by Josh Vogt
Her thoughts filled with her lost mother and brother, everything she might've done better or different to save them, and the army marching on the city. Could this whole series of events have been averted if she'd returned home right after the war ended? What would her life be like if she'd never joined the mercenaries, never met Ondorum, simply reintegrated herself into Taggoret to form the next link in her family line? Would Brakisten have fallen into drunkenness and out of the faith? Would Gromir have turned her into an object to be coveted from afar? Would he have ever discovered the ruins and led Jannasten down there to an unwitting doom?
Or, if she'd never returned at all, would Gromir have found the courage to defy the duergar and reveal the spy in their midst? Without her interference, would he have found a way to break the forge and keep Vaskegar from employing it? Whatever path her mind took, it always seemed to end in disaster, always her fault.
"You can't blame yourself," Ondorum said.
She started and looked over to where he lounged on a cushioned stone bench, watching her pace.
"What's that?"
"You can't blame yourself for others' decisions," he said, sitting up."You can only be responsible for the choices you make here and now."
She snorted."Look who's talking. Why do you think I'm blaming myself for anything?"
He nodded at her hands."The way your fists curl while you're thinking, like you need to strike your own thoughts down."
She forced her fingers to relax."Isn't that what you do? Find what you don't like about yourself and destroy it? Break away the flaws until they're all gone?"
"Not quite. Think of it like a stonemason. If one took a block of stone—even a heavily flawed one—and simply attacked it with hammer and chisel, chunking away portions without considering what elements deserved to remain, eventually you'd be left with nothing but rubble. You must work slow and steady, refining rather than shattering. Even if you find a portion to be removed, you take time to find materials to replace it, otherwise you threaten the durability of the entire piece." He held up a flat palm, as if supporting an invisible object."In the same way, we must work in increments, lest our whole selves crumble beneath the pressure."
She rubbed the back of her neck."Makes sense, I guess. Never heard you explain it like that before, though. This have anything to do with why you started talking again?"
He brushed a hand over his side. After the healing, the barest tips of purple crystals had poked up through his skin."Somewhat. I realized my error in following the path of silence. I removed too much of myself without anything to replace it. I left myself incomplete, no longer able to express myself in essential ways." His gaze dropped, as if ashamed."Nor could I fully share myself with those I truly care for."
The silence swelled until it started to choke her. She cleared her throat."So it's all back to normal? You drop the vow and we move on?"
"Almost." His eyes met hers again, earnest and steady."The time spent silent wasn't entirely in vain. Something's different."
"How so?"
"I'm not quite sure, yet. I feel the change, but haven't determined how best to manifest it." He peered at her."In the meantime, it's more than just guilt bothering you, isn't it?"
Akina turned and scowled at the wall."I guess I'm just wondering more and more..." She puffed a sigh."What's the point of all this, Ondorum?"
"Quite the encompassing question. The point of what, specifically?"
She flung a hand out, indicating everything they'd passed through recently."The fighting. The deaths. The struggle. Is there a point? Is there anything beyond just knowing you're still going and your enemy isn't? Why do you fight?" She raised a hand."Wait, don't tell me. It all has to do with perfection, hm?"
"That's part of it," he said slowly."But I've come to realize the singular pursuit of perfection in myself is a lesser goal. It's only when I apply what I learn to other lives that it matters. If I withdraw myself and achieve perfection in isolation, never interacting with the world, what value would it have?"
"But don't you figure it'd be easier to reach your goal alone? Isn't it difficult to find perfection when everything around you is so broken?"
"Yes, it's a struggle. A constant battle between the ideal and the real." He formed a circle with his hands."Just as life and death are forever entwined. Without one, the other would be meaningless. Our lives give substance to our deaths, and death makes life worth delighting in while we're blessed to possess it."
"But when my life is all about bringing death to others," she said,"doesn't that defeat the purpose?"
"Death and destruction may seem futile to some, but they make room for new life and growth to occur in their wake. You fixate on the lives you've taken, rather than the ones you've saved or helped flourish."
"Who have I saved, Ondorum? I don't know their names. I don't know their faces."
"There are many I could name from our time with Durgan's band and beyond. Whole towns, even a few cities whose paths could've led to the grave had you not interfered. Think also of Izthuri and her tribe. Might they not now have a better chance of survival? And what of Taggoret itself? We fought to reach this city in time. If we'd simply accepted our deaths down below, then your people would've been caught unawares and likely slaughtered. They now have a chance to live."
She grunted and went over to sit by him. Leaning against his solid build, she tried to relax. The strain in her mind eased as they sat there, taking comfort in just being alive and together in the moment.
"You really think my death will have meaning?" she whispered."That I'll have made a difference?"
"Whenever it comes—may it be many years from now—I've no doubt of it."
She yawned, welcoming a sleepy fog that stole over her. Before she surrendered to it, she used his shoulders to pull herself up and him down into a long, full kiss. When they broke away, his malachite-tinged eyes had brightened, and her drowsiness pulled back for a moment.
"I know you just started again, but can we stop talking for a little while?"
He chuckled."They say action holds more substance than words."
