A Kingdom under the Mountain

Subject: A Kingdom under the Mountain Mon Dec 01, 2008 1:42 pm

High up at the peaks of Desertmouth a storm rages unmercifully, the winds strong, mingled with acrid ashes, endurable only by the most hardy of souls such as the mighty giants of flame and the cloud lords that inhabit the place. Lightning cracks terrifyingly in the sky, bringing light to the face of the mountain intermittently and so revealing the moving shapes therein.

Murkur stops and waits for the red skinned giant to charge, clenching his stone solid fists in readiness, his ruggedly stocky shape standing persistently. He’s sooty from all the ash, but that’s the least of his worries right now, not that he’d resent those outlooks at any other time. Pearls of sweat form on his forehead, which are then quickly swept away again by the fury of the wind. His dark, dirty beard flutters wildly, and so do his only clothes, measly pants of black and brown. The giant jumps mightily over the bodies of his beaten brethren and holds high a sword which is nigh the same size as the giant himself, or three times the size of the dwarf. Murkur readies himself with a frown of resolve, baring savage looking teeth. Then he moves away from the swooping swing surprisingly swiftly, fending off the following one with his left hand’s sturdy wrist guard. Murkur growls and sprints closer to the giant, then drives his heel roughly into his kneecap with a bone cracking force, resulting in the giant stooping over and growling angrily in return. The giant tries to grab him with a swipe of his free hand, but Murkur ducks and grabs the hand, using it to throw himself towards him and kick him hard in the groin with a following howl. Then he takes hold of the giant’s clothing and climbs up to his shoulders and starts beating him rapidly in the neck with his fists, steadily holding his “ground” and blocking the giant’s desperate swipes. A satisfying crack of bone is heard after a few moments, and the giant falls forward on the dusty rock with a loud thud.

Murkur drops on the rocky ground with a snort and spits soot mixed phlegm to the side. He then picks his nose for a moment, flicking most of the soot mixed findings away, then he wipes the rest in his pants and grunts. He peers about the stormy mountain as he moves quietly along in the shadow of the mountain and finds a suitable nook where he’d not be disturbed. He fetches his bottle and takes a few swigs while he watches the fierce display of cracking lightning with his back against the stone. He manages to make out the tiny shapes of giants in the distance on the other mountain summit, chanting and dancing, urging on the tempest. This is a good view, as he could glance to the other side of the mountain too, into Anauroch, lit by occasional flash of lightning.

Then he starts to think of his journey to the dale through that rugged desert a few years ago. The winds there carried subtle sands to the most uncomfortable places on the body. Murkur tried to decide which of the two are more bothersome, soot or sand. He decides the latter. When he first saw the mountain whilst smoking some newly acquired pipe-weed from the desert folk, he thought of the abandoned kingdom below its roots, the dwarven kingdom of Tethyamar, said to have been abandoned due to goblins, orcs, ogres, giants and their like, even creatures from the deep pits of the otherworldly abyss. Yet another kingdom of his kin to be reclaimed, and well worth the search he reckoned. It’s been only few hundred years since its downfall. Falran comes to his mind, for he had told of his retreat as a young lad from the place with his father. He should consult with him and his fellow dwarves residing in the falls Murkur thinks. A settlement to be proud of was in order anyway, for a dwarf does not belong in a town ruled by children in fragile wooden huts.

With this in mind, Murkur empties his bottle and drops it on the ground, takes one last look at the giants in the distance, then starts climbing slowly and deliberately down the rocky crags. The storm keeps raging and lightning roar across the sky.