Dobo and Gobo were rushing in the direction of the screaming soldier before the others were even on their feet. The soldier who had screamed was on the ground with a crossbow bolt protruding from his chest. There was a click from inside the tree line. Dobo and Gobo both rolled forward, the bolt flying over their heads. They came to their feet, facing a dozen dwarves. They halted. “Ho, there, we’re kin,” Gobo said. The dwarves ahead of them charged forward.
“Not kin,” Dobo shouted. He charged forward, deflecting the axe of the lead dwarf with the head of his hammer. He spun around the dwarf, letting him continue forward. As he spun around, he changed his grip on the shaft of his hammer. He allowed his momentum to drive him forward. The next dwarf brought his sword up to block, but the weight of the axe and the momentum behind the blow was too much. The spike on the back of Dobo’s hammer slammed into the dwarf’s chest. He kept spinning, falling to the ground with the dwarf and rolling. His hammer pulled free, and he brought the head of his hammer down on another dwarf’s foot.
Gobo charged forward a step behind his brother. When Dobo raised his weapon to deflect, Gobo raised his axe. The dwarf stumbled past Dobo, off balance, with his weapon out wide. Gobo brought his axe down. The dwarf tried to bring his weapon back around, but he wasn’t fast enough. Gobo’s axe cut through his neck into his shoulder and got caught in his chest. He pulled his weapon, but it was caught in the bones. He planted his foot and pulled. The axe pulled free with the snapping of bones.
When he turned back around, he saw Dobo on the ground. The dwarf in front of him screamed in pain as Dobo’s hammer came down on his foot. He fell forward over his brother. The dwarf behind that dwarf was moving forward with a double-bladed axe. Gobo knew that Dobo wouldn’t be able to get up fast enough, and he couldn’t get there fast enough. He threw his axe as hard as he could. It flew forward, spinning once before the axe buried in the chest of the dwarf over his brother. The dwarf was already bringing down his double-bladed axe. The impact of his axe slowed the other dwarf down just enough for Dobo to get the shaft of his hammer up.
Rundo ran after Dobo and Gobo. He saw them take out the first two dwarves. He saw Dobo go down, but Gobo was between him and Dobo. Gobo threw his axe. Dobo was getting back to his feet but three dwarves came rushing around him at the unarmed Gobo. Rundo threw his daggers. The first buried into the dwarf’s face. The second grazed the dwarf on the right’s face. The dwarves in the center and on the right charged Dobo. Dobo stepped forward. Rundo reached out, connecting with the aura of the earth in front of Dobo. Just before the dwarves reached him, the ground in front of Dobo opened up, creating a wall of earth in front of him and twice his height. The two dwarves fell in and the wall of earth filled in the hole over them.
“Always with the walls of dirt,” Dobo shouted at Rundo as they charged forward to Gobo’s aide.
Gobo stood up, bringing his hammer up into the face of dwarf. Rundo and Dobo were rushing to him with the soldiers finally coming up behind them. Dobo began swinging his hammer widely. He didn’t go for killing blows. He smashed shoulders and legs, anything that was difficult for them to block.
Rundo ran forward. Gobo was barreling through the dwarves, knocking them to the ground or stumbling away from him. Rundo went to work with his daggers. He released them as quickly as he could. He was normally deadly accurate with his daggers, but he was throwing at off-balance targets that were stumbling in all directions. He was also throwing without really aiming in an attempt to keep any of the dwarves from getting back toward Gobo. Dobo had charged forward and was running up behind Gobo. Any of the dwarves that came stumbling past Gobo got the unforgiving edge of Gobo’s axe. By the time the soldiers came rushing up, the last of the enemy dwarves caught Gobo’s hammer in the side of his helmet. The helmet caved in before his skull and he fell motionless to the ground.
“You guys are incredible,” Lieutenant Ellis said, coming up next to them.
“They’re dwarves,” Dobo said.
“It doesn’t make sense,” Gobo said.
