"Strange place to be meeting, Decker. Wha', couldn't wait til we got to Arthea to see us, ay?" yelled out General Ludko.
"Shhh, dwarf," said Decker as he neared, with a finger raised in front of his lips. "Your voice could be heard in Arthea from here, and as it happens, there are some unfriendly ears nearby."
General Ludko gave him a quizzical look. "Have the orcs reached Arthea already?"
"No, my friend, the large orcs from Bilwarks Grove have obviously taken note of your movements and set an ambush. They are preparing as we speak just up ahead."
"O', how many?"
"Your match in number and at least one very powerful looking shaman, also some very large ogres. General, I have heard that these orcs know how to fight. You should not underestimate them," said Decker, noticing the glint in his friend's eye.
"You're sayin' to run from a fight?"
"Arthea need's you, all of you. Even if you do fight your way through, it will not be without loss. There will be plenty enough fighting for you in Arthea, I assure you. Go around them."
"Trees on one side and large hills on th' other, boy, no easy way 'round."
"Large hills shouldn't present much of a problem to a race dwelling in mountains, now should it?" asked Decker sarcastically.
"Bah," snorted General Ludko, "and if they smell us out? We'll find ourselves fighting in the hills."
"Also second nature to a dwarf, is it not? Much better than walking into a ready laid trap."
"Argh! All right, ya made ya point. I'm guessin' ya have a way mapped out for us, boy?"
"I have an idea, yeah," said Decker with a slight grin.
"Well, lead on, lad. The sooner we leave, the sooner we're there."
* * *
Ki'janna watched with interest as the tall human spoke with the small folk. After a little while they began to follow the human off the road and into the hills. He had an idea as to what had changed their route and so he crossed over the road quickly and started running a parallel course with the road amongst the dense trees. His suspicion was confirmed a moment later as a large axe swung at his head. He ducked it with ease and pushed the young grunt up hard against the nearest tree and put a dagger to his throat.
"Foolish youngling. Identify your target before acting, you could have killed me. You'll remain a grunt if you continue actions like that. Now where's General Krak'too?" The young orc dropped the axe that he was holding in shaky hands and pointed to the other side of the road and back a little the way Ki'janna had come. He left the young grunt behind to gather himself and set off to find the general.
Walking down the centre of the road, General Krak'too caught sight of him quickly and rushed down to meet him. "You're in plain sight, scout, I hope you have a good reason for that?" asked the general harshly.
"Yes, general. The army of little humans has been told of your position and have moved into the hills."
"Little humans? They are dwarves, scout, and reputed to be good fighters. How have they sniffed out our ambush?"
"A human scout met them on the road. He must have seen you and told them. They are still heading south, obviously seeking a path around us."
"We lose any advantage if we charge into the hills after them. They have to return to the road at some point. We'll follow the road as quick as we can and try to head them off." The general set off at once to gather his forces followed closely by Great Shaman O'tukka, Ki'janna, and further behind followed the ogres.
* * *
Although they had already travelled a long way, the dwarves did a mighty job of keeping up with the longer-legged and more agile Decker. Worried about the tremendous noise they were making, Decker lead them a long way from the road before turning southward. As it happened, the place he had in mind was a fair trek west of the road anyway.
Decker continued, leaping from rock to rock with ease and dodging the larger ones with practiced skill along the hilly landscape. The dwarves barrelled along behind him seeking easier terrain while trying to keep the ranger in view at all times. Occasionally Decker would pause and wait for the dwarves to catch up with him, only to have General Ludko ask him what he was waiting for when he caught up. They certainly are a stubborn race, Decker thought to himself not for the first time.
A short time later and they arrived at the spot Decker had in mind. Hidden amongst some large bushy trees and a small rocky cliff face was an entrance to a cave. No wider than the width of two dwarves side by side and about their height, this cave could be easily overlooked by anyone not intentionally seeking it out.
"It is low and narrow for the first three hundred paces or so but opens up at its lowest point. Few know of it, and even fewer choose to visit it; a very boring cave network under the hills. But one tunnel in particular will take us a good way to Arthea, hopefully on the other side of those large orcs." Ludko nodded his understanding, looked at the mouth of the cave and then let his eyes wander the height of Decker. The ranger smiled and answered the general's unspoken question, "I am not too dignified to crawl through cramped tunnels if the need arises, my friend."
"I'll ask my boys not to laugh too loud, tho' I'm sure they'll find it difficult." Decker turned around, approached the tunnel, sunk to his hands and knees and began to crawl through the small tunnel. He was out of sight so quickly that besides a few quick snickers, there was only stunned silence among the dwarves with a view of the cave
Once Decker and the leading dwarves reached the open part of the cave, they moved forward a little to make room for the trailing dwarves and waited for them to catch up.
"A tad dark for human eyes, ain't it, ranger?" asked General Ludko. Decker said nothing, just pulled out a small orb from one of his many hidden pockets, whispered a few words to it and the orb began to glow dimly but bright enough for him to see a good ten paces in front of him.
