Chapter 12 Chapter 11 The Drawbacks of the Trap

The goblin kept leaning against the tree, not daring to take a breath for a long time.Several of its companions lay dead, seemingly wiped out in an instant.The terrified goblin heard the fading screams of its only surviving companion, and the terrified creature distanced itself further and further from the carnage. Finally, the last remaining goblin mustered up the courage to slip away from the tree.It peered around from behind the great tree trunk, toward its hacked and beaten companions. No trace of any cruel monsters was seen. The goblin crawled a little further, and looked around. Still nothing.

Holding the trunk, it took another step. "I know you're there!" cried a yellow-bearded dwarf. The goblin quickly retracted and looked up to see a double-edged battle ax that was quickly lowered. After finishing the creature, the dwarf turned to see how his brother was doing. "Aye!" screamed the last living goblin and ran at full speed, knowing that the dwarf with a horrible club was just a few steps behind. "Ooh!" the dwarf yelled back happily. "Aye!" The goblin sprinted straight for a row of giant beech trees, thinking he might be able to find a way out between the huge trunks and roots.Then it saw a beautiful human woman with brown skin and green hair beckoning to it.The woman points aside, where a tunnel leads directly into a tree.

With no other choice, the goblin lowered his ugly head and ran at full speed without saying a word, hoping that there would be no big turns in the dark part of the tunnel. The goblin hit the tree like a ram.It bounced back two paces, unaware that the tunnel was just an illusion created by a dryad.Blood dripped from several wounds on the goblin's face and chest, and he nearly fainted, but he still stood stubbornly, which was a stupid decision. The dwarf lowered a stick that looked more like a tree trunk, without slowing down at all.The stick hit the goblin, and it hit the tree again, this time with a fair amount of momentum.The impact was less damaging than the previous one though, as the vicious creature died before it knew what had happened.

Pikel Stoneshoulders took a moment to look at the mass squashed between his club and the big beech, really wondering why it seemed like a living goblin just a moment ago.Then the dwarf looked at Harmadin and gave her a loud "Ooh!" The Dryad blushed and disappeared among the trees. "You hit really hard with that club," Pikel's brother Ivan said after a moment, coming up behind him.The yellow-bearded dwarf slung his battle-axe over his shoulder, with an impaled goblin hanging from one side of the axe. Pikel looked at it curiously, scratching at his own green-dyed hair and beard.Unlike his brother, who tucked his long beard into his belt, Pikel tucked his own beard behind his ears, braiding it with the top of his head and hanging down his back.

Ivan swung the impaled goblin over his shoulder and landed in front of him. "I hit this one hard too," he explained.He put one foot on the dead goblin's shoulder, then spat on his thick-knuckle, ruthless hands, clutching the handle of the axe. There was the sound of bone breaking as the dwarf yanked tenaciously. "I don't want to wait until I get back," he said between grunts, "I think you might need my help." "Ugh," Pikel replied, shaking his head and looking at the clump of goblins still tucked into the tree. Ivan finally got his ax out. "Tough stuff," he commented.

"Another battle is tainting the forest a few miles to the west," said Hamadin's musical voice. Ivan shook his head in disbelief. "There's always another war!" he snarled at the Dryad, before he looked suspiciously at Pikel. "What a druid's life it is." "Dooda!" Pikel howled eagerly. "Not a day has been quiet since we came to this nasty—" He glanced at Hamadin, then flinched, "this beautiful forest." Pikel shrugged without explanation.Indeed, since the dwarf brothers came to Simista more than a week ago, they have encountered one war after another.Although they didn't mind fighting their opponents because they knew their opponents were cruel in nature, even Ivan began to worry about how many goblins were there in this supposedly peaceful forest.

