“Aye, I do have a plan, but it too will take some sacrifice. Before we do any charging, we need to put our own cork in that bottle. Do you see that tributary coming in from the west that flows into Riverhouse?” He had to be specific, for several tributaries joined with a main before entering the House. “It has muridai close to the entry there and goblins with halfmen further out?” They all nodded. “The other side, however, looks clear from what I can tell.”

  “I agree; it does look empty of foul folk,” Pomen said smugly knowing that his trained vision was as good sometimes even better than an elf.

  “Ah, I see that you saw it too. Some of those branches sticking up from the brush are a little too straight to be from a bush or tree,” Drick said and both Leldeif and Juin scanned closer.

  “Dwarfs?” Leldeif questioned.

  “Aye, or at least I think so. What we need to do is get a small force with Spunk over there and enlist those dwarfs aid. Then we need them to sneak or crawl to the entry and defend it so that they can’t put a stopper on it. The sad part being that they have to be there within a couple of hours or it will be too late.”

  “Okay, I think I could manage a small force to do that, though I don’t know why you would include the donkey. Then what?” Leldeif said.

  “You’ll see once you get there why I include Spunk. In two hours’ time, we will lead a single-sided plough wedge from the east, in a pattern that hugs the outside wall of the House, and try to push their forces out and away from the entry. I don’t think we are going to be able to kill them all and if we did it would be at too great of cost to our own numbers. We need to push them away and get inside the tunnel before we commit to a full scale battle.”

  “Sounds somewhat cowardly if you ask my opinion,” Juin said trying to keep the snippiness from his tone.

  “I don’t care if it is cowardly, it meets the objective. We are not on a field of honor nor do we have anything to prove to the beasts down there. We need to hit them, shock them, and get away with our flank protected. We need them dead, not vaunted.”

  “It’s a solid plan, Har Karoome,” Leldeif said. “Ranger Pomen and I will lead the crew to secure the entry. Who are your best bladesmen?”

  Ten minutes later, Leldeif and Pomen led a grumbling prince as well as Tia down a steep, wooded decline with an oddly dressed donkey bringing up the rear. They crossed the small tributary a half mile west of the closest goblin and made their way to the brush where they had noticed the oddly shaped sticks poking out.

  Juin’s hand on the shoulder of a dwarf brought out a gasp that almost revealed their position. It only took a couple of minutes for the dwarfs to understand the plan and they were all in.

  Ten minutes later, a party of thirty and a donkey were quietly floating bundled gear down the tributary in an attempt to get as close to the entry as possible before leaving the water..

  54

  Call to arms

  Juil and Frodeg stood together looking at the thousand dwarfs assembled before them knowing they were grossly undermanned. Riverhouse should have a thousand at each major entrance and several hundred at the minor ones, but this is what they were left with. The southern end of the House was completely unguarded with watchers reporting large scale looting from the invaders already in full swing. They also seemed to think the damage was minimal due to the fact that there was no one to terrorize with their random acts of violence such as burning the whole community. Of course burning an entire community inside of Riverhouse is in itself rather problematic for obvious reasons.

  They didn’t have any choice but to consolidate their people in the most defensible area which happened to be the stretch directly outside of the shop where Tic still worked and stretched up to the dock master’s shack on the far north end. They walked over to Tic’s workshop and knocked.

  “Come on in,” the young business owner said.

  “Tic, I am a little shocked that you fired up your forge today,” Frodeg said bewildered.

  “Oh really, why is that?”

  “Well…I suppose the fact that we are being invaded might have something to do with it,” Juil said.

  “Yes, I am well aware of that. However, my place in this war has already played out, or at least as far I know,” Tic replied casually.

  “What? How can you say that? You are going to fight, aren’t you?” the sheriff pressed.

  “Me? No, I wouldn’t last two seconds in a battle. The fighting as well as the entire battle has been assigned to you two.”

  “So what, you just don’t care or you’re a coward?” Juil accused.

