The Dwarven Sorcerer

The Dwarven Sorcerer Ch 6

                                                                            Chapter Six

Thrack hid his anxiety as he clustered with the rest of the Thenges in a confused mass. He arrived only a few minutes earlier but couldn't find anyone who knew much of anything. Grundi arrived soon after and moved next to his friend. Grundi looked concerned; he shouted something, desperate to be heard over the nervous chattering of the soldiers but Thrack couldn't make it out. He could barely hear him over the wailing of the steam whistle that echoed off the stone walls, filling the ancient chamber with its cry, warning that an enemy was inside their caves.

"What's that?" Thrack asked.

"What's going on?" asked Grundi louder.

His normally jolly friend had worry carved deep on his face; there was something seriously wrong, they all knew it. It terrified Thrack to see his friend so nervous. If Thrack wasn't already about to soil himself, he was now. The halls echoed with the scream of the steam whistle. The deafening alarm alerting the soldiers of a new threat, a new invasion. It was too soon. They were never attacked with such regularity, especially with the ending of the winter season. It was the middle of the night when the alarm first sounded. Thrack was in a deep sleep and enjoying a pleasant dream about Ula. He could almost feel the warmth of her touch, could almost smell her sweet perfume, could almost taste her lips when he was ripped violently away from her.

At first, he laid in bed in a confused daze, unsure of what that noise was that tore him so cruelly from his dreams. His heart pounded hard in his chest as he sat up, dumping his blanket onto his lap, his eyes wide. When he finally realized what was happening, his heart stopped for the briefest of moments and his guts turned cold before it started up again and his body was filled with uncomfortable heat. He was out of bed in a flash. He strapped on his armour as quickly as his shaking hands would let him and hurried to the rallying point.

"Oy, what's going on?" Grundi shouted near Thrack's ear.

Thrack just shrugged. He had no idea. The worst part about being a Thenge was the lack of information. The Huskarls lived on the military base and would have immediate knowledge of the attack and were probably already fighting while the Thenges stood around completely in the dark, in both senses of the word.

Thrack cursed. He was bloody frustrated waiting while the higher-ups wagged their bloody mouths and dwarves were fighting and dying. He clenched his fist. He wanted to hit something out of fear and frustration. Their numbers grew as more Thenges filled their ranks, all of them with identical looks of unease and confusion. Every one of them asked if the others knew what was happening. None of them did.

The Thenges grew restless as the steam whistle continued its relentless scream. Dim lanterns lit the huge halls while the rest of the city remained in shadow, bodies pressed in on Thrack, he couldn't breathe, he felt himself starting to panic as claustrophobia set in. No, he would not let his companions see his fear. It would not due for a warrior of The Shield Mountains to show fear. He forced it down and smiled at Grundi.

The rest of the dwarves were doing the same. They jostled each other and laughed their fake laughs to show they weren't afraid. They spoke in raised voices, trying to talk over the whistle and each other but were unsuccessful.

The whistle cut off so suddenly that it actually startled Thrack making him yelp. He looked down in embarrassment. While the whistle was blowing, everyone was desperately trying to talk over each other, but as soon as it stopped, they all stood in awkward silence, unsure what to do.

. . .

Airik stood at attention in the war room waiting for orders. The young steward had only been in the military for just over a year and already he bloody hated it. He had almost no combat training and all he'd been doing was running around, passing on messages from one pompous ass to another.