by D. M. Almond
Grubble anxiously paced in front of the massive doors to the King’s court, which he had pushed securely closed, slapping his battle-axe against his palm.
All around the city, echoes of screeching cobolds could be heard. Grubble had a heavy suspicion that the bloody Crystal had alerted the cobolds to their presence somehow. He told Bipp the dogs were coming and it was only a matter of time before they were surrounded. Logan was no use, mourning his brother in a nearly catatonic state. He just kept rocking back and forth, holding the dead man’s head to his chest.
Meanwhile Bipp was frantically searching the room for an alternate route. They could not head back out the gates of the castle. That would be akin to suicide with nowhere to hide from the hundreds of cobolds no doubt gathering in that direction. Standing their ground and facing the horde was also a death sentence. Even as good a warrior as Grubble was, the odds were overwhelmingly stacked against them. Bipp kept finding himself back at the invisible wall, kicking and cursing the damnable thing for blocking their exit.
What gnome worth his salt would build a great hall like this for a king without an escape route? Even a backwater trade port like Dudje had escape tunnels built under the mayor’s home. Sure, they were the same routes used to transport waste, but hey, what worked worked.
Bipp stopped and snapped his fingers. That gave him an idea!
He held a hand up while mentally circling the room. Another snap, and he pointed to a specific tile. Running over to it, he giggled when he saw what he was looking for. Eight runes woven together to make a larger picture etched onto the solid marble. Waggling his stubby fingers, Bipp read them to figure out the right sequence, then pushed a couple into the floor. Each one clicked in place, forming the insignia for the city engineers, and the tile popped straight up from the floor, bobbing on a spring below.
Bipp whistled for Grubble, and together they turned the large tile counter-clockwise, lifting it to reveal a tunnel.
“These are the utility shafts!” Bipp said, excited at discovering ancient Ul’kor engineering.
Outside the doors, the sound of cobolds could be heard right in the hallway. They were screaming to kill the thieving gnomes.
“Get the human,” Grubble said, thumbing over his shoulder.
“Logan we have to go now,” Bipp called as he ran over to his friend.
Logan looked over with glassy eyes and tears leaking down his face. “He’s dead,” he mumbled absently.
“C’mon now,” Grubble said, “ye’ve got to snap out if it, man. We’ve got to be getting out of here!” He grabbed Logan and shook him forcibly.
From the hallway, they could hear the cries of unlucky cobolds followed by iron spears rattling against the stone walls. Bipp guessed that some of the approaching monsters had triggered the traps.
“I can’t leave him here all alone,” Logan said.
“Ain’t said nothing ‘bout leaving no warrior behind,” Grubble said gruffly. He reached down and flung Corbin’s body over his shoulder like a sack of potatoes.
Bipp tugged on Logan’s sleeve, insisting he follow them. The doors to the king’s court rattled as something massive battered them.
“At least the bastards don’t know the combination to release the locking mechanism,” Grubble said.
The door rattled again, this time accompanied by a splintering noise.
“Not sure it’s going to matter much,” Bipp said.
Grubble hopped straight down into the hatch, disappearing from view with Corbin’s corpse. Bipp motioned for Logan to follow then jumped in behind him. Once they were all in the cramped tunnel, Logan helped Bipp move the large marble tile back in place overheard, turning it clockwise and pulling down to seal it.
They were just in time, as they heard the doors burst inward, chunks of wood rattling over the floor overhead, followed by the sounds of dozens of cobolds pouring into the room, screaming for blood.
