Edited by Cultivator and Solyom
The oni quickly walked across the camp. Oh, the sweet irony! The camp was built mostly by dwarfs! They made a base for the greenskins, which are preparing for a quick series of raids.
- “Gobraw, how are the preparations going?” He asked when the tiny shaman caught up with him.
- “We have finished collecting the weapons and tools. Right now we are gathering food. Then, we should be ready.”
- “Perfect. We will wait a whole week, let them lower their ground, and make them feel safe. I want the attacks to be swift and ruthless. We will be a flood that would wipe them off the mountains…”
As he was finishing his speech on dark horizon a fire glow appeared, followed by an echo of explosions. After couple of minutes, from the entrance to the tunnel, a wind blew away the dust.
- “What was that?! Send a few people into the tunnels! We need to know what happened!”
Indeed, a small party has been set and send inside. They returned after an hour or two, carrying a heavily injured troll from day’s watch. One of the few that were sent previously, to make sure that tunnels were still open. His body was in a mess, his limbs were twisted, and his whole body was covered in blood and bones from his legs.
- “GIVE HIM WATER!” He roared. “Gobraw, can you heal him?”
- “Too late, my lord, the wounds are too serious. Even if by some miracle he would survive, he would never be able to fight or scout.”
- “Look at me, soldier!” He said, kneeling next to the barely conscious man. “Tell me what happened!”
- “… Fire… everywhere… Tra’grix was… first… He opened… corridor… fire. Everywhere fire… Rings of fire covered pillars holding the tunnels… everything collapsed.”
- “You did well. You didn’t fail. You saved your honor and you deserve a warrior’s death.” He said with actual grief in his voice. He quickly pulled a small dagger from his belt and pierced his soldier’s chest, delivering a quick death.
- “Th..ank….ouuu…” These were the last words of the unlucky troll.
The warchief raised from the ground.
- “Apparently, we lost the tunnels. Report our situation, Gobraw.”
- “Sir, without the tunnels our only way out is the passage, but you saw what they built there. They would decimate us before we would reach the gate, and even then I doubt we would be able to get past it. We are trapped here… and our food resources will last for a couple of weeks.”
- “…We will actually have to fight for hunting grounds with Goliaths and Gairarans…”
- “Sir, the dwarfs before leaving showed a few tricks to our people. We could try breeding some herbivores.”
- “We are warriors and hunters! Not farmers!” He hit one of the buildings with his fists, making whole structure shake. “To fall so low. Gobraw, I want scouts to take their time. We need to know our surroundings and our neighbors. I want all ogres to come to me in the morning, we will have to train them to fight in groups to face those beasts. This misery. I was sure we could outsmart them…”
- “The scout said he saw a ring of fire. That white-witch, he was a fire mage.”
- “It was his doing?!”
- “Most likely.”
- “The time will come when he will pay!”
- “Anger is a great source of motivation, yet beware, for it can cloud your mind.”
- “Fear not, old friend…” He said through his teeth. “.. my mind has never been more focused before.”
Somewhere in the distance, a roar of some huge beast could be heard. The night-time predators have awoken to start their hunt.
City under mountain
It wasn’t much of a war, much more a quick pacification raid, that ended after the negotiation session. Still, if no action were taken, the greenskins would continue their raids on unprepared cities and mines, harming the production and trade between clans.
One needs to remember, that such an outcome was possible only because their leader thought that he was smarter than the rest of the world. His overconfidence was the only reason that the army, made from the strongest warriors got trapped in a valley, habituated by fearful beasts.
The only thing that keeps me awake in the night is that one day, I could once again hear about them, and what they would gain by struggling in that dangerous land.
Damn it! I gained a wonderful ally, but maybe also a dangerous enemy. I will have to take that in consideration while planning my future now.
- “…RI! Zari! You are spacing out again!” Gisele poked the side of my head.
Instead of her usual leather armor, she was wearing some casual brown cloth. In the end, we did not intend to fight anytime soon. Not in the guest rooms in the city.
- “Sorry sweetie. Many things happened recently and…”
- “Again? Analyzing every move? You will stress yourself to death!” She stroked my head a bit violently. “… but, I have to admit it! It was fun!”
I looked at her bit confused.
