by Jeff Sabean
Not to be outdone, Abugraic howled with delight, following in Aki’s wake, using the larger human to shield his movements as he slid his fine daggers in and out of Chondri on either side. A slashed tendon here, a belly opened there, and all the while the light played weirdly on his daggers as they intermittently reflected and absorbed the sunlight, causing a dizzying effect on any trying to watch his movements.
Bendiac and Thrazzoun Brewdigger broke off to the left, fighting side by side, each wielding an identical shield with an axe and a foaming mug of ale engraved on it, Bendiac swinging his well-worn axe at any who came within his reach and Thrazzoun putting his mithril blacksmith’s hammer to similar use. The two laughed as they bounced against each other, pushing, shoving, and at times a casual onlooker would think the two fought each other. But each time they swung away from each other, another Chondri dropped to his knees, then had his head crushed or removed cleanly.
“I thought your brother couldn’t fight,” Aki called to the dwarves as they ripped through the throng of vicious Chondri.
“Ye call that fightin?” Bendiac shot back. “Yer gnome friend could swing a hammer better, iffin he could grow a beard, that is!”
“Aye, lad, yer just jealous cause yer ma liked me best!” Thrazzoun replied, laughing as he bounced off his brother’s back and smashed a rather large beast in the mouth with his hammer, shattering teeth.
From the wagon, Hankish continued to escalate the pace of his song, occasionally pausing momentarily to shout a lyric as he let loose a small quarrel from the crossbow which was cleverly concealed in the neck of his lute. As the pace quickened, so did the pace of the fighters around him, and his enemies slowed in comparison.
Standing above Hankish, the sisters took turns hurling fireballs over the heads of their companions, deep in the middle of the crowd of Chondri. Each fireball that exploded was followed with screams from the Chondri attackers and the smell of cooking seafood permeated the street. As the fighters moved deeper, Mialin would send a bolt of a different type from the palm of her hand into the attackers, weakening them and removing the blood lust which drove the Chondri warriors into a frenzy and made them more dangerous.
Zatus, not to be outdone by his taller counterparts, had climbed onto the wagon beside the Xyrstiina sisters for a better view, and was now focusing on a small figure in the back of the crowd. The figure was smaller and slighter than the massive Chondri standing in a semi-circle protecting it, and when Ja’ade removed the firewall from in front of the wagon, the cloaked figure tossed off her hood to reveal a shadow elf female, eyes blazing a bright orange in her fury.
Smiling knowingly as the shadow elf prepared a ball of flame in her hand, Zatus stared into her eyes, and a cloud of swirling colors formed around her, lifting her off the ground and extinguishing the ball of flame that had been growing in her hand. The colors dissipated, leaving her standing awkwardly for a moment: the only change being her eyes now shone with every color of the rainbow, no longer orange.
A smile played on her lips for a moment, and a new fireball began to form, larger than the last. As it reached the size of her head, she threw it into the middle of her own fighters, setting them ablaze and scattering them as they attempted to discern what happened.
Looking down at Zatus, the Xyrstiina sisters saw the same smile on his face as was splayed stupidly across the face of the shadow elf female, and they nodded at each other knowingly, increasing the pace of the fireballs they threw into the crowd so as not to be outdone by a gnome.
Aki broke through the ring of guards around the shadow elf just as she threw a second fireball into the crowd of Chondri attempting to circle back behind him. He paused for a moment, unsure of what to make of this unexpected ally, and then Abugraic spun around his left side and stuck a dagger deep into the elf right below her ribs.
Shrugging, Aki spun his tonfa from the right, blades popping out from the side as he made contact with her throat, immediately decapitating her and sending her head flying off to his left to where the Brewdigger brothers were coming through the crowd.
“Heads up, guys!” Aki yelled to the dwarves, then broke off to his right laughing maniacally as he and Abugraic chopped down their enemies on every side.
