Stan Nicholls - Army of Shadows

"Don't get above yourself," Jup said. He gave Spurral's arm a pat. " We're the gods. You're just a servant."

Powerless to start anything, Haskeer clenched both his teeth and his fists.

It was obvious that the cavern was a natural formation. Enormous and cone-shaped, it had a round opening in its roof, far above. They could see blue sky through it.

They were taken to one of a number of tunnel openings. The passage was wide and sloped upwards. Their way was lit by flaming brands fixed to the walls. Soon they came to where two tunnels crossed, and they turned right, still climbing. Several more twists and turns brought them to daylight.

They emerged at a high point, giving them a perfect view of where they were. It was a tropical island: sizeable, but not so big that they couldn't see its limits. Around two-thirds of it was swathed in lush jungle. There were white beaches against which an azure sea gently lapped.

The dominant features were a pair of volcanoes towering out of the jungle. One was considerably taller than the other, and strands of grey smoke rose from both. Looking back, the band realised that that they had just come out of a third volcano, bigger than either of the other two. The only difference was that it was extinct.

The day was warm, getting on for hot, and no cloud marred the sky. As the Wolverines followed their elderly guide they started to attract a retinue of dwarfs. There were gangs of children and, for the first time, females. Like their menfolk, they went bare-chested. Jup found that of particular interest until Spurral elbowed him sharply and cooled his ardour.

Coilla gave Stryke a nudge too, but more gently and in order to draw his attention to something. He followed her eyes. High up on the volcano they'd just exited was a broad ledge on the seaward side. Standing on it were a line of five or six trebuchets. The catapults were large, similar to ones the orcs had seen, and used, in sieges.

A little further on they passed a low wooden structure not unlike a squat barn. Its doors were closed and half a dozen stern-faced dwarfs stood guard outside.

The crowd stared, grinned, laughed and shouted as the procession made its way to a clearing. Dozens of huts of various dimensions stood there. They were taken to the biggest, a one-storey affair on piles, with a porch on its front. The elder threw open its door and welcomed them in.

The longhouse was generous enough in size that even the Wolverines and their hangers-on didn't overfill it.

"My own dwelling," the elder explained. "I trust it isn't too humble for you."

"It'll do," Jup said.

There were a gaggle of females present. Members of the elder's family perhaps, or his wives or servants. They were gaping open-mouthed at the strange visitors. The elder snapped something at them and they fled, giggling, out the open door.

"I will send you refreshments," the elder told them. "Is there anything else you need?"

"No," Spurral replied in her queenly tone. "You may leave us now."

The old dwarf bowed awkwardly and backed out.

When he'd gone, Haskeer said, "Fuck me."

"You've a skill, Spurral," Stryke told her. "You should have been a troubadour."

"They seemed to think we were somebody important. I just played on it."

Haskeer took in their surroundings. "Not bad, this place. Better than some of the shit-holes we've seen lately."

"Yes, it's all very fine," Coilla said, "but what the fuck are we doing here? Stryke, how come we're not in Ceragan?"

"I don't know."

"Did you make a mistake setting the stars?"

"I'd swear I didn't."

"One way to be sure," Dallog offered. "Try them again now."

"No," Stryke decided. "If they got it wrong this time they could again."

"And we might not end up somewhere as sweet," Jup finished for him. "There are worse places for a billet."

"Maybe it's not as sweet as you think," Coilla argued. "Did you notice those catapults? They have to be here for a reason."

"And they've got something in that hut back there they don't want us to see," Pepperdyne added.

"I agree with Jup," Stryke declared. "We'll hold up here."

"How long for?" Coilla wanted to know.

"For as long as I need to think about why the stars got it wrong. We're all bushed. It won't hurt us to take a furlough here."

The door opened and a multitude of female dwarfs came in bearing platters of food. They laid out a feast for them and withdrew, bowing. The timber dining table that dominated one end of the room was laden with breads, fish and fruit, much of kinds none of them recognised. There were also flasks of something that resembled rice wine. Pepperdyne, born an islander, told them he was pretty sure it was distilled from seaweed. That made some of them doubtful, but it tasted good.

Sitting at the table eating their fill, which was considerable, they allowed themselves to relax a little. Though Stryke did take the precaution of stationing privates by the door and the several windows. The guards took heaped dishes of food with them and stuffed themselves as they stood watch.

"What do you think of this as a dwarf world?" Dallog asked of Jup and Spurral.

"Well, they don't seem as advanced as our tribes in Maras-Dantia," Jup replied, "but it's pleasant enough."

"If you happen to be a fucking god," Haskeer murmured.

"Any more of your insolence and I'll have you whipped, underling," the dwarf teased.

"We're not gonna be here forever," Haskeer promised darkly. "Just you wait."

Jup laughed in his face.

"That language you were speaking," Pepperdyne said. "What was that all about?"

"In Maras-Dantia, or at least what used to be our part of it," Stryke informed him, "just about everybody spoke Mutual. How else would so many different races figure out each other?"

"And now we've found it here," Coilla remarked. "How can that be?"

"Looks like there's more moving between worlds than we thought."

"How long was it used in Maras-Dantia?" Pepperdyne asked.

"Forever," Coilla told him. "Nobody knows who first thought of it."

"So maybe it didn't start there. If the worlds have bled into each other more than we know, it could have originated anywhere."

"Possible, I suppose." Coilla knew that the elder races weren't native to Maras-Dantia; it was the humans' world by birthright. It seemed logical to her that when the various races were inadvertently deposited there, long ago, they might well have brought something like Mutual with them. But she didn't mention any of that. Instead, she said, "From what we heard, it seems humans aren't too well liked in these parts, Jode."

"We gathered that much."

"Yeah, well, I think it goes a bit deeper than a tiff. Take care."

"Ahhh, ain't it cute?" Haskeer mocked. "She's worried about her little pet."

"You'll be worried about the one between your legs if you don't pipe down," she promised him.

Nobody spoke for a moment until Wheam wondered, "How do you think they're getting on in Acurial?"

"Just fine, I should think," Stryke reckoned.

"You can't help thinking what they made of us, can you?" Dallog speculated.

"Maybe we'll go down in their history books," Coilla said, only half seriously.

"Yeah!" Wheam enthused. "As a band of legendary heroes who — "

He was drowned out by the catcalls of the rest of the band.

"I think you're right about the resistance winning out there," Pepperdyne said when it quietened. "I'm more puzzled by who that bunch were who wanted your stars, Stryke."

That put a damper on the band.

"Damned if we can figure it out," Stryke confessed. "But if they really did come from somewhere other than Acurial, like that elf said, they could turn up here. We're going to have to be alert for that."

"Not much of a furlough then," Coilla came back dryly.