The Crystal Shard(The Icewind Dale Trilogy 1)(84)

"Open a door for me, Bruenor," Regis whispered absently. "Please let me in."

* * *

Coincidentally, Bruenor and his clan were, at that very moment, discussing the feasibility of opening a door in their tunnels. But not to let anyone in. Soon after their smashing success against the ogres and goblins on the ledges outside their mines, the fighting longbeards had realized that they could not sit idly by while orcs and goblins and even worse monsters destroyed the world around them. They were eager to take a second shot at Kessell. In their underground womb, they had no idea if Bryn Shander was still standing, or if Kessell's army had already rolled over all of Ten-Towns, but they could hear the sounds of an encampment above the southernmost sections of their huge complex.

Bruenor was the one who had proposed the idea of a second battle, mainly because of his own anger at the imminent loss of his closest non-dwarven friends. Shortly after the goblins that had escaped the tunnel collapse had been cut down, the leader of the clan from Mithril Hall gathered the whole of his people around him.

"Send someone to the farthest ends o' the tunnels," he instructed. "Find out where the dogs'll do their sleepin'."

That night, the sounds of the marching monsters became obvious far in the south, under the field surrounding Bryn Shander. The industrious dwarves immediately set about reconditioning the little-used tunnels that ran in that direction. And when they had gotten under the army, they dug ten separate upward shafts, stopping just shy of the surface.

A special gleam had returned to their eyes: the sparkle of a dwarf who knows that he's about to chop off a few goblin heads. Bruenor's devious plan had endless potential for revenge with minimal risk. With five minutes notice, they could complete their new exits. Less than a minute beyond that, their entire force would be up in the middle of Kessell's sleeping army.

* * *

The meeting that Cassius had labeled a council was truly more of a forum where the spokesman from Bryn Shander could unveil his first retaliatory strategies. Yet none of the gathered leaders, even Glensather, the only other spokesman in attendance, protested in the least. Cassius had studied every aspect of the entrenched goblin army and the wizard with meticulous attention to detail. The spokesman had outlined a layout of the entire force, detailing the most potentially explosive rivalries among the goblin and orc ranks and his best estimates about the length of time it would take for the inner fighting to sufficiently weaken the army.

Everyone in attendance was agreed, though, that the cornerstone holding the siege together was Cryshal-Tirith. The awesome power of the crystalline structure would cow even the most disruptive orcs into unquestioning obedience. Yet the limits of that power, as Cassius saw it, were the real issue.

"Why was Kessell so insistent on an immediate surrender?" the spokesman reasoned. "He could let us sit under the stress of a siege for a few days to soften our resistance."

The others agreed with the logic of Cassius's line of thinking but had no answers for him.

"Perhaps Kessell does not command as strong a hold over his charges as we believe," Cassius himself proposed. "Might it be that the wizard fears his army will disintegrate around him if stalled for any length of time?"

"It might," replied Glensather of Easthaven. "Or maybe Akar Kessell simply perceives the strength of his advantage and knows that we have no choice but to comply. Do you, perhaps, confuse confidence with concern?"

Cassius paused for a moment to reflect on the question. "A point well taken," he said at length. "Yet immaterial to our plans." Glensather and several others cocked a curious eye at the spokesman.

"We must assume the latter," Cassius explained. "If the wizard is truly in absolute control of the gathered army, then anything we might attempt shall prove futile in any case. Therefore, we must act on the assumption that Kessell's impatience reveals well-founded concern.

"I do not perceive the wizard as an exceptional strategist. He has embarked on a path of destruction that he assumed would cow us into submission, yet which, in reality, has actually strengthened the resolve of many of our people to fight to the last. Long-standing rivalries between several of the towns, bitterness that a wise leader of an invading force would surely have twisted into an excellent advantage, have been mended by Kessell's blatant disregard of finesse and his displays of outrageous brutality."

Cassius knew by the attentive looks he was receiving that he was gaining support from every corner. He was trying to accomplish two things in this meeting; to convince the others to go along with the gamble he was about to unveil, and to lift their outlook and give them back some shred of hope.

"Our people are out there," he said, sweeping his arm in a wide arc. "On Maer Dualdon and Lac Dinneshere, the fleets have gathered, awaiting some sign from Bryn Shander that we shall support them. The people of Good Mead and Dougan's Hole do likewise on the southern lake, fully armed and knowing full well that in this struggle there is nothing left at all for any survivors if we are not victorious!" He leaned forward over the table, alternately catching and holding the gaze of each man seated before him and concluded grimly, "No homes. No hope for our wives. No hope for our children. Nowhere left to run."

Cassius continued to rally the others around him and was soon backed by Glensather, who had guessed at the spokesman's goal of increasing morale and recognized the value of it. Cassius searched for the most opportune moment. When the majority of the assembled leaders had replaced their frowns of despair with the determined grimace of survival, he put forth his daring plan.