"I will take leave of you as well to meet with Lord Neb, and then I will return to help finish the traps and other preparations," said the druid quickly.
"This mountain fortress has never fallen into enemy hands and has never even allowed a foe to set foot inside these walls. Mason has already improved the integrity of our defenses, so we must not let him down by allowing any of these vile creatures to break down our walls. We owe it to him and to our people. We must be vigilant," declared the king boldly.
"May the Maker protect us and bless us in our time of need," said Lord Nariko solemnly. He bowed slightly and transformed into a massive brown bear. He stood up on his hind legs and raised one paw in farewell. He roared loudly as he stood there, which inspired the king and the general to shout in unison a deafening war cry. The bear then came down on all fours and lumbered off to an unknown destination.
"We are going to need him more than anyone else in this battle," said King Jarvis.
"I know. We will not be able to win the day without him. He will lead us to victory; of that I am certain. However, we cannot let him have all the fun," said General Gideon with an infectious grin.
"Too right you are. Let's get on with it then; our unwanted guests approach," replied the king as his face took on a look of fierce determination.
Mason Bardomli stood in the dark and damp entrance on the east side of one of the main halls in the dwarven underground kingdom. He was pondering how the traps should be set and how many there should be. He was methodical in his planning, which meant he never did anything out of haste or urgency. He had already organized his usual team of dwarves to assist him with this project. They knew that he would take time to think things out in his head first, and they knew better than to rush him. His plans had never failed them, and he had never put them in any danger by taking time to orchestrate a complex defensive and offensive stratagem. He was totally lost in his own thoughts as he stood rooted to the spot while he tried to find all possible weak points in his thinking. He was going over several different scenarios in his mind so that when they did begin to work they would not have to stop or undo any of their traps.
He turned around slowly to face his crew with a look of someone who had come to a definite conclusion. He looked at each member of the group in front of him without revealing what he was thinking. "We will have to be swift in laying these traps. We will divide into two groups so that the traps on the topside will be finished at the same time as the ones we lay here," said Mason gruffly.
"Which team will you lead?" asked one of the dwarves.
"I will lead the group who stays here below. Captain Barak, you will lead the above ground team. Select who you want to go with you topside after you meet with me so that I can tell you what we will do and when it will need to be completed by," said Mason in his raspy voice.
"Yes, sir!" replied the captain.
Barak quickly selected twelve dwarves to assist him in laying traps and sent them topside. He then returned to where Mason was still standing so that they could discuss the strategies that would be employed. He noticed that the stout dwarf was lost in his thoughts again, so he waited patiently for him to recognize his return before speaking. He waited for several minutes before the statuesque figure in front of him realized that he had returned from selecting his team.
"Captain Barak, I am glad to see that you have not wasted time. You will need to be that dutiful in the task that lies before you. Time is of the utmost importance," he said wryly.
"Of course, Master Mason; what is your plan?" asked the captain patiently. He did not want to rush him out of respect for who he was.
"We do not have time to dig pits, so we will have to disguise existing pits, or cliffs in your case, so we can send our enemies plunging to their deaths," Mason began. "What we will spend most of our time doing is setting up traps that will be triggered by the hordes heading our way." He went on to explain in greater detail exactly what that meant. After nearly an hour of detailing his plans, they parted ways and went to work.
All of the traps had been set and tested by the end of the next day. The underground army would arrive in about six hours and would then be led carefully to their premature deaths. Mason estimated that his creations would delay the attackers at least five days. The army approaching on the mountainside would be slowed so that they would arrive two days late. This would have both forces reaching the real dwarven defenses at the same time. For the time being, they would simply have to wait and see what would transpire. While these preparations were being made, General Gideon had finished his defenses for a long-term siege. Lord Nariko had sent his message to the bears and had already returned. He was in meetings with the general and King Jarvis while Master Mason remained below to ensure that the approaching army was sufficiently delayed.
