A Monster Life Ch. 94-96

Thyros turned to him and gave him a nod. 'All right. I trust you can defend it as well as you led the assault on the mine.'

The dwarf commander suppressed an outburst of pride when it meant he had become solely in charge of more than just his own division. 'The minotaurs will hit a wall even harder than the stone one if they dare to attack.'

Thyros smiled at the confidence the younger dwarf radiated. 'Our kin will sing songs of you, I'm sure.' he said, and Dryalus returned to his post. The dwarf lord turned his attention back to the maps of the mine on the table. 'Where are the richest veins?'

***

The sun stood at the highest point of the day when the minotaurs marched out of the trees, carrying roughly made large wooden panels overhead. They covered the length and width of several of the men and women, who also carried a shield to protect the front and sides of each group if they were on the outside, while the ones on the inside carried wooden poles and tools. The dwarves wasted no moment blowing the horns in alarm. Dryalus ascended the wall and observed the shielded groups heading towards them. 'Fire at any opening you see!'

Archers searched for any breach in the defence, but the minotaurs kept their front shields close to the underside of their overhead shields, leaving just enough room to peer outside. Some of the dwarves still shot their arrows in the hope of a lucky hit. The captain of the first minotaur group grinned at the knocking sounds of arrows against their protection. 'Let them waste their arrows. They won't hit any of us.'

They reached the wall and the minotaurs on the inside of the group planted the poles they had carried, and nailed the tops to the overhead shield while the captain inspected the structure of the defensive wall. 'No tight fits between these stones, we can break through this easily enough.' he said, and two of his men brought down their pickaxes on the stone.

Dwarves on the other side of the wall recognised the sounds immediately. 'Commander!' called on of them out to the top of the wall. 'They're trying to breach the wall!'

Dryalus watched another shielded group of minotaurs arrive at the base of the wall and turned back to the dwarf. 'Bring oil and fire! We'll burn them!'

The dwarves rushed to the supply carriages, and returned quickly with jars and torches to the top of the wall. Dryalus gestured with his head to the attackers. 'Pour down the oil and light those torches.'

A couple of arrows were fitted with kindling, set alight, and shot in the middle of the oil splashed onto the makeshift wooden roofs. The fire from the easily flammable oil spread quickly across the wood, and the dwarves jeered at the minotaurs trapped underneath. More protected minotaurs appeared from the trees and went in quick pace towards their comrades in arms. Dryalus smirked at them. 'They're coming to take their poor men away to safety.'

His smirk faded fast when the newcomers raised their overhead shield, and threw loads of sand on top of the burning ones. He spun around to his men. 'More oil! We'll drown them in it and burn them to the ground!'

***

Syminar peered into the wide natural crack in the mountain side at some distance from the skirmish at the mine. She gave the captain at her side a nod. 'Doesn't seem to have been disturbed. We can enter.'

Kilmin returned the nod. 'All right, I'll lead the way while you guide me behind me.' he said, drew a short axe from his belt, and entered the unused path leading to an old part of the mine.

The dim light of his lantern was barely enough to navigate through the erratic passage, but he didn't want to risk an accidental discovery by the dwarves, no matter how unlikely at the time. Apart from dark dwelling species of insects, there was no sign of life until Kilmin halted at a wooden plaque nailed against the wall. He lifted the lantern to the mark of two arrows pointing away from each other. 'Halfway point.' said Syminar in a near whisper. 'This means we're halfway through the passage.'

'All right.' said Kilmin and looked back at the men and women following Syminar. 'Stay quiet.'

The second half of the passage was traversed in silence, and they halted at the wooden plank barricade which closed off the passage's connection to the mine passage on the other side. Kilmin and Syminar placed their ears against the wood and listened intently.

'Quiet.' said Syminar. 'Seems they're not active here in the old passages. There's nothing of real interest so it was to be expected.'

Kilmin gestured for his strongest man to come with a pry bar. 'We'll still have to do this as silent as possible.'

The man found an opening between the planks, and with controlled strength, he pried one plank slowly loose at one side without more than lightly creaking from the old wood. Syminar listened again, and nodded for him to pry loose the next plank.

***

Dryalus gritted his teeth as he watched more minotaurs gather at the wall and his attacks with burning oil countered with heaps of sand. He turned to one of his men. 'Bring heavy stone. We're going to crush them instead.'

