He heard the roar of dwarfs as they came out of the tunnel he had just left and the roar of giants as Maggie’s hooves hit the ground on the other side of the river. He saw the giant hurling his own troops out of the way as he made his way toward the leading elf and Juin lowered the pointed end of the halberd down as if it were a lance and charged heedless of what was in front of him. He wanted blood, he expected death, but that was okay, that was very much okay.

  He screamed.

  The giant screamed and readied himself to kill this puny elf. He reached out and grabbed the spear head of the halberd, intending to lift the elf out of the saddle and smash him into a pulp on the stone surface of Riverhouse. Sadly for the giant, this was not a lance. The incredibly sharp edges of the spear point head sliced the fingers off of one hand while the other landed upon the opposing spike, impaling his hand before it plunged with the full weight of elf and mare deep into his chest.

  The giant flew backwards off his feet, landing with a boom onto his back, his last breath rushing out of him in an audible whoosh. Juin whipped the halberd out and swept it in a wide three sixty swing, decapitating several more muridai who were too stunned by the raging onslaught to do more than stumble into each other.

  His comrades also screamed as they hacked around them at any who came near and Spunk made his braying sound as he crushed skulls and bones.

  The late coming dwarfs also screamed as they came off the bridge only to be amazed at how few were left to kill. Juin’s small force had lost no one as close to five hundred muridai were slaughtered.

  * * *

  In a moment of panic, Frodeg threw up a wall of water between him and those of his men that still remained. He reinforced it with runes of earth woven through the water strengthening it against impact waves. Trolls were now coming in through several of the northern cart entrances and converging on his small band from an unprotected side. The Wood elves helped, but their arrows were better suited to goblins and halfmen than they were trolls. Even the human barbarians took several of the little shafts to cause much damage, but the trolls were half again as big as men towering over the dwarfs with skin the texture of wood.

  A sound from the eastern entrance caused him to turn and see fire. Not coming toward him, but in the hands of goat riders who swung torches over their heads. The gnomes had arrived and they flowed through the approaching trolls with the only thing the vile beasts had a weakness to… fire.

  Fire was suddenly everywhere as trolls howled in pain and the air filled with the acrid smoke of their burning bodies. Sprints came out stretching long spools of wire out between the dwarfs and the flaming trolls, wrapping it around their knees and ankles. They stabbed dart-like daggers into ankles and tendons, the backs of calves, feet, not being tall enough to reach knees or thighs, but Frodeg knew it wouldn’t be enough.

  A spray of water caught his attention and he turned back to see the still enraged Dyanna break through his water and earth barrier and begin to cast a beam of pure energy right at him. He was defenseless, caught off guard with too many other things distracting him. Her attack so sudden that he couldn’t bring his guard around in time.

  A blast of heated air exploded on her chest, sending her flying back to the far bank of the main river.

  The exhausted sheriff fell to a knee thinking he was hit at first. He looked up at a vison that overwhelmed him with awe. The most magnificent stallion he had ever seen stood before him and upon it rode the beautiful elven maiden who literally crackled with glacial blue ribbons of energy.

  “Well met, princess,” he gasped and she smiled and gave him a little wink. He fell on to his side and struggled to get his breath under control.

  Juil hit four points in the air, miniature runes hovered before her. She sent two off with just a thought. The front rank of barbarians exploded in a mass of blood and gore, human and dwarf alike. The second and third ranks followed suit until there was nothing but a field of blood and exploded flesh between the boats and the defending dwarfs.

  Another rune she directed with a wave of her right hand and the trolls to the north burst into flame, their screams of pain and horror echoing through the cavern. They were a race of war and hate, beyond that they didn’t have much of a thought process so the idea of dousing themselves in the river only occurred to a few…very few.

  The fourth tune she sent into Frodeg, he gasped with the intrusion, his eyes beginning to glow with the influx of power.

  60

  Labyrinth

  Due to their song, the piners stayed in sync with each other in battle much as they would on a dance floor. Tia knew that they weren’t warriors, they were laborers and as such they knew what it took to get the job done. She figured that Thorvald, or someone like Thorvald, thought of using the felling song to keep them on task. It would also prevent them from hitting each other because everything would follow a set pattern, something that war typically never did.

  A couple of piners fell in the initial onslaught, but not nearly as many as the trolls and muridai, who seemed to collapse from the giant axes. Goblins were swept away as if they didn’t exist. These were axes that could down frozen trees so the wood could be cured with the sap intact, making it the hardest commodity available on the entire planet. It was a product that was harder, but less brittle than steel, more flexible than wood, and easily shaped into almost anything.

  What foul folk were left after the charge of the elven lancers turned to face the massive piner force who was methodically chopping into their ranks. Most of the dwarfs had rushed into the tunnel with the intention of clearing the way. It wasn’t long before a lone horrified elf returned to relay information to Juin.

