Grognor looked at Bruno, and nodded. “You’re in the lead, Bruno.” He looked over at Teelena, and they both mounted. Everyone who wasn’t mounted, except for the Stone Children, mounted up. The Stone Children lead them out only inches away from the cliff. They instructed everyone to not look down, but at them instead. Slowly, meticulously, the horses stepped hoof after hoof along the narrow edge. One side was the sheer cliff down; the other was the mountain side. They barely had enough room for the horses themselves.
“How far until we get back where we were?” Grognor asked.
“We can’t go back that way.” Bruno pointed. “It’s now blocked by a mountain of snow. We’ll have to go the other way.” He pointed on ahead, the opposite direction of where they came in.
Grognor finally saw that they had left going further into the foreboding territory, not out of it. “How long does this trail go?”
“Around twenty miles, only. Then, there’s a bridge we’ll have to cross…across the canyon.”
“Ah, hell,” Teelena said, glancing back at the humans.
Roughly ¾ of the way there, the narrow trail narrowed even more. The suns had melted the ice on the narrow ledge which made it a bit easier for the horses to get a hoof-hold, but it also created even slicker conditions as the ledge began to turn to mud.
“Everyone just take it easy! Don’t push the horses, they can handle it!”Cray said.
Several humans about a third of the way down decided it would be better to get off and lead their horses.
“No! Stay mounted!” Bruno yelled.
They didn’t listen. They slid off their horses, trying to get in front of them by pivoting around their necks. As they began to do so, several more saw this as a good idea and began to follow their lead.
“No!” Cray yelled.
It was too late. The horses struggled to deal with the suddenly shifted weight as the humans slid down in front. They lost footing and slipped right off the ledge, with their riders half on, half off. Thirty seven people went right off the edge into the abyss, screaming for their lives.
“Shit! Stay mounted!” Bruno screamed.
Everyone understood and watched as the lost fell into the mist, beyond visual range into the deep canyon. A few of the horses on the ledge began to get spooked, but a few words of comfort went a long way.
“Easy, now. We have nowhere else to go, we’ll get there if you just stay calm and let the horses do what they instinctually know how,” Bruno explained.
The single file army moved along slowly and carefully for a few more miles. Nobody else made any stupid moves, electing to do exactly what the Stone Children instructed. Then, they saw it. The narrow ledge came to a dead stop with a massive suspension bridge at its termination. The bridge was easily three times the width of the ledge, and stretched out across the abyss, dipping down into the low clouds that obscured the bottom of the wide canyon.
“Jesus,” Delvin said at the sight of it.
“Do you even know who that is?” Bruno asked.
Delvin shook his head ‘no’. “I heard you say it back at the fight… I guess I just picked it up.”
“You can’t be serious!” General Lucas said at the sight of the bridge.
“Ok,” Bruno started, “everyone needs to get across as quickly as possible. This bridge is four miles long, and you need to sprint. Just on the other side is a tunnel. Once you get in there you’ll be safe, but you have to go fast. As soon as you hit the bridge, run! Is everyone clear?”
The few in front acknowledged what he said, and relayed it back so everyone in the army understood.
“Bruno, what is that bridge made of?” Teelena asked, getting a close look at the construction as the wind whipped the low clouds around the structure.
Bruno looked at Cray, who nodded. “White dragon bones. This is their high mountain lair.” He pointed at the canyon.
“Jesus!” Grognor said, “we’re going over their lair? Is there any other way?”
“Look around you, Sire. This is it. Now, as soon as we hit this bridge we’ll have only a short window of time to get across. Once they’re alerted to our presence, they will attack.”
Grognor looked back at the single file on the narrow ledge. “Ok, let’s do this.”
“The Stone Children will hang back until the last of them are headed out,” Cray said.
“As will I,” Grognor said.
“No, Sire,” Bruno said, respectfully. “You’re the Emperor. Of everyone, you need to be the first across. I’m afraid I have to insist.”
Grognor smiled. “No matter what happens, you are still the same, talents or not.”
