Blood Stone (11) (The Underground Kingdom)

by Steve Elliott

  “Sommubants,” Thorn told everyone.

  “Ah!” came the understanding sighs.

  “The fairies …..” I began once more.

  “….. Ones.” Thorn interpreted again.

  “……. will be in the air, attacking from above. They’ll be dropping phosphorous firebombs. Balis tells me their miners use it to expand the tunnels. The Knarl will be so packed together that they’ll spread the fire to each other. After that I want the fairies in reserve.”

  “Doing what?” Thorn asked.

  “They’re going to be our surprise backup contingent,” I clarified. “While the Knarl are pushing their way into the funnel, I’m going to send them around to the back to attack from behind. The wolves will be there as well. With a bit of luck, that will spread a considerable amount of confusion.”

  “But what about the snoles?” Balis demanded. “How do we fight fire breathing lizards?”

  “I’m glad you asked,” I announced, “because I have a strategy for them as well. It’s not foolproof but it’s the best I can come up with. Okay, now here’s the first part of the plan. I want every fairy to fly up the surface world and come back with a bucket of sand.”

  “Sand?” Thorn exclaimed. “Whatever for?”

  “Well, the last time we encountered the snoles,” I explained, “I noticed that they were easily startled and, when they were, they tended to flame randomly as a defence mechanism. Now, if we can smother each one of them with sand, I figure they’ll instinctively use fire. And what happens when you melt sand?”

  “You get glass!” Balis exclaimed.

  “Exactly!” I announced. “I plan to transform each snole into a lump of glass. Let’s see them get out of that!” An excited buzz of conversation greeted my statement.

  “It sounds almost too simple to be true,” Balis said, thoughtfully.

  “I know,” I agreed. “It’ll take careful planning. All the sand will have to be dumped at the same time. I figure about twenty fairies per snole. That should cover them with more than enough to spare. I think they’ll find it hard to breathe when they’re encased in glass.”

  “But won’t they simply melt their way out again?” someone asked.

  “Fire needs oxygen in order to burn,” I explained, “and there won’t be much left for them inside a solid glass case.”

  “It’ll be tricky though,” Thorn mused, “in the middle of the battle and all.”

  “I know,” I agreed, “and that’s why we have to do it beforehand. We have to take the snoles out of the picture before we start. I want you,” I said, addressing Thorn, “to act as a scout to see what the Knarls are up to and precisely where they are. At the first opportunity, when the snoles are in a group and separated from the main body of the Knarls, I want you to coordinate the sand drop.”

  “I want to go too!” Rosewing insisted. “I can help!”

  “I don’t know about that,” I dithered. “It could be extremely dangerous and I promised your Mother to look after you.”

  “This whole scenario is dangerous,” Rosewing pointed out. “Every single one of us will be risking our lives until this whole thing is settled one way or the other. Besides, Aunt Arugohumna will be there to see that nothing happens. Please, Father. I promise I won’t do anything silly.”

  “You’re right, of course,” I conceded. “Every single thing we do from now on will put our lives in jeopardy.” I glared at Thorn. “Don’t let her do anything stupidly heroic,” I asserted. And then I turned to Rosewing. “Do everything that Thorn tells you,” I threatened. “She knows infinitely more about this sort of thing than you do. Don’t force me to give your Mother news about you that will break her heart, okay?”

  “I swear I’ll be good,” she affirmed.

  “You’d better be,” I grumbled. “Or else!”

  “Or else, what?” she grinned.

  “Or else ……. Or else …… I don’t know!” I exclaimed, throwing up my hands in defeat. “I’ll think of something.”

  “Yeah, yeah,” Rosewing smirked. “I can hardly wait. Like you’ve ever ‘or elsed’ me in your life.”

