Author's Notes: Hey everyone, I hope that you had a good Christmas and New Year, as promised a longer chapter, as always I own nothing.
Karl's initial impression was that Karak Bryn was not as impressive as the Dwarves had made it out to be. It seemed little more than a tunnel, a smooth and well-made tunnel, but nothing spectacular. He supposed that a side entrance like this would not be as impressive as the main one but still, Diril and his kin had made this place seem as if it were wonder to surpass Altdorf, indeed, any city made by made by man. They went down the tunnel, a journey which just seemed to go on and on, at last they came to another door, this one also made of stone. Again the old Dwarf produced a key, but before he turned Diril to address those behind him.
"Ready yourselves. Once this door opens we could run into Grobi at any time, pass it alone." Karl pulled his pistol and cocked it, behind him he could hear muttering as Diril's words were passed down to those behind and this mingled with sounds of weapons being prepared. After a few minutes the old Dwarf must have decided that they had had enough time to prepare because he took the key and fit it into a hidden lock and with a click the door smoothly slid open. On the other side of the door was a large room. It contained several stories and here and there where the remains of stone chests, which had been broken and forced open and their contents long gone. The old Dwarf looked around and spat in disgust.
"This used to be one of Karak Bryn's armories. It was filled with weapons the like of which are not to be seen in the world. All gone now, cursed Grobi have looted and despoiled the place, as they do with everything that they lay their foul hands on." With that the party moved on. Moving through the doors they entered another tunnel, this one decorated with carved Dwarven faces which had been burned and defaced, at last they came to another set of doors. Passing through these Karl at last saw the hold proper and at once saw that he had been wrong about the Dwarf hold, very wrong indeed.
The doors had led them to a vast hallway which seemed to serve as a street. On either side were vast columns of stone, intricately carved to resemble Dwarves holding up the stone above them. This proved to be a floor of a second level upon which were more homes and shops. The floor also contained more pillars which supported yet another floor. Karl could not tell if there were more floors above that one but he would not have been surprised if that was the case. A soft chuckle caught his attention and he found one of the Dwarves standing next to him, a grin on his face at Karl's expression.
"Aye, quite a sight is it not manling? Karak Bryn was built in the Golden Age of my people, when our crafting skill was at its zenith." Karl could only nod in agreement.
"Your people's skill in the art of stone-crafting." The Dwarf's expression took on a mournful cast.
"Yes manling, my people are skill, but not as skilled as our ancestors were. In truth we cannot claim to be as skilled as they were. Once we made all of this," here he waved his hand about to encompass all within sight. "Now, now we crawl about, picking over the remains of what was once ours like thieves and pillagers." Karl was not sure that that term applied, in his opinion they were reclaiming what had been stolen, not stealing themselves. However; the Dwarf did not seem to think that way and neither did his kinsmen. Perhaps they simply thought in different ways from Men, Karl had to remember that they were not just short humans.
Suddenly everyone around him went stiff and Karl could hear, off in the distance, the sound of something scampering off. He sniffed the air but all he could smell were those around him and the dank, decaying smell of the hold around them and he darned not alter his nose to increase his sense of smell. Whatever was out there, he would have to wait for it to come closer before he could get a good smell to determine what it was. While he did not know what was out there, Diril clearly had his suspicions. He motioned to the Dwarves in leather armor with crossbows forward.
"Spread out and ensure that there is no surprises waiting for us nearby." Without a word they spread out and vanished into the darkness. Karl was impressed, while outside the Dwarves had looked almost comical when they moved; here, in their ancestral home, they seemed to move with a grace like what Karl had seemed among the Elves. It was the humans and Karl who now moved comically, keeping together and jumping at every shadow and sound, yet another reminder that Dwarves were not merely funny looking humans.
The party moved through the halls and Karl began to understand what the Dwarf had meant when he described them as pillagers, they seemed like intruders, this place may have once belonged to the Dwarves but no longer, a fact made clear by the new owners. Everywhere Dwarven architecture had been defaced and despoiled, with head of statues chipped off and crude lumps of filth and debris in the vague shape of Goblin heads and other shapes had replaced them. It was not his home yet Karl still felt anger at the sight of such beauty being desecrated and to judge from the angry growls of those around him, the others felt the same. Their mutters where cut short by a hissed command from Diril.
