“Open this gate, you miserable runt-you filthy gully dwarf!” roared the dwarf captain, pounding his fists against the bars of the portcullis. “Or I’ll tear your arms off and stuff them into your useless mouth!”
Gus huddled on the floor, just on the other side of the closed portcullis-wisely staying far enough away that the trapped mountain dwarves couldn’t reach him with their swords, which they had poked through the grid as soon as they realized they were trapped. He was too terrified to do anything, much less run away.
The Aghar stared, open mouthed, at the enraged dwarves. He wasn’t sure how they had managed to get trapped, though in the back of his mind he suspected it had something to do with the lever he had grabbed. The eyes of the great captain bulged so far from his face that it seemed as though they might pop right out of his head.
“I only want to climb wall,” he protested. “I not try to drop gate!”
His pleadings only seemed to inflame the dwarves. The big captain practically foamed at the mouth, while his two big henchmen each took hold of the nearest gate. Working together, straining until sweat streaked their skin and veins bulged on their foreheads, they were able to lift the massive barrier only scant inches before it crashed back down and they collapsed, gasping for breath.
“I tell you-if you don’t open this gate immediately, your fate will be a suffering that your worst nightmares could never imagine.” The captain’s eyes were wild, bulging, and staring, and he snarled like a wild animal, straining to reach through the closely set bars.
Gus, having endured some very terrible nightmares in his pathetic life, found the threat to be ominous indeed. But he simply didn’t know how to raise the gate, and all the blustering warnings in the world weren’t going to change that. He was terribly afraid of the big, furious dwarves, but it gradually dawned on him that he might sneak away from there and, so long as the gate remained closed, his antagonists wouldn’t be able to chase him.
Thus, he wheeled and sprinted off into the darkness, hearing the sounds of the infuriated Klar cursing echoing through the dark passage behind him.
He came to the wardroom leading to Gretchan’s secret room, but she had been so upset before, he didn’t dare approach her. A big mess, he thought miserably, it’s all a big mess.
Still running, he realized he was headed toward the passage where the Kayolin dwarf was imprisoned, which terminated in a dead end not far beyond Brandon’s cell. As long as he was in the neighborhood, he might as well see if the bad kisser dwarf was still alive. He peeked in.
There came a sound from inside the cell, and a fist appeared, clutching the bars on the door. “Hello?”
The question was tentative, suspicious. Gus looked upward and saw Brandon’s face appear in the small, barred window. The Hylar, upon seeing a mere gully dwarf staring back, shrugged his shoulders and moved back into the cell.
Gus thought for a moment, feeling helpless and afraid. The bad kisser dwarf didn’t seem so bad up close, and he hadn’t even tried to kiss Gus.
He ought to do something, he told himself, thinking of the trapped angry dwarves and all the mistakes he had made. There was only one thing he could think of: he went back to the secret door outside of Gretchan’s room. Mustering all of his courage, he knocked on the wooden panel, suddenly worried that she might not be there.
And when she opened the door, she did not look as mad as she had been when he had so anxiously retreated from her presence a day or two earlier.
“Hello, Gus,” she said, frowning down at him. “What do you want this time?”
He wanted to throw himself into her arms and beg forgiveness, but instead he mustered all of his noble character and spoke to her.
“Mean dwarf prince comes to hurt prisoner. I sorry for before and try help. They locked up now, but they still want to come here and hurt him, us. We gotta get prisoner out of there, or else… or else…” He sniffled loudly and wiped away a tear.
To his immense relief, Gretchan did lean down and pat him on the shoulder. “Thank you for coming,” she said, all very matter-of-fact, as though she had known he was coming and what he would say. “That was very brave. Now what do you mean, ‘locked up’?”
“Here, let me show,” he said, tugging her hand, pulling her out of the garrison room and into the corridor. “Wait here,” he whispered as they came closer to the place. “You listen.”
He strolled forward around the last corner and was immediately spotted by the big dwarf captain, who was down on his knees, grunting as he tried to budge the cage.
“You! Gully dwarf! Come here, damn your eyes! Turn that lever and pull this gate up, or so help me Reorx-”
Gus didn’t wait to hear more. He raced back around the corner and was surprised to see that Gretchan was laughing. At first he was insulted, but then his chest swelled with pride as she clapped him on the back and whispered, “Well done!”
Then she frowned. “But you’re right. We have to get Brandon out of here before they’re freed, or they’ll… I don’t know what they’ll do, but I don’t want to find out. We’d better hurry. Others will be coming down to see what happened to them.”
With Gus and Kondike racing along behind her, she hurried to the cell where the dwarf was imprisoned. Pressing her face to the grate, she called to him. Immediately he appeared.
“Trouble,” she said. “No time to explain, but we’ve got to get you out of here now.”
“I’m all in favor of that,” Brandon replied. “But how? Did you bring a key?”
She shook her head. Pulling her little silver hammer from her belt, she warned the dwarf: “Stand back.”
“Why?” Brandon asked incredulously, giving a slight chuckle. “In case the hammer breaks and a piece goes flying?”
“Suit yourself,” Gretchan replied. She hoisted the little tool, which had a head shaped much like the anvil on her staff, and swung it lightly against the latch on the cell door.
The explosion was so deafening, Gus covered his ears. Wood splintered and iron screeched as the portal was blown off its hinges, the bulk of the heavy door sent flying back into the cell, where it knocked Brandon onto the floor. The heavy wooden beams forming the door were shattered, and the lock itself had shattered into a hundred metal shards.
“How did you do that?” gasped Brandon, sitting up in astonishment and pushing the wreckage of the door off himself. Aside from some nicks and bruises, he looked only a little worse for wear. “It looked like you only tapped it!”
“Looks can be deceiving,” she replied slyly. “Now do you want to have a long conversation, or do you want to get out of there.”
“Get out!” Brandon replied, shucking away the broken beams and pushing himself up. He glared at her. “But you could have warned me.”
“I tried,” said Gretchan, grinning.
The big mountain dwarf stepped to the door of the cell then stopped. “Wait. I know you carry that hammer with you everywhere; you had it in Hillhome. So you could have done this anytime? Gotten me out of here?”
“I told you-there’s no time to talk!” she snapped in agitation.
“Damn it, I want some answers!” Brandon growled. “You’ve been feeding me, bringing me soup-by Reorx, you kissed me through the bars of the cell! When all this time you could have let me out with one swing of your hammer! It’s like I’ve been some kind of caged pet!”
She snorted but then looked away, abashed. In another moment, her face hardened. “Look. We can talk about it later. For now, I’m getting away. Are you coming along?”
“Oh, I’m coming, all right-if only to get those answers you promised!” Brandon muttered, emerging into the dark corridor. “Who’s that?” he said immediately, pointing to Gus and wrinkling his nose.
Gus sulked and pointed back at Brandon, wrinkling his nose in similar fashion.
“Oh, that’s just Gus,” said Gretchan. “He helped save your life. After he almost got you killed. It’s another long story for later. Now come on!”
“Where are we going?” asked Brandon as she led all three at a trot back out of the dead-end corridor.
“Just trust me,” she said. “This place is full of surprises, and I’ve been learning a lot of them.”
