Chapter XXIII

The Mountain

It was almost impossible for Vernon to get any sleep that night, mostly due to the cold breeze coming into the town hall, but there was also the question of Martin, that kept him from getting not so much as a wink. He thought that they should be doing something, whilst they still had time, wasn’t it said that the after the first forty-eight hours, the odds of finding a kidnap victim alive started rapidly decreased.

Now with that thought in his head he got up and walked outside, the remains of the cremation still flickered slightly, but for the most part had already gone out. He sat down on the cold stone steps to the town hall and looked around the town. It really was a shocking scene, as not two days ago, this town would have been just like any other. But now it was nothing more than a ruin.

“You should be asleep young southerner.” Doraghek said from out of the darkness, this took the old butler by surprise as he got up and looked around, before sitting back down when he saw Doraghek walking up the steps.

“I’m not exactly young anymore.” Vernon said smiling, he was by his reckoning sixty-seven-years-old, although like Dave during the interview back at Bergskort he had completely lost track of the date and couldn’t be sure on his own age.

“Why are you out here?” Doraghek asked as he walked up to sit next to Vernon.

“Truth be told. I couldn’t sleep.” Vernon said.

“This lack of sleep, is it to do with your missing companion? Were you close to them?” Doraghek asked as he place the axe on the ground next to him, compared to the ones that both Codsworth and Bruce carried, this was a goliath, a two-handed battle axe, engraved with runes and other carvings. At the comment Vernon chuckled.

“Knew him. I practically raised him.” Vernon said, whilst that might have done a disservice to Alan, it was fundamentally the truth. As Laura had died mere days after giving birth to Martin, and Alan away out in the east for a lot of the time, it had fallen to butler to raise the wildest of the Wolfrick brothers, although he was often helped, or in most cases hindered by Gerrard at times by had giving the new-born his own wildness somehow, even though the lad’s uncle had only been around for the first few years of the boy’s life, after that he had truly been left to care for the four wayward brothers.

“I’m sorry my, young southern friend. We’ll find him though; your companion proves that these missing kids can be found.” Doraghek said, and whilst the dwarf was clearly trying to lift the old butler’s spirits, it didn’t work. As the experience of working to destroy the group that took Dmitri, proved only that he was the exception, not the rule. But he smiled none the less, as the comment had been made out of kindness, before he changed the subject.

“How long will we be here for?” Vernon asked.

“Another night I’m afraid, I’ve sent Jotrulir and Mazgux back to the mountain with orders to return with enough horses for your group. But it’s still a day’s ride in each direction.” Doraghek answered, noting the change in subject, but continuing on, the man was obviously trying to avoid thinking about what had become of their youngest companion, and the dwarf was not one to press an unwelcome subject. This whilst better than the further week that Vernon had been expecting to travel, it still wasn’t good, they were dangerously exposed here, and it would mean that was another two days before they could get enough support to help luck for Martin.

The old butler had considered sending word to Jack about his youngest brothers’ disappearance, as the lad was much further south than they were and might be able to intercept the kidnappers in time. He was certain that Jack would attempt a rescue if he heard about what had happened, but they had no way to contact him now, other than returning back the way they had come, and by then it would be too late anyways.

“What are the odds of your father choosing to help us. In your honest opinion?” Vernon asked the dwarf. Doraghek paused for a moment considering the question.

“Good. So long as his advisors don’t get involved.” Doraghek said bitterly, it was as the old butler had feared, whilst Fierhand would likely want to help, the advisors that surrounded him would be more cautious about the outsiders. He was interrupted in his thoughts as Doraghek continued. “But now we have proof, proof that what I have been trying to warn them about being real. Meaning that they can no longer turn a blind eye to the problems that we are facing.” The dwarf finished as he stared into the faint ambers coming from the cremation sight.

The next day passed without much incident. Doraghek and a couple of his dwarves, the brothers Tursumlin and Throzzoug, along with Codsworth, Dave and Charlie left for the woods again, and whilst only Dave was anything close to hopeful, they intended to try and find any more evidence of Martin’s current whereabouts.

It had taken Codsworth and Dave a lot longer than they had first guessed to find the location, to the point where there were some quiet murmurings coming from Tursumlin and Throzzoug about the validity of the groups story, leading to Doraghek taking the butt of his axe and clouting them over the head whilst speaking to them in angry dwarvish.

Eventually though they found the spot and began the search, Charlie had come along to see if she could locate any more of the strange liquid found in the syringe. It had certainly seemed weird when Barca gave it to her the previous evening. However due to the small quantity of it, she had decided that she would need more if she were to properly determine what it was.

Whoever had administered whatever it was had done a good job however, as there was no sign of the mysterious substance anywhere on the scene. There was however a small drop of blood on one of the trees. Which was quickly collected up before they headed out once more to follow the same track as both Dave and Codsworth had done previously.

It was hard work, as none of the dwarves were good trackers meaning that it pretty much fell on Dave once again to follow the river until they reached the destroyed bridge once again.

“This is where we lost the trail.” Dave said in a defeated tone, looking at the bombed-out bridge. Doraghek only nodded as he observed the bridge before he turned to one of his companions.

“You think you can make it Throzzoug?” Doraghek asked, in a calm tone, as if this was nothing but a mild challenge for the dwarf. For a moment Throzzoug looked at the bridge, judging its size and then down at the fast-moving river beneath. And the nodded.

