“Dwarf friend, you do not know these woods. “I am Hemlot son of Zarin, and these are my men, Glowin, Son of Earl, and Ferdin and Fordin, sons of Glowin. But come, all of our lives are in danger, the sooner we are away from this fire, the safer we will all be.” It is my duty to guard this part of the Westwood. They had their axes at the ready when they came back up. The dwarves, although they were angry, could not ignore the traditional dwarf like gesture and they also took their helmets off, held them to their chests, and then bowed. He took his hat off, held it to his chest, and took a deep bow. Out of the shadows stepped a green-clad human. The dwarves looked at each other and then looked back at the direction of the voice. Most likely dwarves, since men around these parts know better than to attract attention to themselves, after dark, in the Westwood.” “Which you might end up so anyway, every hungry predator around knows that fir e means food. “Friend Dwarf, if I wanted to fight you, you would have already been dead,” answered the voice. “Show yourself so I may split your head open with my axe !” Hemlot shouted. The dwarves sprang to their feet and had the axes at the ready in a matter of seconds. “Four dwarves around a fire waiting to get eaten,” said a voice from the woods. The dwarves were finishing up with their supper when they heard a whistling sound coming from the woods. When their father pointed out his battle scar to prove that wars did exist, they would say that he cut himself shaving, although by the looks of him, he had never shaved a day in his life. It was hard for them to believe all those stories and songs about war when they had seen none of it in their day. The last of the gremlins had been driven out of the mountain before they were born. They were Glowin’s sons and had never stepped outside of High Mountain before today. Loud clanks would echo through the forest when battle- axe would hit armor. The twins, Ferdin and Fordin, stood up and starting sparring with each other. It was a knack that warriors develop over the years to keep from getting ambushed. He kept looking out into the darkness at the forest feeling as if someone or something was watching him. Although small in stature even for a dwarf, he had the ferocity of three dwarves in battle. Hemlot was a natural leader and one of the dwarf king’s most able commanders. He had a hard life but was strong, fearless, and cunning. He had led many a dwarf to battle and to victory. Hemlot was smallest of the four and by far the meanest in battle. The underground world was home of both the dwarf and the gremlin and neither one shared well. Many times had the gremlins tried to infiltrate the mines under the mountain, and many times they had been battled back. He had seen many battles with the gremlins of High Mountain. Glowin, with his scar above his right eyebrow, was the loudest of the hummers. Their meal was just a couple of unlucky rabbits they caught on their way out of the mines. But these dwarves had been walking all day and were too tired to bother with the normal dwarfish bravado. Wild game and goat and pig would be eaten while server girls would pour ale to thirsty boasting and belching dwarves. Those bonfires would have massive feasts around them.
It was not the normal dwarf bonfire, like those in the large elaborate halls that they cut out of their mountain kingdom. The fire was large and lit up the night sky for miles. The fire blazed hot under the stars as four dwarves sat around it calmly sharpening their axes while they hummed old war songs, oblivious to the dangers around them. I hope that you enjoy reading through the journey as much as I enjoyed writing it. I built a new world and then filled it with kingdoms and mountains. I followed familiar lines with elves and dwarves but then threw in some surprises. I then thought to myself, why don’t I write one? With that the idea of my novel was born. I didn’t find one that met what I wanted to read. I also wanted enemies becoming allies and mysteries surrounding ancient races and cities I t would have an unlikely hero leading the good guys and a very evil enemy leading the bad guys.
I wanted to read an epic story about large armies coming together and fighting large battles. I went to the bookstore to find the perfect novel.