Gorloth, Taehn listened intently to the strange, low alien speech but could decipher nothing of it. It’s mixture of harsh hissing and odd guttural phonetics made it sound, at times, quite alarming.  They spent another night in the clearing, Taehn listening to the two giants converse before heading to his tent to get some sleep before the journey.

 

Early next morning Gmahg-Odyeth shook Taehn’s tent, rousing him from his slumber and causing the young Choggya some much alarmed swearing as he was shaken awake by the tossing and rolling of his tent. The two Gorloth could be heard laughing heartily in a strange low rumble. Taehn remained unamused. He was given some extra rations and water, packed his things and waited for Gmahg-Odeyth to head out. The two Gorloth exchanged a few short words and then finally Gmahg-Odeyth turned, beckoning Ket and Taehn to follow, and lumbered off through the snow.

 

Taehn soon found his hindered pace was at odds with the long, easy strides of his titanic guide. He sank to his shins in the deep snow and was fighting to match pace. Gmahg-Odeyth slow his pace to accommodate the small legs of Taehn but it wasn’t long before Ket showed impatience at the slow pace, loping ahead and turning to stare back at them with the occasional low, long note of annoyance, an accusing sound urging them to move faster. Taehn suggested he ride on the Kysin’s back, but Gmahg-Odeyth shook his head, reasoning that Ket might take offence and turn on the Choggya. Kysin were known to be proud creatures.

 

At night they found as best a campsite as they could, Taehn and Gmahg-Odeyth talking while Ket kept watch, or dozed near a fire, if dry ground and wood was available. Gmahg-Odeyth would take a few basic tools from his pack and, finding the nearest available assorted materials, use them to create yet more of the strange sculptures. These he left as they were when he slept or when they moved on in the mornings. Taehn had asked if this was to let other Gorloth know he had come this way, this incited a short, rumbling burst of laughter and a dismissive shake of the head. The reasoning turned out to be far simpler and more practical: if he kept every carving he made with him, he would have to drag them all behind him in a sack several times larger than himself. Taehn attempted to envision such a sack, he reasoned it would be somewhere near the size of the great walls of rock that surrounded them in the high, lonely mountains. Sometimes Taehn drifted to sleep watching the huge creature making his strange, sometime alarming, sculptures. He would usually awake soon after, feeling extremely cold, as he, in his slumber, had keeled over onto the icy ground.

 

Nearly fifteen days of slow journeying later, the three travellers found themselves faced with a sheer wall of rock just over twenty feet in height, and little other way to progress. Dismayed, Taehn looked it up and down for some time.

            “We’ll have to find another way”, he said at last.

He turned to leave and begun to trudge back the way they had come but the great hand of Gmahg-Odeyth stayed him.

            “Hold, Little one”

With raised eyebrows Taehn looked at the Gorloth questioningly. A large grey, scaled hand wrapped itself around him and he yelped in surprised confusion. A low whine mirrored his discomfort several seconds later as Ket was dragged, unhappily, from the ground. Gmahg-Odeyth looked down at them calmly, the broken stump of his right tusk catching the early sunlight.

 

            “Do not worry, the snow will soften your landing, you will not be injured,” he explained.

Taehn’s face fell in shock, he felt his eyes widen in disbelief. Somewhere on the other side of the Gorloth, Ket whined mournfully.

            “Wait at the top, I will climb up when you have landed”

 

A look of horror etched into his features, Taehn shook his head vigorously and Gmahg-Odeyth drew his right arm back and calculated a rough angle at which to throw them. Taehn was still shaking his head when he felt the arm slingshot forward with incredible force. He pin wheeled through the air, the ground and sky merging in a crazy dance of mayhem, the sounds of a distressed Kysin mixing in shortly after with the howl of air as it rushed past his ears. As he gained his full height the whirling stopped and he straightened out. The sky overhead was blue with sparse white clouds, he gawped at it for a second finding it fantastical and entrancing. Suddenly it receded and he plummeted backwards towards the unforgiving earth a muted scream issuing from his lips as the air was torn out of his chest. His stomach turned somersaults and threatened to jump out of his mouth, his chest tightened unbearable, his eyes clenched shut and his jaw locked as gravity pulled him mercilessly back to earth. There was a cold, wet, heavy sensation several seconds later as he impacted with the ground. He lay open mouthed, winded, in shock, unable to make any kind of sound. He could feel the trickle of warm blood from his nostrils as it slid slowly into his mouth.  Slowly his lungs regained the ability to work again and he found, to his surprise, that he was still breathing. He coughed hoarsely and spat the blood out of his mouth. It spilled out across his face and froze seconds later as it leaked down the contours of his cheeks and neck. On his back, he reflected once again that the sky was a brilliant shade of blue…

