“Possibly,” she answered. “But I’ll let him explain, since I’m not certain. He did, however, know of your arrival yesterday. He was the one who told me to bring you here.”
Maelgyn raised an eyebrow. “How did he know I was here?”
She laughed. “He saw you through a window, entering town while carrying your lady in a panic. You were quite the sight, apparently! He warned me I might be called to service when he first saw you, though he didn’t explain exactly who I’d be helping until after I got home last night.”
Maelgyn nodded as they continued down the stairs. He kept his eye on Euleilla, making sure she wasn’t stumbling, given that her magic – and thus her “vision” – wasn’t as strong as normal. It bothered him a bit that she’d been completely silent since he left their bed that morning, but he wasn’t going to ask her to break that silence, either. Sensing the way she was using her magic, and watching the great care she was taking in simply finding each step, he suspected she was using all of her concentration just keeping herself from falling over. He was beginning to regret having agreed to come that day, and wished he’d given her time to recover her strength a bit more... or at least that she’d stayed at the inn while he went on to the meeting.
They continued down the unusually long staircase for almost ten minutes before the floor finally leveled out. It was only level for a short time, however, before it opened into a natural cave, untouched by Dwarven architects. Maelgyn had to wonder why it existed in the heart of the oldest and largest settlement of Cave Dwarves in the known world.
At first Maelgyn found himself catching a falling Euleilla many times at the start. She was more used to darkness, however, so as the light dimmed to where he could no longer see he started stumbling just as much. The cave was cold and smelled of decay, and there was no way to tell how long it stretched. Maelgyn ran into the stone walls frequently, and banged his head more than once. Whenever he touched a wall, his hand sunk almost an inch into the mud, and small drops of water were constantly dripping on him.
It seemed foolish to travel without a spare light through a naturally-formed cave as they were, but somehow they managed it. Maelgyn, while he understood how the Dwarves (who could see in the dark) managed it, had no idea what allowed Dr. Wodtke to avoid getting lost. As he kept going he continued to sense her right behind them, however, taking surer steps than either he or Euleilla and avoiding any stumbles.
It was not a pleasant trip. By the time they emerged from the natural cave into a newly constructed artificial cave, all four of them were caked in mud. Maelgyn wasn’t quite sure what was going on when El’Athras led them that muddy hole into a cleaning room, but one look at their host told him this was not the time to ask.
Spare robes of all sizes lined one wall, and open stalls with showers lined another. The torchlight in the room nearly blinded him as he entered, but once his eyes adjusted the first thing he could focus on was the rather disgusting image of El’Athras stripping off his clothes... making him wish he was still blinded by the torch.
“Clean up,” the old Dwarf grumbled, staggering off into the showers. Another Dwarf, coming out of nowhere, scrambled to pick up the discarded clothing and ran off with it.
Without a moment’s hesitation, Dr. Wodtke started removing her own mud-covered clothing, as well. Maelgyn blushed and looked away, but that was only a temporary reprieve. As he looked the other way, he saw Euleilla pause only for a moment before shrugging and starting to disrobe, too.
“Ack!” he squawked involuntarily, closing his eyes as he blushed. Maelgyn sighed and figured he might as well get undressed and shower as well. He quickly finished the job before sprinting, in all his glory, to the nearest unoccupied shower. As he ran, he noticed another young Dwarf dash out of the shadows, grab his soiled clothing, and run off somewhere.
This facility, thankfully, had both hot and cold running water even in the showers. Quickly adjusting the controls so that he was comfortable, he stepped under the shower and started rinsing all of the cave mud off.
“Maelgyn?” the hesitant voice of Euleilla called from his right.
“Yeah?”
“Um... can you come over here and help me for a moment? I... don’t know what I’m doing.”
Maelgyn blinked. She doesn’t know what she’s doing? What does she mean by that? he asked himself as he rounded the corner, only to see her standing in front of a shower stall, completely naked. She was covering herself up, at least partly, with her arms, but she was still exposing areas of her flesh to him he’d never taken a good look at before.
“Is there supposed to be a bathtub somewhere around here? I can’t find one,” she said, confused.
