Peter of Dwarven Stone (War of Contractia Book 4)

by Tj Dixon

  “I never thought I’d hear the day you apologised for destroying our dome. No, wait, I did sometimes wonder, but I figured we’d all be dead if you finally managed to destroy the dome or perhaps Nirvali. Anyway, you really helped Nirvali, so I have to say I’m proud of you. The elves may not be as big a problem as you think. The king is dead and we’re in need of a new king.”

  “So which of his sons is going to be king and how does that help us?”

  “Whoever can move Nirvali to safety will be king, is what the Council of Elders has declared. Think you can do it, son?”

  “I can become king and have a harem, and do whatever I want, if I can just move Nirvali somewhere safe?” I ask in amazement.

  “Not quite whatever you want, but almost.” Dad tells me.

  “Why are they promising to make me king just for moving Nirvali? There must be other people who can do it, such as the High Smithy Lord.”

  “His predecessor never told him how, seeing as how it was the traitor Thor. Anyway, Odin asked me to see whether you could do it. He was in a real panic when I told him I had no idea where you were. So can you do it?”

  “Of course I can do it.” I laugh. “You taught me how, remember?”

  “I just passed on my dad’s lessons. I never worked out how to do it myself. Dad was a genius and it takes a genius to understand a genius.”

  Chapter 16 (Multiple)

  (Grunti)

  “Your majesty.” General Karina says, kneeling in front of me.

  I can’t stand the big emerald throne so I am just standing in front of it. I’ll have to remodel it into something smaller and more comfortable at some point. Seeing an important dwarven girl kneel in front of me is kind of fun though. Before most dwarven girls wouldn’t even talk to me unless I was buying something from them. Even then they only did so very reluctantly.

  “You can stand.” I tell her. It may be fun for me to watch, but kneeling can’t be fun for her.

  “Thank you, your majesty.” General Karina says with a smile as she rises to her feet. “I am pleased to report that all the humans have fled to the surface. A large group of elves has surrendered and been brought back to the prison dome. No other elves have been detected. All domes are secure and, as far as we can tell, undetected.”

  “I’ll move the domes again later anyway, just to be sure. Are all your dwarves back within the domes yet?”

  “Not yet. We still have a couple of companies hunting for any enemies that may have evaded our detection.” General Karina tells me.

  “Fine, but don’t leave them out there too long. Let me know when they are back.”

  “Thank you, your majesty. I have nothing else to report.” General Karina tells me with a low bow. This seems to be her way of asking if she can return to her work. It is only the third time I’ve spoken to her but she has ended our conversations more or less like this each time.

  “You can go.” I tell her. She bows one last time and then backs away ten steps before turning and walking away.

  I’ve only been king a few hours, but I can already tell it will take a bit of getting used to. I have important work though. First I had to move the city to safety. I knew the theory but putting it into practise took a good half hour and I was worrying for a while whether it might be beyond me. I’ve always respected my grandfather, but I found a new respect for him when I realised just how tricky it is to move the city.

  Once the city was safe I had to meet with all these important people. General Karina is my favourite. The Council of Elders get on my nerves and I’ve only spoken to them once so far. I need to choose a new captain of the royal guard too. Most importantly though, I need to work out a way to get the king’s harem open. Thinking of all those pretty girls stuck in there really makes me angry. They didn’t even get to see their husband/father’s funeral pyre.

  “Your majesty…” The dwarven girl standing beside my throne says, bowing to me. The old king used an old dwarven man, but I chose to replace him with a cute dwarven girl. Since I am king I had the choice of almost anyone I wanted, so I decided on the crazy girl who fought in a bikini. She was rather surprised to be called to serve me and just as surprised to be told to do so in her bikini. She looks good though. The little red bikini really goes with her short red hair and blue eyes. It also shows a lot of her lovely creamy skin. She’s about my height though naturally she’s a lot thinner than me.

  “Yes, Lupine?” I ask her.

  “Four of the outsiders have requested an audience.”

  “Is Lucy there?” I ask with a big grin. I can’t wait to see her now I’m king. She’ll be really impressed. Maybe she’ll even abandon that human boy for me.

  “Yes, your majesty.”

  “Fine, tell them to come in.” I say and rub my hands in anticipation. Moments later I see Lucy lead the way with Peter and Dairon right behind her. Where’s the fourth one? It can’t be the big ugly half dwarf, but I don’t sense Elucia either. In fact even with all my senses I only detect three people. I lean over to Lupine before they get too close and whisper. “I thought you said there were four?”

  “I’m sorry, but that’s what the guard at the door told me.” Lupine says sounding really nervous.