  Chapter 27

  The meeting broke up as everybody went about their business. Misgivings began to gnaw at my conscience. Were my plans detailed enough? Had I prepared for every contingency? War is always an uncertain business. Nothing ever went as it should. It didn’t take much to throw even the most meticulous scheme into chaos. And people were going to die. There was no way around it. I hated myself for even thinking it, but I prayed that it wouldn’t be anyone I knew. My stomach churned with nausea. In my opinion, anyone who talked about the so-called ‘glory’ of war must be a raving lunatic. Taking a steadying breath, I tried to focus on what to do next. Okay, the sand should be on its way. Thorn and Rosewing were out on patrol. Balis was organising the dwarfs, with Trix and Niama doing the same with the elves. Zenith liaised with his wolves and I think Zen was with him. There was really nothing left to do until the Knarl were spotted. Nothing, except a worried pacing up and down like a caged lion. What was I doing here? I wasn’t any sort of an army general. What did I really know about battle tactics? Well, probably more than anyone else around me, I supposed. I counted myself as a one-eyed individual in a land of the blind. I had been placed in charge as the best of a bad bargain. Still, what else could we do?

  After awhile, the fairies came back, loaded with their buckets of sand. And, thankfully, Thorn and Rosewing appeared, none the worse for wear. They reported that the Knarl had stopped marching and had set up camp with the snoles in a group on the outskirts of the spider army.

  “This appears to be the best time to strike,” I told the assembled fairies. “Remember, stay in your group of twenty and tip out your buckets at exactly the same time. I’ll be coming along as well to supervise. Any questions?”

  A mass shaking of heads greeted my last statement, and so we took to the air, with Thorn and Rosewing leading the way. It didn’t take long to sight the Knarl. They were a great deal closer to our forces than I had imagined. The Knarl numbers astonished me. I think my original five-to-one estimate might have been somewhat optimistic. I felt a tight ball of panic explode in my intestines and I had to forcibly clamp down on spiralling dark threads of despair. I signalled to the five groups of fairies and Operation ‘Glass Snole’ commenced. I watched as each group flew at top speed towards the snoles, abruptly halting above the unsuspecting lizards, unload their buckets in one coordinated movement and scarper back toward me as quickly as they could. So far so good. A second or two elapsed before anything happened and believe me, those few seconds appeared to stretch out and out, and then the yellow mounds of sand suddenly quivered, and then fused and crystallised into sparkling lumps.

  “Have we done it?” Rosewing asked, eagerly.

  “I’m not sure yet,” I told her, intently surveying the glass mounds and the confusion of the nearby Knarls. “Apparently, our eight legged friends haven’t the presence of mind to break the glass. They still don’t seem to adapt very readily to changing circumstances. That’s an interesting confirmation of what I’d already suspected. It’s a weakness we may be able to exploit. All they’re doing at present is running around in a dither. Excellent! The longer they take to start thinking logically, the less chance the snoles will have to survive.”

  In fact, it took at least a good ten minutes before the Knarl became rational again and attempted to attack the glass, but by that time I knew it would be too late. Unless the snoles had a remarkable lung capacity and the ability to stay alive while not breathing, I couldn’t see how they could possibly have survived.

  “Let’s head back,” I told my companions. “I’d say that Part One of our plan is complete.”

  It was a much relieved and cheery group of fliers who landed back at our encampment. The news spread quickly and cheers erupted all around. I became subjected to congratulations from all and sundry, but I deflected the praise onto the ones who had actually accomplished the deed.<
br />
  “There’s no need to be modest,” Nix told me. “You planned it from start to finish, and it worked a treat.”

  “Everyone did their bit,” I protested. “Anyway, what’s done is done. It’s the next bit I’m starting to worry about. There were thousands and thousands of them! It’s not going to be easy.”

  “But now we have a chance,” Balis reminded me, “which was more than we had before. All we can do is our best.”

  “You’re right,” I conceded. “We can only try our best. The Knarl aren’t invulnerable. They panic easily and that’s to our advantage. Okay, on to Step Two.”

  Chapter 28

  Now we had to wait for the Knarl to appear. Thorn and Rosewing resumed their scouting activities while I fretted about my overall strategy. Had I overlooked anything? Was there any plan that could work better? What would be the ultimate outcome of this? Had I underestimated the enemy? My frantic worrying was interrupted by the return of my aerial scouts.

  “They’re coming!” Rosewing yelled, excitedly. “All of them!” Suddenly, all my doubts disappeared and I became icy calm. I called the leaders together for a final summation.

