The Dwarf Kingdoms (Book 5) by A. Giannetti

argentum inlaid in the blade gleamed in the dim rays of Ascilius's mage light.
    “As much as I like a good fight, I hope that we will find the stables empty,” said Ascilius, grasping Fulmen in his right hand and settling his shield on his left arm. The argentum inlaid in the head and handle of his hammer gleamed softly as did the hammer and crown worked into the front of the shield. Ascilius nudged the Dwarves closest to him with his right foot to rouse them, and they, in turn, woke their comrades until all of the company was awake and standing with their weapons in hand. Their knapsacks and other gear were left stacked against a wall of the tunnel, for if they lost the coming battle, they would no longer have need of them.
    Ascilius extinguished his small mage light before speaking a word of command. At the sound of his deep voice, a set of double doors outlined with a silver thread of argentum sprang into view in the stone wall before him. The doors silently swung inward, revealing a thick, impenetrable darkness. From past experience, Elerian knew that a large cavern lay on the other side of the entryway before him, housing the stables that were contained in the lowest level of every Dwarf city and fortress. The faint sound of voices suddenly came to Elerian’s keen ears. Looking off to his left, he saw a small, flickering pinpoint of red that might have come from either a fire or a torch.
    “There is a guard here,” whispered Ascilius to Elerian in a disappointed voice, for he had also seen the distant light. “We will have to deal with them first.”
    Silently, Ascilius led his Dwarves out of the passageway, splitting them into two equal groups with whispered commands. Well used to moving through darkness, they quickly and quietly followed his orders. Falx and Ennecus led half the company toward the ramp located in the center of the stables. It would be their task to secure the door into the ramp so that none of the enemy could escape into the upper levels of the fortress. After the two captains set off with their Dwarves, Ascilius directed Falco and Crito to follow him with the rest of the company. With Elerian by his right side, Ascilius cautiously led the way toward the faint light on the far side of the stables, following one of the streets that ran between the stalls that filled the cavern around them. The Dwarves did their best to be silent and stealthy, but to Elerian’s sharp ears, their advance seemed anything but quiet. All too often, he heard the tramp of a booted foot or the muffled sound of one Dwarf bumping into another in the darkness.
    “We will never make it across without being discovered,” he thought to himself anxiously. “The keen ears of a Wood Goblin or a mutare can hear the racket they are making from halfway across this chamber.” At any moment, he expected an alarm to ring out, but surprisingly, none came. The faint sounds Elerian had heard earlier, however, became plainer now.
    “It sounds like revelry, as if there is a party in progress,” thought Elerian to himself, wondering at the source of the noise. After an endless time creeping through the darkness beside Ascilius, he finally saw a large entranceway outlined in the northwest wall of the stables. The steel double doors that sealed it shut reflected the crimson rays of flickering torches, the source of the light they had seen from across the stables.
    In the wide street that ran in front of the doorway, Elerian counted at least thirty mutare and a dozen Mordi. In keeping with their dislike for each other, the changelings and the Wood Goblins had gathered with their own kind on opposite sides of the entryway. Some were eating and drinking, seated on benches drawn up to wooden tables. Others were gaming on the floor. Loud voices and snarls filled the air, and several minor arguments were already in progress. Not one of the sentries, Goblin or mutare, was paying the least attention to the dark chamber that lay beyond the pool of