The man stepped up. “I am Lieutenant Baxter, sir.”
“Why did I beat him so easily, Lieutenant Baxter?”
“Aside from decades, if not centuries, of extra training, you are covered in armor, and he tried to fight you like you were an unarmored pirate, sir.”
Bergmann turned back to the rest. “Your quick slashes and stabs won’t work against a line of armored dwarves. We march in a week. In that time you will train with the dwarves I have brought to learn how to fight an armored opponent. You will be fighting dwarf lines with shields in front. Your height will be an advantage. There is a crease in the armor at the neck. That will be your best focal point when fighting the dwarf defensive shield wall. This will be one of a number of drills you will work on for the next week. We will have another month and a half to two months marching to Shinestone. Every night when we stop, everyone but the company that is not on watch will train. My dwarves will help prepare you. Remember this: these techniques will help fight the dwarves of Shinestone, but they will also help you after this war. When your city is the wealthiest and has the only trade agreement with any of the dwarven kingdoms, other human cities will try to take what you have. Those cities all train to fight on land. They all wear armor. This war will prepare you to protect your own city. Training starts tomorrow at first light. Give your men the rest of the day off. It’s the last one they will have.” He turned and walked off the parade field, leaving the commanders to the army.
Rupert fell in next to him. “King Merwein will likely be waiting to speak with you when you return, King Bergmann. His is very fond of his cousin.”
“Well then, he should be happy. I just saved his life. He would have gotten himself killed if I were not so generous,” Bergmann replied.
“I am sure you are correct, King Bergmann,” Rupert said.
“His Highness will sit on his cushy pillows and stay out of my way or I will replace him, and your bony ass will sit on his fluffy pillows,” Bergmann said, turning to see Rupert’s reaction.
He didn’t react at all. “I am sure that will not be necessary. I believe the king is agreeable to your terms. He may raise a fuss about a few things, but he will not likely give you too much trouble, King Bergmann,” Rupert said.
Bergmann understood what the man was saying. Whether or not he respected his king, he didn’t want anything to happen to him. The king may be useless, but he did have people around him that kept things from falling apart, like Rupert and Commander Boris. If the king were removed from his throne, the city would be in chaos as the fight for power began. Bergmann decided then that the chaos created by the loss of this city’s king might be greater than that created by him attacking the city when the war was over. He would have to think it over. For now he needed to focus on the war at hand.
Chapter Nine
Rundo and the Druids
It would take about three days of walking to make it to the woods where Rundo had left Evelyn. But, as a hawk, Rundo flew there the same afternoon. He landed in an opening in the woods and dropped his bundle out of his beak. He began manipulating his aura, changing himself back into his halfling form. A minute later he was standing in the woods as Rundo again. He got all of his gear back on and then began searching for Evelyn.
He felt every living thing in the woods. Opening himself up like this was overwhelming, so he began pushing some of the things to the back of his consciousness. Most of the plant life had a similar aura, and he pushed those away. The aura of the insects were so small that they weren’t as distracting, but there were hundreds of thousands of them, so he pushed those out of his consciousness. Now he could feel the aura of the animals. He had spent several days with Evelyn, so he knew he would easily pick her aura out from the others. She wasn’t anywhere nearby, so he began walking in the direction of the places they had slept while he stayed with her in the forest. By the time the sun was down, he was exhausted. He decided to find her in the morning. He found some soft ground, rolled his vest up into a ball, and used it as a pillow. He quickly fell fast asleep.
The sun was already a good distance above the horizon when he woke up. The light was shining through the branches on his face. When he woke up he felt Evelyn’s aura instantly. He looked in the direction, but didn’t see her. Or did he?
“A squirrel. Of all the things you are going to come as, you come as a squirrel.”
The big brown squirrel scampered down the tree with a bit less grace than a squirrel normal had. He watched as the squirrel began growing and shifting into a human woman, a beautiful, naked, human woman. When she had fully shifted back into herself, she walked towards him, smiling. She wrapped her arms around him. He couldn’t help but get excited. He had grown much more comfortable with nudity, but hers still excited him. He was attracted to her. He hugged her back.
She stepped back and looked down at him. “You came back. I have missed you.”
“I have missed you, too,” he responded, honestly trying to keep looking at her face.
She shook her head. “No, I have really missed you. I have never felt lonely in the woods before. I have always had the animals around me, but after you left I felt lonely. I have missed your company, Rundo. Are you staying?”
Rundo shook his head. “I can’t. I came to warn you and the others. We defeated the orcs, and the dwarves control Shinestone again. A few hundred orcs did escape, but they shouldn’t be able to cause too much trouble. There is another threat, though. The dwarven kingdom of Tiefes Loch has decided they want to rule over the other three dwarven kingdoms. We believe that they will be marching on Shinestone soon. They should move by these woods to the south, but I do not know where all of your friends are. If the dwarves come through here, I don’t know how they will affect the forest, but I do know that they will have a huge army. It will be more than you can stop. I came to warn you and advise you all to move somewhere safer.”
Evelyn stared at him for a moment. Finally she spoke in a hushed voice. “How long until they get here?”
