by Clark Graham
Hemlot and his warriors tried to block the escaping spiders, but there were too few of them and too many spiders. Many got away, but many more lay on the ground in and around the encampment where they had fallen. Sarchise watched the retreating spiders, trying to get an estimate of their strength and the direction that they were headed. Then he climbed down the tree to assess the damage.
The reports started coming in. None of the spiders that were at the south end escaped. They were all killed. The east and west killed almost all. The ones that got away were able to escape to the north. Fifty-six dwarves and two men were bitten. Not all were hard bitten because the spiders seemed to be hungrier than they were angry. One dwarf was hit by a wayward arrow in the shoulder but should recover.
Hemlot came up to Sarchise. “We thought they had passed over us because they were no longer walking, but when we came out there were so many that they were standing there. We came out into the middle of them. They pounced on us and it was all we could do to defend ourselves. I was able to get many warriors from different groups together but could not stop the spiders from coming and going.”
“The battle is over, we won. We know where the enemy has retreated. Our losses are small. You did your best, no one is upset at you.’ Sarchise said.
“Thank you Sir,” replied Hemlot.
“I want to follow the spiders and engage them again, while they are still running. I don’t know what to do with the wounded.” Sarchise said.
“Send them back to High Mountain in the wagons from the baggage train.” Hemlot commented.
The baggage was unloaded out of the carts and the wounded were put in them. Fifty dwarves and two men were sent with the wounded back to High Mountain. Sarchise left three of his scouts and fifty more dwarves, under a dwarf commander named Lare, at the encampment by the watchtower. The rest moved out in pursuit of the spiders with what provisions they could carry.
At first following the spiders was easy. They left a wide trail, many of them still bleeding from wounds, with drops of black blood. Some were overcome and died during their retreat, their black bodies left where they fell. Then it started to rain. It was a punishing rain that obscured footprints and washed away blood. They followed the path as well as they could, every once in a while coming across yet another dead spider. Soon they came into thick woods and lost the trail. At this point Sarchise ordered them to set up a camp and put up shelters. They worked till sundown setting up a roof over their heads. It leaked but it was far better than getting rained on directly.
No fires were allowed, even if they were all of the wood was soaking wet. The wet and cold dwarves settled down to a meal of dried meat, which did not improve their humor.
Old Enemies
After a cold night on the ground and another cold breakfast, the dwarves got up and started searching for the spider’s trail. Using the night’s camping spot as a central location, Sarchise sent out patrols in every direction. The patrols hacked their way through thickets and underbrush, as the forest had become very dense at this point. Two hours later, the patrols began arriving back. One patrol reported coming across a lair.
“We were just on the outside of it, it looked fairly large and there were egg sacks hanging.” Came the report.
Sarchise waited until all the patrols had arrived back before he set out to find and attack the lair. It was difficult to keep the noise down when approaching the lair. A dwarf warrior never understands the need for stealth. On nearing the lair he spread out his warriors in all directions and surrounded it. As they rushed in they found only wounded spiders guarding it, the others seemed to be out looking for food. A few arrows later, all of the spiders were dead.
Sarchise looked around and saw that on the floor of the lair were a massive amount of bones and horns. The bones were of deer, bear, gremlins and Minotaur. It was very upsetting to see that gremlin bones were there, so far from the mountains. There were also fifteen egg sacks. They cut them down to look inside. Fourteen of the egg sacks were gremlins. The gremlins usually had a green tint to their hairless skin, but these had turned blue. The four and half-foot tall creatures had small fangs that protruded out between their lips. Their teeth were sharp. Their faces looked fierce through their angry eyes. When he cut one of them open Sarchise noticed the eggs were so small that they could have been only a few hours old. The last egg sack had a Minotaur in it. He had several cuts to his chest that a spider could not have put there. He had the body of a tall strong man but the head and tail of a bull. They were a strong race and very brave. The horns could gore a man and did in close combat on many occasions. Sarchise cut him open and scooped out the eggs.
“Tie him up; we will use him for questioning when he comes to. The gremlins are not any use to us. Burn them along with the lair,” he ordered.
They bound up the Minotaur and dragged him back to the camp. It took four dwarves to carry the massive body. The rest of the army prepared for the counter attack of the spiders. When the fire went up and the lair started to burn several hundred spiders came crashing through the forest. Arrows stopped most of them in their tracks. Those that did get through were met with battle axes and long swords. They managed to bite two of the dwarves, but none of the spiders got out of the battle alive. Sarchise had the warriors add the spiders to the fire and then they marched back to the camp with the wounded.
Hemlot was looking worn and tired. The dried meat was not setting well with the dwarves and their morale was starting to take the toll. They were not complaining but they were not the same energetic army that had marched out of High Mountain. Sarchise had them broaden the camp and build a fire pit in the middle of it. Poles for walls were lashed together around the outside and the shelter was strengthened. They plugged the holes in the roof and set up a watchtower in the trees. It was not as nice as the one on the elf mound but it was better than nothing. Sarchise climbed it, but noted that not much could be seen here where the forest was very thick. Never the less he manned it with scouts. Dwarves did not like going up the watchtowers. Their legs were very short and not made for the rungs of a ladder. The only way they got some of them up there was with rope and tackle.
