Elvenshore: 01 - The Dwarves of Elvenshore (22 page)

“I think that we all need to get out now, run as fast as your wounds will let you,” Sarchise said.

“We are all tired and have lost a lot of blood, we cannot outrun the gremlin hordes but we can slow them down for you to get away.” Ermort answered.

Sarchise did not leave Ermort and his wounded but they all retreated slowly back off the mountains and toward the Kingdom of
Zor
.  His hope had been to secure the Mountains and reclaim them for the dwarves but now he saw it had all been a giant trap.  He had been outsmarted by Tabor and he vowed never to let that happen again.  He had been able to get a message through to Cazz.  The goal was to retreat all the way back to the people of
Zor
.  They had sent messengers ahead to inform them that they were going to need to strengthen the walls after all.  Sarchise had hoped that they had obeyed him when he asked them to do that anyway.  His job was to keep avoiding the gremlin patrols and if a large army was going after Cazz, to slow it down just long enough for Cazz to reach the city.  They camped by day and traveled by night.  Once a group of five gremlins came upon their camp but none of them ever lived long enough to tell a soul about them.

Sarchise did not have any healers with him, so his wounded men got weaker each day.  They were a
b
le to shore up the wounds with the supplies the men brought with them, but they did not have the medical herbs and remedies that the healers of the dwarves had. If he could just let them rest a few days, he knew that they would get feeling better but he could not chance it so on and on they went, traveling night after night and making less distance each time.  Finally they came upon the fort that Cazz had had them build while they were waiting for his army.  The twenty dwarves still garrisoned it.  They had received fresh supplies recently from the people of
Zor
, as they had runners going back and forth with regularity.  There was even a healer at the small fort and Cazz had left Sarchise a message too.

“Cazz fifth born to the King of High Mountain to Sarchise sixth born.”

“We have made it safely to the city.  We have found the defenses much repaired and the people in high spirits.  If you are reading this letter then you and your wounded friend
s
are at the fort.  I suggest you stay there for a few days and rest.  If you do not have the gremlin horde come upon you in a few days and you
r
companions are up to the journey, come on to the city.

“There is both an inner wall and an outer wall here.  They have made plenty of arrows and archer slits in the walls.  There is enough food here to last a siege of many
weeks and they are raising more food daily. 

“I will send messengers to you and scouts to watch the fort.  If I see that it is surrounded before you are able to travel I will send an army to try and relieve the siege.  You have fresh water and food enough to last for many days.  I hope all is well and you can continue your journey soon.

(
signed
)
Cazz.”

Sarchise wrote back.

“Sarchise sixth born, adopted prince of the King of High Mountain to Cazz fifth born, soon to be King of the Iron Mountains.

“No sign yet of the enemy but he must know now which direction we have fled to. The healer is working with the wounded and feels they should be ready to continue the journey in a day or two.  I will keep you informed of all our movements.”

(
signed
) 
Sarchise.”

After sending out the letter with a runner, Sarchise sought out Ermort.  They had not had enough time to talk since they met in the halls of the Iron Mountains.

“How’s the arm?” Sarchise asked.

“Been better, I lost a lot of blood through it.  Your healer put some black goo on it.  Told me I was too late to have a mudpack put on.  The infection is getting better but I don’t know why, usually that would have been the end of me. It is very stiff and sore.” Ermort answered.

“I never did get a chance to ask what you were doing in the Iron Mountains, and how you came to rescue us,” Sarchise said.

“It is a long story, but I suppose you have time.  I wasn’t sent to rescue you, but arrest you. When we came back to the Westwood the commandant wanted your head for not obeying orders and returning with your unit.  A runner from Tabor also
claimed he wanted to live in peace with man and that would be hard when there was a man leading the armies of the dwarves. The commandant told the governor that you had deserted and
you were
causing trouble in the Westwood. The governor didn’t believe it but the commandant issued an arrest warrant anyway.

“We knew the dwarves would not easily give you up, so he sent a large army hoping the dwarves wouldn’t risk open war with the human army now that they were fully engaged with fighting the gremlins. So I have been trudging through the forest looking for you.  I picked up your trail through the forest and began to follow it.  We tried to go past the hidden city, but I could not get the men to go that way for fear of the inhabitants.  We did not see any
,
but felt
an
awful foreboding and doom. We backtracked and followed the trail that Cazz had cut through the trees. This put us behind Cazz.  We were not anxious to overtake him as his army was larger than ours was so we stayed about a day behind. 

“When we got to the city of the people of
Zor
, we found out that Tabor was our enemy and not a friend of man as we at first supposed.  I sent a runner to South Fort informing them of what I had found out. Then we heard that you were going against the Mountains of Iron
, and
we knew that you were headed into a trap.  The people of
Zor
told us that you had thought that Tabor was now weak.  We had been keeping an eye on him, because we didn’t fully trust him, and knew the majority of his army was in the Mountains of Iron.

“It was then that this turned into a rescue mission.  I held my men back until the gremlins were distracted by the battle with the dwarf armies.  We then came up the Mountain
by
force. I had calculated that I had one chance to rescue you and then had to get out.  Come to find out that I went down the wrong entrance.”

Sarchise smiled, “We heard your fight, luckily. Thank you for the rescue.”

Just then a sentry came up and reported. “Sir, there are gremlins on the horizon.”