The dryad put her ears and gentle hands on the rough bark of the oak tree, as if listening to the tree. "The battle just ended," she announced. "The elves won?" Ivan asked, "but I don't care!" He quickly clarified.Ivan didn't like elves, for the way he felt as a dwarf, they were too imaginative and mindless. "Huh?" Pikel prodded him, elbowing his brother hard, as if he'd just caught Ivan sympathizing for a moment. "They're better than the orcs," Ivan admitted, "but I don't want to sit down with either of them!" Pikel agreed with a gruff chuckle, and they turned to Hamadin together.

"Did they win at all?" Ivan asked again. The dryad's expression was blank and concerned, not knowing the answer. "I think we should go and see if we can help," Ivan said reluctantly. "We got a dead body from them under the burnt tree-even an elf deserved more than being put on brother." Breen's table is treated well!" They arrived at the scene of the fighting an hour later.Pikel was the first to spot the victim, a slashed orc lying across a thicket of bushes. "Oh!" the dwarf shrieked with delight when he reached the body and found four more similarly dead.

"Oh!" he screamed even more fervently when he saw two dead ogres a few steps away, one with its throat pierced and the other with its head caved in. "Someone fought a good fight," Ivan agreed, making a sweeping survey of the entire area.He saw a dead orc lying with the orcs in what appeared to be a small camp, but continued around the camp to where more fighting was evidently taking place. Two orcs died there, their heads almost turned backwards, and there were some orcs and orcs scattered around not far from them.Ivan took a moment to inspect the monsters and their strange wounds.Not one of them had been cut by sword, or pierced by arrow or spear, and even those fatal blows did not look like any mace or warhammer that any dwarf had ever seen.Also, the manner in which the two orcs died—their necks were snapped off in strikingly similar ways—didn't seem like any elf.

Pikel's cry made the dwarf turn sharply.Ivan's brother was over there at the camp now, holding up the head and chest of the dead Uruk, pointing at its charred wound.Ivan had only seen one weapon capable of doing that kind of damage.He glanced back at the two dead orcs, and suddenly the image of Danica popped into his mind. "Magician," Ivan said hopefully, walking over to join his brother, "or..." That latter thought was quickly answered, for Pikel dropped the Uruk suddenly, jumped to a small tree, and produced a familiar walking stick with a ram's head handle.

