Chapter 19, in which a rescue becomes unneeded and a lot of dwarves fight a lot of orcs

Vodok
The short dwarf stumbled up. He drank three mana fluids. "Exura Vita." he muttered. He boarded the ship with Vodivir. "Nice idea! Strangling with your beard, I mean." Vodivir said to Vodok as he followed him.

Red Un
As Red Un walked towards the ship, he noticed the dead woman lying on the ground.

"Oh, by the way, nice work on that Banshee Queen, whoever did it. Never thought we'd get rid of that 'ol hag..."

Aiyare slowly unlocked his door.

"By Crunor! What sort of malformed creature was that?! I never thought any elf would do such a thing to any being!"

Red Un grinned.

"Well, it's gone now, so let's prepare to set sail. We're goin' to Folda, and we need to get there as soon as possible, Mr. Elf."

"Very well, Mr. Half-dwarf, I shall get right to it..."

Kalistra
Kalistra was still shaking with rage. Trying to leash it took all of her concentration. Finally, her rage contained, she bend down and lifted the sword she had dropped, which had subsided back into ordinary grey steel.

Turning towards the vampire, the assassin smiled, some of the darkness still showing.

"Why, Vehementi, what else would it be but a love bite...?"

She followed the others onto the ship.

Vehementi Dominus
"Impossible, I'm the only one here with fangs... and I certainly didn't bite you, and who else could've during battle?"

Vehementi could feel something coming from Kalistra, something dark, something evil... He reached for his NightBlade but didn't draw it.

"Kalistra...are you ok?"

Kalistra
Kalistra stopped dead, just as she was about to step onto the gangplank. She hadn't expected concern coming from the vampire. Turning slightly, she said:

"No... But I will be, as soon as we find the library. I haven't changed, Vehementi, this is who I always was... It’s just a side of me you haven't seen before. The Banshee Queen... She's who I could have become, if fate hadn't intervened, long ago. We shared our blood. As you should know, blood is the memory's river. I broke the spell over her, but her rage and the rage of her sisters... It’s inside me now."

The assassin turned fully towards the vampire and smiled sadly. "You should know all about rage, vampire. I will contain it in a little while, don't worry."

Vodok
Vodivir and Vodok had been standing behind the vampire and the assassin all the time. "Rage is a powerful thing. Rage is one of the reasons of all the wars that’s ever been..." Vodivir said. The short dwarf passed the two and just avoided falling off the plank leading to the ship. Vodivir on the other hand jumped onto the ice. He carefully walked to the ship. "VODOK, CAN YOU GIVE ME A HAND HERE?" Vodivir yelled. Vodok tied his rope to the boat and threw down the other end. Vodivir climbed up the rope. "Lucky there’s ice on there. Other wise I'd be in the freezin' water." Vodivir said to Vodok. "Yeah... It would'nt be 'at good if yeh... 'Ang on... 'Ere's ice on 'at side... What 'bout the other side?!" the short dwarf said. "HEY! GET THE HECK AWAY FROM THIS ISLAND BEFORE WERE TRAPPED IN THE ICE!" Vodivir yelled.

Dargon The Mastermind
"Alas, Master Dwarf. The ice is at least a half mile all around the island. We're going to have to break it or wait till it thaws out enough. I vote for breaking it." Dargon took his staff (it was tied to his back) and cast the spell he had cast before. It glowed brightly, and once again a warmth came from it. He jumped off the ship and began slowly dragging it away from the island, letting the ice melt from its heat, leaving a small crack that everyone else could begin hacking at.
Red Un (postid 1709319)
Red Un jumped down onto the ice.

He pulled out his sword and started to cut trough the ice. But it didn't go fast enough for his liking.

"Hey, Vodok, ya got any 'o them fire-magic-thingies left? They would be really helpful now..."

Dargon The Mastermind
Dargon, realizing something yelled for Red Un to stop. "We have to get back on the ship, if we melt the ice we'll fall in!" He then headed back up to the ship.

