The Chronicles of Kenrick

Chapter Two

The scream echoed from further down the abandoned tunnel. As Kenrick turned, he saw the guard next to him raise the sword over his head, just finishing his war call. His eyes were locked onto something past the pile of rubble Kenrick had created.


Three figures waited, cloaked in tattered rags, their heads bent to the ground.


Kenrick glanced to his guard and with a quick nod he gripped his hammer’s worn handle.


Even before Kenrick could get a firm grip on the weapon, the three figures began to sway. The two on the outside swayed left to right, while the one in the middle swayed back and forth. After two repetitions, they started to chant.


At first, the words seemed like gibberish to Kenrick, but as the syllables became more pronounced and the cloaked figures grew louder, he recognized the language.


“Gnomish!”


The guard half-turned his head, keeping his wide eyes on the three before him. “Gnomish? Are you sure?”


As Kenrick opened his mouth, a loud detonation shook the rock that surrounded them, knocking them to the ground, their weapons scattering along the path. Small tremors quickly followed, but enough for Kenrick to be unsteady as he rose. Once the tremors passed he reached for his weapon, the guard doing the same.


“Damn bastards, what the hell are they doing?”


The three stopped chanting. They moved their heads, allowing Kenrick and the guard to see their sun-scorched skin. And then, they remained still.


“I don’t know,” Kenrick raised his hammer, resting it on his shoulder.


For several moments, the two groups stared at each other. Down the tunnel, Kenrick could easily see the gnomes’ expressions. Each one was as blank as the granite that surrounded them. Out of the corner of his eye, he could see the nervousness of the man next to him. His sword hand twitched, he continually lifted each leg as if to stretch it, and his tongue proceeded to lick his lips every second or so.


“Why are they here?”


Another minute passed and finally the guard raised his empty hand to his chest, clasped the long cylindrical tube resting around his neck and raised it to his lips.


A sharp piercing wail erupted into the air. Kenrick covered his ears and turned from the whistle, he was caught off guard. He should have been use to the delicate sound; it was one of the only ways for the guards of Sadira to communicate. It was for this reason that the swinging blade behind him missed.


Even over the shrill whistle, he could hear the air being forced out of the way of the steel. When he turned, the blade was thrust at him again. He jumped back in time to raise his hammer, glancing the blow along the hammer’s shaft to the ground.


Before him stood a gnome. Its neck was littered with small bones that dangled in every way off a piece of twine. A single pair of shorts covered the lower half of its body.


Kenrick could see another gnome interrupting the guard’s call, he, like Kenrick, hardly had time to dodge the swing.


Again, the gnome attacked Kenrick, swinging its blade up, thrusting the tip towards his chin. Kenrick sidestepped, placed the hammer into his other hand and knocked the blade away. The gnome came again, swinging wide from right to left then diagonally down. Kenrick scuffled backwards, towards the three gnomes in cloaks.


He paused, waited for the gnome to swing wide to his left and then dropped to his knee. He brought the hammer just inside the gnome’s swing and thrust it up at his enemy’s knee. It crashed into the gnome’s sword, bowing the steel almost to the point of splintering. Quickly the gnome turned its wrist and the remaining energy in the hammer came back at Kenrick, crossing his weapon arm across his chest. With another spin of its blade, the gnome propelled the sword into Kenrick’s bicep.


Pain pierced his consciousness for only an instant, and then his training upheld. Already letting go of the hammer, he rose to his feet and stepped forward. Allowing the sword to be driven deeper into his arm, he swung with his left fist, striking the gnome in the forehead, only realizing now how short it was.


The gnome fell instantly back, sprawling across the tunnel in an unconscious heap. Kenrick turned to the guard.





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Brock Sansome


Author of The Spheres of Caddock series.


www.brocksansome.com