"Quite!" He hissed and the word was quickly spread throughout the force. Karl was not sure what was going on at first but then he smelled the scouts returning. One of them came up to Diril and muttered something in their own language and Karl could not understand. Whatever it was it was clear that Diril was not happy to hear it. He turned to the column, raising his voice.
"Get ready lads! We got company coming!" At his words the men and Dwarfs scrambled to get to prepare for an attack.
Not knowing what direction the attack would come they formed a half circle formation. The center was composed of the heavily armored Dwarfs with the human mercenaries forming the flanks, anchoring their position on the wall. In the center were the knights with the warrior priest ready to plug any gaps which might occur. For several minutes there was silence and then the sound of hissing voices and the pounding of feet reached Karl's ears and from the tensing around him the others heard the sounds as well. Then the attack came.
A shower of crude arrows and spears tore from the shadows to land on and around the defenders, some fell but most remained standing. After the barrage came the Goblins, hundreds at least. These were clad in black robes and they swarmed at the defenders in a disorganized mass, clearly seeking to win through sheer weight of numbers, they might have been comical except they were just as menacing as Orks, if not more so. While their larger cousins were larger and stronger and extremely brutal they did not have the same look of cruel malice that these creatures did. Orks would just kill them, goblins would drag it out for a long, long time. Then the creatures were on them and Karl had no more time to think.
The Goblins threw themselves at the wall of defenders with a mixture of spears, swords and other sharp objects. They slammed into the defenders stabbing, hacking, slashing, thrusting and even biting at the humans and Dwarves. Karl yelped in pain, looking down he found one of the green wretches had wrapped its arms and legs around his left leg and had sunk its needle-like teeth into Karl's leg. Incrediblythey had gone right through the leather of Karl's boot and blood was leaking out. Yelling in a mixture of pain and rage Karl dropped his left-handed sword and grabbed the creature by the scruff of its neck and pulled it off as if it were an overgrown leech. Standing erect he hurled it into the mass of goblins, where it knocked down several of its fellows.
After that there was no time for such displays, merely for hacking and slashing. The Goblins seemed endless and their ferocity seemed equally infinite. Off to his left a ball green energy hurled by a Goblin wizard arched toward the defenders, only to be countered and dispelled by the wizard hired by Helwig and Diril. The man then chanted something and a number of metal arrows formed in the air and then shot towards the Goblins, some going through several of the creatures before they dissolved into the air. Here and there the Goblins were breaking through but each time this happened the knights and the priest would move in and drive them back long enough for the defenders to close the gap. While men and Dwarves were falling to the enemy but their loses were nothing compared to the loses that Goblins were sustaining, their dead were piled in heaps before the defenders' line.
Karl had lost track of how many he had killed when he found the attacks slowing and suddenly he found that there were no more live Goblins around him. Looking around he found that they had fled all along the lines. For a moment he and the others stood in silence for a moment and then a cheer went up as they realized that they had won. Then they turned to seeing to the wounded and dead. Karl's leg had already regenerated, as had the other injuries that he had received. Fortunately, in the dim light, no one seemed to notice. Seeing that there were no wounded near him he wandered over to where Helwig and Diril were talking with the priest, the wizard and one of scouts.
"Aye," the scout was saying; "It's near here. A whole nest of the cursed things. We practically came out on top of the thing."
"We should destroy it!" The priest spoke up. "These creatures are an affront to Lord Sigmar!"
"We haven't the men." The wizard interjected. "Even if we hadn't taken any loses in the battle, which we have, we would not have enough. There are likely hundreds if not thousands of Goblins there. What we fought was little more than a probing force." The priest was about to make an angry retort when the Dwarf scout broke in.
"The spellcaster has the right of it, there will be heaps more of those things there waiting for us there and for all we know there will be trolls and worse with them. We don't have the numbers for that, if we did we would be here to retake our home, not to grab what we can. We've given them a bloody nose true but they won't stay away forever. We should get out of here, we damaged them enough that they may not be in the mood to pursue us far. We get what we came for and find another way out of here."
"He's right." Helwig said; "Once we have seen to the injured we should get out of here we came for treasure not battle." The priest looked indignant but clearly saw the logic of what was being said and merely nodded.
"I will see to the injured." He said simply, he then turned and departed. Seeing that nothing more was going to be discussed Karl moved back to where he had been. As he got there he found his path crossing Gundolf's. The man was now slightly the worse for wear, his hansom face a bloody bandage pressed to his left cheek.
