But then the raids had stopped. For almost two years now, Lord Kane's scouts and patrols had not seen so much as a single dwarf. It seemed as though the dwarves had tired of their raids and withdrawn completely from this part of Ansalon. Many of Lord Kane's advisors assumed that the wild dwarves had retreated into the vast mountain wilderness of the distant Anviltop Range, far south and west of Tharkas. Others suspected that they had withdrawn southward, to that mysterious and impregnable subterranean fortress that they called Thor-bardin. A few even suggested that the dwarven raiders had migrated into the frozen lands.

But wherever they had gone, they had disappeared. And though the human patrols still had to range far into the mountains of old Kal-Thax, the lord's task of holding Klanath was easier now that they no longer had to deal with the short, fierce people whose mountains these had once been.

Part III

Master of Tharkas

A Cobar Outing

Had Sakar Kane been a lesser man, the disgrace he had suffered some years earlier-when thousands of dwarven mine slaves had revolted, murdered their overseers, and escaped into the mountains beyond Tharkas-would have ruined him. The Emperor of Ergoth was not a forgiving man, nor one who tolerated failure. The Wall of Skulls in Daltigoth was evidence of that.

The Wall was seven feet thick and higher than a tall man could reach. It surrounded three sides of the formal garden abutting the east wing of the emperor's palace. And it was built entirely of the bleached skulls of those who had displeased Quivalin Soth V and his imperial ancestors.

Another man in Lord Kane's situation-having lost most of his best slaves, thus compromising the production of the emperor's mines-would have suffered recall to Daltigoth, inquisition by the emperor himself, subsequent prolonged tortures, and death. And his skull would have become part of the Wall of Skulls.

But Sakar Kane was no ordinary subject of the empire. Without waiting for recall to court. Lord Kane had acted. He immediately sent armed patrols to find and arrest all of his subordinates and bring them to the inner hall of his Klanath fortress. When they were all gathered there- everyone from old Renus Sabad, the Master of Mines, down to his deputies, chief warders, and even his accounting clerks, most of them still in their sleeping gowns- Sakar Kane gave orders to fifty of his most trusted field troops. On that morning, the only people who left the inner hall alive were those fifty blood-soaked men.

Then, with the brigades at his command, Sakar Kane swept eastward through Redrock Cleft, the final mountain portal to the vast plains, and launched a lightning sweep northward, striking camp after camp, village after village of the barbarians who roamed the arid plains beyond the Cobar steppes. With the several thousand slaves taken in this raid, Lord Kane had the mines in operation again long before the emperor's spies reached Daltigoth. And with the additional slaves he was able to purchase at Xak Tsaroth-nearly depleting his personal coffers-he had actually expanded production by the time the emperor's wardens reached Klanath.

He had a stroke of luck, as well. In one of the pit mines, his guards found a large stockpile of fine, already mined ores, obviously hoarded by some overseer for his own purposes.

Lord Kane was recalled to Daltigoth, escorted by the emperor's wardens. He went not in chains, but riding proudly at the head of the procession, followed by the empire inspectors who had just seen the bustling mines and rich ores. And he returned some months later, not in disgrace, but as Prince of Klanath. Quivalin Soth V was a cruel man, and a ruthless one, but he was not stupid. He understood both what had happened at Klanath-the successful revolt of dwarven slaves-and what Sakar Kane had done so expeditiously to regain favor.

Such a man would serve him well, the emperor knew, as long as he could serve himself in the process. In making Lord Kane Prince of Klanath, the emperor gave him a free hand as concerned the old dwarven lands south of there… and an excellent reason to do all in his power to build and sustain a mighty empire presence at the mouth of Tharkas Pass.

In the years since, Klanath had become a powerful seat of the empire. Not only was the fortress strengthened, but wide perimeter walls had been erected around it, and the sprawling, ungainly mining camp of before had become a walled city-a city that served and defended the southern road of the empire, where marched the armies, reinforcements, and supplies required by General Giarna in his eastern campaigns.

For a time, both the outlying areas of Klanath and the road approaching it were plagued by those wild dwarven raiders, striking swiftly and fiercely from the dizzy heights south of the road. Many hundreds of horses had been stolen by raiders from herds being driven eastward. Supply trains had been attacked-often in the dark of night-and large quantities of supplies, consigned to Klanath's stores, had disappeared. Countless weapons had been taken, and the number of drovers, drivers, handlers, and guards killed by rampaging dwarves had risen into the hundreds over a few seasons.

Lord Kane issued orders to all of his units to take prisoners when possible. It proved difficult. Even when a trap was sprung, and a party of raiders surrounded, the dwarves refused to lay down their weapons, preferring to fight to the death. Finally, though, a mounted guard company did bring in five dwarf captives. The guard captain reported that they were all that remained of a group of fourteen, decoyed and trapped on the supply road, and that it had cost him eighteen men to collect them.

Two of the prisoners were females, and all five of them bore the marks of slaves. One of the males had worked in the Klanath mines. The other two, and the females, had been slaves at Tharkas.

Lord Kane had the five taken through the pass, deep into the mountains to the south, and tortured to death on a ridgetop where their bodies would be found, to serve as a warning to the wild dwarves. Through it all, even in dying, only one of the dwarves made a sound. That one, a female, spat at the men who broke her legs and said, "Hammerhand will deal with you, when he is ready."

There was only one more raid following that incident. Early one morning, five of Lord Kane's household guards were found dead on the very doorstep of his Klanath fortress. They had been bound and gagged, then tortured to death. After that, the dwarven raids had ceased, and the dwarves simply disappeared.

Lord Kane kept one of his brigades in residence south of the great pass as a permanent outpost and center for roving patrols. But the dwarven threat was only part of the reason for that. In Klanath, Lord Kane kept a staff of mapmakers and planners who received regular reports from the roving patrols. It was Lord Kane's plan-once General Giarna's campaigns were concluded-to populate the once dwarven lands with people of his own choosing. The dwarves' revolt had emptied Kane's coffers. One day the lands taken from dwarves would amply refill them.

Tuft Broadland came out of sleep in the manner of a Cobar warrior. In one instant he was asleep, in the next he was awake, crouching beside his sleeping mat with his naked sword in hand, his eyes searching the gloom around him, his ears aware of every minute sound.

For a moment, he sensed no presence but his own. A summer breeze fluttered the fabric of his small tent, and from beyond came the muted night sounds of a guarded camp-the reassuring night-bird calls of sentries, the faint stampings and shufflings of horses' hooves in the nearby rope corral, and the quiet voices of people talking at some fireside.