“Rat!” Drimblerod moved to the edge and looked into the courtyard.
“That really hurts you know,” he called up as he stood gingerly on healing legs. There was a large dent in his shoulder. Thanks to the spell, it slowly pushed back out to where it was moments before. “Crazy Gnome!” RatShambler moved to the now-open gate of the now-vacated keep. He sat on his hind quarters to wait. “Ready when you are.”
Grimbledung and Drimblerod continued to blast Halflings as the sky finally began to develop a purplish tint. At one point, they had to resort to using swords to deal with them.
“I think we’re winning,” offered Drimblerod. He hazarded a peek over the wall. Thanks to the brightening sky, he could now make out the moving mass that was Halfling Army. There seemed to be over a dozen ladders moving towards the walls.
“Are there less of them there?” Asked Grimbledung hopefully.
“No.”
“Then how are we winning?”
“There’s not less of us here.” Drimblerod waggled his ears. “Think the soldiers have enough of a head start?”
Grimbledung nodded furiously, “More than they deserve and then some!”
“You ready to go out in style?” He gestured toward where RatShambler was waiting. Grimbledung didn’t see him point because he was blasting a ladder as it clattered against the wall of the keep. The top portion of the ladder exploded in a shower of splinters. As it fell back onto the hoard of Halflings, several curses could be heard wafting back up at them.
“Yeah!” A wild look came to Grimbledung, “Now you’re talking!” He tightened the straps holding his helmet of What’s This? channeling then clicked its horns into the ‘down’ position. Standing up, he clambered onto the parapet. He stepped over so he was straddling two of them. “I am Grimbledung Sixtoes. ESQUIRE! Hear me roar!” He shouted to the mass of Halflings. He brandished his wands.
Ka BOOM!
He intoned.
Chapter Two
All in All, it’s Just Another Grim On The Wall
Immediately, arcs of What’s This crackled up both sides of the walls of the keep and into the tips of the horns. His helmet took an out-worldly glow. He aimed his wands at the masses below him. “Drimblerod is here! I am here! But soon you will not be here! Grimbledung Sixtoes has come for your SOULS!” He bellowed.
“Grim?”
Great bolts of blue power sprang from his wands as he moved them back and forth. It was as if he were channeling the azure blue of the ocean’s depths up through the ground. Except instead of water, destruction was being sprayed out. Generously.
“Delberger’s hand, Grim! I just meant it was time to go!”
Grimbledung’s wands crackled and sizzled above the almost-continuous peals of thunder as all the magical energy in the area was rapidly channeled through his helmet and down into his wands. Several crossbow bolts sizzled ineffectually as they struck the cage of energy popping and snapping around him. Even a ballista bolt bounced off harmlessly. He glowered down at the mass of Halfling soldiers below. A lone Halfling caught his eye “You! Yes! You behind the ladder! Stand still, laddie!!”
Not expecting to be addressed directly by the occupants of the keep, the young Halfling soldier did.
Grimbledung blasted him.
Drimblerod was in awe. He leaned back against the wall and watched the show. He hazarded a look over the wall. There actually were less Halflings near the Keep’s walls. The unexpected onslaught of magical devastation had caused them to pull back to regroup. “You’re pushing them back, Grim!” He called to his partner.
Grimbledung looked over at his partner, his smoking wands still doling out blue destruction to all in front of him. He smiled. “Whoo hoo!” He said as he took a little hop. When he came back down, one of his feet almost missed the edge of the parapet. “Woops!” He said as he put out his arms to try and regain his balance. Blue arcs of magic shot out in both directions. Drimblerod ducked down. Grimbledung leaned precariously forward as his arms swam backward furiously. He looked at his partner just as he reached the tipping point.
“Drim?” He said. Before falling off the wall.
Drimblerod gaped at the space that used to contain his friend only a moment earlier. He stood and leaned over the Keep’s walls, oblivious to the arrows and crossbow bolts clattering on all sides of his exposed head. “GRIM!” He called down.
Grimbledung’s fall seemed to have been broken by landing on a group of Halflings. Several of them grabbed his arms and others wrestled his wands out of his hands. He looked up and made eye contact with his partner. “DRIM!” Another two Halflings grabbed his feet as another wrested his helmet off. Together they all hoisted the helpless Gnome into the air. “DRIM!”
