Elvenshore: 02 - The Lost Cities of Elvenshore

by Clark Graham

  “I don’t think that it is our place to fight the battles of men. I would like to have taken a few more out while we were out there, but that would have just attracted the main body of the enemy. I think we should tell King Mortimur that he has a problem and let him deal with it,” Sarchise replied.

  “A very good idea, but meanwhile there are large sections of the forest that are not safe to go into, and what of the Crystal Caverns? Someone could rebuild the breeding pits,” Amlius pointed out.

  “We will need to send an army to the Crystal Caverns to guard them, so no one can enter there anymore,” Sarchise replied.

  “Agreed, but maybe we can colonize it and make it another Dwarf Kingdom,” Darnien said.

  “The four Kingdoms would refer to the Kingdoms of the Dwarves instead of the Kingdoms of men. I like that idea,” Sarchise responded.

  “Right now, let’s eat and worry about the problems of the land later,” Amlius said. They all ate with gusto.

  The porridge hit the spot with Sarchise. It was now just a warm, satisfied feeling in his stomach. He had never had it before, but enjoyed it mightily.

  "Now that I have had my breakfast, I will get ready for my trip back to the Mountains of Iron," Sarchise said.

  "That will have to wait until Hemlot arrives with his army arrives," Interrupted Darnien," I don't want to be responsible for your safe passage. There are those that want you as their prisoner. I don't have enough forces here at the fort to protect you and the Elf."

  "The Elf has a name,"responded Amlius.

  Ignoring Amlius's comment, Sarchise said, "How many days away are they? I want to see my sons."

  Darnien thought for a minute, "If Fawn was able to catch up with them then they should be here any day. If she missed them on the road, then they will be headed for the Elf cities and it could be weeks before we see them."

  Sarchise was not happy about this. "Very well, we wait."

  Sarchise made his way back to the top of the Ornamac tree to see if he could spot a Dwarf army in the woods. There was none.

  The Siege of the Fort

  A few hours later Sarchisewas joined in the tree by Darnien. "We have a problem,” he panted. “One of my patrols has run into a group of Humans and Gremlins in the forest. They were attacked and I have two dead and five wounded. Another patrol spotted another group of Humans. It looks as if they are coming to the fort."

  Sarchise thought for a minute and then ordered, “Bring in the patrols and double bar the gate. I expect that these men are getting desperate and they know by now that Amlius is here. They do not have near enough men to carry the fort. They are either bluffing, or they do not know our strength. This may be our chance to destroy them.”

  Darnien responded, “Yes, my Prince,” and was soon gone down the ladder.

  Sarchise watched as the patrols were recalled. The archers manned the battlements and a there was a large company of warriors stationed by the front gates ready to rush out if needed.

  Sarchise soon turned around to see that Amlius had come up into the top of the tree. “I hear we are about to have a gathering in my honor.”

  “If they are wise, they will withdraw. It is not going to be a good day for them,” Sarchise said.

  Darnien made his way back up to the top of the Ornamac tree to join the Amlius and Sarchise. He turned to Sarchise and reported, “All is ready.”

  Sarchise nodded and asked, “Do you have a battle horn?”

  Darnien pulled it out from under his coat and showed it to Sarchise.

  “Very good,” said Sarchise, “We may need that very soon.”

  From the vantage point of the Ornamac tree, Sarchise watched as the men and Gremlins, all bearing torches, marched out of the east and came close to the side of the fort. At that point they surrounded it, so the torches were lighting up the forest on all sides of the fort. Fire was a particular worry since the walls of the fort had been made out of wood.

  Everyone stood fast, hoping that there was a way out of the standoff, but everyone knew deep inside that there was not. Soon they heard a booming voice coming out of the east side of the forest.

  Sarchise recognized the voice as the same one he had heard in the city of Santera, when the group gathered there to hear their leader.

  Amlius was trying to catch sight of the leader, too. He paced back and forth across the platform in the Ornamac tree until he spotted him.

