They reached the far wall without incident. The tunnel beyond the archway was narrow, and the three of them had to go single file, Malzuraxis first, then Ridmark, and then Third. The tunnel twisted down, the floor rough and sandy beneath Ridmark’s boots.
“Here,” said Malzuraxis, stopping at a blank section of the wall. He stooped and brushed away some sand from the base of the wall, revealing a section of stone adorned with dwarven glyphs. He tapped a few of the glyphs, and they glowed with harsh blue light.
A section of the tunnel wall swung inward, revealing a passage of worked stone with a smooth floor that sloped upwards.
“Good,” grunted Malzuraxis. “It’s not flooded. We’d be swimming home otherwise.”
“Where will the guards be?” said Ridmark.
“If there are guards,” said Malzuraxis, “they will be at the top of the ramp. The passage spirals up for a few hundred yards and then opens into a guard room with another door. The room is only large enough to hold four or five koballats at once, but there is a horn that connects to the courtyard beyond the main gate. If we don’t take them fast, they’ll sound the alarm, and this will all fall apart.”
“We’ll be quick, then,” said Ridmark.
Malzuraxis grunted and looked at Third. “You’re some kind of mad half dark elven assassin, right? How fast can you move?”
“I can go from here to there in the blink of an eye,” said Third.
“Well, that’s just splendid. You’d better,” said Malzuraxis, “else we’re finished.” He produced a crossbow and loaded the weapon. “Let’s go. You go first.”
“Why?” said Ridmark.
“You’re taller, and you’ve got that big stick,” said Malzuraxis.
“Sensible,” said Ridmark, checking to make sure the stonescribe’s rod was ready at his belt. He gripped Ardrhythain’s staff and led the way up the spiraling tunnel, moving in silence. As they climbed, he saw the glow of a lantern and heard the rasp of voices speaking a strange language.
Koballats.
They froze, and Third tilted her head to the side for a moment, listening. After a moment, she held up her left hand, all four fingers and the thumb extended.
Five koballats, then.
Ridmark beckoned, and Third and Malzuraxis moved close around him.
“I’ll go first and get their attention,” whispered Ridmark. “Malzuraxis, come after me and shoot one of them. Third, keep them from sounding the alarm. Once they’re down, we’ll take off their heads and burn the stumps.”
Third and Malzuraxis nodded.
Ridmark took a deep breath, straightened up, and continued down the passage, Third and Malzuraxis falling into position behind him. The light grew brighter, and the sound of rasping voices grew louder, and Ridmark saw a doorway in the gloom ahead.
He braced himself, gripped his staff, and leaped through the doorway.
Luck was on his side. The small guardroom had a stone table in its center. Five koballats sat at the table, their weapons propped against it, and to judge from the bone dice and pile of coins upon the table, they had been passing the time by gambling. It was a terrible defensive position, and Ridmark exploited it, bringing his staff hammering down on the head of the nearest koballat. The creature’s skull was thick, but all of Ridmark’s strength was behind the blow, and the koballat collapsed.
The other koballats reacted with speed, surging to their feet and seizing their weapons. Malzuraxis raised his crossbow and squeezed the trigger, and his bolt took one of the koballats through the throat. One of the creatures sprang towards a stone door on the far side of the room. Next to the door a curved tube of dwarven steel jutted from the stone, likely connecting to the alarm horn. The koballat opened its tusked jaw and lowered its head towards the end of the tube, but Third appeared behind the koballat, driving her blades into its neck. The koballat fell, its forehead bouncing off the tube, and collapsed in a limp heap to the floor.
The remaining two koballats charged, and Ridmark stepped back, dropping his staff and drawing the dwarven axe from his belt. In the confined space of the guard room, the axe would serve him better, and he would need it to take off their heads anyway. He parried a thrust from a broadsword and sidestepped, trying to keep only one of the koballats in front of him at any one time. The koballat stabbed, and Ridmark dodged, swinging his axe and hitting the creature in the neck. The last koballat charged at him with a scream of fury, but by then Malzuraxis had gotten his sword out of its scabbard. His blade bounced off the koballat’s mail, staggering the creature, and Third finished it off with a flash of her blades.
