Anna’s eyes sprang open, and she sat up and looked around her room for a moment before hopping off her bed. She walked over to the dresser and pulled open the top drawer. It was the one that she had placed all her dresses in. She took one of the neatly folded garments out and shook it a few times before pulling it over her head. She wiggled a few times to get it over her chest, as usual, before adjusting it and then smoothing it out.
Once she finished with that, she went to get her belt, wrapping it around her tiny waist before buckling it on. She left her room and walked down the hallway towards the main room. She could hear everyone else talking.
I guess I must have overslept again. I wonder why I keep doing that?
Her friends, along with Thokri’s family, were already sitting in chairs around the living room. It was still before the children arrived, and she was even up early enough to see Uthra, who was Lothar’s first wife. She was dressed and ready to get to her job at the paper mill.
Anna had learned that dwarves loved to keep records of everything little thing, so they used literally tons of paper each day. Because of this, paper mills were nearly as common as forges or stone carvers’ shops, and there was at least one on each floor.
Anna scurried over to the long table where she took a plate and piled it up with cheese that was on a tray. Everyone had been eating cheese with just about every meal for the last month, trying to put a dent in the huge pile that sat in the pantry.
She took a few pieces of flatbread and then walked over to an empty chair and plopped down. After setting her plate off to the side, she took out one of her spell rings. This one was made to light candles or campfires, but she’d discovered that she could toast bread, or in this case, melt cheese with it.
She slipped the ring on her finger and picked up one of the pieces of cheese with her other hand. After pushing a tiny amount of mana into the ring, a blue flame shot out a few inches from her palm. It was supposed to be yellow like a candle according to Elaine. She held the piece of cheese near the flame until it started to melt and then popped it into her mouth, chewing the gooey blob up before swallowing it.
Elaine walked over and held out a piece of flatbread and looked at her with big eyes. Anna took another piece of cheese and melted it with her ring before dropping it on Elaine’s bread. The necromancer folded it up and took a bite of it, blowing the heat from her mouth as she did.
“Was it too hot?” Anna asked.
“Worth it,” Elaine replied, the words slightly muffled because her mouth was still full.
Anna tore off a chuck of the bread on her own plate and handed it to Elaine who grinned at her. Ever since Anna had discovered her love of melted cheese, Elaine had made sure to snag a few pieces of it herself. Elaine, being a normal, sort of anyway, human, needed to use the flatbread to hold onto the molten cheese, so Anna just put a few pieces on her own plate in case Elaine forgot to bring more than one over. She melted another piece and put it on the bread for Elaine to take. The necromancer snatched it out of her hand giving her a muffled thanks before heading back to her own seat.
“Do you think we could head to the forge and find out about getting weapons and armor made?” Voekeer asked.
“Aye,” Thokri said.
The others looked at her, clearly wanting her to hurry up and eat. She sighed and started to stuff the cheese in her mouth, washing it down with an ale that Rose brought her. She smiled at her friend who smiled back before snatching a large chunk of cheese from her plate and wolfing it down. Anna just looked up at her in shock for a moment. Rose smiled at her again and then walked away as if she were completely innocent.
Anna ate the rest of her breakfast and put the plate and mug on the long table before heading out of the house with her friends.
Thokri led them away from the house deeper into the mountain. They had visited the market a few more times and had gone to Thokri’s favorite tavern so he could see all his old friends.
That was a fun night, though I think Rose wishes she could forget dancing for everyone.
Rose seemed happier around the dwarves than she’d ever been around humans, or elves for that matter. She smiled often and would laugh with them as if she was one of their kind. That particular night, they’d all had quite a bit to drink, and Rose pulled a serving woman to her and danced in the most provocative way Anna had ever seen a person do before.
The dwarves loved it and much to everyone’s amusement, a few tried to copy her, including the serving woman who was just terrible. The fun ended when Elaine tried to join them but tripped over her dress and fell face-first on the floor, breaking her nose. Thankfully Barika could heal while drunk. Otherwise, Anna would have had to sober the priestess up which would have made her grumpy.
I still don’t get why it was Rose that hid in her room the whole next day. I mean, Elaine’s the one that fell down and got blood all over the floor. Rose didn’t even take her clothes off or anything. At least she got over it. I mean, the dwarves were all happy to see her when we got back to the tavern. A few even tried to dance for her again. That old man was really good at it by the time we got back.
