In complete silence and without warning, a dozen more wolves emerged from the trees all around them. In seconds the group was completely surrounded.
Bodine’s calm voice instructed them. “Stay calm. They’ve decided to be friendly. But sudden or aggressive movements might change that.” He reached into his bag and produced a chunk of meat that looked like it might have been a rabbit. The alpha female took it gently from his hand and set it down in front of her. She gave a short woof, and several wolf pups ran forward from somewhere behind and began a five-way tug of war on the carcass. It was quickly torn apart and devoured.
Bodine said, “Those of you who have meat in your bags, now would be a good time to offer it.”
Every member of their party produced meat of some kind. Pollock’s group and Max, who had been hunting the last several days, produced entire boar and bear carcasses. The guards had smaller offerings, mostly roasted drumsticks and jerky. Every soldier knew to carry some extra food just in case. Alexander reached into his old bag and produced some boar meat himself. Each of the group members held the meat out at arm’s length upon Bodine’s instruction. One by one the wolves stepped forward to accept the meat, then returned to their circle. None consumed what they were given. Some set their prize down at their feet, others held them in their jaws.
Bodine explained. “They’ll take the meat back to their den and share it among the pack.”
Alexander made a decision. “Pollock, if you and your guys have more that is not wolf meat, go ahead and give it to them. We don’t need it. I’ll make sure Silverbeard pays you for it.”
“No need” Pollock answered, producing another boar. “Dinner’s on us tonight, doggies.” He and his men passed out more items until each wolf was carrying at least one large chunk. A few of them dropped the guards’ jerky to accept larger pieces, and the pups dashed in to see to the jerky. They rolled around at the group’s feet, gnawing on the tough meat or trying to take it away from each other. Pollock asked, “Can I pick one of them up?”
Bodine looked at the alpha for a moment, asking the question. She gave a soft woof that sounded affirmative to Alexander. Bodine nodded, and Pollock bent to pick up the closest pup, who right then was on its back holding a piece of jerky between its forepaws and gnawing enthusiastically. It growled a warning at Pollock as his hands got close, defending its treat. He chuckled at the ferocious little thing, and scratched its belly rather than try to lift it. Its back leg started to twitch, and the growling stopped. After a moment it stopped gnawing and closed its eyes. Pollock smiled and lifted the pup. Cradling it on its back like a human baby, he resumed the belly-scratching. The pup sniffed at him, sneezed a couple of times, then closed its eyes again.
The other three players each bent to pick up a pup as well. Chris got a nip on the hand for his trouble, but after a barked reprimand from the alpha, the pup looked apologetic and allowed itself to be handled. A moment later it was enjoying the petting as much as the others. The final pup went to Norval, who seemed unsure what to do. Regina whispered to him, and he bent down and grasped the pup by the scruff of its neck. Lifting it with one hand, he held it in front of his face. The pup sniffed at his beard, and gave a little bark of excitement before lunging forward and licking the dwarf’s face. Norval chuckled and gathered the pup against his chest, scratching its ears and smiling. The pup latched onto the heel of the dwarf’s hand and tried to gnaw through the tough skin. Norval’s smile only grew wider. “Tough lil one, this is.”
Bodine spoke with the alpha as the others petted and tussled with the pups. Taylor took it upon himself to approach one of the grown wolves. It tolerated his presence, calmly staring at him as he reached it. When he began to scratch behind its ears, the wolf tilted its head and leaned into him.
After what seemed like only a few minutes, Bodine said “Okay, playtime’s over. They want to take this food back to the others. Set the pups down.”
The men and dwarf reluctantly complied, and a woof from the alpha had the cubs all trotting in her direction, occasionally tripping over their hunks of jerky. She barked a few times at Bodine, then turned and departed. The other wolves melted away into the trees and were gone.
“Right! I think that went well.” Bodine declared, walking back toward the tower. “Nobody died, the wolves are fed, and if I’m not mistaken, our dwarf friend here just found himself a companion.”