"Not so hansom now am I?" He said with a sardonic grin.
"I am sorry." Karl said. But Gundolf waved Karl's words away.
"Think nothing of it. I'll live and when I get home Father can hardly refuse my request to settle down. Plus," here he pitched his voice low as if sharing a deep secret; "The ladies love scares, can't get enough of them. All the girls will be fawning over me and the scar less pretty boys will as green as those goblins with envy at the sight of them. In fact, you should see about getting one or two yourself." Karl forced a laugh.
"I shall get to it at once." He told the man. The man chuckled and walked off.
Karl went to help with the wounded, it appeared that the priest had some skill at healing and was doing all that he could for the wounded. Even so, it was clear that some of the men would still die in spite of his efforts. Several of the knights' squires were helping the priest in his efforts, going about applying bandages to those with only slightly wounded and setting the bones of others. When he was not treating the injured the priest gave last rites to those whom it was clear would not survive. A number of men were making makeshift litters for the wounded and it seemed the dead, the men being unwilling to leave the bodies behind for the goblins, thinking about what could happen to them Karl could not help but agree with the sentiment.
When the time came to move out the men and Dwarves were arranged into two columns on either side of the street. In between these lines were the men carrying the litters and supplies. Loses had been heavy at least twenty were dead and nearly twice as many wounded, they had just arrived and already nearly a third of their force was dead or injured. Fortunately the Dwarf scout's assessment of the situation proved to be correct, while they saw and heard signs of scouts they encountered no more goblins. Even so when they made camp, in what appeared to be the remains of market place, they posted a heavy guard and Karl did not sleep well that night, neither he suspected did anyone else.
The next day, at least he assumed it was the next day, without being able to see the sun day and night was determined by the number of torches they were carrying, they set off. Karl noticed that the farther they went the more elaborate the buildings were. The ones that he had seen when they first entered Karak Bryn had been as large and fine as the homes of any wealthy merchant in Altdorf but these were dwarfed by those they saw now. Karl was sure that the Emperor himself would be at home in these places, each of which were easily the size of palaces. A soft chuckle to the side brought Karl's attention back. Lescheva had come up beside him and Karl found himself berating himself for letting his attention slide like that, if Lescheva had been a goblin he could have put a spear in Karl before he knew what was going on.
"The little ones live well indeed," the Kislevite said. "These are palaces fit for the Tzarina herself."
"They are impressive." Karl said, like Lescheva keeping his voice barely above a whisper, there was something about the place which discouraged speaking in a normal tone of voice. Lescheva chuckled again.
"I could tell that from the way you were walking about with your mouth hanging open like child seeing snow for the first time."
"I was not!" Karl hissed indignantly, a slight flush coming to his face.
"Quiet!" Hissed one of Dwarves near them and Karl could not help but notice that there seemed to be something akin to anger in his voice. Now that he thought about it, Karl noticed that all the Dwarves seemed to be becoming somewhat tense and irritable.
Diril took the columns to an elaborately carved double set of doors which stood at least fifteen feet high, Diril gave an angry hiss and Karl saw signs of gouges and blows on the doors, it appeared that the Goblins had attempted to force their way in. Up close Karl saw that Diril was as tense as the other Dwarves and even Helwig seemed to be uneasy as well. The old Dwarf came up and drew the rune-covered hammer from his belt. With this he tapped the arch on either side of the doors while chanting in his own language. Karl had never heard the language of the Dwarves before, except for the words cried by the Dwarf Slayer before he had died. He had not given it much thought at the time but now that he had time to focus on it he found that he was fascinated by it. It was harsh and guttural yet strangely haunting and beautiful in a way. It made him think of old mountains, hard and enduring. When the Dwarf was finished the places that he had tapped began to glow and the doors opened up the old Dwarf hesitated for a moment and then went in, the rest following behind.
On the other side was a corridor which went back so far that Karl could not see the end of it. One either side were tall arches flanked by statues of Dwarven lords and ladies. Mounted on brackets on the wall were braziers of wrought iron, though all of them were out and clearly had not been lit in some time. There was a thick layer of dust on the ground and heavy cobwebs everywhere. Yet at the same time the place seemed almost clean in a way. It was clear that there had been no intrusion by Goblins in this place and their filth had not marred the statuary or anything else in the place. The statues and murals, which Karl now saw between the arches. These were, apart from the dust and ravages of time, where the same as when they had been created and the skill which had gone into their making surpassed anything that human craftsmen could accomplish.
