It turned out to have been a stroke of luck, after all, that they had decided to come at the Dwarf Hold from the side. If they had decided to take the main route, as Samina had suggested, they would have walked right into the back of the dark elf army - and Judeau couldn�t even begin to guess what possible outcome that could have had. It was difficult enough to try to avoid getting caught up in the battle as it was. They were still cautiously ducking between the few buildings that yet remained standing, and a fight was getting increasingly unavoidable the closer they got to the huge gate.

Judeau�s brain was working overtime, in spite of the paralysing pain in his hand and arm, and as they turned the last corner that would hide a man on horseback, he immediately saw it. There was a gap in the enemy lines. As the dwarven army surged forward, the attackers couldn�t quite keep up, and right before Judeau�s eyes a weak point in the line strained and burst. Fighters close by had not yet realised it, but it would not be long before they did and would rush in to fill the gap. There were enough of them to do so, for sure. If he could only get the others� attention, Judeau knew that he could lead them all to safety through that little hole, but time was of the essence.

�Everyone!� He shouted. �Over there! Follow me!�

�No!�

Judeau turned in surprise and exasperation towards Taskkarr. �What!?�

There was something desperate � pained, even, in the demon hunter�s eyes as he searched the chaos, completely oblivious to their own very real peril. Then he seemed to find what he was looking for and his expression became desperately determined. The next instant, he had dug his heels into his black murvel and sped off towards the very centre of the battle with a short shout:

�Over there!�

The rest of the group seemed as taken aback as Judeau at this unexpected and irrational behaviour, but when the sound of a smaller horn echoed through the din of battle in three short bursts, both Samina and Thirgynn blanched at the same time.

�Barain� Holy Pantheon�!� Gasped the bounty hunter.

�Vontar�s mercy!� Shouted the miracle-worker in a similar state of dumbstruck shock.

But before either of them had even begun to shake off their surprised daze, Steelwing was at Taskkarr�s heels. Thirgynn only managed a desperate �Wait!� before the tides of battle had swallowed them both up. Uttering a small grunt of frustration, the miracle-worker set off after his Zur�Vorh, chanting the stoneskin spell as he went.

�Oh, Taskkarr...�

Judeau swirled in the saddle, giving Samina a look full of questions that would all take far too long to put into words. She responded with a look of equal eloquence, holding sincerity, decisiveness and regret. In the next moment she dug her heels into Kariss and followed her friends into the fray. With a heartfelt but resigned curse, Judeau hurried to catch up with her. A quick glace told him that the gap in the enemy lines had already closed too far for him to try that alone, anyway.

The first brutish, tusked warriors that he rode past seemed too surprised at the sight of him to attack right away, and he didn�t give them a chance to figure out what they should do with him. It did, however, give him a chance to take store of his situation.

He realised that the target they were aiming for, at the very heart of the struggle, was a blue and silver banner. Judeau could not make out the design, but realised that it had the exact same colours as the dwarf flags � however, this one banner swayed fretfully to and fro at least several hundred meters from the others. The design did seem slightly different, too, but Judeau deemed that as unimportant for the time being.

So it�s a rescue mission now. And just who is going to rescue us?

Then the beast-man-creatures seemed to decide that he was an enemy, despite his height and lack of facial hair, and came at him with guttural howls and snarls. Small, greenish-black things with sharp claws, protruding noses and flapping ears tittered and chattered and jumped at Packer�s legs as he rode past them, and the scout suddenly had his hands full defending himself.

The larger beast-men were as tough as they looked, and just as fearsome. They seemed to come in every colour from mud brown through dirt green to husky blue, hairy and with tough skin that seemed more like scales than leather. Their blood, when he spilled it, was black, thick and unexpectedly warm. The weapons they swung with bestial vigour and fatal skill looked to be designed to intimidate. A task they performed amiably � hooked, barbed, heavy-set and saw-toothed as they were. Judeau opted for avoiding these thrusts and swings instead of blocking them, as the yellow-tusked creatures seemed to have much more brute strength than agility. And none of them were faster than a horse. Packer performed above expectation in these manoeuvres, and even seemed to help Judeau stay on course some of the time. He gave himself a mental note to make sure the little horse got something extra in his food later, should they make it out of here alive.

