Epilogue

"Crush that worm!" The angry voice thundered through the dark cave hall. An ugly shape crawled down on its knees before the throne. The throne itself was built of white skulls, but looked grey in the flickering torch light. Built on a base of wide ogre skulls, the dais was made up of fine and delicate elven skulls. The back was formed of eight rows of human skulls rising up to a height of one yard and a half. Broad dwarven skulls formed its armrests. Eighteen torches, arranged in half a circle around the throne, cast a wavering light through the hall, revealing eighteen guards standing, unmoving, in two lines on either side of the throne. Each held a large scimitar upright. The armorial bearings of the skull throne, five white skulls in a black circle, emblazoned their eighteen shields.
But more impressive than the skull throne, more impressive than the eighteen guards, was the figure on the throne. Its massive body, its mean hideous face, ugly beyond description, marred by many scars, yet automatically drew all attention. Not because of its heavy mithril crown, not because of the eighteen green jewels set on them, not because of the heavy two hand battle axe in its hand, but something in its eyes and voice spelt doom for the pitiful creature before the throne.

"That traitor had the courage to come here for a raid in our precious mountains" the voice continued. "And with how many swords? Hardly enough tot resist an assault by the feeblest chief of chiefs of our kingdom! Tell us the result of your assault, and do not try to veil any details, for I will surely discover them, and you will have to answer for them!"
The figure on the ground shook visibly when it raised its orcish torso, and reported:
"Oh noble ruler of the skull throne, by the eighteen scimitars of your throne, we first massed a host of a thousand scimitars against them on the banks of the Brwn to try their prowess, and they drove us back. Then I decided to lure them into the fertile valley between the Katapanu and the Banuwa, a day upstream from the first battle. The chiefs of chiefs of both mountains were warned, and prepared their people. I also enlisted the help of the Trolls, our old allies, who turned up with over a hundred scimitars. Both mountains fielded some two thousand scimitars. We had them nearly crushed, when hordes of our wild hunting cattle charged us from behind. Our men fled, and they conquered mountain Banuwa, and chief of chiefs Znbk of the Katapanu mountain surrendered and made peace with them."

"Would Znbk ally with this baron Brnzwck?" the king asked.

This time someone stepped forward from the shadows along the walls of the hall. Dimly, other manlike shapes could be distinguished. The one stepping forward wore a uniform resembling the uniform of the broad as the pitiful figure on the ground, but was built as massive and muscled as the figure on the throne.

"By your permission, my father and noble ruler of the skull throne, allow me to report that I took the liberty to send messengers to Znbk, and these returned without having even been heard by Znbk. But if you want to know how many swords that traitor Brnzwck has, he gave his soldiers leave to depart, and has less than a thousand swords left. Count five hundred bludgeons of our wild hunting cattle, and a five hundred scimitars from Znbk, two thousand all together."
The fingers of the king played with the mighty battle axe in front of him, and lifted it without thought: "I feel you want to suggest something, prince Lkrng. Tell us".
"Noble ruler of the eighteen mountains, let us call upon six chiefs of chiefs" prince Lkrng said. "When we have them outnumbered three to one, I am confident that we can annihilate them totally."
"You forget, my rash and valiant son, " the king said slowly, "that he already defeated a host of four thousand scimitars with less then two thousand swords. It seemed he came to raid, and now he holds two of our eighteen mountains. How could this be, unless... he got here by invitation and got help?"
The son nodded. "I see what you mean, noble Ruler of the skull throne. For three seasons we have besieged the many towered castle of the high priest of Sniff, the snake god. His priests tried to break the siege in many treacherous ways, and he invited king Wzkzb into an open war against us. We defeated Wzkzb, but he may well have found another pawn to suit his needs."
The king declared:
"By the eighteen scimitars of my skull throne, I do not adapt to the treacherous subtleties of wizards! Perhaps he did, perhaps he did not. Send him an open accusation, and threaten to make it public, unless he sends us a hundred priests to help us against the baron!"
"And the siege, oh sire?"
"The siege will be maintained." the king decided.
The prince continued:
"Besides the six thousand scimitars, I would like to call upon our allies: First, the goblins in the moors upstream the Brwn. With some effort, they can field a thousand tridents. Second, the great apes we call Yaytai living in the snow that never melts. There are not many of them, but they are strong. Third, the Cyclops will have to pay them, but they are strong and smart. Fourth, the giants living among the rocks of Kgrnj. They also will have to be paid, but the are extremely strong though not smart. Last, our old allies the trolls, who nearly broke the barons army at the battle of five armies."
"By the eighteen scimitars of my skull throne, you will have them" the king declared, then added: "unless, our old shaman Grgrr has some council to add?"
"Only a question, my noble king" an old man shuffled forward, having just entered from one of the two passages that lead to this vast hall. The king remained silent while the old man strided slowly forward. Grgrr motioned a soldier holding a spear to follow him. The king frowned at this liberty, but waited without questioning.
"My question is this: Should councils of war not be held in secret? If so, why do we hold them while the enemy listens?"
A murmur arose from those present in the throne hall. But Grgrr pointed to a spot in the air, about five yards above and before the throne, and ordered the spear man: "There!".
Casting the spear was the work of an instant.

Glass fragments shattered throughout the corridor as a spear burst from and through the mirror. A lady in a blue robe swooned and fell among the sharp splinters on the thick soft carpet. Earl Erlang sprang away, and so did a uniformed man. The earl bowed over the lady, who was motionless.
"General, please call a priest of Tromer to look after lady Rohanny. I am afraid the force of the counter spell was too much for her."
The general hurried away quickly. Within a minute he returned with two priests, who took care of the lady.
"Do I take command of the army to help the baron, my lord?" the general asked. "After all, although he did brilliantly so far, defeating two hosts and conquering a valley, we cannot expect him to resist over seven thousand men with only a thousand of his own troops."
The earl sighed. "Alas, my dear general, we cannot afford ourselves that luxury, much as it is to my liking as well as yours. You know full well that King Meteg Amma may call upon us any moment when the quarrel on our northern border erupts into open war."
"Then, can we not do anything?" the general asked. "If there ever was a time to reconquer part of the mountains, it is now. Also, realise that now the king of the skull throne knows we have learned of his plans, he will change them, at least call up more men."
"Still, in what we learned," the earl said, "and in the very threat of war on the northern border, we may find the means to help our Brnzwck."