When Andrus came close to Arnheim he went to the southern gate, the defending army had gathered at the eastern gate and he needed to get to the palace. The gatekeepers let him in and he rode through the city to where he needed to be.
The knights who were stationed outside the palace let him in and he went straight to the throne room, where the king was with his advisors. And grand commander Bendul.
Andrus reported what had happened when the dwarves had first appeared, and what their warmachines could do.
“I suggest you evacuate the city if you want to minimize civilian casualties,” Andrus said.
“You’ve seen them work,” Bendul said, ignoring the suggestion. “What do you suggest we do against them?”
“Dig a big hole.”
Bendul frowned at Andrus. “Any short-term solutions?”
“No, sir. We can try our catapults and it may work, but I have my doubts.”
“Okay. Trenches.”
“Yes sir, that should halt their progress and keep them at a distance, but I’m unsure about the range they have. And it will be hard digging them with dwarves pounding on our heads with battle axes.”
Bendul didn’t seem pleased, but he nodded.
“Sir, the dwarf we questioned, he was pretty clear on one thing: we surrender or we die.”
“We do not surrender!” the king stated immediately.
“I agree with our king,” Bendul said. “Surrender is never an option.”
“You did hear how quickly the first battle was over, right? I witnessed it from the cage, we didn’t do well.”
“We have prepared other strategies now.” Bendul had a stern expression for him. “I hope you aren’t suggesting to surrender.”
“That is not my decision to make, sir. If you have faith in the strategies I will carry them out for you.” He saw Bendul nod. “Do you have orders for me?”
“Yes.” Bendul frowned as he looked out of a window. “Lead the evacuation. We will assign a section of the royal knights to that, but I need their first major commander and his officers to organize the defences of the palace. Let the citizens go westward. I will send a messenger ahead to the fortified cities in that direction to let them know about the situation and that they can expect refugees.” He looked at Andrus again. “Report to first major commander Irmo.”
Andrus saluted. “Yes sir.”
***
They began the evacuation at the east side and it had to happen fast, because the dwarves wouldn’t be far away. Andrus sat on top of the horse, overseeing the evacuation as the knights urged everyone in the right direction. The people of the east district had to disperse over the other directions. As long as the dwarves were still east from the city, all other gates were open to escape through. It was all a matter of keeping everyone moving.
The people were afraid, Andrus couldn’t blame them. It ached his heart to watch mothers clutching their crying children. These people had to leave their homes behind and it wasn’t even certain the battle would be won. Some decided to stay and were ready to fight the knights that wanted to drag them from their homes. Andrus ordered the knights to leave them, they couldn’t waste time with persuading people or removing them by force if there were more pressing matters, like fights breaking out in the stream of people.
A few men came towards him with sticks. His hand moved to his sword, until he knew if they were angry with him or the dwarves he would keep his hand close to his weapon.
“We will defend our city!”
“Leave that to the army,” Andrus told him. “If you’re so eager to defend, defend those around you that can’t defend themselves.” He could see the anger, sadness and fear all battling for a place in their eyes. They held on to their sticks so tightly that the knuckles of their hands turned white. He could see the sticks shake. “Please, don’t try to attack them with sticks. You will die.”
“You can’t expect us to do nothing!”
“I expect you to flee! Your death here won’t make a difference, your life may make a difference on another day. Go!”
The men reluctantly turned around and walked with the stream of citizens.
A fire lit up above the gate, it served both as a warning that the enemy was in sight and as the source for the flaming arrows and balls they would shoot. Andrus rode towards the gate after he ordered the knights to continue their work.
“Are those moving things there as well?” he called out when he reached it.
“Not yet, sir!” a soldier shouted back.
“For every rock you hit it with I’ll give you a jug of wine, so your aim better be good with that catapult!”
“Yes sir!”
He did a final check of the area as the battle began on the other side of the gate. Sound of metal against metal, cries of war, screams of pain. He knew those sound all to well and he didn’t need to see the battle to know what was happening. Andrus rode further in the city to see how the evacuation was going there. He could only hope they would do better this time.
The evacuation went as well as could be expected. The people that were adamant on staying behind were allowed to, but most chose to leave. Andrus rode behind the fleeing citizens with a royal knight on either side.
“Sir,” the female knight next to him said and Andrus looked at her, When he saw she looked behind them, he turned around to look at what she saw. Just in time to see a ball hit the first catapult and shatter it. Moments later three balls demolished the second catapult.
That could only mean one thing: those cubes were here. Which meant the dwarves had the means to break through the gates.
“Direct everyone west and north now! Don’t send any more people south!” Andrus ordered. The palace would be the next target and that was more towards the south. Many people would have escaped through there already and if the ones on that track kept moving they should be able to exit the city before the dwarves were there.
The orders were relayed to the front, shouted from knight to knight.
