by Clark Graham
Caspin came in from the gates. He was hard to please and often grumpy. He was unhappy that the his father the King let in the ‘intruders.’ He was one of the many shamed at the King for not letting the armies go to the aide of men and thought that having men in the halls of the dwarves would bring further shame to his people. Men had had to save dwarves, not once, but twice in the three days that they ventured out from High Mountain. When he heard the full story of how man and dwarf fought and fell shoulder to shoulder, he was pleased. He had even managed a rare smile. His warrior blood burned within him. He longed for battle that had been denied him for years and years.
He was angry with his brother for not taking him along to the Mountains of Iron. When he realized that Cazz could not be the King under the mountains if the older brother came along he was no longer upset at him. But then he was angry with himself for not thinking of it first. Then he was relieved that he had not done it, for he too knew nothing of the world outside and would have been easy prey for the spiders as his brother had been.
He came in to help with the preparing of the feast, or rather order around those who were preparing the feast. He was then told the story of the meeting between Sarchise and the King. He tilted his head back and laughed aloud. A deep throaty laugh that he had not had in a long time. “The humans had no idea of what had actually just happened,” he said and laughed again to himself. He made his way up to his father’s chambers to talk.
Sarchise had a fitful time sleeping. His hips kept finding their way through the pillows to the cold stone below. He had to readjust himself every few minutes. Finally he gave up and sat up. Ferdin was just coming in the room.
“Sarchise, the fifth son is running a fever. The healer is worried about him.”
“That is a good sign, that means his blood is starting to move better and the body has found the poison in his system and is trying to get rid of it. After the fever starts it usually takes just one to two days for the person to awaken,” Sarchise explained.
“Oh,” Ferdin said, looking down. “My father has no fever. I thought that it was a good sign.”
“I would not hold much hope in your heart for your father,” Sarchise said gently. “An angry spider bites harder than a hungry one does. Very few that have had hard spider bites live to tell the tale. The elves had a potion made from a red flower that grows only in Northwood that was supposed to draw out the poison and could cure all but the hardest spider bites. They made a tea of these flowers and fed it to the stricken ones. It’s called Elf’s Blood. But I am afraid that it, along with other secrets of the elf’s medicine, left with them.”
“What will happen to my father?”
“If he does not recover after a week, the poison will slow his body to the point that it will stop altogether,” explained Sarchise.
“Harn also lingers, though they said he was dead after the battle,” Ferdin questioned.
“We have seen many men fall to the bite of the spider and know not which will make it and which will not. Without elvish medicine it was plain to us that Harn, as well as your father had no chance,” Sarchise said.
“My father was old and a warrior. He would not have liked to die around a bonfire. He fell in battle and the poets are already writing songs about him to sing at the feast tonight. He would have been proud to know that he was a warrior of song.” With that Ferdin made his way back down to the healer to tell him the good news for the prince and the bad news of his father.
Two guards came in after Ferdin had left. A smiling Caspin followed them.
The first guard said, “The King bids you to a feast in your honor.” He then turned and walked out.
Caspin added, “I hope you are hungry.” And then turning to Sarchise he said, “And I have arranged with the King for a surprise for you!” at that he left the room.
Fordin, who had slept while his brother watched over their father, looked at Hemlot and said, “This is upsetting to me, I have never seen him smile.”
“He only smiles when he hears or is about to hear tales of battles and war.” Hemlot said, Then added “or when he is up to extreme mischief.”
The Feast in the Great Hall
As the group of humans entered the Great Hall, they were greeted with sights and sounds that few humans have ever heard. Instruments played, and dwarfs talked. There were howls of laughter coming from one group or another, while all of the guests lingered around the tables, but none sat down.
This hall was twice the size of the lower hall and already had a roaring fire in the fire pit. The pillars were carved in the shape of axes. The handle was the base and the head of the axe held the roof up. Along the walls were statues that showed the great deeds of dwarves now dead. All of the tables faced the fire and there were many tables.
All the guests turned to greet the newcomers with the deep bow of the dwarf. Likewise, the humans took off their caps and held them over their heart and bowed deep. The travelers let themselves be led to a table of honor near the fire. When Sarchise went to sit down a dwarf maiden prevented him.
“No, no, my prince!” she said, “You must sit at the King’s table.”