It was hard to concentrate, though. His blows fell short, missed vital points and sometimes simply glanced off the beast-men�s scaly hide or leathery armour because the brand stung so intensely that his whole arm trembled when he tried to strain it. It�s just like fighting when injured, he told himself, and you�ve done that before, haven�t you? Keep it together, Judeau. Think of this as a chance to train some more of Steelwing�s techniques.

He skirted and avoided as many encounters as he could, focusing all the attention he could spare on the lone, waving flag up ahead. Therefore, it took him a while to notice that he had lost track of Samina somewhere along the way. The realisation cut like a knife through his abdomen and for the briefest of moments he considered going back to look for her, but he quickly shook the pang of panic off and reminded himself that the flag wasn�t far away now, and that going back at this point would more than likely mean running into the pack of beast-creatures that must surely be on his heels by now. There was no way except forward, and Samina was surely already ahead of him. She was a very capable woman, after all.

Then, the din of battle suddenly ebbed away, as if an unseen force had wrapped around his head like a blanket, muffling all outside noise. At the same time, the sound of his own rushing blood rose to become like thunder in his ears. Everything around him slowed down, as if he and everyone around him were moving through clear syrup instead of air. With a sense of shock that was as slow as Packer�s muffled hoof beats he found himself wondering if he had been hit, somehow, and this was what death felt like when it stole up on you by surprise.

Then, further up ahead, a dark shape appeared out from between the now almost grotesquely teeming and writhing throng of fighters, and Judeau just knew that that shape was the cause of this unnatural sensation.

The figure was tall, stately and very much unlike the beast-men that ran about it. As tall as the tallest of the greenskins, but straighter and leaner � though still much more powerfully built than Judeau � the man (somehow Judeau just knew that it was a man) stood perfectly still, indifferent to the chaos all around him. He wore a plate armour more black than anything Judeau had seen before, that shone as if newly polished - as though blood and dust had never dared to settle on the inky blackness. But from its pauldrons, elbows, knees and from the top of the equally jet-black helmet protruded wicked spikes that distinctly said otherwise. In fact, Judeau noticed, one of the great shoulder-spikes shot up through the severed head of a dwarf, greyish-brown beard spilling down the tall man�s metal-clad arm.

A cloak as deep burgundy as dried blood billowed out behind him, revealing the long, wicked sword in his black-gauntled hand. It was not spiked, not barbed and not saw-toothed. It was nothing like the heavy, fearsome weapons of the beast-men, but it had a vicious sleekness about it that was infinitely more terrifying. It was also ink-black, with only its razor sharp edge tinted in silver. The handle was shaped like dragon�s claws that curved down over its master�s hand almost as if the sword was wielding him as much as he wielded it.

And Judeau was absolutely certain that the man's full attention was focused solely on him.

For a moment, as Packer sluggishly carried him closer to the anticipating man, Judeau considered that he might be dreaming. Everything seemed so unreal, like one of his brand-induced nightmares. The syrupy air, the muffled sounds, his own swishing blood, thundering heartbeats and roaring breaths that echoed grotesquely magnified in his own ears. The field of death and devastation all around him, teeming with inhuman, bloodthirsty beasts. And this man, so undisturbed by the raging battle all around. So intently focused on Judeau. So absolutely terrifying. The nightmarish d�j�-vu feeling that washed over him was so powerful that the scout didn�t even think about turning away, and he probably couldn�t have even if he had had the presence of mind to try.

