Deepforge (19 page)

“Our enemy is not these humans. They are our friends and allies. The time of civil war is over. The metallic dragons have made that crystal clear. These…Drakmids, as we’re calling them, are from the south. That’s about all we’ve been able to figure out. They have a network of spies.” Grognor looked around at the army. “We’ve only been able to identify three: Brendon, Daemon the elf, and…our sister Rebecca. But, we’ve discovered there are more. Who they are we don’t know. But, whoever they are, they will die on sight.”

Selena understood. “But, who are these Drakmids, and why do they attack us?”

“Nobody knows for sure, only that they want Deepforge. They are all serve an ambiguous ‘She’. We know nothing more.”

“Actually,” Bruno chimed in, “we may know more than that, or have the potential to. Remember the antennas? I would bet Rebecca was using that to contact whoever ‘She’ is.”

“The radios? They were all destroyed in the pulse,” Selena said.

“Obviously not. If there were any in a shielded chamber, they could have survived. Where do you keep your radios?” Bruno asked.

“I…I don’t know. The communications engineer is dead. We found him just outside the Great Door right before the dragons attacked,” Selena said.

“I know where they are,” Delvin said. “They were decommissioned when the telephone system was put in place. They were obsolete. They were all dismantled to their component parts, and packed in boxes in level twenty with the portable generators.”

“Level twenty. Makes sense. Down that low they would have been shielded from the pulse,” Bruno said.

“So, what level are we on now?” Teelena asked, looking around at the new looking work.

“This is level twenty five,” Selena said.

“Wow, five below the lowest we knew about. You were right,” Teelena said, looking at Grognor.

Explosions were heard coming from above. Light dust fell from the ceiling.

“What the hell?” Lucas said.

“They’ve been blasting random holes in the top level walls. It’s like they’re looking for something,” Selena said.

“How many have we lost, Sister?”

“I don’t know. Too many. Vella teleported many of them to Lakeshore, and the rest of us came down here and sealed it behind us. Once we left them the top level, the battle pretty much stopped. Several of the warriors have been fighting with sneak attacks, but the Drakmids have stopped coming after us.”

“So, Vella’s gone?”

“Yea, so are all the metallics. The Nords showed up and began attacking the dragons and Drakmids near the southern end of Deepforge valley. The war continues there, but they’ve left us alone.”

“Well, this confirms what we were told. It’s the citadel they want, not us,” Teelena said.             

“Hmmm…” Bruno said out loud, obviously in deep thought.

“What? Does this mean anything to you?” Grognor asked.

“Maybe, but…it wouldn’t make sense.”

“Well, are you going to tell us?”

“Actually…no. I can’t. This is something I read about in the future, and would explain something else, too…but…it can’t be. It’s an anachronism.”

“Bruno, if you know something, then you need to tell us,” Teelena urged.

Bruno looked at them all, questions on their faces, desperate for an answer. “This could rip the fabric of the future apart…no, this isn’t right. Sire, there’s something here, hidden in Deepforge. I can’t tell you what, because if I’m right, it’s not supposed to be discovered until the time of…the Dragon King.”

Grognor sighed in frustration. “That again.”

“No, but, you see, that would mean that whoever is trying to get Deepforge…knows the future…oh… fuck…me!” Bruno looked genuinely frightened.

“Bruno! Tell us! If you know, you
must
tell us!” Grognor ordered.

“It’s very complicated, but I may know who it is. In my past, I had a run-in with this creature before. If it
is
her, we’re totally screwed.”

“The radios!” Delvin said. “If we can get to the radio room, we may be able to talk to this…‘She’ whoever she is.”

“Yes. Yes! If I can talk to her, I can tell you for sure one way or another. Where’s the radio room?” Bruno asked.

“It’s in the high tower, above level one, on the Great Hall,” Delvin said with disappointment in his voice.

“We’ll never make it. The Great Hall is full of Drakmids. Damn,” Selena said.

“You said they weren’t interested in fighting us anymore,” Grognor said.

“Well, yea, but we still attack them to keep them busy enough not to totally destroy the citadel with their explosions,” Selena said.

