The Two Swords

16. SHIFTING SANDS AND SOLID STONE

"The boys from Felbarr're in sight across the river," Jackonray Broadbelt excitedly reported to King Bruenor.
For several days, the dwarf representative from Citadel Felbarr had been watching intently for the reports filtering down the chimneys for just such word. He knew that his kin were on the march, that Emerus Warcrown had agreed upon a Surbrin crossing to crash a hole in the defensive ring the orcs were preparing and link up aboveground with Mithral Hall.
"Three thousand warriors," Jackonray went on. "And with boats to get across."
"We're ready to knock out the hole in the east," Bruenor replied. "We got all me boys bunched at Garumn's Gorge, ready to charge out and chase the stinkin' orcs from the riverbank."
The two dwarves clapped each other on the shoulder, and throughout the audience hall other dwarves cheered. Sitting near to Bruenor's dais, two others seemed less than enthusiastic, however.
"You'll get them out fast?" Regis asked Nanfoodle.
The gnome nodded. "Mithral Hall will come out in a rush," he assured the halfling. "But fast enough to destroy the river defenses?"
The same question echoed in Regis's thoughts. They had won over and over again, and even when they'd lost ground, the cost had been heavier for their enemies. But all that had been achieved through defensive actions.
What they planned was something quite different.
"What do ye know, Rumblebelly?" Bruenor asked a moment later, and Regis realized that he wasn't doing a very good job of keeping his fears off of his face.
"There are a lot of orcs," he said.
"Lot o' dead orcs soon enough!" declared Jackonray, and the cheering grew even louder.
"We have the hall back, and they're not coming in," Regis said quietly. The words sounded incredibly inane to him as he heard them come from his mouth, and he had no idea what positive effect stating the obvious might bring. It was simply a subconscious delaying tactic, he understood, a way to move the conversation in another, less excitable direction.
"And they're soon to be running away!" Bruenor shot back at him, and the cheering grew even louder.
There was no way to go against it, Regis recognized. The emotions were too high, the anger bubbling over into the ecstasy of revenge.
"We should take no chances," Regis said, but no one was listening. "We should move with care," he said, but no one was listening. "We have them held now," he tried to explain. "How long will their forces hold together out there in the cold and snow when they know that there is nowhere left for them to march? Without the hunger of conquest, the orc momentum will stall, and so will their hearts for battle."
Nanfoodle's hand on his arm broke the halfling's gaining momentum, for it made Regis understand that Nanfoodle was the only one who even realized he was talking, that the dwarves, cheering wildly and leaping about, couldn't even hear his whispered words.
"We'll get out fast," the gnome assured him. "These engineers are magnificent. They will make wide tunnels, do not fear. The Battlehammer dwarves will come against the orcs before the orcs know they are being attacked."
Regis nodded, not doubting any of those specifics, but still very uneasy about the whole plan.
A clap on his other shoulder turned him around, to see Wulfgar crouching beside him.
"It is time to turn the orcs back to the north," the big man said. "It is time to put the vermin back in their mountain holes, or in the cold ground."
"I just.. ." Regis started.
"It is the loss of Dagna," said Wulfgar.
Regis glanced up at him.
"You struck out forcefully and the cost was heavy," the barbarian explained. "Is it so surprising that you would be less eager to strike out again?"
"You think it was my fault?"
"I think you did the right thing, and everyone here agreed and agrees still," Wulfgar answered with a reassuring smile. "If Dagna could reach out from the Halls of Moradin, he would pick you up by the collar and send you running to lead the charge out the eastern doors." Wulfgar put his hand on the halfling's shoulder - and from shoulder to neck, Regis disappeared under that gigantic paw.
The halfling tuned back in to the wider conversation then, in time to hear Bruenor shouting orders to send signalers up the chimneys to the mountain-top, to tell the Felbarr boys across the river that it was time to send Obould running.