“Yes, Sire. I know not where the coin is, but, it’s a big world. No use worrying about how it got here, or where it is. What’s important is here, now.” He motioned to the bridge.
Grognor looked at the bridge, unsure of its structural integrity.
“Sire,” Cray said, “there’s no other material in these mountains more suited for this bridge. Trust us, it can handle the weight.”
Grognor looked at Teelena, and then back at the Stone Children. “We do trust you. Let’s go.” He motioned to Teelena, who moved ahead and kicked her horse hard. “The Empress and our unborn child are more important than me.” He smiled at The Stone Children, and then kicked his horse hard. The two raced off across the bridge.
Bruno and the rest of the Stone Children quickly began prompting everyone else. “Go, go, go!” They waved them on. Three at a time, they raced onto the bridge at full speed. Grognor and Teelena raced across on their brave steeds, their hooves making a loud clatter on the planks made of dragon bone. The first half of the suspension bridge sloped down, curving and bending back up toward the other side in an upside down rainbow of bone. The couple urged their horses faster, their progression descending into the low clouds hanging in the canyon. The fog was thick, but not thick enough to mask the sounds of the rest of the army. Their horses’ hooves roared against the dragon bone bridge, loudly echoing across the mountains. There was no doubt of their presence.
As the army invaded the bridge, the loud sound of hooves was nearly deafening. Just about the time Grognor and Teelena had reached the lowest point of the bridge and started heading back up toward the other side, they all heard something. Something louder and lower than the hooves’ noise.
“Dragon!” Delvin exclaimed, and kicked his horse again. “Hurry up, slow poke!”
The roar sounded louder than anything, and echoed back and forth across the mountain peaks. It was then joined by several others.
“Shit, they woke up the nest,” Bruno said. “Hurry up!” They waved the army faster and faster.
As Grognor and Teelena began to rise out of the fog, they saw a beast rise up aside them. It was bigger than the red dragon they had seen at Lakeshore. It was a white dragon. Its scales were a bright white, and had bright red, sinister eyes. As soon as it spotted the couple, it roared loud. The force of the roar was powerful enough to cause the bridge to sway. The loud roar also caused the couple to go temporarily deaf, and the horses to nearly balk. They whinnied in fear, but raced on. The dragon then flapped its wings to hover, and inhaled deeply.
“Brace yourself, my darling!” Grognor said, and hugged the horse’s neck close.
The fury of the white dragon breath washed over them in a blizzard more furious than what they had just recently experienced. Ice instantly formed on them. The wind of the arctic breath lasted for a long time, robbing the couple and the horses’ bodies of heat. They shivered, but continued on. The energy of their movement kept them just warm enough, despite the force of the beast’s breath weapon. Of more immediate concern was the thick ice forming on the bridge itself, making traction difficult. The metal horses’ shoes shattered the glass-like ice and plowed through it as the dragon finally finished its attack.
“Gggggoooo, ggggoooo, ggggooo!” Grognor’s teeth chattered as he urged Teelena on.
“Ccccrapp!” Teelena yelled as she looked ov
er the other side of the bridge. Another dragon emerged from the fog.
“Rrrrunnnn!” Grognor yelled as the second dragon roared and then began to inhale. The first dragon began to inhale again.
‘Shit, we’re not going to make it!’ Grognor thought. “Hhhheeeeeyaaaaaaa!” he yelled, kicking his horse hard.
Teelena was ahead of him, but they were still painfully far away from the other side. The dragons roared and expelled their frigid breath weapons upon the couple at the same time. Conflicting blizzards caused torrents of impossibly cold air to wrap around them, instantly freezing their garments. Surprisingly, though, it wasn’t quite as bad as a single attack. The winds almost cancelled each other out. The couple continued to push their heavy war horses, their hot breath pumping out steam from their nostrils.
They shivered and fought to maintain consciousness as the frigid air finally waned. The dragons weren’t done yet. The first one roared and crashed its body against the bridge, attempting to knock the couple over. It didn’t take much. Teelena and Grognor flew off their horses, landing on the bone bridge. The horses struggled to maintain footing and lost control also.
