Into the Dark

by M J W Harrington

  As the Ogrin neared the club and reached down I gave the weapon another quick shove. It didn't move far, heavy as the club was, but it was enough to make the suddenly confused Ogrin grab at thin air. He grunted, shuffling forward and trying again. Creeping closer, I shoved again, pushing the club and by extension its owner ever closer to the edge. As I finally got the club right to the very brink, I gave it one last shove and broke into a sprint. The Ogrin lunged for the club as it fell, barely catching it and nearly overbalancing in the process. As he reached the peak of his hunched-over grab, I impacted, driving my blade down through the back of his neck and pushing him over the edge of the drop, just barely yanking the sword back out rather than losing it with his meaty body. As he fell I lunged back and twisted to stop myself following, catching myself on the lip of the small cliff I was thankful to find over the edge. I heard the sentry land with a sickening crunch and winced, praying nobody had heard or seen him fall. The noise of the settlement continued unabated, however, and after a moment of hanging above what appeared to be a foul-smelling refuse pit until my nose and eyes began to burn, I heaved myself cautiously back up over the edge.

  Looking around and landing in a crouch to lower my profile as much as I could, I saw Clara's face peeking around the corner. She glared at me incredulously, so I gave her a little wave and a shrug. I can only assume she would've had something to say about my risky plan, and for the first time I found myself thankful we were in a cavern surrounded by ogrins. Speaking of, I returned my attention to the small village. From my new vantage I could see that this was more of a populated camp than I'd seen from the cave mouth, ramshackle huts hinting at the presence of scores of the creatures. Those that I could see moved between shacks and tents purposefully, and- wait was that a person? I did a double take, realising that there was indeed the occasional smaller figure scurrying around, carrying food, drinks and other supplies to the lounging Ogrin. A casual backhand to one young malnourished-looking woman followed by raucous laughter revealed their status here. I'd never heard of Ogrin keeping slaves before, but then few attacked by Ogrin bands tended to live to tell much of a tale apart from one of brutal slaughter. I ground my teeth and found my knuckles white as they gripped my sword, and forced myself to calm down and relax. I momentarily went to rebuke the darkness inside, but restrained myself; this anger was my own.

  With one hand I beckoned Clara to me, and as she neared I pointed out another of the slaves, fearfully dragging away the body of the first young woman, who lay motionless, her neck bent at a gruesome angle. With my superior vision I could make out the face of the second slave, a young man maybe in his late teens, his expression numbed by the cruel meaningless of his existence even as he dragged the corpse away. Were they friends? Siblings? Lovers? His face betrayed none of this, only blank acceptance of that being the way of things, that their lives were already over and an Ogrin could at any time decide to formalise their end. Clara's lips drew back in a snarl to mirror my own as she peered down at the scene, and I felt a tap on my shoulder. The Architect stood behind me, not having to hunch at his height in order to remain concealed up on the ridge. He gestured across the village and I realised I'd missed what was clearly a slave pen of some kind in my first scan of the area, partially concealed by the patchwork of tents but clearly filled with the hunched forms of a number of other slaves. Clara caught my gaze and nodded grimly. For a moment I hesitated, the slave pen stood far from what looked like the way out of the cavern, but the same fire had awoken in me as I watched the young man drag his fellow slave away. Call us fools, call us soft, but no way were we leaving them here, even if it ruined our own chances. With a finger to my lips to remind them of the need to remain silent, I crept down into the foul-smelling shanty town towards the pens.