“We need to send out runners to establish contact with the other armies. I would like to stay a few days here until we find where the other armies are and then continue on deeper into the woods,” Sarchise said.
Hemlot gave him a look of displeasure. “We lose more warriors at every turn Sire. We will not go on until we join our forces with the fifth army. I cannot risk losing you. We are now up against spiders, gremlins and Minotaur. As commander of this army I say we fortify this camp even more and wait for reinforcements.”
Sarchise was very surprised at that. He knew ultimately that Hemlot was in charge, but had never thought that he would pull rank. Hemlot had always gone with what Sarchise said because of Sarchise’s knowledge of the forest. Sarchise let out a sigh and said, “Very well.” And with that he walked off.
Hemlot did not ignore Sarchise however; he wrote a battle report and sent one copy to High Mountain and four other copies he sent out to the east and the south. Three were sent to the east as they didn’t know where the other dwarf armies were.
During the next few days they strengthened the camp and sent out patrols. Spiders would come to investigate the nightly campfires, but a few arrows later they would all die. They never came in large numbers. The two dwarves never did show any signs of recovery. Sarchise ordered them burned, “You cannot leave meat in the forest” he had said. The dwarves didn’t like this and were going to send them back to High Mountain. Hemlot interceded and had them burned stating that they could not afford to lose any more warriors.
On the fifth day the Minotaur started sweating. Sarchise had him lashed to a tree, not knowing how strong he was. He woke up several hours later. When Sarchise came close to the tree the Minotaur tried to lunge forward at him. Sarchise had his sword ready just in case he broke his bonds but they held. The Minotaur let out a mix between a
groan and a growl.
“Good Morning.” Sarchise said, sitting down in front of the Minotaur, while sipping hot broth. He had another cup of it that he sat in front of the beast. Hemlot also came and sat down.
“I hear that after you awaken from a spiders bite that you are very hungry, is this true?” Sarchise asked. Anger flashed across the Minotaur’s eyes.
“Not very talkative aye?” Sarchise said taking another sip. Hemlot was sharpening his axe and would look up from the blade to the neck of the beast and back to the blade as if he were gauging how sharp it would need to be to take off the Minotaur’s head with one swing.
“Let’s start with something simple.” Sarchise said. “Then we will get to the more difficult questions. First off, for a sip of this broth, what is your name?”
The Minotaur started to struggle.
“I wouldn’t do that,” Sarchise said. “You will break the mud pack bandage and then your wound will start to infect. I wouldn’t want to see you rot while still alive. I did keep you alive, but I burnt all of your gremlin friends.”
The beast looked down at the mudpack on his stomach. He looked at it with curiosity. He could not understand why a human would keep him alive in the first place and then bandage him besides. “Barazar” he said simply. Sarchise shrugged and held the cup up to his mouth for him to take a sip.
“Well, that wasn’t hard, Barazar.” Sarchise said, “Next question.”
Barazar interrupted. “Please you must help us, my people are being destroyed.”
Sarchise was taken back “What, your army of gremlins and Minotaur is being attacked by spiders?”
“No, the Minotaur are being destroyed by an army of gremlins.”
Sarchise and Hemlot stared at each other. They wanted to believe but felt it was a trap. Finally Sarchise turned and glared at and yelled, “You lie.”
Barazar looked at the ground. He let out a long deep sigh and said, “I only wish that I did. I wish that this nightmare would end. I do not want to watch the extinction of my race. We have already lost two cities and a third is besieged. There is only one free city left. We are hunted down like dogs when we try to leave our cities. We are surrounded if we stay to fight. Every time we destroy one of their armies they make another, then another. They care not for their losses they just breed more.
“Every battle we have with the gremlins the spiders come and carry off more of us. They hear the clamor of war and they come. They multiply and multiply. They have a horde of a thousand that crosses the forest unopposed, killing gremlin and Minotaur alike. We cannot leave our cities because of the spiders, we cannot stay because the gremlins come and surround them. We are lost.”
Sarchise poured the rest of the broth into Barazar. “How could this happen? The gremlins don’t breed themselves, but need someone else to run the breeding pits.”
Barazar simply said, “Tabor.”
“Tabor is dead,” Sarchise said.
“There is another.” Barazar paused, swallowed hard then continued, “it is all our fault. When we lost the last battle the elders said that we would never go to war again. It was a time of peace for our race. Humans no longer bothered us for they do not love the woods. The elves had left. We rebuilt the cities of the elves and lived in peace for many years. Then the trouble started. We do not live to the age of man and the elders all died off. The ones that took their place had never seen war and wanted to relive the glory days. So when a family of men came near the Westwood, they were taken. Thinking the young boy would be too young to remember they slew his parents and his sister in front of him. In that they misjudged. He remembered and vowed that every Minotaur would die.
