by Han Yang
“May I rise, my King?” Famo asked politely.
“Arise, my friend. You look dapper, which is rare.” I tapped a foot, feeling the warm evening breeze flowing through the room. “Hmm… should I excuse the court to meet in private or is your issue a public matter?” I asked.
He stood, quick glances going to the side rafters we installed to give the throne room more of a regal feel. Even with the battle earlier, nobles packed the stands, unconcerned about their safety.
Many of them I’d need to get to know, but I did see a few I recognized, like Deston’s mother. When his eyes found the other dwarves and gnomes, he received encouraging smiles.
“I do not have a grievance, and instead present a thanks,” Famo said.
I opened my mouth, about to tell the dwarf he never says thank you, and more or less speaks in grunts, but Tarla stood, waving me off from talking.
“You honor us greatly,” Tarla said. “What wonders does the Duke bring today?”
Hmm… I probably broke decorum, again.
“For freeing the thousand dwarves from the Jeer Coalition, for freeing the lost dwarves of the Kebo Mountain from the orcs, and for honoring our mercenary bargain to completion, I present the gem of Moonguard City,” Famo said, waving a dwarven lad forward.
The younger dwarf carried an ornate box that he awkwardly ran across the room with. He reached a few feet before me and kneeled with both knees on the slate flooring. His outstretched arms thrust the box towards my feet.
I reached down, unclasped the hatch, and pulled out a massive piece of jewelry.
Bands of white gold connected gems around a circular orb. Each gem dazzled in the evening sunlight, reflecting a wonderful ambience in the throne room. A few of the attendees gasped at the reveal while I smiled at the fine gift.
Tarla gently extracted the fancy ball of jewels and metal out of my hands, placing it back in its home.
“Famo - Duke Famo this is marvelous. Thank you. Very kind of you and the dwarves,” I said.
“Gnomes helped a smidge,” Famo said a bit surly. “There’s wards from others touching it besides the royal line.”
“Noted,” I said with a smile. “Tell everyone who helped thank you.”
“I’ll do exactly that. On another note, we came to ask for your approval about an expansion,” Famo said, reaching into his fine robes. He extracted a stack of blueprints, approaching my throne with the items extended. “These are the expansion recommendations for the city, two expansions, and a tunnel network.”
“I’ve only been home for six hours,” I grumbled, accepting the parchment.
“We’ve known about the edrino for four days. Their wonders are something worthy of losing sleep over,” Famo said and the attendees stomped their feet in agreement. “Those documents are the tireless work from hundreds of dwarves.”
I flipped through the parchment, seeing options of expanding the harbor. The jetties would go all the way out and beyond where we installed the stone pillars to make navigation into our waters harder.
We’d have to pull down structures or build inwards. Inside the harbor, aquaculture farms would bring lasting and sustained income. The plan called for farming crabs and mollusks with our scraps.
For the city itself, the keep became the upper city in a lavish expansion. The whole banking section I enjoyed walking by would disappear, replaced by a recreational lake. Nearby, a park for my children would stretch across far more land than Maggie could use.
The wall into the castle keep would triple in height with improved defenses. Small annotations noted that all the open space would allow for fall back positions in a prolonged and losing siege.
The lower city with its current condensed housing became estates with the exterior wall being a fall back defense. The estates seemed too large and the amount of area for the nobles exceeded any I had seen in other cities I visited. The noble market and commerce section found a home on the west side around all the new additions the dwarves didn’t see coming.
This led to the expansion from the city’s current footprint. A new, lower city that went for miles with parks, farms, and plenty of communal space stretched around the city walls. New walls rose from the edges with hard angles and layered defenses. The dwarves expected this city to fight and fight a lot.
Strategically placed across the city were little icons that I couldn’t decipher at first. All of this was going to take a lot of time to decipher, and I was only on page one.
I glanced up at Famo. “Are these subway entrances?”
