Chapter 146

Pe Riyuro listened to the mutilated dwarf and quagoa hybrid with the same horror which he looked at it. The dwarf half and the quagoa half took turns explaining everything they heard, and then went through the story of their escape.

"We took the little used ways, we found stalagmites jutting up from the ground which had little dips in them that made them like little bowls. Water dripped from above into these gifts of the gods, and saved our life more than once when we were thirsty. We caught bats and wild lizards, by blocking small holes and snatching them as soon as they thought it was safe to skitter out. We… survived for all those weeks… and now here we are." Quadwar replied.

"So you did… in a manner of speaking… now about putting you back to normal…" Pe Riyuro scratched at his jaw.

"Our organs are melded together." The quagoa head said, "Even if you cut one half off, we don't have a high enough tier of magic for us both to survive."

"So?" Pe Riyuro asked with a shrug. "I'll save the quagoa half.

The dwarven head snarled at him. "Bastard."

"No." The quagoa head replied.

"No?" Pe Riyuro replied and cocked his head in disbelief.

"Both or neither, My Lord." The quagoan head replied, "You need allies… there is only one choice."

Pe Riyuro nodded at that.

"The demons! My Lord, the demons again!" One of the guards outside shouted and chaos erupted again.

Pe Riyuro snarled, "You...two… you… get somewhere safe for now… their probes are getting bolder."

The noise of the dragons' breath from the surviving members of Olasird'arc's family echoed off the great cavern of the expansive mountain interior. Howls of quagoan warriors fighting and dying at the front became cheers as he rushed to the fore.

"Elites! Elites of our people, we will not die so easily! Follow me! Follow me! Follow me!" He bellowed louder than the din of battle, his feet slapping on the stone as he charged without fear, his bright headdress in place, a symbol for all to see as he roared forward backed by the best of the best.

A dozen demons which towered two or three times the height of a quagoa were surrounded and slashing their claws down at the clan warriors, but for every two that died, three or more would claw their way up the demon's bodies, hacking and biting at the deep crimson colored flesh.

They raged and yowled, pain in one was encouragement to the others, the bat wings sent gusts of wind against the defenders, sometimes a quagoa at the back of the demons would claw their way up and pierce a wing, only to be flung free and broken against the rock, tumbling in a moaning heap if they were lucky. Crumpled and forever unmoving afterward if they were not.

Pe Riyuro's elites, the strongest of the strong, intended to be saved for the last assault on the last dwarven city, were now the difference between life and death for hundreds of his fellows.

He clawed his way up the body, barely avoiding a demon talon, his people's resistance against being 'cut' was of only limited use against these powerful creatures, and so he praised the great ores of the gods that he avoided the strike. Though it caught another of his people in the eye and sent the quagoa toppling to the stone floor. The demon's foot came up, Pe Riyuro looked down and saw the quagoa scream as the foot came down and squashed the fallen into mush.

"Bring them down!" Pe Riyuro bellowed when he climbed up to the top of the demon and thrust his claws into the great eye and ripped it out of the socket. He held the red eyeball aloft like a trophy, his people howled their pride in their master and the assault redoubled, the hearted tribal warriors clambered up and tore with violence at the demons with renewed vigor, some using hooks and ropes to tug the monsters down to swarm over them.

Quagoa warriors became red and furry smears on stone, but they drowned the towering demons in quagoan blood, continuing to claw, bite, scratch, and tear at the demons until they were one by one reduced to unmoving corpses.

Dragon's breath proved an effective weapon, slowing down some, freezing them in places, and they themselves attacked in pairs, descending from above, taking a demon up into the air of the open black sky and tearing at them with claws and teeth. The demons seemed to have had some resistance at least, but the flaming maws and icy ones proved the dragons superior at least some of the time, though they took wounds, the dragons at least, all survived.

After the last of the demons perished and their heavy, large bodies were laid out, the dragons simply collapsed with exhaustion wherever they were.

Pe Riyuro considered them the lucky ones, weary as he was, there would be no rest for him. He looked over the sea of death where bodies blanketed the stone so well that the rock floor was hidden in places. Even without a clear tally… 'Hundreds, I lost hundreds against a dozen. We can't go on like this…'

The healers expended their mana every day after that, though the demon attacks were rarely large in number, the dragons continued to take wounds, enough that the quagoan casters could only afford to heal the worst of their injuries as all the rest of the mana was applied to more seriously injured quagoans.

And in each of those days, Quadwar urged him to move, the strange hybrid again and again said, "Go to the dwarves."

But the notion still sickened him enough that Pe Riyuro couldn't bring himself to do it.

Knowing what to do, but being unable to bring himself to do it, became his bane.

A bane that did not abate until the shouts of alarm became shouts of happiness and he emerged from his quarters to find a scout rushing to him. "Survivors! My Lord, we have survivors!"

"Survivors from what?" Pe Riyuro demanded with a furious snarl that mimicked his haunted eyes.

"A raid, one of the raids on the dwarves, they have news… news of possible help!" The scout shouted and flung himself at Pe Riyuro's feet.

"Please, meet with them! Hear them out!" The mud coated scout begged, and in that plea, Pe Riyuro heard the sound of the unthinkable.

'He doubts my leadership. He doesn't trust me to make the right decision anymore…' It was a horrific thought for the conscientious quagoan chief. 'Am I leading us to our destruction by holding back even knowing what I know?'

"Hurry, bring them to me… I will meet with them." Pe Riyuro promised, and the scout shot to his feet and rushed away as fast as his legs would carry him.