Broggia and Boggin worked hard on the knights' swords. They got the best ore from the mining gnomes and melted it down to the purest form. They then mixed in carbon to create an alloy that resulted in the strongest steel. They used the nearby waterfall to heat and cool-treat the steel, making it stronger than ever. From water to magma and back again, all the while hammering away at it, they formed blades of seemingly enchanted steel.
Alfred was busy training Nubio in spearwork. The boys formed lines and raised their spears. Alfred and Cory stood with Nubio as a giant stick with a huge padded ball on it was swung from a crane. This, representing an ogre's fist, swung rapidly from a hastily but well built gnome contraption.
Nubio rolled away as Alfred ducked. Cory was so impressed with their speed that he turned too late! The ball swooped right into his gut. “Oooof!” He was lifted up and into the water.
Gib and Pep high-fived atop their crane, “Got one!”
Nubio rushed into the water. “Are you okay, Cory?”
“Blah, pffut, blubb, yah, I'm okay!” burbled Cory, leaping up from the water.
Wilden and the other boys laughed as they paused their dodging exercise.
Gib and Pep elbowed each other and quickly put the ogre pad to work, hitting many unsuspecting boys and flinging them into the water next to Cory.
They clapped hands. “Oh that be a high score!”
Alfred scurried forward. “Form up! Watch the fist!”
The few survivors formed up quickly and raised their spears. Several met the padded fist and jabbed it as it swung down on them. Alfred and several others then raced in toward a bull’s-eye marked on a leather bag. They thrust their spears fiercely at it.
Gib and Pep yelled and howled from above, waving their angry fists.
Alfred traversed once again to Tirnalth's hidden gateway, the gem-filled cave was now guarded by two gnome troopers. Alfred stopped, confused to see them there.
“Why are you here?” he asked.
“On King Gup's orders!” one trooper said. This frightened Alfred for a moment, as he recalled those guards from the underground city. He wasn't sure what to do.
“Uh-hmm, we're guarding it for you, King Alfred,” the trooper said and bowed.
“For me?”
“Yes, King Gup has seen that you come here from time to time and wanted it well guarded!” the trooper said, posing in his guard stance and signaling that it was okay for King Alfred to pass.
“It's sort of a formality, a tradition.”
Alfred nodded with a confident expression and passed through. “Oh, let no one enter!”
“Yes, milord!”
Alfred trotted further into the cave. There he found his usual spot and set his lantern down. Again, its light was caught in the gems, and waves of light beams scintillated through the cavern.
Alfred turned to see Tirnalth sitting next to him. His eyes looked up at the light show.
“Tirnalth!”
“Yes my King, yes, I am here.”
“We are preparing for battle – against the ogres.”
“A final conflict to vanquish those abominations! I sense within you a purpose, Alfred.”
“Yes, I saw one of Gorbogal's riders on a giant vulture.”
“A Dark Servant, once a knight or king of some far off land, now subjugated to be a slave to her evil will. Most gave in to her charm and offerings, choosing the guile of darkness over the humility of light.”
“He easily brought the ogres to their knees!” Alfred noted.
“A spell, you want?” Tirnalth chimed.
“Yes, a spell to end them quickly and rid this land of another of Gorbogal's armies.”
Alfred threw a rock furiously against the wall. A gnome trooper rushed in to see what was going on but saw only Alfred sitting silently in the dimly dancing lights. The trooper bowed and walked back out.
“As righteously angry as you are, Alfred, do not allow the anger to overtake you. Do not let it cloud your judgment. Evil uses anger and fear to control many lives – and to cause those who are otherwise good to continue in their anger and fear, spreading it like a plague across the land. Do not ever fall into that anger. For a legion of demons will be attracted to that anger and lead you away from the light and into the acts of darkness, to doom your soul in shame and slavery.”
“Why does the Father of Light allow evil to even exist?”
“Alfred, the Father of Light does not create a prison.”
“Prison?”
“A paradise, a beautiful joyous place that you cannot leave – is still just a prison. Good cannot be good unless one can equally choose evil. The Father of Light watches us all, to see what we choose.”
