Elvenshore: 01 - The Dwarves of Elvenshore (5 page)

Then a second song began.

Of heroes of the old and new

In halls of stone or skies of blue

Where warriors are here save the day

Glowin’s
name is here to stay

The old warrior fell in battle sore

Is now behind the healer’s door

Though he may never see the light of day

Glowin’s
name is here to stay

Many a gremlin, he did fell

And lived again to tell the tale

But in a spider’s lair he fell that day

Glowin’s
name is here to stay

An army of servers came and started moving out the tables and chairs.  The crowds starting to find places around the bonfire, while maidens brought pitchers full of ale.

Not knowing what better to do, Sarchise sat back down.  Hemlot came up and whispered in Sarchise’s ear. “When we first met you told me you knew our ways!” he hissed.

“I know that if you save a dwarf’s life you are considered his brother,” Sarchise said,

“Do you remember when the King said ‘the brother of my son is my son?”

“Yes,” said Sarchise.

“That made you the sixth son of the King.” Hemlot explained, “
and
now you are engaged to Ammlee.”

“What?” Sarchise almost screamed it. “I will never agree to that!”

“You already have.  You nodded your head,” Hemlot explained.

“When?” he said, and then he thought a moment.
“Oh that, you don’t expect me to speak old dwarfish?
What can I do about it?”

“Nothing, you dare not refuse gifts from the King,” said Hemlot firmly.

Caspin leaned over and said “Congratulations, by the way, I told the King that you would feel bad if you had not a betrothed at the feast.”

“You!”
Sarchise raged, “This is
all your
fault.”

Caspin leaned his head back and roared with laughter.

Sarchise turned back to Hemlot. “When do I have to get married? How long can I postpone it?”

“A dwarf wedding is announced at a large feast.  The father of the groom announces the engagement. The engagement is the wedding.” Hemlot explained. “But the King has chosen for you one of the fairest maidens in the realm.”

Sarchise just shook his head and scowled at the still laughing Caspin.

The King came and sat down between Caspin and Sarchise. 
“Can’t have my princes fighting.
I thought that you knew our ways.  You now have the best the dwarves have to offer. Good food, great bonfires and fine maidens.’

“Sarchise nodded, “Thank you, Your Grace.”

“Now down to business.”
The King paused to have his mug filled again. “Tell me, how goes the world of men?”

Sarchise sighed and then said, “Not well. When the elves left, we didn’t have the manpower to take possession of all of their old cities. We went to burn them all but the
minotaur
had taken many before we got there.  We could not drive them out of fortified elfin cities so we bypassed those and burned all of the rest.  That was the last time that we have been in the deeps of the Westwood. 

“We only have enough scouts to patrol the outskirts of Westwood. There is talk of abandoning the forest to evil, except for the east border where the King’s road goes from Middle Kingdom to South Fort.  There was a proposal to abandon South Fort too, but it is the only city-state outside the Four Kingdoms.  All four of the old Kingdoms are under the King of
Ril
,
all of the other Kings were killed in the last war. The Kingdom of
Zor
is only sparsely populated.  No merchants will go near there because the King’s road runs between the Westwood and the Mountains of Iron.  No caravan can make it th
rough without being attacked.  Th
e only contact we have with them is through the Royal Scouts.”

“Hmmm,” the King
mused “
It is worst than I thought.”

“I must take my Scouts back towards South Fort in the morning. We have to report in three days, and it is a six day march from here,” Sarchise explained.

“Very well, I will have your army at the ready. Hemlot will be your second.” The King said looking at Hemlot. Hemlot nodded.

“Army?” questioned Sarchise.

“Yes, no prince leaves the Kingdom without at least part of his army.  They take the whole army if they are not sneaking out in the middle of the night.”
Explained the King.

“How big is an army?” Sarchise asked.

“500 warriors,” said the King.

Sarc
hise was going to say that
he didn’t want to be a prince, but Hemlot must have read his mind. He was glaring at him and shaking his head no.  “Very well,
Your
Grace.” He said with a nod.  The King got up and left.

Sarchise took another gulp of ale.  Looking over at him, Hemlot asked. “You are used to commanding, are you going to be all right at being second in command to a human?”

Hemlot smiled.  “A commander can get no higher than second in command to a prince. We are to protect the prince and lead his army. It is a great honor that I have just been given.”

“So you give the orders to the army and not me?” Sarchise asked.

“The easiest way to explain it is, you tell us where to go, I decide how we get there,” Hemlot explained.

“Well enough.” He said
with a yawn.  “Can I go to bed yet?”

Caspin overheard that one. “Go to bed?
Of course.”
He whistled and motioned for Ammlee.  She came up and grabbed Sarchise’s arm with both of hers. “She will show you the way.” He said with a big smile.

Ermort saw them going by and lifted his mug, “Good night, my prince.”

Sarchise scowled at him.

Ermort, Will, and Tom were sitting with Ferdin.  Fordin was down with the healers sitting by his father.  The twins had taken turns; there was always one of his sons sitting by the father’s side as he lay on his deathbed.

The music changed to a deep slow tune.  The singer sung of the coming of the humans, the batt
le with the spiders, the saving
of the prince and the fall of
Glowin
.  He then sang about
Glowin’s
life, the fight where he received his scar and how he fought with honor. 

Ferdin smiled through his tears and said, “He would be proud to know that there were songs about his bravery.”

