Chapter 33 Chapter 28 Worshiping False Gods

She couldn't see anything, and all she felt was the piercing pain from her arms and shoulders, and the discomfort of breathing air mixed with a lot of dust.She groped around the collapsed tunnels in a desperate search for her father. It wasn't bad luck for her that the place where Bruno lay prone was not buried by the collapsed building.Catti-brie propped herself up beside him, searching his face gently with her hands, then brought her ear to it.Although Bruno's breathing was weak, he was still alive. The girl struggled to stand up with her legs. Although she was not sure that she could return to the surface, she still wanted to find a passage that was closest to the ground.Witherglu's Tower must have fallen, and had the orcs invaded the town after that?If they came, she really wasn't sure whether she should stay in this invisible place. It seemed that she should try not to move around until she found a way to lead the townspeople to flee south.

This plan seems safe, but Wulfgar has gone outside, Dagna Jr. and others have gone outside, and the townspeople are fighting outside. If the orcs have already invaded, then this battle will be dead. World War I. Catti-brie crawled to one end of the chamber and began to move the stones, and in a few moments a few were loosened and pushed aside, clouds of dust flying in all directions.Her fingers cracked, but she never stopped.There was an ominous sound from the soil above her head, but she still didn't stop.The minutes ticked by, but Catti-brie paid no attention to the weariness that engulfed her body.

She came across a boulder which she could not dig out alone, and the never-daunted girl set about digging the stones around it, and at the same time she felt the boulder tremble, and leaped backwards. The stone was thrown away by Wulf's strong arms, and the morning light poured into the cave. He leaned in, gave her his hand, and quietly pulled her out of the small tunnel. "Where's Bruenor?" Wulfgar asked desperately. "He's all right," Catti-brie answered. "The collapse didn't reach his room. The dwarves built it well." As soon as the words fell, the girl focused on the damage of the town: the towers were generally still standing, while the other half had collapsed; even the surrounding buildings were smashed down, leaving behind a long pile of rubble.Her mind was full of questions, who was dead and who was still alive, but she just couldn't speak a word.

Catti-brie then looked around, almost in disbelief that the town had been so utterly devastated.Most of the buildings were about the same if not collapsed, some without even the foundations of the walls.When the orcs attacked—and Catti-brie knew it would not be long, she heard the blowing of horns and the beating of war drums in the south—there would be no effective defense organized, only street fighting, before finally dying. , the fight would advance from down the street until they retreated into the tunnel, with no way back. She looked up at Wulfgar, taking some strength from his determined expression and broad shoulders.He would kill enough money before the orcs killed him, Catti-brie knew, and made up her mind that she would do the same.Her mournful smile drew Wulfgar's curious gaze.

"Even if you are destined to die, you have to fight until the last moment!" She nodded and smiled. If you don't do that, you will just fall to the ground and cry. She put a hand on Wulfgar's shoulder, and Wulfgar responded in kind. "They're coming soon," said someone behind him. They looked back to see Trade covered in blood, but in full combat readiness.He slumped on his shoulders, one hand behind his back, and the other clutching his double-edged axe. Wulfgar pinpointed the points that bounded Bruenor's cave, forming roughly a circle. We must stick to these four positions. Once the front line collapses, we will withdraw here in batches.

"And again?" Quede asked. "Back to the burrow, and take down what you can," said the Savage, "and wait for the orcs to crawl in and die, and kill us till we are relented." Trade looked around, then nodded in acceptance, knowing the futility of such resistance.There's bound to be some bloodthirsty orcs foolish enough to go down the hole with them, but it won't be long before the nasty creatures realize they've got time, and they'll probably just sit back and wait for them to come out on their own ; or worse than that, they'll start a fire and smoke them out.

