“King Patria,” the dwarf said as they approached the fire at the center of the camp.
“King Bergmann, I assume,” Patria said.
“You are correct. I am King Bergmann of Tiefes Loch, and soon all four of the dwarven kingdoms,” Bergmann said.
“Well, that remains to be seen,” Patria said to the man. “Now that introductions have been made, might we get to the point of why you asked me all the way out here?”
“Oh, but we are not quite finished with introductions,” Bergmann said, motioning to a man in a black robe with a white dragon embroidered on the chest of it. He never understood why they embroidered it in white. They were Black Dragons, but the dragons on all of their clothing were white. “This is Dirigente, the leader of all the Black Dragon guilds in Gegend.”
“I have no interest in the Black Dragon guild. As I am sure you have already been informed, the Black Dragons’ presence will no longer be tolerated in Patria,” King Paul said, ignoring the Black Dragon leader and remaining focused on the dwarf.
King Grundel smiled at the other king. “I can see why you wouldn’t want them around. I don’t like the magic-users myself. It just ain’t natural, ya know. I have no interest in how you deal with Black Dragons in your city. I simply show you this man to demonstrate to you another of my resources, before I move on to the point of our business here. I know that Shinestone is requesting your aid in the coming war. I have brought you out here to threaten you.”
Patria stood his ground confidently. He had faced some hard truths lately, and those truths had made him hard. He was willing to die. He didn’t hope to die, but he wasn’t afraid of it, either. Killing his own wife had broken something inside him. “Make your threat, then, and let us be done with this,” he said defiantly.
Bergmann laughed. “At least you are a real king, not cowering and bending like that coward Merwein. My threat is one you will have already guessed, I am sure, but I will make it anyway. I brought an army large enough to take and hold Shinestone. This is only a portion of my army. Once I have taken Shinestone my army will be resupplied and reinforced before moving on to the kingdom of Haufen. After that my army will double in size before we march on Evermount. I do not have any interest in your city, so this is simple: Do not get involved. With the Portwein army, the Black Dragon wizards, and my own army we would be able to take Shinestone and still defeat your army. It would simply increase the number of casualties we take in doing so. If you stay out of this, your city will remain undisturbed, but if you join with Shinestone, then Patria will fall next.”
“Why would I trust you? The fact that you are allied with the Black Dragons is enough to make you a threat to my city,” Patria said.
“I am not allied with the Black Dragons or Portwein. They serve my purpose; I do not serve theirs. Portwein follows me because I pay them, and these wizards follow me because they are of chaos, and what better way is there to create chaos than war?” Bergmann asked.
“Dirigente has agreed to keep the Black Dragons out of your city if you stay out of this war,” Bergmann said, nodding over to the Black Dragon leader.
Patria looked over at the man suspiciously. “Why would I trust anything you say?”
“I don’t believe you are foolish enough to do that, but as a show of good faith I have something for you,” the wizard said, turning around. “Belfor!”
Another wizard walked forward. Patria recognized him as the leader of the Black Dragons in Patria. “Your Highness, I made a mistake. I broke a truce that has been in place since before either us was alive, and I apologize. The Black Dragons that escaped will not be returning to Pat—”
The man had barely finished the apology he had obviously been forced to make when the tip of a sword burst through the front of his chest.
Patria took a step back, still looking into the shocked eyes of the wizard. He had obviously not been informed that his apology would be followed by his punishment.
Bergmann stepped forward. “Now you know our position, and what happens if you interfere, so what will it be?” Bergmann asked.
Patria looked around at the army, at the Black Dragon leader, at the man making a gurgling sound on the ground as his body fought for air in its last few seconds of life, and then back to the dwarf king.
“I won’t promise you anything. Kill me, capture me, or let me go. I won’t make this decision without talking to my councilors.”
Bergmann turned around. “What do you think, Rupert?”
A man who had been standing in the background the entire time stepped forward. “I would advise you let him go, King Bergmann, killing or taking him hostage will guarantee that Patria marches against us in this fight.”
