“Not at all, Nigel, I have much to attend to yet today. Welcome to Riverhouse.

  “Thank you, sir, I greatly appreciate it.”

  * * *

  “What are you going to do, Tic?”

  “I don’t know, Tia. I don’t know if there is anything that I can do. It’s like this whole deal was planned out for me before I was even born.”

  “Do you think that you are connected to this Mortiss guy?”

  “No, there is no way I am connected to him. He is three centuries dead and buried himself in books until he was in his fifties, then came up here and built this place, which from what I understand took over a hundred years to construct. That is a long time for a compulsion to hold and for Mortiss Haliskag to kill himself on the last day of building would have put him at over a hundred and fifty years old. I think Frodeg means well, but his information is flawed. My real issue is the force building outside, I don’t like waiting around to be attacked and would surely like to find a way to bring the fight to them somehow.”

  “It’s hard to bring a fight to someone without an army isn’t it.”

  “Yes, it is. We’ve been totally set up and the only thing holding them back is that we trapped their leaders and banished them physically from the House.”

  “What does the House say about it?” Tia asked.

  “I don’t know, I’ve never actually talked to Riverhouse. I don’t know that you actually can talk to it.”

  “You mean that Riverhouse tells you all of this stuff and you have never tried to communicate with it? Something is wrong with that, Tic.”

  “Yeah, maybe you’re right. Maybe I should try and…do…something,” he replied and then thought about it for a long time. He figured that if he was to talk to the House it would be best to do it in one of two places. He would try tonight.

  41

  North

  Juil rode the tightly packed barges up one of the tributaries for the first half of the journey. It was slower than a horse which made sense since it was mules on the shorelines that towed the vessels against the current, but it cut down on the over land distance by many miles so in truth was quicker. Dwarfs were amiable but standoffish, not knowing what kind of emotions the princess was dealing with after finding out that Pine Hold had been decimated and her grandfather murdered. She was fine really, she knew she would feel differently once she was there face to face with the situation, but right now, she was simply…numb.

  For two days she sat on the barges eating with the soldiers and helping to tend the mounts who were being readied for war. Elves rode the finest horses, typically of Lilieack stock, however dwarfs did things a little differently due to their understated stature. The shaggy steppes ponies were popular and anxious to get moving under their own power and Juil had taken to brushing them at night to help calm them down or they would rock the barge terribly. They also rode rams from the local mountain sheep population, claiming that they were stronger of back and the first thing to break the enemy in a charge. With their solid curved horns, she could see why. The main thing with them was keeping the males separated by several feet or they would challenge each other to head butting contests that also threatened to tip the barges and or knock people into the stream. Then they had Yaks for pulling and Juil couldn’t help but notice these beasts of burden due to a cuteness factor that was off the charts in spite of their horns. Long thick curly hair framed preciously innocent faces and continued through the roundish bodies. She had seen highland cattle before, but there was a breeding involved here that made these creatures exceptionally approachable to the point where they behaved more as dogs than cattle.

  Other times she would simply lean on the rail and watch as the trees slid by and dream about the singing woman she had seen in the tower that Nigel had brought her to. Her song was so eerie, so…haunting yet unpredictable in tone and energy. Sometimes it was hard and driving like she was singing about a great battle consisting of massive armies, or soft and playful like a simple bar fight. The most unnerving times, such as now, was when she wailed in lament for the lost. Thousands of souls howling their pain and loss carried through her single voice, but it was worse than that. She was singing about what the very planet itself bled for those lost and it tore into her very being, causing her own soul to bleed out. It was the regret of an untimely child ripped from the womb, a thousand first sons slaughtered in their sleep by halfmen or the existence of any species the victims of genocide. Genocide’s that has happened countless times throughout the millennia’s, she knew that is what was happening again, right now in fact, except now…it was happening to her own people and possibly the humans and dwarfs as well. She could almost predict their own demise and she felt helpless to stop it. Like she was running away from the place she could do the most good. She looked back in the direction of Riverhouse and wondered…

  Her grandfather, Lindrow, was killed calling for a great procession where everyone would gather to lament their loss over losing the Great King. In the meantime, her and Juin were doing what all elven children do before coming into power and responsibility, running raids upon foul folk. It was the practice for hundreds of years and kept their numbers manageable, kept the passes safe, well except from the land itself that is.

  The song in her head changed pitch unpredictably and she pulled her head up in sudden understanding. The actions of her brother and herself were if anything, predictable and they had been led into a trap where she was captured and many of the warriors with them had probably been killed. The actions of her people after Lindrow was killed was predictable also and Pine Hold was destroyed. Now three kings were trapped within the glacier and summoning for assistance was hailed and heard so now the dwarfs of Riverhouse rush forward to do battle and free the kings.

