“I think you are taking this way too far Dr—” Juin started but Drick cut him off. He didn’t care anymore what kind of trouble he got in as long as he could say what needed to be said.

  “No, instead they used those leaders to draw out the dwarfs of Riverhouse as well as any surrounding communities, hell…even Skorsdale sent a force to help us out and that is only a small village,” Drick said while thinking of the only place that could be considered a human settlement on this side of the Swirl. “Then suddenly they leave. They don’t kill the kings and they force no battles worth mentioning and we are here, in the middle of the woods with very little in the way of supplies be it weapons or food. All of our surrounding communities are empty and getting ready to attack the force surrounding Riverhouse which we have been told has not as of yet been invaded. The breeds are a mess and unable to come to our aid even if they would, which of course is doubtful considering they have been all but cast from our society, there wouldn’t be enough of them. Also, we have more than ten thousand elves coming from Lilieack to join us in this battle leaving our own home virtually undefended.” Drick stopped his rant, knowing that he had pushed too hard…said too much.

  “That is a nice recap of our situation, Drick. I am assuming that you have a point to make with all of this,” Diedrick said, having had about enough of his son’s diatribe.

  “You don’t see it?” Drick said, obviously becoming frustrated with his inability to convey his meaning. He was afraid that he sounded like an angry younger rather than the commissioned officer that he was. He calmed himself.

  “Their intention was to draw us out. Get us away from our safe places. Into the open and that is when the real war will begin, except we will be fighting our own castles from the outside with our families still on the inside,” he said as the scheme of things finally settled into his own mind. The faces staring back at him were blank. Not stupidly blank, but blank as if they were trying to digest what he had said and if it had merit. Drick decided to press further. He had already ruined his career more than likely, might as well lay out some speculation on top of it.

  “My guess is an invasion fleet, possibly conspired of the same forces we just fought landing in north harbor any day, as well as the eastern port. Lilieack will fall, Riverhouse, is taken and Pine Hold is destroyed. That hasn’t even factored in to what might be happening in Noril,” Drick said and looked at Linalla who was king of Noril. He had made the trek to Lilieack for the funeral rites of the great king. He could tell that his words had an effect on the group as no one, not even Juin presented any argument, nor were they looking at him as if he were a petulant younger.

  “Okay, Drick…you may have some valid points. Points we should have considered. Do you have any suggestions of steps we should take in this…whatever you want to call it?” Lindren asked.

  “Well, do we want to throw ourselves against a superior force at Riverhouse on the possibility that we may have some success there or do we ensure that we have a solid base in which to operate from? I think Linalla should go home to his people and safeguard their interests in Noril as well as you, my King, you should go home and intercept the contingent coming to join us here. Turn them around or at least half of them and defend that which is already ours, in fact I would send Sprints and scout to do so before you get to them. A small force that is here already can work on helping Riverhouse, since we are bound by the treaty to do so.”

  “How small of a force?” Juin asked, somewhat impressed yet still skeptical of his Har Karoome.

  “There are three hundred left in our raiding party and almost six hundred of the Pine Hold contingent that had accompanied Lindwyer to the funeral. They could stay with us, I’m sure that they have more than a little desire for vengeance built up within them.”

  “Nine hundred? What are nine hundred going to accomplish against tens of thousands?” Juin said skeptically, but beginning to like what he was hearing. He would much rather be leading this endeavor than being a lackey to all of the kings around here now and their own kingdoms should be defended.

  “Nothing in a straight on attack. But if we could use the woods and brush as our weapons, we might be able to throw some hitches in their plans. If we could find a way to get some of us behind them and possibly even inside of Riverhouse, we might be able to do more damage.”

  “What about the dwarfs that headed back to the house via the canals?” Lindwyer, king of Pine Hold asked.

  “If I were to guess, I would say that they are already being harassed, if not engaged in battle. I would like to join with some of them if we cross paths.”

  “Well, shouldn’t we go and help them? Join with them?” the king of Noril asked.

  “I don’t see how we can, seeing as how we don’t really know where they are. We are being invaded on multiple fronts and have to see to it that our own society isn’t lost,” Drick finished and the room fell silent for many long moments.

  “Here is what we will do,” Lindren said, leaving no doubts that these orders were for everyone including the other two kings and he would brook no more arguing. Drick smiled knowing that he had at least tried.

  50

  Tia

  They could hear them coming for long moments before seeing them, the horrific sounds building, coming closer, no matter how fast they ran. It was near a half hour into their mad dash that Tia finally saw one of them and it was as strange of a being as anyone could have imagined. It was just a flash of white silvery flesh as it lunged out of the darkness straight for her. Leldeif’s sword cut it down before she could react, though the lack of a head or any identifiable body part made it hard for her to decide exactly how to act. How do you attack a being with no discernable head or chest?

