================================================================================ Scene 11: The beach - History revealed ================================================================================ As the two demi-humans exited the inn, Thanin noted that Thwuck appeared nervous about something. The dwarf knew his friend was fairly sensitive to his surroundings and often had difficulty hiding it, but this was something different. "What's on your mind?" he asked, scratching his beard. Damn, Thanin thought, it must be the humidity in the air. And we have to spend two or three weeks in it. Thwuck replied with a shrug and some quick glances at his surroundings. "Not here, eh friend?" Thanin asked, his voice losing some of its gruffness. The dwarf was very aware that the combination of his gravelly voice and open honesty tended to put people on the defensive - a trait that made it difficult to establish lasting friendships. Until now, Thanin thought. "We could walk down to the shore - there should be some place we can sit and talk. There's plenty of time to get supplies anyway." Thanin looked at Thwuck's face a little more closely and thought of something he hadn't realised over the course of their journey. "You know Thwuck, you look a little different. You must have really been covered in mud before," he added bluntly. The dwarf shook his head in confusion, thinking perhaps that he had missed something - a rarity for the normally perceptive dwarf. But then again, he thought, I DID overlook that damned fool who was searching for the drow. They had walked another twenty paces before Thwuck replied. "Beach is good," he said. "And appearances may be wrong." He ignored the frown that this remark caused upon Thanin's face. "Need to tell story. But story is long and not easy. Need some help too." He looked sideways at the dwarf, his eyes revealing a great deal of hurt and uncertainty. But there was intelligence in them as well, to a degree that none of his companions would have expected in the silent brute. The dwarf saw it then - what he had missed before. Thwuck - or whatever his name might be - was hidden beneath a mask that he wanted so badly to remove. "Aye, friend," Thanin added softly. "The past is usually difficult to divulge to another person. My mother always said, 'the past is the fire that forges us'. I have time to listen to your story, Thwuck. And I'll help however I can." They continued walking, the streets getting more crowded with every turn they took. In the distance a fish market was taking place, where tonight's catch was sold to customers and tradesmen. The two friends choose a route to move around it. A solitary road stretched out before them, the beach on its left and several grand buildings on their right. This must be where the rich of Pas du Mer hid their treasures behind walls of fine masonry. The dwarf found himself sizing up the defenses of the manor houses and mansions, attempting to discern the fastest way in - and out. Thanin shook his head, clearing his mind of those thoughts. I guess old memories die hard, he thought. Stairs led down to a sandy beach which was relatively clear of flotsam, except for an occasional hunk of driftwood too large to be moved by two men. Thanin and Thwuck descended. Thanin climbed on the remains of a large tree, and Thwuck seated himself in front of the dwarf. Thanin removed his pipe from one of his pockets and placed a handfull of his most expensive tobacco into it. He offered the pipe to his friend, though he couldn't recall Thwuck ever smoking before. Thwuck declined the friendly offer with a shake of the head. "Thank you, but have no love for the taste of smoke." Thwuck sighed, and the muscles in his chest and shoulders rippled, as if something inside was fighting for a way out. The dwarf knew he wasn't going to force this out of his friend, so he tried a more subtle approach. "I've never seen the ocean before - I never thought I'd feel so small. Not that I'm all that tall to begin with, mind you," Thanin added with a chuckle. "Yes, it sort of puts one's beginnings into perspective - where I came from, who raised me, what I was before." The casual talk of the dwarf seemed to put Thwuck a little more at ease. He put his elbows on his knees and leaned forward. "The way you fight, I thought you always were warrior." "I guess you noticed this," Thanin said, holding up his left hand which was missing one finger. "Before I learned to wield a blade, I was nothing but a common cutpurse. Accepting that part of my life was difficult...for a time, but I had a friend who was willing to listen," the dwarf stopped, hoping that he'd passed the barrier Thwuck had created to hold back distant memories. Apparently he was right. After a long intake of breath, the demi-human said quietly: "I had other job too. Great and proud job. Long, long time ago, me was bard." Thwuck looked at the dwarf to see if his friend doubted his statement. But Thanin just nodded to encourage him. "Thwuck was bard in country far to the West. Was treated as a prince then." Pride was evident in his voice. "But Orcs came and captured sister and me. Did very bad things. Made Thwuck look like Orc." He growled, but whether it was of anger or hurt, Thanin couldn't say. Then Thwuck continued quickly, as if to amend his last statement. "Thwuck is not Orc. Just look like one. Can look more human, but need to do something for that. Must make love with female. And with current face, only female willing are whores. Hate to pay for love. Is not good, but have no choice." Thwuck stopped his sudden spill of words. He knew that the dwarf was very observant, and that his visits to brothels couldn't have remained unnoticed. Furthermore, he was disgusted by his own actions, and didn't expect understanding from anyone. But these escapades were nothing in comparison to other parts of his history. From experience, he knew some people were repelled by the habits of his race. Or maybe they