“That sucks! I’d like to stay here longer!” Fer-Rog complained.
“Yeah, I know. This has been fun!” Rupert said, motioning for them to head back towards the camp.
“I think we’ve got everything we need,” Tal Gor said to Vespa as the last of the supplies they had requested from Murgatroy were brought through the portaclass="underline" specifically a barrel of glargh, one of beer and a sack of potatoes. “We haven’t unsaddled the D’Wargs yet; we should do that now, I am thinking,” he added.
He and almost half the orcs were on the Astlan side of the gate along with Fer-Rog, Rupert, Virok and Vespa. The rest were in the cooled staging area where the D’Wargs were.
Vespa smiled and shook her head. “That’s okay, we are going to take them back to their cave and unsaddle them there so we don’t have to lug all the tack back to the cave as well.”
“Okay, then.” Tal Gor gestured to the rest of his tribe, who were still in the Abyss. “Say the last of your goodbyes and come back through!”
“Vespa, Virok, it has been our honor to hunt with you!” Tal Gor told the D’Orcs.
“Tal Gor, it has been our honor to hunt with you. May we hunt again soon!” Virok said as Vespa grinned and nodded.
“Ouch!”
“What the...?”
“Move it or I’m going to get trampled!”
“Argh!!!”
There was a lot of yelling coming through the portal as orcs who had been trying to come through were suddenly shoved aside and started falling over. Vespa frowned. “What the Abyss is going on over there?” she yelled.
“It’s that — ” someone yelled before being cut off.
There was a large, splattery, moist, sickening explosion on the other side of the gate. Suddenly the cursing doubled, along with the shouts and yells of orcs and D’Orcs. The immediate area of the gateway completely cleared and out came Schwarzenfürze! She burst through the gateway, still saddled, wings batting away anyone trying to stop her.
She plunged through the orcs on this side of the gate, even as they had begun to scatter as the hideous stench released by the D’Warg’s bowels floated through the gateway. Bor Tal had been next to the gate; he bent over retching, as did several others.
“Damn!” Vespa cursed as the smell finally reached her nose. “I knew we shouldn’t have fed the D’Wargs!”
Schwarzenfürze charged across the staging area and then circled around to the other side of the camp.
“Tar Roth Non!” Vespa yelled through the gateway. “Get your damn D’Warg!”
Tar Roth Non stumbled through the gateway, his eyes still watering from the deadly miasma released by the cranky old D’Warg. He launched into the air and flew over to where Schwarzenfürze was parked on the other side of camp. Tal Gor and several others, including Vespa, ran over there too.
When they arrived, they found a showdown in progress. Schwarzenfürze was standing stiff legged, claws dug into the ground and baring her truly ferocious teeth at Tar Roth Non, who was trying to convince her to come with him.
“What is wrong with that D’Warg?” Vespa demanded.
“She doesn’t want to go back to Mount Doom,” Tar Roth Non said.
“No warg dung!” Virok cursed.
“She was in Mount Doom and when we started coming back, she charged through with us!” Fel Nor noted.
“Apparently she wants to stay in Astlan?” Vespa said, shaking her head.
“Why?” Tal Gor asked.
Virok snorted. “She’s Schwarzenfürze — you do not ask why with her. Remember, we did not ask why she wanted to come to Astlan in the first place and then wanted you to ride her. You are the first person in well over four thousand years to ride her. In fact, I would argue only the second, maybe third person ever.”
Vespa sighed. “Fine. Be that way, you crazy bitch!” she snarled at Schwarzenfürze. “She’s been a huge pain for everyone at Mount Doom. If she wants to stay here, I will ask Lord Tommus to let her stay.” She glared at the D’Warg.
“You do understand, Schwarzenfürze, that if Lord Tommus orders you back, you will be going back?” Vespa asked the D’Warg, who simply narrowed her eyelids.
Vespa flew over the camp to the portal to seek out Lord Tommus. Tal Gor turned his attention back to Schwarzenfürze. Why would she want to stay here? This D’Warg was mighty strange. Although, of course, since this was all completely new, all the D’Orcs and D’Wargs were strange.
Vespa flew back over and hovered in the air nearby. “Okay, Lord Tommus has agreed to let Schwarzenfürze stay, but she will need to report to Tal Gor. Is that clear?” She stared at the D’Warg, who stared back silently.
It was not as if the D’Warg could actually say yes, Tal Gor reflected. Wait a minute — that meant he, Tal Gor, was being entrusted with one of the nastiest death-dealing monsters from the depths of the Abyss that had ever walked the Planes of Orcs! Tal Gor reeled a bit at that thought. He almost felt giddy.
Vespa shrugged. “Back to the gate!”
They all headed back to the gate, the D’Orcs flying, the orcs walking.
The orcs had all come back through and Vespa was just following Virok through the gate by the time Tal Gor finally got back. He cursed his bum leg.
Lord Tommus was standing on this side of the gate. He grinned at Tal Gor. Of course, only the shaman link between them told Tal Gor that his lord’s hideously frightful expression was grin. Anyone else would think the demon was about to eat them.
Lord Tommus chuckled. “Good luck with your D’Warg, shaman. I expect you are going to need it.” He nodded to the orcs. “We appreciate your assistance and hope you have another good feast. We will hunt again!”
I shall contact you again in a day or so, Lord Tommus told Tal Gor in his head. With that, the demon lord stepped through the gateway, waving a final greeting to all, and the strange rip in reality suddenly vanished.
His tribe mates and hunting partners all started whooping and clapping their hands together to celebrate their adventure. Bor Tal came over and gave Tal Gor a very uncharacteristic hug. Tal Gor looked at him, shocked.
“I have never been more proud of you or any other family member in my life, brother!” Bor Tal told him. The other orcs all came and surrounded him, shouting “Tal Gor, Tal Gor” over and over again. Tal Gor’s chest was thudding so hard he was having trouble breathing. He had never felt so much a part of his tribe in all his life.
After several more minutes of shouting his name and joyfully punching him hard on the back, the side, the front and the head, they all started moving off to talk to the rest of the tribe.
“I better go check on Schwarzenfürze,” Tal Gor told his brother Bor Tal.
Bor Tal chuckled. “To repeat the words of our great Lord Tommus: good luck!”
Tal Gor chuckled and made his way back to where Schwarzenfürze was. She was still standing in the same place, looking wary. “It’s okay,” Tal Gor told the D’Warg. “The gateway is closed; no one is going to drag you back to Mount Doom against your will.”
The D’Warg looked at him for a few minutes, did some sniffing and then relaxed her legs and started walking over towards him. Tal Gor watched her, not sure what she wanted at this point. She got right up next to him and then began rubbing against him.
No, actually she was rubbing the harness and buckles against him. She wanted him to take them off. Tal Gor shrugged and began unsaddling the D’Warg. She stood relatively still and let him take of the saddle, the bags and holders and then the harness. He was sorting the pieces together, wondering where to store them — he guessed with the warg gear — when Schwarzenfürze just started wandering off toward the camp.