“Please allow me to speak with your leader. I mean no harm to your leader, you, or any of your people.”
The guards gave each other a questioning gaze before the one I’d healed reluctantly nodded. They took one last sorrowful glance at their now useless weapons before opening the gate and escorting me through.
The inside of the palace was just as exquisite as the outside. Vases made of semi-precious gems housed glorious flowers the likes of which I’d never seen on Earth. There were rainbow-petaled roses, hummingbird shaped flowers that smelled like honey, and countless other exotic bouquets. The walls housed paintings of dwarven royalty of old, male and female, clothed in extravagant garments. Statues lined the corridors, some depicting dwarves and others depicting the other races that inhabited Evanasia. When I came upon a statue of a dragon, I had to fight back tears. Shedding tears for a dwarven enemy would certainly earn me their scorn. The dragon was depicted with demonic features that didn’t look anything like Bartholomew and he was standing over a dwarf who’d stuck a spear into the dragon’s chest.
This was how dragons appeared to the dwarven people, a horrible entity that needed to be smote. It was clear the dwarves harbored a great hatred for dragons and considered them a nonessential existence in this world.
Beyond the dragon statue the corridor changed. The decorations ceased abruptly and the hallway became nothing but plain marble.
“This is the hall of cleansing,” the guard I’d healed addressed. It was the first time they’d spoken to me since accusing me of being their enemy. “The plainness of the hall represents the cleansing of the soul. Those who wish to proceed beyond this point must cleanse themselves of all evil thoughts. Only those whose souls are clear of negative influence can proceed to the Queen’s chamber.”
Well, that was an unusual custom. It wasn’t like I had any evil intentions to begin with. Still, I couldn’t insult their customs if I wished to proceed.
“What do I do? Is there a special custom among your people?”
This time, it was the other guard who answered. “It’s a symbolic gesture. There is no ritual. All you must do is swear to yourself that you will not let any negative influence take you while you are in the Queen’s chamber. We do this to protect our queen. If she believes you have cause to hurt her, you will be taken prisoner. If not, there is nothing to fear. Do you wish to proceed?”
I nodded and gestured for them to lead the way.
The doors to the Queen’s chamber were also made of marble and lacked any embellishment. When the guards knocked a very gentle voice called from the other end in the language of the dwarves, something I couldn’t understand.
The dwarven guards opened the doors and gestured for me to enter.
“We cannot accompany you inside,” the guard I'd healed announced. “The Queen has asked for an audience with you alone.”
“Thank you, my friend,” I responded, smiling for the first time at the men who’d tried to kill me earlier.
The dwarf eyed me suspiciously and nodded curtly, refusing to answer in kind.
I glided through the door, a figure of grace without the slightest doubt. As I stepped through the door, I felt an invisible tug pull at my body and through it. There was a spell on the entryway. The spell didn't do anything to me and had me wondering if the symbolic gesture was enforced by a spell that tested your intentions when you entered.
The door thudded shut behind me as I glanced around the room. The room was far humbler than I expected for the chamber of royalty. There was little embellishment and the only furniture was the small bed in the corner and two cushions in the middle of the room, one red velvet and the other blue velvet.
The queen sat on the red velvet cushion, watching me as I cased the room. She was a slender woman for a dwarf, with large, broad shoulders and hips. Her arms and legs were stocky and muscular, but surprisingly soft to the eyes. I could tell she was an accomplished fighter, but also a well-bred lady. Her curly black hair fell wildly from her gentle features. It was apparent at first glance that she was an exceptional beauty among dwarven women. I’d seen many dwarves on the way here, men and women, and I usually had trouble distinguishing between them, but not with her.
For some reason I couldn’t explain, her gentle demeanor seemed to remind me of Merissa Nightshade. I found myself smiling warmly at her without even trying. She smiled back, opening her arms in a wide gesture of greeting and glancing down at the blue cushion.
“Please sit, child,” she said. “My name is Isabelle, the current queen of the dwarven people. And you are?”
Conversing with her was easy. It was like talking with Bartholomew, Lesley, or Merissa. It was as though I’d known her for a long time and we were simply catching up on old times.
“Valkyrie,” I answered. Then I added, “This place isn’t what I was expecting for a queen’s chamber. I like it. It’s humble and shows that you care much more for your people than for riches.”
“You’re a rather blunt one, aren’t you?”
“Sorry, Queen Isabelle. I don’t care much for pomp and ceremony. I prefer candor. Being direct and honest even if it can be upsetting is something I've always done.”
One corner of Queen Isabelle’s mouth turned up in reply and she rested her forefinger on her lips in thought.
“That will make things much simpler,” she decided. “Let us cut straight to the point then. Why are you here?”
I wasted no time in recounting my tale. I told her of how I’d come to Melodia and met Lesley, the establishment of the Avengers, showing her my Avenger salute, my training under Lesley, his death, and my subsequent sorrow and decision to travel the world in search of answers.
“After everything that happened, I came to these lands to seek your help. I wish to learn as much as possible about this world and everything in it,” I finished.