  “If being a coward means a person is afraid then yes, I am a coward. However, that is not why I am not fighting. None of this, in reality, has anything to do with me or my decisions, even me taking part in the battle is not up to me.”

  “He says that he is not allowed to be violent,” Rowen’s voice surprised them from a deeply shadowed corner.

  “That’s absurd, how can you not be allowed violence?”

  “Look, there are going to be a lot of things none of us understand over the next couple of days and we have to be ready for it, you two especially have to be ready for it. A tremendous amount of energy is going to come to you like you have never experienced before, brace yourself and be prepared or you will be overwhelmed.”

  “Days?” the sheriff hoisted an eyebrow. “Wars last longer than a couple of days, boy.”

  “Yeah, not this one, trust me when I say that, this is not a good thing for us. You should also know that this is not a war and simply a battle within the war. I will play my part, let me correct that…I have been playing my part, getting you those stones were a part of that. Just keep your head on straight and stay focused and you will do well.

  “Your trust is appreciated,” Juil said snidely.

  “My trust? I hardly know you two. I mean from what I do know, you seem to be very capable people who will stick to it until things are right, but I don’t know your inner self and what you hold dear. Everybody keeps thinking that this is about me when in truth it has practically nothing to do with me. This war began thousands of years before I was ever conceived yet it is up to us to deal with.”

  “Yeah, how are supposed to do that when the most powerful among us is hiding in his workshop?” Juil stabbed.

  Tic stared at her for several moments before breaking into laughter which caused the sheriff and the princess to stare awkwardly at each other.

  “There will be no hiding from this. When it all fails, I too will be dragged out into street and executed like somebody’s rabid dog,” Tic said while shaking his head in exasperation and returning to his work at the forge.

  “When…you mean if, don’t you?”

  “Yeah, if…that’s what I meant,” Tic said, his tone a bit more melancholic than any of them would have wished. Shouting outside the shop caused the two to rush outside.

  “You couldn’t have just told them?” Rowen asked while still in the shadows.

  “I told you, and you have been here for two hours grilling me about it. How much different do you think it would be for them?”

  “Yeah, I see your point, I guess.”

  “Besides, if they rely on me too early, I will be burned up before the battle is half done. I really need to be alone for a bit in order to focus, I also need to get this hybrid sap pounded and cured, so if you don’t mind?” Tic looked at his uncle with a raised eyebrow.

  “No, I don’t mind, Tic. You do what you need to do and I will go and tie up some loose ends before taking my guard position in the labyrinth.

  “Labyrinth huh? Sounds very dramatic.”

  “Naw, at least not until it becomes the last bastion,” he said with a wink and left the kid to his own thoughts.

  * * *

  “Your army is looking pathetically small, sheriff. Maybe we should call on you another day, hmmm?” the scantily clad woman sitting in a gondola draped with awnings of silken scarves said in an even tone to Frodeg. He didn’t know how her voice could carry so far without any effort, but he trusted that his would as well.

  “Yeah well, it was all I could manage to round up on short notice, so a couple of extra days before you attack would be greatly appreciated,” he replied, his casual nature seeming to spark something behind her eyes.

  “I’m sorry, but we’re already dressed for the party, as they say in show biz…the show must go on. A pity it is, to be sure,” she replied. “And where might the princess be, I know she has missed me. We had such a wonderful conversation last time we met that I bet she can’t wait to pick up where we left off.” She finished with a self-satisfying laugh.

  “The princess said she needed some air, my guess is she went for a stroll in the garden with a new beau she has eyes for,” the sheriff lied and almost gasped as the woman’s skin turned to a deep orange color with her hair shifting to jet black.

  “A new beau, you say? Very interesting. I find it quite strange that you have close to a hundred thousand ready to enter your…tunnel, yet you have done nothing to prepare.”

  “Riverhouse is open to all, if you are responsible for these persons maybe we can pay the fees up front so you may pass through unmolested?”

