by Sam Ferguson
The king knew that if he crossed through the portal before the others, they would be trapped in the alternate plane, and that meant they would be slain by these monstrous abominations. He couldn’t have that. “Retreat!” he shouted. “Retreat! Get back into our world!”
Al smiled when he saw two dwarves nearest to the mound leap over it and disappear back to Terramyr. Others gauged how close the king was to the mound before jumping into portals themselves. Benbo, and the other dwarves in the wedge were not about to abandon Al, though. They fought off attacks and pressed forward.
A terrible shriek erupted in the air and Al couldn’t help but turn around.
He could see the dark outline of the gryphon flying through the darkness. It shrieked again, but this time there was a force in the scream that knocked Al to the ground. His ears stung and his head rang sharply. A muffled voice called to him and several hands reached down to pull him up. Al shook his head, barely able to cling to his hammer and the crystal as he struggled to make his feet work. His eyes flicked around and noticed that many of the others had been knocked to the ground as well, including lurkers and demons.
The gryphon was closing in fast. Al shook off the sluggishness and forced his feet to move.
Benbo was shouting something, but Al couldn’t make it out. The commander pulled and tugged on Al’s arm. Another dwarf grabbed Al’s other arm, and a third pushed him from behind.
The mound was three yards away.
The gryphon was diving, talons out and beak open as it screeched once more. Al turned to look at Benbo. The commander yanked Al onward and then pointed his sword toward the gryphon and leapt directly into its path.
There was a powerful force that lifted Al from his feet and propelled him forward. He flew through the air, landing hard on the stone floor and losing his breath in the process. His lungs flattened, sticking together and burning for air as Al gasped and sucked for breath. The crystal fell out of his arm and he lost his grip on Murskain.
Something grabbed him and lifted him up. His hearing was still muffled, but his senses were starting to come back to him as he fought against his enemy, swinging his arms and striking out with his fists.
Voices called out to him, but he couldn’t make out the words.
Then, his lungs reopened and air flooded into them. He made a horrid gasping sound and everything started to make sense again. He realized there was light all around him. It was then that he knew what had happened. The dwarves protecting him had thrown him through the portal to get him home.
He looked around and saw a group of ten dwarven warriors standing around him. They had been the ones who had picked him up. Al turned around and saw the crystal lying on the ground. The mission had been accomplished.
The dwarf king then looked back to the mound of addorite. Benbo was still inside, as were so many others. Al turned and reached for the crystal. He scooped it up and started for the mound again. The other dwarves swooped in and tried to block his path.
“No, my king!” one shouted.
“You can’t reopen the portal!” another added.
“You’ll kill us all!” a third yelled.
Someone wrapped their arms around Al’s legs and the dwarf king fell to his knees, just a few short feet away from the mound. Tears filled his eyes and he called out for Benbo.
CHAPTER 18
Year 3,711 Age of Demigods, Late Winter.
2nd year of the reign of Aldehenkaru’hktanah Sit’marihu, 13th King of Roegudok Hall.
A familiar tug came at Al’s armor. He looked down to see his cavedog. He reached down and pet the scaly lizard.
“Your cavedog has been loyally waiting for you this whole time,” one of the guards said.
“How long were we gone?” Al asked.
“Just under two months,” the warrior replied. “I came in only after these others came back from the portal and sent a runner up to me.”
“Have you been here long?” Al asked.
One of the other warrior’s shrugged. “We came back through the tunnel a couple days ago.”
Al nodded and glanced back to the mound of addorite. “It was a struggle for me to get back through,” he said. “Come, we should tell the others that it’s over. I’ll go on ahead and report back to Hiasyntar’Kulai. Bring everyone up from the mines, let’s take the next week to rest and mourn for our fallen kin, and leave the mine for a later time.”
Al hopped onto his cavedog and rode up to the mithril gate.
The cavedog seemed as excited as he felt while he held the blue crystal in his arms. The lizard zipped along faster than Al had ever ridden it before. As he came within one hundred yards of the gate, the other guards began shouting.
“It’s the king! It’s the king!”
“He’s alive!”
“Open the gates!” Al called out.
The mithril portcullis was raised quickly and Al rushed through, holding the large, blue crystal high over his head for all to see. The miners and guards clapped and cheered as he rode past at a blinding speed, riding straight for Kijik, who was dutifully manning one of the large ballista launchers.
“Hail!” Kijik shouted.