- “Those few battles we had. Ogres are not that common in Neira! Because of their violent nature, they are being wiped out by an army of adventurers as soon as they are spotted! I actually tried myself quite a lot! Nice workout!”
I chuckled.
- “Really, Gisele, only you can think about slaughtering armies as a workout.”
- “At least I was not thinking about eating corpses!”
- “I did not eat any!”
- “But you were thinking about it! Disgusting! A bloody greenskin?! They must taste like mud! May the day I would have to choose between starving and eating ogre never come!”
- “I did not think about eating them!”
- “Zari, you were drooling. When you mentioned that red skinned Oni, you were actually licking your lips!”
- “You are making this up.”
Damn it. She just wanted to tease me. Foolish girl. I will have my revenge soon.
- “Anyway, lover of mine, I have little question… How long are we going to stay here?” The dragoness asked. “… don’t get me wrong! I love this place, I simply want to know how long I can laze myself around!”
Indeed. The “room” that was given to us could be actually called a small mansion. Rich wooden furniture were plated in gold, a huge fireplace was warming us up as we were sitting on a bed so big that it could hold a whole division of dwarfs. We were even using the furs of some beast as bedding.
Every once in awhile, I could see Gis with her eyes glued to some decoration that happened to have a gem stuck in its frame. When she would notice me watching her on this shameful act, she would start pretending clumsily that she was watching something else. Cute.
- “We need to partake in the official coronation of Vakkira, she said that it would mean a lot to her. Then Fional still needs to finish my armor. I have no idea how long it would take. Maybe three days?”
- “So….” She said purring to my ear. “You want to tell me that we have about three days to spend here? Just you, me and this bed?”
A week of marching with an army and battling for your life keeps your mind occupied. Now, as you know that your life is no longer in danger yet adrenaline is still flowing through your body, what will you do? What, indeed?
I planted a light kiss on her lips, in response she pulled me closer as she embraced me. We took our time to slowly build the lust in us, while once again exploring our bodies with hands. We were not in hurry, we had three loooongs days to…
Someone opened the door and walked inside.
- “Hey bastards! I was wondering if… Oh. ‘Scuse me, I guess I will be going…” Fional was about to leave as fast as he came.
For fuck sake! The feeling of intimacy perished, leaving only annoyance.
- “Fional, I hope it’s something bloody important. Also, did your mother not teach to you knock before entering?”
Gisele hissed a bit angrily. For the first time we wanted to try doing things slowly instead of jumping on each other like animals and it ended this way.
- “Nah. My mother taught me how to throw axes and brew vodka. I was also returning home, covered in dirt and with my suit tattered, she would lost her mind and beat the shit out of me. Eventually she would say
- “FOR THE SAKE OF… FIONAL!”
- “Easy there kiddo, just messing with you. I just wanted to tell you that because you finished that whole silly war-thing, I could stop forging swords and such, leaving me with more time to work on your gear. I should finish it tomorrow’s evening. I will just need your help once again – in the end this shit is bloody difficult to adjust and I would require you as a model. In the end you will be the one wearing it! Mind coming with me?”
I cursed under my nose.
- “Will be there in a minute…” Gis gave a light punch in my arm. “… or an hour…” another punch “… You know what? I will be there tomorrow.”
- “Youth.” the dwarf rolled his eyes “Ok, I will just keep working on other things.”
- “Also, Fiona…” I yelled after him.
- “What?”
- “Do you mind putting a “do not disturb” plate on the door?” I yelled after him with irritated voice.
He only snorted in response. As soon as he left the room I felt pressure on my shoulders. Looking back at my lover, I was able to witness once again her gaze filled with lust. Also annoyance. Her skin got bit flushed and her breath was ragged.
- “Give me a moment, pet, I will make sure no one will disturb us and…” I raised from the bed with the intention of locking the door, something we didn’t have to do up until now as everyone left us in peace.
Yet to my own surprise I noticed that I was dragged back to the bed. Her face was directly over mine as she was looking in my eyes. Actually, it was almost as if she wasn’t looking at me, but in me. Those playful green eyes were looking directly at my soul.
This time she kissed me, but not gently. It was a furious, passionate kiss that was depriving me of air. I felt her skin on my skin, I felt her heart pounding like mad, it's beating was resonating through our bodies, forcing my own to start beating in same tempo.