With the shadow elf removed from the fight, the majority of the remaining Chondri lost their desire to fight and began attempting to disengage. The first ripped open the closest manhole cover to dive into the tunnels below, activating the fire crystal trap left by Abugraic. A massive fireball erupted in the Chondri’s face, killing him instantly and leaving his corpse sprawled across the opening to the tunnel. The group behind him turned and found themselves face to face with Aki and Abugraic, where three fell immediately to the blades of the companions.
The fourth, diving to the side, was able to reach out and grab Abugraic by the left leg, jerking him off balance and pulling him from his feet as he slid past. The dwarf, caught off-guard as he was yanked from his feet abruptly, slammed hard on his back, and before he could recover, he felt his hip twisted in an awkward direction and heard it make a loud popping noise. He regained control long enough to hurl his left-hand dagger into the spine of the Chondri dragging him, dropping the beast where he stood.
As the rest of the party cut down the running Chondri, Aki sprinted to the side of the fallen dwarf, assessing his injuries.
“This is going to hurt. A lot. But you will live, my friend,” Aki grimly informed the dwarf. “Are you ready?”
As Abugraic nodded, Aki snatched his leg, popping it back into the socket, causing the dwarf rogue to howl in pain.
“I am going to wrap your hip with a bandage designed by Zatus,” Aki explained, reaching into his medic pack. “The tendons in your hip were ripped, but this bandage has medication woven into the threads that will cause them to heal at an accelerated pace. It will still hurt, but it will heal quickly.”
“Bah, just wrap it and let me go,” Abugraic grumbled as Aki wrapped his hip.
“You will need a crutch to walk for at least a day or two, but it should be healed by the time we reach Eskanda,” Aki continued, ignoring his patient’s complaints as he helped him into the back of the wagon beside his brother.
“A rogue thief on crutches,” mused Hankish, who had returned to composing his song as the fighting ended, “I do believe there is a good song in there somewhere...”
Chapter 7 – On the Road Again
Exiting the gate was anticlimactic, and with a quick farewell and wishes of good luck from Renout, the unlikely companions were on the road headed to Eskanda.
Having spent time in Florida as a child, Aki could not help but reminisce as he walked beside the wagon, attempting to compare the current landscape to his memories of his version of this planet. He chatted with Zatus as they plodded along, pointing out palmetto bushes and melaleuca trees and wondering which plants were native to each plane of existence. The vegetation seemed to be similar, as was the climate: the only striking difference was the orc mountain jutting up to the East as they headed toward the coast.
The day passed uneventfully, and as evening came, the group began to search for a good place to camp for the night. A suitable clearing was found on the right side of the road, closest to the mountain and away from the ocean. Each member of the party contributed to making camp: collecting firewood, starting a fire, feeding and grooming the horse, and setting up defenses in the event of a nighttime attack by anything unpleasant.
Zatus reached into his backpack and began pulling out antipersonnel mines, one after another.
“How in the world do you fit all that gear into your pack?” Aki asked. “I have never noticed how much gear you bring everywhere with you, but after you showed me it is all an illusion, somehow your rucksack has shrunk with your body size and yet contains more gear than I carry!”
“Oh, I am sorry Doc, I should have explained,” Zatus replied sheepishly. “This bag contains an extra-dimensional pocket, and all I have to do is think about the contents of the
bag and what I want, and I am able to retrieve the object. Trust me, you do not want to know how much I have stored in there, but you will be glad I have had it since before I entered your plane of existence, as I have tech from my plane as well as yours.”
“Outstanding,” breathed Aki. “Please tell me you have ammunition, or even better some long guns in there!”
“Unfortunately, I did not include any long guns in my arsenal. However, I do have the ability to reload rounds, and a few tricks up my sleeve to increase the effectiveness of the rounds. They will mostly be for Tiane, as he does not blow through ammo like the rest of you maniacs,” Zatus replied with a snort.