“No,” Maelgyn replied, trying hard to concentrate on something other than her figure. “There’s no tub, it’s just a shower.”
“A shower?” she repeated, cocking her head questioningly. “I’ve never used one, before. How does it work?”
“Well,” Maelgyn said. “There are two counterweighted chains you can pull. One controls the flow of cold water, the other controls the flow of hot water. You adjust each one until the water is the right temperature and rate of flow for you, and then you stand under the spray of water and scrub until you’re clean.”
“I see,” she said, removing her arm from over her breasts and groping wildly for the knobs he had spoken of. “Which knob is which?”
For a moment, Maelgyn almost fled and called Dr. Wodtke to help her out, but instead he resolved to stick it out and guide Euleilla. This is the woman who is my wife, he thought to himself. I should not be embarrassed to help her, or to see her naked. I should be able to deal with her.
Tearing his eyes off of her body, he grabbed one of her hands and led her further into the shower stall. He placed that hand on one chain and said, “This controls the hot water.” He moved the hand over a bit to the other chain. “This is the cold water. Do you think you can handle it?”
“Yes,” Euleilla answered, a touch of humor in her voice.
It was then Maelgyn realized he had been set up. The smile that was usually on her face had twitched just enough for him to realize she was trying not to laugh. She’d known she was exposing herself to him, she’d planned it, and now she was laughing about it.
Well, he supposed as he retreated to his own shower. She thinks she still needs to convince me to keep her as my wife. And... I can’t say I don’t enjoy the view. I just wish she wouldn’t test my patience! This is neither the time nor place.
Maelgyn shook his head as he scrubbed at his hair. He needed to talk with her about everything, and soon. Someplace private, without Dr. Wodtke just a few paces away, and without a Merchant Prince of Mar’Tok waiting on him for a formal meeting.
Fortunately, the whole situation they were in provided ample opportunity to think of other things. Maelgyn wondered again why he’d been lead through a muddy cave from the office of a Merchant Prince of Mar’Tok to what appeared to be little more than a shower room. And just what did El’Athras want with him, anyway?
He finished his shower and donned the yukata El’Athras had provided – a gold-rimmed dark blue silk robe Maelgyn thought looked like an odd cross between a thin bathrobe and a formal state dress kimono. The Dwarf in question was just sitting there, waiting for everyone without saying a word. Euleilla joined him shortly, a smug grin gracing her features. Finally, Dr. Wodtke showed up, much more at ease with her surroundings than Maelgyn felt was appropriate in someone who hadn’t been through this experience before.
“Well, Sword Prince Maelgyn,” El’Athras said, standing up slowly and adjusting his own robe with practiced grace. “I think it’s time we met my other guests.”
Chapter 12
Maelgyn stared around him. The room was huge, larger than the castle courtyard of the Svieda Royal palace. It seemed a hybrid of the “manufactured” caves in most Dwarven cities and the natural caves he’d just come from. The grey stone floor was polished like fine marble. The ceiling, too, was covered with a curve
d piece of smooth white stonework. But the walls were the mud and rock of a natural cave, with water dripping down to drainage trenches in the floor.
There was only one fire to illuminate the whole space, and that was a natural “eternal” flame in the middle of the floor. It would have been enough to light a small room, perhaps, yet its light faded out before reaching the walls. The place felt ancient, and the air seemed stale. Maelgyn had a few suspicious about where they might be, but he had a hard time believing it.
Several other people already were present, but Maelgyn couldn’t make out anything about them because they stood in the dimmer shadows around the fire. With what little he could tell by sensing magical potential, two of them were probably Nekoji. He wasn’t proficient enough to identify the races of any of the others, but none of them were mages.
“Oh, good,” El’Athras said, breaking the silence. “Everyone’s here. Let’s get started.”
The others approached, and for the first time Maelgyn could see their faces as his eyes adjusted to the darkness. Two were the Nekoji as he had sensed earlier. Several Dwarves wore uniforms of the Oregal Republic, while others bore the armor or the banners of various border kingdoms. Four humans were garbed in the livery of each of the Kingdoms of Poros, while a lone Centaur – looking distinctly uncomfortable in his surroundings – proudly displayed the banner of the Bandi Republic. The Bandi Republic was an otherwise largely human nation led by a “not entirely sane” Elven woman named Lady Phalra.
