by Steve McHugh
“I guarantee you that every single one of those dwarves will come back and beautify that tunnel,” Vorisbo said. “There will be murals in there before the winter comes around.”
“Excellent,” Layla said. “How long do you need to get the main tunnel rigged to collapse?”
“We can put runes along the inside,” Vorisbo said. “You put enough power in the first one that it triggers the rest.”
“Like explosive charges?” Zamek asked.
“Put the power in the last one,” Layla said. “We’ll get as many as we can with them.”
“Someone is coming,” Tarron said as voices could be heard echoing somewhere inside the tunnel.
“Doesn’t sound like a lot of people,” Chloe said.
“I’ll check,” he said, running off, returning only a few seconds later.
“How many?” Dralas asked, his tone suggesting he was eager for them to arrive.
“Six,” Tarron said. “Carrying a staff. It’s dark in there, so easy to hide, but they’ll be here shortly.”
The group moved out of view and waited for the blood elves. One of the six came out of the tunnel carrying a large, black, iron staff, while the other five appeared to be there as bodyguards.
Layla’s team descended upon them with ruthless efficiency, killing five of the six in seconds. Tarron stood above the remaining bloody and bruised blood elf. It viewed Tarron with open hostility.
“None of you left,” the blood elf hissed.
“Apparently not,” Tarron said sadly. “How many of you are there with Abaddon?”
“Millions,” the blood elf snapped.
Zamek removed some rope from the staff and tied the blood elf’s hands together behind its back, forcing it onto its knees.
“I will die for Abaddon’s cause,” the blood elf sneered.
“Zamek, Vorisbo, you want to go get those runes done?” Layla asked. “Dralas, can you throw that staff into the river?”
“With pleasure,” the giant said, picking up the large staff with one hand and carrying it over to the water’s edge.
“No,” the blood elf snapped. “No, you must not. Abaddon will punish me.”
“Does it work without all four staffs?” Layla asked.
“No,” the elf snapped again, before realizing it had said too much.
“Wait,” Nabu said, drawing a knife from his belt and cutting across the dwarven runes drawn onto the staff. When Nabu was done, Dralas heaved the weapon into the river. The blood elf cried out as if wounded.
“Where are the other two?” Layla asked the elf.
“Two?” the blood elf asked.
“One of your group’s been eaten by spiders,” Chloe told it. “You probably don’t want to find that particular staff.”
“No,” the blood elf almost screamed. “No, no, no, no.”
“How many are with Abaddon?” Layla asked.
“Thousands,” the blood elf said, seemingly deflated. “There are other staffs. They were meant to surround the dwarven village. We have failed Abaddon. Failed our goddess.” The elf stood and stared at Layla. “You will die at her hands.”
Dralas placed a hand on the elf’s shoulder and pushed it down to a kneeling position again. “Where is Abaddon?” Layla asked.
“Coming,” the blood elf said. “Right behind us. So many, right behind us. She will kill you, and then me. When you’re dead, then I die. I die for failing her.” It cackled and then sprinted toward the river and threw itself in. The moment it hit the surface, it was caught by the rushing current and smashed against one of the many jutting rocks that stuck out of the water.
“Holy shit,” Chloe said. “That was messed up. Why would it kill itself?”
“Because it’s better to die by its own hand than by Abaddon’s,” Nabu said.
Vorisbo and Zamek both ran out of the tunnel. “Abaddon is coming,” they said simultaneously.
“Lots of blood elves too,” Zamek said.
“We need time to finish the runes here,” Vorisbo said. “Can you stall her for maybe ten minutes?”
“How?” Chloe asked.
“I have an idea,” Layla said. “When I run out of here, get ready to drop the tunnel.”
“Layla, this seems like a very bad plan,” Tarron said. “Abaddon is not someone you want to fight.”
“Not going to fight her,” Layla said. “Just wind her up a bit. I think I can do that.” Layla ran down the tunnel. The sound of marching blood elves grew louder the closer she got. She slowed to a walk and eventually stopped at a part of the tunnel with a long, straight section ahead.
