Peter of Dwarven Stone (War of Contractia Book 4)

by Tj Dixon

  “They should be, but they aren’t.” Dairon says sounding rather confused. “You can remove the ice from that girl. Then we need to wake Peter and Lucy.”

  (Peter)

  I wake to find myself being carried with wind magic. I can tell right away that it is Dairon’s magic. I realise immediately that I can’t sense my right arm. In horror I look to my right and see that it is completely gone.

  “It will be alright.” A calming voice near my left ear tells me. I look to my left and see Lucy floating along with a sad smile. “You really need to stop taking such reckless risks. It’s just fortunate that Grunti can replace both your arms. With the bounty we can even pay him.”

  “So we beat the demon?”

  “Sort of. Elucia it seems had it really worried. Then a dwarf summoned it, stopping her from finishing it off. Since it was meant to be a wild demon, we can claim the bounty even though we didn’t kill it. Especially since the Council of Elders will want to keep it quiet that they have an out of control dwarf using a demon. We’ll need to talk directly to the Council of Elders of course.” Lucy explains.

  “So why would a dwarf be using a demon?” I ask.

  “For power or revenge. Those are the only reasons anyone uses demons. If they are working with the enemy though, it will be really bad.”

  “If the demon is still loose isn’t that going to make it dangerous for dwarves to continue to come down here?”

  “Yes. They’ll need to come up with an excuse to prevent anyone coming down here. Most likely they’ll use the elves as an excuse.” Lucy tells me.

  “Did we get that false light syrup?” I ask concerned this may be our only chance to do so.

  “Yes. Kai’s carrying that.”

  “Did we save the dwarves who were possessed?” I ask.

  “Yes. They’re a bit shaken but alive and well. It seems that the demon was originally sucking the soul from one of them, but when its master noticed us it possessed two of the dwarves and swallowed the one it was sucking the soul from. That way it could continue sucking her soul out even as it fought us. Dwarves are a tough lot though and sucking a dwarven soul takes a very long time. It isn’t a pleasant process though.”

  “I can walk. Dairon, lower me to the ground.” I say and Dairon quickly swings me down so my feet are touching the ground. “Thanks.”

  “Are you alright?” Dairon asks.

  “Yes, I’ll be fine once Grunti makes my new arms. I can’t believe I lost both my arms though.” I say shaking my head. If it wasn’t for the prospect of replacing them I am sure I would be in a lot more shock, but it still feels really weird.

  “Thank you for saving us!” A dwarven girl says and bows deeply to me. She is wearing a weird white loincloth and small black leather top. Her hair is a fiery red.

  “Oh, um, that’s ok.” I say, still a bit disoriented from standing.

  “Thank you!” Two other dwarves beside her say and bow together. The dwarven girl on her right is wearing standard black stone armour but the dwarven girl on her left, whilst wearing black stone armour, has a lot of holes in her armour. It doesn’t really count as armour anymore in my mind.

  “Don’t worry. We should probably continue moving along though.” I say realising we have stopped and not sure how far we are from the city, or how likely it is we will be attacked before we reach it.

  (Grunti)

  “So you’re an elf girl?” I ask. It is the first time I have seen one and she is a bit tall for my liking, but at least she isn’t as tall as the tall and ugly half dwarf. Right now she is stuck in my stone trap. Her hands and feet are completely encased in stone and she is unable to use magic, thanks to the unique properties of my special stone.

  “More an elf woman than elf girl.” She says with a sigh.

  “So why were you following my little Lucy and her friends?” I ask suspiciously. I don’t know what they were doing there, but when I saw they were in the Deep Maze I had to find out. They were already on their way back when I reached them and this elf was following them.

  “Just making sure they got back safely.” She lies.

  “Dwarves can tell when you’re lying.” I tell her and she braces herself for a punishment as if she expects me to hit or torture her. I tickle her stomach, which she seems entirely unprepared for. After a minute or two I relent.

  “I was trying to find your city.” She says sounding resigned and closes her eyes.

  “Why?”

  “Those were my orders.” She says opening her eyes and staring at me as if I am something entirely incomprehensible.

  “So what would you do if you found our city?”

  “Report back to the Envoy.”

  “What would she do?”

  “Conquer or annihilate your people.”

  “Do you want that?”

  “What does it matter what I want? I just obey orders, because if I don’t I’ll be killed.”

  “What’s your name?”

  “My name? What does that have to do with anything?” She asks thoroughly confused. I tickle her just for the fun of it. “Nairon! Nairon!”