Vodok
"Adori Gran Flam" the short dwarf muttered. He fired the rune. A huge area of ice was blasted away. At least the top of the huge area of ice... The short dwarf shot another and watched his rune become emptiness.

Red Un
Suddenly, Aiyare spied something in the distance. Pillars of smoke came up at the horizon, and soon his elven eyes could see what it was.

"Dwarven steam-ships!"

The dwarven ships with their heavily reinforced fronts plowed through the ice like nothing. Soon, the lead one had reached shouting distance to the elven ship.

"Ahoi there, elf-ship!" yelled the dwarven captain.

"Ashari, dwarves!" Aiyare yelled back, knowing full well how much the elven language annoyed dwarves. "What brings you to these cold shores?"

"Well, elf, one of our ships recently disappeared 'round 'ere. There was only one survivor, and he kep talkin' about an elven ship. You don't happen to know anythin' 'bout it?"

Red Un looked up at the dwarven captain.

"Oh, he must mean the dwarven ship that was crushed by the sea-demon!"

The dwarven captain looked a bit surprised when he saw not only Red Un, a half-dwarf, but Vodok and Vodivir as well.

"Oi, why does a half-dwarf and two real dwarves sail the seas with an elven captain?"

Red Un sighed.

"It's a long story. A very long story."

"Well, I'd be interested to hear. I think you and your friends would like to stay at our ship over night, Mr...?"

"Red Un. And these two are Vodok an' Vodivir, newly reunited brothers. And what be your name?"

"Captain Grotar of the dwarven steamship Durins' Hammer. I'll let my crew work on the ice over the night, an' you'll be ready t' sail in the mornin'."

"Sounds good" said Red Un and turned around.

"Alright, who wants to stay on the dwarven ship over the night? They got beds, food and ale for everyone I'm sure."

"Do I even have to answer?" said Aiyare and returned to his quarters.

Vodok
But Vodok on the other hand threw himself over to the dwarven ship. Vodivir followed. "'Ello." the captain said. Vodok didn’t answer. He looked around the boat as if he owned it. Vodivir on the other hand started talking to the captain.

Red Un
Red Un climbed aboard the ship as well.

"Hmmh, I could use a hearty dwarven meal after this fight."

A crew member snickered at him.

"Well, I wonder if we have enough for ya...tally."

Red Un swung around, grabbed the dwarf and held him over the cold water below.

"You were sayin'?"

"Notthewaternotthewaternotthewater!"

"Well, show me to the dining room then."

"Yes, anything, but not the water!"

Red Un put him down, and he showed him the way to the dining room.

Vodok
Vodok and Vodivir ran after Red Un and the crewmember who was scared out of his skull to the dining room. "It's a-all your's..." the dwarf said slightly shaking. Vodok started filling himself with as much food as possible together with Vodivir.

Dargon The Great
Dargon followed everyone else, but didn't eat much. He had grown up eating very little (he was the towns protector and had to learn how to give everything to everyone else after all). He had some biscuits and water, with a small strip of dried venison (small because there wasn't a lot) and then asked a dwarf, looking very nervous, where, if possible, a place to sleep could be arranged. He was shown to the storage room. "O well... I've slept in worse sometimes." Dargon took out his bear-hide jacket and use it as a pillow, being very warm already from the heat of the engine. He went to sleep almost immediately, exhausted from the battle with the undead.

Shukirogen
Shukirogen woke up.
He heard the sounds of feet coming closer.
Someone opened the door to the prison cell he was in.
two really smelly orcs lift him up between them.

"Where are you taking me?" Shukirgoen said.

"Yarr going ta see tha boss."

He got carried between the orcs through a long corridor, then up several stairs. After walking for about 10 minutes they stopped and opened a gigantic black door.

They threw Shukirogen inside.

A deep and evil sounding voice started speaking to him.

”The master says we got no more use for you. Red Un and his crew are on their way here as we speak. And I think it’s time to let you go now.”

”What? What’s all this about? What do you want with them?”

”I want him and his crew dead. We got an army of orcs, various demons and minotaurs waiting for his arrival.”

”Why is that? And what do I got to do about that?”