The streets were crowded with dwarves heading to work, though dwarves, unlike humans, didn’t stop randomly in the path. Instead, they seemed to drift off to the side near the buildings if they needed to slow their pace.
I always wondered why Thokri got so mad when people would stand in the street. I guess this is why. That, or he’s just impatient. I wonder why someone that’s going to live so long gets so mad when people slow him down a few minutes?
The forge was only a twenty-minute walk from the house, and surprisingly, it didn’t look any different than any other building in the mountain save for the artwork on the side was of the Stone One forging the world surrounded by dwarves working at their own anvils creating everything from nails to spears.
Thokri pushed open the thick wooden door, and the sound of hammers hitting metal poured out. Heat blasted her as soon as she stepped through the door. A quick glance at her friends told her that it was unbearably hot, and they couldn’t spend that much time here, though she doubted the others would complain. They didn’t want to look weak in front of the dwarves for some reason.
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“What do you lot need?” an old dwarf asked.
He was sitting behind a large stone desk that was covered in paperwork, currently looking up at them with a haggard look on his face.
“Armor and weapons for all of us,” Thokri replied.
The old dwarf eyed them for a moment and then looked over at a sheet of paper that was hanging from the wall. It was the layout of the forge with the names of craftsmen next to each workstation along with tallies underneath their names.
“Malgon and Reirgami can handle the armor. They are working at five and six. Hokul at ten can handle most of the weapons unless you need a bow or a crossbow. Then you’ll have to talk to Malvur at fourteen,” the old dwarf said.
Thokri tossed him a silver which he caught and then licked and frowned.
“Humans are putting more tin in them these days,” he said.
“Aye, but they still spend,” Thokri replied before walking away.
The old dwarf chuckled and stuffed the coin in his pocket. Anna turned to follow Thokri who was already heading for the far end of the shop. She followed, watching the dwarves work at their workstations as she went.
The stations were nothing more than a forge to heat the metal, a few anvils, large stone pots filled with water or oil to quench the hot metal, and benches filled with tools. The dwarves working ignored the party as they walked by, concentrating on their task instead.
Thokri stopped at station five. A dwarven woman was riveting sections of black steel together to create what looked like a pauldron to Anna. She looked up and set the pauldron and tools aside before standing up and walking over to them, wiping her hands off on her leather apron as she approached them.
“What can I do for ya?” she asked.
“Lad up front told us you make us armor,” Thokri replied.
“Aye, I can. Let me know what you need first so I can make sure I have enough time to make it,” she said.
“A suit of full plate for me. Best you can do with the best black steel you have,” Thokri replied.
The woman nodded and looked towards Voekeer who was standing next to Thokri.
“The same for me, ma’am,” the elf replied.
“I’ll need to measure you, lad. Haven’t made armor for an elf before,” she said.
“Do I need arming clothes for you to do that?” Voekeer asked.
“No, lad, but you’ll have to get some made. This armor isn’t going to be like anything made by elves,” she replied.
“My current armor is human-crafted,” he replied. She shook her head.
“That won’t work either, lad,” she replied.
“Do you have someone you recommend?” Voekeer asked.
“Aye, she’s good and fast. I’ll write down her address for you,” the dwarf woman said.
“A chainmail shirt, helmet, vambraces, and greaves for me,” Barika said.
“Want any gloves?” the dwarf woman asked.
“No, I’m a healer, and it’s better if I don’t wear them,” Barika replied.
The dwarf woman nodded and looked over to Lyreen.
“I’ll take the same as her, but I need two mage gauntlets as well,” Lyreen said.
She took off her current one and handed it to the dwarven smith who looked it over for a moment before handing it back.
“Aye, I can make that. Want two left-handed ones, or a right and left?” the dwarven woman asked.
“Right and left,” Lyreen replied.
“Dual casting?” Elaine asked.
“It’s fairly common for elven mages, so I wanted to give it a try,” Lyreen replied.
“Really, it’s almost unheard of for humans,” Elaine said.
“They actually said it was impossible at the school in Oldforge. I didn’t even know it was a thing until I read about it in a book written by a sun elf,” Lyreen replied.
“Sounds interesting. Do you still have it?” Elaine asked.
“I do actually. He wrote a whole section on multi-casting and even managed to tricast, though his technique would be impossible for a woman to duplicate,” Lyreen replied.
“What do you mean by that? I’ve never heard of gender-specific spells before,” Elaine said.
Lyreen hesitated for a moment but then looked around and seemed to relax.
