Unkarra Gate (1st draft)

Chapter 22.1

They were whisked away from Marpport quickly, early the next morning. They traveled by boat upriver, each tied to a separate boat and accompanied by two men.

Matias had amassed quite the convoy. He had a number of his own men, men he had hired from the docks at Marrport, shipping companies for hire, river and hunting guides, and some of the same types of unsavoury thugs that had been hired to attack Bogrel at the dock Market.

Their first days of travel took them out of the jungle and into the hilly highlands, and ultimately back to the village they had first arrived at in Unkarra. The boats had been left behind and they had marched along the trails that led to the small mining community, and they set up a camp that nearly equalled the size of the village.

The three of them barely saw anyone outside of Matias' men. They had been kept separate and scarcely spoken to, except for Dara to confirm that this village had been their entry into Unkarra. Matias commissioned the establishment an outpost as soon as their camp was setup, so more permanent foundations were begun right away. He selected men to stay behind, and organized groups to venture into the canyons, following Bogrel's direction.

To this end, he enlisted one of his hired guides to question Bogrel for the needed information, but during the first few nights of the river journey, he had yet to get anything of value. His name was Leo, and he was already aware of the traveler's story of coming from Geberra, and it was no secret he had a desire to find the long lost homeland as well.

During the second day after setting up camp, Matias' men were very busy, and the duty of guarding the prisoners was left to the thugs hired from Marpport, including the very ones that had the altercation with Bogrel in the market.

Ezara and Dara were now kept in one tent, Ezara now had tough leather restraints about her wrists. Bogrel was kept in another tent, with similar leather restraints about his wrists. He waited in his tent, exercising his patience about the situation, considering different ways to escape, when he heard voices just outside.

"Hey, take off, we got this." There was a muted reply. "I don't care," answered the boisterous voice. "Take your stupid face and go back to your tent for the day. Or stay and have it broken." There was laughter and other crude comments, and a minute later, his tent door opened.

A few men entered all at once; they seemed vaguely familiar to Bogrel. When he took note of the beat up man with bandages around his hand, he knew where he had seen them. These were his attackers from the market assault. They spread out before them, grinning and taking drinks from bottles and wineskins.

"This is the guy that took off your fingers?" said a dirty leanman, who looked like he had collected dirt on him for years, and his unkempt uncut hair and beard was long and stringy. The injured man nodded in response.

"Like we said, boys," said a bigger man, now recognized as the victim of the sand in the eyes, "hit him down low so no one notices anything. They said watch him, but I think we could teach him a lesson while we do it."

"You got it, Garruel" said the dirty one. He moved in on Bogrel reaching to grab him up high.

Bogrel responded by waiting until the man was right on top of him, then launching a headbutt into the man's solar plexes. After the man brought his hands to his stomach in response, as he backed up in response, Bogrel brought both hands up in an uppercut and knocked him off his feet. There were both shouts and laughs from the other men, as they got more organized and surrounded him. In a few moments they had him on the ground.

The maimed man stood shakily above him. "I'll take your fingers too, and shove them straight up your ass!" he said as he kicked and kicked Bogrel in the midsection. Bogrel protected himself as much as he could, but he still took a lot of abuse.