The doom of dragonback, p.36
The Doom of Dragonback, page 36
‘There was much still to be done, but with the coal from the First Delve bringing in gold and goods by the cartful, Ekrund was firmly on its way to establishing itself as something more than just a mine. To seal the point, the king ordered a tunnel to be dug linking it to Ankor-Drakk, and the settlement to the south was renamed the Lower Gate. The South Gate, where the road that had been the lifeline of his people for so long, was made the main entrance to the hold and the king set his chambers above the First Delve to signify that the Ekrundfolk were there to stay.
He died two years later, good old Grimbalki, and never saw his hall or gate finished. But he died a contented dwarf, I can say I’m sure of it. Ekrund never lasted long enough nor got big enough for it to be known as a karak, which is a shame I think, as there was many a hold of lesser worth that got called as such.
Still, Ekrundfolk was pleased with what they had achieved and their descendants have been inspired by their efforts ever since.‘
They had broken into a few small groups and made their way down to the Fourth Hall of the Second Deep, from which place Glorri had led them to an abandoned minework on the western side of the inner hold. Had it not been for the orc attack it would have been busy with masons and engineers turning it into habitable chambers and meeting halls, instead it was a network of rough walls and raw rock, following the lines of the seams in haphazard fashion.
The further reaches had been caved-in by the removal of the props, but just before the solid heap of boulders and broken wood, Glorri stopped beside a particular outcrop of rock. Haldora could see nothing of a gap, but the ranger leaned close and pulled free a bundle of blankets covered with dust, stones and mud – a simple but highly effective concealment in the darkness.
‘You said nobody else found the way out,’ Haldora remarked. ‘You mean they couldn’t find it because you had hidden it.’
‘Others could have used this before us,’ said Horthrad. ‘You kept it to yourself when dozens more, maybe hundreds could have slipped away after the fall of the North Gate.’
‘Why have you waited until now?’ demanded Nakka. ‘There’s other groups you could have taken if you wanted some extra protection.’
‘I know you, Nakka, and I trust you,’ Glorri said soothingly, throwing the grubby blankets aside. His eyes flickered to Haldora, perhaps betraying another reason the ranger had for wanting to travel with the Angboks. ‘And I didn’t let nobody else go first because they need me to guide ‘em through the tunnels, and it would have attracted attention. A secret escape ain’t so good when it ain’t a secret, right? Soon every beggar would be traipsing through here, warning the orcs and goblins.’
They had to concede to this logic, being as it was to their benefit, and stepped aside to allow Glorri access to his bolthole. He dropped onto all fours and crawled into the gap. A few moments later he whispered for them to follow.
‘I’ll go next,’ said Fleinn. ‘It’ll spare you lot having to stare at his skinny backside.’
Durk followed and the others arranged themselves into an order, with Haldora near the back, Horthrad just in front of her and Nakka bringing up the rear, behind Friedra. One by one they squeezed into the gap.
Haldora found herself in a small alcove-like space. There was a shelf above her and a hole, and she saw the light had gone that way. She pulled herself over the lip and into a small crawl space with smooth sides where once water had worn away at a crack. Fortunately it was dry now, but she knew they would be lucky to get to the surface without getting at least a little bit damp. There were streams and waterfalls aplenty throughout the mountains, kept away from the dwarf chambers by dams, pipework and cleverly constructed wells.
She soon lost any sense of time as she followed the bluish glow ahead. Sometimes the tunnel was high enough to stand upright, and it passed through bubble-like chambers or caverns that had been widened by goblin labour, and in others she was forced back to her hands and knees, almost climbing vertically.
They kept together, occasionally touching each other with outstretched hands as they wound their way through another rocky passageway. The gleam of Glorri’s lantern led them on, bobbing and weaving, sometimes almost disappearing, other times brightening as he waited for them to catch up.
Even here they could hear the noise of the orc excavations. Now and then the walls rang with a particularly large impact, while a constant skittering and clattering followed them. Perhaps it was because they were heading up again, closer to the North Gate, or maybe it was just the odd acoustics of the caves. Whatever the reason, Haldora thought they were getting closer to the source of the noise, or it was getting closer to them.
