 |
 |
 |
 |
|
 |
 |
Angaraks, Torak, indeed did crack the world and that he was maimed.
Fascinating as these questions are, it is not our purpose here to
expound upon them. It is sufficient to note that the Ulgos are the
source of the dispute.
At the conclusion of his discussion with the Gorim, Horban
concluded a limited trade agreement which allowed two caravans
per year to make the journey to Prolgu and to encamp in the valley
beneath the city - a valley known by an Ulgo word which,
translated, means 'where the monsters waited', a quaint term related to
their mythology. At that time, the Gorim stated that those of his
people who had the inclination might go there and view the goods
of the merchants. When Horban pressed for more frequent caravans
or even a permanent commercial community in the valley, the
Gorim denied permission, saying, 'The limitation is for your own
protection,' and refused to elaborate.
For the first hundred years, the trade with the Ulgos was woefully
unprofitable. Many times Tolnedran merchants made the long and
arduous caravan journey to Prolgu and waited the appointed three
weeks without a single customer coming up from the depths of the
earth to view their goods. Appeals to the Emperor to dispatch a
military expedition to force the Ulgos up out of their caves so that
the merchants might tempt them with their goods were largely
ineffectual, since there was nothing in the treaty requiring the Ulgos
to buy, and the city at Prolgu, situated as it is on the top of a sheer
mountain, is perhaps one of the most totally unassailable places in
the world. As one Ranite Emperor said, 'I could pour the wealth and
young manhood of the Empire into those barren mountains and
gain nothing thereby.'
In time our caravans grew smaller and were frequently
unaccompanied by troops, and occasionally they disappeared without a
trace. The Ulgos vaguely mentioned 'monsters', but refused to
elaborate.
During the invasion of the Angaraks in the 4860s and 70s, the
Algar cavalry and Drasnian infantry elements which closed in
behind the enemy on the way to the battleground before the
Arendish city of Vo Mimbre were startled by the sudden emergence
from their caverns of thousands of curiously armed Ulgos, all, as
usual, hooded and with their faces and eyes veiled against the
light.
It is evident that there is some eons-old dispute between the
Ulgos and the Angaraks, the origins of which are lost in antiquity.
The Algars and Drasnians soon had no difficulty in following the
Hordes of Kal-Torak, since the trail was littered with the bodies
of the unfortunates whom the Ulgos systematically ambushed.
Because of the sensitivity of their eyes to the light, Ulgos function
best at night, and the toll they took of the sleeping Angaraks was
ghastly.
At the Battle of Vo Mimbre, the Ulgos participated in the assault
upon the Angarak left with the Algars and the Drasnians. When
they shed their robes and hoods for battle, they revealed the
traditional armor of the Ulgos, a curious leaf-mail, shaped much like the
scales of a serpent and overlapping in such fashion that it is virtually
impenetrable. The armor is colorfully referred to as 'dragon-skin'.
During the battle, the Ulgos displayed uncommon valor, closing
savagely with the much larger Murgo warriors who held the left
flank; and after the battle when darkness had fallen, Ulgo warriors
roamed the battlefield making certain that no wounded Angarak