  “Okay, this is it,” I announced. “I want the archers at the front. Use your arrows as soon as the Knarl start to come through the gap. You should be able to get in about ten volleys before they reach our front line. As soon as that happens, I want to work your way to the back of our forces and keep shooting over our heads. Be careful however because that’s when the fairies will be dropping the incendiary bombs. Nix and friends will take the brunt of the attack after that. They’ll have a Rogul with them and Liz will communicate when it’s time to fall back. Nix, all I want is a steady backwards retreat. The flanks of Night Things and the dwarfs will fall back towards the wall, letting the Knarl push forward. When all the Knarl have passed, I want the two wings to close behind them. That’s when I want the fairies and the wolves to come in from the back to reinforce the circle. If all goes well, the Knarl should be trapped. Any questions?”

  Nobody answered, so I said, “Places then, my friends, and may good fortune smile on us, because as sure as hell we’re going to need it.” Everyone scattered to their positions, leaving myself, Rosewing and Thorn together.

  “Well, we’ve done everything we can,” I proclaimed, “so all we can do now is to wait for the start of it.”

  “Yes, this is the worst part of it all,” Thorn murmured, “just before the battle. The tension builds and builds until you just want to scream.”

  “But it’s a bit exciting, don’t you think?” Rosewing said, hopping restlessly from foot to foot.

  “I could do without this particular type of excitement,” I told her. “Fighting is the stupidest way to settle things because nothing ever gets resolved. Even if there is a victory, the scars carry over to the next generation as well, and the whole brainless affair starts all over again. There’s no grandeur in war, sweetheart.”

  We waited and waited, each moment stretching out like a rubber band, tighter and tighter until I desperately wanted something to happen, no matter what it was. And then the Knarl appeared on the horizon in seemingly endless masses. I gave Thorn and Rosewing a fierce hug.

  “Take care, the both of you,” I told them. “Don’t do anything silly.”

  “You, too,” they murmured, kissing me on either cheek. Through misting eyes, I watched them fly up, then shook my head and concentrated on the oncoming hordes of Knarl. They surged through the rocky funnel, twenty abreast, only to be met with deadly sheets of arrows. The first ten ranks of our enemies simply melted away under the projectile storm. Nothing daunted, the next ranks simply scrambled over their still twitching, dying companions in an endeavor to reach our forces. Another arrow flight ended their lives, but still the Knarl came on and I began to have a grudging admiration for their bravery. Maybe they simply didn’t have enough imagination to be frightened. A third, fourth and fifth torrent from our archers inflicted horrendous casualties but even that didn’t stop them. By sheer force of numbers and unbelievable determination, they were almost upon us. The archers loosed one final broadside before scampering back, leaving Nix and his goblins to face the onslaught and that’s when we dropped the phosphorus bombs on them.

  The Knarl were so tightly packed they could barely move and the flames spread like wildfire. Those at the front began squirming back through the advancing ranks, spreading the fire even further. Hundreds of Knarl died in an orgy of fire. It was sickening. I hated killing anything and this became wholesale slaughter. Dear God, why didn’t they just give up and go away? What was wrong with them? At least half their number were lying lifeless on the ground but they still surged forward, frenziedly tramping over their own dead and wounded. I’ve never seen anything like it before. If I wasn’t already convinced about the horrors of war before, this scene would absolutely have imprinted it on my soul.

  Finally, Thorn and the others ran out of fire bombs and they flew off to their appointed area behind the Knarl army, meeting up with Zenith and his wolves. Meanwhile, what was left of our opponents continued to push forward towards Nix and his allies. The front rows of both armies clashed and the fighting began in earnest.

