A Thunder of War by Steve McHugh

Author:Steve McHugh [McHugh, Steve]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781542047043
Publisher: 47North
Published: 2018-11-06T08:00:00+00:00

14

LAYLA CASSIDY

No one spoke for several seconds after Jomik’s revelation that his son had been involved in a plot to overthrow the dwarven royal family.

“You were my father’s advisor,” Zamek said eventually.

“That’s why my son decided to try to kill you all,” Jomik said. “He felt that I mattered less to him than you and your family. Unfortunately, it went horribly wrong. The blood elves were meant to kill as many as they could before he arrived to save the rest. Unfortunately he didn’t get there in time to save the majority of the royal family. Many fell, although your parents made it through the realm gate in the citadel.”

“Everyone around that gate vanished,” Zamek said. “It’s been broken ever since the blood elves attacked. I reactivated it to get here from Shadow Falls, but I don’t think there’s any way to find the initial destination.”

“Yes, the elder who arranged it did it wrong. Hundreds of thousands of dwarves vanished. I was outside of the mountain with others, and it took us several years to even get back inside. When we sent a small force to the citadel and found it occupied by blood elves, we believed you all dead, or lost forever. We didn’t give up hope, and sent search parties into the mountain to look anywhere they could, but a few dozen people could never search the whole mountain range. We live long lives, but not long enough.”

“Does anyone know where the escaped dwarves went?” Zamek asked.

One of the dwarven elders on the bench shook her head. “No one does.”

“The sun elves were behind all of this?” Tarron asked. “The blood elves, the destruction of your kingdom, the murder of my people.”

“That’s our assumption, yes,” Jomik said. “My son has told me that they came to him with a plan to put him on the throne, to make a stronger bond between sun elves and dwarves. They told him that your father didn’t understand just how much an alliance would benefit both of our species.”

“Where is your son now?” Layla asked.

Jomik looked down at his feet. “He died. He demanded his chance to single combat, and he died fighting. I think maybe the elders agreed just to allow me a small measure of pride. His name will not be spoken of, he is merely my son.”

“The sun elves were always traitorous,” Tarron said. He placed a hand on Zamek’s shoulder. “It appears we have a mutual enemy.”

“The sun elves will have to wait,” Chloe said. “We need to get to that elven realm gate.”

“You want to go back to the mountain?” Jomik asked. “I don’t advise it.”

“The blood elves are mostly gone,” Zamek said. “If you commit enough of your warriors to the cause, we could take it back.”

“Out of the question,” one of the elders snapped, standing.

Zamek said, “You can overthrow the blood elves after a thousand years exiled from our home. Together we can crush those that remain.”

“We can’t risk our people,” the elder said.

“Is it because you’re a coward?” Zamek asked, his voice utterly calm.

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