Drimblerod watched as his partner bounced off, held aloft by half a dozen Halflings.
“COME GET ME!” Grimbledung called up at his friend.
“I’LL FIND YOU!” Drimblerod called back. An arrow cut a shallow groove in his shoulder. Drimblerod became acutely aware of the number of projectiles coming in his direction. Instinctively, he ducked down. Several arrows passed where his head had been moments before.
“DRIIIIMBLE ROD!” Wafted up to him from below. A ladder clattered against the parapet where he was crouching, another, two down. Then a third and a fourth. Now that the magical attack had stopped, the Halflings renewed their efforts to scale the walls of the keep. Unable to do anything else, Drimblerod kept low and made for the stairs.
He took them two at a time as he heard other ladders clatter against the keep’s defenses. “Rat!” He called. “RAT!” Drimblerod jumped the last five steps. “Rat!” He called as he ran towards the front gate. An arrow stuck in the ground beside him as he went. “RAAAT!”
RatShambler turned to look at Drimblerod running across the courtyard. Arrows and crossbow bolts seemed to spring from the ground around him as he zigg-zagged toward him. RatShambler stood up and ran for the Gnome. “Drim!” He called. He reached the Gnome and bent down for him to get on.
“Go!” Drimblerod dug his heels into RatShambler’s side. “GO!”
“Where’s Grim?”
“He fell,” said Drimblerod as he fought back tears.
“He’s dead?” RatShambler gaped at the Gnome as he turned to look at him.
“No. It’s worse than that.”
“What’s worse than dead?”
“He was captured,” said Drimblerod. “He fell off the wall and they got him.”
RatShambler shook his head. “Well, we gotta get him back.” He turned in the courtyard and started for the stairs “We can’t leave him.”
“No! First we need to lure these Halflings to the Army that’s waiting for them! Head for the plains Rat! HEAD FOR THE PLAINS!”
RatShambler galloped out of Frank’s Keep at full tilt. Drimblerod looked back at the gate as they went. There were no Halflings in sight. “Slow down Rat!”
“Slow down? Are you crazy? The whole of the Halfling Army is on our tail and you want me to slow down? You think we can talk them out of this invasion?”
Drimblerod looked back again. “If we outrun them, they’ll never chase us to the plains and that was the plan. Grim’s plan.”
RatShambler slowed down, “Well if we don’t outrun them…”
Drimblerod drew his wand. “I know, I know. Just turn around and I’ll blast a few of them. If I can get them angry, they’ll follow us.”
“Get them angry? I think they’re already plenty angry.” RatShambler’s pace had slowed but he still had not turned around.
“Come on, Rat. Otherwise it will be for nothing.”
RatShambler nodded. “For Grimbledung,” he said as he picked up a gallop and turned in a broad arc, heading back toward Frank’s Keep. The sun popped above the horizon on their left as they went. Behind them would have been better, but so far, no one had gotten the Great and Mighty Sun to come up anywhere but where it wanted. And plenty had tried. “Get ready.” RatShambler galloped over the drawbridge
without slowing. Just as they reached the portcullis, several Halflings stepped into view. RatShambler lowered his head and crashed headlong into them. Halflings went flying as RatShambler skidded to a halt.
Drimblerod blasted two more Halflings. “Take that stinking Halflings! Is that all you’ve got?” He looked around the keep’s courtyard. There were several Halflings moving about but for the most part, Frank’s Keep seemed empty. “Can’t those stupid Halflings even get into an unprotected castle?” He asked no one in particular. “Pathetic.”
“Uhm, Drim…” began RatShambler.
“Come out you stinking shorters!” Drimblerod blasted another Halfling that had turned to look in his direction.
“Drimblerod?”
“Yeah?” Snapped Drimblerod, “what?” He took aim at another Halfling. This one had his sword out and was moving toward them. “Yeah, comm’ere you stinking Halfling!”
“Look up.”