The last koballat slumped to the floor, and silence fell over the guard room, the air heavy with the vaguely rotten smell of koballat blood. Already their wounds were regenerating, but Ridmark started hacking off the head of the nearest koballat. Malzuraxis followed suit, and Third used her rods to burn the bloody stumps of their necks.
“Good fight,” said Malzuraxis.
“Third,” said Ridmark. “Get back to Narzaxar. Have him send his best fighters up the secret tunnel. If we’re going to reach the main gate and open it, we’ll need help.”
Third nodded and disappeared as the blue fire shone from her veins.
“Nice trick,” said Malzuraxis. “Must be useful.”
“It is,” said Ridmark.
“Fought an urdhracos a few times,” said Malzuraxis. “Some of the Sculptor’s pets. Never thought I’d be fighting next to one.”
“It’s a strange world,” said Ridmark. “What’s the courtyard like beyond the door?”
“Big octagonal space,” said Malzuraxis. “The old keep of the thainkul’s garrison is on the left, and the armory on the right, but they’re both in ruins. Beyond it opens into a large natural cavern, and our ancestors worked the sides in tiers to build houses and shops. The control mechanism for the gate will be in the guardroom at the base of the outer wall.”
“I wonder why the koballats didn’t break the gate,” said Ridmark.
Malzuraxis shrugged. “It’s too useful. You can’t break gates of dwarven steel from the outside without the kind of magic that would collapse the cavern. And from the inside…well, they’re easy to open from this side.”
Third reappeared, breathing hard, blue fire pulsing within her veins and black eyes. Using her power repeatedly in short a time drained her, and she leaned against the table as she caught her breath. “Taalmak Azakhun is on his way with picked warriors. Sir Gavin insisted on coming.”
“Might as well,” said Malzuraxis. “We’ll have a hard fight to hold the guard room when we open the gate, and I’ve heard your Swordbearers fight like enraged ursaars.”
“Aye,” said Ridmark, and he set himself to wait.
###
Gavin followed Azakhun up the tunnel, his hand hovering near Truthseeker’s hilt. The soulstone in the base of the blade gave off a faint white glow, which meant that it sensed dark magic nearby. He wondered if the koballats had wizards among their ranks. On the other hand, Thainkul Morzan had been conquered and reconquered so many times over the centuries that a residual aura of dark magic might hang over the entire ruin.
The tunnel ended in a small guardroom, koballat warriors lying dead on the floor, smoke rising from the stumps of their necks. Ridmark, Third, and Malzuraxis awaited them, and Malzuraxis straightened up as Azakhun approached.
“The guard room is taken, Taalmak,” he said.
“Good work,” said Azakhun. He looked at Ridmark. “To the main gate?”
“Aye,” said Ridmark. “If we can hold that, Narzaxar can bring up the main force, and Thainkul Morzan will fall, no matter how many koballats the Sculptor has inside.” He looked at Gavin. “I suppose you’ll see some hard fighting sooner than we thought.”
“I am ready,” said Gavin.
Ridmark nodded. “Malzuraxis?”
The scout crossed the guard room and pulled a lever next to the stone door. There was a rumbling sound, and the slab of stone slid aside,
revealing a set of stairs climbing upward. They were narrower than Gavin would have liked, and he wondered if the koballats had thought to post guards at the top.
Ridmark and Third went first, and Gavin and Azakhun followed them. After twenty steps, the stairs ended, and Gavin stepped into a large octagonal courtyard. The massive outer wall of Thainkul Morzan rose on his right. To his left stood two crumbling towers of dwarven design that looked like fortresses in their own right. Beyond the two towers opened a large cavern, its sides worked into terraces, ruined houses standing on the tiers. It looked as if Thainkul Morzan had once been as prosperous as Khald Tormen, but that had been a long, long time ago.
Right now, Gavin barely noticed the ruins.
The thirty koballat warriors scattered across the courtyard held his attention.
One of the koballats saw the dwarves emerging from the secret entrance and howled a warning. At once the koballats whirled, yanking swords and axes from their belts. On the rampart along the outer wall, the guards raised crossbows.