Sarchise looked perplexed, then shrugged at his fellow humans and went to sit at the King’s table. There were the King and the Queen with six chairs on either side of them. Four of the King’s five sons sat at his right hand side with a chair left open for the wounded prince. Sarchise sat down in the sixth chair. There were six dwarf maidens to the left of the Queen. The King got up from his seat and announced the start of the festivities. With that the food was brought out. Plates stacked deep with all kinds of cooked meat. There was pig, goat, wild rabbit and deer, and others he couldn’t identify. Other plates had grapes on them and breads. Many were varieties that Sarchise had never seen before. Plates of cheeses of all kinds also appeared. As the server went by a table its occupants would grab what they wanted from the plates. Sarchise took some rabbit when the meat tray came by. Better to go with what you know, he thought. Wild rabbit was a staple for the Royal Scouts.
The breads and the cheeses were heavenly in taste but a little hard in texture. It seemed that dwarves did not like the lighter textures of food, wanting to be able to give it a good bite. Sarchise felt sorry for old dwarves who were losing their teeth. There was a round of grapes to finish it all off, and ale to wash it down. The ale was a little more bitter than what he was used to, but it was very good after a few weeks in the woods. Sarchise noticed that his friends were having a good time over at the table across the hall.
Feeling a bit lonely, he started talking to Caspin. It was a bit difficult with the chair between them. Caspin was not the gruff, disrespectful, snobbish prince that he had met down at the gate, but had a devious smile and seemed to treat Sarchise as an equal. His curiosity peaked and he finally asked.
“Are those the King’s daughters I see at the table?”
Caspin let out a deep-throated laugh, and then composed himself enough to answer. “Why, no, the King has no daughters. Those are the maidens that are betrothed to the princes.”
Sarchise looked again and asked, “Why are there six of them? I thought that the King had only five sons.” Caspin could no longer contain himself. He laughed so hard that he fell backwards in his chair. He rolled across the floor for a minute. He sat at the edge of the wall, then stood up and sat back down at the table. He then whispered to the brother next to him who also laughed, deep and loud. And so it went down the row of brothers, each laughing in turn until it reached the ears of the King. He also roared with laughter. He then stood up from his chair.
Holding up his arms to quiet down the crowd, the King made an announcement. “I, King of High Mountain, was going to announce the betrothal of my sixth son to Ammlee the daughter of Hightower. But as I have just found out, my sixth son does not know who he is!” With that the whole crowd, except for the humans and Hemlot, burst out in laughter. Hemlot had a worried look on his face, fearful that he had done something wrong. The whol
e crowd was looking at Sarchise. Having nothing better to do, and seeing that he may have just made a fool of himself, Sarchise lifted up his mug of ale and toasted the crowd. This brought more hails of laughter. A blushing Ammlee stood up and bowed to the crowd. Great and fierce dwarf warriors were crying from laughing so hard.
When the laughter subsided, the King spoke something in the old dwarf tongue. Ammlee bowed her head and Caspin reached over and whispered for Sarchise to nod his head also. He did so before he thought of asking why.
“It is done!” the king announced and immediately musicians began to play and sing.
To tell a tale of wandering lords
Who dreamed of thrones and golden hordes
But ended wrapped in Spiders Cords
Who went down a deeply forested way
But through a spider’s bite now stay
And now in healer’s hut he lay.
A tall green clad man of trees
Walking through the forest breeze
From the spiders, our prince did seize.
He brought him back to our mountain
And thought he would depart again
But a new life for him began
Our dwarfish tongue, to him, makes no sense
And to us he seems a little tense
But he finds himself a dwarfish prince.
Then a second song began.
Of heroes of the old and new
In halls of stone or skies of blue
Where warriors are here save the day
Glowin’s name is here to stay
The old warrior fell in battle sore
Is now behind the healer’s door
Though he may never see the light of day
Glowin’s name is here to stay
Many a gremlin, he did fell
And lived again to tell the tale
But in a spider’s lair he fell that day
Glowin’s name is here to stay
An army of servers came and started moving out the tables and chairs. The crowds starting to find places around the bonfire, while maidens brought pitchers full of ale.
Not knowing what better to do, Sarchise sat back down. Hemlot came up and whispered in Sarchise’s ear. “When we first met you told me you knew our ways!” he hissed.
“I know that if you save a dwarf’s life you are considered his brother,” Sarchise said,
“Do you remember when the King said ‘the brother of my son is my son?”
“Yes,” said Sarchise.
