Deepforge (27 page)

“What’s a ‘California’?” asked Teelena.

“It’s not a ‘what’, it’s a ‘where’. It’s a place on Earth. These look very much like trees that live there, in the Sierra Nevada. Just amazing.”

“These are bigger than Stonewood trees. Imagine the homes we could build into them!” Bōddy said. All of the elves agreed.

As beautiful as the scenery was, the obvious could not be ignored.

“It may be beautiful, but can you all hear that?” Vella asked.

Grognor knew exactly what she meant. “No birds, no animal sounds at all. This is pretty creepy.”

They traveled nearly a week, none of them sleeping well at night. Always wary of night attacks, they were continuously on guard. It was debated what was more unsettling; the absence of animals, or the lack of night attacks in the Black Queen’s territory.

“We’re being watched,” Bōddy said.

“If there had been anyone around, we would have known. We’re alone out here, I can tell you that for certain,” Eugene said.

“No, she’s watching us. She must have a scrying device or something. Bruno, you say she’s conquered other worlds. Did you ever see her take technology?” Bōddy asked.

“No, not specifically… although…” Bruno reflected on it.

“What?” Grognor pressed.

“She has a companion, Jennifer. She’s in possession of some sort of craft, like a ‘Tiny Hut’ spell… you all don’t know what that is yet. Well, anyway, it’s probably a space vehicle of some kind. She may be using the technology in it to observe us, although I can’t tell you how.”

“Well, I think the ‘how’ is irrelevant. We can be certain she’s watching us, waiting for the right time to attack. Out there somewhere is her army. Just out of our range,” Bōddy said.

The Black Queen watched them with the scryer, the High General, and Jennifer by her side.

“…she’s watching us, waiting for the right time to attack. Out there somewhere is her army. Just out of our range,” Bōddy said.

The Black Queen laughed. “Yes, Bōddy. We’re watching you, and you’re right. They’re out there, ready to attack. General, deploy the entire rear division, I’ll lead the frontal attack. Now they’re in my territory, they’ll not be so lucky in battle. Let none survive.”

“What of Grognor and Bruno?”

“Although I would love to torture them, I have grown tired of this tale. Whomever brings me their heads may pleasure me after the battle. Spread the word.” She smiled seductively. “Once the invaders are all dead, we will gain control of Deepforge, the mithril, and the future. It will be glorious!”

“Yes, your Majesty!” The High General ran out of the palace.

“Jennifer, you will stay here and be ready. If something goes wrong, prepare to implement plan B.”

Jennifer hugged the Black Queen tightly. “Obsidian, please be careful. I love you, come back to me. I can’t live without you.”

“Oh, Jennifer. I love you too.” The Black Queen hugged her back. “Stop worrying. We can’t lose this one. We’ve seen the future, remember? Our reality awaits us. This is all just a detail…a minor issue to take care of. They don’t have the numbers or the power to defeat us. We outnumber them three to one, plus the chromatic dragon’s second legion has finally arrived from the western continent. Remember how they beat the hell out of the metallics in Deepforge valley?”

“Yea, but we lost that battle. The Stone Children and the Nords dealt us a serious blow.”

“The Nords are all noise and low numbers. The dwarves of Deepforge are more formidable than them. Don’t worry about the Stone Children. They don’t have their powers here. They are nothing more than tall humans now. Might I also point out, Bruno is mortal now, remember?”

“Ok, I guess you’re right. I just…I worry. I want this to all be over. It was easier to lay waste to Earth than it has been here.”

“That’s because the new gods have restricted us. But, I have no restrictions within the dome. Thanks to you and The Craft.”

“Just…oh, Obsidian…” She pulled away and gazed into her purple eyes. “Just promise me you won’t leave me. Promise me you’ll return.”

The Black Queen pulled away and took off her golden necklace. She put it over Jennifer’s head and draped it on her chest. “There. Hold onto that for me. I’ll be back, I promise. I won’t leave you…I promise.”