"Ooh," Pikel said. "Tryant!" Ivan yelled. "It's better to be quiet in a dangerous forest," Hamadin said, coming out of a tree behind the dwarves.She winked at Ivan and gave him a kind smile. "Stop laughing there!" the dwarf yelled at her, but even the rude Ivan softened when Hamadin's gentle smile turned into a frown. "This matter is so important," Ivan explained, "Who fought this battle?" The dryad shrugged. "Ask your tree!" the dwarf yelled. "Is it an elf or a human?" Harmaddin turned away for a moment and announced, "Both." "Where did they go?" Ivan asked, looking around. Harmadin pointed north, and Ivan and Pikel started running immediately, and Ivan asked the dryad to guide them. They finally breathed a sigh of relief when they caught up with the team that had captured them.They found Cadderly and Danica alive, though badly beaten.Danica was strapped from shoulder to neck to a stake and lifted off the ground by two ogres.These huge monsters were obviously afraid of her and kept away from her, even though her hands and feet were safely bound.One of the monsters was limping badly, and the others had scratches and bruises.The two dwarves could easily guess that the ogres had had some bad luck fighting Danica while they were at the camp. Cadderly was next, walking with his hands tied behind his back.There was a hood over his head, and four urcs surrounded him, prodding him with every step.The last was an elf, dragged by a pack of orcs, his ankles bound to a plank. "Too many," Ivan spat out, and indeed, there were no less than twenty formidable monsters in all, surrounding their helpless friend.He looked at his brother and smiled, "We've got to set a trap." "Ooh!" Pikel agreed, and they ran off, well around the front of the line.After a while, they stopped in a small clearing.Ivan looked around, then scratched his beard. He saw an elm tree with heavy branches above, a cluttered pile of pebbles a short distance away, and then the road the team was approaching. "If only we could put some rocks on the tree," said the dwarf thoughtfully.His dark eyes sparkled, and he clapped his palms twice quickly. "Bang! Bang! Then there are two less ogres to fight!" "Ooh," Pikel whispered ominously, rolling his eyes skyward.A chuckle from beyond the bark revealed that the dryad saw the same disastrous consequences as the doubting dwarf. Evan didn't have time to respond to protests.He dragged his brother and together they worked hard to roll a large rock under a low-hanging branch.Ivan scratched at his yellow beard, thinking about how to get the rock up the tree, because even at the lowest point, the branch was still eight or nine feet off the ground—and that was the lowest point in the whole tree. A branch is dry. "You pick up the rock and put it on my shoulder," Ivan said, "fix it, and then we'll climb up and figure it out later." Pikel glanced at the rocks and branches, then shook his head suspiciously. "Do it!" Ivan ordered. "You want Cadderly and Danica to feed those stinking ogres?" Pikel grunted and groaned, finally lifting the two hundred pound stone to his chest inch by inch.Ivan threw aside his antler-encrusted helmet, stepped behind Pikel, and dropped his head between his brother's legs.The mighty dwarf lifted Pikel unsteadily into the air with all his strength. "Put it up! Put it up!" Ivan demanded with a snort.And Pikel, in his wobbly position, couldn't lift the stone far enough to rest on the heavy branch. "I'll run," Ivan said, realizing his brother's dilemma.He slanted back a few steps behind the tree, then lunged forward, hoping his momentum would help Pikel. Pikel lifted hard, pushing the stone an arm's length away, before it hit the branch in its entirety.Ivan, ignorant of his brother's sudden plight, ran on, stretching poor Pikel to the limit.The stone went over the branch, rolled over, and fell straight down toward Ivan's head. "Oops!" Pikel yelled warningly.Ivan reached out just in time to tilt the bomb away, but he fell on all fours, leaving Pikel hanging from a branch with only his fingertips. "Ouch!" Pikel wailed, and then fell off, landing on Ivan's chest. Although he couldn't see it, he could hear Hamadin's giggles, and it didn't help Ivan's mood at all. When they finally recovered after a few minutes, they tried to start hoisting the stone up slowly with the rope.It slipped out of their loops several times - until they figured out how to tie it properly!And hit Ivan's foot once.They almost hung the stone up to the branch when the rope snapped. Pikel shook his head, looking back nervously at the road, feeling that their time had run out. "You druid!" Ivan snarled at him, "make your tree bend down and pick up the damn thing!" Pikel put his hands on his hips and frowned angrily. Ivan shook his fist in front of Pikel's eyes, and Pikel grabbed the hand and bit Ivan's knuckles.They rolled in the dirt, wringing, biting, kicking—everything that worked in hand-to-hand combat—until Ivan rolled away, a wide smile on his thick-skinned face, as if Great idea came to mind. "I'll put you up a tree and throw you stones!" He smiled brightly. Pikel looked around, then smiled too. Putting Pikel on a tree was fine, but this stubborn rock was another story.Even as strong as Ivan, he still couldn't throw the stone high enough for Pikel to catch.Almost as frustrated as his brother, Pikel turned, hooked his squat knees around the branch, and slumped down