"Not the ideal weapon," Ferros allowed, "but better than nothing."
Ariakas had to agree. He led the dwarf back to the secret stair and started climbing to the ground level. "I heard a bunch of 'em in the main entry," he told the dwarf. "Hopefully they'll have gone on to other things by now."
His heart fell as they reached the first exit, however, and plainly heard the boisterous shouting of ogres beyond the door. He slumped against the wall, memo shy;ries of the lady dancing through his mind. Fleetingly he thought of pushing the dwarf into the hall of ogres, but he knew that would create no useful diversion whatso shy;ever. He had to get Ferros out of the tower, get the ogres to chase him in pursuit.
"Have you seen where the drawbridge mechanism is?" asked Ferros Windchisel.
"Yes-the stairway goes right past the winch room."
"Well, if you feel like taking a chance, I'm willing to take a bigger one," offered the dwarf. "Let's go have a look at it."
Wondering what the stocky fellow had in mind, Aria shy;kas led him up the three spirals to the drawbridge room. "Last time I checked," the human warned in a strained whisper, "I saw two ogres standing guard in there."
"Only two?" replied Ferros Windchisel brightly. "That shouldn't be much of a problem."
Ariakas, in spite of himself, liked the hearty dwarf. "How'd a resourceful fellow such as yourself get tan shy;gled up with these scum buckets?" he asked.
"I had a que-some important business that brought me into the Khalkists," Ferros explained. "And then I didn't pay enough attention to routine precautions. Bastards took me prisoner while I was sleeping," he admitted ruefully.
Soon they reached the alcove leading to the draw shy;bridge room, and Ariakas carefully opened the concealed door and pressed aside the tapestry.
The two ogres remained. One looked out a slot in the wall where a supporting chain ran to the raised draw shy;bridge; the other was grumbling and pacing across the small floor space. The shadows and pillars obscured the rest of the room from view. The heavy door connecting the room to the rest of the tower stood open, but they could hear no sounds of other ogres on this level.
Drawing back the tapestry, the human lowered his voice to a faint whisper. "You close and bolt the door- that'll keep the rest of 'em from joining in. I'll try to get one ogre in the first rush. We can both finish the second one off."
Ferros nodded. They pulled the tapestry aside again, and signaling his advance by a touch on the dwarf's shoulder, Ariakas charged into the room. His sword drawn, he raced toward the ogre who looked out the wall opening.
The dwarf darted to the door, and Ariakas heard it slam, then thunk as the catch-bar fell into place. The human then cursed as his own plan went awry.
The pacing ogre uttered a grunt of astonishment at the first sign of attack, and the sound was enough of a warning to the warrior's intended target. That brutish creature whirled from the window and brought up a knotted club. Ariakas snarled as his blade bit deep into the tough wood, his blow effectively, if crudely, parried. So much for the surprise attack.
He heard a growl of rage as the second ogre moved up behind him, but he could spare no attention for this new attack.
The ogre in front of him yanked its club free of the sword and raised the weapon menacingly. Ariakas watched the club begin a plummeting descent toward his skull. Only when the monster had committed all of its muscle-power to the attack did the man dart to the side. The weapon struck the floor with a shattering of flagstones just a few inches to the side of the lunging warrior.
The ogre emitted a strangled grunt as Ariakas drove his sword deep into the monster's sagging belly. The beast then howled in outrage and pain, staggering backward, but the warrior kept up the attack. With shy;drawing the gore-streaked blade, he thrust again, pierc shy;ing the ogre's thigh and felling the monster like a toppling tree trunk. One quick thrust to the neck fin shy;ished the job.
Whirling, he raised his weapon to face the second ogre, only to gape in surprise at the sight before him. The great beast lay on its back on the floor, kicking and flailing with its massive arms and legs. There was no sign of Ferros Windchisel, and Ariakas wondered momentarily if the dwarf had fled, cowardlike, back into the stairwell. At least Ferros had slammed and bolted the door. But what could be choking the ogre, he wondered.
Then he noted the necklace of iron links drawn tight around the ogre's throat. The bloated face grew purple and quickly darkened to a deep blue. The creature's eyes bulged out, and a dark blue tongue protruded pathetically, a fetid wheeze coming from the throat. The huge body was racked by an involuntary shudder. Finally it collapsed, dead.
"Hey-move this son-of-a-musk-ox off me, will you?" came a grunting voice.
Grinning in relief and amazement, Ariakas pulled on one of the strangled ogre's tree-trunk legs.
Ferros Windchisel, lying on his back underneath the ogre, pushed with his powerful arms and quickly scrambled free. He unwrapped his chain from the ogre's neck and looked at it reflectively.
"It's an old dwarven tradition," he announced with a smug grin. "If we don't have a weapon, we make a weapon out of whatever we have."
"That one worked damned well," Ariakas allowed, impressed.
They took a moment to listen at the door, and were relieved to discover that their brief fight had apparently passed without notice from the rest of the tower. Then both turned to the chains and gears linked to the mas shy;sive bridge.
"Here's my idea," said Ferros, completing an inspec shy;tion of the device and nodding. "You want a diversion, and I want to escape. It won't do either of us any good if they catch me a hundred feet from the gate, will it?"
"Go on," Ariakas said warily.
Ferros crossed to the strangled ogre and pulled the brute's weapon from its belt. The two-foot blade had served as a giant dagger to the monster, but for the dwarf it would be a serviceable sword. Next Ferros hoisted the length of chain, with its ring still attached. He gestured out the narrow window, and Ariakas saw that the drawbridge support chain emerged from the window to be secured by a heavy eye-bolt near the very end of the bridge.
"I'll hook this ring around that bolt-before you start to lower the drawbridge," the dwarf explained. "That way I can hang onto the chain, on the far side of the bridge, and they won't see me go down-at least, not right away."
"Perhaps they won't see you at all," Ariakas coun shy;tered. "What kind of a diversion is that?"
"You are the suspicious type! But wait 'til I finish. When you get the bridge down most of the way, those buggers will try to climb out on it-if I know ogres, and I do. You've got to give me a few minutes. Hold the bridge above the ground, too far for an ogre to leap. I'll swing that chain back and forth and get me a jump that'll carry me to the far side. The ogres're sure to see me then-and even if they don't, I'll give a yell after a couple of minutes. At that point, you can let the drawbridge down all the way, and I guarantee they'll come after me for all they're worth."
"How do you know they won't send a couple after you and leave the rest here to keep an eye on me?" demanded Ariakas, immediately distrustful of the dwarf's plan. "How do I know you'll shout-what's to prevent you from disappearing into the dark and leav shy;ing me here with a tower full of ogres?"
"You have my word. I'll call out," replied Ferros, stiffly. He scowled at Ariakas, apparently for the first time wondering if he should trust the human. "And as for the former, I told you-I know ogres. There's no love lost between their folk and mine. If they suspect they're about to be humiliated by a dwarf, they'll do every shy;thing they can to stop him-me."
Ariakas pretended to study the chain, the draw shy;bridge, and the winches, but all the time his mind was racing through the convolutions of the plan. He didn't like it. Once the dwarf was dangling within reach of the far precipice, Ariakas lost control of events, and he was forced to place his trust in this stranger. True, the dwarves he'd known had generally been a forthright lot. But that was no guarantee as to the veracity of this particular individual. And Ariakas hated a plan that depended upon someone else.