The Chronicles of Kenrick

Chapter Eight

Chapter Eight





Kenrick could only watch as the knife swung down and bit into the guard’s neck; there were too many to fight alone, injured and without a weapon.


Crimson blood gushed to the floor, splashing over the chief’s feet. Stepping back, the chief allowed the guard’s writhing body to fall to the floor. With a final fit of convulsions, Kenrick’s guard stopped moving.


Kenrick watched as the chief nodded to a nearby group of gnomes. They quickly retrieved the lifeless body, retreating to the back of the cavern where Kenrick couldn’t see them dismember the body.


“And this one, my chief?”


Wiping the blood on the hem of his trousers, the gnome chief hobbled to Kenrick. He put the blade back into the same pocket he retrieved it from and looked up into his prisoner’s eyes and then slowly over the human’s body.


“He’ll help carry the supplies.”


“Help us?”


A hush echoed around the cavern, every pair of eyes locked onto the two gnomes.


“He’s strong. We don’t need to sacrifice him when we can use him.


“You forget, most of this clan is old and after this day there are more unfledged and elderly than those like yourself. He will help, surely we cannot succeed in Omerean’s Plight by ourselves.”


As the final words came out of the leader’s mouth, he turned and slowly made his way to the rear of the cavern. Quickly, the gnome left standing grabbed Kenrick by the ties around his wrists and pulled him to the right, where the least of the gnomes congregated. Moments later, the unrehearsed music and dancing resumed.


Just in the firelight’s reach, the gnome forced Kenrick to sit with his back against the granite wall. He himself sat on the top of a pile of burlap sacks. From behind him he produced an apple. Making sure the human watched, he bit deeply into the fruit and chewed, allowing the majority of the smashed pulp to fall to the floor.


With a smirk, Kenrick closed his eyes, propped his head against the stone and fell into a dreamless sleep.


After several hours, the music died down with the fires. The assembly of gnomes drifted off until all were asleep in the darkening cavern.








A. Kenrick woke to crying and screaming, and shrill metal whistles. He knew the sound well from the past few months.


B. At dawn, or what Kenrick assumed was dawn, the gnome population began to wake and quickly ready their supplies.











Brock Sansome


Author of The Spheres of Caddock series and the interactive web-based novel The Chronicles of Kenrick.


www.brocksansome.com