Cassandra Pendragon

The winds were picking up and made Ahri’s glowing hair dance at my side while the stars slowly vanished behind a massive bank of clouds. Thunder rumbled in the distance, followed by harsh flashes of light when lightning struck the churning sea. We were standing in a circle around the open caskets, gradually getting drenched by the first drops of an oncoming storm. The torches and the huge fire sizzled every time rain showers hit them and the scent of wet wood and linen rose up all around me. It wasn’t the most comfortable of situations but I could hardly complain since the dwarfs and Ahri didn’t seem to mind and the two fey even enjoyed the falling rain, their faces turned skywards as they cherished the refreshing downpour. Heck, even Mephisto, who had left his sanctuary in the forest to pay his respects was enduring it stoically alongside the children.

Despite the weather, I felt relaxed and giddy, most likely due to the astonishing amount of mead I had already downed. Well, in comparison I had still been quite modest, but two tankards were apparently more than I could easily handle and with the continuous requests to touch glasses, I was pretty certain that I wouldn’t sober up anytime soon. Just as well, from what I had heard, it wasn’t a true burial unless everyone was cross eyed at the end of it.

“It’s me pleasure to start,” a dwarf whose name I couldn’t remember for the life of me began. “And since most of us have a story or two to tell about the scoundrels that can’t raise their glasses with us no more, I’ll try to be quick. Also, I fear that our lovely ladies won’t be standing for much longer if we don’t get some food into their bellies, light weights the lot of ‘em.”

“Hear, hear,” deep voices exclaimed all around me and I was already tipsy enough to reward their efforts with a curtsy, even though I had to lean on Ahri to keep my balance. She giggle quietly and I used the distraction to snuggle up to her and curl my tails around her leg.

“Therefore, let’s make this quick. Me brother… he was a moron. Nah, don’t look at me like this, he was! Always the first to stumble into trouble but also always the last to remain standing. I still remember when we left our glorious home to join you shoddy lot, chasing after riches in a far away lands. The idiot thought that, now that he was going to leave, he could spent his last few days in the cozy caverns drinking his way through every tavern and hitting on every lass he met. Ah don’t have to mention that he didn’t pay, now, do I? As y’all can imagine, when it was time to depart, he came rushing towards me ship, a throng of people on his heels, clamouring for his head or the same amount of gold. Well, the head they could’ve had but I wasn’t going to pay from me funds for his endeavours. I gave the signal to me lads and we hurriedly tried to get our steamer airborne. Since it wasn’t exactly mine, I wasn’t looking forwards to any form of delay. What? Y’all know me ‘n him never learned the difference between yours and mine properly. Anyways,” he paused to take a deep draught from his tankard and belch heartily.

“Me brother made the jump and still managed to get on board but one of the fatter and more slow-witted ones who followed him failed to do the same. He slipped, reached for the railing and tumbled into the abyss. Good riddance and another victory for Mother Nature, I’d have said, but yah know what? Me brother, the gormless bozo, took one glance at his tumbling pursuer, grabbed a length of rope and flew overboard, trying to save the hapless dwarf. Ah thought I was going to be rid of both of them, but he caught his sorry ass and hauled them both back on board.” He raised his tankard and toasted a dwarf a few places to my left. “Here’s to you. Kalamosh, to you and your darn flat feet.” Obediently I repeated his words alongside everyone else, even though it struck me as odd to raise my cup to someone’s feet. I snorted into my drink and had to quickly hide my face to brush away the mead that had decided to leave me through my nose while Ahri slapped my back and Morgan chuckled heartily. When I looked at her, I briefly wondered why Erya had left her behind, but then again, I would probably also have wanted some time to get my head back on straight after having met my grandchild. And she couldn’t be much safer than she was here, with us and the dwarfs around. Maybe her decision wasn’t as surprising as I had thought.

“That was you, big boy,” he continued while he crossed over to one of the caskets, enviously steady on his stumpy legs. “Even when you finally had dug yourself out of a hole, you jumped right back in to get someone else out. But ah hold no grudge, you were a fine dwarf, and your heart was big enough to compensate for your flaws. Comrades, bottoms up, hail the victorious dead, hail Borim! Ah’ll miss yah, brother.” We downed our tankards and refilled them, while… I still couldn’t remember his name, jumped into the deep hole with a pick axe, putting the first dents into the bedrock. A few moments later, one of his friends took his place at the caskets. He was quite tall and surprisingly slender for a dwarfs, which still meant bulky like an ox, but he wasn’t broader than he was tall, at least. A long scar crossed his face and vanished beneath a leather eyepatch. While he walked, he seemed to be keeping his weight off his left leg and when he slipped on the wet earth, I saw the tip of a wooden prosthetic appear under the hem of his trousers.

