have woken him and from what I am feeling, he must be a little upset.” Urake saw Inadar pale a little before swallowing.
“What are you doing out here then?” Cero asked.
“I'm looking for something. The dragons told me to find a soul forged blade. One that the old Dragon Lords used to carry. There is also supposed to be another Dragon Lord, but I don’t know where to begin looking.” Inadar had reached the point where she didn’t have anything else to lose. None of the assembled people were angry with her and Cero hadn’t tried to force the information. She had volunteered it, albeit in a moment when she had lost her temper. It was the first time she could remember ever having done so.
“Soul forged blades. Are those like dwarven blades?” Urake asked this question with a glance at Cero.
“I know that they were made by dwarves.” Inadar responded hopefully.
“What about this one?” Urake drew Ice Heart and handed it to Inadar handle first.
“Savaro ensafar. Entack Skeln’den’hal?” Inadar looked up and frowned at all the astonished expressions.
“I will be taking that back.” Urake took the sword back.
“Was it something I said?”
“You could say that.” Emeck laughed.
“What was wrong with what she said?” Cero looked confused.
“Well you tell me.” Emeck was looking at Cero with the same expression he had just used on Inadar.
“Beautiful blade. Is this Ice Heart? What is wrong with that?” Now everyone but Inadar was looking at Cero with a confused expression.
“What language was she speaking and where did you learn it?” Emeck inquired in astonishment.
“I don’t understand?”
“She was speaking the ancient tongue like you were when you held the blade.” Urake pointed out.
“What are you all doing out here? It’s freezing!” Niman stumbled out of the cave rubbing the sleep out of his eyes.
“Can’t sleep with Arken snoring.” Cero told a half-truth with a smile.
“Now ain’t that the truth. How dangerous would it be to take off now? We might be able to get far enough away before Arken wakes up that he won’t be able to catch up.” Niman’s suggestion was met with laughter.
Chapter Seven: Connections
“I had no idea that there were this many rebels in Underheim.” Taric ducked behind a boulder as a large rock narrowly missed his head.
“Technically, they call themselves Purifiers. Rebels is just what we call them because it is a fitting name for how they started.” Seeroth ducked behind the same boulder to catch his breath.
“Technically? That doesn’t negate the fact that they outnumber us!”
“I should have known that they would be escalating their numbers.” Seeroth peeked back around the boulder at the chaos that surrounded them.
“Then let’s get out there and start reducing their numbers.” Taric tested the straps that held the hammers to his wrists in preparation.
“I'm not as young as I used to be. You get back out there and I will finish catching my breath.” Taric rolled his eyes and leaped out at a Purifier that was trying to sneak past the city watch's lines. After escaping the first assault, the band of dwarves under Seeroth’s command had hurried through the tunnels until they found one that returned to the city. They had more than doubled their party size at the guard post and proceeded to attack the rebels from the back. The surprise attack was a success until more rebels had arrived and surrounded the city guard.
Under Seeroth’s leadership, they had broken free and made for another guard post only to discover that it had already fallen to the rebels. There had been little more than a token force left guarding the prisoners they held. These had originally been the guards defending their post. Once these men were freed, the troop had been forced to abandon the guard post and return to the tunnels. This time the gate hadn’t closed properly and the rebels had followed. They were still under the impression that the Dragon Lord was being protected by the guards.
“Charge!” Seeroth caught his breath and rejoined the fray. A rebel hurled a good sized rock at the advancing dwarf who used his mace to redirect the rock. The surprised rebel that took the rock in his face guard went down bonelessly. The dwarves following Seeroth’s impromptu charge began yelling loud enough to make the walls reverberate. Several of the undisciplined rebels began a disorderly retreat, but enough had been trained in the art of battle that the line held and repulsed the city guards.