The dwarf hurried off at once, taking several others with him while Dryalus returned his attention to the minotaurs and their incessant hacking at the wall. They were strong and would hold out against raining down weight on them, but hopefully not long enough to succeed in breaking through.

The first large rocks were pulled up on the wall, and rolled over the side. A couple of minotaurs shouted a warning but it was too late. The first one crashed down and broke the shield with cries from the startled and wounded minotaurs underneath. The second collapsed the side of another shield with equal cries in pain and shock, but they were prepared for the third. The minotaurs held up the shield and softened the blow by giving into the weight. The wood cracked and the men and women underneath groaned in effort, but the former mountain part rolled from cover to cover as the minotaurs guided it to the ground at the side.

The attack had less effect than Dryalus had hoped, but he saw a new opportunity. 'Pour burning oil down the cracked covers!'

Fire streamed down in between the minotaurs crying out in renewed alarm. Kolpa grabbed one of the sacks with sand and threw it onto the spreading pool of burning oil. 'Dump your sand on it! Hurry!' he said, then glanced quickly through the smoke at the men hewing away at the wall. They could make it if they kept it together.

***

Kilmin turned to Syminar when everyone had passed through the hole in the boarded up entrance to the outside passage. 'You can return now. We'll take on the dwarves now.'

Syminar didn't like the idea of being sent away again like some useless child. 'I'm not leaving!' she whisper shouted. 'They killed my friends so I have a right to fight as well.'

Kilmin admired her spirit but things would turn ugly when they clashed with the dwarves. 'I can't protect you during the fight, and these dwarves are not to be underestimated. You should go.'

She shook her head and folded her arms. 'No. And you need me anyway.'

He looked puzzled at her. 'How so?'

She gestured at the tunnel up ahead. 'I know the layout of this place and can lead you safely around. You'll be lost in moments on your own in this vast maze.'

He had to admit she had a point. The plan was to simply head for the mine entrance, but if they could avoid running into any dwarves, they could strengthen the assault on the wall and even help break through if the commander hadn't yet at the time. He took in the serious expression in her face, and for a moment realised she was quiet the pretty one with her long braid in the same lighter brown colour of her front. He pushed the thought aside with the current matter at hand. She was correct. 'True, although I'd rather kept you out of harm's way.' He gave her a nod. 'Lead the way. Let's see if we can surprise them at the wall.'

***

Dryalus checked the supply of rocks from the mine when one of his men approached him. 'They're weakening, commander. We see it takes longer for them to shake off what we throw at them, and the smoke thickens among them. It also appears their effort at breaking the wall has slowed down.'

Dryalus gave him a confident smile. 'Good. Throw everything you have at them and crush them quickly.' he said, and the dwarf gave a nod and hurried back to the wall shouting orders. Dryalus returned his attention to the men pushing carts with large rocks back and forth to the wall, glad to know they wouldn't run out of that resource any time soon. His gaze lingered on a small and dark passage to the side when he heard a faint clang from it. He peered into the darkness but his keen dwarf sight revealed nothing beyond the entrance. He nudged the dwarf tasked with pointing out where to fetch the stone ammunition. 'What's that tunnel?'

The dwarf looked at it and hummed in thought. 'It's a kind of service and emergency tunnel. Used to circumvent the real mining tunnels.'

Dryalus stepped towards the entrance, peered into it once more, then turned around. 'Have some men go through this later. I think there's vermin scurrying around it.'

He choked when a sword pierced through his chest from the back. 'I don't appreciate being called vermin.' growled Kilmin, and pulled out his sword again.

The enraged minotaurs poured out of the tunnel before Dryalus's face hit the ground.

***

Kolpa coughed and waved in futility at the thick smoke from the various oil fires that were still burning, and grabbed the shoulder of his lieutenant. 'How are we doing?'

The minotaur squinted with teary eyes. 'The men are tired and the swiftness in which new fires spread isn't helping.' he said, and the noise of another barrage of rocks falling down on the wooden covering along with the groans of the men and women underneath underscored his words.

'Hang on. I estimate we're more than halfway through the wall.'

'It won't matter if we breach it when everyone is too exhausted to fight.'

'We don't have much of a choice if Kilmin fails in his mission.'

