Chapter 26 – Sanctuary

Prince James was both exhausted and energized. The last few days and been long and grueling. As far as his men knew, he spent practically all his time at Galdren’s forge. The dwarf was a wealth of knowledge and shared that knowledge with Prince James freely.

After Galdren gave his oath of fealty he dismissed his apprentices and closed up shop. Dismissing the apprentices took some effort, especially after he told them he had a special project. Through some pestering from the apprentices, Galdren told them only he would be crafting his masterpiece and showed them the precious metals he was going to be working with. This led to the other dwarves begging to stay when they saw the precious metals. Galdren shocked them with his response.

“I have pledged my oath of fealty to Prince James. It is his decision on if ye be stayin. But I be warnin ya, anyone who isn’t willing to pledge their loyalty to such a man should not get a right to work with such metals!”

“You pledged fealty?! A dwarf has not done that to a royal in thousands of years.” One of the apprentices said in shock.

“Aye, and I would do it again. This one is shrewd and has a passion for crafting. If he can hold his liquor, he be an honorary dwarf!” Galdren exclaimed.

It was clear to Prince James his charisma was once again at work here. Once he overcame initial doubts and provided the person with something they truly care for, they seem to go from lukewarm to fanboy. He was going to have to watch that effect.

Most of his apprentices were from the younger generation so they did not hold on to the old ways as strictly as Galdren did. If they could witness a masterpiece being crafted, they would do whatever it took to stay. Sure, they hoped to glean some secret technique but more than anything they saw it as being present to watch a moment of history. Besides, they all felt the weight that had settled in the forge, knowing that was due to an oath, all of them believed they would be fools not to remain.

Prince James first asked for a vow of secrecy, but when Prince James produced some additional bars of each of the metals the other apprentices practically drooled. One by one they gave their oaths but instead of oaths of secrecy they too gave oaths of fealty.

“Why?” Prince James had asked.

“Your majesty for a dwarf working with our hands is a part of who we are. For a smith working with rare metals is a dream come true. For a dwarven smith it runs far deeper than that. You’ve offered us something we could only dream. If you can continue to provide such opportunities more will rally to your banner my king!”

“Let’s keep the king stuff quiet, ok? I do not need my father or some uppity noble hearing such words and thinking the wrong thing.” Pince James stated.

“As you command my liege.” The dwarves said in unison.

“OK I really must get a handle on this high charisma. How do I keep getting put in these situations?” Prince James mumbled to himself.

“Lex, I mean lieutenant. Please ensure no one enters Galdren’s forge. I will respect his privacy in regard to his crafting.”

Chuckling LT Simmons replied, “Lex is fine your highness. You do seem to gather a following wherever you go. You got to rub off some of that charm when we go drinking.” Saying the last part before leaving the forge to carry out the prince’s orders.

“He has to be messing with me.” Prince James said while shaking his head and re-focusing on the master smith.

“Now watch closely my liege, you are going to love this.” Galdren said as he picked up one of the bars of mithril and put it into the forge.

So it went, day after day, Prince James worked with Galdren and his apprentices and began forging his blade. The process was a long and arduous one. It was during the beginning of this process the dwarf confided in Prince James that even his master forge had limitations on what they could do.

“My forge even with pouring all the magic I have into it may not be sufficient to work the Elementium proper. As it is workin with adamantine requires the fire to be as hot as the bowels of a volcano and huge amounts of magic. I have a decent energy pool, as do my apprentices, but still, it will not be enough. Plus, we need more resources.”

“Tell me exactly what we need and what we are missing.” Prince James had asked.

Galdren informed him of everything down to the minute details like any master smith could. It was then the prince made his decision. With his personal royal knights forced to surround Galdren’s forge and not be allowed inside, this had been one of Galdren’s conditions to share his secrets, Prince James could do something for the first time since coming into this world.

He gathered Galdren and his apprentices together, erected a soundproof impenetrable barrier. “Now that that is up, we can talk freely. As all of you have already sworn an oath there is no need to be concerned. What I am about to tell you and show you none of my people know, not even my personal royal knights. Perhaps in time I will tell them but not now. Spread not a word of what you are about to witness. Understood?”

All the smiths present nodded their heads emphatically. They appreciated the prince sharing with them something he had not even shown others.