"Right."
Afterward, she slept—for how long, she didn't know. When she woke, he rumbled on the cushions beside her, lost in an unknown dream. She sat up, wondering what had roused her. Then another knock sounded on the chamber door. She nudged Ondorum awake with an elbow and retrieved her clothes while he donned his robe. The attendant from before waited outside. He returned her armor—dents hammered out of the breastplate, leather oiled, straps repaired, helm buffed to a gleam—and stated that a local armorer would be delivering a maulaxe soon, as she'd noted losing hers during the Darklands trek. As she strapped her equipment on, he conveyed a brief message from the royal council.
"They've requested your presence at the main undergates to take part in the defense. They understand if you wish to abstain, considering the sacrifices you've already made, but believe your knowledge of the invaders will be invaluable to the effort."
"We'll be there," she said."What time is it? How long has it been?"
"It's been a day and a half since your arrival, and is now ten strokes into the evening. Advance scouts have returned and report the duergar force should strike the city by morning."
Chapter Thirty-One
Forge Spurned
Akina studied the city defenses, looking for any gap, any hole Vaskegar could exploit. Fortunately, after centuries of underground warfare, dwarves had gained more than a keen understanding of how to protect their stonebound dwellings.
The main tunnel leading down into the depths had three successive gates leading up to the city proper. They'd been spaced a couple hundred yards from each other to form potential killing grounds in between. The walls and yards were guarded by five hundred dwarven defenders, their armor polished and weapons sharpened. Two hundred had been stationed at the deepest gate, with the other three split between the reserve gates. While the tunnel beyond stood nowhere near as high or broad as the
Long Walk, it provided enough room that the Darklands caravan Akina and Ondorum once hid within could've passed through with ease. Any obstacles had long been cleared away, creating a straight shot down the main approach, and this had been littered with deathtraps.
The ground leading up to the first gate had been dug out in spots and covered in metal grates, which were now concealed by false patches of earth or illusion. The space below these had been filled with oil or simmering embers. According to the council's plans, piping fed into the base of the ember pits, and was connected to enormous bellows further up, which, when pumped, would spew fire over any attackers. Spellcasters would set the oil pits alight at the right moment to catch duergar within the flames.
Metal and stone barricades had been erected, forming a maze for the attackers to wind through, directing them across the trapped portions and giving the dwarven archers time to pick off the first waves. Spiked pits were rigged to drop open, sections of the ceiling poised to fall, and other nasty tricks readied to kill as many duergar as possible before they even reached the gates.
If worst came to it and the attackers somehow broke through the first two gates, the tunnel ceiling just beyond the third had been cored through in spots and rigged with mining explosives. These could be discharged to collapse the tunnel, sending countless tons of rock thundering down. It would bury any defenders left fighting outside the gate, but at least the city itself would be spared—for a time.
Akina and Ondorum joined the warriors at the first gate lookout stations, determined to halt the attack there. Through an observation slot, they watched the tunnel stretch away. Torches and enchanted lights blazed all along it, while sorcerers and wizards worked constant dispellings to ensure no duergar tried to sneak up under invisibility or any sort of camouflage.
The gate itself blocked the whole tunnel, wall to wall, floor to ceiling. Central double-doors provided the only external access, and this had been bolted shut, barred, and sealed further with chains secured by a complex network of gears. Aside from slit windows for archers, the only other openings were larger hatches that allowed heavy ballistae to fire if the attackers got close enough—though these were currently latched shut and appeared seamless from the outside.
After getting a sense of the defenses, Akina scrutinized the defenders themselves. To the last dwarf, they wore the same foreboding expression, and the few who moved about, checking last-minute preparations, did so with dour determination. This was their home, and no duergar would take it from them while they lived. She didn't doubt their courage and strength, but wondered how well it would hold when faced with Vaskegar's unholy forces. She fought down a faint echo of horror within herself as she thought of Gromir's fate, and the twisted, chained forms of the Forge Spurned.
If they didn't stop Vaskegar here, he'd have the opportunity to consolidate even greater power, and his victories would draw more duergar to him, eventually rivaling the lords of Hagegraf itself. The whole of the Five Kings Mountains would be shaken as city after city fell to his replenishing army, fueled by the forge.
She drew her new maulaxe and studied the head for the dozenth time. One of the councilors must've recognized the Fairingot name, for the maulaxe had been emblazoned on one side with her family's sigil, while they'd engraved the peaks and crown emblem of the Five Kings Mountains on the other. The end of the haft had also been capped with a spiked iron ball. She carried the weapon proudly, honored at such an unexpected gift. Planting its head on the ground, she bowed her own.
Since we're talking again, Torag, I figure I should try it once more before I might be able to do it in person. If...if I die here, know that it's for my people. For the lives they've got beyond these gates. If I'm lost in battle, let it at least matter. Help me give them a chance at a happy future, even if I don't get to see it.
She lifted her head as the ground trembled underfoot. She glanced at Ondorum, who held an iron staff engraved with dwarven runes and the Five Kings Mountains sigil, also gifted by the city weaponsmiths. His nod confirmed her feeling. Most of the other dwarves didn't so much as shuffle in their positions.
