LURE (Preview)

Chapter 2

Blood. So much blood. It stained the battlefield as Berthan watched his Dwarven brethren
fall. The Gnolls had challenged the dwarves to war. This was the most gruesome battle yet. Berthan looked upon the massacre in disgust, anger, and fear. Humans and dwarves were fighting alongside each other whilst Gnolls threw spears, and javelins. Berthan had had enough. He leaped out of his seat yelling, "TAKE ME TO THE BATTLEFIELD!"
The human wizard who had been casting an image of the war scene, stopped, and stepped aside. "Prince Berthan, you can't go out into battle, it's too dangerous!" The dwarf who had spoken looked at the other dwarves for help, terror in his face, but Berthan didn't notice. "Y-Y-Yes your highness, you s-shouldn't be brought into b-b-battle." Another dwarf stuttered. "Shut up." Berthan said, shoving past the dwarf who had first spoken. There was no resistance to the order and a female dwarf led Berthan down the hall, and into the crowded city of Ivlandorum.  Ivlandorum was the capital of the dwarven kingdom. Berthan was led to the main entrance. A giant pair of doors with markings and ancient runes engraved, and was brought a giant bear, more than twice his size. He climbed up a small rope ladder which hung from the bear's back and sat down on the saddle. He belted out a battlecry and charged for the door on his bear's back. They would win this war tonight.
Dwarves charged out of the city, swinging axes, hammers, and pickaxes. Berthan stood on his bear's back leaping off into a large group of Gnolls. He crushed their skulls together and swung his axe, wedging it inside their mouths and ripping them to shreds. In a minute, the group was gone and his bear was charging back toward him. He leaped onto its back, guiding it toward the gnolls' battlefront. Gnolls and dwarves fell as the battle went on. Berthan charged through the chaos screaming while hundreds of thousands of his enemies charged back. It began growing colder, the closer to their leaders he came. It began to snow around him and he could see a blizzard up ahead. Berthan dismounted, looking his bear in the eye. "Go back to the kingdom, and fight."  He said as he walked into the ice storm.
    Freezing gusts of wind blasted Berthan in the face as he continued on through the weather. Icicles were flying at him, Gnolls were gnashing at him but he kept charging through. He was like a tank although tanks didn't exist in his time so he couldn't understand what that meant even if he had heard the comparison.
Two large boulders lay ahead of Berthan and through them he knew there was the eye of the storm. Ice began coating over his arms and legs, immobilizing him but he kept going. One gnoll leaped for his face as Berthan batted them away. "It's cold," Berthan thought, "too cold!" He let out a scream of agony and rage. As his mouth opened he felt severe pain on his teeth as they froze, making him drop his axe. He collapsed to the ground, the gap between the boulders just out of his reach. A gnoll crouched down to look him in the eye. "Why, hello there, small one." The gnoll sneered. It was barely audible over the roaring wind but as the gnoll gripped his hair lifting him off the ground it was all he could hear. Berthan stopped struggling and glared the gnoll directly in his unblinking eyes. "You will regret ever-" Berthan was interrupted by a fit of coughs erupting from his throat. "What was that, puny runt?" The gnoll asked, pulling a lock of Berthan's beard toward him and grinning. "You will regret ever touching my hair." Berthan finished. The gnoll barked a cruel laugh. "You seriously think you're a threat?! That's outrageous!" The gnolled laughed. Berthan lifted his arm gripping onto the gnolls throat. "No," Berthan said, a growl in his tone, "I know I am." He swung his body upward, using his weight to slam the Gnoll into the ground. He picked up his axe charging between the boulders and into the eye of the storm.
