Chapter 1 A new Life

On and on in the cold night air did the dwarven prisoners chop and hack away at the mining tasks that had been assigned to them. No complaints were tolerated by the Trollikan masters. The Trollikans were the sworn enemies of the dwarves. Each Trollikan was on average eight feet tall with tree trunk like legs and tree branch like arms. They smelled horrid and their hideous and disfigured faces had been the source of many a nightmare. On and on their whips cracked but the proud dwarves refused to cry out in pain. Then something happened. As Ugtharg the leader of the Trollikan captors was bending over to whip one of the dwarves he suddenly froze staring in disbelief at his chest where three arrows were buried. He groaned and fell to the ground with a loud thud. The other Trollikans grabbed their weapons and charged wildly into the dark looking to kill their leaders murderer and one by one they were felled by the hidden assailant or assailants as it was unclear just how many archers may be hidden in the dark. The smallest Trollikan of this party a 7 foot creature by the name of Smashem decided if he was going to die he would take the filthy dwarves with him and picked the chained dwarves up all 5 of them and started to raise them to his mouth so he could eat them when he felt a sharp pain in his leg as an arrow tore into his calf causing him to drop the dwarves in a rather painful way. Before the Trollikan could run off as he was planning he was hit in the sides and the chest with at least 3 arrows in each spot. The Trollikan crashed to the ground nearly flattening the dwarves under his bulk. Out of the dark came three archers of rather slight build and average height lead by what appeared to be a man of around 6 foot with long blonde hair and a well trimmed blonde beard to match. The man dashed over to the dwarves to see if they were still alive while his comrades searched the bodies of the seven dead Trollikans looking for the keys to the dwarves chains. One of the smaller archers ran nimbly over to the dwarves with the keys in his hands and set about unchaining the dwarves who groaned and stretched as they were all unchained respectively. The man glanced at the dwarves then spoke in a suprisingly soft voice in the dwarves language. "Are there others of your party?" He questioned to which the dwarves sadly said no. One dwarf in particular the highest ranking dwarf among the prisoners and a former military commander stepped boldly towards the man. "Who are you and why did you save us?" He demanded. The man chuckled with amusement before replying. "Not a very kind way to thank your rescuers, very well I am Therwalt a ranger of sorts and my companions are Elwar, Selkin and Arna they are elven rangers I suppose you could say. And we saved you because no living being deserves slavery especially to brutes like these" The dwarves spat on the ground around the dead Trollikans. "We can't stay here the rest of their group will be along soon we have to move" Piped up Selkin the red haired elf. Hesitantly the dwarves followed their rescuers as they practically sprinted through the countryside making it unclear to the dwarves just exactly where they were going. After what seemed like an entire day the little group arrived in a clearing in the woods. "Set up the tents Elwar, Arna go fetch some more water" Directed Therwalt. The unofficial dwarven leader stepped forward again. "What is this place an elven village?" Therwalt chuckled. "No my friend this is merely where we are camping tonight the elves of my party and I have no masters we are outcasts..but before we continue talking will you at the least give me your name good dwarf?" The dwarf glared suspiciously at the smooth talking ranger before replying "Felkin is my name former commander of the Uru clan" The ranger stared curiously at the proud little dwarf. "Have you reason to fear your rescuers?" He questioned. The dwarf spat violently at his feet. "I need no help from elves" He barked at the amused ranger. One of the other dwarves stepped forward now a dwarve with a long running scar going from eye to chin on his right side and with a sandy colored beard. "Felkin this man and his companions rescued us from the Trollikans we owe it to him to at least let him explain his plans for us" Reasoned this new dwarf. A staredown between the two dwarves insued but was broken soon after when Felkin addressed Therwalt. "Very well ranger explain your plans and we will determine if we have reason to fear" The ranger jumped around and clapped his hands. "Excellent! Follow me over to the creek where we can converse peacefully with each other come along come along" After saying this the ranger danced his way over to the creek and sat cross legged on a tree stump. "Come along dwarf come along" He called. Somewhat reluctantly Felkin followed after Therwalt but not before he made sure to box the sandy haired dwarf's ears. The proud dwarf sat on a log almost directly across from the ranger. The dwarf merely stared at the ranger awaiting the ranger's explanations which the ranger happily obliged to divulging. "Here is my plan, I shall send Arna away with Elwar to the Trollikan cave to fetch whatever items the scum took from you and your kinsmen and after that you may leave if you wish though I prefer you join my companions and I in protecting this forest from evil scum like the Trollikans and the like, no tricks, no betrayal, just teamwork you can even mine your own homes out of the caves nearby" Felkin sat on his log mulling over the rangers words as the ranger sat quite silently on his stump an amused and joyful expression across his face. Felkin returned to his kinsmen some hours later to announce to them Therwalt's intentions and Felkin's own decision considering he was the senior dwarf. "The ranger requested we join his party and help defend the forest...I have decided at least for the present time that we shall join him at least until I can decide what else to do..we have been given the caves nearby as our shelter free for us to mine to our needs... Each night I will post a guard just in case of treachery." Felkin announced. The sandy haired dwarf started pelting the senior dwarf with questions which again got his ears boxed. Dinner around the campfire consisted of fruit and fish and a type of bread. The lack of mead caused the dwarves to grumble so they settled with a fruity drink that the elven rangers had made. Arna and Elwar soon returned that night followed by several horses with the dwarve's personal things loaded onto them along with a few odds and ends essentially scavenged from the Trollikans. The dwarve's armor and weapons along with their mining tools were returned to them, a cask of mead was given them as was several blankets. The dwarves wandered along to the caves designated for them also carrying firewood and several torches. Bedding areas were hastily made as was a campfire and the sandy haired dwarf earned first watch that night. Reluctantly the other four dwarves fell asleep. Shortly after midnight the sandy haired dwarf was replaced by a barrel chested red haired dwarf who was replaced by Felkin. To make things a little clearer the sandy haired dwarf is Felgrin the barrel chested dwarf is Adbar then the two other dwarves apart from Felkin are Germain and Renal. In the morning the dwarves hobbled out of their cave to eat a breakfast with their new allies. Therwalt however had different plans and when he saw the dwarves he dashed over to them yelling "Goblins! Goblins! Goblins in the eastern wood grab your weapons we have to move. The dwarves grumbled but trundled off to arm themselves while the elves trotted over on their magnificent horses. "Go ahead and slow them if you can the dwarves and I will try and come from behind now go" Therwalt instructed the elves who galloped off into the majestic woods.

Reviews

[B. Chuck]

I get sort of a Lord of The Rings feel when I read this. It's really well written, I would say you should try and seperate it with paragraphs though. That makes it alot easier to read. I would love for you to check out my story "Kuron no toshi" if you get the chance, it's not anything like this but it is fantasy. I haven't received any reviews on it so you could be the first.

[BrandonTheEnigma]

Thank you for the review my intention is actually to become the next Tolkien so very perceptive. I blend Tolkien with John Flanagan in the sense of fantasy with reality aspects.