”You’re his friend, and by using you I made sure he’s coming here. Now that we got no further use of you we will execute you. Just like we did with that stupid orc friend of yours.”

Shukirogen had learnt long ago to never let his feelings control his acts. So he just nodded and said:

”So Baphomey is dead then.”

”Yes, and so will you be in a few seconds, goodbye.”

Shukirogen had not seen the being he spoke with at all, just heard his voice, and now he heard the familiar sound of a lever being pulled.
He took out a white knife with a black handle from his boots and ran for the door. The floor started the open itself and underneath it was a river filled of fire.
Shukirogen tried to open the door. Locked, of course.

A voice which seemed to come from everywhere at once yelled.

”There is no point in trying to escape, you filthy human. Hahahahaha!”

Shukirogen reconsidered that for a few seconds. And decided that there sure as hell was a great point of trying to escape. And opened the door.

”Whataa! how get you out! “ one of the two orcs outside yelled.

”I’m always bringing a lock pick for giant black doors
in prison dungeons for situations like this” Shukirogen replied. Then he stabbed one of the orcs in the neck. The orc made a strange bubbling sound and blood started flooding from his mouth and neck. The orc fell backwards and had already died before it hit the ground.
The other orc threw his weapon down and ran away as fast as he could.
Shukirogen picked up a big bow which the orcs dead partner had carried.
He put an arrow in the bow and shot the other orc in the back.

He was free, well he was still in a big prison dungeon. But at least he was not in a cell.
He had to warn Red Un about the army at Folda that was waiting for his arrival.
And so he started to look for a way out.

Shukirogen
Shukirogen started running up the stairs. He had no idea how far down he was in the Folda dungeon. So he kept running. The dungeon seemed to be gigantic. But it was also empty. Everyone was on the surface waiting for the crew’s arrival.
Shukirogen started to wonder why the bloody hell they thought they would need an entire army to bring them down.
Shukirogen kept running through the corridors and stairs for about an hour, until he realized that he was lost and would probably never find a way out this way.
While he was standing in a corridor thinking about how to get out he suddenly felt a wind blowing through behind him.
He turned around. But there was nobody behind him.
Then he felt a tapping on his back. He turned around again.
A huge person was standing there smiling with a big axe made of fire in his hands.

”BOOH!” the stranger yelled.
Shukirogen jumped about 3 meters backwards and fell down on the ground in a really pathetic looking pile.

”HAHAHAHA you should have seen the expression on your face! Hahaha! Why are you here? Also for the treasure? Well I’m here for the treasure, seems like a great day for treasure hunting as there is nobody here! But it’s a bit dull as there is nobody here to fight... Well at least I won’t leave without a treasure!”

”Who are you?! And how do you know I’m not one of those who call this place home?”

”I’m Mondrious. Actually it’s Mondrious Blubbidore Armantious Xmertnik Endara Mareng aslans.
But you may call me Mondrious, or just Mond if you prefer.
I can see that you are not one of the Dark lords followers as they don’t tend to beat each other up, and you really look like you’ve got beaten up.”

Mondrious helped Shukirogen up on his feet again.

”Well I’m Shukirogen, I got beaten down at Senja and taken here to prison. Then they tried to execute me but well I escaped, and now I’m looking for a way out.”

”There are many ways out you know, this whole place is a way out. You just need to find the one way out.”

”The one way out? I thought you said that there are several ways out.”

”Sure there are many ways out. But still there is only one and it exist wherever you want it to exist.”

”Do you mind stop talking in riddles and just tell me how to get out of here so that I can warn my friends?”

”Well this place is gigantic as you have probably noticed. But the fact is that this place is really pretty small, it’s just magical. This dungeon does not exist in normal space, it exist in a space that is twisted around itself which makes this whole place become a lot bigger than it really is.
To get out just say "Sesame open yourself you jolly old chump", open a door and walk out, with a bit of luck you won’t fall down in a volcano or out in the middle of nowhere.”

”So what you’re saying is that if I go outside a door I might get anywhere on this whole planet?”

