“Do you think they would try something in the middle of the day?” Taric slipped his armor on and cinched down the straps.
“We are underground. Day becomes night if they snuff out the torches.” Seeroth sighed and shook his head. In truth, there was little distinction between day and night. The city never seemed to sleep. There were always dwarfs out doing their business no matter the time.
“This is a fort. We should be able to hold a few people out.” Roild made as if to get up before he thought better of it.
“That’s a good one. This fort hasn’t been maintained since the tunnels to the surface were sealed. That flimsy iron gate out there is only to keep the stray spider and rat out. This door wasn’t even new when I was no taller than a knee plate.” Seeroth moved off into a stairwell carved into the wall before either of the dwarves could say anything else. He had been off making sure that all the guard posts had appeared the same as far as anyone walking past could see.
“I don’t know. It almost seems like it was a bad idea to bring the human to Underheim.” Taric lamented as he went to the door and peered out the peep hole.
“I really don’t know. He only started healing after the rebels used the soul shard on him, but it nearly killed him. On the other hand, he might have started healing on his own if we had hidden him in Kalsrod.” Roild winced as he slid a boot off and started unwrapping one of his feet.
“Will you stop playing with it? You are only going to make it worse.” Taric chastised his friend as he went back to watching the human through the bars.
“The healer said that it would heal faster if I let fresh air to it.” Roild scowled at Taric.
“It makes sense considering how bad your boots smell.” Taric retorted.
“My feet? I bet if I threw one of your boots into a spider nest, they would all die of asphyxiation before they had a chance to bite it. And if they did bite it… I don’t know what would have happened.” Roild gingerly removed the last wrapping and grimaced at the angry red scar tissue forming under the scabs.
“I told you not to do that. It’s sickening.” Taric watched apprehensively as Roild picked at the scabs.
“What? It itches.” Roild removed the scab and rubbed the tender new skin.
“Gross.” Taric turned back to watching the human breath.
“Wimp.” Roild began picking on another scab but flinched when it began bleeding again. Glancing at Taric, he was glad that his companion was still observing the human and hadn’t witnessed the warnings fulfilled. Wrapping his feet again, Roild was just about to put his boot back on.
“By the deep! I think he moved!” Roild jumped to his feet and hopped over to the bars while he tried to finish putting on his boot.
“I don’t see anything unusual.” Roild was disappointed.
“I'm sure I saw his hand twitch.”
“You are seeing things. He hasn’t moved since… Since we found him.” Roild crossed his arms and leaned against the bars.
“Oh whatever. Maybe I am seeing thing. I'm going stir crazy stuck in here.” Taric turned his back on the human and leaned on the bars himself.
“He just rubbed his nose!” Roild had caught motion out of the corner of his eye and only saw the last portion of the movement but had seen enough to know that there was motion.
“Now you are just making fun of me.” Taric grumbled.
“No! Seriously! I saw him rub his nose.” Taric now turned and noticed that Roild was peering between the bars intently.
“He looks the same to me except… Are his eyes open?” Taric was now peering through the bars as intently as Roild. Their concentration was rewarded a moment later by the human shaking his head and rubbing his eyes. They watched speechlessly as he slowly sat up and blinked like he was awakening from a long sleep. He stared at them quizzically before glancing around at the cell that he was in.
“Where am I?”
“You speak the common tongue.” Roild finally managed to form words. The realization that the individual that they had found mangled and on death’s door was alive and well before them hadn’t quite sunk in.
“You have a funny accent.” The human shook his head again.
“We could say the same for you. This is the dwarven capital Underheim. This is Taric and I'm Roild.” Once he had his wits about him, Roild realize that the human did have a distinct accent. It was not difficult to understand what was being said, just different. The centuries of separation could have produced a far more substantial alteration of the spoken language between the two races.
“Dwarven?” The human looked around the cell in confusion.
“What is your name? We can’t keep calling you the human.” Roild was again able to think practically.
“Draceros, but you can call me Cero. How did I get here?”
“That is a long story. What is the last thing that you remember?”
“I was trying to escape some people then I remember falling. After that, I think I saw people, but it was not here. It was in a cave and there was a man who was worried then I thought I saw my father, but he is still in Yrany so it must have been a dream.”
“So you don’t remember anything else?”
“No, but should I? Why is Taric so short? I feel like I know him somehow.” Cero stood up and approached the bars where the dwarf stood with veins bulging in his neck.
“I am not short… I'm the normal one! You and Roild are just inordinately tall. If I hadn’t helped haul your carcass halfway across the Garoche, I would go in there and tan your hide. After everything I’ve done you have to go and…”
“Taric. Now is not the time. How old are you Cero?” Roild laid a restraining hand on Taric’s shoulder as he asked the question.
“Almost fifteen winters. Why are am I in a jail cell? Did I do something?”
“Only fifteen? How tall do you humans grow?!” Taric deflated in shock.
“Only a little taller. Glad to see you awake.” Seeroth appeared from the stairwell and stomped over.
“He only woke up a minute ago.” Seeroth rolled his eyes at Roild’s comment.
