Delver Magic II: Throne of Vengeance, Jeff Inlo [graded readers .TXT] 📗

if they tunnel in certain areas. I have some miners out looking at the tunnels before they’re filled. Hopefully, they’ll have some suggestions for us.”

“So, you do think they’ll be back?”

“I see no reason to believe they won’t,” Sy admitted heavily. “The question is how to stop them. If they send more warriors, spread them out, we’ll be in a whole lot of trouble.”

“Should we ask for help?”

“You mean from Connel? I don’t know how they’d feel about that. I doubt they’d send men. If they hear about what happened to us, they’ll keep every available soldier for their own protection. They may allow us to come live with them under their protection, but I doubt too many of our citizens would even agree to that. No one wants to be a refugee. They’d know what would be waiting for them. Tent cities, crowded unsanitary conditions. They’d have to leave their homes here. I doubt it would happen. I think those who would leave have left a long time ago. What they’d probably be more willing to do is enlist to help save their homes, and that’s what I’m going to offer to them. It’s really the only solution I can think of.”

#

A goblin sentry stood uneasily within the confines of the shag’s den. The serp was not in, and thankfully neither was the shag, but they were due back any moment. The goblin waited uncomfortably. Every instinct called for it to run from this grotto. A shag feeding cave was no place for a goblin, but it was now the adopted home of his serp commander. While his fears called for him to leave, a buzzing in the back of his meager brain bid him to stay.

Footsteps, heavy thuds, announced the shag that escorted the serp. The goblin bristled with fear. Only the sight of Sazar kept it in place. The hypnotic eyes of the serp mesmerized the goblin, the fear of the shag drifted away into the background. It was still present, but the goblin no longer felt the need to run for its very life.

Sazar stepped directly in front of the goblin. His snake-like eyes penetrated the creature. “I was told you have a report for me.”

The serp’s voice soothed the goblin. The small creature was able to respond even as the shag stood within arm’s reach. The goblin’s voice was rough and tired. “Last night there was activity within the human compound. There were many signals from the towers. I heard screams and sounds of battle.”

The serp probed the emotions of the goblin. He cast his doubts upon the creature to test its certainty. “I have no report of anyone entering the town last night. The gates were closed.”

“No one entered through the gates,” the goblin repeated Sazar’s fact.

“They fought among themselves?”

“No, they fought with dwarves.”

The serp looked ever deeper into the eyes of the goblin. “You are sure of this? Absolutely?”

“I saw the dwarves myself this morning, just before dawn. They came up from an underground tunnel very near my position. There were many wounded. They ran off to the woods.”

“In which direction?”

“The southwest.”

“They are from Dunop,” Sazar said to himself. He turned from the goblin as he reflected on his own thoughts. “I have heard rumors of rebellion in this city. Now they attack the humans. Interesting.”

Sazar turned back to the goblin. “You saw the exit but you didn’t say you saw them enter.”

“No.”

“They might have entered from another point. What was the first thing you saw?”

“The signals in the tower. I saw little after that. Before the signals I heard a large crash. I am not sure what it was.”

“It was their new tower,” Sazar announced. “I received another report that it was demolished last night. I already checked that for myself. I could not understand why the humans would do such a thing. They know of the blind spot. Their wizard cast that cursed web spell to temporarily cover it. The tower would have removed it permanently. Now, I know why. The humans did not destroy it, the dwarves did. Probably a diversion on their part. What happened after the signals?”

The goblin struggled for certainty of memory. “A pause, and then the sound of battle. I could not see. I was far from the wall.”

“What next?”

“Nothing. I waited for more signs. Much later I saw the dwarves surface and take off for the woods. I came to report to you after that.”

“Take me to this escape tunnel.”

The goblin gladly and quickly departed the cave. To his dismay, the shag followed Sazar and would accompany them to the site of the tunnel. The goblin pointed to the dwarf escape point. It was roughly covered, a quick and untidy job.

“They were in a hurry,” Sazar hummed as he pressed against the covering with his foot. Dirt gave way under the pressure and the hole opened up. “Normally, dwarves would do a much better job in filling their tunnels. They were probably fighting time as well as their wounds. I doubt they wanted to get caught out here in the daylight. If they got to the trees, they would at least have cover. How many did you see?”

The goblin did not know how to count. He stammered as he tried to explain. “A small group, not too many, but more than would be needed to scavenge food.”

The serp chuckled at the goblin’s short-comings. “I would guess that would be around two dozen, maybe a few more.”

The goblin, not knowing what that meant, simply nodded.

Sazar looked to the wall of Burbon. “So a party of dwarves attacked the town. This just after their delver left with two elves. I know that relations are now very strained between the elves of Dark Spruce and the dwarves of Dunop. This is very interesting. Is it possible the dwarves were not happy with the delver? Did they come looking for him? If they rid the land of him, it would certainly do us a great favor. Still, there are other opportunities at hand.”