as far as he could. The stone hit him in the face and chest, but he steadied himself on the tree, though he had no idea how to bring himself back to standing with the weight of the stone. Yiwen cheered and asked his brother to work hard.However, he realized too late that he was walking right under his brother. Pikel was about to turn around when his leg slipped off.Ivan took a last-second step just in time and was nearly killed by his brother and the rock. Hamadin's laughter grew louder. "Enough is enough!" Ivan yelled, jumping up, grabbing the stone, trying to pull it away from Pikel.Pikel just lay there, saying "Ooh" over and over again, and clutching the rock as if it were a baby dwarf - which, in fact, it kind of was. Then Ivan got the stone.He charged at the tree, throwing stones where the branches joined the trunk.It bounced off, but Ivan scooped it back up and held it up again, and again, and again. Pikel sat in the dirt, looking at his brother in disbelief. Then, amazingly, the stone rolled into the recess and fixed.Ivan turned around triumphantly. "They'll be here soon," he said, reeling up the rope. "There's no time for another stone." "Phew!" Pikel whispered. They looped the rope around the branches and began to climb, one on one side of the rope.Pikel wore less armor than his brother, so was lighter and climbed faster, then he put his sandaled foot on Ivan's shoulder (his stinky toe across his brother's face), and jumped up .His momentum carried him the rest of the way, and he climbed up the branch and sat down, forgetting to keep holding on to the rope.With a surprised expression, he watched the rope fly by, and then Ivan fell back into the earth with a thud. The yellow-bearded dwarf sat up, spat out twigs and pebbles, and cursed himself for not thinking of the consequences sooner. "Alas," Pikel said apologetically. "Tie the rope tight!" Ivan growled.Pikel thought about the mission, and the consequences of having his angry brother near him, and shook his head. "Tie it tight!" Ivan yelled, "or I'll cut the tree down!" He picked up the ax and took a step towards the thick trunk, and Hamadin appeared between him and his target. "Don't do that," the dryad warned.Ivan was more concerned with his brother, the would-be druid who had slid down to a branch near the recess and the precious perch of the heavy stone.Ivan had no doubts that if he did cut down the tree, Pikel would throw a stone on his head. Ivan stood with his thick arms folded across his chest, staring at Pikel.At last the seated dwarf relented, tied the rope tight, and told his brother to climb up.Soon they were sitting together on a branch, Ivan impatient and restless, but Pikel felt quite content that he was a very druid where he was. "Why are you laughing now?" Ivan asked the annoying dryad after a while.Hamadin appeared from a branch above their heads, pointing north. "The ogre isn't going this way," she said.Of course, looking through the trees, Ivan and Pikel could easily make out the moving group of prisoners some distance away, far to the north, moving away. Pikel looked at Ivan, then at the stone, and then back at Ivan, with a sarcastic expression on his innocent face. "Shut—" Ivan began, but then he stopped abruptly because he noticed some movement among the bushes not far away.After a while he made out an orc, advancing steadily among the trees, hacking away something that might serve as kindling with his long knife.Ivan calculated the path of the creature, and realized that it would pass not far from the trap. "Bring it here," he whispered to Pikel. His brother squeaked a few times and poked his chest with a finger. "Okay, here you go!" Ivan whispered harshly, and he slapped Pikel on the back of the head, sending his brother off the branch. "Oh!" Pikel wailed and fell to the ground with a thud. Ivan ignored his brother and paid more attention to the orc, who had picked up the noise.The creature slowly approached, the knife gripped tightly and ready to strike. After rolling a few times, Pikel looked up and glared at Ivan, but he kept calm and moved away from the orc.He turned his back on the approaching orc, put his hands in his pockets, and began whistling nonchalantly. The orc slipped to the side of the tree, not noticing Ivan, and held a rock above his head.It took a step, another step, and started to run. Then it died. Ivan flipped over on the rope, swung down, and kicked his crushed and deformed opponent hard on the head, and victoriously beat his chest as thick as a big bucket with one hand, "I'll just Say it works!" said loudly. Pikel looked over at the crushed orc, then up at the branches, an amused look on his face.Ivan knew what his brother was thinking: it would have been easier to just walk up with the ax and cut through the thick head of the orc. "Don't you dare to say a word!" Ivan growled menacingly, and fortunately, Pikel never misunderstood this sentence. "I think we can put the rock back in the tree," Ivan began, looking back into the recess, "if I could..." Pikel charged and knocked him down, and they got into a fight.Unnoticed by the two fighting dwarves, another orc was nearby, gathering twigs.It walked to the small clearing, spotted its crushed companion, and looked at the fierce struggle going on.It looked at the thin knife in its hand in frustration. The orc shrugged and walked away, deciding that certain sights were better forgotten.