Chapter 5 CHAPTER THREE THE VICTORY Brought by Retreat

"You should keep running, don't stop!" Nick Villiger scolded. The wounded dwarf fell on a large rock, sweat streaming down his forehead and cheeks, and he looked down at his torn leg with a painful expression. "My knee is hurt," Ted explained breathlessly, "I can't run. You run away first, and let me deal with those bastards for a while." Nick Willig nodded.Not exactly agreeing with his suggestion, but he decided to consider the last part of his words, "If you can't run, then we should stop and fight side by side!" he replied. "Bah!" Qu De growled at him with a nasal voice, "Warg will catch up."

"Then they're dead." Nick Willig replied gruffly and confidently, an expression Qued had rarely seen. Nick Villiger is a businessman, a cobbler, not a warrior, but at this moment, he has fully demonstrated his "dwarf spirit". Seeing this transformation, even in a desperate situation, Qude still couldn't help laughing.Of course, if the situation is reversed and Nick is unable to walk due to a leg injury, Qued will also not abandon his companions. "We need to arrange a battle plan," said Qued. "Light them a fire," Nick suggested.After everything was settled, a howl of wild beasts came from a distance, tearing the silent night sky.Hearing this echoing cry for a long time, the two dwarves regained some hope.

"They didn't all follow." Qued analyzed. "They're spread out," Nick replied. An hour later, the howling sound got closer.Tred sat by the fire, his massive arms folded, his single-bladed ax at his side.Feeling relief from the pain in his legs at last for a moment, he assumed a posture of waiting patiently.And his light feet showed restlessness, anxiously waiting to tear apart the first worg to charge. From behind the stone pile not far away, there was a slight cracking sound from time to time. Hearing the sound, Qued couldn't help taking a few steps back, biting his lip, hoping that the rope he tied just now would have enough time to hold the dead tree .

The first pair of blood-red eyes that had been waiting finally appeared. With a long cry, Qu De grabbed a bucket of water beside him and dumped it on the intruder. "Want a taste of your dripping wet flesh?" he cursed at the worg. The huge body of the wolf flew over, and Qued kicked over the wood beside the fire, and the shining flames immediately swept towards the wolves, temporarily blocking their attack.Of course, this risky move also caused him severe pain.When he kicked out with his good leg, the other injured leg could no longer support him, causing him to roll over to the side.

The dry, cracked tree that was temporarily pulled by the rope fell down immediately, just like what the two dwarves had planned before, and fell straight towards the fire.Under the blowing of the wind, the fire suddenly intensified.The poor dwarf felt a burning sting, and it turned out that his beard was also burning, which he did not expect.Flapping the fire on his body, Qued let out a few stubborn growls, and forced himself to maintain a defensive posture. On the opposite side, a raging fire rushed towards a small group of worgs who had rushed over.The hair on their bodies was burned by the fire, and they barked in panic and fled around.In the chaos, some wolves that caught up with them were even bitten by their furious companions.

At this time, the fallen dead tree formed a wall of fire between Qued and the wolves, blocking the attack.There are still some wargs who have already jumped over, gradually outflanking them from all around. Gripping the bottom of the handle of the ax tightly, Qued slashed at the first warg that flew up, knocking it back to the ground.Turning around, he quickly slid his hand to the top of the ax handle, drawing it back near his waist, so that the second wolf was right on the point of the axe.Without slowing down, the dwarf swung the ax over the wolf's head and flung it to the ground.Then he immediately retracted the ax and struck at the head of the third attacking warg, shattering its skull. The front end of the wolf's body was pushed against a stone by the huge impact, and the forelegs spread limply.

Nick stood beside Tred, sword in hand.Two more wolves approached from both sides, and the two dwarves faced the enemy's attack back to back. The thwarted pack attempted to surround them again.Nick drew a short sword from his belt and threw it at the belly of one of them.The creature barked and hurried back into the darkness. Its companions quickly followed and fled back. "We held on in the first round," Qued said.The burning dead tree intensified the fire, and he could not help avoiding it. "It looks like this little pack of wolf cubs doesn't want to attack anymore," Nick said, "but there's no doubt that more enemies will come after us."

