The stairway led downward in a spiral about twenty feet. At the bottom was an ironwood door with arcane symbols etched into it. Alexander looked around. “Anybody here able to read this?” When nobody spoke up, he asked Norval “Can you detect any traps or mechanisms?”
Once again the dwarf used his magic to explore the doorway, the frame, and the floor beneath. “No physical traps. I canno’ tell if there be magic.”
Alexander said “Fine. I’ll open it. The rest of you, move back up the stairs until you’re out of sight. In case this thing explodes. A couple of you have your shields up and ready.”
Taylor started to object, but Pollock beat him to it. “You can’t go and get yourself killed, your Highness.” He emphasized the title. “I’ll open the door.”
Alexander bristled, but Taylor didn’t give him the chance to argue. Moving between Alexander and the door, he herded his king up the stairs. As soon as they were situated, Alexander grumpily called down. “Go ahead.”
There was a sound of a latch being released, and a loud extended squeal of rusted hinges. Then Pollock let out a wild scream. “Aaaaaaaaargh!”
Alexander and the others rushed down the stairs. Not seeing Pollock in the hallway, Alexander drew his sword and rushed inside right behind Norval and Taylor. The first thing he saw was Pollock on the ground just inside and to the right of the door. He was rolling face down, both hands gripping his stomach. His sword and shield layed next to him. Alexander knelt, thinking the warrior was wounded.
But as Pollock rolled back to face him, he burst out “HA! You should see your faces!” He rolled back over, holding his stomach.
Alexander kicked him in the leg as the man continued to laugh.
When he caught his breath, he said “I’m sorry. But how often do you get a chance like that?”
Alexander looked away from the prankster and examined the room. It was maybe forty feet square, with lights every ten feet or so along the walls. There were no other exits that he could see. The ceiling was high, nearly twenty feet above the floor, and an ornate light hung on a chain in the middle.
There were several crates along one wall, and a few upright barrels. The opposite wall, the one nearest Pollock, held several weapons racks and some stone shelves. The racks were full, and Taylor moved to inspect them along with Pollock, who had gotten to his feet. Pollock’s companions moved to start checking the barrels.
Norval looked at Alexander, who nodded. The dwarf began to search the walls and floor for more switches or doorways. Dwarves were very particular about such secrets, and honor demanded he get permission before searching them out.
Taylor whistled as he lifted a saber from the rack. It was one of several identical looking blades.
“These are dwarven steel. Some of the best quality I’ve ever seen.” He held it up for the others to examine.
Norval took a quick look and agreed. “Aye. Crafted long ago by me brethren. Good blades.” He nodded and went back to searching. Taylor looked longingly at the blade.
Alexander grinned, then covered it with his hand. “How many of them are there, captain?”
Taylor made a quick count. “Ten, sir.”
He stepped aside so Alexander could see the rack for himself. Alexander stepped forward and made a show of examining them.
“In my world, military officers carry sabers as a symbol of their rank. I think it would only be proper if you and the other captains each carried one.”
Taylor’s eyes widened, and a smile grew from ear to ear. “Yes, sir. Only proper, sir!” He said as he lifted a scabbard from the rack and sheathed the blade, then fastened it to his belt. He took a few experimental steps around the room, gauging how it felt. “This will do nicely, sir.”
Norval spoke up again. “The blades be too long fer the dwarf captains to wear about the waist. But they’ll be honored by the gift, don’t ye doubt.”
Alexander hadn’t thought of that. The sabers were indeed long blades, and a dwarven waist stood less than three feet off the ground. The tip of the scabbard would drag on the ground. “Taylor, check the other racks. Are there similar quality axes or hammers?”
Again, Norval spoke up. “Aye. I noticed ‘em right off. That last rack on the left there.”
Alexander and Taylor moved together to the indicated rack. There were a score each of one-handed hammers and two-handed axes. All were made of the same steel as the sabers. Indeed, it seemed that was the case for every weapon in the room. Even the spears had dwarven steel heads. Alexander said “Taylor, take a couple of each back to the keep. Let the dwarven captains choose which they prefer. And take a saber for Jenkins.