As he inexorably came up alongside the dark knight, a clawed, ink-black gauntlet shot out from beneath the billowing cloak, faster than any viper, and closed around his neck with ruthless strength. The next instant the world snapped back into reality with a disorienting pang, and before Judeau had had a chance to pull himself together he had been torn off his horse and slammed into the muddy ground.

His instincts kicked in. He tucked, rolled, and was on his feet with a speed that impressed even himself, just a breath of an instant before a heavy, ink-black metal boot stomped down on the place where his head had landed. The knife left Judeau�s hand almost before he knew he had drawn it and flew straight at the barely discernible eye-slit of the helmet, but the dark knight immediately raised an arm and the knife bounced off with an impotent �Ping� - disappearing somewhere in the mud and rubble. Judeau reached back for his scimitars and threw himself back to avoid the dark knight�s clawed hand as it shot out again, but he was just too slow and once more Judeau felt the cold metal fingers close around his throat.

Little stars danced before his eyes as the dark knight squeezed, and he felt his feet leave the ground. He clawed ineffectively at the iron-hard grip and tried to kick, but all to no avail. Through the swirling little stars he dimly realised that he had been brought up to the dark knight�s face, and stared helplessly back into the narrow face-slit, prepared for just about anything.

What he saw was thin lips, a long, aristocratic nose, and narrowed, slanting eyes that glowed faintly green, all framed by skin so pale it almost seemed to glow as well.

Griffith? No, no� Steelwing!? He thought, before his muddled mind allowed him to see that, though somehow eerily similar, this cruel face was very different to that of the Crusader.

The thin lips parted in a disappointed snarl, revealing small, sharp fangs. Judeau gasped and writhed, his chest starting to feel painfully constricting around his lungs. The need for air burned in him, but he couldn't draw breath and he couldn�t budge the steel-clad fingers, try as he might.

�You are not worthy,� the cruel face said in a deep, strangely melodious hiss. �Your weak blood would only sully Yrakant�r. What a disappointment.� Then the dark knight hesitated thoughtfully for a moment. �Still,� he murmured, as if to himself, sending clouds of hazy stars skittering across Judeau�s vision as he squeezed just a little harder. �For some reason I do want to see your blood.�

The scout felt something break against his face, then a strange, floating sensation. As the pain hit him with blinding force, he realised that it was probably his face that had broken and not the other way around. Then, thankfully, his consciousness fled him.

~
�Judeau!!� Samina dodged below a clumsily swung axe and raced on, not even bothering to punish the orc that wielded it. Kariss tossed his head and snapped up a green-black goblin that had tried to cling to his leg, and crushed the squealing little creature between his strong jaws.

Samina cursed herself. She had lost track of him! He, the most vulnerable of them all, was all alone somewhere in this chaos. Forget Taskkarr, forget Thirgynn and Steelwing and Barain, she had to find the cursed man before something truly sinister found him.

I should have just gone with him, back there, she thought. Taskkarr obviously has his reasons - and wherever he goes, Thirgynn follows. Steelwing� well� there are dark elves here. Of course he takes the chance. But me! At least I should have thought of getting the cursee out of the way!

�Judeau!�

Then she found him. And she felt all the blood leave her face at the sight.

Dangling at least a foot up in the air, the blond little fool was literally in the hands of one of the very creatures she had fervently hoped to avoid. A dark elf. A right warrior too, judging by the extravagant armour.

Samina knew that that was an enemy she could not hope to face alone, but still she spurred Kariss on without hesitation. In all honesty, she had no idea of what she was going to do once she reached the dark elf warrior and his helpless, weakly writhing victim, but it turned out that she didn't have to find out. The black-armoured elf held the little scout out at arm's length, leisurely drew back his other hand and smashed the hilt of his sword into Judeau's face with devastating force. The blond human sailed through the air and landed limply in a pile of rubble at the other end of the street, and the dark elf rather indifferently turned and walked away, his reddish-brown cloak dramatically billowing out behind him.

"Judeau! Gods on a stick... Judeau!"