“Perfect. Let’s get up to level two and arrange a distraction,” Grognor said.

“That’s going to be…tricky,” Selena said. “We sealed up the path to the upper twenty levels, and the elevator has been disabled.”

“No problem. We can work stone like nobody else,” Bruno said. “Not sure how we’ll be able to handle this heat, though.”

“Well, let’s get this done,” Grognor said, just as another blast was heard. Slightly thicker dust rained down from the ceiling.

They all went into the commons area where the refugees were very happy to see their Emperor. Some of the warriors’ families embraced them.

Grognor let the reunion go on for a little while, then he address them all.              “Everyone, we need to find out who’s behind this attack, and address that issue as best as we can. These are Stone Children, and they are our friends. The humans of the Deepforge Empire are our full allies, and also our friends. These humans who attack us and their chromatic dragons are from another land. Get that through your heads and know it’s true. Now, everyone make ready. We’ll be moving out as soon as we can get through the blockade.”

Bruno and the Stone Children worked with the stone blockage the dwarves had created like it was nothing more than foam bricks. Meticulously, they fashioned a good sized passage into level twenty. On that level, it was completely deserted. The army then moved up the levels, checking for any interlopers as they went. There were none. When they finally got up to level two, they were met with an army of exhausted dwarves, happy to see their leader.

“Ok, you all need to rest. We’ll take it from here,” Grognor started,” Cray and the Stone Children will form a diversion with one of our dwarven detachments. When they do, Bruno and I will get into the radio room with Delvin. I don’t know how much time we’ll need, but the diversion needs to buy us as much time as possible.”

“Sire, we’re ready to help with whatever you need,” one of the standing dwarf warriors said. 

“Good. Then your mission is to keep any of the interlopers from descending,” Grognor said.

Everyone got ready. Cray and a detachment of Stone Children, dwarves and others suddenly attacked the Drakmids on the far side of the Great Hall. The Drakmids immediately stopped chiseling at the wall and engaged them in battle. Blades crashed against blade, flesh and bone. It suddenly became a war zone.

“Now, let’s go,” Grognor said.

The three of them quickly ran across the Great Hall to the tower. Inside stood a Drakmid warrior standing guard. He never knew what hit him, who was Bruno and his iron fists. The warrior went out like a light to the afterlife. They quickly ran up the staircase to the radio room. They could hear the hiss of static before they got there.

“Look!” Devlin said, pointing at the radio. “It was left on. She must have been in a hurry. We can probably assume it’s still locked on the correct frequency. Let me adjust the plate a bit…”

He sat down and turned some dials, watching the analog meters deflect. Bruno saw what he was doing, and knew from his wife’s training what the gnome was trying to do. He even recognized the model.

“This is from Earth,” Bruno said. “How’s this possible?”

“Earth? Hardly. This is one of my models. I designed it myself,” Devlin said.

Bruno was confused. “But, this is… never mind.”

“Ok,” Devlin said. It’s ready. Just push this button to talk, and release to receive.”

Bruno nodded, already knowing full well how it worked. He recognized the model and brand of the desk microphone too. He knew something was out of whack. He shrugged it off and sat down. He pressed the button and spoke, “This is Deepforge, is anyone there?”

Only more static and white noise was heard.

“Hello? This is Deepforge. Is anyone there?”

A male human voice replied, “This is Lake Palace. Who is this?”

“This is Deepforge. We need to speak to
her
.”

“
Who
… is this?”

“This is Bruno of the Stone Children, who am I speaking to?”

“This is Jerry… stand by…”

A few moments passed, and then a female voice was heard speaking a strange language, “Bruno, old friend! Or should I say Michael? How are you feeling these days? A bit…under the weather?”

Bruno leaned back, his skin a shade paler. “Ah, hell. I recognize that voice. It
is
her.”

She came back on, “Are you there, First One?”

Bruno pressed the button. “Obsidian. How did you get here?”

She made a point to transmit a laugh. “Oh! Wouldn’t you like to know? What you
should
be asking yourself is, how do you get this lovely coin away from me!”

