With the merchants out in the swamp, unaware of what was happening, here was no more time to waste. We would simply have to use whatever portion of the detour was ready, hope traps would get the rest, and station our militia at the end of the whole affair, and hope for the best. I told everyone to evacuate the back entrance, and I made my way upstairs to see if it was already too late. I climbed all the way to the top of the fortress, and scanned the swamp, searching for the merchants. They were nowhere to be found.

I raced back down to the hall. "Where did the merchants go? Were they killed already?!" I asked a nearby dwarf. He tipped his head slightly and said, "What, you mean the ones at the trade depot?"



How could they have made it in? What trickery could they possibly have conjured up to get past the invaders in the swamp? I had to know for myself. I ran down to the depot. The place was alive with activity, dwarves hauling hundreds of trinkets to the depot, the merchants having already unloaded. The merchants saw me standing there, my jaw most likely on the floor, and one smiled and waved in a friendly, non-concerned gesture. I approached them slowly, as they eyed some of the trinkets that were being offloaded for trade.







"How did you get past the ambushers?" I asked. "For that matter, how did you get past the gates?" They looked at me quizzically and simply stated, "Ambushers? And the gates were open, chief."

I nearly vomited right then and there. The only thing that prevented me from doing so was the fact that it would have gotten all over the trade goods, and we couldn't have that. The gates were open. How? WHY?

I left the depot immediately and headed for the surface. Just inside the walls, in front of the wide open front entrance, Minty and a few others were sparring, not a care in the world. Workers were heading out to work on the roads. Some others were just bringing in a few last items from previous ambushes. Nobody seemed worried in the least.

I asked the training soldiers what happened to the ambush. "Oh, the elves? Well, I reckon they saw us sparring up on the walls there and got spooked. They turned tail and ran, and they can keep running, for all I care!"

I had been so focused on trying to defend us that I had kept us locked in far longer than necessary. I don't even know when, precisely, the invaders left. For that matter, I had to admit I didn't even know what day it was. But apparently, the invaders were gone. I cautiously approached the front gates, and saw it with my own eyes. The swamps were empty.

And then, as if on queue, out of the brush right outside the gates, around a couple oblivious roadworkers...

Chance II wrote :-

They're the best around. Nothings ever gonna keep them down! Join the High Elf C.H.E.E.T.A.H.S today!