54 At the walls

War. War never changes.

That trite video game quote rang through my head as I walked behind the Imperial Guard to the dwarven walls. I almost wished that I had a functional suit of power armor. Marching to almost certain death to defend the mountains of the dwarves, and the future of the dwarven race. If I died here, would I go to the Halls of the Ancestors? Or since I had reincarnated here, would I go back to Limbo for another life in another world? I was beginning to freak out a little.

"Kvalinn." I felt my hand being firmly, yet lovingly, grasped in a familiar hand that was somehow both soft and iron. Bekhi's soft voice whispered into my ears so that no one else could hear. "We're gonna be fine."

"Master Kvalinn?" Delimira's voice came from just behind me. "Are you alright? You seem a bit nervous. Like that time you tested the Rune of Storms."

That was the pot calling the kettle black. I could just barely detect a slight tremor in Delimira's voice. She was very good at concealing it, and pretending she was fine, but she was still nervous about the coming battle.

"We're going to be fine, Delimira. I give you my word as a dwarf, that we will emerge from this battle alive. So that we can continue your training."

"Thanks, Master Kvalinn." Delimira's lips twitched as she felt just a little bit better. And in this tense atmosphere, every little bit helped.

Eventually, the Emperor reached the spot on the walls he had reserved for himself at the arch of the gates. If the gates were breached, then he'd arranged for the equivalent of a fireman's pole to be installed so that he could move to defend the breach in the blink of an eye.

The walls were designed by dwarves for dwarves, so there was no need for me to get a box to look over the parapets. But once I looked out, I almost immediately wished that I couldn't.

It was nearly pitch black out in the caverns, but even still, my dwarven eyes could detect a writhing mass of bodies. Like a zombie horde, but without bad CGI or excessive makeup.

Various muttered swears such as "Ulrik's undies." and "By the gods!" and even a few "Ancestor's beard!" Behki used a couple profanities that have no direct translation in English, but loosely translated to "Oh shit, this is bad, just stuff me in a beer barrel and roll me off the mountain now."

The Dwarven language has so many fun swear words.

The Emperor strode up to the edge of the walls, exuding an air of confidence and imperial majesty as he gazed out into the darkness. "So the time has come at last. When the fates of man and dwarf on this continent are to be decided. May the gods show mercy on us."

He then turned his back to the monsters, and lifted his voice so that as many people as possible in the army could hear his pre-battle speech.

"Men of the Empire. The gods have given us an impossible fight. Goblins, orcs, trolls, ogres, and other monsters, invade our world from the darkness of the mountains. They will not rest until every last one of us is dead. They will attack us with claws that rip, fangs that tear, and magic that consumes. Truly, this is an impossible fight."

A bit of a depressing speech, I thought to myself, please tell me that there is a second half to this. Fortunately for morale, the emperor boomed out the inspiring portion of his speech.

"But how is that different from every day in our empire?" He asked in a voice loud enough to make me glance at the stalagmites in concern. "Every day, you brave men of the empire defend your homes from monsters, your crops from wild animals, your shops from miscreants, and your families from the Zaihanians. This day though, we do not defend, today we bring the fight to the monsters. Our victory here will send the beasts running back to their dark places for a hundred years or more, and your children's children will look to you with admiration and awe. For on this day, you, my brave army, my loyal nobles, and my Imperial Guard, will claim this impossible fight from the laughing jaws of the gods." Drawing his sword, he ran enough magic through it to void the warranty, causing a ten foot tall pillar of flame to spout towards the ceiling for a few seconds. "For the Empire!"

The Imperial Guard drew their swords, letting flames dance on their blades as well, and reflected his battle cry fifty strong. "For the Empire!" The soldiers to the left and right of us mimicked the Imperial Guards, and to the goblins it must have looked like a much more intimidating wave as the war cries rippled down the length of the walls.

It wasn't just human war cries that echoed in the darkness though, dwarven calls of honor rang out from interspersed sections and towers. Not to mention elven cries, but that was just from Jenise and Delimira.

Turning back towards the monsters, the emperor pointed his sword at the rapidly approaching horde and called out another war cry. "Victory!"

At that moment, the grudge throwers (also known as catapults) released their payload over the walls. Normally they just flung rocks with grudges inscribed on them, but among the stones I noticed items with a weird shape. They almost looked like weapons?

BOOM! BOOM! B-B-B-BOOM!

Fireworks? Gunpowder? Cannons? Nope! Nothing so plain and simple. The mysterious objects each exploded with various magical effects as soon as they impacted on the ground. Some caused mini hurricanes, snowstorms and tornadoes. Others caused ice spikes to explode in all directions like a grenade, while others caused simple explosive fireballs. It was like a fantasy movie with a way overfunded special effects department. What the heck had they flung at the monsters?

"Huh, so that's what those weapons did." Bekhi calmly commented from next to me. "No wonder Elder Thrikrondromm always got so mad at you when you made experimental weapons back in school."

Those were my school weapons!? No wonder they got locked up without ever getting tested.

"Master Kvalinn, did you make all those?" Delimira asked in awe, her eyes shining in excitement at my destructive prowess.

I was about to answer frankly when I felt an intense gaze lock onto me. Glancing ahead, I saw that the emperor had somehow overheard our conversation, and was closely listening in to make sure his own weapons were safe.

"I made those when I was a reckless child." I hastily explained. "Don't worry, your majesty. My current weapons almost never explode, and I didn't make anything that's at risk of exploding for you or your men."

"Hmmm." The emperor looked between me and his sword with mild suspicion in his eyes, but in the end he just shrugged and took up a combat stance in readiness for the goblins.

The Imperial Guard took up ready positions as well. Their fully encasing steel armor seemed to glow against the magical flames that danced on their blades. My party did the same, with their own weapons.

A few minutes later, the goblins crashed into the wall like a tsunami onto a breakwall. With that, the Battle of Thindarohm was begun.