Rogues of the North: A Tale of the Dwemhar (Rogues of Magic Book 2) by J.T. Williams

Author:J.T. Williams [Williams, J.T.]
Language: eng
Format: azw3
Published: 2015-05-21T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter 13 Journey into Harrodarr

The morning came quickly, or it felt as if it did to Slats. He opened his eyes to a firm push on his shoulder to see Euso hovering above him. The sky behind was still dark, but there was a glow of light in the clouds.

Berie stood and looked out from the ruins.

"Storms are coming from the seas,” she said.

There was thunder in the distance, and cold winds blew in.

Euso offered Slats some food, but he refused. Gathering himself up, he followed the others back down to the stone road and began the ascent into the mountains.

Down either side of the road flowed the two rivers, their paths snaking down between rocks breaking in small waterfalls as they fell.

They trudged upward, avoiding broken stairwells and soft spots of ice yet to melt from the rising sun. The clouds behind rolled in, and the flashes of lightning pushed them at an ever-increasing pace as they made it to the halfway point on the mountain stairwells.

In the large open area, they found a place that had a good view of the valley. As they took time to catch their breath, Berie kicked through broken pottery and took notice of a peculiar dark red mark on the stone.

Slats looked out upon the valley. “’Twas black as night, the fields that day,” he said.

“What?” Euso asked.

“When I left Harrodarr as a child, the field was blackened with battle scars as my brethren fought to stem the advance of our aggressors. Dark times.”

Looking closer, Berie saw there was more of the red. It was blood. She followed it around the stairwell and noticed a glint of armor and a white hand hanging out from under a sackcloth.

She knelt and looked at the body. It had not been there for more than a day. She took hold of the arm and tried to move it, but found it stiff. Euso and Slats came up behind her.

"What is it?" Euso asked.

"One of the Legions. But he has been dead for quite a while. His skin is white and his arm stiff."

"The Legions were here?"

"It doesn't matter," Slats said. "I know the dwarves would have a trap or two to stop unwanted intrusions. They would not have been able to get very far inside, and if they have, they will not leave."

The dwarf began around to the back to the stairwell, ahead of the rest. Euso and Berie followed.

Jumping multiple steps at a time, he ascended. Coming to flat ground and an open expanse jutting into rocks, he looked up at towering cliffs. Great trees grew upon the summit, their branches reaching over the recessed rock and blotting out the storm clouds now upon them.

Slats felt a deep pride looking up the cliffs. The sheer walls of the mountains looked down at them with dark portals of black, long-left dormant with the passing of the dwarven torch lighters who would have brought flame to speckle the sheer cliffs in light when a great host would have returned from afar.

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