High Chief Ulurmak

  Adventurer Level: N/A

  Orc - Kirkenian

  I must be cursed. There's no other explanation. We've been attacked by drow, vampires, and daemons all under my rule, and I hadn't even sired an heir yet.

  The paperwork of the day all revolved around conscription. I had hoped that it wouldn't have been necessary. Unfortunately, when the call went out for the Great Chiefs to gather their forces they all reported a lack of willing volunteers.

  That was probably my fault, though. The last daemonic invasion had devastated most of the continent. Because of that, I had wanted to avoid starting a panic by telling everyone who the enemy was. Whether that was a foolish decision or not would be something that future historians could worry about, though.

  In the previous invasion, the crafty bastards had snatched us by the nose from the very start. They'd pitted powerful mages against each other, assassinated peacekeeping kings, and had done everything they could to make life miserable before they invaded. They were probably trying to do something similar this time around, but the strategy was fairly obvious.

  Bolisir and Calkuti had both been invaded, but my lands seemed to be daemon-free. If the daemons had even an inkling of the political situation on our plane, the only reason they would strike in this manner would be to divide my forces between supporting my allies. The natural next step would be to invade the Unified Chiefdoms.

  If I had to wager a guess, I'd say that the daemons would try to get a foothold somewhere in the south, where we don't have nearly as many sold-

  "Brother!" a deep, rumbling voice startled me.

  I had dimly been aware of the door opening, but had been too caught up in my thoughts and work to see who had entered. My eyes widened as I examined the burly orc who had snuck into my office. Rayzun popped his head in, looking exasperated.

  "My apologies, High Chief, I tried to stop him but-"

  "But I side-stepped him like he was a street sign," Agurno grinned. "And then I walked here quicker than he could run. Snuck right in, too. You should beef up your security."

  I held a hand up to soothe Rayzun's bruised ego and then gestured a dismissal. He nodded and left, closing the door behind him. Even through the door, we heard him heave a heavy sigh of frustration.

  "Rayzun and his ilk aren't security, they're administrators," I grinned. "I'm my own security."

  "That's dangerous, though."

  "Is it?" I cracked my neck, sending small but noticeable shudders through the office. "I'm of the opinion that someone who can take my head is more than worthy enough to lead this nation. They would need a ready supply of both physical strength and intellectual fortitude to do so."

  "Okay, but what if your killer isn't a conqueror? What if it's a foreign agent trying to destabilize our nation?"

  "I've got contingencies in place to make sure that if I die without an heir, the UC will be fine," I waved my hand dismissively. "What the fuck do you want, anyway? Surely, you didn't come here to grill me on our national security?"

  "No, I didn't," Agurno sighed. "I... I don't really know how to put it, though. I need your advice."

  My heart ached a little. We had spent a lot of time together as children, before father decided that my every waking moment needed to be spent learning the art of ruling. By the time I was strong enough to tell my father to go fuck himself, though, Agurno had grown past needing an older brother.

  We managed to get to know each other a little better as adults, but it wasn't as if we had the deepest of relationships. Actually, it would be more reasonable to say that we barely even knew each other at all. But I knew my brother well enough to tell that whatever he wanted to talk about was weighing heavily on him.

  "Well, grab a cushion and take your time finding the words," I gestured at the stack of cushions against the wall. "It's not like I'm busy or anything..."

  We both looked at the massive stacks of papers on my desk, then at the stacks of papers on the floor next to me. He let out a booming laugh at my misfortune, then grabbed a cushion and sat in front of me, twisting his sword belt so that the sheathed weapon rested on his lap. I returned my attention to the paperwork as he gathered his thoughts.

  "Am I a bad father?" he asked after a few moments of silence.

  "Yes," I answered.

  "Shit, that was blunt."

  "I suppose it was, but I wasn't trying to harm you with my answer. I was simply answering you with the fact of the matter. I don't have the closest ties to your children, but I do sometimes speak with my nephew, and even a fool can tell that your absence has done him harm. And I can only imagine the pain that your absence has brought little Nima."

  My brother crossed his legs and began bouncing the right one. It was apparent that my words had stung, but the only way to have been able to lessen that sting would have been to lie. After another moment of silent contemplation, he let out a deep sigh that ruffled a few of my papers.

  "What if my presence would have been worse than my absence, though?" he asked. "What if I did them both a favor by staying away?"