Grognor and Delvin looked at each other, not understanding the conversation.

“What language is that?” Grognor asked.

“I don’t know. Never heard it before,” Delvin said.

Bruno looked over at them. “It’s called
English
, a language from Earth.”

They were not concerned with his answer. They were very concerned with how he looked. He had terror in his eyes. The radio sounded again with the woman’s voice.

“Hey, are you still there?”

“What are you doing here, Obsidian? Why Deepforge?”

“Oh, please. You can call me ‘My Queen’, or ‘Black Queen’, or ‘your Majesty’. That would be fine. I like the idea of you kneeling down at my feet.”

“Answer me!”

“You don’t give me orders, rock boy, or whatever they call your race. I think you have a pretty good idea what I want. It’s just a matter of time before my warriors find it. You’ve already lost this war, Michael. I’ve got more people coming, too. We’ll remake this world in my image, and your future will cease to exist!”

Bruno stepped back from the radio with a look of panic on his face. “Sire…sire…”

“Bruno, what is it?” Grognor asked, also starting to panic.

Bruno began rambling on in different languages, apparently talking to himself. He was losing his mind from fear. “My contemporary…no… he wouldn’t be able to change, either…maybe Jacinth…no… who knows where he’s floating…my wife? I don’t even know how to contact her…”

Delvin looked up at Grognor as they all began to panic. “Sire, what’s happening?”             

Grognor tried to calm Bruno down. “Bruno, please control yourself! Tell us!”

“Sire!” Bruno began, “it’s Obsidian…or as she’s calling herself now, the ‘Black Queen’. She’s a black dragon, but much more powerful. She’s unstoppable…we need to evacuate Deepforge. There are more coming and they won’t stop until everyone is dead.”

“But, what are they looking for?”

“It doesn’t matter! It’s only a matter of time before they find it, and in the mean time, more people will die! We need to get out, now!” Bruno began descending the stairs at a sprint, leaving Delvin and Grognor in shock.

“Jesus,” Grognor said.

Part 4: War and Punishment

Chapter 17

T
he evacuation began right away. The Stone Children helped the dwarves re-open the lava tube tunnel as the battle continued outside. The diversion mission was abandoned, and everyone retreated down into the depths of the citadel.

“I can’t believe we’re going to just…let them have Deepforge,” Selena said

“We have to get out of here as fast as we can. If they don’t find what they’re looking for soon, they’re blow the mountain,” Bruno said.

“Ok, Bruno, you have to tell us. What they hell are they looking for?” Grognor asked.

Bruno didn’t see any reason to hold back anymore. They had already lost. “Mithril.”

None of them recognized the word.

“It’s the same stuff their armor and weapons are made of, but they don’t know how to forge it properly. There’s a large vein of it in the southern mountains, but a much bigger one here in Deepforge. At least, it’s the only thing I can think of. In my future the Zorg dwarves are masters of the metal, at least as good as the others…” He drifted off in thought.

“Metal? This is all about some damned metal?” Grognor said, incredulous.

“I know, it sounds wrong, but, it’s the only thing that makes sense. I’m not sure how it all comes together, but I do know that in the future, that metal is a big deal. Even currency is made out of the stuff.”

“There has to be more to it than that,” Grognor said.

“I’m sure there is, but I just don’t know for sure. What’s important is the Black Queen cannot be defeated. Why she hasn’t attacked personally is another mystery. If she changes her tactics and does so, everyone is guaranteed to die. She’s sending more people and probably more dragons. We need to get the hell out of here.”

“Well, you know of the future, why don’t you just show them where it is, and maybe they’ll go away?” Delvin asked.

“I don’t know where it is. I come from a point much more distant. I’m not even totally sure it
is
here, but it’s the only thing I can think of, and she assumed I knew. She didn’t say.”

The Black Queen couldn’t stop laughing. Her feminine yet sinister laugh echoed across the palace, striking fear into everyone who heard. It was a genuine laugh. She couldn’t believe how funny it was, knowing that she had actually caused panic in Bruno: The legendary Michael Angelico, the First One. As she laughed, she fondled the coin. Acid fell from her eyes as she laughed seemingly out of control. Her maniacal heaving of laughter finally slowed down as she got control of herself, sitting comfortably in her throne.

