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Slowly, he awoke.
He looked around dazedly, at the dying embers of the fire in the centre of his hut. His shoulder burned terribly... why did his shoulder hurt so?
His mind foggy, he recalled the events of the past few hours. His ceremony had worked... the spirits of his ancestors had granted him the power to control the clans. He would bring them all together. Gently, his hand touched the tender spot on his shoulder where the symbol... his symbol... was burned into his skin.
"Varad!" came a call from outside his hut. "jo'd kada nakh man'jo bakhra?"
Quickly, he sat up. That was the clan enforcers... the ones who put traitors to death. They wanted to know what he was doing... they couldn't know. He wouldn't live to tell the tale, much less live to become the ruler of the clans.
As quietly as he could, he stamped out the fire. Luckily, all of the materials for the spell had been consumed by the ancestors' spirits. He sat back down in meditation, as was befitting of a shaman.
"kham nakh morda," he responded, as calmly as he could. "khakh dord'meh."
"dord'meh?" the voice asked. "dorga kandorh makha nor dam?"
"kham nakh morda," Varad snapped. "moj'ueh!"
The voices retreated. Varad let out a long sigh of relief. He hadn't been discovered, but it had been close. It was almost time to make his move. He would have to defeat the clan leader in single combat to become ruler. He knew, though, that the ancestors that burned the symbol onto his arm would assist him.
That was for certain.
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Translations of the above dialogue follow. I have included the dialogue in Mordokha (the language of Clan Mordok) to add to the feeling of the story.
"jo'd kada nakh man'jo bakhra?" = what was that noise before?
"kham nakh morda" = it is nothing
"khakh dord'meh" = I am meditating
"dord'meh?" = meditating?
"dorga kandorh makha nor dam?" = Are you sure you're all right?
"kham nakh morda" = it is nothing
"moj'ueh!" = begone!
(Translations for the Mordokha found in this story can also be found on the Language page.)