“What about humans,” I interrupted. “Can’t they do magic, too?”
Burns held up a hand to still my questions. “I’ll get to that, child. It'll be easier if you just let me tell the story in its entirety, all right?"
I nodded. "Okay, deal. I'm all ears."
"All the great cities of Daraglathia were built by the dwarves, and they were rarely well compensated for it. They had solid enough alliances with the elven lords throughout Daraglathia, but others came from the outlying islands, elves that every lord in Daraglathia feared.
“The Litlilinmax elves, although highly intelligent, reveled in violence, often making blood sacrifices to appease one patron god or another. They were also greedy people and did not hesitate to take what they wanted by force. They were tall, bronze-skinned warriors, all with hair the color of pitch. Ritual scarring and tattoos covered them from head to foot, as if they didn’t already look fierce enough.
“As many had, they heard rumors of the great treasures the Dwarves hoarded in their strongholds, and their leader decided that they should take it from the ‘small ones,’ as he called them. Many Daraglathian lords refused to honor their allegiance with the dwarves for fear that the Litlilinmax would slaughter their own people if they dared interfere.
“The dwarves were left unprotected, and the only lord who sent troops to help them was King Belen, Sigrid’s father. This place, MacTiernan’s Hold, was the seat of the dwarven empire. The Litlilinmax marched up from the south, leaving crimson rivers in their wake. They were prone to pillaging and raping and had no concern for common decency.
“When the invading horde finally made it here, they were expecting to find seas of jewels and precious metals inside the mountain. While the majority of the force attacked from the front, a smaller party had been dispatched to the other side of the mountain days earlier to see if they could, by some miracle, find a back way in through the dwarves’ clever defenses. They did.
“Until that day, the inhabitants of Daraglathia had generally assumed two things about dwarven women. The first was that they didn’t exist, and dwarves simply sprang from the rocks of the mountains. The second theory was that dwarven women looked exactly like dwarven men and that one wouldn’t be able to distinguish the sexes upon seeing a dwarf. Both theories were wrong.
“The treasure that the dwarves hoarded and guarded so jealously, and with such dogged ferocity, was their women. The infiltrators were enraged, at first, not to have found any physical spoils that they could take back to their warlord chief. Then, they came upon the dwarven women. They were so dazzlingly beautiful, as beautiful as any elven woman could ever claim to be, that the Litlilinmax chose to take them, instead.
“They kidnapped every last dwarven woman in MacTiernan’s hold and defiled them repeatedly. The women took it for a while, just long enough to fool their captors into relaxing. Three of the imprisoned women; Lady Seònaid the Wise, Lady Aifric the Bold, and Lady Morven the Fell, seduced the guards that had been holding them. They stole the guards’ weapons, slaughtered them, and freed the other women. Thirty stayed behind and followed Seònaid, Aifric, and Morven to a hard-fought, bloody victory against their captors.
“They murdered every last Litlilinmax man in the detachment that had taken them, scalped them, and returned to MacTiernan’s hold. They were bestowed with highest honors by King MacTiernan, especially Seònaid, Aifric, and Morven. MacTiernan made Morven his queen, and after taking a small amount of time to regroup, the dwarves set out on a mission of vengeance against the Litlilinmax. By the time they were through, not a single one of the black-haired elves remained alive. They returned here after their victory, and MacTiernan declared that any being with black hair that dared set foot on dwarven lands was to be slaughtered on sight.
“Every single dwarven woman who’d been taken by the Litlilinmax found herself with child. MacTiernan wanted every hybrid child slaughtered, but Morven herself begged him to let the innocent babies live, and he agreed with one condition. Any offspring born with black hair would be slaughtered. Very few inherited their fathers’ black hair, and that is how the race of men came to exist. They are a hybrid species created by the interbreeding of elves and dwarves.
“After the hybrids were born, most of the dwarven men felt that there was no reason to stay in Daraglathia. They forced their wives to leave the babes with elven families, and Belen saw to it that every child was placed in good care. Once the women knew that their babies would be safe and fed, they agreed to go with their husbands to find a place to start over.
“So, they sailed away, never to be seen again. Belen spread the rumor that they sailed off the edge of the world, and no one’s ever bothered to follow them.”
I had been staring open-mouthed at him for the majority of his explanation, and my head was spinning. “Wait. Hold on just a minute. You’re telling me that humans only exist because they are a hybrid of dwarves and elves? I swear I could feel Tolkien rolling over in his grave while you were telling me that.”
“Who?” Burns stared at me, completely nonplussed.
“Never mind. It would take far too long to explain such a wonderful, brilliant man.” I smiled, then, and Burns studied me carefully.
“I see that you hold him in high esteem, whoever he is.”
“Let’s just say that he made a very lonely childhood into a bearable one.”