Pollock cleared his throat suggestively. Alexander looked to him and his men. All four of them were practically salivating. “I’m guessing these weapons are better than what you’re carrying?”
Pollock nodded enthusiastically. “Much! And the shields, too…”
Alexander smiled. “Okay, each of you gear up. Don’t take the sabers, hammers, or axes. I’m reserving those for our current and future officers. Also, I want you to grab all those spears and take them back with us. Give them to Lugs when you see him. Taylor, tell your dragons to choose from among the other weapons as well. Take enough back to supply all the guards.”
He turned to Norval. “And of course, as my thanks, you may choose whatever weapon or shield you like.” Then he looked to Bodine and Regina. “Regina, there are some very nice daggers there.” He pointed to a shelf. “Bodine, I don’t know what weapon you favor.”
Bodine smirked at him. “Wolves. I never have to sharpen them.”
Alexander said “Yes, well. If you see a weapon you’d like, just let me know.”
Bodine moved toward the racks and began to look through the selection. While his people all geared themselves up, Alexander moved over to the crates and barrels. Using a dagger, he pried open the top of the nearest barrel. It was filled with crossbow quarrels. Each made of steel with wickedly barbed tips. Alexander used his Identify skill.
Barrel of Bolts
Quality: Uncommon
Quantity: 500
It was Alexander’s turn to whistle. He said “Taylor, how many crossbows do we have in the armory?”
Taylor joined him next to the barrel, looking inside. He laughed. “Not nearly enough, it seems. I’ll get the smiths to start crafting some.” He looked around. “If each of these barrels hold the same, we could take down an army before they ever reached our walls.”
Alexander pictured his citizens manning the walls of the keep, every one of them aiming a crossbow at approaching demons. A wicked smile appeared on his face. “A few hundred of them, at least. These things take a bit of time to reload. And not everyone will be accurate.”
He left Taylor to open the remaining barrels as he moved to a large crate. His dagger proved insufficient to pry open the crate, but Taylor located a pry bar nearby. Together they managed to pry out the nails and lift the lid from the crate. Inside were two rows of steel crossbows. Smaller than Alexander was used to, they were slim and sleek. The stocks and barrels together were less than three feet long and the arms were made of spring steel. Even the string was some kind of flexible braided steel. Each weapon had a box underneath it, just ahead of the trigger. A bent rod stuck out of the box.
Alexander lifted one from the crate, and called to Norval. The dwarf stepped closer and took the weapon. Seeing the box, he said. “Let me show ye. Get me a bolt.” Taylor, who had one in each hand, gave one to Norval. The others gathered around as the dwarf explained. “These be from a regiment o’ archers we ain’t used at Broken Mountain fer many an age. See how small n dainty?” He lifted the crossbow and set the stock to his left shoulder. With his right, he set the bolt in his teeth and grabbed the bent rod with his right hand. He cranked the rod forward, and the string began to retract toward the stock. After five seconds, the crank halted, and the dwarf dropped the bolt into the groove ahead of the string.
Turning toward the door, he p
ulled the trigger. The string gave a metallic twang, and the bolt sped away too fast to follow. There was a loud crack as the thing buried itself halfway into the ironwood. The guards and Pollock’s guys made appreciative noises.
Alexander turned back to the dwarf. “Very impressive. But… why would your people stop using them?”
Norval held up a finger. “I ain’t done yet.” He looked to Taylor. “I need two bolts.” As Taylor stepped back to the barrel to retrieve another, the dwarf reached into the crate and lifted another crossbow. He was now holding one in each hand. When Taylor returned, he said “In me mouth, sharp end out.” Taylor looked at the dwarf as if he were insane, but held the two quarrels up to the dwarf’s mouth. He took them one at a time, on each side of his mouth.
“Alright, this be how they’re meant to be used.” He turned and stepped to the nearest wall. Putting a stock to each shoulder, he leaned against the wall so that the crossbows were pressed between his shoulder and the wall. Letting go, he grabbed a crank with each hand and quickly cranked both crossbows. Then he dropped both bolts into their slots at the same time, turned, and fired both weapons into the door. He quickly turned and pinned the crossbows to the wall again and cranked both. He turned and was ready to fire less than ten seconds after the two bolts hit the door.