She was out of the saddle before Kariss had even stopped and fell to her knees by her fallen friend, turning him over carefully to try to assess the damage, as her well-trained murvelbeast took up guard beside them.

Well, at least he was still breathing and had a good, strong pulse.

"You're okay, Judeau," she mumbled, mostly to herself, as she carefully lifted him and hung him over Kari's broad back, making sure that he couldn't accidentally choke on his own blood. "It looks bad right now, but you'll be okay. You'll be fine. Let's get you out of here."

She hesitated an instant longer, giving him a reproachful look and a small, concerned pat on his armoured back.

"You must stop getting so banged up all the time. I might not always be there to take care of you." she murmured. Then she snapped the morningstar back into her hand with a stern frown and, drawing her sword with the other, she gave Kariss the 'follow' command and plunged into the fray once more.

*
A remarkably short moment later, the face of the battlefield around her changed dramatically in a matter of seconds. She had just poked an eye and hopefully more out of a big, brown-scaled orc that had tried to get in her path, and was swirling around to help Kariss deal with a bunch of goblins that were trying to swarm him and Packer (the little horse had quickly doubled back and allowed his reins to be tied to the murvelbeast�s saddle. Samina was starting to have very serious suspicions about the pony's previous owner. The price had been a little too much of a bargain for the acquisition to have been absolutely, perfectly legal, and hadn't there been an army camp nearby? A rather upset army camp, if memory served...), when suddenly a deep voice boomed behind her:

"Perish! In the name of Vontar and Ha'Vorh Barain!"

She turned just in time to duck a powerfully swung warhammer and quickly dropped her weapons, throwing both hands up into the air.

"Kzat, Gorgoz!" she yelled. "It's me! Samina!"

The wild-eyed, black-bearded dwarf before her hesitated, hammer already raised for a second blow. Then he blinked and his face momentarily flashed with recognition and surprise, before he forcefully brought his hammer down - right on the knee of an oncoming orc.

The greenskin toppled with a howl, cut abruptly short by another swift blow to the throat. Gorgoz turned his onyx eyes back towards Samina with a very disappointed scowl.

�You�re not an orc!� he thundered accusingly. �Why are you here?�

�We�re back,� she panted. �Taskkarr and Thirgynn and Steelwing and I��

�Yes, yes,� he testily interrupted, then turned away from her to shout at his nearest companions: �A dwarf friend with a wounded! Cover them and get them in behind the lines!�

Samina allowed herself a little grin. �Sorry I interrupted your fight, Gorgoz.� He slapped her on the back of her thigh. �Get moving or I�ll be angrier. We�ll reach the main army in a little while, so you just tag along!�

Not one to be told twice in a situation like this, Samina readily picked up her sword and made her way in between the dwarves. In the calm at the centre of it all, she saw a shape she recognised well � though of course she�d known he would be there. Done up in his finest, runed, silver-plated armour, the blond dwarf stood overlooking the battle, axe ready in one hand and the other ponderously stroking his thick, straw-coloured beard-braid.

"Tighten it up now!" he bellowed. "Prepare to join the main force!" Then he turned to the less impressively dressed, red-bearded dwarf next to him, who held the blue-and-silver banner in one hand and a curved, gilded murvel-horn in the other, giving him some more hushed orders.

Samina hurriedly made her way over to the blond leader and his flag bearer.

"Barain!" she shouted over the din of battle, raising a fist to her chest in greeting. "Do you have a priest with you?"

The blond dwarf turned in surprise at the sound of her voice and returned the salute with a small, uncertain smile.

"Samina, dwarf friend!" he greeted her sonorously as she came up to him. "What are you doing here?"

His tone was jovial enough for a dwarf commander on the battlefield, but it was distinctly tinted in apprehension, even worry. Samina understood the unspoken part of the question.

"I came with Taskkarr, just now," she explained. "We got separated in all this... I thought he was already here with you. Barain, please, I have a wounded..."

