Chapter 11: Kargh, A Dwarf Lost in the Depths

The Dwarf paused, wearily leaning on his axe as he peered around him at the endless dark. Jumbled images flashed through his aching head as he tried to remember just where he was, why he wandered alone through seemingly endless caverns beneath the land of Orris Kayn. He had been traveling with others, that he could recall, good fighters who had fought at his side. Not that he had trusted them, of course. He had learned early in life that others weren't to be trusted, that they would cheat and steal any treasure that they were sworn to share.

Now he remembered! They had indeed found a treasure, a great gem whose flashing facets had promised limitless wealth for all of them. He had almost had it within his own hands, but those false friends had stolen it away! Faced by their weapons, knowing that he could not fight all of them, he had fled into the darkness of the caverns beneath the old, abandoned monastery. He couldn't remember exactly why he had fled, why he had been so sure that the gem was his own property. There was something about a potion, a draft he had swallowed to make him stronger, able better to face his foes. Now that the last effects of the potion were wearing off, he could no longer remember just why he had fled.

His roiling memories settled somewhat, and he also recalled blurry scenes from the time following his flight. He had fought wandering monsters, that he knew, but in the very midst of battle something more had happened. There had been a turmoil of shaking earth and howling winds as the very air was sucked away from the caves where he had huddled. When at last the tremors and screaming winds had subsided, he crawled from beneath shards of shattered rock, only to find that he had no way of knowing where he was, which way he should go.

Alone in the dark and silence deep within the earth, he had finally knelt and prayed to his own private deity, the elusive Lune'Hu, and at last his prayers had been answered. She had chided him for his impulsive actions, but given him reassurance that he was not forgotten, that he still had a quest to follow. Now his mind held a sure knowledge that Pordigran the MostHolyCity lay ahead of him in a certain direction, the tug of its presence like an arrow within his mind that pointed unerringly so that all he had to do was follow its lead.

"I am Kargh!" he roared standing as tall as his dwarvish stature allowed and waving his axe defiantly at the darkness surrounding him. "I am Kargh, and I will conquer! Death to my foes!"

He would have been a fearsome sight, had there been anyone to see him, any light to see him by. His armor was dented and torn, his axe notched and still bloody with the gore of half-remembered foes he had battled as he wandered through the darkness. A sword of power was still belted about his waist, but as always he preferred the feel of a sturdy axe in his grip. A rope of many colored gems lay about his throat, his arms were laden with precious jewelry and his pack was heavy with gold coins and other treasures.

His dwarven instincts told him that he stood at the shore of an underground lake, one of the many that took to themselves the bounty of the earth's rains. Now that he was more aware of himself and his surroundings, he realized that his stomach was crying out to be filled, and not by the poison fungi or tainted meat of the dwellers in the caves. Stooping, he picked up a fragment of stone that had fallen from the cave's ceiling in the tumult so recently ended. He tossed it a few feet from him, making a splash that woke faint echoes in the silence.

Nothing happened, and after waiting fro a few moments he followed it with another stone, this one a bit larger. In the depths of the lake, something stirred, following the disturbance in the hope of finding food. It slithered toward the shore, feelers quivering as they took up the task that in its distant ancestors had been the province of the eyes lost many generations ago.

Kargh stamped his foot, a splashing at the very edge of the water. The creature struck at the sound! Kargh danced aside just enough to make the fanged mouth miss, and struck in his turn. His axe bit deep, struck again, and the creature writhed and spasmed in its death throes. A third strike buried his axe deep within the creature's flesh, and Kargh dragged it up on the shore where its fellows could not follow.

Here at last was meat, but from its smell it was nothing that was fit for him to eat. Not for him, but other things would not be so picky. He delved within his pack, rooting about beneath the jumble of treasure and coin, finally coming up with a length of twine and an eyed hook. First moving away from the body of his first victim, he impaled a shred of his prey's flesh on the hook and dangled it in the water.

At first, the only creatures attracted by his bait were as monstrous as his first victim, but finally he pulled forth from the water a fish that must have been swept into the endless caverns by surface rains. A few more such and he had enough meat to slake his hunger for the time being. His dagger was sharp, and he soon had six or eight nice filets ready for broiling, all laid out neatly on a flat rock.

Now, for some fire. Pulling his sword from its scabbard, he chanted a Dwarvish phrase, "Ghazzaktu! Khazad Ghazzaktu!" The sword's flames guttered to life. Holding the sword carefully so that the filets weren't scorched, Kargh soon had the succulent flesh browned nicely, and soon after the only trace of their existence was a hint of grease around his mouth and an oily stain on the rock.

Not even his Dwarvish strength could keep him moving forever, and finally he holed up in a tiny room with but one entrance. Piling up loose stones to plug its doorway, he at last stretched out on the hard floor. Nothing disturbed his dreams, only the dreams themselves, and he woke himself more than once to peer suspiciously around him at the darkness. After he finally awoke, rested and refreshed, he followed the urging in his mind through more dark tunnels, through arching chambers with their hanging stalactites, upthrusting stalagmites and rippling curtains of stone. More than once he hesitated where the caves branched, but always there was the certainty of which one would more surely lead him to the vicinity of Pordigran. A few times, he sensed movement in the darkness, but whatever was out there seemed content to let him pass.