“Fair enough. Toss me a few of those claymores and I’ll secure the camp for the night.”
◆◆◆
An hour later, the group was settled around a fire, defenses in place with only a single safe entry into the camp site. Hankish plodded through the safe area, whistling a lively tune and carrying a stringer of fish he had just caught.
“How did ye catch all them fish so fast?” Thrazzoun asked, dumbfounded.
“I asked them nicely,” Hankish replied, feigning disgust at being asked such a simple question.
“Ye...ye what now?” interjected Bendiac, answering for his flabbergasted brother.
“I asked them nicely,” Hankish repeated, more slowly this time. “How do YOU catch fish?”
“I, uh, I... oh never ye mind, gimme a fish to clean,” the dwarf grumbled, stomping over to the halfling and snatching a fish from the stringer.
The rest of the group stifled grins, knowing better than to upset a flustered dwarf, and having already learned not to question the halfling or his bizarre behavior. The fish were cleaned quickly and set to cooking, and the group settled in to wait.
“Tell me, Aki, what did you place around the camp to protect us this night?” Hankish asked as he tuned his lute.
“It is called a claymore mine, and it is used for setting ambushes or protecting an area, such as our camp. It has an explosive in the back, and the front is packed with steel balls. If anything trips the wires I set, or if I squeeze the detonators, it will explode, projecting the balls outward and destroying anything in front of the mine. It would be a waste for a single intruder, but if a group of orcs attack a single claymore mine could decimate a group of them,” Aki explained as he watched the fire lick the fish, turning it a golden color.
“Amazing. I almost hope we run into a group of orcs this night so I may see this ‘claymore mine’ in action!”
Heads nodded all around the campfire at his statement.
“I tell you what, my friend,” Aki replied with a smile, “if we do not get to kill anything this night, I will detonate one of the mines in the morning before we leave.”
“Is it wise to waste a claymore?” Zatus asked, as the rest of the group agreed with Aki that detonating one for a display was an excellent idea.
“We should show them how they work in case they need to use them along the way,” Aki replied, to the delight of everyone but Zatus. “Besides, my tiny friend,” he continued with a wink, “if there is one thing I know about you, it is that you will come up with some new way for me to blow something up when we run out of claymores.”
“Flattery will get you nowhere, old man,” Zatus muttered, attempting to hide a grin.
“That reminds me, I never asked how old you are. I know the stories of elves and dwarves and gnomes from books and movies, but I never asked what your lifespan is now that I know you are not human.”
Zatus paused, staring at his friend for a moment before answering.
“In some cultures, it is considered rude to ask such things,” he stated, a solemn look on his face.
“All of a sudden there are off-limit conversations?” Aki asked, the shock apparent on his face as all other conversations around the fire stopped abruptly, awaiting the response.
“Nope,” Zatus laughed, easing the tension immediately, “but you should see the look on your face, old man! To answer your question, I am 73 years old, which is old for a human, but not so much for a gnome. I can live another hundred years unless my timeline is unnaturally stopped.”
“Interesting,” Aki said, nodding his head, “And dwarves?” he asked, turning to the three dwarves across the fire from him, “How long can you live?”
“Ahh, wouldn’t ye be likin to know?” Bendiac answered at the same time Thrazzoun stated “Two to Three Hundred years on average.”
The two stared hard at each other for a moment, and the whole group burst into laughter.
“It is not polite to ask my people, so do not try,” Hankish stated, leaving no room for debate.
“Where you come from, I doubt it is polite to ask a lady her age,” Ja’ade offered, a twinkle in her eye, “but to be polite, human life spans are the same here as in your world, assuming they are not ended prematurely by curiosity...” She winked at Aki as she finished speaking, bringing a slight blush to his face and an evil grin to her sister’s.
“Uh, are the fish done yet?” Aki stuttered, feeling suddenly uncomfortable with the conversation.
