Free Deepforge by R.J. Washburn, Ron Washburn Page B

once.”             
    She looked at Grognor with anger. “Never! Brendon and his men violated the treaty and warred against you! They are traitors, and will be tried as such!”
    Grognor watched as the guards grabbed Brendon, he not resisting. “Kathryn, please don’t make me pull rank. We are at peace. Cancel the warrant at once. We must talk in private, we have much to discuss. Brendon will meet with us, as he is a leader and a witness.”
    The Queen struggled to understand what was happening. The dwarven leader was actually…defending a mortal enemy? She realized something big was happening. She looked around at the combined relief effort and the destroyed electrical infrastructure. She reasoned that it was all related, somehow. She put up her hand at the guards. “Stand down. At the…request of the Emperor, the warrant is cancelled…for now. Come, Emperor. We can meet at the civic center. It’s still mostly intact.” She glanced at Brendon and back to Grognor as she stepped toward the wagon. The Ambassador helped her up.
     
    At the civic center, they all sat down at a meeting table.
    “Ok, we’re in private. You want to tell me what’s going on?” The Queen asked.
    “Your Majesty,” Grognor began, “we were visited by gods, just as we were about to battle. They, along with the dragons Deccon and Vella stopped us and told us to make lasting peace.”
    Kathryn was shocked. “gods? There are no gods. Everyone knows that.”
    “Yes, my Queen, they were gods. Their powers were…beyond possibility, and were greater even than the dragons’,” Brendon said, prostrate.
    “You, Brendon, are an outlaw regardless of Grognor says or what you allege happened with so-called gods. You and your men disobeyed a direct order for cease-fire, and that makes you a traitor.”
    “Your Majesty,” Brendon began with remorse in his voice, “I know you’re right. Even now it’s hard for me to let go of the hatred I’ve known most of my life. The dwarves killed a lot of good men at our encounter in Deepforge Valley, and all we wanted was revenge. But, we were prevented, in the most literal way from fighting. Our bullets fell in mid flight, stopped by these gods. There is no denying what happened, we’re not ever to fight with the dwarves again. Believe me, I spit the words out in disgust, but this is the way it must be.” He looked over at Grognor, who obviously shared his sentiment.
    “What gods? What were their names, what did they look like?” Kathryn asked.
    Grognor and Brendon looked at each other.
    “That’s one of the strange things, Kathryn,” Grognor began, “we can’t remember. I can remember they were quite vivid at the time, but it’s like they’ve actively purged our memories of who they were. But, it happened. You can ask the dragons themselves.”
    “Orogo the Just will be here soon, we can ask if he has any knowledge of this. Either way, I’ll honor your request, Grognor. We’ll not take the traitors into custody. Now, the next question. What has this to do with the infrastructure disaster that has taken so many lives and set technology back two centuries?” Kathryn asked.
    “As far as we can tell, nothing whatsoever,” Grognor said. “The dragons told us it was unrelated. We saw the origin, though. Our head engineers said it originated from another world through some sort of portal. It opened up in Deepforge Valley the morning we departed to come here.”
    “How widespread is the damage? We’ve lost all communications, and are relying on runners for news,” Kathryn said. “We don’t even have artificial light. We’re relying on our natural red sight and oil lamps. All the motors are burned up, anything electrical is dead. Even the artificial heaters have been rendered useless. Thank goodness the warmer weather is coming. Some of the nights have still been cool; in the palace we lit a fire last night for the first time in years.”
    “Your Majesty, it’s everywhere.