“I choose good, Tirnalth!” Alfred exclaimed, a little too quickly.
“Good... chose you, my dear boy. That's why I was awakened and drew breath. That's why I was called to you.”
Alfred took a deep breath, feeling emotions rise within him as Tirnalth put his hand on his shoulder. He looked up at the wizard.
“Tirnalth, your spells of fire and light, you have this ability to control the elements. You know how to do it naturally!”
“Yes, I suppose, through feeling as you once instructed!”
“I have one I need you to teach me.”
In the center of the Sanctuary, the people had built a large stone fireplace. It was where they roasted winter deer or wild turkey and met as a large group. Verboden stood there as row upon row of men, women, children and gnomes gathered for a great feast.
Verboden raised his hands for quiet. Those gathering solemnly removed hats and put hands together. Verboden put his hands together and closed his eyes.
“Father of Light, we are grateful to be gathered here in this Sanctuary.”
The only sound was of the crackling of the fire in the hollowness of the vast cavernous space.
“Father of Light, we are grateful for your creation and your love that you have shown us. Father of Light, we pray for your return, your promise to us, to save us from the corruption and evil that has possessed your creation. We wait for you, oh Father. We wait for your love, as we have learned to love. May the justice and glory of your everlasting light be upon us. Amen.”
“Amen,” the people said softly. For a moment there was a rustling sound from people putting hats back on or stepping down from their viewing spots. Slowly, the people began to chit-chat. The banter rose as they helped one another prepare for a great feast.
The fire was hot and ready as iron spits of meat, seasoned with salts from the mines, were brought forth.
Folks with musical instruments began playing and dancing began in earnest. Abedeyan tried his luck at traditional dance with his cane, still recovering from his ordeal as a slave of the ogres. Lady Nihan helped him. Then they showed the others what the dance looked like.
Odd large bowls were being passed around. Alfred looked at the grey soup within. King Gup sipped loudly from his and motioned for Alfred to do the same. Alfred looked curiously at the bulbous bowl and lifted it to see what kind of bowl it was. It was an upside down ant head! He looked at the grey bubbling soup within. The gnomes had carved out ant heads and cooked the goo! This was the beginning of Alfred’s experiences in gnome culinary arts!
“Hormig soup!” King Gup said with an oozy grey smile.
“A whole mess of 'em out there, frozen in the fields!” Gib added, slurping.
Out of politeness with extremely puckered and quivering lips, Alfred tried to take a sip.
Loranna plopped down next to him. “Do you like it?!”
Alfred flinched, only to pour a mess of it across his mouth and face.
As he sat there with grey ooze dripping down his chin and chest, Gib chimed in, “It tastes like warm wet stone, with a nice acidic kick!” He smiled with grey stained teeth and grey soup dripping from his tiny gnome beard.
Loranna felt awful knowing she just caused this soup accident. But she couldn't help but laugh.
Alfred puc
kered his lips and turned to her with crazed eyes.
Loranna read the look instantly. “Oh no!” She leapt up and ran. Alfred wobbled up, as he was carrying the bowl of soup, and tried to fling it at her. Of course, it splattered across the girls and boys who were singing and dancing. Alfred stared wide-eyed as Loranna laughed and fell, unable to run. The girls and boys wiped off the soup, and the legendary Ant Soup War of the Sanctuary commenced.
“That's delicious ant soup!” Gib yelled.
“Hundreds more where that came from,” Pep said, gulping from his own bowl. Then a boy came by and scooped the grey ooze from it, splashing Pep of course. “Right, that is unconscionably crass!”
Pep leaped up and began tossing tiny bits of goo too! “Hah hah! Hahrr hah! You want some of this? Oh, you too?! And you? Oh, I got some for you too!” Horrific screams of terrorizing laughter echoed in the safety of the Sanctuary.
Alfred and Loranna found time away from the festive bonfire and dancing to walk along the water line. It was another predictably bluish night in the Sanctuary.
Both were wet, having washed off most of the grey stuff in the clear water. They slowly walked ankle deep in it now.
