Harry looked forward as he reached the desired destination, this being the small town of Sundabar. The town was created as 'the' trading point for black ice. A good sixty miles away from the mines that gathered this raw material. Harry himself hadn't been here before as he'd come up through the High forest to the south-east. Though he had questioned his former allies about the town spotted in the distance as they travelled.

Sundabar had a small wooden palisade that ran around the entire town, not that there was all that much to run around considering the population didn't exceed two thousand. Hell, quite a number of buildings were owned by those who didn't even live within the town, for personal trading purposes.

Sundabar resided within the northern kingdom of the High Marches, the ruling family was completely comprised of dwarves as such most of the population that occupied Sundabar were dwarves themselves. Harry speculated it took a certain naturally firm arm strength to actually mine dark ice, a thing dwarves held in abundance. Due to this, those who were of a different race (mostly human) worked as merchants, buying the ice and other goods before moving south west , to where Harry planned to go. High Glen.

Still, he planned stay within Sundabar for a little while. If he continued past the town any time soon, his legs would give way. The fact that he was still standing after walking on the tired limbs was because of his willpower and stamina. Shrugging off the numbness that spiked into pain with each step he moved towards the door blocked arch within the makeshift defence... Why was the door closed?

Harry cursed as he walked up and knocked upon the wood, a few minutes later he banged upon it. "Oi, What's the deal?!"

The sound of scuffling came from behind the door then wood on wood  as a small slot opened up at chest height. Eyes looked to Harry from the other side. The voice that called out was most definitely male and slightly worried.

"Who are you? A miner? A bandit?..." The grey eyes scanned Harry. "You look like you've been through hell."

It was true, Harry hadn't washed in some time, before he had relied on Isaac's magic to clean his equipment and being, this was no longer a choice. The other option was Oalk and  Harry didn't even want to think  of asking the coin for magical assistance, due to obvious reasons of disliking the damned thing. As such his armour looked scruffy and his hair ragged.

"I have been through hell. Now are you going to let me in or do I need to sleep on the road?"

The other paused before the small click of a latch sounded. The door opened to reveal a stout dwarf looking up, to Harry. The dwarf was dressed within guard garb, armour and a hammer, attached to his belt. A small badge was clipped onto the worn chain mail, it labelled the dwarf as a sergeant.

"No problem young man... Though why'd you come in this gate? There's nothin' out there but the mine... Adventurer?" The dwarf questioned as a thick finger pointed to Harry's sheathed sword.

With a tired expression Harry nodded. "Yes, to the blighted tundra. The keep that's there, it went wrong. Very wrong." Harry looked away from the dwarf, not wishing to meet his gaze. "Is that all you need?"

The dwarf frowned before nodding and stepping aside. "Sorry to hear that lad. Names Gareth, if you need anything, directions, information, a point in the right direction just come to the guardhouse and ask for me. If I'm not there or on night duty, one of the lads will give you a hand. Least I could do." Gareth gave a nod to Harry as he closed the door after Harry passed through.

Harry provided a thanks along with his own name in return. Then he made for the town only to stop back and watch Gareth return to the small wooden building attached to the palisade, inside was lit by several candles and a lantern. From what he could see there were several other guards within this little outpost. Sitting around a table that held both cards and booze upon it. He gave a small chuckle to himself as aching legs walked him towards the centre of the town.

That's one good thing about dwarves he mused, if you're ever in trouble they'll lend a hand. Bad weather and hard times reigned in the north so naturally they banded together. Those from the north and who hadn't experienced human greed and betrayal first hand, acted more than friendly to others. True to themselves, they'd help because it was the right  thing to do. Rather than to get security and a position of power for themselves. A few dwarfs were of the tricky kind, though they were generally easy to spot and avoid.

Now with a faint smile upon his lips Harry reached the large courtyard specially designed for housing the towns market. The main things sold within Sundabar consisted of metals from the dwarven capitol city of Felbarr, dark ice from the High Ice mine Hlaungadath and wares from various dwarven producers. Usually weapons and superior tools. Though at this point only a few food stalls were open, aiming to entice those leaving all manner of taverns less than sober.

Harry headed towards the tavern with the third best outward appearance, going to the best or second would be asking for all manner of trouble considering his appearance. The tavern he approached looked rustic, well maintained and warm. Hard, grey stoned bricks and intricate wooden carvings made up most of the building's outer structure. Harry observed them with slight interest before shaking his weary head and moving forward.

Stolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

As Harry entered the tavern through the thick wooden door, he was welcomed by the pleasant and relaxed atmosphere. Along side the tell tale scent of alcohol. The bartender was busy taking orders from a group of what looked like merchants, though still managed to welcome Harry with a friendly nod and a grin.

It was as charming inside as it was on the outside. Thick hard wooden beams supported the upper floor, lanterns attached to hooks lit the room. The walls were completely empty, Harry speculated it was due to drunken customers stumbling against the walls too often, knocking things over. Waiting for the right time Harry approached the bar once the barter was free. "Got a room free for a poor traveller?"

To this the bartender gave a nod. "Aye we do. Gota' single room for you if yer' wanting a single. Though a traveller at this time... Where'd you come in from? Felbarr or High Glen?"

Harry grimaced as he opened his satchel. "Nether, come from the east gate. To correct my previous statement I'm an adventurer not a traveller. How much for the room, food and a bath?"

The bartender simply nodded to this, not enquiring further. "It'll be gold'n four silver. I'll get one of the gals' to fill up the tub and you can eat while she does." Harry placed the coins onto the bartenders hand as he finished speaking. "You go sit down, I'll bring yer' grub over. Drink o' ale with it?"

"That'll be brilliant. Names Harry... and thanks barter" He grinned as he stepped back. Turning to tread over to a corner table. "My names Auric, lad. Not barter, nor bartender." With back turned Harry simply gave a wave over his shoulder, sitting down with his back to the wall he closed his eyes and waited for his food to arrive.

The rest of the evening was uneventful. After eating the above average beef stew Harry was shown the bathing room by one of the girls working there. Dwarven women didn't really interest Harry as they usually could crush him in more ways than one. Size doesn't mean everything, more so when it came to the arm strength of a small female dwarf. Harry shuddered at the thought.

Once he was left alone he stripped and enjoyed his bath. Though he did wrap the silver coin within his under shirt and shove it into his satchel. Once he finished with the warm bath he finally felt refreshed and invigorated. Albeit with sore legs. Dragging his dried self into the room provided, he locked the door and wasted no more time to fall face first onto the bed.

{/Break\}

Harry awoke feeling sick to his stomach. Groaning he forced himself to sit on the edge of the bed. After only a few moments of groaning he started to feel a strong tugging within his chest, it throbbed and yanked the more he focused on it. Looking into the direction of said tugging did he see his dropped satchel. -Oalk you piece of shit... I'll melt you, I swear on my blood!- With that thought coming to mind Harry stumbled up on two feet, being disoriented didn't help him move to his bag.

He picked up then reached into the satchel scowling. Unwrapping his shirt he brought Oalk into his palm. Instantly he felt the connection latch onto his mind. [What happened! I came back fro... That doesn't matter, it was dark and I couldn't sense you. The hell are you playing at kid! I told you not to let me become separated.]

With the coin in hand, the nausea was slowly receding. "Fell asleep. Didn't know you needed to be THAT close to me in order to ward off the effects of this idiotic bond!"

Oalk growled within Harry's mind, voice raised. [Listen here boy!] The last word was spit out brimming with contempt. [Do not forget about me, don't separate yourself from me. Not EVER. You could die if you do, you think that's only bad for you? No, without you close I can't use my magic and your body weakens each second we're away, you become drained. Stay close or I swear I'll...] Oalk trailed off, then sent a snarl and a mental blast to Harry's mind, the connection was snapped along with the blast. Harry felt himself turn pale.

His now shaking hands instantly came to his head as the resounding pain brought forth a throbbing headache. Oalk had used something to hurt him, he just didn't know what. He could feel the digging sensation shoot directly down his spine. Not only was his head in extreme pain but his entire body seemed to lock up before jerking and trembling uncontrollably.

It took three minutes  before he could once more control his body, at this time he had curled up into a ball after having fallen to the floor. Now he waited for the pain to fade with eyes closed tight. By the gods did his head feel excruciatingly injured, he expected blood to be running from his ears and eyes though he couldn't feel them in this state. He couldn't even think, all that was held within his mind was the pain. pure pain. Growing, throbbing then shrinking only to torment him by rising once more causing his body to uncontrollably spasm. Harry attempted to hold on, he really did... but in the end he witnessed defeat laugh at his seemingly feeble attempt.

Then blackness consumed him.

/////

Thanks for reading.

Onward my readers, to honour, to glory, to chapter 4!