Diaries of a Dwarven Rifleman

They rose the next morning stiff and sore but glad they were alive to feel it. Two days later in the second valley they passed through they found the road; a good, dwarven road. It was just a strip of dirt and gravel but to them it looked like home.

Chapter Ten

“There's an old saying that 'The guilty flee when none pursue.' They are forever hunted because no matter where they go they cannot escape the guilt in their own hearts.”

From the diaries of Engvyr Gunnarson

Haaken Elovson swore bitterly as he studied the trail ahead of him. He stood and turned to the others.

“It's them, right enough,” he said. He was the best tracker among them and they respected his judgment when it came to such things. Several of the thieves swore in their own turn at this news.

“They gotta' be huntin' us!” exclaimed Darrol Reddolson. He was a miner by trade, with narrow, piggish eyes. “We're off the path that ox-train was takin' and we been windin' all over the country.”

“What I want to know is how'd they get ahead of us?” another wondered.

“It doesn't matter, they managed it somehow. Who'd a' thought they'd take after us? A woman, a kid an' a crippled up fella?” asked the trapper named Noak.

“It's that Maker-damned kid that killed Weart and Doelyr. They must all be as nuts as he is,” said Graegyr, another miner. “If Weart hadn't killed that brat…”

“Well he did kill 'er,” Haaken said, “an' he paid full price for the doin' of it but that don't mean those folks are likely to forgive and forget. If'n they set the Law on us…”

He didn't need to elaborate. Bad as it was to steal they'd laid hands on a respectable woman, and worse yet been involved in the killing of a child. Dwarves had but few children in the course of their long lives and they treasured them. The fact that the killing was an accident, even that the guilty party had died for it, mattered not one bit. It had happened during a crime they were all involved in. In the eyes of the Law they were as guilty as he was.

“Well if they're ahead of us they've lost our trail. We need to get off this road and take out another way,” said Noak.

“Don't be stupid,” Haaken said, “They trailed us this far, do you think they are just going to shrug and go their merry way when they realize they've lost us? No sir, they'll back track and keep right on coming.”

He overrode their muttering at this.

“Ya'll don't see it,” he said, “This is a chance for us. We can take them by surprise and end our troubles here and now.”

“I wouldn't mind meetin' up with that there woman again,” said Noak, “We got us some unfinished business, her and I.”

“Only way Noak can get him a woman, ugly as he is,” one of them said and they all chuckled. Noak just shrugged and grinned.

“Best we move out then, boys,” Haaken said, “Likely we can come up on them before dark, fresh as those tracks are.”

– **-

Engvyr was returning to camp with a double armload of wood when he heard the screams. Dropping the wood he unslung the Big 14 and rushed to investigate. He was just about in sight of the hollow where they had made camp when a figure loomed out of the brush ahead of him. He tried to stop to shoulder the gun but he heard a shot and something slugged him in the chest.

He found himself staring up at the sky through the leaves. He was lying flat on his back on the loam of the forest floor and there was no noise but the sounds of the woods. Breathing hurt, moving was worse, and he fell back with a grimace as he tried to think what had happened. Then he remembered the screams and struggled to his knees. He looked for the Big 14 but it was nowhere to be seen. His belt, pouch and knife were missing too.

He felt another stab of pain that took his breath away and realized that he couldn't move his left arm. He found he'd been shot high in the chest, two inches below the collarbone. The wound had bled plenty but was just seeping now. He used his good hand and his teeth to tear the hem off of his linen undershirt and wad it over the wound under his tunic. He tore another strip and used it to tie the pad in place.

By then his head was swimming and he had to fight down nausea. He was able to get to his feet with the help of a tree-trunk and lurching from tree to tree he came in sight of the camp. The ox was gone and their goods were scattered. A dwarf holding the Big 14 was bent over his father and rummaging through his coat.

Feeling a surge of anger he moved forward quietly and picked up a length of firewood. He almost fell when he bent over but recovered and staggered towards the thief. Hearing his approach the thief started to turn towards him and Engvyr hit him across the face with the stick.