He turned around and wanted to help Qued to leave the open space where he had just fought, but the tall and strong Qued pulled him back again. "Unless we find them first." At this, Nick turned to his companion with a puzzled expression on his face. "The orcs are the masters of those wolves," Qued explained. "Without the orcs, there would be no such wolves." Nick thought about it for a moment, and he looked at Qued's injured leg. It was obvious that this situation was not good for escaping the enemy's pursuit.There are only two options before them.However, it was decidedly impossible to leave Twiddle behind.

"Let's go find the orcs," Nick said. His smile was on his face, firm and sincere.So did Qued. The two dwarves moved as quickly as they could, and returned by the way they had come.They scrambled through dark groves and jagged rock outcrops, climbing jagged walls—and found no sign of orcs.Much of the time, it was Nick who carried Tred behind his back, and neither of the dwarves complained.The howling of the warg was still echoing in the distance, and it seemed that the diversion had indeed worked.Judging from the sound, those creatures turned back to the place where they had just fought at least twice, chasing and killing them.

After a while, the dwarves climbed up to a high ground, and they found a few campfires burning in the distance. It was not a very big camp, but at least a small group of enemies could be seen. "They made a mistake," Tred commented.Nick totally agrees with him. In order to see better, the dwarves moved more quickly and agilely.Restricted by his injured leg, Qued could only hop forward on one foot.When he fell to the stone again and again, the tenacious dwarf got up on his hands and continued to climb forward.A little further down, they encountered a worg.The creature bared its teeth and hunched its back, staring at them intently.Tred grabbed his ax and tried to flank it, but Nick was already sprinting to the beast, finishing it quickly before it was about to howl in warning.

