This is the last of what I wrote way back when. Perhaps, someday, I’ll come back to this, update what I’ve already written, and finish the story off. We’ll have to wait and see.

The grass surrounding them burst into movement . Men covered with the tall vegetation rushed at them, brandishing swords. The dwarf ordered them to form a circle. He ordered Tromellus to stay in the center and help out anyone who was overwhelmed. Attacking them was only a small group, but Karacus know more would be coming if they didn’t end it quickly .

Two men came at him. He blocked one blow, while side-stepping another. His small stature was advantageous, for his enemies had to crouch to strike him. Instead of parrying the next set of strikes, he dropped to his knees. The blades went over his head. Bringing his axe up, he struck the closest one in the stomach, spilling his attacker’s insides. Rolling backward, he barely dodged the other man’s sword.

Using the momentum from his roll, he brought his axe up, taking off the man’s leg. Howling, the attacker fell backwards, clutching at his missing appendage. Karacus quickly finished the job. With no enemies in his vicinity, he looked towards the others to see if they needed any help. Thankfully, all had dispatched their adversaries, except for Laveron, who fought three. To the dwarf’s surprise no one was helping him. Then he knew why.

Laveron could’ve easily killed all three of them at any moment. He was just toying with them, putting on a show for all of the other enemies who might be watching. His opponents were becoming frustrated. The elf danced with his twin short swords, blocking any attempt at his life. Karacus, while appreciating what the elf was doing, saw more men heading their direction. They were pouring out of the closest shacks.

” Finish them, ” he cried.

With a nod of his head, Laveron ducked under one swing and shoved one of his swords into the unprotected back of the man. As he fell, his two comrades advanced, thinking they had an opening. Each of them swung from different directions, but both were blocked. While holding his opponents blades in place, Laveron jumped, kicking each man in the groin. Doubling over, they soon found their throat slit by the sitting elf.

“An impressive display,” Vorrett commented after walking over to Laveron.

“Thanks. I learned from the best.”

“There will be time for compliments later, ” Karacus said. ” We have more company heading this way.”

They saw the men rushing towards them. “Do we stay and fight, Merran asked.

” No,” Karacus replied. “We should be able to reach that over there before they reach us. We run! Now!”

All five men turned and ran. Their pursuers quickly began to shorten the gap between them. Karacus was starting to think that they would have to fight again. Soon the men came into view of the other group. They all appeared to be human. Secretly , Karacus had been hoping for another group of mixed races, but he would take all the assistance that he could get. He began yelling for help.

The humans went wide-eyed at the sight of the dwarf’s party. They quickly arranged into defensive positions. By the time the five were close enough, ready to fight, Karacus was quick to try to explain the situation , hoping to avoid bloodshed. ” Where is your leader, ” he asked.

An older man wearing a crown stepped forward. “I am. My name is King Milvis. “

“Please, sir, ” the dwarf began. “My men and I have been attacked and being pursued. Could you and us?”

One of the king’s men leaned close and whispered something in his ear. The king looked out at the field behind them. “My scout tells me that there is no sign of any pursuit.”

Stunned, Karacus looked behind him. There was no sign of any of the men chasing them. Did they give up when they reached these men, he asked himself. The dwarf’s companions were equally confused. After a few moments, they all, except Laveron, turned back to the king. ” I suppose,” the dwarf said, “that they after seeing you and your men, your Highness. “

“Hardly , ” thing Milvis retorted. ” I believe you are a group of the these cowards trying to trick us into taking you in. After all, what honorable group would contain elves and would let a dwarf speak for them?” Karacus let the insult slide, but Tromellus took a step forward. Furious, the elf seemed about to attack. Vorrett put a restraining hand on Tromellus shoulder. The elf took a step back and let Karacus continue dealing with King Milvis. When Karacus was certain that Tromellus would no longer do anything, he proceeded with his argument.

“Your Highness, if we wanted you dead we would not have announced our presence. Why would we risk infiltrating your group when we could have simply ambushed you? It makes no sense.”

Before the king could respond, Laveron yelled, “Take cover!”

Karacus and his group hit the ground. King Milvis and his troops stood their ground, not trusting these outsiders. Then they looked and saw the barrage of rocks coming their way. For some, it was the last thing they would see.

The group stood at the doorway, looking out at the field. There were still some honorable combatants out there, but not many. Whoever these enemies were, their tactics had taken out half of those who resided here. Of course, not many had been here to begin with. Not many followed the code of honor needed to be transported to this place after death. Most of those left had formed bands, as these five did. The unhonorable had yet to show themselves to so far this morning. Their element of surprise was gone. Those who were still alive knew that plan already,

Karacus felt a hand on his shoulder. Turning, he saw Vorrett pointing off to the distance. Peering intently, he couldn’t see what he was meant to see. He shrugged at the tall man. With a laugh, Vorrett lifted the short priest onto his shoulders. Now he saw it. A mountain stood at the edge of their vision. That had not been there yesterday. After putting the dwarf down, Vorrett walked back inside. The priest looked at him, thinking about this new twist, Walking inside after him, Karacus motioned for the others to follow. When all of them were back inside , he posed a question.

“Is it just me, or was that mountain not there yesterday?”

None of the others had seen it either. “We were so busy, we might have just missed it, ” Tromellus added.

He had a point. ” I say we head for the mountain , ” ” Karacus stated.

“Are you joking, ” Merran asked. ” If we go out there, we’ll be killed.”