Taking advantage of the fact that she was focused so much on me I quickly switched our positions pinning her to the bed. I broke out of the kiss. At first, the dragoness let out a little cry of dissatisfaction, but as soon as my lips started attacking her neck she started purring again while moving her head back showing me more of her skin.
Her finger dug in my hair as she pressed me even more forcefully in her body, she was trying to enjoy this teasing as long as it was only possible, fighting against her nature.
But, eventually, her dragon’s blood took control over her, making her gaze blank. She started acting violently, demanding an other kind of attention. In the end, she pushed me off her and started pulling off my robe. But, robes aren’t really meant to be pulled of quickly, getting dressed and undressed actually requires some time. Irritated she slashed it with her claws.
Here goes my other set of robes. This is another reason why I am not buying an expensive one.
Once again she landed atop of me. For the final time she grinned at me and dug her nails painfully in my shoulders. Just like a predator she double checked if I am not in position to free myself before we made actual love.
Of course with a lot of effort I could free myself, the question was, why should I? I just smiled back and focused on those beautiful jade green eyes in front of me waiting for the moment she would lose her strength. Then I would simply take my turn.
In the passion, she would actually tighten her grip and pierce my skin, yet after noticing my expression she would remove her claws and lick the cuts as if saying her apologizes to me. Slowly she was getting better in controlling her nature.
How could you not love this silly creature?
As always, I woke before the dawn. Exhausted, yet focused. Somehow I managed to slip from my lover’s embrace without waking her up, get dressed and left the room, leaving small note where I am heading to.
Very few people were walking upon the street-bridges of the city, mostly some physical workers that needed to prepare themselves before work. Yet even those people, the one that never met me before, were smiling to me. Not with cruel, twisted smiles, but with a polite one. Few nodded their heads in acknowledgment and respect, and one elder woman actually gave me a light hug. She didn’t speak in human speech, I didn’t speak dwarfish, so this only made our conversation that much more awkward, especially as she simply didn’t want to let me go. After a moment a man, probably her son, actually managed to drag her away.
Then the reason of woman’s affection outburst became clear to me. That man was one of those I patched up on the battlefield. Because I helped him soon enough, his hand is still working.
Gratitude. The purest gratitude. Being watched and praised like this is quite refreshing… and…
~ Addictive?
A little.
~ I am sure it’s more than a little.
Maybe. But I can’t get distracted by such silly things. Not now.
I continued my march to the lowest level of the city. As I was told, under the mountains there was a river flow. But there is not water in it, it is a river of lava and fire. They are the so called veins of the Mountains. Most of the cities were built over them, only in the heat of those flames could one melt meteoric metals and change their form.
This is also where Fional was working right now.
He was just like me. An artisan in his job. Or a madman. The line between those two was very thin. If we would start working on something, we couldn’t stop. We couldn’t sleep, we didn’t even notice if we ate something or not. A little curse that pushed our creation on yet another stage of perfection.
- “You busy?” I asked the dwarf that was currently inspecting a piece of leather, stretched between two pillars.
- “Look who finally decided to show THE FUCK up?” He growled. “I couldn’t get to the next phase because of you! Well, I myself don’t give a damn, but you could think a little about my helpers!”
Helpers? What helpers?
Then I noticed them – previously I thought that they were some kind of wasted piece of leathers thrown here and there forming a piles. But no – these were people. Actual living being, deadly exhausted.
- “…er… Wa…ter… Ple…”
- “Oh, for fuck sake! Benjamin! Don’t you pretend you got tired already! Ok. Five minutes break for you guys, I will quickly finish my business with the kid and we are going back to work... Now, wear this..”
He throw at me some kind of suit with dozens of straps and buttons. It was ugly as hell, but apparently it could be worn by dwarves and ogres at same time. By regulating pieces of leather, you could make it fit perfectly to your body. Yes, unused pieces of cloth would simply hang from you making you look like a fool, but because of it Fional could perfectly measure the pieces of leather that needed to be cut off.
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His five minutes lasted over two hours.
- “Aren’t you treating those measures too serious?” I asked after he told me to take yet another pose in which he double checked the reach of my arms.
- “Listen kid, do you know what is stretched on those pillars?” He responded almost offended.
