by RG Long
“Sorry to say we couldn’t find any spoons. I don’t mind to try to feed it to you if that’s all right.”
Again, Rark nodded. She wasn’t sure if the soup was tasteless or if she had was unable to discern between flavors. Either way, the warm liquid felt good going into her. She accepted two full bowls from the elf before she weakly lifted up her hand and waved him off.
“Well I’m glad to see you take that at least,” Orod said. “I bet our friend will be glad to know you’re awake. Can you see if he’s out there Brima? Haven’t seen them all day.”
“But it’s night time,” the female said. “Don’t you mean you haven’t seen him all night?”
“Just poke your head out there please, Brima,” Orod said with a smile on his face as he shook his head.
“Names Orod,” he said to Rark. “That’s Brima. We used to be soldiers with the Court of Three but, I guess there’s no court anymore. So we don’t really need to be soldiers anymore. When everybody left, we decided we’d rather we stayed. Commander Sefen and Ferdinand headed south. They haven’t caused enough desolation yet, I suppose and thought they were keen to do a little more. I’m done fighting, if I've got to be honest. Seen way too many battles and not enough peace and quiet. I could do this quiet life for a long time.”
Chief Rark furrowed her brow in confusion.
Here was an elf who was a soldier in the court. One of the most ruthless nations in the world. And he was saying he was done fighting.
The revelation seemed odd to Rark. She didn’t have long to contemplate it, however, because Brima came back through the portal in the wall.
“He’s flying this way!”
Flying? Rark thought. Did she mean airships?
A clattering noise outside told her that it was a different kind of flying Brima was referring to.
The deep voice of Firag was a surprising sound to hear.
“Has she eaten any of the soup?” he asked as he stuck his head into the room they were inside of.
“Three bowls worth,” Orod said.
Firag nodded.
“That ought to be sufficient. She will begin to feel the effects of the dragon tears here shortly. Then we can tell her what is happened in the last two days.”
40: Questions
Laserie let her blade sing through the air. She had never killed before today. The elves had practiced in their high tower. They had sparred and taken lessons on the proper form of fencing.
But Laserie was not an excellent student. All she was doing was swinging her blade to keep whatever stubborn dwarf made their way through the defenses of the two Skrilx who had stayed by her and Paula’s side the entire time the battle had been fought.
Acred and Tert, the Skrilx who had seen her safely through the forest, now stood beside her in battle. They were both now margin sure she would safely survive this battle. Fortunately for Laserie, the other elves of LeGrove had been better students of the sword and were much more useful to this fight than she was.
And the dwarves of Taystone knew it.
As soon as they had charged down the hill into the fight, the dwarves had split their focus. The men from the walls out of Severn had begun to fight more fiercely. Rocks and debris and whatever else they could throw down on the dwarves were raining down on the siege makers.
Laserie didn't know if they had run out of arrows. All she knew was that she didn't see anymore being loosed onto the dwarves.
The dwarves had cannons of magic. She had not seen them be fired once since they joined the fight. It was hard to tell if that was a good sign or a bad one. Perhaps the dwarves and speakers had exhausted themselves and did not anticipate a new threat. If that was the case, they had a small window where they would be able to fight without being obliterated by the magical cannons.
The bad news was, they had no idea when they would fire again.
A dwarf came charging at them from the side, and Laserie realized that both Paula and the other Skrilx were busy with their own foes. She gripped the handle of her sword more tightly and prepared for the dwarf to charge at her. He raised his hammer high into the air and let out a long and loud guttural scream.
It died on his lips as Paula thrust a spear through his neck.
She put a foot out to the body of the dead foe as she pulled back on her spear, retrieving her weapon from the dwarf.
“We need to try to reconnect with the defenders,” she said hoarsely. Senator Paula was a warrior to be sure. “We can make our way to the gate. If we’re lucky, they may let us in. Or come out to help us.”
“That might be wishful thinking,” Laserie said as she looked out around them. The dwarf army had not yet surrounded them, but it wasn't going to take them long. The number of elves who had come to assist was a great boon, but they were not an army to match the numbers that the dwarves had brought.
They were going to be helpful. But only to a point.
“The cannons are going to devastate us when they fire them,” Laserie said. “We need a way to stop them.”
Paula nodded, looking up at the hill where the cannons were located.
“If we do, we might have enough time in order to get to the gates. But how can we stop them from firing? They use the power by rimstone are they not?”
Laserie looked down the sword that she held. Glowing softly on the hilt was the rimstone gem inside of it. One that had the faintest black speck floating around in its core.
“If we can’t get the speakers to stop,” Laserie said. “Maybe we can taint their stones.”
Paula called up some of her guards, and Laserie looked to the nearest elves and the two Skrilx who had come with them.
“We make for the cannons,” Paula said. “Around the rim of the battle and to the hill where they are nestled.”
The grim-faced attackers nodded their agreement. They seemed to know that any plan, any strategy, was one that might result in their deaths. But if there was any hope of survival, this was going to be the battle where it was decided.
