The Heir of Kayolin

TWENTY-FIVE

Brandon and Garren, hands shackled and the Bluestone Axe snatched away, were being marched side by side up the stairs from the Enforcers’ headquarters to the highest level of Garnet Thax, the palace of Regar Smashfingers. Baracan Heelspur led the detachment of Enforcers, more than two dozen, who escorted the prisoners up to the palace.

“Never trust a woman,” Baracan said with a chuckle, walking along behind Brandon. “Rona Darkwater thought she was good enough for me! Imagine-as if I’d accept one of your castoffs. But she served as the perfect pawn, didn’t she?”

“What have you done with her?” Brandon growled, appalled at the way the noble dwarf maid had been used.

“Oh, she’ll be fine once the bruises heal,” Lord Heelspur’s son assured him breezily. “I didn’t even break any of her bones when I beat her.”

Brandon thrashed, trying to turn, but he was cuffed harshly on the ear by one of the guards. Glowering at the floor, he kept moving, his mind churning with schemes of the vengeful violence he’d like to inflict upon Baracan Heelspur. He didn’t know how or when, but he’d make the smug bully, the murderer who had killed his brother, pay for his villainy.

They marched right in to the great throne room with the two shackled prisoners prodded forward by the sword points of several grinning Enforcers. As usual, the galleries above and to either side of the throne were lined with spectators. The whole room was wrapped in a strange pall of silence, though, and Brandon couldn’t help but take encouragement from that. He was also encouraged to spot several scarlet jackets in the crowd; he could only hope the members of the Garnet Guard would be ready to help.

Even more heartening, he heard a series of whispers-“Bluestone, Bluestone!”-coming from the gallery until Lord Heelspur, who stood behind the throne, gestured irritably. Numerous black-garbed Enforcers began to move through the crowd, and the rebellious muttering died away. The procession advanced at a steady march and came to a halt before the throne. Baracan Heelspur saluted stiffly.

“I recognize these dwarves,” Regar Smashfingers proclaimed, lounging casually back in his throne. “But why do you bring them to me in chains?” he asked innocently.

“Sire, they are rebels, plotting the overthrow of your reign!” Baracan Heelspur proclaimed, his voice loud enough to ring through the gallery. “The father has already been charged, and at your command was secured by the League of Enforcers in a cell. The son entered the League headquarters through subterfuge-a magical disguise-and attempted to free the father by smashing down the door to his cell.”

The one word, magic, seemed to echo by itself through the cavernous throne room, provoking a volley of mutters and prayers among the superstitious dwarves. The king’s eyes widened in a mocking display of surprise.

“Can this be true?” he asked of Brandon. Before the prisoner could answer, he addressed his captain of Enforcers. “What was the nature of this magic?”

“I know not, sire, except that it cloaked his appearance in deception. He was made to look like a captain of Enforcers. Even his axe”-Baracan produced and brandished the Bluestone Axe, the legendary artifact known to all Kayolin dwarves-“was concealed to resemble the halberds of the League’s guards.”

“These are serious charges!” the king declared. “And to think, barely six days ago I welcomed this criminal into my court, acknowledged him as a hero! The Horax Hero indeed! This is a sad day in the noble history of Kayolin!”

Regar Smashfingers actually managed to sound distressed as he recounted the distressing facts, though Brandon could plainly see the delight flashing in the old scoundrel’s eyes. That delight quickly focused on the two prisoners, changing into a glower of cruel cunning. The king spoke again, and though his tone conveyed regret, his expression belied the sadness of his voice.

“I had hoped my coronation would signal a new dawn in Kayolin’s days, an era of peace and prosperity of benefit to us all. And still, it is my hope that this will be the case. It had been my intention, in fact, to promote the legendary Bluestones back into Kayolin’s nobility, to the rank they held so long, so very long, ago.

“But I shall not have the Bluestones in my court when I finally don my crown. There will be no place for rebels amid my loyal nobles.”

Smashfingers stood suddenly and, with a flourish of his right hand, gestured to Lord Heelspur. “Bring me my crown, that I may wear it now, as I pronounce sentence upon these criminals!”

Immediately the loyal follower advanced, bearing a velvet pillow upon which rested an object covered by a silken cloth. A courtier whipped the cloth away to reveal a stunning crown, a circlet of silver bejeweled with startlingly blue stones, each blinking and sparkling in the reflected light of a hundred torches.