“I’m afraid whatever word you used, well, it didn't translate well. Subpath is close if that is what you are asking. May I approach?” Famo asked, and I waved him up to our elevated platform.
I pointed to all the sections in the upper and lower city that held gates and guarding stations. They reminded me of the boxy building I used to get into the wurm lords’ realm.
“Ah, the tunnel ways. There are two ways of handling below ground travel. You hide access points or you guard them. You’re behind on this, aren’t you? The expansion is much grander in scope than just Moonguard City.
“You will see when you flip forward that most of the surface is dedicated to other things besides transportation. The natural sunlight will aid our growth and expansion, meaning we should build expansive travel lanes underground. Unfortunately, this also allows the enemy as many entry points as we have exit points,” Famo said.
I frowned at him, causing him to smile.
“This is a lot to take in,” I said, flicking the pages. “Is this a mountain?”
“Ah, so, the crux of the matter,” Famo said, returning to the spot where citizens petitioned me. “As your key engineers, my dwarven council has appointed me as the ruler of the dwarven people. A ruler below your status, of course. We tend to live in mountains, my Lord. That mountain would be an expansion for us.”
I flipped the pages, seeing his plan. Moonguard City would be the port city that stretched to a mountain rising out of the Coorg Woods. In an upper valley of the mountains, blueprints traced out the details of an expansion city called Tametha.
The roads from Tametha dove into the mountains and reached a hold city for dwarves and a smaller home city for gnomes. This fixed the issue with my mom, assuming she actually stayed. This also gave the underground dwellers a place to work and forge, a place they could mold into their own home.
The most important part was that it gave me fall back points, more portals, and more to defend, too. I sighed, not even sure if Marbern would be willing to do all this for us. I waved Osawana over who sat in an advisor’s seat off to my right.
“Just toss them into the air,” Osawana said boringly.
I did as she said, and the parchment drifted to her spot. We waited patiently for her to review the plans. When she reached the mountain page, she smiled.
“More than we planned for, but there is a compromise in store.” She mulled over the plans and mumbled, “Maybe we start by making the fallback city and underground tunnels. After that we raise a mild amount of mountain.” She tapped the table, flipping the pages again.
“And the compromise?” I asked.
“I’ll need a moment with my people, but that trinket will probably suffice. There is a lot of work here that will take many months. Adding the city in a forest is minimal. Carving caverns even less so since we merely shift the density. However, when it comes time to make the mountain bigger, it will be slow going, and that needs to come from somewhere. That isn’t even accounting for altering this city or raising it to as high as we might find useful.”
I snapped my fingers at Fernando. “Latest reports on the elva fleets?”
“No sighting since they turned north. However, the troops that landed in Podoni territory are manually marching south as per our last report,” Fernando said. “Leor said there are surface breaches all over the Podoni territory. They’re in a big fight, one that might be for their very survival.”
I tapped a foot, no
t liking that the big threat was eluding my scout. Podoni’s fight against the wurm lords would hit a stalemate at some point. I could rationalize why they refused to sail another fleet south.
Tarla cleared her throat and said, “Duke Famo. We appreciate the tireless efforts and will review the plans. You will have news by the morning. I think you will be pleasantly surprised by the lack of care from my husband.”
“Ha! The engineers brought well thought out plans. Brilliant, really,” I boasted.
A light and happy cheering from the stands told me the nobles approved of Famo’s proposals. If I had to wager, he pitched them first in case I wasn’t overly receptive. Now the larger noble estates made more sense.
“We appreciate the compliments to our tireless efforts. For the Moonguard Empire,” Famo said with an awkward bow before retreating.
I sipped a glass of water, seeing the next citizen in line was a goblin. She carried reports, and Nee ushered her forward when I nodded that I was ready.
The goblin continued approaching until she reached a mark in the floor where she bent the knee.
“Arise. Who comes before the throne?” I asked.