“Sir, you need to get yourself in safety too,” the female knight said.
Andrus looked at her. “Your name?”
“Rachel, sir.”
“Okay, Rachel, I’m not going to gallop through the citizens to get myself in safety.” He looked ahead. “If they keep up this pace, we’ll reach the gate before the dwarves are here.” He hoped. “Tell the front to go faster! Everyone in the back wait until the one in front of you goes faster, I don’t want to see anyone trampled, I swear I will leave the one doing the trampling for the dwarves!”
Everyone wanted to leave, but the last thing they could use now was panic. That would only clog up the escape route and that was exactly why he hadn’t used the words ‘the dwarves are here’ or ‘the dwarves have breached’. Sometimes ignorance could be bliss.
***
As the dwarves had approached the city, the catapults on the wall fired burning balls on them, crushing the dwarves. Blood oozed from narrow openings in the armour. With the catapults they had taken several out, until they had come too close for the catapults to be fired. They had fought man to man in front of the eastern gate, instead of swords the humans had used more bludgeoning iron weapons and they made an impact. They had knocked helmets from heads and shattered skulls. They had cracked ribs and breastbones by hitting the plate armour. The dwarves fell to the ground with bloody heads and blood oozing out of their mouths. Even though the humans had been able to incapacitate more dwarves now, the dwarves had moved forward gradually but surely, swinging with their sharp and heavy battle-axes, their light swords and finishing fallen soldiers with their daggers. Their weapons were stained with blood and the battlefield became muddy when the blood of the fallen soldiers mixed with dirt.
And then those vehicles had approached. The catapults had fired rock after rock at it and, as Steve had predicted, they made dents in the steel, but not severe enough to cause any damage. The dwarves had opened the cylinders at the top and shot iron balls, first at the catapults and then into the city.
With the catapults gone, it was time for the next part. The dwarves retreated until they were alongside or behind their vehicles and large cylinders lowered until they were aimed at the gate. The wooden gates were reinforced with iron, but it wasn’t enough to protect against the iron projectiles and they were shattered, taking out any humans standing in projectile’s path in the process. The dwarves let out their battle cries and ran forward again, pushing through the army and into the city.
One of the vehicles opened and more dwarves came out, also wearing their full plate armour, but they weren’t armed with swords. They all had a big metal bag on their back and held a cylinder in their hands with a trigger below. As the human soldiers tried to understand what it was, they started shooting small iron balls with it. Soldier after soldier fell as the dwarves walked around, their blood staining the grass red.
Only a few soldiers managed to flee, a couple ran north, others south. Most died on the battlefield and the dwarves marched towards the palace without looking at any of the corpses they left behind.
At the palace the royal knights fought with their blades, the well-equipped and well-trained knights made more casualties then the soldiers had, but the defences proved no match for the number of dwarves that had entered the city and the armour they had equipped themselves with. They entered the palace and fought their way to the throne room.
Only a handful of people were there, the king and his family, the grand commander, the first major commander of the royal knights and six of his most trusted knights.
The dwarves broke through the door, holding their blood-stained weapons.
“Surrender or die like the rest of your army!” one of the dwarves said.
That was when the king decided surrender was an option. The grand commander grudgingly followed suit. And with that the battle was over.
The dwarves won.
With the capital city under their command the dwarves spread out over the country to show their authority. Anyone who wouldn’t submit to their ruling was killed or taken into forced labour.
They built mines to mine for more coal, with their new inventions they needed as much coal as they could find and they knew there was coal to be found in the human land. They erected large facilities where they could make their steel sheets and parts and forge their plate armour and weapons. Smoke left through the chimneys day and night and pounding and grinding sounds could be heard all the time.
While they didn’t let any of their human workers near the coal-mines or inside any of the assembly halls, they did let them gather water for them in large tanks, which wasn’t as abundant in their own region as it was here. They made them work the farms and take care of livestock for food, transport metal sheets and large parts from the factories to assembly halls, and fuel the large furnaces in the factories with wood they had to cut in the area. All the hard work that wasn’t part of the actual creating process was for the humans. The last thing they wanted was for the humans to learn how to use the power of steam and create their own war machines.
The humans that had surrendered to the dwarves were often allowed to live as they always had, s long as they paid taxes to the new dwarven rulers and adhered to the new laws.
A group of people had gathered in one of the inns that had remained open after the dwarves had taken over. Trevor, Mikhal, Steve, Pete and Andrus sat at a table. The last three dressed in civilian clothes, but with weapons hidden away. Andrus had been able to leave the city before the dwarves had taken over. When he had travelled from the west gate to the south gate to check the situation he had come across a soldier who stammered about the shooting devices the dwarves had. Then he noticed the flag of the kingdom lowered from its pole and not long after the dwarven flag hung in its place. That’s when he had decided to regroup with Trevor and the others.