“Go on! Get up there!” Grognor yelled at the horses.
The horses struggled to get their footing, whinnying in fear and anger. Teelena slammed into the bridge and went out immediately. She was unconscious. As the second dragon flapped and prepared to attack, he grabbed his bride and threw her on the first horse to get his footing. “Get her out of here!” Grognor yelled.
The horse scrambled to run, the other one right behind. Grognor stood alone on the bridge with the army quickly closing in from behind and two dragons attacking him. “Come on, come and get some!” he yelled and unlatched his hammer and axe.
The roar from the hooves on the bridge got louder and louder as Grognor stood there challenging the dragons. The first dragon focused, roared, and hovered above him. The second broke off to attack the army. “Where you going, bitch?” The first dragon grasped onto the high sinew cables of the bridge, flapping to keep upright. Then, it swooped its snout down to bite at Grognor. Grognor swung at the same time with his hammer, landing a solid blow on the dragon’s mouth. Large teeth and blood flew out of the beast’s mouth as it reeled back, then Grognor swung with his axe and cut a large gash on the other side of the beast’s mouth. Blood spewed out as the dragon roared in anger. It released the bridge and inhaled for another frigid breath. Grognor balled up and prepared for the breath. It washed over him with impossibly cold air, encasing him in a block of ice.
He easily broke out of the ice, now fully infuriated. In front of him the dragon grasped onto the cabling again, biting down at the dwarf. Grognor roared nearly as loud as the dragon, and dropped his weapons. He jumped up and grabbed the dragon’s upper and lower jaws, and began twisting as hard as he could, screaming and roaring with fury as his did so. Time slowed down for him as the frustration, loss, and betrayal of the last weeks fully took him over. Tears rolled down from his eyes as he lost control over his anger. He continued to twist, the dragon struggling and roaring in pain and anger.
The dragon let go of the cabling and inhaled, Grognor still attached to its mouth. As the beast began to rise into the air, Grognor’s foot caught the cabling. He then wrapped the other leg into the cabling and screamed, “Where you goin’?” With strength he didn’t know he had, he actually managed to pull the dragon onto the bridge. The bridge creaked and moaned with the added weight. The dragon struggled to get away from the crazed dwarf. It managed to get off a half intensity breath weapon as Grognor continued to wrench and twist. “Die, you son-of-a-whore!” The dragon roared and swatted at him with its massive talons, but he simply jumped out of the way. The dragon did manage to connect with another swat, catching Grognor in the side. With one last rush of fury, he twisted more. The snap of the dragon’s neck sounded like a cannon shot. It echoed across the mountains and back again several times. Grognor twisted a bit more, throwing the dead dragon off the bridge. He stepped back, exhausted. The open gash on his side poured blood.
He sat on the bridge for a moment, and then realized the sound of the horses hooves had quieted. Thinking the worst, he jumped up to help with their battle. The entire army stood before him, stopped in their tracks. They had seen the whole thing.
“Sire!” General Lucas said.
“That was… amazing!” Delvin said.
Chapter 16
On the other side of the bridge was the tunnel. It met directly up with the landing and headed deep into the mountain. It was a very wide tunnel, easily big enough to handle several dozen abreast. They stopped as soon as they entered for a well deserved rest. As they rested, the Naw-nee and the Stone Children butchered one of the dragons for food.
“I can’t believe he just…snapped its neck!” Cray said, incredulous.
“It was the most amazing thing I’ve ever seen,” Eugene said as he sliced off long cuts of meat from the other dragon’s carcass.
“No, that shot you did was amazing, Eugene!” Bruno said.
“Lucky shot,” Eugene said.
“Well, nicely done. Brought it down right in front of us.”
“It never even got off a breath weapon!” Cray said, still amazed.
Teelena and Grongnor were bandaged up, and as soon as they were ready they all headed out. The tunnel was several miles long and quite large.
“This looks like an old lava tube,” Grognor said, looking at the internal structure.
