Realm at the Edge of the multiverse

by B G Mitchell

  The forest elf angrily shouted back his response. “And who is to say they will stay and fight, not flee or even surrender to the grand necromancer and join forces with him?”

  Lathenia smiled. This was her chance. She stood up and said in her loudest voice, “I will. Given the threat we face from the grand necromancer and his new magical powers, then we at least need another sorcerer there to see if we can neutralize him. Given my connection to the city of Narderba, it should be me.”

  A few councillors grumbled rather loudly. They had not been too impressed with her plan to help the dark elves and the way she went around doing it, she looked up to the stands where the Forest elf was and noticed that he had sat down, somewhat defeated. She heard the king clear his voice, letting the chamber return to a quiet hush. He then spoke. “What Lathenia says makes sense. It seems only powerful magic will save Narderba, and she is best place to go.”

  Lathenia glimpsed her father who looked at her with worried eyes which was odd. Normally they were both so stubborn that they ended up in family arguments, but now he looked rather worried for his daughter. She gave him a reassuring nod, knowing that in her heart her plan was for the best.

  Bloodhammer wiped the sweat from his brow as looked at his forge. It was an odd feeling. It had been a bad enough with a tall human in his workshop, but he had elves now, and elves form the Council of the army. Most of them had been poring over the sacred tome and taking more notes than even he had time for, but he understood their concern.

  War with Morkagin was inevitable and given the rumours that had been flying around about the use of powerful magic, the elves were looking for any sort of advantage that they could exploit, and he thought he might have something here. After getting an idea from one of the notes in the tome, he had spent days working on his new design. It looked like a flintlock rifle but had a strange rectangle shaped scaffold attached to one side and a rectangle shaped hole in the other. It also had a slot for his new fifteen shot cartridge which was a metal rectangle that had been moulded and contained fifteen holes, each of which contained a space for the gunpowder and a small pit of wading at the back. He had also moulded the lead bullets and made them slightly bigger than the holes in the iron cartridge, meaning that the seal would be tight.

  He turned the cartridge over. There was a small groove that allowed the flintlock to strike the steel and let off a spark along the edges of the steel where a couple of small holes that would allow the spark to hit the gunpowder that would be firmly packed in and ignite the whole lot, sending the bullet out. The cartridge also had spaced along the back two little holes, one of which is used by a little pin with a spring behind which would force the cartridge to stop in the correct place. The other hole went through the cartridge and was for locking it into place with his bolt lock system, something he was rather proud of.

  What happened was when you needed another shot you simply pulled up the bolt and pulled it back which also pulled back the small pin, allowing the other spring inside the rectangle cartridge to push the cartridge forward. By now, the bolt would release the pin, allowing it to slot back into another hole and then one could push the bolt forward, locking the cartridge in place. The other great thing about the rifle was that the bullets where moulded into a shape of a point and the barrel itself was rifled. It was one of the most complex pieces he had to create, but now he was ready to test.

  One of the elves popped over to see how it was going. Bloodhammer knew him from the surface. It was Derickeer, representing the elven navy. Bloodhammer slid in the cartridge as a couple of other elves joined the party also to see the new weapon being tested. He felt the cartridge click into place. He then locked it with the bolt and took aim at a couple of barrels he had set up about ten meters away.

  He shouted to anyone who was listing. “About to fire.” He then took aim and pulled the trigger. He felt the familiar kickback through the stock. He then pulled the bolt back, heard the click as the cartridge moved to its next position, and slid the bolt back in. He then pulled the trigger again and was rewarded with another cloud of smoke and a kickback. He let off about five shots before deciding that the smoke was becoming a bit much, and he put the gun down.

  He went up to look at the barrels, followed by Derickeer. The first barrel he saw he had hit the metal ring in the middle of the barrel, exactly what he was aiming for, and it was now deformed with a couple of bullet holes. One or two had hit the wood. He then looked at the other side and found five more holes, meaning that all his bullets had managed to get into the other barrel. He also noticed bullet holes in the metal ring of the other barrel.

  “Impressive,” he heard Derickeer say to him as he marvelled at the damage. “What do you call this new weapon?”

  Bloodhammer stuttered for a second as he thought of a name. He had only thought of the function but not the name. “Well, um, the Bloodhammer Bolt action rifle.”

  Derickeer nodded and then said in a rather serious tone, “We will take five hundred.”

  Bloodhammer looked at the rifle. He had just finished the prototype, now he was going to have to mass produce them. Oh well, at least they now carried his name.

  It had been difficult for Shareriza to get a pass to Murahimand, but she had no real choice as she knew she had to investigate, as there had been some many rumours floating around, as well as the general fear it seemed everyone knew that war was on the way and the atmosphere was tense. It had taken a lot of favours to find a way in to Murahimand which had been declared off limits, and no one was allowed in or out. Even deliveries had to be done on the town border, and any cart that was traversing through had to go around the town itself.

  She knew that her contacts would pay a lot of gold for that information. Not only the elves but other wizards as well, making the favours in getting access more than worth it. The chance had come from one of her servant contacts, a wizard needed a message delivered to the grand necromancer and she had gotten the job after making sure the previous courier was not available.