Regar Smashfingers stepped down from his throne, descending the three steps to the chamber floor. He came to stand beside Alakar Heelspur, where all could see.

“Behold the new crown of Kayolin!” he declared. “Molded from the Torc of the Forge itself, the blessed talisman of Reorx. These blue stones are proof of his blessing, proof of his favor, proof of the rightness of my rule-”

“They are proof of nothing!”

An audible gasp rushed through the vast chamber as the words, spoken in Gretchan’s voice, resounded through the assemblage.

“Who speaks?” demanded Lord Heelspur. “Who dares to challenge the true king?”

“I speak,” Gretchan declared, stepping to the edge of the gallery. She was wearing a white bearskin cloak, and her staff was held firmly in her hands. She banged the wooden post against the floor, and it struck a blow that reverberated through the huge room, seeming to vibrate the stones under every dwarf’s feet.

“And just who are you?” demanded the king, genuinely puzzled. At the same time, Baracan Heelspur gestured to his Enforcers, many of whom began to filter through the crowd, closing in on Gretchan.

Brandon, watching her, desperately hoped she had more of a plan than simply to challenge the king.

She did. With her free hand, she pulled a gleaming circlet of silver from her purse and held it high. Twelve blue stones, as bright as those in the king’s new crown, glittered from the ring of brilliant metal. The gathered dwarves gasped in awe, some of them sidling away from her, others pressing close. Some of the latter included the redcoats of the Garnet Guard. The latter formed enough of a barrier, Brandon saw with relief, that the Enforcers would not be able to reach the priestess without passing through the obstacle of several dozen sturdy dwarves.

“I am a priestess of Reorx,” Gretchan Pax declared calmly. “And I tell you all that this, in my hand, is the real Torc of the Forge. It is the talisman of our god, and until Brandon Bluestone, the Horax Hero, found it in the hive of those foul creatures, it was lost to our people for many ages.”

“Lies!” cried Lord Heelspur. He raised the crown. “These are the gems from the torc!”

Gretchan looked at him with an almost palpable glare of contempt. She beat the butt of her staff on the floor again, and the anvil atop the shaft began to glow, far brighter than all the torches in the great hall.

“If you are certain you speak the truth,” she said coldly. “Then I suggest that you place that crown upon the false king’s head. Let the people of Kayolin see the proof of their god’s displeasure.”

Regar Smashfingers glanced at Heelspur, and Brandon could see real fear in his eyes. He stared at the crown as if it were some kind of poisonous spider, while Alakar Heelspur’s face twisted into a glare of fury.

“Here, my king!” he said boldly. “Let me place the crown upon your brow!”

Caught in his own bluster, the king nodded. Heelspur stepped up onto the short stairway before the throne, so he was a little above the king, who still stood upon the floor. With a grand flourish, he set the circlet of silver on Regar Smashfingers’s head.

The king almost winced as the metal touched his scalp. Then he relaxed as, for the moment, nothing happened.

“Dwarves of Kayolin!” Lord Heelspur declared forcefully. “Behold the power and the glory of your king!”

There were a few cheers, mostly from the Enforcers and the men of the king’s personal attendants and loyal courtiers. The majority of the spectators watched warily, casting glances between Gretchan and Smashfingers.

She timed her challenge perfectly, as the tension built to an almost explosive level.

“Dwarves of Kayolin!” she cried. “Behold the power and glory of your god!”

Again she smacked the staff on the floor. The torc in her hand began to glow with a brilliant light. At the same time, the king shrieked in pain and pulled the crown off of his head. His hair was smoking, and he dropped the metal circlet with a curse. It struck the floor, and all twelve of the sapphires popped out of their mounts to roll crazily across the throne room floor.

A bolt of light shot from Gretchan’s staff, touching the shackles around Brandon’s and his father’s wrists. In the searing blast of that beam, both sets of manacles sprang open, falling to the floor with clangs of iron. Brandon wasted no time lunging forward and snatching his axe from the startled Baracan Heelspur. At the same time, Garren pulled a sword from the sheath of a nearby guard-a dwarf who was frozen in place, staring at his monarch with a horror-stricken expression.

“Stop this treason!” Alakar Heelspur shouted. “Stop, I command you! In the name of the king!”

“No! Our king is in Thorbardin!” roared General Watchler.