“Aye, and ye should be stickin some in yer mouth before yer sayin some other stupidity,” Bendiac stated, bringing howls of laughter from the rest of the group.
As the food was passed around the fire, an explosion shattered the silence on the East side of the camp, closest to the mountain, a flash of flame temporarily lighting up the night and showing a horde of dark shadows moving toward the fire.
“Aww, just as I was finally going to eat,” Hankish scowled, picking up his lute and beginning to play. “Make this fast, people, it is not wise to keep a halfling from his meal!”
As the notes of the song washed over the camp, the members of the party felt their movement speed quicken, and there was simultaneously a calming effect not normally found after an explosion.
“I will light up the sky in that direction for our friends who cannot see in the dark,” Mialin stated, waving her hand toward where the explosion had occurred moments before. A wall of flame appeared just above the ground and screams of pain accompanied the flames as a group of orcs were instantly set ablaze and the bodies of the goblins who had set off the claymore became apparent.
“Keep an eye the other directions as well,” Aki called out, “they may try to flank us, and you don’t want to end up in front of the other claymores if that happens!”
With that, Bendiac, Thrazzoun, Aki, and Abugraic began to rush toward the flames and the oncoming orc mob as the Xyrstiina sisters and Zatus stayed in the camp, protecting the horse and wagon and providing ranged support to the group.
The melee fighters had not made it more than a few paces when another explosion rocked the camp, this time from the North side, as another claymore mine was triggered. This time, the ground shook slightly with the explosion, causing the fighters to pause in place, second guessing their decision to rush the oncoming mob. As the third claymore was detonated via trip wire, the ground shook yet again, slightly harder than the last time, and the companions looked to each other in the flickering firelight with apprehension.
All around the camp, the sounds of orcs being shredded by the ball bearings from the claymore mines echoed, as one after another each mine was detonated, the ground beginning to shake more and more with each successive blast.
“Back to the wagon, keep it tight!” Aki commanded, waiving the others to form a tight circle and protect the camp, as the ground continued to shake.
“On a positive note,” Zatus stated as the fighters took up defensive positions around him, “it would appear that none of the orc horde has made it through our external defenses.”
“Won’t be doing us much good if the ground swallows us up, little one,” Bendiac stated, drawing a series of nods from each member of the group.
His words seemed to be prophetic at that moment, as a sinkhole appeared a short distance from the wagon and began growing larger as the companions watched.
“Get off the wagon!” shouted Aki, “We need to get away from that hole fast...”
Whatever he was going to say next was drowned out by the sound of the ground opening beneath them, a landslide forcing the wagon and each member of the party underground.
Chapter 8 – The World Below
The landslide only lasted a few seconds before the ground completely disappeared beneath the falling companions. The horse and wagon turned sideways as they cleared the debris, the horse’s cries being muffled by the sound of falling earth and rock and the contents of the wagon breaking free of their bindings.
The fall seemed to last forever to the unfortunate members of the group who were caught in mid-air, although it only took a few seconds to drop the fifty feet to the subterranean lake below. Mercifully, the horse died on impact as the wagon landed on top of it, but the contents of the wagon were immediately lost to the depths.
The sisters and Hankish, who had begun the fall on top of the wagon, were able to push free before impact, landing in the water relatively safely as rocks and dirt rained down from above.
Ja’ade waved her hand above where the wagon entered the water, and a translucent barrier appeared above the impact area, pushing the rubble away from where her companions were surfacing around her.
“Did everyone make it alive?” Aki sputtered, coughing up the water forced into his lungs upon the surprise water landing.
Counting heads above water, Zatus gave his friend a thumbs-up gesture, still shaken by the impact and not prepared to carry on a conversation yet.
“Everyone but the horse,” Hankish stated matter-of-factly. “What is it with you Brewdiggers and losing pack horses?”
“Now may not be the time for sarcasm,” Aki whispered to the bard, “they just lost their wagon and all their goods, and Bendiac might kill you if you push him too far...”
