Michael Pearce - Diaries of a Dwarven Rifleman

After they got their frightened mounts back under control Engvyr looked back up the trail, peering through the dust. A house-cat might have gotten past the slab but surely nothing bigger could. The rock, a hundred tons or more of solid granite, completely blocked the trail.

“That should give us a bit of time,” she said and turned her pony and rode on. Engvyr felt he could forgive that her smile was a little smug, but unfortunately he had to wipe it off her face.

“Yep,” he said, “They'll never get through that. So they'll leave this trail… the one place where we knew that they'd be.”

She stopped and looked at him a moment while she worked through the implications. He knew that she got it when she started to swear.

He continued, “We needed to slow them down, not stop them cold. There are dozens of paths through these mountains. The only way that we can know which trail they are on…”

“Is if they're chasing us.” she finished for him.

He nodded and said, “And we're on the wrong side of that rock.”

“Sorry Engvyr. I guess that I might have been… showing off a little. Proving to myself that I've still got the touch.”

He took a few deep breaths and said, “Well, done is done I guess. Is there something that we can do to fix it?”

“Let's see.” She rode back and dismounted. She placed her hands on the rock and closed her eyes. After several minutes she stood back and took a swig from her water bottle and said, “OK, I think that we've got this.”

She returned to her pony and rummaged in the rucksack tied behind the saddle and produced a short sledge-hammer and a two foot long drill rod. She handed these to Engvyr.

“Good thing those gobbos grabbed my pack,” she said, “Ever worked a Single-Jack and Drill?”

He groaned and said, “Sadly, yes I have.”

“Oh come on, it's good for you! Builds character.”

He moved the ponies some distance away, tied their leads off on a low-growing tree and returned. By then the stonewright had marked two positions in chalk with the depths written next to them. One was dead on a crack in the rock and the other at knee-height in the middle of a solid section.

They didn't know how far behind the Baasgarta were but they knew that they needed to hurry. He took the drill and placed it on the lower mark, which was the most difficult because it was awkwardly placed. On the first strike the drill dug far deeper into the hard rock than it should have and he stared in surprise.

“Don't stop. This isn't easy you know!” Ageyra told him. He saw that she had both hands pressed to the rock. Of course, he thought, she’s a stonewright. She's making the stone easier to drill.

He set to work, striking and turning the drill over and over. Dwarves were literally made for hard-rock mining and with any practice at all were very efficient. Twenty minutes later they were both soaked in sweat but had two one-inch diameter holes of the desired depth. Had it not been for the stonewright's power it would have taken hours with those tools and the goblins would surely have arrived before they were finished. They caught their breath for a moment then she began removing items from the ruck sack. Three metal containers, a mortar and pestle, some scoops, a one-inch wooden dowel and some other odds and ends.

“Engvyr,” she said casually, “Why don't you go back over by the horses. This requires some concentration.”

He nodded and did as he was told while she mixed the blasting powder. This was the tricky part and was always done by one of her kind when possible. Mixing the stuff wasn't difficult, just three ingredients in the right proportions, but it was several times more powerful when mixed by a stonewright. The explosive always had to be mixed right before use as it wasn't safe to have it just lying around. The stuff wanted to explode, in a magical sense at least, and any Battlemage worth their salt could detonate it at a great distance.

After a few minutes work Ageyra picked up her gear and hurried back to where Engvyr stood with the ponies. They moved far enough to have solid rock between themselves and the explosives. When they were ready the Battlemage closed her eyes, took a few deep breaths and then snapped her fingers. Instantly a double-boom rolled across the hills.

They went back to check the result of their work. They had to wait a few minutes for the smoke and dust to clear before they could see the results of their handiwork. Engvyr gave a low whistle. The massive slab had shattered into boulders and rubble- far greater effect than the two small charges should have had.

“You've spoiled me for mining forever,” he told his companion, “If'n I ever had to do it again without a stonewright it'd just seem like too much work.”

She grinned at the compliment as she wiped sweat from her brow.

“The gobbos ought to be able to work their way past that in an hour or less,” she said, “Good?”

“Great,” he said, rolling his shoulders, “Next time let’s go for this first time out though, OK?”

“You got it boss.” she said, “They had to have heard that and they must be pretty close now. Might be we should get clear of this place.”

Engvyr agreed and checked the position of the sun.

“Sunset in about an hour. This is going to get real interesting.”

They rode on, keeping to a modest pace to spare their ponies. The beasts were bred for endurance but there were limits. As it grew dark they had to be more careful. Goblins see somewhat better in the dark than dwarves, but not by much as both races were created to work underground with poor lighting.

They paused occasionally to prepare little surprises for their pursuers. They strung thin, strong lines across the trail at ankle, knee or neck height. These were not likely to produce real injury but they would frighten and more importantly annoy the Baasgarta as it forced them to slow down to look for them. In a couple of places Ageyra found slopes that were 'agreeable' to creating small rock falls across the trail. They would only slow the goblins by minutes but every little bit helped.

When the moon was high enough to illuminate the area Engvyr stopped and set up a shooting position that covered a particularly well-lit section of trail several hundred paces back. Ageyra took the ponies a few hundred paces the opposite direction to wait for him.

About a half-hour later the goblins came into sight. They had a man out on point a good fifty paces from their main group carrying a crossbow. Engvyr wasn't worried as goblin crossbows were short-ranged affairs. He waited until the main body appeared and looked for a likely target. The point-man signaled a stop- he'd found one of their trip lines. The main body of their pursuers, about a platoon strong stopped and waited while the lead goblin made sure that the trap wasn't anything nastier than a trip line.

Engvyr noticed one goblin with a bandaged hand and grinned. Well why not? He sighted carefully and shot him. He reloaded and looked for another target. The goblins had scattered of course and he rose up to get a better look…

Crack! A crossbow bolt shattered on the rock next to him and he dropped behind the boulder that was sheltering him. Peering cautiously around the boulder he could see the point-man cranking frantically at the mechanism of his weapon. The Baasgarta apparently also used heavy crossbows in addition to repeaters. That was game-changer, and as the goblin was placing a bolt in the weapon's groove the Ranger shot him.

He searched the area around the trail for more targets and heard the distant thwack of a crossbow. A second later he heard the bolt buzz past. Time to go.

Dawn found them riding along a ridge line looking for a good spot to fire down on the goblins from above. Engvyr heard a thunk and Ageyra grunted. Turning quickly he felt an impact on his left shoulder and saw a goblin stroking the lever of his repeating crossbow. He felt a blaze of pain as he shouldered the rifle but ignored it as he shot the goblin through the heart. Looking around he saw no other targets.