The eastern sky began to gradually turn white, and the first rays of dawn appeared on the edge of the sky.Two dwarves climbed up a small dirt slope, hid in the gap between the tree trunks and stones, and looked down from the top.Three orcs were resting around a campfire, and several others were sleeping nearby.Beside the orc lay a wounded warg, staring at a pair of vicious eyes, grunting and licking the wound with its tongue.Several orcs were constantly cursing the incompetence of the wolf cubs for not being able to catch the fleeing dwarves. Nick put a finger to his lips and motioned for Tred to stay where he was.Then he slid quietly down to the side, sure that the arrogant and stupid orcs hadn't noticed the intruder in the slightest. Qu De nodded his companion's approval for this move.Soon, Nick crawled to the edge of the camp, and quickly hacked to death two sleeping orcs with a knife.Seeing the wolf raise its head alertly, Tred knew the time had come.Gathering all his strength, he slipped out from the gap between the rocks and tree trunks. "Aren't you looking for me, now I'm here!" he growled. Hearing the shout, the three orcs and the warg roared and jumped up.Another sleeping orc beside them also woke up. Before this poor guy could make a move, he was cut down by Nick, who had been ambushing him for a long time. The nearest orc swung a giant axe at Tred.Judging from his proficient and quick movements, he is definitely not a novice.But obviously, this is not an enemy who is good at thinking. Qude shouted and threw the stone in his hand at him. The orc was a little slow, and the flying stone hit him in the face.The stunned orc staggered a few steps forward, and Qued threw him aside with a swing of his axe. The other two orcs seemed even more stupid. After looking around for a long time, they realized that there was another dwarf. "Er to er," Nick called to them in vague Orcish. "We still have wargs!" said one of them.The wolf, which had just been wounded by the dwarf, didn't seem to respond to its master. It jumped over the campfire and fled into the darkness with a low bark. One of the orcs tried and tried to escape along that road too, but Tred didn't let him.He raised his battle ax and hurled it at the fleeing orcs.Although the gleaming weapon didn't hit him directly, it just inserted between his legs, tripping him to the ground. Seeing that the wounded dwarf was now weaponless, the second orc roared and swung his serrated sword at Quedd. Nick found himself too late to get to Tred, he ran first to the tripped orc.The orc, who was about to get up, was knocked back to the ground by Nick approaching, and a pair of heavy boots were stepping on him.Nick slashed at the orc with his sword. At the same time, he grabbed the orc spear that fell on the ground and gave the enemy a fatal stab.Nick's shoulders trembled violently due to the fierce stabbing, and the sword had undoubtedly penetrated from the orc's chest to his abdomen. He heard Trud howling his brother's name, roaring angrily.Turning around, Nick saw what his friend seemed to have gone into a frightening frenzy. Tred's battle-axe slipped aside, and his hands gripped the orc he had fallen tightly, crying out the name of his dead brother again and again.The orc's head had been broken, and his arms had been ripped out of their joints. "I think you can put it down," Nick said dryly, and the orc was dying under the next few blows from Tred. Tred grabbed the dying orc by the neck with one hand, lifted him up, and hit him hard in the abdomen with the other hand.Then he lifted the orc's body high and spun it overhead.Shouting his brother's name again, Tred picked up the orc and fell behind him, slamming him onto a large rock. "There are a lot of supplies here." Nick hurriedly searched the camp. "The damned orc stabbed me," said Tred. At this moment, Nick noticed another serious injury on the tenacious dwarf, Qued's chest was cut, and blood was gushing out of the wound... Nick ran to his companion, but Qued shook his head... Shake your hand, indicating that it's okay. "You collect more supplies, we are about to hit the road," he said, "I can handle this injury myself." The two dwarves left this place not long after, and Qued hummed every step he took along the way. He was indeed seriously injured, but he didn't complain at all other than that. He bled profusely, and each time he slipped and fell on a loose rock brought fresh scars, red with blood.Still, Tred didn't complain, nor did he slow Nick down.The last sneak attack did not scare away the pursuers, and a few howls could be faintly heard in the night wind, although it sounded quite far away. When they climbed to the top of a ridge, they found a village and several rows of houses in the distance, so they looked at each other with concern. "If we go there like this, we'll lure the Orcs and Wargs into the village," Tred reasoned. "But if we don't move forward and change another route, we will definitely slow down, much slower than expected." Nick replied, "Even if we arrive in the end, the news to Mithril Hall will definitely be too late." "Do you think those villagers know how to meet the enemy?" Quede asked, looking back at the village. "People who live in barren hills will not be useless." The assumption seemed neat enough, so Trod shrugged his shoulders and followed Nick down the hill. On the outskirts of the small village, there was a row of stone walls piled up as high as a man. The pair of dwarf brothers took a closer look, but they didn't find any sentry posts.They called a man and a woman by the wall to ask if they were guards, but the two seemed to have just passed by before they noticed the dwarf's arrival. "Where are you two from?" the woman shouted. "We're dying..." Nick replied, holding Tred a few steps forward, and pleading, "Is there a place for my wounded brother to lie down and rest, we might need some hot food .” It seemed that all his strength was exhausted in the continuous rush, and Qued's tense nerves finally relaxed, his whole body became weak, and he collapsed on the ground.Nick lowered him as gently as he could on the curb. There were no doors on either side of the village, and the man and woman ran over the wall and ran towards them.They, especially the woman, quickly began to inspect the dwarf's wounds, while watching warily behind the two uninvited