Dungeons & Disappointment

Chapter 52: Tumultous Tracks

I stood with my back to one of the walls of the citadel, staring out at the rest of the city, and I saw that there were two airships that were floating above the city, scouring the ruins for all of us. I was sure they were aware that Vagod was dead by now, and was certain that they wouldn't be happy that their leader was dead. I turned around to the rest of my friends, all of them hiding, and I saw Ormgaul stealing little glances at Halaela. I wasn't exactly sure he even could, but I was almost certain that he was blushing. I smiled to myself, then got an idea.

"Hey Ormgaul." I said. "Where do you think we should go from here?"

His eyes lit up. I could tell he liked getting a big responsibility in front of Halaela, and he started smoothing out his barbels and armor.

"We gotta stay low." He said. "If we can find a cave and boogie out of here, perfect. We make it out while the Duergar are still searching the city."

I looked and peeked over the top of a building, and I saw that from behind a bend in the cavern, there came another airship. We had to move.

"Halaela." I said. "Any ideas?"

She pointed across the way, and I saw what looked like a large dwarven train, resting right on the tracks. It was made of wood and steel, and while it looked primitive for a train, it was better than nothing.

"Is that how you got in?"

She shook her head. "I was just playing in the mines." She said, giving me a rather sad look. "Then the Duergar came and took me down here."

"Alright." I said, holding my hands up. "General consensus is to get to the train to escape, right guys?"

All of my friends nodded, and I waited until one of the airships made a round before waving us forward.

"Alright, go go go!"

We started making our way through the city, and thankfully, we weren't noticed as the airships circled around, the Duergar yelling threats and empty insults at what they kept thinking was us. Thankfully, they seemed to have pretty piss poor vision, because none of them saw us, even as BahnBarr kept tripping over seemingly nothing.

"BahnBarr, can you be ANY louder?" Haneen snapped.

"Shut up!!" She replied. "I'm trying to be quiet!"

We got to the train, and I jumped into the front car as my friends piled in behind in the other carts. There wasn't much room in the front cart, but as I jumped in, I started looking over the control, desperate to leave. And thankfully, they looked simple enough. I took a few guesses, pulled a few levers, and the train roared to life. It shuddered, sparking and smoking, and it started rumbling along the tracks. And unfortunately, the Duergar noticed.

"THERE!!!" One of the Duergar screamed, his veins bulging out of his neck. "Dirty ore-stealers!!"

"We didn't steal any of your stupid ore." I muttered, then turned back to the controls and pushed what I hoped was the speed lever forward.

Thankfully, it was, and I was thrown backwards as the train lurched forward, roaring as it chugged forward across the tracks. It screeched and screamed for the first hundred or so feet as the airships began to close in, the Duergar screaming and jeering. They waved axes, swords, spears, and all other implements of destruction that made me feel warm and fuzzy.

There wasn't a tunnel yet, where I was sure we could lose the airships, so for the time being, all of us started taking positions on the top of carts and cars. We all held our weapons at the ready, and thats when I heard yelling up ahead. When I looked, I saw Duergar that were at the top of the cavern, situated next to large clusters of blue crystals, and they had explosives in their hands.