"What is this place?" He asked one of the Dwarfs near him.
"This is the burial vaults of the kings and queens of Karak Bryn." There was a note of pride in his voice and expression, but then his expression turned to one of guilt. "And now we are here to plunder them like a pack of thieves."
"We have been over this!" Another of the Dwarfs said, his tone suggesting that he was also uncomfortable with what they were doing and trying to suppress it. "This wealth belongs to our people, we need it! And you saw the doors! The Grobi have tried to force their way in in the past! It is only a matter of time before they succeed! Better the wealth of our ancestors return to us than it be taken by Grobi and worse!" This seemed to reassure the first Dwarf somewhat, he still did not look happy but he made no more protests.
"Right," Diril said, turning to address the party. "Split up as planned," here he indicated several of the other Dwarves; "They will assist you in opening up the vaults for you."
With that he turned and headed back towards the door they had come through, the old Dwarf and all the Dwarves with him. The Dwarves who had been assigned to them went to the doors, groups of men going with each of them. The one Karl followed went down the hallway a little, to the third door and tapped on the runes which adorned the sides of the archway like those at the main entrance. Once he completed a pattern, his fingers had moved too fast for Karl to follow, the doors slid open to reveal a chamber beyond. At the back of the room on a raised platform were two sarcophagus, elaborately carved and inlaid with gold. On the walls were carved murals which depicted what Karl assumed were the lives of the two Dwarves who occupied the tomb. What drew his and the others attention; however, was what was before the platform.
There were a number of chests, some of stone and others of wood that had rotted away. It was the latter which drew attention because they had rotted away to expose their contents. Gold, wrought and unwrought lay everywhere. Bars of gold the size of pathing stones lay amongst jewelry of a quality which Karl doubted humans could ever hope to equal. There were also bars and ornaments of silver among the gold. Also there were weapons, ancient but still looking as if they were fresh from the forge and all of them encrusted with runes which blazed with power. Karl could only imagine how much all of this was worth, certainly more than any but the wealthiest of nobles and merchants in the Empire. He then tried to calculate what all the contents of the tombs would be worth and his mind boggled at the attempt. A jostling of his shoulder as the others began to push past him.
"Hold!" One of the Dwarves shouted out, bringing the men to a halt. "As Dawi of Karak Bryn we lay first claim to the weapons and artifacts of this place! The gold and silver you may take as much as you can carry." With that he and the other Dwarves headed toward the sarcophagus.
This seemed to be the signal to the men to continue and they immediately rushed forward and began stuffing gold and silver into bags or whatever else they had for carrying it. Karl joined in as well, heading toward a pile of gold coins and began stuffing as much as he could into a bag and once that was full he began filling another. He went for coins and jewelry and ignored the bars, they were large and heavy and he would have to go through someone to convert it to coinage and he could carry more coins and jewelry. He was reaching for another handful of coins when he felt his fingers brush against something. Clearing away the coins he found that it was a pommel of a sword.
It was shaped in the form of the head of a roaring dragon, made of gold with rubies for eyes and gold wire was entwined around the grip. Pulling the sword all of the way out he saw that it was shorter than his longsword and had an unusually shaped blade. The base was like a normal blade but further along it widened and then shrank back to normal, putting an image of a leaf in Karl's mind. Near the base of the blade was a single rune etched into the metal. Karl did not know what it signified but it looked very familiar and he could sense the magic within it. Remembering that the Dwarves had claimed all the weapons he approached one, who was reverently placing what appeared to be a jeweled scepter into a chest and offered the weapon to him. The Dwarf took one look at it and spat in disgust.
"Don't insult the work of our ancestors manling! We want nothing to do with Elgi trash."
"Elgi?" Karl asked in a confused tone of voice. The Dwarf hacked and spat.
"Elves, even a beardling could see that thing is from that pack of pampered, prancing…" here he began to mutter something in his own language which though Karl could not understand it he figured that it was not something flattering. "We don't want it," he said at last; "It was probably just some old war trophy from the War of Vengeance if you want to waste space carrying it feel free to do so." With that he turned back to his own efforts and gave Karl no further notice. Karl stared at it for a moment, it was a fine blade but he already had two blades. Then a thought came to him, smiling he wrapped the blade in a cloth and placed it in his pack.
