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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Cerulean_Wings" data-source="post: 3995539" data-attributes="member: 55060">Here we go, one more chapter done <img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f642.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=":)" title="Smile    :)"  data-smilie="1"data-shortname=":)" />  I can't believe I finished it in 2 hours, editing and all. Don't take that as a sign of "rushness", but rather "swift writing" 8)Enjoy thyselves, readers <img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f600.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=":D" title="Big grin    :D"  data-smilie="8"data-shortname=":D" />Chapter 11A dwarf at the pierReldo the Mighty snorted, a bit irritated by the news brought by his followers. “You're sure?” he asked the nearest man, whom like the others, was cloaked in a dark shroud, covering his face. “They wanted to meet with me by the pier?”.The man nodded and pointed forward, in the direction of the pier itself, where several ships of different sizes and styles were docked at night. “That way, Reldo. Our informants double-checked the whole deal, and it matches the information they stole from Kashtar”. Shaking his head left and right, not to deny the man's claim but simply to feel his three braids bounce on his back, Reldo moved ahead a couple of paces to get a better view of the place. Since the area was barely illuminated, with a lone lantern placed on a wooden post ever twenty feet or so, beings with normal sight would be hard pressed to spot anything outside the radius of illumination. Reldo, being a dwarf, didn't have such problems, with his innate darkvision allowing him to gaze upon the port as if it was broad daylight, or at least much more brighter than what it actually was.Some things came into shape, mainly the bodies of his other fellows, each of them hiding around behind crates, benches, and even small houses. There wasn't anyone around at the time, but one never knew when the Honor Guard would come a'calling to ruin things for people like Reldo.“I don't see anything save for you guys” the dwarf harrumphed, arms folded across his muscular chest covered in hides. “If we're at the right time and all, then why aren't they here?”.From the shadows, another one of the men approached, silent like a snake. “We found them”.Reldo looked at him, not looking very pleased. “Uh-huh” the dwarf grunted, expecting more.The man hesitated for an instant before taking a step closer to his leader and whispering “Below the pier, by the beach that lays right under it”.“How much water we talking about?”. Shrugging, the sneak made a vague movement with one hand. “Enough to soak your heels, at times, but no more”.  Pondering this, Reldo looked in the direction of the pier, where the people that had arranged the meeting were laying on wait for him. “How many?” he practically barked, impatient.“Four” the man replied quickly. “The mercenary, the squire, a  blond soldier, and the witch woman”.“Uh-huh” Reldo grunted, sounding satisfied. “Just by themselves, huh? These boyos have some idiotic ideas up their sleeves, in my opinion”.The two men that were stationed near him chuckled, wholly agreeing with the warrior's comment.“We going for them, or what?” one of them dared ask.Reldo abruptly turned his head to face him, a scowl formed on his rough dwarven features. “Not 'we', fool, but 'me'” he pointed at his own chest for emphasis. “Since there's four, I can talk to them, and you fellas come to me if I whistle”.Nodding quickly, the two men moved ahead to pass the message amongst the other spies. They disappeared as quickly as they had come into view, even to the dwarf with his darkvision. “Fools, all of them” Reldo complained rather loudly as he began his walk towards the end of the pier in search for a way down. He'd jump, if it came to that.He had reached the edge of the wooden floor, which creaked every now and then rather ominously. The dwarf was confronted with the decision of simply plummeting down at least ten feet down to the beach, or finding another way to descend that didn't break his neck in the process. His pondering was rudely interrupted by the barking of a dog, situated a mere five feet from him to his side. Reldo slowly turned to look down at the haggard-looking street dog with a mean expression on his face. “What do you want, doggie?” he asked.The animal's response came in the form of another defiant bark directed at him, which only annoyed Reldo even more. “Graaah!” he growled fiercely. “Away with you, you stupid mutt, before I take a bite off your legs!”. This tactic seemed to have worked, for the dog whined lamely and turned tail, heading in the opposite direction of the pier.“Heh, stupid doggie” Reldo said with satisfaction. As if to spite him, the dog turned around when it was quite a distance away to bark at him twice before finally running away. Grumbling curses regarding the dog's mother, the burly warrior starting heading down to the beach beneath the pier, one step at a time, half-sliding, half-jumping down the sandy slope that was next to where the pier ended. All the spies were positioned above the pier, as planned, while Reldo took it upon himself to do the talking with the four pesky fellows. Or for that matter, breaking some bones, whichever came first or Reldo felt like doing.