  “Dwarves of High Mountain,” the leader's voice started, “We mean you no harm. Our only desire is to rid you of the Elf. He is wanted by King Gregor of the Land of Zor. All we ask is your cooperation in sending him out. Since Dwarf and Elf are old enemies, there is no reason for you to withhold him from us. You must ask yourself, do you want to die for the sake of and Elf? Would you rather not rather rid yourself of him and live in peace?”

  “He is rather convincing,” remarked Darnien.

  “He was convincing,” replied Amlius as he let his arrow go. There was a slight twang as then Sarchise watched in the woods as a man fell down.

  “Archers, fire!” Sarchise ordered and instantly the Dwarves on the ramparts let their arrows fly. Curses and screams of pain rent the air. The Humans in the forest shot back, some of them using flaming arrows that started small fires when they hit the walls of the fort. Some of the Dwarf archers fell off the ramparts when they were hit.

  “Blow the horn,” yelled Sarchise.

  Darnien gave the horn three strong short blasts. .He waited for a few minutes, and when he heard no response, he gave three more short blasts. This time there was an answer of three long blasts off in the distance.

  Darnien smiled and said, “The men of Hemlot are on their way! I will lead the charge out of the gates and catch the Humans off guard.” Darnien rushed down the tree’s ladder and down to the gate.

  Sarchise wanted to go with him but knew he would not be allowed to, so he satisfied himself shooting targets of opportunity from up in the Ornamac tree.

  Sarchise heard Darnien yell, “Open the gate!” Amlius and he then watched the company of Dwarves issue forth out of it. The gate was immediately closed behind them.

  The archers on the walls had a double duty of putting out the fires that the arrows were causing to the walls, and shooting arrows back at the enemy.

  Darnien was gaining ground when the Hemlot and his two armies hit the Humans from the North in a surprise attack. The Human and Gremlin army scattered to the wind with the Dwarves in swift pursuit.

  Sarchise could take it no more. He left Amlius, who was still shooting targets of opportunity, and rushed down to the gate. A large group of Dwarves joined him as the gate opened and they took out after the retreating enemy.

  Long into the night, clashes of steel and skirmishes could be heard way off in the woods. As the dawn arose, the Dwarves were gathering back together at the fort. A few of them were bringing back captured Humans with them,some wounded. Sarchise found Darnien leaning against a tree with a mudpack on his shoulder.

  The healer looked up at Sarchise when he approached and said, “Not a deep wound, but it will leave a good scar that he can show his grandchildren years from now.”

  Darnien commented, “They made a mistake in attacking us. We had them outnumbered.”

  “You out-fought them too, I guess they were so arrogant to think that you would just hand over Amlius and they could go on their merry way,” Sarchise said.

  Hemlot came up to them and saw the mudpack on Darnien He looked concerned until Sarchise said, “The healer said it wasn’t deep.”

  “Oh, good,” Hemlot responded. He then reported, “We were setting up camp for the night and then were going to make the fort early the next day. Someone came up to me said they heard a war horn. We stopped to listen and waited until it sounded again. That is when we answered it. Then my men and I did a forced march when until we came upon the battle. We were very surprised to find that we were fighting mostly Humans.”

  “Ye It seems there is a rebellion afoot, again
st the King of Ril, that I thought would die down after they captured Gregor, but they are making him a martyr, in order to get power for themselves,” Sarchise answered, “They think the power to controlling the four kingdoms lays with breeding Gremlins, and the Elf is the key to that.”

  “I have brought several of the men for questioning, when you have time,” Hemlot said.

  “I have time now, lead me to them,” Sarchise responded.

  The Tales of a Sell Sword

  Hemlot led him to an area next to the back wall of the fort where a group of about twenty men were sitting or lying down, depending on the severity of their wounds. Sarchise had them brought forward, one at a time. He didn’t want the other men to hear what the ones he was talking to were saying.

