Victim of Fate Read online

  Namitus nodded.

  "Hey!" Karthor called back.

  Namitus chuckled. "Okay, Karthor put him back to right, with St. Leander’s blessing, but Aleena sat with him and was there when he woke."

  "Does she know about me?"

  "She knows of you," Namitus said. "I don’t think she ever knew what a threat you were to her, though."

  Patrina barked out a bitter laugh. "Some threat. You heard what he said."

  Namitus frowned. "Yeah, I heard. He needed to make sure we all got away so we could warn everyone. Especially you, since you’d spent more time in this place with him than the rest of us."

  "I been here, too!" Garrick tossed back.

  Namitus nodded. "Indeed you have; my apologies. I’m Namitus, by the way."

  "Garrick, of the Snowbear clan."

  "Pleasure to meet you, Garrick. Now please don’t step on me."

  Garrick chuckled and then glanced ahead at Mordrim. "He’s the one who needs to be worrying about getting my boot on his head."

  "You’re still an oaf!" Patrina spat at him.

  Garrick recoiled from her vitriol and looked to Namitus for support. The rogue shrugged and shook his head just enough to warn the northerner off.

  "Hold up!" Karthor called them to a halt and raised his holy symbol as high as the chain on his neck would allow. The passage ended in a pile of rubble that looked like it had fallen hundreds of years past.

  "Thought you said this was a way out?" Tristam growled as he stomped up to Mordrim.

  "Didn’t think you weren’t going to be getting a little dirty, did you?" the dwarf shot back at him. He turned back to the cave-in and frowned.

  "Dig this out and more will fall," Kar warned.

  "Bah, shut your mouth!" Mordrim snapped. He glanced back at Kar and added, "And if you’re going to be growing a beard, do it right or stop insulting the hair on your chin!"

  Kar’s eyes widened and he reached up to touch his beard that he kept trimmed short. Karthor and Garrick snickered but Mordrim turned away and started tapping his knuckles against the side of the passage on their right. After a moment, he cried out and turned so he could place both his hands on it. He felt around a bit and then, after muttering something in his language, the wall suddenly fell away without a sound and swung back on perfectly weighted hinges.

  "Hurry yourselves up. Ain’t been a human down here in ages, if ever. We be entering the secret halls of the dwarves." Mordrim eyed each of them as they passed him. "And don’t be touching nothing! Got no way of knowing what’s still trapped and what’s not. Plus it don’t belong to your filthy hands."

  "Don’t think it belongs to anybody anymore," Tristam said. He gestured with his hand to the halls ahead of them. Dust and rubble covered the floor ahead of them as far as their lights would show them. Scattered amongst the rubble, they could see the remains of dwarves that had been dead so long even their skeletons and armor were falling apart.

  "How can this be?" Mordrim muttered. He stepped forward and crouched next to the first fallen dwarf he found. He poked at the armor, causing it to shift and fall apart. The metal plates were sound but the leather clasps and buckles had long since rotted. He moved a rock and then picked up a hammer from underneath it that the fallen warrior had once used. The wrapping around the metal shaft had been consumed by time but the hammer and the spike at the end had endured.

  "Where to?" Karthor asked the dwarf.

  Mordrim rose and moved ahead of him, deeper into the new tunnel. He peered into the darkness for several long moments before he turned and walked back behind them. He repeated his gesture and words from earlier and caused the door to seal shut behind them.

  "This way," the dwarf grumbled as he walked past them and took the lead again.

  "Did he expect to find them alive?" Namitus wondered aloud.

  "Stay sharp," Kar advised. "Something did this to the dwarves; it’s probably long gone but that doesn’t mean there aren’t more of them waiting for the dwarves to return."

  Mordrim led them down the tunnel and into a great hall. It was nothing compared to the cavern behind them where Alto had fallen but instead of relying upon a natural cave, this looked to have been carved from the heart of the mountain by tool and hand. Broken and dust-covered stone tables littered the room. A raised section led to another table and near it a throne that held only the shattered remains of what had once been a dwarven king upon it. Other skeletons lay nearby, arrayed in positions that spoke of a last defense.