  “Ok, Nairon. If you didn’t have to obey orders, would you tell the Envoy where our city was?”

  “No, I suppose I wouldn’t, but what choice do I have. If I don’t I’ll die a dreadful death. It would be better to die at your hands than face that.”

  “Hmmm. Do you know what a slave is?” I ask her.

  “Of course I do.”

  “So how about you become my slave and I’ll protect you from this Envoy person, thing, monster or whatever?”

  “Even if I became your slave, how would you protect me?” She asks me dubiously.

  “No enemy has ever found Nirvali, so you’ll be safe with me.”

  “So what do I have to do as your slave?”

  “I only found out about slaves recently, but they have to do everything they’re told, right?”

  “Well, yes, but… wait… How did you only just find out about slaves?”

  “Well there aren’t any slaves in Nirvali. They’re banned. I looked it up after I was told about them and they’re illegal.”

  “So wouldn’t you be prevented from making me your slave?”

  “Hmm, well that’s true, but as long as nobody finds out it should be fine.”

  “Even if I have to obey you, I can still only do what I can do.”

  “That’s fine.”

  “But what do you want me to do?”

  “Would you have a baby with me?” I ask and she goes bright red.

  “I’d rather die! Evil dwarf! Just kill me now!” She screams at me.

  “Quieten down.” I say and put a hand over her mouth before anyone or anything hears her.

  “I thought I’d heard everything. A dwarf wanting to have a baby with an elf, whatever next?!” A deep dwarven voice tells me from behind, and then roars with laughter. I spin around and see a familiar face. “Not that it really matters, but that is a violation of the royal inter gender breeding prohibition, not to mention the royal inter species breeding prohibition. What does matter is that you are in the way, so now you have to die.”

  “Why is the Council of Elders…?” I start to ask but he has already filled the tunnel around me with molten lava. Of course the lava can’t harm me that easily, but elves are not that resistant to intense heat. My prisoner is going to get incinerated if I’m not both quick and careful. Fight now, ask questions later and hopefully have some fun after that.

  I throw the lava back at High Smithy Lord Thor. Why did he even bother with lava? All dwarves have good control over fire and earth magic, which means almost any dwarf could control lava. He just ignores the lava, because it isn’t really any more of a threat to him than it is to me.

  “So you want to keep your prisoner alive. That makes this easier.” He chuckles and I realise why he bothered with lava.

  “You plan to kill me?!” The elf exclaims. For her to be so shocked they must have been working together. An
elf working with a dwarf is bad enough, but with the Council of Elders? Or is the High Smithy Lord a traitor? Either way it is bad for Nirvali. Oh well, as long as I get to have fun with the elf I suppose it doesn’t matter. I’m sure she’ll agree if I can impress her enough now by saving her life.

  The High Smithy Lord sends a hail of crystal shards at me. That could be painful so I summon a wall of diamond like crystal between us. It doesn’t have to be perfect so it is much easier than summoning a diamond. It is still not something every dwarf can do though. I then slam the wall against my enemy. I can’t hear his grunt of pain but I can see it.

  Then a shard of crystal forms between my feet. Now this really could hurt, so I jump back and reply in kind. I can’t hear the High Smithy Lord’s wail of pain, but I can sure see it. Killing a dwarf isn’t easy and I’ve never killed before so I’m not sure I want to. This may be enough to get away, but will it be enough to impress the elf? That is much more important and I am a bit concerned my couple of attacks are not going to be enough. Attacking a man whilst he is doubled over in pain isn’t exactly going to impress her either though.

  Thankfully the High Smithy Lord saves me from my dilemma by summoning a lesser demon. It looks just like a small bat but it is as powerful as the hell it comes from. Well, that may be an exaggeration as obviously one demon isn’t as powerful as all the demons of even one hell, but it is as powerful as you would expect from a demon of hell. The cloud of acid that eats through my diamond wall like it wasn’t even there is proof of that. Not wanting to get eaten by the cloud of acid it is my turn to get serious.

  “Clean, clean kun!” I shout reaching into a pocket in my armour and throw my invention at the cloud. Sure enough it cleans up the acid in an instant. Then it falls onto the floor.

  “What is that yellow stone thing?” The High Smithy Lord asks in amusement.

  “It’s just a stone duck with a cleaning enchantment.” I tell him politely, whilst readying my next invention for use. The High Smithy Lord howls in laughter and the demon attacks again. Its lightning rather stuns me, but it was what I was hoping for.