Drimblerod looked up out of the courtyard. The upper levels of the Keep were filled with Halflings. Hundreds of them. Many with bows drawn. Others, crossbows. The rest held swords. All were glowered down at him. In a torrent, they all began to pour down the several sets of stairs leading down to the courtyard.
“Time. To. Go.” said Drimblerod without moving his lips.
RatShambler quickly backed under the gate tower as dozens of arrows stuck in the ground in front of him. When he was under the portcullis, he turned and galloped across the drawbridge.
“Well, I think that worked.” Drimblerod hazarded a look back. Halflings were pouring out of Frank’s Keep like angry ants. Ants with swords and bows. “They’re on foot so don’t go too fast,” warned Drimblerod. “We can still lose them.” A blue light flashed through the gate. It encompassed the entire Keep and the Halflings surrounding it.
For a moment, RatShambler was able to see his shadow directly in front of him. “What in the lands?”
The Halflings kept pouring out of the castle. As Drimblerod looked, they seemed to grow larger. “Rat, maybe you should pick up the pace a little.”
RatShambler lowered his head and sped up to a full gallop. Drimblerod had handfuls of fur trying to hold on. He looked back. The Halflings seemed closer. Unbeknownst to Drimblerod, has his partner not leached most all of the What’s This? Out of the area, the Halflings would have overtaken them in moments. As it was, there was only enough left for a half-power mass-spell.
“Rat, I don’t want to alarm you or anything but…are you running as fast as you can?”
“I’m not as young as I used to be you know,” huffed RatShambler. “Why?”
“They’re gaining on us.”
“What? How?” RatShambler craned his neck around to look at the Halfling hoard behind him. Their legs were blurs. “Well, that’s just not fair!”
Drimblerod twisted around and blasted into the mass of Halflings. “I can’t get them all. And before you ask…”
“I know, I know. This is Grimbledung’s enchantment so you can’t do anything to add or take away from it.” He looked back again. There were less than two hundred yards between them and the Halflings now. “This isn’t good. How far ahead are those soldiers?”
A sinking feeling developed in Drimblerod’s stomach. “They didn’t say where exactly they would be setting up their ambush.”
“What?”
“Grimbledung made the plan! He said the Shambler Plains.”
‘This is all the Shambler plains!”
Drimblerod looked back again. Another twenty five yards had been lost. “Keep heading straight. I can’t imagine that they would have gone left or right.”
“Unless they just scattered and left for good, that is.” RatShambler wheezed.
“Save your breath and keep looking forward,” suggested Drimblerod. He turned and blasted several other Halflings. They were close enough now that he could aim at them individually.
“We should have headed into the forest; we’d have had a chance of losing them there.”
Drimblerod looked around. Their pace seemed to have slowed markedly. “What’s wrong Rat?”
“Uphill.”
Drimblerod nodded. “Maybe at the top of the hill we’ll see the soldiers.” Drimblerod stretched up to try and see over the hill. The crest was still a good 100 yards away.
RatShambler bucked.
Drimblerod lay down to keep from falling off. “What’s wrong?”
“Arrow!”
Drimblerod turned and looked back. An arrow stuck out of RatShambler’s rear shank.
“Pull…out.”
Drimblerod nodded, “I’ll try.” He leaned and twisted backward and grasped the arrow with his hand. He tugged on it but it stayed firmly in place. “I think it’s in the bone.”
RatShambler grunted. He was out of breath. He let the injured leg only hit the ground every other time, dropping to an almost skip. Another arrow whizzed by. This time it almost stuck in Drimblerod’s shank. “Delberger’s Hand!” He cursed.
Drimblerod looked forward again. The hill’s crest was less than fifty yards now. If nothing else it would afford Rat a downhill run for a little while. Drimblerod twisted around again but this time he flipped his legs around so he was seated backward. He reached down and grabbed RatShambler’s half-tail for support. Rat was too out of breath to even complain. Steadying his aim, Drimblerod began to blast the Halflings. They were less than fifty yards away now. “We’re not going to make it,” said Drimblerod. “Oh, Grim. We’re not going to make it.”
