Shades of Grey

SHADOWS TRIBAL CAMP— APRIL 1844

As he uttered my cognomen, the warriors rejoiced in more ululations and even darker tribal calls. I began to shake apprehensively as the warriors pushed me forward. I cast one glance back at the wolfish Forma and saw the warriors force her forward with an unnerving ease. How could they control Forma when she was in such a state? Had they cast some sort of spell over her? What kind of tribe had we come across?

After we had walked for about a quarter of an hour, the chief approached a large twisted oak tree and spoke something in their native language. A knot in the trunk of the tree then opened and another light-skinned, darkly painted face emerged. He nodded once to the chief who also nodded once in response. The chief then turned to me as the man in the tree disappeared behind the knot.

“Farriyach me achmai vurgai!”

The bark of the tree abruptly swung open, revealing a dark staircase through which the entire band of warriors descended, dragging Forma and myself along roughly in their wake. We travelled down the dark tunnel and soon emerged into an expansive underground cavern that, to my surprise, housed a large wooden city.

I gasped, staring in awe at the metropolis. Torches hung along the earthen walls, casting a warm glow over the cavern. People dressed in similar fashions to the warriors walked around the city, performing their daily business. Several citizens began to speak wildly to the warriors and from their grand motions towards Forma and me; I assumed they were asking the identities of the prisoners. Each inquisitive citizen was met with the same answer: “vurgania dorchai Spaiker” and each citizen stared at me with eyes of similar shock and awe before joining the growing crowd that followed the warriors, eager for a look at me.

The chief then turned to the warriors restraining Forma and barked an order. The warriors nodded and then turned to Forma, each chanting something under their breath in their rough language. After several tense moments, the warrior in front approached Forma’s viciously snarling snout and threw a handfull of brightly coloured powder towards her nostrils. She inhaled the powder and I watched as she quickly collapsed, her strong wolf body folding in on itself as she lost consciousness. The warriors easily lifted her and carried her towards the outskirts of the city as if she weighed nothing.

“What are you doing?” I asked. “Where are you taking her?”

The chief ignored me and I was forced to watch as Forma was shoved brusquely into a hollowed out dirt cave near the city border, seconds later locked tightly behind thick wooden bars: a prison cell.

“Don’t hurt her!” I pleaded.

The warriors laughed and then began to make their shrill ululations once more, dancing wildly around me as we crossed the luminous subterranean city.