Saboteurs

Aedric and Snoe try to destroy the Gorge River Bridge

47.

Saboteurs

 

About half a mile down the road they encountered the sentries.   There was a group of about 12 men; four of them keeping watch up and down the road while the other eight sat around a campfire.

“Halt!” One guard called out, his hand on the hilt of his sword, “Identify Yourselves.”

Aedric unwound his wrap so his mouth was visible and hoped his Elven features weren’t clear to him in the dark.

“We were with three more men who probably passed by already.   We were delayed by some drunken farmers walking down the road a few miles back.”

The guard didn’t seem altogether convinced, but thankfully didn’t seem to notice anything odd about Aedric’s features.

“Well what’s the password, then?”

“Nullus Deus nisi unus.” He replied, trying to sound relaxed in giving it.  

 

It seemed to him that time slowed down to almost a standstill and he held his breath for the duration of the actual momentary pause of the guard.

“Alright, ride on through.” He said, motioning them by.

They hurried past; receiving the sentry’s admonition to watch for the soldiers encamped along the road.   He nodded and they rushed by, heading on down the highway.

 

As the Sentry had warned, the south side of the road was covered by campfires and soldiers sleeping or sitting half-drunk, going through looted plunder from today’s work.  

 

He didn’t dare speak to Snoe as there were too many ears that could hear, but both of them were somewhat taken back by the number of Redburr’s forces encamped on the road.  

 

It was a far larger army than either of them had imagined.   Aedric was now even more determined that if at all possible, they would have to burn the Gorge Bridge.   He wasn’t certain that even with several days’ warning, the forces in Westmark could counter Redburr’s massive army.

 

The line of troops seemed endless and they stretched the entire two mile distance from the sentry check point to the open area where the road to Forge Gate as well as the Gorge Bridge was located.

 

This open space was full of even more soldiers, most of them sleeping or attempting to sleep, though a considerable number of them sat around their campfires talking.

 

It was quickly apparent that a fierce fight had taken place here, for near a gatehouse type of structure that flanked the bridge to Forge Gate were piles of bodies of those of Redburr’s troops who had died in battle.

 

A pair of servants or slaves would periodically come across the bridge carrying another corpse, while on the other side of the bridge, other servants were dumping the dead bodies of the Dwarven defenders off the battlements of Forge Gate’s walls, into the gorge below.

 

Snoe gasped when she saw it, but Aedric glanced back at her, warning her with his eyes to not show too much horror at what she saw, as they had the enemy all about them.  

 

She rode up beside him and touched his arm, then gestured across the bridge where the servants were removing the dead.

Aedric understood what she meant; the device to set the Gorge Bridge on fire was somewhere just inside the wall of Forge Gate.  

He glanced around to look at the long bridge first.   It certainly didn’t look very sturdy; it ran at a slight angle from the east-west path of the Dwarven Highway and hugged the contour of the mountain wall.  

If he hadn’t known about the supports underneath the Gorge Bridge, he would have been very leery to cross it.   It was indeed about three horses wide and at the far end he could now see a large troop of cavalry was occupying the ground there as a camp.

 

Even if they managed to find the device and activate it, would they be able to cross the bridge before it was engulfed in flames?   If they did, then they would face a large force of enraged horsemen without any way to go but through them.

 

Aedric didn’t hesitate, however, and instead he purposely led Snoe toward the Forge Gate Bridge.   She rode beside him now, still keeping her head lowered in the hood as they rode.  

 

Their boldness seemed to attract no attention from the soldiers all about, for it would seem very foolish for two to ride into the very midst of a huge camp of battle-hardened soldiers, so they were not thought to be anything but messengers hurrying to find Sir Redburr to report.

 

They crossed the smaller bridge, horrified to see the wooden planks stained with the blood of fallen warriors.   They passed two sets of slaves carrying dead men across, but both were too focused on their task to really notice.

 

Passing through the gate into the Dwarven garrison, they entered a dark courtyard littered with injured men being cared for by their comrades.   There was not a living Dwarf to be seen anywhere, and Aedric wondered grimly what they had done with the injured dwarves they had encountered.

 

Snoe had her head up now, risking her glowing red eyes being seen as she nervously glanced about trying to find the secret door that Thorm had told her about in his many tales about the place.

 

 

After a few tense moments of searching, Snoe suddenly moved forward toward the left wall and he knew that she had found the secret door.  

