Rundo had decided to fly straight for the druids. Shinestone had started preparing when they had left for Patria. He was just going to let them know that the army was on its way. The druids were directly in the path of the army, and much less prepared. It was early evening by the time he landed in the clearing next to the community. He shifted and had just put his pants on when Evelyn came bursting through the tree line toward him. He felt his heart start race the second he saw her, and he wrapped his arms around her. She hugged him hard for a second and then she started kissing him over and over.
“I was so worried. We sent out scouts, and they got close enough to the city to hear rumors. We heard that the Black Dragons were trying to kill the half-dwarf prince and his friends.”
“Grundel kept his arms around her waist and looked up into her eyes. “They did, but we stopped them, and then the King of Patria had his soldiers come with us to fight the Black Dragons. We killed or ran off all of the Black Dragons in Patria.” He saw Brother David at the edge of the tree line. “That’s part of why I am here. The army is marching this way, and the Black Dragons are with them. You must leave before they get here.”
“We will ask for the Elders, but can you at least stay the night?” she asked him desperately.
Rundo looked up into her eyes and smiled. “I will stay the night.”
She bent down and kissed him again. He kissed her back and then they walked over to Brother David. “Brother Rundo, I assume you have brought us word of the army,” Brother David asked.
“I have, Brother David. The army is bigger even than we originally thought, and they are coming this way,” Rundo answered.
“I will request an audience with the Elders. How long can you stay?” Brother David asked.
“I can stay until tomorrow night. If they can’t meet me before then, I can stop again on my return trip,” Rundo answered him.
“They have been expecting you. I am sure they will be able to see you tomorrow,” David said, and then he nodded to the two of them and headed back toward the community.
Evelyn turned to Rundo again and wrapped her arms around him. He hugged her for a long minute, taking her all in. He had missed her while he was in Patria, but they had been very busy. Now he let himself just enjoy the peacefulness for a minute. He took her all in, the smell of her, her aura, the way she made him feel. She finally released him and stepped back, but held on to one of his hands.
“We’d better get going before Erica loses it. I made her wait back at the camp when I saw you fly over.”
Rundo walked hand in hand with Evelyn into the community. They passed a couple of people who greeted him as they walked by. Erica came running over before they made it to the camp. She slammed into him, wrapping her arms around him and almost knocking him over.
“I am glad you are back. Evelyn has been so worried. She wouldn’t say it, but I could see it.”
Rundo hugged the girl back. He wasn’t used to people being so physical with their emotions. He enjoyed it with Evelyn, but it was still a bit awkward with her sister. They all walked back to their camp together. Rundo sat on the ground with his back against a big log and Evelyn sat on the ground between his legs, her head resting on his chest. He was content to just sit there with his arms around her. Erica was making a soup with rabbit and wild onions. She had found some wild peppers, too. They sat watching her cook and just enjoyed being together.
After they ate, Evelyn asked him about what had happened in Patria. There were a couple other members of the community sitting around the fire listening to his story with interest. By the time he had finished there were over a dozen people sitting around their small fire, listening to him tell about how they had been attacked in the palace, and then at the parade, and then how the queen had poisoned Grundel, and how the king had executed her. He finished by explaining how they had defeated the Black Dragons and destroyed the guild house. He didn’t talk about the army; that was something he would leave for the Elders.
“Brother Rundo, could you tell me how you work earth? I can link with it so easily, but it is just so hard to move it,” a boy asked.
Rundo looked over at the boy, who was probably about twelve years old. He sat up and went over to the boy. He linked with the aura of the earth and raised a small mound of dirt up out of the ground. He picked up a fist-sized piece of earth.
“Try linking with this,” he told the boy. He watched the boy, and a second later the boy looked up at him. “You have it?” Rundo asked.
The boy nodded. “Try changing this ball of earth into something else,” he told the boy.
Rundo watched as the ball of dirt in his hand shifted into a replica of his own hand. He looked up and smiled at the boy. People clapped and congratulated the boy. Rundo set the dirt mold of his hand on the ground and reached back into the earth. He raised the earth into two, one-foot-high walls holding up a small roof of earth between them. He looked at the boy.
“If you wanted to bring down the roof of this shelter, what would be the easiest way to do it?”
The boy looked at the little dirt building for a second. “Collapse the roof in the middle,” the boy asked more than said.
“Right,” Rundo said. “Link with it, find the weakest point in the earth, and then try to manipulate that. If you can move it at all, the roof will collapse in on itself.”
The boy stared at the little foot-tall mud building for a minute, and then they all watched as the center of the roof fell in and the building collapsed on itself.
“I did it!” the boy shouted.