  "They don’t have any armor or weapons," Kar observed. "I don’t think they were killed in their sleep."

  Mordrim punched the throne. "Looters! Damn the lot of them! I’ll find them and teach them to be robbing from the dwarves!"

  "I’d gladly help you," Tristam said. "After you’ve shown us the way out."

  Mordrim spit and sputtered in his own language for a moment and then he turned and hopped off the dais. He motioned with his hand and started off down a passage that seemed less dusty than the others.

  He stopped several times and put his ear to the stone, listening for something none of them could hear. Then he’d carry on without a word and walk past other tunnels that branched off without even glancing at them.

  "I think that whatever they did to him in that cell might have unbalanced him," Kar whispered to Tristam after they’d traveled half an hour.

  Mordrim spun and pointed at him with his thick finger. "Told you to shut your mouth, I did!"

  "Mordrim, tell us what’s going on," Tristam demanded.

  The dwarf turned and looked around, and then he stepped to the wall and put his ear against it. "Got to get through here quick and quiet."

  "Why? The goblins and humans haven’t found these tunnels yet," Patrina said. She saw Tristam’s questioning look. "We spoke to a man before they attacked us. He said they suspected there were more tunnels below but nobody had found or explored them."

  "Ain’t them I’m worried about," Mordrim said. "There’s worse things down here. You dig too deep and you find things that weren’t supposed to be found."

  "So why dig that deep?" Karthor asked.

  Mordrim flashed him a quick grin. "That’s where the best ore is!"

  Kar snorted. The sound of something falling and crunching drifted down the tunnel behind them. Mordrim spun and motioned for them to follow again. He set a quicker pace through the near darkness until they spilled out into a natural cavern that stretched to their right and left.

  Kar and Karthor’s lights revealed pale moss growing on the walls of the cavern. The room had a damp and musky smell to it, drawing their eyes to the right, where a dark shape moved towards them.

  "What’s that?" Patrina hissed. She drew her sword in preparation.

  "Gnome!" Mordrim spat out. "Stinking gnomes done this, I knew it!"

  "A gnome? I thought they were pixie-like creatures that played with elves?" Namitus said.

  "Far from it," Kar said. "They live deep underground and have teeth that can chew through rock or steel."

  "Aye," Mordrim said. "Thieves and bandits, they like the treasures dwarves make and aren’t afraid to steal or fight for them."

  "One gnome routed an entire city?" Tristam asked.

  "There’s more than one." Namitus pointed behind them in the other direction the cavern ran. Two more creatures lumbered into the light. Their large eyes squinted against the faint light the group used. Each gnome had a rat-like face, complete with short whiskers and sharp-looking teeth. They walked hunched over but their powerful arms had claws on them that looked capable of digging through rock just as easily as flesh.

  "Coming from the tunnel behind us, too!" Garrick warned.

  "Don’t just stand there," Mordrim hissed. He raised his voice to shout, "Take it to them or they’ll overrun us!"

  The dwarf charged ahead, swinging his hammer at the first of the gnomes ahead of him. Many more were moving towards them, their eyes glinting in the darkness.

  Tristam growled. "D
on’t be letting our guide get killed! You heard him, let’s go!" He drew his dagger and started after Mordrim, pausing only the slap Kar on the shoulder to get the wizard moving.

  Chapter 23

  Patrina pressed her soft lips against his so hard he felt the hardness of her teeth behind them. Without warning, she planted both hands in his chest and pushed, sending him back and making him fall. He stared up at her as he plummeted, seeing her face frozen in a snarl of hatred. He couldn't look away until the cold water slapped him in the back and pulled him away from her.

  Alto knew it was a dream. The details were fuzzy around him and nothing made sense. Why would Patrina push him? Sure, he'd made her mad when he'd told her off, but it was for her own good. She had to see that she had to fight to escape. If she kept following him, she was doomed. Now she could get away and find somebody who would be good for her. Somebody with the right bloodline.

  Somebody like Beck?

  Alto thrashed in the water, bubbles escaping his mouth. Was he really swimming? She'd never go for Beck, even if the pig of a knight did claim noble blood. She'd never be interested in him, not after what she'd seen. Would she?