  “What is your name?” was always the first question he asked and then he followed with, “Where are you from?” He could judge their level of cooperation that way. If they were willing to cooperate he would go further into the questioning, trying to find out where they were recruited and who recruited them. If they didn’t cooperate, it didn’t matter. There were enough who did and they would all die when he turned them over to the King of Ril.

  One of those who were brought up sporting a nasty battleaxe wound to his upper chest. The healers had done what they could for him, but he was having trouble breathing.

  “What is your name?” Sarchise asked.

  “Tannic.”

  “Where are you from?”

  “I am from the crossroads, like most of these men; I was down on my luck. Someone came through a tavern along the King’s road and rubbed a couple of gold coins under my nose, promising me land and gold if I called him King. To me, King was just another word. I followed him and he fed me well and gave me a sword. We were told to go find the Elf, next thing I know, I am battling Dwarves.”

  “Who were your leaders?”

  “Does it matter? They are all dead. Regnor was the main leader. There were lesser ones as well. Regnor died before the battle even began. An arrow was fired from the large tree. Some of the rest tried to make a stand but were mowed down by battleaxes. Those that ran were hunted down,” Tannic was visibly weak, but he was a good source of information so Sarchise continued.

  “What was your eventual plan?”

  “Gregor wanted to rule the world and he didn’t care who he had to kill to do it. He thought that you and the Dwarves would help him against King Mortimur, but when you refused, he wanted your head. That’s when he started gathering Gremlins in the Westwood. There were not enough, so he went after the Elf to get the secret of breeding Gremlins.”

  “Are there any more armies out there?”

  Tannic thought for a minute. “There were only two armies, including one that was destroyed. Our army was formed after that other one was destroyed. Gregor gave Regnor money to hire sell swords, but Gregor was captured before the army could be raised. I don’t think that Regnor was in a big hurry to hire the men when he saw the forces of Ril coming down the King’s road after Gregor. He waited until afterwards, promising to free Gregor. We all know that Gregor is dead by now, but it didn’t matter. As long as we got fed and paid, we followed Regnor. There are those who want to be Kings in the Middle Kingdom, but they do not have the gold that Gregor had to raise forces, and after Gregor was taken, the people in the Middle Kingdom rose up against the so -called Kings and put them to death.”

  “You look tired. You can go back and sit down now,” Sarchise said.

  Tannic paused to ask, “What will happen to us?”

  “You attacked the Dwarves. You will be brought before King Cazz to see what he wishes to do with you. He may try you himself, or hand you over to King Mortimur for trial,” Sarchise answered.

  “I have a wife and two sons, well, the wife left me a long time ago, but I would like to get a message to my sons, tell them not to follow in their father’s footsteps and tell them goodbye,” Tannic was almost pleading. He was under no delusion that he was going to survive this.

  A twinge hit Sarchise’s heart when the man talked about his two sons, “I will allow that,” Sarchise responded.

  Tannic nodded and went back to sit down with the other prisoners.

  A lot of the rest of the men were hard- hearted and would not even tell Sarchise their names. A couple of them did cooperate, but told Sarchise basically the same things that Tannic did.

  When Sarchise was done with his questioning, he ate and then went back up to the Ornamac tree to sit and think. He was soon joined by the Elf.

  They sat there in the darkening evening, watching out from the tree as the mists gathered around the forest below them. The greens and the grays of the forest spread out before them. Finally Amlius spoke. “Now you see why I came back here.”

  “It is beautiful. If it were not for my two sons, I would have asked the King to leave me here at the fort,’” Sarchise replied.

  “It occurs to me that some of those men are only here for the gold, and now they will be sentenced to death if Mortimur gets a hold of them,” Amlius said.

  “It is not up to me to judge them. I will leave that to the Kings and their courts,” Sarchise replied, “Besides, if the tables were turned and Gregor was still in charge and had won this battle instead of us, do you think that those same men would not be, as we speak, taking me to Gregor so he could chop off my head?”

