Delvin looked up at Grognor as they all began to panic. “Sire, what’s happening?”
Grognor tried to calm Bruno down. “Bruno, please control yourself! Tell us!”
“Sire!” Bruno began, “it’s Obsidian…or as she’s calling herself now, the ‘Black Queen’. She’s a black dragon, but much more powerful. She’s unstoppable…we need to evacuate Deepforge. There are more coming and they won’t stop until everyone is dead.”
“But, what are they looking for?”
“It doesn’t matter! It’s only a matter of time before they find it, and in the mean time, more people will die! We need to get out, now!” Bruno began descending the stairs at a sprint, leaving Delvin and Grognor in shock.
“Jesus,” Grognor said.
Part 4: War and Punishment
Chapter 17
The evacuation began right away. The Stone Children helped the dwarves re-open the lava tube tunnel as the battle continued outside. The diversion mission was abandoned, and everyone retreated down into the depths of the citadel.
“I can’t believe we’re going to just…let them have Deepforge,” Selena said
“We have to get out of here as fast as we can. If they don’t find what they’re looking for soon, they’re blow the mountain,” Bruno said.
“Ok, Bruno, you have to tell us. What they hell are they looking for?” Grognor asked.
Bruno didn’t see any reason to hold back anymore. They had already lost. “Mithril.”
None of them recognized the word.
“It’s the same stuff their armor and weapons are made of, but they don’t know how to forge it properly. There’s a large vein of it in the southern mountains, but a much bigger one here in Deepforge. At least, it’s the only thing I can think of. In my future the Zorg dwarves are masters of the metal, at least as good as the others…” He drifted off in thought.
“Metal? This is all about some damned metal?” Grognor said, incredulous.
“I know, it sounds wrong, but, it’s the only thing that makes sense. I’m not sure how it all comes together, but I do know that in the future, that metal is a big deal. Even currency is made out of the stuff.”
“There has to be more to it than that,” Grognor said.
“I’m sure there is, but I just don’t know for sure. What’s important is the Black Queen cannot be defeated. Why she hasn’t attacked personally is another mystery. If she changes her tactics and does so, everyone is guaranteed to die. She’s sending more people and probably more dragons. We need to get the hell out of here.”
“Well, you know of the future, why don’t you just show them where it is, and maybe they’ll go away?” Delvin asked.
“I don’t know where it is. I come from a point much more distant. I’m not even totally sure it is here, but it’s the only thing I can think of, and she assumed I knew. She didn’t say.”
The Black Queen couldn’t stop laughing. Her feminine yet sinister laugh echoed across the palace, striking fear into everyone who heard. It was a genuine laugh. She couldn’t believe how funny it was, knowing that she had actually caused panic in Bruno: The legendary Michael Angelico, the First One. As she laughed, she fondled the coin. Acid fell from her eyes as she laughed seemingly out of control. Her maniacal heaving of laughter finally slowed down as she got control of herself, sitting comfortably in her throne.
“Oh, my! That was the most fun I’ve had in a long time!” She wiped away her tears of laughter, flicking them onto the stone floor. Streams of smoke rose where the acidic tears ate away at the stone. Her court stood nearby, fearful.
“Oh, calm down, people! I’m having a great day! Everyone gets the evening off! Go on! Have fun, spend some time with your families, or whatever! Go on!”
Her servants tentatively exited the palace, unsure if the proclamation of temporary freedom was true. Jennifer remained.
“Go on, Jennifer, you go too.”
“Your Majesty. I have nobody on this world in this time but you. I would rather spend my free time with you instead of strangers.”
The Black Queen took her hand. “I was hoping you would say that. Would you like to go for a ride?”
Jennifer smiled wide. “I thought you’d never ask!”
As the innocents were herded through the now cleared out lava tube, Bruno noticed the other Stone Children, Grognor, Selena, and all of the dwarf warriors had stayed behind. He ran back to prompt them. He saw Cray, Grognor and Selena talking close in a huddle. “Come on! We have to get out of here!”