The goblins had disposed of their torches hours ago so the dwarves would not see them before they attacked. The goblin captains were under the direction of Commander Jabari of the rock trolls. He had sent one of the little soldiers ahead to determine what path would conceal their approach the best. They had not returned, and some thought they heard a distant cry and then nothing. While the trolls waited patiently, the rest of the army began to worry and fret that they had been discovered and that the dwarves had used some sort of demon to destroy their comrades. Their jitters worsened when Jabari sent more scouts ahead and they too did not return. This time a sickening thud was heard as though there had been an avalanche of some sort. What they did not understand was that the commander was sending the scouts ahead to clear the traps that he knew the dwarves would have laid in anticipation of their underground approach.
Commander Jabari continued to send scouts ahead to spring the traps for nearly three hours. Finally, he determined that it was safe to continue forward and commanded the army to move out. As they resumed their march, more traps were sprung that sent many goblins falling to their deaths. Many of the already skittish soldiers turned tail to run away from their duties. The commander sensed this cowardice immediately and put a swift end to it. Anyone who turned around to leave was grabbed immediately by a rock troll and ripped in two. This created the desired effect so that the commander did not have to deal with any more deserters for the time being. Many of the artifices were comprised of the roof caving in, which meant that the massive army had to narrow their approach to avoid further losses.
As the army continued to approach their quarry, Commander Jabari realized what the dwarves were attempting to do. They were not only trying to delay their approach, but they were also trying to herd them like lambs to the slaughter. At that precise moment, the massive rock troll leader triggered the grand finale of traps by brush ing a secret trigger on the cavern wall, which released so many rocks from the ceiling so that every path they were on was now blocked completely. He wisely called for a complete halt and stood back to survey the damage that had been done and began to formulate a plan to get through this new barrier. The thing that perplexed him the most was the reasoning for the elaborate traps. Why did they waste so much time in preparing these diversions when they should have been preparing their defenses? Did they really think that rocks could stop us?
Jabari then used his special link to the earth to determine what path contained the weakest point in the newly created rock wall. After a few minutes of probing, it became clear to him and the other rock trolls that the path directly in front of the main body of the army had the least amount of debris in their path. He immediately decided that they would open this path up and continue their journey on this path of least resistance. They did not realize that on the other side of the temporary wall was a pit so vast that it would delay them several days while they tried to create a bridge to cross it. In fact, it would take the hybrid army four days to construct a makeshift bridge that would allow the entire army to cross over to the other side. By the time they accomplished this, five thousand goblins and two trolls would have been lost as a result of the traps laid by the dwarves. Instead of taking a day and an hal
f to reach Mount Carrick, it would take the underground army five days.
General Yuki and her army had made considerable progress during their night marches, which put them a full day ahead of schedule. They would actually reach Mount Carrick in two days instead of three. As the sun began to set on another day, she decided to send scouts ahead to find out how much farther they had to go. When the scouts returned to report, they had a frantic looks upon their faces. They informed their general that the dwarves had prepared a series of deadly traps that would trigger an avalanche if they continued on the road they were on. They could not determine what would spring the artifices, but they knew that it would be too dan gerous to continue on this high road. They suggested a safer route along the base of the mountains. They offered this suggestion cautiously because it would add at least one to two days to their march. The general did not take the news well at all.
"What are those bearded idiots playing at?" she raged rhetorically. "Commander Vahe, Lord Trahern, we need to talk right now!"
No need to scream, Yuki. We can read your thoughts. This is merely a diversionary tactic. It appears that Commander Jabari has run into some traps below us, and he has been forced to work feverishly to pass through the lethal setbacks, explained Lord Trahern patiently. He could also sense the anger welling up within their general and knew that if she could be persuaded to remain calm that she would devise a new plan that would lead them safely around the obstacles that lay ahead.
"You are right; we do need to remain calm. I think that it would be best to follow the advice of the scouts and take the low road. It would be better to arrive intact than in disarray," she said as she gained control of her temper. There is no point in wasting time and soldiers in trying to overcome the treacherous barriers ahead. The dwarves merely want to delay us, and we will oblige them. If it takes us three more days to reach them, then so be it.
I agree with your thinking, General Yuki. Let us take the low road and take our time so that we retain our numbers, which will be the deciding factor in the end, replied Commander Vahe placidly.
"Let's move out then," replied the general coolly.
