Lovely Dark Things

TWENTY-FIVE (ISELEN POV)

"Why are you so nervous?" The king of the Dwarves smiles amused, leaning his hand on the sharp axe that's hanging from his leather belt. "Yesterday, I saw you riding a winged horse chased by a black swan with sharp fangs and you didn't look as concerned as you are right now."

"We won't have a second chance if this goes wrong," I answer sighing, looking at the high mountains around us. It's not snowing anymore but grey clouds are still swirling in the sky. "That'll be the end of everything because they'll destroy the world..." I point at the hordes of chaos that are arriving through the pass on the other end of the plateau, they're still far away but there're big monsters and it's easy to see them roaring and fighting against each other, there're more than I expected and my stomach turns when I see them. In addition to the number, I know they have powers I can't understand, they can even sneak into our dreams, according to Ruby.

"Everything will be all right," Gotrek chuckles.

"How do you know that?" I whisper shaking my head absentmindedly, staring at the horrible two-headed scorpions the size of a car that are trying to control the most aggressive demons with their stingers. And more are coming nonstop...

"Because I know what you intend to do, at least I think I know it judging by the things you asked my people to do for you, and it's a brilliant idea... It's crazy, that's true, and I couldn't believe it at first, I really thought you were absolutely nuts, but I admit it'll be a great surprise. If you can't kill them that way, there'll be no other way." I can't help looking at the dwarf bewildered, he looks angry usually and stares at us with a furrowed brow, but now that we're about to go into battle, he seems to be having the time of his life.

"I couldn't do this without your help and knowledge," Gotrek smiles and nods, looking at the plateau.

"We were lucky to find this place, when you gave me the list with the requirements for your ideal battlefield, I though my people would never be able to make you happy..."

"I didn't expect you to find a place that could comply with all the requirements, to be honest. You've done a great job." The dwarf bows his head to thank me for my compliment.

"You've done a great job too. Do you really have the means to do... what you want to do?"

"Are you asking me if my explosives are powerful enough?" I ask in a low tone of voice. Luckily, we're surrounded by humans that don't have a sharp ear like other races and Ruby is too busy talking to them, showing them where to pitch the tents a few steps behind me. The dwarf stares at me taken aback by my honesty but he nods finally, confirming that he knows what I'm talking about and they probably have something similar to work in their mines. "Yes, they're very powerful."

"Wow..." Gotrek opens his eyes wide in shock, staring at the plateau absentmindedly, doing math in his head, probably. "That's amazing... and also dangerous if it falls into the wrong hands."

"I'm aware of that, believe me, I've spent years trying not to get myself in this position, I didn't want to use this technology but demons forced me to do it. Only three people know the entire formula, besides me, of course. And you'll be the fifth one if you want, I'll tell you after the battle. I feel I can trust you and it'd help your people a lot... but don't tell the Queen." The dwarf smiles again and seems to think about it for a few seconds, fixing his eyes on the monsters that are crowed together in front of us, before shaking his head.

"It's better if you don't, we've done well so far and I don't want my people to become too ambitious. Using the explosive for other purposes than digging tunnels, it'd be too big a temptation to resist... But thank you for the trust you placed in me. You know, we don't like those haughty elves and humans are only useful as clients to buy our stuff, we've never considered them particularly brilliant, but it's been a pleasure to work with you... You're an intelligent girl and I've learnt lot of new things from you." Gotrek smiles, winking at me. "Now you have to win this battle and save our butts so I can go back to my kingdom to implement my new plans."