The three in the huddle looked at each other as if sharing a secret, then over at Bruno.
“We’re staying,” Grognor said.
Bruno was appalled. “What? No, Sire, we have to go!”
Cray turned and faced Bruno, hands on his shoulders. “Brother, we are Stone Children. These are the finest dwarven warriors the world has ever known. You are a Stone Child, no less than you were before you revealed yourself to us. We’ve gotten the humans and the other innocents out. But, we’ll stay and take back Deepforge.”
“No!” Bruno yelled. “You don’t understand, she’ll lay waste to this citadel!”
“Then she will,” Grognor said. “But, not without one hell of a fight.”
“Bruno,” Cray started, “Eric and the Nords have engaged them in the valley. They’re distracted, and have left a skeleton crew of warriors behind in Deepforge to look for the metal. We discovered that when we created your diversion. We can take them out and rebuild the Great Door. Then, we’ll take the fight to them outside. We’ll create a gauntlet of doom.”
“They think they’ve already won, Bruno,” Grognor said. “We’ll mop the floor with them and then drive them back to the south, where we will follow them and kill the Black Queen.”
“Or die trying,” Selena said. “Either way, we’ll not simply stand by and let this malevolent creature have her way. She’s going to have to work for it. It’s who we are, Bruno.”
“We must fight,” Grognor said. “Besides, we have something the army didn’t have when this siege started: You and the Stone Children. We have the advantage now”
Bruno knew there was no way around it. They weren’t going to change their minds. “Then, I will fight with you.”
Cray smiled. “Good. We need you. You may not be some immortal god, but you are a Stone Child. Every hand counts.”
Bruno nodded and swallowed his mortal fear. “So, what’s the plan?”
Grognor smiled. “First, we need to make sure the innocents and humans are out. They’ll need good fighters to protect them, so make sure the human army does go. We’ll send them to Little Table, then east toward Lakeshore, away from the battle. Then, it’s very simple. We hit those bastards with everything we’ve got until the Great Hall is flooded with their sinister blood.”
“Sounds like a typical Grognor plan.” Bruno smiled.
Once the innocents were evacuated, the army got ready for battle.
“Ok, so there’s only two dragons, one white and one blue. They’ve got maybe fifty warriors up there,” Cray said.
“I can’t believe the white can stand this heat,” Bruno said.
“I think it will be easy enough to take down. Just get it close to a vent pool and I can do the rest,” Grognor said.
“Same with the blue,” Bruno said. “I can take it down. Neither one of them are big. Makes me wonder why they didn’t send in a red?”
“Well, think about it, Bruno,” Cray said. “Deepforge dwarves have a natural resistance to heat. Reds wouldn’t do much. White and blue, or any other for that matter, well, that’s a different story.”
“Yea, that’s true, but don’t you all have a natural resistance to cold as well?” Bruno asked Grognor.
“Yea, extremes of cold and heat are normal for us, look at where we’ve lived. The blue is my biggest concern,” Grognor said.
“Ok, so how do we start this?” Bruno asked.
“Well,” Grognor started, “right now they’re prett
y much evenly distributed on the first floor, Great Hall. The dragons are walking around in dragon form…I don’t think these have the ability to be anything else…so, they’re wildcards. We’ll split up into two teams, Cray and Bruno take one team of mixed warriors, Teelena, Selena and I will take the other. We’ll head up both staircases at the same time and just start smashing heads. Stone Children first to soften them up, and dwarves behind to clean up the mess. The dragons will come to us, and we’ll deal with them as they do. Pretty much, a free for all.”
Everyone agreed.
“Ok, everyone ready?” Grognor asked.
Everyone indicated they were.
“Then, let’s have some…Drakmid sport.”
They all moved quickly up the stairs, right into the Great Hall. Armored and ready Drakmids patrolled, expecting some sort of uprising.
Grognor hit first, screaming and running right into the middle of them. “Drakmid Sport!” He jumped and came down with his hammer right on the head of the first one he met, killing it instantly. All hell broke loose. Teelena, Selena and the mixed army of Stone Children and dwarven warriors engaged the Drakmids with fierce purpose.