”Yes in fact there’s about a chance on a million that you will get to a place that is populated by humans.”

”A chance in a million you said? I like the odds.
Seasme open yourself you jolly old chump!” Shukirogen said and opened the closest door.
”I will probably be back later, I got some revenging of a fallen friend to take care of, thanks for your help Mondrious.”

A chance in a million eh… Shukirogen thought and walked out.

Try to realize how surprised he got when he found himself hanging about 5 meters up in the air above a boat. As it’s pretty hard to keep hanging in the air after noticing that you are hanging in the air Shukirogen fell down with a lot of noise and looked up.
Well imagine his surprise now when he found himself looking up in the face of Aiyare.

Red Un
Meanwhile, Red Un had started to dig in on the food.

"Hey you", he said to the poor dwarf he had held over ice-cold water before, "Gimmie a big pint 'o ale as fast as possible!"

"Righto..." muttered the dwarf and went of. He soon returned with a big pint of dwarven ale, which Red Un immediately started to guzzle down...

Meanwhile, Aiyare had stepped out on the deck to look up at the starry sky a bit. Needlessly to say, he was pretty surprised when Shukirogen suddenly fell out of the sky.

"In the name of Crunor, who are you?! And where did you come from?!"

Kalistra
Kalistra did not join the others when they went onto the dwarven ship. She was always in for a bit of company, but now she was feeling unusually fragile. As if she was standing at the edge of an abyss and a small push would tip her over the edge.
Her thoughts turned further inwards, and automatically she turned around and stepped onto the ice, towards the island. She felt the need for some peace and quiet, needed to feel her connection to the land again.
Her bond to the banshee had shaken her, brought out her dark side. A side she had managed to hide for centuries, burying it deep within her heart. The pain and the hatred she felt towards the one that had taken her sister away from her and the tortures that Kalistra subsequently endured, had shaped her. Yet a part of her would never be whole, no matter how many centuries of life she would be cursed with. A long life was no blessing. For while she had managed not to become bitter towards the world, had learned to see the goodness and beauty in it, there was much evil. Her thoughts turned to a night, long ago...

Her tormentor laughed cruelly. "You wish to be free of me, my little one? I see straight through your heart. Deep inside you yearn for nothing more than to feel my touch... Even if you leave my halls, you will never be free of me. You will always carry the darkness in you. You cannot escape your own nature." He looked at her consideringly, his dark beauty still taking her breath away. Then he laughed, cruelly. "Very well, little flame. I will set you 'free'. You will taste eternity, wandering the lands, searching for a way to achieve your revenge. Until one day, you realise you will always be my creature. Don't forget me, love." At his words, black flames blew from him, enveloping her, burning through her. The pain was exquisite, a beautiful dark torture. It shaped her, changed her, until at last, oblivion took her into its soft embrace, his laugh following her even there..."

Kalistra came back to herself, to find she had walked quite far, she could barely see the ships. She stood in front of a tree. It was slightly stunted by the harsh climate, yet it had managed to endure. Sighing the assassin put her hands on the tree, and merged her awareness. She did not know how long she stood there, absorbing the tree's calm acceptance of life. The simple joy it took in growing, flourishing and nourishing life calmed and refreshed the assassin. When she felt ready to rejoin the others, it was close to dawn. As she walked back to the ship she pondered if she would finally find a way to kill a god.

As she stepped onboard, she saw most of the ice had been cleared and they would be able to leave soon, like the dwarven captain had promised. Then she started laughing as she saw how Red Un, Vodivir and Vodok had woken up, all three looking thoroughly miserable and sporting a monumental hangover. It also seemed another person had joined the group while she was gone...

Shukirogen
Shukirogen looked around, it really was the same boat. Haha, a chance in a million to just get to a place populated with humans, and he had managed to land exactly where he wanted. It was once again proved to him that a chance in a million works out fine 9 chances of 10.

