“Odomir, you might not be aware but Thurismund are involved with Coenwulf’s campaign in the south and lending an arm to Ohthere in the north.” Huogobert answered Odomir’s question. So far the Huogobert, Huoging, Hogo clans had remained silent. However Huogobert decided they had been silent for too long. It was unclear from their poker faces whether they were interested in the position of the king or not. The three sister clans had been wise enough to reserve their energies till the others wore themselves out.
“Frithuwold and Coenwulf, it seems you two are new to politics. Till we don’t have a King none can authorize battles or alliances.” Huogobert continued, “By our gods, I pray every night for our brethren in the Northern City and the gods have not yet let my prayers down. I know so, since I have not yet received word that the Northern City has fallen. So I ask you to renew your faith in your juniors and let them handle the affairs of that city. If it is the will of our God then we will lose it and if it is the will of our God then we may not lose it. You are excessively worrying about something else right now than what you are paying attention to. The king of our worthy race decides the fate of over a million dwarves for a sixty years in a normal life span. Do you truly wish to orrenously elect a King not worthy of the throne? Can you two alone bear responsibility for a sixty year rule under tyranny because you were not bothered with politics at the time? I beseech you both to be a little more patient. The elections will be done before you know and the God will give us a King who will rid us of the plague that festers in our lands… ”
Odomir’s and Thurismund’s ears were up during the entire speech from Huogobert even though they pretended to be uninterested. They were the oldest in the lot and knew what Huogobert was driving towards. On the surface it appeared that Huogobert was acting on the best intersts of the two clans Frithuwold and Coenwulf. By appearing to be taking care of them, Huogobert subtly portrayed themselves as righteous and caring. It is a well documented phenomena that the hostage at times feels grateful towards their kidnapper. Huogobert wasn’t a kidnapper but with a little imagination one could see the dots lining up. The quiet Mittsu alliance suddenly turned loud and defiant. They appeared to be delaying the elections with silly and pointless conversations and tactics. They looked for opportunities to sow seeds of discontent and conflict within the clans to waste more time…
Both Odomir and Thurismund were puzzled by their actions, but in light of Huogobert’s speech the air of mystery was all cleared up. They Mittsu alliance was probably working in collusion with the sister clans. It was a typical bad cop good cop routine…
Odomir let out a smile. This was truly dwarvish politics; creating secret alliances before elections and coordinating craft plans with such terrifying perfection. Odomir was not a warrior clan but a pure politician one. The realization of a cunning plan in play got her excited…She wanted to rip them and their plans to bits…why? Because she was a politician; her interests were placed above others and her unsaitiable greed was placed above others. Anyone else in her place might have panicked and rushed to think of of ways to counter the four clans that were working together. However, she knew better. She was gifted in the art of reading people and even better she was the most patient dwarf. When it came to planning out endlessly long tiresome battles, she could whip up a plan in no time. She knew she had plenty of time; afterall they still needed to secure three more clan votes for a majority…
“Hmmpp, every moment we stay here our enemies grow stronger!! Is that what you wish?”
Frithuwold asked debunking Huogobert’s notion of patiently electing a rightful king. Frithuwold was a strategist and he knew better than anyone that every second they spent delaying their decision regarding the Northern City was going to cost lives. Every second the Kobolds and their army of dark creatures grew bigger. Every second that went by his brethren fell into graver danger. … Frithuwold was well aware he was being held hostage here but he certainly wasn’t going to be easy on those who dared to test him. He was a warrior at heart and they were mere production class clans, he was opinionated that only those who risk their lives truly deserved to lead….not these cowards who hid behind words and long and unwinding sentences…
“May we be warriors or craftsmen or priests, all of us, combined have ensured our race’s survival! Had Ackerman’s clan not farmed the fields or Bautischler not bothered with making houses then where would your armies stay and what would your armies eat?” Utmiz Balkan finally spoke. “And had Ohthere, Coenwulf, Frithuwold and Thurismund not risked their lives in protecting us …would you, Mittsu, have been able to live a life of peace?”
“…” Everyone was quiet. The Balkans were known for their honesty and lack of enthusiasm for politics. So if they spoke it was usually worth hearing since they spoke with a pure heart; freed of all greed and personal desire.
“It is our collective effort. So I request you to stop fighting here and express yourself on the battleground with the enemies,’ Utmiz Balkan continued. “The Great Mourning (the loss of Skyolm) has scared us into hiding like rats. We have abandoned our cities above the ground and ourselves vulnerable. Not once have we asked the right questions since we began with these proceedings. What really happened on the day of the Great Mourning? Who was it that attacked our homes and killed our people? And if you really want to ask more, ask whether the fall of Skyholm and the uprising of the Kobolds are linked and a sign of things to come.”