Burns clasped my shoulder and shook his head. “I just realized that I know very little about you, child.”
I gave the rough hand on my shoulder a tender squeeze. “I’m not all that important right now, Captain. What’s important is trying to find a way to defend the people of Tiernan and make it through whatever Sigrid is bringing down on us with minimal casualties.”
“Right, then. Let’s get you into some armor and call Kieran down so he can train you while I take what we’ve discussed and put it before Rolf.”
He led me into a smaller cavern and, once again, lit a trough of oil with his torch. There were only about a hundred suits of armor, and each obviously made for a woman’s form. “Have someone start bringing the women down to choose their armor after you talk to Rolf. I hope we can find a suit for each of them.”
Burns nodded. “I’m sure we can. There are only about sixty women in the fortress, not counting you.” He paced around the room, sizing up each beautifully crafted suit of armor, and I shuffled along in his wake, marveling at them as we went. We had circled the cavern twice before he stopped in front of a smallish suit of armor.
I couldn’t help staring at it. It looked like someone had managed to solidify quicksilver and inlaid it with gold and emeralds that created a very attractive image of a tree on the breastplate. “It’s beautiful,” I breathed.
“It was Lady Seònaid’s armor. I think it will do quite well for you. Let’s get you into it, then.” He assessed my clothing and smiled. “Although I find it strange, I’m glad you’re wearing britches. It’ll make the armor a bit more comfortable, and make you less clumsy than you would be in a dress.”
I laughed aloud. “Is it that obvious that I can barely walk without tripping over my own feet?”
His face reddened, and he shook his head. “That’s not what I meant, at all.”
“I knew what you meant,” I grinned. “I was only teasing you.”
He chuckled and shook his head. “You have an astonishing capacity for mischief.”
“That’s what my family always told me.” I couldn’t hide the pained look that flashed across my face, and he sighed.
“Do you miss them very much?”
“Yes, I do.” I hugged myself momentarily, trying not to cave to the tsunami of sadness rushing through me. Captain Burns startled me yet again when he pulled me into a hug and stroked my hair, just like Grandpa Alex used to. Tears leaked down my face against my will and I bit my lip to keep myself from sobbing aloud.
“Shh. Hush, dearie. It’s all right. I’m sure your family is missing you, too, and we’ll find a way to get y
ou back to them when this mess with Sigrid is over.”
I nodded against his chest. “Thank you, Captain.”
“I had a daughter, once,” he mused, almost to himself, still stroking my hair in that soothing manner that only men who know what it really means to be a father can manage. “You don’t look at all similar, but you remind me of her.”
“Is she,” I choked on my question, unable to get it out.
“Dead? Yes. She died in childbirth, and her baby, my grandchild, was stillborn. They were the only family I had left.” He trailed off, and I squeezed him in a tight hug, trying to hold back the pain I’d heard in his voice.
“You know,” he murmured, “If you ever decide that you want to talk to someone about your family, I’d be honored to be at your disposal.”
Still choked up, I could do nothing but nod, and he hugged me back. “Are you ready to try on the armor, dearie?”
I grimaced and stepped back. “As ready as I’ll ever be.”
12
Revelations
With Captain Burns’ help, I put on the armor and stood for a moment, trying to acclimate to the feel of the metal’s weight. It was lighter than I’d been expecting, but it was still much heavier than anything I’d ever worn before. I wrinkled my nose and stared at the Captain. "How the hell am I supposed to move efficiently in this? I’m going to get the crap kicked out of me. I feel like an awkward turtle."
Burns snorted a laugh. "You’ll get used to it. Necessity is an incredible motivator."
I pursed my lips and shook my head. "I doubt it."
Burns shook his head, still chuckling. "Kieran will whip you into shape in no time."
"Oh, I bet," I muttered. "He’s probably been waiting for a chance to whip me ever since I took off from our camp while he was sleeping, was gone for about three days, and subsequently almost got captured by the Q.E.G."
Burns frowned. "The boy needs someone to give him hell on occasion. He’s got an attitude problem. It would be nice to see someone put him on his heels."
I cocked an eyebrow at him and grinned. "I take it he’s not your favorite person, even if he is Rolf’s kin?"
Burns shook his head. "Not by a long shot. Now, let’s get several weapons for you to test out with Kieran, so we can find out where your strengths are."
I cringed and groaned, but he took me by the shoulder and nudged me back toward the cavern with the weapons. He picked out a rapier, a dirk, and a recurve bow with a quiver full of arrows. "I’m telling you, this is a really bad idea," I muttered.
"Quit your grousing, girl," Burns snorted. "If you’re smart enough to know as much as you do about weapons, you’re smart enough to figure out how to use them quickly enough."
"Says you." I snapped under my breath.