“What?” Norval and Pollock asked at the same time. Pollock continued. “Why only him?”
Bodine explained. “When bonding with a companion, the animal has to choose you. You four men simply picked up the pup closest to you. But Norval was chosen by the pup that went to him. Then he made eye contact, and I believe it drew a little blood when it chewed his hand?” He looked questioningly at the dwarf, who looked at his hand in surprise. Sure enough there was a small smear of blood. He held it up for Bodine and the others to see.
“As I thought. The pup has bonded itself to you. It’ll stay with the pack for another week or so, until it is fully weaned. Then it’ll be ready to join you. I think Captain Taylor’s choice was prepared to bond as well. I sensed great contentment when you touched her.”
Regina spoke up. “She’s pregnant with pups of her own. She’ll not bond with you until they’re born, but I got the same sense from her.”
Pollock spoke the question the others were all thinking. “What about the other pups?”
Bodine answered “We’ll come back again next week. It may be that they’ll choose one of you. Or one of the adults might. There’s really no way to predict what they’ll do.”
The group headed west, back toward the garrison tower. When they reached the bridge, Alexander called a halt. He pulled a fishing pole from his old bag and said, “Twenty-minute fishing break.” Before securing a small bit of jerky to the hook and dropping it into the water.
A few of the guards produced poles of their own and joined him. Tigger simply laid down in the cool grass and watched. The others all sat and relaxed on the riverbank, the guards who were not fishing faced the tree line to keep watch.
After just a couple of minutes one of the guards hooked a fish. It was a large salmon, easily ten pounds. Alexander asked for it, and the guard handed it over. He placed it in his new bag, and resumed fishing. By the time the twenty minutes were up, Alexander and the other guards had each caught two or three fish. All as big as the first or larger. He placed those in his bag as well, and they resumed their hike back to the tower. When they were safely inside the walls, he removed one of the fish from his bag. The thing instantly began to thrash in his hand. Smiling, he returned it to his bag.
“It should have suffocated long ago. The bag not only kept it alive, it stayed suspended.”
He turned in time see a look of longing on Regina’s face. He pulled the fish back out of his bag and handed it to her.
“Thank you” She smiled “We so rarely eat meat. This will make a wonderful meal.”
Alexander offered “We’ll send one of Lars’ apprentices up here once they’re properly trained. If your pack will guard them, I’m sure they could pull plenty of fish from the river for you. Maybe once a week?”
“That would be delightful. Thank you, Alexander.” She replied.
Pollock and his group elected to stay at the tower and do some more hunting. Max agreed to stay with them. Alexander waved to them and stepped inside to use the mirror. Back at the keep, he dismissed Taylor and his men, promising he wasn’t going anywhere else for the day. He went straight to the kitchen and turned over the more than fifty pounds of fish to Mattie, whispering quietly to her. She nodded her head and went to work.
Next he went to see Jules. She was in her shop, working on something that she put away as soon as he entered. He smiled, deciding to poke at her a bit. “Ooooh that looked interesting. What is it?”
“Nothing.” Jules’ answer was short and curt. “Why are you here?”
Alexander wasn’t going to give up that easy. “C’mon… let me
peek! Is it a… uniform? A banner? A hot air balloon with a dragon on it?” he grinned at her.
She blushed slightly as if caught doing something naughty, then scowled at him. “Go away. I’m busy.”
Alexander stepped backward and started to turn away. “Okay, if you don’t want your present, I’ll just take it back…”
“What present? Presents are good. Gimme.” She said to his back. He grinned “Well, I got you something that’ll help you kill things, seeing as how you’re so excited about slitting my throat lately.”
He turned to see her widening grin. “Oh come on! You’d rather Helga gets to… I mean, has to kill you?”
Alexander shook his head. He reached into his bag and produced one of the crossbows. Jules leapt from her chair and seized it. She examined it closely, then grabbed the crank. It was a bit of a strain for her, but she managed to pull the string back. She spoke thru gritted teeth as she cranked. “Gonna need… to put… a point in strength. Maybe two.”