They rushed back from the front line as Skrilx and elves alike filled in for them. Making their way around the chaos of the fighting, they found cover in the hills that surrounded Severn, as well as the grass that had grown there. Laserie was thankful for the tall grasses this time. She was no longer afraid of what she couldn’t see. This time, she was fearful of what was right in front of her.
“Do you such a maneuver this will work?” Paula asked as she crouched down at the bottom of the hill in front of where the cannons were position.
“I don't know,” Laserie admitted. “But I don't know of any other way to ensure victory.”
“Any victory here today will be a hollow one,” Paula answered. “You're trying to forestall a massacre. All we can do is hope that we can prevent the dwarves from wiping out every citizen within Severn. If we can do that, I will consider this a small victory worth claiming.”
Laserie nodded.
There was a group of dwarves who were placed around the cannons. Laserie guessed that they had been assigned to protect the weapons. They were only a third of the group that was guarding the cannons, but Laserie knew they could spare no more.
She turned back to the group and looked at their determined faces.
“I see four cannons,” she said. “I don’t know if this will work, but if we can get any rimstone we have that’s tainted into their rimstone cannons, there’s a chance that we’ll be able to render their weapons useless.”
“And if we can’t get the taint to pass from stone to stone?” a soldier of Paula’s asked.
Laserie looked him in the eyes.
“Do whatever you can to disable the cannon,” she said.
The sword in her hand began to glow as she spoke a word of power into the Rimstone. It faltered a bit, which actually gave her some hope. If her Rimstone was tainted, perhaps they could stop the dwarves as well.
“We should have a distraction,” Paul said, looking up at the guards.
The two Skrilx
exchanged hard looks and nodded.
They made their way a little to the west before coming up and beginning to tear into the ranks of the dwarves. The stout warriors were caught unaware and began to shout and move in the direction of the two cats.
That was as good as it was going to get.
As quietly as they could, the elves and humans who were left snuck up over the hill and towards the four cannons.
Laserie reached the first one and placed her in stone next to the much larger rock that was connected to the canon. She didn’t know how she could transfer the plague from one stone to another. She touched her own stone, then the larger one, then both at the same time, but nothing seemed to work. The taint seemed fixed on her Rimstone and not the dwarves.
“Maybe the dwarven rock is purer than ours?” she said as Paula came on the site.
“Do you know any spells that might work?” she asked.
Laserie couldn’t think of any off the top of her head.
“Ho! Behind us! They’re here for the cannons!”
They had been discovered.
Dwarves began to turn and fight the elves and humans who had snuck up behind them. Laserie began to panic.
In her desperation, she spoke the only word she could think of that might cause this much damage to the rimstone as she could imagine.
“Plague,” she said in her reverent tone.
The blackness in her own stone pulsed and begin to shift to the larger room stone.
“It’s working!” Laserie said as she spun around to see themselves surrounded by dwarven warriors.
“Get to the next one!” Paula said as she thrust her speaker at a dwarven speaker who had come nearby. Laserie didn’t wait to respond. She left to the next cannon even as she saw some of Paula’s warriors hitting the rimstone in a flurry with their swords. Magic sparked and flew out of it as they did so.
She touched her stone to the rock again and let her the word. As the blackness left her brimstone and infected the new larger one, the smaller piece shattered.
Laserie cursed as she spun around. Apparently, the stones could only last so long.
“Watch out!” Paula said as Laserie turned to hold her blade out in front of her. A dwarf with a small crossbow had taken aim right at Laserie.
Before she could dodge out of the way, the dwarf let the bolt fly. Paula jumped in front of the elf and took the projectile in her chest.
“No!” Laserie cried.
With a shattering explosion, the third cannon’s Rimstone blew its magical energy in all directions, decimating the hill and throwing both Laserie and Paula several paces away.
The last dwarves canon fell into the crater the blast had made. Laserie saw the dwarves try to save it, only to fall into the hole it. A second explosion assaulted Laserie, and she shielded her eyes from the blast.
Sound continued to rush into her ears, and Laserie felt confused. The explosion was done. Why was there still a great rushing noise assaulting her? Crawling, she made her way to the senator. A great red stain covered her chest as her eyes searched the sky above. They finally rested on Laserie’s own and the senator’s mouth formed a pained smile.
Laserie looked down at Paula, who was gasping for breath.
“You were supposed to ask me questions,” she told her. “Now we will get to know one another.”
“I think I know you...” Paula gasped. “Well enough.”
She took one last ragged breath and went still.
Laserie was only vaguely aware of what was going on around her. That dwarves were rushing. Not to attack her or the others who had gathered around the fallen senator. Instead, they were running away from the cannons and the city. It all meant so little to Laserie. They had come to help Paula. To help her survive. If she had given her life so that she could live, what was she supposed to do now? All Laserie could do was look down into the lifeless eyes of Paula and weep.