  "I don't know, Agurno," I sighed in return. "Are you truly such a despicable person that you can't be trusted around your own children, though?"

  "I... I don't know. Maybe, sometimes."

  "The last time I checked you don't have any legitimate bounties on your head, and the worst crime you've been accused of is public disruption and vandalism. I'm sure that if we were to question people on the content of your character most of them would review it positively, as well. Hells, most villages and towns that I'm aware of consider you a hero beyond reproach. So what is it that makes you believe that your absence is best for your children?"

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  "I-I don't know. I'm not as good of a person as I've made myself out to be. I'm selfish, cruel, and a bully."

  "What mer with power isn't selfish?" I chuckled. "But I ask you, who are you cruel to? Who do you bully? If you were a bully to everyone, it would be the talk of the town and I would have definitely heard tale of it."

  "Those that deserve it, usually, but only because I care about what people think about me. I want people to see me as a hero, so I act heroic around them. Meanwhile, I'm unnecessarily cruel to my enemies. I can kill most of them instantly, but I choose to delay their death in the hopes that they give me a challenge. Even when I know that they can't."

  "Okay? We've all got darkness in our hearts, brother. Is it a bad thing to teach your children to direct that darkness towards evil?"

  "I-I guess not. I don't know," my brother said, wiping his face. "I've justified my departure in my head thousands of times, but now that you're actually asking me, the words seem to ring hollow."

  "Do you regret having your children?" I asked.

  "I don't really know how to answer that. Being a father felt... Suffocating. Like I couldn't be me anymore, like I had to mask who I was whenever I was around my kids. It came with worries that chained me, fears that threatened to paralyze me," he let out a wet sniff. "But... They turned out okay, right? Alurn is well on his way to being a hero, and Nima has a respectable job with the Adventurer's Guild. They're both pillars of the community. So I'd be lying if I said that I wished they were never born. I just..."

  "You just wish you'd been a father for them."

  "Not quite. I wish that I'd had the discipline to settle down for them."

  "I see. So what advice or counsel have you come to seek from me, then?" I asked, leaning back in my seat.

  "How do I..." my brother paused, a flicker of dread flitting upon his features. "Is it even possible for me to make amends?"

  His somber expression turned to confusion as I began to laugh uproariously. As my laughter continued, his bewilderment shifted to anger.

  "I'm serious," he growled.

  "I know!" I continued laughing. "That makes it more hilarious!"

  "What's funny?" he demanded angrily. "Is my question so utterly hopeless that it's driven you to hysterics?"

  "No, no, it's just..." I took a deep breath and wiped a tear from my eye. "It's just that if you had told me yesterday that we'd be having this conversation today, I'd think you mad. We've seen each other no more than three times this last decade, and yet you value my wisdom so much that you'd ask me such a lofty question? What happened to the younger brother who believed himself so much smarter than me?"

  "He grew up," Agurno said flatly, crossing his arms. "I've come to realize that we are both smart, in our own ways. For instance, I know more about slaying monsters, hunting, and fighting than you do. However, you know more about the inner workings of the heart than I do."

  "How so? I don't have a family of my own."

  "That's because you're smart enough to know that your heart isn't in it yet, and have craftily avoided the very situation in which I currently find myself."

  "Good point," I chuckled. "And bonus points for the self-awareness. Fine, returning to your question, whether or not it's possible to make amends depends entirely upon the one that was wronged. Some will forgive you outright, without requiring even a hint of penance. Others will hold their grudge until their final breath, regardless of how much you suffer and sacrifice."

  "I see. Well, I strongly suspect that I know which child will be which."

  "No, brother, it isn't an either or. Your children will be somewhere between the two options, and not necessarily on either extreme. The only way to find out if they can forgive you, though, is to try to make amends."

  "Hmm..." he looked down. "Wise words. And how do I go about making amends?"

  "What, you want me to wipe your ass for you while you're at it?" I asked, annoyed. "Start with an apology and work from there. Maybe apologize to their mothers first. If you can't figure out the rest, you don't deserve to be forgiven."

  "Gods damn, Ulurmak," he chuckled. "Kick a mer while he's down, why don't you? Fine. I'll start by apologizing to my exes and see where that goe-"

  A knock at the door interrupted him. It opened, and Rayzun popped his head in once again.

