The very first point to understand about dwarfdom, one that is utterly crucial to comprehend if one seeks to have any sort of insight about their race, is that dwarfdom’s largest issue is their population problem. This issue plagues the entirety of their society and it is not something that can be solved through policy. In my relatively short time on the surface, I have already come across problems that layman may mistakenly consider similar to the utter disaster of a situation in underground.
Let me make it clear here and now. Kirinyaa’s sudden expansion into the ashlands and their lack of manpower to properly exploit the environment to full efficiency is not similar. The aging populations of Epa are not similar. The fact that Ausa is thirteen mere cities and now seeks to control the land given to it by the Arikan Congress is not similar.
There is nothing. Nothing at all. That is similar or that can be used to relate to the dwarves on this issue.
Every single problem they have, whether it is a matter of social policy, of cultural hierarchy, of economics, of military organisation, of labour, of economics or even of education is in some influenced and exacerbated by the lack of people. The dwarves rule an enormous nation underground. Once, this nation was more than a hundredfold times more populated than it is now and the words are not even an exaggeration. Since the Great War, the dwarven population has lost more than ninety-nine in a hundred dwarves. The fact that they still have enough souls to at least partly fill certain holds is just a measure of how vast their peak population was.
And it is a measure of how far they have fallen.
- Excerpt from “Underkingdom Report, Second Edition.” Written by Malam, Goddess of Hatred. It is circulated amongst the Divines and commanding officers of the Second Expedition.
Kassandora twisted her head and cracked her neck as the battle began to die down. Not a speck of dust nor a drop of blood had dirtied her uniform, she had not even needed to pull her greatsword. Truly, modern machinery was a different beast entirely. Tanks rolled past her, men silently moved in tune to the beat of War’s Orchestra. No command needed to be given and no word was said. Not from Kassandora’s men nor from the dwarves. The skeletons had retreated and formed a phalanx on the far side of the junction, those that were trying to pull the two dozen dragons from this hold still kept up their slow and tedious march, but the dwarves that still had skin on their bones and organs between them had come forward and were staring with awe at their saviour.
Kassandora gave War’s Orchestra one final order. A quick set of final played on the piano gave the men their orders to remember and then Kassandora culled the tune of the orchestra. The shift was imminent, men that had been so definite in their movements just moments ago suddenly took pause and looked around the environment. Tanks that had been driving forwards slowed down, others sped up slightly as the men suddenly realised they were under the control of their own heartbeats and not Kassandora’s drums. Their movements were slower, but they were still disciplined and tight and overall, just as Kassandora demanded from individual humanity. To try and compare them to the collective song of War’s Orchestra was like trying to ask a grain of sand as to why it wasn’t a boulder.
A tank fired into the distance and a huge demon collapsed into a scream. Men opened fired just as they had been trained to do. What had been tight, controlled single shots aimed to kill now became long bursts of fire. Those quickly ended once the rest of the demons were cut down. Hold Kuya’s gate still burned, but that was all. The headlights from tanks and trucks weren’t strong enough to reveal the entire tunnel, but they were strong to reveal what needed to be seen.
The ground between Kuya and this junction was filled with bodies and nothing else. A truck parked by Kassandora, the Goddess of War did not even give it one look as she stared at the dwarves. They had taken the knee and were bowing.
“Stand up!” Kassandora shouted as Fer jumped down from that truck. The dwarves stood up immediately. “Don’t embarrass yourselves like that!” Kassandora’s voice boomed from side of the tunnel to the other. This wasn’t a Highway, it did not even come close, but it was still huge. “Where is the Holdmaster?” It had been a thousand years of time since Kassandora had last interacted with these people. True, things may have changed, but Malam’s Underkingdom Report had been thorough. And it revealed that things were closer to how Kassandora remembered them than not.