He nodded his head. “Yeah, these were made for dwarven females, not elves. Takes a little muscle to crank. But it’ll send a bolt right thru someone’s body.” When he looked up at her grin, he added “NOT me.”
She made a mock disappointed face and held out her hand again. “Gimme”.
It took a moment for him to realize she wanted ammunition. He pulled out a half dozen quarrels and set them on her workbench, then backed away. She took one from the table and slid it into the slot. She took aim at a tailor’s dummy in the corner, and fired. The dummy’s head exploded as the bolt passed through it and into the stone behind.
She set the weapon on the table and stepped close to him. Wrapping her arms around his neck, she kissed him passionately. When she finally stopped, his heart was racing, and he was wondering if her door had a lock. She released him and turned back to her table. “Thank you, my love. Now go away. I’m busy.”
Alexander chuckled and turned to leave. “I’ve got one for Thea, too. I hope she’s just as grateful…” he dodged to avoid the quarrel she threw at him. She hadn’t even looked up from the table. But he could see the hint of a smile tugging at her face.
Not sure where to find Thea in the keep, he asked Jeeves. “Lady Thea is currently at the smithy. Shall I summon her for you?”
“No, thank you Jeeves. I’ll go there myself. While I’m walking, tell me what’s going on with the orcs.”
“They remain at the village. Several hunting parties have gone out and returned. They have depleted considerable resources from the area. Large numbers of deer, boar, and other wildlife have been killed. If they continue at this pace, they will need to move farther and farther out to hunt.”
“Jeeves, can you construct any additions to the bridge south of the village?”
“Yes, Alexander. I have plans for widening the bridge. Also for the addition of guard posts, barracks, or lookout towers. I can also modify it to be a drawbridge, though that will require extensive mechanical work that I cannot complete myself.”
“And do you have sufficient stone resources to add a tower at the southern end of the bridge?”
“I do. My repairs on all ancillary buildings are complete. I have created the lab you requested, as well as the additional dungeon levels. And the guest suites in the main structure. I also increased the size of Prince Kai’s roost at the request of Lady Lia. I have more than enough stone resources from those projects to build a tower.”
“Alright. I’ll head to the control room next, so we can look at your blueprints for a lookout tower. Thank you, Jeeves.”
Arriving at the dragon forge, Alexander found that Brick and Grumpy had organized a sort of production line that was cranking out weapons and shields. He waved a hand to get Brick’s attention, then called for him to bring Thea and Grumpy over to the dining area away from the noise.
When they joined him, he said “We have found a secret room in the east garrison tower. There were several racks of high quality dwarven steel weapons. Swords, spears, axes, knives. A few hundred in total. And some shields as well. There’s an anvil down there too, if you’re interested. Anyway, combined with the weapons we already have in the armory, and those you’ve made here, I think you can slow down on weapons production. Focus on armor and shields.”
He turned to Thea. “And for you, my lady, a gift.” He produced the second crossbow he’d snagged, and a dozen quarrels.
Thea accepted the gift quietly. “This be… thank ye, Alexander.” She set the weapon down in her lap and looked at her hands. Alexander began to second-guess himself. The weapon obviously had significant meaning to the dwarfess, and not a positive one.
“I’m sorry Thea. I didn’t think. I know many of your womenfolk died using these weapons.”
Thea looked up. “Wha? No, no. It be a lovely gift, Alexander. I were just thinkin o’ me childhood. I wanted ta be one o’ the legendary archers growin up. Me mum explained to me that it weren’t done any more. Our people be just now startin to recover from the losses after a millennium. But holdin one o’ these was a dream o’ mine.” She smiled warmly at Alexander.
Deciding to change the topic slightly, he said “There were 90 of these down there. With a thousand quarrels. Plus parts to repair them. I’m having some of them brought here, and a few left up top. Training starts tomorrow for any citizen willing to learn to use them. If you’d be willing to teach, Thea?” he asked.
