by Clark Graham
The members of the patrol packed up and headed out in less than an hour. Sarchise was wishing he was going with them and wondering how he could sneak off without Hemlot knowing. Hemlot for his part was keeping an eye on the patrol and watched them leave.
“Well, that didn’t do me any good, I’m still sitting here waiting,” Sarchise complained.
They sat there for another two days when one of the guards reported seeing movement in the forest coming from the south. The outpost was put on alert, but before the walls could be manned, there came from the forest an army of men led by Ermort.
“Greetings from the Governor of South Fort,” Ermort said with his usual smile.
“Greetings, my friend,” Sarchise said, hugging him. “Am I glad to see you! How many men did you bring?”
“Two hundred, plus those you have left spread out across the Westwood and High Mountain.”
Sarchise laughed. “What news do you have?”
“We passed an army of dwarves on our way here, they should be here in about a day. The encampment around the old elf tree is still manned by a few dwarves, but all of the men are now with me. I have a letter from the governor for you.” Ermort said.
Sarchise read the letter.
“It is grave news that the Minotaur are up to their old tricks. We are fortifying the city and have sent messengers to the Four Kingdoms warning them. They are making preparations for war. I am sending a small army into the Westwood to gather information. When the intent of the enemy is known they are to report back to South Fort along with those men formerly under your command.
“The General of the Royal Scouts has come to me requesting that I separate the commanders of the dwarves and men. Since you are a commander of the dwarves, the command of the men will go to Ermort.”
(Signed) Governor of South Fort.”
Ermort gave a sheepish smile. “Sorry old man. You caused quite a stir becoming a dwarf prince. The General was not happy about it.”
Sarchise shrugged, “Oh well, maybe when all this is over things will go back to normal. Two of your men are on a long range patrol, Hardyn and Sal. What are your orders?”
“Just what it said in the letter, I am to figure out what is going on and do what I can to get a message back.”
“Why do you need two hundred men to do this?” Sarchise asked.
“He figures that if we run across a gremlin army then he has more hope of at least someone getting back. Our mission is very important.”
I have something you should meet then,” Sarchise smiled.
Barazar was still strapped to the tree. He was sleeping when they walked up. “Is it alive?”
On hearing voices Barazar’s eyes flashed open.
“Does that answer your question?” smiled Sarchise.
“What do you want human? Am I a prize to be shown off?” Barazar growled.
“I have sent a patrol to scout out your cities. They will report back if what you told me is true.” Sarchise said.
“Good,” said Barazar.
“What did he tell you?” asked Ermort.
“The gremlins have turned against the Minotaur and are destroying them. Cazz has come across some and killed them. We found him, along with some gremlins in a spider’s liar. I sent out a long range patrol to find out what is going on and am now awaiting their return.” Sarchise explained.
Ermort looked at the Minotaur’s horns intently, “My Uncle was gored by one of these. Ripped up his shoulder and into his neck, he barely survived. He has massive scars, and has never been able to use his right arm again. If you kill this one I should like to have his horns to give to my Uncle.”
Barazar’s eyes opened wide with surprise and then narrowed in anger.
“If he’s lying to me, the horns are yours,” Sarchise said, Barazar fell silent.
The next day the army of high dwarves crashed their way into the encampment. Unlike the human army, you could hear the dwarves coming long before you saw them. They were greeted warmly, mostly because they brought with them fresh bread, meat and cheese from High Mountain. Spirits soared that night during the feast around the bonfire. For the first time in a long time he heard singing dwarves. Even some of the men joined in.
Three days later, the other three dwarf armies made their way into the encampment. They were thinner than the others. Food was becoming scarcer and scarcer. Cazz’s army was particularly in bad shape because they had been in the field the longest. They were fed from the fresh food stock and sent to rest in the prepared shelters.
Caspin called for a council of war. The commanders and the princes all gathered together.
“I have talked with the Minotaur; he has a very compelling story,” Caspin said. “If this is true, maybe we can hopefully not get involved in this conflict. I do not relish another gremlin war.”
“We cannot hope for such, as long as there are gremlins around it is our obligation to slay them,” Cazz said.
“I think that we will need many more armies if we are to battle gremlins and spiders too,” Hemlot said.
“No, we can’t,” Sarchise added, “but we may not have a choice. I await the patrol I sent out to find out what is happening at the cities. We don’t have an idea of where they are and what their intentions are.”
“Gremlins have always hated dwarves and dwarves have always hated gremlins. If they are found in the same space there will be war,” Cazz added.
Caspin paused a minute then said, “I feel that we must retreat into High Mountain and prepare for an attack.. We have dealt a blow to the spiders. There is no longer a great need for us to be out here.”
Cazz was furious. “We cannot retreat while there is still a threat to us. Let us deal with it here and now. Let us attack them while they still face another enemy. We can crush him when he lines up to destroy the Minotaur.”
Caspin held up his hand. “I have spoken.”
Sarchise asked, “Can we wait for the patrol to get back?”
“Yes, we will give them fourteen days, if they are not back by then we will presume that they are lost,” Caspin replied. And with that the meeting was over.