Prince James waved his hand and a giant portal opened before them. “Beyond this portal exists a special Greater demiplane, what I refer to as my Domain, my sanctuary. I have full control over this realm and with my vast knowledge have begun to create many wonders. There are limits to what I can do, as I can only do so much each day, but you will find a few things I think you will appreciate. First, time moves much faster in my domain. Second, you will find mines and a special forge. Lastly, I have workers there who have been gathering the materials we need. Come with me and be the first to enter my home, my sanctuary.”

With those words Prince James walked through the portal. Galdren was the first to follow, though the others all followed shortly after.

Prince James deliberately opened the portal with a perfect view of the forge and the mountains in the distance.

Waving his arm out, Prince James proclaimed, “Welcome to Sanctuary!”

The shock was evident. Every single dwarf rushed to the forge as various excited sounds could be heard.

“I’ve never seen a forge so grand!”

“Look the bellows are powered by magic! Air can be forced through at different speeds with these magic levers!”

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“There are different quench tanks with various liquids!”

“How many anvils does this place have?!”

On and on the smiths exclaimed, one excitement after the other.

Galdren came back to Prince James. “Are you sayin we get to work here?!”

“Well yea, that is why I brought you here.” Prince James said as though it was as plain to see as the air we breathe.

“It’s a blacksmith’s dream!” Galdren said excitedly as he did a little dwarven jig.

“Hahaha. You haven’t seen the best part. Follow me. Come on, you will be able to return, do not worry.” Prince James chuckled as he turned around and beckoned the dwarves to follow. Which they reluctantly agreed to.

“What are those? Hey, are they carrying ore?!” One of the dwarf apprentices asked as he saw one of Prince James’ construct workers.

“They are my workers, or CWs for short. Specially created to do a multitude of tasks. I’ll show you.” Prince James replied as he beckoned them to continue to follow him.

He led them to the storehouse. As they came in view, “See what they have been gathering.” Prince James said while waving his arm to the various mounds of ore, minerals, and metal bars.

He had ordered his workers to stop smelting, as he wanted to give the dwarves time in the forge and to surprise them with this. The storehouse was ginormous and there were huge piles of materials, some the size of large hills.

The dwarves fell to their knees in awe!

‘Is that dwarf weeping?! Wait, are those tears in Galdren’s eyes?’ Prince James had thought in surprise. He figured they would be surprised and excited, but this was on a whole other level.

Galdren out of nowhere picked up Prince James in a big bear hug. “Lad I never thought I’d witness such things in my whole life! This place is wonder after wonder! I am your man always my King!”

“Need to breathe Galdren...” Prince James said getting Galdren to release him.

“Sorry, sire. I just am so overwhelmed.” Galdren said as he wiped a tear from his eye.

“I am glad you all like it my friend.” Prince James said before trying to catch the other dwarves’ attention.

Prince James gave a mental command but said the words out loud for the dwarves’ benefit, “Pick up and drag them out of the storehouse. We have work to do.”

Turning to Galdren and the other smiths as they walked back to the forge, “Hahaha! Hopefully now all of you are beginning to grasp the fringe benefits of your oath of fealty. All joking aside, you should now understand why I have kept this place so secret. Far too many would go to war or do everything they could to strip this place bare of the resources within.”

All the dwarves bobbed their heads adamantly.

“I’ll take this secret to my grave your Majesty.” One apprentice said.

Another asked, “Your majesty, can we please stay here?”

After the question came out of the dwarf’s mouth all the others quickly requested the same thing.

“Yes, please your Majesty!”

“I’ll do anything, please sire!”

“I do not even need a bed; I will sleep on the floor of the forge!”

“Calm down ye fools! I share your sentiments but use yer noggins! What would happen if I and all of you just disappeared from the capital? What about our other customers, would we not draw suspicion? Would this not do the very thing our king is asking us not to do? We must do everything we can to guard this secret and protect this place!” Galdren rallied his men.

The sad realization hit the dwarves as they realized they would have to leave a place that was like heaven on earth for them.

‘Traveling between dimensions/planes held with it some serious risk. It was like breathing air for me, but I could not risk my new vassals. One I had actual dwarves that worked for me now, there is no way I’m going to let something bad happen to them. The question is how to solve this problem?’ Prince James pondered.

Then the outline of plan was starting to come together. ‘You gotta love when a plan comes together! Ha, ha, ha.’ Prince James internally laughed at his internal monologue.

