Hillhome.
From some distance away they heard Perian castigating her charges, and Flint unconsciously picked up his pace.
'No! Higher! Make the wall higher!' Perian shouted. Her voice came out as more of a pale croak than a command.
'But look, Queen Furryend! We make nice notch right here!' A dirt-caked Fester protested, indicating with pride the deep cut the gully dwarves had gouged in the earth work. 'Pretty soon road go right through, no problem!'
'Yes, problem — big problem! Road go — damn! Look, if the road goes right through, then the mountain dwarves can go right through. Do you understand?'
'Sure!' beamed Fester. 'No problem!'
'We don't want the mountain dwarves to go through. We want to stop them here, stop them with the wall that used to cross the road!' Perian felt her temperature rising, and was frustrated that the woeful state of her overworked voice did not allow her more effective vent of her displeasure.
'Oh,' said Fester, crestfallen. For a moment she looked at the pile of dirt they had moved, then turned back to Perian.
'Why 7'
The queen had been trying to supervise the gully dwarves while they learned the art of military fortification. In the few short minutes she'd been at it, she had decided that it was an unrewarding pipe dream.
She was spared the further rigors of instruction by the ar rival of Flint, Hildy, and Basalt. Flint chuckled in sympathy, taking her hand.
The hill dwarf turned his attention to the growing earth work project. 'Looks impressive,' he complimented. In deed, the redoubt was now a great, curving wall, shaped roughly like a horseshoe, with western Hillhome protected by its dirt shelter. It aueraged perhaps eight feet high, though of course with gully dwarf craftsmanship there was no excess of precision.
'We'll have about four hundred hill dwarves and three hundred gully dwarves. At least the thane's troops won't have us outnumbered too badly.'
Flint's heartiness seemed forced. The disciplined ranks of
Realgar's elite guards, with their metal armor, deadly cross bows, and well-practiced combat formations, were a more formidable force than the rabble of armed, but unarmored, unpracticed, and wholly undisciplined Hillhome folk and gully dwarves.
'What's the plan?' Mayor Holden called to them as he ap proached from the center of town. They turned to see Turq and the mayor climbing the wall.
Holden seemed eager to inspect the fortification. Now that the evidence of mountain dwarf treachery was inescap able, Flint reflected sourly, the mayor had become a devout patriot to the cause of Hillhome. Perhaps I'm being unfair,
Flint chided himself. The mayor only reflected the consen sus of the majority of the hill dwarves. The dwarves of
Hillhome had simply grown comfortable in their good life.
Anyone would be reluctant to rashly reject his prosperity when confronted with claims of an unseen, secret enemy.
And, Flint reminded himself, when the fact of the enemy had been made plain finally, the dwarves of Hillhome had jumped to the defense of their community. The four hun dred harrn and frawl who had taken up arms ranged from young adults to venerable grandfathers, and all were strong and dedicated. And those who were not physically capable of battle had been busy, too.
'Splendid, splendid!' crowed the mayor unnecessarily, looking around the graceful curve of the earthen wall.
'Now, what is our strategy?'
Flint, Perian, Basalt, Hildy, and Turq looked at one an other over the stupidity of the question, as if they were di viding up for a game of luggerball. But the mayor had inad vertently revealed one thing: they had not officially appointed a commander over their force.
'I suggest that Flint Fireforge be given the task of assign ing the plan of defense,' proposed Turq Hearthstone quietly.
'Aye,' echoed Basalt and Hildy.
'Yes,' piped up Perian.
Flint looked around at his companions. He tried ration ally to consider the alternatives. Basalt and Hildy were too young. Mayor Holden was not a harrn of action. Perian was an outsider — a mountain dwarf, to boot — though it did not matter to him in the least. She would fight loyally for the town's cause, but she was not the choice to be its champion.
Tybalt, Ruberik — his brothers — he now sensed, looked to him for leadership.
'We'll meet them here,' Flint began, indicating the wall.
He looked self-consciously at the others to gauge their reac tions, but when he saw that they listened unquestioningly, his confidence rose, and so did the strength of his voice.
'I'll manage the Sludge Bombers right in the middle,' he decided. 'That should break the cohesion of their attack.
Then, we'll try to hold them… where?' He looked at the line, evaluating the ground and finding what he desired.
'There.' He pointed at the right side of the horseshoe, where it curved almost to the bank of the river.
'Basalt, you'll command a small company of hill dwarves over there, enough to stop them when they try to climb the redoubt. Perian can back you up with the Wedgies.'
His followers listened attentively. He and Perian had al ready explained the gully dwarf formations, and indeed the
Aghar had demonstrated the creeping wedge and the
Aghazpult. They had come dangerously close also to ac quainting the hill dwarves with the dread sludge bomb, but fortunately Perian had come upon the bombers in the nick of time.
'Then, over here,' Flint continued, turning to the left, where the wing of the earthwork extended into a field be yond the Passroad. Perhaps a hundred feet beyond the end of the barrier began the tree line, but there was no time to carry the redoubt that much farther. 'Tybalt and Hildy will take the rest of the hill dwarves and the Agharpults.'
He surveyed the expanse of the line, satisfied. 'Then, when the enemy line is broken by the bombs and half of them are occupied over here, Tybalt and Hildy, you charge forward and attack with your company of dwarves. With luck — and lots of that — we can carry half of the thane's forces away before sweeping around to catch the others in the rear. With those trees blocking them from too wide of a movement, we might have the chance to hit 'em hard, cause them some real confusion.
'Now, Ruberik,' he said, turning to his brother. 'Are you still a dead shot with that crossbow?'
'I've been keeping my hand in,' the farmer admitted.
'Good. I have a job for you.' Briefly he explained another idea he had, and Ruberik gave his hearty approval. Flint's brother headed into town, seeking the two large, clay jars he needed to put the plan into operation.
'Now, we'll need some bonfires out there in the field.
That'll at least give us a picture of where they are when they're advancing.' He stopped to think while Tybalt and
Hildy organized a score of hill dwarves. The group gathered dry wood and quickly started to form several large piles in the field before the redoubt. These bonfires would be lit as soon as the derro came into view, providing the hill dwarves some view of their advancing enemy.
Soon Flint turned to the others. 'Now, how are we fixed for straw? Can we get fifty bales? A hundred would be even better.'
Tybalt nodded.
'Good. And lamp oil? How many kegs do you have in your store?' he asked Mayor Holden.
'Well, there's not, that is, it's my most expensive item! I can't…'