  Tia’s group heard what he warned of and jumped out of the way as the surviving elves advanced toward the tunnel entrance. There were more sounds from the forest where Tia’s group had crossed the tributary to this field. More dwarfs entered the field as they returned from the feint up at Pine Hold, which no longer existed.

  “Bobbick, well met my friend. From where do you hail?” Pomen asked from the back of Gi-Noo.

  “We’re just getting back from the goose chase up in Pine Hold. Seems some of these bastards cut holes in our barges and killed the people we left guarding them.”

  “Well, hopefully you’re not too late, many horrors await you inside my friend, I will lead you to it,” Pomen said.

  “I think there might be some cleaning up to do out here first, ranger.” Bobbick replied.

  “No, the piners got this. It is much worse in there and your presence is desperately needed. How many are with you?”

  “Just over a thousand at last count, some of your people and some sprints have joined so I don’t know for sure,” Bobbick replied.

  “Hmmm, we will have to make do with what you have. Come with me now,” Pomen said and started forward into the tunnel.

  “We part ways here, ranger, our path is up there,” Leldeif said to the gnome he and Tia had been with for the last couple of days.

  “The maintenance tunnels ay, you know they will probably have been discovered and filled with foul folk?”

  “I do, but her brother needs us and that is the quickest route,” Leldeif replied holding Tia’s wrist so that she couldn’t follow the ranger, who she was very comfortable with. Leldeif on the other hand…Tia didn’t think anyone could be completely comfortable with him. He was surly, scarred, and bitter. There was also a dark, very dangerous streak running through his nature that she knew she could never trust completely but he did make her feel safe, or as safe as one could be under these circumstances.

  “Very well, elf, take care of yourself and her, until we meet again, Lindeif,” he said and trotted off.

  “Just won’t let it go, will you, gnome?”

  “Bah, you can hide from yerself, but ya can’t hide from me,” Pomen said, his voice fading off with distance.

  Leldeif looked at Tia with his one good eye and what she saw there surprised her. It was filled with concern and she knew or at least felt that what he intended on doing was most urgent.

  “Are you ready, girl? This is going to get ugly.”

  “It’s been ugly for quite a bit now Leldeif, a little uglier probably won’t kill me,” Tia replied, trying to remain casual.

  “We’ll see now, won’t we?” he said and started dragging her up the side of the face of Riverhouse. What looked like sheer cliff wall actually had little used switch backs cut into it that brought them high above the valley where the piners continued with the gruesome battle that was quickly turning into a route.

  They came to a recessed plateau that appeared to have been carved, but on closer inspection was rimmed with perfectly cut blocks; two feet wide by four long but only four inches high. The face of which was highly polished granite, polished but not in a cosmetic way, it was the polish of centuries of activity. This place was used on a regular basis. There was a large tripod over a fire pit and a small forge just steps away, clean and empty of tools other than a rudimentary anvil. Utilitarian work benches lined one wall where all sorts of products were made.

  Independent craftsmen would come every day to work their wares before they brought them to the bazaar, Leldeif knew many of them through his time in Riverhouse. They would sell all day and come here in the evening and work long into the night trading and procuring product together. It wasn’t much, but it was far better than what his own people had with fiefdoms and monarchies. At least in Riverhouse you were free to be whatever you wanted as long as it didn’t hurt anyone else and you could support yourself. His people were much more regulated than that almost to the point of being assigned positions upon birth.

  They entered into another area that was actually larger than the balcony and was intended for the same purpose, but under a roof where there was only a small pottery kiln and several inglenooks carved into the wall along one side. Tia felt a rush of elation at being back inside Riverhouse, it was much like the feeling of returning home after a long trip. There was power here, maybe because her senses were heightened from all the fighting or maybe because of where she was, but she could feel an energy flowing in through her feet and up into her body. She felt as if she belonged here, this place was a part of her in some small way… she could feel it.

  In front of the farthest nook stood a man, maybe it was a human excepting his elven features and ears. When he saw the duo he stood frozen for a minute as if he couldn’t believe they were there.

  “Oh, oh. Back up slowly, hopefully it’s blind,” Leldeif said, then the beast moved, quickly and straight for Tia.

  “But…he’s an elf,” Tia replied.

  “I don’t think so, at least not anymore…look how it moves,” Leldeif said as the being turned to face them.

  “You bitch!” He screamed so sharply it caused Tia to stumble back as she readied her sword. “Whores don’t belong up here!” He belted out a string of expletives between growls that she didn’t even recognize. What she did recognize was the fact that it was a ploy designed to distract her from the physical attack that was rushing straight at her.

  She saw his leather breast plate that was held on by a series of straps that also held some type of pack on his back. He never stopped or even slowed, screaming as he lunged over the last bench. Tia saw Leldeif moving out of her periphery, but his actions were not in line with the beast approaching. He was leaving her to face it, alone.

  His arms corded with muscle were reaching for her, huge fingers clutching at the air as she brought her sword from the ground up and across his forearms cutting deeply into the far one and practically severing his left one completely. This was when she realized that it wasn’t a pack on his back but a goblin who was angling a spear toward her left shoulder.