“That’s all well and good,” Queen Isabelle stared knowingly into my eyes, “but I’m afraid I can’t help you if you lie to me. There is something you’re not telling me. I thought you valued honesty?”
“There are two things I haven’t told you. The first I cannot tell you because I made a promise of secrecy and it is completely irrelevant to our current discussion. The other is something I haven’t told you, I’ll admit, because I am afraid to tell you.” I saw her shift her weight slightly as I continued, “I’m not hiding it out of spite for you or your customs. I’m hiding it out of fear of what you’ll do if you know the truth.”
“You think we’ll hurt you if we know the truth? Or perhaps you’re afraid we will refuse to instruct you if we know the truth?”
“No. Of course not. If you refused to instruct me because you knew the truth, I’d simply accept it and try to find someone else to teach me. It’s not me I fear for. I’m afraid you’ll hurt him.”
“Him?” Queen Isabelle tried not to let her curiosity show too deeply, but it was clear in her eyes that she would accept nothing but the truth from me.
“The truth can be a dangerous thing, Queen Isabelle. I will tell you, but only if you agree to certain terms. First, no harm must come to him and second, what I tell you must remain a secret between us. If you cannot do that, then I am afraid I cannot tell you the truth.”
The queen stared into my eyes for a moment, judging my sincerity. “So be it.”
“I lied to your guards when they asked me how I’d gotten to your kingdom. I told them that I’d flown over Tetherwood Forest using the pendant my master made for me and showed them the wings that appear on my back from using it, but that isn’t how I got here. I don’t have enough magical energy to have flown all the way across Tetherwood. My wings would have given out about halfway and I’d be in the hands of the elves right now.”
Then I told her about meeting Bartholomew and how he had brought me across Tetherwood as a way of thanking me for saving his life. I even went so far as to tell her t
hat he was, even now, waiting inside Tetherwood for me to return from my training so that he could take me back across the forest.
It took a moment for her to reply. The color in her face had drained when she had learned there was a dragon just outside her borders, but she recovered quickly enough and said, “The dragon and the dwarven races have been enemies for a long time, Valkyrie, and you must understand the reasons for it. We are both highly territorial beings. Our races have fought fiercely to protect what we consider our domain. The dwarves tend to dwell in the depths of the earth and we consider all the stones of the earth a part of our domain. Likewise, the dragons consider the mountain range they reproduce at to be their domain and they do not take kindly to intruders.
“They care nothing for the stones inside the earth, but they refuse to let us mine in their mountain range because of their laws. At first, we tried to negotiate with them, but all attempts failed. Every messenger that was sent never returned. Over time, our attempts at peaceful solutions stopped and we began to attack their mountains in full force. We no longer cared about the stones beneath the mountains. It was vengeance we sought. As such, the bitterness between us continued to rise with each dragon and dwarf that died in battle.
“When I came into power, I attempted to put a stop to the killing. I stopped our people from going to Dragon Peaks, but I was unable to quell their need for vengeance. I understand better than most that the killing is pointless and needs to stop, but my people do not agree with me. Time will be the only way to heal the scars left in their hearts.”
Queen Isabelle looked me straight in the eyes and answered my unspoken question. “You have my word, Valkyrie, that I will not seek out Bartholomew and I will not reveal his presence to my people, but I need something from you in return. You need to keep your distance from him as much as possible. If you need to see him for anything, be discreet, and make sure he is not discovered. If he steps into our lands or is discovered by my people, I will not be able to stop the bloodshed that will follow. Understood?”
I was left at a loss for words by her proclamation and so I simply nodded my assent.
“Well then,” Queen Isabelle clapped her hands on her knees and stood up. “I think it is time we began your training. Tell me child, what do you wish to learn first?”
Dragon Slaying 101
Two and a half months had passed since I’d begun my training with the dwarves. In the real world I only had seven months’ worth of savings left and needed to find a new job, but I could not bring myself to part with my new-found life in the SRU, so I procrastinated.
In the SRU, I was fast becoming a force to be reckoned with. I continued my magical energy training almost constantly and I was now able to cast even the most difficult spells the dwarves had taught me without noticing the slightest drop in my total magical energy. I could also fly using the wings Lesley gave me for almost six hours now while only using five percent of my magical energy. Even better, it was taking me only ten minutes to replenish the magical energy I’d lost instead of the days it took me originally.
Queen Isabelle had taken me in like an adopted child and had ordered the dwarves to teach me everything they could about their people, but while the queen adored me, and we had fast become friends, most of the dwarves didn’t feel the same. They taught me because they were ordered to, but I could tell that most of them didn’t trust me. Only a small amount had come to consider me, not a friend, but a trusted acquaintance.
I mastered the dwarven language in only a few weeks and was now able to communicate effectively with all of them, especially the ones who hated speaking in any other language apart from their own. Their programming made them multilingual and they would automatically switch to English when spoken to in English, but it was clear from their tone of voice and demeanor that they hated speaking to me unless it was in Dwarvish.
