“Tom…” I opened my eyes to see a wide eyed Pem standing at my doorway and a face full of black hair that smelled like fresh nature after a rain. Kats back is snug to my chest with my arm draped over her curves. I removed my arm and started to get up, “Hey Pem.” “It is dawn.” and she walked out. It then hit me. Here I am with Kat doing what I told Pem we couldn't do. I lightly shake Kats shoulder. “Hey princess, it's time to get up.” “Hmm,” She yawned, “Thank you Tom. I needed that.” “We better get ready.” She nodded as she rubbed her eyes then rolled out of bed and headed to her room.
My armor no longer fits with the padding so I throw the mail over my new clothes and loosen my paracord belt, with the bowie and longsword so it will also fit. My halberd is not here. I head down to get some more food.
There's quite a few tables full of people. Mostly elves and most of them seem to be our guards. Tal is sitting alone so I joined him. “Hey Tal, how are you?” “Ready to go.” “Me too. Hey where's Pem?” He pointed to the door exiting the inn. I grab some bread then head out to find her.
Even this early in the morning the town was very lively. Many were elves but it was hard to tell because most were completely covered. The Dratoric people stood out because of their sheer size.
Nardurothil was mainly red adobe with wooden addons like doors, shutters, and overhangs. The residents of this city liked to use colorful fabrics for curtains, rugs, and other clothed types items to break up the otherwise very red buildings. Looking around I noticed this inn was near the oasis this city was built next to. The oasis is large enough that I can't see across it. I know from the maps that a large river feeds it but I don't see it from here.
I spot Pem over by the royal carriage idly fiddling with something on something in the back by the trunk. “Hey Pem, are you okay?” She gave me a quick glare then looked back down at what she was doing. “Pem, talk to me.” I say as I walk up to her. She sighed, “Why am I even here…” It wasn't a question. “Do you want to be here?” She started tearing up. Instinctually I hugged her. “I miss uncle…I miss Leah's comfort. This is what I want. Someone to love me.” “You feel like family already... If I go home I'll miss you the most.” “Thank you.” She did feel like family, more like a little sister I guess. “Will you be okay?” She just nodded. “Join us for breakfast?” After a moment we break apart and we head back inside for food.
About thirty minutes go by before we leave and start our royal parade through Nardurothil in our converted carriage and newly reinforced caravan with more soldiers than before. The royal parade was long and quite boring. It's still surreal seeing so many people come out to see the princess. It was early afternoon when we left the oasis city of Nardurothil and took a quick stop to convert the carriage back to normal then we headed off to Barhurim.
Just before dark we halted and everyone ate food. The Wysafir desert was slowly turning into rolling hills. Before we marched on, Tal went to a different wagon to sleep and Kat and I were conversing in Elvish to help me learn while Pem was sprawled out on the other side fast asleep.
About four hours until dawn we stopped again to let everyone including the horses rest for a few hours.
Waking up at dawn I had slid down the seat in the middle and my head was angled against the carriage wall. Kat was sprawled over me drooling down my arm. I look over to see Pem still fast asleep. Quietly I try to move out from under Kat and lay her gently down as I get out.
We are clearly in the foothills now. The smell reminds me of home. The familiar piney moss smell I am used to out in the country near Denver. There's a large campfire and a dozen or so guards standing around talking and laughing. There is a cook preparing food at the fire so I head over to see what he's making because I am starving again. All the guards get quiet as I approach and I say “Good morning.” To try and break the ice. “Highness.” some of them said. “As you were.” was all I could think of to say.
After a few minutes of watching the cook the campsite started coming to life. Some started breaking down supplies and packing up. Others were training or trying to get a bit more sleep. Many were waiting around the fire to keep warm and wait for the food to get ready. The guards were speaking Elvish and joking around. Mostly about random stuff but the dumb human hero came up a few times. How did he weasel his way into their princess’s life? Some were defending me though so I let it go. After we all ate we quite quickly loaded up and headed out.
It was an hour before dusk when we arrived at the grand entrance to Barhurim. The temperature was already dropping quickly and it was not dark yet. Kat sighed, “Dwarves are very careful who they let into their kingdom.” “So we are being scouted right now?” “Yes.” “Well I'm going to take a look around.” “Tom, wait…” But I already hopped out and looked up at the massive entrance. It is perfectly basic. Around the large double door is a bunch of large blocky sharp letters that remind me of digital clocks writing. The stone is beautifully trimmed or carved, above and below the letters going around the door. Other than the entrance and it being at the base of a large mountain it's pretty barren and gray. Looking up I see a small scout tower blended in really well.