”It’s me, Shukirogen! I have to warn you all for going to Folda, One of the dark lords servants told me that he had made so that Red Un and the rest of you would go there. But it’s all a trap, they got an entire army there waiting for you!
He told me they killed Baphomey and then they tried to kill me to. I was walking in a maze of corridors doors and stairs for over an hour! I would have been stuck there forever if it wasn’t for a person named Mondrious.
He told me some really silly magic words that I could use to get out of the dungeons, and well that’s how I got here.

And by the way, you wouldn’t happen to have any beer would you?”

Dargon The Mastermind
"Oi what’s up?" Dargon yawned. He then noticed the new guy at Aiyares ship, "And who’s he?"

Kalistra
"Well hello Shukirogen. Nice to have you onboard again. I'm Kalistra. Everyone thought you simply decided not to join on the journey anymore. How wrong we were. I am sorry to hear about Baphomey... He was nice, for an orc that is." The assassin paused. "An army you say? What kind of army? A trap's only a trap if you don't expect it. Tell us about it..."

Red Un
Red Un held his poor, pain-filled head between his hands. There had been many ales that night. Then he saw Shukirogen.

He closed his eyes and then opened them again. Still, Shukirogen was there.

"...Shukirogen...?"

He stumbled towards Shukirogen. Then he fell off the ship, and into the cold water below. When he re-surfaced, he was completely sober (nothing like a cold bath in the mornin' ya know). He climbed up onto Aiyares ship.

"Shukirogen! How the heck did ya end up here?!"

Aiyare explained to Red Un what Shukirogen had said. Red Un grinned.

"An army, eh? Well..."

He looked at the large, heavily armed dwarven steamship.

"Oi, captain! How many ships are in this fleet of yours?"

The captain, who had observed the events taking place, yelled back at Red Un.

"About ten or so, all loaded with merry dwarven soldiers."

Red Un grinned again.

"Well, my friends, 'tseems like we 'ave an army too..."

Vodok
Vodok and Vodivir had just managed to with a lot of trouble climb up the ladder. "Yeh migh'... Umm... Yeah... Yeh understan'..." the short dwarf said to no one. "Wha'? You di''nt say anythin'..." Vodivir replied. Then they both started laughing at nothing. A member of the crew sighed. He took two bottles, tied a rope to the boat and himself, slowly lowered himself down, filled the bottles with water, climbed up, and poured the bottles of water over the two dwarves. "EIIIIIK!" the short dwarf yelled, since water was very cold. The scream sounded more like a banshee then a dwarf. "Th-th-thats cold..." Vodivir said slowly, but in a much more sober voice. The two dwarfs were no longer drunk.

Red Un
Red Un had looked at the fascinating process of two dwarves getting sober, but now he turned back to the captain.

"Oi Captain! You and yer crew wanna slay some orcs?"

"Ah, 'twould be a pleasure! Where would those green-skins be at the moment?"

"On Folda, I believe!"

"Rigtho, I'll get the fleet ready then!"

The captain waved his hand at another dwarf who held two large flags in his hands. That dwarf started to wave the flags at the other ships that were a bit away. Soon, steam could be seen from all of them.

"Alright, Mr. Undersoor, we're ready to go!"

Red Un turned to Aiyares ship.

"Those of ya who want to sail with the elf ship, do so. As for me, I like steam power. No offence, Mr. Elf."

Aiyare looked angrily at the steamship.

"A lot taken, Mr. Half-dwarf, a lot taken."

And so, the steamships started to plow back through the ice, leaving a neat passage for Aiyares ship behind.

Dargon The Mastermind
"Ahhh, elf I shall stay with ye." Dargon smiled and Aiyare grunted. Dargon watched as the others got aboard the dwarven ships, or like him, stayed onboard Aiyares.

Red Un
As the fleet moved on, Red Un turned to Shukirogen.

"So, how big is this army we're fightin'?" he said while looking longingly at his sword.

Vodok
The short but sober dwarf blinked. "Aint big 'nuff to kill me!" the short dwarf said.

They were close to Folda now. But no army or sign of life was there. "Tsss... They're trying to hide and surprise us..." Vodivir muttered and drew his war hammer and waved around with it just to warm up for the battle. Vodok placed his runes in his normal places, under his armour, in his boots and several other places. He even put one rune in his beard.