  “Oh, never mind.” I say with a shrug.

  “Your majesty.” Lucy says as she gets closer. She doesn’t bow or anything, but Peter and Dairon kneel behind her.

  “Lucy.”

  “You said if I could find someone else as small as me to be your girlfriend that you’d remove my curse. Is that still true now that you’re a king?” Lucy asks me.

  “Sure, as long as she’s cute, but you said that you couldn’t do it. Oh, and she’d have to marry me, not just be my girlfriend, since I’m not allowed girlfriends now I’m the king.”

  “Well, what do you think of Imogen?” Lucy asks and points at an empty space beside her. I frown but all of a sudden there is a fairy girl floating there. Unlike Lucy who is just cursed this girl is definitely a fairy. She is wearing a green silk skirt and shirt that match her emerald green eyes and short green hair. Her skin is very pale, almost bone white and she has a slightly plump tummy, but she is even shorter than Lucy. Her arms and legs are fairly thin. She has a cute, mischievous smile.

  “I like her.”

  “Then will you remove my curse if she marries you?”

  “I’d like to get to know her a bit before I decide to marry her.” I say and I notice Dairon appears to wince slightly. Is this some kind of trick?

  “Ok. How about we leave Imogen here with you and you let us know when you’ve decided?” Lucy suggests.

  “That’s fine.” I nod.

  “What do you plan to do with the elves you captured?” Lucy asks me, staring calmly into my eyes.

  “I haven’t decided. We’ll make use of them somehow though.”

  “Dairon as King of the Elves is more likely to secure their loyalty than you are.” Lucy tells me more than a little bluntly.

  “If so he’ll have to remain here to do so.” I answer and Lucy blinks as if she hadn’t considered the possibility that I’m not going to let however many elven prisoners just walk free. “If we’re attacked again we’ll need all the help we can get, so if we can use the elves somehow I have no intention of releasing them. Besides, elves can be cute too.”

  “You’ve already got Imogen though.” Lucy reminds me.

  “She’ll be my second wife, but as king I can have lots of wives. I plan to make a harem even bigger than the last king’s harem.”

  “So who’s your first wife?” Lucy asks with a frown.

  “Nairon, an elf I captured just before the battle for Nirvali.”

  “The elf Dairon saw at your home?” Lucy asks.

  “Yes.” I nod.

  “How do you plan to get the elves to work for you?”

  “You just told me Dairon is their king, so it should be easy. Dairon just has to work for me.” I tell her and look at Dairon but he shakes his head.

  “
I only serve Peter.” Dairon tells me.

  “Then maybe I’ll just execute the elves.” I tell him. He gulps and looks at Peter, obviously worried. Of course I don’t mean it, but he doesn’t know that.

  “Grunti’s just joking. I can tell from his aura.” Peter assures Dairon. That’s a pain. “Perhaps you could persuade the elves to cooperate with Grunti though.”

  “As long as they’re to be treated well.” Dairon says nervously.

  “Don’t worry. I’ll treat them just fine.” I promise with a sigh. “Was there anything else?”

  “No, we’ll be going.” Lucy says and floats off without another word. Peter and Dairon quickly follow her after getting up and bowing to me.

  “I’d better get to work. Don’t let anyone interrupt me.” I tell Lupine and then walk over to the harem door. I sit down in front of it and consider exactly how I’m going to open it.

  “Your majesty…” Lupine interrupts my thoughts just as I was on to something.

  “What?” I ask irritably.

  “The cook would like to know what you want for dinner.”

  “I said not to interrupt me. I’m not eating until I get this door open. Now don’t interrupt me again.” I would be yelling if it had been dad, but I can’t think too badly about such a cute girl. It takes a while to get my thoughts back on track but finally I realise how to open the door. So obvious! “Lupine, get me five silver tiles from the corridor.”

  Lupine looks at me blankly a moment. She seems half asleep. Then she seems to wake up and nods. “Yes, your majesty.” She dashes off at a run and I watch with an amused smile. She returns after a couple of minutes with five tiles like I asked.

  “Thanks Lupine.” I say and take the tiles from her. I then melt them down and cover the door with silver runes. I imbue each rune with powerful magic. When everything is complete I check all the runes five times before nodding with satisfaction and starting the chant. I make up the chant as I go and it lasts about five minutes, but as I finish I can tell that I got it right. The door starts to dissolve into silvery goo.

  “Where did you learn that chant?” Lupine asks in shock and then gasps and covers her mouth. I suppose she must think she’s still not allowed to interrupt me.