 

Not long later, Gmahg-Odeyth’s huge form emerged over the lip of the cliff and stood, towering into the sky, looking down at them. Ket and Taehn greeted him with unamused stares. The Gorloth started to laugh, a great ringing boom that cavorted about the rocks, echoing and reverberating around the landscape. Surprised, Taehn looked down at the ground, shaking his head from side to side in a slow, deliberate manner. When he brought it up again he was grinning at the huge, scaled guide. Ket however, retained his grievances with the experience and, with a disgruntled growl, turned and stalked away from the grinning pair. Gmahg-Odeyth only laughed the louder for it.

 

They camped under a long shelf of overhanging rock, Gmahg-Odeyth made a thick porridge and they ate hungrily. While he crafted a new sculpture from a piece of rough stone, Taehn talked with him. 

 

            “So when did you find Ket?”

            “Sixteen years ago. He was a pup then, he’d either lost his family, or they’d died, but he was starving to death.”

            “What happened?”

            “I was cooking some meat, it was late in the summer, in the evening. He came into the cave and tried to steal. I blocked him from it, but he was persistent so I tore some off and threw it to him. He went away after that and returned two days later. I gave him some more food and he went away. He returned again several days later, and I knew he must have been following me. Gradually he started to trust me more, and though I never saw him apart from those visits for food, we started to bond. This went on for a long time, then he vanished for seven days and I thought he had gone his own way, but he returned on the eighth night with the carcass of a fresh kill, and laid it at my feet. He stayed with me that night and I suppose that was the true beginning of our companionship”.

            “So why do you have two names, and he only one?”

Laughing Gmahg-Odeyth replied. “You are full of questions tonight, little one. I do not have two names. I have one name, but it is two parts. This is the same for all Gorloth. Ket only has a single part to his name because he is not a Gorloth. This is the same for all Gorloth companions”.

 

All the while the giant guide crafted his strange object. Taehn watched fascinated, there seemed to be no predetermined shape, no set pattern that he could discern, simply a series of logical steps leading on from one another until a natural conclusion was reached.

 

They continued the long journey, Gmahg-Odeyth sometimes carrying Taehn for the sake of speed. The Choggya rode along on the behemoths shoulder easily enough. Six days of monotonous travel across vast snow covered landscapes that spread out at times, seemingly to the ends of the earth, brought the Trio to the foot of a clearing. They stood looking at a ruined village, ancient and undisturbed throughout untold ages. It’s eerie atmosphere undisturbed and unburied by landslide or snowfall, it stuck out in strange contrast to the surrounding world.  Most of the buildings were little but stone and mortar now, jutting jaggedly skyward in linier rows, most little but outlines of their previous structure. Beyond these small, crushed buildings, set into the walls of a mountain itself was a great, if somewhat dilapidated, keep. It’s dark grey stones stood out, worn by time and weather, slowly crumbling into the earth, it defied the earth to bring it to the ground. Two stark towers spiralled towards the sky; pieces of the walls had fallen away revealing the vaguely discernable insides through the gaps. The battlements were uneven and decayed, now as defensible as a coffin, crumbling away at the same slow pace with the rest of the sombre scene.

 

Delighted, Taehn squared his shoulders.

            “It will be good to sleep in something other than a cave tonight!”

Gmahg-Odeyth uttered something short and harsh which may have been a laugh, but Taehn, overtaken by the prospect of walls around him, paid little heed to it’s oddity.

 

            “We’re moving on, little one”

 

The sky darkened overhead as early evening descended. Striding purposefully towards to the keep, Taehn let out a cheery whistle. He made it no further than ten paces before being hoisted roughly off the ground by the back of the neck. In a harsh grasp, Gmahg-Odeyth carried him, complaining loudly, away from the scene. He continued to complain until a large finger with placed over his mouth, muffling the noise of his objections.

 

An hour later he was dumped into the snow. Ket stared at him dispassionately. Indignant, Taehn found his voice again and begun yelling.

            “What the hell was that for?” Clambering to his feet he continued, “carrying me off like a bundle of sticks and dropping me where you will. Who in the wide world do you think you are?”

