by Dan Willis
“The session won’t start for a while,” he said. “Feel free to take a tour of the building.”
With an affable wink, Arbuckle departed. Bradok followed after him, intending to ask when the session would start, but suddenly slammed back into the door as he ran smack into someone. The scent of lavender and freshly oiled leather washed over him as he shook the stars from his eyes. When his vision cleared, he found a hill dwarf woman sprawled at his feet. She had the tan skin of a surface-dweller and hair that reminded Bradok of burnished copper. Her clothing was simple yet formal, a purple shirt and calf-hide leggings stitched with red ribbon. A look at her boots told Bradok that she walked rather than rode, and her hands were calloused as though she’d known hard work.
“I’m sorry,” she said, blushing and looking up. “I didn’t see you.”
“Not at all,” Bradok said, stretching out his hand to help her up. “I should have looked where I was going.”
She took Bradok’s hand, and he pulled her to her feet.
“I was just looking for the antechamber to the main hall,” she said. “I’m supposed to be speaking to the council today, but I got a bit turned around.”
“No problem,” Bradok said, not releasing her hand. “It’s one floor down near the front.”
She shook Bradok’s hand, and he finally let her go. Taking a step back, she looked up the hall and down before looking back at Bradok with an apologetic smile.
“Which way is the front?” she asked.
“That way,” Bradok said, pointing down the hall.
As she turned to go, Bradok called after her. “Wait,” he said. “What’s your name?”
She whirled, sweeping her mass of copper hair over her shoulders in the process. “Rose,” she said, still moving down the hall, stepping backward. “Rose Steelspar.”
Bradok watched Rose go until she disappeared around the curve of the hallway; he whistled to himself.
“Don’t be disgusting,” Sapphire said, ripping Bradok back to reality.
“What?” he said, turning back to his mother. “You’re always after me to get married, and she’s quite the looker.”
“Perish the thought,” Sapphire hissed, shaking her head for emphasis. “It’s bad enough that you made your money as a tradesman. Will you pollute our family with filthy hill dwarf blood too?” She gave him a look that said that all that should have been self-evident and that she detested the necessity of saying it. “Really, Bradok,” she admonished. “The things you say. It’s like you want to drive me to an early grave.”
He resisted the urge to answer in the affirmative. Instead he said, “I think I’d better go find out what time the session will be starting.”
“Before you go, Son,” Sapphire said, more sweetly, rising to her feet. “I want you to remember something.” She stepped close, lowering her voice as if afraid of being overheard.
“Your father made his presence felt in this hall,” she said. “There will be certain expectations of you … and there will be dwarves waiting for you to fail.”
“Mother, I-”
She waved him silent. “Whatever you do today, you must keep your wits about you. Don’t speak or comment on issues you don’t fully understand. Don’t offer your opinion unless you are specifically asked for it.”
“Above all,” she hissed, holding up a warning finger. “You must not show any sign of weakness. I want you to show them that you’re not weak, that you can and will take your father’s place.”
“I honestly don’t think anyone could ever take Mirshawn’s place,” Bradok said. Ever since he’d left home as a youth, he’d never referred to Mirshawn as his father. He always said “Mirshawn.”
A cloud crossed Sapphire’s face. Then she turned and walked back to her seat. “You don’t understand the game those men are playing,” she said, gesturing over the rail to the council chamber below. “Their game is power, influence, and favor. If they think you are strong, they will befriend you and aid you and seek your council. If they think you are weak, however,” she said, staring at him full in the face, “they will destroy you.”
With that she turned her back on him and sat down.
Bradok left the box without another word but still caught his mother’s trailing voice as he departed.
“Think about it,” she said.
CHAPTER 2
Religion and Politics
The Ironroot city council boasted thirty members, elected from the various districts in the city. Each had a seat on a raised ring that ran around the outer edge of the circular audience chamber. Thanks to the wealth and importance of the Mattock Street district, Bradok’s seat was positioned just to the left of the podium where Mayor Arbuckle presided over the council’s business. The podium stood even higher than the councilors’ seats and had been carved from a solid piece of granite.