At that same moment on the opposite side of the Great Hall, the other mixed army stormed the Drakmids. Cray and Bruno attacked with fierce devastation, literally ripping Drakmids limb from limb while the dwarves used mostly hammers to ring the Drakmids’ heads and crush bones. It was known the Drakmids’ armor could easily resist edged weapons, but the hammers could still cause devastating damage.
The battle basically went like this: The Stone Children would rush through, tearing off Drakmids’ armor and anything else they could get a hold of, including heads and limbs. They quickly did so, rushing through. Then the dwarves would attack the Drakmids with blunt weapons. By the time the dwarves engaged them in battle, the Drakmids’s armor was not an issue.
It was totally the opposite of their first meeting at Lakeshore. This time, the Drakmids had a disadvantage. Bruno gained great pleasure by grabbing many a Drakmid and throwing him into a magma vent pool.
Grongor enjoyed smashing heads alongside his sister and his wife.
This all happened very quickly, so much that it took several moments for the dragons to react. But when they did, the battle looked entirely different.
The blue dragon roared and attacked Grognor and his division by blasting a massive bolt of plasma, electrocuting and killing several people on both sides of the fight. Teelena fell, but was only temporarily stunned. Selena was out of the way of the blast, and immediately threw her hammer right at the dragon’s head. It hit square, and caused the creature to stumble back and crash into the wall. As it got to its feet, Grognor threw his hammer and scored a solid hit as well. The blue dragon roared in anger and pain, expelling another bolt of plasma. Electrical fingers spider-webbed all over the Great Hall, electrocuting nearly everyone to a small extent. The beast flapped and rose up, smashing into the ceiling. Chunks of rock fell, crushing a few people on both sides.
Grognor ran and grabbed his hammer, now lying on the floor. His eyes met the dragon’s. “Come on! Come and get me, you retched creature!”
The dragon roared and began to expel another bolt of plasma when Grognor hit him again with another hammer throw. The dragon’s attack was spoiled. Furious, the dragon instead decided to attack physically. As it dropped down to do so, Grognor was hit in the side with a Drakmid sword. It pierced deep, causing massive bleeding. Grognor spun around and grabbed the Drakmid’s head, twisting with all his might. The Drakmid struggled to get Grognor loose, and to get his sword out of Grognor’s side. They struggled for a few seconds until the blue dragon landed and swung its deadly talon at Grognor. Grognor managed to tear the Drakmid’s helmet off just as he was hit hard by the dragon. He fell to the floor with the sword still in his side. Above the warrior Emperor stood the helmet-less Drakmid and the dragon, ready to pounce.
Grognor heard a female battle cry, and nearly missed the blur of movement that was his wife plunging a stolen sword into the dragon’s side. The dragon roared in pain and swung around to attack Teelena.
The Drakmid became distracted just enough that he didn’t see Grognor yank the sword out of his own side and slice upward, severing his head.
Grognor then jumped onto the snout of the blue dragon as it went after Teelena. He plunged the stolen sword deep into the dragon’s neck, causing it to react and twist around the other way.
Selena saw what was happening, and realized how close they were to a magma vent. “Grognor! Left!” she yelled, and ran through the battle to help with the effort.
Grognor and Teelena heard the yell, and instinctively looked left, seeing the vent nearby. Grognor then grabbed onto the sword and pulled hard, causing the dragon to react and pull the other way. Teelena yanked her sword out and taunted the dragon. “Come on, big fella! I’m just a little dwarven girl! Come on, come and get me!”
The dragon roared and lunged at her. She jumped out of the way just as Selena slid under the dragon, smashing its front leg with her hammer. The creature’s bones snapped, causing it to lose balance. It instinctively flapped its wings, but Grognor was ready; he jumped up and grabbed one of the wings, using his weight to pull down. It worked. The dragon fell over, right into the magma vent. Grognor jumped off, falling onto the floor with a loud thud.