“You think they would risk the life of their king?” Dirigente asked.
“The heir to the throne of Patria is Grundel Stoneheart, and from what I have seen of His Highness, I would guess he has already taken precautions to have his army march against us if he does not return,” Rupert said.
Patria stared into the man’s eyes. His assessment was very accurate. The man looked back at him. His face gave away nothing, but his eyes . . . in his eyes the man was telling him something, promising him something, he didn’t know what, but for some reason he trusted this man. He reminded him of Brennin. He turned away from the man and back to King Bergmann.
Bergmann looked from Rupert to the king. “Judging from the way you took your time evaluating our man, I will assume he was correct. Run back to your walls, King Patria, and stay there. If you interfere in this war because of Grundel, you will sacrifice the lives of every person in Patria. I will kill every man, woman, and child.” Bergmann nodded to the guards who stood behind Patria.
The two guards behind him stepped up, each taking one of his arms, and King Patria let them guide him out of the camp.
Chapter Eighteen
Choosing Sides
King Paul Patria rode through the gate of his city and straight to the guardhouse, the four soldiers following him. He turned to the men behind him. “Stay here, and send Captain Thompson to the palace,” he said and then kicked his horse into a gallop. He knew that his soldiers would be hesitant to let him ride alone, but they didn’t have a choice. He would be fine. After last night he was pretty sure that the Black Dragons would not be an issue, at least not for now. They wouldn’t do anything that would pull Patria into the war.
These were his thoughts when a crossbow bolt went through the back of his right arm and came sticking out the inside of his bicep. He nearly fell from his horse, but he managed to hang on to the saddle with his left hand. He lay flat against the horse, kicking it into a dead run. He had been foolish to ride alone. Too many events had happened over the last couple of months to expect that he wouldn’t have enemies in the city. He was the king; there would always be people who wanted to hurt him. He filed this experience away in his mind with all of the other hard truths he had learned recently.
When he made it to the palace gate he let the soldiers there pull him down out of the saddle. His arm was on fire, but he thought he was okay. The soldiers tried to carry him, but he refused. He walked into the palace surrounded by soldiers. He went straight to his room. “Send for Master Brennin, my nephew, and Captain Douglas,” he told one of the soldiers.
Brennin walked into the room barely a minute later. They had probably sent someone for him the second he made it to the gate.
“Your Highness, how did this happen?” Brennin asked as he pushed the soldiers back. “Get back, get back, give him some room. The walls aren’t going to shoot at the king,” he said, but that only seemed to make them more suspicious and one of them actually started scanning the walls of the king’s chamber.
“Someone shot me on my way back from the guardhouse. I left the guards there. I don’t think they hit anything serious, it just burns,” King Patria said.
“Do you think this was the Black Dragons?” Brennin asked, snapping the head off of the bolt a fingers width away from where it ex
ited the king’s arm.
“It wasn’t a Black Dragon assassin,” Grundel said, walking into the room. “If it was they wouldn’t have missed. We have disposed of them fairly easily, but that doesn’t mean they don’t know what they are doing, we just had surprise and numbers. One man on a horse riding down an empty street, even at night with only the moon for light—that is a sure thing for an assassin.”.
“I agree. I met with the leader of the Black Dragons tonight. I don’t think we will have to deal with the Black Dragons unless they see us joining the fight. This was someone in the city,” he was cut off by Anna running into the room.
“Are you okay? What happened?” she asked.
Despite the pain he had to smile. She had gone from yelling at him to worrying about him. “I am fine. It was just in my arm, and it didn’t hit anything.”
“Your Highness, if you are ready, we should get this bolt out now,” Master Brennin said.
The king nodded his head. “Let’s get this over with.”
Brennin looked over at Grundel. “Your Highness, if you wouldn’t mind holding the king’s arm in place, it would be very helpful.”
Grundel took hold of the king’s arm above and below the bolt, and then Master Brennin pulled. The king grunted in pain, but that was it. Master Brennin packed the front and back of the wound with some kind of cloth.