The dwarves were masters in jewel crafting and they completed the training that Lesley had begun, including how to craft with chrystavite. They also taught me crafting secrets that belonged solely to their race. I swore to them that I would never share that knowledge with anyone. With each passing day I continued to grow and develop as a person and a craftsman. They taught me everything they knew about mining, jewelry, gemstones, metalsmithing, blacksmithing, weaponry, armor, sewing, medicine, and magic.
My time among them was quickly approaching its end. They had taught me practically everything that they could and were preparing to teach the very last subject they had for me, dragon slaying. It was a painful subject to learn and I was not eager to begin my instruction.
Since my time with the dwarves started, I would go out to the fringes of Tetherwood Forest once a week to speak with Bartholomew. I enjoyed my training, but the times I spent relaxing with Bartholomew were more precious to me than anything. It was strange to me that in the real world I had trouble making friends, but in Evanasia making friends was almost as easy as breathing. Only the friends I made weren’t other players. I marveled at why I felt at home with the residents of this universe, but like a stranger in my own.
“Hey, Bartholomew!” I called joyfully when I’d reached the confines of the forest.
Bartholomew, still in human form, dropped from the large branch of the tree he was resting on and landed firmly on the ground in front of me.
“What are you doing back again so soon,” he asked, not unkindly. “I thought you were only coming once a week? It’s only been two nights. You don’t want to make the dwarves suspicious of you.”
I leaned against the nearest tree and slid down it until I was sitting between two large roots protruding from the ground.
“I’m sorry. I had to come. I’m not sure what to do. I was hoping you could help me. My training with the dwarves is almost complete. It will only be another day or two, but I’m not sure I want to finish my training. I was thinking that you and I should leave now. I don’t want to be rude to the dwarves after all they’ve taught me, but I don’t want to learn what they’re planning to teach me next.”
Bartholomew gave me a quizzical look. I knew he was burning to say something, but he could tell what I had to say was difficult for me and he didn’t want to interrupt, so he just waited in silence.
I felt like I was confessing to a crime. I took a deep breath to steady myself and explained. “They want to teach me how to slay dragons.”
I expected a rebuff, anger, sorrow, an accusation of betrayal. What I wasn’t expecting was the burst of laughter that came from Bartholomew as he sat down next to me, seemingly unaffected by my declaration. He clapped his hand on my knee and smiled warmly at me until I looked him in the eyes.
“Why would you run from such an important training session as that?” He spoke teasingly, but his eyes were serious. Then his tone shifted, becoming sage. “I think you should learn from the dwarves. You seem to be under a grave misconception about dragons and it’s my fault.”
Now it was my turn to be silent, though mine was from shock. I wanted to ask what he was talking about, but all I could do was stare into his eyes and wait. My mind wanted to reject what he was telling me, but there was no doubting the terrifying truth in Bartholomew’s eyes.
“I consider you to be a good friend, Valkyrie, but that has made you blind to the truth of my people. Do you remember when I told you that dragons don’t usually care about anything besides our own hides? I wasn’t joking. Dragons are inherently arrogant. We consider ourselves to be the greatest existence in Evanasia and the other races are nothing but bugs to be squashed if they annoy us.
“The reason we set up our nests on Dragon Peaks is because it is barren. It is not a place that other species would normally tread, but when they do, we squash them like unwanted pests. And occasionally, a dragon will go mad with thoughts of its own superiority and leave Dragon Peaks to assert its domain over others. These dragons who abandon the mountain to place themselves in the position of rulers elsewher
e are disowned by the rest of us because we are not rulers, but servants who live to serve our queen.
“Even me. I was an arrogant being who didn’t care at all about the other species of Evanasia until I met you. Even after I met you, I still considered you to be a bug. I was infuriated that I had been unable to protect myself from five puny humans and I resented the fact that you had helped me.
“I planned on killing you the moment you got close enough to my mouth, but then you did something I didn’t expect. You healed me. I felt indebted to you, and even though I resented the help, I decided that I would help you. I told myself that I would help you achieve one goal so that we would be even and then I would abandon you. I wouldn’t stain my pride by hanging out around an inferior being.
“Then we started talking and I began to realize that my arrogance was like a poison. You were not the inferior being I’d been raised my whole life to believe. In fact, I found myself fast coming to like you. You were becoming a closer friend than any I had at Dragon Peaks. My interaction with you has made me a better person. The fierce nature that I previously possessed has been tamed by friendship, but it has also given you a grave misunderstanding about my people.”
Bartholomew stood up, took both my hands in his, and lifted me to my feet. Then he continued, placing his hands on my shoulders and making sure my eyes never left his.
“If you ever encountered another dragon, I doubt they would give you the opportunity to speak. They would attack you on sight because in their eyes it would be completely justified; the killing of a parasite before it could infect them. That is why you need to finish your training with the dwarves. The dwarves have been fighting my kind for a long time and they have developed many techniques and strategies that allow them to fight us on even footing.
“You need to learn to protect yourself from the rest of my kind. I won’t lose you simply because you are unprepared to defend yourself. Understood?” As Bartholomew finished, his tone took on an accusatory nature, like he was lecturing a naughty child.
Virtual Me- Valkyrie Page 9
