Delver Magic: Book 05 - Chain of Bargains (33 page)

"They know the goblins are in
the mines. They brought one here as a prisoner. They said they wanted to warn
us. I left the goblin at the entrance."

Strog sneered at Ulet.

"When I want an answer from
you, I'll ask
you
." Strog then
turned his attention back to the delver. "So you wanted to warn us. We're
already aware of the goblins in the mines. We sent them there. We weren't going
to waste our time digging up diamonds and silver just to give to humans.
Goblins are inefficient miners—they make better thieves—but it's not like
they're stealing from us. They're stealing directly from under the humans'
noses and then using it to buy them off."

Not wishing to be ignored by the
delver again, Strog decided to put his next question directly to Ulet,
especially since she seemed so eager to answer.

"Did he say anything else?"

"He questioned me about
bringing the goblin scent sack."

Strog grinned and then actually
answered the question as he looked down on the delver.

"Isn't it obvious to you by
now? I didn't want you smelling any traces of goblins in our tunnels. I know
how strong the senses of a delver are. I don't let the goblins wander around
the city in sight, but I've had to communicate with them a great deal the last
few days. The scent bag was cover." He looked back to Ulet. "What
else?"

"After the elf panicked, he
wanted to chase after her. I wouldn't let him."

"At least you did that right.
Is that all?"

Ulet sneered at the clear jab at
her competence, but said nothing further.

Strog then pressed down harder
with his boot on Ryson's shoulder.

"You're a delver. You have
questions. What are they? This will be your only chance to ask."

Ryson managed just one word.

"How?"

"That's it?" Strog
responded with a twisted grin. "
How?
Are you hoping I'll tell you the whole story? Well I won't. I would have
thought
why
would have been the
better question." Then, the dwarf snickered to himself as he thought of an
additional burden to place on his prisoner. "Maybe I'll answer a little of
both and let your delver yearnings struggle with the details."

He leaned slightly closer to Ryson
even as he spoke with a louder and harsher voice.

"You want to know how? You
think the separatist movement was restricted to Dunop? That's rather naive. We
have believers in every dwarf city, and our ideas have only taken greater hold
since the return of the magic. I came to Sterling
because I knew that several separatists had already taken key positions as
advisors and counselors. They just needed a leader."

"A failed leader," Ryson
added, disgusted with the dwarf and the crimes he proudly professed.

"You'll get no argument from
me," Strog admitted freely. "That's why they're following me now. In
failure, I learned a great deal... and I didn't make the same mistakes here. In
Dunop, I allowed Yave to lead because I thought it was necessary. It wasn't. I
should have just killed her and not told anyone. You can run things from the
palace as long as no one knows what's going on, and no one really needs to know
what's happening here. The king and queen got sick, and now we've been guarding
their health. At least that's what nearly every dwarf in Sterling
believes. Only those I trust know the truth. Advisors and ministers that I
couldn't trust have been removed and replaced. As for the rest, you don't have
to tell them a thing. They go about their lives as if everything is fine. No
king, no queen, just ordinary dwarves taking charge."

"But the dwarves still think
they're under the rule of the king," Ryson reminded the War Com.
"You're not really in charge of anything."

"Who cares what they think?!
Reality is all that matters. And this is reality. I've given orders that will
change the face of the Great Valleys
and bring the dwarves to dominance. The goblins are going to force the humans
out of every town and every farm across each valley. Think about that. Not just
the thousands of humans that have already fled, but when the time is right,
they'll
all
be removed. They will be
forced west, just as those pathetic refugees before them. As the plains and the
mountains are overwhelmed, they will all drown in a sea of pathetic
humanity."

"That's your grand plan? So
instead of humans in the valleys, you'll have goblins. You think that's
better?"

"You have no vision. Do you
think that's what will happen? Goblins are even more
 
pathetic than humans. They'll end up battling
amongst themselves after one dormant season. They won't stay in the valleys.
They won't know what to do with themselves. Eventually, they'll move west after
the humans to raid the farms in the central plains and then to the mountains.
There will be one battle for resources after another, and eventually goblins
and humans will kill each other off completely... and the dwarves will not have
had to lift a finger. That should give you an indication of how and why this is
all happening, and it's as much as I intend on telling you."

Strog removed his boot from the
delver's shoulder by scraping it down Ryson's arm as if he was trying to rub
some foul mess from his heel. He then disregarded his prisoner as he focused on
another matter of great importance.

"Where is the delver's
sword?" he asked Ulet, as the weapon was no where in sight.

"I... I don't know. I think
the elf had it."

"You don't know?" Strog
questioned with disbelief.

Ulet took only a moment to regain
her composure.

"No, I'm sure of it. It was
strapped to her back. I remember now."

"And you let her get
away?"

"No! She hasn't escaped. I
informed you of what happened. We will find her."

"You are incompetent!"
Strog raged. His eyes went wide with fury as he clenched his hands into tight
fists. "This is the second time you let it get away!"

Ulet could not understand Strog's
anger, and the dwarf battle commander certainly didn't appreciate the insult.

"I told you," she
responded with a fierceness that matched Strog's, "the first time the elf
wouldn't come down the tunnel. If we tried to take her, she would have escaped
and she would have known immediately that something was wrong. They came back
because I made the right decision."

It was a weak excuse in Strog's
eyes. He was only interested in results.

"And yet you still don't have
the sword!"

"But we have the
delver."

"Idiot! The sword has a
power... a power to reveal things. What if the elf takes hold of the handle
before you find her? What will happen?! She'll know that we brought the goblins
into the mines, that we want them to take over the valleys. She'll know
everything!"

"But she can't do anything
about it."

"The elf is linked to the
wizard! Pay attention to what I say. What she knows, he will discover."