“What's it like, Alfred?”
“What?”
“Where you go? To your mother?”
“Oh, uh, Earth.”
“Yeeerth?”
“Earth. The planet where I go.”
“You go to a planet?”
“Well, a different land than here for sure. I travel there through a magic portal. It's great there, so different from here. There we don't have magic or spells. We use computers… well… they're like the gnome contraptions, and we have schools for kids and lots of books and stuff...” Alfred noticed she was looking away.
“Can you take me there sometime?”
“Oh, ah, I don't know. The magic, you know, has a mind of its own.”
“Do you have a princess over there?”
“A what?”
“Are you courting a princess over there?” Loranna looked away as she asked.
“No, Loranna, I just have my mother. Some kids at school...”
Loranna looked at him and smiled.
“I don't want to court any princess, anyway,” said Alfred.
“No, you don't want to get married?”
“Not to any princess!”
“No? Why? Isn't that what kings do?”
“I was thinking of a great female warrior. I prefer some heroic lady!”
“Well, who? I've heard of Scarlett the Red! She is a pirate along the Silver Coast! Or the Queen of the Faeries. Well, she's a queen, but legend has it she was a great human who sacrificed herself for her refuge of faeries.”
“No, no, someone more local, maybe,” said Alfred.
“A local lady, a hero who can fight? I don't recall...” continued Loranna.
“An archer perhaps? Someone who can fire arrow after arrow, hitting her mark?” he asked with a wry smile.
Loranna looked up and at Alfred. She was blushing. But then, not blushing, she looked at him with a face of a young woman.
Alfred stared wide-eyed. His lips quivered. Loranna closed her eyes and stepped very close.
“Alfred!!! King Alfred!!!” yelled a gruff voice.
Alfred careened around. Loranna opened her eyes. Both, disappointed by the interruption, turned to gaze at a stunningly fully armoured knight.
“Lord Dunther!” gasped Alfred.
Chapter Sixty-One: Battle of Grotham Keep
The gnomes hurried back through the tunnels. All were carrying tools for digging and sacks of rocks three or four times their size. Rows of them worked diligently and efficiently, tinkering away at rocks and rubble to clear the tunnels. Pep and Gib motioned quickly. The gnomes stopped their work and stood still. Gib tapped his pickaxe on the rock and listened intently. They waited. He motioned again, Pep whistled. They busied themselves anew.
“We've got access tunnels near the rubble in all quadrants!” King Gup said to King Alfred. They were in the tunnel alongside the slow moving river under Grotham Keep. Dozens of gnomes were there, ready for battle.
Bugbears trotted through fields of snow, patrolling the area outside of the ruins of the Keep. The sun was high up, and the snow was sludgy and melting. Rivulets of water formed small springs that ran through muddy fields. But it was still cold, so the bugbears huddled together as they walked along.
Out of the forest a distance away, they saw small girl archers. The bugbears immediately set up their thick shields and crossbows. The girls were a ways away, but the threat felt very real. The larger bugbear turned to the ruins and roared an alarm.
Wargog came out to an opening in the ruined walls. The War Chief, towering above him, followed. Both looked haggard and ready to leave this place. Neither wanted to fight, especially when it wasn't on their terms.
“I've never had to defend,” Wargog growled. “We only charge into battle.”
“Dah boy king iz a deeemohn! Muzt be! Dah witch sed he waz a boy! He'z not. He'z a demon!”
Wargog turned to his small ragtag group of bugbears gathering in the outer keep. “It is time for war! You are the strongest! Remember that!”
The War Chief looked to his listless ogres. Many had become somewhat emaciated and weaker, and in their eyes there was a deranged look of maleficent hunger.
“Wargogz, yur bugbearz to duh rubble! Lookz for tunnelz!” The War Chief motioned to the collapsed Hall, where the tunnels led into the Underworld. “Dey cumz crawlin oudda dere!”
Wargog motioned for his smaller bugbears to keep a guard on the lower floor. It was a maze of collapsed structures, perfect for smaller humans to crawl out of.
