Delver Magic II: Throne of Vengeance, Jeff Inlo [graded readers .TXT] 📗
- Author: Jeff Inlo
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Ryson immediately saw the symbolism in this grandiose display. That section of Dunop was simply gone, gone like Yave, gone like the need for any further conflict. The war was over. A wave of relief hit like a sledge hammer. He felt fatigue with the realization that there was nothing left for him to do. He met his challenge, the need for his involvement was at an end.
Lief gathered himself, rose to his feet, and brushed the dust off his clothes. He echoed Ryson’s very sentiments. “It seems the threat is over.”
Unfortunately, not all agreed. An ordinary dwarf citizen stumbled up to them with a mask of hostility. “No thanks to you, elf.” The description of Lief’s race was accented with hate and anger.
Another dwarf followed the first’s lead, then another. A crowd soon surrounded them, a crowd which quickly turned into an accusing mob.
“You dropped the seeds on us.”
“You attacked my camp without provocation,” Lief shot back.
“The seeds should have never been used,” one dwarf cried.
Others joined in the tirade.
“We have lost part of our city because of you and the other elves. The shadow trees are the ultimate act of war.”
“A war you started,” Lief replied belligerently.
“And a war we can finish,” a dwarf sentry growled.
Lief laughed sarcastically. “With what army?”
“We will all take up arms. Other dwarves from other cities will join us. You have used shadow trees against us! No dwarf will forgive that.”
It was the delver that responded. “That’s enough!” Ryson’s face glowed crimson. Veins bulged from the side of his head. His fatigue ruled his emotions. He blasted everyone around him with shouts of frustration. “Haven’t you learned anything?! Can you possibly be this stubborn and stupid?”
“Yes, they can,” Lief replied smugly.
The delver would not hold his fury simply to the dwarves. “Shut up, Lief!”
The elf recoiled with surprise.
Ryson continued. “I’m tired of all of you. The whole bunch of you. Things were better off when I didn’t even know any of you existed. Do you know that? How does that make you feel?”
“What do we care what a delver feels?” one dwarf voice retorted.
“Because this delver saved your lives, saved your necks!”
“The cliff behemoths saved us, not you,” another voice rebutted.
“Did the cliff behemoths save you from the trees? They saved you from the sand giants. And who do you think told them of this nonsense?! I did. I don’t know why they came here, but now I’m sorry they did. You deserved to be crushed by the sand giants. Especially, after what you did to the algors.”
“The algors killed Tun,” a female’s voice cried defensively.
“That’s nonsense. I was there. Tun died because he was just as stupid and stubborn as the rest of you.”
“Watch your tongue, delver,” a dwarf guard called sharply.
“Why? What are you going to threaten me with now? Going to throw me in the dungeon like you did before? And for what? All I ever tried to do was to help you.”
“But the elves have committed the ultimate act of war. They have dropped the seeds upon our town. We must respond.”
“Is that so? And what about the algors. You attacked them. Slaughtered them! Don’t they have a right to send more sand giants? And what about the humans at Connel? I saw what you did there. And why? I know why. Oh, I know for damn sure why. Your queen wanted to get even with me. She knew that I used to live there. That’s why thousands of humans died. She ordered the attack on my home for the same reason. When I go back, what am I going to find? Neighbors and friends dead. Buildings destroyed. Does that give me the right to kill all of you right now? Don’t tempt me.”
A single delver attacking the remnants of a once proud city, the thought was ludicrous, but the dwarves saw the resolve in the delver. Could they stop him? Could they even catch him?
Ryson, however, turned his venom quickly upon the elf. “And what about you?”
“What about me?” Lief responded unwaveringly.
“Your people are now just as responsible for this stupidity as the dwarves,” Ryson shot back. “Petiole dropped the seeds. You can’t deny that.”
“I don’t intend to, but what has that got to do with me?”
Ryson glared with disbelief at Lief’s apparent hold to blameless detachment. “He’s the leader of your camp.”
“I was against the use of the seeds. I made him promise to hold off.”
“He broke his word. He almost got us killed. What are you going to do about it?”
“What can I do about it?”
“See that he never does it again!” Ryson replied angrily, fists clenched tightly. He yelled louder, with greater conviction. “Remove him from power. Take away his right to lead.”
Lief began to speak, but Ryson spoke over him.
“I know. I know. You can’t do anything about it because its the way you have to live. It’s your tradition. More garbage! What he did was unconscionable. It was sinful. We had this stopped. It was over. The cliff behemoths saw to that. The seeds fell and now it’s starting all over again. You know what that means? It’s all in Petiole’s lap now. It was easy for you to blame Yave when she started things. What about now? The plain simple truth is that Yave was stopped, history! The war was over, and then, the seeds came. Your camp! Do you understand? Your camp is now responsible. Petiole is responsible. What are you going to do about it?”