  Again…predictable? Kings trapped; dwarfs strung out in a line on slow moving barges coming to their rescue and Riverhouse completely unprotected. Predictable. This is a trap, all of it is one giant trap and we are fools enough to fall into it because it is outside the parameters of what we think the foul folk are capable of. But they are not the foul folk from our past, are they? Now they have the muridai and that woman who is anything but stupid, and with her involvement…they have magic.

  “Is something wrong, princess?” Jonaith, one of the captains, startled her from her reverie.

  “Yes, Captain Jonaith, something is very wrong,” she began and decided it was best to be straight forward with the dwarf for the sake of expediency. “I fear that we are being set up.”

  “Set up? May I ask in what manner are we being set up?”

  “I’m not sure yet, Captain, but I can come up with a few scenarios right off the bat. One would be that we are going to be ambushed while we are trapped upon these barges.”

  “I agree that is a valid concern and have had my hackles up for the last few days thinking about the possibility,” Jonaith replied. “What would be the other way we would be set up, if I may persist?”

  “Another way would be to get to the kings and find only a smattering of enemy forces there, if any at all.”

  “That would be somewhat absurd, don’t you think? We have it on credible source that they are trapped and surrounded by thousands.”

  “I am sure that they are, or at least were, until Riverhouse emptied of fighters,” Juil said and watched as the eyes of the captain grew wide with understanding. Riverhouse, the jewel of the north, had to be the target. She watched the dwarf compose himself as he thought about her suspicions. “Think about it. What in the entire world is more valuable than than three elven kings?”

  “Riverhouse, of course.”

  “Yep, even I, an elven princess will admit to that. So my next question should be, why are the kings still alive?”

  “I beg your pardon Princess?”

  “If they have such an over whelming force, why don’t they just march in and kill the kings, it’d take a day, maybe a day and a half.”

  “I don’t know, maybe they’re waiting for somebody.”

  “No Jonaith, they are not waiting for someone, they are waiting for something. Word that Riverhouse is empty and its defenders stranded days away.

  “I have to admit that your concerns are valid, though I don’t know what we can do about them. We can’t simply turn around and head back to Riverhouse, that would violate the Protectorate Protocols. As far as us being ambushed, well, there is a spot up the river here that would be a good spot for one but—”

  “We have to start being proactive, who are your highest-ranking officers here?” Juil asked, regretting the choice that she was being forced to take.

  “We only have captains stationed in Riverhouse, but there is one per vessel other than a couple that are led by respected business people and craftsmen. Why do you ask?”

  “Any gnomes or sprints?”

  “We’ve got thirty or so gnomes and fifteen or twenty sprints depending on the day, seein’ as they come and go depending on how business dictates, oh an’ we have six piners as well as one elf.”

  “Me being the elf?” She asked. Jonaith nodded. “Are the piners young or old?” Juil pressed.

  “A range of ages, with dwarfs, that leaves us just around seven hundred.”

  “Well…who is actually in charge.”

  “Hmm…by my reckoning that would be you, being the princess and all and this action is an extension of the treaty.”

  “That couldn’t have worked out better if I would have planned it.” Juil said with a smile as Jonaith shifted uncomfortably.

  * * *

  “We have to start acting like an army,” Juil said.

  “We are guards, craftsmen, and constables, we are not an army. We are a village not a platoon,” Ironcad protested, who was one of the steersmen from the barges.

  “Pine Hold was considered a city of pacifists because they had never fought in a war. That didn’t stop the horror that was their death. Just as us blundering blindly into every trap they set will get us slaughtered.”

  “What are you suggesting, princess?” Ironcad asked patiently.

  “I am suggesting that we act in a manner that won’t get us all killed and hand Riverhouse over to…them, whoever they are.”

  “I’m listening,” Ironcad said with an expression that implied he had never suspected they might be walking into a trap or that Riverhouse might be at risk.

  “Well, as far as I can see, we need to break into three groups if we are to try and cover all the bases,” Juil said, having thought out the best way to approach this while Jonaith had gathered the barge captains together. “We have to keep the barges looking full even if it means leaving a couple here. Everyone on the boats should stay armed and ready, especially up to the spot where Jonaith implied that an ambush could occur. Then a contingent should travel the trails upland…” Juil explained her plans to the small group before her, seeing more than one taking on a skeptical expression.

  “I am afraid that it would take too much time and prevent us from getting up there to help those who are in need,” one of the gnomes spoke up.

  “You see, that is my point. I don’t think that they are still up there, or at least not that many of them anymore. The kings were not the target…they were the distraction. If we lose a few kings the elves would be devastated, true, but the rest of the races would move on. But if we lost the House, the north would be permanently crippled, possibly even beaten completely. Riverhouse has always been the target in my opinion and if we want to have any affect at all, we have to get back and defend her,” Juil said, wishing that she had the right to command these people. Technically she did, but good commanders know that command is given, not taken.

  She knew that she was right, but she had no proof. She looked away from the group when a commotion was heard as two figures broke out of the tree line. Some of the sprints had returned.