“That will have to be repacked at least twice a day, Your Highness. It will help it heal properly. Would you like me to make you a poppy tea to help with the pain?”
“No, Master Brennin, I will be fine for now. There are still some things that need to be discussed,” the king answered.
“Your Highness, it is the middle of the night. You have been riding all day and night. I am sure you can use some rest. Why don’t we discuss this in the morning?” Grundel recommended.
King Patria looked to Master Brennin, who nodded in agreement. “Very well, we will discuss it first thing. Master Brennin, I will take that poppy now, this thing actually hurts more without the bolt in there, I think.”
Master Brennin returned a few minutes later with a cup of tea brewed with poppy. A few minutes later he took the half-empty cup and left the sleeping king in his bed. Grundel waited outside his room for the two captains.
Grundel was up early. He waited around in his room with Jerrie and Rundo. A breakfast of sausages, eggs, bread, and cheese came up after a while, and they picked at it until it was gone. It was almost midday when they were finally summoned by the king.
When Grundel, Jerrie, and Rundo walked into the audience chamber they found that Master Brennin, Captain Douglas, and Captain Thompson were already there.
“Grundel, I apologize for making you wait, but I decided to confer with the leaders in the city before gathering us all together,” King Patria said.
Grundel looked around. They were in the main audience chamber and the king was on his throne. This was the first time they had been formally summoned like this. Grundel walked up and bowed slightly; Rundo and Jerrie followed his lead. “There is nothing to apologize for, Your Highness. How can we be of service?”
“I have already spoken with my captains, but I would like to get your opinion on this also,” the king said.
“I will do what I can,” Grundel said. He was uncomfortable. This was the first time since their meeting that they had spoken formally like this, and Grundel was not used to it. Dwarves didn’t really do this.
King Patria got down off his throne and walked to Grundel. “As you know, I went and spoke with King Bergmann last night. He was very plain about his plans. He says that the substantial army outside our walls is only a small part of the entire army. He claims he will take Shinestone, and then Tiefes Loch will reinforce him. Once he is reinforced, he will march on Haufen. From there he claims his army will double in size, and he will march on Evermount. First, I want to tell you that I believe him. I don’t know if he is capable of doing what he says, but I do believe he believes it. He had the leader of the Black Dragons in his camp as well. Dirigente promised to keep all Black Dragons out of Patria as long as we stay out of the war; he even killed the wizard who was in charge in Patria right in front of me. King Bergmann promised that we would be left out of his plans as long as we didn’t interfere. He also promised that Patria would be his next stop if we did interfere. I want to know from a dwarf’s prospective: what do you think?”
Grundel thought about it for a minute before responding. “I can’t say for sure. Bergmann’s action are not normal, but I believe that as long as he is still fighting to take the dwarven kingdoms, your city will remain relatively safe from him. The defenses of Patria wouldn’t easily be taken, even with the help of his wizards; he would suffer a lot of casualties trying to take this city. I can’t guess what it is he wants, or what he plans to do once he has taken control of all of the dwarven kingdoms.”
King Patria looked at his captains, who nodded their agreement. “Grundel, my captains said the same thing. They also have a lot of faith in you. They said that you would be honest about this even if it made Patria less likely to help you.”
Grundel just looked at the captains and then back to the king. The king smiled at him. “My captains had more to say about what would happen after this war of dwarves, however. You see, if King Bergmann does not come after us, King Merwein will. King Merwein is known for his greed. The only reason he would have joined with King Bergmann is if he was promised a fortune, and judging by the armor and weapons his men were wearing, he was given a fortune and more. Selfsam is the only other city in the south. They don’t have much of an army to speak of, and their city is not well defended. They haven’t faced a serious threat in centuries. That means if King Bergmann takes all of the dwarven kingdoms, King Merwein will start taking control of the five cities, one by one. Do you see what I am getting at, nephew?”
“If you can stop the initial attack of King Bergmann then you will weaken both forces, and maybe convince the other cities help stop them before they attack again. Then we would all be united against them. They are the biggest dwarf and human cities, but they don’t have a chance against a united force of all of the other cities and kingdoms of Gegend,” Grundel said.