The blond dwarf glanced over at the prone form of Judeau and nodded. "Of course. I'll have my Khar'ekh accompany you." He turned to the flag bearer and barked a few short orders, and the red-bearded dwarf translated them into two short and one long horn signal. Barain then gazed out at the battlefield with something mildly distracted in his eyes.

"No," the dwarf commander mumbled under his breath. "No, he's not here..."

The red-bearded dwarf by Barain's side saluted and spoke up:

"It is time, Ha'Vorh."

"Yes." Barain hesitated for the tiniest of instants. "Right. Sound the signal." While the flag bearer did as instructed, the blond dwarf turned to Samina. "We are going to join the main army now. Stay close to me and the Khar'ekh will find you shortly."

"Understood."

Barain wasted no more time on small talk and started barking orders, all of his attention focused on moving his dwarves in a controlled rush towards the main army. Still, as the priest showed up - grey beard cut short in the usual miracle-worker fashion, but allowed to grow slightly longer on each side of the jaw to denote his rank as one of Vontar�s healers - the dwarf commander found time to point Judeau out to him. The greybeard took the human on without question, clambering up on Kari's back with practised ease.

Samina found herself running next to Gorgoz again and, assured that her most immediate concern was being taken care of even as she ran, decided it was high time to ask the burning question:

"Gorgoz, what's happened? What's going on here?"

"It's a war, manling!" the black-bearded warrior replied. "You couldn't tell?"

Samina sighed, knowing only too well when she was being targeted by the exotic dwarven sense of humour. "Gorgoz, please..."

"Truth, I don't know," he answered, less loud and more serious this time. "We just got back as well. Been to Vagoria on diplomacy. Came back to find the main road blocked by those." He spat at the corpse of an orc as they ran past it. "Blackbloods and tchun'ni! Outrage! But we decided to go around. So, half way through the pass we're noticed. Don't know how. They chased us out here just as the bang-" He pointed an explanatory arm at the demolished Gate. "-Went off. Then the whole army came charging and things got a bit difficult. We called for help and Oothark'han answered."

Of course, Samina mused, the dwarves would never leave the Hold like this otherwise. They're experts at being besieged.

But how could we not...?

"I didn't hear any bang. When did that happen?"

Gorgoz gave her a direct, surprised stare. "Not half an hour ago, I think. Maybe you are going deaf."

Samina took another good look at the utterly shattered remnants of the Gate, her eyes narrowing in suspicion. �Maybe� or maybe there�s magic involved here. Powerful magic. I've got a gut feeling."

Gorgoz gave her an unreadable look and raced on, guarding her flank with silent, dwarven faithfulness. A few moments later Samina heard the priest intone the chant of healing behind her, and followed the comforting murmur with Thirgynn's translation in the back of her head:

"By the power granted me by Vontar, I grant this warrior new strength to strike down his enemies. I command you: Mend!"

And, just an instant after that, she heard the very welcome sound of Judeau's voice.

"...Alive?" it groaned. "What was... I... Who...?"

Samina looked back over her shoulder to see the blond scout gingerly try to sit up in Kariss' saddle, somewhat warily accepting his helmet from the hands of the grey-bearded priest.

"Good morning, sleepyhead!" she called back at him. "What a time to take a nap!"

He snapped around to look at her, looking utterly bewildered and still very bloody, but without any noticeable trace of the earlier injury. In short, his face looked like an actual face again. While she waited for him to process his situation and her words and possibly come up with a coherent reply, Samina shot a smile and a respectful nod at the priest. "Good job!"

He nodded back, favouring her with a small, proud smile of his own before slipping off the murvelbeast again, disappearing into the controlled chaos of the charging dwarves. Judeau snapped around again to watch him leave.

"Who was...? Where did he go?"

"Keep up, blondie!" Samina found to her surprise that she was feeling quite mischievous. The rush of battle did strange things to you when you didn't have to fight for your life and the immediate future was looking brighter. She grinned at him. "You're not the only one getting hurt out here, he's got plenty of other people to heal!"