“He, uh, used his manhood as the third, er, focus point,” Lyreen replied.
Elaine stared at Lyreen for a moment and then snapped her fingers.
“That’s genius! But yes, that would never work for a woman,” Elaine said.
“Why not?” Anna asked.
“The way mana channels run through a person’s body. For men, there is an outward facing one that runs through his penis. For a woman, it’s the opposite. We have an inward-facing one down there,” Elaine replied.
“Oh, okay,” Anna said.
I don’t have any in my slit. I guess it’s because I don’t have any inward-facing ones.
“What kind of armor do you want lass?” the dwarven smith asked.
Anna looked her way again, and she was staring right at her.
“Just chainmail, vambraces, greaves, and a helmet,” Anna replied.
The woman nodded and looked at Elaine.
“What about you?” she asked.
“Same,” Elaine replied.
“What about the quiet lass?” the dwarven smith asked looking at Rose.
“She’s mute, and she needs light archer’s armor,” Thokri replied.
“Aye,” dwarven smith replied.
She went over and picked up a piece of paper and a measuring tape and walked out of her workspace. She started by measuring Voekeer, then moved on to Thokri, and finally to Rose. Once she finished, she ripped off part of the paper and handed it to Voekeer.
“She’ll be able to make you what you need, and if any of your friends need anything, she’ll be able to make that as well,” the smith said.
“Thank you,” Voekeer replied taking the paper.
They paid half of the cost upfront so the smith could start work before heading over to the weapons makers. The dwarven smiths seemed to notice them now that they had commissioned something, and Anna could see them watching the party as they walked, most likely hoping that they’d stop at their workstation.
When they stopped at the station the old dwarf had told them handled weapons, the smith walked over. He was a huge black-haired dwarf with eyes the color of flint and a huge smile on his face.
“What can I do for you lot today?” he asked.
“Can you make this sir?” Voekeer asked, handing the smith a folded sheet of paper.
The smith unfolded the paper and looked it over for a moment, nodding and stroking his beard a few times as he did so.
“Aye, lad, I can. Fine work on the drawing. You got a talent there,” he said.
“Thanks, but my friend here drew that,” Voekeer replied, putting his hand on Anna’s shoulder.
She smiled at the smith who smiled back at her. After a moment, he looked back at Voekeer.
“A gold for work like this,” he said.
“That’s fair,” Voekeer replied.
“So, what about the rest of you?” the smith asked.
“Hunting spear, lad. A big one,” Thokri replied.
“Figured that’s what you lot were up to,” the smith said.
“Can you make me a lady’s stiletto dagger out of mithril?” Elaine asked.
“Aye, how long do you want it, lass?” the smith replied.
“I want to wear it on my inner thigh, so as long as it can be,” Elaine added. The smith laughed.
“So, you’re that kind of lass,” he said.
Elaine grinned at him but didn’t say anything.
“Need an archer’s sword for this lass,” Thokri said, pointing his thumb at Rose who nodded.
The smith nodded and then looked at Anna.
“I want a mace! A long hard one that I can really pound someone with!” she said.
The smith laughed hard. She looked around and noticed that her friends were as well.
“What’s so funny?” she asked.
“I got what you’re looking for right here!” a dwarf said. He was working at the station next to them and was grabbing his crotch.
“I said long,” Anna replied.
The dwarf looked like she’d slapped him, and now the rest of the smiths were in hysterics as well.
“HEY, LASS! I GOT JUST WHAT YOU NEED HERE!” a dwarven woman shouted.
She gestured for Anna to come over, so she did, with the dwarves hooting at her as she passed by. The woman handed her a phallus, with balls, made from solid black steel. Anna took it and looked it over before looking back at the woman with a confused look on her face.
“What am I supposed to do with this?” she asked.
“You ever been with a lad before?” the woman asked.
Anna shook her head no.
“Push it in and then pull it back out, but not all the way, then push it in again. Keep doing that, and it’ll feel great, trust me,” the woman added.
Anna looked at the steel phallus again.
“It won’t fit. I’m too small down there!” Anna said.
“It’ll fit, now get going. I got work to do,” the woman replied, shooing Anna away from her station.
She walked back to her friends, noticing that the dwarves were smirking at her now instead of laughing. When she got back over to the weapons smith, he looked down at the steel phallus and grinned.
“Looks like you got what you came for, lass,” he said.
“I still want my mace!” Anna replied.