Suddenly the light went out. There were raised voices, quickly silenced by a hiss from Glorri. In the dark, as their eyes adjusted, the dwarfs then saw what had caused him to douse the lamp. They were on a ledge, about wide enough for two of them to walk abreast, passing along the wall of a cave a short distance above the floor. There were two other openings in the cave, leading to tunnels off to the right, and in one of those tunnels was a reddish glow, becoming brighter.
Glorri silently urged them on, stepping to have his back to the wall, waving them towards an opening at the far end of the ledge. Haldora risked a glance down, and saw the flickering of flames now. The muffled sound of shrill goblin voices confirmed the nature of the creatures bringing the light.
They hurried as best they could, taking care to keep their footing. Haldora was just about to pass into the crack at the end of the ledge when she heard a shout of alarm, swiftly followed by a curse from Nakka.
She looked back to see him drop down off the ledge, axe in hand. Soon the cries had turned to shrieks of pain.
‘Keep going!’ snapped Glorri. He pulled a long, slender knife from his belt, good for skinning game. ‘There’s a limestone hole about another hundred an’ fifty paces on. Wait for us there. I know what to do with nosey goblins.’
He pushed her towards the opening and then followed Nakka off the ledge. Haldora stood there, caught between two desires – to make sure they were all right and to keep up with her mother and the prince. It would do no good to get separated from either. Practicality won over. Ignoring the grunts and groans, the clash and scrape of metal and the dull thud of chopped flesh and bones, she followed the others.
She called on them to wait in the cave ahead, and as Glorri had told her, it was a broad space, several dozen paces across, broken by stalagmites and stalactites. A slightly luminous fungus provided enough light for them to see, illuminating three ways out.
They waited, listening to the distant sounds of fighting, which stopped after a while. It was an agonising time until they heard shuffling along the tunnel into the cave. Horthrad and Skraffi stood by the entrance, rune axes glowing, but it was Glorri that stepped out into the luminescent gleam.
‘Where’s Nakka?’ Haldora demanded, thinking that the ranger was of low enough character to abandon another dwarf to save himself.
‘Just here,’ Nakka called out as Glorri stepped out of the way. He slapped a bloodied hand to the ranger’s shoulder. ‘This one has got a mean streak in him, that’s for sure. Killed more of those gobbos than I did.’
Glorri looked smug for a moment, before his nervousness took over. He spared a glance back the way they came.
‘They’re digging not far away,’ he told them. ‘They weren’t here when I came by yesterday. Must have broken through somewhere.’
‘Only a matter of time before they find the bodies,’ said Horthrad. ‘They’ll be onto us.’
‘And a little more until they find the way we came, into Ekrund,’ said Fleinn. ‘Maybe we should have blocked it off!’
‘Too late now,’ Glorri said hurriedly, setting off across the cave towards the leftmost exit. ‘This way.’
None of them felt like arguing and they followed after, up a maze of steep and twisting tunnels hewn by the greenskins. There was barely room to fit through in places; as Glorri had warned they were onto their bellies a couple of times, pushing their packs ahead of them.
They had just left one such stretch when a chorus of excited shouts followed them up from the darkness. Angry hissing and spitting amplified by the echoes betrayed the goblins’ intentions.
‘They must’ve found the bodies,’ said Glorri. ‘Get a move on. These are their tunnels, they know them better than me and there could be a way for them to cut us off.’
Progress was painfully slow, as they had to clamber over rocks and push through tight holes, now and then wading across pools and, on one occasion, even going through a waterfall. The area was a mix of natural formations and goblin lair, so that at one moment they might be in a spectacular cave, admiring the striations and formations as only a dwarf could; the next they would be in a winding tunnel, crawling through old goblin dung and discarded bones.
‘How much further?’ Haldora asked. ‘I can definitely hear them coming after us!’
‘And getting closer,’ added Nakka.
‘Not far now, not far,’ insisted Glorri. ‘Keep up!’