Even tiny Squire’s Knot had a representative Elf – a rarity, since so few Elves ever left their homes nowadays. His frown belied the stereotypical serenity of that race.
The final person emerged from the darkness and knelt before Maelgyn. The cut of the man’s clothing and the brooch on his shoulder confused Maelgyn greatly: The man kneeling before him was a Baron of Borden Isle.
“What—” Maelgyn started, but he was quickly cut off.
“All right,” El’Athras said. “Before you go shooting your mouth off, a few introductions. Today we’ll be explaining some history you humans may have never learned about – not exactly my strong suit, so I’ll let my allies do it for me. It is my honor to present Emperor Gyato of Caseificio, the Nekoji nation which borders your Province of Sopan.” The Nekoji stood up and bowed, shaking his lion-like mane. “At your feet is Prince Uwelain, a Baron in the Borden Isles.”
Maelgyn stared at Uwelain, uncertain how to deal with the man. He gestured for the man to stand. “Please, you owe me no fealty; our Kingdoms are no longer united.”
Uwelain stood up, looking slightly embarrassed. “My lord, knowing what Emperor Gyato is about to tell you, I believe that may soon change.”
Maelgyn nodded silently, too startled to do more.
El’Athras continued the introductions, gesturing to the Elf. “This is Spearmaster Wangdu, who has served many nations in his millennia of life but of late hails from Squire’s Knot.” Wangdu inclined his head. “And next to him is Kazdre of the Bandi Republic, with which Mar’Tok enjoys relations peaceful enough to share our intelligence.” The Centaur bowed to Maelgyn. “He is our liaison with their spymasters, and will sit in on this meeting on their behalf. Emperor Gyato, however, will begin.”
The Nekoji stepped forward and shook his mane regally. “Greetings, Sword Prince Maelgyn. There is much that has gone on in this world that you humans are not aware of, but the time has come for that to change.”
“In that case, speak on,” Maelgyn answered. “But I may have a few questions along the way. The first of which is how is it that you all arrived here without getting muddy walking through that cave?”
“We used the other door,” Baron Uwelain said, trying to hide his laughter. “Although, we all have taken that muddy pass to this chamber at least once before.”
“This is the King’s Hall,” El’Athras explained. “None may enter the King’s Hall unless they have traveled the Path of the Ancients at least once. It’s one of the few Dwarven ceremonies we keep sacred.”
“The King’s Hall?” Maelgyn was surprised even though he had guessed correctly. He had always believed that the King’s Hall was a thing of myth, but it seemed he was mistaken. “So this is where the Dwarven people were born... and where the last King of All Dwarves fell.”
“With the scars of that fateful battle preserved for all time. Look around you,” Gyato noted. The closer Maelgyn looked, the more he realized that, amid the muck and mud, there were also artifacts of a time the Dwarves were strong: Small tablets with aged Dwarven script, a horned helmet of the now defunct sea-faring Dwarven clans hanging by the fire pit, and sticking in one wall, cracked and rusted....
“Is that a Dwarven battleaxe?” he asked, intrigued.
“Yeah, what of it?” El’Athras snapped back defensively.
“I thought they were a myth,” Maelgyn exclaimed. “I loved hearing stories of the Dwarven axemen’s valor when I was young, but later my history lessons made me doubt their existence.”
“No myth were they,” Gyato explained lyrically. “Two millennia ago, when the Dwarves first left their caves to meet the outside world, many were taken as slaves as they tried to cross the plains, and were prized as laborers and engineers. The Dwarves still in their caves were unaware of what their surface brethren were enduring, but then the slavemasters became bolder and sent raiding parties into the Dwarven homeland.
“The Dwarves learned to dig deep, to hide, and to swing an axe in battle. The axe was ideal in cave conditions. Its short range was an advantage rather than a disadvantage, for it could be wielded with enormous power in cramped surroundings.
“They trained in secret, and soon had an impressive army that massacred every incursion into the caves. They knew how to fight, and fight well... but only when inside the caves. The problems came when they tried fighting outside of those caves.