“Ah well, whaddaya all want me to say after that? In essence, that was’ em, the whole lot of ‘em. Not necessarily the stealing part, though. That’s just plain nasty. But they always were the first to help out and give a hand, always the first to raise their axes, when it mattered… that’s why they’re lying there, innit? Because they were dwarfs, bloody good ones at that.” He turned towards the casket on his right and raised his tankard.

“Guthri, yah taught me how to fight, how to hold an axe and a line, when to duck and when to run. I never understood that last lesson and apparently, neither did you. But that’s fine, who’d want a coward’s scar, anyways, eh? There are many of your stories I’d like to share, they all deserve to be remembered, but there’s only one that can tell us who you were, don’t yah agree?”

As if on command, thunder rumbled in the distance and a forked lightning strike illuminated the night. The dwarf in front of us nodded and mumbled quietly enough that I had to readjust my ears to understand his words: “thought so…” he turned to face us again.

“‘T’was about two decades ago, maybe a little more. We were selling out as mercenaries, nothin’ unusual, but not the finest work... y’all know what I mean, yes? ‘T was a cold winter and we were holding the fort of a measly human noble, far up north on a large enough island that there were several kingdoms. Nothin’ special, but a good place to earn a quick coin and have a little fun. We were freezing our butts off, food was sparse and half rotten and none of us had seen a pretty face for a couple of months… not to mention the regular skirmishes we had to fight with a tribe of stubborn wolf kin that had infested the surrounding woods. All in all, we had a bloody great time.” He hesitated for a moment, visibly swallowed and dabbed his eye with his beard.

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“That is, until one of our patrols, which is to say me ‘n two friends of mine whom the rock has already taken, were captured and dragged off into the night. ‘T wasn’t fun, I can tell you that much. They poked and prodded us until we almost forgot who we were. One of ‘em bastards even took me eye as a souvenir… lemme tell yah, lads, I’m not one to despair lightly, but back then I thought we had reached the end of the tunnel. Well, since I’m still standing here, telling y’all of the good ol’ days, yah know that didn’t happen. The cavalry arrived, just when they had decided that they had squeezed all the fun out of us that they were ever going to have. Roasted at the stake, that was supposed to be the end of us, but alas, yah can’t always get what you want, now, can yah? And those pesky, yellow teethed, moth eaten mutts got quite the kicking instead of dwarf well-done.” His bearded face split in a not very nice smiled and he continued with a twinkle in his remaining eye:

“Gluthri and the boys, they came for us just about when the fires had been lit. Like an avalanche of steel they rolled through their pitiful hideout and killed every ugly bastard with a tail. No offence intended,” he quickly added with a glance in our direction. “Now, that alone wouldn’t have been an occasion to remember, I mean yah save yah comrades and that’s it, ain’t I right?” “Hear, hear” a choir which sounded like grinding rocks replied.

“Nah, we all would’ve done as much. It was what happened afterwards that makes him special. He found a cub… when I, as much as it shames me to admit the truth, was about to pummel the small, crying creature into the ground, head first. Guthri… he didn’t think twice. He slapped me straight to the moon an’ pulled me back down only to provide me backside with another beautiful kickin’. We’re dwarfs, he said, not cowardly barbarians and for your stupidity y’ are goin’ t’ share yahr rations with the cub, yah hear me lad?” Murmurs rose for, the assembled dwarfs but he quietened the, down with a gesture.

“Y’all know what came of that day. One of the best friends I’m ever going t’ have and a place for every wee, tired dwarf to rest his legs, should he ever come through the Northern Passage. 15 years later and the cub had turned into a fighter I’d rather have on me side than anywhere else and the bloody best bartender on the islands. If it hadn’t been for you,” he said to the open casket, “neither of those would have come to pass. Yah made me realise that we can find friendship and courage everywhere, we just have to look deeply enough. Hail the victorious dead, hail Guthri! Yah were more of a father to me than the useless sack of rotten meat I left behind when I joined yah and I’ll miss yah!”

“Hail the victorious dead, hail Guthri,” reverberated through the night, followed by the sounds of downed mead. I was decidedly starting to feel light headed and I pushed a trickle of energy from my core to counteract the alcohol, even though with more than a little regret. But I simply wouldn’t have made it through the night otherwise and I wanted to remain cognisant. I wasn’t going to get engaged again, now, was I? I bit my lip when I realised that my family was already halfway to Free Land by now… we had never told anyone except Xorlosh what we intended to do. At least Ahri had already spoken to my mom, but I still couldn’t imagine that she’d be thrilled if she came back to accomplished facts. Oh well, she wouldn’t be the first parent, nor the last, who’d have that particular experience and truth be told, I was really looking forward to the announcement, it just felt right. Before I focused back on the scene in front of me, I caressingly reached for Ahri’s hand and locked our fingers before I leaned into her and kissed her cheek. The goosebumps that erupted along her neck were all the reassurance I required.