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“…”
“Only when you will ask these questions; questions which we have been avoiding for so long, will the answers bring us true peace. But instead what do we do? We sit here trying to elect someone to decide our fate. By the gods, I swear all of you will lead us to our doom!” Utmiz Balkan finished.
The room was filled only with silence and all eyes were fixed on Utmiz Balkan. They knew and he knew that he had gone too far. He was wielded no power since he had the smallest clan. It used to have three members but was now just reduced to two. The other clans decided to not say anything since Utmiz had just lost his son.
‘Poor man, he saw his entire clan fall before him and now his son…a pitiful life.’ Odomir thought. ‘But this is no place for those who waver…you should have abstained if you are still grieving for the loss of your son.’
However, Odomir could not have been more wrong. Utmiz Balkan was speaking the truth and his honesty touched everyone in one way or the other.
At last Thurismund spoke, ‘Your interest lies above yourself and you only think of the dwarf race. You have my support.’ Utmiz Balkan couldn’t believe what he just heard, especially since he did not speak to become king.
Bethlan of Odomir looked at Thurismund in shock. She least expected that one as wise and old as Thurismund would give in to such an emotional speech.
“I, Frithuwold, too shower my support to the Balkans.”
Bethlan throat went dry. She wasn’t the only one who was starting to feel uneasy; the sister clans Huogobert, Huoging, Hogo were feeling tense as well. The sudden turn of events was beyond their imagination. They did not even consider the Balkans as a real clan. After their clan was wiped out…they were reduced to a single family. Now that small family had become even smaller. Their seat in the round table was considered nothing more than an honorary position….
“I, representing the Adalrod, support to the Balkans.” Adalrod spoke softly as she woke from her sleep after hearing Balkan’s impassioned speech.
Bethlan of Odomir faced twisted in horror. “My..my..own…daughter…betrayed me…” Bethlan Odomir choked in shock…
“I am representing the interests of Adalrod. I stopped being Odomir when you got me married into Adalrod, mother.” Adalrod whispered to her mother.
“…”
The other dwarves were staring at Utmiz and then at each other. All the leaders knew what Utmiz had said had been truthful...but even though they were just being greedy it was still better being driven strong emotions of vengeance? At least in their greed, their clan would benefit, but who would benefit from the Balkan’s course of action? He was just interested in finding his son’s killer for revenge. But wasn’t that more harmful? Searching for an enemy which wiped out an entire city would do more harm than justice.
Then finally, Hogo spoke, “Dumaroka of Hogo clan does not support you. You, Utmiz Balkan, are not worthy of being King. It was your father who decided to close your clan’s fate; he was the one who revealed the existence of the sacred sword at the Temple of Thor to the human. He broke sacred oaths by doing so. He even gave passage to humans through his city and gave humans shelter in our great stone cities. They have defiled this holy land of ours by doing so. He created disaccord by permitting his grandson to teach the sacred blacksmithing arts to elves! The Elves! He even built cities above the ground!”
“..” The room went quiet. Utmiz’s ears were burning hot in anger.
“…Even after we told him that it was against our teachings. He never took our advice; he was an arrogant fool and look where that has led you. Your clan’s greatest city above the ground has fallen to ruin, lives have been lost and you want us to loose more?”
“…” Utmiz had no reply, he was guilty of being motivated by thoughts of revenge. Even though he was uninterested in the throne, when three clan leaders supported him, he momentarily gave into those desires of becoming King…all for a personal vendetta.
“We rather build a separate city, isolated with no access to the outside; one which no one would know about. One which no human or elf can defile! Aye, it will take time, but not at least at the cost of lives of our loved ones!” Hogo finished trying to catch his breath.
The dwarves were back to square one; everything that they felt in favour of Utmiz Balkan was gone. It would be wrong to say they went back to square one; the balance shifted slightly in favour of the sister clans. Gotwald clan lent their support to Hogo; once again the clans were divided.
“I would like to adjourn you all for a break.” Kurfürst interrupted the session. “We have been at this for over many many hours and all could do with a bit of rest. Your attendant’s have taken care of your accommodation. Please be well rested to continue this tomorrow.”
The dwarves grumbled slightly at the interruption but were glad that it happened. They needed to speak to their attendants and advisors who were waiting for them in their rooms and discuss the repercussions of the discussions held so far.
Utmiz hobbled to his room and quickly locked the door behind him.
“You can remove the cloak now.” Utmiz told his attendant. “We have much to discuss.”
Weed slowly removed the hood.