NakhuKhan

Tales of Nakhu Woebringer (Prelude - Part 1)

Dokholkhu Skullcleaver lounged upon his fur-draped cushions on the raised dais of the massive timber and stone hall in which he held court. As he drank the fermented wolf’s milk he favored, he smiled as he watched his warriors in revelry, celebrating a successful foray against an ogrish incursion into Warsong lands. He glanced at the empty cushions beside him and wished his mate was here to enjoy the merrymaking with him, but Chakka was absent from the night’s festivities. They had quarreled again over their wayward daughter, Yesui, and Chakha was brooding in their sleeping quarters. Dokholkhu was a feared warrior and cunning strategist who had earned his surname on battlefields the length and breadth of Nagrand, but now his brows furrowed at the thought of what awaited him at night’s end when necessity dictated he return to his mate. Perhaps, he thought, I can bed down with the wolves...

His thoughts were interrupted as he saw his brother, Akhutai, approaching. His frown deepened as his brother came closer, for the look on his face was such that Dokholkhu knew his brother was not coming to engage in pleasant conversation.

“I need to speak to you, Dokholkhu, both as your brother and as Farseer.”

Dokholkhu sighed deeply and drained the last of his drink, before tossing his empty cup to a waiting attendant. 

“What is so important that it could not wait until tomorrow?”

“Yesui,” came the reply.

Dokholkhu cursed under his breath. “My rebellious daughter has caused me quite enough trouble for one day, he snapped. Is it not enough that Chakha worries me like a wolf with a talbuk bone in regards to her? Now, I must hear it from you, as well?”

Akhutai sighed. “It is not my intent to add to your troubles, brother, but this cannot wait. Take a walk with me? It would be best if only you and I are party to our discussion.”

Dokholkhu gave his brother a quizzical look before nodding his assent. The two brothers slipped out the back of the hall and disappeared into the night. 

After walking for sometime, Dokholkhu broke the silence. “Are we to walk to Talador before you speak your mind?,” he said testily.

Akhutai glanced around to make sure they had not been followed. Satisfied that he and his brother were alone, he replied “This is likely far enough from camp for secrecy. Once I have given you my counsel, I am sure you will understand the need for discretion.”

Dokholkhu glared at his brother. “Get on with it.”

Taking a deep breath, Akhutai began. “All know the love you had for Yesui and the pride you took in her accomplishments, but truth be told, you spoiled the girl.” 

Dokholkhu started to interject, but his brother raised a hand to stave him off. “It is not my intention to  criticize your parenting, but you allowed love and pride to blind you to the willful young orc your lack of discipline created. That willfulness has led to her estrangement from you, not to mention discord between you and Chakha, has it not?.”

“Get to your point,” Dokholkhu snarled.

“My point, brother, is that Yesui must die...and soon.”

“Have you gone mad?” Dokholkhu exclaimed after a brief, shocked silence. “I have disowned her for her refusal to take as her mate the Clan chief’s cousin and for choosing instead that thrice-cursed Nakrosh, but do you truly think me capable of having her murdered for this offense?” 

“You must, brother,” Akhutai replied, “not for her intransigence, but because of the thing that grows in her belly.” 

Dokholhhu scowled. “She is with child? You know this to be true?”

The Farseer nodded. “She is, brother. I have seen it in the flames. That and more”

Dokholkhu frowned, as he waited for his brother to continue. 

“I have communed with the Ancestors, brother, and they tell me Yesui’s spawn will be a bringer of woe. He will be the bane of his enemies, but also of his family. He will wade through an ocean of blood, bringing death to those he hates and calamity to those he loves. None who encounter him, be they friend or foe, will be safe from the doom that follows in his wake.”

Dokholkhu sat on the dew damp ground and took his head in his hands as he contemplated his brother’s words. As much as he wanted to dismiss them, he knew his brother was a famed farseer of the Warsong Clan and the Ancestors were known to speak to him.

Akhutai waited in silence as his brother sat there wrestling with what he had heard. After a time, Dokholkhu raised his head and looked at his brother. “The Ancestors are sure of this? They deem it necessary to kill my daughter and grandchild?” 

There were tears in Dokholkhu’s eyes as Akhutai stepped forward and put a comforting hand upon his brother’s shoulder. “ They do,” he said quietly. 

Dokholkhu sighed deeply and wiped his eyes, as he stood up. His face was hard as he nodded to his brother, who no longer saw a distraught father, but a sub-chieftain of the Warsong Clan before him. “A leader must make hard choices, my brother.” After the slightest of pauses, he added. “Do what must be done.”