Reborn: Book 2 (Chronicles of Ghost Company)

by Shawn Muller

  “Everybody down!” Thackeray shouted as he ran into the avenue.

  We all ducked instinctively as he dove in amongst us. An earth shaking BOOM! followed by a cloud of dust and bits of rock flying out from the tunnel. A few shrieks and cries of pain echoed from down the tunnel, as the chasing goblins were cut down by the explosion Thackeray had caused.

  “Up and at ‘em boys!” I shouted as goblins began to stream out of the side tunnels.

  Bruce reacted first, spraying naphtha at the goblins before relighting the flamethrowers pilot light. A loud WHOOSH, and all the goblins directly in front of us burst into flames. They ran shrieking back into the tunnels, setting some of the other goblins alight before they fell down dead and smoldering on the floor.

  Bruce continued to spray the area in front of us with the hot flames, giving us a chance to reform the square and advance down the avenue. Ward and Shard began to mumble behind me, and suddenly the first tunnel entrance began to close up, trapping goblins and giant spiders between the rocks. More goblins streamed from the opposite exit of the avenue, these ones were heavily armed and armoured, a fitting response to our armour and arms, heavy chainmail, long spears, an array of hand weapons.

  We were in for a fight alright. Bruce kept them back for a while longer, until the naphtha tanks ran dry, and then it was the turn of our bows. The twangs of the crossbows were followed by the deadly whistle of the bolts as they flew out to kill the goblins.

  Our front row fired first, before stepping back to allow the second row to step forward and fire, who in turn, stepped back for the third row to step forward and fire. This was repeated a few times, giving us a near continuous volley of deadly fire. It didn’t stop the goblins though. More and more pushed on through the remaining entrances.

  Even though the dwarves were closing them, leaving a twitching arm or leg exposed once the entrances were sealed, the goblins were pouring out quicker. The front ranks withered under our crossbow fire, but all too soon our ammo ran out. It was down to swords and shields now.

  Thackeray and Mia hurled fireball after fireball into the goblin ranks, targeting the few shaman that showed themselves, as well as throwing up shields against their magical attacks. Veggie had disappeared after the first clash of swords.

  Our lines held, shields locked while the disorganized mass of goblins tried to batter us down. The dwarves heroically held our flanks, lobbing off legs and arms of those who tried to out flank us. Fremod put his fear of the ogre behind him as he let loose with his massive warhammer. He strode forward, swinging that car engine sized hammer head from left to right, clearing a path for us to advance. Slowly we made progress, wading through scores of dead goblins.

  Footing was becoming treacherous as the floors became slippery underfoot from the blood and bile flowing across it. With an audible thud, the last entrance closed, sealing off the ambushing goblins, leaving us to battle with those in front of us. This was proving harder to do, as more goblins kept filing through the entrance, taking the place of their fallen comrades.

  We became bogged down. Fremod was visibly tiring and eventually being forced back amongst us. Babar led the orcs to the fore, taking over from Fremod with their huge double bladed axes. For once, I was glad when Babar entered into his berserker rage. The fury of his attacks drove the goblins to scramble over one another to escape him, but, like Fremod, they also began to tire and all too soon were forced back into the square.

  The attack came as a huge surprise. The dwarves yelled out a warning as a fresh goblin force attacked us from behind. It seemed that Thackeray’s explosion didn’t close the tunnel well enough. We were driven to one side, barely holding off the attackers now. More and more of us were being injured, Ward and his sons more so as they didn’t have the benefit of our armour. Four dead, three seriously wounded and the ogre still missing. Things weren’t looking good.

  A sudden commotion amongst the goblins lent a brief respite in the attack, enough for us to use the dead goblins as small wall in front of us. Bruce went quiet amongst us as he fiddled with something on the floor, Mia looked dead on her feet from exhaustion, and Fremod’s hairy arms were just about cut to ribbons while the orcs leaned heavily on one another.

  I was just about done as well. We would not last for long under another assault. The commotion grew louder, the goblins seeming to be fighting something amongst them, towards the rear. Screams of fear and pain reached us, causing the goblins before us turning and push back towards the rear in an effort to reach something.

  “Stand back everybody, I got a wee surprise left here,” Bruce said as he stood up.

  The crazy bastard held the flamer in his hands again, with a fresh canister of naphtha strapped to his back. The roar of the flaming jet of liquid caught us by surprise, just about making us jump back in fright as Bruce sprayed the fiery death on the goblins that had turned their backs to us. This added to the fear and now evident confusion of the goblins. They began to panic and stampede their way out of the avenue.

  “Charge!” I shouted, leading my exhausted men to attack the fleeing goblins.

  Bruce dropped the now empty flamer once more while the rest of us slamming into the backs of the goblins. We ruthlessly cut them down, pressing them hard, causing them to foul each other and stampeding in panic as they sought to escape us, and something terrifying within their midst’s. A goblin was hurdled, screeching in pain, well over us before it thudded into the wall behind.

  Something powerful was tearing them up, lucky for us.

  I led the counter attack, while Ward led the dwarves who carried the wounded after us. We caught glimpses of our savior; a flash of black fur, the blur of a metal blade and a gleaming, malicious red eye. A roar of triumph filled the avenue, as a space opened up in front of us and around the beast which had a goblin in its four arms.