  “My, what a clever little dwarf you are, annoying…yet clever.”

  “Excuse me, ma’am?”

  “Poo, poo, poo, waste no more of my time, little man. Fetch me the young boy, what is his name…Flick?”

  “I think you mean Tic; he is currently indisposed at the moment. It seems with the troubles up north he is backlogged in his shop at the moment and has requested that he not be disturbed. Now about those fees. We do grant a discount for parties over a thousand, do you have any idea as to an exact head count?” Frodeg said with a genuine smile, his previous trepidation suddenly gone. Something was building inside of him, he could feel it, there was no fear nor bravado involved. It was deep, calm yet powerful and gave him a confidence he had never felt before.

  “The time for your tomfoolery is over, bring out the little whelp so that I may deal with him. This is a war after all,” Dyanna said impatiently.

  “Again, I regret to inform you that Tic will not be entertaining this war. It seems that a few thousand idiots and a minor enchantress are not worth his time,” he said and could feel the energy start to build within the woman. Her rage was building so quickly that Frodeg could almost smell it.

  “Oh really.”

  “Oh yes, he said…and I am quoting his words. I have bested her thrice already, if you count the Armada on the coast of Lemure, let someone else have some fun. Then he left it up to me, which I have to tell you, it has not at all been the fun that he promised.” Frodeg could practically see steam coming out of her ears as she summoned power to her clenched fists. Most would never know it, but in here, all power came from the House and though she didn’t have complete control of the great power within the House, she did have some, though it be wrenched unwillingly from the stones around her.

  Dyanna’s eyes flared and she turned her palms out to face the lone dwarf before her and screamed a maniacal howl as twin beams of energy streaked from her hands and into the chest of the dwarf sending him ass over tea kettle until he landed with a thump.

  The cavernous Riverhouse fell silent. Even the pike men aligned along the river’s edge refused to move, fearing that they may draw the ire of this evil witch.

  The sheriff crawled to his feet as if he had been knocked down in a football match. He dusted himself off and replaced the cap that had been on his head and returned to where he had been standing. He wore a smile that was as genuine as when she had first appeared and looked completely nonplussed by the event.

  “I apologize, but I am going to have to rescind that offer of a discount.” His tone was light and his manner was pleasant, so much so that no one would realize that anything had happened other than his men to whom he gave a jovial wink.

  They burst out laughing. They were dwarfs after all and there was nothing like a rough tumble to set them off.

  Dyanna stared at the sheriff, her eyes caught halfway between fuming and surprise at the little man still standing, seemingly un-phased by her powerful strike.

  “I’ve always hated dwarfs.” Her voice an almost inaudible growl carried through the chamber on waves of her magic. She wanted them all to know that she felt no remorse at the destruction she was about to unleash.

  She sent a shockwave at the thousand plus dwarfs, intending to bowl them over like they were parts in a game of nine pin. The water rippled with the force of her magic as it spanned the distance. A force so powerful it was meant to crush the bones of the swarthy soldiers right where they stood.

  Frodeg put out his hand and gave it a slight twist. The waves from her concussive force stopped and there was silence for only a second before her gondola exploded into thousands of chunks of splintered wood. She dropped into the water like a rock and disappeared from view.

  Again, the dwarfs laughed, some even falling to ground and holding their ample bellies. The sheriff, however, didn’t laugh. He looked to where she had sunk knowing that he hadn’t even come close to killing her. He had tried to direct the force into her and end her once and for all, but the limitations on his power wouldn’t allow it. Instead the boat became the target and she was humiliated, which would do nothing but inspire her rage. He was suddenly very aware of why Tic was so adamant about being only a vessel for the power and not an actual sorcerer. He had control of what he could do, but only to a point. He couldn’t take the killing blow or be the aggressor it seemed. Tic had mentioned that he was the defender and he was to protect and serve. This revelation suddenly left him feeling very exposed with a weight upon his shoulders that he didn’t know if he could bear.