  It was wounded, mewling out a forlorn whimper. They were short-bodied creatures with no head to speak of, anything that could be considered a feature was scattered over various places on its torso. A toothed opening that resembled a mouth centered between two shoulder like contours, if it opened its mouth in a down pour it would drown. In the center of its chest was a type of suction cup that she assumed was the ear Pomen had mentioned. It looked thick, like they could actually lay on it to feel the vibrations through the floor. Two stub legs with a backward knees, like a rat or dog, propelled it while exceedingly long arms guided the beast as it moved. There was no separate or visually obvious thing that could be where a brain or an eye would typically be, but she knew that it must have something of that nature tied up within the malformed body. She couldn’t say that it was ugly, though it was. In truth it was an anomaly more than anything.

  Her sword was out and she strained to keep her eyes bouncing everywhere at once. Leldeif kept to the rear and fended off two more attacks and he seemed to be aiming around the mouth between the collar bones, or what would be considered collar bones on a human. The screams intensified and the slithering sounds of their movement increased. They were in their range of lunge and only restrained by the three or four who had perished on the edge of Leldeif’s blade.

  Tia took this as significant. They had a self-preservation instinct, maybe they could use that she wondered, at about the same time she realized that this could also mean they might be smart.

  Pomen turned and blew some sort of dust out of the palm of his hand and the room flashed with bright light, exposing the hundreds of creatures getting ready to kill them. They quickly scurried for the shadows until the flash faded and then pursued with slightly more care.

  They have eyes, or something that sees light, but where?

  “Stay with me,” Pomen said and grabbed Tia by the wrist and dragged her behind him with Leldeif quick on their heels. They passed through an archway that broke into several tiny passages going off in many directions, all of them dark some with roots hanging down.

  Pomen cut sharply to the left and Tia could tell that he was being pulled by Gi-noo. Leldeif, with his elven eyes, needed no guide and stayed tight on their heels. Unfortunately, whatever it was that was chasing them needed no light and followed right behind with the elf putting them down as they got too close.

  “Better find us a way out of here quickly, gnome, I can’t keep this up for much longer,” the winded elf shouted over the rushing of air.

  “Bah, you’ve gotten soft in yer old age. Too much time in the house has turned yer muscles too mush,” Pomen responded between gasps.

  “Maybe so, or these things could just be damn hard to kill.”

  “Yah, there is that too I suspect,” he panted out and continued, “Up ahead, a chamber…we’ll have to fight through but once on the other side we should be golden.”

  “If we get to the other side,” Leldeif added.

  Tia felt herself being pulled hard to the right and found they were in another cavern with the phosphorus walls allowing them to see a little better. However, the visage of hundreds of the disgusting creatures being vomited into the chamber behind them did nothing to ease her mind.

  She let go of Pomen and watched Leldeif as she pulled her sword again. He was aiming between the suction cup thing on their torso that she assumed was an ear and the opening between their shoulders that passed as a mouth. There were no eyes to be seen in the dim glow from the cavern nor was there a nose, but they knew where their prey was.

  Tia tried to mimic Leldeif, but she had no success. The arms on these creatures were so long they extended well beyond the reach of her blade. They carried no weapons but their three fingers, including a thumb, tipped with long spike like claws and she was forced to keep batting them away, taking a finger in the process but no more than that. It was ineffectual and was forcing her back and away from her companions. They were trying to separate her.

  She stumbled and almost went down, but Leldeif was there and pushed them back with two quick kills. He yanked her to her feet.

  “Fight like you mean it, girl!”

  “I’m trying!” she screamed back.

  “Not good enough. Step inside their reach and plunge your blade deep,” Leldeif said and paused as he demonstrated on the first of the monsters to recover. No sound emitted as it collapsed to the floor. “Do it.” He stepped back and then screamed right in her ear, “Now!”

  Tia couldn’t help it, she jumped forward taking scratches on both arms which she tried to ignore. Her blade plunged into soft grub like flesh all the way up to the hilt. She imagined her blade sticking out the back of the vile beast, but couldn’t check as more came in from the sides.

  Now instead of facing one attacker directly in front of her she faced two coming in from each side. A lesson from her training kicked in and she ignored the one closest to Leldeif and instead of backing away, she stepped in to the one on her right. She couldn’t tell if it was surprised as there was no face to speak of, but its reaction was negligible.

  She again plunged her blade into the beast, hitting higher and what was closer to its mouth. She felt resistance as if she had hit some kind of bone and a high pitched, almost whistling scream escaped its lips. It collapsed and lay panting before a spasm to be followed by utter stillness.

  It must have been someone important as the rest of them froze for a moment and allowed a slight moan from their collective lips.

  “Oh shit,” Leldeif said, which seemed to signal action as a solid wall of grub like skin rushed them. They were both back on their heels swatting away the long flailing arms of their attackers, any attempt at offence thwarted.

  Tia smelled something burning and a wave of hopelessness threatened to overwhelm her. Two of the beasts used their long arms and misshaped legs to vault over the backs of their comrades, each finding separate blades to land upon. The force knocked Tia back into the wall and she had to kick the thing in the shoulder to get her blade free in time to bat away more of the clawed fingers pawing her.

