Goldenhold
Chapter 20: Pull the Lever
Karakzon let the door slam open at Kyle’s next swing. No one was there to stop them though... It was working to plan as those humans stormed downstairs straight into the heart of the fortress, charging fast as a raging bull down the steps.
He heard from noise tubes that some tripped and were ran over, but were helped up. He wondered weather that was a sign of weakness or sentiency- the goblins certainly didn’t care for life, the commander killing hundreds of his own men in an explosion just to breach in. He could have called them back for a moment, but he didn’t. He let them die, their last moment being betrayed by the one they fought for. That was disgusting.
Still, as the dwarves pulled back from the gorge, they lowered the bridge for the main force of humans to cross. It looked like as if their commander assumed the enemy captain of the guard had messed up again. But didn’t Zeon shoot the guy with an arrow? The dwarves ran in through the gates, which slammed behind them, two statues on each side viewing the invaders, tall colossus looking over their realm.
Either way, Karakzon understood that the time he had left as captain of the guard was as long as he had to win the siege, and a few tricks would help him thin out the numbers. The dwarves finished retreating. Karakzon was trapped up in the captain’s room overlooking the gorge. There was a lever next to him. It was the only one to the device downstairs that would destroy the human army.
Even though it meant that the few humans going upstairs would kill him and route him out, he had no choice. Zeon’s approached the secondary gate, hammering on it. It wasn’t as strong as the first, which protected the fort with many meters of solid steel. This one would fall without action. He prized the fort over his life.
He muttered a prayer as he pulled the lever, the statues spitting lava out of their mouths, flooding the close end of the gorge slowly. The gargantuan bridge raised up, sealing the exit for the humans. He saw the invaders run to the very edge, away from the boiling heat. He noticed the opposing general bark for the rope, and he soon received it. Tying it to a fortification, he threw the end down over the edge. He yelled something, grabbed onto it, and after a moment’s hesitation jumped off the edge, falling down the rope.
Other’s grabbed onto it, and Karakzon was confused for a moment. The captain wondered what the hell they were doing as the whole army pulled ropes out of the caravans they brought with them, tying them to fortifications, and then jumping down. Some fell, but most stayed on. He swore that if he found some way out of his trap, Karakzon would kill himself in the afterlife. Then again, even if they did they would only fall down the endless abyss.
There was a knock on the door. The captain muttered a curse that he had been found out, and the inevitable was about to happen. This was the end he told himself. He wasn’t surprised. He wasn’t scared. He would go out fighting, like a true dwarf. He was not a wimpy noble. He had no weapon, but one hung from the wall. It was an ornate battle-axe, menacing with spikes of silver, and a body of gold. Although sure it was not fit for fighting and only intended for decoration, he pulled it off the wall and sat at the desk, putting his feet on it to relax. The humans barged in. He sat up.
Clearing his throat, he said in a voice of total calm. “Gentlemen, everyone dies one day. I do not fear the inevitable, the unstoppable, the end of my existence. Try and fight me. May the battle be glorious.” The men looked at each other.
The officer in charge of them returned a comment, angry. “This isn’t some petty game. That’s a nice axe there, but you do not have the skill to kill twenty men at once. However, sheathing your weapon will be pointless, you have killed many of us and deserve justice. Send Armok my regards, from Sergeant Green.”
They surrounded Karakzon, and one lunged at him. The dwarf ducked, and after doing a front flip over the invaders head, cut his back open, straight down the spine. The young man yelled a scream, and hit the ground. The noise stopped. Blood showered the floor with little drops.
The humans gasped, and even Karakzon wondered what that was. He shouldn’t have been able to do that. Either way, one lucky hit was not going to be survival. So he slid towards the sergeant, kicking his shin to stop the motion. Lifting his axe, he cut off both of the legs in a single swipe to the left, and striking back to the right decapitated the officer, head rolling to the ground. Karakzon backflipped back to a standing position.
One human remained unfazed though. He swung at Karakzon’s back, which he responded to by jumping up and into the air, and on the way down cutting the human in half from top to bottom, the separate parts falling to the left and right of the dwarf.
The rest ran.
Karakzon looked at the axe. “Sorry about that insult.”
Then he ran downstairs after them.
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Topic: The Age of Myth: Goldenhold (A DF Novel Length Story) (Read 110784 times)