Elvenshore: 01 - The Dwarves of Elvenshore (11 page)

“We gathered up an army and were able to defeat his army.  He simply went back to the breeding pits and replaced his army and came at us again.  The spiders also began to hear the battles. They would explore the battle sites.  They were eating the dead and laying eggs in the wounded.  There grew rapidly in population.  Now every time they hear a battle they attack those on the sides.  So we must fight the
spiders and the gremlins. They take the gremlins too, but Tabor does not care, he will just breed more.

“I fled to Tarlina, the ancient capital of the elves.  There we prepared for our last stand.  Tabor attacked Santera, and even now he has laid siege to it.  But he will not finish them off, he wants for them to starve to death instead.  We would do patrols, but could not venture out for the mass of spiders.  With no battles going on the spiders began to starve.  Their population was now too great to support itself by eating deer and elk as they had before.  The spiders disappeared to the south.  We had gotten up a patrol to see if we could break through the siege at Santera and get food into the city.  The small group of gremlins caught us outside the walls and a battle began. We were winning, but then the spiders suddenly came upon us.  There were so many that both Minotaur and gremlin were taken.  I was one of the last to fall.”

Barazar fell silent, but Sarchise was looking at him in disgust.  “If your plan had not backfired, my people would now be fighting for their lives against the gremlins.  It is very hard for me to feel sorry for your clan. When an enemy fights an enemy the people rejoice.” He walked away, but then came back a minute later. “Still, if we join one side or the other we can rid ourselves of one enemy at least.” Looking down at Hemlot he said, “I don’t suppose you would want to join the side of the gremlins?”

“Never!”
came
the short reply.

The next morning a messenger from Cazz came into the camp.  Sarchise read it and then handed it to Hemlot. Cazz wrote.

“We moved north ahead of schedule after receiving your message.  We too have found several lairs and destroyed them.  Most of them were old.  The new one that we found held six gremlins in egg sacks.  These we destroyed along with the spiders that were guarding them.  The spiders are lean in these parts and they are not in great numbers.

“We have come across a gremlin raiding party and slaughtered it.  More and more we see signs that a large body of this enemy is moving across the forest.  Our small armies will be no match for their main body if we run across them.  I have written Caspin that we will need to combine our forces.  Since you have set up a camp already we will meet you there.  Your last messenger will guide us to you.  I am awaiting Caspin’s arrival here and then will continue on to where you are.

“I have written to the two armies of the high dwarves also.  They will go directly to where you are.  Make room for us.

(
signed
) “Cazz, F
ifth Son of the King.”

After reading the message Hemlot had the men expand the camp.
They built up another wall outside of the old one.  They cut down all of the trees between the walls, and expanded the fire pit.  They built up shelters in between the walls, and made them watertight.

As they were doing all this Ferdin stumbled into camp with a message from the King.

“The discovery of gremlins in the Westwood has given us great concern here. We were about to send out an army of low dwarves to you for reinforcements, but we dare not do so now.  We will keep them here to guard against any gremlins coming back into the mountain. If you find out the intention of these creatures, please send me word.”

“
Therin
, son of Kyle, King of the High Mountain.”

Hemlot and Sarchise read the message and then Sarchise said
,  “
Where are the High dwarves?”

Ferdin Answered, “They will be here in three days, I was sent on ahead.”

Sarchise was frustrated, “I hate sitting here.” He glared at Hemlot. “I need to know what’s going on.” He paced back and forth a minute then decided upon a plan of action.  “I want a patrol sent out, just a small one of two men and eight dwarves. I want my scout, Hardyn to lead the patrol. I will send them to get a good look at what is happening at the two cities of the Minotaur.”

Hemlot bowed and walked away.  A few m
inutes later he came back with
the patrol. “I would go myself but that would give you freedom to move northward and there is not enough warriors left to properly protect you.  This group will have to be your eyes and ears.”

Sarchise nodded.  “I will give you this map. I will not leave any markings as to where we are now so that if you are captured or killed, they will have no way to find us.  You will have to find your way back on your own, so mark your bearings well.  The two old elfish cities are marked on the map.  I don’t know that Barazar is telling the truth or lying, so you might be going straight into a trap.  Get there and back as quickly and quietly as you can.  We will not move for twenty days.  Travel light and make no fires. Sleep only when you have to. Hardyn is in charge.”

The members of the patrol packed up and headed out in less than an hour.  Sarchise was wishing he was going with them and wondering how he could sneak off without Hemlot knowing.  Hemlot for his part was keeping an eye on the patrol and watched them leave.

“Well, that didn’t do me any good, I’m
s
till sitting here waiting,” Sarchise complained.

They sat there for another two days
when one of the guards reported
seeing movement in the forest coming from the south.  The outpost was put on alert, but before the walls could be manned, there came from the forest an army of men led by Ermort.

“Greetings from the Governor of South Fort,” Ermort said with his usual smile.

“Greetings, my friend,” Sarchise said, hugging him.  “Am I glad to see
you!
How many men did you bring?”

“Two hundred, plus those you have left spread out across the Westwood and High Mountain.”

Sarchise laughed.  “What news do you have?”

“We passed an army of dwarves on our way
here,
they should be here in about a day.  The encampment around the old elf tree is still manned by a few dwarves, but all of the men are now with me. I have a letter from the governor for you.” Ermort said.

Sarchise read the letter.

“It is grave news that the Minotaur are up to their old tricks.  We are fortifying the city and have sent messengers to the Four Kingdoms warning them. They are making preparations for war. I am sending a small army into the Westwood to gather information. When the intent of the enemy is known they are to report back to South Fort along with those men formerly under your command.