Rundo walked over to the body of one of the dead dwarves. He unbuckled the armor of the first one he saw and lifted up his shirt. His chest was covered in black lines spiraling out from a circle in the center. “They’re from Tiefes Loch,” he said.
Dobo and Gobo both came over and looked at the body. Dobo spit on it. “Blasphemy.”
Gobo looked out into the trees. “We ain’t done yet.” The soldiers all got on line, holding their weapons out in front of them. Rundo reached out and a golem of earth rose up out of the ground. Dozens of dwarves came rushing out of the trees. They all formed a wall and prepared to defend against the superior numbers of the rushing dwarves of Tiefes Loch when something unbelievable happened.
Hundreds of things came flying out of the trees from their right, smashing into the rushing dwarves. They began to fall one after the other. In seconds, there were nearly fifty dwarves dead or dying on the ground in front of them. They all turned to the trees to the right. There were fifteen wood gnomes, each of them holding some crazy contraption that looked like a crossbow with a circle of tubes in the front.
“We are not violent by nature, but these dwarves have caused so much death already; we could not allow them to kill you. We have been following them. They destroy everything in their path. They kill for no reason. These dwarves have been moving around these woods for a week and the damage they have caused will take centuries to restore,” the one in the front said.
They were all around two feet tall, with clothing made of mismatched patches of different fur.
King Patria came to the front. “Thank you for your help. I am King Isaac Patria. I am the king of the city just to the south of here. I am in your debt. If there is anything I can do to repay you, please let me know.”
“Rundo,” one of the gnomes said, stepping forward.
“Jumbles,” Rundo asked.
“It’s me,” the gnome said.
“Jumbles,” one of the gnomes said and the others laughed. “That’s a fittin’ name fur ya.”
“Not my fault ya all talk so slow, I get so much more said in less time,” Jumbles said.
“What?” Dobo and Gobo said together.
Rundo turned back and smiled. “This is Jumbles. I met him on my last trip to Patria. He talks really fast, which is why I call him Jumbles. The other gnomes I don’t know.”
“Can you ask Jumbles what those things are?” Dobo said, pointing to one of the weapons.
“Oh, these are rapid bolt shooters. They—”
“Jumbles,” the gnome who was obviously in charge said, cutting him off. Jumbles nodded and stepped back.
“I am Lutin. I am the chief of the wood gnomes in this territory. These weapons are rapid bolt shooters. I will not go into all of the specifics, but the energy of the bolt being released spins the cylinder and loads the next bolt. You have to crank it like a traditional crossbow the first time, but the following nine bolts will fire by depressing this little lever underneath. As I said before, we are not violent by nature, but these dwarves have crossed the line. I have received word that the dwarves of Tiefes Loch have other groups further south that are causing similar damage. I have heard that the dwarves of the other three kingdoms are going to war with the dwarves of Tiefes Loch. Is this true?” he asked.
Dobo looked over at the group of fallen dwarves. “It is. Tiefes Loch has already attempted to destroy one of our kingdoms. Tiefes Loch will be attacked, but when and how has not been decided.”
“We would like to help. We are not fighters, but we can contribute in other ways.”
Gobo looked at the weapons the gnomes carried and then over at the bodies of the Tiefes Loch dwarves. “I’d say you could contribute plenty. If you go to Shinestone, King Stoneheart can find a way for you to help. He will listen to whatever ideas you come up with. If anyone gives you any trouble when you’re trying to see him, just show them how one of those works and they will let you see him.”
“What s
hould we do about the bodies? I know dwarves have many traditions. If there is something that needs to be done, we can help,” Lutin said.
Dobo looked over at the dwarf with the black tattoos on his body. “These are not dwarves like us. They follow the God of Chaos. Do what you want with them. We want nothing to do with them. Let the woods they have taken so much from have them.”
“We will leave them then. We will collect our bolts and go to your Shinestone. Will it be ok to tell them you sent us?” Lutin asked.
“Tell um Dobo and Gobo sent you, and the soldiers at the entrance will make sure you get to see King Stoneheart,” Gobo said.
