Belly of the Beast by Warren Thomas (story books for 5 year olds txt) 📕

through. Nizar estimated half of the doors were exposed, so there was a lot more digging to do.

            “Who is in command here?” Nizar shouted. “Report to me! I am Nizar, Priest of Dakar!”

            A trio of grim looking barbarians headed his way. They looked to be old soldiers, left behind because they were more useful commanding work teams than in combat. The entranced people continued their digging and hauling away of soil and rocks.

            “Yes, Your Grace?” a graybeard asked. He wore an iron helmet, and mail vest over blue wool tunic, trousers, and boots. His companions were similarly dressed, with just a little less gray hair. “I am Trahmar. How may I serve you?”

            “How long will it take to dig out the rest of that door?”

            “Week, maybe.”

            “Unacceptable,” Nizar said even before he felt a burn in the back of his head. “I need inside immediately.” He looked at the door again. Just bronze. “I’ll blast it open.”

            Nizar turned to face the entry. He closed his eyes and started a soft prayer, which Dakar responded to immediately. His hands began to glow.

            “Wait!” Jessy cried. “There are people down there. You’ll kill them.”

            “They’re just zombies,” Trahmar said.

            “They are living people,” Jessy said. “What is wrong with you?”

            “She’s right,” Nizar said, hating how he had to pander to the stupid teen. “Order everyone out of the way. And be fast about it.”

            He could tell that Dakar wasn’t pleased. But Trahmar and his men quickly rousted the zombies out of the way. And then Nizar continued.

            Praying, he gathered up all the energy Dakar granted him, focusing it through his hands. Once he reached the limit of what Dakar would, or could, give him, Nizar opened his eyes, focused on one point on the doors…

            And he sent the most powerful bolt of energy he could imagine into that door.

            Ka-BOOM!

            Instead of ripping and melting the bronze, his bolt exploded back at them. Everyone was thrown back. Jessy cried out. And Nizar found himself flying backwards, until he slammed into something hard.

            Darkness enveloped him.

~**~**~

            “What was that?” Tane asked.

            The explosion shook the floor and walls. Dust trailed down from the ceiling. His friends all pulled their swords and looked at the temple door.

            “I think someone really wants inside,” Raven said. “To the main door!”

            Raven took off running. She was out the door before anyone else moved. Then Joelle took off, followed by Armin. Quinn hesitated a moment later.

            “Will you be all right alone?”

            “Yes. What are you going to do?”

            Quinn shrugged. “Stop whoever is coming through that door, I guess.” The half-elf headed for the temple door, but stopped just inside and looked back. “Let’s hope it isn’t the Black God.”

            Tane nodded, feeling the press of time more profoundly. He turned back to hammering out the fuller. It was almost done, and then he had to engrave the runes. No time for inlays. Something deep within assured him that engravings would be good enough.

            At least, he prayed so.

~**~**~

            “He’s waking up,” Jessy said.

            He felt a soft, small hand stroke his cheek. That made his eyes snap open.

            “You took off my veil?” he cried, and almost backhanded her.

            “No, the blast must have,” she said, leaning back with a look of alarm.

            Nizar scrambled to his feet, finding most of the mercenaries were standing around him. None of them looked particularly impressed by him. And then a little searching found his turban, with the heavy veil still attached.

            Once he was decent, Nizar turned back to the problem before him. The verdigris was blasted away where his bolt struck, but he couldn’t discern any damage whatsoever. He went down to the doors, laying hands on the bronze.

            Reaching out with God-enhanced senses, he was shocked to discover he couldn’t penetrate the door. After a few prayers, he figured it out. A magical barrier protected the doors from being damaged by magic. Whether Tane, the witch, or ancient dwarves placed it there was unknown, but his God given magic was not going to breach those doors.

            “Trahmar! Find the biggest tree bole you can lift. We’re going to use it to batter down that door!”

Chapter 87

            Boom!

            Quinn jumped back, pulling his sword. Armin and Raven pulled their blades, too, while Joelle called up her talismanic ring bow.

            “What was that?” Armin asked. “That sounded different.”

            Boom!

            The half-elf’s eyes locked on the huge bronze doors, noticing how they vibrated. Tendrils of dust fell in the entry chamber, with most coming down closer to the door.

            “Battering ram,” Quinn said.

            Boom!

            “The doors are holding,” Armin said. He pointed to either side of the entry. “But not the walls.”

            Quinn looked closer, and spotted the cracks. Huge bolts driven deep into the stone held the hinges in place, and that pounding had already caused the stone to start crumbling around them.

            Boom!

            “That sucks goblin balls,” Raven said.

            Joelle grimaced. “Eww.”

            “Funny thing about goblin balls,” Raven said, a mischievous smirk spreading. “They only have one each.”

            “What? No way,” Joelle said.

            “How would you know?” Armin asked.

            Raven’s face lit up.

            “Don’t answer that!” Quinn cried. He looked at Armin. “Why would you ask her that?”

            Raven just laughed, and then her eyes narrowed as she turned back to the door when the sound of crunching stone came to them upon the next ram strike. Quinn noticed the upper hinges were crumbling the fastest, and remembered they’d only dug halfway down the doors.

            “Be alert!” he cried. “The door can’t take much more.”

            As if to prove his point, the battering ram struck again, and the top hinges broke loose of the stone. They froze, jaws dropping as the massive bronze doors seem to topple back into the entry in slow motion.

            Marble shattered when the doors struck, and the most gods-awful sound shook the entryway. A cloud of dust flew