Urg set out early in the morning to start his job. It wasn't hard work. Most norns were weak, and couldn't stop him from doing his job. He knew which ones to avoid, the so called grendel killers, but they probably couldn't do much. Just a few slaps. And what was that against his mighty punches?
He traveled to the still there was bound to be a drunk norn or two that couldn't find his way home stumbling around. Sure enough, Urg heard the voice of one of the furry creatures.
"You shouldn't have stayed here all night long," a voice said.
"I know, but I cou-couldn't find tha lift," a voice stammered. A drunk, obviously.
"Well, come on, I'll get you some soup at home to sober you up," the female said. Urg then sprung into action.
"I order you to halt!" he shouted at them, taking the lift down the the cellar. He strode toward the norns. "In the name of the Great Grendel Tribe Leader, Figgrah, I order you to come with me!"
The beautiful female, with blonde hair and green eyes, stared, with her mouth wide open in shock, and the male, a purple mountain norn, grinned.
"What'll ya do if we don't come with ya, grendy?" the drunk said, and hiccuped.
"I'll bash your heads in, that's what," Urg growled angrily. He was not going to be resisted. He grabbed the norns by their wrists, the female still in shock, and the male hiccuping, and dragged them up to the trees.
"Figgrah! I've caught two in the cellars, a drunk and a female!" Urg shouted.
"Very good, Urg," Figgrah said in his deep, evil voice. "Ah, this one is in shock. Very good, good indeed. Wonderful work, Urg. Please, take them to the island, using whatever force needed, and be on with your duties." Figgrah smiled. He was proud to have such a prospering tribe, and such a wonderful, evil, twisted mind.
"Names?" Crash, who was in charge of keeping track of prisoners, asked.
"An-Annemarie," the female stammered, as the male said, "Jordan." Urg felt sorry for taking Annemarie. She was so beautiful...
Crash jotted the names on a piece of paper. "Come on," he said, dragging them off. Urg, though he should have been off to find more norns, followed out of curiosity.
Inside the catacombs, there were cages. Inside the cages were the many norns Urg had caught. "Figgrah is going to decide what to do with them tonight," Crash said, motioning toward the imprisoned norns. "Some will be used for teaching grendels to fight. Others will become slaves of Figgrah and the Great Grendel Tribe, while the others will just be, uh, disposed of, if you get my drift."
Urg looked around the room, and felt a twinge of guilt. It was his fault these norns would suffer... But, still, Urg was born a grendel, and it was his job. Figgrah was quite nasty to anyone who opposed to him... he remembered when a grendel refused to do what Figgrah told him...that was just plain horrible. Figgrah took the grendel to the lighthouse, and the grendel was never seen again. Urg looked one last time at the beautiful Annemarie, sighed, and returned to his job.
Urg did good that day. He'd caught ten males, five females, and four babies. Still, he felt the guilt. He knew those poor norns would suffer and starve, while Urg could go about his daily life. He'd never really thought about the norns having lives before... they'd always just been inferior beings, just there for the grendels to take and enslave. Ever since the capturing of Annemarie, he'd realized it. He had a thing for Annemarie, he felt love, as it was called, for her. He'd never felt real love before. He couldn't stand the thought of Annemarie being Figgrah's slave, or, even worse, being killed for no reason. So, that night, he snuck to the catacombs.
"Wake up, Annemarie, please," Urg whispered to the norn.
"What?" she mumbled, still half asleep, and shot up when she realized it was the beast who'd captured her and her friend.
"What do you want?" she whispered angrily, balling her hands into fists.
"I want to release you, and the others," Urg whispered urgently.
"Why? Why would a grendel, and evil, disease ridden, red-eyed grendel want to help a little useless norn?"
"Because I've realized something," Urg said, and unlocked the cages. the opened the door, as he heard the lift squeaking down toward them.
"I don't trust you," Annemarie said while the others climbed out of the cage.
"You should. You'll die if you don't."
Annemarie sighed, and climbed out of the cage. Whatever this grendel did, it might as well be better than dying. "Hurry! Back in the cage!" Urg had just remembered Figgrah would come that night to decide the norn's fates, and he could hear the lift.
But it was too late. Figgrah appeared at Urgs side seconds later. "What in the name of the Grendel Mother do you think you're doing?" Figgrah shouted at Urg, shoving him into the ground. "Releasing these norns! Stupid, ungrateful, insolent idiot! I thought you'd been trained better. You were a perfect grendel, a perfect hunter. Now you go off and release the prisoners! UNACCEPTABLE! You are to die tomorrow morning, along with the nasty things you tried to save!" Urg shrunk back. He would die now, and so would the norns, all because of his guilt. Annemarie gave him a look. Pure evil. Then she thought that he didn't do it to get them killed. After all, now he would be killed with them. All because he tried to help.
"This grendel hunter of yours wasn't trying to help us! H-he was going t-to beat us," Annemarie stammered. She had to save the norns, along with Urg. She could very well have been killed by Figgrah for speaking her mind, but Urg didn't deserve to be killed. He'd helped, or at least tried to. Now she'd help him.
"Ah, Urg, I should have known. My fault, my fault," Figgrah murmured. "Go on, beat them. You can start with the one who decided to talk." Urg waited to see if Figgrah would leave. He didn't. "Go on with it, before I DO kill you, Urg," said Figgrah.
Urg stepped toward Annemarie. "I don't want to do this, really I don't..." he whispered. Annemarie nodded. "I understand."
Urg punched Annemarie, again and again, and her screams of pain filled the caverns, as the norns watched in terror, and the grendels watched in delight, until finally, Figgrah said, "You may stop," and left the cavern with the others.
Urg starred down at Annemarie, her body greatly bruised. "I'm so so sorry," he said to her. She nodded.
"I'm taking you home," Urg said, herding the norns into the lift, and carrying Annemarie. He could only hope that Figgrah wasn't watching him...