"It is a great honor to die with your king and his excellent children. He was brave and courageous, and he was an outstanding king. And little Dagna..." Qude said gloomily, rolling his eyes The rubble of the tower. "If he is alive, Fellbarburg will be proud of him. I really hope we have time to dig him up." "Such a funeral suits him well," Wulfgar said. "Little Dagna commanded from the top of the tower, slaying them all, calling the names of the dwarven gods as he fell. He knew He did a great job. He knew he didn't dishonor the clan." In the heavy and silent few seconds that followed, all three bowed deeply to little Dagna, who had sacrificed his life in the defensive battle.

"I'm going to kill the orcs," Qued told. He saluted the two, left them to organize the remaining few people, and invested in the defense of the three guard points. Soon, the stone bombing was lifted to a new peak, but the buildings in the town were only wreckage, and there was nothing to destroy. The attack of the giants seemed to have only a deterrent effect.The boulders rained down, and one lasted until the orcs riding the wargs chanted their battle cry and charged. Catti-brie led the defense in the first attack. She straightened from the rubble and shot a silver arrow that caught a worg in the forehead, and it swooped down, throwing its rider into the air.The girl fired another arrow at the other side, for the orcs there were flooding over the ruined wall.Her arrows flew towards the line of orcs with the sound of the wind, sometimes hitting one, sometimes killing two at once.

But they still came. "Keep shooting," Wulfgar told her. He stood up majestically, facing the charging orcs, and swung the Fang of Aegis to knock the approaching orcs into the air. Near the two, the defenders of Shallow Water Town also resisted the menacing orcs. Humans and dwarves fought side by side in this desperate battle.For a moment, as if the orc assault could not bring down any of them, as if the attack they received was insignificant, they put it behind them, and returned a fierce blow with an eye for an eye.The corpses around the four defensive points were piled up into hills. At first, those were almost all orcs and wargs.

This momentum can't last long, and neither can the defensive side. Although the defenders are now emotionally angry, they also understand this truth. Wulfgar swung his hammer tirelessly, smashing the orcs to pieces before they could prepare to defend.Occasionally a few guys dodged the attack with their heads down, or retreated to avoid it, but before they could attack, they would be knocked down by a silver arrow. Catti-brie kept shooting the taumari, and her magical quiver never ran out.Whenever possible, she always prioritizes wargs over orcs, dealing with howling beasts as more dangerous foes.Most of the time, she doesn't aim, and there's no need to.

