The move bought them some time, but the row of spears had now reached the bottom of the steps, and more soldiers had joined it. Still more came from every conceivable direction, perhaps a hundred now on the scene.
Grim had to act quickly.
He barged his way up the steps of one of the buildings, kicking open the wooden doors.
‘We might be getting ourselves into a situation we can’t escape from,’ Og warned him in one ear, as Grim marched into what looked like a temple.
But outnumbered as they were, Grim knew they wouldn’t last long in the open. Even if they were run down inside this temple—killed or captured—they were buying their friends the precious time they needed.
The interior of the temple seemed empty, but it was dark, and there were many places for enemies to lurk undetected. Grim decided to make for a set of stairs that led up to the top floor. As he began the climb, the doors he had come through swung back open. Hesitantly at first, then with more confidence, the Kuthenian soldiers entered the temple. As the numbers increased, they began to march towards the ogre’s position on the stairs.
‘At least we have the height advantage here,’ Grim said.
It was part statement, part question. Were his brothers happy for him to make a stand here?
‘We can’t hold them back forever,’ said Dog dubiously. He was more of a close-quarters fighter.
‘Looks like we have a problem,’ said Og.
Looking down at the enemy, Grim saw several bow staves being pulled back. They had to move. But it was too late, as the twang of the bows signalled several arrows were flying in their direction. Og tried to block the missiles, but he was hit in the arm and let out a bellow of pain.
Grim acted quickly now, turning around and climbing the rest of the stairs. He didn’t stop.
‘Get ready!’ he shouted and ran headlong into the exterior wall.
Grim’s thinking was that the thin-looking wooden walls of the temple would give way from the force of a large ogre throwing their weight at it. Fortunately, he was right. The wall exploded outwards in a shower of broken wood and masonry and Og-Grim-Dog found themselves falling down to the ground below. It wasn’t a pleasant landing, though Grim had given his brother’s enough warning for them to release their weapons mid-fall and use their arms to help cushion the impact. They were fortunate again, that they landed on grass.
Og-Grim-Dog picked themselves up. The first job was to retrieve their weapons. Og gasped in pain as he gripped his pike, a broken arrow still protruding from his arm.
Grim knew that more arrows would come for them if they didn’t move. He ran away from the temple and the other buildings, across the palace lawn, in the hope that the darkness might conceal them. It didn’t, entirely.
‘Hey!’ a familiar voice hissed at them from the darkness.
Grim stopped, turning in the direction where he thought the sound had come from. Gurin was running towards them, axe held in both hands. Then, not far behind him, was Assata. She carried an inert body over one shoulder.
‘Keep moving!’
Gurin ran past them, and Grim ran after him.
‘Is that the princess?’ Dog asked Assata as she drew level with them.
‘Yes.’
‘What about Simba?’
‘He’s holding them up for a while.’
‘Let me carry her.’
Assata stopped, and Dog put his mace in his belt. The princess was transferred from one to the other, and the barbarian drew her sword. In the time it took to accomplish this, Simba caught up to them. He held a bloody sword in each hand, but they barely seemed to slow his swift pace.
Wordlessly, the three of them chased after Gurin. Grim did his best to keep up, but his lungs began to fail him. It was all very well for Dog to carry the princess—it was no problem for him. But it meant extra weight for Grim, and running had never been a strength.
It was only when they ran past Ericka’s hut that Grim realised where they were. The walls of the palace came into view ahead.
Please let the gate be open and undefended, he prayed silently to Lord Vyana.
Grim was of the belief that the fact that the gate happened to be open and undefended wasn’t simply because he had prayed to Vyana. The world was a bit more complicated than that. Still, he gave Him his thanks anyway, and thanked His Horde of Winged Hyenas as well.
Gurin was waiting for them, his chest heaving as he caught his breath. With a nod, he turned and led them into the city. The dwarf had a way with directions, and he had Assata to help him. Grim was confident that they would get them back to the tunnel under the walls of Pengshui. All he had to do was concentrate on putting one foot in front of the other, as quickly as he could.
Princess Borte
I didn’t think you’d do it,’ Little El admitted, his eyes popping out of his head at the sight of the princess of the Kuthenian Empire laid out cold in his warehouse.
‘There’s not much time,’ Assata stressed once more.
Adrenaline was still coursing through their bodies and it felt like the Resistance man was moving in slow motion.
‘Right. Sorry. Well, our stores are lost, there’s no point in trying to save them. They’ll discover the tunnel,’ he added.
Grim could see the man’s mind ticking over, making decisions in a panic that he should have made earlier, if only he hadn’t completely discounted their chances of success.
‘I’ll come with you,’ he decided. ‘Lead you out and hand you over to someone who can get you far from the city. I’ll give the order to keep the Kuthenians away from here for as long as possible—give us a head start.’
Grim let the others take the tunnel first, Assata and Gurin carrying the princess between them. If he and his brothers got stuck in there, at least they wouldn’t be trapping anyone else with them.
It was hard work, pushing their exhausted body through the tight squeeze of a tunnel. Grim’s leg muscles began to cramp, over-worked and in need of rest. Og still used his hand to help them crawl through, but he had gone silent now, and Grim knew from experience that wasn’t a good sign. They’d had no time to treat the arrow wound and part of the shaft still stuck out of his brother’s arm, no doubt scraping along the wall every time they got stuck.
Finally, they made it out, relieved to find their friends waiting for them and not a troop of Kuthenian soldiers. They lay down on their back, Grim stretching out his legs. Gurin passed them and returned to the tunnel.
‘What’s he doing?’ Dog demanded.
‘Collapsing the tunnel,’ Simba replied.
The sound of an axe striking the wooden supports echoed back down the tunnel.
‘Does he need some help?’ asked Dog.
I wish you would stop offering our help all the time, Grim said to himself, though he had been very close to saying it out loud.
‘I think if there’s one thing dwarves can do by themselves,’ Simba replied, ‘it’s collapse a tunnel. And I’m really not sure there’s room in there for you to swing your mace about.’
Sure enough, the sound of cracking wood and tumbling earth could be heard, quickly followed by a blast of dust and an axe-wielding dwarf exiting the tunnel.
Little El gave a sigh of relief. ‘That should buy us some time. They’ve got to find the tunnel first, then discover it’s been collapsed. Then they’ll need to work out that it comes out here. Meanwhile, I’ll have taken you to a nearby resistance cell and you’ll be on your way.’