“Hahhr haahhrzz! Dis boy king wantz revenge!” the War Chief said. “He muzt attack now 'fore duh sun meltz duh znow and we walkz away!”
“So he will fight us now! He has to!” Wargog growled.
“Ogrez! Rockz a plenty!” the War Chief yelled. They all began picking up their collections of smooth rocks. Many had worked all winter on them. Piles of them littered the place. Many had large sacks made from dino skins. Each ogre was a mobile auto-firing cannon.
The girls hurried up the slope to get within range. Wilden, Nubio and the boys carried spears and shields, forming a wall for the archers. The scouting group of bugbears quickly loaded their crossbows and set up to fire.
“Ztupid bugbearz. Wargog lookz zee!” the War Chief yelled. “Stonez! Fire behind the buggz!”
Several ogres immediately tossed their cannonball size boulders across the field, exploding snow and mud behind the bugbears. The bugbears flinched and leapt about until they saw the stones were behind them.
Loranna and Setheyna rolled and fled as giant stones exploded all around them. “Curse those ogres!” Their elven cloaks hid them well when they were moving surreptitiously, slowly and carefully. But when exploding mud splattered their snowy cloaks, they could be seen.
“Hitz dem!” the War Chief yelled, smacking his ogre artillery. “I've zeen those faerie cloakz before!” They fired again, tossing stone after stone. Loranna and her little sister screamed in panic as the stones exploded snow and dirt all around them. They fled back down the field and into the forest.
Hedor and Ruig rushed out to help them, but the bombardment was more than any brave man could handle. Loranna ended up encouraging Hedor as they disappeared into the trees. Fortunately, none were hit, but their courage was definitely shattered.
“Hahr hahrz!” the War Chief said. “Zee, dey do dat! Decoyz! Dey show dem girlz and boyz over dere! We thinkz dat iz duh attack, denn dey comez from anuddah zide!”
The War Chief looked back to see all the ogres and bugbears standing about in the ruins. “Heyz, whooze watchin belowz!?”
Wargog gulped as he turned to see all his bugbears standing next to them. “Get back down there now!”
He smacked at his bugbears and leapt through the rubble. The bugbears, in their scruffy fur and thick leather armou
r, clanked through the rubble, down to the collapsed lower level. They peered into the darkness and saw dust-ridden tunnels with dark passages.
They growled, shocked as arrows flew at them. Several bugbears dropped as others charged. Out of the darkness of the tunnel appeared many spears. The first bugbears to get there gulped and were unable to stop. Then they were pushed forward by more bugbears charging in from behind.
Wargog looked down and saw that his bugbears were in a fight in tight quarters. He growled and sensed the outcome. He looked up at the War Chief.
“Graaahhhzz!!!” the War Chief yelled, causing fear even in Wargog. “Youz three, fire stones in dere! Dah rezt, watch dah fieldz outzide alwayz!”
The War Chief left as the three scraggly ogres set up their positions to toss their stones down into the collapsed dungeon. They couldn't see everything down there, but they knew that if they threw a stone, it would bounce around in the most destructive way.
The first to die were the remaining bugbears. Wargog grimaced as each ogre methodically swung its stones and thrust them violently into the openings. Stones exploded as careening projectiles. If they hadn't already been killed by the spearboys and archergirls, bugbears were squashed and bashed by the rocks and falling debris.
Unbeknownst to the ogres, the boys and girls retreated as quickly as they could, and the gnomes in full armour blocked the passages. As a stone rolled in, Gib pushed Pep out of the way. “Oooh this one is mine!”
The stone ball bounced violently and crashed through the tunnel and bashed into Gib. He caught it with his full tiny body and rolled down the passageway to a stop. He laughed in a drunkenly painful way. “Oooh, that's a beauty! It actually hurts soooo good!”
“I'm next!” Pep yelled, rushing forward as another stone came exploding in. He caught that one in mid-flight and flew somewhere out of sight. “Whoohh hoooohh!”
Alfred 2: And The Underworld (Alfred the Boy King) Page 37
