He looked at Frau and then at his father. Neither offered anything to help him make a decision. If he could gather an army to attack Bergmann’s army from the rear, though, that would be a lot better than fighting to defend. “I will go to Patria. Patria is located between here and Tiefes Loch. If the dwarves march against Shinestone we will know about it, and we will be able to send warning to you, Father. If we can get an army to attack them from the rear, then they will have to fight on two fronts. If we can’t, well, I can get back here faster than their army can.”
“I want you to take Rundo with you,” his father said.
“And Jerrie,” Frau said.
“I will ask them,” he answered. “If you could send them both here, I will talk to them about it. When would we be leaving?”
His mother looked at Grizzle, then back at him. “We would have to wait until you are healed a little more, as soon as Hellen says it would be okay for you to travel.”
“I can sit in a wagon as easily as I can in this bed. I am ready to leave whenever you are,” he answered her.
It was Frau who responded to that comment. “You will leave when Hellen says you are ready, and not before.” Grundel looked at her, then at his mother, who was smiling at Frau. The women shared a look, and his mother actually nodded at her approvingly. What in the name of Bordin was going on with them?
His mother kissed him on the forehead. “I will come check on you later.”
His father slapped him on the arm and followed his mother. He waited until the door closed behind them, then turned on Frau. “Why didn’t you tell me that you were going to talk to them about us?”
She put her hand on his arm. “I didn’t know that I was. I decided it while I was talking to them. I don’t want this to be a secret. We can’t really see where this is going if we have to hide it, and we can’t really hide it anyway. All of your friends figured it out before we did.”
Grundel had to smile. Jerrie and Rundo had both talked to Grundel about it before Grundel and Frau had talked to each other about their feelings. Actually, that had taken him nearly dying.
“Well, from now on, let’s make those decisions together. You may be the queen of Shinestone, but you don’t have all the say over what happens with us.”
She leaned forward and kissed him gently. “You just keep telling yourself that.”
There was a knock at the door, and then it opened. Jerrie and Rundo walked in.
“You know the purpose of knocking is to be invited in?” Frau said.
Jerrie smiled at her. “I figured our boy here was still too weak for us to be interrupting anything. If we are, we will leave, Queen Gemcutter.”
When she looked at them they both stopped. Jerrie threw up his hands. “Got it. Line, I crossed it. It won’t happen again, Your Highness,” he said, with an extravagant bow and flourish of his hand.
Frau couldn’t help but laugh. She shook her head and walked out, leaving them to talk about their trip. As she walked past Jerrie, she whispered something Grundel couldn’t hear.
“What did she say?” Grundel asked once she was gone.
“She told me I am going. Where am I going?” Jerrie asked.
Grundel smiled at them and shook his head. “Neither of you has to go. I am going with my mother to Patria. Apparently my mother is Anna Patria, daughter of the previous king, and cousin to the current one. I just found this out a few minutes ago. We are going to leave for Patria whenever Hellen says it is safe for me to go. We are going to talk to the king there and try to convince him to help us fight Tiefes Loch. If we can get them to give us an army, we can attack the Tiefes Loch dwarves from the rear while they are attacking the mountain. And getting out of the mountain will give us some advance warning, since they will have to pass by Patria to get to Shinestone. The trip will take us about a week and a half, so it would take their whole army twice that long. Rundo, if you could fly back when we knew they were coming, Shinestone could have nearly three weeks’ notice, even if we didn’t find out they were coming until they were already to Patria.”
Jerrie stepped up to Grundel’s bed. “Well, you already know I’m coming. You have a price on your head. There are Black Dragons in Patria. I am not going to let you have them all.”
“I guess I’d better come, too,” Rundo said, stepping up beside Jerrie. “I can’t leave your mom alone with the two of you.”.
Grundel smiled. Then he remembered that Rundo had been training with another druid before they took Shinestone. “Rundo, are you sure you don’t want to go back to the woods? We have a while before they could get an army all the way up here.”