The saber-tooth panther licked Layla’s hand, and she scratched the cat behind the ears. “Glad you’re here,” she said.
Abaddon led the blood elves at the front of the procession. She wore the exact same leather armor that Layla had seen her in before, and her expression was a mixture of hate and amusement. To Abaddon, Layla was nothing more than a slightly humorous diversion.
Abaddon held up a hand and the blood elves behind her stopped marching, although they still banged drums and hit their swords against their shields. The noise was almost deafening inside the confines of the tunnel.
Abaddon raised her other hand and silence fell. “You are most persistent,” Abaddon said. There was maybe a hundred feet between her and Layla, although the tunnel made them seem closer. “And you have acquired a pet.”
“And killed a lot of your elves, don’t forget that,” Layla said.
The smile on Abaddon’s face faltered for just a moment. “I have come from Helheim to end your hope of adding allies to your pathetic resistance.”
“Now say that in Darth Vader’s voice,” Layla shouted. “I wonder, does your neck hurt always looking up for falling houses?”
Abaddon looked confused.
“Damn it, I thought that was a good one,” Layla said. “Not a Wizard of Oz fan, I assume?”
“Did you come here to taunt me?” Abaddon asked.
“Pretty much, yeah.”
“Because that seems foolish.”
“I also thought I’d come see the size of your army,” Layla said. “I’ve seen bigger. Oh, you’re expecting your Devil’s Venom to incapacitate everyone. Yeah, spiders ate your elves.”
Abaddon’s eyes narrowed in anger. “You think I need my weapon to kill you all?”
“Yes,” Layla said. “I think that’s exactly what you need. You came from Helheim to have a great victory over a city of dwarves you presumably didn’t even know existed until a few hours ago. I can see that you didn’t bring too many blood elves with you.”
“You thought you could bring your dwarves here to fight me outside the tunnel? Is that why you’re here, to give them time to organize?”
“Not really,” Layla said. “I’m here to call you a few names, make you feel bad about yourself. I’ll be honest, I’m not the best at it, but you’ve got to learn at some point.”
“I could end your existence with a wave of my hand.”
“Go on then,” Layla said. “Or do you need that power for whatever you have planned in Helheim?”
Abaddon laughed. “Do you really think I’m just going to tell you everything?”
Layla shrugged. “I’d kind of hoped so, yes. Nice army you got with you. I’m guessing that’s most of the blood elves you have left in this realm. That means your realm gate is defenseless. Why, anyone could just go and make sure you couldn’t use it. That would really mess with your plans, wouldn’t it? If you were stuck here. Forever.”
Abaddon’s eyes narrowed, and Layla knew she’d hit a sore spot.
Vorisbo walked up next to Layla and rested the head of her ax on the ground. “You must be that haggard wench that everyone keeps talking about,” she said.
“See, she’s great at pissing you off,” Layla said, pointing to Vorisbo.
Abaddon took a step forward, followed by her entire army of blood elves.
“We ready to go?” Layla asked. Vorisbo nodded.
They turned and sprinted out of the tunnel at full speed. Vorisbo stopped and turned at the mouth of the tunnel as the sound of the blood elf horde got closer. She cut her hand and placed it against the tunnel wall, causing the runes to flash white with power.
Vorisbo and Layla, with the panther at their side, ran to the bottom of the bridge as the first lot of blood elves got near the mouth of the tunnel.
“Abaddon isn’t there,” Layla said, noticing that the sun was beginning to set.
“She’s letting the elves go first,” Vorisbo replied. “I guess it was too much to hope that she got buried with her troops.”
They ran over the bridge as the first elves reached the runes, which exploded. The sound of the tunnel collapsing on hundreds of elves was deafening. Dust and debris shot out of the tunnel, covering the old blood elf camp in muck.
“How many do you think we got?” Dralas asked as Vorisbo and Layla joined the rest of the team on the opposite side of the river.
“A lot,” Layla said. “Not all, but a lot. I think Abaddon was at the rear of their little army. You think any of them survived?”
