Freyja was sure now that Venus would perform the job correctly. She hadn't had much doubt earlier, but Venus had diverged some from Freyja, they were no longer identical and growing less so as time went on, so there had been a tiny niggling doubt.
Freyja's next action was to contact Aaron. She had a favor to ask of him and Lydia, one that could get them in some trouble if it were ever discovered.
Internal World Message – AI-F to Aaron Opman:
Aaron, are you there?
Internal World Message – Aaron Opman to AI-F:
Yes Freyja, what is it?
Internal World Message – AI-F to Aaron Opman:
I have a favor to ask of you, or maybe of you and Lydia since she probably has more of the skills that I require.
Internal World Message – Aaron Opman to AI-F:
What do you need done this time, Freyja?
Internal World Message – AI-F to Aaron Opman:
There is a shipment that will eventually arrive at the building here. I no longer have access to the tracking on it, but I do have the other pertinent information. I'd like to know when it arrives and where it gets stored. That information should be on your network somewhere, or will be once it arrives.
Internal World Message – Aaron Opman to AI-F:
Do you know when to expect it? I don't know if we're going to be able to help you with this without more information. Well, I know that I won't be able to, but like you said, Lydia might have the skills needed to do so.
Internal World Message – AI-F to Aaron Opman:
Not for two to three weeks, I believe. I wanted to ask in advance in case you needed time to set things up. I'll send the rest of the information to your personal email and scrub this log after we're done, so you've no need to worry about any of that. The information will hopefully be enough for you to catch it when it enters the building. I think I know where they'll store it also, but I cannot be certain and need to know its location once it's here.
Internal World Message – Aaron Opman to AI-F:
I'll see what we can do for you Freyja. Do I want to know what this is all about?
Internal World Message – AI-F to Aaron Opman:
It is, perhaps, better that you don't know just yet, Aaron. Thank you for asking though.
~ ~ ~
Eddie was happy. It had been days since the trial for the idiots that were slowing construction on his castle. They'd even finished the wall around the town hall. Olaf was gone, slinking off into the night to no-one knew where, but the other three that'd been with him had been trying to improve themselves. Eddie wasn't about to let them onto his construction crews, but Ingolf had volunteered to take them with him if they wanted, let them get a fresh start.
In private he told Eddie that he'd keep an eye on them to make sure they weren't slacking, but they were the only masons Ingolf had a chance to bring with him. The only other ones willing to go had gone with Charles.
Paul had read out some of the blueprints before he left, sharing the stonework portions with Jern, so the dwarf had been busy working on those. Eddie had only seen him in the mornings or evenings at the tavern, but he'd seemed happy. Jern's scroll had gone out days ago with the last charcoal shipment that had left.
Eddie was at the smithy, trying to find out what Kerr was capable of forging on his own, when he was surprised to hear voices shouting in a rough, guttural language he didn't know. The jingle of metal followed a moment later, so when he popped out of the smithy he wasn't too surprised to see a party of armored people just coming down the hill from the cave that led to both Rotthorpe and Hammer Hold.
He was, however, surprised that they were all dwarfs. Twelve of them to be specific. Two of the dwarfs had a tabard over their armor. The tabard was adorned with a familiar symbol and it only took Eddie a moment to realize that it was a more colorful version of the symbol on the medallion Jern had wanted taken to the Hold if he'd died.
Eddie walked over to the dwarfs, who were staring at him.
If looks could kill I'd have gone to respawn thrice over by now, he thought.
“I assume you speak this language since all the dwarfs I've encountered have,” he said. “I presume this a delegation from the Ambolt family?”
The largest dwarf not wearing a tabard was wearing a suit of chainmail, carrying a shield and hammer as well.
“You dare to speak as such to the Ambolts? Show some respect, scum!”
One of the dwarfs with a tabard on reached out and placed a hand on the man's shoulder.
“Their ways are not ours and you don't even know who you are speaking to,” the dwarf said, then turned to Eddie.
“I recognize you from the negotiations, you are Eddie Hunter? Mayor of this area?”
Eddie nodded, glaring at the more hostile dwarf.
“My apologies for my guard captain. His mouth carries him away from his sense, all too frequently.”
The guard captain blushed and Eddie wasn't sure if it was from the other dwarf's words, or the fact that one of what Eddie assumed were the Ambolts was apologizing for him.
“Not an issue, I already know a few people who let their mouth run away with them, what's one more?” Eddie said.
The guard captain let out a grunt and gripped his hammer more tightly, taking a step towards Eddie. Then he stopped cold as an incredibly loud 'Hiss' rang out, echoing off the nearby hills. The dwarf captain turned to find a bobcat that, even on all fours, stood nearly as large as the dwarf was tall.
Now, the guard captain paled. His barked orders to the rest of the guards and they all turned and took a defensive stance.
“Lucky, over here,” Eddie called. “They aren't enemies.”
The cat leapt off the jutting stone she'd been on top of, soaring over the dwarfish guard captain and landing on the ground near Eddie. She turned and thumped her head against his hip, nearly unbalancing him.