She looked out at the tunnel again as the first duergar ranks marched into view. Rows upon rows of black-and-red armored duergar tromped along, eyes like grave dust. A handful of large fire and earth elementals came alongside them, and Vaskegar led them all on his horned beetle, bone armor gleaming in the conjured lights.
Behind them came duergar artillery riding giant beetles and spiders, weapons strapped to their saddles while they hefted crossbows. Further ranks appeared behind them, and a roil of black smoke appeared as Forge Spurned mingled with the soldiers. Dwarven oaths rose from other watchers as the Forge Spurned lumbered closer. Their hooked chains writhed across their misshapen bodies while endless smoke belched from their open mouths. The fumes rose and coated the roof with soot, forming a low-hanging cloud of darkness that matched their advance. All of the Forge Spurned had been armed, most with hammers, but others with axes and blades.
Akina searched for Gromir among them, but couldn't distinguish him from the rest. She prayed his soul had been cast out of the tortured wreck of a body during the transformation, and that he didn't suffer inside, watching as his old self was forced to serve Droskar.
Two scanderigs brought up the rear, lighting up the far end of the tunnel with the fiendish glows visible through their eyes, nostrils, and mouths. Several other strange-looking constructs lumbered beside them. As round as the scanderigs but lacking the forgefiends' inner fire, these newcomers had sculpted heads dominated by enormous, gaping maws, creating the disturbing impression of screaming duergar. Apparently Vaskegar had gotten the forge working again after all, at least for a bit.
The trembling in the ground became a pounding, reverberating up through Akina's legs and forming a penetrating pressure at the back of her skull, as if someone pounded a thick nail in there. She squinted, trying to see through the growing cloud of ash. Something more was going on toward the back of the army.
The scanderigs had turned to the tunnel walls and began using their metal claws to gouge huge chunks of stone, which they then carried along as if bearing gifts.
Akina frowned. The constructs were deadly enough on their own. Why would they...
The answer rolled into view behind the constructs themselves. A trio of massive metal trebuchets set on spiked metal wheels ground forward, moved and manned by teams of duergar. The main throwing arms of the devices were inscribed with hot-white glowing runes that hurt Akina's eyes.
Akina gaped in horror, realizing the terrible error the defenders had made."Oh, gods."
Ondorum looked at her in question, but she whirled and shouted down to the gate guards.
"Open the gate," she cried."Get troops out in front! Ready an assault!"
The gate captain, a white-haired dwarf with a face full of scars, raced over."What're you about?"
She dragged him to an arrowslit and pointed out."See those constructs with the rocks? I'm thinking they can fling those a long way. And those trebuchets behind them? I'll bet my armor they're magical ones straight from Droskar's realm, more powerful than any we're used to. The duergar aren't going to just smash themselves face-first into the gates. They're going to batter it down from a distance and then march right on in."
Scars twisted as he peered out at the duergar."How can you be sure?"
"Vaskegar's smart," she said, hating as she admitted it."He's not going to waste his forces attacking these gates. Instead, he's going to throw rocks harder and farther than we can, until we either go out and meet him or this whole place comes down on our heads."
The gate captain straightened and glared around at the rest of the defenders watching them."That'd mean compromising our whole defense plan."
"Sticking to that plan means sitting here and getting buried alive. Our best chance is a preemptive strike."
He yanked at his beard."I don't know. I need to confer with—"
"There's no time." She froze for a mom
ent."But I'll give you some."
She ran past the gate captain before he could argue further. Spotting a ballista hatch, she smashed it open with the maulaxe and leaped out. Dwarves raised a cry as she dropped into the trapped field, planting her maulaxe and going to one knee to catch herself. Before she even rose, a second thud told her Ondorum had landed at her side. She hid a grin. He hadn't hesitated a second in following. Gods, she was going to make his bones quake after this was all over.
Bellows went up from behind the wall. Lever and gears clanked and chains rattled, indicating the gates were being unlocked from within. Akina silently urged the defenders to hurry.
Beside her, Ondorum studied the enemy. He gave her a calm look, nodded in encouragement, and then lifted his gaze again to Vaskegar, who'd halted with the first duergar line just beyond where the killing field began.
The duergar commander studied the two standing between him and the gate. His voice rang out.
"Come to surrender?"
Akina stepped forward and called back."Come to shatter your bones and use them for kindling!"
He adjusted his jawbone crown."A touching sentiment, but you're hardly equal to the task. Your ancestors proved their unworthiness, their inability to control their own destinies by fleeing the depths when the first tremors shook the world." His smirk was visible across the distance."And you, dustling, surrendered any inheritance to this power when you fled weeping before me down below."
"You're a coward and a thief, Vaskegar," she cried."You've invaded our ancient homes. You've murdered our kin. And now you're here with stolen weapons to take what belongs to us. The stones here are ours. Come any closer and you'll bleed out on them."
"The stones?" He waved back at the earth elementals with his ranks."I happen to command them myself."
"You don't command your own bowels!" Akina shook her maulaxe.