After a few minutes one large stone door groans as it opens. A single dwarf walks out and toward us. “Kat, you should stand with me.” “Very well.” She gets out and kind of brushes her blue robes to look more presentable as the dwarf approaches. She spoke with our guards before walking up to us. She was wearing nice heavy looking blue clothes. She was around four foot eight and had a round fair face that I could see because she did not have a beard. Her brown hair was very full and quite wild looking though. She bowed to us, “Greeting highnesses, I'm ambassador Bunbena Stonic.” Kat Spoke up, “Greetings, you have called for aid so we came.” “Thank you, highness.” She holds up her hand and a dozen very heavily armored dwarves walk out. They wore heavy dark gray armor from head to toe. All you could see is mostly blue eyes and a beard if they had one. From what Kat told me of dwarven culture, beards were a statement. They grew them out to their fullest and decorated them. They all seemed about five foot tall. “We will do a quick search then let your caravan in.”
After about ten minutes of idly standing there the ambassador returns to us, “Our search is done. All clear. You may enter now and highnesses I will take you straight to King Durbrak." The second large stone door opens as Kat, Tal, Pem, I, and two royal guards head inside.
For some reason my construction mind comes alive and i mentally start measuring everything. The First thing that catches my eye is a blue carpet inlaid with gold. It's roughly forty feet wide and extremely long and it seems to go straight from the door all the way to the back.On each side there is about one hundred feet of stone floor and on that floor there are seven pillars on each side. The pillars are around twenty feet wide and placed around thirty feet apart following the carpet. They have gold stripes winding up them and some sort of torch-like lighting evenly placed around the bottom. There are a few doors on each side but besides that it's mostly empty. Everything is gray with veins of minerals like quartz or others occasionally throughout the entire area. Looking up I just see darkness.
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“To the left are the guest rooms, where your caravan will be staying. The right is our barracks and mess hall. Your caravan will eat with our troops.” Ambasador Bunbena had clearly done this before. Kat asked, “Are there enough beds for our caravan?” “Of course, highness. There are twenty beds in each of the five rooms. If there isn't enough, they can stay in a barracks bed. Now if you just follow the carpet it will lead you straight to the throne room. I’ll go ahead and prepare.” “Thank you.”
We slowly walked, taking in the uniqueness of this place. After a few hundred feet we left the entrance and the whole place opened up. There has to be over one hundred pillars that I can see and they are placed farther apart than the seven I had seen on each side at the entrance. I whistled, “This is insane.” Kat laughed, “To think this is the smaller dwarf kingdom. Although they are much more militaristic.” She pointed to the right and off in the distance there seems to be dwarves fighting and training. The left side seemed to be where the dwarves traded goods, judging by the wooden carts full of stuff that had dwarves standing around and seemingly talking.
Not long after we see the entrance to the throne room. Two full armored dwarves stand guard next to the large stone double doors much like the ones at the entrance to the kingdom. “Please wait a moment.” One says as we approach. My thoughts are that I’m about to meet an actual dwarf king. The door creaks open only a few feet. “Head on in,” and we did.
The throne room was hundreds of feet wide and long. There were only four pillars but each one was much larger but still spread evenly apart. There was much more gold inlaid into everything. The throne was solid gold and it was carved into I was guessing a massive dwarf statue holding a hammer and tongs. There were two smaller thrones also made of gold on each side of the large one and it was all connected and sat on top of a platform about thirty feet off the ground. There were three tiered platforms even in height and they got wider as you went down. There were stairs on each side in the back. At the front of all this stood the king.
King Durbrak was around five and a half feet tall and very stocky even for a dwarf with white hair and beard and a large jeweled crown on his head. He wore a black armor that was so dark it seemed to eat the light, “Welcome!” His deep voice boomed. He was alone and holding an axe. Kat looked at me and whispered, “do not use magic.” “Who will challenge me!?” The king yelled. I took a step forward when Tal placed his hand on my shoulder. “It would be an honor.” I nodded and he walked forward, withdrawing his great-sword.