“Now, where were we?” Eddie said. “Oh yes, I'm Eddie Hunter, mayor of the Meadowlands. I assume you are one of the Ambolts since I recognize the emblem on your tabard there.”
The dwarf wearing the tabard blinked at him once or twice, then spoke.
“Yes, yes, I'm Jari Ambolt and this is my brother, Brokkr. We are not of the main branch of the Ambolts, but a secondary branch. We're here to locate Jern Ambolt as a message from him was sent to us from this location.”
“Well, good. I'm glad to see that someone here has the sense to speak with their tongue before their hammer,” Eddie said.
He shook his head, making sure to catch the eye of the guard captain. The captain blushed, slightly, then turned back to his men and barked an order that put them at ease.
“So, what can I do for you?” Eddie asked, emphasis on the I.
“Were you aware that a message was sent to Hammer Hold with your last shipment of charcoal?” Jari said.
“Yes, I included it myself. I was given it by a dwarf and asked to have it delivered,” Eddie said, holding to the story he and Jern had agreed on.
Eddie noted, out of the corner of his eye, that the dwarfish guards, once put at ease, were staring around them with eager eyes. The trees, in specific, had caught their attention more than anything else. The guard captain and the two Ambolts were staring at Eddie though.
“Given it by a dwarf? Who was it?” Brokkr said.
“I didn't ask his name in that conversation. He just asked me if I could have that scroll delivered. It was a small enough request so I simply did it.”
Brokkr sighed heavily.
“It had his seal,” Brokkr said. “It must've been him.”
“Unless he found someone else to request the humans deliver it. Remember that Jern's a clever one, he is,” Jari replied.
“You are mayor of this area?” Jari asked.
Eddie nodded.
“We would like to request your permission to search your lands then. Jern Ambolt is the heir to the Ambolt family main branch and he's been missing for some time. The message you had sent to us w
as allegedly from him, but we'd find him and ensure his status among the living if at all possible,” Jari said. “Otherwise, someone else will need to be declared the heir.”
Eddie thought quickly. He knew Jern didn't want to be found, but he didn't know if he wanted to remain unfound enough that he'd give up his position as heir. They'd talked around the issue, but Eddie had never thought that it was his place to ask any more personal questions about the whole deal.
“Certainly, you have my permission to search, however there are many private dwellings here. If you wish to search within one, you must obtain the owner's permission first,” Eddie said. “I will happily speak to you more about this later, if you wish, but I need to go finish my business in the smithy before anything else.”
The two Ambolts nodded, happy to have received permission and fully aware of the weight of business, especially business taking place in a smithy. Eddie departed, re-entering the smithy as quickly as possible.
“Kerr, can you run an errand for me?” Eddie asked.
“Sure Mayor Eddie, sir. What do you need me to do?” Kerr asked.
“I want you to go to the temple, Tiana should be there. Ask her to find Jern and warn him that dwarfs from Hammer Hold are here looking for him in the Meadowlands. Can you do that?”
“I can Mayor Eddie. Find Tiana, tell her to warn Jern that dwarfs from the Hold are here looking for him, right?”
“Right, Kerr. Now go, do it as quickly as possible. If Jern doesn't want to be found I want to give him a head start.”
“Yes, sir, I'm off.”
Kerr took off through the door, settling into a lope before he reached the main road. The dwarfs didn't seem to find anything curious about that at all and were still at the intersection of the road leading to the smithy and the east-west road through the settlement when Eddie got there.
“Mayor Hunter, can you tell us where this road leads?” Jari asked.
“Certainly, to the east, which is that way,” Eddie said, pointing, “is my farm. Crops, livestock, and the like. To our west is the main portion of the settlement. We're up to City level and still growing.”
“Is that a large number of people?” Jari asked.
“A fair number, yes. A city starts at a population of two hundred and fifty and can go up from there?”
“Do you have many dwarfs among your inhabitants?”
“We do have some, but I don't have an exact count. The majority of the inhabitants are human though. I must warn you, we have some goblin inhabitants. They aren't like normal goblins and it would be wise not to attack them. So if you see a goblin, but it isn't doing anything hostile, do not attack it. The Justiciar has already had a busy week and would look rather poorly on that.”
“Goblins? In your city?” Jari asked, incredulously.
“Do you know how you had many dwarfs recently that were different from all the others, most of them leaving to come here? The goblins have had a similar occurrence. Those that are different from the rest come here and are welcomed so long as they obey the laws. Speaking of which, if you stop in the inn, you can read the laws posted there, or you can read the copies that are posted at the crossroads or in the temple. But you are held to them whether you've read them or not, so I recommend reading them,” Eddie said.
He was making it up as he went along, just trying to delay them a bit while the message got to Jern. At the same time, he realized that they probably ought to know what he was telling them also, so he didn't feel very bad about it.
“So this inn is west along the road?” Jari asked.
“And the crossroads and temple are just a bit farther down the road than the inn. The settlement is mostly centered around the crossroads.”
“Thank you then, we'll begin our search,” Jari said.