"A little present from an old friend," was all that Decker said to the general. Ludko just shook his head.
* * *
"Feygrus," shouted General Krak'too, "I want you and your scouts to seek out any possible route out of those hills. If you see the dwarves, return immediately."
"Yes, general," replied Feygrus and set off immediately to organise his remaining scouts.
Once they had passed the hills, General Krak'too led his orcs off the road to a rise covered by trees, which afforded a good view of the hills. He wanted as much warning as he could, so as to set an effective trap for the dwarves. He knew very little about them, but he wasn't about to underestimate them based on their size. In his culture, size normally depicted strength and therefore these dwarves would be considered a very weak race. But he had already witnessed first-hand the fighting prowess of the humans who were a smaller race, and yet they respected the dwarves fighting ability. This world was far different than his.
General Krak'too wasn't one to sit around doing nothing and so he started pacing around his army, barking orders at them to make camouflages, keep out of sight, get some rest or whatever he deemed necessary for each group of orcs he came across. Once he had done this for a while he decided to take a walk and view his immediate surroundings. If things happened suddenly he wanted to know as much as he could about the terrain so that he could make decisions quickly.
After some time he returned to see if any of the scouts had reported in. He was beginning to think that the dwarves weren't going to show. Either they had changed their minds and headed home or they had taken a very long way around. The advantage was all theirs. This was their home world, they knew the terrain well. There could be a hundred alternate ways to the human city he didn't know about. He had his scouts mapping out the area constantly over the past three weeks, but their map was very limited. The humans and dwarves had been here for many years and no doubt knew the area backwards and upside down. It was that last thought that made him cringe. For all he knew there could be a tunnel that went right underneath them, coming out closer to the city or even in it. If that was the case he could do little about it, but he
decided that he did need to keep an eye or two southward as well as north. So he selected a small group of orcs and told them to climb a tree and keep a lookout.
* * *
"Hardly a direct route, boy," commented General Ludko after they had been winding their way through the tunnel. They were heading generally southward, but at times they would be going directly east or west, or on one occasion even north for a bit.
"I never said it was a quicker way to the city, my friend, but a lot more secret and more comfortable for a dwarf I'd imagine," said Decker.
"Huh," replied the dwarf, "a hunner'd years of the finest dwarf masons would do naught to improve these caverns."
"I thought the finest dwarf masons could make anything look good," teased Decker.
"Bah, you know what I mean, boy," said the general, waving his hand at Decker. They continued navigating their way through the twisting caves in silence, well as silent as five hundred battle-ready dwarves could be. Half an hour later, Decker announced that they had reached the exit. General Ludko looked at the tiny speck of light filtering into the cave through an entanglement of roots from a large tree.
"We're not rodents, boy," said the general gruffly. "Even the smallest of us can't squeeze through that gap." Then a thought came to him and he quickly turned to his troops. "A'right lads, start swingin' those axes. We'll chop through these roots in no time." Decker put a hand on the dwarf's shoulder and told the dwarves to lower their axes.
"Leave the roots to me, general. Take a five minute rest." General Ludko was ready to argue, but then decided he'd just be wasting his time and so he plonked himself down against the wall and watched the ranger.
Decker approached the tree roots and gently rubbed his hand against some of the thicker ones. Softly he spoke words unknown to Ludko; kneeling down on one knee before the thickest root with his right hand held against it, he said, "Great tree, I sincerely apologise for disturbing your rest, but I have a favour to ask of you. Please move your roots to allow us passage through to the surface. Once we are all through, we will leave you to your peace."
General Ludko looked on in amusement. "Bah, talkin' to a tree now? Our friend has lost all his wits," he said to Breck. The two dwarves shared a chuckle, but their mirth was quickly cut short as the tree roots began to move. General Ludko watched on, blinking his eyes as though they were betraying him as the roots untwisted themselves, leaving a nice size opening for them to walk through; even forming some steps to aid them in the rise out of the tunnel. Decker turned to them with a smirk, and beckoned them to go through quickly with a wave of his hand, then turned and skipped on through the opening himself.
* * *
Kenelm had only been a grunt for three months. His father had been a grunt, and was perhaps only weeks away from being promoted to heavy axe before he was killed in a battle defending the border. Needing a source of income, his mother had made him join up as a grunt. He had been given some rudimentary training, a blunt and basic broad sword and a couple of bits of leather armour.
He was now on his first mission, hiding up a tree on some foreign world, looking south for an army he wasn't sure he wanted to fight. He had positioned himself as comfortably as he could while he kept watch. He was exhausted after the march from the fort to the road, then from the road to here. His eyelids were heavy, so he started to rest them for ten seconds at a time, then thirty. After each stint, he would slap his face a few times to bring himself wide awake. After one particular stint, he followed up with a hard slap to his forehead with the palm of his hand as he noticed a group of dwarves way off in the distance. They were still streaming out of a cave, but it looked like many of them had already surfaced. He should have spotted it perhaps a minute or two ago.