- “Leather.”
- “Leather, indeed, you know who's leather it is?”
- “You mentioned that you wanted to use a gryphon’s.”
- “Exactly. And you know what are the properties of a gryphon skin that was soaking in devil’s oil for a month?”
- “Not really.”
- “Exactly. So shut the fuck up and let me work. If I would make a mistake – cut a centimeter too short, it will be fucking unwearable. This is why no one uses gryphon skins to make armors. Buuut nooooo. You needed to pick this one…”
- “I picked the form that you have drawn in your sketchbook. Admit it – you were dreaming about making this armor.”
- “…”
- “Fional?”
- “Shut the fuck up, brat!”
I just hid my smile and let him continue his work.
His students weren’t pleased hearing that the armorsmith finished the measures and he is ready to finish his creation. He kicked me outside, telling that I would disturb him. After the door shut behind me I heard a mad laugh and some words in dwarfish. I had no idea what was he talking about, but his tone betrayed excitement.
I couldn’t really tell what hour was it as I left the workshop as I couldn’t see the position of the sun, but as my belly rumbled a little, I decided to visit the local inn.
Gisele was already there, partaking in a drinking contest with some veterans. I just waved to her. She waved back without taking her lips off the glass. I sat next to the counter.
- “What can I give you, lad?” The dwarfish woman asked me with a bit twisted human language.
- “Just regular breakfast.”
- “Coming right up!” She cheered.
After a moment or two she pushed a glass with whiskey my direction. I looked at it confused.
- “That’s whiskey.” I noticed.
- “I know, sweetie, I know! Bean and bread will be served in a moment.”
Whiskey and beans. A regular breakfast... I discovered Slav’s Eldorado.
When I was eating peacefully someone almost collapsed on the chair next to me
- “Hello honey!” Gisele’s greetings was followed with a quiet
- “I fine for now.”
- “Hee? Afraid of losing? Chickening out?”
- “Gisele, you are a half-dragon. Your blood accelerates the removal of toxins from your body, and yes, alcohol actually is treated as a toxin in this matter. Asking someone to partake in drinking competition with you is like asking a human child to fight against centaur veteran in a hand-to-hand grappling fight!”
- “
Don’t be fooled. Despite she being drunk now, in five minutes she will be all sober. She is using this state only as an excuse to drag me in. I learned it in the hard way.
- “Not now, sweetie. Today is Vakkira’s coronation. I need to be in good shape.”
- “Just one drink!” She started rubbing her cheeks on mine.
- “Gis, it never ends on just one drink.”
- “This time I promise! Just one !”
… I can give it a try, can I? I will quickly cast on myself a few spells boosting metabolism, then morph my guts… Also, I am a reasonable individual that can stop drinking when he finds he had enough.
- “DRINK! DRINK! DRINK! DRINK! DRINK!”
In no time quite few people gathered in the inn, and they just kept pouring me glass after glass. Oh, I did try to stop, a few times I even covered the top of my glass with my hand, stopping them from pouring even more liquid in it, but them someone would just force a completely new glass in my hand… Or mouth. There was simply no way out… at least I kept the rest of my dignity by drinking in a civilized way…
… Wait, why am I standing on the table? On one leg? Half naked? Why is the table on fire? Oh, I was the one igniting it? Daaaamn.
In front of me, Gisele was drinking mimicking my stance – drinking on one leg in the middle of a burning table.
Gis… just what did you drag me into this time?!
- “ANOTHER ONE!” Someone yelled.
Some brave soul actually managed to get past the flames and push another glasses in our hands. No, I have to stop. There is no way it will end well…!
- “You are one behind, Zari! Come on! Put on some fight, not like in bed!”
Her insult made all patrons around burst in laugh. And tell me now, what could I do? OF COURSE I DRANK IT!
And as I told. It was bad idea. The world spun around me as I changed my location from the burning table to the cold floor right behind it.
No more drinking with Gisele!
* “... and as our father before us have stated, today we shall celebrate…” The Rune-keeper was speaking with manta-like tone bringing me on the verge of madness.