Gmahg-Odeyth regarded him with lowered brows. “You do not know much about this land, little one, save what you know from your maps. But I would expect you to know that place.”

Uncomprehending, Taehn waited for an elaboration.

            “Your people used to live in it. It was close to a thousand years ago that your people came to these mountains, explorers like you. They found that there were things to be gained here, money to be made, so they built a small settlement. They traded with our people, and in time the settlement grew. In the third generation of your kind, the ruler of the people discovered magic. He played with it, used it to no purpose. He reached into the other world and pulled from it an entity. In this plane the entity held no true shape and it took the form of a Choggya, a female. I’m told that she was surpassingly attractive to your kind. The man who had called her forth became obsessed with her, forgetting that she was not what she took the form of. When the entity grew bored of the settlement and attempted to leave he would not let her, and had her locked away in a cell. In revenge it cursed them all, before it died some time later. Now, when night falls the shades of those people stalk those ruins feeding on any living thing that crosses over the old boundaries. They cannot cross the boundaries themselves, they are tied to it, but all animals avoid it, birds fly around it, it is a bad place. Your people would have done well to remember that piece of their history”.

 

They ate in silence. Taehn fingered the small silver chain around his neck.

            “I’d like to go back” He said eventually “In the morning. I’d like to get a better look at it when it’s safe”

Gmahg-Odeyth looked him over.

            “Very well”

 

Early next morning it began to snow lightly, Gmahg-Odeyth carried Taehn back to the ruined town. There was little left of it to see, however Taehn spent several hours exploring the site while his companion watched with interest. A little past mid day they head back to the campsite. Ket caught several small animals, presented them to Gmahg-Odeyth and took one for himself.  Conversation came easier with the lighter atmosphere.

 

            “So, why did you help me? There has to be a better reason for helping me than simply caring about my survival”.

The Gorloth considered him and replied slowly, but gained speed and clarity as he went on. “I watched my mother and brother die in these mountains. An avalanche fell on us, and my mother covered my brother and me with her body. So we, two young Gorloth, in the middle of the great ranges, were forced to find our way home. We quickly ran out of food. I fed on my brother’s corpse to stay alive. When a Kysin smelt the blood and came to hunt, I killed and ate that instead. I was found roaming the mountainside wearing the uncured hide of that Kysin, and carrying my brother’s skull in remembrance.  Now the hide and the skull are both mounted on a wall in my home”

 

In the morning they set out again. They travelled for seven days and eventually found themselves at the edge of a great chasm. Several hundred feet below a powerful river surged, raging between the harsh walls on its way down the mountainside. They made camp not far from the precipice. Gmahg-Odeyth spoke to Taehn as he prepared some food over a fire set on a high, dry, stone. Pointing along the edge into the distance, he gave instruction to the Choggya.

 

            “There is a bridge a distance in that direction. In the morning you and Ket will set out and cross it.” He changed the direction of his finger and pointed in the opposite direction. “The bridge will not hold my weight or my size, there is a small, shallow crossing   a day in that direction. I will cross there and meet you on the other side the day after. Wait at the far side of the bridge with Ket.”

            “Why not all of us go to this shallow point?”

            “It will be quicker for me to travel alone and meet you on the other side, than for us all to go on my path”

 

They awoke early next day and set out. Each bid the other good luck and Gmahg-Odeyth gave Ket instructions in the rumbling, hissing tongue of the Gorloth. The bridge turned out to be only a half a days southward trek along the eastern ridge of the valley. At no point did the land seem to dip closer to the surging river, it seemed that the torrent below was forever at the bottom of a long and drawn out plunge. At points Taehn saw small caves in the rock face, and wondered what bird or animal lived in the sheer chasm walls. The bridge itself was mixture of stone and wood and Taehn, seeing no trees in the immediate area, wondered why anyone had brought up wood from a long way down the mountains, in order to build a bridge in this remote, and seemingly seldom travelled location.

 

Ket clearly disliked the bridge. He stood at once side whining low in his throat and eyeing the precarious, manufactured strip of land joining the two sides, with obvious distrust. Taehn, for his part, sympathised with the large animal. The bridge looked solid enough, however the sides were simply long beams of wood, attached at points to short pillars of stone. The gaps between these wooden beams were easily large enough to fall through. Taehn theorised that should a particularly harsh gust of wind whirl past at the wrong moment, he could be blown through one of these gaps without much to stop his plummet to the icy rapids below. The Choggya and the Kysin had little choice however, and so, together, they slowly and cautiously undertook the crossing. The wind was mercifully light, and existed only to create a long, strangely melodic, howl in the void below their feet. On the other side they paused and moved some way from the edge of the gulf before establishing a camp. 

