The Song of Eternity
Canto 1
Parm: The Forsaken Realm
Verse 9
Run
Abandoned by their allies,
Captured by the enemy,
His strength shows,
And they escape to the haven.
Pearl cried out in pain as she was thrown into the cell. She caught Deke as he was thrown in after her. He was unconscious. After falling from the tower, she waited for the end as she should have slammed into the ground, instead feeling a pain around her waist as Deke's human arm stopped her fall and his metal arm stopped both of their falls. She made him comfortable on the floor of the cell as she recalled what happened afterwards.
Deke had jumped to the ground, keeping her safe, and led her away as the tower fell and the airship fled. They could hear Ashura shouting after the tower had settled. He was alive and wanted out. Deke had lost his sword in the commotion of the collapsing tower. Thousands of soldiers closed on the tower in the minute after it fell, surrounding them. They surrendered and Deke was knocked unconscious by the guards as they were taken to the cell.
Pearl was startled as she felt Deke's hand grab her. "Shhh…., come closer, and whisper," he said quietly through his teeth. "Pretend like you're checking on me," he whispered as she pretended to be helping him recover. "Where are we?"
"A jail cell, in a building a couple hundred feet from the tower," Pearl whispered back to him. She got quiet as a guard walked by, looking in on them.
"How many guards?" Deke whispered as he opened one eye a crack.
"Only one, the rest are all getting Ashura out of the tower, we only have another half hour or so before they get him free," Pearl whispered as she helped Deke to his feet. He leaned against the bars, grimacing in pain. He was cut and bleeding all over, his glove on his metal hand had been destroyed in the fall.
"Only one?" He whispered as the guard began to walk back to over to their cell. Pearl nodded as the guard stood outside the cell and studied the prisoners. Deke stood back from the cell and snickered. "I feel sorry for you buddy," he laughed as he pulled his metal hand back and punched through the bars into the guard's face, knocking him out. "Here," he ordered as he handed Pearl the guard's cloak. He took the guard's sword as he nervously watched the exit. "Where is your closest ally?" He asked as he went up to the door and peeked outside.
"The dwarves to the north, but that is fifty miles away at least," Pearl explained as Deke looked around.
He finally stopped and faced one direction. "Okay, north is that way," he nodded as if agreeing with himself. "We need to walk out of here, don't run. Keep your face down and keep walking. Once we get to the desert, I can run us to the mountains in ten or so hours because of this sand."
"Are you sure?" She asked as she tried to work out how fast he would have to be.
"I'll be fine, I don't spend all my time drinking you know. I can run like it's my job," he smiled as he pushed the door open and motioned for her to leave.
Pearl woke up later by a small mountain spring. "You up?" Deke asked her as he washed the dirt off his face and drank from the stream. He was soaked in sweat and caked with sand from the run.
"Yes, are you okay?" She questioned as she took a drink.
"Peachy, I love running sixty miles through a desert in the night," Deke answered sarcastically.
"What time is it? Where are we?" Pearl questioned as she looked around, trying to find the entrance to the dwarven cities. The mountains got steep and rocky up ahead, there was half a mile or so of rolling hills behind them, but she could see the desert past that.
"No idea, I passed out when we got here, you were up until about an hour from here. I'm guessing it's about 3 or 4. I have no idea where this city of yours is though, I've never been the mountains before," he laughed as he leaned back against a rock.
"I've never been to the southern entrance either," Pearl admitted.
"Don't worry about it too much, assuming the dwarves are friendly, they should find us here soon. When I was just waking up I saw one in what looked like military armor looking at you, then he checked me out. Probably a scout," Deke concluded as he stretched out on the rock.
"Very perceptive," came a gruff voice from behind Deke. A dwarf with an exceptionally long beard came out and gave the princess a hug. "What brings you and your strange companion here princess?"
"He's a friend, right?" Deke asked as he struggled to his feet.
"Yes Deke. This is Dugan, he's the king of the dwarves here," Pearl explained.
"Good, then he can get some guards out here to carry my unconscious body somewhere, because I am about five seconds from passing out from exhaustion," Deke explained as he sat and leaned on his rock and closed his eyes.
"Quite a strange fellow you found princess," Dugan commented.
"He caught me as Ashura's tower fell, then punched through a jail's bars, then ran here overnight carrying me. Strange doesn't begin to explain it," she laughed as Dugan looked at Deke closely.
"Ashura's tower?" Dugan questioned as he motioned for his guards.
"He tried to have me killed, I'll explain it once we get inside. But we need to get back to Haven as quickly as possible. Ashura may be attacking here soon as well," Pearl explained.
"It should not be a problem princess, we can have you back there in a day and a half," Dugan assured her as the guards carried Deke and they walked to an area that a rock had slid away from, revealing an entrance to the mountain.
Deke blinked his eyes as he woke up in a cot, surrounded by dwarven guards. He shook his head and looked around for Pearl. "What's going on?" He asked the closest guard.
"Good, you are awake. The captain will inform you on the situation. In the meantime, we had these made for you," then dwarf explained as he revealed some chain mail and a long gleaming sword.
Deke just finished putting the chain mail on and was strapping the sword to his side as another dwarf entered. "There you are, finally up. Come with me," the dwarf ordered as he beckoned for Deke to follow him from the room. "It's been four days since you got here. The princess left over two days ago. You are coming with myself and my platoon. We are to take you back to Haven and help garrison the city from Ashrura's coming attack. The rest of the armor we had made for you is here," he tossed Deke a heavy backpack. "I hope you like marching," the dwarf laughed as they exited the city and came across several thousand dwarven soldiers.
"You call this a platoon? This is a damned army," Deke said as he looked over the force in front of him.
"Hopefully it will be enough to stop Ashura and his allies," the captain replied grimly as he walked towards he troops.
"Got any food? I'm starving," Deke asked as he caught back up to the captain. "Wait a minute….what allies?"