Blah, blah, blah. Why can’t they just skip to the point? Bloody politics! At least his voice was bearable. Boosting your metabolism wasn’t as good idea as I previously thought. Yes, I did get sober faster. But it also meant that I got a hangover. Every sound that was made, every whisper said was resonating in my head like a church bell. I was getting mad at people around me for breathing too loudly! I throw angry gaze at Gisele. She noticed it and smiled cheerfully to me. Why isn’t she suffering as I do?!
* “Zari, you said that yourself! Your friend is becoming a queen, why such a sour face?” She asked with innocent tone.
* “One more word and I will cut off your head.”
* “Feeling ill?” She kept teasing me.
I took breath in trying to calm myself down. It was not working.
* “Next time if I am saying that I don’t want to drink… just don’t force me!” I hissed quietly.
* “Next time you decide not to do something, keep your word.” She said that smiling with corners of her mouth.
* “A-ha. Sure. You know it is impossible.”
* “Why is that so?”
* “Because I would do everything for you, idiot.” I said that throwing her a hateful gaze.
* “That would be quite sweet if not your murderous aura. But I do appreciate your words.”
* “Gisele…”
* “What?”
* “Payday.”
I focused my magic. Without looking at her I started channeling a lesser curse upon her.
* “What are you doing? H...Hey! Why am I feeling funny?... what is going on with my skin…” After a moment her eyes widened. “... you are not fucking serious! Stop it!”
* “Just bear with it. It’s a lesser time-based curse. It will perish in a minute.”
But she already started scratching her hands
* “Really? A rash curse?”
* “I can change it to diarrhea…”
* “DON’T YOU FUCKING DARE!”
People around us turned around to looked at Gisele with concerned gaze.
* “S..Something wrong, folks?”
* “I just asked if some of you see this woman as unworthy of receiving the crown…” Rune-keeper repeated again.
…. Damn it! SHAME ON YOU, GISELE! That;s what you get for using my innocence against me! You simply couldn’t yell at better time!
* “Gisele…?” I asked pretending being surprised. “... I hoped you don’t have anything against our friend being elected?!”
* “You little devil!” She hissed at me. “... No, of course not! She is great! Really! 10 out of 10! Would elect again! Don’t mind me! Ha-ha!”
* “Well… in that case I think we can continue…” Rune-keeper proceed to once again read the words of the coronation.
* “.... After this show is over. I will bloody kill you!” she said right in my ear.
It was my turn to smile widely.
* “... As our tradition says: when the threat would struck our homeland, a leader would emerge that casting our differences aside would unite us and lead to victory and prosperity. Lady Vakkira, despite your young age you have showed us wisdom. Despite not being warrior you showed us courage. Most of all because of you our home is safe again. You have proved to be worthy of wearing an obsidian crown. Now, kneel, for the last time.”
The queen stepped forward to the old dwarf, after taking few steps, she kneeled in front of the man holding a really well made diadem.
* “Now, you kneel in front of the the crown. But why do you do so? You are already our queen! It is so you would remember. You came from the people, the people elected you and for the people you will serve. Since this day you will be mother to all of us, and we all shall be your children. We bow to you showing respect, we bow to show you that we appreciated your efforts.We hope that you will lead us in prosperity same way as you lead to victory in recent battles.”
The elder slowly put the crown on her head, then took few steps back.
As she raised from the ground, everybody else kneeled.
* “All hail the queen!” The rune-keeper yelled.
* “LONG LIVE THE QUEEN” The sound of thousand voices shouting in unison shook the mountain. It was as if the earth itself proclaimed her the new monarch.
* “Please, raise, my friends.” She said with smile.
* “I was nothing more but a voice that called you before me. You were the one who won this war. It was your hands that spilled the blood of our enemies, it was sound of your feet traveling across the land that our enemies feared… It was all your doing...Yours and our friends.” She eventually said looking at me and Gis.
* “You came to us as our guest. You were expected to do nothing. Instead of welcoming you with feast and cheering, we welcomed you with grim expressions. Yet you, instead of being offended by our lack of hospitality, offered us your services, expecting nothing in return. You traveled with us, you fought side by side with us and you risked your life for us! You were so good for us when we were in need. This is why I am asking you, sons and daughters of the earth! Aren’t actions of our guests remarkable?”
* “AYE!” A thousand voices echoed through the ground.
* “Won’t you raise a mug in their name?”