The commander of the Garnet Guard, resplendent in his red uniform, had stepped forward to stand beside Gretchan at the edge of the balcony. “You are the treasonous one-feeding us your lies, working your murders, using your Enforcers to terrorize your own citizens. Tell us, Lord Heelspur: Who killed Nailer Bluestone?”

“Take him!” cried the chief of the Enforcers, frantically gesturing at the general. But there were too many redcoats surrounding him, and the League’s agents, in their shiny black leather, were clearly reluctant to charge the veteran troops.

The two Bluestones, father and son, advanced side by side upon Baracan and Alakar Heelspur. From somewhere that seemed very far away, Brandon heard the chant pick up again: “Bluestone, Bluestone, Bluestone …” And with each recitation of their name, it picked up in volume and force, rumbling like a distant drum approaching quickly.

Regar Smashfingers dropped to his knees, scrambling around the floor and snatching up a sapphire here, another winking gem there. “My crown!” he wailed, his voice spiking to a shrill, high pitch. His courtiers and guards stepped back, staring at the ruler as if desperate to get out of the way of his clutching fingers. One fawning nobleman dropped down to help, but Regar slapped his hand away as he reached for one of the rolling gems.

“Mine!” shouted Smashfingers, his voice cracking.

“I tell you, this is treason!” cried Alakar Heelspur, stepping around the king, ignoring his ruler as he pointed at the two advancing dwarves. “How dare you challenge the rightful law of this place! The rightful government, your new king?”

He waved at the rank of Enforcers who stared aghast at the figure of their ruler crawling around on the floor.

“The rightful law, the one that killed my brother, Nailer Bluestone?” Brandon roared, taking another step forward. “The lawful government that allowed that murder, that practices treachery and theft, giving to House Heelspur the treasure rightly won by House Bluestone?”

He raised the Bluestone Axe in his right hand, pointing at Baracan with his left. “I call you murderer! I name you thief! And Nailer Bluestone will be avenged.”

He advanced at a rush, as Baracan drew his sword and circled away from the throne to give himself fighting room.

“Stop him!” shouted Lord Heelspur. “Enforcers, take him down!”

The agents of the League finally reacted as the command snapped them from their shock. Swords slid from sheaths; mighty halberds were raised high; and the black-garbed dwarves started toward Brandon from both sides and from behind.

“Murderer!” the younger Bluestone repeated, sprinting toward Baracan before the Enforcers could interfere. He raised his axe, haft held in both of his hands, over his head.

“Bluestone! Bluestone! Bluestone!” The chant resounded through the throne room, echoing from the ceiling and thumping through the very bedrock itself. The Enforcers hesitated, glancing at each other nervously. Several swordsmen of the Garnet Guards stepped forward, weapons sheathed, to interpose themselves between the black-clad agents of Heelspur’s League and the duel taking shape before them.

Brandon brought his axe down in a short, controlled chop. Baracan, expecting a more forceful blow, parried the attack and retreated, circling around behind the throne. With his axe dancing right, left, high, and low, Brandon followed. A part of his mind reminded him to be cautious, but cold fury doused his attempts at restraint. He made a sudden rush again, slashing back and forth, while his enemy jabbed, carving a cut on his wrist before he could push out of the way.

The two battlers came around the other side of the throne. Brandon glanced up, looking for danger, but he saw that the Garnet Guards, while not taking part in the fight, had formed enough of a barrier that the Enforcers were effectively held back. At the very least, they would have had to push aside the stalwart members of that ancient regiment in order to get to Brandon. Garren Bluestone, too, was holding back, though he held his sword at the ready, his eyes shifting from Regar to Alakar to Baracan.

Even the ruler had ceased his hunt for the scattered gems. He rested upon his knees, looking up at the duel raging before him, wincing every time steel clashed against steel.

Brandon’s mind flashed a picture of Nailer, his older brother hoisting a mug, toasting his friends, his face full of youth, beaming with pleasure. Then he saw that same face, lifeless and bloody, on the floor of a lonely cave. Nailer had died because Lord Heelspur craved the vein of gold the Bluestone brothers had just discovered, and Lord Heelspur’s son had led the assassins. That murder would finally be avenged!

With a grimace, the axe-wielding dwarf flew at his opponent, launching another flurry of blows, forcing Baracan into a rapid retreat. The other dwarf’s sword flashed back and forth, each time knocking away the Bluestone Axe, but always that keen blade pressed a little closer to the noble scion’s pale skin.