  “I just made it up.” I say with a shrug. Lupine’s eyes go wide as if impressed. “We should be able to see through soon. How long was I sitting there, anyway?”

  “About fifteen hours.” Lupine answers. No wonder she looks tired and no wonder I’m hungry.

  “Have the cook make something quick and filling. Fried fungi would be nice. You must be hungry too, so also have him make something you like.”

  “Thank you your majesty!” Lupine exclaims and she really does sound grateful. Then the first hole appears. It is no bigger than the tip of my smallest finger.

  “It shouldn’t be long before the whole door is gone.” I say happily. I would put my eye to the hole, but I’d risk getting caught by the effects of my own spell, and I really wouldn’t want to get dissolved by it! Sure enough there are more holes now and they are getting bigger. I can see a face on the other side of the door. “Stay back, it’s not safe to approach the door yet!”

  Moments later the whole door falls to the floor in one big lump of silvery goo. Behind the door stands a dwarven girl. No, after a moment I realise that isn’t correct. Behind the door stands a dwarven woman. The difference between dwarven girls and women, and dwarven boys and men is of course purely a matter of appearance and not age, since we don’t physically age.

  She is five foot tall and has large breasts that seem like they would be more suitable for a human. Actually even for a human they would be big. I’ve seen characters like her in those picture books I stole from the world of Nippon after the old king banned picture books. To say she is ugly would be an understatement. Is this what happens when dwarves have children naturally?

  “I’m King Norbert’s first wife. Where is the king?” She asks sounding a bit arrogant. I have to tell her that her husband is dead though, so I can’t feel angry. I just feel sorry for her.

  “I’m sorry, but King Norbert was killed. I am now king.” I tell her. She looks at me in shock.

  “Impossible… There’s no way he could have been killed, and why would that make you king? Are you some distant cousin of King Norbert? One of my sons is supposed to become king. And who is that ugly girl beside you?” She is in shock so I remind myself not to lash out at her despite her cruel and hypocritical words. How can she call anyone else ugly?

  “I’m not related to King Norbert, but the Council of Elders made me king after I saved the city.” I tell her and don’t go into the details. It sounds impressive but even if nobody else could do so I only moved the city using my grandfather’s magic. It’s not like I invented the spell.

  “Who are you calling ugly, you ugly old hag?” A squeaky voice by my ear screams. That reminds me about Imogen. She hadn’t said a word until now so I’d forgotten all about her.

  (Peter)

  Like everyone from our dome we are living in one of the city barracks and have been for a couple of weeks now. There are about five hundred dwarves from our dome in this barracks so it is as crowded as anything. We are making do but I hope Grunti removes Lucy’s curse soon so we can leave Nirvali.

  I’ve never wished for my spacious room at the academy, or even the smallest room at the academy for that matter, as much as I do now. Even when we were sleeping in the forest or the tunnels I didn’t wish for it as much as I do now. Perhaps partly because it was futile then and there is now real hope, but also because I wasn’t living with five hundred mostly fat and smelly dwarven men in a space meant for two hundred clean and fit young dwarven girls. It is harder for Lucy, Elucia and Kai of course, because they are the only girls or women in the whole barracks.

  “Is there a Lucy here?!” A dwarven girl calls out from the entrance. She is wearing the same armour that they all wear and has a sharp looking sword at her belt. Her skin is pale, her hair brown and her eyes green. She is cute but no more so than any dwarven girl. Of course since she is the only dwarven girl here everyone turns to face her, but she doesn’t seem bothered.

  “Lucy is here!” I call out.

  “Lucy and Lucy’s followers are required at the palace. Please come with me.” The dwarven girl calls back. The five of us head over to the exit and all breathe happily once we leave the barracks. The dwarven girl seems happy to be outside again too. “So which of you is Lucy?”

  “I am, and these are my followers.” Lucy says brightly with a mischievous smile.

  “Well, follow me.” The dwarven girl tells us and sets a quick pace despite her small legs. I am always impressed by just how quickly most dwarves can walk despite being so small. The walk takes us about half an hour but that is mostly spent getting approval to pass through the tunnels between domes. Especially the tunnel to the dome with the palace in. Finally we arrive at the palace and spend even longer waiting to be seen.

  The waiting room is just outside the throne room in a corridor just off of the main corridor where we fought. The waiting room has silver plated floor, walls and ceiling. The seats are solid silver blocks about the right size for a dwarf and are very uncomfortable. We don’t talk because we are all too nervous. Sure it is Grunti but we didn’t know him that well and he’s now king. Also if he took this long to decide it doesn’t seem like it was an easy decision. The dwarven girl who brought us waits with us and doesn’t talk any more than we do.