* “ÄYE” A thunder of shouts resounded throughout the grand hall.
* “Aren’t they dwarfs in everything but blood?!”
* “ÄYE”
* “Zariel called Whiteraven, Gisele Redwing - your friends are our friends, your enemies are our enemies. May you know, that you have gained our sympathy and trust. May the sky above and dirt below forever tell your tales, of two of you, that from this day. are friends of Dwarfs.”
* “AYE! AYE! AYE!” Their booming voices ranged out than they started to cheer again.
* “Now, i believe that up until now you did not witness our proudest act of hospitality! Let the feast begin.”
Then, the inferno of my torment begun. Out of nowhere, dwarfs carrying tables appeared. In a couple of minutes the ceremony hall has been turned into a bloody canteen. Even worse! BARDS! A fucking bards with their flutes and balalaikas came and started playing those lively songs! The horror!
Much to my demise, as a guest of honor I couldn’t leave! I excused myself only for a minute or two to quickly get to my room and drug myself with as many potions as I could.
The coronation started at noon and as I was later told it lasted for almost three days. At least the rest of the feast was meant to be mostly for the people, as the clan heads left it merely after a day as they needed to take care of their businesses. So did Vakkira.
Gisele was still feasting in the hall as I was sitting in front of her in her chamber. Only a wide table was separating the two of us.
* “Now, as we have the show-part over. Let’s talk about politics and your rewards, mister Zariel.”
She smiled at me.
* “You did us a favor. If not your unpredictable actions, the outcome of this war would not be decided. To be honest, I wanted to talked about your rewards with Gisele too…. but…”
* “Let me guess, you didn’t manage to pull her from table with meat? Or beverage?”
* “...Kind of. Indeed, she was leaving one of them only to get to the another one and she acted bit violently when we tried persuading her to.”
* “Very well, I think she won’t get too mad if I would pick her prize in her name. But, at first let me know. From what am I allowed to pick?”
* “To be honest, I personally would love if you would pick gold. Right now our situation is too unstable to grant you the help of our warriors, I can’t really gave you our runic artifacts as, once again, we would require it in the nearest future. But, our wealth should be more than enough to make a human live his whole life in wealth.”
* “Or it could be used to feed Gisele once or twice.” I added quietly.
The queen chuckled hearing my little joke. “Tell me, how about your meteoric weapons? Just a two handed sword. For Gisele. She prefers her armors light, so we would take only that.”
* “Consider it done.” She didn’t even blink. “..Normally I would have to discuss such things with other clan heads… but we were at war recently. One sword could simply disappear in chaos of the battle, don’t you think?”
* “How lucky for us!”
* “Lucky indeed! But, now what do you want?”
Okay, now I will allow myself to push the line of her generosity a little.
* “Vakkira… tell me, how much do you value my services?”
* “VERY much… but not too much.”
Haha! That’s one hell of an answer.
* “Would you mind if I would ask you TWO things? One shouldn’t be much of a challenge… but I have no idea if there is a kingdom or merchant guild capable of doing second.”
* “Now you peaked my interest. Tell me, what is that supposed to be?”
The next morning, we were packing our things to the carriage which was supposed to take us home.
* “CAREFULLY, YOU MAGGOTS! THAT EQUIPMENT IS WORTH MORE THAN YOUR LIFES!”
Fional yelled at his helpers, who were carrying boxes with my armor. Guessing by their expressions boxes were heavy… but they can lift the whole barrel of beer with one hands… just what did you put in those boxes, Fional?!
* “Remember, that you are always welcome in our home…” Vakkira was saying her goodbye to us.
* “BUT NOT IN MY WORKSHOP!” The armorsmith yelled .
* “Now, as you were too busy with feasting, I was talking with Zariel about your rewards.” She said while looking at Gisele. “He picked something for you.”
The dragoness threw an uneasy gaze at me. She wasn’t sure if I didn’t prank her. In the end, lately we weren’t in the best relations.
A dwarf carrying an object under white sheet stepped closer to us. The queen pulled the cloth, quickly revealing a human-sized, two handed, red sword.
* “If this won’t kill your enemies with a single blow, then nothing will. May it serve you well.”