The throne room had fallen silent-even the “Bluestone” chant fading away-as the witnesses stared at the do-or-die battle enacted before them.

“Look out!”

Brandon heard the shrill cry of alarm, recognized it as Gretchan’s voice, and tried to spin away. But Baracan, eyes alight with impending triumph, thrust once, then again, forcing the axe-wielding Bluestone to parry his blows or suffer death. Then Baracan’s eyes, looking past Brandon’s shoulder, widened in shock and dismay. A groaning sigh, mingled with cheers, erupted from the crowd. As Brandon finally broke away from the fight, he saw Lord Heelspur fall on his face. Garren Bluestone stood behind the dying nobleman, holding a bloodied sword.

“He tried to take you from behind,” the senior Bluestone said almost apologetically.

“Thanks, Dad,” Brandon replied sincerely.

Setting his axe at the ready, he again advanced toward Baracan, who retreated with fear in his eyes. “This isn’t the way it was with my brother, is it?” demanded Brandon, smashing the axe down in a series of measured, controlled hacks, forcing Baracan’s retreat. “You had four of your assassins with you when you killed him, didn’t you? You’d never take on someone in a fair fight-at least, not someone like Nailer, who knew how to use a weapon.” He taunted Baracan loudly, shaming his foe, instinctively feeling the mood of the city swing over to his side.

Baracan screamed and charged, overreaching as Brandon skipped out of the way of the thrust blade. The Bluestone Axe swung through a full half-circle-measured and controlled no longer, but like a living thing bent on blood and vengeance. The keen edge bit into Baracan Heelspur’s neck, slicing all the way to his spine before Brandon finally pulled it free.

His enemy’s head flopped backward, barely connected to the torso, as a geyser of blood erupted from the slashing wound. Already dead, Baracan’s body swayed like a drunk; his knees collapsed, and he fell heavily to the floor.

For a moment, all was silent. Regar Smashfingers stared in dumbfounded horror. The Enforcers looked about nervously, slowly edging away from the dwarves of the Garnet Guards and the two Bluestones. The murmurs started softly, quickly swelling.

“Hail to House Bluestone!” General Watchler said. “And shame to Regar Smashfingers and his legacy of greed!”

“Spare me!” Regar cried. Already on his knees, he threw himself face-first onto the floor, hands groping for Garren’s feet. “Don’t kill me!” he pleaded, nearly blubbering. “You can have the kingship! The throne is yours!”

“Throne? No, you speak of the governor’s chair,” Garren Bluestone said, drawing a deep breath and speaking so that all could hear. “The throne is in Thorbardin!”

Then the cheers began, the cry of “Bluestone, Bluestone, Bluestone!” rose to the domed ceiling, echoed through the shaft of the Atrium, and thrummed in all the many levels of Garnet Thax. Dwarves embraced each other, cheering and sobbing with relief. The Enforcers beat a hasty retreat, and in moments there were none of the black-clad bullies to be seen.

Gretchan and Karine made their way down to the floor, and Brandon embraced the priestess, reveling in the feel of her soft skin against his face, her kisses finding his lips in the midst of his bristling beard. He pulled her close, almost weeping in relief, and spotted his mother as she ran up to embrace his father.

“Here-you should take this spot,” said General Watchler, escorting Garren Bluestone up the steps before the great throne. “You would do it honor!”

The citizens of Kayolin cheered as Garren Bluestone sat on the great seat and was appointed, by acclamation, to be the new governor. The shouts and accolades thundered through the throne room, lasting for a very long time. The Bluestone chant changed to the new cry: “The throne is in Thorbardin!”

Brandon watched his father accept the acclaim, and he felt a burst of pride, accompanied by a lump in his throat. Nailer should be there, seeing that, he knew. But that would never be. Still, when he saw the pride, the pure happiness, on his mother’s face, he was able to feel his own sense of accomplishment and joy.

“Hey, where did he come from?” Brandon asked in surprise, staring open mouthed at Gus and two other filthy gully dwarves mingling with the crowd and moving toward them. The little females to either side of him clutched his arms desperately, while Gus looked around in amazement, unsure of himself but clearly rather proud.

Gretchan nodded toward the little Aghar tenderly, smiling at Brandon. “Oh, I meant to tell you. Gus and his friends are here. I think the Master of the Forge was looking out for him and them-and for us. He came here through a magic spell; he’s not sure exactly how. But the big news is that he brought us something important.”