  The monster opened its mouth, revealing a double row of sharp, pointy teeth. It easily chomped down on the head of the goblin, who jerked for a moment before being dropped to the floor and left to spasm as the monster turned to look at us. I have never before been so frightened in my life as when I looked into the face of this thing.

  It had a flat, oval head. Two slits for nostrils, its four eyes were a dark, menacing red that seemed to glow from within. Two inner eyes were close together just above the nostrils, with the other two slightly higher on the skull and more toward the side of the head and slightly further apart.

  The mouth was wide like a toads, but with almost no lips. Those pointy teeth overlapped one another when it closed its mouth. The inside of its mouth was a dark blue, black with a snake like tongue flicking in and out, seemingly to taste the air as it sized us up.

  It was covered from head to toe in a soft, fur like hair which was a midnight black. It had a short, powerful neck which sat on thin, but powerful shoulders. This fearsome creature had four arms. The top two, thick muscular arms ended in huge bestial hands, each of its four fingers and two thumbs having vicious looking talons which were covered in bits of goblin flesh and dripping in blood. The second set of arms, started directly below the first, sharing the same shoulder joint, was much thinner, but longer, and ended with a solid metal blade, melded into the flesh of the creature.

  It stood on two, long, powerful leg with its knees bent backwards like a bird and its feet having shorter claws which was also covered in bits of goblin meat and blood. It had a reptilian tail, thin and snake like which was whipping back and forth. A sharp bard on the end of the tail moved as if it was seeking out any living goblin close by.

  The few moments it took us to look upon this monster gave the goblins enough of a chance to disappear back into the tunnels, their howls of fear echoing after them. Fremod let out a cry of pure terror before falling over in a dead faint, with Babar and the orcs shaking in fear. The elves shakily held up their swords, slowly backed up, looking for a way to escape.

  We humans formed up, closing the ranks, locking our shields once more and stood waited for this thing, this
monster to attack. Instead, it stepped away from us and shrank. It blurred as it shrank, getting smaller and smaller, until it resembled a small child with a head the size of a troll, before once again shimmering and growing before our eyes into Veggie, the ogre we knew.

  “Well met Sir Bob. I told you that my true self will scare you,” Veggie greeted us with a bit of humor in its voice.

  “Damn near shat my pants,” Max said to my right.

  “Not the only one,” Ivan said behind us.

  “Well, regardless if you do look like my ex-wife, thanks for the assist,” Li said to a howl of laughter from us.

  The elves slowly approached while the orcs stopped quaking in their boots. Fremod was brought around and almost had to be restrained when he saw the ogre.

  “I suggest we move on, even if the goblins have fled because of me they may still return,” Veggie suggested.

  I nodded and motioned for us carry on towards Dwarfinaan. We were all cut and banged up, but we had survived. We helped each other to leave the slaughter house, with Ward’s four dead sons and the few of us more seriously wounded needing the most help to leave. Against the seeming unending flow of goblins, we were damn lucky.

  Hours passed before we reached what would be the last rest spot. To our surprise and luck, a few of the horses and mules were there, having managed to escape from the ambush and arrive safely. We holed up here for a good few hours, tending to our wounds and catching much needed sleep. Although food was scarce, we were but a half day away from Dwarfinaan, and barring any goblin attacks, we would make it safely.

  Once again, this time the last hopefully, we were leaving the rest area heading for salvation. This time the way was lit by the glowing crystals, helping us out immensely as our torches had long been burnt away during the battle. The severely wounded, along with the dead, were transported on the mules and horses as we led them along the tunnels. Veggie once more assumed his shadow form, I suppose one could call it, and scouted ahead of us, while Shard and Pebbles guarded our backs.

  The tunnels became very twisty and turned a lot, gradually leading us upwards. Bigger caverns were entered and left, with an underwater river roaring past us at one point, the fine spray from it soaking us through. Luckily the air was still warm and humid so we didn’t get too cold. More and more light crystals led us through the tunnel, and before we knew it, we stepped out from the narrow tunnels and into another broad avenue. Veggie was waiting there for us in his human form, looking very excited.

  “There are dwarves not far from here. Just around the far bend is a detachment of heavy infantry heading this way. And not far behind them are wagons bearing food and medical supplies,” the ogre said hopping from one foot to the next.

  We let out a wild cheer and hurried out of the tunnels and down the avenue. Half way down, we heard the dwarves marching towards us and it was not long when the lead elements turned the corner. A shout sounded and the lead dwarf ran back around the corner shouting for the wagons. The rest of the dwarves ran to our sides and gently helped us to sit down and lean against the walls of the cave.

  Water skins were pushed to our lips and we drank greedily, filling our bellies with the cool, soothing liquid. The dwarves carried the wounded to the wagons, where healers promptly began their work on them. The dead were ceremoniously carried to another wagon and gently covered in a burial shroud.

  “Commander Bob?” A burly dwarf asked me. “I am Captain Wood. We were sent by the council to find and rescue you from the goblin raiders. I am sorry sir that we took so long to respond,” Captain Wood apologized.

