Isle of the Ape

by Jason Halstead

  Chapter 9

  Garrick walked down the hill towards the large camp that had been set up. He frowned as he looked around. Some of the trees had been cleared and stumps pulled, but that was all the work that had gone into rebuilding the ruined city of Rockwood. He could make out a few figures walking between the tents but soon lost sight of them when he entered the tree line again. Garrick broke into a jog, anxious to learn more.

  The barbarian slowed to a walk when he emerged from the pine forest a quarter hour later. He was spotted by kelgryn sentries. They grabbed up spears and bows until Garrick slowed and held up his hands. "Hail, I come alone. I am Garrick."

  Two of the sentries approached him. "Well met, Garrick. Sorry for the rough meeting; it's been a slow summer."

  "I thought the town would be built by now," Garrick said. "You've got stone, wood, and dwarves. What more is there to building?"

  The man who spoke earlier laughed again. "If only it were that simple!"

  "It's not?" Garrick blinked, confused.

  "They can't agree to terms," the second guard said. "Dwarves are being greedy and demanding too much to do the work."

  "So build it yourselves. The kelgryn have strong backs."

  The guards looked at each other and chuckled. "That's what we thought, but the dwarves won't let us."

  "Ain't their land," Garrick growled.

  "The mines were theirs once and the jarl offered them back without contest. Plus the kelgryn aren't miners. Between that and the special benefits Jarl Teorfyr offered them, we're in a bind."

  "Thought the mines was caved in? We hadn't made it out too long before Alto brought the damned mountain down on them."

  "Much of it was, but many of the dwarf-built parts survived. Built to last, they said. Even an earthquake. The tunnels leading into the mines was caved in, though."

  Garrick grunted and shook his head. "If this is civilized, I'll stick with the north. Is Alto here?"

  "Holgasford, last we heard."

  Garrick cursed. "Who's in charge here? Can't be just the two of you?"

  The second guard shook his head and said, "They couldn't pay me enough to run this nightmare."

  The first one nodded. "Man named Halfdir in that big tent. He's meeting with some dwarves right now. Might want to wait until he's done."

  Garrick shook his head. He turned towards the mentioned tent and said, "What news I got concerns everyone, dwarf and man alike." Garrick started towards it while the sentries looked to each other before following after him.

  Garrick pulled aside the tent flap and stepped in to see two men sitting at a table opposite three dwarves. Two more dwarves stood behind them. The negotiators looked up at him, stunned into silence by his interruption and sheer size.

  The stillness was broken a moment later by a dwarven cry of, "To arms! An ogre!"

  Garrick scowled and looked at his friend, Mordrim. The dwarf was grinning while the others looked back and forth, confused. One of the dwarves had reached for the axe leaning against the table beside him until he realized it was a joke.

  "Don't worry, he'll trip over you on his way to reach me," Garrick responded before he stopped to realize there were other dwarves in the room. The dwarves glowered at him, not appreciating his sense of humor. He shrugged it aside; he wasn't there to make friends. "I'm looking for Alto. You seen him?"

  Mordrim glanced at his kin and saw the tension in their faces. The dwarf ducked his head under the table, showing them the running camaraderie between the two men and came back up. "Not here."

  The barbarian scowled and opened his mouth to return when one of the men, Halfdir, spoke. "Garrick, right?"

  Garrick closed his mouth and nodded.

  "Honored to meet you," Halfdir said. He rose from the table to an impressive height, though Garrick still towered over him, and offered his hand to the barbarian. Once Garrick clasped forearms with him, Halfdir continued, "Alto sailed to the south to Shazamir. We expect him back before fall. What brings you here?"

  Garrick stiffened at the news. "Shazamir? What's that?"

  Mordrim hopped off his chair and picked up his hammer. "Kingdom to the south in the desert. I'll tell you over an ale."

  "Wait, are we done here? We've much to discuss still," Halfdir said.

  "I came looking for Alto. I ran across a band of ogres in the mountains to the east. They came looking for war."

  "Not so uncommon," Halfdir said. "They are ogres."

  "Never seen that many at once except for when Sarya pulled the tribes together," Garrick said.

  "How many?" Mordrim asked.

  "Forty, maybe more."

  "Forty ogres! That's a war band," Mordrim grumbled.

  "You were wise to avoid them," Halfdir said.

  Garrick laughed. "I killed half their number and fought their leader. Cut his jewels off and sent them running to the hills, but not in time."

  Halfdir scoffed. "You slew more than a score of ogres?"

  Mordrim tightened his grip on his hammer and ignored the kelgryn man. "In time for what?" he asked Garrick.

  "They killed a family and burned their home. The man's youngest son, Borwin, came with me."

  Halfdir frowned. "Where is he now?"

  Garrick turned to him and said, "With clan Snowbear. They will teach him to be a man and keep the Spottedwolf clan alive."

  "This is troubling," Halfdir agreed. "The dragon is dead—what drives them to attack? You yourself killed the dragon's general, or so it's said."

  Mordrim held up his hammer. "He did. I seen it with my own eyes and he used this hammer to do it."

  Garrick let his chest swell with pride before he said, "That's why I wanted Alto. I want help searching the mountains. There's no man who knows them as well as Alto who I trust."

  Mordrim lowered his hammer and shook his head. "He's not here, but we need to know more. He left months ago and might be back in Holgasford now or soon. We should go there."

  "We?"

  "You think I'll be letting you do this on your own? Lady Patrina's with him and no doubt that boy's gotten her into trouble of some sort by now." Mordrim snorted.

  Garrick nodded and forced his lips to stay down when he said, "Fine, just try not to get underfoot."