The sun had peaked through the wooden window placed near the table where Winthorp and Bilgard were sitting. It had shone enough for Winthrop to be awoken and he began to rub his eyes aggressively. He noticed his dad was still snoring away and his face was resting on the edge of the table. Jugs of empty honey mead were scattered about the table, and it seems as though last night was a daze for both of them. Winthorp had noticed a book in the center of the rough oak table which was tethered and looked to be hundreds of years old due to the pages no longer the pale white they once were. Reaching for the book, Winthorp had opened it and he recognized the writing well. It was his mother’s, who had passed away several moon cycles ago.
She kept a journal of their daily lives and what it was like to be a mother to two rowdy dwarven boys. Winthorp chuckled at a few of the stories written in them, most of them consisted of Winthorp challenging other dwarven boys in the village to fights and teasing his brother. Bilgard must have taken out the book at one point in the night during their reminiscing in their drunken state. Winthorp knew that his father loved their mother very much and held her near to his heart. Being an only parent for so long must have taken a toll on his father and added to his mane of white hair. Winthorp placed the book in his father's satchel which was wrapped around the chair he was sitting in.
Gentle footsteps came down the creaky wooden steps and this could mean only one thing; Cobble was awake. Cobble was not one to drink or celebrate when their father returned, instead he only wanted to talk to his father about strategies for war and new fighting routines. Cobble snarled at his brother and said a few brief words before he went outside.
“I will be at the training grounds, when father wakes up, have him meet me in the lower quadrant.”
Without getting a sentence out, Cobble had disappeared as quickly as he could. Winthorp had felt strange on this day, as if an ominous aura was in the air. Winthorp looked outside the window and noticed the sun had only shown in small intervals and the sky was filled with gray. Winthorp forced himself up, the weight of his body felt heavier than usual, maybe drinking several jugs of honey mead was not the best idea. He knew he had to visit his friend, Gabusmead, to give him something that would be almost like an instant cure. As Winthorp trudged through the door, everyone seemed to be proceeding as usual. The dwarven women were pruning their vegetable and fruit gardens, dwarven children ran about in a disorganized fashion and dwarven men were training. Cobble’s barking voice could be heard in the distance which made Winthorp groan with annoyance. The sound of his brother’s voice made Winthorp want to just throttle him again, but he decided to just ignore him for now.
Winthorp made his way steadily up to his best friend’s canopy; the gray sky made his journey a bit difficult due to the sun not shining a clear path toward him. Slowly making it to the top, Winthorp made it to Gabusmead’s. As usual, smoke was shooting out of the chimney, which meant that yet again, more herb brewing was going on. When Winthorp opened the door, a strong smell wisped into his nose and he couldn’t help, but make a noise of disgust. Gabusmead didn’t even flinch and instead laughed at his friend’s sound.
“Lemme guess, yer head is poundin’?” Gabusmead said while still mixing the concoction in his cauldron.
“Aye, Gabus, I don’t know how yee can smell like a horses ass all day. That smell gets to ya after a while.”
Gabusmead tasted what was in his cauldron and seemed pleased with the result.
“Want a taste? I swear this will help not only yer headache, but yer other body ailments as well!” Winthorp looked at Gabusmead with some newfound suspicion and his gaze shifted between his friend and the green sludge placed in front of him.
“Come now, don’t tell me the great Winthorp is afraid to try my newest creation?”
With this Winthorp grabbed the spoon out of his friend’s grasp and swallowed every last drop. Winthorp’s stomach felt this burning sensation in his stomach and he soon felt like he was bubbling from his feet to his head. Taking a few steps backward, Winthorp held onto the edge of his friend’s bed from almost toppling over.
“Aye, what is this? Some kind of poison? I thought yee liked me a wee bit lad!”
“Poison you!? C’mon you know me better than that Winthorp! Don’t tell me yee can’t handle a few healing herbs now! I thought yee were the strong one, not I.”
Winthorp looked at his friend with an intense stare and raised his stubby finger, raising it in a fashion to only be insulting. Gabusmead laughed so hard he could barely breathe, and tears began to stream down his eyes. Winthorp did begin to feel the effects however of the healing herbs, he hated to swallow down his pride, but the sensation vanished quickly, and he soon started to feel better.
“Yee win, yer weird flower drink cured me. Even though it was hell for a few moments.”
Gabusmead wiped the water from his eyes and his face was pleased to hear his latest creation helped his friend.
“I am not sure what to call this yet, but I will be sure to label it later. It was a mixture of ginger, mint leaves, chamomile, garlic, peppers, lavender, oh and plenty of basil! I find the effects of this help with any sort of head poundin’ or belly ache!”
“Aye, you put all of that in thar? For dragon’s sake, no wonder that drink tasted like someone’s unwashed arse!”