  “No problem captain. But how did you know about the goblins in the first place?” I asked, slowly standing up to speak to the captain.

  “A few of your horses made it all the way to our pickets. We were being constantly raided the last few days ourselves by the goblins, and when the horses showed, with one horse carrying a piece of a goblin’s face in its mouth, we gathered you were under attack as well.”

  “Well, thank you captain for the help now. We had a massive battle at the large avenue not even a day ago it feels. We almost never made it,” I told him.

  “Sorry for your losses sir. I will send troops there straight away to clean the mess, and to see for any surviving goblins. But I doubt that there will be any. Our scouts have indicated that the goblins are fleeing the mountains now, something about a monster lurking in the deep blackness. Anyway, please allow us to escort you and your companions the rest of the way,” Captain Wood asked politely.

  “Certainly sir, is there any food on those wagons? We haven’t eaten for a while,” I asked as my companions began to climb onto the wagons.

  “Yes sir, plenty for everybody, including the troll and ogre sir.”

  I thanked him and climbed onto the same wagon as Mia and Max and grabbed a chunk of fresh bread and a wine skin and settled down for the ride. Most of us fell asleep during the journey back to Dwarfinaan. I woke after a short while and saw Captain Wood walking along side our wagon. I greeted him and asked him about his peculiar name. All the dwarves I had met had a rock or stone sounding name, but his was very different.

  “Well sir, I was conceived in the woods outside the mountains,” was all he said red faced.

  I had a good chuckle at that and settled down for a small nap again before we arrived at Dwarfinaan.

  I woke up with the wagon coming to a stop and an excited buzz coming from all around us. I gingerly opened my eyes and noticed that Mia had curled up in my arms and against my chest. Looking around I saw we had arrived in Dwarfinaan, the massive underground home of the dwarves. Mia felt me stirring and she quickly woke to, sitting upright and looking around with a slightly confused look on her face.

  “Where are we?” She asked.

  “I guess we’re here at last.” I replied as I sat up as well.

  All around the wagons stood a large crowd of dwarves, all looking and pointing at us. When they spotted us sitting up, a resounding roar erupted from them, a celebration to our survival in the tunnels. We were helped off the wagons as heroes back from conquering the world.

  “Give them room! Make space there!” A group of soldiers shouted, trying to free us from the press of well-wishers.

  We were overawed as to our welcome. This was not what we had expected when we left our HQ to find the help our dreams told us to find.

  “Oi there! Move before I clobber ya!” A vicious one eyed captain shouted at the crowd while waving a stout wooden baton above his head.

  This threat seemed to work as the crowd slowly backed away from us and formed a large ring.

  “That’s better you screaming maniacs. Now, Commander Bob, welcome to Dwarfinaan,” the dwarf greeted us with a low bow. “I am Warleader Patches, so named cause of me one eye that’s missing. Please follow me through this rabble and into the Council Rooms.”

  “Pleasure to meet you Warleader, please lead the way,” I greeted him back with a salute.

  Returning my salute with an open smile, the dwarf led us through the still gathered throng and up a long flight of stairs. Looking up as we climbed the stairs, I could not see the roof of the massive carved out ancestral home of the dwarves.

  The height of the roof was hidden in a dark gloom, the lights from the city unable to penetrate it that high up. Behind us, the city proper stretched out as far as the eye could see. Massive stone pillars stood above the city at regular intervals, reaching into the gloom to support the mountain above us.

  Houses were carved from solid stone, varying from massive estates closest to us, to smaller one bed roomed hovels far out on the city’s edge. Huge market squares dotted the city, the open spaces ringed with a variety of trees specially brought underground and nurtured to provide some colour to the dull brown city.

  Children played and climbed these amongst these trees, chasing each other and something smaller. When asked, the warleader replied that a few squirrels and small monkeys were caught and introduced to liven up the place. Now, the mo
nkeys had become a pest and were hunted for sport and for meat.

  So it was probably that that the kids were chasing.

  Nodding at his words, I continued with my sightseeing as we continued up the very long flight of stairs. Broad avenues crisscrossed the entire city, linking the market places together and ending at the massive arched gateways leading to the various tunnels.

  Overall, the whole city was pretty well lit up with those glowing crystals. Even the massive arched gateways and the tunnels beyond were well lit. Besides the roof proper, one could walk from end to end without walking through a patch of darkness.

  Crowds thronged throughout the city and the market places were bustling with activities, businesses trading, the ringing of blacksmiths pounding away at their work, oxen bellowing as they pulled heavy laden carts. A thriving city was my first impression, a happy city as well it seemed.

  Ahead of us, the stairs, which reminded me of those found at the ancient Buddhist temples on Earth, passed through a thick wall about half way up. Finally reaching this gateway, we were greeted by a contingent of soldiers and given a few refreshments.

  The gatehouse served as a barracks as well with a company sized force stationed within. Access to the walls was also through the gatehouse. Thick, bronze banded gates stood open with a raised portcullis adding to the protection of the entrance. The wall itself stretched in a half circle from one side of the cave wall to the other side, with the stairs the only way up to the council buildings.