Into the fire

Chapter 11

One day left, one day, and where are the Dwarves?

Tip paced atop the ramparts, unable to sleep. Oh, he had tried, but slumber would not come, and so in the can-dlemarks before mid of night he arose from his bed and dressed and took up his bow and quiver of arrows and walked from the castle to the walls.

And now he paced along them, fretting, worrying, his heart thudding with Gargon fear, or perhaps with the dread of what the morrow would bring.

Now and again he clambered up to the weapons shelf and by the light of the half-moon sinking low in the west he peered out at the Swarm and the massive siege engines beyond and wondered how such a great force with their mighty tools of war could be thwarted.

And all the while a deep Rucken drum boomed incessantly.

In the southeast quadrant as Tip paced he came upon Brud, the Dendorian warrior leaning on his hands in the crenel between flanking merlons and peering outward.

"Captain," said Tip, as he drew near.

Brud turned. "Sir Tipperton, I did not hear you come."

"Argh, but who could hear aught above that Squamish beat?" said Tip.

Brud shook his head. "I think, Sir Tipperton, e'en were it dead silent, I would not likely have heard, for 'tis said the Litenfolk move so quiet that whispers sound as shouts by compare."

Tip grinned. "Well, captain, I don't know about that, but we Warrows do step softly."

The buccan climbed up to the shelf and looked out through the adjacent crenel. Then he sighed and said, "There are so many of the foe, it seems they would have attacked weeks past, what with those mighty towers and such, rams too."

Brud made a negating gesture. "Nay, Sir Tipperton. Had they attacked weeks past, we would have given them a battle dire, and though we might have lost, still we would have devastated them. Instead they seek to grind our spirits down and make the victory all the easier."

"Grind down?"

"Aye. The drums, the horns, the casting of fire, the hurling of hacked-apart corpses into the city, the dark illness… but most of all, the relentless Gargon fear. These things, they sap the will, the spirit, the strength of even the most resolute."

"But what about them?" asked Tipperton, motioning toward the Swarm. "I mean, they also seem to fear the Gargon. Won't it sap their will as well?"

"Aye, but that monster directs the force of his regard toward Dendor, and 'tis we who suffer the most."

"Oh, I see."

Tip sighed, and the two of them stood together for long moments more, while the fires of the Swarm died down. After a while, Brud said, "You spoke a word: Squamish."

Tip grinned. "It comes from Squam, a Dwarven word. My friend Bekki oft says it when he refers to the Spawn."

Brud nodded. "I like that word Squam; it seems to speak volumes."

They stood awhile longer. The half-moon set. Mid of night had come. And still drum thudded and dread flowed.

Brud turned to Tipperton. "The morrow will be hard enough without being worn from lack of rest. I'm for bed, and you should be, too."

"I think I'll remain awhile," said Tip, the buccan still too keyed-up to rest.

"As you will, my friend," said Brud, "and I bid you good night." The captain then stepped away, leaving Tip alone… but for the men of the night watch ringing the ramparts all 'round.

And after long moments more, Tip resumed his pacing and fretting, and ever did his eye turn to the south where stood the ridge-Where are Valk and his army? Have they fallen to ill fortune?-but a signal, if any, would come in the deeps ere dawn, awhile from now.

Candlemarks fled, false dawn came and went, and then the fires of the Swarm disappeared completely, as if they had all been… snuffed out.

And about the city, the great Rucken drums began to beat.

What…?

More candlemarks eked by, and then Tip heard What is it?

– under the thud of drums I can almost make out…

– a squeak and rumble, as of axles turned by ponderous wheels.

And peering by starlight he could see… shadow on shadow… motion… something dark in the dark moving… something huge.

Oh lor', the siege engines!

In that moment a bugle sounded within the walls, a bugle answered by another, and another still.

It was a call to arms.

A call to muster.

A call to defend the walls.

And these clarions were answered by the blats of maggot-folk horns and the howls of the Swarm raised in a wordless collective yawl. thwack!

From the darkness a fireball rose up and, whooshing and sputtering, hurtled overhead to crash down in the city, other fireballs from other quadrants raining down as well.

"Modru, you skut, you liar!" shouted Tipperton out through the castellated ramparts just west of the southern gate. "You said we would have a day to decide!"

"He is a deceiver," said a voice beside him, and Tip turned to see Mage Delander at hand. thwack!

Another fireball rose up, and Tip groaned to see by its sputtering light hundreds of Rucks haling on ropes and wheeling the lofty siege towers toward the walls, while other Foul Folk drew a mighty ram across the snow and toward the gate below. thwack!

Men poured through the streets of the city and up the ramps to the walls, while others rushed to and fro below, some to battle the fires, others on errands unknown.

Tip heard the sound of a liquid thickly gurgling, as of a heavy stream runnelling, and odor rose up-reeking of oil-from the walls below.

At Tip's frown, Delander said, "They fill the dry moat with what oil they have to ring the city with fire; as long as it burns it should keep the Rupt from using their scaling ladders, though I'm afraid it will not stop the towers." thwack!

"What about the rams?"

"Flaming oil will be poured down through the murder holes," replied the Mage. "Even so it will stop them but awhile, for the supply is limited."

"How long will it burn, the moat I mean?"

"Wood, brush, whatever will kindle will be cast into the moat to make the fires endure, but even so, as a great flaming barrier to bar the Rupt, it will not last overlong." thwack!

Drums thudding, horns blaring, onward came the howling Swarm, and rumbling in their midst, axles squealing in protest, the great towers trundled forward… and so, too, did the rams. And still the trebuchets cast fiery missiles over the walls and into the city beyond.

"My Lord Mage, look!" cried a voice.

And Tip turned to see a soldier pointing out beyond the walls, beyond the Swarm, where in the darkness to the south an arrow aflame streaked up in the night from the ridge afar.