Rundo smiled at the boy. “You did. The thing with earth is that it is heavier than everything else, and it is almost always connected to something else. Find the weak spots or gaps in the earth and start from there. Use the earth itself to manipulate it. If you just try to force earth to do what you want, it will be very hard to move. If you let it move how it wants to, and you just guide it, it will take much less effort,” Rundo told the boy.
“Thank you, Brother Rundo,” the kid said as he hugged him. He was only twelve years old, but he was almost as tall Rundo.
“You’re welcome, but you are the one who did it; I just gave you a hint,” Rundo said.
Rundo went back to his spot and watched as the boy and his friends and even some of the adults spent the next couple hours practicing manipulating earth. He sat with Evelyn and gave approving nods to people when they accomplished a success and looked to him for approval. Evelyn kept looking at him and smiling.
“What?” he finally asked her.
“Nothing, it’s just amazing how quickly you were able to figure out your power, and how easily you just became a part of the community,” she said.
“I wish I could stay,” he told her.
“I know you do,” she said, resting her head against his chest.
Rundo woke up lying in the little shelter with Evelyn in his arms. This was the first time she had ever been asleep when he woke. He realized the sun wasn’t up yet; he had woken to the sound of footsteps outside the shelter. He listened as they approached the door of the shelter. He figured it was Brother David coming to get him. The Elders were probably trying to talk to him without attracting all the attention he had last time. Then he heard the sound of steel sliding against leather as the footsteps reached the small doorway.
It’s not Brother David! he thought to himself. Instinctively he reached into the earth, linking with the aura. He pulled and pushed, opening the ground under the assassin’s feet. The assassin let out a shocked yell as he fell into the hole. The hole wasn’t deep, but Rundo was already on his feet grabbing his daggers. The man was climbing out of the hole as Rundo threw one; it went through the hand with which the assassin was holding his knife. The assassin screamed in pain, falling back into the hole. Rundo’s dagger had already returned to its sheath on the ground behind him, but Rundo just picked up the assassin’s dagger. He reached into the earth again and manipulated the aura, causing the dirt to fill in the hole and tra
pping the man up to his neck in packed dirt. Rundo went to the fire and grabbed a thick stick burning with embers at the end; he manipulated some wind around the end of the stick, fanning the embers into a flame. He held the torch down by the man’s face.
“Who are you?”
The man stared into his eyes defiantly. “You know the answer.”
“You are a Black Dragon?” Rundo asked. The man just stared at him. “Why did you come here?” Rundo asked him.
“You attacked us. What did you think would happen?” the man responded.
“Rundo,” Evelyn said from behind him. He turned and looked at her. “Are you going to kill him?” she asked.
Rundo looked back at the man. “I haven’t decided yet. I guess that depends on him.”
The assassin smiled at him and then bit down on something. Grundel looked at him, confused for a second. When the man’s eyes rolled back in his head Rundo understood. The man had bitten down on a poison capsule in his mouth.
“What did you do?” Evelyn asked as the man’s head fell forward into the dirt.
“He had a poison capsule in his mouth. He probably thought we were going to torture him, so he killed himself,” Rundo answered.
“Why would he think we would torture him?” she asked.
“Because it’s what he would have done if he’d caught us in his camp,” Rundo said.
Evelyn came over and wrapped her arms around him. “You should probably go find Brother David and see what he wants me to do about this,” he told her.
She kissed him on the top of the head. “I am glad you are okay, Rundo,” she said, and then walked out of the shelter.
A few minutes later she returned with Brother David in tow. “What happened?” he asked.
“I dropped some rocks on the army when I flew over yesterday. I figured it would mess with them mentally, but they sent an assassin in the direction I was flying. He came to kill me,” Rundo said.
“This man is a Black Dragon?” David asked.
Rundo nodded.
“And you defeated this assassin even though he had surprise on his side, and you were still asleep?” David asked in surprise.
Rundo remembered that David had lived in a city for a long time, so he would understand things like this a little better then the rest of the druids. “Well, I woke up as he approached, so I actually caught him by surprise, because he thought I was asleep,” he said.
“Leave the body. Let’s go see the Elders. We can’t keep something like this from the community. Evelyn, stay here. You can explain what happened to the others,” Brother David said, then turned and walked out. Rundo followed him out of the shelter and through the camp. They walked into the forest then into the small opening where he had met with the Elders about a month before. They weren’t waiting for him this time. “Wait here,” David told him, and then walked into the forest again.
Rundo waited in that clearing for probably half an hour before the four old men walked out of the tree line and sat on the log in front of him. One in the middle spoke first.
“We understand that an assassin came here to kill you just now,” the old man said.
“Yes, I apologize for bringing this on your community,” Rundo said.
The old man shook his head. “There is no need to apologize. You brought us the warning about the army. We have confirmed that your warning was true, and we cannot stay here. We will meet with the community this morning and discuss how we will deal with this. Unfortunately, Brother Rundo, because you are not a member of this community, we cannot allow you to be a part of that meeting. Whatever is decided, you will always be welcome in the community, but we cannot allow a person who is not a member of the community to influence how we will react to this new threat.”