“Damn!” Max whispered. “That’s the closest thing Io has to a repeating rifle.” The others were just as impressed. Several were stepping forward to lift one of the weapons from the crate.
Alexander said “That was even more impressive. But once again, why would your people stop using such an effective weapon?”
Norval grinned. “Ye see how small ‘n light they be?” he asked. When Alexander nodded, he said “D’ye be thinkin I couldn’t do the same with a much bigger, heavier crossbow?”
Alexander thought about it, then said “Probably not as fast…”
“Bah! I can lift a hunnert pounds with each hand, ne’er breakin a sweat! These here be fer the lady dwarves ta use. Like Thea. She be stronger than any human, but only half as strong as me.”
Alexander was starting to understand. “So your people had entire regiments of female archers that used these two at a time? And you stopped using them because…”
“Dwarven children be rare enough without putting our wives ’n daughters into battle to be killed. We lost too many in them days. It were necessary during the great wars. But no more.” Norval’s voice turned grim. Alexander remembered Thalgrin saying something about the rarity of dwarven children after the battle at Whitehall. “I’m sorry. I should not have pried.”
The dwarf shrugged, setting the weapons down. “It be no great secret. Just not something we prefer to jabber about.” He walked toward the back wall to resume his search.
Alexander let him go without further comment. The group returned to the crates. There were three of the large crates, each with thirty crossbows. Each of the men and Regina took turns cranking and loading one. For the men it took little effort. Regina strained a bit, but managed to crank it back in about ten seconds. It went faster when she leaned against the wall as Norval had.
Taylor spoke up. “Ninety of these, placed along the wall, each firing every ten seconds or so…”
Alexander corrected him. “Not ninety. We need to divide them up. Some should go to the keep, some should stay up here. In case we must fight in more than one place at once. And we should create a mobile squad of… say a dozen archers? To use these on smaller groups outside the walls.” He took one and slung it over his shoulder, and put a second in his bag. Then he went to the barrel and transferred a couple dozen quarrels into his bag. “Each of you put some of these in your bags. We’ll leave thirty of them at the garrison tower for now. The rest we’ll take to the keep. Taylor, I want you and your men training citizens starting in the morning.”
They continued opening crates and barrels. It turned out only two of the barrels contained quarrels, so they had 1,000 total. The third barrel they opened was filled with a clear oil.
When Taylor called that out, Norval said “It be replacement parts. Gears and strings and such. Should be enough ta rebuild every one o’ them one time. There’ll be another barrel of the same.” Taylor quickly opened the next barrel and confirmed that.
Alexander said “We’ll leave those here for now. Fitz or Kai will have to come and teleport them. One each to the keep and the tower.”
The rest of the crates contained an assortment of armor pieces, shields, tools, rope, nails, and unworked steel bars. They found a smith’s anvil behind the crates as well. Another barrel contained several books, which Alexander claimed for himself. He didn’t take time to look through them. He had to resist the urge to teleport the barrel to his study.
Pollock was looking around, a thoughtful expression on his face. He asked “Norval, can you tell me something? When this tower was occupied. During the demon war. Was this stuff considered… rare? Or very valuable?”
Norval caught his meaning. “Nay. This were pretty common stock at tha’ time. Valuable, ta be sure. All dwarven-crafted weapons have value. But there woulda been thousands just like these here.” He looked around. “Yer wonderin why these be down here, not in the storage room above.” Pollock nodded.
Norval paced the room. “I dunno. It may be they were placed here when the battle looked grim. Ta keep the enemy from findin’ what our people couldn’t carry away.”
Alexander shook his head. “It’s possible I suppose. But when we searched the tower the other day, it didn’t look like the place had been overrun. Everything was clean and undisturbed.”