“Thank you again for coming to our aide,” King Patria said.
“I just hope that together we can all remove this evil from our world before it spreads.” Then the ten little gnomes scurried over the bodies of the dead dwarves, retrieving the bolts with unbelievable speed before disappearing into the woods again.
Chapter Nineteen
Arrivals in Patria
Captain Leiter led the dwarves to the small cabin just outside of Patria. It had taken them only nine days to make the trip. It was typically a twelve to fourteen day trip. He had pushed the dwarves hard. They marched from sun up past sun down. The Dwarves of Chaos didn’t sleep, which gave the other dwarves extra time to recover each night before Captain Leiter got them up and moving again. It was nearly dark and Leiter moved them into the cabin where the last group of dwarves had met with the Black Dragons before entering Patria. When he entered the cabin, he found a Black Dragon wizard sitting alone in front of the fireplace.
“Thank Delvidge you’re here,” the wizard said.
“What happened to the dwarves we sent?” Leiter asked the wizard.
The wizard’s look of excitement turned to one of fear. “They were overrun. The Dwarves from Shinestone were waiting. They had arrived the day before. They had soldiers watching the house. When the Dwarves you sent entered the building, they sent word and the other dwarves came. They had soldiers, a druid, a wizard, and a dwarf like you. They were overpowered. One of our wizards tried to escape with the queen, but their wizard caught him.
“The dwarf you say is like us. Where is he?” Captain Leiter asked.
“He is in the palace. They all are. The wizard turned out to be Queen Patria’s lost brother. A Black Dragon wizard trained him. We tried to ambush them a week ago in a parade for the returned prince. The people turned on us. We were attacked by mobs of people. There were twenty-three of us, counting all of the assassins. I have not seen any of the others since that day.”
“How can we get into the city without being seen?” Leiter asked.
“I can get you into the city, no problem. The city has turned on us, but there are still people who will give in to greed. I know a guard who will let us in the east gate. It’s nearly dark. We can leave whenever you are ready, and I can get you in the city. I have a place not far from the gate where I can hide you, but I have no way to get you into the palace,” the wizard said.
“Just get us into the city. I will worry about the rest,” Leiter told the wizard, before turning to the dwarves. “We are leaving once it is dark. If you want to eat, do it now.” He went over and sat in the chair next to the fireplace.
An hour later, thirty-five dwarves stood along the wall outside the eastern gate of Patria. “Now, how do we get in without alerting the whole city?” Captain Leiter asked.
“I’ll travel inside and have the guard open the gate,” the wizard explained.
“You will come back out here before he opens the gate. If this is a trap you will die first,” Leiter demanded.
“It’s not a trap. I'll come back out.”
The wizard disappeared. A few moments later he reappeared. “He’s about to open the gate. I promised him a dwarven steel sword. Dwarven steel is very expensive here.”
“You promised him one of our swords?” Leiter asked him in disbelief.
“Dwarves don’t give up their weapons,” one of the soldiers said.
“It’s all right,” Captain Leiter said, without turning away from the wizard. “We’ll give him his dwarven steel.”
It took a few minutes before the heavy wooden door rose. The eastern gate was the smallest of the four gates into Patria. It was about twelve feet tall and ten feet wide. The door was made of rough-cut horizontal logs that were banded together with steel bands. Captain Leiter walked through the gate behind the Black Dragon. The guard walked over to the wizard, obviously expecting his payment. Captain Leiter walked over and thrust his sword into the stomach of the guard. “The only way to get a dwarf’s sword is to take his life.” He pulled his sword out and dropped the guard to the ground. “Where are we going?”
The wizard didn’t react to him killing the guard. It said a lot about him. Murder was something that even the most seasoned warriors reacted to. That fact that he hadn’t even flinched said that he had seen others murdered, if not killed in cold blood himself. “It’s just a couple of blocks from here. It’s an old storage warehouse. It’s not used anymore. No one will bother us there. We will need to stay inside during the day. The city is very tense right now. If they see any of us, we will be fighting off the whole city in minutes.”