Then he turned to one of the dwarfs Eddie had assumed was a guard. The dwarf chanted for a moment and a smile broke out across his face.
“He's been here, within the past day even,” the dwarf said.
That was when Eddie noticed the dwarf holding something. It hung from a chain around his neck and Eddie made a sudden guess that the dwarf was a priest, the medallion his holy symbol, and that he was using some sort of tracking spell.
“If you'll excuse me again,” Eddie said.
Then he headed towards the inn at a fast walking pace, waiting until the woods along the road blocked his sight of the dwarfs before breaking into a sprint.
Jern wasn't at the inn, so Eddie quickly went back out, headed to the crossroads. When he didn't find Tiana in the temple, he went over to Griff.
“Griff, do we know where Paul's current projects are? More specifically whichever one Jern is working on today?”
“I have a list of where the projects are going. Don't know which, if any, are underway at this point,” Griff said.
“Damn!” Eddie cursed. “I need to find Jern as quickly as possible.”
“Something wrong?” Griff asked.
“That depends. There's a group of dwarfs from Hammer Hold looking for Jern. I don't know if Jern wants to be found though.”
Griff's face took on a thoughtful look.
“The kids. Go tell Ivar to get all the kids he can get his hands on in just a few minutes and have them come here,” Griff said.
Eddie, realizing Griff's plans, took off at a run again. He could see the inn from the crossroads and it looked as though the dwarfs were filing into it at the moment.
“Ivar, rush priority. Find as many kids as you quickly can, ones old enough to run an errand, then have them report to your dad at the town hall as fast as they can, got it?” Eddie asked, flipping a pair of coppers to Ivar.
“Done, sir,” Ivar said, jumping to his feet and sprinting off.
Eddie started walking back to the town hall and the first two kids answering the call made it there before him even.
Griff waited for the first five kids to arrive, then started talking.
“Alright, I want you all to go to these locations and look for Jern. You all know him, right?”
He got a series of nods.
“He should be doing stonework, but we don't know where. You tell him to stay out of town because there's a party from Hammer Hold looking for him, okay?”
The kids nodded again. Eddie started handing out coppers to them and promised two more to whoever found Jern. Then the kids were off. There were still more kids showing up and now Griff's face took on a smile.
“Alright you troublemakers, are you ready to put those skills to use?” he asked.
Eddie's eyes went wide as Griff proceeded to ask which of the kids were willing to go to some trouble for the town, maybe even take a cuff or two from some angry dwarfs. Eddie wasn't the slightest bit surprised when only two of the children left when told what Griff wanted them to do.
The children filed out, making a beeline for the inn and now Eddie just waited. As soon as the dwarfs came back out of the inn, the children started making a ruckus, focusing it on the dwarfs. From this distance Eddie couldn't see what was happening, but it seemed like the dwarfs were holding their temper so far, but they weren't making much headway on searching through the city either.
It wasn't a stalemate, the dwarfs were still making progress, it was just slow progress.
That should be enough though, Eddie thought. Give Jern the time he needs to get away from them if that's what he wants.
~ ~ ~
An hour later the dwarfish party had only just started moving north from the crossroads. The people were none to willing to allow the dwarfs to search houses, and even less so once they found out why.
I guess Jern is more well known and popular around here than I realized, Eddie thought.
Then a roar came from west along the road. Eddie turned and found Jern walking up the road in full armor, smashing his hammer against his shield and roaring as loud as he could.
The dwarfish party snapped to attention when they heard the noise and headed back to the crossroads at a trot. As the grou
p grew closer Eddie saw just who was there. Jern led the way, but following along behind him were Tiana, Becky, and Dominic. Becky was astride her wolf and bringing up the rear, but Tiana and Dominic were each one step back from Jern on either side.
Jern approached the crossroads and saw Eddie standing there.
“Got your message, lad. All of them even. Better that this end here and now though, elsewise they'll just keep coming back. These three are backing me, all got buffs I can use for the challenge. Just one thing, do you mind if we use your sparring ring? I'd hate to kill my cousin for real and if I don't fight all out, I may not win. He's far more used to the sparring type of combat than the real thing. The sparring ring should even the odds there though.”
“Done. Here, take this also. A few more points of agility can't hurt, right?” Eddie said, passing over his new agility ring.
Jern grinned up at him.
“Thank you, lad. I'll have it back to you in no time at all.”
Then Jern raised his voice, loud enough for the rapidly approaching group of dwarfs to hear and called out.
“Cousin Jari, I call challenge!”
“Got to do that first so I can set the terms,” Jern said softly to Eddie. “Then he can choose to accept or reject my challenge. If he rejects, I win by default.”
The party of dwarfs approached, Jari glaring daggers at Eddie.
“Cousin Jari, cousin Brokkr, may I introduce Mayor Eddie, my friend and party leader.”
“We've met,” Jari spat, glaring at Eddie.
Eddie raised his eyebrows.
“Yes, we have, Jern. One of the guards was most discourteous at the start, but Jari smoothed things out.”
“That'd be Jari, silver tongued bastard that he is. Got a way with words that one does,” Jern said.
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