The goblin wasn’t nervous in the slightest, rising swiftly. Nee walked to her side, grabbed the papers, and then delivered them to me.
“I’m Lotus, your Grace. I come before you to bring a message from your newest general, General Oreng.”
“Thank you for bringing these documents.” I glanced down at the message and started to read aloud, “I can’t fit in that tiny keep of yours, but I have a report. I’m Oreng, the general for the Ostriva divisions, and the only cyclops in your city. Let me start by saying congratulations on your victory. Defeating a superior foe in such a manner is impressive, even by my standards.
“I have a few issues that need to be addressed and would welcome a visit to the training fields outside the west gate. The most pressing issue, and the reason I sent this message, is because of the Garo Region prisoners.
“Diplomats are already arriving, but you're flying the red at the moment. I feel, and clearly I’m not the king, but we should talk to those who might become future allies or city nations that one day will follow our rule.
“I have a million other issues. Most of them start with that pesky dwarf and his refusal to issue me new armor. I…” I paused, realizing something.
I turned to notice Marbern arriving. He had flown in from the balcony with a frown.
“Forgive my intrusions,” Marbern said. “I found the enemy fleet. A series of watermages obscured their appearance with a fake storm. They indeed are coming and will arrive in six days, give or take. As to their strength, it is vast, and I recommend you retreat.”
I soured at his recommendation more than his news. The constant, ‘we should retreat’ grew grating, but it also proved a point. I didn’t have an ace up my sleeve this time. I lacked a magical trick to instantly win a losing battle. At least, I hadn't come up with one yet.
“I was reading this nice letter, and I had a thought. Can you extract metal for me?” I asked.
“Yes, but every side build or further adventure will cost time and effort. While we all are magical, we still have limits,” Marbern said in a dry tone.
The gargoyle replaced Osawana in the advisor seat, studying the reports. He clearly needed time, and I had decisions to make. Important ones.
“Ike!” I shouted, knowing he was in a side room with Cecil. “Preliminary report, please.”
Bell exited the war room first and said, “They need about half an hour. How about we go see Caitlyn, she needs to talk?”
“So much to do, so little time. Tarla, will you stay and handle the throne in my absence?” I asked.
“Of course, of course. I’ll limit my decisions to only dealing with matters in the short term,” Tarla said.
I kissed the back of her hand before leaving my chair. Bell led the way and when we entered the spire down, my guards stayed close.
“Caitlyn has been impatient and not willing to exude energy when you can simply walk into her church,” Bell said.
“I haven’t exactly been lazing about, she clearly knows I’ve been busy,” I said with a grunt.
Bell nodded. “Everything has been so hectic, it is hard to slow down and simply realize we’re alive for the moment.” Her hazel eyes lingered on me. “How have you been?”
“Reflective. I spent days with nothing more than the ability to sit there and ponder about my reality here on Nordan. In some ways, I’m worried, concerned, and I hate to admit, a touch scared,” I said with a sigh.
We arrived at the end of the descending spiral, heading out of the keep and into the upper city. A few extra vendors dotted the sides of the road, and for the first time, I saw a bank of Moonguard serving clients. Exchange rates on a board presented options, and our Zorta was cheap compared to the trading rates.
“The great necromancer himself isn’t just a macho man of steely resolve,” Bell said, rubbing a hand across my back. “It’ll be okay. Mags and I missed you.”
“I missed you, too. How’s that going with Tarla being around more?” I asked.
“She is and she isn’t around all the time.”
I frowned, waving to a gaggle of children who stopped playing hopscotch to watch us pass.
“You lost me,” I admitted. “How is she there but not there?”
I waved my hands animatedly while we walked towards the lower city gate.
“Ask her, I’d rather… she…”
“Bell,” I said assertively. “I’m not flying off the handle mad that you hid my parents' change from me. I simply want the truth.”
“Only I know your parent’s new identities, not even Tarla. I even swapped what their magic types were. This compartmentalizes the threat until a new city is established, or a peace happens. As for Tarla, I become her whenever she needs me to,” Bell said, getting to point.
