Chronicles of Espiria Season 2
Episode 25 – The Defense of Maldan
Written by the Dude
Maldan, a frigid landscape of ice and mountain, was the ancestral home of the dwarven race. Known for their heartiness and their technological prowess, the Lightbearers have long sought to maintain good relations with them in the hopes of gaining their help in times of need, a feat not achieved until the formation of the fortuitous friendship between Commander Hogan and the legendary dwarven marksman Morvus. Since the fall of the Barred Gate, they had assisted each other on a few occasions, though not as often as Hogan and Morvus would have liked.
This day, Asgan, the king of the dwarves, sat in his throne in council with Morvus, who had just returned from a mission with Commander Hogan.
"They're holdin' their own, yer Majesty, but barely. If anythin' were to happen to Hogan or General Rayne, I wouldn't bet on 'em lastin' a day."
"Aye, I hear that all over." Asgan said. "The Maulers are keepin' them out because they live in a desert, and the Wilders are just overall confusin'. If it weren't fer the technology of our ancestors, we'd be having a harder go of it too. Unfortunately, we can't spare the troops to help 'em any more than we do now."
"But it's Hogan!" Morvus objected. "How often has he been there for us when we needed 'im?!"
"I don't like it either, Morvus, but we need every dwarf at his post to keep those demons out of Maldan. Those cannons ain't automatic yet, and some of our golems still use manual controls. Not to mention..."
At that moment, another dwarf burst into the throne room with an ashen face.
"They're coming again!"
Asgan sighed in frustration; this attack could have come at a better time.
"We'll discuss this more later, Morvus. For now, get to yer post!"
"Aye, yer Majesty."
Morvus left the throne room with every intention of discussing this more later. Minutes later, Morvus took his place at the head of the Maldan Sniper Corps.
"Ginneas, what're we up against?" Morvus asked his lieutenant as he scanned the snow-obscured landscape.
"It's a bigger force this time, sir. Our scouts're sayin' at least a thousand, but the snow's makin' reliable numbers tricky."
"The snow should clear a bit when we start firin' the cannons. Anythin' else?"
"Aye." Ginneas hesitated a moment before continuing his report. "It looks like they have some of our golems."
Morvus whipped his head to face Ginneas. "They have what?!"
"They have a few of our golems. They enchanted 'em with some kinda fire magic to help 'em through the snow."
"And how'd they get their dirty hands on our golems to begin with?" Morvus asked with raised voice.
"We're not sure yet, but Danni thinks they might've gotten their hands on some broken ones and fixed 'em up. It don't look like they have anymore of our equipment, but don't quote me on that."
Morvus turned to the young boy at his side whose task was to carry messages between commanders. "Tell King Asgan that the Hypogeans have our golems, then advise the Cannon Corps to focus fire on the golems." Turning back to the landscape, he continued. "Worst comes to worst, we can load gunpowder on the carts and hit 'em with that."
"Ooh, I liked the last battle where we did that!" another sniper chimed in. "So much fire!"
"Oolash, ya sound like those Land o' the Exiles psychos." Morvus said. "Now all o' ye quiet! I think I hear 'em!"
Indeed, the distant crunching of snow under foot and the mechanical grinding of metal against metal signaled the approach of the Hypogean force. Soon, the fire from the stolen golems could be seen through the falling snow.
"Fire!"
The shots from the various sniper encampments rang out. They had used the glow of the golems to help them aim, as the snow obscured their vision; as such, many fewer Hypogeans fell than Morvus would have liked in that barrage. The golems themselves were unharmed, since they were designed to withstand the worst that mortals could throw at them. But that element of their design was yet to be tested against the dwarven cannons.
"The Cannon Corps reports they're ready to fire, sir." the messenger boy told Morvus.
"Then what're they waitin' for?" Morvus asked rhetorically.
Moments later, the snow temporarily ceased to impair the dwarves' vision as ten plasma blasts from the dwarven cannons vaporized the falling snow, as well as many Hypogeans that were yet foolish enough to stand in their way. Many of the captured golems were also disabled, unable to do much more than flail their arms helplessly with their legs destroyed.
"Cannons are recharging, sir."
"We need to buy those cannons time to recharge." Morvus said to himself. To the boy, he said, "Tell the Golem Corps to begin their assault."
As the snow began to obscure the battlefield again, the Hypogeans were able to detect the initial stirrings of the dwarven golem army. Through the snow, they saw the silhouettes of the hulking mechanical monsters slowly but steadily advancing on them. The Hypogean commander signaled the charge, hoping that the remaining captured golems would distract the dwarves' golems enough to allow some of the Hypogeans through.
"Snipers, fire! We can't let any pass!" Morvus shouted.
Gunfire erupted from the encampments as the golems continued to clash around the invaders. The dwarven mechanics had even slapped together crude ballistic cannons in front of the gates in a desperate bid to slow the Hypogean advance. Finally, after what felt like hours to the defenders, but was really only minutes, the cannons finished recharging.
"Fire cannons!"
The battlefield was set alight again as the cannons swept the land clean. When the cannons finished, there was no remaining sign of the Hypogeans. Morvus and his fellow commanders heaved a sigh of relief, then ordered everyone to return to the castle. What none of them noticed was that, in the confusion of the battle, five Hypogeans, a goblin, an orc, a mage, and two imps, managed to slip through the defenses and had taken shelter in an ice cavern.
"We can't win this!" one of the imps said in a panic. "They have the weapons of the Celestials!"
"Pull yourself together, corporal!" the goblin commander shouted. "All we have to do is get our hands on one of those cannons and the castle will fall!"
"Thanks to our spy on the inside, that may be possible, Commander." the mage said as he pulled a sheet of paper from his robes.
The paper proved to be a map of Castle Maldan. The mage laid it out on the frozen floor of the cave and quickly examined it.
"I believe we are here, sir. Now there's a secret entrance here in the back of the castle for the royal family to use in emergencies. It's well guarded itself, but we should be able to avoid those patrols if we use fire magic to carve a path from this cavern to the entrance. Once we're inside, we can follow this path to the cannon mounts; there will be patrols inside, but we'll have the element of surprise since they all think we're dead. Once we secure the cannons, one of us can man one of the cannons to take care of any random patrols that may try to outflank us. If Ugh can carry one like the dwarves carry their rifles, the dwarves won't stand a chance."
The ogre grew excited at this idea.
"Very good." the goblin said after some consideration. "We'll go with your plan. We move out in..."
The commander's order was cut short as an icy spear burst through his chest. A few quick flicks of the spear, and the goblin was cleaved in half. As the two halves of the goblin collapsed, the other four Hypogeans stared in panic at the warrior who killed him. She was human in appearance, clothed in thick furs from the neck down. A helmet adorned with steel mountain goat horns partly covered her blazing eyes, the only part of her that seemed to have any warmth at all. She screamed out a war cry at the Hypogeans, producing a wall of chill air that froze the mage with the map in solid ice. The others tried to flee, but were trapped as the entrance to the ice cavern was frozen shut. None of the five Hypogeans was ever seen again.