Once they were about fifteen feet apart Tal stopped and went into a stance, raising his sword a little but straight, more defensive looking. The dwarf king shot forward and Tal, the seven foot tall Dratoric, blocked but slid back a few feet. The king laughed as he started chopping unpredictably. Tal was deflecting, dodging, and backing up but could never counter safely.
Two dwarves joined us in watching the duel. “That Dratoric is huge.” The male said. The female replied, “Yeah but dad has this.” They both wore the same armor as the king. Tal was still on the defensive but able to counter more often. Tal opened his mouth wide as the king noticed he jumped back just in time to evade the flames “Yes!” The king was laughing as he charged again. He was much quicker this time and Tal wasn't able to block or evade them all. The king caught Tal in a leg sweep but before the king could finish the fight Tal released more flames and stood up before it ended. He then bolted through the flames towards the king with his great-sword swinging down with everything he had. The king noticed in time to block but his pure strength couldn't match Tals strength and momentum as the great-sword hit the king in the shoulder and he buckled onto his knees. “I yield!” the dwarf king yelled, still laughing.
The two dwarves next to me were speechless. When I first saw Tal fighting I could barely see him but now both him and the king were easy to follow.
Tal bowed to the king who was standing up, “Thank you for the honor of dueling a king.” “The honor was mine, sir? “Tal” Glorious! The Hero Tal I expected as much.”
The dwarven man standing next to me walked to the king. “A grand fight Father.” “It really was Thinrom. The king walked past him to Kat and I, “You are clearly the beautiful elven princess Katilandituril, and your betrothed I assume?” He stared at me almost with disgust. Right, I'm a human. “Son, test this mindless brute.” “Yes Father.” Thinrom grinned as he took his position. “Nuralin watch your brother closely on how to fight humans.” I looked over to Kat and she looked at me and nodded.
As I got into position I decided using my fists at first would be best to test the water. I would just go in fast and hard and if needed, use my sword and shield. I raised my fists up. “He’s mocking you boy. Hurt him!” The split second Thinrom moved I shot forward with everything I had and knowing it was going to hurt I punched his chest-plate with everything I had. The dwarf had no time to react as my left hand made full contact, splitting the skin and jamming my wrist up. Thinrom flew a dozen feet and landed on his back with a clang and screech of metal on stone. The silence was deafening. Thinrom wasn't moving.
Kat quickly cast detect injury, then gasped and yelled while running over to him, “Remove his armor.” The king ran and slid next to his son and started undoing the straps to the armor. He was repeatedly saying quietly, “Son, my boy”
Once the armor was loosened Thinrom started convulsing and spitting up blood. What have I done? I stared down at my already healing knuckles.
“Heal.” I heard Kat cast. A few seconds later his convulsing stopped. Kat looked at me, “Tom! Heal his broken bones.” “Right... Detect injury.” I imagined seeing Thinroms' broken bones then I could actually see them. His sternum was broken in multiple places and he had a few broken ribs. I imagined them connecting back to where they were originally and mend. “Heal.” Kat sighed with relief, “You almost killed him, Tom.” “I…I didn't mean to… That's why I used my fist…” I said blankly, still clearly in shock. “I told you blunt injuries are the hardest to heal.” She said, sounding slightly annoyed. “But I….Punched his armor knowing it would hurt me more than him. Instead of punching his face.” Kat sighed, “Tom… just learn from this okay?” “Of course.”
I walked up to the king who was still kneeling next to his son, “I’m sorry…for hurting your son. I should have…” “No. Holding back is dishonorable. It’s my fault.” The king looked to Kat, “Is he well?” “Yes he will need to rest for a while, weeks maybe.” The king nodded and picked his son up, “I will be back shortly.”
Pem was holding Thinroms chest-plate, “I did not see you move…” She angled it so I could see a small indention in the metal. “Tom, even as a tier six mage it was hard to see you.” “I should have tested my new strength before now.” I shake my head chastising myself. Tal walked over to me, “You need to join the tournament in Eldrin.” “Why?” “Honor and coin.” “Do not forget fame,” Pem said. “Fame?” “Yeah. Uncle won it years ago and was still famous for it.
The king returned and walked straight to me. He sighed, “I formally apologize for my words and display.” He then bowed to me. “I accept your apology and I truly hope your son is okay now.” He looked to Kat, “You came to help us during your royal parade and I disrespected your betrothed. I apologize.” He then bowed to her. “Accepted. Now King Durbrak, please tell us why we are here.” “Of course, follow me.”