As if on cue, the burly smith Kellik came scurrying around the stone chimney of the forge. “Bradok,” he called ahead. “There’s some trouble at the barricade. You’d better get down there.”
Bradok glanced back at Perin as he descended the narrow ramp. “Go ahead, get the women and children on board,” he ordered.
The barricade had been erected a little ways from the shop, in a narrow part of the cavern. Almost from the day Bradok arrived to help with the shipbuilding, Kellik had joined in and made the defense of the barricade his main responsibility.
As Bradok approached, he saw a knot of ragged, armed dwarves, each gripping his weapon. On the far side of the tangle of metal and wood, he could make out a small group of dwarves milling about.
“Much!” Bradok said when he got close enough to make out faces.
“There you are, lad,” the old dwarf said from the far side of the barricade. “Am I glad to see you!”
“What are you doing here?” Bradok asked.
“I … well, if it isn’t too late, we’ve come to join you,” Much said abashedly.
Behind Much, Bradok recognized the delegation of hill dwarves who had petitioned the council on his first day. The tall, red-haired woman who he had noticed then, and still vividly remembered, stepped up beside Much and addressed Bradok.
“We are believers,” she said simply, lowering her eyes humbly. “We ask that you grant us sanctuary.”
“It isn’t much of a sanctuary,” Bradok replied honestly. “This barricade won’t hold long if the city guard attacks.”
“We know all about you and prefer to take our chances with you,” she said, raising her eyes to meet his. “If you’ll have us.”
A hand dropped on Bradok’s arm, and he turned to see Silas’s son, Chisul.
“We’re already low on food,” Chisul whispered to Bradok.
“I don’t think a few more will matter much after today,” Bradok whispered back gruffly. To Kellik he said, “Let them in.”
“Thank you,” the woman said. “My name is Rose, Rose Steelspar. We met before.”
“I remember,” Bradok said.
Rose put her arm around a solid-looking dwarf with a handsome face and Bradok’s heart sank. “This is Tal,” she said. “Our village is too poor to have a priest, so Tal trained as a doctor. He’s well-versed in the healing arts.”
“Welcome,” Bradok said as Rose, Tal, and a considerable number of other dwarves close behind them squeezed through the barricade.
As they passed, Bradok turned back questioningly to Much.
“I’m no believer,” Much declared, staring at his feet. “But I have thought about it long and hard. I can’t be a part of what the council is doing. Will you have me stand with you?”
Bradok smiled and slapped the dwarf on the shoulder. “Of course, you old badger,” Bradok said. “I can’t think of anyone I’d rather have at my side.”
“You’d better be quick about letting him in, then,” Chisul said, gesturing up the passage.
Bradok turned to see, in the distance, a large group of dwarves moving toward them. Even with that gap, Bradok could clearly make out the blue tabards of the city guard.
“Close up the barricade,” Bradok yelled, pulling Much through.
“Every dwarf to their station,” Kellik yelled, shouldering his massive warhammer.
“Where should we deploy?” Rose asked, swiftly pulling a short sword from beneath her cloak. The other hill dwarves were also producing a variety of weapons from belts and packs.
Kellik gestured toward the dwarves lining the barricade. “Just find a hole and fill in,” he said.
As the newcomers scrambled to do that, Bradok studied the oncoming force. At least half the city guard seemed to be among the contingent, as well as several members of the council. He spotted Mayor Arbuckle and Jon Bladehook in the lead.
“Bradok,” Mayor Arbuckle called when he’d drawn near enough to see beyond the barricade, but outside of any hand-thrown missile range.
“Right here, Mayor,” Bradok said, coming forward and gesturing so Arbuckle could see him clearly.
“What’s going on over there, Bradok? We’re trying to capture some escaped believers and priests. They came this way.”
“No believers over here,” Bradok said good-naturedly, provoking a ripple of laughter from the dwarves surrounding him.
“C’mon, you don’t belong over there, Bradok,” Arbuckle said, trying to sound conciliatory. “You have your father’s legacy to uphold. You’re no believer; you’re one of us. Lay down your weapons and come back,” the mayor coaxed. “Come back and all will be forgotten.”
“I can’t do that,” Bradok said evenly. “I know what you’re planning. I can’t let you murder or even arrest these people. We don’t want a fight, but we’re ready for one, if that’s your pleasure.”
“Who’s talking of murder?” Arbuckle said uncomfortably. He held his hands up, cautioning Bladehook and the city guard to hold their positions without advancing. “The day is gone, the priests have fled the temple in fear now that their fraud has been exposed. The believers have been proved wrong. We can let bygones be bygones. There is no reason to fear, nor any reason to fight.”
“Listen to him, son,” Sapphire’s voice rang out as she pushed her way through the guardsmen. “I’ve talked to the mayor. He’s even agreed to restore your council seat. Everything will return to normal. You just have to come out. Now stop this nonsense. There are no gods, and there never were.”
Bradok made a show of examining his watch. “I count five more hours till this day is done,” he said. “I’m busy right now. If you want to come back later-”
“There won’t be a later, Axeblade,” Bladehook shouted, no longer able to contain himself, as he stepped up next to the mayor. “This charade ends here and now …one way or another.”
“We are determined to live as free dwarves,” Bradok spat, his temper flaring. “And if necessary we will die as free dwarves.”
“You will die for nothing!” Bladehook screamed, spraying spattle into his beard. “There are no gods! There is no Reorx! There-”
Bradok never knew if Bladehook finished his sentence. At that very moment, a shudder shook the ground so violently that he was hurled from his feet. He tried to rise again, but the ground bucked heavily a second time, throwing him onto his back. A rumbling roar swept the tunnel, followed by the tortured grinding of rocks being torn from the beds of centuries.
Kellik’s rough hands grabbed Bradok and hauled him to his feet.
“Look out!” someone yelled.
Bradok didn’t have to be warned. Up the tunnel, behind Arbuckle and the guards, he could see what was happening in the central cavern of Ironroot. The shaft of sunlight from the overhead crystal shone down on the statue of Argus Gingerbeard; then the light abruptly vanished and a chunk of crystal and rock the size of a building fell on Argus, crushing the statue.
The sight shook Bradok more than anything else he had experienced up to that time. To him Ironroot had seemed eternal, like the mountain itself. However, as he watched, a rain of rocks and debris poured down, obliterating everything beneath it.
“This is it!” Bradok yelled as a gout of dust whirled down the tunnel and washed over him. “Hurry! Get to the boat!”
“Wait!” a voice shrieked through the noise.
Bradok turned to see his mother, struggling to rise from where she had fallen. The ground was shaking and cracking. He didn’t see Mayor Arbuckle and Bladehook; they had vanished amid the dust and landslide.
“Son!” she called as their eyes met. “Please! Take me with you.”
Bradok hesitated. It lasted only a second, but that was enough. A rock the size of a cart shook loose from the ceiling and landed on top of Sapphire, flattening her.
“Good-bye, Mother,” he said softly, before he turned and ran.
The hill dwarves and the believers raced ahead of him. Rose Steelspar’s blazing hair flew like a banner for him to follow. In the distance, he could see Perin busily helping a crowded file of dwarves up the narrow ramp and into the boat.