He shook his head. “It’s all right. I will wait and see when we are leaving. I will go make sure the druids know what is happening before we leave. If we are leaving too soon I can always fly over there and let Evelyn know. She will make sure all the other druids in the area know what is coming.”
Jerrie just shook his head. “I don’t know if I will ever get used to you turning into a bird.”
“Just wait ’til I learn how to turn into other animals,” Rundo responded.
Grundel couldn’t help but laugh. In spite of everything, he had good friends. He hadn’t known either of them that long in reality, but they were already the best friends he had ever had. “Well, I guess we just have to wait and see what Hellen has to say. I am sure my mother will be back later with her. She might not say it, but I could tell she was anxious to get moving.”
“All right, we will let you get some rest,” Jerrie said.
“All I do is rest. I just woke up! How am I supposed to go back to sleep?” he asked.
“Yeah, well, we don’t want to get caught in here keeping you from your rest. There are three very mean women ensuring you get more than you need, and two of them are queens. You really expect us to take them on?” Rundo said with a big, stupid smirk.
Grundel smiled and shook his head. “Get outta here, then. I gotta pretend I am resting. Sometimes I wish my weapons weren’t magical; at least then I could spend my time sharpening them or something. Why don’t one of you see if my queen or my father can get me a long knife for my boot. That will give me something to do, and I have been meaning to get a boot knife anyway.”
“I will ask your dad. I am sure he will find you something,” Rundo said. With that, both of his friends left the room, leaving him alone to “rest” some more. How much resting could he really do? His resting consisted of lying in bed staring at the ceiling.
But at some point he must have fallen asleep, because he woke up to his mother’s voice. “What do you think?”
He opened his eyes and saw that his mother, Hellen, and Frau were standing around his bed. “What does she think about what?”
They ignored him. “It will be really uncomfortable, but it won’t interfere with his healing. He is mostly healed already. It really is amazing how quickly he has healed. The biggest thing now is the muscles that are knitting in his stomach. They are going to bother him for a while. But if he keeps healing the way he has, I would say another couple of weeks, and he should be able to do everything with only mild discomfort. It will still be a couple months before the pain is gone for good, I would guess.”
“That means we can leave as soon as you’re ready, Ma,” Grundel said.
Both his mother and Frau turned on him with looks that threatened death. Hellen smiled and left the room. Grundel decided to push his luck. “I don’t know what the two of you are all worked up about.”
“We can give it another week,” his mother said.
“You both said we could leave as soon as Hellen said it was safe for me to do so. Well, she just said it’s safe. So I will be uncomfortable. I’m uncomfortable lying in this bed all day, every day. Jerrie and Rundo are ready to go, and so am I.”
His mother looked to Frau. Frau nodded. “I said it was his decision. If he says he is ready, then he is ready.”
His mother looked at him. “Let your friends know we will leave the day
after tomorrow. I will talk to your father about how many guards he wants to send.”
“We are not going to need guards. You will have me, Rundo, and Jerrie,” he responded.
“I believe that a queen’s escort is a decision for a king, is it not, Queen Gemcutter?” his mother asked, turning to Frau.
“It is. Please let me know if there is anything you need, Queen Stoneheart,” Frau answered. They were doing this on purpose to mess with him.
His mother patted his hand and left the room. Frau waited until she was gone, then turned to him and punched him in the shoulder.
“What was that for?” he asked, reaching up and rubbing the shoulder. She had hit him pretty hard.
“Why did you ask your father to find you a new blade? You don’t think I am capable of picking a good blade?” she asked angrily.
“First off, I didn’t ask my father anything. I told Jerrie and Rundo to ask you or my father to get me a knife to put in my boot. Second, I would not have been wrong to ask my father. He is the best weaponsmith I have ever seen, likely the best alive. Finally, what are you so upset about?” he asked rubbing his shoulder.
