67 End 1 (1/2)
Daneel and the steward stared at each other, eyes wide as they could go, as the voice echoed over and over and over again in the cavern, striking deep into the darkest corners of their minds and raking up emotions the could easily make a man huddle into a shaking pile on the ground.
Another loud boom made them spring to action. But even after getting to their feet, neither of them knew what to do, until the giant moved beside them and turned his impossibly big eyes which were now quivering with fear on them.
”Get the children. Get everyone! We must defend! There's nowhere we can go!”
Daneel blinked once, then fell back as the king weakly moved his hand to swat them both away.
It seemed that even the slightest movement was hard for him to make, so it was obvious that he would be able to do nothing in the fight that was soon going to be at their doorstep. His action did make both of them ran towards the dining cavern, though, and on the way, he kept glancing back at the huge man from whose eyes a bucket-sized tear had just dropped to the floor.
”Brother… they love you. Calm them down. If worst comes to worst… be with them, please. I can't… Move. We're—no, I'm depending on you…”
The king's weak voice was the last thing Daneel heard before he entered the adjacent cavern. The meaning behind what the man had said hit him with such force that he felt the wind go out of him, but when another explosion from somewhere nearby rocked the entire cavern, he hastily put those feelings aside, convincing himself that there must be another way.
Pleadingly, he turned to the steward, unaware that his face looked was that of someone desperately looking for a way to escape reality. The steward met his eyes and immediately understood what he was asking. They were still moving onward, into a cavern that Daneel hadn't been to before which might be where all those little dwarves resided, and after pursing his lips and scrunching up his eyebrows thoughtfully for a few moments, the steward sighed and replied, ”The king is right. We can go nowhere. We must make a stand here… and hope that we can make it too costly for them to enter. This place is naturally protected by magic formations that have been laid almost an eternity ago… but I don't know how long we can hold. I must go check on them. I'll leave it to you to herd all the little ones to the same place. Go to the library. And when you're there… check the third book on the right. Ah, never mind. If we had had the time to show you the Path of the Gluttons, it might have been different…but there's nothing that can be done about it, now. Still, it might give you a few tips, so take a look. Maybe you'll have a shot to use them. As for the rest of us…”
He left the sentence hanging, but a single look at his face was enough to make it abundantly clear what he was thinking. Pressing his lips together into a thin line and nodding to Daneel, he continued onward, leaving him alone in a cavern that was very similar to the one he had seen before where the quarters of the army had been situated.
The difference was that the caves that dotted the walls were all personalised, with either childish drawings on parchment or other materials, or a mishmash of objects moulded creatively in a way that only children could do.
There were small corridors that lined the walls, and on them, the children were milling around, slight panic on their faces as in the background, the master's attempts to get into the city were still ongoing.
Daneel had to blink back tears the moment they all saw him and cheered, as if he was a father figure that they could trust to protect them. Not all of them spotted him at the same time; those that did quickly started to hurry down, and soon, the others did the same, resulting in a large group of the dwarves congregating around him, all shouting questions that resulted in a din filling the cavern.
They were all much calmer since they had seen him, which made Daneel feel such a heavy responsibility on his shoulders that he almost bowed down due to it. The king and the steward had both entrusted this task to him… and as he looked at all the innocent faces around him, he swore that he would do it well.
'Should I tell them the truth? No, there probably isn't anything dumber. Okay… If I must lie, I'll do it with aplomb.'
Forcefully bringing a smile on his face, he raised one hand, which was the signal that they had to quiet down. It took some time, but when the only sound that remained in the cavern was that of the loud booms, he raised both his hands and shouted, ”Listen up, everyone! Father is preparing a surprise for you! That's why there's so much noise! We are also going to have a feast soon… but only the best behaved will get the choicest pick of meat! For now, we'll all have to go to the library and wait there… so which brave dwarves will show me the way?”
”A feast? Oh, boy!”
”Wow! I can't wait for the surprise!”
”Father loves us best! But Crazy Uncle Masochist is next!”
Chattering excitedly, the dwarves milled around, now happily ignoring the sounds of destruction from above. A gang of them shouldered through the rest and volunteered to show the way, and after giving them a mock salute, he set off behind them with the rest on his heels.