  Slowly the water changed as stark white hair broke the surface followed by a forehead and brows in raging orange with constant yet erratic streaks of yellow and red making her very hard to focus on. Her eyes broke the surface, black orbs with pinprick red pupils that seemed to eat through him.

  He couldn’t help but gulp down his fear.

  Don’t let it show, your people need you to not despair. You have been chosen…this is within your power, a voice rang through his mind, feeling a lot like Tic.

  Everything about her conveyed hate, the bridge of her nose and nostrils emitted loathing as her sneer radiated malice. Her body and hair steamed the water away from her and she was soon levitating above the water with one hand upon her perfect hip, a drape of silk hanging from her wrist up and around her back to come back to the front to barely cover her breasts. The silk continued down around her waist up and over her opposite hip to drape deliciously between her legs, cut just below mid-thigh. No other clothing was evident and she was perfect no matter that she was now yellow with green and black streaking through her and her hair had become the color of a raging fire.

  Frodeg caught himself wondering why he was suddenly so interested in her sensuality and clothing; he didn’t usually entertain lustful thoughts, especially about humans.

  It’s a trap! the voice again and the sheriff instantly threw up a generic shield just in time to cover he and his men from two blasts of energy that would have eliminated half his force if not all. He understood then that her power was more than simple spell craft. Her allure was just as dangerous.

  She screamed with rage causing them all to cover their ears and the chamber instantly started to fill with foul folk from every entrance. Ships came into the main river holding human and dwarf barbarians in stained leather and bone jewelry, banging axes and swords upon round shields of steel and boiled leather, howling with blood lust and glee.

  His pike men readied for the assault, painfully aware of their shorthandedness as well as the ineptness of their cobbled together wall.

  A fateful day had arrived and it was up to each and every one of them to make of it what they could.

  55

  Nigel

  Nigel had flown more lately than he had in years, but he hadn’t tired. He had visited three of the old sites where his kind gathered before he found any hint that they still existed and what he found disgusted him.

  On the ground? They’re living in huts on the ground? Have their wings been clipped completely? he wondered with shock. How have they made us give up the air?

  “What in the pits is going on here!” Nigel’s voice boomed across the village square causing the aerials to leave their huts in a panic.

  “You call yourselves aerials? I spit on the concept that you are kin to me!” His tone was one of disgust.

  “Who are you to come here and judge us? You also must live under the heel of our past crimes.” A tall man spoke out against his intrusion.

  “You dare to question me?” Nigel said before jumping into the man’s face and cuffing him so hard he rolled when he hit the ground. “I am Nigel, commander of the First Wing Royal under King Rothimeadies. I have come to return you, my people, to their former glory if that is possible. You live on the ground like pathetic humans in burrows like a stinking dwarf. You disgust me.” He looked at the crowd seeing rage upon the faces of many and even hatred upon others, yet some…seemed to be intrigued.

  “You can’t come in here and start to make demands under the guise of someone long dead,” the man who he had cuffed said after regaining his feet. He looked as if he wanted to attack Nigel but couldn’t make his feet take the steps to do it.

  “I can do anything I fucking want to do, especially among slugs who wallow in dirt,” he said with his eyes blazing with rage and disgust. He knew that he couldn’t blame these people, his people. They were simply living according to the requirements imposed upon them after the conquest by the Five. He also knew that his people couldn’t live like this, they would die trying to exist as ground pounders. Now upon seeing them he realized how true that was.

  “I am Nigel,” he said, knowing that his exploits in the past had been recorded and he had been a legend in his own time having fought for most of his life and earning the title of commander through merit of deed. He wore his breast plate, which he had been imprisoned with and rarely taken off, his rank and insignia still in place. While in Riverhouse he had removed it and Tic did some repairs and cleaning on it, but had put it back on before leaving, he now displayed it proudly. His slated metal skirt flashed brightly as he moved, letting Nigel know that he really looked good.