Gabusmead looked at his friend and suddenly snapped his fingers. He grabbed some tattered paper and his feather tip ink pen. He wrote something on the label and licked the back of the paper carefully. He slapped the label on a potion bottle and Winthorp began to chuckle at the name.
“Unwashed Arse”
Both of them began to laugh hysterically now, their laughter could be heard into the next village over. Their mood came to a sudden halt, when they heard a blood curdling scream coming from the village. Both Winthorp and Gabusmead ran out of the canopy home and they noticed below a speck running around in the center of their village. Both of them began to climb down carefully from the canopy, each branch as delicate as winter’s ice. As they got lower, they noticed a crowd of villagers surrounding the area. They slid down the remainder of the tree and they heard various voices of concern and anger. Both dwarves made their way into the crowd to see what the commotion was.
“An omen! An omen! I was going to gather some seeds from a plant that I saw a few steps away from the village and to my dismay, an elven baby was in the path I was heading! I brought it here, it’s in my bag!”
It was an elderly dwarven woman who had lived alone in the village for many centuries. She was older than Bilgard, which Winthorp considered ancient. Something didn’t seem right with this elderly dwarf however, Winthorp had never seen her venture into the forest before. Usually, the younger dwarven women had given her seeds or vegetables from their own gardens. Winthorp was about to ask why she wandered into the forest, but several of the dwarves bombarded in front of him with panicked questions.
Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon.
“An elven baby? What will this mean for our village?”
“This is a curse and we are all doomed!”
“The high elves will find our village and kill us all! We haven’t fought in centuries!”
“Did someone plant this on purpose to start a war? If so, I say we storm their castle right now!”
Both dwarven men and women pushed past Gabusmead and Winthorp out of the huge sea of smaller folks.
“SILENCE!
A booming voice suddenly echoed and a deep silence spread throughout the crowd. This could be none other than Bilgard Cvorkin. Gabusmead shuttered at the mere sound of Bildgard’s voice and Winthorp also shared the same feeling as his friend. Bilgard made his way through the crowd and went to the center where the elderly dwarf stood.
“Open the bag now.”
Without any hesitation, the bag was opened, the elderly dwarf woman disappeared into the crowd and sure enough, a pointy eared baby popped out. The elven baby smiled at all of the dwarves and the dwarves did not have the same reaction. Some dwarven women gasped and dwarven men grew furious with their breaths in a huff. Bilgard looked at the baby with disgust and pondered in silence what they should do with the baby. Either decision would have some massive effect on the village and with a sigh, Bilgard spoke with little emotion in his tone.
“Okay. We will have to vote as to what to do with this thing. Whatever yee vote on, we must go through with it. No matter what happens after.”
The silence was powerful, the only sound that could be heard was the wind gently blowing the tree leaves. The energy was mixed with confusion and anger, there was no feeling in-between. With bated breath, one of the dwarven men spoke and his words clung to most people like sweat on a hot summer’s day.
“I think we speak for most when I say this, that baby needs to be drowned or rid of. We know what the elves will do when they find out this thing is in our midst. They will not believe that the baby merely wandered in. It will cause war either way. This thing is a curse and it has to be dealt with.”
At first shocked by the words the dwarf said, everyone seemed to silently agree with this. No had objected or spoken, the silence just continued to linger about the crowd. Winthorp was stunned that no one opposed this plan and began to shake with fury. Winthorp was about to speak when Gabusmead put his hand on his shoulder and shook his head. Gabusmead pointed out someone in the crowd who looked at those they were about to speak. It was a dwarven woman who had children of her own and everyone assumed she would object to this, but her word struck like a knife in the back.
“Aye. I have children of me own and honestly, I would never want to bring harm to a baby, but it cannot stay here. Something has to be done about it or else this omen will cause more damage. As much as it pains me, I have to agree. This baby has to be rid of.”
The crowd slowly started a wave of nods as if to agree with both of them. Bilgard walked into the center of the crowd where the baby was placed and he stared down at the baby with a cold gaze. The elven baby giggled at the sight of Bilgard and clapped their tiny palms together.
“Aye, so it’s decided then, we shall be rid of this baby? By drowning?”
“NO!”
A voice echoed throughout the forest, it was loud enough that a few people jumped at the mere sound of the voice. It was none other than Winthorp who had objected to this notion. Everyone’s voices murmured and some looks of disgust darted toward Winthorp. The elven baby startled by the sound grew silent and looked around at their surroundings.
“Have yee no heart! This is a baby! What good will killing it do!?” Cobble stepped in the center of the crowd and began to argue back with his brother.
“Have you no brain brother? Surely yee have lost yer mind! This is an elven baby! Yee are putting the village in danger if yee keep this thing here. Think of everyone else yee be hurting!”
“No, yee have no brain brother nor heart! How can you just end a life without a second thought!? Especially that of a baby, who can’t even defend itself? Have yee all lost yee minds!?”