They came across a rope ladder that dropped down a shaft into a pool of water, fixed into the rock by a pair of iron pegs.
‘Your handiwork?’ said Horthrad to Glorri.
The ranger nodded. ‘I know what I’m doing, your majesty.’
They climbed down, no more than three of them on the ladder at once, those left at the top keeping watch for the pursuing goblins. Haldora swore she saw a glint of eyes now and then, or the glow of a torch, but nothing came of it.
However, just as she started down, axe and shield slung, Skraffi on the ledge above swore and moved away from the drop.
‘Just climb!’ someone shouted from the bottom.
Haldora didn’t argue. She unhooked her feet from the rope rungs and used her arms to lower herself quickly down the ladder, ignoring the burning in her muscles. She splashed into the pool at the bottom and stepped away, others not far above her.
Nakka was about halfway down when the first goblin appeared at the top. Another appeared next to it, bow in hand. At first it looked at the dwarfs gathered in the ankle-deep water below, face creased with a wicked grin. Then it noticed Nakka on the swinging ladder and nocked an arrow to its bow, leaning out over the edge.
A stone bounced from the creature’s helmet with an audible ting, knocking it back a step. Haldora glanced over her shoulder to see her mother stooping for another missile, hands fishing through the water.
The goblin aimed again as they threw more stones at it, but this time it was not put off. It loosed its black dart, which hit Nakka in the right arm. He lost his grip and hung by one hand, almost falling onto Skraffi who was just a few rungs below him.
More goblins arrived, casting stones and spitting down at the dwarfs to drive them back while others loosed more arrows at Skraffi and Nakka. They were still only two-thirds of the way down and the arrows were clattering from the wall beside them and sticking into the thick cable of the ladder. Some of the shafts splashed around the dwarfs at the bottom, a couple of shots narrowly missing Haldora as she moved to the foot of the ladder and held it taut. There were black-robed night goblins climbing after them, knives between their teeth, scuttling head-first like evil, pointed-nosed, green-skinned squirrels.
‘Sod this,’ she heard Glorri mutter.
She thought he was going to leave, but as she turned to confront him she found the ranger pitching off his pack. He undid one of the buckles and upended the pack on the side of the pool, tipping out golden goblets, silver platters and a small fortune in rings, amulets and torqs.
‘You were stealing all of that?’ Horthrad looked as if he was about to seize Glorri by the throat.
‘Stealing? These is my family trove, I’ll have you know. Just because you was planning on being a pauper don’t mean I had to be.’
‘Too heavy for you to run?’ snarled the king, making a lunge at Glorri, who dodged away.
‘Sorry, your majesty.’ Glorri punched Horthrad square in the jaw, knocking him to his backside. ‘But you’re a royal numpty.’
Glorri snatched up a gold teaplate with ruby-studded edges. He spun it sideways towards the goblins, flashing blue and orange in the light of the rune-lamp and goblin torches. It struck one of the archers in the shoulder, spoiling its aim, but this was not the only effect. Seeing the shiny metal landing in their midst, the goblins seemed to forget about the dwarfs and fell upon each other in their desire to claim the prize.
The others caught on quick and helped Glorri as he pelted jewellery and coins up at the goblins. One of the descending night goblins tried to catch a necklace of pearls as it flew past. It lost its grip as it leaned out and plummeted from the ladder with a wail, crashing into the pool just a few paces from Fleinn. He stabbed it through the eye and then wiped his sword on its hood as it sank into the water.
‘Greedy beggar should’ve known better.’
Skraffi made it to the bottom with Nakka just behind. The goblins were already getting over the distraction of the treasure – more were climbing down and the first of a new flurry of arrows hit the water.
Without saying anything, Glorri headed into one of the cracks on the other side of the chamber.
‘What about your treasure?’ Haldora called out.
‘Let the spiteful little cowards fight over it,’ the ranger called back. ‘It’ll give us more time. We’re close. Run!’
Nobody argued. They piled after Glorri, dropping shields and packs and anything else except their axes, hammers and swords. Haldora could hear the splashes and hoots as the goblins dropped into the pool and started pawing over the pile of treasure.