“I have only been gone a minute. He looks calm enough so let him out then give me a hand. We have visitors that I don’t want to let inside.” While Roild was opening the cell to Cero’s relief, Taric was helping Seeroth move a table away from the wall. After they had removed the table the guard commander pulled a lever loose and detached a section of the wall. They then noticed that the thick stone slab was hinged. Together Seeroth and Taric pulled the slab around in its ancient hinges until it covered the door. No longer was the thin wooden door the only barrier between those inside and the outside.
“So now that we have that done, don’t know how long those hinges will hold up, but we can only hope long enough for the other guard posts to figure out what is happening.” After glancing at the now freed Cero, Seeroth returned to the upper floor.
“What is going on?” Cero was confused by a number of things. He was surrounded by a race thought to be extinct. On top of that they seemed worried about an attack.
“There are some people that are offended by your presence here. Nothing for you to worry about.” Roild tried to reassure Cero and could tell by the frown that he hadn’t helped much.
“Do you work for Reigns?” Cero felt certain that he would still be in the cell if his captors had worked for Reigns, but he wasn’t sure of much right now.
“Who is Reigns?” Taric was shushed by Roild who was trying to listen at the blockaded door. A moment after, they heard shouting from the men upstairs, something impacted the door. They heard the wooden outer door give way while rust flew from the inner door hinges. Seeroth appeared at the stairwell and watched as another impact shook the stone slab.
“Roild, get the human upstairs now! Taric, help me reinforce the door.” Both the young dwarves sprang to do as they were ordered. The last Cero saw as he was pulled up the stairs was Seeroth moving everything he could get his hands on against the stone slab. A
nother smashing blow broke one of the hinges loose just before he lost sight.
Roild led the way into the upper room, but they had to duck as a rock from below was slung through a damaged and enlarged window. The guards that were at the windows responded with a hail of their own rocks on those below. From the metallic clanging, it sounded like they were protecting themselves with shields over their heads.
“Get them away from the doors! We can’t take much more of this. They will be inside within a couple units otherwise.” Seeroth appeared with Taric and began clearing the area on the side of the doorway at the top of the stairway. They managed to clear the barricade at the same time that a massive crash came from below. It took both Seeroth and Taric to loosen the latch, but their efforts were doomed to failure when it was discovered that the latch was the only thing that had been holding the slab in place. Without the latch holding it, the entire slam simply fell to the floor and shattered with a terrifying explosion of dust and shrapnel. Fortunately, no one was injured beyond the ringing that filled their ears and the miscellaneous scrapes and bruises.
“To the door men. They have to fight uphill to get through to us.” Seeroth took the forefront with his mace and knocked the first rebel to appear back down and head over heels. The rest of the guards took their places at his sides a moment later to battle the stream of dwarves attempting to take the upper floor.
“Cero! This way quickly.” Roild shook Cero from his shock and dragged him to a door in the wall.
“What about them?” Cero resisted when Roild tried to shove him into the dark chamber behind the door.
“Don’t worry about us. You just need to stay safe.” The door was closed before Cero could respond and he heard something heavy being shoved into place in front of the door. He was able to hear the fight raging beyond the barricade, but couldn’t really tell what was happening. A minute or so later, he thought that he heard Seeroth yell something then the fighting got louder then it became muffled again.
“Where is the human?” A strange voice greeted Cero’s straining ears.
“They took it with them when they retreated sir.” Cero’s heart nearly stopped.
“Don’t just stand there! Go after them.”
“They are holding us off at a choke point, but we outnumber them so it won’t be long.”
Cero didn’t recognize any of the voices outside. He was able to glean that the friendly dwarves had been forced to abandon the upper floor. Where they had gone was a mystery. On the other side of that door were people that clearly meant no good. It would only be a matter of time before he was discovered in his hiding place.
Backing up, Cero tripped and landed on his tail bone. Biting his tongue, he only just managed to refrain from making a sound. When the shock had subsided, he began feeling around the pitch black and discovered that he had tripped over a stair step. As best as he could tell, the stairs continued back into the darkness. With his hands held out ahead and feeling for each step of the way, he began climbing. The sound beyond the barricade grew fainter as he proceeded up the stairs. After what seemed like hours he saw a glimmer of light in the tunnel and felt a cool breeze on his cheek. A minute later and he stood on an icy ledge with a view of the Garoche Heights below.
Carefully stepping to the edge Cero saw that he was above a snowfield on the face of a cliff. The winds were trying to tear him off the ledge when the mountain seemed to shake. Before he could react, the ledge crumbled, dropping out from beneath him. Lunging at the hole in the rock with all his strength, he only succeeded in catching the bottom edge of the opening. Hanging here precariously above thin air, he shuddered to think what would happen if he were to lose his grip. This thought had only passed through his mind when the rock he was holding on to broke free.
***
The dwarves under Seeroth’s command paused in the tunnel as he stopped to survey them. They had just broken the ancient stone gate free. Several tons of stone had slammed into place sealing the rebels on the other side and shaking the mountain. With the lift system rotten with age, there was no chance that the rebels could follow them into the tunnel anytime soon. He was pleased to note that there weren’t any dwarves missing from his command, but he did note one conspicuous absence.
