Deepforge (12 page)

Bruno nodded and exited with the rest of them as Grognor went into Teelena’s room. She lay with her eyes closed, and the nurses wrapping an arm in bandage.

Grognor went to her side and took her hand.

She opened her eyes and smiled when she saw him. “Husband.”

“Wife. How are you, Teelena?”

“Oh, I’m fine. They make too much of a fuss. I see you’ve got bandages too?”

“Yea, just flesh wounds.” He smiled.

“How many did we lose?”

Grongor cast his gaze down. “Too many. Over four hundred. We would have all been killed if the Stone Children hadn’t come to our rescue.”

“Stone Children? Ok, I guess I don’t know them, but, what are the creatures attacking us?”

“They’re just humans in some kind of advanced armor. We’ve been calling them Drakmids, from an ancient halfling myth. We still don’t know why they’re attacking us. The wisest of us, the dragons, elves, and the Stone Children can’t give us any words of advice. All their assumptions appear to be incomplete or totally wrong, especially now with the news you brought about Bahamlo leaving.”

“When we got attacked by them and the chromatics, it was bad enough. But when Bahamlo left like that, everyone freaked out.”

“There
is
some good news, though. You haven’t met them yet, but these Stone Children are impressive warriors. They’re joining us, and we’ll also be joined by the Nords. But, the Stone Children’s leader Bruno is something very special. If we have any chance, it’ll be because of him.”

“We’ve already met the Nords, my love. They had engaged the… Drakmids when we arrived at Deepforge. They fight very much like us.”

“Then, we will be victorious, my darling.”

“Yes, my Emperor. We had better, because I’m counting on you being there for a very long time. Our child will need his father.”

Grognor chuckled at this statement, and then caught his wife’s gaze. It hit him all at once. “Our…child?”

“I just found out. You’re going to be a father!” She smiled and punched him in the nose.

The entire hospital heard the victory cry coming from Grognor.

Chapter 12

T
he red sun had already breached the horizon, bathing the landscape in a deep red color as the army stood assembled on the plains. Grognor rode his heavy warhorse up front, with his wife by his side. The army watched his every move.

“So, here we are. A combined army ready to take on the worst foe we’ve ever faced. So fierce, in fact, that they have succeeded in uniting the Deepforge Empire. So be it. The world has changed. Let’s not ever take this day lightly. Today we begin an expedition to meet our enemies, who have already laid siege to the Deepforge citadel. Together we will defeat them, and stand strong for all time!”

This time they cheered, ready to move forward and secure their world.

Grognor continued, “So that you are not alarmed the first time you see this, you will be shown now. We have help from the Stone Children, as you already know. What you don’t know is that their leader is a unique individual. Show them, Bruno.”

Bruno nodded and assumed his gargoyle shape. Expressions of surprise and uncertainty were voiced.

“Now, become something else, something we’ve never seen,” Grognor ordered.

Bruno thought a moment, then concentrated. His size increased exponentially, and he became a horrible, sinister looking creature. He let go a mild roar that was enough to make even the dwarves’ horses to begin to spook. He stood nearly one hundred feet tall, had massive tentacles, and a non-humanoid look, an abomination. He looked like some sort of cross between a giant squid, or an octopus with some sort of sea humanoid. He was terrible, beyond the very definition of ugly. He was beyond gigantic, and was very scary looking, to say the least.

One of the warriors panicked and shot his musket. The bullet flew through the air and bounced off the creature’s skin, harmlessly falling to the ground.

Grognor struggled to control his horse as he spoke, “He can become any creature, and cannot be harmed. With him and our diverse assembly of warriors, we will teach the interlopers who owns this land!” He nodded to Bruno.

Bruno fell back into his Stone Child shape, to the amazement and relief of everyone. After a few moments of recovery, the crowd cheered again, confident.

“The plan has changed,” Grognor said. “We will now be taking the mountain path, saving us several days. Bruno will be taking the trail lead. He has informed us that this is not an easy trek, so everyone be ready. Follow along in your divisions. The heavy artillery, the war machines and such, will take the valley road with an escort of elves and some of the Stone Children. They’ll be a bit late, but there’s no other choice. Deccon will be going with the war machine detachment. Let’s ride!” He turned and nodded to Bruno.

Bruno nodded back and motioned to the Stone Children, and they walked out with mounted army behind. The war machine detachment moved out with the elves and an escort of Stone Children. The yellow sun peaked out over the horizon, flooding the land with light, signaling the beginning of the day and the expedition.

The first few days of the journey were uneventful. They travelled along an unseen trail that Bruno insisted was there, until they were finally in the deep woods. The forest was so thick; the horses struggled to maneuver around the trees. Bruno and the Stone Children seemed to move through them with a supernatural ease. The third night they camped they couldn’t see the stars because of the thick canopy.

“This is amazing. I never knew it was like this,” Grognor said.

“No kidding. This is pristine,” Teelena said as she gazed at the dark forest.

“Not exactly,” Bruno said, pointing.

The trail left by the army was very obvious.

“If anyone wanted to track us, they wouldn’t have a rough time of it,” Brendon said.

“This is the last of the foothills. Tomorrow things will begin to get a bit rougher,” Bruno said as he headed toward his camp.