  She let her momentum carry her into a spin away from the descending point and she felt Leldeif leap over her, rolling the goblin and mount over onto their side where he quickly dispatched them.

  “What was that?” Tia gasped.

  “Slave riders, they haven’t been seen since just after the breaking,” Leldeif said as he looked at the corpse.

  “Have they been in storage or that place where Nigel was kept?” Tia asked.

  “Good question, but no. Someone is making them today. This is a half breed elf and frost piner. Drick said there was a battle up on a beach on the North Sea and they had thousands of captives, they couldn’t figure out what they were doing with them…now we know. Look at the twisted shoulders and hips so they can stay on all fours,” He finished, his features more clinical than disgusted.

  They moved across the room that opened into an outside courtyard where the market could be held. They crossed the terraced area to a hallway that had several doors and staircases down every three hundred feet along a corridor that was open to the cobbled street below, which would lead to the main channel. They ignored them moving deeper into the house.

  He dragged her into a room and pushed a desk aside exposing a steep chute of some sort.

  “What? How did you know of this, where are we going?” Tia couldn’t keep the whine from her voice.

  “None of that matters, just count to five then follow me,” he said as screaming started back in the area where they had killed the slave rider. He jumped feet first into the hole and was gone.

  Tia kept her sword out and stayed on her feet as she counted to five, if she was honest with herself, she only made it to three and a half before sheathing her sword and jumping into the chute. She was on a steep slide that corkscrewed down, her instincts were to press her hands out to the side and slow her descent, but she was already moving too fast. Her palms burned every time she tried, so she just tried to stay on her back through all of the twists and turns.

  It dumped her on the floor at Leldeif’s feet from a hole in the wall three feet up. He helped her to her feet and immediately recognized that it was a laundry area that tapped water from the underside of the main river for washing.

  Tia couldn’t believe her eyes, there were actual tunnels going under the river, it looked like they were inside of a giant honeycomb down here with all of the paths and vertical supports. Leldeif dragged her down the far, left hand tunnel that, if her perception was right, angled off toward the city buildings. To call it a hallway or corridor would be a misnomer, Tia thought, as it was more a widening between pillars spaced so closely together that a man might fit between them but not comfortably. The ceiling was giant sheets of a smooth, white marble type stone that flashed with energy as the flowing water behind it altered its density, allowing the briefest glimmers of surface light through. She could hear the flow of the water behind the marble ceiling as a gentle soothing rasp that spoke of wind but on a grander scale.

  Leldeif was walking slower now and crouched low so as not to make a target. She mimicked him and stopped when he held his hand up. She listened and thought that she might hear something other than the flowing water above. The honeycombed labyrinth of naturally formed pillars brought it to as staccato bass hum at first. She slowed her breathing to hear better and held up her hand to silence Leldeif when he turned to her. It was words, spoken in a male voice that had a type of lisp or hiss.

  “I think it’s that sorcerer guy that Tic was talking about.” He mouthed the words with barely a breath.

  “The pale man or…albino?” she whispered, to which he held his finger to his lips.

  “Sambone and two Muridai,” Leldeif’s elven eye seeing much better in the dim than hers, then he indicated that he was going to get behind the group and she should position herself a little further down on their path and to be ready.

  She hid behind a thick pillar that bordered another passageway that led directly north and tried to peak around it. She saw flashes of the pale skin on part of an arm waving angrily in the air as he berated something beyond her view.

  A clash of steel followed by a gurgle and Tia readied herself for the murderous act she was about to commit, she could give him no quarter. To face off against a wizard or whatever he was is absolutely insane. She had to surprise and strike from behind if she could. She had to be the assassin in the night. Again she felt the energy of this place flow through her and she knew she could do it. She calmed her breathing and felt her heart quicken when flashes of magical light revealed Leldeif fighting, evading and, of course, killing. He was good at that, like a prime being existing in its natural habitat.

  There was the sound of running feet coming right toward her, first two pair, then a scream and suddenly only one pair slapped the cavernous floor. She was going to kill that one pair, she crouched low with her knees ready to spring, her blade held back and to her right with two hands and the point toward the opening.

  A flash of pale and black.

  She rushed forward and struck at a mass of black fabric with only a hint of pale man inside.

  He turned, he saw her…his enraged face shifting to one of panic then suddenly, pain.

  Her blade caught flesh and she drove deeper feeling it come out the other side. Her shoulder struck him high, driving her blade down and he screamed out.

  His back to a pillar, he looked into her eyes with horror, she smiled back. He became enraged and backhanded her across her face knocking her to the ground and leaving her blade inside of him. He screamed again as he tried to wrench the blade from his side.

  She back somersaulted behind the pillar and then moved farther away in the scattered maze of columns. A blast of energy obliterated the one she had been behind and she stayed quiet, hoping he would believe he killed her in the blast. She imagined him looking around.