“The General of the Royal Scouts has come to me requesting that I separate the commanders of the dwarves and men.  Since you are a commander of the dwarves, the command of the men will go to Ermort.”

(Signed)
Governor of South Fort.”

Ermort gave a sheepish smile.  “Sorry old man.  You caused
quite
a stir becoming a dwarf prince.  The General was not happy about it.”

Sarchise shrugged, “Oh well, maybe when all this is over things will go back to normal. Two of your men are on a long range patrol, Hardyn and Sal. What are your orders?”

“Just what it said in the letter, I am to figure out what is going on and do what I can to get a message back.”

“Why do you need two hundred men to do this?” Sarchise asked.

“He figures that if we run across a gremlin army then he has more hope of at least someone getting back.  Our mission is very important.”

I have something you should meet then,” Sarchise smiled.

Barazar was still strapped to the tree.  He was sleeping when they walked up. “Is it alive?”

On hearing voices Barazar’s eyes flashed open.

“Does that answer your question?” smiled Sarchise.

“What do you want human? Am I a prize to be shown off?” Barazar growled.

“I have sent a patrol to scout out your cities.  They will report back if what you told me is true.” Sarchise said.

“Good,” said Barazar.

“What did he tell you?” asked Ermort.

“The gremlins have turned against the Minotaur and are destroying them. Cazz has come across some and killed them.  We found him, along with some gremlins in a
spider’s liar. I sent out a long range patrol to find out what is going on and am now awaiting their return.” Sarchise explained.

Ermort looked at the Minotaur’s horns intently, “My Uncle was gored by one of these. Ripped up his shoulder and into his neck, he barely survived. He has massive scars, and has never been able to use his right arm again.  If you kill this one I should like to have his horns to give to my Uncle.”

Barazar’s eyes opened wide with surprise and then narrowed in anger.

“If he’s lying to me, the horns are yours,” Sarchise said, Barazar fell silent.

The next day the army of high dwarves crashed their way into the encampment.  Unlike the human army, you could hear the dwarves coming long before you saw them. They were greeted warmly, mostly because they brought with them fresh bread, meat and cheese from High Mountain.  Sp
i
rits soared that night during the feast around the bonfire.  For the first time in a long time he heard singing dwarves.  Even some of the men joined in.

Three days later, the other three dwarf armies made their way into the encampment.  They were thinner than the others.  Food was becoming scarcer and scarcer. Cazz’s army was particularly in bad shape because they had been in the field the longest.  They were fed fr
om the fresh food stock and sent
to rest in the prepared shelters. 

Caspin called for a council of war.  The commanders and the princes all gathered together.

“I have talked with the Minotaur; he has a very compelling story,” Caspin said.  “If this is true, maybe we can hopefully not get involved in this conflict. I do not relish another gremlin war.”

“We cannot hope for such, as long as there are
gremlins around it is
our obligation to slay them,” Cazz said.

“I think that we will need many more armies if we are to battle gremlins and spiders too,” Hemlot said.

“No, we can’t,” Sarchise added, “but we may not have a choice. I await the patrol I sent out to find out what is happening at the cities.  We don’t have an idea of where they are and what their intentions are.”

“Gremlin
s have
always hated dwarves and dwarves have always hated gremlins.  If they are found in the same space there will be war,” Cazz added.

Caspin paused a minute then said, “I feel that we must retreat into High Mountain and prepare for an attack
..
We have dealt a blow to the spiders.  There is no longer a great need for us to be out here.”

Cazz was furious. “We cannot retreat while there is still a threat to us.  Let us deal with it
here
and now. Let us attack them while they still face another enemy.  We can crush him when he lines up to destroy the Minotaur.”

Caspin held up his hand. “I have spoken.”

Sarchise asked, “Can we wait for the patrol to get back?”

“Yes, we will give them fourteen days, if they are not back by then we will presume that they are lost,” Caspin replied.  And with that the meeting was over.

Cazz threatened to take his army and proceed on several times during the next few days, but in the end he bowed to Caspin’s authority 

Twelve days after the meeting a wounded Hardyn stumbled into camp. The healers patched his wounds while the princes and commanders gathered around to listen to his report.

“We set out as quietly as we could.  Dwarves are not always silent in the forest. It took us several days to get to the city of Santera.  All around us we saw signs of a battle.  We came across mounds of dead gremlins. The forest around the city was torn down for making machines of war.  There were broken ladders and battering rams strewn across the land.  When we approached closer to the city we found
it’s
wall had been crushed in several places.  We entered through one of these holes.  Dead and burning flesh was what we smelt. Bodies of both Minotaur and gremlin lay unburied in the streets. Most of the dead were still clasping their weapons of war. Almost all of the building
s
had been put to the torch. All
of
the bodies had been at least partially burned so the spiders were leaving them alone. We followed the gremlin trail out of the city.

“It led to the city of Tarlina. We got to a good vantage point where we could see a large host of gremlins besieging the city.  The camps surrounded it.  It did not look as if they were preparing for a long siege as they were making scaling ladders out of the forest, and battering rams too. We tried sneaking around this large host but they had many patrols out. We ran into one and were able to defeat it but the din of battle brought other gremlins down upon us.  We were
overtaken,
they came upon us like a wave. Sal was wounded in the fight.  They captured both Sal and I, the dwarves they slaughtered. We were brought before King Tabor II. That is what he calls himself.
Tabor II, King of the Mountains of Iron.
 
Soon to be King over all the forests and mountains.
He hates Minotaur; His gremlins hate dwarves.  He says that he can live in peace with man, but all other races must die. He sent us away in peace, but took our weapons.