“What can I do? The guards …”
Ryson growled with contempt. “What do I care about your guards? Petiole is a menace. A worse menace then Yave. For the love of Godson, Lief, think about what that bastard did. He was so worried about his own image, his lousy status among the other camp elders, that he was willing to destroy an entire city. What does that say? If you leave him in power, what does that say about you? Yave was wrong, she acted out of anger and hate. That’s bad, terrible, but what Petiole did was worse. He acted out of weakness, pride, and selfishness. How can you even trust a person like that? Guards or no guards and to blazes with your tradition, if Petiole is still in charge after this, it means you’re all a bunch of killers. There’s no excuse for this. None whatsoever. He promised us time. Time he never gave us!”
Lief was silent.
Ryson let the elf ponder his words. He turned his fury back upon the dwarves. “And as for you. You don’t have a choice! In case any of you have forgotten, the cliff behemoths said there would be an end to this war. This stops here! Now, I want out of this place. I want to get home. Give me and this elf an escort back to Dark Spruce.”
Far removed from the center of the Dunop, deep within a tunnel leading to the surface, Dzeb listened to the final echoing words of the delver. He smiled with glowing grace. “Very good, Ryson. May Godson always bless you.”
Ryson was back at Burbon. He surveyed the damage with Sy as he recounted his own experiences in Dunop. The sight of the crumbled wall did little to lift his spirits. The delver thought mostly of Yave, how it was her anger that spilled over to create so many hardships. But that was not his only thought. He thought of the elves and Petiole. He considered the serp and how it gained from the conflict between them all. He thought of the innocent in Burbon and Connel, even the algors in the Lacobian. He even considered the magic and what it was doing to the land. Apparently, it had saved Burbon, or at least it had done so through Enin, but what would happen if such power was controlled by the corrupt? Long ago, the magic was used to create the shadow trees. What would happen now, in a time when evil felt so close at hand? Such weighty reflections chagrined the delver, and he seemed almost despondent as the captain of the guard revealed his own considerations.
“It’ll be a while before the wall is complete, but I think with the towers in place, we’ll survive.” Sy spat on the ground. He kicked dirt over the patch of saliva as he rubbed any moisture from his lips. “With all the training our people received from the elves, most of the civilians can now shoot a bow better than most regulars. More than a handful have volunteered for continued duty, even after what you said about the dwarves not being a threat anymore. I’m putting three to four archers on each platform with the watch. They can do a lot of damage to anything trying to cross the clearing.”
Sy took a moment to survey the grounds. Most of the rubble was cleared from the streets. He looked west, he had an unobstructed view of the hills. He gauged the distance between the two broken ends of the unfinished wall. The gap was wide, but it was closing with each plank of wood and each brick of clay and mortar. He considered the resources necessary to finish the job.
“Times are different now,” the captain considered aloud. “All these resources put to defending ourselves. We could have used them to build homes, expand. It’s funny, though, the people don’t complain. The town’s about bankrupt. Things are going to be tough the next few seasons. Still, they won’t say anything. I guess people realize what’s truly important in times like this. We could have built twenty taverns with the brick and wood needed for that wall, but everyone knows none of that is any good if we’re all dead. We have to make different sacrifices now. We have to think about just surviving. The people seem to realize that. I think that’s why they fought the dwarves the way they did.”
Sy cast a heavy breath and then spat again. “Well, we can rest a little easier, for a while at least. I guess the only thing we have to worry about now is an occasional shag or river rogue, and maybe the goblins. But I doubt they’ll be trouble anytime soon, especially if they stole as much treasure as you think. I can’t imagine why they’d risk a raid at this point. They can pretty much buy any supplies they might need. There are enough carpetbaggers out there that would sell to anyone, or even anything. I guess that’s the one thing that won’t change, even with everything else that’s going on. There’s always someone willing to do anything for money, even sell food to goblins.”
“Or weapons,” Ryson added.
The thought bothered Sy. “Yeah, that’s true, too. Maybe I shouldn’t stop worrying about the goblins. That sneaky little serp didn’t come back this way. I knew he wouldn’t honor our bargain, and I know he’s out there watching us. If some nut sells him a long range weapon, he won’t think twice about attacking us.”
“It’s something we should all worry about,” Ryson replied. The delver looked uncomfortable. He started to speak, but held his tongue.
Sy was quick enough to pick up on it. “Something on your mind?”
“Lots of things,” Ryson admitted. He began to expel his thoughts. He let his
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