  The shacks were much larger than they looked from above, wagons and houses broken apart and cobbled together to form crude rooftops to shield them from the occasional drops of water that continued to drip from above, irregularly but relentless. Within the closest I could hear the rumbling snore of its occupant, and we crept by as silently as possible, tension drawn as tight as a bowstring making me hyper aware of the slightest rustle of The Architect's satchel or the tap of Clara's boots on the rough stone of the cave floor. The wide alley between the haphazardly-placed shacks and tents juked wildly from side to side, town planning clearly not being one of the strong point of Ogrin as a species, but we made our way through, freezing rigidly like prey at the slightest sound or movement from within the homes. As we moved through a particularly wide and dangerous crossroad, I threw a glance at the central fire and found my gaze met by a haggard looking old man, his ribcage visible through his paper-thin skin, with rags hanging off his old bones. His eyes widened and his jaw drop and I silently willed him to remain silent and not give us away. The old man clutched a discarded tankard to his chest and after an agonisingly long moment he scurried out of sight. I let out a long, slow breath that I'd been holding for only a few seconds, but it had felt like an eternity. As we moved once more to scurry across the crossroads, however, I heard a deep, booming shout ring out. My head snapped around as I saw the old man, cowering behind the biggest Ogrin I'd seen, garbed in a surprising amount of leather and chain compared to the rest of his near-naked kin and bearing a wide, sinister grin. For a moment I froze in surprise at the old man's betrayal, but I forced myself not to dwell on it as the other Ogrin in camp picked up the shout, driving home just how much trouble we were about to be in.

  All pretences of stealth forgotten, we bolted, more and more Ogrin picking up the hue and cry in deep reverberating roars that shook my very bones. An Ogrin stumbled out of a hut in front of us and without hesitation we slammed into it, my blade leading in a savage sweep across its legs, The Architect giving a quick shocking jab as Clara rammed her glowing blade home into its throat. We pressed on, but Clara and I slowing our pace enough for the Architect to keep apace meant the shouts and roars grew ever closer. Worse, while our progress required that we dodge and juke our way through haphazardly placed structures, the large armoured Ogrin from the fire was clearly under no such compunction, slamming through, shattering the flimsy structures in a straight line towards us using a mixture of a massive sledgehammer and his own massive size. It was no use, not only were we being quickly outpaced, we weren't even running in any logical direction other than "away from the angry monster". I skidded to a halt and turned.

  "Dav, what the hell are you doing? Run!" Clara yelled back to me, slowing and turning incredulously.

  "Someone has to slow that guy. Take the Architect and run." I called back, trying to keep my tone calm despite the sweat of my palms at the thought of what I was about to do. Clara began to object, but I caught her eye and she gritted her teeth.

  "You idiot." With that she broke into a sprint, grabbing The Architect on the way past. With my friends out of the way, I took a moment to take a breath and cast a thought inward as the Ogrin leader barrelled towards me seemingly in slow motion, his monstrous people close behind, and I felt a sense of strength and glee flood my mind.

  "Hey ugly!" I yelled to the lead Ogrin, who gave the insane human in front of him a baffled look as he slowed and readied his hammer. "Want to see a real monster?" With that I threw down the light orb I'd palmed and jammed my eyes shut. Using some of the knowledge from my memories and the instruction of The Architect, I'd cranked that thing up to its maximum possible output, overriding the safety features its creator had spent so long devising. This wasn't the enemy I'd been saving for but it worked as well as any, even through my eyelids I was dazzled, but I underestimated the pain. The green light blasted out like a physical wave, feeling like I'd jumped into a vat of acid. I couldn't help but let out a scream of agony, but it was drowned out by the roar of the Ogrin. Once the radiance faded, mere moments that felt like an eternity later, I opened my eyes and went to work. The blast of viridescence gave me all the cover I needed, some 15 or so Ogrin clutching at their eyes and staggering in pain. I hi
t the largest first, ramming my sword into gaps in his patchwork armour, but surprisingly he didn't go down, his considerable layers of fat and muscle catching my blade and making it difficult to withdraw. Without my preternatural strength I would have lost my sword on the first blow, but instead I yanked it free as he threw out his hammer in a mighty blind sweep, almost catching me in the side. For a large guy, he was quick. I danced back but circled and slammed into him again, letting loose with a series of blindingly fast short stabs into any area of flesh I could see.

  "Why. Won't. You. Die?" I grunted, punctuating each stab with a growl of frustration. The Ogrin's vision was beginning to clear now, I could see him and his allies looking around blearily, blood even trickling from the eyes of a few and mixing with the gore flowing from their leader's wounds, but gradually beginning to track me as I moved to press the attack. This time my swing was met by a parry from the brute's hammer, my strength momentarily forcing it back but being met by almost as much force as the Ogrin's huge muscles bulged. His streaming eyes locked with mine and to my surprise, he spoke.