With his speech finished, the one eyed fellow jumped into the hole and added his strength to pummel the rock. Sparks and grunts flowed through the night and before Xorlosh stepped up to the caskets, he handed two freshly filled tankards down to the hard working dwarfs.

“Alrighty lads, it’s a pity that I have t’ stand here, it truly is. But y’all know the truth, little Durgin and Fenni, they came to us not two years prior, without a family or a history, not one that they’d share at least. And yah might think that there can’t be many moments of valour or wisdom to talk about, but lemme tell y’all, yah’d be dead wrong. In the last week I’ve seen a gangly, strange boy, with not much talents in the mines, mind yah, and his bumbling and shy mate turn into proud and stubborn dwarfs. They fought with us to protect our homes, they battled pirates and in the end, they even faced gods of a bygone age. They were bloody heroes, and I won’t have yah miserable lot forget their names, yah hear me?” “Aye!”

“Fenni saved me life. Without him, I wouldn’t have left the spider’s lair, that’s why I’m standing here tonight, for there are chains between us that weigh as heavy as blood. He pulled me back so I could keep me head on me shoulders… I won’t be able to repay the favour, not in this life, at least, but yah all mark me words: we’ll see him again, a soul as bright as his, with so much more to do, he will return and we’ll be all the stronger for it!” He took his obligatory swig before he continued:

“By the stones, if I had know sooner how the boy could handle an axe, I wouldn’t have tried to turn him into a blacksmith, I’d have made him into the bloody best fighter who ever lived! And who knows, maybe he’d still be standing here tonight, ready to raise his cup with us in memory of the fallen. That is on me and me doubts, I’ll always have t’ live with, for the rest of me life. And Durgin, well, the lad didn’t need much training. He single-handedly walked into more burning homes back on Boseiju than I can count and he even saved your sorry ass, Oldor, when he pulled you and the 50 kilos of useless equipment you carry around from the fires. We gave ‘em crap because they didn’t know which end of a hammer to strike with, but, in the end, they were cut from the hardest granite, made for battle, not the forges. ‘T takes a special kind of gem to shine brighter when the night is darkest but the two of them, their necks were made of steel and in their chests, two sparklin’ Kashra-gems pulsed to keep the courage of our ancestors, nay, of our people alive. They fought for friends and foreigners, and by the deepest chasm, they bloody well won every time they raised their weapons. They won’t be fighting no more, but when we raise our weapons, we’ll raise ‘em in the name of those who returned to the rock. Hail the victorious dead, hail Durgin, hail Fenni, hail Guthri, hail Borim!”

As the reply reverberated through the night, Xorlosh poured his mead over the caskets and jumped into the hole, followed by another handful of dwarfs. A torrent of pebbles and larger chunks of rock soon exploded from the pit and within minutes, they finished the tomb.

“I’m glad we are alive… and to have you by my side,” I whispered in Ahri’s ear. “I love you.”

She didn’t reply but I saw her smile when her tails snaked around my middle. I closed my eyes and enjoyed the warmth that spread from every spot she touched, the silkiness of her fur on my skin and the tickles of magic as it flowed through our connection. For a few moments I was far away, somewhere peaceful, somewhere quiet and the drops of rain turned into the refreshing spray of the ocean as we flew into the sunset. One day… but not today.

Quicker than I would have liked, I was pulled back to reality and the dream popped like a bubble of soap. A drenched dwarf, covered in mud, pressed a fresh tankard into my hand, his white, blocky teeth flashed through a matted, dark beard. His face was covered thickly enough that I had to hear him speak, before I recognised Xorlosh.

“We all know yah’d rather for yah selves, but let’s at least get a bite to eat first, shall we? And since it’s raining like the azure gates have opened, we could all use something heart warming. Why don’t yah two cut the meat and say your piece?”

“It’d be our honour, but we’ll need some space,” I answered.

“What, why?” Ahri’s speech was a little slurred and I had to suppress a grin when I imagined how she’d feel in a second.

“Don’t you remember? You’ve lived with us for long enough, you know our traditions… I want a dance. I’m wearing your bracelet and I fully intend to keep it, but if you want my hand, you’re going to dance with me tonight.”