"If they did not run away, the day was ours." Urlgen insisted to his fuming father. "Gerti's giants fled like kobolds!"
King Obould furrowed his brow and kicked the face-down body of a dead orc, turning it half up then letting it drop back to the dirt, utter contempt on his ugly face.
"How many dwarfs?" he asked.
"An army!" Urlgen cried, waving his arms emphatically. "Hundreds and hundreds!"
To the side of the young commander, an orc screwed up his face in confusion and started to say something, but Urlgen fixed the stupefied creature with a wicked glare and the warrior snapped his mouth shut.
Obould watched it all knowingly, understanding his son's gross exaggeration.
"Hundreds and hundreds?" he echoed. "Then Gerti's missing three would have done you's no good, eh?"
Urlgen stammered over a reply, finally settling on the ridiculous proclamation that his forces were far superior, whatever the dwarves' numbers, and that an added trio of giants would have indeed turned his tactical evasion into a great and sweeping victory.
Obould took note that never once had his son, there or when Urlgen had first arrived in the cavern complex, mentioned the words "defeat" or "retreat."
"I am curious of your escape," the orc king remarked. "The battle was pitched?"
"It went on for long and long," Urlgen proclaimed.
"And still the dwarfs did not encircle? You's got away."
"We fought our way through!"
Obould nodded knowingly, understanding full well that Urlgen and his warriors had turned tail and fled, and likely against a much smaller force than his son was indicating-likely against a force that was not even numerically equal to their own. The orc king didn't dwell on that, though. He was more concerned with how he might lessen the disaster in terms of his tentative and all-important alliance with Gerti.
Despite his bravado and respect for his own forces-ore tribes that had thrown their allegiance to him-the cunning orc leader understood well that without Gerti, his gains in the region would always be restricted to the most desolate patches of the Savage Frontier. He would be doomed to repeat the fiasco of the Citadel of Many Arrows.
Obould also knew that Gerti wasn't going to be pleased to learn that one of her giants was dead, lying amid a field of slaughtered orcs. With that unsettling thought in mind, Obould made his way to the fallen giant, the behemoth showing few wounds other than the fact that his throat was almost completely torn away.
He looked over at Urlgen, his expression puzzled, and offered a prompting shrug.
"My scouts said it was a big cat," his son explained. "A big black cat. Jumped from that tree to the throat. Killed the giant. Giant killed it."
"Where is it?"
Urlgen's mouth twisted, his formidable fangs pinching into his lower lip. He looked around at the other orcs, all of whom immediately began turning questioning looks at their comrades.
"Dwarfs musta taken it. Probably wanting its skin."
Obould's expression showed little to indicate that he was convinced. He gave a sudden growl, kicked the dead giant hard, and stormed away, furrowing that prominent brow of his and trying hard to figure out how he might parlay this disaster into some son of advantage over Gerti. Perhaps he could shift the blame to the three deserters, explaining that in the future her giants would have to be more forthcoming of their intentions to the orcs they accompanied on raids like this.
Yes, that might work, he mused, but then a cry came in from one of the many scouts they had sent out into the surrounding areas. That call soon led to a dramatic redirection of thinking for the frustrated and angry orc king.
Soon after, Obould furrowed his brow even more deeply as he looked over the second scene of battle, where three giants -the missing three giants, including one of Gerti's dear friends -lay slaughtered. They weren't far from where Urlgen had set his camp the night before the catastrophic battle, and it was obvious to Obould that the trio were missing from the march because they had been killed before that last march began. He knew it would be obvious to Gerti, who surely would investigate if he pushed the issue that the disaster was more the fault of her giants than his orcs.
"How did this happen?" he asked Urlgen.
When his son didn't immediately respond, the frustrated Obould spun around and punched him hard in the face, laying him low.
"Obould is frightened," Ad'non Kareese announced to his three co-conspirators.
Ad'non had followed Obould's forces to both battlegrounds and had met with the orc king soon after, counseling, as always, patience.
"He should be," said Kaer'lic Suun Wett, and the priestess gave a little cackle. "Gerti will roll him into a ball and kick him over the mountains."
Tos'un joined in the priestess's laughter, but neither Ad'non nor Donnia Soldou seemed overly amused.
"This could break the alliance," Donnia remarked.
Kaer'lic shrugged, as if that hardly mattered, and Donnia shot her an angry look.
"Would you be content to sit in our hole in boring luxury?" Donnia asked.
"There are worse fates."
"And there are better," Ad'non Kareese was quick to put in. "We have an opportunity here for great gain and great fun, and all at a minimal risk. I prefer to hold this course and this alliance."
"As do I," Donnia seconded.
Kaer'lic merely shrugged and seemed bored with it all, as if it did not matter.
"What about you?" Donnia asked Tos'un, who was sitting off to the side, obviously listening and obviously amused, but giving little indication beyond that.
"I think we would all do well to not underestimate the dwarves," the warrior from Menzoberranzan remarked. "My city made that mistake once."
"True enough," agreed Ad'non, "and I must tell you that Urlgen's report of the size of the dwarven force seemed greatly exaggerated, given the battleground. More likely, the dwarves were greatly outnumbered and still routed the orcs-and killed four giants besides. Their magic may have been no less formidable."
"Magic?" Kaer'lic asked. "Dwarves possess little magic, by all accounts."
"They had some here, as far as T can discern," Ad'non insisted. "The orcs spoke of a great cat that felled the giant, one that apparently disappeared after doing its murderous business."
Off to the side, Tos'un perked up. "A black cat?"
The other three looked at the Menzoberranyr refugee.
"Yes," Ad'non confirmed, and Tos'un nodded knowingly.