As the army made their way down to the base of the mountains, the sky above became dark and did not give any light. The sky had clouded over with black threatening clouds, and the soldiers could sense the change in the atmosphere about them. This storm would slow their progress and force them to stop. There was rumbling overhead that was a precursor of the dazzling display of lightning. Loud booms followed the strikes immediately after the flashes. General Yuki had a sinking feeling that this storm was not natural. It appeared to follow them as they finally reached the plain below the mountains.
The ferocity of the storm masked the feverish work taking place high above them on the cliffs. The dwarves were busy setting the last series of traps as the storm continued to build in intensity. As the army far below continued their implacable march, all of the artifices had been set and were ready for the unsuspecting army to trigger them. There was actually no real threat on the high road following the cliff line, so the unwitting general was leading her troops directly into harm's way. The scouts had been fooled by what they had seen and had given Yuki false information that would end up costing her army time and a significant number of casualties.
The rumblings overhead masked the landslides that had been triggered by several different goblins. Rocks and debris were released and tumbled down the sides of the cliff like water rushing down a rapid. The army was hit in seven different places as the massive projectiles smashed into the sopping-wet troops. Thousands of goblins were killed instantly, and all at once there was utter chaos. Soldiers were running every which direction, and the stormy air was filled with shrieks of terror and rage. The rock trolls remained in place and protected all those that were around them. General Yuki acted as quickly as she could to regain control. She bellowed at her captains to maintain order. She then ordered Lord Trahern and Commander Vahe to ensure that there were no deserters. Immediately the rock trolls acted by grabbing several fleeing goblins and smashing them into the muddied ground. Order was quickly restored after several goblin soldiers had been used as examples.
Both armies overcame the obstacles put in place by the dwarves. Each army arrived after a six-day journey and attacked at the exact same time. The sky above remained clouded and rain continued to pour down. The mountainside had become muddied and impassible. As General Yuki approached the fortress of King Jarvis, the rain turned into snow. Immediately the temperature dropped and everything around them turned to ice. Within an hour of this change, there was more than a foot of snow accumulated on the slippery slopes of Mount Carrick. While the encumbered army tried to make headway, the dwarves bombarded them with a volley of arrows that struck the foremost soldiers, including several rock trolls. Commander Vahe ordered his siege warriors to retaliate with a cannonade of their own. The air was full of rocks, arrows, and chucks of ice as the battle commenced against the upper portion of Dagnolir's fortress.
As the underground army funneled toward the defenses of dwarves, they were hit with arrows and spears that tore through them like paper. The rock trolls were unaffected by this initial attack and moved toward the front so that they could begin their assault. As they did this, they had come into an open cavern that had an empty floorwith dwarves littering the walls. As they grabbed chunks of rock and other debris, a scolding-hot substance was poured on them from above. Their toughen hide burnt only for a few seconds before they acclimated to the rise in temperature. This distracted them long enough for the dwarven archers to send a fiery volley of arrowed into their massive attackers setting them ablaze. Shrieks of excruciating pain filled the air as the trolls thrashed about trying to put out the fires that were consuming them.
As the rock trolls flailed about, they inadvertently smashed several goblin soldiers into the ground and had set the entire cavern floor ablaze. Commander Jabari bellowed the order to retreat back the way they had come. He commanded several of his siege warriors who had not been set on fire to kill the soldiers who were spreading the fire. He did not want the fire to spread into the main body of the army and knew that he had to sacrifice his brave warriors to salvage the rest. His rage and fury began to consume him as he watched many of friends die at his command. He reared back his head so that he was staring straight up and roared as loud as he could. The cavern walls shook, and there was complete silence. The battle for Mount Carrick had begun.
Table of Contents
+ DIVIDED
+ THE FORBIDDEN MARRIAGE
+ THE HIGH ELVES
+ THE GUARDIANS
+ ANOTHER DIVISION
+ DELEGATION
+ THE DWARVES
+ REJECTION
+ PREMEDITATED MURDER
+ THE DECEIVED
+ GENERAL YUKIO S ASSAULT
+ UNIFICATION
+ RETRIBUTION
+ PREPARATION
+ THE ADVOCATE
+ ZEALOTS
+ SURROUNDED
The Broken Council Page 22
