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madness otherwise. A poultice to draw the poison is needed, lest it run wild through
his veins, if it does not do so even now."
As Tuck heard the healer's voice, his mind went back to the fright-filled night atop
Rooks' Roost, the night Hob died from Vulg bite, and he realized at last that they
had not had with them the means necessary to stay the young buccan's death; yet
knowing this did not take the sting from behind Tuck's eyes.
The King nodded to the healer, and Haddon was held up to drink the potion. The
warrior's eyes slowly glazed over, yet he roused long enough to beckon the King
unto him. Aurion leant down to hear Haddon's faint whisper, listening closely. Then
Haddon's eyes closed, and he said no more.
As Gildor withdrew a glowing dagger from the fire, Igon asked, "Sire, what said
he?"
Wearily the King turned to them all. "He said, 'Rukha, Lokha, Ogrus.' "
There came a cry and the sound and smell of searing flesh as Gildor set the ruddy
dagger to the Vulg wound, while the healer prepared a gwyn-thyme poultice, and
Laurelin wept for Haddon's pain.
"Rücks, Hlöks, and Ogrus?" asked Delber, voicing the question for all the
Warrow company.
"And Ghûls, too," said Argo. "Don't forget the Ghûls."
"I knew it! I just knew it!" exclaimed Sandy. "That Black Wall stood out there like
Doom, lurking on the horizon. You could feel it in the air, like a storm about to
break. And now Modru comes at last."
All the company murmured in agreeement, for each Warrow there had felt the
menace crouched over the Land; and Tuck, Danner, and Patrel had come in the wee
hours of the morning to tell them the dire news.
"Hold on, buccoes," said Patrel above the babble. When quiet returned, he spoke
on. "Now I've told you about the Ghûls and their rat-tailed Hèlsteeds, just as Vidron
described them to us, only he called 'em Guula while Gildor called 'em Ghûlka. But
let me tell you what he and Gildor said about Rücks, Hlöks, and Ogrus." Again a
low murmur washed throughout the company until Patrel raised his hands for quiet.
"It seems that most of what we've been told in the past is correct," said Patrel in
the hush. "The Rück is a hand or three taller than we, and, unlike the corpse-white
Ghûl, the Rück is night dark. He's got bandy legs and skinny arms. His ears look like
bat wings, and he's got the eye of a viper yellow and slitty. Wide-mouthed he is,
with gappy, pointed teeth. He's not got a lot of skill with weapons, but Gildor says
he doesn't need much 'cause there's so many of 'em; they just swarm over you,
conquering by their very numbers. Vidron calls 'em Rutcha and Goblins; Gildor calls
'em Rucha; but by any name, they're deadly."
Patrel paused and a hubbub rose up, and Dilby called out above the babble:
"What do they fight with, Danner? Did Gildor say?"
"Ar, cudgels and hammers, mostly. Smashing weapons, he said," answered
Danner. "The Ghûls use spears and tulwars; the Rücks, smashing weapons, though
some use bows with black-shafted arrows; Hlöks usually wield scimitars and maces;
and the Ogrus fight mostly with great Warbars. All of them use others weapons, of
course whips, knives, strangling cords, scythes, flails, you name it but in the
main they stick with those I named first."
"Gildor says that the weapons with an edge or a point may be poisoned," added
Tuck. A low growl rumbled through the company.
"Yar, a minor nick from one of those can do you in days later if not treated
quickly," said Danner.
"What about the Hlöks," asked Argo, "and the Ogrus? What do they look like?"
"The Hlök is Man-sized," answered Patrel, "like the Ghûl. Their looks are
different, though, the Hlök being more Rück-like in appearance, darkish, viper eyes,
bat-wing ears. His legs are straight, and his arms strong. Unlike their small
look-alikes, the Hlök is skilled with weapons, and clever, too. And cruel. There's not
as many Hlöks are there are Rücks, but the Hlöks command the Rück squads, and
in turn are commanded by the Ghûls."
"Who tells the Ogrus what to do?" asked Finley. "Ar, and what be they like?"
"As to who commands the Ogrus, Gildor didn't say," answered Patrel. "Whether
it be Ghûls or Hlöks or someone else, he did not tell the which of it. But this he did
say: Trolls that's what Gildor calls Ogrus Trolls are huge, a giant Rück some say,
ten or twelve feet tall. They've got a stonelike hide, but scaled and greenish. Ordinary
weapons don't usually cut Ogrus, and the only sure way to kill them is to drop a big
rock on 'em, throw them off a cliff, or stab them with 'special' swords that's what
Gildor called them, 'special.' But I think he must mean 'magical,' though when I
asked him about it, he didn't seem to know what I meant by the word 'magic' "
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