“To the guard room!” shouted Ridmark, pointing his staff at the gate. Next to the closed gate of dwarven steel Gavin saw a smaller doorway leading into the outer wall. Most likely that led to the guard room and the control mechanism for the gate. “Third, the archers!”
Third sprinted forward, vanishing in a flash of blue fire. She reappeared atop the rampart, swords flying, and two of the koballat archers fell. Azakhun bellowed a command in the dwarven tongue, and an answering shout came from the warriors behind Gavin.
The koballats and the dwarves charged each other, and Gavin found himself in a battle.
Fortunately, he was more than prepared for it.
He charged with the dwarves, Truthseeker glimmering with pale flames. A koballat raised a crossbow, pointing at Azakhun, and Gavin drew on Truthseeker for speed. He blurred in front of the dwarven Taalmak, his shield snapping up, and the koballat’s crossbow bolt rebounded from his shield with a clang. Azakhun blinked in surprise and then nodded his thanks, and Gavin charged. The koballat began reloading its crossbow, but it was too late. Gavin brought Truthseeker down in a flash, and the koballat parried with the stock of its crossbow. The soulblade shattered the bow, and the koballat scrambled for a sword, but Gavin killed the creature before the blade cleared the scabbard.
Another dwarven warrior rushed forward with a glowing rod, burning the creature’s wounds.
Another crossbow bolt clipped Gavin’s shoulder, and he staggered as pain flashed through his left arm. He looked up at the rampart as the koballat started to reload its crossbow, but Third killed the creature before it could line up another shot.
A koballat with an axe came at Gavin. His dwarven shield could have blocked the edge of the weapon, but he wasn’t sure his injured shoulder could hold against the swing. He drew on Truthseeker for speed, and he dodged to the left. The koballat overbalanced, the axe hammering against the ground, and Gavin drove Truthseeker into its neck. The koballat slumped dying to the ground, and Gavin returned to the fight, joining the dwarves as they battled the Sculptor’s creatures.
Gavin killed another koballat, Truthseeker’s power stronger than even the pain in his shoulder, and spotted Ridmark. The Gray Knight had drawn ahead of the dwarven line, four koballats trying to kill him, but he was a match for his opponents. The black staff flashed and spun in his left hand, while his right hand grasped his dwarven axe. Gavin thought that it would have been impossible to use both weapons simultaneously, but Ridmark managed it, using his staff to deflect blows like a shield and his axe to land devastating blows upon the koballats.
Nevertheless, four against one made for heavy odds, so Gavin ran to help him.
The koballats were so focused upon Ridmark that they didn’t see Gavin coming. He stepped up and drove Truthseeker forward with all the soulblade’s power behind his arm, and the sword crunched through chain mail and into the nearest koballat’s heart. The creature went rigid and collapsed, and Ridmark broke out of their circle. His staff struck a koballat on the side of the head, and before the creature recovered, Ridmark hit it in the chest with his axe. The blade crunched through both chain mail and the koballat’s black scales. The other two koballats dropped back, and Ridmark went on the attack, dropping his axe and swinging his staff through a series of whirling blows. None of his attacks connected, but the koballats had to retreat, and Gavin took down one of the distracted koballats. Ridmark hit the other in the face with his staff, and the black-scaled head snapped back.
Truthseeker crunched home into the koballat’s chest, and Ridmark stooped and snatched his axe back up.
“The guard room, Gavin!” he said. “Before they regenerate! Quickly!”
Gavin nodded and ran after the Gray Knight to the doorway. Beyond was a large room, gears of dwarven steel mounted on the wall. Two levers rose from a table of dwarven steel in the center of the room, and Ridmark hurried to the table, dropped his weapons, and grasped one of the levers. Gavin sheathed Truthseeker and grabbed the other, and together they pulled.
A shudder went through the room, and the large gears began to turn, slowly at first, then faster and faster. Ridmark retrieved his weapons and Gavin drew Truthseeker again, and they returned to the courtyard. The koballats were falling back past the two ruined towers, and Third had killed all the archers on the ramparts. Gavin saw some slain and wounded dwarves lying upon the ground, but far more dead koballats, and a team of dwarven warriors burned their wounds with glowing rods.