Carefully, as if afraid of what he was going to find, Judeau reached up to touch his own face.

"Then that... bright light just now..."

"The mercy of Vontar, so to speak," she offered, dropping back to run next to the murvel instead. "A little gift that his battle-priests receive. Looks like you're as good as new."

He gave her a somewhat blank frown, then gave the blood on his fingertips the same treatment, and finally gasped as reality seemed to catch up with him. "That man! The black knight! Did you see him?! What was that?!"

The memory of the dark elf warrior brought Samina back down to earth again. She felt her face tighten into a frown.

"Oh yes, I saw him. That, my friend, was a walking nightmare. A dark elf warrior. You're lucky he wasn't the playful type..." She couldn't help herself. A shiver ran down her spine and she fell silent for a brief moment as she tried to suppress it. "All things considered, you got off very easy. I'm just glad he was arrogant enough not to make sure if you were dead or not. Free tip for the future: Stay away from dark elves whenever possible."

"Uh, yeah," he replied, fastening his helmet again. "I kind of got that all on my own, thank you. I thought he was a demon or something... the way you said it before, I thought that the beast-men were the dark elves...?"

Despite herself, Samina snorted with amusement. "The trollkin? Oh no... They don't even compare. They're just soldiers. Dark elves act as officers and elite troops, but they always use other creatures to do the grunt work for them - orcs, goblins, hobgoblins and other trollkin, or demons, undead... sometimes humans."

"Oh," Judeau answered, cradling his cursed hand with a small frown of pain. After a short moment he added, half to himself: "Why? That guy was like an army all to himself..."

Before Samina had even decided whether to answer that or not, The black-bearded dwarf by her elbow spoke up:

"Because these tchun'ni are arrogant and elitist, and because there�s - Vontar hazt - not many of them in the world."

Judeau blinked at the dwarf, then at Samina, and the bounty hunter smiled back. "This is Gorgoz, an old friend of mine."

"No more time," Gorgoz interrupted. "Here it is!"

A brief, pitched battle ensued as the two dwarven forces squashed those trollkin that remained between them and finally met. As Barain's worn fighters were ushered in behind the ranks of the main army, a deep, penetrating bass bellow cut through the noise:

"Barain!"

The blond dwarf immediately halted, grabbing the flag-bearer practically by the scruff of his neck to keep him in place as he turned towards the sound. Samina, who had also recognised the voice, stopped and turned as well, just in time to see Taskkarr push his way through the milling crowd and throw himself into Barain's waiting arms. Thirgynn soon followed, still stoneskinned, but Samina saw Steelwing, leading his elfhorse, first - mostly since he was easily head and shoulders taller than any of the other warriors around him - and waved happily. The tall elf quickly made it over to her.

"You are all right?" he asked. Samina smiled.

"I am. Judeau ran into a dark elf, unfortunately, but-" she quickly added as the Crusader snapped around to look at the blond human. "-Apparently he wasn't interesting enough to kill. He's been healed... um... Steelwing? Hello?"

The elf turned back to her with a strange, mildly amused twitch at the corners of his mouth and gestured over his shoulder at the blond scout. Confused, Samina followed his gaze. Judeau had been wiping the blood off his face but the rag now hung forgotten in his half-raised hand - and the look on his face was truly priceless. Somewhere in the neighbourhood of surprise, only infinitely more expressive. Even more confused, Samina followed his gaze. Then she snickered, a slight blush sneaking onto her cheeks.

Taskkarr and Barain held each other as tenderly as dwarves ever hold anything, and were exchanging small kisses and hushed, sincere murmurs in dwarfish between tear-filled sniffs. Thirgynn, the flag bearer and all the other dwarves around them were politely looking the other way at this open display of affection. Samina tugged on Judeau's coat to get his attention and smiled up at him when she did.