Shukirogen
Shukirogen stared out on the blue ocean and said:

”Well, if you want me to be honest Mr Un... I got no goddamn idea. I never saw them in person, but the servant of the Dark lord said something about a large army of various demons orcs and minotaurs, so I guess there will be enough of those filthy bastards for us both to slay.”

Red Un
The captain took out his spyglass.

"Hrmmh...I think I saw something green...FIRE THE CANNONS!"

The dwarf fleet fired a devastating broadside at the seemingly empty plain. Huge clouds of snow billowed up, and screams from orcish throats were heard. When the snow had come to rest again, hundreds of orcs, minotaurs and fire devils rose up from their hiding spots. The minotaur sorcerers started to fire at the ships with their magic, just like the devils.

"RELOAD THE CANNONS!" yelled the captain. Then he turned to another, heavily-armoured dwarf.

"Sergeant, they’re yours."

"Thanks, cap'n."

The dwarven ships sailed towards the shore while firing another salvo of cannonballs. When they came close enough to the shore, the sergeant screamed that ancient dwarven war cry: "GET 'EM!"

All the dwarven soldiers jumped off board and charged at the orcs.

Well, thought Red Un, no point in standin' around here. Then he too jumped of the ship and ran into the fray.

Vodok
A lot of cyclopses still stood in their hiding places. "Well what are you waiting for?! Go and meet those dwarves and CRUSH them!" one of the Dark Star members yelled at them. "We want more gold." One of the cyclopses said to the Dark Star members. "You’re getting too much gold as it is. You call yourselves mercenaries and you won’t even work!" the Dark Star member said controlling his anger. "We no work if we no get gold! We want gold!" the cyclops answered. The figure drew a sword and opened a huge scar in the cyclopses leg. "If I wanted to I could heal this wound and you'll live. If I want to I'll leave you and you'll bleed to death." the Dark Star member said ignoring the cyclopses yelling. "We fight... And you heal me..." the cyclops said. The Dark Star member simply nodded. "Ugh nah dwarfs!" If he would have spoken in the common tongue he would have said "Kill the dwarfs!" The other cyclopses ran out from their hiding places and the Dark Star member drew a white rune, that looked more like a stone. He used it on the cyclops and it was instantly healed.

"DIE!!" Vodivir yelled as he ran against a large group of orcs. Vodok followed. The short dwarf shot some random runes at the orcs and Vodivir skilfully cracked their skulls to pieces. Suddenly a Dark Star member jumped down from a tree. "Well if it isn’t... It’s you, Vodivir Bronzehammer! And his short little brother... Vodok Bronzehammer... I enjoyed killing your mother, you know." the man said. The two dwarfs stood totally still for a moment. "VODIVIR! BEHIND YEH!" And Vodivir quickly blocked a blow from an orc who tried to take advantage over the shock-state the two dwarves were in. The short dwarfs eyes were almost burning with rage. The Dark Star member looked amused and laughed. "You... You'll wish you were dead..." Vodivir muttered. "Oh no, I’m not that desperate to meet you in the world of the dead even if I'll have a nice time killing you..." The Dark Star member answered cooly. One of the dwarf soldiers aimed his crossbow against the Dark Star member. "If you kill him I'll kill you. This one is MINE!! Umm... And Vodoks." Vodivir yelled at the soldier. The soldier turned away his crossbow and fired at an orc instead.

Tojiliz
Tojiliz is walking through the Folda dungeon, lost, and scared. But then some man walks up to him, asks him a few questions, and tells him some silly words, and tells him to say them, and he will have a Once-In-A-million chance to end up somewhere with humans. Tojiliz says the words and ends up halfway underground at the feet of a person. He distinctly hears the name Red Un. He thinks that this "Red Un" has just had the crap scared out of him, as something warm and solid lands on his head.

Red Un
Red Un thought he heard something, but ignored it and hacked away at the swarm of orcs that came at him. Then he saw Vodok and Vodivir fighting...