“Just get us there, we’ll figure out the rest once we get there.”
The wizard turned and led them down the street. They were moving toward the palace. The storage warehouse was an old rundown wood building with clay and mud packed into the cracks and holes.
The wizard opened the door and they all followed him in. Inside, it was much nicer than it seemed from the outside. It appeared to be a common hideaway for the Black Dragons. The warehouse was fairly clean. There were two-dozen beds along one wall. There were benches and large cushions spread out through the room. The windows looked to be painted on the inside, which would prevent anyone from seeing in.
“This is it,” the wizard said, waving a hand across the dimly lit building.
“Yes, it is,” Captain Leiter said. His sword came out and across, but the wizard jumped back out of the way. He was more comfortable in these situations than he pretended to be. He wasn’t as comfortable as he thought though. His leap back out of the way drove him straight toward the Chaos Dwarf behind him. The dwarf’s axe came down, opening the back of the wizard’s skull.
* * *
King Patria rode next to Lieutenant Ellis as they approached the northern gate of Patria. A group of the soldiers with them had ridden ahead and alerted the guards at the gate. By the time King Patria made it to the gate, there was a full escort of a hundred guards waiting in formation. Captain Thompson came forward, saluting King Patria. King Patria returned the salute.
“Lieutenant Ellis, your men have done well. We will take His Highness to the palace. You get your men cleaned up, then get them home to their families,” Captain Thompson said.
“Thank you, sir,” Lieutenant Ellis said, saluting Captain Thompson. Captain Thompson saluted back. Lieutenant Ellis pulled his horse to a halt and Captain Thompson took his place next to the king, riding down the street toward the palace. The guards filed in ahead alongside and behind them. Dobo and Gobo walked behind the king. Rundo and Evelyn rode behind them. People were filling the streets and cheering their king. There were other cheers for Rundo, as some of the people began to recognize him as one of the saviors of Queen Patria Stoneheart.
They rode silently through the city. King Patria waved as the people of his city cheered his return. He noticed that the soldiers were more uneasy than usual but he decided he would wait until they arrived at the palace to ask Captain Thompson about it.
They rode through the gate of the palace. They all dismounted once they were inside the palace walls. The soldiers took the reins of the horses and led them to the stables.
“I’ll take him,” Rundo told the soldier who was trying to take Bumbo’s reins.
“I assure you, sir, that our stables hands will take great care of him,” the soldier repli
ed.
King Patria stepped toward the soldier to explain, but Captain Thompson took charge. “Corporal, Master Rundo is a druid. He has a special bond with his pony. If he wants to lead his pony to the stables, you will show him the way.”
The soldier straightened. “Yes, sir.” He turned back toward Rundo. “If you would follow me, sir.”
Rundo followed the soldier and led Bumbo to the stables. After inspecting the stable, he left Bumbo in one of the stalls. Messah perched herself on the one of the corners of the roof and he made his way into the palace.
He walked into the Grand Hall just as King Patria was seeing his long lost cousin for the first time. “It’s really you?” King Patria said.
“It really is,” Jacob responded.
“How?” the king asked.
Jacob smiled. “It’s a long story that I will be happy to tell you. Right now there are some other things that you need to hear about.”
The king looked at him curiously. “Don’t worry. I am not trying to take the throne from you,” Jacob said with a smile.
“The throne is yours by right. I will turn the throne over after all of the ceremonies for your return are concluded,” the king answered quickly.
“Please stop. I do not want the throne. I will denounce my claim at the ceremony. You were raised for this. You have done a great job. I have no idea how to be a king. I have another set of skills that I can use to help Patria. I understand you have started a group called the White Dragons. I believe that is the place for me.”
“Are you sure?” the king asked.
“I have had enough time to think about this. You are the King of Patria, and you will remain the King of Patria.”
“I’m just glad you’re alive. I can’t wait to hear what happened. What is it that I need to hear about?”
The Half Dwarf Prince Trilogy Page 52
