Chapter XXII

Doraghek Kazburn

Codsworth draws his gun, before quickly remembering that the weapon was empty, and instead takes his axe in hand as the goat charges towards them, as the goat and rider come within range, the group get their first look at Doraghek Kazburn.

He was short and stout, like all of his race, with a long black beard and hair, however it was the dwarfs face that really drew their attention, they had thought that Brutus was scarred, but the wear-bear had nothing on the dwarf, his face was covered in deep lines, both from age and from battle, his chief scar went across his eye from his large forehead to almost his chin, whether that was the wound that had robbed the dwarf of his left eye was unknown, but in its place lay a silver gemstone that had been shoved into the eye socket, that glinted in the evening sun.

“What business do ten southerners have in the north. Speak quickly.” Doraghek said in a harsh tone, looking at the group, eyeing each one in turn. Even on his goat however, he wasn’t taller than any of them. However, his tone conveyed that he would have no problem killing them all right then and there if he didn’t like the answer that he received.

“We need help. One of our companions has gone missing.” Vernon said quickly wanting to calm the situation down, as he was pretty sure that the dwarf had witnessed the argument between himself and Codsworth, and the old butler wanted to assure the dwarf that there was no need to intervene in the matter.

“We're looking to get to the nearest town, so we can search for him properly.” Codsworth said equally as quickly, although he doubted that martin was in the area, there may still be some evidence that would lead to wherever he was being taken. At these two comments Doraghek dismounts from his goat and looks around at the group before noticing Dave and Nick hanging towards the back of the group. Seeing them the dwarf’s eye narrowed and he addressed them once more.

“Your missing companion, are they a child?” Doraghek asked, his tone had changed, from one of obvious caution to one of urgency, this question was so specific that it gave Codsworth some hope, these kidnappings had now been noticed by Fierhand and the king under the mountain seemed to be taking action to counter it.

“Yes. Why?” Codsworth asked, wondering if the dwarf had any information on what had been happening. But Doraghek only sighs and Codsworth’s hopes to begin to deflate.

“My company and I were investigating an attack on that town you were hoping to reach. By the time we got there we found it abandoned with several children unaccounted for. We're hold up there now.” Doraghek said as he removed his helmet, a message that the dwarf was at least willing to trust them.

“How many are you?” Vernon asked looking at the dwarf, whilst they had succeeded in making contact with a dwarven patrol, as the old butler assumed that this dwarf was not alone, he was curious how many more were out there.

“Seven in all, including myself. We heard gunfire whilst investigating the town.” Doraghek replied as he looked at the group, who clutched their firearms, although most were now well and truly empty of any ammo.

“That was probably us, we were attack by a horde.” Bruce said shrugging. However, this comment would unbeknownst to them, set off a chain reaction like they could have hoped for. As even the goat looked angry at this comment, it kicked at the ground at the mention of the dead and the dwarf began to rage.

“A horde?!” Doraghek shouted, a furious look creasing his already lined face, he looked once more around the group, wanting to make sure that this was not some practical joke in order to trick him. But when none corrected the Barter, he raged for a few more moments, although only Bruce could understand what Doraghek was saying as he cursed in dwarvish, and when asked for a translation he simply shook his head, muttering about how they didn’t want to know.

“Aye, my guess is they attacked the town and we got caught up in their retreat.” Codsworth said, trying to break in after Doraghek had finished with his profanities and had returned to his calm self once more.

“This is grim news.” Doraghek said looking around at the concerned group of southerners before he leaps effortlessly onto his goat and turns to face them once more. “You are to come with me, all of you.” Doraghek finished and began to move at a slow pace, that allowed the group to follow.

For a moment no-one moved, until Nick walked forward and followed, seeing this the rest of the group came to their senses and also joined the procession towards the nearby town.

By the time that Doraghek lead the group through a set of broken gates and into the town of Derwell, night had fallen. It had taken longer to get here due to the dwarf having circle back around some of the steeper hills, that whilst his goat could manage, they on foot, could not.

Derwell, much like Bergskort was a simple enough town, although it looked to have benefited more from the wealth of the nearby mountain. All that was now gone however, as all that remained were the chard husks of buildings and broken streets. Something had happened here alright, and as the group noticed two red headed dwarves, who they assumed were brothers, continue to place what the group quickly realised to be corpses, they began to hurry their stride.

The two dwarfs; Tursumlin and Throzzoug Borgood, looked up at their leader then their brown eyes turned on the group. Like Doraghek they were shocked to see southerners up here, but unlike their leader, they were less skilled at hiding that fact.

“Almost finished here Doraghek. Who are these people?” Tursumlin said, mopping with wide brow and looking at the newcomers. Doraghek gets off his goat, takes the axe and walks over to the soon to be funeral pyre.

“Southerners, found them on the old road.” Doraghek said as he walked up to inspect the work that had been done, nodding his satisfaction he returned to the dwarf. “Let me know when we’re ready.” Doraghek finished, and the brothers each nodded as Doraghek walks the group towards what looked like the town hall, or at least used to be. The exterior walls were burnt beyond reckoning and it looked like it wouldn’t remain standing for much longer. As the group and Doraghek walked up the steps, they found two further dwarves; Erilatir, a grey-haired dwarf who looked to be the eldest and Komatin, a barrel-chested dwarf with a braided beard, standing guard outside.