He came fully awake in an instant, and dropped out of the tree, then sprinted back to the main camp. The orcs had done an adequate job of staying out of view considering how much cover was available. They all came out of hiding now, though, as Kenelm ran through the camp seeking out the general.
General Krak'too was quick to tell the captains to organise their companies before he and Great Shaman O'tukka followed quickly after him. By the time they arrived at the tree Kenelm had been hiding in, the dwarves could just be seen without climbing the tree.
"They are so far away, we'll never catch them without disadvantaging ourselves," said General Krak'too, then he turned to Great Shaman O'tukka. "Is there anything you can do, great shaman, to slow them down?"
"I think I have just the thing," he replied with an evil grin. "Give me some room," he growled at the surrounding orcs. He then began a ritualistic dance, that if Kenelm wasn't so scared of him, he would have found it quite amusing. Then he started with the singing, softly at first, but then becoming louder and fiercer, until it reached a crescendo. Kenelm began to think he had gone into some kind of frenzy, and so he took a few paces back.
* * *
"Something's not right," said Decker as he ran over and placed his hand on the closest tree. After a moment his expression went grave, and he shouted at the top of his voice, "Run!" General Ludko wasn't about to waste time arguing with his ranger friend, so he started echoing the command to run. Dwarves were still filing out of the cave, but word soon made its way down the line and they were quick to heed the command.
As the final group of dwarves were surfacing, the ground began to open up amidst them creating a huge rumbling noise, dropping any dwarf unlucky enough to be in its path into its depths. The ground continued to open up following the path the dwarves were taking, inspiring them to run faster. Dwarves being dwarves, if one of their fellows tripped, they would quickly lift him to his feet and get him running again. A few were not quick enough and so joined their comrades in their frightful decent.
The dwarves had a high rocky cliff face on their left and a dense forest on their right. Aside from following the dwarves in their desperate race, the opening ground would split to each side; bringing down large rocks from the cliff face on the left and collapsing thick, tall trees on the other side. From on high looking down, the cracks were beginning to resemble a large, long dead tree with many scattered branches. The dwarves had little choice but to continue running along the path which was perhaps thirty dwarf paces wide. When the noise died down and the ground stopped opening, the dwarves last to surface from the cave were separated from their brethren by a huge open chasm that minutes ago didn't exist.
"Aint ne'er seen nuthin' like that before," said General Ludko, stand-ing beside Decker shaking his head.
"Powerful magic, seeking our death," replied Decker.
General Ludko looked up at his human friend and asked, "How'd ya know it was comin', lad?"
"I sensed the vibration in the ground, and the tree I touched con-firmed it for me. I didn't know what to expect, just that it wasn't good."
"Talkin' to trees? Your heads not right, boy."
"You're still alive, aren't you, my friend?" asked Decker with a smirk.
"More'n I can say for some of me kin," replied Ludko grimly.
"They're alive," shouted a dwarf running towards them. "The holes not deep, so they're alive," he repeated as he approached the two of them.
"Explain ya babbling, Daan," said General Ludko gruffly.
"The hole's not deep, general; the dwarves are alive down there, hurt badly but mostly alive."
"Well let's get' em out then," said General Ludko as he charged off toward the chasm. By the time he got there, ropes had already been dropped down into the newly formed crevice, and the more able dwarves were helping the badly injured to climb out. General Ludko quickly ran over to assist in carrying one of those badly injured dwarves away from the hole.
"An unnatural earthquake to be sure," observed Decker. "The floor of it is mostly flat. We must not linger long, general, the orcs will be upon us swiftly." Decker helped the general carry away another injured dwarf.
"I'll not leave wounded dwarves behind to be slaughtered by filthy orcs," growled General Ludko, glar
ing at Decker.
"I understand, general, but a shaman capable of opening up the ground is not to be underestimated."
"Ya right, Decker, I know, but I'm bringin' me kin with me," replied General Ludko, then to the dwarves he yelled out, "Those not helpin' near the hole, spread out. Do not stay grouped together to be killed by a single spell. And keep ya eye out for stinkin' orcs."
The dwarves obeyed at once and spread out, while those near the ropes continued pulling up the stranded dwarves with all haste.
"General," yelled out Breck running up to his leader, "what do we do about the dwarves stuck on the other side?"
"There's some on the other side? Do they 'ave rope?"
"Yes to the first, and no to the second, general. We only brought a few lengths along. Expecting a straight forward trip we were, and figured there'd be oodles of rope in Arthea," replied Breck.
"Throw down one length of rope to the least injured in the hole and tell 'im to run to the other end and throw it up to them. Get 'em all into the hole so that they can climb out this side. This hole might buy us some time yet."
"Right away, general," said Breck as he turned and ran back the way he'd come.
* * *
"What we do now, Burr?" asked Nuri.
"Do I look like a general, Nuri? I ain't got the foggiest. We gotta get back to the general, but this weren't no ordinary quake. This one was thrown at us. I say we get back in the cave, while one of us tries to get word to the general. How does that sound for a plan?" The dwarves all agreed.
The Gate - A New Breed of Orc (The Gate Series Book 1) Page 21