The inn belonged to the parents of Mikhal and they allowed the group to stay there, free of charge.
They were drinking when someone walked to their table. Mikhal looked up and blinked in surprise. “Joris? What are you doing here?”
The man called Joris had a happy smile, as if the country hadn’t been conquered by dwarves. “Mikhal! I met a friend of yours not too long ago.” He pulled back a chair and sat down. “In Arthol,” he added in a hushed voice. “I met your lady there too, they were on their way to sail across the sea.”
Mikhal looked relieved.
“I can see why she stole your heart. Her brother was with her too. I asked them to take Lisanne with them and stayed behind to offer my help to you and Trevor.” He nodded towards him as he mentioned his name, a greeting Trevor returned in a similar way. “It’s quite a mess, isn’t it?”
“You should have sailed away,” Trevor stated.
“Well, I figured that you could use a thief. Since Mikhal thought it was dangerous enough to send his love to a safe place, but important enough to stay behind, I thought he could use my help.”
“How did you find us anyway?”
Joris smiled. “That wasn’t hard, I know how to find people. I listen to gossips, I talk to people and I use the knowledge I have about people.” He opened his arms. “This is the place where he asks his friends to send letters.”
Andrus examined him more closely. “We can use your help,” he said. “We could use more warriors too. That being said,” he looked at Mikhal. “You need to learn to fight.”
“I’ve never needed to fight before.”
“That’s true,” Trevor said. “I’ve seen him talk his way out of a situation with four swords pointed at him.”
“Even so, it would be foolish to not carry a weapon.”
Mikhal looked at his mug before he looked at the officer. “Do you have the time to teach me how to use a sword? And will I be good enough to defend myself against a well-trained dwarf?”
Before Andrus could answer, Trevor looked at him. “I’m sure you remember how hard it was to swing a sword in the beginning,” he said. “Training muscles takes longer than we have. Mikhal is right, he’ll never be good enough fast enough.”
“And a bow and arrow?” Pete suggested.
“That could work,” Andrus said. “We’ll do that.” He looked at Mikhal to see if he agreed.
“I did fire a bow a few times before, I should be able to get better at that soon enough.”
“Good.” Andrus looked at the new arrival. “Trevor, you know this guy, right?” He saw Trevor nod. “And you trust him?”
“I think he can be valuable to us.”
“Do you have any weapons?” Andrus asked Joris.
Joris shrugged a bit. “I never needed weapons, I’m quick and agile. I can juggle pretty well.” He grinned when he saw disappointment in Andrus’ eyes. “And I’m fairly good with throwing daggers, I have some hidden on me at all times, but I only used them against evil trees when I was bored.”
“Okay,” Andrus said, nodding and showing a serious expression, “so we won’t have to fear evil trees when you join us. You’re in!”
Joris chuckled and bowed. “And what’s the plan?”
“Get our freedom back,” Trevor said, just before taking a sip from his ale.
Mikhal smiled a bit. “We need more allies and gather information first. We will focus on that for now. Once we figure out their weakness, we can fight back.”
They ate a meal together and retired for the night. Trevor, Andrus, Pete and Steve shared a room. Mikhal slept in his own bedroom, his parents kept it free for him so that he would have a place to sleep every time he returned to the inn. He invited Joris to sleep in the room as well, he would put a spare matrass on the ground for him. An invitation Joris accepted.
They both sat on their matrasses when Mikhal’s mothered entered the room.
“Please be careful,” she said as she sat down next to her son. “I know you will leave on a dangerous journey tomorrow, and…”
“I will look after myself,” Mikhal promised, giving his mother a quick hug. “I have you and Catheryn to return to after all.”
Linda flew up from the pillow. “I will stay with him,” she promised. “I will look after him!”
Mikhal’s mother smiled at the fairy dragon, took her sons head in her hands and put her forehead against his. After that she stood up. “I will make sure you all will have a decent breakfast before you leave.”
“I think everyone will be grateful for that,” Mikhal said with a smile and watched his mother leave.
Joris lay down on the matrass. “Your mother is a kind woman. I understand why she’s worried though.”
Mikhal hummed agreeingly. “Four military men and two who travelled the country and lived off the land and its people. I played for them. You emptied their pockets.”
“I only took from those who could miss it,” Joris defended himself.
“I know. I’m glad you joined us.”
“It will be an interesting adventure.”
Again came an agreeing sound from Mikhal, followed by a yawn. They wished each other a good night and fell asleep.
The next morning the group of six men and a fairy dragon left the inn, after a good breakfast they were ready to fight back against the dwarves. They had made plans during the meal and knew what they had to do. It would take a while, but they would make sure the humans would be freed from the dwarven rulers. But first they had to collect more information and gather more allies before they could build a resitance to fight against the dwarves.
*** © Mariska Bekker ***