Late that night, Grognor was awakened by Eugene.

“What is it that couldn’t wait until morning?” Grognor asked, a bit annoyed.

“Sire, I was out doing some late night hunting.” He produced an arrow with a night dove skewered on it.

“Thanks, but…I’m not hungry…” Grognor said, even more annoyed.

“No, look at its leg,” Eugene pointed out.

Grognor looked at the night dove, and realized it wasn’t organic. Hidden in a compartment in the mechanical bird’s leg was a mini-scroll tube. Grognor took and opened it.

“I didn’t look at it. I recognized what it was and thought I should bring it directly to you,” Eugene said.

Grognor pulled out the scroll. “I haven’t seen a mechanical bird in a long time. I guess we’ll see this sort of thing more and more these days with the communications down. I still don’t understand why you thought it was unusual.”

“Look at its wings, Sire. This is a stealth model. Very rare, meant only for Kings and Queens to share sensitive information back and forth before the days of electricity and high powered HF radio, back before the Deepforge Empire came to power.”

“Well, rare but not non-existent. So, maybe whoever owns this was descended from one of the ancient Kingdoms or something, and he inherited it or bought it on the social market. Actually, it’s a pretty good idea using these.”

“Maybe. If I over reacted, I will apologize.”

Grognor read the message.

Daemon,

The change of plans has gotten me a bit at a loss as to what to do next. If we are to be successful, we need to make sure this army doesn’t make it to Deepforge. I would once again ask our leader if
She
would consider the assassination idea? Without Grognor in command, this army will surely falter. We’re heading into the deep northern mountains, with Bruno in the lead. He is exactly as
She
said he was, as you saw. Just make sure Deccon doesn’t suspect anything. The only thing I can think of is a massive dragon attack where we are. The Stone Children, and especially their exceptional leader, are wildcards, so I’m not sure this will work. Either way, I trust you with the message. Please make sure
She
gets it.

                                          In
Her
name,

                                          Brendon

Grognor gasped in horror as he read the note. It was like he had been shot in the heart. “Brendon?” Grognor reacted, waking up Teelena. “I can’t believe it. That no-good, lying deceiver! That son of a whore!”

She came outside to see what was happening. “Is everything alright?”

“I saw him launch the bird, and felt something was wrong,” Eugene started, “I watched until it was out of Brendon’s sight, and then shot it down.”

“You shot down a bird in flight?” Grognor asked, amazed. “And at night?”

“Yes, Sire.”

“And not just any bird, a stealth model mechanical bird. Are they still as fast as they were reported to be in the old days?”

“Yes, Sire.”

“That’s incredible.”

“The Naw-nee people are very good with missiles, Sire.”

“Well, I’ve heard that but never realized how good.”

“What’s going on?” Teelena asked.

Grognor handed her the little scroll and waited for her to read it. Once finished, her face became flush.

“I’ll cut his heart out myself,” she said with a dark tone to her voice. She went into their tent and gathered her weapons.

“It’s more than that, my love,” Grognor said, trying to explain.

“He’s a traitor! After everything…we should have known. Damned human.” She was furious.

“Darling, we’ve suspected there was a spy. I have admit, I never suspected
him
. But, look at the letter again. It’s addressed to Daemon, and he speaks of a leader, referencing a ‘Her’.”

Teelena was undeterred. “I don’t care. He needs to die. Now.”

Eugene saw the fury and seemed to agree with her. “I can make it look like an accident.”

Grognor looked at him and shook his head ‘no’. “If anyone is to kill him, it’ll be me. Do you both understand that?”

Teelena scowled at Grognor.

“Eugene, let me know if he does anything else…suspicious,” Grognor ordered.

Eugene agreed and excused himself.

“Please let me kill him, Husband. We can skin him alive as an example of what traitors get.” Teelena’s fury was evident.

“Now’s not the time. We actually have the advantage. He doesn’t know that we know, and we can make that work for us.”

“I see your point, but if he crosses me, I can’t be responsible for my actions.”

“I understand.”

Daemon watched the sky expectantly as he filled his pipe. He and the elves waited for the war machine detachment to show up. To catch up, really. The rest of the elves decided to go ahead and make camp as the suns set. He willed the tobacco to ignite, and took his first puff as Bōddy joined him.

“Looks like a nice evening, eh?” Bōddy commented as he filled his own pipe.

“Sure is. The detachment is slow. It’s is going to be a long trip,” Daemon said as he puffed.

“You seem to be a bit preoccupied, something on your mind, old friend?”

“No, Bōddy, just homesick. You know I don’t like traveling.”

Bōddy nodded. “I’ve always loved traveling. Sorry you can’t enjoy this. How long has it been since you were in Lake Valley?”

“Three or…maybe four hundred years, I don’t know. There weren’t nearly as many humans there, I can tell you that. I can’t believe how much they’ve spread out…like a cancer.”

“Oh, they’re not so bad. They’re just trying to survive, like all of us. We used to be like them, remember?”

“Bōddy, in the before times we had technology, higher technology than them. We never displayed such a blatant disregard for the environment like the humans. At least the dwarves make it work for them. Humans seem to take what they want despite how the environment reacts.”