Jennifer looked down at the coin, now cradled in the necklace. She reached down and pulled out a non-descript key. She weaved it into the necklace and then looked up at the Black Queen. “I’ll be waiting for you.” She forced a smile as tears rolled down her cheeks.

“All stop,” Grognor said as they had just started out again. “Did anyone else hear that?”

Bōddy and the elves looked around, listening closely. “Dragons!” He turned toward Deccon and Vella.

They understood.

Within moments, everyone else could hear it. Distant roars getting louder and louder, echoing back and forth across the valley. Deccon and Vella motioned to the other humanoid-shaped dragons. An army of metallic dragons suddenly shaped into existence above the Deepforge army.

Ahead of them, the sky grew dark with the wings of all manner of chromatic dragons. Behind them could be heard battle cries coming from the Drakmids.

Grognor dropped his face shield and glanced at Teelena. “Drakmid sport!” he screamed.

Chapter 24

T
he ground rumbled with the hooves and feet of armies rushing to battle, and the air protested the movement of so many wings flapping, disrupting the early winter calm. As the metallic dragons rushed forward to meet the chromatics, the Deepforge army turned to face the Drakmids bearing down from the other end. They roared their war cries and ran toward each other.

Bruno attempted to pick up a particularly large stone, to discover he didn’t have the strength. The other Stone Children were having a similar issue.

“What’s happening, why do we falter?” one of the Stone Children asked.

Bruno turned to him. “It’s Obsidian. Her power is unleashed. Come on, we talked about this before we left home. Everyone knows what to do.”

All the Stone Children stopped and gathered together as the army rushed around them. They grasped each other’s hands and began roaring in a strange, low sustained howling sound. The sound was hardly audible at first, quickly growing to a deafening sound, dominating the valley.

The army left them standing there as they clashed with the Drakmids, metal on metal. There were easily twice as many Drakmids as Deepforge warriors, but the battle was an equal match of skill and armor.

The metallic dragons and the chromatics clashed in the air just west of the ground battle. All manner of attack was seen, fire to frost, acid to chlorine gas, and everything else. Dragons fought not just with their breath weapons, but claw and tooth. Many crashed to the ground to grapple and fight like rabid dogs.

With the sounds of battle and echoing harmonic roars coming from the Stone Children, boulders became loose from the mountains and began rolling toward the battle. Nobody noticed the avalanche rumbling toward them, except for the Stone Children. When they did see this, they stopped their roar.

“Now try,” Bruno said.

All the Stone Children grabbed a particularly large rock, easily lifting them.

“The stones have lent us their power, and our friends have come to join us,” Bruno said as he motioned to the avalanche.

Just about the time the clashing armies noticed the rapidly approaching boulders, the massive stones stopped in their tracks. Suddenly, they all stood upright in roughly humanoid shapes.

“What the hell?” Teelena said as she saw this, having just smashed the head of a Drakmid warrior in.

Grognor was engaged with two Drakmids, Victoria’s sword in one hand and a massive war hammer in the other. As he dealt with the two warriors intent on taking him down, his horse stomped one of them, tearing the Drakmid’s head off. Grognor swung around, now free to concentrate on the other one. He shoved Victoria’s sword through the Drakmid’s neck, and then kicked him off. There were several more Drakmids to take his place, and they came all at once. As one ran toward the dwarven leader, something very strange happened. A boulder smashed the Drakmid to death. Grognor looked at the boulder. It was not just a rock. It stood around twelve feet tall, and was roughly humanoid shape. “What the hell are you?” he asked, ready to battle it, too.

In a sound much like rocks being crushed, Grognor made out the words, “We are Stone Elementals. We fight with our brothers the Stone Children, and are at your service, Emperor.”

Grognor laughed and jumped into the Drakmids, slashing and pounding with all his might.

All peoples were engaged in this battle. The elves shot arrows until the Drakmids simply were too close, then they attacked with their fine swords. Humans battled in their crude techniques, taking down more Drakmids than they ever had before. The Nords managed to push an entire section of Drakmids back, killing them by the dozens. The dwarves were by far the most successful, raging and fighting in a blur of death wielding madness. The halflings even fought, using their natural abilities to blend into the landscape and attacking the Drakmids from the shadows. Gnomes and sprites suddenly appeared on the scene, the gnomes using strange electrical emitting devices, and the sprites causing multicolored lights to appear around the heads of the chromatic dragons. Many a chromatic dragon crashed to his death, not realizing how close the ground was.