Rundo shook his head. “I do not know. It will take an army from Tiefes Loch close to two months to travel that distance, unless they go through the Einode Desert, but I don’t think they would risk that. There is no telling what could happen to an army marching for weeks through the desert. But they will likely need a couple weeks to prepare to leave, so I would guess the invading force will be here in three months, but these are just guesses. I am traveling to Patria next. When the army comes, I am going to fly back to Shinestone and warn them. That will give them a few weeks’ notice. I can stop here on my way and tell you when they are coming, if you like.”
Evelyn shook her head. “I can’t make decisions about something this big. Come with me to see the Elders. It will take us less than an hour to fly to them. It is to the south so it would be on your way. I am sure they will have some questions. It would be better if you were there to answer them.”
“Okay, I will come, but I have to leave by tomorrow morning at the latest. I made a promise,” he told her earnestly.
“I understand. Thank you for coming back. This is terrible news, but I am glad that you came back,” she said hugging him again.
A few minutes later they were in the air, Rundo as a huge hawk and Evelyn as a white eagle. Messah flew around them. Rundo could always feel her excitement through the bond when he was flying with her. It took less then an hour before Evelyn began circling down to a clearing in an area of the forest that was much denser than the part of the forest they had come from. The forest became thicker the closer it got to the desert, and there was an area between the forest and the desert where a river ran between them. It had many names, but the most common was the Einode River, because it separated northern Gegend from the Einode Desert. The river was also the point of the standoff between the two areas. On one side was lush green forest or fields, depending on where a person was. On the other side was brown desert as far as the eye could see. They hadn’t gone that far south, but with Rundo’s hawk-enhanced
vision, he could see the brown of the desert in the distance. He followed Evelyn, circling down and landing in the clearing. They shifted back into their human forms and, by the time they were dressed, a man had walked into the clearing.
The man was the opposite of everything that Rundo pictured when he thought of a druid. He was short—well, short for a human; he was still taller than Rundo. He had a huge belly that threatened to pop the buttons of the very nice jacket that one would expect to see on a nobleman or wealthy merchant in one of the cities.
“Evelyn, you’re reporting back early. What has happened?” the fat man said. Then he looked at Rundo for the first time, as if he had just noticed his presence, and added, “And whom did you bring with you?”
“Brother David, this is Rundo. He is a very talented druid who has had very little training. He has been honing his abilities on his own. He is one of the companions of the dwarves. We met a few weeks ago when he passed on his way to retake the mountain with the dwarves. He came back to me today with a warning. I thought that the elders would want to hear it personally, and he agreed to come and answer their questions,” Evelyn told the man.
He looked at Rundo. “It will have to wait until tomorrow. The elders have their own business and will have to be assembled.”
Rundo nodded at the man. “I understand, but I cannot wait. If they cannot see me today then they will have to settle for what information I have given Evelyn. I have made promises to others, and I have to be on my way by first light tomorrow.”
The man stared hard at Rundo for a few seconds before responding. “And if I ordered you to stay until the elders could be ready?” the man asked.
Rundo smiled. “I do not answer to you. I am not a member of your community, and I have my own priorities. I have friends that are likely putting themselves in danger. I will be with them before they face that danger. If you attempt to stop me, you will have to kill me, and I will fight my way to my companions if I have to. Before you decide to attempt to force me to do anything, understand that I came here as a friend to bring you a warning. If you become my enemy, you should know that I may not have had much training in my ability, but I have learned to use them, and I have developed them in battle, and I have been fighting with them since I discovered I had them.” Rundo saw the aura of the man go from one of authority to one of caution.
“There will be no need for violence. If Evelyn says you are a friend, then you are welcome. I will try to attempt to assemble the elders. While you are in the community you should stay with Evelyn,” the man said, before turning and walking into the trees. Evelyn took his hand and they walked together into the forest behind him.
They walked for about a hundred paces before they reached the edge of the community. Rundo was amazed by what he saw. The trees thinned out here. He could sense the auras of all the people. There were at least a hundred people in the community, including children. There were hammocks hanging from trees in various places, and shelters had been built around the area, constructed of sticks, mud, and plants. Most of them weren’t being used at the time. Rundo saw a group of four children sitting in a circle around a man. They were all practicing the drill Evelyn had showed him, trying to blow a pile of leaves with wind. One of the boys already had the hang of it; he was spinning his leaves in a mini-vortex of wind in front of him.
A younger woman in her early twenties came running over to Evelyn and hugged her. “Evelyn, I missed you.” She saw her holding Rundo’s hand. “Who is this?” she asked excitedly.
“Erica, this is Rundo. Rundo, this is my sister Erica.”
Rundo let go of Evelyn’s hand and held it out to shake Erica’s, but she was already moving in to hug him. She stepped back and looked down at him. “It’s nice to meet you, Rundo. I have never met a druid before that wasn’t human.”
Rundo smiled. “Technically a halfling is just another breed of human, but I understand what you are saying. I have never heard of anyone like myself either. I think the mother is quite entertained with me.”
