Chapter 20

Chapter 20

Sindri woke up late, as usual. It was nice to be back underground. Walking out through the small door of his room, he could feel that people were moving around, getting ready to leave. He found everyone scattered around the main hall, though he was sure that there would be others milling around elsewhere. Dorofay wasn’t terribly organised, even by the Dwarven standards. Ulric and Theron were sitting near the entrance, evidently wanting to be the first to go. Theron looked completely different, he was carrying nearly as much as Sindri always did, covered head to toe in small pouches and bottles. If this was the supply he kept normally, then how much had he used against the Aiolos Morana?

“Ok, everybody go!” Shouted Siegbert, much less elegantly than Ulric had expected. The two hundred dwarves that littered the cavern started off, though unexpectedly into the cave, rather than out of it. Ulric decided it was best not to bother asking, and just to walk along with them. Fortunately, Siegbert was also near the back, and explained the plan to him. “We’re walking the first bit underground. There’s a river a little way off. Then we’ll surface and try and get into the Castle from there.”

Many hours later, they reached the river. It was huge, and very slow flowing. An enormous stone pier stood in the water, giving access to the biggest ship imaginable. It was built entirely of iron, steel and stone. There was no mast, just a large block sitting in the centre. Around this were placed enormous cannons; one at the front was moulded into the shape of the head of a dragon. “How does it float?” Ulric asked Siegbert
“The same way any other ship does,” answered the dwarf “it sits on the water and doesn’t fall over. It doesn’t splinter either.”

They boarded, and before long, a steady rumble reverberated through the structure. It steadily moved downstream with great speed for something so large. “How far is it until we come above ground?” asked Sindri. Ulric couldn’t tell whether his friend was hoping it would be a long or short time.
“Well, we’re not sure. Nobody’s been downriver for nearly a century. It fell into disuse after Dorofay was constructed. We used it to get rocks out of the mines, so it can’t be that far.”

Theron sat out by the front of the ship with his rifle loaded. Five or so dwarves sat with him. It was rare for goblins or orcs to come this close to a settlement, but they were completely unpredictable. He had seen movement around the riverbanks, but it could well have been current. Suddenly, the boat lurched upwards, throwing everybody onto the deck. The ship shuddered, and ground to a halt. Siegbert shouted down from the cabin “We’ve hit a rock! We’ll have to go around.” The engine strained backwards against the current, but didn’t move. Something screeched against the hull, but didn’t cause any real damage. All was silent. Ulric started to walk over to the front of the ship, but had to steady himself against the barrier as the ship tipped wildly over sideways. The water around them turned to foam as a gargantuan, scaled tentacle enveloped the stern. The metal groaned and the deck leaned over more, but the structure remained sound. Many more of the tentacles rose up and latched on, rocking the boat around crazily. Siegbert shouted something from the cabin, but it wasn’t audible over the sound of the water. Slowly, the huge flat head surfaced. It was eyeless and consisted only of a gigantic maw fringed by lashing tendrils and tiny, razor-sharp teeth. A volley was fired from the cannons and many dwarves with axes began attacking the tentacles in an attempt to release them from the ship. Neither approach had much effect.

In the midst of the confusion, Theron remained concealed behind the steel-plated edge barrier. Carefully selecting one of the explosive shells he used so rarely, he knelt up and took aim at the base of one of the tentacles. The shot reverberated through the ship, followed by the dull thud of the projectile inside its target. Hissing and gurgling, the aquatic behemoth swivelled around to face its assailant, temporarily releasing its prey. It hammered a flurry of blows down on the deck, before sweeping across the near edge of the ship. Ulric, Theron, and many of the dwarves were carried into the water and swept downstream into the unknown.