The Fall of Dorkhun Read Online Free

she unhitched a horse and led it to where the cage laid busted open on the ground. She fastened a leather strap from the bridle to an iron bar and led the horse back to the wagon, dragging the cage. She rummaged through several boxes under the wagon’s seat until she found a heavy mallet. Then, she pounded the hinge back into position and tested the door to make sure it was latched. Satisfied that it would hold, she went to Torkdohn and searched him for the key to open it properly.
    The old dwarf was coming to his senses, so she smacked him in the head with the mallet and knocked him back out. Jase squirmed against his binding and whimpered again he didn’t want to die. Molgheon ignored him and turned the lock with the thick key. The door popped and groaned from the damaged hinge but opened enough to get both inside, so she undid Torkdohn’s lash and dragged him to it first. Then, she went back for Jase.
    “What are you doing?” he whined.
    “I’m gonna drown you in the river,” she returned flatly, untying his strap from the wheel and grabbing him by the hair.
    “Please, no. Someone help.”
    “Shut up.”
    “Please, I’m sick. I’m not even a fighter.”
    “You should have thought of that before you struck my friend in the back.”
    She dragged him to the cage and shoved him in on top of Torkdohn. The door popped and groaned again as she shut it, but the lock fastened tight, securing them inside. Then, she took the horse’s bridle and led it towards the river. In the distance, horses approached rapidly, but she didn’t care who they were or what they wanted. Her entire being was focused on watching these two sink in the Yuejdeon. Jase screamed hysterically, and the horse strained as the cage plowed against the uneven sod, but Molgheon walked calmly and steadily forward.
    As she neared the bank, the approaching horses came up behind her. There were five horses total, each mounted by a Ghaldeon, and three carrying a Tredjard as well. Sliding down from the back of his mount, Leinjar shouted for her to stop, but she didn’t look at him, instead walking around the horse and cage and squatting at one end. Gripping the upper edge, she shoved with all her might to push the cage down the bank, but it didn’t budge.
    “Wait, Molgheon!” Leinjar shouted, running to her. “What are you doing?”
    “Drowning these two in the river,” she returned, glancing over her shoulder at him. “Help me push this.”
    “You can’t kill them.”
    “I can and I will. One of you get down here and help me.”
    “We swore to Roskin they’d be taken to Dorkhun for trial. Let him have his justice.”
    “I’m sure he’ll feel it’s been served once they’re at the bottom. Someone help me.”
    Leinjar motioned for them to stay on their horses, and the dwarves obeyed. They had taken the most solemn oath a dwarf can take that the two traitors would be caught before they crossed the river, and none intended to break it.
    “They’ll be punished,” Leinjar said, kneeling beside her. “You can be certain.”
    Molgheon had fought in countless battles, had survived for weeks in desperate wilderness, and had watched her husband die a slow, wretched death. She had suffered such torture that she could no longer stand the touch of another living thing. Despite all of that, when she had been locked in the cage by Torkdohn and the human captain from the Great Empire, she had never felt so forsaken. Something about the confinement overwhelmed her, and standing in that cage in the center of the logging town with a regiment of humans leering at her, she had vowed that she would kill both Torkdohn and the captain. Roskin had already taken care of the human, and though not by her own hand, she had greatly enjoyed watching Grussard’s blade strike him down. Now, she needed the fulfillment of watching the river take Torkdohn.
    “We swore on our beards, Molgheon,” Leinjar said, leaning close. “We can’t let you do this.”
    Molgheon