Even under this deadly undercurrent of silver arrows, under the onslaught of Wulfgar with a fury she had never seen before, the orcs began to suppress them like a tidal wave, slipping in from every crevice. Catti-brie fired one arrow, then turned, hit another, and hit an approaching orc.There was another beside it, and she had to defend herself with a bow like a cane. Another orc jumped out, and she almost wanted to call for Wulfgar's help.Almost, but she held back, knowing that any distraction could cost him his life.The girl swung the Taumari quickly, forcing the two orcs back, then dropped the bow and drew the sharp sword Katzhe at the same time. The orc approached again, spears jabbing at her side.Catti-brie moved down a square, deflecting the spearhead, surprised that the orc, who had done nothing, showed a hole. That was enough for Catti-brie to adjust the blade and thrust forward.The orc was hit in the chest. She drew Katzhe just in time to swing the sword back to catch the heavy edge of the second orc.One-on-one, orcs are no match for Catti-brie. But two other orcs joined the fight, and Catti-brie was scrambling to keep up with the three opponents.She heard Wulfgar's roar behind her—he was hurt. But she couldn't help him, she couldn't even take care of herself. Catti-brie's sword shadows joined together, parrying the next horizontal and vertical slashes and thrusts.She became more and more discouraged, because she had no advantage at all, and she could hardly change her pace flexibly. The orc ahead suddenly and unexpectedly changed course and moved to the right.At first she thought it was coming towards her, but at once she understood that it had only flown past her, and that it had been broken by the dwarf's axe.Trede backhanded two-handed blows between advances and retreats, disabling the orc trio standing in front of Catti-brie, and Catti-brie reacted immediately, putting all her energy on the orc to its left body.She took a few strides forward, bringing the orc's weapon down with the Katzkh.The orc tried to push her down, but the girl quickly moved to the side of the orc.She withdrew her sword and thrust out from behind with the sword, cutting off the orc's spine. "The orcs are coming in." Cut off yelled and ran towards the wounded Wulfgar, and was nearly smashed in the head by the fluttering Aegis-fang, "We have to go back to the cave!" Wulfgar yelled, knocked another orc flying, and retreated behind the barrier of ruins. A worg leaped over the broken wall and went for his throat. Catti-brie regained her bow and hit the warg in the side, blasting it aside with the enchanted arrow. She looked up and saw the cavalry approaching one after another, and estimated that they would immediately gain the upper hand.She heard a strange sound behind her, and when she turned her head, old Weatherglue was standing there weakly and haggardly, he could hardly stand still, but his eyes were full of energy, supported by the determination tempered by anger, he Chant the mantra. The fireball stopped the Wargriders' charge and bought the defenders some time, but the fireball drained Weatherglue's energy.He gave Catti-brie a wink as he ignited the fireball with a relieved smile. Then he was on the ground, and Catti-brie knew before she ran to check that he was dead. Witherglue's fireball thwarted a flanking orc attack, but they were not overwhelmed by the magic.The ever-decreasing number of defenders retreated and retreated. When they heard the horn of the south, they knew that more orcs had joined the already one-sided battle. Does that mean something else?The guards couldn't help but think when they felt the pressure of combat suddenly drop.In fact, they had retreated to the last front, and some had entered narrow tunnels. The defenders of Shallow Water Town re-formed a ring defense and continued to fight.Soon Catti-brie and Wulfgar were back in their defensive positions, this time with far fewer orcs to deal with. The fighting died down, and the horns of the south continued to roar, and Wulfgar even ran to the top of the highest wall mound and stared there. "Nine Abyss Hell is under, what happened?" he shouted. Trede, Catti-brie, and a few others came running, all in shock.Coming from south to north is an oddly dressed procession consisting of twenty scattered mules dragging a wooden totem with a huge orc face on it, but it has only one extremely incongruous one eyed. "Gruumsh," said Tred.He spit on the ground, as if even mentioning the name of the orc god made him sick. "They brought the priest," he reasoned, "and I guess it's a ceremony to wish the final victory." The orcs who were fighting a few minutes ago flocked to the wilderness south of the town, pointing at the totem and cheering.Crowds of orcs fell to their knees, stretched themselves out in front of them, and worshiped the god they revered and feared. Across the chasm, Drizzt also heard the horn blowing, but he was groping for the giant's position from below, and he couldn't see any commotion at all.Even the giants on high are talking excitedly, pointing to the south, but also confused. When he was about to strike, Drizzt let Guenhwyvar across the path, waving his arms to attract her attention, motioning