• Chapter 26: The Terror in the Thracecadian Forest

    It did not take long to reach the docks of the beach near the Thracecadian Forest.
    And it was a half-hour before noon when they had arrived.
    The five soon anchored the yacht near the pier, and they soon got off the ship.
    “Follow me!” Nauplius said jovially. “Let me guide you to my hometown!”
    The other four followed the dwarf through the trail. After stopping halfway for a small lunch with their rations, they soon arrived in the city of Gray Corfu.
    For it being a city of Dwarves, one would at first expect the buildings to be quite small. But the buildings were decently sized enough for humans and elves to visit as well. They were buildings built surrounding the trees, just as the people of Emerald Kavala have.
    The largest tree in the middle of Gray Corfu held the temple to Hephaestus, who was the city’s patron god, as many of the dwarves of Gray Corfu pride themselves in smithing.
    A familiar voice soon called to them.
    “Nauplius!”

    The party soon turned and saw the Dwarf calling to them. Nauplius recognized it as the Dwarf they met earlier in the Cumumilos Catacombs, but couldn’t see who it was because it was dim there.
    “Rhoecus Touvoxiti, my fellow smith!” cheered Nauplius as he ran up and hugged his fellow Dwarf. “So you were the one we met in Cumumilos Catacombs! I couldn’t recognize you at first because of the dimness.”
    “It happens, Nauplius,” replied Rhoecus. “Anyway, King Granadanano sent me to escort you to the palace. He has something important to tell you!”

    The five followed Rhoecus to the palace of the Dwarf King, which was just under the temple of Hephaestus—they were around the same tree. They soon knelt before the Dwarf King, Radamanthos Granadanano. The king wore a golden crown with a garnet in the centerpiece. This was appropriate since “Granadanano” is derived from the Greek for “garnet dwarf”. He also wore other attire similar to a medieval Greek ruler, but at the same time shown he was with the current times. His gray-peach skin, thick black hair and beard, and violet eyes completed the appearance of a firm but fair Dwarf leader.
    “It has been a long time, Nauplius,” said the king. His voice indicated good favor, but at the same time exhaustion.
    Nauplius knew that something has troubled the king, to make his voice sound so tired.
    “What troubles my lord so?” asked Nauplius.
    “I’m willing to bet Erebus or an ally has something to do with it,” said Valerius.
    “I do not know about that,” said the Dwarf King, “but the Thracecadian Forest is indeed suffering. Someone has shown disregard to the empire’s environmental laws and created two golems to poison the forest.”
    “How terrible!” gasped Zanthe in horror.
    “So far, the damage is to the far north,” continued King Granadanano, “but it is only a matter of time before they reach here.”

    “We’ll save Gray Corfu, sire,” said Valerius.
    “Zanthe and I can seek the cause of the poison,” offered Rouvin.
    “Nauplius, Galina, and I can guard Gray Corfu from any attack that might come here,” added Valerius.
    “If you would,” the Dwarf King said in a sigh of relief.
    Other Dwarf soldiers soon surrounded the party. The large Dwarf army split into two groups. One group joined Rouvin and Zanthe in their task, while the other group supported the trio defending the city.
    Rouvin and Zanthe, and their army, exited the city to travel north, since that was where King Radamanthos Granadanano said one golem was located.
    While they were traveling north, Valerius and the other two friends were with the defending army.
    “When did this trouble first start?” asked Nauplius.
    “Three days ago,” said one Dwarf soldier. “Someone from outside the empire’s boundaries sent these abominations to sicken the forest.”
    “It’s hard to tell if he’s an ally of Erebus, or just some outsider wanting to cause us trouble,” said another Dwarf soldier. “All we know is he’s breaking imperial laws involving the environment.”
    “We’ll find out who it is if Zeus wills it,” said Valerius. “For now, we just need to deal with this problem at hand.”
    Nauplius aided in forging the traditional weapons mixed with some futuristic fashions.
    Galina enchanted some of the weapons with her magics—the electricity of the Thunder spells could short circuit them if the monstrosities were anything like androids.
    And Valerius aided the captains in training new recruits. They knew there was a possibility of invasion of at least one of the golems, if not both.