She stared at him for a few seconds and then she smiled. “I was just having fun with you. Here, I found you this one. I even showed it to your father to make sure it was what he wanted me to get for you.” She handed him a dagger in a thin leather sheath. It was a three-and-a-half-inch double-bladed knife. The hilt was slightly shorter than the blade. It was plain and practical, but well made. The thin leather sheath had a small metal clasp that would go over the top of the boot, holding it in place. There was nothing worse than a boot knife that shifted inside your boot and started pressing against your ankle.
“Thank you. This is perfect. Do you think you could get me a sharpening stone?” he asked.
She rolled her eyes. “Anything else I can do for you?”
“Nevermind, I will just ask my father. I wouldn’t want to inconvenience you, Queen Gemcutter,” he said dramatically.
She hit him again.
Chapter Three
Dwarves of Chaos
It had taken Bergmann a month to make it back to Tiefes Loch. Tiefes Loch was on the southern end of Gegend, the continent on which the five cities sat. When he’d returned to Tiefes Loch he found that the king of Portwein and the leader of the Black Dragons in that city were waiting for him.
Portwein was the largest of the five cities. It was on the southern border of Gegend and was the only city that was located on a coast . Bergmann had no desire to deal with humans. He felt that dwarves were the superior race: that is why they were stronger, smarter, and longer-lived. The humans did, however, serve a purpose. Bergmann was going to take all four of the dwarven kingdoms, and it would be better if he could use the humans in that fight—the fewer dwarves he lost, the better. Humans were naturally greedy. He knew he could feed that greed to get them to sacrifice their own people for him. He had been back for two days, but he had made the humans wait. When he walked into the room, the humans were waiting with Gurbed, whom Bergmann had sent to meet with the humans before he’d left for Evermount, and four other dwarves.
“I assume you have been comfortable,” Bergmann said. When neither of the humans answered, he continued. “I am Bergmann, king of Tiefes Loch. I asked you to come so that I might propose something to you. I am going to take over all of the kingdoms of dwarves. I would like you to help me.”
The king of Portwein was the first to speak. “Why would we do anything to help you? Tiefes Loch has isolated itself. You do not trade with us. We cannot get metal or weapons or armor from you. You have never done anything for us. The other dwarves will at least trade with us.”
Bergmann stared at the human for a minute until he shifted in his seat. “Tiefes Loch has isolated itself in order to grow its power. We have more dwarves than the other three kingdoms combined. We are stronger and we are warriors. The other kingdoms have held on to old beliefs that would have eventually led our race to extinction. Once I have taken the other kingdoms we will openly trade with Portwein and Portwein only. Any of the other cities that want dwarf goods—any metal, any gems—they will have to trade with Portwein. On top of that, we will give you five hundred thousand gold plugs. We will give you one hundred thousand up front and the rest when we take the other dwarf kingdoms. We will also help arm the army that marches with us. My dwarves started making weapons and armor for your people a year ago. We will offer you ten thousand pieces of chain mail, one thousand sets of plate mail, and thirty thousand swords. The swords we made are the thin, curved sabres that your men use now. I understand these are best when fighting on a ship. I think they will work well in the close confines of dwarven tunnels, too. They are light, which will help your men; they will need to be fast when fighting the stronger dwarves. The swords are dwarven steel and won’t break on dwarven armor like many of your weapons will.”
Bergmann saw a light kindle in the king’s eyes. Five hundred thousand gold was a fortune. The armor and weapons he was offering were easily worth that amount over again. The king knew that this would make his city greater and more powerful than all of the other human cities combined.
“Two hundred thousand up front,” the king said.
Bergmann didn’t answer. He just stared at the king. For nearly five minutes he stared hard at the king. Finally, the king broke. “Fine, one hundred thousand up front. When I have the money and the weapons and armor I will send my men with you. My generals will answer directly to you, but my men will answer to them. I want the weapons and armor of the fallen returned to the city, though, when this is all over.”