Cazz threatened to take his army and proceed on several times during the next few days, but in the end he bowed to Caspin’s authority
Twelve days after the meeting a wounded Hardyn stumbled into camp. The healers patched his wounds while the princes and commanders gathered around to listen to his report.
“We set out as quietly as we could. Dwarves are not always silent in the forest. It took us several days to get to the city of Santera. All around us we saw signs of a battle. We came across mounds of dead gremlins. The forest around the city was torn down for making machines of war. There were broken ladders and battering rams strewn across the land. When we approached closer to the city we found it’s wall had been crushed in several places. We entered through one of these holes. Dead and burning flesh was what we smelt. Bodies of both Minotaur and gremlin lay unburied in the streets. Most of the dead were still clasping their weapons of war. Almost all of the buildings had been put to the torch. All of the bodies had been at least partially burned so the spiders were leaving them alone. We followed the gremlin trail out of the city.
“It led to the city of Tarlina. We got to a good vantage point where we could see a large host of gremlins besieging the city. The camps surrounded it. It did not look as if they were preparing for a long siege as they were making scaling ladders out of the forest, and battering rams too. We tried sneaking around this large host but they had many patrols out. We ran into one and were able to defeat it but the din of battle brought other gremlins down upon us. We were overtaken, they came upon us like a wave. Sal was wounded in the fight. They captured both Sal and I, the dwarves they slaughtered. We were brought before King Tabor II. That is what he calls himself. Tabor II, King of the Mountains of Iron. Soon to be King over all the forests and mountains. He hates Minotaur; His gremlins hate dwarves. He says that he can live in peace with man, but all other
races must die. He sent us away in peace, but took our weapons.
“I tried to bind Sal’s wound as best as I could, but it kept bleeding. Soon a razor bear smelled the blood and started stalking us. We tried to lose him but he finally caught us. I scrambled up a tree but Sal was too weak. I could not do anything without a weapon, so I had to sit there in the tree and watch the bear eat Sal. I waited for the bear to eat his fill and leave, then I climbed down the tree and made it to camp.
Caspin sat in deep thought, pondering the words that he had just heard. The war that he was hoping to avoid was upon them. There intent was to destroy all but man. He finally asked. “The city, how long will it hold?”
Hardyn replied. “Just after we left Tabor, we could hear the sounds of battle. He has a massive army and they did destroy Santera, so I don’t think that Tarlina will hold out much longer than it.”
“Is there a chance that we can catch them by surprise, while they are preoccupied with the Minotaur?” Cazz asked.
“They have patrols in every direction. Nothing moved close to the army with Tabor knowing about it," Hardyn replied.
“Let this man rest,” said Sarchise. “It is getting late; we will have another council at noon tomorrow.”
A Parting of the Ways
Ferdin awoke Sarchise early in the morning. “Sir, the humans are packing to leave.”
Sarchise got up at once and went to find Ermort. The men were almost all packed when he found him. “What are you doing?” he asked.
Ermort looked at him with solemn eyes, “Obeying orders.”
“You’re leaving?” Sarchise asked.
“Yes, I am taking the most direct route back to South Fort.”
“What about us?”
“We are us. You and I, humans. You and the dwarves are not us. You are taking this prince thing too far. Remember the Royal Scouts. You are still a commander of the scouts. You should come with us back to South Fort. The general will have your head when you do not show back up. What are you a man or a dwarf?” He said to Sarchise, and then to his men. “Form into ranks, we are leaving.”
“I will stay where I am needed. I cannot stay, safely within the walls of South Fort when there is a war going on around us. Didn’t we hate the dwarf for doing the same thing? As for the general, tell him I respectfully resign my commission.”
Ermort looked at him. “It’s not that easy. You can’t put it all in a nutshell like that.” He turned to his men, “Move out!”
Sarchise stood there as the group marched past the gate and disappeared into the forest. He walked away in disgust.
The morning meal was prepared. It was meager. Game in this part of the forest was getting exceedingly scarce. What was left of the bread was moldy and the cheese was all gone. There were only a couple of strips of meat each, as the hunters had only found a few rabbits and a deer to feed the host. Two of the hunters had gone after the bear that killed Sal, but were in turn eaten by the hungry beast. It too was finding its normal food source gone.
The meeting was held in the inner wall next to the watchtower. Caspin started by saying. “We cannot stay here, we have no food. I will send a runner to High Mountain telling them to have provisions for us when we get to the encampment at the elf tree.”
Cazz was upset. “We cannot leave an enemy in the forest and turn our backs to them. They will catch us in the open.”
“We will starve here. The enemy is busy and will not follow us until he has dealt with the Minotaur. We leave in the morning.” Caspin said. With that the discussion was over.
The dwarves packed everything but their bedrolls, when the dawn came they ate a meager breakfast, packed their bedrolls, and started making their way slowly south. Caspin set a small guard to protect the rear of the column. They were to follow at a distance. If they encountered the enemy they were to warn the main army. With this many warriors a journey that would take normally three days would be four. Sarchise walked beside Hemlot and Cazz. Cazz was still upset and was voicing his opinion.