her to stay still.He looked around, wondering how to find a vantage point that would not be discovered.He stopped almost immediately as he started.The giants were not as surprised as before, they were arguing angrily.He didn't quite understand what they were saying, but he probably understood that they were robbed by orcs - some orc priests stole the honor that should belong to them. A glimmer of hope crossed Drizzt's mind, though he knew it was too late for the bigger picture: perhaps his enemies were going to fight among themselves. The wagoners whipped their whips over the heads of the caravan, and the filthy and unkempt creatures dragged the gigantic wagons and the statue of the one-eyed Gruumsh, the god of orcs, slowly down the gravel-strewn dirt road. All the orcs withdrew their minds from Shallow Water Town, ignored the hopeless and sporadic rebels, and the besieged town, and turned their attention to the newly arrived holy object.They bowed and knelt in groups along the path of the carriage. "What's going on here?" an orc commander asked Argen, son of Obard, the supreme commander of the army. Argen pondered the suspicious sight for a moment in utter bewilderment, his fangs twitching against his lips. "Obord brought a lot of allies." That's all he could say, and all he could think. His father was going to dedicate the glory of this victory to God?Had he waged this battle by the decree of the orc god? Argen didn't know the answer, and like his army, he crawled toward the ever-closer gigantic statue.However, unlike the others, Argon did not focus all his energy on the statue.He looked at this strange team. This scruffy squad looks like... what?Argen couldn't even pronounce the creature's name.mule? Bull?Or maybe it was the Roth beast, brought from the dark passages in the Underdark? The extraordinarily shrewd orc was there, watching the two drivers carefully.Though they were all small by orc standards, one was taller and stockier than the other.Perhaps the next tallest--he looked more like a passenger than a driver--was a child, but Argen couldn't tell because they both wore thick cloaks with wide, drawn hoods. Very low hood. The carriage stopped a hundred feet from town, which Argen thought was foolish, and it was putting itself within range of the human girl's nasty longbow.The orc leader glanced that way, and he saw a few guards watching, just like his own men did. The tall driver, the leader, stood up and raised his hands above his head.The cuffs of his cloak slid down, revealing gnarled hands and hairy forearms that didn't look like an orc. Before the orcs could figure out what was going on, the driver grabbed a pole at the front of the idol, where it rested just below the mouth full of teeth. He uttered a few syllables that sounded like "hee hee hee" and then slammed down the lever. "Well, if that's the case, there will be one less goddamn Reverend Gruumsh in the world." Catti-brie said bitterly. She raised the taumari so that it was level with the driver, but Tred grabbed her arm and stopped the firing. "One less is not going to turn the tide of the game," he said. "Plus, there's something wrong with it all." Catti-brie wanted to ask what he meant by that, and in fact she felt the same way herself. Even though the distance between this team and its leader gave her the feeling of being in a fog. Hearing the ear-piercing sound of the orc shaman pressing the lever, her eyes suddenly widened; seeing the huge statue of a god disintegrating, its four frames formed four planks following the cracking of the statue, her eyes nearly widened. Did not fall. The dwarves—many dwarves—jumped from the hollow statues onto the wooden planks, forming at once the signature formation that undoubtedly belonged to the Ripper's special training squad! A dwarf in black studded armor and a helmet with spikes half the dwarf's height rushed forward. "It's Panter!" Catti-brie exclaimed. At the same time as she said these words, Thiberdorf Panter jumped into the battlefield, screaming and throwing around.He jumped on one of the orcs, knocking it down with a single blow, and before he lost time, ducking his head, he strung another onto the spike of his helmet.Although Catti-brie couldn't see him, she couldn't help frowning out of understanding of his tactics.She knew that he had rammed the orc, cutting its bones with his armor. His men were also extremely indulgent. They ran to the end of the plank and jumped on the stunned orcs.One by one they struck, and the dwarven death cannonballs exploded in the enemy ranks.After a while, more dwarves emerged, throwing off their mule camouflage blankets that had been enchanted by someone, and came out of their yokes.All the orcs were on their knees and hunched over, and there were so many targets for the dwarves in that first bewildering moment. After a while, the massacre turned into a battle, but even then, the number of orcs capable of fighting still did not have an advantage. Many orcs were frightened and ran away, which was in line with the habits of fey creatures.Once someone fled, the whole army immediately fell into chaos. The ranks of the Dwarves were tight and strong, and they marched straight for the town.Teams of