 

It begun to snow heavily several hours later, Taehn abandoned the futile attempt at a fire, and crawled into his small tent. Ket was off somewhere, most likely hunting something. Taehn lay in his tent pondering over the strange bond between the Gorloth and the animal. It was, in his eyes, an odd trait for such a large being. He had been taught stories as a child, of enormous monsters that existed solely to kill and eat anything smaller, and weaker, than themselves, mindlessly bringing fear and destruction with reckless, chaotic intent. Yet Gmahg-Odeyth seemed to share a friendship with Ket, much as he might share with his own kind, furthermore he had helped Taehn come through the mountains. If he was like the monstrous entities depicted in stories, then he would have snatched up, and devoured Taehn long before now. Gmahg-Odeyth had instead gone out of his way to see him survive his journey through the mountains. This, he thought, was a nice change from those stories.

 

There was a push at the tent flaps, by now mostly buried in the snow, and a low whine. Taehn opened the flap slightly. Ket’s leg stood outside impatiently, occasionally lifting and batting at the canvas. With a smile, Taehn opened the tent for him, Ket padded in regally, snout bloody and fur covered in snow.  Taehn blanched at the remnants of fresh kill that covered his jaw and went in search of a cloth to dry off the animal. Ket shook himself vigorously, sending half melted snow pelting in all directions. With a cry, Taehn shielded himself behind raised arms and glared at the Kysin. The large creature actually seemed to grin at him in return, and licked at his mouth in such as a way as to suggest pride at his actions. Taehn raised his eyebrows and at the animal and launched himself into a revenge drying with the cloth, carefully avoiding Ket’s mouth.

 

He gathered a handful of snow and rubbed it into the muzzle, which helped to soften up and dislodge some of the dry blood. He washed the red from his hands in the snow outside and turned back to the animal. He noticed with dismay that with Ket’s substantial bulk the tent was now far smaller. He shared this complaint with Ket who gave a short, low, somewhat amused sounding noise from deep in his throat, and lay down curled at the back of the tent. Taehn chanced retaliation by lying down with his head resting on Ket’s side. He expected a warning growl but none came, instead Ket lifted his head, looked at Taehn and nuzzled him briefly before returning to his previous position. Surprised, Taehn relaxed against the warm fur, and slept.

 

When he awoke it was early morning, the sun had yet to rise, and somehow Ket had managed to leave the tent without disturbing his rest. Taehn looked at the chewed ropes that lay loose and somewhat ragged against the tent flaps and wondered just how dextrous the animal was. He had had few encounters with the animal until now. Stepping outside, Taehn found it still snowing, although somewhat lighter than before. He shivered violently in the harsh cold, and reminded himself that Choggya were not known for their fortitude against this climate. Brushing snow from his shoulders, he went back inside for some heavier clothing.

 

The landscape at this altitude was less barren than it had been, he could pick out a few scarce trees and some shrubbery dotting the sparse landscape. He was glad for the change; it had been too long a time treading endless miles of near desolate rock and snow. Vegetation was welcomed as a sign of progress. Was glad for the change from endless miles of rock and snow, vegetation, even as insignificant as this, was a sign of improvement. He wondered briefly where he was on the hand-drawn maps in his pack.

 

On a small ridge several metres away he picked out a small animal digging in the snow. He wondered vaguely at its intentions and stood watching it for a short while. He smiled as he thought of Ket, who probably would have killed it by now. The urge to outdo the animal came on him suddenly, and with one part of his mind chastising him for being a fool, he advanced slowly on the oblivious animal.  Still advancing, making as little sound as possible, Taehn slid the knife from its sheath. A few scant metres now remained between him and his prey.

 

The animal spotted him and stopped what it was doing. It sat upright on two small, powerful legs and stared at Taehn with two large eyes, the thick brown fur on it’s body all standing on end, it’s small, triangular ears pinned back against its broad, flat, head and the small mouth quivered ever so slightly. It was tense, preparing to run. Taehn took his chance. Two running steps forward, a great hunting cry issuing from his mouth, he flung himself through the air at the creature. The knife clutched above his head in a death grip, he brought it down in a deadly arc at the last moment and impacted on the snowy ground with a dull, muffled thud.