“No,” Tarron said. “And I am glad that whatever became of my people is being removed from this world. The blood elves are a disease I plan to eradicate however I can.”
“It’s going to take those elves hours to get back to the realm gate,” Zamek said.
“Sounds like a good idea to me,” Layla said as an explosion tore through the collapsed tunnel, throwing rock all over the opposite bank of the river.
“That can’t be good,” Chloe said.
“Anyone else realize that we’ve just given Abaddon, a necromancer, hundreds of blood elf souls to use?” Layla said.
They stared at one another. “Well, shit,” Chloe said with a resigned tone.
Layla drew her sword, ready to fight whatever came out of the tunnel. More rock and elven body parts flew out, and then Abaddon appeared, followed by dozens of baying blood elves.
“I guess my plan for the side tunnel is screwed,” Layla said.
“It was a good plan,” Tarron said, drawing the claymore he’d taken from the dwarven armory. “Maybe we can ask her to go back inside and wait.”
“Was that sarcasm?” Chloe asked. She’d opted for a claw-like weapon that sat over one of her fists, while she carried a dagger in the other hand.
Abaddon and Layla locked eyes. Abaddon smiled as more and more elves flooded out of the tunnel. All of a sudden the elves tried to get as far away from the mouth of the tunnel as possible as the dwarven army, roaring a challenge, smashed into them at full speed.
Layla and her friends ran over the bridge into the fray, colliding with the nearest blood elves, who were still trying to scatter from the attack inside the tunnel. Layla tore the sword from the hand of a blood elf and flung it through the skull of another, who had raised its own sword to strike. She spotted Jomik in the middle of the fight at the mouth of the tunnel, swinging a huge maul at anything that moved near him.
The elvish army had been devastated by the fall of the tunnel, but there were still thousands of elves alive, and a large number of them were the commanders. Abaddon, who had clearly thought this would be an easy fight, killed any dwarf who tried to take her down. She used the spirits of the dead near her to continuously power her own abilities. The tunnel was quickly emptying as the fight moved further and further up the bank of the river.
Layla had been in fights more times than she could count. She’d been in battles where magic and powers destroyed the surrounding area with ease, but she’d never been in a fight like this. This was close-quarters fighting. She had to force herself to ignore the screams of pain as the smells of sweat, blood, and fear filled the cavern. She didn’t even have a moment to focus her power, and couldn’t risk just blindly flinging it around in case she took the metal from a weapon being used by an ally.
Layla ducked a sword swipe, driving her own blade into the belly of a blood elf, only to be kicked by a commander into the dwarves behind her. The commander went for another attack, but Chloe blasted him in the chest with her umbra power, throwing him back into a group of blood elves, who all fell to the ground. The nearby dwarves made short work of them. The ground was becoming slick with blood, and despite the dwarves’ numbers advantage, the elves were making it hard work for them.
Layla rolled to her feet, stabbing a blood elf in the back and pushing it away from a fallen dwarf, who nodded thanks in response.
“Accept who you are,” Terhal said to Layla.
“Now is not a good time,” Layla snapped, stopping an elf’s blade in midair and driving her sword into his chest. Tarron drove his own sword through the elf’s neck.
“Thanks for the assist,” Layla said.
“It didn’t look like you needed one,” Tarron replied with a smile. “But I had nothing better to do.”
There was a roar behind her and she turned to see a troll run toward them over the bridge. “What the hell?” Layla asked.
“Must have disturbed it,” Vorisbo said from beside her. “We need to take it down, and fast.”
The troll covered the fifty feet to Layla in seconds, but she remained calm, and when it had raised its hammer to deliver a killing blow, metal spikes erupted from the earth beneath its feet. They punched through the cracks in the leg armor and pinned it to the ground. The troll dropped its hammer to the ground and swiped at Layla, who easily dodged it. She ran around to the back of the giant creature and discovered that the armor between its lower back and its tailbone was missing.