The Drakmids were much more formidable than had been in the previous battles. They were more accurate and tougher. There armor was thicker, and their blades were sharper. Many a Deepforge warrior died at their hands.

The great valley was a scene of massive chaos. Warriors fought, slammed against the huge trees, and above the trees the dragons battled. A forest fire broke out as the dragons breathed fire on each other. So, it was not just armies and dragons battling, it was Stone Elementals, and fire mixed with horrible sounds of screams and roars of anger. The trail through the forest became red with blood.

Stone Elementals literally rolled through the Drakmids, but the Drakmids fought back. Those with hammers teamed up to bring down the massive stone creatures. Many of them fell and shattered into rubble.

The Stone Children, now fully manifested again, rushed to the stone outcrops of the mountains and tore them apart, pulling out massive inanimate stones and throwing them faster than a war machine might. The air screamed and protested the assault of the nearly supersonic rocks cutting through as they impacted on chromatic dragons, pulverizing heads.

Not only chromatic dragons fell. Many of the metallics lost their lives and crashed into the tall trees as well. The sound of trees breaking intermingled with the other sounds of battle as the dragons took down trees as they fell.

The forest fire spread quickly, complicating the battle even further. Warriors battled while trees on either side burned.

The battle continued on through the day and into the night, the Drakmids continuing to come from the east. To the west, and all over the burning valley, dragons continued to do mortal combat. Then…they all saw it. A massive dark form dominated the western sky. It was the largest dragon ever seen on this world. It was the Black Queen. Her wing tips nearly spanned the width of the valley itself. She was black, and exhaled a huge blast of fire onto the forest, igniting trees and warriors. Screams of people burning to death began to dominate the sounds of the battle.

The massive dragon crashed through the raging forest fire, knocking the trees down. Everyone scrambled to get out of the way as she touched down, sounding a deafening roar.

The Stone Children immediately turned their attention to the Black Queen, launching massive stones at her. The Drakmids seemed to be just as frightened as everyone else, but continued to fight.

Grognor turned his attention to the huge black dragon and rushed to attack her. Before he got his chance, she flapped her wings, fanning the flames and rising into the air. Then, she swooped down and grabbed Grognor with a talon. Stones impacted on her scales, only doing minor damage. She then swooped down and grabbed Bruno as all the Stone Children attacked. Teelena, Bōddy, Kergnor, and the others directed their attacks toward the gigantic dragon. The dragon turned their direction and released a massive blast of fire. Bōddy jumped to shield Teelena from the blast, and was killed instantly.

“Noooooo!” Teelena cried as the dragon took to the sky.

The massive dragon flew far west of the battle, flying over the dragon clash, and landed on a hill.

Teelena tried her best to revive the mortally burnt Bōddy, but it was too late. There just wasn’t enough of him left to save. In the midst of the battle, She knelt down and cried above him. “No! No you! Oh, gods! No! Please!”

Kergnor was instantly by her side, trying to help her up. “He’s gone, come on!”

“No! Not him! Not Bōddy!” she screamed.

Kergnor wiped away his tears and pulled hard on the dwarven woman. “My Lady, he’s gone, we can’t save him! We have to fight!”

She looked up at the retreating massive dragon with her husband and Bruno in her clutches, and screamed. “Bitch! I’ll kill you! Let them go!”

Kergnor watched in amazement as the dwarven Empress swung her hammers through the Drakmid army, killing them faster than ever as she tried to get where the Black Queen had flown.

The battle was going badly for Deepforge. The Drakmids began to get the upper hand as the fires burned. Many lives were lost, and then when things were at their worst, more Drakmids appeared on the hill where the Black Queen had sat down with her two captives.

“Oh, Jesus,” Kergnor said.