guests to see if any enemies were coming. "Are you from Mithril Hall?" the man asked. "Felba," Nick replied, "we were on our way to Shallowwater when we were attacked." "Shallow Water Town?" The woman continued, "It's far away." "The enemy chased us a long way." "Who wounded you, orcs?" "Orcs and a few giants." "Hill giants? We haven't seen any giants appear for a long time." "Not a hill giant, a blue-skinned dog. A strong-looking, fierce, frost giant." Both the man and the woman stared at him intently, their eyes wide open.Villagers in this area have never encountered frost giants.Fortunately, in the past few decades, the old gray hand has not brought the Orel tribe to every corner of the Spine of the World, and the burning, killing and looting of the frost giants has not reached the point of endlessness.And here, any battle linked to the frost giants—the most feared enemy in the North—will become a folk hearth legend or a nightmare.Of course, except for those stories related to dragons. "We've got to get him into the village," said the woman. "He needs a bed and some food. I can't believe he's made it this far!" "Hey, this ugly guy won't be dead for a while." Nick said.Qu De opened his eyes tiredly, slowly approached his friend's face and raised his hand, as if he wanted to pat him gratefully.But when he got very close, he suddenly pressed his index finger under his thumb and flicked Nick's nose.Nick held his nose and fled backwards, and Tred lay down again, closed his eyes, and finally a smile appeared on his stubborn and pale face. After the arrival of the two dwarves, the people of Broken Heel Village went on alert and restored the sentry post that was canceled long ago.They selected more than sixty strong villagers to serve as guards, and the guards changed every eight hours.After two days of rest, Nick also joined the guards, supported them, and began helping guide the villagers in building some additional fortifications. For a while Tred could do nothing, and the dwarf lay all day and all night.After a few days, he finally woke up and was able to swallow some food sent by the kind villagers of Broken Heel Village.There is a priest in the village, unfortunately the poor priest's powers of prayer and healing are disappointing.He has used almost all his skills, but the effect seems to be not as fast as the dwarf's sleep recovery. On the fifth day, Qued was finally able to get up and start walking.Nick was glad to hear his dull voice again. At the end of the tenth day, there seemed to be no track of any stalker—giant, orc, or warg.Qu De finally couldn't hold back. "We're leaving for Mithril Hall," Nick told the group one morning.Hearing the news of parting, the men, women and children of Suiheel Village were all a little bit sad. "We will ask King Gundaron to send more soldiers to defend here." "You mean King Bruenor," said one of the villagers, "if he and his army have returned from Icewind Dale." "Is that so?" "That's what we heard." Nick nodded, and after a trace of regret for the loss of Gundaron appeared on his face, he quickly regained his composure. "Yes, and now King Bruno, an equally great dwarf leader." "I'm not sure if he will agree to send his soldiers, and I don't know if we need them," the villager continued. "Then we'll tell him the truth about what happened here, and he'll make that decision," interjected Tred. "After all, that's what he's supposed to do as a king." When they walked out of Broken Heel Village, Qued and Nick stepped more firmly. Their backpacks were filled with all kinds of food donated by the villagers.Well-meaning villagers gave them detailed descriptions of the road to Mithril Hall, so the dwarves were sure they would soon reach the end of their journey.They planned to go to Mithril Hall and tell King Bruenor the news, or some other bearded dwarven king, and then ask for a escort to help them get back to their home in the Keep of Many Arrows through the connecting passages in the upper Underdark. For Qued, that was not his final plan.This tenacious dwarf will go to any lengths to gather a band of warriors and fight back to avenge his brother and other fallen fellow dwarves. The first thing is to find the way to Mithril Hall.In addition to the problem of sense of direction, the two dwarves found the winding mountain roads really troublesome: they often walked for a long time in a narrow stone passage, only to find that they had gone wrong; then they had to turn back the same way. "Damn it, it's wrong to go down the river again," Tred complained one morning.They have been heading southeast for a long time, but Mithril Hall should be in the southwest direction of Broken Heel. "Maybe it'll turn around," Nick reckoned. "Huh!" Qude replied nasally, shaking his fist at his companion. Both Tred and Nick knew that, whether they admitted it or not, they must be lost.However they did not return.The two dwarves walked down the river for many days, and there was another difficult climbing road ahead.It seemed foolish to go that far and then turn back. So they continued on the same path.The river falls unexpectedly downwards into a waterfall.Tred grumbled complainingly, and they had to climb down from the nearby rock. "Maybe it's time to consider a different route," Nick suggested. "Bah!" replied stubborn Tred, his muttering still louder.Because just as he was waving his hand in a gesture of contempt for Nick, he accidentally bumped into a smooth rock, but this caused him to slide to the bottom early. After a long period of silence, they climbed up a gravel beach and found a place to camp on a boulder jutting out of the ground.The road ahead looks very wide, with a valley, and the road diverges towards the east and west respectively. "Big valley," Nick said. "Those caravans must have gone to Mithril Hall through one of the roads," Qued analyzed with a gun, "It must be the road to the west!" Nick stood beside his companion and nodded in agreement, and the two dwarves looked very happy now, as if they foresaw that the next day's journey would be easier. Of course, none of them would have imagined that the place they were in was the northern edge of the Fell Pass, and they would never have imagined that this place was once a battlefield in ancient times, where thousands of real and dangerous lives had died here. as a ghost and mysteriously disappears.