One dwarf stepped forward. He wore heavy scale-mail that fell like a skirt from his shoulders to his knees. The man’s brown beard was shaved. Kassandora smiled, she had instituted that tradition of shaving when these half-men joined the Empire back then: the tremendous beards of the past had been a hindrance in melee. “The Holdmaster is dead!” The dwarf said. “I am Kuya’s Runemaster, the command is mine Goddess!” Kassandora liked the answer, very direct and without any hesitation. The dwarf spoke so loudly it would be impossible to miss his voice. And, most distinctly from humans, he didn’t seem to have even a moment’s thought about shouting to a Goddess.
“Name?” Kassandora asked.
The Runemaster of Kuya stared at her for a moment, then looked to the vehicles trundling behind her. Kassandora had told them to create enough room that the Torchbearer tanks could fit here. She had wanted to station herself at a Hold, but she supposed there wouldn’t be any problem with having to retake a Hold. Still, it was interesting. If Hold Kuya had fallen then that meant…
Oh.
Kassandora realised it immediately. The tunnels fed directly into the North-South Highway that spanned from Epa into Arika. Tartarus must have found a way into that Highway. She thought for a moment more and then realised the dwarf had not answered her. She wasn’t about to make a fool of herself. If the Dwarf was going to ignore her, then she would ignore herself too rather than make a scene of a Goddess demanding answer from a half-man. “I am Kassandora, Goddess of War, Grand Marshal of the Imperial Legions.”
And Kassandora kept on, she knew it wasn’t enough, she could see the disbelief painted on the dwarves’ face and their eyes. Some began to tear up, others looked at Kassandora with their mouths open, a few fell to their knees. One stout woman clutching her two children fell down onto her rear and brought her children close. “Rhomaion was lost. The Empire on the surface was defeated more than a thousand years ago.” Malam had given her report on how the dwarves behaved, but Kassandora needed certainty. It was the same thing as she taught, when someone passed you a gun, no matter whether it was an enemy or Kassandora herself, you check whether it was loaded. That was certainty, and certainty was the highest form of trust to exist. And now, Kassandora was certain that Malam’s report was correct. She had expected tears or winces, maybe even a curse thrown about. She had expected to be called weak or a traitor for failing when these people had withstood so much.
And they said nothing.
They did not even bother casting judgement.
They simple stared flatly at Kassandora and took the news with the same amount of emotion that Kassandora would take listening to Fer describe her breakfast, less even. Malam had been correct. “But I have returned. Arascus has reformed the Empire.” Kassandora wandered how to phrase it for a moment and Fer stepped in.
The Goddess of War did not have a single worry about the Goddess of Beasthood intervening. If there was one thing she was sure about, it was that Fer was so loyal she would never humiliate in public. “I am Fer, Goddess of Beasthood.” Fer shouted, her voice nothing like the annoying high-pitched tone she used in conversation. “It has been a thousand years of imprisonment up above. Kassandora here herself was locked in the mountain of Olympiada all that time, I was in the far reaches of the Karainan Tundra north of Guguo. Anassa had been locked away in Arcadia. Baalka is still suffering from injury, but let me tell you what your ancestors told me all that time ago.”
Kassandora didn’t know if Fer was fabricating a fib or whether this was a real story. Knowing her, it could easily be one or the other. Fer performed a slightly deeper inflection on her tone to show she was quoting something. “We are still here. We will still be here when you return. It will not be until all returns to ashes that we will be gone.” Fer finished and Kassandora saw the dwarves now beaming with smiles and in open pride as to what Fer had just said. “The man who said that to me was King Altrom.” That was a real person, Altrom had been one of the greatest generals the underground ever had. Fer continued her speech. “And whereas Altrom is long gone, he is still here. I see him in all of you. I know that we have kept you waiting but trust me when I say, we came as quickly as we could. The Empire remembers all its sons and daughters. We have not returned to save you, we have returned to continue our war.” Fer cast her arm back to the modern military force, the tanks and armed men and trucks. The engines that sent reverberations through the stone and the glaring spotlights that lit up the entire tunnel. “And as you can see, we do not come empty handed.”
