Dungeons & Disappointment

Chapter 50: Rapid Rails

Ormgaul and Haneen jumped into the first mine cart, and I planted my hands against the rear of the carts, starting to push forward, and the wheels creaked as the rust, dirt and grime were forced out of them. The carts churned forward, and eventually, they started picking up speed on their own, and I jumped onto the top of the cart as they sped forward. The fact that the cart was full meant that I wasn't in the cart, like Ormgaul and Haneen, but instead, I squatted on top of the cart.

The carts sped forward, roaring through the cavern, and the wind whipped at my hair as Ormgaul turned to me.

"Where are we going?" He yelled.

"Not sure!" I replied. "We have to get away from the poison. We'll find BahnBarr and Finana yet!"

The cart rumbled forward more and more, and eventually, the cavern opened into a MASSIVE chamber. It was a huge cave that was at least three miles wide and over two thousand feet tall, and it was full of a bunch of wooden houses. All around the cave, there were hundreds, no, thousands of dwarves, but these weren't the fuzzy bearded, stout, jolly dwarves that I had seen around. These were gray- skinned, white bearded dwarves, and as they saw us in the mine carts, they really didn't look happy.

And as we tore through the cave, I saw that, deeper in the cave, there was an enormous red dragon, nose deep in the forges, and it roared at us, the sound echoing through the chamber.

"KILL THEM!!!!" The dragon screamed.

It jumped up in the air, easily taking flight in the gigantic chamber, and I drew back an arrow in my bow as the Duergar started grabbing mine carts and weapons to chase us down.

"Get down!" I screamed at Ormgaul and Haneen.

They ducked down in the mine cart, and I loosed the arrow towards the dragon. The arrow sailed through the air, right before embedding straight in the dragon's mouth and exploding, raining blood and teeth on the ground around us. I cheered for myself as we shot into another tunnel, the dragon roaring at us angrily.

"Well, good thing we're past him!" Ormgaul yelled.

"Yeah, I have a feeling that's not the last that we're seeing of them."

I turned my gaze forward, holding my bow at the ready as we raced through the tunnel. More and more minebraces passed us, and after a minute, the shouts of Duergar started to reach my ears from behind us. I turned around, cursing, and I saw that there were three mine carts, and four Duergar that were chasing us.

I stood straight up, notching another arrow, and I fired straight at the Duergar, and when it detonated, one of the Duergar was blasted backwards, his neck snapping as he fell off of the carts. I drew another arrow and fired, but the Duergar had wisened up, and they deflected the arrow as they started closing the distance.

"Prepare to die, ore-stealers!" The Duergar screamed.

They closed the gap, and one of the Duergar jumped onto the cart that I was on, ready to attack, but before he could, Ormgaul snuck between the two of us, and he stabbed the Duergar straight in the inner thigh. The Duergar screamed, then dropped off of the mine cart, tumbling to the floor of the cave, earning yells and jeers from the other Duergar as they threatened to kill us.

I drew my Halberd, letting it flame to life as the Duergars came farther and farther forward, and they swung their picks at me as I ducked and weaved, trying to maintain my balance. I deflected the second strike off of my Halberd, then swung it as hard as I could. With a scream, I lopped the head off of the Duergar that was the closest to me, and the last Duergar roared at me, his crazy eyes and white beard making him look like a murderous, purple Santa Claus.