Both of the men jumped up and climbed up the side of the wall.  There, about forty gremlins were looking back at them some running back to report their find.

“We are no longer safe here.  If we stay then we will be surrounded and Cazz will feel the need to come to our rescue.  He will have to risk battle on the open plain instead of behind the walls of the city.” Sarchise said
,  “
It would be better for the army that our small group was caught out in the open and massacred instead of risking the whole army to a battle in the open.” Sarchise said.

“But there is a better way.” Ermort said, “Some of my men are unwilling to travel any further due to their wounds or their anger.  Some do not want to run any longer or risk getting caught and killed out in the open.  Let us ask for volunteers to stay here and delay the enemy long enough to get the rest of us out.”

Sarchise
thought
about it for a minute,
then
said, “OK, but you are going with
me.”

Ermort looked like someone who had just been found out, sighed and said, “Alright.”

They gathered all of the men and dwarves into the center of the fort and explained their plan.  They asked that those willing to volunteer to stay would step forward.  To their amazement, the entire assembly stepped forward. 

Sarchise looked over at Ermort and said, “I guess you get your wish, we are all staying.
except
for one.  I need a runner to go to the city.” Sarchise sent a runner to tell Cazz that they had been spotted by the gremlins and they would not move from the fort.  He also said not to bother rescuing them because they were most likely all dead.  After the runner left the group spent it’s time polishing their weapons and preparing for the worst.

The next morning the group of gremlins was still sitting there, watching the fort.  Sarchise could not stand it any longer and took twenty men with him and ran them off of the hill killing most of them. The others fled in all directions.  Sarchise and the men went back into the fort to await the attack.  Eight days later they
were
still waiting. They finally saw an army coming towards them.  It was coming from the south and not the north, and it was dwarves and not gremlins.  Cazz had ignored Sarchise request that he not rescue them.

There were greetings all around.  The men and the dwarves in the fort were especially happy to see the army as they had resigned themselves to their fate and had not supposed that they would have lived through the week. Cazz, Sarchise and Ermort met together.

“That was the easiest rescue that I have ever done,” Cazz said.

“I don’t know what is going on. I know that they were looking for us and they did find us
, yet
they did not attack.  They should have been here by now.” Sarchise said.

“I have had several dispatches from the High Mountain and even one from South Fort.  That one is addressed to you Ermort.” Cazz said as he handed it over.  “The news out of High Mountain is that there are no gremlins anywhere to be seen.  The walls in front of the main gate have been repaired. The King still does not want to send out any more forces but is happy with the reports we have sent him.  He evidently has not seen the report of our defeat at the Mountains of Iron.”

“This is interesting,” Ermort said reading the dispatch.  “This dispatch left a few days after I left South Fort. It says that large groups of gremlins are passing over the King’s road and going through Northwood on their way to the Lonely Mountains.”

“You don’t suppose that Tabor turned north and decided to finish off the
Lonely Mountains before heading south to attack us?” Sarchise asked.

“It makes sense.  He must now know that his attack on
Zor
has been found out and that man and dwarf both fought him in the Mountains of Iron.  He is trapped between us and the Kingdom of
Ril
if he stays in the Mountains of Iron.  The Lonely Mountains are easier to defend; you can only approach them from the south,” Ermort commented.

“That settles it,” said Cazz, “It is our chance to drive him out of the Mountains of Iron and then with the help of the Kingdom of
Ril
, we will finally defeat Tabor in the Lonely Mountains. We will have one last meal here and then march with all haste to the Iron Mountains.”

Ermort looked a little shocked. “You don’t think that we are headed into another trap?”

Cazz let out a laugh.  “It all makes perfect sense to me now.  The breeding pits are destroyed.  Man will know what he is up before he can get them repaired.  Without the pits, the Mountains of Iron are useless, because they are too large and have too many openings.  He will be wasting his time trying to defend a place that is already surrounded.  He did not pursue us for fear he would not overtake us in time.  He knew we were headed for fortified positions and that his army would be stuck out on the open plains.  Tabor is vengeful, but also cold and calculating.  He has been sending his army at the Lonely Mountains for a long time.  Now that the Mountains of Iron are no longer of any use to him, his only chance is up north.  He has to take the lonely mountains and then fortify it against attack until he can build more breeding pits.  While he is thus busy elsewhere, it is our chance to take the Mountains of Iron while he is weak and then go after him in the Lonely Mountains.”

Ermort looked down at Cazz a minute.  He was convinced.  Then turning he said, “Men of the Royal Scouts, prepare to move out.”

They ate a h
earty
dinner that night from the stores that the people of
Zor
had sent with Cazz.  The fare had been plenty light at the fort before that.  They had found some salted pork on the back wall of one of the warehouses.  Pork was a favorite of the dwarves, so they were in high spirits that night.  Ale flowed freely.  Some of the men had wine flasks and let the dwarves sample it.  It was not to their liking, as it tasted too sweet to them.  They all were given a good nights sleep that night.  Cazz no longer thought that they needed stealth, and was going to march the armies all day the next day and into the night.  His dream of being King of the Mountains of Iron was so near that he could taste it.  Sarchise knew of his ambition, but did not say anything because he thought that the strategy was sound.  They could march straight to the Lonely Mountains but that would leave a fortified enemy position in their rear.