  She stopped the horse she was riding outside one of the city gates as a guard came up to her. “Sorry, ma’am,” he said in his best guard voice even though he seemed to be a teenager wearing armour and a helmet way too big for him. “But I can’t let you in.”

  Shareriza gave him the best smile she could muster and showed him an envelope she held with the official council wax seal, sealing it (much to her annoyance the seal was also magical and she could not get at the message’s contents). “Important council business. I need to give this to the grand necromancer as soon as possible.” She swore she saw the boy tremble at the mention of the grand necromancer title but left it as he rushed off to get a senior officer.

  Along came another guard, a bit portlier than the last and older as well. He must have conscripted the townsfolk, she thought to herself. The insignia on his chest indicated he was a sergeant. She smiled at him rather sweetly as she showed him the letter she had. He simply grunted before replying with, “You want to see Smidley. His grandness never comes down to see mere mortals. Go down the road past the inn and take the second road right. He is at one of the forges.”

  She nodded as he opened the gate, allowing her to speed down the roadway through the town which seemed rather deserted and only one of their three shops were open with very little foot traffic about. It gave the whole town a rather eerie feeling. When she did arrive at the forge, an odd scene greeted her. They had torn down the town wall and expand their forge greatly. It now was spread out of a large area, most of it in a shallow quarry. It was a large operation with many of the townsfolk working to supply fuel for the many fires, or air for the many bellows and had a ringing tone of banging hammers. She also noticed along the edge, gangs of workers rebuilding another wall outside the quarry. It looked they may have been prisoners as they were being guarded. On the other side of that were large corrals which seemed to be filled with grey looking men who seemed rather still and did not move at all.

  Another guar
d came up to her, and she smiled at him and said, “I am looking for Smidley. I have a message from the council.” She showed the envelope as she heard the crack of a whip somewhere and the scream of the person receiving the whip. It sent a chill down her spin but she kept her composure. The guard just nodded and pointed down towards a central collection of open forges where the sound of hammering was most strong. She walked down the road leading into the quarry where she was greeted by a short man with a bald head looking at a sword. She then noticed next to him was a skeleton of what looked like an orc, with his outsized fangs in his white skull. In the chest cavity was a small glowing gem, and in its hands was a large sword. Now it seemed like a couple of blacksmith were putting on an armed chest plate.

  The bald man gave her a look as she climbed down the road and said to him, “I assume you are Smidley?”

  The man nodded as she handed the letter over. He took a look at the seal and seeing it was from the council, sighed and flicked a copper coin at her which she caught and then climbed back on her horse and headed towards the gates. As she reached the top of the quarry, she looked at the corrals filled with the grey soldiers. All of them must be risen skeletons, and she guessed there must have being about at least ten thousand and those are the ones she could see. She dreaded to think how many were armed and ready. She turned and headed towards the gate, wanting to get out of this town as fast as possible.

  The grand necromancer smiled as he looked at her spy ball. He was remotely viewing the town of Murahimand and was rather pleased with all the work going on, as the ore flowed the fires flared up, producing him new equipment for his army of the undead. The entire town was at work, no doubt costing him a fortune, but money was no object. He heard the door open and in stepped Smidley. He had a small piece of paper.

  “It’s from the wizard council. Apparently the elves have somehow found out your plans for Narderba, and they demand that you cease your invasion or they will declare war.” The grand necromancer slammed the side of the arm rest on his chair with his fist. Smidley cleared his throat, rather used to his boss’s outrages and continued. “The council request that half of the creatures you have raised be left behind to defend our borders.”

  The grand necromancer sighed and lay back. “Fine, those fools can have the security they need. I can always raise more on the way.”

  Smidley nodded and rushed out as the grand necromancer got up and looked at the map on his table. He looked back at his spy ball. He could have sworn he saw an eye in there looking back at him, but only very powerful sorcery would be able to spy on him undetected. He grabbed a sheet and threw it over the crystal ball. Better safe than sorry. Once it was covered, he went back to his map. He had already sent scouts down the tunnels of the Blackfoot hills and had set up the first supply station. He also planned to bring in human troops as well, most of them die hard mercenaries hailing from realms such as Gar, or orcs from the tribes in the untamed wastes.

  He looked back at the spy sphere. He still felt like he was being watched. He shrugged his shoulders and looked at the map and his plotting (no doubt it is evil plotting. I mean, you hardly hear of good plotting do you?).

  Lathenia had just about finished packing when she had been summoned by her father to a new proving ground where they were testing artillery. He had not spoken to her since the day in the council chambers which was a couple of weeks ago she had sent him a couple of messages as an olive branch, but he had replied that he was too busy to meet up. She noticed security had been ramped up with a couple of extra guards at the gate, and she was not the only one. Many council members were also here having a drink in the tent that overlooked the field. Her father appeared from the field where the other troops had gathered. He sighed and wiped his brow as she come over to talk to him. He saw her coming and smiled as he said, “I am sorry I have been too busy to talk to you.” He looked around, making sure no was listing. “I understand your decision to go to Narderba, just promise me one thing, that you will be careful and please take a dwarf escort.”