“Oh, my! That was the most fun I’ve had in a
long
time!” She wiped away her tears of laughter, flicking them onto the stone floor. Streams of smoke rose where the acidic tears ate away at the stone. Her court stood nearby, fearful.

“Oh, calm down, people! I’m having a
great
day! Everyone gets the evening off! Go on! Have fun, spend some time with your families, or whatever! Go on!”

Her servants tentatively exited the palace, unsure if the proclamation of temporary freedom was true. Jennifer remained.

“Go on, Jennifer, you go too.”

“Your Majesty. I have nobody on this world in this time but you. I would rather spend my free time with you instead of strangers.”

The Black Queen took her hand. “I was hoping you would say that. Would you like to go for a ride?”

Jennifer smiled wide. “I thought you’d never ask!”

As the innocents were herded through the now cleared out lava tube, Bruno noticed the other Stone Children, Grognor, Selena, and all of the dwarf warriors had stayed behind. He ran back to prompt them. He saw Cray, Grognor and Selena talking close in a huddle. “Come on! We have to get out of here!”

The three in the huddle looked at each other as if sharing a secret, then over at Bruno.

“We’re staying,” Grognor said.

Bruno was appalled. “What? No, Sire, we have to go!”

Cray turned and faced Bruno, hands on his shoulders. “Brother, we are Stone Children. These are the finest dwarven warriors the world has ever known. You are a Stone Child, no less than you were before you revealed yourself to us. We’ve gotten the humans and the other innocents out. But, we’ll stay and take back Deepforge.”

“No!” Bruno yelled. “You don’t understand, she’ll lay waste to this citadel!”

“Then she will,” Grognor said. “But, not without one hell of a fight.”

“Bruno,” Cray started, “Eric and the Nords have engaged them in the valley. They’re distracted, and have left a skeleton crew of warriors behind in Deepforge to look for the metal. We discovered that when we created your diversion. We can take them out and rebuild the Great Door. Then, we’ll take the fight to them outside. We’ll create a gauntlet of doom.”

“They think they’ve already won, Bruno,” Grognor said. “We’ll mop the floor with them and then drive them back to the south, where we will follow them and kill the Black Queen.”

“Or die trying,” Selena said. “Either way, we’ll not simply stand by and let this malevolent creature have her way. She’s going to have to work for it. It’s who we are, Bruno.”

“We
must
fight,” Grognor said. “Besides, we have something the army didn’t have when this siege started: You and the Stone Children. We have the advantage now”

Bruno knew there was no way around it. They weren’t going to change their minds. “Then, I will fight with you.”

Cray smiled. “Good. We need you. You may not be some immortal god, but you
are
a Stone Child. Every hand counts.”

Bruno nodded and swallowed his mortal fear. “So, what’s the plan?”

Grognor smiled. “First, we need to make sure the innocents and humans are out. They’ll need good fighters to protect them, so make sure the human army does go. We’ll send them to Little Table, then east toward Lakeshore, away from the battle. Then, it’s very simple. We hit those bastards with everything we’ve got until the Great Hall is flooded with their sinister blood.”

“Sounds like a typical Grognor plan.” Bruno smiled.

Once the innocents were evacuated, the army got ready for battle.

“Ok, so there’s only two dragons, one white and one blue.  They’ve got maybe fifty warriors up there,” Cray said.

“I can’t believe the white can stand this heat,” Bruno said.

“I think it will be easy enough to take down. Just get it close to a vent pool and I can do the rest,” Grognor said.

“Same with the blue,” Bruno said. “I can take it down. Neither one of them are big. Makes me wonder why they didn’t send in a red?”

“Well, think about it, Bruno,” Cray said. “Deepforge dwarves have a natural resistance to heat. Reds wouldn’t do much. White and blue, or any other for that matter, well, that’s a different story.”

“Yea, that’s true, but don’t you all have a natural resistance to cold as well?” Bruno asked Grognor.