“Aye, I could do that!” Her smile widened.
“I’d like to get some of the duergar involved as well, if they’re willing. They have the strength to operate these quickly, and it gives them a chance to fight from the relative safety of the walls. Freeing up melee fighters.” Alexander looked at Brick as he spoke.
The dwarf nodded. “I’ll speak to em meself.”
Leaving the smiths to organize themselves, Alexander climbed the tower steps all the way to the top. This was the room that had once held the baron’s sacrificial altar. The teleportation mirror stood in the same corner where they’d found it. Alexander touched the mirror and was instantly transported to the control room in the cliff above the keep.
Taking a seat at the control table, he said “Okay Jeeves, let’s see the plans you’ve got.”
“This is the standard plan for a lookout tower, Alexander. It can be joined to the base of the bridge at either end.”
The standard blue hologram appeared above the table. It showed him a 3D image of a stone tower approximately fifty feet wide at the base. It stood forty feet high, with windows starting on the second floor. An interior stair wound up the inside, and the top was open to the air. The interior of the tower was mostly open rooms. Alexander could see options to add kitchen, storage, bathrooms, sleeping quarters, etc.
“Jeeves, could you build one of these at each end? And could you add underground space? Just one big room.”
“I have sufficient resources, and cutting the rooms out of the stone below would give me more. It would, however, take me two days to construct each tower.”
“What if they were only three stories instead of four?”
It took a moment for Jeeves to respond. “That would reduce the time by half a day each.” Alexander thought it over. “Okay Jeeves, we don’t need two full towers right away. How long would it take you to create a three-story tower on the south side, with the underground space. And a single story on the north side, also with the underground space?”
“They can be complete in two days. Slightly longer if you desire a kitchen, bathroom, or other amenities”
“Perfect! Please begin on the southern tower first. That is the most important. Start with the underground space. I’ll be sending Norval and his crew to make some modifications. Thank you, Jeeves.”
Alexander used the mirror to teleport himself down to the keep. He paused for a moment at the altar, which had now been blessed by Durin. “Hey, uhhh Durin. I know I’m not a dwarf, but we’re planning a battle with the orcs in a few days. Anything you can do to help me look out for my p
eople would be appreciated. Thanks.”
There was a slight pulse in the lighting within the altar, and Alexander smiled. Leaving the room he descended the stairs and returned to his quarters. The work on his lab door was apparently complete. Curious, he examined the wall around where the switch was supposed to be. Even knowing where it was, he couldn’t detect any sign of it. Nor could he see any outline of the door. Reaching up, he pushed the appropriate spot. There was the slightest of clicks, and the door swung open. He stepped into the room and looked around. Again he was tempted to use his magic. He could create work tables and storage and…
Exiting the room, he closed the door behind him. He took a seat at his desk. “Jeeves, could you ask Norval to come see me when he has time? No rush.” He pulled out a piece of paper and began to sketch the bridge and the river, and a rough approximation of the structures he was having built. He studied the sketch, his mind generating and discarding battle plans. A smile grew on his face as he hit upon a particular idea.
Opening officer chat, he said “Brick. Can you make six really big shields in the next two days? Like, bigger than Lugs’ shield. Rock troll sized?”
“Aye, we can do that. Especially if ye don’t need em to be fancy. What’ve ye got in mind?”
“Bulldozers. No need for fancy. Ugly is good. Heavy, wide, tall, and sturdy. Maybe have somebody paint some dead orcs on the front. You get the idea.”
“BWAHAHA I like it! We’ll be ready.”
Norval knocked on the door and called out as he entered. Alexander motioned for him to sit. He turned the sketch around for the dwarf to look at, and explained what he planned. The dwarf laughed just as loud as Brick had. “Ha! Yer a genius. This battle’s goin ta be fun! And aye, we can do what ye need simple enough. No mechanics, just yer basic finger hole for now. We can improve it all later. I’ll take me crew first thing in the mornin’. Can ye send along some guards?”
Defenders of the Realm Page 11