Her heat-sensitive Dark Elven eyesight had discerned variations of temperature along a Dwarf-sized section of wall near the front gate.   She rode over to the spot and then quickly dismounted, while Aedric glanced all around to see if they were being watched.

 

Thankfully, the battle weary men were far too preoccupied with their injured and dead to pay close attention to them.

 

Snoe quickly ran her hands over the wall, concealed from sight by her horse.   To Aedric it almost felt like hours passed as she tried to find a way to open the secret door, but finally she pushed on two spots at the same time and the door opened with a click.  

 

Aedric quickly dismounted and went around her horse to join her.   Their well-trained mounts would not wander off unless they were left for a considerable time, and hopefully it wouldn’t take that long to find the igniting device.  

 

Snoe had already slipped through the doorway and he joined her, careful to open the door just enough to slip inside, but equally careful not to close it so they could hear what was going on back in the courtyard.

 

They were in a small room that almost seemed like a sentry post of a castle.   It was solid stone and devoid of any furniture or decorations except for a large torch that seemed to be embedded into the wall about five feet off the floor, and covered with oily rags.   On the floor under the torch lay a popular and extremely common Dwarven flint and steel device; crafted as a single tool and used far and wide as the best and easiest non-magical way to quickly start a fire.

 

Aedric scooped up the flint and steel device and gave it a try.   It easily produced a spark.  

“You are sure this is what Thorm described?”  He asked Snoe.

“Yes.” She answered, but the hesitant look in her eyes made him pause.

“Are you having doubts about whether we should do this?”

“It would be the best way to buy Westmark some time… don’t you think?”

“Yes.   But before I light it, we need to be clear on our escape.  The army will take two days or so by detour, but if we are able to get across the bridge and past Redburr’s cavalry on the other side, we could get to Westmark a day before Redburr’s men arrived and warn them.   It would be very risky, though, between a burning bridge and Redburr’s horsemen.   We could simply ride north, on into the Dwarven Kingdom.”

“Yes, but Westmark wouldn’t be warned in time, most likely.   I don’t want to think of everyone back home dying because of any lack of courage on my part.   I vote that we try to ride through the cavalry across the bridge.”

“I agree.” Aedric nodded, “But we’ve got to be quick about it; if any of them try to block us, you’ve got to ride over them.   Don’t let them stop you, even if we get separated.   I doubt they’ll take any prisoners and our sabotage will not be well received.   We’ve got to commit to riding straight and strong, through any of them that try to hinder us.   Do you understand this will mean riding down any of them in our way?”

“I understand.”  She responded grimly.

 

 

“Alright then - here we go.”   With a deep breath, he clicked the flint and steel together as he dangled the device underneath a piece of cloth hanging off of the torch.

It caught fire so quickly that it surprised both of them.   Immediately there was the roar of fire zipping down the oily torch and from within the wall there came the sound of something igniting.   Suddenly, through small, unseen holes in the stone of the room, smoke began pouring out, filling it quickly.

 

Without a word they both turned and ran from the room.  Quickly they mounted their horses, but their swift movements, as well as the smoke now billowing through the doorway to the secret room, had drawn attention.

 

“What’s going on there?”   A guard, escorting slaves carrying the body of a solider asked as they turned their mounts.

“Fire!”  Aedric yelled, pointing to the smoke, “They’ve set the place on fire!   Get out, quick!”  

He hoped his ruse would shift the blame from them, but he didn’t stay around to see if it was believed.  

He gave Rwalaer the spurs and the horse rushed out of the gatehouse, with Snoe’s steed hot on his heels.  

 

They flew across the Forge Gate Bridge, knocking two servants returning across the bridge for more corpses, out of the way.   The smaller bridge creaked and groaned, but held.   As they made the gate house on the other side, the whole camp had just started stirring and many were running around, pointing to the longer wooden bridge that hugged the side of the mountain wall. 

 

From underneath the bridge, fingers of orange flame were dancing.  

“Come on!” Aedric yelled to Snoe, alarmed at the speed that the bridge was being consumed.  

Chaos reigned in the camp, with men and animals running in every direction, but in the dark, it actually aided their escape.  

 

At the entrance to the bridge over the Forgestone Gorge a foursome of heavily armed guards stood in their path, uncertain what was going on or what to do.   

“Wait! Stop!” One of the guards yelled to them as they bore down upon them.

“Get out of the way!” Aedric screamed, “The bridge is on fire!   We’ve got to get across before it collapses!”

 

Confused by the suddenness of the situation, the stunned guards just jumped out of their way and they roared onto the burning bridge.