  "What is it?" I asked.

  "High Chief, Nick Smith and Yulk Alta have returned and wish to see you. Shall I tell them you're... Preoccupied?"

  "That won't be necessary," Agurno stood. "I've heard the answers to my most pressing questions."

  He turned to leave, then paused.

  "Oh, you're aware of the daemonic invasion, yes?" he asked.

  "I am," I replied.

  "Okay, good. Thought so, but never hurts to check. I'll be off."

  Rayzun deftly removed himself as an obstacle as my brother replaced his cushion and left my office. Where he would go next would be anyone's guess. Still, it was nice to see him again, and a balm upon my soul to know that he's finally taking accountability for his actions. Or thinking about it, at least.

  "Send them in," I said to Rayzun.

  He nodded and left. Before I could finish the next page of my paperwork, the door opened again. Yulk and Nick were quickly ushered in by Rayzun, who cleared his throat.

  "High Chief Ulurmak, may I prese-"

  "Skip it," I interrupted wearily. "Leave us, please."

  "Yes, High Chief."

  Rayzun bowed and left the room. Still focusing on my paperwork, I gestured to the cushions and the boys each grabbed one. Once they were settled in, I turned my attention to Yulk.

  "Well, what brings you by?" I asked.

  "Our purpose is twofold, High Chief," he said, adopting a grandiose tone. "First, we are to make you aware of a daemonic threat to the village of Nuleva."

  "Nuleva?"

  "Yes, sir, the village around the Delver's Dungeon."

  "I see. So the daemons aren't just attacking Bolisir and Calkuti, after all."

  "They appeared from a rift within the dungeon, headed by a daemon known as Marquess Naberius," Yulk explained.

  The name rang in my head like a bell. As a child, I'd been forced to learn the history of every major conflict that my family had ever been a part of. Marquess Naberius wasn't mentioned often, but the portions of my studies that did mention him were graphic.

  He was the commander of the daemons, seemingly obsessed with conquering the mortal plane. The few eyewitness accounts of him paint him as grandiose, well-spoken, and terribly cruel. A story about him convincing children to eat their own parents with nothing but pretty words and veiled threats haunted my dreams as a child.

  "Their plan was to take the village and use it as a base to further invade the Unified Chiefdoms," Yulk continued. "We managed to stall them by collapsing a portion of the dungeon, then sealed the dungeon's entrance."

  "How long will that hold them?" I asked.

  "We don't know," he said. "The barriers that we added probably won't stop them, but they might slow them down. The seal itself is also quite potent, but I don't know what the daemons are capable of. It may or may not be able to stop them."

  "We shouldn't count on that."

  I looked at all of the conscription forms on my desk. The Delver's Dungeon, and by extension the village of Nuleva, were to the south. I almost chuckled to myself, proud that I'd accurately guessed their plan.

  "I'll send some soldiers," I said. "Anyone who has already joined our forces from Nuleva will be transferred back to aid in its defense, should the need arise. The Kirkena Regulars will join them."

  "But what if Calkuti and Bolisir call for aid, High Chief?" Yulk asked.

  It was a surprisingly astute question from someone who has the airs of one obsessed with magic. I raised an eyebrow at the young orc.

  "They likely won't, but if they do, the Great Chiefs will reinforce them. Though they'll definitely bitch and moan about it. I can picture them saying that I'm sending them to die so that I can continue living in the lap of luxury," I laughed, then gestured at the paperwork. "Such as it is. Fret not, young Alta. Nuleva will be defended and our allies will be reinforced, if they require it. What was the second thing?"

  "We need to find an anyelic rift, sir," he said. "To do so, we need to figure out where the anyels entered our realm from during the last invasion."

  "The Hall of Records should be your next stop, then. The curators frequently boast that it contains the most complete historical record in the world. If that claim isn't as dubious as I suspect it is, you should be able to find what you're looking for."

  "Thank you, High Chief," Yulk began to stand.

  "Oh, not so fast," I grinned. "The last I heard, you were meeting with the Summer Court. You even left your post at the academy to do so. The post I have so generously held open for you."

  "Ah, w-well, yes..."

  "I do believe I'm owed a tale, then, am I not?"

  "I-I suppose."

  I pushed the papers to the side and grinned widely, happy to take a break.

  "Then why don't you tell me about your adventures, including why you need to find an anyelic rift."