Each councilman had an ornate desk with a polished top of gray marble. An inkwell and a box of paper were provided for taking notes.
The center of the chamber was a vast open area with a tiled floor, so the councilors and the gallery above could see petitioners or orators as they spoke.
Bradok entered the chamber from the back, behind the raised ring. A narrow walkway, covered with a thick, padded carpet of crimson red, allowed the councilmen to access their seats without mixing with the crowd outside. Bradok ascended the stone steps, running his hand over the polished brass railing. A fat, high-back leather chair awaited him, and Bradok sank down slowly into it, listening to the leather creak.
He didn’t want to admit it, but it felt good-sitting there in a councilman’s seat. Maybe his mother was right; maybe there was something special about the power he was able to wield from that chair. He was a dwarf of influence.
Bradok pushed the thought away as soon as it lit on his consciousness. Looking up at the boxes above, he reasoned that if Sapphire was right about something, he probably didn’t want to know about it.
His eyes found the box where his mother sat. She had pulled the curtains aside and was looking down at him with a smile of anticipation on her face.
An hour later, Mayor Arbuckle climbed to the top of the massive stone podium and struck the gavel, calling the meeting to order. The gallery and the bulk of the private boxes had filled, and the constant drone of the assembled crowd could be heard. As Mayor Arbuckle welcomed everyone, Bradok’s eyes wandered over the gallery above the private boxes. There, a collection of tradesman and business owners had gathered, presumably to keep tabs on the council’s deliberations and how they might affect business in the city. But as he reached the end of the gallery, Bradok beheld a strange sight. On the far left sat the raggedy dwarf from the alley, still carrying his red-painted sign.
Repent lest the Gods forsake us.
Bradok smiled at the sight. Ironroot was a city, like any other. There were good folk and bad, places of legitimate business and brothels, artisans’ shops and gambling houses. Ironroot might have its share of wickedness, but Bradok reasoned that, all things considered, its people didn’t have any great cause to repent.
“… and I want you to join me in welcoming our newest member,” Arbuckle’s voice suddenly cut through Bradok’s wandering thoughts. “One of our most skilled and prominent citizens, Bradok Axeblade.”
He stood as polite applause broke out from the gallery and the other councilmen.
With the perfunctory matters dispensed with, the meeting settled down to real business. Several citizens approached with petitions of one kind or another. The council heard them and accepted or rejected them after modest debate. Bradok made his first votes-in a nervous, loud voice-much to Sapphire’s delight.
When the locals had been heard, the delegates from the hill dwarf city of Everguard were ushered into the hall. Like all their brethren, they stood a bit taller than their mountain dwarf cousins. Their clothes were coarse by comparison, designed for the harsher elements of the upper world and cut to be functional without the need of decoration. As they entered, two of their number pu
lled the covered handcart that Bradok had seen earlier with them.
The delegation consisted of ten dwarves, representing Everguard’s biggest industries. Once they had assembled in the center of the hall, their leader stepped forward and pulled back her hood.
Bradok’s wandering attention was immediately riveted. The burnished copper hair was unmistakable.
“My name is Rose Steelspar,” she said in a clear voice. “Daughter of Larin Steelspar, Burger of Everguard.”
“That’s like a mayor,” Much whispered from the table to Bradok’s right.
“I come to you in my father’s name and in good fellowship,” she went on. “As a token of that fellowship, I bring you a gift from the people of Everguard.”
The dwarves pulling the handcart brought it forward and removed the tarp. Underneath were dozens of baskets stuffed with fresh fruit-something very hard to come by in Ironroot. Quickly the dwarves with the handcart passed out baskets to all the councilmen. Bradok selected a large, golden pear for himself before he sent the rest of his basket up to Sapphire.