“Roild! Where is the human?” Roild emerged limping as he did so.
“I hid him in the closet on the second level, but we were forced to retreat. I didn’t have a chance to go back after him and we were so hard pressed that I couldn’t even get the message to you in time. He is still in here. We have to go back.”
“Fool boy! That wasn’t a closet. It was a stairway to a lookout at the surface. It is a little late now to do anything about it. They wouldn’t have been pressing us if they knew that we didn’t have him. The best we can do for him now is to keep them thinking that we took him with us. Give me your horn lad.” Seeroth took the offer horn and loosed an earsplitting knell.
“TO ME MEN. Protect the human! They won’t get their grubby fingers on him as long as I'm alive!” The cursing that drifted through the walls from the frustrated rebels came as confirmation of their ruse’s success. They now hoped to traverse the tunnel and return to one of Underheim’s other entrances. If they could enlist more guards, then it would not be difficult to retake the guard post and free Cero if hadn’t been found. Hopefully the rebels would be focused on chasing them down and wouldn’t perform a search of the holdfast. Taric and Roild activated the crystals set in their armor and led the way.
***
Cero came to with a start. He found himself laying in the snow field that he had looked down on from the ledge. Remembering the ledge, he climbed to his feet and looked up at the cliff. He found the aforementioned ledge littering the snow around him. The snowy slope started at the foot of the cliff and gradually leveled. He could see where his fall had been broken by the slope and the trail leading to where he now stood.
Without howling bands of dwarves after his skin, he was now able to step back and take a look at his circumstances. They were so far the worst he had yet to encounter. He stood high in the mountains with only the lightest of clothes. He wore shoes, but they were not suited to the snow. His wardrobe didn’t include a coat or even a cloak that might protect against the chill winds that blew up the slopes. He wasn’t cold yet, even though his attire, while warm, was not equal to the glacial heights and promised the inevitable deadly chill that he had heard about. Worse yet was the clouds piling on the horizon that portended foul weather before dusk. Weaponless and without any idea of his true location, he simply picked a direction and began walking. He wasn’t going to be in any immediate danger as long as he kept moving; that is, until night fell.
Squinting, Cero tried to look at the horizons. All he could see was expanses of snow and the ragged peaks that hemmed him in on all sides. Trying to remember, he thought he had seen an opening in the peaks from the lookout so he turned in that direction. It turned out that the snow field he had landed in was a sort of plateau that required him to climb down to get off of. His hands were raw from his failed attempt at clinging to the cliff face so it took longer than it should have normally taken to climb down. When he had reached the bottom of the climb, he began skirting the wall of rock. Not a track marred the high snows meaning that few, if any, were the creatures that braved these heights.
Coming around a bend in the wall Cero saw a patch of earth that the constant wind had worn the snow and ice clear of. Seeing something white against the brown earth, he moved forward. When he was a few paces away, he recognized the scene for what it was. The bleached and eroded bones were scattered, but one could still make out the undulating serpentine form attributed to a dragon. This one was not as large as he had heard tales of. The ferocious Vaulwar Dragons were said to be mighty creatures taller than a man. These bones belonged to something that looked more graceful than the tales had suggested. Bones were scattered here and there, but he could see the long thin wing bones laying where they had fallen around the body that was
curled around itself as if sleeping. The horned skull gaped with most of its needle sharp teeth still intact.
Gazing on the final resting place of the majestic beast, Cero couldn’t help but feel a certain sadness. This must have been one of the last dragons to live in the Garoche Mountains. Stories told of how they had died out hundreds of years ago. Now, only the Vaulwar dragons remained. Stepping respectfully through the grave site, he discovered that the dragon seemed to be curled around a small heap of broken crystals. Picking a piece up, he held it up to the sun and looked at the black glass like rock interwoven with veins of semi-transparent white. Closer examination unearthed a smooth round undamaged crystal. Slightly oval in appearance, this one glowed more of a blue when held to the light. You couldn’t see through it, but against the sun, it gave the effect of glowing from within. Wiping the dust off revealed a flawlessly smooth surface. It was small enough that Cero was able to put his hands together with it between them and touch his fingers around it with ease. Further search revealed that this was the only specimen of the strange rock that had survived the ages. It was lighter than its size suggested so with one last look at the skeleton he decided to keep it as a memento.
With the strange stone secured in a pocket of the strange pants the dwarves had dressed him in, Cero looked at the clouds again. They were even more threatening now than ever. The sun was sinking lower behind the mountains at his back so he figured that he had to be on the eastern side of the Garoche. With this to guide him, he made for the lower elevations. Abandoning the wall, he struck out. This nearly cost him his life when the endless whiteness suddenly opened up into a yawning precipice in the ice. Skirting this, he proceeded with more caution while trying to keep to the edge of the ice fields if possible.
Chronicles of Den'dra: A land on Fire Page 3