In seemingly no time at all the men and Dwarves had all gathered all that they could carry, Karl himself had to be careful not to take as much as he could carry so as not to give away that he was stronger than any of the men. Even so there was still much wealth left behind and Karl was far from the only one giving longing looks to what was being left behind. Still, as he told himself, he now had in his position more wealth than he ever thought possible for any man to have other than the Emperor himself. Karl could not help but feel giddy at the prospect of getting back to human lands and seeing how the rich people lived. His thoughts were interrupted by the sight of several men and Dwarves binging the bodies of those who had died earlier.
"What are you doing?" He asked one of the Dwarves.
"They are laying the dead to rest." Diril, who had returned while the others had been filling their bags with treasure. "We cannot take them with us and this way we can protect their bodies from desecration. Among the honored dead they shall be safe." Karl found that he could not argue.
Now burdened down by the weight of the treasure that they now had they made their way back through the doors and out of the burial chambers. The old Dwarf again tapped a sequence out on the frame with his hammer and the doors sealed shut again. Karl noticed that the Dwarves who had gone with Diril had not made any efforts to gather any treasure for themselves and where carrying a number of chests which the guarded closely and glared suspiciously at any of the humans who came too close to them. Once the doors were sealed the column started to move but instead of going in the direction that they had come from they set off in an entirely different direction. The mood was high among the men and even the Dwarves seemed less morose than they usually were, though some of them still seemed unhappy at what they had done. Diril was not among them, indeed his mood seemed quite buoyant and from the way that he kept looking at the chest he and the others had brought Karl could guess why. He had no idea what was in them but he was not going to risk his neck by trying to peak.
As the expedition continued to move the builds began to change. They stopped looking like palaces and took on a more martial appearance. The scouts led them to what appeared to be a barracks and armory. The place had been looted and an attempt had been made to burn it but being stone this had been a futile attempt. Even damaged it gave off an air of strength and endurance, as if it would endure long after the realms of men had passed away. If the place had any effect on Diril he gave no sign of it and led them inside. As the last of the men were heading in there came the sound of screeching horns and shrill cries. Near Karl one of the men cursed.
"Sigmar save us! The Goblins are back!" Karl shared in the man's curse. He was not sure where they were going but he assumed that they were on their way out and he had hoped that they would succeed in making their escape without further incident. It seemed that that was not to be the case.
"Alright!" Diril called out; "There is a way out of here in the back of the barracks! We can get out of here but we need time for the wounded to be moved out of here!"
"Right!" Helwig called out. "I need twenty men to hold the entrance to the barracks! When the rest of us are clear we'll send someone back for you!" He tried to make it sound like something heroic but it was clear that there was a good chance that most if not all of the men who remained behind would die. So he was rather surprised when he found himself stepping forward to volunteer. Perhaps emboldened by his act others also stepped forward. The priest volunteered, as did the knights. Lescheva, Delaune and Gundolf also volunteered, as did the wizard, who seemed as surprised by his action as everyone else.
They quickly arrayed themselves to block the entrance at the wall that encircled the barracks, with Lescheva nearby with his bow. The gateway was wide enough that six men could march abreast through it. To counter this the knights arrayed themselves in two rows of six to block it with the priest at their head. They did not have to wait long before the Goblins appeared. There seemed to be even more than there had been before but that may have been because he could see more of them from where he was. Many of the Goblins carried torches and he had heard that such creatures could see better than men in the dark. That seemed to be the case, as the creatures gave off delighted shrieks at the vast difference in numbers between the humans and themselves and threw themselves forward.
As some of the Goblins rushed forward others hung back and shot streams of arrows at the defenders. Fortunately, these had little effect as Karl and Lescheva merely ducked beneath the parapet and the arrows sailed over them and the knights used their shields and armor to block the arrows which fell on them. Indeed the only ones who seemed to be injured were among the Goblins who were charging he defenders, Karl was not sure if those loses had been intentional or not. Then the Goblins were on the humans.
Karl thought that the priest, being a little ahead of the others, would be quickly overwhelmed but he quickly saw that he was wrong. Despite wearing heavy armor the priest moved with a speed and grace which would have shamed a dancer. Spinning his hammer about in a massive figure-eight he struck down any of the creatures which came near him. They for their part quickly began to stay away from him and instead rush the knights, where they found that they had no better fortune. The knights, who clearly had long trained to work together, locked their shields and formed an impenetrable wall of steel which the Goblins strove in vain to penetrate and soon a pile of dead bodies lay on the ground in front of them while the knights' own armor protected them from the Greenskins weapons.