“After fighting off numerous attacks, including raids from Humans, Elves, and even Nekoji, the Dwarves decided it was time to show the outside world that they weren’t going to be pushed around anymore. They struck out first against Humanity... and were promptly trounced. The axes they wielded so effectively in the caves could not defeat the spears and swords of the Porosian hoplites on open ground. The Dwarves retreated to their caves to debate what to do.
“Three groups formed: the Plains Dwarves, Sea Dwarves, Cave Dwarves, each espousing their own philosophy for how to deal with the other races.
“Today, only the Plains Dwarves remain. They survived by their inventiveness, learning techniques and skills to counter the advantages of other races. The Dwarven wolf riders were the first to come from their experiments, and when first formed they were the most effective cavalry on the plains. Only my own people, the Nekoji, could match their wolves for speed, and we could not match an armored wolf rider in battle. The Plains Dwarves then adopted the traditional weapon of the Porosian woman, the naginata. With the reach of a polearm and the flexibility of a sword, it quickly became the weapon of choice among all the warriors of the Plains Dwarves. While neither made the same impression as the Dwarven Axemen of old, these elements have allowed the Plains Dwarves to survive to this day.
“The Sea Dwarves lived as much of their lives as possible aboard ships, and developed a close relationship with the Merfolk – the only race that had never tried to enslave the Dwarves. They were feared and respected for their seamanship and their craft with tools of war and navigation. They invented the compass, the astrolabe, the crossbow, and many other things we use today, but they and many of their other creations are now lost to history. Only a few of their former settlements on the Borden Isles, abandoned and in ruins, remain to prove that they ever truly existed.
“The Cave Dwarves advocated staying in the caves and perfecting their skills with the battle axe. But after the death of Tur’ma, last King of All Dwarves, the Cave Dwarves fell apart, and the Merchant Princes took power. Fewer Cave Dwarves joined their armies, becoming merchants or tradesmen instead, and gradually the
ir armies dwindled to where they could no longer defend their cities. Mar’Tok, the ancestral home of all Dwarves and the center of power for the Cave Dwarves, was sacked, its population slaughtered. The Plains Dwarves spent three decades rescuing those Cave Dwarves who had been enslaved and reclaiming the city, and have held it ever since. A colony of the few surviving Cave Dwarves, most ex-slaves with no military training, left to found the Dwarven Kingdom of Sho’Curlas. They never recovered their numbers, and were finally wiped out by an army of Elves aided Humans. Since then, there have been no true Dwarven Axemen.
“They were fearsome warriors once, of course. Indeed, only one Elf survived the initial battle in Sho’Curlas. But he escaped, and rallied a nearby settlement of Humans to his cause. Together, they defeated those Cave Dwarves who remained.
“That joining of forces led to the founding of the Sho’Curlas Alliance you know now. Since that time, Sho’Curlas has been the greatest enemy of the Dwarves... led by Hrabak, the same immortal Elf who led the war against the last of the Cave Dwarves so long ago.”
Maelgyn looked up, surprised. “Sho’Curlas is led by an Elf?”
“It is a sad case, it is,” the Squire’s Knot Elf interrupted, speaking with peculiarly Elvish quirks and accents. “We Elves are immortal, we are, but our minds can be ravaged by time, they can. Hrabak went insane, he did, in the war against the Cave Dwarves. He believes in ‘peace,’ he does, like most Elves... but he believes that means destroying all nations he does not rule. And he may do it, too, he may, for the High Kings of Sho’Curlas are not truly the ones in power, they aren’t. Hrabak is the true power behind the throne, he is, and he has been directing them for the past thousand years, he has. Many other Elves believe he may soon emerge from behind the throne to seize it, we do.”
“We have reports that Sho’Curlas has trained at least fifty Black Dragons as beasts of war,” El’Athras said. “Not even the Oregal Republic has more than twenty dragon-riders at any one time. It would be expected of Hrabak’s tactics, however – employing Dragons as war machines has been an Elven tactic since the earliest records tell.”
In Treachery Forged (The Law of Swords) Page 14