---oOo---It was dark beneath the pier's wooden floor, and what little could be seen by the beach was thanks to the moonlight. The water moved lazily, advancing and retreating on the sand in cycles, keeping the part nearest to the edge of the water constantly wet. Since the area under the pier was about fifteen feet wide, there wasn't much room for many people to stand there and not get their feet wet. In this case, it was Gilliam's boots that were soaked in seawater, but the hardened fighter didn't complain.Gilliam was resting his hands on the hilt of his brand new bastard swords. They had been crafted out of a tough metal, adamantine, and were etched in magical runes that made the blades even sharper. His chain shirt was a completely different one altogether, since the smithy had deemed the old one too much trouble for very little gain. The new one sported not a single breach in its expensive mithral rings, the light but resistant metal allowing for more flexibility, while offering the same protection of steel or iron. “What if he doesn't come?” came the serene voice of  Kahleen from behind him. She was fifteen feet behind Gilliam, her dark wood bow hanging from her shoulder.Vincent responded for him, positioned to the left of the mercenary. “He will. He'll want revenge for what we did to him and his men”.What was done for Gilliam's armor was duplicated with Vincent's full plate, since the metal layers had been rendered useless thanks to Reldo's violent beating. The squire had gotten a new suit of armor, this one being dark blue steel, with the symbol of House Kashtar engraved on the entire chest plate, rather than a small area to the side. His spear's tip was changed to one made of adamantine, since the old one was beginning to dull after so many years of use.“Indeed” Darius commented, leaning against the wall of sand to his left. The soldier was to the left of the other two men, but placed a couple of feet away, in between the shaman and them.Thanks to the mercenary's insistence (and a bit of exaggeration), Darius had obtained a magically enhanced breastplate from the armory, and the gray steel had indigo lines running diagonally through it, forming intricate patterns. The rest of the equipment he had received wasn't as expensive, but the sword, spear and shield were all made with excellent craftsmanship, each bearing the symbol of the Honor Guard.Kahleen didn't need anything else, as she was content with her bow and armor, and thus remained equipped the same. The shaman looked slightly tense, as if on edge, and the other three appeared no less stressed by the current situation. So many things could go wrong, and there was only so much they could do to prevent them. Making contingency plans for everything was sheer madness, if not outright impossible.  With only the sound of the waves to give them company, everyone was startled when they heard a noise from up ahead,  something that resembled a boulder running down a mountain at full speed. The small seismic movement was accompanied by a “Ouch, god damned rock, son of a...” and a litany of curses that went on for almost half a minute.“Our guest has received our invitation” Vincent observed, shifting in place, clearly nervous. His voice didn't betray his inner turmoil, however.“Remember, I'll do the talking first” Gilliam reminded the rest, not even bothering to look at his companions for reassurance. He was tense as well, and had to flex his hands constantly to prevent them from twitching.Although no one was looking in her direction, Kahleen nodded and assumed a ready position, although she didn't take out her bow.Darius merely stood up straight and stretched his arm muscles. “Let's do this. For Mathias, Janir, and Lazarus” he said with conviction.It wasn't more than five seconds after he had said those words when Reldo's figure appeared in front of them, almost fifteen feet away, right were the 'ceiling' of the pier started for him, and two wooden beams supported the planks. Two other such beams were placed behind Kahleen, complimenting the first pair.“Well, boyos, I'm here” Reldo announced with glee. His twin morning stars were resting on his back, as always, but he didn't make a move for them, even though there were four armed people a few feet from him.His expression changed to a frown in a blink, and so did his tone of voice. “We got your message, that you wanted information from me”. The dwarf folded his arms, assuming a challenging pose. “Here I am. What do you want, boyos?”.“Your head on a pike” someone whispered, and everyone could be fairly certain it had to be Darius. Reldo merely snorted at this, and didn't seem to take offense.“Who sent you to ambush us, Reldo?” Gilliam asked loud and clear. The dwarf took three steps forward, placing himself under the pier's floor, before responding.“Someone worth following, boyo. Why? It makes a difference, his or her name?” the dwarf asked sardonically. The mercenary resisted rolling his eyes for the time being. “Yes, yes it does” he answered. “Was it House Grugarch, or maybe House Ganellar?”.  Vincent's armor clanked as the squire moved on the spot, taking his foot out from a sand hole.“Maybe” came the response from Reldo “Maybe not”. He shrugged, as if it didn't really matter.“Are you going to tell us something, or not?” Darius burst out angrily. “We didn't arrange this meeting in the middle of the night, under the pier, to have a merry dwarf give us ambiguous and vague responses to our questions!”.This seemed to amuse Reldo even further. “Ho ho! So the soldier of the Honor Guard thinks he can intimidate Reldo the Mighty into responding?” the dwarf laughed, taking more steps forward as he did. “Fat chance, boyo, not happening”.Suddenly, Darius smiled. “On the contrary, I think it's very possible” he said.Reldo raised an eyebrow. “Really, now? And how do you plan to make me tremble in panic?”