She did not know how long she was there. Time had no meaning. The suns may have risen and fallen several times, but Laserie didn’t notice. All she could think about was the Rimstone being tainted and Paula saving her life and the elders who had not blessed her journey here.
And death.
Finally, a bloodied and strong paw grasp her arm, and she recoiled with a gasp. Looking up, she saw Acred, who stood with a somber expression on his face.
“The men of Severn have come out of the city and routed the dwarves. There are many who have laid down their arms and surrendered. Your countrymen are concerned for you.”
He stooped down, and with his other paw, he closed Paula’s eyes.
“You should come.”
Laserie didn’t want to move from this spot. She looked at Acred with a painful expression and then back down at Paula. How could she let him know what this human had meant to her? This was the one she had purposed to help. This was the women who had given her life for an elf.
“We will return for her,” Acred said. “But now there are other matters to attend to.”
“What other matters could be as important as the death of one of the senators of Severn?” she asked.
Acred offered her his paw.
Taking it, Laserie stood up, still in a daze and looked around them. And then she perceived. The dwarves had run. The men of Severn had triumphed against all the odds.
But now, ahead of them, stood an army more vast than all of theirs combined.
The Court of Three had come war.
41: Obedience
Cyna walked out in front of the army as they all gathered outside the capital of Severn. The rocky terrain had been marked by war. Banners had fallen over the hills that lead to the city. A large crater marked an area just beyond the capital where something had exploded recently. Ash and debris still floated in the area around it. The army of the Blackthorns and the Court had arrived at the end of a great struggle.
It had been her understanding that they were going to take over the continent. What had impressed her was seeing the speed with which they were able to accomplish the task.
The airships of Rerial, which she had detested and despised so long, had proven their worth to her several times over.
Able to transport thousands of men and soldiers, Cyna now understood that Rerial could have, at any point in its recent history, simply defeated the Court at Three show of force. They had just chosen not to.
She did not know what she was to do with such a revelation. It was possible that her hated enemies were not as ruthless as she might have wanted to consider them. But now they were other matters to attend to.
It seems that the city of Seron, the capital of Severn, had just survived an attack by the dwarves of Taystone. Dwarven bodies lay all outside the city walls. A siege had taken place here. For how long, she did not know. Smoke rose steadily from the city of Seron, as if there were buildings that had been recently on fire but were now extinguished. The mountains to the south of them rose up over the grand city. Cyna had never seen Severn before. She had only heard rumors of it and the other countries that lay beyond the Court. There were three: a human, dwarven, and elven nation. Unlike the Court, these three had stayed divided.
It was a waste.
The Court of Three had used dwarves to great effect in wars past. They were stout warriors, stubborn to a fault, and made of hardier stuff than most men.
The only problem the Court had ever experienced with them was getting them to all agree to be stubborn in the same direction.
The dwarves who were now coming towards them all seem to be united under the same idea at the moment: to get away from Severn.
Many of the dwarves were now gathered in between the two armies. Many of them seemed confused about which direction they should face: Severn or the army of Sefen. Cyna wasn’t sure which would be the better choice for them.
“Well, well,” Commander Stefan said as he rode up beside her on his horse. “It seems we have two very exhausted forces in front of us. Wonderful.”
Cyna knew that fro
m his statement, neither the attackers or the defenders of this confrontation were going to come out the victor now.
Both would feel the wrath of Commander Sefen.
A formidable looking dwarf strode up in front of the horse and placed his large hammer on the ground. The dwarf kept a tight grip on it to handle.
“I am king Fra of Taystone,” he said. Cyna could tell he was trying to maintain a sense of pride. “We have been...”
“Why does your army runaway king from their siege?” Commander Sefen asked.
There were no introductions Sefen needed or cared for. Cyna knew this was his way of mocking the dwarf. To deny him the chance to give his full introductions and strategy. Cyna could already see how this would play out, but now she was curious about what the dwarf would do. How desperate the dwarf who stood in front of them was would be a factor. A stubborn dwarf is one thing. A dwarf who had been insulted was quite another.
“We were attacked from behind,” the dwarf said through gritted teeth. “Our cannons were destroyed, and the defenders rushed from the gates. I brought with me five-thousand dwarves from the mines of Taystone. The thousand you see here are all that remains. The defenders fought valiantly, but I do not know who the cowardly elves and Skrilx who have attacked us from outside are.”
“Elves and Skrilx?” Commander Sefen asked. “I thought your race to be of tougher stuff than to be tested by cats and long-eared ancients such as myself.”
King Fra did not say a word. Cyna saw him tighten his grip on his hammer, however.
She also saw a smirk cross Commander Sefen’s face.
“Which are you more disappointed in, dwarf?” Sefen asked with a sneer. “The inability of your soldiers to take down the city for your inability to lead them into victory?”
It happened in an instant. King Fra grabbed his hammer and began to swing it high over his head in the direction of Commander Sefen. The hammer hit the ground with a shattering force.
In the king's eyes, however, were shock and pain.