He had him. The greed of man was the most powerful weapon against them. This king was willing to sacrifice thousands of men for money when he already had more than he could spend. Humans were pathetic creatures.
“Why should the Black Dragons help you?” the wizard, Dirigente, asked.
“What is it that you and your wizards would like? Gold, gems, weapons?” Bergmann asked.
“Do you know that all of your dwarves in Shinestone are dead?” the wizard asked nonchalantly.
Bergmann looked at the wizard now. “How could you know that? How do you even know they were there?”
“Calm down, dwarf. I played no part in the death of your dwarves,” Dirigente said.
“Then how do you know they are dead?”
“Some of my associates were in Shinestone when your dwarves arrived, but they were all dead before your dwarves entered. Well, all of them but two wizards who were at the entrance when the other dwarves finally made it there. You see, your dwarves were supposed to take that entrance while the others fought from the top down. But the other dwarves apparently beat the orcs as well as the Black Dragons who were with them as they fought their way through the mountain. The two Black Dragons at the entrance traveled away when the dwarves appeared behind them. They saw those dwarves defeat the orcs at the entrance, apparently with the help of a halfling druid. According to the wizards who were there, your force entered the tunnel after all the orcs were defeated. When they began to charge the other dwarves, the halfling collapsed the tunnel on them. All of them.”
Bergmann tensed. He knew the story was true. The description of events was very similar to the plans that he and Verrator had hatched to take Shinestone, and a halfling druid was no common occurrence.
“Then you should help me to avenge the Dragons you lost,” Bergmann said.
The Black Dragon wizard actually laughed. “Those lives are not important to me. They died because of the decisions they made. I attack those that attack the Black Dragons to keep others from trying. Some Black Dragons who died fighting beside orcs in some distant cave will not have any effect on perceptions here.”
Bergmann balled up his fist. “You would associate with orcs?”
Dirigente smiled. “No more than you would associate with humans. Don’t look at me like that, dwarf. I am not the greedy, blind king over here. I know that you hate humans. I
see your play and I understand it. The question for me is, does your plan benefit me, and will it benefit me more if I help? Right now I see a dangerous war in confined spaces against dwarves who have a few in their number with the ability to battle wizards. You haven’t yet given me a reason to join in your war. If anything, you have only helped persuade me to stay out of it.”
Bergmann stared at the wizard for a long time. He couldn’t think of anything he had to offer that the Black Dragons couldn’t get on their own. He had only one option. He took off his armor. He undid his leather vest, and then he slid his shirt over his head. In the center of his chest was a tattooed circle with dozens of black tendrils coming out of it. It was the mark of chaos. It was the mark of Delvidge. Even the Black Dragon wizard was shocked.
“The dwarves of Tiefes Loch are the children of Delvidge. This is the task he has given us. For three hundred years we have been preparing. Now we will take control of all of the kingdoms of dwarves. Any dwarf who will not convert to chaos will be sacrificed, as they were in Tiefes Loch.”
He looked around the room to the other dwarves, nodding at each one. Each of the dwarves took off his armor and clothing, revealing heavily tattooed bodies. Each had the circle of chaos in the center of his chest. The symbol was never exactly the same—that was the heart of chaos—but the general idea of the symbol was a small circle with black tendrils of different lengths going in every direction. The other dwarves were covered in the black tendrils from the neck down.
Dirigente lifted his sleeve and looked at his own symbol of chaos tattooed on his forearm. “The last army sent against these dwarves was destroyed. Why should I join you? How will you beat them?”
Bergmann knew he had him now. “They were defeated by a wizard with the power to challenge the gods, but that wizard was taken away by The Father. He will not interfere. If we take one kingdom at a time, the remaining dwarves will have no choice but to convert or die!”
The Half Dwarf Prince: 02 - The Dwarf War Page 2