  They crossed the shoreline with amazing speed and leaped onto the barge where she stood, coming right up to her. The news they had brought had been dire, reinforcing her suspicions, which is why she found herself walking away from where her family was trapped and heading back to Riverhouse with six piners and a host of fifty dwarfs. As soon as they hit the trails they all realized that she had been right. Muridai and halfmen alike were all moving in force toward the House. What she and her small band could do was beyond her, but there had to be something.

  She knew that Riverhouse was effectively unarmed right now and the multitude of entry ports into the structure would leave them extremely vulnerable to the force that was right now converging on the unsuspecting people inside. Their presence there would be sorely needed. Unfortunately, they seemed to be blocked at every entrance.

  “Excuse me, princess, but we can’t stay out here for long without becoming a target,” the senior of the frost piners said. “They’re everywhere, filling up every clearing and scattered throughout the trees. They’ll run across us just through the law of averages as it is.”

  “I know that, Len, but I don’t see any options right now. I thought we could come down here and get in their way, but there are too many of them. Our only other option is to get inside and try to help from within, but every entrance is guarded,” Juil said as much to herself as anyone else.

  “I think it is pretty obvious that there isn’t much we can do here, princess. We are going to have to go find help,” Len said quietly as he scanned the area around them to make sure there weren’t any adversaries near enough to hear him.

  “I know, but where and who? Worse yet, do we have enough time? They are days if not hours away from a full-scale assault and Riverhouse is sitting there as if it has planned for nothing.”

  “It’s worse than that if my understanding of things is correct. The place is near empty of dwarfs as well as piners, and anyone coming to help them is trapped on the wrong side of the enemy. There really isn’t too much we can do to stop this atrocity from occurring.”

  “So…what? You think we should stand back and let it happen? I don’t think I can do that,” Juil replied hopelessly.

  “I don’t think you have much of a choice, none of us do. We were set up for a clean knock down and we came too small and too late to do any good,” Len stressed as he too struggled for options. “There is nothing that a group this small and under armed can do against the thousands amassed down there.”

  Juil paused for a long time letting the words of the old piner sink in. His entire livelihood was centered around Riverhouse, giving him even more reason than her to want it left alone, but things were what they were and there truly wasn’t anything they could do.

  “I know. If we had a couple of weeks, we could amass the rest of the forces from Lilieack, the Dwarven Kingdom, or even Noril, but with Pine Hold wiped out and a mass of our strongest trapped up in the glacier, as well as a thousand dwarfs going to rescue them, we have nothing. We have been set up and now we are going to be knocked down. The north will belong to the foul and there isn’t a damn thing we can do about it.”

  42

  Shaken

  “What’s everybody doing in here?” Tia asked as she entered into the R&D section of the small factory where she surprised Tic, the sheriff, and his elf friend whom her uncle had known for a while, but didn’t have much good to say about, stood in a circle.

  “I’m afraid that we’re in trouble, T,” Tic replied and she could see the worry upon his face. There was more than simply shop business on his mind.

  “Is this about the bandits gathering outside?” she speculated. “Honestly, I don’t see why it is your problem.”

  “They are more than simple bandits Tia. Everything here… is my problem Tia, I think it is why I was brought here…but I don’t know how to fight an army.”

  “Well what about the dwarfs, their army has to be getting here soon,” she replied.

  “We don’t have an army, no one really has an army, though the elves have strong reconnaissance forces,” Frodeg said as if it was obvious. “That is why we have the Treaty of the Five. With that, no one needed an army…we simply had to keep the amount of trolls and halfmen down to a manageable number and everyone could live happily ever after. At least since the aerial wars that’s how it’s been.”

  “We never had much of an army in Lemure either. If there was trouble, the king would send troops but they were limited too,” Tic said, realizing how unprepared society was for large scale violence. Someone with a large enough force could come in and claim everything if they wanted but that couldn’t really happen now could it? Unless…

  “How long have these muridai been around?” Tia asked.

  “First one I heard about was two years ago,” Frodeg replied.

  “At least six,” Leldeif said. “You can gauge it by the amount of scar tissue developing on my face.”

  “Nobody has heard of them before that?” Tia asked then got a thoughtful look on her face. “So, this white guy—”

  “Pale man,” Tic corrected her.

  “Okay, pale man then, and this multi colored witch, brought this army in from somewhere else, how? Why do they follow them?”

  “I don’t know, the far east maybe or across the southern sea even. Point is, we have never heard of them before,” Frodeg replied.

  “They fight as an army; I can tell you that from experience,” Leldeif said.

  “That’s a long way to go to get that many of them here. It kind of sounds impossible with ships alone.”

  “I agree. From what I have heard there are thousands of them, and a ship would only haul a couple hundred at best, but how else could they do it?”

  “When I was doing some…well, you know. Like when I met the princess, Juil. They were in a place that was beyond time, a place not quite of this world…yet I could see them. I could see what they were doing and even created it so they could come here and in a flash…they were here. Maybe they are doing something like that?”