.Vincent bent down to the ground and picked up a wooden object. “With this” he proclaimed, holding it out for Reldo to see clearly.The dwarf blinked: it was a piece of wood that had once been part of a structure of sorts, like a plank, or a crate, among other things. This one had a curved, even surface, and was two feet long.“Y'know, even if you threaten me with a crossbow aimed at my throat, I wouldn't tell you a thing. But a piece of wood?” he chuckled, amused. “Not happening”.“Guess where it came from” Gilliam insisted, a smile forming on his face as well. “It's from an object close to you” the shaman hinted with a placid smile of her own.Reldo was intrigued, and had to think about the matter for a brief moment, his eyebrows pressed down in a frown. “Let's see here, a curved piece of wood...” he mumbled, looking around for the item it had been part of. When he did, Reldo practically froze in place and his mouth fell open in a silent scream.The piece of wood had the exact shape of the support beams of the pier, and they were all exactly underneath of it.“Nah, you didn't” Reldo began to say in a weak tone, his face paling in the moonlight. “Oh yes, with the four of them” Darius reassured him, still smiling like a madman. “Here's another chunk of a support beam” he added, throwing another curved piece at the dwarf, who merely stared at it in horror.“You couldn't have!” he declared with a finger pointing at Darius. “If you had weakened the pillars, they would've collapsed long ago, before I came, and you certainly didn't when I was going to get here!”Gilliam moved his arms to the sides of his chest. “You're smarter than you look, Reldo, I'll give you that much” he admitted. “But, we had a certain someone alert us of your presence, right before you came”.Reldo looked perplexedly at Gilliam. “What” he said. “There was no one up there besides my men, me, and that bloody dog-”. The dwarf stopped his ranting when he realized who had alerted the four of his arrival.“How did you train a bloody street dog to work for you?!” the dwarf, now angry, bellowed at them, turning his head to face each of them, looking for an answer.“That was my doing” the shaman informed the dwarf in her serene voice. “But I didn't train the dog; I merely requested his help for the time being. His bark was the cue for us to weaken the beams”.“You-you planned this? This whole thing?!” Reldo stuttered, flabbergasted beyond belief.“Quite the plan, yes?” Gilliam responded with a shrug. “In any case, we really don't care for your life anymore, since you're not going to tell us what we want to know”.“That's right: your life, Reldo, and the one of your men, they are all forfeit” Darius added triumphantly.Vincent looked up from his position. “And they're all standing above us, I take it?” he inquired, observantly. “That's too bad, for they'll crash down to their deaths, or crippling wounds, with some luck, once we bash any one of these beams”.Reldo seemed on the verge of desperation, like a cornered man with no escape, surrounded by crossbows and swords all pointing in his direction. Instead of screaming in terror, however, the wild dwarf gritted his teeth fiercely.“You won't get anything out of me, boyos. The information is safe with me, and I'm willing to take it to the grave if need be” he stated in a cold, firm voice.“BOYOS, RUN, THE PIER IS COLLAPSING!!!” the dwarf shouted at the top of his lungs, facing the wooden ceiling. It took a second for the men above to react and make a wild run away from the pier.After the shout was done, silence embraced the beach where they were at. Reldo truly seemed ready to die for his cause.“Thank you” Darius said to him, suddenly.Reldo blinked twice, glancing over to the soldier, who had just thanked him.“What for?”.Darius put a face as if to say that it was fairly obvious. “For sending your men away. Now you don't have anyone to protect you”.The dwarf spat on the nearby sand “We're going to be crushed by the pier, boyo, as soon as I knock over one of these beams! You should be worried about your protection!”Not one of the four companions looked remotely troubled by this proclamation. In fact, they all appeared to be expecting such a reaction.“The beams are fine, my dear dwarf” Kahleen reassured him. “The pieces of wood we showed you were merely planks we found laying around”.“How in the Hells did you shape them like the beams, then?!” Reldo demanded, even more furious than before.“Simple. With the help of the spirits, I changed the essence of the wood” she explained, undaunted.  Even someone like Reldo seemed to comprehend this, but the dwarf reacted in the most peculiar way: he laughed. And as abruptly as it had begun, he stopped, displaying a look of deadly intent as he drew a vial from his belt and downed its contents. The effect of the potion was obvious within moments, for Reldo's body began to grow in size, until the dwarf towered over everyone else, reaching a height of almost nine feet. His equipment, weapons included, had increased in size as well. The four were confident seconds ago, but now this change had potentially affected the tide of the battle.Reldo took his two morning stars out with each hand, and as he did, the light of reason faded from his eyes, leaving only survival and battle instincts within his mind.With a primal roar of rage and defiance, Reldo the Mighty charged at the four companions, his every step thundering on the sand.</blockquote>

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