Norval didn’t answer. He knelt and placed a hand on the floor, searching with his magic. When he found nothing, he resumed his circuit of the walls. The others resumed their inspection and selection of weapons and gear. Bodine had chosen a six-foot ironwood staff with a steel cap at each end. He moved to the middle of the room and spun the staff a few times, making a couple of strikes at invisible enemies. Then he jumped toward one of the now empty crossbow crates and hit it with an overhead strike. The steel end of the staff smashed through the wood with ease. When the others turned in alarm, he looked sheepish. “Sorry.”
Impressed with the damage, Regina hefted a similar staff. She smiled at the weight of it, and used it to prod gently at her husband. “We’ll be twins.”
Alexander told her “When I have my magic back, I can put enchantments on those for you. Extra strength, or light, or whatever.” He was going to offer to enchant the quarrels as well, when Norval shouted “Ha!”
Alexander turned in time to see the dwarf looking at the anvil. “If yer a demon, and ye break into this room, what’s the most useless thing ye’d see?” He bent down and put a hand on the anvil. “Demonkind don’t craft as we do. They’d have no need for this here heavy hunk o’ metal.” He took hold of the anvil and lifted with his legs, moving the thing to one side. “That’d make this here a good place to hide yer valuables.”
He pressed down on one side of the stone square that had been covered by the anvil. The stone flipped on its side, revealing an opening underneath. Norval reached inside and withdrew a small chest, and a leather bag of holding. He set them both atop a crate for Alexander to inspect. Alexander opened the chest first, of course. Inside were several maps and documents. He lifted those out carefully, intending to study them later. Underneath was a diamond the size of an eyeball set into a velvet casing. There was also a metal ring with three keys on it.”
Taylor offered. “Three towers, three keys?”
Alexander nodded. “That might be. We’ll figure that out later. He set everything back into the chest and closed it. Next he moved to the bag. He Inspected it quickly.
Bag of Eternity
Quality: Epic
This bag of holding contains 200 slots. It reduces the weight of any item inside it by 99%
Bonus feature: Living matter up to a weight of ten pounds can be safely stored within. The item will be in a state of temporal suspension until
removed.
Max, who had also inspected the bag, gave a long whistle. “Know who that would be perfect for? Your lootmaster!” He grinned, holding out a hand. Shaking his head no, Alexander promptly equipped the bag, then checked its inventory.
He noted it was about half full, but did not take the time to examine the contents. “It says it can hold living things up to ten pounds.” He looked at Bodine. “How much do the cheeky monkeys weigh?”
Bodine snorted. “You’re not putting my monkeys in that thing.” He said as Regina looked mortified. Alexander relented. “No, I’ll test it on a mouse or a fish or something.” He lifted the chest and put it into his new bag. It truly was an item fit for a king.
Finished with their exploration, the group loaded up their bags with weapons and gear. Alexander filled several of the slots in his new bag with crossbows and quarrels, shields and swords. He also cleared all the small items from the shelves. He’d give them to Silverbeard to look through.
When they left the room and climbed the stairs back to the storage area, Norval activated the trigger again closing the floor. The group proceeded outside where a few of Taylor’s men handed upgraded swords and shields to the two guards. As they were accepting the gifts, one of the guards said “We’ve seen a couple of those wolves. They’ve been moving through the trees, watching us.”
Bodine immediately stepped forward with his hands outstretched and empty. Tigger walked next to him. Alexander could see that both monkeys were clearly asleep now. Jake was on his back, paws poking lazily upward, while Bobby was face-down with his butt in the air like an infant.
Bodine spoke to the trees. “Its alright, friends. Its us. You remember us.” He said quietly. A moment later three wolves emerged from behind trees. They padded forward casually, stopped a few feet from Bodine. Alexander was taken aback again by the size of the canines. They stood nearly as tall at the shoulder as Tigger. The one in the middle, whom Bodine quietly identified as the alpha female, weighed at least five hundred pounds. She sat on her haunches as the other two stood guard on either flank. Staring at Bodine, she tilted her head to one side as if curious. He stepped forward, his hands held in front of him. When he was close enough, she gave them a sniff, then licked one of them. Her tail began to thump the ground, and the other two wolves relaxed.
Defenders of the Realm Page 10
