"The Mines of Mohrkronin"
an original Dwarven Novel
by Michael Delving
Thanks to Micheal Delving for submitting his wonderful Dwarven novel for our enjoyment. Michael has recently build himself a very nice website. I suggest you give him a visit.
Here is a sample
Dvalin leaned in close and said in low whispers, as if hiding the comments from the slowly approaching goblins,"Had me a vision yestersun. Saw it plain as the blade in me hand. Great Haela Brightblade came down and saved us—" He stopped, then continued in a grimmer fashion, "Saved you, my son. Helped you defeat them foul vermin what’s layin’in wait for us t’ croak. She told me as I lay—" Here he paused again, then continued after smearing the dirt under his left eye, "She told me that you were destined for greatness, Draupnir. Glory and victory in battle, honor to you and your family’s name. And son," here his eyes glittered in the low light, "she said that one sun you’d re —"
But Draupnir never heard the last of the sentence. Their short conversation had given the overlooked goblins enough time to approach the edge of the standing stones. Behind his father’s shoulder he spotted a lone green-skinned arm raising an axe in the crevice between the monoliths at his father’s back. Screaming in furious rage, he heaved the crossbow with one hand at the descending axe, instinctively protecting his father the quickest way he knew how.
The inlaid crossbow, a gift from a respected dwarven elder centuries ago to the clanmaster of those suns, cartwheeled slowly towards the goblin foe. Just as the axe blade was about to come crashing down on the battered helm of the old dwarf, the two weapons met in mid-air. The sharp edge of the hand axe sliced through the bowstring and cleaved the stock partly in two. The halves of the crossbow, fired in tournaments and battles for centuries, displayed in a special niche of honor in the Hall of Arms, flew in opposite directions away from the combat, to fall amid the discarded weapons and scattered body parts that lay around the hilltop.
But its sacrificial separation was in vain. The axe blade was deflected only partially from its intended strike, landing instead between the metal shoulder guards on Dvalin’s broad back. The axe blade bit deep, and a pained grunt surged from his lips as his body tossed forward.
The half-buried hand axe ripped from the attacker’s hand, and as the green arm began to withdraw, Draupnir’s blade shot through the crevice and pierced the unfortunate goblin through a chink his chest armor. The blade drove straight through, and the goblin died before Draupnir could pull his blade back again. Another goblin shape reared next to him and Draupnir kicked out with his heavy boot, taking the surprised foe in his midsection and sending him tumbling back down the slope. Draupnir turned and raced back to the crumpled form on the ground, the hand axe sticking out of the armor, dwarven blood spilled down his back to mix with that already pooled in the bowl’s depression.
He pulled the axe gently from the wound and turned his father’s body face up, noticing the grim smile had not faded from his lips. Those lips were now trying to form words, and as they parted and closed, small flecks of blood spattered from some unseen wound deep in the old one’s chest. Incoherent at first, he sounded as if he were moaning for help, but the defiant expression seemed out of place with any request for mercy.
This 237 page novel is in Adobe Acrobat format (.PDF) and is about 1.6 meg in size.
You can view it here - Mohrkronin.pdf (1.6 meg)
Or download the PDF file already zipped up - Mohrkronin.zip (1.3 meg)
Please note: This is part one of a planned Trilogy. Parts 2 & 3 are not yet completed.