All the while Karl and Lescheva fired down on them from their positon. Karl was beginning to think that things might turn out alright after all when his attention was drawn back to the main Goblin force. Even with his eyes it was hard to make out what was going on at first but then things become clearer, a new force was emerging and reading to charge. First was a group of Goblins but unlike the ones who had come before these were riding on giant spiders the size of horses. The second part of the attacking force were creatures the like of which Karl had never seen before. They looked like red balls with legs and huge, teeth-filled mouths.
With a shriek the spider-riders and the strange creatures charged forward. While the Goblin mounts were fast, they were nowhere near as fast as the creatures. Their movements were a combination of running, leaping and bouncing. It was almost comical, except it was terrifying at the same time, especially how fast they were moving. And they were indeed moving fast, the distance closing with a rapidity which was almost breathtaking.
Desperate to stop them Karl fired off a shot at one of the creatures. The first two shot went wide but the third one struck it. He expected the thing to go down but the creature barely even flinched at the hit and kept on charging. The things soon outdistanced the spider-riders and made a straight path to the line of defenders. The priest's hammer made contact with one of them, causing its skull to cave in like an overripe melon. While the blow had clearly killed the creature it had off-balanced the priest and before he could recover another of the things was on him. It opened its mouth impossibly wide and bit down. The priest just had time to scream before almost the entirety of his left side from his shoulder down was bitten off. The knights cried out in outrage but had time for nothing else before the creatures were on them.
"Empire-man!" Lescheva, saber now in hand called to him. "Look to your front! We have problems of our own!" Karl looked forward and cursed.
The spider-riders had reached the wall and rather than heading toward the entrance the spiders had latched onto the walls and began to scuttle up it. Karl had no time to reload so he thrust his pistol back into his belt and drew his swords. A pair of large, hairy legs reached over the parapet and began to haul its body up. Karl hacked at the legs in an effort to prevent that from happening, it was like trying to chop through a tree limb. With a horrible chittering the creature's enormous head came into view and the grinning Goblin thrust its spear at Karl's head.
He ducked under the blow and then lunged forward. The creature had opened its mouth to bite, venom dripping from its fangs. Both of Karl's blades went in and speared the roof of its mouth. It jerked and fell backwards. As it did so one of the fangs caught Karl's arm, slicing it open. Pain flared along his arm but he forced himself to focus on the other spiders which were closing as well.
Using the chaos of battle as a cover he fed as much of the wolf as he dared into his arms and struck out furiously at any legs that came near him. Unfortunately, though his body was healing, the poison was slowing him down and weakening him. Even if he were free to take on his wolfen form he was not sure he would have been able to defeat them all. Just as another one was coming at him Karl sensed a buildup of magic. Suddenly an arrow, seemingly made of gold, shot past him and sank into the spider, its hard shell seeming to have no effect on the arrow.
"Get down!" A voice called. Looking down Karl saw that it was the wizard, now looking winded and his cloths stained with sweat. "We have to get out of here!" Karl did not reply, he simply nodded and hurried down the stairs.
Lescheva was there but they had taken loses. In addition to the priest nearly half the knights were down, as were one or two of the mercenaries. Fortunately they had not gone down easily. It seemed that all or at least most of the strange creatures were dead, as were a number of spiders and their riders lay with the creatures.
"We need to go!" One of the knights said; "Follow me!" With that he turned and headed in the same direction that the main party had gone off on. The others fell in behind him while a few of the remaining knights formed a rearguard.
Karl still felt slightly woozy but he forced himself to keep up with the others. They entered what appeared to be the main barracks building and proceeded to the back of the building. There a panel had been moved from a seemingly solid wall. They all hurried into the opening and found a tunnel leading into the mountain, once the last man was through they slid the stone back into place. Once it was in place the tunnel was plunged into complete darkness but this was not a great hindrance as the tunnel was straight and level. Karl was not sure how long they ran in darkness, seeing nothing and hearing nothing but the thud of feet on the stone floor and the heavy breathing of those around him.
