The Dragon Ring (Book 1) by C. Craig Coleman

Author:C. Craig Coleman [Coleman, C. Craig]
Language: eng
Format: epub, azw3
Published: 2014-08-13T23:00:00+00:00

11: Return to Tixumemnese

Habbernee and Loyalty of Friends

At dawn, Saxthor and Bodrin climbed back down the mountain, much of the time riding the sliding mantle of rock rubble. Bodrin groused, yet Saxthor seemed unaffected by his surroundings. Hoping it would make Saxthor divulge more of his story, Bodrin sulked, but Saxthor’s calm retrospection held.

“We need to hurry back to the old general,” Saxthor said. “I hope he’s still where we left him. Maybe Tournak has returned by now and is taking care of him.”

“Let’s go back by way of these other two mountains. We don’t want to run into something coming after us.”

Saxthor was compliant. They moved along a sort of footpath through the rock and scrub over the middle mountain’s face and then along that of the left most mountain.

“Stay close to the mountain-side. The inset and the brush on the outer edge should provide more cover in case someone’s hunting for us and searching the slopes from below.”

“What an exposed and vulnerable situation,” Bodrin said. “With this straight rock wall on the inside, and the steep slope on the outside, we’re boxed in. We can’t hide if we run into anyone or anything.

It’s midday and we’ve hiked for two days. Let’s stop up ahead to rest and eat before the path widens. The lone, scraggly tree provides the only shade up here.”

Saxthor studied the tree. “Those tough, twisted roots, and wind-strained branches reflect a determination to survive despite unending hopeless conditions.”

Bodrin poked his studious friend. “The gnarled features remind me of old Memlatec.”

As they ate, a sudden racket boomed out. Saxthor spotted more debris tumbling down the hillside. On a ledge above, stood two piles of rock -- that moved.

“Did two stacks of rocks move?” Bodrin asked. “They moved, didn’t they?”

“I think so.”

“How can they be part of the mountain?”

Saxthor and Bodrin exchanged glances.

“Rock-dwarves!” Saxthor said.

“I was afraid you’d say that.”

Choppy, labored movements revealed more rock-dwarves mined the peak and dumped the rubble to spill down the slopes. How could we’ve missed all the movement until now, Saxthor mused.

“I thought dwarves weren’t supposed to be in daylight,” Bodrin said.

“The Dark Lord made these things. I guess it’s the real elemental dwarves who can’t be out in the sunlight. Maybe Dreaddrac’s king gave these some protective covering,” Saxthor said.

“What’ll we do?”

“Socockensmek told us stories about rock-dwarves,” Saxthor said. “I wish I’d paid more attention. He said they were among the Dark Lord’s earliest living creations. They’re supposed to be stiff and simple-minded. Their dull, slow but strong movements make them good for mining, stone cutting, smelting of ores, and forging weapons.”

“Now we know they exist.” Bodrin dodged a stone that careened down by him.

The boys observed the endless stream of dwarves as they shuffled forward to dump their baskets of rubble over the ledge. Rockslides caused plummeting chips to shower the area around them. They dashed to shelter against the path’s granite side. A dislodged boulder toppled down and smashed into the tree where they’d crouched a moment before. The old tree trembled.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.