    Rouvin and Zanthe’s army soon went further north, and there they found their target.
    A mechanical monster, about twelve feet in height, lumbered through the forest. It looked like a large decaying giant, with half a face—the flesh side was on its left, and the skull exposed on the right—some parts muscular and others skeletal. But it was indeed a golem. On its skeletal arm was a sprayer that spritzed out the poisonous chemicals that made the forest sick.
    “Let’s shut that thing down and save the Thracecadian Forest!” cheered Rouvin.
    The Dwarves made a battle cry and approached the sickening behemoth.
    Some Dwarves threw some throwing hammers to make dents in the “flesh” portions of the golem.
    Others approached with their own battle hammers.
    Despite this, the golem still moved, albeit a bit slower from the damage.
    Rouvin loaded some arrows into his bow and shot at the head and the spraying apparatus.
    The sprayer soon broke and became inactive.
    Zanthe then cast some nature spells, causing a small quake and softening the earth so the golem would sink and get stuck.
    The Dwarf army soon proceeded to beat up on the golem. The golem swung back and forth trying to hit the small attackers. Some were injured, but no injuries were life-threatening—the wounds were at worst moderate.
    Eventually the giant hulk broke down and deactivated. The Dwarves soon gave a victory yell.
    “When we get the chance,” said one of the Dwarf soldiers, “let’s take it apart and recycle this monster!”
    “Yeah,” said another Dwarf soldier, “waste not, want not, after all!”
    The Dwarf army sang a victory song as they and the two elves went back to Gray Corfu.

    While Rouvin and Zanthe were fighting one golem in the northern part of the Thracecadian Forest, another golem was invading the city of Gray Corfu. It too looked like a decaying giant, but the flesh features and skeleton-exposed features were reverse of the other golem. It was almost like a mirror image of the other. Otherwise, it too had a poison sprayer on its skeletal arm.
    The defending Dwarves tried to fight off the hulk, but it just kept going, and it seemed more resilient than the golem Rouvin and Zanthe faced.
    “It’s heading toward the Temple of Hephaestus!” cried King Granadanano.
    “Not if we can help it!” said Valerius. Nauplius and Galina soon followed.
    Valerius, in a daring move, threw his Plasma Blade into one of the golem’s ankles. It severed the wires that made the leg work properly. The beast tipped over. The dwarves nearby wisely ran for it and got out of the way.
    The golem then moved its arm to spray the poison toward the tree-temple, but Nauplius leapt in the air giving a Dwarven war cry. With the extra momentum of falling from the jump, he swung his battle hammer and smashed the sprayer, preventing it from spraying the tree.
    “You will NOT blaspheme our patron god!” yelled Nauplius.
    Galina then approached and summoned a small thunderstorm. Her staff guided the lightning bolt to strike the golem, finishing it off by short circuiting it.
    “Glad THAT’S over with,” panted Nauplius.

    However, while both armies were dealing with the two golems, no one noticed an unwelcome presence in the Gray Corfu Armory.
    Erebus, holding Delphinia by the wrist, walked down to the secret vault.
    “There it is!” hissed the warlock as he found the Black Steel Dagger.
    It was called the Black Steel Dagger because the blade was indeed black, created from a special form of smithing and magic. The handle was made of a wood covered with a pale tan-gray leather.
    Delphinia, in a desperate move, kicked over an old suit of armor. This alerted one guard that was still present in the armory.
    “Who’s there?!” said a voice.
    “Blast you, wretch!” said Erebus to Delphinia. “I’ll settle with you later, but for now, we both need to get out!”
    The guard arrived just a few seconds after Erebus and Delphinia warped out. He looked in horror to find the spot the Black Steel Dagger once lay was now empty.
    “I must warn King Granadanano!” said the guard. He then ran out of the armory to tell his sovereign.