Rundo thought about what the man was saying for a second. “I understand. I will leave immediately. If it is okay, I would like to say goodbye to Evelyn and Erica before I leave.”
The old man smiled at him. “Of course that is okay. Thank you for bringing us this warning, Brother, and I hope we see you again soon.”
“I hope so, too,” Rundo said. Rundo followed Brother David back toward the community.
When he walked through the camp the sun was starting to filter through the trees, and people were just starting to move around. When he made it back to Evelyn’s shelter no one else was there, so he assumed they didn’t know about the assassin yet. She sat on a log staring down into a small cook fire.
When he walked over she jumped up and hugged him. “What did they say?” she asked.
“I have to go,” he told her.
She stepped back and looked at David accusingly. “They can’t kick him out,” she said.
Rundo cut her off. “They didn’t kick me out. They realize they can’t ignore what is happening and the community will have to decide how to proceed. They don’t want me here interfering with the community’s decision. I understand. They told me I could come back anytime. I had to leave tonight anyway, Evelyn. I am just leaving this morning instead.”
“When will I see you again?” she asked.
“I promise I will come find you when this fight is over,” he told her. He saw a single tear running down her cheek, and he reached up and wiped it away. “Don’t cry, this will all be over before you know it.”
She hugged him and he kissed her goodbye before undressing. He wrapped all of his things up again, and then he linked with Messah. Before he bent down and picked up his bundle, Erica came running over and wrapped her arms around his hawk neck.
“I can’t believe you were going to leave without saying goodbye,” she said. She rubbed his neck and stepped back. “Come back soon, Rundo.”
He nodded his head, then bent down and picked his bundle up in his beak. He looked at Evelyn one last time and then took off toward Shinestone. He passed low over the trees, sensing life below him when he passed over an area with dozens of snakes. As he came down he shifted his legs a little, making them hard like his talons all the way up to his body. He swooped down and snatched up snakes in each of his talons. He had four snakes in one talon and two in the other. He knew these snakes were poisonous. They snapped at his legs but there was no flesh to penetrate. The snakes ranged from about four to seven feet long; the two in his right talon were both over six feet.
It didn’t take him long to reach the army. They had already broken camp and were marching toward Evermount. He flew over the army, dropping the snakes in the middle of their ranks. He felt bad that the snakes would all be killed, but this would disturb the army more than the rocks had. One day rocks had fallen from the sky, and the next big poisonous snakes fell on them. It would help break their will. He had just dropped the snakes when a ball of fire flew at him. The fireball was moving fast, but he was hundreds of feet in the air. He tilted his body, swerving easily out of the path of the ball of fire. He flew away from the army, up and out of range of the wizards.
By the time the sun was high in the sky he was within sight of Shinestone. He was surprised to find huge walls around the mountain. There was only one way into the fields that surrounded the mountain, and that path had high walls on both sides. They would be able to hold off the army for a long time and weaken the army drastically before they ever got to the mountain. Between the walls and the mountain, Shinestone was nearly as defensible as Evermount. It would be almost impossible to find a better defense than the miles of winding stairs that led up to Evermount’s entrance. He alit on the landing outside the entrance that had once been a large animal pen. He landed and quickly shifted back into his halfling form. Once he was dressed, he reached out through the link to Bumbo, who was running in the open field between the mountain and the wall. He felt Bumbo’s excitement through the link, and he sent his own back to the pony before walking into the mountain. The guards didn’t try to stop him. There weren’t a lot of hawks changing into halflings, so he was pretty easy to identify.
“Rundo, you’re back,” Frau said when he walked into the room
. Grizzle and Kraft both turned around.
Rundo approached them. He saluted King Kraft, bringing his hand to his chest. He turned to do the same to Grizzle, but Grizzle cut him off.
“Ah, get over here,” he said as he grabbed Rundo up and hugged him. Rundo went over to Frau next, who also hugged him. “Well how’s our boy?” Grizzle asked.
“He is well,” Rundo answered. He looked at the three of them, and saw that they were all waiting to hear what he had to say. “Well, should I tell you everything that has happened or just skip to the end?” he asked.
Kraft laughed. “What good would the story be if you skipped to the end? Let’s hear it, we got time.” Frau and Grizzle both laughed at that.
Rundo described being attacked by the orcs on the road, how they were attacked by the Black Dragons before and during the parade, how the queen had tried to kill Grundel and Anna, how the king had executed her, how they went after the Black Dragons, and then what the king had told them about the meeting with Bergmann and how Patria planned to join the fight.
The Half Dwarf Prince: 02 - The Dwarf War Page 18