  "I see you, human," he growled, and slammed out a huge kick with one of his tree trunk-esque legs. I flew back, the blow sending me crashing through more than one wall and my vision swam briefly. As I staggered to my feet, however, my thoughts cleared and I realised one very key fact. As terrifying as the creature's strength was, I was unscathed. My bones were unbroken, my skin untouched.

  -Show time.- the darkness within me chuckled, and I agreed. Let's see how well a tribe of Ogrin can deal with an extremely pissed off immortal punching bag. I let the beast off the leash and exploded into motion, grabbing the remaining portion of the wall and heaving myself forward, using my arms and legs to propel myself forward like a ballista bolt. I slammed into the lead Ogrin, his eyes wide as I laid into him, abandoning my attempts at finesse and precision in favour of slamming my sword into his crude armour over and over. He brought his hammer across and slammed it into my side, and once again I was in the air. This time though I reached out as I flew, grabbing one of his Ogrin minions to pull myself to a stop, dragging him to the ground in the process. Before he could react, I sprung back to my feet and slammed my sword into the prone Ogrin's throat, locking eyes with the armoured Ogrin.

  "One." I rasped, my voice accompanied by a deep rumble from within my chest.

  Despite his battered and broken armour and the blood flowing from the many small wounds I'd given him, the titan gave a savage grin which I couldn't help but return as I once again lept into motion. In that moment, he and I were alike, lost to the pumping adrenaline and bloodlust coursing through us.

  "Two." I growled, pushing my blade through the back of an Ogrin female's spine, dropping her to the ground and cutting her throat before spinning away from the swing of an axe wielded by another of the brutes.

  "Three." The axe shattered as I smashed my sword into a notch in its huge blade, grabbing a piece as it flew through the air and ramming it into the eye of its wielder.

  "Four." I forced the Ogrin back, my sword notched and cracked from slamming it with abandon into the Ogrin's own until my opponent's weapon shattered. I dropped my blade and rammed into her, driving her onto a jagged wooden spike left by an errant swing of the leader's hammer.

  "Five." I danced back, that same giant sledgehammer smashing into the ground next to me. I pushed in, lightning fast, grabbing a crude knife from the Ogrin leader's belt and driving it into his wrist. As he reeled back with a roar of agony, I grabbed the hammer, hefting it with ease and slamming it into one of his allies, shattering a kneecap and smashing its head like a melon.

  "Eight." The number came out as a growl as I stood soaked with the blood of my latest prey. More and more Ogrin surrounded me, with every kill growing more enraged, but their blows bounced harmlessly off my body. I used the momentum from a ferocious swing to my side to carry me up to the face of another Ogrin, bearing it to the ground with repeated stabs to the eyes, the ensuing gore coating me from head to waist. I revelled in it.

  "Ten." The word came out as a growl as I severed the head of yet another Ogrin with the giant cleaver he'd tried to use on me moments before. The beast within roared with pleasure and I echoed it, I was a god. Who could challenge me? Suddenly my vision swam. A second mighty blow slammed into my head and the world span. I felt little pain and my skin and bones did not break, but I fell to my knees, stunned. The Ogrin surrounding me fell upon me and buried me in blows, each one striking my head feeling like the world's worst hangover. They buried me in a mass of flesh, pinning my arms and legs beneath even more weight that I could shift. As the Ogrin leader loomed over me with his hammer, I grabbed at another's neck and ripped out his throat with a squeeze.

  "Eleven." I half-growled, half-groaned, trying to pull myself to my feet.

  "One." The Ogrin leader replied in a deep booming voice, and he slammed his hammer into my head faster than I could react with my vision blurring, over and over again. Finally, darkness claimed me as the Ogrin roared victoriously, surrounded by the blood and viscera left in my wake.

