by Damon Alan
As the room’s lights dimmed around him, he saw the creature’s head come off. Thanks to Coragg’s blade.
Irsu fell to the floor. His arm was opened from wrist to shoulder, and he was losing blood fast. The remains of the creature fell on top of his legs, Coragg quickly brushed them aside.
Under the stones platform Numo was dragging his finger along some script and holding a water skin. Whatever madness lived in the mind of the scout didn’t matter much to Irsu any longer.
He wanted to go out with his friend smiling. “You’re right, Coragg,” Irsu said.
“About what, Amblu-gane?”
“You could have taken the Guardian.”
Coragg laughed, tears fell from his big nose onto Irsu’s cheek. “You’re not done yet, damn you.”
The last thing Irsu saw clearly was the scout climbing the statue as one of the creatures, apparently having taken down the warriors fighting it, tried to grab at Numo’s feet and drag the mad dwarf back down to his doom.
Irsu couldn’t move his body, but he used his now failing eyes to point in the direction of the fight. “You’re not done protecting our people yet, Coragg. My friend.”
Coragg nodded, stood up, wiped his tears and surged toward the enemy once more.
Irsu embraced the darkness as it came for him, his friend being the last vision to fill his mind.
<<<
Glossary:
Harry’s surviving squad:
Harry Hughes: Lieutenant, light machine gunner, platoon leader
Timothy Martin: Corporal, light machine gun crew, 2nd in command.
John Miller: Private, Radioman, descendant of a Templar Knight
Geoffrey Wilkes: Private, Rifleman, Stubborn but intelligent. Crack shot.
Benjamin Garrett: Private, Rifleman
Mark Jenkins: Private, Rifleman
Thomas Parker: Private, Rifleman
David Zimmerman: Private, Rifleman (not mentioned in this book)
Lars Henry: Private, Rifleman, hard to understand due to Scottish accent.
Michael Aaron: Private, Rifleman (not mentioned in this book)
Derek Moore: Private, Rifleman (not mentioned in this book)
Unnamed: Killed in Chapter 5 by dwarves
Unnamed: Killed in Chapter 5 by dwarves
Iron Company: 168 dwarven warriors
Commander: Captain of the Iron Bordnu Crackstone.
Successor: Iron Commander Irsu Crackstone
4 platoons, 40 dwarves each plus 2 leaders:
Hearthfire Platoon: led by Irsu, then Coragg.
Anvil Platoon: leader unnamed (now dead)
Granite Platoon: leader unnamed (now dead)
Iron Platoon: leader Bordnu (now dead)
Terms and WWII equipment:
Ahnenerbe – German program to utilize the occult to increase the power of the Reich. This really did exist.
AP Round – Armor piercing round, bullet with a core designed to penetrate plates of metal.
Panzer – German Tank. In 1940 German tanks were superior to most other nations, with the exception of the British. British tanks were too few and incorrectly utilized to counter the German flood into France.
Matador Lorry (Truck): A diesel three ton troop transport of British design and manufacture. It had great ground clearance and was quite robust.
Lorry: What the British still call a truck. If it’s a truck that pulls a trailer, it’s an articulated lorry.
Henschel HS-130: An experimental aircraft designed for reconnaissance and bombing from high altitude. It could carry a high tech camera package in the bomb bay instead of bombs. Only a few were made due to design flaws and breakdowns.
Karabiner 98K: German infantry rifle at the start of WWII. It had great range, was accurate, and fired a large round. It was superior to both British and French rifles in the early war.
Lee-Enfield: British infantry rifle. It was a good rifle, but inferior to Germany’s infantry weapons.
MAS-36: This French rifle was a reliable weapon, but inferior to the Kar98K. It was actually still scarce at the start of WWII, despite being a 30 year old design. The MAS-36 interestingly had no safety to prevent accidental discharge.
A note on smoking: In the 1940’s and earlier cigarette smoking was thought not only to be harmless, but potentially healthy. We later learned that was not the case, and cigarette companies knew that smoking was harmful long before they told us. Smoking (I am an ex-smoker) is harmful, dangerous, and proven to increase the risk of cancer, emphysema, and COPD among other illnesses. Harry doesn’t know that. He will probably die later in life of cancer if a bullet doesn’t get him first.
Author’s note:
Thank you so much for reading my book. If you enjoyed it I would love to get your review on Amazon or Goodreads. Or even if you didn’t enjoy it, I would love to know why.
You can reach my author email at: [email protected]
My blog is at www.damonalan.com
And you’re welcome to follow or friend my on Facebook, Damon Alan, anytime. Be warned I say outrageous things on there sometimes just to see how people react. A guy’s got to get his entertainment somewhere.
The plan for this book is to make a series, each book covering a few weeks to a month of the WWII time period. Of course it won’t follow history as we know it, dragons, elves, dwarves, and the undead tend to change our plans a bit. But I’ll be utilizing the technology curve of WWII, the equipment, and the attitudes for the most part. Alongside the standard components of many fantasy worlds. Spitfires, Messerschmitts, and Dragons, Oh my!
If you like space opera, I have several of those written in a series as well. Feel free to check out the adventures of Sarah Dayson as she struggles to save the galaxy.
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B077DC96V8
Thanks again, and keep your axes high.
Damon Alan