The cheering drowned out everything, and even Regis and Nanfoodle were swept up in it.
It was time to send Obould running!
* * * * *
"Before winter!" came the shout, and the roar that was heard in the common room of the human refugees was as loud as that of the dwarves above vowing vengeance on King Obould. Word had filtered down the corridors of Mithral Hall that Citadel Felbarr had come, and that King Bruenor and his dwarves were preparing to burst out of their imprisonment.
The River Surbrin would be secured - that much seemed certain - and the dwarves had promised to set up passage over the river to the lands still tamed. They would cross the Surbrin before winter.
"Never again will I be crawling into any tunnels!" one man shouted.
"But huzzah to King Bruenor and his clan for their hospitality!" shouted another and a great cheer went up.
"Silverymoon before the snow!" one shouted.
"Everlund!" argued another.
"There's word that Nesme's looking for hearty souls," added another, "to rebuild what the trolls tore down."
Each city mentioned drew a louder cheer.
Each one stung Delly as acutely as the bite of a wasp. She moved through the crowd nodding, smiling, and trying to be happy for them. They had been through so much turmoil, had seen loved ones die and houses burned to the ground. They had trekked across miles of rocky ground, had suffered the elements and the fear of orcs nipping at their heels all the way to Mithral Hall.
Delly wanted to be happy for them, for they deserved a good turn of fortune. But when the news had come down that the dwarves were preparing the breakout in earnest, and that they expected to open the way for the refugees to leave, all Delly could think about was that soon she would again be alone.
She had Colson of course, and Wulfgar when he was not up fighting -  which was rarely of late. She had the dwarves, and she cared for them greatly.
But how she wanted to see the stars again. And bask in the sun. And feel the wind upon her face. A wistful smile crossed her face as she thought of Arumn and Josi at the Cutlass.
Delly shook the nostalgia and the self-pity away quickly as she approached a solitary figure in the corner of the large room. Cottie Cooperson didn't join in the cheers that night, and seemed hardly aware of them at all. She sat upon a chair, rocking slowly back and forth, staring down at the small child in her arms.
Delly knelt beside her and gently put her hand on Cottie's shoulder.
"Ye put her to sleep again, did ye, Cottie?" Delly quietly asked.
"She likes me."
"Who would not?" Delly asked, and she just knelt there for a long time, rubbing Cottie's shoulder, looking down at the peaceful Colson.
The sounds of eager anticipation continued to echo around her, the shouts and the cheers, the grand plans unveiled by man after man declaring that he would begin a new and better life. Their resilience touched Delly, to be sure, as did the sense of community that she felt there. All those refugees from various small towns, thrown together in the tunnels of dwarves, had bonded in common cause and in simple human friendship.
Delly held her smile throughout, but when she considered the source of the cheering, she felt more like crying.
She left the room a short while later, Colson in her arms. To her surprise, she found Wulfgar waiting for her in their room.
"I hear ye're readying to break free of the hall and march to the Surbrin," she greeted.
The bluntness and tone set Wulfgar back in his chair, and Delly felt him watching her closely, every step, as she carried Colson to her small crib. She set the baby down and let her finger trace gently across her face, then stood straight and took a deep breath before turning to Wulfgar and adding, "I hear ye're meaning to go soon."
"The army is already gathering at Garumn's Gorge," the big man confirmed. "The army of Citadel Felbarr is in sight above, approaching the Surbrin from the east."
"And Wulfgar will be there with the dwarves when they charge forth from their halls, will he?"
"It is my place."
"Yer own and Catti-brie's," Delly remarked.
Wulfgar shook his head, apparently missing the dryness of her tone. "She cannot go, and it is difficult for her. Cordio will hear nothing of it, for her wounds have not yet mended."
"Ye seem to know much about it."
"I just came from her bedside," said Wulfgar as he moved toward Colson's crib - and as Delly moved aside, so that he did not see her wince at that admission.
