Elvenshore: 01 - The Dwarves of Elvenshore by Clark Graham Read Free Book Online

they can see if anything comes towards the fire.” Sarchise said.
    The hunters did their job well and the army feasted on wild rabbit and venison.  There was no central bonfire like in the Great Hall but each unit had its own small cooking fire. Guards were placed in all directions.  The plains were fairly safe from giant spiders and razor bears, because they did not usually wander this far from Westwood, as long as there was plenty to eat in the woods.  In time of famine they would look for food all over the five kingdoms.
    The dwarves did not sleep as well as the humans did on the soft ground and they were not as refreshed as they were the day before. Nevertheless the army moved out at sunrise.  There were no songs coming out of the dwarf warriors on this day, or the next two.

 
South Fort
     
    The guard of the southernmost outpost of South Fort saw the dust cloud from a distance.  He had been told to look for Sarchise and his Royal Scouts as they were late in reporting. There was more than a band of scouts coming from the amount of dust that they were kicking up. He watched them for a while to gauge their speed and the numbers then climbed down from his small wooden watchtower and ran to his captain at the outlying post.  There was a series of posts, which supported between five and six watchtowers around South Fort. They would never be taken unawares like the Four Kingdoms had. 
    Commander Ives watched the out of breath guardsman running up.  He listened to his report then followed him back to the tower to see for himself.  Ives looked at the distance.  He had kee ner vision than most humans because somewhere in his distant past he was part elf. He gazed at the approaching army to gauge who they were, how fast they were moving and what they were doing.
    “Dwarves,” he muttered to himself.  “Must be four hundred of them, all warriors dressed for battle.” He looked around.  “Bring me a runner,” he yelled at the guard.
    A few minutes later a young lad presented himself to the commander. “Take this message to South Fort.” Ives said scrawling something on a piece of paper. He handed it t o the boy and the boy ran down off of the watc htower steps and started towards South Fort.
    Ives climbed down and gathered three men to him, two archers and a runner.  “We need a closer look, but at least we got an early warning to the city in time.”  With that the four men started sneaking towards the dwarf army.
     
    Sarchise turned to Ermort.  He could see one of the watchtowers in the distance. “The guards must have seen us by now. We will make camp here so as not to upset anyone. I’m going to send Tom ahead to report.”
    “Good idea.  Our dwarf friends are starting to tire out.” Ermort replied.  Dwarves were good for short marches but they had been on the march for five days now and the dwarves were not used to it like the humans were.  It’s hard to find a place that requires three days to get to inside of a mountain.
    Tom was given a piece of paper with Sarchise’s seal on it and sent to report to the post commander. He didn't make it two miles up the road when he suddenly stood face to face with two arche r s, arrows drawn and pointing at him.  He stopped in his tracks.  Ives came out from behind a bush.
    “State your purpose here!”
    Tom just held the paper towards him.  Ives recognized the seal of the Royal Scouts and opened it up. After he read a little of it he suddenly tossed back his head and let out a laugh.  “Prince.” He muttered then laughed again. He signaled his archers to relax their bows.  Turning to Tom he said , “ Will you tell Prince Sarchise that he is welcome to come through and report, but that I cannot allow a foreign army any closer to the city.”  Then to the runner he said , “ Tell the Magistrate to ignore the last message. Dwarves are friendly and not coming through our outer defenses.” As a second thought he said, “Wait, give him this