just felt insecure in dealing with them intimately. And the time he was held captive was one long nightmare. The dwarf remained quiet, collecting his thoughts. His initial reaction was one of rage, though he'd not yet encountered an Orc, Thanin wished one were here so he could kill it. However, a show of agression would likely only push Thwuck back into his shell, and if he wanted to help his friend, he needed to know as much as Thwuck would tell him. With great difficulty Thanin held his temper in check. "I understand, we all must do things at times that are not in our nature. Is there more you'd like to tell me of yourself - before you started to change to an Orc - or about the brutal treatment that made you change?" The gentle words seemed to take the tension out of Thwuck. He bowed his head and let out a deep breath. When he looked at Thanin again, his rough features seemed ill-fitting. "If you want, I'll tell my story. But like I said, story is long and hard. Probably should start with explaining true race." He waited briefly, as if to ascertain that Thanin was really listening. The dwarf was - and the more Thwuck spoke, the better his vocabulary became. Thanin had always been taught to appreciate the spoken word, as much of dwarven culture was passed on in bardic tales - the fact that his friend might have lost that ability was a serious matter to him. Thanin listened carefully, putting Thwuck's history to memory. "My race is called Chameros. We live far to the West, over mountains. We are small race, seldom blending with other races. My people are strong and beautiful, even to standards of human and elf. We hate Orcs, and fight them when we can. "The Chameros don't use magic. But we have special trait. When Chameros loves someone, he or she can copy the other partly. This makes other races uneasy. They don't understand that lovers want to look alike. We make love to people we love. We NEVER pay for love, for such love is vile. We give ourselves, and take the other. "Orcs don't know love. They only know lust. They hate us for our loving, and we hate them for their vileness. We have fought many great battles, driving Orcs back into the darkness of the mountains. Thwuck fought in battles also. Was called Tuathe-de-Wuack then. But that name too beautiful for current shell." Thanin wanted to interrupt - to tell his friend that a name describes the essence of a being - but this was Thwuck's tale. Thwuck clenched his jaws, and seemed to collect strength to continue his story. "Last battle Thwuck fought in was almost a year ago. I was Chief Bard for the prince of Carn-a-Duar'heth. Together with my sister Morrigan-Dur, I sang the troops towards a victory inevitable. My song was clear and strong and Orcs fled when they heard me. We destroyed our foe utterly. After the fight, my sister and I stayed in one tent. When we slept, a small party of Orcs sneaked into encampement and captured the two of us. We were bound and gagged and taken under the Mountains of Khurzalad. They wanted to take revenge on Thwuck Earsplitter, as they called me. "They raped us brutally every day, for they knew that for us loving and love-making is the same. It was the worst nightmare I've ever had. I don't know exactly how long it lasted, for I let my mind go after two weeks. I had noticed that my body was changing, in spite of all my effort to block the copying function. Apparently they had broken through my subconscious defenses. Thanin had to stifle a triumphant grin at this point - Thwuck, or rather Tuathe-de-Wuack - was beginning to show his true self at this point. His words, manner of speech, even his tone had changed. The dwarf found it easy to envision how this man would have sounded as a bard. An idea as to how he might help Thwuck cure himself began to take shape in the dwarf's mind. "I didn't know that the same thing was happening to my sister at that time. They never let us see each other. For all I knew, she was dead. But at one point they got careless. My guard entered my cell alone, and I was able to knock him unconscious. My Orcish body must have made me a lot stronger than I was before. I fled from my cell, wearing the clothes of the guard. In the half-dark under Khurzalad, it was impossible to distinguish me from a real Orc. "I hadn't gone 40 paces before I came across another cell. In it a small creature was curled up in a corner. I wouldn't have payed any attention to it, if there hadn't been a sign next to the door saying 'Crow of Death'. In your tongue, my sister's name would be 'Golden Crow'. I didn't hesitate and opened the door of the cell. Taking her small body in my arms, I continued on my way out. My instincts must have sharpened as well, for somehow I managed to escape attention until I saw the sun again." Thanin looked slightly confused. "At the Dragon's Inn, you mentioned that were searching for your sister - how were the two of you separated?" The dwarf regretted his question, seeing the anguish it invoked in Thwuck. "The seperation was not forced upon us," Thwuck said in a small voice. "At least not on us both. It still hurts to know that my sister, the one I love more than myself, would leave me of her own account. But the tale will shortly come to that. "When Morrigan-Dur and I had left Khurzalad through a minor gate in the south-east, we were spotted by an Orcish patrol probably returning from a campaign of plunder. Fortunate for us, they were heavily loaded and loathe to pick up the chase after a hard time in the country. We ran like the wind, our transformed bodies hardly tiring. But you have seen that for yourself on our trip from Montfort. "We stopped after three days, when we came to the border of an ancient forest. Our provision were low, and we were in desperate need of sleep. My sister hadn't spoken more than a few words to me since our escape, and she couldn't look me in the eye. I had caught glimpses of myself in brooks we crossed, and I knew that we both were