Forgotten battleground

Forgotten Battleground

“Debil this was a mighty fort, a castle or maybe a palace.” Exclaimed the young halfling, his bright blue eyes flashing with excitement, wavy brown hair a hopeless tangle and dimpled smile splitting his face. He swung his heavy brown wool coat about, shirt untucked and bare feet sticking out of worn pants as he dashed from one crumbling stone wall to the next telling his friend, “Look at this, and this.”
Debil did not share his friend’s desire to explore this cool spring day. His brown eyes looked from one moss covered block to the next like a nervous rabbit looking for the fox. He ran chubby fingers through his thick, curly brown hair. Then he fidgeted with all of his properly buttoned coat buttons as he turned around still looking for the slightest movement in the bushes. “Can we go now Tumble? It is creepy here.”
Tumble’s real name was Tambor but had gone by Tumble since he was a little boy. The neighbors would always be bringing him home all bandaged up from his latest “Tumble”. Now he nimbly dashed about the ruins sure footed as a mountain goat. “We just got here. What is the matter? Are you scared? Think the ghosts will come out and get you?”
“Shut up!” retorted Debil angrily. As excited as Tumble was to explore the old battle ground far from home out in the wilds Debil wanted to be home in safe familiar surroundings. “ How can you be sure this was a fort any way?”
“This” answered Tumble triumphantly as he pointed to some old carved stones a little way from Debil.
Debil reluctantly walked over to his shorter, smaller friend to see an arch lying flat, half buried in the ground. They took twenty steps from the keystone to the base of the arch. The stones it was made from were still smooth and as big as a shed and held together even after falling flat. They could see the arch had been part of the outer wall of a long forgotten castle. “ It’s too big to be made by any of our people. Who do you think made it?”
Tumble ran his fingers over the stone of the arch as he walked next to it. “Dwarves? No men! No, no giants. Look at the size of this. It was giants.”
Debil frowned not wanting to be close to anything to do with giants wondering why he bothered to ask the question. Tumble didn’t know.
“Debil look! A tower stood here.” Debil had just taken his eyes off Tumble for a second and he had managed to dash off way down where the outer wall had been. Just then Tumble disappeared. Debil heard an all too familiar crash and then saw the dust rising were he had been. Debil sighed and slowly walked over just to be sure that it was not just another prank his friend had decided to play.
He trotted for a moment along the remains of a wall still taller than he when he came to what was left of a corner tower. Dust still came up from a large square hole in the center of the wide circular floor and Debil dared not get any closer. He looked around the weathered white stones for a way to safely get down in the hole.
“Debil?” Tumble’s voice was strangely happy and excited but definitely coming from down in the hole.
“What?” Debil wanted to go home and really wanted to stay out of the scary dark hole.
“I found something!”
Of course thought Debil. Tumble was always finding something. His luck was uncanny. “What is it?”
“Catch.” Answered Tumble as a small box came sailing out of the dark hole at his head. His reactions were a bit slow but he managed to get a hand on it after blocking it with one hand, rolling it off his shoulder and bouncing it off his knee. It was a very dirty box. It was then that he heard many voices.
“Tumble” he whispered as he leaned down toward the hole not wanting to get to close for fear of falling in. “I think someone is here.”
“Great!” whispered back Tumble as he hopped out of the hole like a rabbit on all fours. He then snatched the box out of Debil’s hands and dashed away through the trees and fallen blocks towards home. “This is going to be fun.”
Debil groaned. “Please can we go home? It could be goblins.”
Tumble considered it for a moment. “We can go home by way of Arquero pass.”
Debil definitely thought that this was not a good idea. It might be better to see it the goblins, or ghosts even would just go away on their own. “Tumble the rocks are always sliding there.”
They hear some talking. Tumble grabs Debil and pulls him behind a large, rotting trunk. The voices sound like they are getting closer. Debil’s eyes open wider. Tumble smiles and scampers off into the trees heading up into the Morgoch mountains straight for Arquero pass.