“That is pretty close. First, we need to focus on stopping them here, so we are going to help in the fight at Shinestone. They should make the river in a couple of days. We estimate that they will make Shinestone in about two weeks. We can send a rider to Shinestone to inform them of the circumstances. They can make it around the army easily enough.”
Grundel smiled. “A rider won’t be necessary. Rundo will go; he can make it there and back before your rider ever made the river, and there is no way they can catch him.”
The king looked at Rundo curiously, then back at Grundel. Grundel looked at Rundo. “You ready?”
“Are you kidding? I’ve been dying to get in the air, and I know Messah will be excited,” Rundo said with a big smile.
“Who is Messah, and what are you talking about?” the king asked.
Jerrie stepped forward, smiling. “You should all probably come with us; you won’t want to miss this.”
They all walked back up to the apartment where they were staying. Rundo went to his room for a second and then came back. They all walked out onto the balcony. A few seconds after they walked out, Rundo’s gray hawk landed on his shoulder. He ran his fingers along her neck for a second and then he looked up at the others. He began taking off his clothes. The king and the captains all wore bemused looks, but Master Brennin kept his bearing. Rundo wrapped his gear up in the middle of the bundle and then folded it up. He wrapped his magical belt around the bundle to secure it, and then he looked up. He didn’t link with Messah this time; he just began shifting. It took him a couple of minutes to change without the link, but that just made it all more exciting. After what had likely been two full minutes, a four-foot hawk stood on the balcony where Rundo had been.
“He turned into a bird,” Captain Douglas said, his mouth
still hanging open.
“A hawk, actually,” Jerrie said. “We should all probably give him some room to take off,” he said as he backed into the room. The others all did the same. Standing just inside the doorway, they all watched as the hawk that was Rundo bent forward and snatched up the bundle in his beak. The huge bird bent its head toward all of them before raising its wings and taking off into the sky.
When Grundel looked over at the king he was still staring out at the huge hawk flying away from his city. “Ma might have underplayed our friend when she called him capable,” he said.
The king looked over at him. “You all really did challenge Delvidge, didn’t you?” the king asked.
Grundel nodded. “We were the one in the background during that though. The others are at Shinestone, well, the ones who are still with us,” he said.
“I think we made the right decision, Your Highness,” Captain Thompson said behind them all.
The king turned around. “Yes, Captain, we did. We couldn’t have joined the other side, but my nephew and his friends keep giving us reasons why siding with them is better then waiting here for the inevitable. Captain, start assembling your men. We are marching to war in two days. We should be able to catch up with them easily enough. They have already been marching for over a month.”
Chapter Nineteen
Rundo’s Warnings
Rundo leapt off the balcony and flew away from the city. He flew fast to avoid scaring people and to avoid anyone trying to shoot a bow at him. Once he was outside the city, he flew east. He wanted to get his own sense of where Bergmann’s army was. He saw them in the distance long before he was close enough for them to see him even if they had been looking. He saw a hill covered in big rocks just to the south, and he got an idea. He couldn’t do any real damage to the army, but he could do something to make them uncomfortable. He went to the hill and scooped up a huge stone in each of his talons. He had to shift his talons a little, giving them a little more curve so that he could keep hold of the stones. Each of the stones had to weigh at least fifty or sixty pounds. It was a lot more difficult to get up in the air, but he managed. He flew up high over the army. He knew he could stay out of bow range easily, but he wasn’t sure the distance those wizards could reach. He flew down low enough that the men would be able to see him up there, but he was still a thousand feet above the ground. If the wizards shot anything at him, he would at least have time to get away. He flew fast over the army, hoping to give the stones at least one good bounce. When he was over the top of the army he let go of the stones. He was already flying away from the army to the east when the stones hit the ground. He was looking behind him, watching a line open in the army’s ranks as the stones bounced and rolled. He wasn’t sure how many of them he had actually hurt, but they had seen him, and now they had to constantly worry about what was above them.
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