“My Prince.” Erilatir said as he saluted. Doraghek only nodded and walked inside what remained of the town hall.

The interior was in considerably better condition that the exterior surprisingly, the stone floor seemed to have been spared most of the fire damage to the point that it was still useable, along with a lot of the interior walls were still roughly intact, sure there were holes in them, but it seemed to be holding up well.

The group follow Doraghek Kazburn walks through the hall, axe clutched in his hand until he sits by a freshly lit fire and gestures for the others to sit down. Nick does so immediately, seeming to trust the dwarf more than the others plus, having spent almost the past month sitting or lying on rocks whenever they had stopped to rest, the smooth stone flooring was a paradise. He was followed by the rest of the group with Codsworth being the last. The only one who had not sat down was Brutus, who chose to stand, leaning against one of the wooden support beams, the old piece of wood creaked slightly as he put his weight against it, but ultimately held firm under the strain. It was at this moment, when the majority of the group sat beside the dwarf, that Doraghek asked his question.

“Now, tell me. Why are you here?” Doraghek asked, his tone was polite, but the group did not fail to notice how the dwarf had not taken his hand of his weapon, the large axe remaining unsheathed on his stretched out short legs in front of him.

“To seek refuge. That's it. Plain and simple. But first I have a question for you.” Codsworth said, he didn’t know whether he was out of place demanding that, as he was a guest here and more importantly, he doubted that any of them would last long in a fight with seven battle hardened and better equipped dwarves. However, Doraghek surprised him and nodded to his request.

“Very well, ask away.” Doraghek said, he was curious about these travellers, but realised that if he was the only one asking the questions, he was unlikely to get much out of them. It was always better after all, to make people think of this as a conversation, rather than an interrogation.

“How did you know that our missing companion was a kid?” Codsworth asked, he was curious as so far on their journey from Bergskort they had met nobody, and he doubted that the dwarves of the mountain would have their full group details. And yet the dwarf had been able to know the age group of Martin immediately without prior knowledge.

“A guess. Which you have now confirmed to be right.” Doraghek said simply and smiled at the commander before he elaborated on his point. “We've received reports of children going missing. We haven't had much luck in tracking them down, however. My guess is that they are being taken somewhere much further south.” Doraghek finished gazing into the flames as if they would provide the answers that he sought.

“So, my brother is still alive?” Dave asked, the look of hope returning for the first time since before both he and Codsworth had found the destroyed bridge back in the woodlands.

“Most likely yes. As the kids disappear and no bodies are found. Which is so different to the others that are left behind. Well, you saw the results right outside.” Doraghek said remembering the sight that had greeted him and his company when they had first arrived.

It had been a shocking scene, with body parts scattered across the ground, and the remains of building fires extinguishing themselves out as they found nothing else to burn. For almost two hours they sorted through the corpses, fortunately they had had the hindsight to take one of the many detailed lists of residents in the kingdom that had been introduced in his grandfather’s reign, specifically the one related to this village and had been updated only a few years prior, which had made the job a lot easier to identify the missing.

He would report the finding to his father and the same dance would go on, but no action would be taken, thanks to the cowardly advisors that Fierhand had surrounded himself with these past few decades. But now, with living proof of these open abductions sitting in front of him, it may give him the leverage that he needed to persuade his father to act on the matter, it was small, but it was a start.

“He's alive, trust me on that Dave.” Dmitri said hollowly that he knew for a fact, as when he had been kidnapped, his abductors had made it clear that he was not to be killed, despite the provocation that he tried to give them. This seemed to do the trick as Dave smiled, it also had the effect of getting Doraghek’s attention, as the dwarf looked up at Dmitri after this remark with amazement in his eye.

“You have experience of these kinds of disappearances.” Doraghek asked startled that this man would have knowledge of these events, as to his understanding, those that were being taken, did not show up again.

“First-hand experience, I'd say.” Dmitri replied that he did have, and if it was the same group, whilst he knew that they wouldn’t kill Martin, he knew what they would do, which was, if anything, even worse. But at this comment a look of hope crossed the dwarf’s face.

“Well, that is good news at least. It means there is a chance to get those kids back.” Doraghek said, he had been doubtful about the chances of finding these lost souls, but now here in front of him was living proof that they could be alive and returned to them.

“If this is the same group of people, although we slaughtered the group that took me.” Dmitri said, but then he remembered Eugene, although they had no idea about whether or not he had survived, Forrest had told them that Osmund had killed one of his aids before dying himself, and that had to be in reference to Eugene. At this comment, the hopeful look on Doraghek face disappears. As one of his companions, Mazgux, black bearded dwarf who was bald walked into the room.

“We're almost finished here. Just a few more bodies t' burn.” Mazgux said in a gruff tone.

“Good. Good.” Doraghek said, more to himself than to his companion, he sits staring at the flames for a while, thinking about all that had been said to him, after which he gets up and looks at the group siting down. “When we leave, you will come with us. After what we've witnessed here it would be wrong to leave you travelling alone.” Doraghek finished as he walked out of the ruined building towards the bonfire, to preside over the final part of the cremation.