go back to California.”
A line of dwarves came out of the desert. They were footsore, dusty,
travel-worn and thirsty. Glandurg was in the lead, limping slightly, and
the rest were strung out behind him.
“Let us rest before the final assault,” Glandurg commanded. His followers
needed no second order. They threw themselves down in the shade of a red
earth hillock.
While they rested, Glandurg and Thorfin crawled to the top and looked out
at their target.
“Big enough,” said Thorfin, craning his neck to try to see the top of the
central tower.
“Our magic will let us locate our target no matter how big it is.”
Thorfin looked ahead dubiously. The desert had been singularly unappealing
and the castle before them looked less appealing than that.
“Not what I was thinking of,” he muttered.
Glandurg started to say something but he was interrupted by one of the
other dwarves.
“Hsst! Someone’s coming.”
Quickly the party concealed themselves as only dwarves can.
What this time? Glandurg thought. More of those big metal walking things?
Or the ones that roll over the ground?
Then he heard the crunch of walking feet. The walkers again; two small
ones from the sound of them.
But it wasn’t the walkers. Instead it was two mortals and a dragon,
looking as tired, dusty and footsore as the dwarves. While the dragon
rested behind the hillock the humans climbed to the spot Glandurg and
Thorfin had vacated just moments before to spy out the castle.
“Now,” said Major Mick Gilligan, “we can see the whole place from here. Is
this close enough for you?”
Karin frowned. The trickles of sweat down her face left clean tracks
through the reddish dust. “But we cannot see clearly. We must move
closer.”
Gilligan licked his lips and tasted grit. “From here on the land’s flat as
a pancake. We get any closer and we’re going to stick out like three sore
thumbs.”
Karin smiled. “You only have two thumbs, silly.”
Mick leaned over and kissed her on her dusty, sweaty cheek. “Two sore
thumbs and a sore big toe, then. Anyway, we’re not going to have any
cover.”
“I think we must risk it,” Karin said seriously. “We won’t learn much
watching from here.” She shaded her eyes and scanned the plain before
them. “Besides, there is some cover out there. Enough to hide a person if
you are careful.”
Gilligan glanced back at Stigi and didn’t say anything.
Karin scanned the plain. “At least there do not seem to be any robots out
there.”
Fine, Gilligan thought, so it’s a killing zone.
“Okay, but remember what I told you. We keep spread out, drop at the least
sign of trouble and be on the lookout for mines.”
Karin nodded. They slithered down the hill, collected Stigi and started
out onto the plain.
Now what was that all about? Glandurg thought as he watched the humans and
the dragon go. He signaled his own group to assemble and they too started
out on the plain.
* * *
The plain before them was not only flat, it was wired. There were pressure
sensors in the soil, motion sensors concealed in rocks, capacitance
sensors masquerading as bushes and an invisible network of radar, laser
and ultrasonic beams lacing back and forth so tightly not even a field
mouse could move without being detected.
Neither group was more than a hundred yards onto the flat ground before
they were picked up, marked as hostile and targeted.
In pillboxes disguised as hillocks of red earth, shutters slid off firing
ports and machine guns poked out their ugly black snouts. Artillery buried
in the base of the castle swung around as automatic loaders delivered
shells and powder charges to their gaping breeches. Firing impulses raced
at the speed of light along buried wires to fields of mines.
Suddenly the earth erupted in flame and smoke and flying pieces of metal.
“What was that?” Karin asked.
“Barrage,” Gilligan told her shortly. “About a mile to our right. Come on.
Let’s move!”
“What was that?” Glandurg demanded as the explosions and gunfire rang out
over the plain.
“Dunno,” Snorri said. “But it’s about half a league over yonder.” He