�Before your eyes pop out of their sockets, perhaps you�d like to know that those two are married. And that Barain is a female.�

His eyes grew even larger at this and he had to look between Samina and the two embracing dwarves several times before he managed an incredulous �What?�

�Quite,� Thirgynn said, blushing intensely with embarrassment and pointedly looking away from the tender scene as he walked up to them. �It always surprises humans. You think that all females have to look elf-like� like your females do. And it is impolite to acknowledge such a public show of emotion, if you please.�

With an effort, Judeau looked away from Taskkarr and his mate and focused on Thirgynn instead. �I-it is?�

�Yes. We dwarves believe that passion between spouses should be a private matter. Not many of us would dream of flaunting our innermost, tender feelings the way you humans do� they are precious and should, like treasure, be kept for those they belong to� By Durgin�s hammer, they have only been married for less than five years! It is slightly� inappropriate.�

Samina decided to step in and save Thirgynn from an obviously awkward situation. �Be nice, Judeau. They haven�t seen each other for a long time, give them some privacy.�

The blond scout turned fully away from the two dwarves and resumed wiping his blood-smeared face � maybe to try to hide his embarrassed blush. �Of course, of course. I�m sorry, it�s just� I had no idea� He doesn�t look anything like a female. I mean she. Doesn�t. Um.�

��He� will do fine,� said Thirgynn, �Dwarves do not have any gender-specific pronouns, anyway. Whyever that should be so important...� Then he added, mostly to himself, �And as for looking female� by your standards, neither do I.�

Judeau blinked, lowered the rag again and turned fully towards the snow-haired miracle-worker. �...You�re female too?�

�Certainly. And quite an attractive one, I might add.�

�Ummm� I�m just� I�m really sorry, but� how� how do you tell the difference?�

�Any dwarf can tell. But the most obvious way to know," the miracle-worker elaborated, obviously happy for the distraction, "Is the beard. Males grow beards that are like thin steel wires, whereas females like myself are much softer � kind of like the sort of facial hair you humans grow. Beyond that, the differences are really minute, but a female�s face is often a bit less angular than that of a male.�

From the corner of her eye, Samina saw Taskkarr and Barain separate and the blond dwarf turn to his flag bearer again. She interrupted any further questions from Judeau with a sharp �Heads up!� and a second later the sound of Barain�s horn signalled the retreat. Oothark�han answered and the dwarf army immediately began pouring back into the Gate. It was all the non-dwarves could do to keep up.

~
The dark elf army followed them, but while it was still quite a ways away from the great gate, a strangely ululating blast of a horn called them back. The few trollkin that ignored the call all fell to a strange series of bangs from inside the gate. Before he had even had time to realise that they had been saved, Judeau had been pulled into the unknown dusk beyond the blasted doors.

What followed was a huge corridor, as spacious as any cathedral, covered in enormous murals and reliefs from floor to ceiling. The scout only got a brief glimpse of these impressive works of art, because at the instant that he passed in between them the crippling pain in his hand disappeared as if it had been switched off, and the sudden relief was such a shock that it made his head spin.

The corridor gradually grew narrower, which slowed them down a little, and yet the heavy doors at the other end of the great passage looked every bit as absurdly huge and impressive as the outer ones must have done, before they were destroyed. These stood open to admit the army into an enormous, well-lit grotto beyond, and once everyone had gathered in there their mad forwards rush finally stopped.

As the massive doors behind him closed, surprisingly smooth and silent - the noise of the surrounding army pretty much drowned out any other sound, but still: not so much as a squeak - Judeau could only stare in awe at the enormous, decorated chamber.