“Oh, I am sure she is,” Erica said. “Well come on, my fire is over here. My shelter isn’t very big, but it can fit the two of you at least.”
Evelyn just smiled. “It’s okay, Erica, Rundo is a master of the earth element. He can make us a shelter if he is still here tonight.”
Rundo saw her become excited at the mention of him being a master of the earth element, then saw it immediately change to disappointment when she heard he was leaving. “You’re not staying?” she asked.
“I can’t stay now. I just came to talk to the elders. I promised my friends I would catch up with them,” he told her.
“Oh, are your friends druids, too?” she asked.
Rundo smiled. “No, one is a man who is an amazing fighter; the other is the half-dwarf prince, Grundel, son of King Grizzle; and the other is King Grizzle’s wife.”
“Oh wow, you have some very interesting friends. I hope we can meet them one day,” Erica said excitedly.
“Okay, Erica, that’s enough,” Evelyn told her sister. “Sorry, we don’t meet many people outside the community. She is just excited.”
Rundo smiled up at her. “It’s fine. I don’t mind.”
When they reached Erica’s fire, she sat across the fire staring at him. He could tell she wanted to ask him something. He had to smile. “What is it?”
“Could you show me your earth element power?” she asked excitedly.
He looked curiously at Evelyn. “Earth is a very difficult element to master,” Evelyn explained. “Most druids can do only very small things with earth. Most of us can’t manipulate more than a few feet of earth, and only to a small extent.”
Rundo looked around the camp and realized that every one of the shelters had been handmade. He looked over to Erica’s small shelter. He reached out to the aura of earth entwined in her shelter. Most of the plants and sticks were dead, but the soil was still connected with the magic of the earth, and he reached in and pulled. The shelter collapsed behind Erica, and she jumped up and spun around. He reached into the soil and the ground rose up into a shelter with four walls and a roof. He continued to manipulate the soil until there was an opening on two sides and a door-shaped opening in the front. He reached into the ground next to the shelter and raised another one next to it. It couldn’t have taken more then ten minutes to finish, but when he was done he realized there was a crowd behind him.
“Amazing,” one of the men said, stepping forward.
“I could make some more,” Rundo offered, looking around.
“That won’t be necessary,” the fat man Evelyn had called Brother David said, coming to the front of the group. “Everyone, go about your business. Brother Rundo has a meeting with the elders.” Everyone nodded and moved away. Well, most everyone did. Some of them couldn’t resist the urge to go look at the two shelters he had just raised out of the ground in minutes.
“Brother Rundo, the Elders are ready to see you now. Evelyn, if you would accompany him?” the man said, turning to her.
Evelyn nodded and began walking to the far side of the community. They passed by everyone, and Rundo saw that everyone was pointing and whispering about them. He realized it was probably best that he did not build them all shelters. They would likely be leaving this place soon. He followed Evelyn through the camp and into the tree line. The trees grew thick for only about thirty paces before they opened into a small clearing about fifty feet wide. In the middle of the clearing, four men sat patiently on a thick log. Evelyn walked him over to them.
“Elders, I have brought with me Rundo. He is a self-trained druid of great skill. He is the companion of one of the dwarf leaders and he brought warning of a coming war. After hearing the news I thought it best that he present the information to you personally,” Evelyn said, and then stepped to the side so that Rundo stood alone in front of the four old men.
Three of them had long, white beards that hung down over their chests. The fourth’s hair still was gray, and he had
a clean-shaven face showing skin that didn’t quite hold to the bone like it used to. One of the white-bearded men in the middle spoke to him in a weak voice.
“Brother Rundo, would you mind telling us what brought you here?”
“Of course, but can I ask why people keep calling me ‘brother’?”
The old man smiled. “I apologize. I forgot you are a self-trained druid; they are not common. All druids are the children of Kalise, so in that sense we are all brothers and sisters.”
Rundo nodded. “I came here to warn you that there is an army marching north from Tiefes Loch. We won back the mountain of Shinestone and killed most of the orcs that had infested the place, but then the dwarves of Tiefes Loch turned on us. They are going to march north, in force, to take Shinestone. The mountain is preparing for the attack, and I came to advise you to move your people out of the path of the army, because it will be too large for you to deter.”
The gray-haired man spoke next. “How long until this army will be here?”
“It is a month’s trip on foot, but it will take an army closer to two months to make the distance. If they haven left yet, we predict they will in the next few weeks. So, by our estimation, you have two to three months before they reach these woods. I am going to Patria next. When we find out the army is close I will fly back to Shinestone and warn them. I can stop here and let you know if you want. That would give you a few weeks’ notice to move the community,” Rundo told them.
The one in front who had spoken first spoke again in his raspy voice. “That will not be necessary, Brother Rundo. We will send out our own scouts. But you are welcome back to the community anytime. Thank you for bringing us this warning. We need some time to talk this over and figure out how we should deal with this.”
Evelyn led Rundo back out of the clearing. People continued to point and whisper as they walked back through the camp, but no one approached them. Brother David was waiting with Erica when they got back.
The Half Dwarf Prince: 02 - The Dwarf War Page 8