Even better, the massive gates were grinding open, and Gavin saw Narzaxar’s vanguard charging up the causeway.
They were winning.
“Hold here!” shouted Azakhun. “Hold here! Shield wall in front, crossbows behind! The foe will try to retake the gate, and we need to hold here until the Taalkhan arrives.”
Gavin braced himself, taking a moment to draw on Truthseeker’s magic to heal some of the wound in his shoulder. The koballats had to know that if they lost the gate, Thainkul Morzan would fall. They would launch a fierce attack to keep their fortress from falling.
Except the counterattack never came.
###
The courtyard and the outer wall were theirs, yet Ridmark felt uneasy.
Narzaxar and his officers came through the gate, Kharlacht and Caius and Camorak with them. At once Camorak hurried to the wounded dwarves, the white fire of healing magic glowing around his fingers.
“Well done,” said Narzaxar as the dwarves filled the courtyard. “Well done, all of you. Our losses?”
“Six dwarves slain,” said Azakhun. “Twice as many wounded, but they should all live when Magistrius Camorak is done with them.”
“Then we should prepare for the next phase of the attack,” said Narzaxar. “The koballats will have fallen back to the houses and shops, and we will need to drive them out house by house.”
“I don’t think that will be necessary,” said Ridmark.
He walked away from the shield wall, heading towards the main cavern. Caius called out a warning. At the edge of the courtyard, Ridmark would be exposed to any archers in the cavern, but he did not think that would be a problem.
He reached the edge of the courtyard and stopped.
Below him, he saw the tiered cavern with its ruined houses and crumbling workshops and towers. It was ancient and half-ruined and completely deserted.
The koballats had abandoned Thainkul Morzan.
Chapter 14: Flesh and Mind
“I do not understand,” said Narzaxar.
Ridmark stood with the prince at the edge of the courtyard, looking into the heart of Thainkul Morzan proper. Dwarven crossbowmen had taken position atop the ruined towers, and the engineers had assembled their siege engines, ready to rain steel bolts and casks of exploding oil on any foes that emerged from the ruins.
But no foes had appeared.
Ridmark took a long look at the ruins. Thainkul Morzan had obviously been the site of numerous battles, and many of the houses and shops had been smas
hed to rubble, and heaps of bones and rusted weapons lay here and there on the tiers. In the center of the cavern flowed a stream, likely leading to the lake outside the massive wall. At the far end of the cavern stood a large building with the look of a fortified mansion. Likely it had once been the seat of whatever Taalmak the King of Khald Tormen had appointed to govern Thainkul Morzan. Ridmark saw signs of other kindreds as well – a stone hut that looked as if it had been built by the deep orcs and a tattered murrag-hide tent favored by the kobolds.
But the ruined thainkul looked abandoned.
“Maybe they saw our approach and retreated further into the Deeps,” said Azakhun.
“Perhaps,” said Narzaxar, “but we took the gate guards unawares, I’m sure of it.”
“It is also possible that the koballats abandoned Thainkul Morzan,” said Ridmark. “Or they departed for some task or another, and left a small garrison to hold the gate.”
“Or they may have left to assail Khald Tormen itself,” said Caius.
Narzaxar gave his younger brother a glance that was half-irritated, half-worried. “That is possible, but the scouts thought there were no more than seven or eight hundred koballats in Thainkul Morzan. Enough to hold the thainkul, yes, but not enough to assault Khald Tormen. If they attack the Gate of the Deeps, they will be utterly slaughtered.”
“Unless they march to join a larger force,” said Kharlacht.
“Or if they are part of some other stratagem,” said Sir Ector. The knight sounded frustrated. Ridmark understood his annoyance. Their task was to aid Calliande and help her gain allies in the war against the Frostborn, not to chase koballats through the tunnels of the Deeps.
“That is possible as well, Sir Ector,” said Narzaxar. “You see why we dare not leave Khald Tormen without its full strength? The Sculptor is devilishly cunning, and his plots have as many spinning wheels as our smiths’ finest mechanical clocks.”
“This may be a trap, Lord Taalkhan,” said Third.
Frostborn: The Dwarven Prince (Frostborn #12) Page 19