Ermort put his hand on the lad’s back.  No words would come.

Prince Cazz tossed and turned before waking up.  In fact, he was drenched in sweat.  He had been sitting around a bonfire when the spiders came and now he was in a dark room on a stone slab.  He sat up and noticed that he had a mud bandage on his neck and across his stomach. The dwarves put herbs next to the wound after they sewed it up.  The herbs draw out any infection and the mud holds on the herbs and keeps out any new infections. Cazz was going to break off the mud when the healer rushed up.

“No, my prince, you must not. It is not healed yet,” the healer said,

Cazz stopped. “What happened to me?”

“You were attacked by spiders.”

“Where are my warriors?” he asked.

“There are only nine left, my prince, and they have not yet awoken. They were bitten also,” said the healer.

“My father will be furious.  I left the mountain and was defeated my first night out.” Cazz said, looking around. “Is that a human?”

“Yes, my Prince, he
fell
coming to your rescue, along with
Glowin
.” The healer explained. “They were both wounded grievously and not expected to live.”

Cazz sighted Ferdin in the corner sitting next to his wounded father. He stumbled over there, with the help of a healer, and sat down next to them. “I fought along side your father in a small battle once.  I was afraid, as it was my first fight. He told me that by grasping my
axe
very hard, I could force the fear into my
axe
handle.  He was a brave warrior.” He put his hand on the boy’s shoulder.

Ferdin smiled up at him. “They sang songs about him at the feast in the great hall yesterday. He would have been proud to have been there.”

“Tell me what has transpired since I have been asleep,” the prince asked.

Ferdin told him of the meeting with the humans and how they would have fallen to the spiders as well. He told him of the battle in the spider’s lair and the retreat to High Mountain.  He told him about the new prince and about the songs of
his father at the great feast.

“I missed a victory feast.” Cazz said, “Those are few and far between these days.”

While he was talking to
Ferdin, two of his warriors awoke from the spider-drugged sleep.  Healers went to them right away until they got their bearings.  In the midst of the chaos, the King came in the room.  One of the healers had sent for him.

“So what the humans have said is true, you have awakened.”

“I am sorry, Father, I have led my men to defeat and had to be rescued by those who look down on us,” Cazz said,

“No, it is I that have made the mistake,” the King said
,  “
I have hidden my sons in the High Mountain to protect them for too long.  I have allowed evil to walk up to the door. Now we are prisoners in our own home.  The humans have fought evil alone for too long.  The dwarves will join the battle again.”

With a voice of excitement Cazz asked, “When do we go?”

“We?” the King frowned, “You are not going anywhere till your wounds have healed.  As for the rest, a dwarf army leaves with the sixth born in a few hours.  They will go with him to the South Fort.”

“A dwarf army walking towards a human castle.
  They will think that we are going to lay siege to it.”  Cazz Star
t
ed to laugh then suddenly grabbed his stomach.  “Perhaps I am wounded worse than I first thought.”

“Perhaps,” said the King with a sly smile, “I have to see the army off.  I will leave you to the capable hands of the healers.”

Cazz nodded as the King left. 

Up in the Great Hall, all
of
the hundreds of warriors were in the last stages of preparing to leave.  Armor, shield, axes, bows and helmets were being put on while they said their good-byes. With a wave from the King, all the wives, mothers and children went to the sides of the hall while the dwarf warriors formed ranks. Hemlot was in the front with Sarchise when the King came up.

Speaking to Hemlot he said, “Take him out
of
the high gate.  It will save you several days off your journey.  There was an old road there that was used when man and dwarf were allies.
The road, if it still exists,
will lead you straight to South Fort.” Turning to Sarchise he said, “Sixth born.  Hemlot is here to protect you.  Let him do his job, it is the way of the dwarf.”

Sarchise held his cap to his chest and bowed to the King.  The King returned the bow and left.

“Well, Prince we are ready to go,” Ermort said.

Sarchise took out his dagger, “Next person who calls me ‘Prince’ is going to lose his scalp.”

Ermort stepped back holding the top of his head where his scalp was attached.

Hemlot spoke up
, ”
But I must call you Prince, it is the law.”

Sarchise looked down at him, “You are excused. I am ready, tell the men to march.”

With a word five hundred dwarf warriors moved forward in unison. Those on the edges of the column lit torches.
The warriors broke out in song, o
ld songs
,
some in a language that no human knew. Then the
y
started singing one in the common tongue with words all to plain to
o
the humans there.

Gremlins have a blood that’s green

The finest sight a dwarf’s ever seen

Gremlin blood spilled on the ground

With Gremlin warriors falling around

Hack and slash and maim and kill

Hack and slash and maim and kill

Killing gremlins is such a thrill

It was easy going while in the Great Hall, but some of the passageways beyond that were low and the humans had to bend down to fit through them.  Hemlot led them up steep winding stairs and then back down steep winding stairs, across narrow bridges that spanned dark and unseen rivers. Suddenly they came out into a large cavern.  The walls and the roof were white with stalactites and stalagmites nearly touching each other.  There was a narrow path that led through them at first,
then
they came to a wide area of the path. They could see a waterfall come out of what seemed solid rock and cascaded across the bottom of the cavern. Below the path, it formed small pools and then made its way out the back side of the cavern. There were steps that went down to the pools. Ermort brought the column to a halt.