A scream and a dull thud on the wood above their heads startled them. They listened as more shouts came from above and dwarf horns sounded in alarm again. Kolpa grinned. 'I believe he did not so far.'

Kilmin pointed at a part of the wall where the dwarves had stacked up more stones to thwart the minotaurs digging through. 'Remove those and break down the wall there!' he ordered, and several men and women hurried towards the place. A couple of dwarves rushed him from behind but a feint and a swift spin separated their heads from their torsos before he turned the attack on the dwarves charging out of the mine.

The mine tunnel prevented the dwarves from overrunning the minotaurs, and they were slowly pushed back. Kolpa glanced back at the wall, and a thrill came over him when the minotaurs there broke through into the breach dug from the other side, and his kinsmen hurried through the hole and joined the fight. 'The others are coming through!' he called to the fighters beside him, which gave then renewed energy.

Thyros, who watched the fight from deeper within the mine, gestured at the dwarf standing close to several ropes hanging from the ceiling. 'Close off the entrance!'

The dwarf pulled hard on one rope, and the next moment part of the ceiling at the entrance collapsed on top of the fighting minotaurs and the unlucky dwarf who stood too close. Each rope caused another collapse and in just a couple of heartbeats, the entrance was closed off by tons of rubble while a thick dust cloud filled the immediate area.

'Any minotaur survivors?' shouted Thyros.

Several dwarves inspected the cave-in. 'None, my lord!' shouted one.

Thyros turned back to his aides. 'You know what to do.' he said, and they went deeper into the mine.

***

Valdys put her palms against Handil's temples, closed her eyes, and let her diagnostic spell do its work. When it finished, she sat back and gazed into Handil's eyes. 'How do you feel?'

Handil pondered it for a bit, to compare it to how it was before she was bitten. 'Pretty good, I'd say. Some things feel different, but not in a bad way as far as I can tell.'

Valdys thought it was a good answer. 'I don't see anything wrong with you. Seems your condition has stabilised.'

Handil smiled lightly. 'I hope it won't become worse in any case.'

'How're you doing with your summoning?'

Handil concentrated on the call to her familiar, and a few moments later, the mythical bird appeared in front of her and landed on the ground. 'It's becoming easier most of the time now.'

Valdys was very glad with her progress on summoning the seniovi, and still amazed at the sight of a bird which picked up a pebble with its extra pair of wing arms, checked the ground it lay on for food, then returned the pebble to its place. 'What about giving it a task?'

Handil looked around to see what she could make the bird do, then concentrated on the image of the task in her mind. The seniovi flew to a low bush with many white flowers, cut one off with her beak, flew over to Rachael who was busy preparing spicy roots for the upcoming meal, and landed in front of her.

Rachael giggled as she took the flower, and looked sideways at Handil with a smile.

Valdys chuckled. 'I'd say that's going well.' she said, and stood up. 'Keep this up, and you'll be able to summon more seniovi in no time.'

Handil held her hand out for the bird to land on it, and stroked its head with one finger. 'I'll try as soon as I can summon just the one with ease.'

Ulric smiled softly from a distance at the sight of Handil sitting down next to Rachael, who gave her a kiss on her cheek. 'I'm glad to see the two of them still happy under the circumstances.'

Caylais leaned against his shoulder. 'Being with the one you love is the best source of joy there is.'

He picked up her hand and kissed it. 'Yes, very true.'

She gazed at Yingshien sitting father away and alone on a boulder overseeing the wide, shallow bowl in the landscape where the party had made camp. 'Maybe you should talk to Ying. I often sense loneliness from her when we take our rest.'

He gazed at the back of the dragoness, seeing the lack of pride and strength he had seen in all her kind before the demon invasion of their country. 'I'm not sure if I can do anything, but I'll try. I've noticed her sadness hasn't diminished ever since we left her home, even when she hides it.'

He strolled over to the hunched over figure. 'Mind if I sit here with you for a little while?'

Yingshien didn't care much whether he sat next to her or not. 'Doesn't matter to me.' she said without looking up from the small rock in the grass a few paces in front of her. She felt like that one, the only one of her kind in a wide area of completely different lifeforms.

Ulric sat down and stroked his tail with one paw. 'Valdys told me your mother likely used something called the sun ability, to take down the demon army and let us escape.'