  The entire chamber was filling with smoke and she saw Pomen in her periphery, holding the hot bowl of his pipe to his lips and sending a thick green stream of smoke into the mass. Shortcspits of flame accompanied the smoke arching across the chamber and into the mass of grub people. Screams and wails reached her ears the smell of burning flesh, putrid. It hovered around them in undefinable swirls, the pressure of the attack eased as they batted at the thick putrid smoke. Tia started to cough and was being pushed away from the chamber.

  They exited and moved forward at speed with Gi-noo taking the lead once again. They were running down another long passage with sharp turns and many branches going off randomly left and right as well as above. She didn’t know if Pomen actually knew where he was going or was just trying to create distance between them and their pursuers, and she didn’t care. Running was much preferred over fighting so she sheathed her blade to free up her hands and ran.

  Light? Was that actually light up ahead? Was that fresh air she could feel on her face? Were they truly almost free of this pursuing mass of muscle and teeth filled with the intent of murder?

  But what else is out there? she wondered, remembering the armies of goblins and muridai they had already seen on this short trip.

  The four burst out into a grassy patch behind a hillock that looked too manicured to be natural. Leldeif jumped out in front with his blade drawn, but there was nothing there.

  “I know this place,” Leldeif said. “Right behind this mound should be Tvordikstan.”

  “Correct, however, it seems awfully quiet for a village of frost piners,” Pomen said before stepping out from behind the hillock to look down at the village. Tia followed and froze in her tracks. It was empty.

  “I don’t understand? Where have—”

  “Shhh.” She was silenced by Pomen. “Not is as it may seem. Let’s have a look around.”

  “But, there is nothing but a few tents and they look to be in a sorry state,” Tia said, fear as well as dread leeching into her tone.

  “Southern frost piners live in tents, especially in summer,” Leldeif said.

  “Yep, they say it gets too hot in a house,” Pomen added. “They stay mainly outside and move indoors during heavy rains, indoors meaning a tent.”

  Tia thought back to her time on Tekundralokai when she first met the piners. There were structures there, but they were used more for meetings and cooking. There were the caves where the baths were, but nobody slept in there, in fact most slept wherever they happened to be unless two wanted to be alone and they simply disappeared.

  “I don’t see any sign of a struggle,” Leldeif said and Pomen nodded as he slowly approached the camp.

  “Look over yonder, elf. Is that their herd of bison running loose in that field?”

  “It is, but they don’t look stressed and seem to have been purposely released there,” Leldeif said.

  “Now how can you tell that? I mean they’re just cattle in a field, you can’t tell anything from that,” Tia accused.

  “I can tell enough to know they are bison, not cattle,” Leldeif said smugly.

  “Aye, he can also tell that the corral gate is closed, not broken, and there are troughs of food set out as well as exposed hay and feed. He’s right, they were set here recently to graze with purpose, however, what that purpose is I don’t have the foggiest idea.”

  “Maybe they were attacked or were responding to someone else being attacked, like a friend or ally of some sort.”

  “Yeah, meybe. But then mebey not. It’d be just like the ruddy bastards to take off and go fishing as well but I doubt that is the case,” Pomen speculated

  “What is it, Pomen?” Leldeif asked.

  “They left, other than that I don’t know anymore’n you do,” Pomen said as he searched deeper into the village, Leldeif looking in another direction. Tia felt a little miffed at having her assumption about what they could or could not tell by the signs. She felt that no matter what she said next it would only make her look even more stupid than she already did.

  After several minutes of searching they somewhat haphazardly met in the center of camp.

  “So, what are your deductions, elf?”

  “As far as I can tell, they left of their own accord. I don’t see any signs of violence or an invading force, nothing. I see some smallish footprints coming in from the west, almost childlike actually, and then they all just disappeared, all of them heading to the west and south.”

  “Smallish footprints? Childlike you say? Show me,” Pomen said. “Yes, they are definitely small. Seems kind of strange that they start and stop right here at the tree line. I wish we could get a clearer print; they almost look elvish,” Pomen said causing Leldeif to look closer before nodding his assent.

  “Was it gnomes? You guys have small feet, don’t you?” Tia asked.

  “Bah! Gnomes don’t walk to places like this, especially when there’s piners about. Our legs are too short to dodge out of the way of the clumsy brutes. We always wear boots or at least a moccasin. Sprints would be a hoof of some sort or in some cases a paw, either cloven or round, and these are definitely feet, let’s move to the next village and see if they know anything.”

  The next village offered no additional clues as it too was empty and it also had signs of very small feet entering from the forest and disappearing the same way. By the third village it was starting to get dark so they decided to claim what could only be considered a wigwam as their shelter for the night.

  They were quiet as each one contemplated what not only lay before them in the upcoming days, but also what they had been through to get to this point. Tia went to a secluded spot and cast her blanket before curling into it.