“I am serious. If we stay here, we will be killed too. Eventually those left outside will fall. Then they will turn their attention to the five of us. As good as we are, cannot hope to hold out against an attack like that. Our only hope is to go to that mountain. That is where our answers are. There is no clues in these crumbling shacks. On our way there, we can join up with others like us and increase our numbers. The more of us there are, the less likely that those cowards will attack us .

” The little man is right, ” Vorrett said. ” I say we go.”

“Me too,” Laveron agreed.

” I’m with them, ” Tromellus added .

“Very well,” Merran conceded. “But who’s going to be our leader? If we get attacked , we’ll need someone to coordinate our defense. If we fight at cross-purposes, then we’re dead.”

All had a blank look on their face. They hadn’t thought of that. None of them knew each other that well and this decision could be the difference between life and death. After a few moments of silence, Vorrett spoke. ” I believe it should be the dwarf.”

“You’d put our lives in the hands of a dwarf,” Tromellus asked. “No offense meant, Karacus, but dwarves are known for losing themselves in battle lust.”

“And he has proven that he will not, ” Laveron countered. “If it wasn’t for him, we would have died on the field yesterday. He risked his life to lead us to safety.”

” His judgment has been wise, ” Vorrett stated. ” I will follow him, even if we do fall along the way.”

“Will you accept this,” Merran asked the dwarf.

“I am truly honored. I will accept this honor on one condition: if you think me wrong on something, tell me. I want to know the opinion of everyone before any major decision is made. I do not want to harm the party because I order you in blindly.”

In turn, they each nodded their heads. “Then let us begin. We leave now.”

” Where to,” Tromellus questioned.

“There, ” Karacus answered, pointing to a group of men standing on their path to the mountain. We meet up with them and continue to our destination. Laveron will lead the way, with Tromellus at the rear. We will need your keen elven eyes to spot any ambushes.”

That settled , they headed out into the unknown . All were on high alert, expecting an attack at every moment. They steered clear of the buildings. If they were attacked, it would probably come from there. The trek was beginning to wear them down. Paranoia was fatiguing them. Their pace slowed considerably. Karacus noticed the change in his companions. He called for a stop.

Trying to lift their spirits proved difficult. They were in a hostile land searching for answers, with enemies all around. Instead, he ordered them to continue onward. He began to sing an old dwarven prayer. Although they didn’t worship his deity, they found the words soothing, and it kept their mind from wandering to more disturbing thoughts. Karacus smiled as they marched onward. He would hate to be one who faced this group.

Just as their spirits were beginning to soar, they heard Tromellus cry out in pain. They saw him laying on the ground, clutching his newly blooded head. Looking around, they saw no signs of life. The group was too far from any building for an attack from there, Karacus told them to take up defensive positions and keep their eyes open. He walked over and helped Tromellus to his feet.

“What happened, ” he asked the elf.

” A rock. I didn’t see where it came from.”

“Ambush, ” Laveron yelled.

Turning to his companions, he continued, “It would be dishonorable to fight alongside such fine fighters without knowing your names. I am Vorrett. I died slaying an ancient red dragon who was brutalizing my village. Even though I died, I was happy to know I took the damned dragon with me. “

Karacus went next. After introducing himself, he told the tale of his death. ” I was killed defending a caravan that was attacked by raiders. When our commander went down, I rallied our remaining force to hold lines. We did, for a time, anyway. There were just too many of them. But, by Moradin, I took down as many of those beasts as I could before I went.”

When Karacus was done, the rest told their stories. Laveron, the elf who saved him, died defending his homeland from an invading kingdom alongside his kinsman, Tromellus. Tromellus nodded, remembering that battle well. The last to go was Merran, the other human. His story was quite different. He was stabbed in the back while in a duel to avenge the murder of his sister. The way he died angered him, for he didn’t even see the person who had interfered in the one-on-one confrontation.

After all of the stories were told, the dwarf realized that he was in good company. He remembered how great it felt to fight alongside honorable warriors. His gaze went to each of them in turn, that’s when he noticed something strange about Laveron. Each of the other fighters were in full metal armor and wielded longswords. Laveron, however, wore leather armor and brandished a short sword. That was not normal among those in the Abyssal Fields. Plus, he had stabbed an opponent in the back. Thinking that they had a traitor in their midst, Karacus asked him about his unusual equipment.

“Normally,” Laveron responded, “I fight with two swords. I use short swords because they aren’t as heavy and are better balanced. As for the armor, the leather gives me better mobility. Metal armor restricts my movement.”

“If you fight with two swords, then where is the other one?”

“I lost it during our mad dash to this building.”

“He speaks the truth, dwarf, ” Vorrett interjected. “He had two when we began fighting.”

Karacus still didn’t trust him, but couldn’t argue with them without proof. Night had descended. The three injured companions: Karacus, Tromellus, and Merran , rested while Vorrett and Laveron took turns on watch. Time passed uneventfully. When dawn began to approach, they each took positions over fallen enemies, knowing they would rise soon. A debate arose about what to do when they woke Laveron said they should be slain as soon as they showed signs of life. Vorrett and Karacus disagreed. That’s when the elf pointed out that their opponents wouldn’t hesitate to do what he had proposed. The human agreed with him. Karacus agreed as well, but he didn’t like it.

The group tensed as the sun began to ascend. Karacus stood over the body of the dwarf who had stabbed him. In the moment when his wounds would heal and his opponent rise, nothing happened. They stood there waiting for many more long moments. Then, unexpectedly, the bodies of the slain disappeared. Each of them were startled. The dwarf looked over at Laveron. He was suddenly very grateful that the elf had stabbed the dwarf in the back.

Laveron walked over to the priest and whispered , ” I told you so.”

As the companions regrouped in the main room, there was only one thing on their minds; a question. What was going on here?