  “You make a good point.”

  They stayed up there looking out at the Westwood until the bonfire was lit and the Dwarves started gathering to honor their fallen and sing praises to the heroes.

  “Shall we go down and join the others?” asked Amlius.

  “You are becoming a Dwarf, my friend. No I think I will stay here; I have a lot to think about.”

  “Nonsense,” Amlius said in a sharp tone, “Those warriors fought to protect you and me. We will show them our support with our presence.”

  “Now it is you that make a good point. Come, my friend, let us go down.”

  After resting the troops for a few days, Hemlot decided it was time to get his Prince back to the Mountains of Iron. Darnien and the rest of the wounded from High Mountain were already on their way back there to recuperate.

  Hemlot was bringing carts back to put the wounded and the prisoners in. It was going to be a long journey back home. The horses of the Valkyrie had made it so much faster, but they didn’t have that now. The war horn had made a loud and long sound, and then the gates opened to let them march out. Sarchise told his friend Amlius goodbye and then followed the army.

  Sarchise took one long look back at the battered fort. It had already been decided, after the battle, that stone was going to be brought from High Mountain to replace the wooden walls. It had never been the intention of the fort to hold off another army, just to defend themselves from the giant Blackspot spider. If they were going to keep a garrison there, they needed proper walls and as long as the Elf, and his secrets, was living there, they were going to keep a garrison there.

  Strangers in the Forest

  The going through the Westwood was easy at first, in that part of the forest they could walk four abreast, but later on it would get narrow and they would have to walk single file. Sarchise was still not sure if there were dangers lurking around a corner. Some of the men that attacked them at the fort had not been caught, so they were still on the loose. They could be gathering reinforcements to attack them. He also worried that the prisoners might not have told him about another army of Humans and Gremlins.

  They Dwarves were being as cautious as they could, and that would have to do in Sarchise’s mind. There was a patrol out in front of the main body and another patrol following the main body.

  On the third day when the forest started getting more dense, men were spotted following the Dwarves. Sarchise didn’t want to be ambushed on the narrow trails of the northern part of the Westwood, so he stopped the army in its tracks, and formed a defensive parameter.

  “Bring me the Human Tannic,” Sarchise ordered.
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  When he was brought forward, Sarchise asked him, “Who is shadowing my column and why?”

  “I do not know, I have seen no one.”

  “Who could it be, is there another army of men out there?” Sarchise asked again.

  “We have no leaders among those who are captured. They would have no reason to try and recapture anyone here as most of us are wounded,” Tannic said.

  Sarchise had him sent back to the other Humans. He then sent for Hemlot, “I will stay with a rear guard and sent the rest of you through the narrow trails. We will not use the bypass trail, but head straight to the Lost City.”

  Hemlot was not agreeable to that. “No, my Prince, we will let someone else take the rear guard. I cannot afford to lose you. King Cazz was very upset when he thought that he had sent you to your death. I will hide two of my warriors in the trees, one on either side of the trail. If there is an army following us, they will blow their war horns long and loud, until they are silenced.”

  “Put the man Tannic in the middle of the trail. I will use him as a spy for us,” Sarchise said.

  “More likely he will report us to those who follow us, but it is worth a try,” Hemlot said.

  When they had the two Dwarves hidden in the trees Sarchise sent for Tannic, “I think in my heart that you were just a hired sword with no political motivation to fight. I want you to stay on the trail and find out who follows us.”

  “I have nothing to lose. I will spy for you,” Tannic said bluntly.

  The column started down the trail. The two Dwarves that were watching Tannic, were stationed well to the back of the army. Further on there was a strong rear guard that was dug in across the trail to delay any attack on the main body. Hemlot had Sarchise go through in the middle of the army, despite all of his protests. When they arrived in front of the Lost City, they had not heard any war horns. Soon the rear guard showed up along with those two Dwarves that were hidden in the woods.