Strog saw Ulet's own anger rising
and he could not imagine how she could be so shortsighted. He looked to all of
the other dwarves in the room with absolute amazement at what he perceived was
complete stupidity.

"Is this battle commander the
best of you? Is she really the one you told me I could trust? Are you all that
useless? I have planned every step. I have brought you further then any of you
could have dreamed! Do any of you have the slightest notion of the patience it
has taken to get this far? How many seasons have passed? How close we
are?!"

"We are very close,"
Ulet growled in response. "We are close because I
am
the best. I have kept order in Sterling.
Every dwarf outside this room still believes that the king and queen are alive
and in charge. Neither have made an appearance in more seasons than I can remember,
and yet no one questions the royal edicts. We send out orders to dig mines
under human towns and farms. They don't understand why, but every dwarf does so
because they believe the king and queen want them to."

"A wonderful
accomplishment," Strog offered with hostile sarcasm. "You managed to
get dwarves to dig mines. I'm sure that's something they would never have done
on their own." He paused to shake his head and then glared back at the
battle commander. "Fool! The plan was not simply to dig tunnels in the
valleys! The goblins must be directed to attack the humans with a strategy, a
strategy that's obviously beyond you. What other dwarf could have utilized a
horde of goblins to destroy, not just a human city, but the entire race? And
all of that could be lost because you made a mistake you won't admit."

"Because I don't see the
mistake!" Ulet shot back, unwilling to accept any missteps in her own
actions.

"The sword!" Strog
bellowed. "The sword is the real threat. It always has been! Not this
delver or the elf. They plodded across the valleys for days and they still had
no idea what was going on, but the sword has the power to reveal it all."

"Even if it does, so what?
She can't escape now."

"You don't think so? She is
not just an elf guard. She is an apprentice to the wizard of the west. I have
managed to keep him occupied by ensuring a steady stream of humans reach the
towns he watches over. The moment he understands the true threat, we will have
to face him."

"Then let him come,"
Ulet shot back with confidence. "We are dwarves. We are resistant to the
magic."

"And are we resistant to the
cavern that holds Sterling
collapsing on our heads? Are we resistant to breathing without air? Are we
resistant to light that can blind us no matter where we look? Are we resistant
to a flood of water that can wash away all of the city?"

"I think you give this wizard
far too much credit."

"You really are a fool,"
Strong insisted.

"If I'm a fool, then how did
you hope to deal with this wizard when the goblins make their ultimate
attack?"

"I am dealing with the
wizard. I'm keeping him out of it. Your incompetence might bring him to our
doorstep."

Ryson decided to add to the
argument, to keep them at each other's throats.

"Ulet's right. Don't you
think Enin will be here eventually? When he hears the goblins are attacking
towns and cities in the valleys, he won't just stand by. He'll come to stop it,
and he won't be alone. The goblins will be defeated."

Strog pointed down at the delver,
as if to accentuate his point.

"Do you see? Even the great
Ryson Acumen doesn't understand." Strog bent back down to make his plans
very clear to the delver. "Do you have any idea of just how many towns and
cities have already been infiltrated by goblins... how many farms are now in
their hands? When they attack, they will attack in unison, as a horde, as they
are very capable of doing, but it won't be in one small area. It will be all
across the valleys and all at once. I am prepared for the great wizard. If he
intervenes, he will exhaust himself in such a battle. You think I've
underestimated Enin. No! You have underestimated the extent of what I have
accomplished here."

"Then why are you worried
about the sword?" Ulet demanded.

Strog's eyes appeared near wild
with frustration and his anger bubbled over as he looked up at the battle
commander with scorn.

"We are not ready! The attack
has to begin first. That is what I'm trying to say to you. You cannot possibly
be that dense. Don't you see? We are only days away." Strog threw up his
arms. "Why am I surrounded by incompetence?!"

"You sound a great deal like
Yave," Ryson pointed out.

Strog did not even attempt to
control his anger. He kicked the delver hard in the back and then shouted out
his orders.

"Take him to the goblins in
the mines! Have them kill him far from Sterling.
We can't have any connection to his death that the wizard might be able to
trace. And make sure you're not seen."

He stepped up to Ulet and placed
his face right up to hers, his stout nose almost touching hers.

"Find the elf, take the
sword, and then do the same to her. Be quick about it!"

Crouching in the shadows, Holli
knew she had no alternatives. The goblins were getting closer, she could sense
them. It wasn't a full horde, or even a sizable raiding party, but rather a
small scouting patrol of two or three. They were deeper in the mines ahead, but
they were definitely headed towards her.

To compound her problems, the
dwarves weren't slowing. They just continued to drag Ryson through the tunnel
toward the oncoming dark creatures. They kept a very quick pace, as if they
wished to be rid of the delver as soon as possible. Luckily, there were only
three dwarves in the passage, perhaps to follow Strog Grandhammer's order of
staying out of sight.

She managed to remain hidden. She
had followed the dwarves utilizing her stealth and spells of shadow. They had
no idea she was tracking them and the goblins ahead were too far out of sight
to spot her even if she stood in the middle of the tunnel under a blazing torch.

The drawbacks to her situation,
however, were many. She could only hide for so long. Though she used spells
along with her guard training to hide her presence, she had used up much of her
magical energy in moving through Sterling.
Eventually, a dwarf would hear her, or if they dropped the delver and turned
about, they would most likely bump into her even if she used the last of her
magic to turn completely invisible.

She believed she would have to
strike the dwarves before they turned over their prisoner, but the surroundings
did not work in her favor. The tunnel was narrow and dark, perfect battle
conditions for dwarves. She was behind them, following in their wake, but once
she made her move, Ryson would be caught in the middle between the goblins and
the dwarves. He would not last for long under such circumstances.