Burns shrugged and shot me a superior look. "And I’m hardly ever wrong. I have faith in you."
I shook my head slowly, a frown creasing my brow. "That's such a bad idea. People keep saying they have faith in me, but it's completely ill-founded."
He shot me a disapproving glare. "You’re certainly not going to inspire confidence like that, and inspiring confidence in these people is something you need to do if you plan on surviving what’s coming."
"Well, that’s encouraging." As usual, I was resorting to sarcasm because I didn't have any idea how to handle the situation at hand.
Burns ignored the sarcastic quip and led me out of the armory, back into the piercing daylight, which had me squinting. "Try getting a feel for the weapons while I fetch Kieran. See if you can be comfortable with any of them."
"Highly unlikely," I grumbled. Burns placed the weapons on a bench and strode off, leaving me eyeing them with a bit of a queasy feeling in my stomach. "This is going to go very badly."
I walked over and tentatively plucked up the rapier, studying the intricately crafted hand guard with a sense of awe. "I definitely like the dwarves’ taste in shiny objects."
"Just like a woman." Kieran’s sarcastic drawl made me jump and spin, instinctively pointing the rapier at his face.
He studied it with an utter lack of concern and flicked it out of the way with a brush of his thick, callused fingers. "I think it’s best if we start small and work our way up. Grab the dirk and let me show you the most important things you need to know."
Kieran pulled a dirk of his own out of a sheath that hung from his belt and studied me as I laid the rapier on the bench and picked up the dirk. "Which way do I need to hold this damn thing?"
"It’s a curved blade, so you can hold it either way, but I find a backhanded grip to be more efficient."
I blinked at him. "Uh-huh."
Kieran rolled his eyes and sighed. "You have no idea what I’m saying, do you?"
I shook my head and tried to squelch an embarrassed blush. "Nope. Not even a little bit."
"Here, let me show you." He took my hand and wrapped it around the hilt so the blade was curving outward and the point curved back toward my elbow. I felt heat rush up my arm and shoot straight down to my stomach. My lips parted on a gasp as I fought the flush creeping up my cheeks. Our eyes locked for a moment and he leaned down. I was almost certain he was going to kiss me when he brought my hand up and pressed the blade against his throat. "See how holding it this way would make it easier for you to cut an enemy’s throat? You’re petite, so you’re likely going to have to sweep up if you do have to resort to the dirk. Move just like you’re throwing a punch, but make sure the edge of the blade is what makes contact with the throat...like this."
I pressed my lips together to keep them from trembling as he brought my hand down to my side and then guided it up in a sweeping motion, dragging the edge of the blade across the warm, golden skin just beneath his Adam’s apple. My eyes locked on the scratch the blade left, the small beads of blood popping up on it. "You drew blood," I murmured, frowning.
He nodded, never letting his dark eyes break contact with mine. "Aye, and you’re going to have to learn to if you want to have any hope of surviving a battle."
My eyes drifted to where his large hand was still engulfing mine, along with the dirk’s hilt, and when I looked up, I found that he was staring down at me with an unreadable expression. An instant later, he’d slipped the dirk from my grip and tossed it so it was quivering and sticking out of the ground. My eyes followed it, so I was stunned when I felt his hands close around my arms as he pulled me against him.
He bent his head and pressed his lips against mine in a fierce kiss that robbed me of breath and seemed to turn my legs to jelly. I grabbed his shirt and kissed him back, feeling an overwhelming fire scorch through my chest. It was unlike anything any boyfriend I had ever elicited. I got lost in the feeling, and I could have let the kiss last for eternity. Unfortunately, the universe didn’t seem to agree with me. We heard a pointed cough and jumped apart as if a bucket of cold water had been dumped on us.
A hot blush refused to leave my cheeks, and Kieran’s expression soured when we spotted Sam smirking at us. "What the bloody hell do you want?" Kieran growled.
Sam laughed and shrugged. "I just came to let Lauren know that the charging spell is complete. I wanted her to give it a listen and watch what happens. I can also invoke a small amplification spell if you’d like to give things a listen while you’re training."
I grabbed Kieran’s hand and dragged him with me over to where Sam was. He resisted at first, but after a moment his fingers tightened around mine. Sam held the iPod out for me, and I took it with a grin. I gave Sam a nod. "Do the amplification spell. Music could make this training thing a lot more fun for me."
"Gladly." He wrapped his hands around mine and the iPod, and I didn’t miss how Kieran’s lip curled with displeasure at the contact. I squeezed his hand and slanted an amused smirk up at him as Sam chanted. I saw a glow out of the corner of my eye, but I resisted the urge to look and instead stayed focused on Kieran’s face.
Frost: An Otherworld Tale (The Otherworld Tales Book 1) Page 16