Yingshien gave a slight nod unconsciously.

'I'm not a fan of sacrificing oneself to save others, but I have great admiration for her decision, and will always be proud for briefly knowing her. I hope her name will be long remembered in history.'

Yingshien looked up at the hazy sun, descending the last sixteenth part of her rule over the day. 'I will make sure of that after I take back our home.'

'We will do what we can to see your name go down in the history of this world for that heroic deed as well.'

She huffed at that thought. 'I don't need it. And I don't care about demons knowing about it at all. I hate them for what they did.'

'Not all are bad though.'

She glanced sideways at him. 'How would you know? All they do is fight.'

Ulric looked back at the girls around the fires. 'There's Kaui, Susi, Conchi, Isa, Val, Trixy, Cay. They are all more or less seen as demons or the like.'

Yingshien gazed at the rock again. 'They...' she began, but she had no answer to that. They were of the species regarded as lesser ones, but she hadn't seen a more caring and diverse group of people than this strangest of adventurer parties. Guilt rose over lumping them together with the evil deeds of their fellow demons, and for the first time she thought about how there are probably more of them, who do not seek violence in their lives.

'And then there's me. I may even be the weirdest among demons and certainly among my physical kind, but I don't think I'm such a bad guy.' He sat up straighter and pat his chest. 'I've even been entrusted with protecting you by the most noble being I've met.'

She gazed at his proudly puffed up chest, which reminded her of a tame and young canine pet in a children's story, who fiercely protected a young dragoness from a harmless small lizard in the garden. She burst out in laughter.

The puzzled but smiling expression on his face after she controlled herself had her sniggering. She shook her head and sighed. 'I guess I needed that.'

Ulric chuckled. 'I don't know what I did, but I'm glad to see you laugh.' He stood up again and stretched his legs. 'You are among friends now and one of us, never forget that if you feel lonely. We are here for you.'

He strolled back to the others but halted when she spoke again. 'Thank you.' she said. 'For everything.'

His smile grew with a little pride. 'You're very welcome.' he said, and continued his stroll.

96 - Shelter

Rachael went through her daily exercises when she spotted Susi watching her and reacting to her movements. When she jabbed with her staff, Susi leaned a little left or right, and when she swung, Susi either dipped her head or sat up more straight depending on the height of the swing. "You're not looking to fetch it like a stick or ball like a pet." she thought, and stopped her exercise. She looked straight at the young bloodwolf. 'Do you want to spar with me?' she asked, unsure whether Susi understood what she said, but she'd seen Ulric's lovers and her talk as if they fully understood what they were all saying.

Susi tilted her head. She recognised a few of the words, but she couldn't quite put them together with a clear meaning.

Rachael pat her staff and pointed at Susi and herself. 'Spar? Fight?'

This time Susi understood Rachael invited her to take part in training, and wagged her tail as she jumped up and moved closer to the little berserker. She'd seen her Daddy fight off bad people and she wanted to help more next time, like her mommies did. She took up a wider stance while Rachael wrapped some cloth around the tips of her staff for protection, and took up hers.

She began with a few easy jabs at Susi's chest and legs, which Susi just as easily dodged. A couple of swings were dodged as well, but then she did a feint swing and jabbed Susi in the chest.

Susi took part of the hit by jumping back, but the lesson was learned. 'Did it hurt?' asked Rachael, and Susi shook her head with a bark to say it didn't hurt much. She took up her fighting stance again.

Rachael smiled. 'All right, I'll come faster at you now.'

Susi barked confidently when she recognised her opponent became more serious.

Rachael increased her speed and feinted more moves, and was impressed by Susi's ability to adapt. She feinted a swing at her, feinted a jab to the legs, and wanted to jab at Susi's chest, when Susi didn't jump up, but went sideways and jumped fast at her. She reacted by reflex and blocked the bite from Susi with her staff while she landed on her back.

Susi grinned as she gripped the staff in her mouth and wagged her tail, and Rachael laughed. 'Damn, girl, you surprised me.' she said and poked Susi's nose. 'I'm not going to underestimate you from now on.'

Susi barked once in triumph, and the both looked to the side when they heard sniggering and laughter. The other girls observed them from a little distance, and Ulric smiled proudly. 'That's my girl.'