The crowd continued to remain silent and eyes were averted as if to ignore the boy’s squabble.
“What kind of dwarves are yee? We are supposed to have pride, protect and be the good ones!? You all are no better than thee elves. Shameful lot…ALL OF YEE!”
“Shameful!? Brother this comes down to saving our people, something yee pride yourself on. Use what little yee have of a brain and think wisely!”
Winthorp shoved his brother to the ground to which Cobble tackled his brother and punched Winthorp as hard as he could on the nose. Blood poured out of Winthorp’s nose, Cobble’s punch felt stronger than usual. For their size, the impact felt as though Winthorp had been punched by a giant. Winthorp used his legs to kick his brother off of him and Cobble grabbed his stomach as he winced.
“ENOUGH! BOTH OF YEE!”
Bilgard walked toward his boys and clunked them both on their heads. Both boys rubbed their skulls and a bump began to form immediately after their dad had hit them.
“As much as this pains me Winthorp, yee brother is right. Yee are not thinking of everyone and not listening to their pleas. This baby needs to be gone and taken care of. Yee need to not think of yourself in this matter.”
Winthorp looked at his father, astounded by his resolve and did something that was unspeakable among dwarves. Without any sort of hesitation, Winthorp picked up the baby and began to climb up to the home of Gabusmead. Gabusmead followed his friend in pursuit along with several very angry dwarven men. The baby fascinated by the speed Winthorp was going while holding him, let out a squeal of happiness.
Cobble began to chuckle to himself and turned to his father.
“See father, Winthorp is a liability. He is not thinking and putting everyone in danger. We need to be rid of him and that baby. And then I-”
Cobble was cut off by his father.
“EVERYONE. YIELD.” The dwarven men stopped and watched Gabusmead and Winthorp steadily climb up the canopy.
“But sir, he has the baby, we need to be rid of it as soon as-”
“I will deal with this matter. It is a family matter and I do not want anyone to hurt my son. Everyone reside in yee homes for now until this matter is taken care of.”
With some scowls and even some gasps of worry, everyone soon began to funnel into their homes inside a tree or up in a canopy. Bilgard walked toward the tree where Winthorp and Gabeusmead climbed up and he started to slowly make his way up.
“Father, Winthorp has lost his mind. We need to be rid of him and that forsaken baby! This will not bode well for anyone, please father, listen to me. I need to run this village and Winthorp-”
“Winthorp will remain village head boy. Winthorp may not be thinking clearly, but he thought of the precious life of a child. I know we need to be rid of that thing, but he stood his ground and poured his heart into this risk. Yee only think of yourself. I am ashamed really Cobble, instead of wanting to help your brother, yee just only think about wanting power. Go back to the house while I deal with this matter.”
Cobble watched his father slowly climb up this huge oak tree, hoping he would fall and shatter his entire body. Those words stung deeper than any wound and Cobble stormed off. The mere sight of watching his dad trying to climb that tree trying to reason with Winthorp had him fuming. Cobble slammed his door hard enough, the threads holding it together snapped. He unsheathed his sword and cut the wooden table that they had meals on, in half. He sliced many more objects in a blind rage and gripped his sword very tightly until he could feel a burning sensation in his palms.
“Didn’t go very well I assume?” A familiar voice said floating down the steps of Cobble’s home.
“Elyce, when did you get here?”
Elyce had a wooden bowl full of strawberries in his hands and he levitated the red fruit one by one into his mouth. “Man, that old woman sure knew how to grow some decent stuff. These are divine, would you like some?”
Cobble shook his head and Elyce continued to munch on the juicy sweet berries.
“Yee didn’t kill that old hag, did ya?”
Elyce laughed at the mere idea of that notion. “Me? Kill someone? Please, I don’t do that so loosely, Cobble Wobbles. I just made her…disappear for a bit is all. She is far enough away, that she cannot squeal about this.”
Cobble just sighed and then his head flooded with thoughts of frustration. Why did his father care about Winthorp so much more than him? Winthorp doesn’t have the intelligence to run a village. Even when the village was at such a huge risk, his father still chose Winthorp. Why? Cobble threw his sword down into the wooden panels of the floor and slowly descended his back up against a wall. All of these thoughts overwhelmed him and once he took a few moments, his objective became clear. Cobble had no choice, but to pursue his calculated plan and put it into fruition.
“Elyce, we are doing the plan tonight. There is no turning back. My father refuses to listen, so he shall face the fate of the entire village and carry this with him forever.”
Elyce giggled a bit and smiled devilishly.
“As you wish, I will wait until it is dark and when the moon is at a full glow to strike.”
With this, Elyce vanished in thin air and Cobble left his home once again. He disappeared deep into the forest and knew there was no second guessing at this point. He got as far away from the village as possible until nightfall, when the plan would finally commence.