...a black-robed man!

"Dammit, those guys NEVER gives up!"

A huge cyclops charged at Red Un, but he dodged its clumsy blow and sliced it in its leg. If he had known the cyclops tongue, he would have known that its last words were "not again..." before he was trampled by other kill-crazy cyclops. Suddenly, a dwarven voice yelled "CANNONS!" and all the soldiers suddenly dropped down and took cover under their shields. So did Red Un. Another volley was fired from the dwarven fleet...

Tojiliz
Tojiliz's screams were muffled as a large number of people dropped to the ground, half crushing him, then by the loud BOOM that caused any troops that were not, to fall down. The resounding echo caused the cyclopses to either fall to the ground, or get smashed in various body parts by cannonballs. After the echo ceased, all of the troops, friend and foe, respectively, began to slaughter one another once again. Thoroughly trampled, Tojiliz climbed out of the ground.

Tojiliz was now battling 6 orc warriors for his life. Then, out of nowhere, a blinding light flashed from a distant corner of the battle. In the heat of the war, Tojiliz did not hesitate to massacre the now dazed orcs that surrounded him.

Kalistra
Kalistra was a bit hesitant about joining in the battle fray. She was afraid her dark side would escape her control once again in the rage of battle. However, seeing her friends fighting for their lives decided her. She drew the gleaming sword gifted to her by Dargon and plunged into fray, right after the cannons were fired. The sword came alive in her hands at its first taste of blood.
Cutting a swath through the orcs and cyclopses, she finally reached Red Un and the two dwarves. There was another unknown man who looked scared out of his wits, yet was nonetheless hacking a substantial breach in the wall of attackers. She looked at him in surprised admiration, but was distracted by an orc berserker that ran towards her with madness in his eyes. Keeping out of the foul creatures reach took all of her concentration.

"CANNONS" the dwarves on the ship yelled again. Kalistra threw herself flat on the floor, missing her head being cleaved in two by the orc berserker's halberd by only a few inches. One of the cannonballs flew through the sky, smashing straight into the berserkers ugly face, decapitating it and spraying blood everywhere.

"Urgh! Now I'll have to wash my hair again!"

She stayed down on the blood soaked ground, however, as the second volley flew over her head to land with massive destruction between the cyclopses and orcs. A few started to flee after what they saw happened to their fellow mercenaries. The trickle of deserting mercenaries turned into a flow, then into a stream....

Looking up, the assassin spotted the two dwarven brothers once again battling a man in a black robe.

"Ye Gods! Do those guys never give up?!?" she exclaimed, unknowingly echoing Red Un's words.

Hearing the two brother's curse the man in a steady stream for the death of their mother, Kalistra's lips tightened. Dodging a few frightened looking orcs, Kalistra walked up to the two dwarves. Her sword blazed and the dark flames blew up from her and enveloped the black robed man. For a few seconds the black robed man couldn't hurt anyone, but nobody could touch him either. He couldn't move either.

"Tie him up! Quickly, before he slips away!" the assassin shouted in a strained voice.

Vodok
Vodivir was holding his hammer over the frozen mans head. The hammer fell crushing the mans skull. Or that’s what it should have done. The man was frozen and a small force barrier was only a third inch away from the man. Vodok drew his rope. He quickly started tying up the man. He had run around the man several times and was going to secure the knot. There was a weak crack. The force barrier broke. He drew his sword and swung it at the short dwarf. Vodok rolled over in the deep snow, not visible for a split second since he was in the snow. Vodivir was swinging around his hammer. The robed figure saw his cyclopses being slaughtered by the dwarfs. "Grr... We paid them to kill them not the other was around..." the robed figure muttered for himself. The figure ran away to support the cyclopses.

The short dwarf lay down in the deep snow so the only way he would be spotted would be if someone stood a foot away from him and looked right into the ground. The short dwarf hid his weapons. His fire sword was tied to his backpack and the dragon shield in his backpack. The short dwarf stood up. He went against a bunch of orcs. "I c'mere in peace!" he said. The orcs didn’t know what to do. "Ugh nir agh naar!" the leader said. The orcs attacked the unarmed dwarf. The short dwarfs plan was going as planned. He drew a great fire ball he had hidden in his beard before and shot at them. He continued firing several runes hiding all over the place in him.

