Borin Ironforge's Arc

Chapter 20 of 20

The next morning Gray came running from the mine mouth. "They're coming out," he gasped. "Not just guarding the front. They're following the shaft trail toward town." Borin dropped his tongs. If the goblins learned the shaft route, the only clear path to ore was gone. And a boy who could not mine could not learn. Borin walked to the mine himself. He stood at the leaning timber mouth and listened. The chatter was louder than before, and closer. Small feet scraped up the passage toward daylight. He counted the sounds. A dozen, maybe more. Going down the rope one more time would not fix this. The goblins would find the shaft and swarm it. He had to stop them at the front, once, for good. But one dwarf could not fight a dozen goblins in a narrow tunnel with a smith's hammer. He needed more. Borin went home and pulled open the old chest he had carried since his mountain days. Inside lay his war gear. A stout set of plate armor, dented and scarred from battles long past. Beside it, a double-headed battle axe, its edge still keen. He had not worn the steel in thirty years. His hands remembered the weight. Gray watched him buckle the heavy plates. "You're going in? Alone?" "You'll stay at the shaft with the rope," Borin said. "If any slip past me, you climb out and pull it up. Don't fight." He lifted the axe. His arms burned under the armor, but the burn felt right. He entered the passage. The lantern light caught eyes in the dark. The goblins shrieked and rushed. Borin set his boots and swung. The axe took two at once. Claws scraped his plates and found no gap. He pushed forward, step by step, the narrow walls forcing the goblins to come one at a time. He cut them down as they came. The tunnel filled with their screeching, then with silence. Borin reached the low passage where the seams waited. The last goblins fled deeper, past a fresh cave-in that had crushed their nest. No swarm remained. He stood among the fallen, chest heaving, armor slick with sweat. Gray met him at the mouth when he came out. The boy's eyes went wide at the blood on the plates. "You cleared it?" "The front's open," Borin said. He set the axe down and leaned on it. "You can walk in now. No rope. No stealing." Gray grinned, then his face changed. "But there'll be more. Goblins breed." Borin nodded slowly. The mine was open today. In a month the little beasts would crawl back from the deep tunnels. Clearing it once was not the same as holding it. A boy could not mine safely if the enemy always returned. Someone had to make the mine his own. Borin looked at the armor on his body and knew the fight for a steady supply had only started.