“He did not let on that this was his intent however and we taught him how to lead, how to fight, we thought that we taught him how to hate man. But we are not certain. Worst of all, we showed him the breeding pits deep inside the Mountains of Iron. Here we taught him the way to breed gremlins. He was wise and learned well, too well. When he came of age he bred an army and then led them into Westwood. He camped outside the city of Tyrolis and then called out the ruler of the city to confer with him. We all slept well that night knowing that the army was there to protect us. He could have walked through the gates and slew us in our sleep, but was happy to sit outside the gate.
“In the morning we woke up to see that the ruler was outside strapped between two trees. As we watched, he tortured the ruler to death. We immediately barred the gates. He was content to attack once a day. He wants us to know that we are going to die. He wants us to fear. Many of us escaped outside the gates and tried to flee to another city. He let us go. His whole goal is to cause fear and panic, so he let us warn the other cities.
“We gathered up an army and were able to defeat his army. He simply went back to the breeding pits and replaced his army and came at us again. The spiders also began to hear the battles. They would explore the battle sites. They were eating the dead and laying eggs in the wounded. There grew rapidly in population. Now every time they hear a battle they attack those on the sides. So we must fight the spiders and the gremlins. They take the gremlins too, but Tabor does not care, he will just breed more.
“I fled to Tarlina, the ancient capital of the elves. There we prepared for our last stand. Tabor attacked Santera, and even now he has laid siege to it. But he will not finish them off, he wants for them to starve to death instead. We would do patrols, but could not venture out for the mass of spiders. With no battles going on the spiders began to starve. Their population was now too great to support itself by eating deer and elk as they had before. The spiders disappeared to the south. We had gotten up a patrol to see if we could break through the siege at Santera and get food into the city. The small group of gremlins caught us outside the walls and a battle began. We were winning, but then the spiders suddenly came upon us. There were so many that both Minotaur and gremlin were taken. I was one of the last to fall.”
Barazar fell silent, but Sarchise was looking at him in disgust. “If your plan had not backfired, my people would now be fighting for their lives against the gremlins. It is very hard for me to feel sorry for your clan. When an enemy fights an enemy the people rejoice.” He walked away, but then came back a minute later. “Still, if we join one side or the other we can rid ourselves of one enemy at least.” Looking down at Hemlot he said, “I don’t suppose you would want to join the side of the gremlins?”
“Never!” came the short reply.
The Gathering of Armies
The next morning a messenger from Cazz came into the camp. Sarchise read it and then handed it to Hemlot. Cazz wrote.
“We moved north ahead of schedule after receiving your message. We too have found several lairs and destroyed them. Most of them were old. The new one that we found held six gremlins in egg sacks. These we destroyed along with the spiders that were guarding them. The spiders are lean in these parts and they are not in great numbers.
“We have come across a gremlin raiding party and slaughtered it. More and more we see signs that a large body of this enemy is moving across the forest. Our small armies will be no match for their main body if we run across them. I have written Caspin that we will need to combine our forces. Since you have set up a camp already we will meet you there. Your last messenger will guide us to you. I am awaiting Caspin’s arrival here and then will continue on to where you are.
“I have written to the two armies of the high dwarves also. They will go directly to where you are. Make room for us.
(signed) “Cazz, Fifth Son of the King.”
After reading the message Hemlot had the men expand the camp. They built up another wall outside of the old one. They cut down all of the trees between the walls, and expanded the fire pit. They built up shelters in between the walls, and made them watertight.
As they were doing all this Ferdin stumbled into camp with a message from the King.
“The discovery of gremlins in the Westwood has given us great concern here. We were about to s
end out an army of low dwarves to you for reinforcements, but we dare not do so now. We will keep them here to guard against any gremlins coming back into the mountain. If you find out the intention of these creatures, please send me word.”
“Therin, son of Kyle, King of the High Mountain.”
Hemlot and Sarchise read the message and then Sarchise said, “Where are the High dwarves?”
Ferdin Answered, “They will be here in three days, I was sent on ahead.”
Sarchise was frustrated, “I hate sitting here.” He glared at Hemlot. “I need to know what’s going on.” He paced back and forth a minute then decided upon a plan of action. “I want a patrol sent out, just a small one of two men and eight dwarves. I want my scout, Hardyn to lead the patrol. I will send them to get a good look at what is happening at the two cities of the Minotaur.”
Hemlot bowed and walked away. A few minutes later he came back with the patrol. “I would go myself but that would give you freedom to move northward and there is not enough warriors left to properly protect you. This group will have to be your eyes and ears.”
Sarchise nodded. “I will give you this map. I will not leave any markings as to where we are now so that if you are captured or killed, they will have no way to find us. You will have to find your way back on your own, so mark your bearings well. The two old elfish cities are marked on the map. I don’t know that Barazar is telling the truth or lying, so you might be going straight into a trap. Get there and back as quickly and quietly as you can. We will not move for twenty days. Travel light and make no fires. Sleep only when you have to. Hardyn is in charge.”