At long last he saw a pinprick of light ahead of them. The light grew larger and larger till it resolved itself as a doorway. Going through it he found himself outside on the side of the mountain. He paused for a moment but quickly found himself being pushed aside by the few who were behind him. The air was cold and clean and it helped to clear his head and he could feel his body flushing his poison from his system. As the last of the men emerged from the tunnel several Dwarves, who had been standing off to the side of the entrance, moved up and slid another piece of stone, which Karl had thought to be merely a rock, into the hole. It slid in seamlessly in and Karl would not have been able to tell it was there if he had not seen it.
"That should stop them," one of the Dwarves said. "Even if they find their way through the first door, a feat which I doubt, by the time they hack their way through that stone we will be long gone."
The Dwarf's words echoed in Karl's mind as they made their way down a path which lead towards the base of the mountain. He thought about what he would do with his share of the treasure, they all had, but it had not quite seem real, almost like a dream. Now it was coming true, they had the loot and were heading home. He would have to figure out where he was going to put all of his new wealth, he had a feeling Marx would not approve of using his house for a storage space. Even if he did, Karl was certain that Marx would help himself to it.
No, he would have to find somewhere else to hide his gains. But where? He had nowhere else to stay though and he knew no one else in the city, save Clare and he doubted her college would be any more willing than Marx would be to hide his new wealth. His thoughts were interrupted by Lescheva hitting his shoulder.
"No time for daydreaming boy. The little green ones have not given up yet." Straining his ears Karl could hear the sound of a horn blowing and he cursed himself for letting himself being distracted by thoughts of money. Nor did it appear that he was the only one, the Dwarves were muttering in their own language which Karl could not speak but he could make a guess as to what the subject was.
"We need to hurry!" One of them called and they quickened their pace. While normally the humans would have easily outpaced the Dwarves here in the mountains the more sure-footed Dwarves were the ones deliberately slowing to avoid outpacing their companions.
The horns of the Goblins continued to blow, coming from different directions which indicated that they had split off into different search parties. They were clearly moving fast, far faster than Karl and the others were moving and finally the inevitable happened. With a crazed shriek a score of Goblins mounted on giant spiders appeared on a small rise looking down on them. Despite their numbers and fearsome mounts they made no movement to attack, apparently they were as cowardly as the stories about them said they were.
While they did not charge they sent a shower of arrows down on them. Fortunately they prove to be as poor archers and all the rest of their kind and most the arrows went wide. The few arrows which did reach the party mostly either thudded harmlessly into the ground or else bounced harmlessly off of the humans' armor and shields. A few; however, did find their way to softer targets and several men, including Lescheva, went down with cries of pain.
Karl rushed to the man and was relieved to see he was still breathing and cursing lustfully. Draping one of the man's arms over his shoulder he hoisted the man back to his feet. Nearby the wizard sent a blast of magic up toward the Goblins. The attack seemed to scatter the enemy, at least temporarily and Karl and the others made good their escape, leaving the bodies of the two who had fallen behind as they would only slow them down, though they did take the weapons and loot off the bodies. While the Goblins did not attack again, they could be seen shadowing them and the blowing of their horns caused Karl and the others to fear that they were summoning more of their kind to aid them and the situation was only going to get worse as the sun went down and the Goblins could attack under cover of darkness.
Ah!" Lescheva hissed as Karl stumbled over a lose rock, causing his to jostle the man he was carrying. "If you are going to kill me boy then either cut my throat or leave me for the green ones. They will have the kindness to kill me quickly."
"Quit complaining." Karl said, trying to sound joking but the situation making him be more snappish than he had intended to be. "You'll be fine, you are too mean and ugly to die." Lescheva laughed at that.
"Lay off the flattery boy, you are neither pretty enough or plump enough for my tastes." At that Karl had to laugh a little at that as well. They continued on for a little longer and came to a rise and saw a most welcome sight, below them was their camp and within the hour they were within the walls.
Author's Notes: Hey everyone, sorry it has been so long since I last updated, life and not sure where to take the story. I have some ideas running around and once I catch one or two of them I will get on it, it will include him getting his own lair if you have any ideas please let me know. One more thing, do you think Empire merchants would accept Dwarf money or would he need to exchange it? Till next time please pray for the Pakistani Christians, including the disabled man who claims he was tortured into confessing to a crime he did not commit. The sick, those unjustly held and all who need prayer, including some relatives of mine who are sick or in the hospital. Bye and may Jesus bless you.