orcs were chased away by dwarves waiting for their opportunity. "You Warhammers really know how to seize the opportunity!" Qued said.Then, in order to avoid the flying boulder, he yelled and jumped away. "It's another giant who killed a thousand swords!" The dwarf roared. Catti-brie ran to the ruins of the north wall and raised her bow. "Run and fight!" Wulfgar warned her.Indeed, as the first arrow flew across the chasm, a rain of stones fell on the spot where she had just stood. Drizzt felt much better at seeing the magic arrow, which apparently spoke of something, only fly across the chasm, and even this good news—Catti-brie was still fighting—didn't distract him from the task at hand. god.The giants were bombing again, and he knew he couldn't just sit back and watch that happen.He set Guenhwyvar in motion, and climbed himself to a pile of stones they had piled up near the giant's position. Drow approached silently, jumped on the back of the giant, and cut down heavily with the machete on the way down.He sprinted as soon as he landed, crossed and slashed at the back knee of another giant, and then continued to run, circling from the back of the boulder to the other side. The giants turned and gave chase, and one attempted to hurl a boulder in the direction of the fleeing drow. He didn't finish the throw, but instead ran headfirst into the flying panther: six hundred pounds, with paws flailing around.Guenhwyvar went after the eyes and didn't want to kill them, but jumped away after blinding the giant. The giants were on their way, but Drizzt didn't think he and Guenhwyvar could hold them off for long; he didn't think he could kill many, or even any of them.However, he and Guenhwyvar could blind a few and lure a few to come after them. He circled back around the stone again, spotted the nearest unsuspecting giant, and stabbed him several more solidly. This time the effect of luring the enemy was much better-too good-while a giant was chasing after him, there were giants outflanking from both wings. Drizzt leaned his back against the wall, readying himself for a last-ditch effort. The nearest giant chased in. Before catching Drizzt, the giant shuddered and clutched his neck.Just as he turned around, the dark elf clearly saw the arrow that sank into the giant's neck.Drizzt's mouth fell open as he fell to one side. High in the north, two elves straddle a flying steed. The giants came after them. Drizzt rushed, wounding a giant, and ran, jumping and dodging boulders in the process, but the giants weren't paying much attention to him.A group of giants on the other side still tried in vain to catch Guenhhvar, who was hopping from side to side among them. The others fetched stones—apparently intended to bring down the spirits in the sky. Drizzt was afraid to let them organize.He ran to the stone pile to the west, jumped out when a giant was bending over to fetch a stone, and slashed at his finger.The giant withdrew his hand and joined his companions in pursuit of the drow. This time Drizzt didn't turn around or slow down, but called Guenhwyvar to do the same.The drow ranger heard the boulder flying through the air, and then the scream of Pegasus.But when he looked at the northern sky later, the two elves were still there, shooting with bows and arrows. Drizzt, sprinting across the open ground, glanced back at the devastated town now and then, hoping to catch sight of his friends. He couldn't see any definite signs, only the raging sea of ​​orcs rushing towards the town.Drizzt had to turn back, and headed north with the giants that were gathering towards him. "Hurry up!" Thiberdorf Panter yelled and rushed into Shallow Water Town, "Pack up your belongings, take the wounded, and get on the carriage with me!" "We need priests!" Wulfgar yelled at him, "immediately! Our badly wounded cannot move!" "Then leave them here!" Panter yelled at him too. "Bruenor Warhammer among them!" Wulfgar yelled again. "Priest, get the fuck over here!!" Panter yelled, "put him in the greenbeard's car." Battlecrazy yelled at another dwarf, "he's better than a whole bunch of drunken mages. Lots of bad ideas." "Move!" cried one of the dwarves. "Put the wounded into wagons, and take the slain. We cannot leave our Warhammer brethren to vultures and orcs!" "Why did you come here so quickly?" Catti-brie was about to ask Panter, but she stopped immediately because she discovered the initiator of this brave rescue operation, the second driver, that little guy.She recognized him as soon as he took off his hood. "Regis!" said the girl. Her heart was beating wildly with surprise, and Catti-brie went to hug him, but she let go at once, seeing the pain in his expression from the pressure of his injured arm. "Someone has to sacrifice his life to feed the wolves." The halfling shrugged shyly. Catti-brie bent down and kissed his forehead, and Regis blushed instantly. They start to evacuate.A hurricane of dwarven warriors, like a swarm of raging bees, or a swarm of outlaws, around the exhausted defenders of Shallowwater.Of the original hundred and twenty-six dwarves, fewer than twenty had made it out of town on their own; only ten more—including Bruno—were still breathing. This is hardly a victory at all.