“For now, this is what we are going to do. Every day I will come to your forge Galdren. I will erect a barrier and then open a portal here. We will spend a few days here, rest when needed and return as if nothing is any different.” Prince James explained.

Snaping his fingers as he recalled one benefit, he knew the dwarves would love. “Oh, that’s right I need to show you all the baths, anyway back to the plan. After we have spent time here, we will return to your forge, rest for the evening, and then repeat the process each morning. It’s not perfect and the time dilation can be disorienting so I apologize in advance. This will give us all time to work together, enjoy this place, and give me time to develop some longer-term options for us.”

“Understood yer majesty!” Galdren and the other dwarves said.

So, it went for several days straight. The dwarves enjoyed the baths and several of them were shocked to find furnished rooms with beds.

“The bed felt like I was sleeping on a cloud, so I decided to sleep on the floor. Got to keep myself grounded!” One dwarf proclaimed.

“Non-sense! I heard ya snoring like a newborn babe on that bed.”

“Yea! You kept some of us up ya daft fool, I was about to make ya eat yer pillow just to get some peace and quiet!”

Everyone was in good spirits and full of mirth and having fun teasing each other.

Each evening they would lock up Galdren’s forge and go their separate ways. Prince James relished the time crafting and working with the dwarves, but he knew he had to come up with a more permanent solution.

His personal royal knights were rather surprised each morning by how zealous the dwarves were to see him. In the knights’ eyes it looked like every morning the dwarves’ devotion to their prince grew by leaps and bounds. They had no clue that for the dwarves they spent days with the prince side by side. In a few days to others, weeks had passed for the prince and the dwarves.

“Your Majesty, not to sound rude but how have you won over these dwarves so fully? I saw one grab his hammer when he thought the royal messenger wasn’t showing you enough deference! I’ve never seen dwarves act like that.” Kira asked as she escorted the prince back to the castle.

“Like with everyone Kira, you just need to understand them and get to know what is important to them. Show them how they matter. But most importantly genuinely mean it. Blacksmiths work with their hands, they put in backbreaking effort, pouring their blood, sweat, and tears in what they do. Dwarves take that to a whole other level. To them there is no purer judge of a man than what he creates. I truly enjoy my time with them, so much so, I find myself a bit sad each evening.”

‘Never would I have thought the prince would enjoy such hard work, him sweating as he bangs that giant hammer... wait what? When did we get back to the castle?’ Kira daydreamed before realizing her escort mission had ended.

Prince James woke up the next morning. A week had passed in real time and the first day at the Royal Academy was fast approaching. He needed to meet with his father and Uncle before bringing his plan to fruition. Plus, he still wanted to set aside time to go visit the library here in the capital.

Having added Galdren to Party Link, but the best way he could describe it was like having a separate channel in his mind, he sent a message to the master smith. “Good morning Galdren. I think I’m ready to implement a solution. For now, you can have your apprentices rotate. To the rest of the world, they will see you as having grown more reclusive and not available to meet with others. At least that will be the cover story. In reality, this will allow you to move to my domain and run the forge there. Does this work for you?”

“Would that work for me?! Does a dwarf like mead? You’re talking about allowing me to live in paradise! You would really allow me to live in your domain?” Galdren quickly replied.

“Are you not my most loyal vassal?” Prince James asked.

“I’d give ye me life ten times over. If I had any children, I’d be givin ya my first born as proof of my commitment to ye! I am with ye always my king!” Galdren practically projected both his thoughts and heartfelt sentiments to the man who keeps showing him wonder after wonder.

“Do you think other dwarves would want to join you?” Prince James asked as he internally chuckled at Galdren’s responses.

“Ye must be jokin yer majesty! If the other dwarves found out there would be a mass exodus from this city for a chance to live in paradise!” Galdren exclaimed.

“Well, I was truly curious. Though we must be careful with what we call it. People cannot know it is another plane of existence, not until we have more controls in place. From now on, I shall refer to my domain officially as Sanctuary and ask that you and your people do the same.” Prince James stated.

“That is easy enough to do my king. And to answer your question, if yer serious about the possibility of others joining, let me be yer emissary. I’m part of the crafting guilds. I’ll be subtle and feel potential prospects out. If ye could find a way to get me and my men to and from Sanctuary, we could start to rally the dwarven people. It’s been a long time since we had anything tangible to rally behind.” Galdren said emphatically.

“I have some ideas. Begin your talks and we shall discuss later.” Prince James responded before ending the mental dialogue.