Treachery : book 2 of Codex Elysium

Chapter 35

Chapter 35

Present time: Nidavellir

The great hall of high king Dvalin was in a total uproar. The place was crammed full of furious dwarves all in their heavy battle armour. They were clearly divided into two factions but every last one of them was directing their rage towards the high king's throne. High King Dvalin was sat on the throne with his head in his hands, he too was dressed for battle but he let the noise and din wash over him. Rekkr stood in front of his king with his sword drawn, the scarred and ugly dwarf was yelling back at the massed warriors on the king's behalf.

The leaders of Nidavellir had come together for one final war meeting and devised the best strategy they could but it was proving to be highly unpopular with every commander and soldier. The only plan that had any kind of chance at success was to divide the defenders into two groups. The first group had been labelled the prime legion, they would be the ones down at Nid-gate holding the wall. The second group was the reserve legion that would stay behind and defend the fortress if the prime legion failed to hold. It was a sound and sensible plan, the trouble was that the reserve legion was made up of all of Nidavellir's finest and bravest warriors, the strongest and the veterans. Now this offended them because they felt they were being kept out of the fight, they should be at Nid-gate, the wall would never fall if they were holding it. They all yelled and boasted of their bravery.

On the other side of the hall was the prime legion group. This unit was made up of all the younger and less experienced warriors. The veterans were quick to point this out, saying that was certain to be their downfall.

Rekkr slammed his sword point down into the flagstone floor, drawing everyone's attention, his voice echoed through the hall.

"The simple truth is that we do not know what weapons the enemy will bring! What happens if they bring a full legion of archers?"

The scarred dwarf glared at the veteran half of the room

"Our finest and bravest would be standing on the wall bragging of their greatness while they were slaughtered by a hail of arrows and not one of you would get to kill an enemy!"

Rekkr drove his fist into his palm to emphasise the point. This caused the prime legion to erupt again. Shouts of sacrificial goats and lambs to the slaughter. They were just there to soak up arrows. This only riled up the veterans more, they called the prime legion spineless cowards.

High king Dvalin closed his eyes as fights began to break out between the two sides. Fists were swung, blows landed. The problem was that both sides were right. The veterans were need to hold the wall, the prime would most likely lose the wall. But Rekkr was also correct, if the enemy showed the walls with arrows and ballistics then any warrior on the wall would be lost without a fight. What could they do? They couldn't just hand over Nid-gate without a fight. There was no other options, no reinforcements were coming. They were going to lose this fight but the high king was determined to take as many of the enemy with him as possible.

Dvalin thought of his great, great, great grandfather. His real name was long forgotten, he was simply referred to as the mad king. Mount-Nid held a final secret that was either discovered or created by the mad king. It was a secret that was handed down from one king to the next, a secret he was meant to pass onto a successor but he didn't really have one. Rekkr made no secret of the fact that he had no intention of being a king, he was a warrior, a leader of wars not a governor of state. Still if they all died today then there would be no need of a successor.

High king Dvalin opened his eyes and got up. He stood on his throne so he could be seen and shouted out over the sea of battling dwarves

"Am I high king of these lands or not?"