  Chapter 29

  The noise was terrible to hear. The goblin line held firm and the Knarl battered against it in vain. More and more Knarl squeezed into the narrow canyon until their entire army was packed inside. I told Liz to pass the retreat message to Nix and had the satisfaction of seeing the goblin front line bow steadily inwards. The Night Things and the dwarfs then pressed backwards towards the high cliff face, leaving an enlarged gap. Encouraged by this action, the Knarl followed, believing that our forces were weakening. When I thought our lines were stretched to the limit, I gave the word to stop the retreat. Our side flanks pressed inwards, squeezing our opponents into an ever tightening mass. I then passed the order for the wolves and fairies to attack the Knarl rear. I could hear the wolves howling as they tore into the packed spider ranks. The fairy contingent joined the fight and the slaughter began. I forced myself to watch, even though it was the last thing on earth I wanted to do. The Knarl were doomed. They couldn’t manoeuvre, crushed together as they were, and they were surrounded. There could be only one ending, but they continued to fight in a demented way until not a single one of them was left alive.

  We had total victory, but the taste of it was like ashes. What an incredibly stupid waste of life, I thought as I rushed around, stepping over enemy and alliance bodies, trying to determine if all my friends were safe. I found Thorn and Rosewing unhurt and I embraced them both, tears of gratitude spilling from my eyes. Nix was also alive, although he had suffered a nasty wound to the arm that was being treated by Bon. Balis was likewise safe, but with several minor injuries. Trix and Zen were totally free of wounds but Niama had ended up with a few miscellaneous cuts. Zenith, however, was a different story. We found him on the ground, scarcely breathing, and surrounded by his pack. Blood matted his fur, and my heart gave a lurch when I saw the extent of his wounds. Trix gave a cry of anguish and darted to his side. She gently lifted up his head and he uttered a weak welcoming bark. She cuddled him as he gave her face a final lick and then, with a little sigh, he died in her arms.

  “Nooo!” Trix sobbed despairingly, clutching his lifeless body. “Zenith!” We stood around in a sorrowful semi-circle as we watched. Zenith had been so integral to our earlier lives that it was hard to believe that he had gone. Thorn slipped her hand around my waist and lay her head on my shoulder. She cried unashamedly, and I felt her tears wetting my shirt. Trix lifted up her tearstained face and looked around at us in utter misery.

  “He’s gone!” she wailed. Niama knelt by her side and took her into his arms.

  “But he’ll forever be in your heart,” he softly comforted.

  “That’s right,” I agreed. “He’ll never really be gone because we’ll always remember him. He was the best of friends and the most loyal of companions to the very end. He wouldn�
�t want you to be sad, sweetie. We were privileged to have been a part of his life.”

  Trix tenderly stroked Zenith’s head one last time and then, supported by Niama, she got to her feet. The surrounding wolves commenced a piercing farewell howl to their fallen leader and then melted away, presumably back to their clan cave.

  “Who’ll be the clan leader now?” Thorn quietly asked.

  “I imagine that one of Zenith’s sons or daughters will take over,” I answered. “That’s the way it usually goes and I couldn’t think of anyone more suited.”

  “It’s over then?” Thorn enquired, hopefully.

  “Not quite,” I pronounced. “Since we have the army already gathered here, the last step will be to track the Knarl back to their home base and free the slaves. Bon can lead us. She knows the way. Then it’ll all be over.”

  “Another war?” Thorn sighed dismally.

  “I doubt it,” I answered. “We’ve destroyed their entire army. I can’t imagine there’d be many Knarl left. They’re not unintelligent. I’m sure they’d see the folly of further conflict and will make peace terms with us.”

  “Maybe,” Thorn said dubiously. “But you’re right about the slaves. We can’t just leave them there. They have to be rescued.”

  I was about to agree when suddenly the world spun around in my vision and a crushing darkness spread all around me. I fell into an endless, swirling, blackened pit.

  Chapter 30

  Light returned, but so bright and piercing that I had to shut my eyes until my sight adjusted. Everything appeared blurred but items gradually became more distinct. The first thing I saw was my beloved Thorn, asleep in a chair beside me. Curiously, I glanced around and, judging by the furnishings, found myself in a hospital room. My other clone lay in a bed opposite me and we looked at each other in puzzlement. Did we have an accident or something? But both of us at the same time? Unlikely, surely. I vaguely remembered the fainting episode on the battlefield and wondered if it was connected to my present situation. I felt reasonably well in myself. That is, I didn’t feel any pain, as such. I wondered what could have happened. Tentatively, I reached over and touched Thorn on the thigh. She awoke with a startled grunt and glanced across at me incredulously.