  Lathenia felt a lot better and smiled. “Of course, father, if you insist.”

  “Good,” he replied and then defaulted to his favourite topic of conversation which was of course the business of being in defence of the realm. “Did you see the latest report?”

  Lathenia replied in a sombre tone. “Yes, an army of skeletons, normally a mortal, even one as powerful as the grand necromancer, could raise at most three hundred and that would be a huge drain on his power. We must be dealing with a more powerful being.”

  “Indeed,” replied her father. He then pointed to far down the field where a couple of men seemed to be setting up wooden stands shaped like two dimensional soldiers from what she could see, and there seemed to be a lot of them: about fifty or so. “Thanks to the dwarves, we have got a hold of a lot of important information, thanks to the tome brought by the human wizard know as Gary, and we have managed to develop a weapon that will hopefully give us an unfair advantage in this war.”

  She looked at the other end of the field closer to the delegates and noticed far from the targets was a small structure covered in a cloth, and if she had to guess what it was she would say it was a taller cannon with a long barrel given its shape. Her father shouted above the crowd who were busy talking to each other and partaking in a tray of light refreshments.

  “Hi all, please may I direct your attention to the field where we shall test one of the new weapons.” He then waved to a small group of infantry men who pulled the cloak off the device revealing a larger cannon with a thin barrel and two large spoked metal wheels on each side. Beside the barrel seemed to be two small tubes that looked closed off as well as a metal shield that protected the gun crew. She also noticed that behind the cannon seemed to be a lever used to open doors on ships. The crew raised the gun while a sergeant shouted numbers to them and then proceeded to open the back of the barrel. She had always assumed that barrels were loaded from the front.

  Her father noticed her shock and smiled. “It gets better,” he said as the crew pushed in a heavy looking shell into the barrel followed by a small, short, cylindrical, white package. They then closed the breach and one of the infantry men pulled on a cord that let out a loud bang, sending the barrel back but not the rest of the artillery piece. It was then followed by another loud blast close to the two dimensional soldiers sending debris and pieces of wooden soldiers flying. The crew of the strange vehcile reloaded the cannon and adjusted it slightly and fired again, letting out another loud boom and causing more debris to fly down the field.

  Her father grinned widely as they dropped the cannon so the barrel was straight as a couple of other men set up wooden targets. He then spoke as they proceeded with their display. “That was a demonstration of the range of our new heavy shells for our new artillery pieces. As you can see, they do not suffer from kickback and have heavier ammo, and the barrel has also undergone a process called rifling which means the shell is more accurate. We call this the Tarian cannon. Now we shall demonstrate a shell used mostly for close range encounters.”

  His attention along with everyone else’s turned to the field where by now the targets about fifteen of them had been set up. The gun crew loaded another shell which looked to be a metal cylinder followed by another package of what she assumed was gunpowder. They then locked the barrel off and pulled the string again, letting out a loud boom, causing most of the targets to fall apart in a spray of splinters and fragments.

  Her father then said, “That shell was full of small, round, lead balls perfect for stopping any charge. Apparently it is called cartridge shot.” She tried to not let the image of living creatures being on the receiving end of that blast enter her mind. Her father continued. “Also the white packs are just gunpowder and are ignited by a flint lock system in the top of the cannon. We plan on sending two down with you and a lot of gunpowder and ammo.”

  “I knew you would have a trick up your sleeve,” she replied with a little smile.

>   Lucinda looked out the window to the city that was rebuilding itself, and it seemed all in vain as she got the warnings from her cousins, the surface elves, that a sorcerer from the surface was now preparing to march on their city with an army of risen skeletons. She had been debating with herself if her people should just abounded the city and leave it to its fate, but the elves had also told her about the greater plans of the sorcerer, which included taking Blindstone and then Ellerwyrn so they were offering what help they could, which included weapons and even troops form the Dwarves. It was amazing what a common enemy can do for relationships, she thought to herself.

  She suspected a certain goddess was behind the sorcerer given the powers he had and his first target. She noticed that the wall was going up quite well as well as the new temple to Mikiria which Nataylia was overseeing. She looked down to the courtyard of her house which was now turning into a fortress and noticed a first of what she hoped would be many dwarf caravans. It had just arrived. It contained Tankard and Bloodhammer. She also notice Thoergerod, the human wizard, coming down from another road. She had managed to convince him to train the remaining dark elf wizard apprentices which has gone rather well. At least they could now hurl fireballs at the enemy and actually hit the said enemy instead of their own troops.

  He had, of course, to be going through the paces regarding spells against the undead. She noticed Mayli walking up to the caravan rather faster than normal, her cool composure broken by the fact that the dwarves had with them their new weapon and although she had gotten to know her elven flintlock very well, the stories about the new weapon seemed to have excited her warrior soul. She was about to go down to greet the dwarves but stopped when she noticed another figure coming in from the city. It was Nataylia who seemed to spend an awful lot of time in the compound for one reason or another, not that Lucinda minded. She enjoyed Nataylia’s company even when they had ended up doing paperwork in the same office sitting in silence.