Fer always said it when someone doubted her showmanship: Animals were speaking long before humans were. Kassandora kept her face flat in front of these dwarves, but inside, she smiled at the thought. It was true. Beasts could wax lyrical with just a set of eyes and a growl. Of course Fer could manage it. Kassandora let the silence hang in the air for a few moments. It was only then that the Runemaster spoke up. “I am Runemaster Karos.” The dwarf finally gave his name.
Karos’ lips quivered. He blinked his brown eyes from under that helmet. Kassandora said nothing, her policy in this regard was to let man respectably cry his tears before getting back to work. Fer though stepped forwards. She was only half the size of Kassandora, but that was still twice the size of the dwarf. She shook her head to bring out a glorious wave within her golden locks, and then she placed her hand upon the top of the dwarf’s helmet. “Runemaster Karos. It had been a long time. I did not know your father. Nor your father’s father. Nor even a step further. But somewhere down the line, I am sure I spoke to a man whose blood flows in your veins. It has been a long time, and I apologise. On behalf of myself and on behalf of everyone behind me, if our soldiers possessed the unbending will your people do, then we would have won the Great War.”
It was enough to bring a grown man to tears, and bring a grown man to tears it did. Karos began to cry right there. He mumbled, or tried to mumble some words out. But he collapsed onto his knees. Kassandora, silently let the man preserve his dignity and said nothing. Even the human soldiers she had brought down here, dressed in modern uniforms of cloth and without a hint of metal on them save their weaponry and their tags around their neck, remained silent as they watched a fellow warrior cry.
Neither Fer nor Kassandora nor any of the humans nor any of the dwarves said anything.
Frankly, what was there to even say?
Karos got his dignity, it took him so long to pick himself up the skeletons dragging that sleeping dragon down the tunnel managed pull the creature a full distance equal to its own length. From behind Kassandora, there was gunfire and engines turning, brakes screeching and the sound of heavy tread sliding on stone as the military engaged something again. Karos stood up and blinked the tears away from his eyes. “Today is a great day.” He spoke slowly, although still with plenty of force in his tone. “Today is truly a great day.” He turned to Kassandora and invoked a title she had not heard in how long? A thousand years at least. “Warmaster, I, Runemaster Karos Ilkiv Rsari report that the vigil has been maintained. Hold Kuya has fallen with minimal losses. We have managed to drag the sleeping dragons out in time and are retreating to Hold Sanaba.” He gave a salute that only the ancient Divines recognised. His fist landed on his heart and he stood up straight. It was an old style, even pre-Great War.
Kassandora returned the salute and dismissed him as Fer snuck back in rank. Kassandora thought on what to say. Frankly, she wasn’t one for such formalities. She always said she preferred soldiers who got straight to the point, but that was simply because she didn’t like wasting time on needless conversation. A set of gunfire behind her made the decision. There was no need to waste time on not working and besides, they could not abandon Kuya. Then this junction would be exposed and that would be a whole problem on itself. “Runemaster, when was the last time a Hold was retaken?”
Karos stared up at her for a few moments. Kassandora could practically see him struggling to process the words he had just heard. Eventually, he shook his head. “It has not happened… Not since Rhomaion fell.”
Kassandora saw the dwarves behind him pick up their weapons. They had realised what was going on already. Spear was lifted into the air, shield was affixed onto forearm. A team of dwarves ran back to corral the animated, walking bones that were fitted with pike and impenetrable block armour. Karos got it too. His eyes began to shine. His hand idly went to the short-sword on his belt. It made sense for them and it made sense for Kassandora. They had obviously only just been forced out. The demons would not have had time to dig in and fortify the Hold yet. And they would be reeling from the surprise of losing their vanguard to Kassandora’s modern army just now. This was the moment to press the advantage. Kassandora saw the expressions on the dwarfs, she knew they knew.
But then, it was obvious though, wasn’t it? Kassandora was the Goddess of War. What sort of hopes were cast upon the Goddess of War? “Rally your men and remember this day Runemaster. Your thousand-year retreat ends today.”