“Yea, extremes of cold and heat are normal for us, look at where we’ve lived. The blue is my biggest concern,” Grognor said.

“Ok, so how do we start this?” Bruno asked.

“Well,” Grognor started, “right now they’re pretty much evenly distributed on the first floor, Great Hall. The dragons are walking around in dragon form…I don’t think these have the ability to be anything else…so, they’re wildcards.  We’ll split up into two teams, Cray and Bruno take one team of mixed warriors, Teelena, Selena and I will take the other. We’ll head up both staircases at the same time and just start smashing heads. Stone Children first to soften them up, and dwarves behind to clean up the mess. The dragons will come to us, and we’ll deal with them as they do.  Pretty much, a free for all.”

Everyone agreed.

“Ok, everyone ready?” Grognor asked.

Everyone indicated they were.

“Then, let’s have some…Drakmid sport.”

They all moved quickly up the stairs, right into the Great Hall. Armored and ready Drakmids patrolled, expecting some sort of uprising.

Grognor hit first, screaming and running right into the middle of them. “Drakmid Sport!” He jumped and came down with his hammer right on the head of the first one he met, killing it instantly. All hell broke loose. Teelena, Selena and the mixed army of Stone Children and dwarven warriors engaged the Drakmids with fierce purpose.

At that same moment on the opposite side of the Great Hall, the other mixed army stormed the Drakmids. Cray and Bruno attacked with fierce devastation, literally ripping Drakmids limb from limb while the dwarves used mostly hammers to ring the Drakmids’ heads and crush bones. It was known the Drakmids’ armor could easily resist edged weapons, but the hammers could still cause devastating damage.

The battle basically went like this: The Stone Children would rush through, tearing off Drakmids’ armor and anything else they could get a hold of, including heads and limbs. They quickly did so, rushing through. Then the dwarves would attack the Drakmids with blunt weapons. By the time the dwarves engaged them in battle, the Drakmids’s armor was not an issue.

It was totally the opposite of their first meeting at Lakeshore. This time, the Drakmids had a disadvantage. Bruno gained great pleasure by grabbing many a Drakmid and throwing him into a magma vent pool.

Grongor enjoyed smashing heads alongside his sister and his wife.

This all happened very quickly, so much that it took several moments for the dragons to react. But when they did, the battle looked entirely different.

The blue dragon roared and attacked Grognor and his division by blasting a massive bolt of plasma, electrocuting and killing several people on both sides of the fight. Teelena fell, but was only temporarily stunned. Selena was out of the way of the blast, and immediately threw her hammer right at the dragon’s head. It hit square, and caused the creature to stumble back and crash into the wall. As it got to its feet, Grognor threw his hammer and scored a solid hit as well. The blue dragon roared in anger and pain, expelling another bolt of plasma. Electrical fingers spider-webbed all over the Great Hall, electrocuting nearly everyone to a small extent. The beast flapped and rose up, smashing into the ceiling. Chunks of rock fell, crushing a few people on both sides.

Grognor ran and grabbed his hammer, now lying on the floor. His eyes met the dragon’s. “Come on! Come and get me, you retched creature!”

The dragon roared and began to expel another bolt of plasma when Grognor hit him again with another hammer throw. The dragon’s attack was spoiled. Furious, the dragon instead decided to attack physically. As it dropped down to do so, Grognor was hit in the side with a Drakmid sword. It pierced deep, causing massive bleeding. Grognor spun around and grabbed the Drakmid’s head, twisting with all his might. The Drakmid struggled to get Grognor loose, and to get his sword out of Grognor’s side. They struggled for a few seconds until the blue dragon landed and swung its deadly talon at Grognor.  Grognor managed to tear the Drakmid’s helmet off just as he was hit hard by the dragon. He fell to the floor with the sword still in his side. Above the warrior Emperor stood the helmet-less Drakmid and the dragon, ready to pounce.

Grognor heard a female battle cry, and nearly missed the blur of movement that was his wife plunging a stolen sword into the dragon’s side. The dragon roared in pain and swung around to attack Teelena.