RatShambler reached the crest of the hill. Unexpectedly, it was a steep drop on the other side; more a min-cliff than a hill sloping on all sides. He took to the air in a last-moment jump. “Hang on!” He called to Drimblerod. He steeled himself for the inevitable jarring he knew would come when they hit. It looked to be almost seventy feet from where he lept to where his forward momentum would carry him. RatShambler’s vision tunneled as he focused on the ground ahead of him, flexing his front legs to try and keep them from breaking as they landed. “This will leave a mark.”
Drimblerod lay down along RatShambler’s back. He felt his stomach move up to his backbone as they took to the air. He gripped the tail tightly in his hands and closed his eyes. “Sorry, Grim,” he whispered.
RatShambler’s front hoofs dug into the soft grass as he landed, cracks spiraled up both of them. He stretched out his rear legs in an attempt to absorb some of the impact. It felt like a lightning bolt sizzling down his spine. His legs -all four of them- went numb as his back broke in two places. Even so, he bounded and was back in the air again momentarily. Then he landed heavily again, still at a full gallop. He turned his head back to see if Drimblerod was still hanging on since he couldn’t feel anything past his shoulders. And ran into a seated Gargoyle. Blackness enveloped him as he hit the one and a half-ton, stone creature, coming to a death-inducing halt.
Drimblerod fared a little better. Momentarily anyway. Drimblerod careened off RatShambler’s suddenly stopped back. He saw ground, then sky, then ground again as he flew. For a moment he caught a glimpse of soldiers. And a Golem. ‘I know that Golem,” he thought right before he hit the ground and blackness enveloped him as well.
“They’re here!” Yelled Captain Frank as he drew his sword.
Soldiers stood and the Golem turned to look at the cliff. “Halflin’s” it said.
“Attack!” Captain Frank shouted as he drew his sword. Just as hundreds of Halfling soldiers poured over it.
Earlier…
Chapter Three
This is the Hour of the Gargoyle’s Discontent
Pollux turned to look at the Golem that was leaning against him. Even though it was dark, he could still make out the large mass that was the Golem. They had been waiting for hours and the Golem had almost immediately gotten bored. “You awake?”
“Golems don’t sleep,” it replied.
“Yeah, neither do Gargoyles, really.”
It sighed loudly. “Booorrrred,” it lamented once again.
“That’s what I hear, Gus,” said Pollux as he stood. “Me too.” The Golem straightened up so he didn’t fall over. “Are we going to the battle any time soon?” He called to the Sergeant at Arms, “we really need to get going, you know. It’s going to be light soon!”
The Sergeant at Arms glowered down at Pollux, “We’ll go when the General says we go. That’s how things work in the Army!”
“Work? This is your idea of work?” Pollux looked around. He had gathered nine other Gargoyles with him, including his brother Castor, to help repel the invasion. The array was impressive by any standard; five dragons (they were the most common), a bear, two lions, and two goats. More so, since the goats were the smallest in the group and yet they stood five feet at the shoulder. They were all sitting and waiting as they had been the better part of the night. Several bored looking Golems trudged here and there. “What’re we waitin’ for?” He snarled at no one in particular. Pollux moved to his brother, “Castor, this is gettin’ absurd. Why are we sittin’ around?”
“Waitin’ on orders, I suppose.” Castor shrugged his stone shoulders as he stood. “Not much we can do except wait.”
“For what?”
“Orders, I suppose.”
Pollux shoved his brother, “Listen, we showed up to help; not lounge about. It’s going to be light within the hour.”
“What ya wanna do?”
Pollux practically hopped in anger. “I want to go help defend our home from those stinking Halflings!”
Castor sat back down roughly, “So what ya wanna do? You know I’ll follow ya anywhere and anyhow. Just say what we’re doin’.”
“We’re goin’ t’join in the battle.”
Castor nodded approvingly. “Love me a good scrap”
Pollux smirked, “Well, there’s a good one brewin’ with your name all over it.” He looked around. A thought occurred to him. An absurdly over the top thought. “We’re leavin’ and takin’ some Golems with us.” He moved toward a lounging Human soldier. Was everyone just lounging around? “Hey soldier. I need me some rope.”
Here's Looking For You, Grim (Tales From a Second-Hand Wand Shop Book 3) Page 2