"Drizzt Do'Urden's cat," he explained.
"The renegade?" Kaer'lic asked, suddenly seeming quite interested.
"Yes, with a magical panther that he stole from Menzoberranzan. Very formidable."
"The panther?"
"Yes, and Drizzt Do'Urden," Tos'un explained. "He is no enemy to be taken lightly, and one who threatens not only the orcs and giants on the battleground, but those quietly behind the orcs and giants as well."
"Lovely," Kaer'lic said sarcastically.
"He was among the greatest of Melee-Magthere's graduates," Tos'un explained, "and further trained by Zaknafein, who was regarded as the greatest weapons master in all the city. If he was at that battle, it explains much about why the orcs were so readily defeated."
"This one drow can sway the tide of battle against a host of orcs and a foursome of giants?" Ad'non asked doubtfully.
"No," Tos'un admitted, "but if Drizzt was there, then so was - "
"King Bruenor," Donnia reasoned. "The renegade is Bruenor's closest friend and advisor, yes?"
"Yes," Tos'un confirmed. "Likely the pair had some other powerful friends with them."
"So Bruenor is out of Mithral Hall and roaming the frontier with a small force?" Donnia asked, a wry smile widening on her beautiful face. "How fine an opportunity is this?"
"To strike a wicked blow against Mithral Hall?" Ad'non asked, following the reasoning.
"And to keep Gerti interested in pursuing our present course," said Donnia.
"Or to show our hand too clearly and bring the wrath of powerful enemies upon us," said the ever-cynical Kaer'lic.
"Why priestess, I fear that you have grown too fond of luxury, and too forgetting of the pleasures of chaos," Ad'non said, his growing smile matching Donnia's. "Can you really so easily allow this opportunity for fun and profit pass you by?"
Kaer'lic started to respond several times but retreated from every reply before she ever voiced it.
"I find little pleasure in dealing with the smelly orcs," the priestess said, "or with Gerti and her band, who think they are so positively superior, even to us. More pleasure would I find if we turned Obould against Gerti and let the giants and the orcs slaughter each other. Then we four could quietly kill all those left alive."
"And we would be alone up here, in abject boredom," said Ad'non.
"True enough," Kaer'lic admitted. "So be it. Let us fester this war between the dwarves and our allies. With King Bruenor out of his hole, we may indeed find an interesting course before us, but with all caution! I did not leave the Underdark to fall victim to a dwarven axe, or to the blade of a drow traitor."
The others nodded, sharing the sentiment, particularly Tos'un, who had seen so many of his fellows fall before the armies of Mithral Hall.
"I will go to Gerti and soften the blow of this present disaster," Donnia said.
"And I back to Obould," said Ad'non. "T will wait for your signal before sending the orc king to speak with the giantess."
They departed at once, eagerly, leaving Kaer'lic alone with Tos'un.
"We are winding our way into a deep chasm," the priestess observed. "If our allies betray us at the end of a dwarven spear, then our flight will by necessity be long and swift."
Tos'un nodded. He had been there once before.
Obould's every step was forced as he made his way through the caverns of Gerti's complex, very conscious of the many scowls the frost giant sentries were throwing his way. Despite Ad'non's assurances, Obould knew that the giants had been told of their losses. These creatures weren't like his own race, the orc king understood. They valued every one of their clan, every one of their kind. The frost giants would not easily dismiss the deaths of four of their kin.
When the orc king walked into Gerti's chamber, he found the giantess sitting on her stone throne, one elbow on her knee, her delicate chin in her hand, her blue eyes staring straight ahead, unblinking.
The orc walked up, stopping out of the giant's reach, fearing that Gerti would snap her hand out and throttle him. He resisted the urge to speak out about the disaster and decided that he would be better off waiting for Gerti to start the conversation.
He waited for a long, long while.
"Where are their bodies?" Gerti finally asked.
"Where they fell."
Gerti looked up at him, her eyes going even wider, as if her rage was boiling over behind them.
"My warriors can not begin to carry them," Obould quickly explained. "I will have them buried in cairns where they fell, if you desire. I thought you would wish to bring them back here."
That explanation seemed to calm Gerti considerably. She even rested back in her seat and nodded her chin at him as he finished his explanation.
"You will have your warriors lead my chosen to them."
"Course I will," said Obould.
"I was told that it is possible your son's rash actions may have brought powerful enemies upon the band," Gerti remarked.
Obould shrugged. "It is possible. I was not there."
"Your son survived?"
Obould nodded.
"He fled the fight, along with many of your kin."
There was no mistaking the accusatory edge that had come into Gerti's voice.
"They had only one of your kin with them when the battle was joined, and that giant went down fast," Obould was quick to reply, knowing that he could not let Gerti go down this road with him if he wanted to get out of that place with his head still on his shoulders. "The other three wandered off the night before without telling anyone."
From Gerti's expression, the orc recognized that he had parsed those words correctly, rightly redistributing the blame for the disaster without openly accusing the giants of any failings.
"Do we know where the dwarves went after the fight?"
"We know they did not head straight out for Mithral Hall," Obould explained. "My scouts have found no sign of their march to the south or east."
"They are still in our mountains?"
"I'm thinking that, yeah," said the orc.
"Then find them!" Gerti demanded. "I have a score to settle, and I always make it a point to pay my enemies back in full."
Obould fought the desire to let a grin widen on his face, understanding that Gerti needed this to remain solemn and serious. Still, containing the excitement building within him was no easy task. He could see from Gerti's eyes and could tell from the tone of her voice that this defeat would not hold for long, that she and her giants would become even more committed to the fight.
King Obould wondered if his dwarf counterpart had any idea of the catastrophe that was about to drop on him.