 

He sprang to his haunches, senses blazing and stared down at his kill. The knife handle jutted upwards towards the heavens, the force of the blow having buried it deeply. A deadly wound rent the side of the snowy ground. The animal, he noted with some embarrassment, was already sitting some distance away, again staring at him. The great traveller-come-hunter considered chasing it down, and then looked his knife jutting impotently out of the snow. He abandoned the idea.  Smiling sheepishly, Taehn tucked the knife back into its sheath and brushed himself off, deciding that that hunting down the food in his pack was a significantly better idea. The snow let off and the wind picked up. Shivering, Taehn headed back to his tent.

 

At noon the next day Taehn was staring into the canyon when Ket bounded up and with a joyful, throaty barking noise, proceeded to run dart off and stand on a small rise not far away. There the Kysin stood staring diligently out into the falling snow and haze. Confused, Taehn started after him and came to a halt at his side. He followed the direction of Ket’s gaze but could see nothing that might excite the beast. Soon Ket began making the same throaty, deep bark, over and over again, Taehn watched the large animals seemingly unfounded excitement, alternating between staring at Ket and the spot at which he was barking. Soon enough the mist became denser in one place, a great shadow grew out of it. Ket howled at it. The huge shadowy form of a Gorloth made it own low, harsh, hissing howl back. The two sounds echoed around the landscape, bouncing off the canyon walls creating a strange, eerie cacophony. Grinning, Taehn waved to his enormous guide.

 

            “Ahzeigahoth!” Shouted Gmahg-Odeyth as he dew closer. He laughed at Taehn’s bemused expression, “It means ‘hello’ in Gorlothian,” he explained.

 

Around the fire that night they ate well. Ket caught several animals, one of which Taehn recognised as the animal he had tried to hunt himself. When he explained his humour at eating the animal to Gmahg-Odeyth the Gorloth laughed loudly and gave Ket a hearty tussle about the ears.

 

From there the journey was easy going. The snow lessened as they gradually descended down the mountains in a general south-westerly direction. The vegetation and wildlife population increased. Having not seen such an abundance of it for so long, Taehn was happy at the plentiful greenery and life. As they strode through the mountainside forests, Taehn noticed Gmahg-Odeyth’s interest in it and wondered how long the Gorloth had been up in the mountains. Likewise Ket ran between trees, leapt into streams and rivers, seemingly possessed of a youth, which replaced the creature’s usual regal and somewhat fierce appearance.

 

At the edge of the forest Gmahg-Odeyth stopped. Looking out from his great height, over the slopping pleasant landscape he announced:

“I go no further with you, little one”.

 

Taken aback by the sudden halting declaration, Taehn was at a loss for words. Gmahg-Odeyth took a map from Taehn and showed him a rough idea of their position. Ket stood, once again, regal, at Gmahg-Odeyth’s right side, staring intently at Taehn. Taking his own pack from his back, the Gorloth took from it a wooden carving and pressed it into Taehn’s hands. Taehn looked at it. The carving was unhurried, more pronounced and of better workmanship that Gmahg-Odeyth’s usual strange sculptures. It was a figure, a little under a foot in height with large eyes, a streak of hair running along its head to the shoulder blades and four toes carved into the feet.  Grinning, Taehn realised it was himself. Finding again that he had nothing to say, he took the light silver chain from around his neck and hung it around the Gorloth’s giant finger. Gmahg-Odeyth smiled down at him and nodded slowly.

 

            “Matobora, addo karna iiyb” Taehn said.

            “What does it mean?”

            “Goodbye, and thank you, in Choggyan”

 

Gmahg-Odeyth nodded again.

            “Kuekes, kloth ccke.” The behemoth spoke in a rumbling hiss, grinning at the startled, questioning expression from the Choggya, unfamiliar to Gorlothian. It means ‘farewell, little one’ in my tongue. Go now, Taehn, there is a lot of world to see. Perhaps when you have seen it you will return to visit us some time.”

            “I think I will”

 

With a nod to Ket, Taehn turned and walked off down the mountainside. The two figures standing, framed by a mountain forest at their backs, watched him until he was long out of sight and then, turning, begun their journey home.

Reviews

[James Watts]

This is really quite good. Very well written. Kept my attention and had a nice flow. Glad to see someone not afraid to post a piece with length. Most people underestimate just how how their work from manuscript to printed page will transfer over, and that the length of their work will shorten after typesetting. Nice work.