| Fred had initially feared that the tunnel by which they had entered
might be caving in. He was reassured that the dwarves, who knew much more
about caves and tunnels than any man did, did not seem to think that was
likely. The rumbling died away again. Shortly afterwards Sarn and Bern
returned. "Orcs, lots of them!" one of them said. "There's a big hole in
the floor of the main passage where their diggings have intercepted it.
We must have heard the floor collapsing into the hole. The orcs are pouring
out of it now and heading this way." Fred remembered that it was said that
orcs could track dwarves using their sense of smell. Perhaps it was more
than coincidence that the orcs should have appeared now. Tarin smiled grimly.
"The ancient enemy of our people. What bad luck - for the orcs. Ready yourselves
for battle, my friends."
Astra murmured to Fred, for he guessed about the tenth time since they
had first met: "I wish I had a weapon." "There's no chance of Tarin letting
us have battle-axes, I fear, even if there were any spare. In any case,
I doubt that much will get past the dwarves." Fred affected a confidence
that he did not altogether feel. Whilst he had a very high regard for the
dwarves' fighting prowess, he feared they might be beaten by sheer weight
of numbers. He knew that if the orcs won, any surviving dwarves would be
massacred. The fate of the humans was less certain, but was unlikely to
be pleasant.
"At least Rift looks frightened," Astra said, clearly happy at that
fact. Indeed, the lawyer was very frightened. He had never been
caught in a situation like this before. He wondered whether he dare get
out the Crystallic whilst the dwarves' attention was elsewhere, and try
to transport himself and Astra away.
-
 The first orcs reach
the lair, and battle commences.
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