  Chapter 13

  To my surprise, I woke up. The light of the fire momentarily blinded me and sent daggers shooting through my head. I groaned, wondering briefly what awful concoction I'd been drinking the night before until I started remembering glimpses of the blood-soaked battle. I blinked furiously, trying to clear my vision, my eyelids encrusted with dried blood, my nostrils filled with the rank stench of gore and unwashed flesh. I struggled to move my arms and legs. I heard a clank of heavy chains, strangely muffled, and felt resistance as I strained, but my limbs didn't move. Finally my eyes focused on the blurry mass in front of me. It revealed itself to be the Ogrin leader. Bloodied but tended, his wounds bound and it appeared even partly healed. I wondered how long I'd been out. It didn't look like too long as blood still stained some of the dressings. He regarded me silently, sat in a huge chair as he sat there, alone with me in a large room that looked suspiciously like the master cabin of a ship. My thoughts were still not coherent enough to wonder how they had the cabin of a ship here, but I could just about make out the cavern through a smashed window behind the Ogrin.

  “You awake?” the armoured Ogrin grunted at me in a deep growl. I swallowed, my mouth dry, but didn’t reply. “Yup. You awake.” He stood, raising himself to his full height and walked slowly towards me, his eyes level with where I hung, suspended from the cabin’s high ceiling. “I am Dirg. You killed bunch of my people. But you don’t die. Why?” The questions rumbled out of him with the timbre of an avalanche rumbling through each syllable, anger in his eyes.

  “To which part?” I croaked, “I killed them because you tried to kill me. I don’t die because I’m a god. Any other questions?” I mustered up the effort to give him what I felt was probably a cocky grin. They didn’t use the light here, they couldn’t hurt me. The feeling of invincibility still flooded through me.

  “Hmm. Shitty god.” Dirg shrugged and slammed a giant fist into my head, ringing my skull like a bell with my brain as the clapper. My vision spun wildly, I’m pretty sure if I’d been a normal man my head would’ve been taken off with that hit, but instead I started laughing weakly.

  “That all you got? Big man punching the chained up prisoner. Sorry, big ogrin. Don’t want to be racist after all.” I may have been somewhat delirious at that point, but hey repeated blows to the head will rattle anyone’s sanity a little bit, stop judging me by my mouth. Dirg shrugged and raised his arm once more, but was interrupted by another, less well-dressed Ogrin bursting through the door.

  “Dirg, we catch them!” the ogrin shouted, far too loudly in my opinion, and I winced at the noise.

  “What? I said nobody to enter,” Dirg rumbled dangerously, and the other ogrin stepped back.

  “Dirg said to tell when we catch others, and we catch others! Can’t do both thing,” the other Ogrin babbled, backing away hurriedly and waving his arms. “Female and tiny thing, they kill Burg and Dorp but not stron
g like him.” I let out an involuntary hiss between my teeth. My one comfort as my brain started working properly again had been that my friends had a chance at escape, and it appeared I wasn’t even allowed that much. This was bad. “What do with them?” the ogrin asked tentatively, as Dirg stopped his advance on the cowering ogrin, his trespass forgiven with his words. Dirg considered briefly, then shot me a cunning look, locking eyes with me.

  “Kill them.” he said simply, and the ogrin nodded furiously. My eyes widened and I struggled against my chains.

  “Wait, no!” I cried out, thinking furiously, “Let them live, they’ll make good slaves!”

  Dirg laughed, “Nah. Tiny one too small, female too angry. Not even good for mating, too boney. They die.” the other ogrin nodded along, edging his way to the door now that Dirg’s attention was on someone else. “Unless…” the ogrin drew out the word, his rumbling voice vibrating deep in my chest. “You tell how you don’t die.” I winced. He wasn’t going to like my answer. Yeah sure, I found this artifact that’s now merged into my soul, I can’t get rid of it and it makes me occasionally homicidal, but I made a deal with it and now it only gets killy sometimes. Also, there was another one, but it went a bit crazy and monstery sometime in the last ten thousand years, so maybe don’t lock me up because I’m not sure how that’ll go long-term? I tried a different approach.