“We should have gone north. We need to meet the enemy head on while they are still preoccupied with the Minotaur. The first time in decades that the dwarves come out of High Mountain, they hear that an enemy is around and make a headlong retreat.”
“Caspin is only doing what he feels best for the army, I don’t know if we could find food in either direction. Perhaps when we get to the elf tree there will be supplies waiting for us. I am starting to miss the dried meat.” Sarchise said.
“Only a human could miss that poor excuse for food.” Cazz replied. Hemlot nodded in agreement. Sarchise laughed.
At the end of the day the column stopped for the night. Caspin set out patrols to warn of any danger and he did not allow fires while not under the protection of the walls of an encampment. The princes slept together; while the commanders took turns staying awake, to manage the patrols.
Around two in the morning, the princes were awakened by Hemlot. He led them to the edge of the encampment where they saw a group of seven Minotaur tied hand and foot and sat upon the ground. They were covered in blood, It was not all the red Minotaur blood, it was mixed with the green blood of gremlins.
Hemlot addressed his warrior. “Tell them what happened.”
The dwarf felt nervous at having the princes there but began his story. “We heard them coming through the forest and hid between the trees, when they were close to us we were able to take them by surprise and capture them. They had been running for a long time so they were very tired and didn’t put up much resistance.”
Cazz kneeled down and looked at them. “What are you running from?”
The largest one, who had dried green blood on his horn, said, “We are from the city of Tarina, when the city fell we fled through a secret passage that the elves had built many years ago. Still, we ran into a patrol of gremlins and had to fight our way through. There were twenty of us when we left the city. We have run from them but they keep gaining on us and we have to fight them off just to run again. They are not far behind.”
Cazz asked. “Did the city fall? How many of your people survived the fight? Do you have an army still out there?”
We are the only ones left. The city was surrounded and nobody else made it out the elf door before the city was overrun.”
“How far back are they?” Cazz asked.
“We are only about an hour in front of them.”
Cazz stood up, with alarm in his eyes. “We must prepare, we cannot outrun them.”
“I agree,” said Caspin, then talking to the patrol. “Put the Minotaur with Barazar and then wake the men. We only have an hour to get ready. I will put Sarchise in the middle, while I will take the left and Cazz will be on the right. An army of high dwarves will reinforce the center, and the other army will be held in reserve. Get your men up, the battle is upon us.”
Sleepy dwarves scrambled out of their bedrolls and were formed into ranks. The brush in front of the formations was cleaned out so that the archers would have a field of fire. Caspin sent runners to High Mountain to warn of the approaching gremlin army. He sent warriors forward so that they could warn the main body when the enemy was nearing. The ranks were formed in a matter of twenty minutes and all that there was to do was wait.
Barazar and the other Minotaur struggled at their bonds. Sarchise went back to see what the commotion was. “Let us fight!” screamed Barazar. Sarchise hesitated for a moment then got out a knife and cut their bonds.
“I don’t suppose it matters anymore, we could all be very dead soon. There are extra weapons in that wagon over there. I will put you in with the reserve.” Sarchise told them and then went back to his men.
After standing in formation an hour and a half the first gremlins appeared out of the forest. There were only about thirty of the green tinted creatures. Their mouths were upturned in grins, exposing their fangs. They came forward quickly, supposing that there were only a few Minotaur to deal with. The dwarves let them come holding still in the dark
ness. Only the moon was giving light to the early morning encounter. When the gremlins were well within range, the archers let loose a volley. The gremlins screeched as arrows hit their marks and those left standing, retreated back into the woods.
A few of the dwarves rushed forward to finish off the wounded, and then rejoined their ranks. “There will be no more of that do you hear me?” Sarchise yelled. We do not break ranks for any reason!”
Over an hour later another group of a hundred approached the dwarf lines. They were not bold like the first group, but crept cautiously forward. Dawn was just breaking and this time they spotted the dwarf lines. As they turned to report their find to the main body of gremlins another volley of arrows sped them on their way. There were more screeches and more gremlins hit the ground.
A Battle Among the Trees
It was full light when the main body of the gremlin army came crashing through the woods and stopped just out of bow range. They were not an organized army, but more like a mob. They were bending and hissing as they do before battle. They would slap their swords onto their shields in an attempt to intimidate the enemy. But the dwarves are not filled with fear, but hate, at the sight of them. You could see Tabor walking back and forth behind them, yelling instructions. Then with a sound of his horn they came forward. Screeches filled the sky as more arrows hit their marks. The dwarves emptied their quivers on them and then grabbed their battle-axes. The first wave of gremlins was mowed down by the dwarves’ battle-axes, but wave after wave followed.
At first the lines of dwarves did not falter. But the lines weakened with each wave of attacking gremlin. Green blood dripped from battle-axes. But the short swords of the gremlins are very sharp and some of them were finding their way through the armor of the dwarves. More and more dwarves fell with each succeeding rush of gremlin.