Bedside, or bed? the woman thought, but she quickly shook the preposterous notion from her mind.
"How badly she wishes that she could join in the battle," Wulfgar went on. So engaged was he with Colson then, leaning over the side of the crib and waggling his finger before the child's face so that she had a challenge in grabbing at it, that he did not notice Delly's profound frown. "She's all fight, that one. I think her hatred of the orcs rivals that of a Gutbuster."
He finally looked up at Delly and his smile disappeared the moment he regarded the stone-faced woman, her arms crossed over her chest.
"They're all leaving," she answered his confused expression. "For
Silverymoon and Everlund, or wherever their road might take them."
"Bruenor has promised that the way will be clear," Wulfgar answered.
"Clear for all of us," Delly heard herself saying, and she could hardly believe the words. "I'd dearly love to see Silverymoon. Can ye take me there?"
"We have already discussed this."
"I'm needing to go," Delly said. "It's been too long in the tunnels. Just a foray, a visit, a chance to hear the tavern talk of people like meself."
"We will break through and scatter the orcs," Wulfgar promised. He came up beside her and hugged her close in his muscular arms. "We will have them on the run before winter and put them in their holes before midsummer. Their day is past and Bruenor will reclaim the land for the goodly folk. Then we will go to Silverymoon, and on to Sundabar if you wish!"
He couldn't see Delly's face as he held her so closely.
He wouldn't have understood anything he saw there, anyway, for the woman was just numb. She had no answers for him, had not even any questions to ask.
Resignation smacked hard against impatience, and the woman couldn't find the heart to start counting the many, many days.
* * * * *
Feeling refreshed and confident that he would rouse Citadel Felbarr to Mithral Hall's aid, Nikwillig walked out of the Moonwood to the south, escorted by Hralien. They would strike southwest, toward the Surbrin, to gather needed information, and Hralien planned to return to the Moonwood after seeing Nikwillig safely on his way back to his dwarven home.
When the pair reached the Surbrin, they saw their enemies across the way, still building on the already formidable defenses. Picket walls of huge sharpened logs lined the western bank and piles of stones could be seen, ready to be thrown by the few giants they saw milling about, or by the many catapults that had been constructed and set in place.
"They're thinking to hold it all," Nikwillig remarked.
Hralien had no response.
The two moved back to the east soon after, marching long into the night and far from the riverbank. The next morning, they set off early, and at a swift pace. At noon, they came to the crossroads.
"Farewell, good dwarf," Hralien offered. "Your enemy is our enemy, of course, and so I expect that we might well meet again."
"Well met the first time," Nikwillig replied. "And well met the second, by Moradin's blessing."
"Yes, there is that," Hralien said with a grin. He clapped the dwarf on the shoulder and turned back to the north and home.
Nikwillig moved with a spring in his step. He had never expected to survive the battle north of Keeper's Dale, had thought his signaling mission to be suicidal. But, at long last, he was going home.
Or so he thought.
He came upon a high bluff as twilight settled on the hilly landscape, and from that vantage point, Nikwillig saw the vast encampment of an army far to the south.
An army he knew.
Citadel Felbarr was already on the march!
Nikwillig punched his fist in the air and let out a growl of support for his warrior kinfolk. He considered the ground between him and the encampment. He wanted to run right out and join them, but he knew that his weary legs wouldn't carry him any farther that night. So he settled down, thinking to get a short rest.
He closed his eyes.
And awoke late the next morning, with the sun nearing its apex. The dwarf leaped up and rushed to the southern end of the bluff. The army was gone - marching east, he knew. East to the river and the mighty defenses that had been set in place there.
The dwarf glanced all around, studying the ground, looking for some sign of his kin. Could he catch them?
He didn't know, but did he dare try it?
Nikwillig hopped in circles for many minutes, his mind spinning faster than his body ever could. One name kept coming back to him: Hralien.
He ran off the bluff soon after, heading north and not south.