Glorri turned left sharply into what looked like a dwarf-made gallery.
Haldora didn’t recognise it, but she realised that one side was open to the sky, like the loggia where she had first met the king. It was night time, thick cloud obscured moons and stars and the wind was still. They were high up Mount Bloodhorn somewhere. She could just about see the flicker of hundreds of campfires in the valley below, and by their light the broken towers of the North Gate.
The steep slope was covered with trees ahead, and the remnants of a bridge crossed from the gallery over a frozen river to a cliff face on the opposite side of the gorge. The middle section of the bridge was crossed via a couple of narrow planks, which Glorri stopped to toss down into the chasm when they were all over.
Night goblins spilled out onto the gallery after them, hurling high-pitched curses and shooting arrows as they came to a halt at the end of the bridge, none of them bold enough to make the jump. Haldora heard distant wolf howls and was reminded that their goblin problems were not yet over. They had dumped their food and water in the last scramble to get away, and there were days upon days of walking ahead of them, through mountains crawling with foes and the wildlands, not to mention the winter itself.
But they were out.
They reached the sanctuary of the trees, breathing heavily, and flopped against the trunks, grinning for the first time in a long while. Haldora took a good lungful of crisp, fresh air.
Freedom.
‘We should keep moving,’ said Horthrad. ‘The goblins will figure out a way across that bridge soon enough.’
‘Let’s just rest a minute, take stock,’ said Skraffi. He peered up at the sky and shook his head. ‘Can’t see the sun. Glorri, which way’s north?’
‘We ain’t heading north,’ said the ranger. He looked at Haldora. ‘We go east, across the wildlands to Karak Drazh. I got old family there. We’ll be sure to find someone to take us in.’
‘Nonsense,’ declared Horthrad. He laid a hand on Haldora’s arm. ‘My Great-Uncle Doriaz is king of Karak Eight Peaks. Come with me and you’ll be a princess.’
‘North,’ said Skraffi. ‘Barak Varr. The wildlands to the east will be crawling with greenskins.’
‘I’m king,’ said Horthrad. ‘My command is to go to Karak Eight Peaks.’
‘Is it also your command to marry you?’ snapped Haldora. ‘Your majesty?’
‘I didn’t mean that. But someone has to make a decision.’
‘And you decided it was going to be you?’ said Glorri. He sucked air through his teeth. ‘I don’t think so, your majesty. Who’s gonna get you across the wildlands? Who knows where the water and game is and where the greenskins is at? Me. So I choose Karak Drazh.’
‘And they’re going to welcome a penniless ranger, are they?’ said Horthrad.
‘I don’t see you rolling in gold coins any more,’ Glorri said with a sneer.
‘I am of royal blood. A king.’
‘Not yet,’ Haldora said quietly, stepping away from the pair of them. ‘You said yourself, you haven’t sworn the oaths or got the crown.’
‘All right, but I am still a prince.’
A howl cut the night, not so far away. Glorri grimaced and held out a hand to Haldora.
‘I’ll keep you safe, protect you,’ he promised. The ranger was not without his faults, but he had given up the family trove to save them, and he certainly knew the wider world better than anybody else in the group. Knowledge like that would be invaluable in the years to come.
Horthrad just looked at her, confident that his offer was already known. His family connections in Karak Eight Peaks guaranteed that he would be welcomed with open arms, and few questions would be asked about how he got out of Ekrund. Although he didn’t have treasure on him, there was no doubt that old family interests in Karak Eight Peaks would supply him with a steady income soon enough.
And he was, as he had pointed out, an actual prince.
She had not thought that it would come to this. She caught her mother looking at her with a satisfied expression, as though Haldora had intended this. Certainly her father had realised the strength of potential marriage, and now Haldora had it within her power to choose the fate of her family. In such uncertain times, that was an exceptional ability.
‘Looks like you get to decide,’ said Skraffi. He sniffed the air. The wind was cutting through the trees and the stench of goblins was easy to detect. ‘Better choose quickly, Haldi.’