Sazar looked into the tunnel. He ordered the goblin to climb down and investigate. The goblin showed no reservation at such a task. Goblins had no fear of small tunnels or the dark, and the descent would allow it distance from the shag.

“Do not go far. Simply tell me what you see. How far do you think it goes?”

“I can not see, it is very dark,” the reply echoed from below.

Sazar sighed. He fished a very valuable item from his pocket. A light gem, a jewel which the dwarves used to reflect light down long tunnels. He had stolen it from one of the air shafts of Dunop. He held it out over the tunnel entrance. The gem absorbed the light, tightened it into a narrow beam, and finally directed it into the darkness within the hole.

“The tunnel goes farther than the light. It goes on, very long,” the goblin finally reported.

“It probably extends all the way back to within the town.” the serp observed. “The dwarves obviously did not take the time to collapse their escape route. Come back up here.”

The goblin obeyed, left the security of the tunnel and again stood on an open hill side within reach of the shag. It stood nervously next to the hole, though, like a prairie dog waiting to dart back into its own tunnel if any sign of danger appeared.

Sazar virtually ignored the goblin. He looked back and forth from the tunnel to the town of Burbon. “We can make great use of this, but we should begin work immediately. The humans will no doubt attempt to fill in these tunnels. We can not have that, not completely anyway. We can collapse this tunnel ourselves, just beyond the wall’s edge. They will think the dwarves were responsible and they will never find this portion of the tunnel. We can dig our own pathways from the point of collapse later. We will not be able to dig with the efficiency of the dwarves, but they have already performed the heart of the task. This tunnel will serve as access to a point under their wall.”

Sazar turned to the shag. He grunted and growled, made signals with his hand. He pointed to the tunnel and then the town of Burbon. He mimicked the sight of the wall with his hands.

The shag grunted in response. In turned toward the goblin and began to step forward. The goblin cowered. Fear overtook it. It crouched, shaking uncontrollably.

Sazar sighed. “Move out of his way.”

The goblin’s eyes shifted from the shag to the serp and back again.

The shag stopped in front of it. It stared down on the creature with lifeless eyes.

Sazar had to repeat his order. “It’s not going to eat you, it’s going down the tunnel. You’re in the way. Move aside.”

The goblin jumped in obedience. The puffy swelled flesh around its eyes and cheeks seemed to sag in relief.

The shag leaped down the tunnel. It was a tight fit, but the monster was able to move along in a crouched position.

The serp pocketed the light gem. The shag would not need light. He turned to the goblin to give his next set of orders. “Our friend is going to follow the tunnel to a point just beyond the wall. He will collapse the tunnel at that point, breaking off the link between this portion of the tunnel and the section that leads above ground within the town. This tunnel will be ours, permanently. One day we will use it, but not today. I need to find out what is going on with these dwarves. You have done well this day. I am going to raise your rank. I want you to assemble a surveillance party. Take six goblins. You will go into Dark Spruce. Seek out the camps of the elves. Do not engage them. Stay away from their guards. Simply look and listen. Off with you.”

The goblin ran off, filled with pride over achieving the praise, while Sazar considered the full breadth of the situation.

“There is no doubt this is all linked together. Rebellion in Dunop. A break in relations between the dwarves and elves. A dwarf attack on the humans after the town delver goes off toward the southwest.”

Sazar’s head snapped to the southwest. He thought of what waited beyond the trees, beyond the canyons.

“The Lacobian desert,” he remarked gleefully. “The delver went with the elves to the Lacobian to find the algors. That completes the puzzle. Those that came together for a brief moment at Sanctum Mountain are now facing a new struggle. They succeeded in destroying Ingar’s sphere together, but now their alliance appears to be falling apart. It will be interesting to see where this leads. Very interesting indeed.”

#

“Retreated? They retreated?” Yave spouted a mix of anger and disbelief.

Strog grimaced. “They suffered many casualties. Two of the commandos have died from their wounds since returning home. Two more are doubtful. If they did not retreat, they might have all died.”

“And how many casualties did they inflict?”

“The raid attack commander specifies that fifty humans were killed.”

“Ha! He is lying.”

“I would guess he might be exaggerating.”

“Exaggerating?” Yave bellowed. “It is an out and out lie. You said before the attack the humans had maybe a force of two hundred men in Burbon. If they killed fifty, that was a quarter of the total force. I doubt they would have had to retreat.”

Strog rubbed his hands together sullenly. “As I said, it does sound exaggerated. They did, however, inflict at least half that many casualties. I have interviewed the individual soldiers. They all have at least one