* “T..thank you!” She said while taking the weapon with both hands. “Damn! It is heavy… but so well-balanced! It lies in my hand as it was forged for me! Ha! If someone would tell me two years ago that I would be wielding a meteoric sword!”
* “Two years ago? Why not a year ago?” The queen asked, more from courtesy and not from real interest.
* “A year ago I already knew Zari, and damn, I quickly learned that with this guy around, everything is possible! Thank you, Vakkira, and thank you sweetie.”
* “As about your reward… Here is the first part of it.”
She handed me very small package. The one i could easily hide with one palm.
* “Just asking, how about second?”
* “Ah, yes. Consider it done. The information was already sent to some bank owners.”
* “Hey! What is it?!” Gisele asked. “It’s unfair! Lemme know!”
* “Turn around.” I said while unwrapping a package.
* “But why?!”
* “Do it!”
With hesitation dragoness actually showed her back to me.
From package I picked a small necklace with a small gem and with quick, skilled movement I put it on her neck.
* “Cold! What is it!” She yelped as the metal touched her skin.
* “A so called fiend-flame gem. Pretty rare. You wouldn’t get a broken copper coin for it at most jewelers, and then there are those offering a whole treasury. Unlike most of the gems, it has absolutely no magical potential, you can’t enchant it, nor use it as a mana storage. It is also very fragile and it is extremely hard to make a ring or necklace with it. There used to be a tradition between dwarfish jewelers - a final test before obtaining the Master Jeweler title - to made a ring or necklace with this stone. There is only one thing good about this stone, it is…”
* “Beautiful…” Gisele let out a quiet sigh watching the twin colored gem. It was toxic green on the outside, near the ages, and with a deep infernal red near the core.
If one would look within it, his senses would get confused, the green and red would seem to dance together, replacing one another.
* “But… it was supposed to be your reward…” She looked at me confused. “...why would you give it to me?”
* “Do you remember? Before we left you showed me few chests. You said that you intended to fill one with gold and other with rare gems. This one may not be worth much, but it’s some kind of start, isn’t it?”
She opened her mouth. Then closed it. Then opened again just to close for the second time.
* “... But… I don’t know what to say…”
* “Then remain silent!” I got irritated. “The world would be so much better place if people would remain silent while having nothing wise to say and…” She gave me a hug. While tackling me. With her whole body weight she pushed me on the ground. Did I mention that she was wearing her reinforced armor on herself? She also put meteoric sword on her back?
And are you aware that I am trying to tell you that SHE WAS HEAVY AS FUCK!?!?
He? What was that sound? Something snapped? He? My spine?
Same time - Capital of Neira
Jericho was walking cheerfully though the town. This was a good day. He cheated a fish seller of 4 copper coins and he forgot to pay a crowded bar making 12 copper coins and then won 25 silver at a gambling house. He only cheated a little. His day couldn’t be any better. DAMN IT!
He quickly ran behind a wall.
* “Drop the act, Jericho, I saw you, come out!”
He was the only man in the whole kingdom, no - the whole world, he didn’t want to meet!
* “Ah! Luigio! Good to see you old friend! Unfortunately I am in hurry so…”
Luigio Gazwari - a higher ranked man that worked at Ouroboros Bank. He is also the man whom Jericho owes a lot of money. An insane amount of money.
* “Oh, sure, I was also just traveling by, but then I spotted you and wondered. “Crap! crap crap crap crap crap. Would you like to borrow some money?
* “HAHAHAHA! Great joke. Totally not funny, but great! You were the one who told me that you wouldn’t give a loan just to cover an already existing one!”
Luigio blinked twice.
* “You don’t know?”
* “Know what?”
* “Your debts have been paid.”
* “Ok. I am dreaming. Or drunk. Or dreaming while being drunk!”
* “No, I am completely honest. Your debt of 1752 gold 33 silver and 18 copper coins has been paid yesterday. Today I got the message via communication crystal. Oh, there was a message attached to it.”
* “What kind of message?”
* “Now you owe me. Greetings from Red Mountains to which you didn’t want to let us go. Z. W.R.”
The old man become red all over his face. He pinched himself. It hurt. He quickly regained his composure.
* “Ah! That! Of course I knew about it! You said you want to lend me some money… didn’t you?”
The former adventurer hugged the banker’s side and lead him toward local bar where they could have peaceful negotiations.