Throzzoug rode back a few paces, took a deep breath, and then charged his goat forward towards the broken bridge. Going at full tilt, the goat and rider leapt over the bridge, and nearly made it. The goat’s front legs were on the other side, however the back legs weren’t, they kicked at the space between the broken parts of the opposite bank, before eventually finding something solid, and scampered back up. Coming to rest on the opposite side of the fast-moving river.

“Very impressive.” Codsworth said looking first at the dwarf on the far bank, then at Doraghek. Dave was doing the same, only not speaking due to the fact that his mouth was open in shock. “Is there another way around for us that don’t have goats however?” The commander asked.

“I don’t know lad; in truth I’ve never been into these woods before. Why there was even a bridge here is beyond me.” Doraghek said scratching his forehead and looking around at the landscape. “My guess is that there will be, however. We’re just going to have to follow the river.” Doraghek said. And with that, he took the reins of his goat and began following the river downstream, followed by the rest of the group, with Throzzoug shadowing their movements on the other side of the river.

It took an hour, and more importantly, many miles of course, but they eventually found another bridge. Not that it was in any better shape than the previous one however, but at least it could still function as a crossing.

Once across it took another two hours to locate the other bridge due to the terrain making it hard to follow the river on this side. Eventually they found it however, and so they followed the faint tracks in the ground. This continued until they could continue no longer, both Charlie and Codsworth were exhausted and even Dave was getting tired, worse of all, the goats were starting to struggle, on rough terrain they were as fast as anything, but on the relatively smooth ground that they had found themselves on about a mile away from the river, they were starting to struggle. So regrettably they had to call a halt and head back to camp.

It wasn’t until later that night Vernon found out that the only difference however, between this search and the previous one however, was that Codsworth didn’t come back with a black eye forming. They had found nothing new, and it was becoming apparent that they would need some real help, if they were going to have any luck finding Martin before winter set in once again.

The following night was warmer however, the mood between Vernon and Codsworth was still extremely frosty, the old butler still blamed him for allowing martin to leave the group alone. Whilst the commander believed that if he hadn’t then the odds that their youngest member would have survived the battle would have been extremely thin, given the size of the hoard that they had encountered.

The mood between the two was so frosty in fact, that even the dwarves could tell that it was there. As for the rest of the group, they would occasionally try and raise conversation that would get the two to talk to each other. But nothing worked, they were happy to be involved in discussions, but wouldn’t speak to each other alone.

The next morning brought some much-needed good news for the group, as return of Jotrulir and Mazgux from the mountain, with fresh supplies, but more importantly transport. Nine horses had arrived from the mountain, varying in size as to fit the rider, Brutus would have to walk along, but the wear-bear didn’t seem to mind that fact, as he himself had insisted on it before the two dwarves left.

It took longer than usual to get mounted, as Dmitri was not used to riding and he only had one leg, the result being was that he was more strapped to the horse, in order to stop him from falling off. He still had control over the animal, but it was now becoming critical to find a solution to his leg problem, as one thing was for sure. He would be helping in the search, no matter what the commander had to say about it.

As the group of humans and dwarves crossed the terrain at a much faster pace than usual, it took a bit of time for Doraghek to get used to the group and their dynamic. As he was initially against letting Dave go out and scout for them, not because it wasn’t dangerous, he just didn’t want a kid doing a man’s job. That was until Codsworth chimed in.

“Trust me Doraghek, this will go one of two ways: Either you let him go out and do his job, or you don’t, and he’ll do it anyway.” Codsworth said, smiling as Dave rode off towards the front of the group and out into the distance.

“Is he any good then?” Doraghek said turning back to the commander. As this had to be the reason that they would let a minor go out into the wilderland without supervision.

“He’s the best scout we’ve got. The kid has a natural gift for it.” Charlie said from just behind them, before Codsworth could answer. However, this did the trick and Doraghek nodded, and never questioned the decision again.

As they continued further and further towards the mountain, the roads started to rapidly improve, which meant that they could travel faster and faster in turn. Directly ahead of them now, and rising straight into the sky, now that they were so close, it obstructed their entire forward vision. All they could see was the mountain, but there was more. Along the rocky surface, the group could make out small windows dotted around, and even a few balconies for the richer rooms.

Directly in front of them, the terrain begins to rise upwards towards the large steel double doors that reach an incredible height. Next to the doors, was a carved figure embedded into the rock. A stout looking dwarf, clutching two gigantic axes in both hands.

“Who’s that?” Nick asked pointing at the statue, at this Doraghek looked up at the figure and smiled.

“Hurfim the second lad, greatest dwarf ever to come from this mountain.” Doraghek replied, guessing correctly that the legacy of his people weren’t taught down in the south.

“Well, we’re finally here.” Vernon said as he looked up at the mountain, he had hardly dared to believe it when Doraghek had told him that it was a day’s ride, but here they were on the slopes before the main gates.

“There is a problem.” Charlie said, it certainly was very impressive that they had got here at all. However, the warnings of both Brutus and the north-men down in Bergskort still rang in her head. “Are we allowed in. As the last we heard, this place had shut its gates to anyone who wasn’t a native?” Charlie asked as she steadied herself on the horse, she was by no means a bad rider, but the horse was acting very jumpy for some reason. At the question a dark look came over Doraghek lined face.

“You’ll be allowed to enter. Remaining here is a different matter however, so just let me do all the talking and you’ll be fine.” Doraghek spoke up, looking around at the group, before quickly taking the lead and began riding his goat up the slope towards the main doors.