He was tempted to just sit there and enjoy the taste of the pear and the sight of the red-haired girl, but he forced himself to sit up straight and pay attention. As a representative of Ironroot, he resolved to listen to what the delegation had to say.
Try as he might, however, his attention kept wandering to their spokesperson’s pretty face, to the red hair and the dark eyes and the competent voice.
As best as he could figure out, Bradok gathered that Everguard would like to find ready markets for their grain, hay, cloth, and leather-things that Ironroot certainly needed. But even though Ironroot needed such goods, and even though Everguard needed ore and stone and metalwork, the council had put heavy tariffs on all those goods, which restricted their commerce. It made no sense to Bradok. Finally he leaned over and asked Much.
“We’re the only source for what they need and the only ready market nearby,” Much whispered. “We raise the prices of doing business here because there really isn’t anywhere else for them to go. They’re just a small town. They can’t afford to mount big trade missions.”
“So we take advantage of their misfortune to line the pockets of our tradesmen?” Bradok asked, genuinely shocked.
Much chuckled. “Of course not,” he said, as if such a thing could never be. “The excess from the tariff goes to the council.”
Bradok simply gaped as every petition the hill dwarf delegation brought up was rejected after a modicum of polite debate. While the farce went on, Much whispered in Bradok’s ear, explaining which council members were beholden to which concerns and what their respective cut of the tariffs might be.
“But wouldn’t there be more money to go around if the tariffs were reduced and the trade increased?” Bradok asked Much.
The little dwarf nodded with a helpless sort of a smile. “Of course,” he said. “But if we remove the restrictions, that eliminates our rake-off, and we can’t have that, now can we?”
Bradok had thought his father had been crooked, but the council was organized crookery. What he witnessed was corruption on a level Bradok could barely grasp. Mirshawn had owned brothels, drug palaces, and gambling halls, but he’d never forced anyone to frequent them. The city council, on the other hand, used the power of the law and the threat of arrest by the city guard to extort money from anyone who wanted to earn an honest living.
It made him sick.
He looked around the room at the figures behind the richly carved tables, vainly seeking a soulmate among his colleagues. Each wore fine, costly clothes with jeweled rings on their hands, gold clips on their beards, and silver buckles on their belts and boots. The dwarves of Ironroot trusted those men to rule wisely, to look out for the interests of the people and the city itself. Instead, the councilmen were busy lining their own pockets.
No wonder Mirshawn felt so comfortable here, he thought. It’s nothing more than a den of thieves.
Bradok considered saying something on behalf of the hill dwarves, but he dismissed the thought almost as soon as it came. Sapphire’s warning came back to him. If he took a stand, he would single himself out as an enemy of the council. Bradok had enough experience with wealth and power to know that would be distinctly unwise.
Finally, when Rose had exhausted all her arguments, she thanked the council for its time and led her dejected companions from the chamber. Bradok felt for them. He wanted to go after them and tell them that it wasn’t fair, but that wouldn’t change anything.
As the hill dwarves trudged away, a short, solidly built dwarf in rough leather garments entered. His hair had been combed to one side to cover a bald spot on top of his head, and his beard was braided and tied with a leather strap. Bradok recognized him but couldn’t quite remember his name. He was a dowser by profession, seeking gems, crystals, and glowstones in the deep tunnels below Ironroot. Bradok had bought stones from him and knew him to be an honest tradesman.
“Argus Deephammer to petition the council,” the scribe announced as the dwarf made his way to the center of the chamber.
“The council begs your pardon, Argus,” Arbuckle said from the podium. “It’s been a long morning, and I think we should take a short break before continuing.”
Argus nodded but made no move to surrender his ground, standing in the center of the round room.
All around Bradok, the councilmen were rising, making their way along their private walkway to the back of the building.
“Come on, lad,” Much said, climbing down from his bench. “The council has a fully stocked bar in our private room.”
Bradok shook his head. He hadn’t eaten anything but the pear all day, but after the past few hours of the session, he had a sour stomach.
