The Adventures of Tatyana and Rose

Okurk and the Ogres

The cave entrance was big and quiet. The cavern was a big, circular, open space crawling with stalagmites, threatening to fall at any moment. They moved through the cave gingerly, avoiding pointy rocks and small puddles of what they thought was water. Everything glowed a golden brown giving off an cool yet eerie vibe. The cavern narrowed down to a cave at the far end. It was one path that twisted at the end so the whereabouts to where it led were unknown. Tatyana and Rose stood transfixed, a bit indecisive about the unaccustomed cave.

Hadriel nudged at Tatyana which shook her out of her daze. "Okay, ummm." Tatyana looked around the dull cave for any indication of life, to no avail. "Hadriel, I thin-" Tatyana was cut off by small shrieks and clawing at the cave walls coming. The piercing cries cut through the air, echoing off the cave walls triggering Tatyana and Rose's reactions of covering their ears and cringing. "Ahhh," the girls squealed .

The screeching stopped momentarily, enough for Tatyana, Rose, and Hadriel to decide to proceed down the pathway. The cave interior became attenuated, so much as to persuade Tatyana, Rose, and Hadriel to turn around while they could. Inch by inch they got closer to the extremity of the seemingly never ending cave, until it opened up into another cavern, slightly smaller than the first. The ceiling of the cavern was eleven, even twelve feet high in some rugged areas and it contained something more interesting than just the stalagmites and stalactites from the first cave.

In the middle of the cavern stood at least a dozen of ten foot tall ogres that immobilized Tatyana and Rose from the aura of fear they had created. Hadriel seemed the only one capable of moving. The ogres whirled around to fix their eyes on the intruders, pausing their actions of chasing mice and rats who squealed and ran for their lives.

Tatyana was beginning to recover when an eleven foot ogre loomed from the shadows of the back of the cavern, a huge rat struggling in its jaw with blood running down the ogre's broad frame. The rat's cries died down as the ogre polished off his snack and eyed Tatyana, Rose, and Hadriel who was trying to catch the stray mice and rats, but stopped after realizing the shocked state Tatyana and Rose were in. He could feel the terror that was surging through their bodies and he stepped slightly in front of Tatyana and Rose.

The biggest ogre stepped in front of the others, as a leader would. The eerie light spilt across the terrifying face of the ogre who seemed more surprised than angry.

Hadriel nudged at Tatyana again and, as if transferring his courage to her, Tatyana took a step towards the gigantic creatures.

The leader, so it seemed, had red cloth wrapped around its waist and it reached down to his knees on the sides, but reached mid-thigh in the front, revealing big, thick thighs. The ogre's skin was a tannish brown with small, grey spikes lining his thighs and knee and on his broad shoulders. On each of his meaty wrists, were red cloth secured tightly like cuffs. The palms of his hands were the size of Tatyana and Rose's heads and gripped in one was a long, thin, wooden club with spikes and nails jutting out in all different directions. With the long, jagged nails, the ogre's fingers were as long as the length of Tatyana's hand.

The other ogres flanking him looked slightly different. Same big frame, but shorter and unarmed. They also had a huge heads, broad shoulders, and each had one big, curious eye. The clothing differed in size, musty colors, and material, but all serving the purpose of covering the ogres' bodies. Some of the ogres even wore bandages around their feet and thick beards that flanked their mouths. They were such an extraordinary sight, Tatyana was struggling to speak. She took a deep breath and tried to communicate with them.

"Hi," she said nervously, making sure she kept at least a step or five away from the creatures. "My name's Tatyana and this is my best friend Rose and my... " Tatyana gestured towards Hadriel, "Companion, Hadriel."

The leader of the ogre grunted and gestured towards himself. Tatyana seemed to relax and she took another step forward to shake the ogre's massive, calloused hand. Rose didn't know how but Tatyana knew exactly what the animals of the forest were saying, the way they communicated, every movement was like a word or a hand gesture a human would do. Even grunting or mumbling that Rose didn't understand, Tatyana would pick up and knew exactly what to answer, do, or say. It was amazing and was proving to be one of the most useful powers to have.

The ogre mumbled again as Tatyana and him stopped shaking hands. "You too," Tatyana said. "So, we need a favor. You... guys must know Lilith, right?" Tatyana asked the leader. After the lead ogre grumbled again, Tatyana nodded and answered "That's very good."

"Okay, his name is Okurk and he says he knows all about Lilith and what she wants and everything. And he says that he can help. Which is perfect." Tatyana translated for Rose.

"And you know she is coming today, right?" Tatyana asked and pulled her phone out of her pocket. "To be more specific," she said hitting the home button of her phone. The screen flashed brightly in the dim cave. "1:34, so in about an hour. And she's dangerous," Tatyana looked back up at Okurk who had an indecipherable expression written on his face. She wasn't exactly convincing him how fun it was to fight a powerful woman who had enough reinforcements to blow up their entire school, but honesty is the best policy, right? Tatyana was beginning to get nervous when Okurk didn't say anything, after a second he whirled around towards the other ogres and grunted loudly, swinging his club wildly and banging it relentlessly on the rocky ground of the cave, splashing water, scattering dust and rocks everywhere. Okurk opened his round mouth to reveal four, long, jagged teeth that were surrounded by smaller pointy teeth. Tatyana and Rose, startled, stumbled backwards. Hadriel scampered backwards also, growling and hissing.

Hadriel looked ready to lunge at the uncanny actions of the ogre to protect the girls but, Tatyana recovered fast enough to put a hand out in front of him. "No, no, it's okay," she said looking calm and relaxed, petting Hadriel's soft fur to trying to keep him serene.

"He was just ... hyping them up. That's good," Tatyana explained as Okurk stopped and turned back towards the girls.

"Okay, so we need to get going. Now. We need to get back to school. And," Tatyana turned her attention towards Okurk, "I'll give you more rats when we get to school, okay?"

Okurk made a sound that might've meant he was happy. Tatyana and Okurk started talking again but, Rose was too nervous about Lilith to try to comprehend them or try to listen anymore. Tatyana detected this and slung her arm around Rose. "Hey. I'm nervous too but...we'll be fine. Now, let's go."

Rose nodded and glanced back at the ogres before they all started down the cave the way they came.