  Alto had seen the forces under Beck's command. The humans measured in the hundreds, hardly a fitting army compared to the Kelgryn and Kingdom men. But the goblins, trolls, ogres, and other beasts and monsters were a force to be reckoned with. Without Alto's magical sword, the trolls were worth a dozen men, if not more. The ogres a few less, but they were strong and brutal.

  What if Beck offered to spare her people if she would accept his hand? She'd do that, wouldn't she? Patrina put the good of her people before herself. It was how she was raised. It was a good thing, a noble thing. Alto believed in it, too; that's why he was drowning while his friends had a chance to escape.

  What if he was wrong there, too? What if they couldn't escape? Had too many of Beck's forces surrounded them? Could Mordrim get them to a tunnel that would get them out? Or did they need his help? He'd lost track of Beck in the cold water what seemed like hours ago. He was floating without sensation. Weightless and sightless. He wasn't even sure which way was up.

  They needed him. His friends needed him. Patrina needed him. He could feel it. He'd been stupid, trying to sacrifice himself to help them. He’d taken the easy way out. Now he had to undo the wrong he'd committed.

  Alto stretched his arms out in the direction he thought was the surface and stroked hard into the water. He started kicking with his feet and pulled with his hands, trying to scoop and push the water behind him. His arms ached and his chest burned. Bubbles slipped from his lips and his nose, but in the darkness he couldn't tell where they went. Still he struggled, fighting past the point of exhaustion and agony.

  His fingers jammed into something hard, sending fresh pain into his brain. It roused him from the stupor he'd entered, only to make him realize he'd found a stone wall. Was it the bottom or the side? Or worse, was the water he'd fallen into an underground lake that he'd never escape from? Alto felt around, feeling only smooth stone with no pockets for air or means of escape.

  He sat still in the water for a moment, ready to surrender his last bubbles of air and suck in the water to end it. He wondered, would he feel it? Would it hurt? Would his body thrash as it fought back against the water?

  Why wasn't he already dead? Or had he drowned already and now he was just reliving it in some eternal punishment? Alto thrust his hand out, striking the rock with his fist. He couldn't be dead! He couldn't die, not now. Not when people needed him. Not when he'd been a fool and hurt Patrina. He couldn't have his last words to her be ones of anger and pain!

  He smashed his fist into the rock again and felt something give. The rock crumbled away slightly. He stared but saw only inky blackness. He punched again, hammering and ignoring the pain. After three more punches, he knew he was insane, but his insanity promised him the hope of escape. The rock was crumbling away and he could see a light shining through broken rubble.

  He used both hands to break away the rock, exposing more of the light but no details beyond it. After a few moments, he judged it wide enough for him to thrust his head into and finally gasp for air.

  * * * *

  "Ey der! Yous is awake!"

  Alto rolled onto his side and started coughing and gagging. His body ached and he felt a cold deep in his bones, but none of that mattered while he felt he had water trapped in his chest.

  "Stupid, yous isn't drownin. Bonky pulled yous out of da water and Thork made sure da river wasn’t gonna bash yous for good."

  Alto heard the words but it took him several painful minutes to calm himself and roll over slowly. "Thork?" he croaked at long last when he saw the massive green-skinned troll sitting nearby.

  "Yep, dats me!"

  A spasm rippled through Alto and he had to focus to keep from hacking at the phantom water he still felt in his chest. When it passed, he looked at the troll in a strange green fire that seemed to be burning out of a rock. "You saved me?"

  "Nope! Bonky saved yous," Thork reminded him. "Thork pulled dat other stupid out. Him was all fired up wondering about yous, but Bonky hadn't fished yous out yet so Thork didn't know nothing."

  "Beck's alive!" Alto hissed.

  "Yep, him's kickin. Ran off like him's britches was on fire!"

  "I thought his armor would sink him," Alto muttered.

  "Dat stupid had some serious mojo on him," the troll shaman said. "'Specially dat armor. Magic armor like dat don't weigh nothin to da guy wearing it."

  Alto grunted. "That explains it," he said. He looked down at himself and saw that he had a strange blanket that looked like it was made out of moss. He pulled it away and saw that he was naked beneath it. "By the saints! Where are my clothes?"