“Hail to the king!” others echoed.
Al stopped his cavedog and held the blue crystal out to Kijik.
Kijik furrowed his brow and reluctantly held his hands out to receive the blue crystal. “Why do you give this to me?”
Al placed it into Kijik’s hands and looked the Commander of the Home Guard in the eyes. “You command the Home Guard. That means your highest responsibility is to protect Roegudok Hall. This crystal creates a magical field called the Mystinen. I cannot take it up into the main hall, for it would change the infrastructure of the mountain over time. I also can’t give it to the Ancients, for it would harm them. So, I give it to you. I want you and your men to create an iron cage. Line the inside and outside layers with mithril and then bolt the cage down to the wall right there,” Al said as he pointed to the wall behind Kijik. “Until the power fades from this crystal, we can continue to mine addorite, and as long as the crystal remains safely guarded inside the metal cage, none shall ever again be able to open the portal back to where the demons came from.”
“I understand, Sire,” Kijik said. He turned and began barking orders. “You heard the king. Bring me iron, steel, and mithril. We are going to make a cage for this!” Kijik held the crystal high in the air and the others cheered.
Al clapped Kijik on the back. “I will see you tonight in the main hall.”
Kijik nodded eagerly and proclaimed, “We should make a feast.”
The dwarf king then mounted his cavedog and made haste through the tunnels.
If the cheering had been loud and joyous in the tunnels, it was deafening when he reached the main hall. The entire marketplace came to a halt as merchants and craftsmen stopped to praise the king. He raised Murskain high over head as he urged his cavedog onward toward the exit tunnel and shouted repeatedly, “It’s over! The demons are gone!”
As he drew near the gates at the end of the three-mile-long tunnel, his heart was bursting with pride. His excitement amplified as the gates opened and the light of a later winter morning greeted him. He rode out and didn’t even mind the cold as he leapt down from his cavedog and walked toward Hiasyntar’Kulai.
The great dragon raised its head and smiled. “The king has returned,” he said joyfully.
“I have the crystal,” Al said. “I have ordered it to be kept in a metal box near Demon Spring so we can continue to mine in the depths for addorite and the Mystinen shall remain stable.”
“Wise,” Hiasyntar’Kulai commented.
Al bowed low and then set the head of his warhammer down in the snow. “How long will the crystal remain active?”
Hiasyntar’Kulai emitted a throaty growl and then turned his head to a slight angle. “In the alternate plane, it would have survived for eons, or possibly forever since time is so much different compared to time as we experience it.
However, even here it should last for a few hundred years.”
“Well then,” Al smirked, “I should be able to mine all the addorite you could possibly want.”
“It is well,” Hiasyntar’Kulai replied. “Now, go inside. Feast and celebrate with your people. A new era of prosperity has begun. I dare say that the glory of Roegudok Hall shall be brightest under the reign of Aldehenkaru’hktanah Sit’marihu.”
Al bowed low, and then he bade the Father of the Ancients farewell. He turned and mounted his cavedog once more and entered the long tunnel leading up to the main hall. The feasting lasted for forty days and nights, ceasing only when the first flowers of spring began to poke through the melting snow.
It was the beginning of the third year of the reign of Aldehenkaru’hktanah Sit’marihu, and the dwarves of Roegudok Hall had never had so many reasons to be joyous since the beginning of time.
About the Author
Well… the truth is that Sam is a very lucky guy. He juggles work in such a way that he makes sure to spend enough time with his loving wife and sons. He enjoys bringing his characters to life, and is absolutely thrilled that other people choose to spend their time exploring the constructs of his imagination. Since you are one of those people, thank you very much for your support.
If he can carve out an extra hour for himself during the day, he’ll hit the gym to try and regain the body he used to have in his youth (but he eats too much junk food to ever accomplish that goal).
He spent nearly five years serving as a U.S. Diplomat and absolutely loved the experience, but decided to move back home. Outside of the U.S. he has lived in Latvia, Hungary, and Armenia. He speaks Russian, Hungarian, and Armenian. (He used to speak some Latvian too, but he has no one to practice with anymore…)
He has two dogs.
He plays the Elder Scrolls series.
His favorite superhero is Wolverine, but Batman is a close second.
If the kids go to bed at a reasonable hour, he will cuddle up with his wife to watch Scrubs reruns, the Big Bang Theory, Castle, and Burn Notice.
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