The dragon fell into the vent hard, splashing magma up high into the Great Hall. The Drakmids had not anticipated this, and several of them died before they realized they were in danger. Large globules fell down, incinerating at least a half-dozen. The dragon roared one last, terrifying scream of pain before it was burned to death.
This got everyone’s attention on this side of the Great Hall. Drakmids stood back, realizing they had lost nearly half their numbers and the blue dragon in just a few minutes. The battle stopped for a moment, the two sides facing off.
“Drakmid sport!” Teelena screamed and ran forward with a hammer in one hand, and a sword in the other.
Grognor smiled and glanced at Selena.
“I knew I liked that girl for a reason!” Selena said.
Everyone else rushed forward, cutting through the Drakmids to the point that several of them elected to escape out the Great Door rather than suffer defeat.
As the last few of them retreated, Teelena looked at Selena. They both said it at the same time, “Magma launcher!”
Grognor wondered if the launchers were even operational after the siege. He nodded at the girls, and then motioned for the rest of the army to follow him. They headed to the other side of the Great Hall. Teelena and Selena headed up the ramp to the launchers, practically giddy with excitement.
Grognor and the others raced around the massive curve of the Great Hall, until they came upon the battle already in progress. Bruno was seen throwing the body of the white dragon into a magma vent, screaming, “Noooooo!”
“Oh, shit!” Grognor said, not wanting to know what had happened.
They saw soon enough; nearly a fourth of the Stone Children had been frozen to death by the white dragon. The rest of them tore through the Drakmids using the same tactic, the Stone Children first, then the dwarves.
As they pushed the Drakmids back, Grognor and his division met them and crushed them like a vice. The whole thing was over in less than a half-hour. They had taken back Deepforge.
A few remaining Drakmids still fought, to their sorrow.
Grognor then saw the body of Cray at Bruno’s feet. He had been frozen. “Damn. Bruno, I’m so sorry.”
Bruno chased down the last Drakmid, tears pouring down his face. He tore the enemy’s head clean off.
A loud swooping noise was heard as a magma launcher was released. The massive globule of molten rock flew across the valley. The escaping Drakmids didn’t have a chance.
As Bruno twisted the head off the last Drakmid, he looked around. It had quieted down. That was the last of them. Blood and bodies were everywhere. He looked down at the body of his friend Cray. A
s he looked up again, he met the eyes of Grognor and everyone else. Nobody cheered victory, they just tried to catch their breath.
Bruno looked up at the high radio tower, and quickly ran up the stairs to the top, Grognor right behind. He grasped the microphone, and with heavy breaths, he keyed up. “Are you there, bitch?”
There was silence.
“Come on, answer me!” He yelled into the microphone.
“This is Jerry.”
“Tell your queen we’ve taken back Deepforge! The Deepforge Empire…” He looked at Grognor, “The Grognor Empire! Are coming for her head! Grongor Rules!”
Everyone below heard him and began chanting, “Grognor rules! Grognor rules! Grognor rules! Yeaaaaaah!” At the tops of their lungs.
Bruno unkeyed the microphone, and then tore the radio from its wires. He threw it out the tower window where it crashed into pieces on The Great Hall floor in a large puddle of blood, sending splatters and blood covered radio parts everywhere.
“What the hell was I thinking? Did I just do that?” Bruno said out loud.
“Yes,” Grognor said, “you sure did. That just happened. Not so scared anymore?”
“Sire, I’m scared as hell. You don’t know how powerful that creature is.”
“Well, she’s not seen the likes of us, Bruno.”
“We’re really going after her and her army, aren’t we?”
“Yes we are.” Grongor smiled.
“Jesus. It’ll be a slaughter.” Bruno shook his head ‘no’.
Grognor slapped Bruno’s back, grinning. “That’s the spirit!”
Bruno started to say ‘no’ to correct what he meant, but then remembered that line from a movie he had seen on Earth a long time ago. He couldn’t help but laugh.
“Noooo!” the Black Queen screamed as Jerry gave her the message. “How is this possible?!” She roared and quickly formed into her dragon shape.
Deepforge Page 19