Dargon The Mastermind
Dargon, who was just slaughtering orcs, never noticed the robed man, or any others. He just continued murdering the orcs, sword slashing this way and that, slaying orcs... Just slaying orcs and orcs and orcs...

Red Un
The battle was going against the orcs and allies. The dwarven soldiers were driving them towards the coast...

Vodok
The robed man looked at his cyclopses being killed. He drew some throwing stars and threw at several dwarves. The robed man drew a blue stone. He threw it in the air. He removed his helmet. He carefully placed himself under the falling stone, that was a rune. When it was an inch from the figures head a beam of blue light fell upon the figure. He was teleported away. "No!! Stay here!" Vodivir yelled since he wanted to avenge his mothers death.

Kalistra
When the cyclopses and the orcs saw that the man that had hired them fled, they lost interest in the battle as well. The battlefield cleared quickly, and, apart from a few bloodthirsty dwarves that ran after the horde all by themselves, yelling bloodcurdling battle cries, everyone just stood still, relieved it was over.

Vodok and Vodivir were looking hopelessly at the place where the Black Star member had disappeared. Kalistra walked over to them.

"Damn it! Why do they always do that!" she said, annoyed. Then her face softened, and she looked in sympathy upon the two brothers. At least they had each other now. "Perhaps you shouldn't just be wondering who killed your mother, but also why. It’s no use killing an underling in revenge if the boss is the one really responsible." Then she bent down and softly touched the brothers on the cheek, then walked away to leave them in peace.

"Hey Dargon! Can you do something about all these corpses? We don't have enough time to bury them all. It’s a bit disgusting to leave them all lying around like this. What if a small child comes wandering by?" She wrinkled her nose as she surveyed the gore-splattered battle scene.

Dargon The Mastermind
"Ya ya ya, I'm on it," Dargon grumbled. He took out a rune and threw it on a dead cyclops. After a few seconds, the cyclops rose up and started gathering all the dead cyclopses into a pile. When it was done, it stood on the pile and blew up, burning the carcasses. He had the same done with the orcs, and then, he asked Vodok to fire a large rune onto the ground, which created a large hole, which they buried the dead Dwarves in. The whole ordeal took up about half an hour, and they were soon ready to go.

Kalistra
"Nice bit of magic, Dargon!" Kalistra exclaimed, amazed. "Well done!"

Vodok
"Hmmm... Maybe the assassin has got a point there..." Vodivir said. "I don’t care who TOLD 'im te kill 'er. He di''nt really seem to regret killing 'er! I'll kill 'em both! 'Im and the boss!" Vodok answered. As someone asked him to use one of his fire runes Vodok grunted. "Runes cost money, y'know. 'Ey don'' grow on trees..." Vodok said, but he used the runes, they were dwarfs, after all.

"DIE!!" one of the dwarfs yelled. He and several other dwarfs had been following the mercenaries, killing them with bolts. "ALL DWARFS ARE TO COME BACK TO THE SHIPS TO WAIT FOR ORDERS!" one of the dwarfs yelled in his most clear voice. The dwarves quickly shot a last volley of bolts and some orcs died. Then they turned around. "I've gotta say that 'em spell users are OK after all... Di''nt you see him 'gainst tha' robed guy?" one of the dwarfs said to another. "He's a Bronzehammer, he and his brother. That’s got to be... Twenty seven years of hatred pouring out on him." the other one answered. I've never understood that counting business the other dwarf thought as he carefully wiped the blood of his hammer.

Red Un
"Well" said Red Un as he jumped up on the ship again, "now it's back to Vega so that I can FINALLY check out that library."

When everyone was aboard, the fleet started to move towards Vega again. Aiyare stood at the steering wheel of his ship, muttering to himself.

"Hmph...Wouldn't have been as bloody if we elves had taken care of it..."