She pulled a crimson wedge of rock from her sagging pouch, and Brandon’s eyes widened. “It’s the same size and shape as the Bluestone …” he began, understanding slowing sinking in.

“And the Greenstone,” she said. “Both of which are in Tarn Bellowgranite’s hands, in Pax Tharkas.”

“What are you talking about?” asked Garren, rising from the seat and stepping close. “This stone matches the Bluestone of our clan; I can see that much.”

“It’s part of an ancient artifact,” Gretchan explained. “It’s called the Tricolor Hammerhead, and it can smash any fortification-including, according to the legends, the Gates of Thorbardin itself. But it can only be forged with all three stones.”

“And we thought the Redstone was locked away in Thorbardin,” Brandon added. “So it didn’t help much that Tarn Bellowgranite has the blue and the green parts.” He blinked and looked at Gretchan. “Where did this come from anyway?”

“I brought it!” Gus said, stepping forward proudly. “Out of Thorbardin, when whole place burnin’ up and stinkin’.”

Brandon raised an eyebrow, exchanging a glance with Gretchan. She gave him a “we’ll talk about it later” look.

Then she smiled and put an affectionate hand on Gus’s stringy-haired head-which she quickly removed when she caught a glimpse of the dour glares on Berta’s and Slooshy’s faces. The two Aghar females continued to hug Gus’s arms, each pulling so firmly that they seemed about ready to dislocate his shoulders. The male gully dwarf, meanwhile, gazed blissfully up at the priestess.

“Gus said we could have this stone on one condition,” the cleric explained seriously to Brandon and his father.

“What condition?” asked Governor Bluestone, already assuming an air of authority.

“He tells me that one of King Jungor Stonespringer’s acts, as ruler of Thorbardin, was to outlaw the very presence of the Aghar. He killed their highbulp and had his chair removed from Thorbardin’s Council of Thanes. The rest of his people are being hunted and killed. I told Gus that if we use this stone to complete the hammer and if we are able to liberate the kingdom, I promised him the gully dwarves would be restored to their traditional chair at the council.”

“That’s fair enough,” Garren said. “You have done all dwarfkind a great service,” he solemnly told Gus, who beamed so brightly, his face turned red.

General Watchler came forward to join the discussion. “What is this about Thorbardin burning?”

Gretchan did her best to summarize the Aghar’s extensive descriptions of the chaos in that ancient nation, with Gus chirping in every now and then with added detail.

“It sounds like the whole place is being torn apart by civil war,” she finished at last, looking around at everyone’s grim expressions. “The dwarves there need help, but since the king sealed the gates, a whole army could march against the place without any prospect of success. There has never been any way to reach them … until now.”

“But with the Tricolor Hammerhead, we could enter Thorbardin!” Brandon exclaimed, seized by the grandness of the idea. “Tarn Bellowgranite would help, I’m sure. But we’d need a bigger army, more than just his refugees in Pax Tharkas-”

“A force like the Kayolin Army?” General Watchler suggested.

“Yes!” Brandon said. “With that, and Tarn Bellowgranite’s support, we could restore him to his rightful throne, and bring Thorbardin’s nightmare to an end!”

“That would be a mission worthy of our steel,” the general noted. “But we have the horax to deal with.”

“The horax are an engineering problem, not a combat enemy,” Brandon explained. He described the fallen barriers, which upon interrogation, Regar Smashfingers had readily admitted were destroyed by his and Alakar Heelspur’s orders. Regar had one of his courtiers retrieve a map of the deep caverns, on which the Heelspurs had marked every place where they had removed the barriers to horax exploration.

“We’ll have to hold them back toward their hive,” Brandon explained. “And that’ll take some time and effort. But once we do that and rebuild those walls, they’ll be no more of a menace than they’ve been for the last thousand years.”

“And in the meantime …?” Watcher said, eyeing Brandon shrewdly.

“In the meantime,” the younger Bluestone said confidently. “I’d like to plan with you to lead an army of Kayolin dwarves to the south, where we’ll join with the Pax Tharkas refugees, smash the North Gate, and liberate Thorbardin from the grip of the mad king.”

“Bluestone! Bluestone!” echoed the chant from the gallery.

And in that same instant, the army that would liberate Thorbardin began to take shape.