It was hot as a desert. The warmth from the sun melted the ice covering Berthan's muscled form. He looked around, seeing a large building that had collapsed into a heap of rubble and wood. Nothing else was in sight other than sand. Miles and miles of sand. Giant piles of sand and rubble. Berthan walked toward the mess of a building and picked up a large piece of wood. In this case, large meant about six inches long. He threw it aside and knocked away more debris. He found a large gap in the broken floorboards and looked down, seeing stone pillars holding up the remains of the building. He jumped through the gap and landed in a large room with giant gnolls engraved in the walls and the pillars holding up everything else. Berthan saw etched into one of the walls a demonic face in the shape of a slug. On another wall he saw a black dragon sculpture with a goblin standing by his side. Berthan looked down, seeing a gap in the dungeon floor. In the middle of the pit was the biggest gnoll statue he had ever seen. A rope bridge connected to a platform between the floor Berthan stood on and the statue. A female gnoll sat on a large throne built into the statues open jowls. "So the prince of the dwarves has come to see me fall?" She blustered. "I've come to make you fall. Figuratively speaking, whatever that means. Or literally speaking. That's what I was told to say by the others on the war council. Did I do good?" Berthan asked. "I'm not amused." The gnoll queen muttered. "NEITHER AM I!" Berthan yelled, adrenaline shooting through his veins, pumping his body into action. He walked upto the edge, yelling. "YOU DARE COME TO MY KINGDOM, AND TRY TO TAKE DOWN MY GATES?!"  He jumped over the gap between him and the platform. "Why didn't you use the bridge?" The gnoll queen asked, looking pointedly at the bridge between the floor and the platform. "BECAUSE THIS." Berthan's axe came down with a whoosh as he cut the rope connecting the bridge and let it fall into the lava. "That was useless, not to mention over-dramatic. There's a way out the back, you idiot." She said, gesturing back into the mouth past the chair. "Well it seemed to have a bit more, flare." Berthan said angrily, emphasizing the last word. The gnoll queen scoffed just as Berthan stood up tall, or at least as tall as he could, being a dwarf and all. "I AM BERTHAN THE GREAT! THE PRINCE OF THE DWARVES, THE SON OF DIRELON AND BERTHA! I SWEAR BY MY BEARD I WILL END-'' He was cut off by the gnoll queen saying, "Um, excuse me, I hope you don't mind my asking but, what beard?" A look of astonishment mixed with rage crossed Berthan's face. "WHAT BEARD? WHAT BEARD?!THE ONE UPON MY CHIN YOU IDIOT!" He yelled, "THE ONE THAT IS HANGING OFF OF MY FACE! THE ONE THAT IS KNOWN ACROSS MANY LANDS! THE ONE THAT IS-" "That's not a beard," The queen interrupted again, a mocking tone in her voice, " that's a rug glued to your face!" Berthan's angered expression grew into a look of pure hatred. "I WOULD NEVER GLUE CARPETING ONTO MY BODY!" He screamed. The look of mocking grew on the gnolls face. "You think that I mean carpeting?! I MEAN IT'S A WIG!" The gnoll queen laughed. "I DO NOT ASSOCIATE MYSELF WITH FAKE HAIR!" Berthan bellowed. He charged along the bridge to the gnoll queen screaming his head off. "I DO NOT WEAR IT AND IT IS BANNED FROM MY KINGDOM! ANYONE WHO IS LOSING THEIR HAIR LEAVES IT OPEN WITH SHAME! THEY BECOME LOW LIFES! THEY LOSE ALL TITLES! THEY BECOME SCUM!!!" A cloud of dark vapor rolled out from the gnoll statues mouth. "Well then you're scum! All your hair is fake!" The gnoll queen said, gripping a lock of Berthan's hair and slicing it with a knife. "I'll be taking this!" She said, disappearing. Her voice echoed in the statue's mouth, "Your hair will never grow again!" The hurt, grief and rage battled to take over as his hair was lost forever. It was only a centimeter of one hair but Berthan swore he would find the gnolls and he would eradicate them. He walked back across the bridge, jumping through the gap in the ruins and heading back into the war.
Berthan threw open the doors to the war room where several officials were arguing over their next move. Fuming with anger he called out into the excessively large room, "SILENCE!" All heads turned at the sound of his voice. "WE ARE GOING AFTER THEM!!" Berthan yelled. "In all-do respect your highness, we cannot do that, it's simply too dangerous!" Berthan lifted the hair that had been cut. Several gasps sounded around the room as he showed them the missing centimeter. "YOU SEE THIS?!" Berthan yelled. "THIS IS THE WORK OF A GNOLL! THEIR QUEEN! I DON'T CARE HOW DANGEROUS IT IS, WE ARE DOING IT!" The look of horror upon the officials face made it clear everyone in the room had an agreement; the gnolls had gone too far. "Y-yes your highness. Right away." said the official who had first spoken. "Make it dusk." Berthan said, gripping his axe so tightly there was an audible crack as Berthan left the room.
He awoke from the nightmare, sweating extensively. "I'm fine." Berthan thought to himself. It had been more than 8 years since The battle for the dwarven kingdom of Iverlonius. "I'm finding that gnoll and taking her head." He said. He got out of bed walking out onto the balcony of the hotel in the upper class sectors. "Die, scum." he muttered, looking off into the sunrise. He screamed out into the wind, "I AM BERTHAN THE GREAT! THE PRINCE OF THE DWARVES, THE SLAYER OF GNOLLS! I SWEAR TO YOU QUEEN OF THE GNOLLS I WILL END YOUR LIFE! I WILL DO TO YOU WHAT YOU HAVE DONE TO ME AND I WILL DESTROY THE HAIR UPON YOUR HEAD! I SWEAR I WILL END ALL GNOLLS AND BRING AN END TO THEIR TIME OF CURSING DWARVES NEVER TO GROW HAIR AGAIN! I AM BERTHAN THE GREAT!"