hideously deformed. It seemed obvious that she was ashamed of us. A puzzled from came across Thwuck's face. "It seems as if speaking is getting more easy for me. That would be a good sign, wouldn't it?" Thanin nodded his agreement. "I may be wrong, Thwuck, but I believe that for you to heal fully, you must accept that what has happened to you was beyond your control. Also, I think part of it is in your head," the dwarf said honestly. "You are, as you have always been, Tuathe-de-Wuack. I hear it in your words and see it your eyes, no matter what you think." "That could very well be true," Thwuck answered. "But if it's alright with you, I'll finish my story while I have the power to Speak. Thanin, however, felt that Tuathe-de-Wuack had never truly lost the Bard's Tongue - as dwarves referred to it - only hidden it away during his traumatic encounters with the Orcs. The dwarf only hoped that his friend would not recede behind the safety of the facade that was Thwuck. "We stayed close to the border of the forest for the next days, not having a specific destination in mind. We couldn't return to our homes looking like this, and we didn't know where to turn for help. What happened next, I still find hard to believe. My sister went off into the forest for a few hours, looking for spices, she said. The meal she cooked for us was very tasty indeed, but apparently she had mixed a sleeping drug into it as well. I didn't wake up for more than a day, only to find that Morrigan-Dur was gone. Probably she couldn't stand being confronted with her deformance, or mine. "Her trace wasn't hard to find, but she travelled as fast as I could and I wasn't able to overtake her. Then she passed into the woods, and used small rivers and rock-strewn slopes to shake me off. She succeeded in this, and I found myself lost in a dense forest. Despair overtook me then, for not only had I lost my voice and appearance, now I had also lost the only link with my true self. "A wood-witch found me wandering aimlessly between the trees. It was hard for me to speak at that time, but I managed to explain what had happened to me. She proposed a deal. I was to help her uproot some evil trees in a thicket nearby, and she would help me find a cure. I'm not sure if the trees were truly evil, for it took little time and effort to bring them down, but the witch honored the agreement. "'You won't find your cure here in the West' she said to me. 'The answer lies to the east, across the sea. There you can find moon-shadow, grinded dragon's bones, and stones of air. Mix equal amounts of those with tears of joy, and a potion for your illness is ready.' "'But what is moon-shadow, or stones of air?' I asked her despairingly. She wouldn't answer, of course, as much of the power of witches lies in their secrecy. But she did give me a purse of gold. 'For you have helped me gladly and I don't have any use for it.' She turned around and disappeared in the woods." The dwarf blew a smoke ring into the air as he pondered the witch's words a moment, as if trying to remember where he'd heard of 'stones of air', but nothing came immediately to mind. "Dragon's bones, eh? I sure hope we won't have to kill a dragon first - I've never encountered one, but I've heard enough tales of them. Tell me, though, have you found the others?" "Nay," said Thwuck, "I still haven't found any of the ingredients. But on my way to Montfort I heard from an old farmster that moon-shadow is some sort of weed. It is supposed to grow in the dark corners of old ruins. She didn't know where, though. "Perhaps at the ruins of Taur-Nu-Gul we will find your moon-shadow," Thanin put in. "When I happened to meet Adain and you in the Inn in Montfort, I decided to go to Dragon's Isle as well. If my sister has heard about the same cure as I have, she will end up there as well. And with the East in turmoil, she's likely to take the same route. I still have hope that I'll find her someday, and that we can be cured of this curse." Thwuck took hold of the skin of his face with both hands and pulled vehemently, as if to rip a mask off. It didn't work of course, but there were tears in his eyes afterwards. The dwarf laid a calming hand on Thwuck's shoulder, and for a fleeting moment he thought he saw - well, the dwarf could not fathom what he saw - only that it was not a face he recognized. "I don't have much of a mind for this type of thing, but you've come to terms with your past today. You need time to sift through it and ask the others for their advice." "They can be trusted," Thanin said, answering the question reflected in his friend's eyes. "Come, friend. We still haven't bought any supplies - or visited any other taverns," Thanin said with a grin. Thwuck raised his bulky frame and shook off the sand clinging to his clothes. His demeanor was very composed now, as if some catharsis had taken place. He smiled at Thanin. "Thank you for lending me your ear. Your opninion means a lot to me, and if you think the others should be informed, I'll do so. Maybe not gladly, for the scars are still too fresh, but at least with peace of mind and heart. Furthermore, my tongue has dried out from all this talk, so let's see if there are any good taverns nearby." The dwarf jumped to his feet, aching for another pint - or four - of ale. Thanin had more questions to ask of Thwuck - or Tuathe-de-Wuack - but they would wait until his friend had some time to heal. -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- = [Dragon] Volume 01 Scene 11 Copyright (c) April 24, 1996 = -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- = Adain -- The Cheshire Cat -- cat@adi.uam.es = = Thanin -- Darren Robinson -- drobin02@uoguelph.ca = = Brianna -- Ann Straut-Esden -- tammarion@aol.com = = Thwuck -- Mark Vanhommerig -- mvan@win.tue.nl = = Melmar -- Andrew of Scarborough -- astoner@mail.wesleyan.edu = = Prytzouth -- Chad C. Walstrom -- cwalstro@d.umn.edu = -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-