  Thork guffawed. "Yous didn't have much, just yous pants, boots, and dat sword Thork gived you."

  "Right, so where are they?"

  Thork pointed to the other side of the strange fire. His pants were stretched out on a rock to dry and his sword and scabbard leaned against the cave wall.

  "Oh, okay. So, uh, where are we?"

  Thork shrugged. "Deep under da mountains. Thork was looking for stuff. Mushrooms, moss, lizards, rocks. Different fings him could make potions out of. Found some of dem, den we founds yous too!"

  "Thork, how long have I been asleep?"

  The troll held up his hands and started counting on his fingers. After he moved on to his second hand, he shrugged and said, "Lots of hours. Thork had to convince Jarook to help yous out."

  Alto stiffened. Jarook was the saint of fear. His dreams made sense now. When he'd drunk Thork's potion before, he'd been gripped by fears of failure so powerful they nearly crippled him. This time he'd been stricken with doubt and conceived of the most terrible things he could imagine. "I dreamt terrible things," he admitted.

  Thork grinned. "Yous did! But yous didn't let dem beat yous. Dat's why Thork helps yous out. Yous isn't afeared of fear!"

  Alto blinked. "What?"

  "Da fings dat scare da snot out of yous," Thork explained. "Yous doesn't let dat stop yous. If yous wasn't so short and human, Thork could turn yous into a good shaman of Jarook!"

  Alto let out a ragged chuckle. "Thanks, but I'll stick with being human."

  The troll shrugged. "Yous still a stupid, so dat's okies."

  Alto sat up fully and pushed the moss away. He fought back his embarrassment and walked around the strange fire, feeling its warmth fight off the bitter chill in his bones. He grabbed his dry pants and pulled them on, and then slipped his boots on and tied them. He grabbed Kevard's Sword last and buckled it on.

  "I have to stop Beck's army," Alto said. Thork stared at him until Alto realized the troll was waiting for him to continue. "Um, can you help?"

  "Thork could maybe bash a bunch of dem, but derz just too many," the troll said after a moment of consideration. He held up his fingers and tried to count them off, and then ran out of fingers and reached to take off his boots.

&nb
sp; Alto cleared his throat to get his attention. "No, my friend, I wouldn't risk your safety. I hoped you might know some secret way I could get in there and destroy their forges."

  Thork looked up and grinned a very troubling and toothy grin. "Why didn't yous say so?"

  Alto gaped at the troll. "You know a way?"

  He nodded his head and stood up, only to smack his head against the low ceiling of the cave. Thork grabbed his spear and turned and jammed it up into the rocky ceiling. Alto winced, expecting the weapon to break from the powerful blow. Instead, the spear's tip cut a gouge into the rock and sent pebbles and dust flying.

  Alto stared at the crack in the ceiling even after Thork turned away and motioned for him to follow. "Yous gots to come wif me. Dem fires is elemental, dat scrawny wizard Fizzuldork put some mojo into them. Nuffin is gonna put dem out, but Thork has something dat can help." The troll giggled and added, "Den Thork is gonna get da fear out of here so him can watch da show!"

  "Show? What show?"

  Thork gestured again. "Come, Thork shows you what yous needs to do!"

  Alto followed the troll through the caves. The fire died out behind them but he saw that Thork's spear was glowing with that same greenish light. He shook his head and stayed close, not knowing what else might lurk in the dark caverns.

  The cave opened into a flat room that had been natural before Thork showed up. He'd modified it by moving rocks and setting up several alchemical devices. He'd somehow hollowed out a pit that had red hot coals banked with it. The smoke rose up to a dark cloud near the ceiling above it and failed to spread any further.

  "This is amazing," Alto whispered.

  Thork shrugged. "It’s okies. Thork hasn't had time to set dis place up right yet. It just for a little while, till Thork finds da next Trolwerkz!"

  Alto shook his head at the enthusiasm the troll had for his lab. He looked around and saw Bonky, Thork's goblin servant, emerge from behind a boulder. This time Bonky had white skin and bright blue hair. Alto suppressed a laugh and waved to the short assistant. "I understand I have you to thank for saving me."