  “Shiny, shiny kun!” I shout and throw the metal bird at the bat demon. Sure enough, the lightning has turned it shiny like its name and it begins to peck at the demon. The demon reacts by targeting its lightning at the bird and intensifying it. This is perfect as the lightning powered bird pecks even quicker. In moments the bat demon falls lifeless to the ground. The High Smithy Lord didn’t even have time to intervene and save his pet demon. “Ready to give up?”

  “You worthless toad, get eaten by a toadstool!” He shouts back at me and suddenly a huge mushroom blooms from the floor between us. It lunges at me. I realise from the pattern of spots it is immune to fire. Fungi are after all my favourite food so I know almost everything there is to know about them. Like this one’s natural weakness. I freeze it. Not my strength, but it works.

  This is probably enough to impress the elf, so I loosen the stone binding her to the walls. Then I grab her and activate my boots. It allows me to run like the wind and cover a mile every four seconds. It only takes two seconds to get back to my secret tunnel to Nirvali and less than a second to return home from there. Nobody sees me. Not even dad as I whizz past him whilst he is cooking dinner. Fungi again today!

  Chapter 10 (Multiple)

  (Smithy Lord Odin)

  I was sure I felt a breeze a few minutes ago and sure enough my son is now walking out of his room. What I didn’t expect was the other person walking out behind Grunti. I suppose she is just about decent in what she is wearing, but I still wouldn’t suggest walking in the streets like that. What is much more concerning though are her ears. She’s obviously an elf.

  “What have you been up to now?” I ask Grunti with a tired groan. My son will be the death of me one of these days. Probably by royal execution if the elf in front of me is any indication.

  “I know she’s a bit tall, but you have to admit she still looks ok.” Grunti tells me.

  “I’ll give you that, but she’s an elf.” I tell Grunti.

  “What’s wrong with being an elf?” Grunti asks.

  “Other than the fact we are at war with the elves?” I ask.

  “Ah, no need to worry. The collar she is wearing stops her using magic.”

  Her face is naturally red. She is wearing a black leather collar with a small golden bell hanging from it. She also has a pair of blue crystal wings that sprout from her back. She seems to be struggling with their weight. Other than that all she has on is a silver thong and some silver cloth partially covering her breasts tied together with a silver string. I seem to remember seeing a drawing in Grunti’s room of a dwarven girl dressed like this. Without the wings and collar it would really just be a daring swimsuit, but they make her look a bit like a large pet fairy.

  “Anyway, Nairon says she can cook, so she’s perfect! We don’t even need to pay her anything. She’ll just work for shelter and food. The High Smithy Lord Thor was trying to kill us, but I’m sure it was just a misunderstanding.” Grunti says. It takes a few moments to sink in given all the other shocks.

  “Wait, I thought he was assassinated. When did you see him?” I ask urgently.

  “Just now.”

  “And why was he trying to kill you?”

  “He said I was in the way. He then seemed pissed when I stuck a crystal up his… I shouldn’t talk about that sort of thing in front of a woman, but anyway, then he summoned demons and had them attack me.”

  “He summoned demons?!” I ask in complete shock now. Then the elf woman adds to my shock.

  “He’s a traitor working for the elves and the Envoy.” She says and my mouth gapes open like a cavern. It takes a few moments to recover.

  “Are you certain?”

  “Yes. I was the one working with him for the Envoy.”

  “So why did he try to kill you?” I ask, suspicious now.

  “Because I had been captured and Grunti was trying to protect me.”

  “I need to inform the Council of Elders right away. We can’t reveal you, or there could be trouble though.”

  “So I can stay here?” The elf asks sounding relieved.

  “Yes, but you can start work right away. These fungi don’t cook themselves. I doubt I’ll be back in time to eat them with you, so just save me some. I’ll have them cold. Oh, and whatever you do, don’t leave the house or let anyone else see you.” I tell her seriously. Then I dash out the front door and head straight for the tunnel to the next dome.

  It is just fortunate that I’m a Smithy Lord or I wouldn’t be able to leave the dome. At first I am going to head to the Council of Elders, but then I realise it will be much easier to talk to Blake. He was a friend of my father but I still keep in touch with him and he came round earlier today to tell me about his promotion.

  It takes a while but eventually I reach the right dome and soon after that I am at Blake’s home. He is just leaving as I am arriving. He looks at me and says, “Sorry, but I really don’t have time to talk right now. The council is calling.”

  “I just saw Thor. Well, my son did.” I tell him and he stops in his tracks. Turns to face me.

  “You’re sure?”

  “Yes and I have news you need to know about before you see the council.”