On the opposite side from where they had entered were another pair of heavy, armoured doors - though these were decidedly smaller, they were still easily the size of a normal city gate - decorated with the image of an axe and a hammer crossed above an anvil. Long balconies, or possibly walkways, overlooked the chamber on all sides and Judeau counted five rows of them, all decorated with bronze and iron statues, intricate stonework and long patterns of angular dwarven runes. The ceiling � all of it � was occupied by a single intricate design in what appeared to be blackened iron, from which many brightly shining orbs hung. Judeau guessed that they were magic, for the light they provided was plentiful and remarkably steady. The great ceiling-decoration itself was impressively complicated and surprisingly full of spikes, most of which appeared to be pointing downwards. For a moment the scout thought it looked terribly unsafe: it was far too easy to imagine the terrible devastation it would cause if it were to fall down on them right now, but then he realised with a small shudder that that was most likely the entire point - A nasty surprise for an unwelcome army.

Each magnificent gate was flanked on both sides by big, stern-faced iron statues of dwarven warriors. One in each pair rested his hands on the hilt of a two-handed hammer, the other wielded a two-handed axe in the same way. They were all of equal height and build, but still different enough from each other to look like specific, individual dwarves, and Judeau found himself wondering in the back of his mind just who they were supposed to be.

Then the gates behind them had closed, and the smaller gate in front of them slowly opened. A reverent and very disciplined silence settled over the dwarven army as a small group of (mostly grey-bearded) dwarves in ornate armour entered the room. One of them � the one that walked in front of all the others � wore a beautifully designed helmet circled by a gilded crown. This silver-bearded dwarf halted at a point where he could be seen by most of the army and saluted with a fist over his heart. It was immediately returned with a smattering of metal against metal from all the gathered dwarves and a roaring, thoroughly startling cheer that was gone as suddenly as it had started.

The crowned dwarf then let up his deep, resonating voice and held a short speech in resounding dwarfish, which was occasionally interrupted by more thunderclap cheers, and finished it with a decisively dismissive wave. The dwarven army began to dissolve in an orderly fashion, most of them filing out through the smaller gate but some seemingly disappearing into the walls all around the chamber - it actually took Judeau a little while and some concentration to notice the hidden doors.

The crowned, silver-bearded dwarf walked up to the group with a not unfriendly grin on his face and wrapped his arms around Barain in a warm bear hug.

�Vontar hazt,� he said, maybe a tad hoarsely, as they broke off from each other. �Barain Kuoz�un�ta.�

�Yes,� Barain answered, gesturing at Taskkarr and the others. �And look who I brought in with me.�

�Ah!� The crowned dwarf�s smile grew wider again. �Zur�Vorh Taskkarr ni�Hakkr Thirgynn. All restored again, I see! It is good to see you back with us.� Then he hugged Taskkarr as well and saluted Thirgynn, who demurely returned the salute with a slight bow of his chalk-white head. �And dwarf friend Samina, honoured Steelwing.� The bounty hunter and the elf got a nod each that they answered with a small bow. �Annnd�?�

Suddenly facing scrutiny from the penetratingly intelligent and deeply gold-coloured eyes of the crowned dwarf, Judeau inadvertently flinched in surprise before quickly dropping into a deep, smooth bow.

�The name is Judeau, Sir. I am honoured to be here.�

The scout heard the crowned dwarf chuckle in mild amusement. �Well, of course you are. I am Khurakk Zoroin VonTarrgaz, Khazuvon of the dwarves. Or High King, as you humans say. I�m assuming this one is with you?�

�Yep,� Samina answered, as Judeau slowly straightened up � feeling far too out of his league to even guess at what would be appropriate behaviour right now. �It�s a stray we happened to pick up on the way. He�s a good man. I�ll vouch for him, if you wish it.�

The High King did not look back at the bounty hunter. �Yes�� He rumbled thoughtfully, though the spark of mirth never really left his eyes as he studied Judeau. The scout had hardly ever felt so weighed, measured and completely figured out in such a brief period of time before. ��While he stays here he will be your responsibility.� He finally gave the scout a small nod of acceptance. �Welcome to Yhakk�Zaran�Kil, Principal Seat of the dwarves, Mr Judeau.�

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