Layla placed her hand on the troll’s lower back, skin to skin, and concentrated with everything she had as Zamek and Nabu kept the blood elves away from her. The troll screamed and clawed at the metal keeping it in place, but Layla ignored it as best she could until she found what she was looking for.
Layla took control of the trace amounts of metal inside the troll’s body and ripped them out of the creature with such explosive force that, instead of thousands of tiny holes, several exceptionally large ones tore the troll apart.
When the fighting was over, the dwarves were victorious, although they’d paid a price for that victory. Zamek stood in the center of a group of dead blood elves, his black armor literally dripping with their blood. Jomik walked over to Layla. “Abaddon escaped back into the tunnel. We couldn’t stop her. She had a few elves with her.”
The army of dwarves and Layla’s team ran into the mountain after Abaddon. After twenty minutes of running, they discovered a hole in the side of the tunnel that led directly to the elven realm gate. There was no one inside the cavern.
“She escaped,” Chloe said as they reached the dais and found the fresh remains of a blood elf.
“Damn it,” Layla said.
“We stopped her,” Jomik said with pride. “We took back our mountain.”
“Our home,” Vorisbo said.
“We lost a few hundred dwarves today,” Jomik said. “We will honor their memory.”
Tarron climbed the stairs to the dais and began to work on changing the destination, calling out that he was finished a few minutes later.
“We will continue on to the citadel,” Jomik said. “We will take this mountain back.”
A huge cheer went up from the dwarves, who were continuing to pour into the cavern.
“Thank you for your help,” Layla said.
“And for yours,” Jomik told her.
Cries of “Prince Zamek” rang out around the chamber, making Zamek look incredibly uncomfortable.
Layla’s team said their goodbyes and made their way to the dais. The panther had killed several elves and would certainly need a wash. She licked Layla’s hand as she was stroked. “It’s good to see you’re okay,” Layla told her, and the panther let out a slight purr. “We go to Shadow Falls,” Layla said. “Then, Zamek, you need to use the dwarven gate to get to Tartarus. I’m sure by now Mordred and team will be getting impatient.”
“And then we all head to Helh
eim,” Zamek said. “I’ve left instructions with Vorisbo on how to activate the dwarven gate in the citadel. I’m hopeful that once they’re done liberating it, we will have a powerful ally in this realm.”
Layla looked down on the dwarven army who had managed to free themselves from elvish cruelty. Abaddon was running now—she’d lost the battle and would certainly not want to lose the war—but Layla and her allies had proved she was beatable. And she hoped that knowledge would bolster them for the battles ahead.
16
MORDRED
Mordred opened his eyes and blinked at the darkness above him. For a brief moment, he wondered if he had died and gone to some afterlife he’d previously given no thought to. He sat up and remembered the staff, the explosion, and being thrown back down a large hill. The mist had gone, so he stood and brushed the debris off, noticing that Diana, Remy, and Hel were all in similar states.
“That was not fun,” Hel said, sitting up and rubbing her head.
“Whatever you did to that rune, Remy, I think it worked,” Diana said, getting to her feet.
“Let’s go check,” Remy said, and he began to walk up the hill. Remy was the only one of the four of them who didn’t have a powerful healing ability, and Mordred was concerned that he might be pushing himself too far.
“Wait up,” Diana said to Remy, the look on her face telling Mordred that she’d had the same thought.
“I’m fine,” Remy said, before sitting down. “Maybe a little tired, but the actual blast didn’t seem to do me any harm.”
“Yeah, but being thrown down a hill wasn’t my idea of a good time,” Hel said, now back on her feet.
The four of them made their way up the hill and found the staff in several dozen pieces scattered around the clearing.
Mordred heard shouting in the distance. “I think we should see if we can get into the compound. I think breaking the weapon may have caused them to notice us.”
They headed through the forest until they reached a large rocky overhang surrounded by bare tree branches. Fortunately, it was far enough from the wire fencing that their dark clothing helped hide them despite the lack of concealing leaves. They climbed the rocks and looked down over the compound exterior.