“No,” he said. “I’d better wait for Mother.”
“Suit yourself, my boy,” Much said with a grin. “I, however, am going to need a belt to get me through the rest of the session.”
A few minutes later, Bradok’s mother materialized.
“You did well today, son,” she said with only the tiniest hint of mockery in her voice.
Bradok descended the stairs from the platform to the walkway, taking Sapphire’s arm. He walked her out of the building and into the mushroom garden outside. Despate the council’s being on a break, the garden was empty except for a mother on a bench by the wall, quietly nursing her baby.
“Did you see what they were doing in there?” Bradok whispered, unable to restrain himself. “Those tariffs make it harder for our own people to earn a living,” he spluttered. “Not to mention our cousins from Everguard. Why, they’d be able to grow into a good-sized community in a few years if our city council just got out of their way and let them trade freely.”
“And then what would happen?” Sapphire stared at him coldly. “Once Everguard got bigger, they’d start doing what they need for themselves. They wouldn’t need us anymore. Then we’d be the ones paying the tariffs and they’d be the ones collecting them. You are young in the ways of the world, my son, with much to learn.”
“Their spokesman was eloquent, I thought-”
“Oh, that woman you thought was so pretty?” she interrupted with a raised eyebrow. “Did you think I hadn’t noticed? I didn’t think you liked your women so … earthy.”
Bradok’s temper flashed.
“It’s not about her, damn it,” he said. “It’s about what she’s here representing: honor and fellowship and the brotherhood of the dwarves.”
Sapphire stifled a laugh and ran her eyes over Bradok with a calculating look.
“My son, you are still a boy who must learn the ways of men. A boy who is a fool,” she continued after a brief silence. “In this world you either eat or are eaten. It is the strong that rule and the weak that submit, that is the way it has always been.” She stepped close and raised her lips to his ear.
“You may think it is the people who rule Ironroot,” she whispered, her voice barely audible. “That is a boy’s wishful idea. It is
the men who sit in this room who rule. It is they who make the laws, decide the taxes and tariffs. They can let a murderer free from prison or condemn an innocent man to death.”
“The people wouldn’t stand for that,” Bradok said simply.
“The people wouldn’t lift a finger,” Sapphire said smugly. “They fear lawlessness. They crave the safety of a strong government and are willing to sacrifice the occasional principle to have it.”
“That’s monstrous,” Bradok said, teeth clenched to keep from screaming. “I don’t believe things are that simple.”
Sapphire laughed, loudly and with genuine mirth, as if she’d just been told an amusing story. “Yes, the world is monstrous, Bradok,” she said, touching his cheek with a strange mixture of sympathy and contempt in her expression. “And we must make our place in it any way we can. I hope you see that now. This day’s lesson has been a good one.”
Bradok wanted to answer her, but he couldn’t find the right words. Quite apart from the outrage of his offended morals, he couldn’t help wondering if Sapphire was right: The strong rule.
“You’d better head back,” she announced brusquely. “I imagine the council will be meeting deep into the day. I’ve nearly had my fill and will slip away soon. Try not to wake me with your usual ruckus if you come home late; you know how light a sleeper I am.” She started to turn but stopped to regard him with an appraising glance.
“You did tolerably well this morning,” she said. “If you continue like this, you might just make something of yourself.” She sighed, her appraising eye turning hard. “Too much to hope for, I suppose,” she said.
Bradok escorted his mother back to her booth then returned to his seat. He poured himself a glass of water from the provided pitcher, downed it, then poured another. He’d always been an honest man, a businessman who dealt fairly and gave value for value. He’d believed that the rest of the world could be that way too.
After today he didn’t know what he believed.
Sapphire could do that to him. His mother had a way of twisting his insides in a way that the meanest bouncer in the lowest tavern couldn’t match. He felt as if he’d gone a few rounds with that tavern bouncer and lost. He needed to sit and think if he wanted any chance to untangle Sapphire’s mental knots.