My eyebrows shot up, and I choked on air. “Uh… Why? And have we…?”
“To keep Mags happy. When she slowed down on adventuring, it was confusing the poor thing. She knows, though. Our boobs are different. Can you tell?” Bell asked, and I gulped.
Bell burst into a fit of playful laughter, and I relaxed even with a moderate blush.
“Now you’ll forever be guessing.” Her evil giggle did not alleviate my concern. “Relax, I’d never ruin something I value so highly. I only tease because of your upbringing. Here it is beyond normal to have multiple lovers, and yet you blush at the mere thought.
“You need to stress less. I’m your friend, Damien, and will never stoop so low to betray your trust for lust. I’m in a baby craze at the moment, though. To the point, Tarla and I started talking.”
“I’m relieved you haven’t abused your powers. Actually, Washington State was just proposing a rule change to allow throuple marriages. I’m just very content. While I find you… pretty, I’m happy we’re friends. However, I’m concerned with women talking in private,” I said, and again she roared in laughter while patting my shoulder. I didn’t find it humorous, but apparently she did. “I don’t get it.”
“Eh, we predicted you would respond this way. We may not be sister wives, but we are sisters at heart. I face a major dilemma in becoming a mother of my own. I need a suitable man. I could sleep around, but I would rather the father be someone I would want my child to emulate,” Bell said.
I continued walking, fearing the worst of the conversation had faded.
“Well, that rules me out,” I said.
“Caitlyn said otherwise. You’re a reborn champion, not a demon in human flesh. Your children do not bear the same curse that an undead would,” Bell said.
“For real?”
“Yup, that’s part of why I wanted to escort you. Have you ever heard of a donor before?” Bell asked shyly. I nodded and even smiled. “A compromise.”
I mulled over my response. “Back on Earth, it was a big responsibility, and a lot of planning went into it.”
> “I would drink fertility milk and have Tarla help me without you breaking righteous ways,” Bell teased with a sigh. “I say this because Tarla is trying again, and you know that.”
“We haven’t talked about it,” I said, again blushing. “At the same time…”
“It's been long enough since Maggie was born. Anyway, since Tarla wants to go next, I’ll be able to bide my time. Maybe I’ll find love or something,” Bell said sadly. “If not, expect a request. Tarla approves.”
We entered the church district with long lines of goblins sorting trees for processing. The heavy scent of cedar permeated, and I smiled from the lovely smell.
“I’ll talk to Tarla. The idea of helping a friend achieve motherhood holds more merit than a second wife. I simply struggle to even wrap my head around how happy I am with Tarla.” Bell beamed happily at these words. “No rush, but we will talk about it. Also, your talk of the future helps my trepidation that we may all be dead in a week,” I said.
“You’re the great Damien Moonguard. For sure you’ll have a hidden plan,” Bell said proudly with a tease.
“My plan right now, well, it sucks, and I hate it. No one will like it. Like no one at all,” I said, weaving through the workers and scooting into the church between offloaded trees.
“What’s your plan?” Bell asked.
“Half-baked and needing more details,” I said, walking beyond the portal. “The moment it is ready to be shared, it will be.”
I arrived in the pews, strolling down the aisles until I reached the foremost bench. The bustle of noise echoed incessantly, and I wished cities would have linked portals to warehouses, not churches.
A golden shimmering magic birthed a very human looking Caitlyn. She plopped down beside me with a content exhale of happiness. Her sheer toga left nothing to the imagination, and a drink stained her leg as if she had spilled it while sitting.
“Been a while,” she said with a honey scent of wine wafting into my face.
“I’ve been advancing in power,” I told her.
“Excellent work. Been fun watchin’ you,” Caitlyn said with a bit of a slur, pretending to accidentally drop a piece of parchment. “Oh dear, could you pick that up for me?”