“Yea, there’s a bunch of them in these mountains. This one opens up just above Deepforge,” Bruno said.
After a few more hours of travel, the tunnel ended near the peak of Deepforge Mountain. There was only light snow on the ground and the air was much warmer. There was forest again, and the sweet smell of pine filled the air as the suns began to sink beneath the horizon.
“Nearly home. I wonder how they fare?” Teelena asked, referring to the siege.
Grognor noticed several strands of new wire strung up across poles, and at first, thought that maybe the gnomes were trying to rebuild the electrical infrastructure.
“Those are antennas. Somebody’s been trying to get a radio working,” Delvin said.
“Antennas?” Grognor contemplated the significance of this and the notes Bruno had brought.
“Someone approaches,” Bruno said.
Grognor put up his hand, stopping the progression of the army. Up ahead was one person, trudging along in the snow. It was Grognor’s sister.
Grognor looked over at Teelena. They dismounted, stepped a few steps forward, and waited for his sister to arrive.
She seemed exhausted, and was bruised up. She walked right up to Grognor and attempted to hug him, saying, “Brother! You’re alright! Thank the gods!”
Grognor stepped back, refusing the hug.
“Brother, what’s wrong?”
He pulled out Victoria’s sword and looked at it, then at his sister. She didn’t know the significance of this, and looked at him with confusion. Then, he reached into his belt pouch and pulled out the messages Bruno had brought. He threw them at her. Her heart raced, knowing what they were. She picked one up and quickly looked at it. Her signature was on the bottom, ‘…In Her name, Rebecca.’
“So, now you know, Brother. I would think this news is good news for you…” She trailed off, seeing the look in his eyes.
In a blur of motion, he shoved Victoria’s sword deep into Rebecca’s chest, all the way through. Rebecca gasped in pain and horror, and tried desperately to get a breath to explain.
“It’s…for…the future…of…our…kind…” she tried to explain as she struggled to breathe. Blood poured down her chest and out her mouth and nose.
Grognor got face to face with her and growled, “My own sister, a traitor. The person who owned this blade was the most valiant, honorable soul I’ve ever met. She was a human named Victoria. She died killing your co-conspirator Brendon. Go, be with him now.” He yanked out the blade and wiped it clean on Rebe
cca’s coat before she fell. He re-sheathed the sword as he glanced at her with great disdain.
She grasped his coat, choking on her own blood, tears flowing down her cheeks. “B….r…oth…er…”
He pulled away and led his horse around her, not looking back as she fell to the blood stained snow. She coughed and gasped for breath, looking at him as he walked away. Teelena looked at her pathetic form and then turned away herself as the dying traitor reached up in desperation. As her strength quickly waned, she watched as the army continued on around her. She died gazing desperately again at her brother.
The army walked past her, each one looking down at her dead body as they went by. It was very clearly understood at this point; there would be no interrogations, no attempts to flush out any other conspirators. If the Emperor was willing to summarily execute his own sister for treason, then nobody would be safe. Either the as of yet unknown conspirators would make themselves known and be subject to the same fate, or they would rethink their decision and stay loyal to Grognor.
Grognor continued on foot, leading his horse. Teelena caught up to him to discover he was crying like a baby. She said nothing, but reached down and held his hand as they walked side-by-side. He glanced over to her, his face wet with tears and his beard forming ice, this time not from a blizzard, but from freezing tears. She nodded and flashed a supportive smile.
They had finally reached Deepforge Mountain. Chromatic dragons circled from the front, and battle was heard. Explosions were heard from deep within the citadel. Grognor knew.
“They’ve breached. Deepforge has been taken,” he said.
“Where the hell are the metallic dragons?” General Lucas said, searching the sky.
“Probably defeated. Ok, at this point, we will split forces,” Grognor said. “Eugene, you will be in charge of the horses. Take them across that ridge, to the other side. That trail will take you across a glacier, so be very careful. It will then take you down and out of the mountains near Little Table. From that point, see if you can track down the war machine division and come up the road with them. The rest of us will enter Deepforge from the rear.”
Deepforge Page 17