" 'Just have yer warriors keep holdin' the line, here'-that was what Hoist told me, when I saw him a little while ago."
"I will. And you save those arrows, all right? I have a feeling we're going to need them pretty soon."
"It's a promise, my lady!" Fortus threw her a rigid salute, a true honorific. "You know, if the Daergar pull back a bit, we can even send a quick sortie down there and bring back some we've already shot."
"Good. Look for a chance, and then go," Belicia agreed, heartened.
She went to a small tower that rose from the rampart over the stairs. From here, she had a wide view of Hybardin's waterfront. Her earlier observation was borne out as the exhausted dark dwarves, who had gained only a small foothold on the steep stairway, finally withdrew entirely to catch their breath on the docks and reorder their decimated companies. From her vantage, the captain could see that many more boats were gathering near the shore, oars stirring the water as they advanced in neat ranks. Apparently, reinforcements were coming from Daerforge-and no doubt from Theibardin as well.
Belicia was about to make another round of her defensive positions when the ground underfoot was rocked by an unnatural tremor. Explosions split the air, thundering and ringing with a dire, ground-shaking force. Spots of unnatural brightness began to glow across the black water. One after another these patches swelled into flaming eruptions like fiery rockets which shot into the air, trailing sparks and leaving hissing trails of steam in their wake.
Battling dwarves on both sides halted their violence, staring in awe, silent and stunned. Beacons blazed through the air overhead, and more forms moved along the docks-shadowy figures that emerged from the water. She had not seen them swimming and dimly realized that the forms were not even dripping.
They slithered along the shore like a silent wave of darkness-touching and surrounding dwarves. And then those dwarves disappeared! The rippling shades moved on, leaving only armor and weapons scattered across the dockside.
"What in Reorx is happening?!" gasped Belicia.
But the wave of darkness only swept closer.
"Hold steady there! Damn you, grab that rope!" Darkend pitched to the side as a sudden surge in the lake's surface rocked his command boat violently. One gunwale dipped below the surface, and a great gush of water poured into the hull.
Crashing onto a bench, the thane of the Daergar struck blindly at the nearest of his oarsmen. That dark dwarf took no notice of the blow as he tried to scramble away from the water sloshing along the keel. Darkend nearly gagged in revulsion as his hands, knees, and feet were all soaked by the chilly stuff.
"Who did that?" he sputtered, climbing to his feet and glaring about. "Who dared to unbalance his thane?"
Immediately he saw that the rocking of the boat was not the result of any careless sailor. In fact, the whole surface of the sea was pitching and surging, lifting the boat and sending Darkend tumbling once more. He heard the terrified shrieking of Daergar all about him. Even as the thane tried to recover his balance, he spat vile curses in all directions.
Grabbing the gunwale with both hands, Darkend pulled himself up, glaring in impotent fury at the scene along the waterfront. There were random explosions and flaming things in the sky. Dark, shadowy creatures were everywhere, feeding on his troops.
His warriors should have been reordering themselves, preparing for a new attack, but instead they seemed to be racing in all directions at once. He barely noticed that the Hylar also seemed to have been thrown into confusion by the strange events. Sputtering in helpless rage, he saw that dwarves of both clans were haplessly trying to defend themselves against the fire and shadow creatures.
A flare of brightness crackled across Darkend's field of view, searing his eyes with furious light. For a time the thane could see nothing of what was happening on shore. He felt the heat of the nearby flames and instinctively threw his arms over his head. At the same moment, a crash of thunder shook the great cavern, the echoes ringing in his ears so loudly that he could hear nothing else.
Blinking and shaking his head, Darkend tried to restore his senses. When he had done so, he saw a great, fiery dragon rising up from the water in a hissing cloud of steam. It tore free from the sea and trailed a cloud of vapor in the air behind it. The thane could see the broad wings and feel the heat of unnatural fire on his face. Against the brightness of the wyrm he vaguely saw a figure, coal black and liquidly supple, crouching between the shoulders of the massive creature. The rider was manlike in shape, apparently naked and unarmed. It raised both arms in an unmistakable gesture of exultant triumph.
A gout of water suddenly burst upward from the stern, pouring into the boat and sucking the metal hull down. Another dark dwarf tumbled against Darkend, jostling him rudely. The thane took the offending fellow by the scruff of the neck and pitched him over the side where his scream was quickly drowned by the cold, churning waters. Still clutching the gunwale of the boat, the ruler of the Daergar glared in mute terror at the chaotic onslaught that was throwing his carefully planned attack into confusion.
All around him dark dwarves shrieked in terror as the heavy craft heeled violently to the side, allowing a spill of black water to rush into the hull. In an instant the boat was filled. Just as quickly it plunged beneath the waves, carrying its crew into the depths of the Urkhan Sea.
Baker and Axel were on Level Twenty-eight inspecting the defenses that had been installed in the event of a further incursion by the Klar. Aside from the Ferrust house, the damage from the first attack already had been repaired. Baker could tell from the eyes of every dwarf he met that memories of the onslaught still lingered fresh and hurtful. As he accompanied the venerable warrior through the streets and gardens of Hybardin's highest places, he passed many clansmen who had lost family members. He found he easily could push his chronic gut-pain into the background when he considered the suffering of so many of his clan.
Bands of guards, each troop comprised of ten or twelve armed Hylar, patrolled the streets and checked vacant buildings. They moved uneasily down the lanes and streets, sending advance scouts into the darkest alleys and showing every indication of utmost vigilance. Baker was heartened to see that very few of these patrols had resorted to the characteristic dwarven garrison tactic of making sure every inn and tavern was well-defended while the rest of the city was left to take care of itself. Perhaps the suddenness and brutality of the Klar attack had provided a sobering lesson for all Hybardin.
"It seems damned solid, doesn't it?" Axel asked, lifting his eyebrows toward the ceiling that arched overhead. "You'd never know by looking that it's honeycombed with tunnels and caves."
Baker nodded, leaning back and seeing the vaulted roof as if for the first time. Stone arches and balustrades, excavated from the very bedrock of the mountain, formed supports where the mass of stone curved over the road. The walls of each house extended all the way to the ceiling, so that within each structure-which was typically a nest of apartments shared by dozens of dwarves-the natural ceiling of the mountain formed the upper boundary of the site.
"Nearly every house has some kind of route through the rock. And now all those secret tunnels are coming back to haunt us in a big way," Axel groused bitterly. "I should have thought of it, by Reorx! What kind of a warrior am I, that my mind has to wither faster than the rest of me?"
"It's not your fault," Baker counseled. "I could have thought of it, too-or anyone else could have, for that matter. What's important now is for us to come up with some kind of plan that offers long-term protection."