Chapter 5: Dwelvin

The sleeping man stirred in his sleep. Dwelvin stood up and walked over to the tan blanket on dark green grass that the man was lying on in a clearing in the night. Pointed his pike at the man. The man was wearing black clothing to mimic the darkness of the night. His head was wrapped in an increasingly bloodied bandage. Dwelvin sighed and went to take it off and replace it with a fresh bandage. The man's eyes shot up, and he reached for Dwelvin's throat. He couldn't move his arms. He thrashed as Dwelvin stepped back with a bloody rag and came forward with a white one with some herbs in it.

"Let me go, you Chitmanthii!" Sordok hissed angrily. Dwelvin chuckled and put the rag to the captured Sordok's head and dabbed Sordok's gash with it. Sordok roared in pain at the touch of the cold, wet rag. His scream rang throughout the sky. Drawing everyone's attention to the two men. Sordok stayed still for a minute, letting Dwelvin apply a new bandage to his head after his cut was clean. The smell of wonderful herbs wafted over Sordok's nose. He thought he would have fainted from the pure bliss of the smell. and then began to speak again.

"Where am I? What have you done with my people?" Sordok said it with poorly hidden worry. His attempt to act tough made it sound even more like he was about to cry. Dwelvin thought this man was lucky to be alive in the first place. Especially after the throw Dwelvin did to him on the rock. Dwelvin hadn't planned to throw him on the rock, but at least he got to rest where Dwelvin didn't. An old man came forward, calling for Dwelvin to leave them be. After several minutes of arguing. Dwelvin was allowed to stay, and Ungalo's face was cooling from red back to the same color as the rest of him.

"Who are you, and why did you have your people attack our Caravan line?" Ungalo said to the man that Dwelvin was listening intently. His face stuck in a permanent face of cold and unmerciful.

"Us?!" Sordok yelled angrily, his veins bulging from his head with his anger. "You attacked our lands! You barbarians marched through here and laid claim to everything! Our beautiful cities burned. We were taking back what is ours!" Sordok said. His voice rose with the reddening of his face. Sordok's anger was in full swing.

"Is all this dude does is yell? He yelled at the attack too. I'm not sure why. Maybe it was a battle cry or something like that." Dwelvin thought to himself.

"Dwelvin." Ungalo said. Looking up at Dwelvin from his squatting position.

"Yes, Ungalo?" Dwelvin snapped out of his own thoughts and answered.

"You've been changing his bandages, correct?" Ungalo said as he held up a bloodied rag. Dwelvin nodded his head and responded, "Yes, Sir. With the herbs from the Healing wagon, just as you suggested,"

"I really hope this dude calms down. It's going to be hard moving the caravan with prisoners if they all act like this." Dwelvin thought to himself. Looking at Sordok's crimson face. His eyes were filled with raw hatred.

Ungalo nodded with a slight smile and stroked his beard. "Well, boy. It seems that you're in luck today. After piercing Dwelvin, I for sure thought he was a goner. Then I forgot that Dwelvin's body doesn't work like others. You are here with your people. Only five of your men out of 23 were killed, and they succumbed to their injuries but did not die in pain." Ungalo said, patting Sordok's shoulder. Sordok shrugged Ungalo's hand away in a fit of anger, but as the words sank in, Sordok's crimson face withered with relief. His vein slithered back underneath his skin, as it had bulged from his forehead before.

Sordok bowed his head. "I thank you, Old one. For not slaying my brothers and for letting them have merciful deaths... The pain is also not as strong as it once was when I first awoke. Is this the herb you spoke of?" Sordok said this while his head was bowed. Ungalo nodded

Yes, it is the power of the herbs. This isn't a caravan for the army. It's a caravan for Bublub City. We are heading to the Vudarra Enclave to deliver supplies." Ungalo said, scratching his big white beard.

Ungalo looked at Sordok again, looked at Dwelvin, and slapped his knees. "Welp. Dwelvin is covered in mud and blood. I'd say you should scrub him over so he doesn't get sick."

Dwelvin looked at Ungalo with an expression of pure disgust and anger. "You want me to do what?" Dwelvin said this after some moments of silence. Ungalo chuckled a bit after hearing his response. "You don't like soggy carrots, and I don't like carrots at all, Ungalo."

Oh, is that how it is? Then it shouldn't be a problem. It's just a bath." Ungalo got up, walked closer to Dwelvin, and put a hand on his shoulder. "Besides, if he dies, we can't do peace talks to get this land to the king and get a big bonus." Ungalo spoke in a voice barely above a whisper. His whiskers tickled Dwelvin's ear.

With a sigh of disbelief, Dwelvin ran to get a bucket and another rag to clean Sordok with. As Dwelvin bathed Sordok, they were both extremely uncomfortable with the situation. Dwelvin repeatedly scrubbed over different parts of Sordok's bruised and cut body. The hot water, sanitized with herbs, stung every little cut and scrape Sordok had on his body. Making him wince in pain each time Dwelvin ran the rag over one.

Dwelvin then noticed a tattoo on the back of Sordok's neck. In bold black paint, as if it were crumbling into Sordok's skin, was a weirdly shaped letter T with the lines on the top slanting down. It was the Tiwaz Rune, representing Justice, Battle, and leadership, amongst others.

"Now what do we have here?" Dwelvin muttered to himself. His voice raised some alarm in Sordok as he asked, "What is it? What'd you find?" Dwelvin poked it with the soapy rag.

"Oh nothing. I'm just admiring your tattoo. You're a follower of Tyr, then? No wonder since you're the leader of that group." Sordok huffed loudly and with exaggerated annoyance. "Have you humans never heard of a birthmark before? I have had it since I was a child. I don't know who Tyr is."

Dwelvin was incredulous. Then he thought to himself that they were completely different species, and they must have different rituals and beliefs than them. "Right. Apologies. I just ask because I have a similar birthmark on my ankle." Dwelvin walked around, sat down on a log across from Sordok, and removed his boot. Revealing a similar tattoo in the shape of a slanted N. The Uruz rune represents untamed potential, Courage, and, most importantly, strength.

"By the gods," Sordok said when he saw Dwelvin's tattoo. Dwelvin nodded and put his boot back on with a smile, showing that he was just playing an act. Then he began scrubbing Sordok again.

"Yeah. I've had it since I was a kid, too. Since before my birth, even. My parents told me I came out with it on me like that. I scared them stiff; they thought I was cursed." Dwelvin spoke, with a hint of melancholy, about remembering his parents. Sordok's eyes told Dwelvin he was listening intently. Sordok's eyes were flushed with a hint of sadness and remembering. As he too understood the pain of losing his parents. Dwelvin's speaking of his parents brought sadness and despair to them both.

"Tell me of the gods, and tell me of what you saw on my back." Sordok spoke in a low tone. His voice reflected his understanding of Dwelvin's pain and showed his shared memory of their parents demise. "I must know what that rune means." Sordok's face was hard as he looked out into the distant plains.

Well, it all began with a giant cow." Dwelvin said, beginning to tell the story of creation. His voice trailed off into the darkening sky as he finished cleaning and began to tell the amazing tales of his gods.