“That made you the sixth son of the King.” Hemlot explained, “and now you are engaged to Ammlee.”
“What?” Sarchise almost screamed it. “I will never agree to that!”
“You already have. You nodded your head,” Hemlot explained.
“When?” he said, and then he thought a moment. “Oh that, you don’t expect me to speak old dwarfish? What can I do about it?”
“Nothing, you dare not refuse gifts from the King,” said Hemlot firmly.
Caspin leaned over and said “Congratulations, by the way, I told the King that you would feel bad if you had not a betrothed at the feast.”
“You!” Sarchise raged, “This is all your fault.”
Caspin leaned his head back and roared with laughter.
Sarchise turned back to Hemlot. “When do I have to get married? How long can I postpone it?”
“A dwarf wedding is announced at a large feast. The father of the groom announces the engagement. The engagement is the wedding.” Hemlot explained. “But the King has chosen for you one of the fairest maidens in the realm.”
Sarchise just shook his head and scowled at the still laughing Caspin.
The King came and sat down between Caspin and Sarchise. “Can’t have my princes fighting. I thought that you knew our ways. You now have the best the dwarves have to offer. Good food, great bonfires and fine maidens.’
“Sarchise nodded, “Thank you, Your Grace.”
“Now down to business.” The King paused to have his mug filled again. “Tell me, how goes the world of men?”
Sarchise sighed and then said, “Not well. When the elves left, we didn’t have the manpower to take possession of all of their old cities. We went to burn them all but the minotaur had taken many before we got there. We could not drive them out of fortified elfin cities so we bypassed those and burned all of the rest. That was the last time that we have been in the deeps of the Westwood.
“We only have enough scouts to patrol the outskirts of Westwood. There is talk of abandoning the forest to evil, except for the east border where the King’s road goes from Middle Kingdom to South Fort. There was a proposal to abandon South Fort too, but it is the only city-state outside the Four Kingdoms. All four of the old Kingdoms are under the King of Ril, all of the other Kings were killed in the last war. The Kingdom of Zor is only sparsely populated. No merchants will go near there because the King’s road runs between the Westwood and the Mountains of Iron. No caravan can make it through without being attacked. The only contact we have with them is through the Royal Scouts.”
“Hmmm,” the King mused “It is worst than I thought.”
“I must take my Scouts back towards South Fort in the morning. We have to report in three days, and it is a six day march from here,” Sarchise explained.
“Very well, I will have your army at the ready. Hemlot will be your second.” The King said looking at Hemlot. Hemlot nodded.
“Army?” questioned Sarchise.
“Yes, no prince leaves the Kingdom without at least part of his army. They take the whole army if they are not sneaking out in the middle of the night.” Explained the King.
“How big is an army?” Sarchise asked.
“500 warriors,” said the King.
Sarchise was going to say that he didn’t want to be a prince, but Hemlot must have read his mind. He was glaring at him and shaking his head no. “Very well, Your Grace.” He said with a nod. The King got up and left.
Sarchise took another gulp of ale. Looking over at him, Hemlot asked. “You are used to commanding, are you going to be all right at being second in command to a human?”
Hemlot smiled. “A commander can get no higher than second in command to a prince. We are to protect the prince and lead his army. It is a great honor that I have just been given.”
“So you give the orders to the army and not me?” Sarchise asked.
“The easiest way to explain it is, you tell us where to go, I decide how we get there,” Hemlot explained.
“Well enough.” He said with a yawn. “Can I go to bed yet?”
Caspin overheard that one. “Go to bed? Of course.” He whistled and motioned for Ammlee. She came up and grabbed Sarchise’s arm with both of hers. “She will show you the way.” He said with a big smile.
Ermort saw them going by and lifted his mug, “Good night, my prince.”
Sarchise scowled at him.
Ermort, Will, and Tom were sitting with Ferdin. Fordin was down with the healers sitting by his father. The twins had taken turns; there was always one of his sons sitting by the father’s side as he lay on his deathbed.
The music changed to a deep slow tune. The singer sung of the coming of the humans, the battle with the spiders, the saving of the prince and the fall of Glowin. He then sang about Glowin’s life, the fight where he received his scar and how he fought with honor.
Ferdin smiled through his tears and said, “He would be proud to know that there were songs about his bravery.”
Ermort put his hand on the lad’s back. No words would come.
The Awakening of the Prince
Prince Cazz tossed and turned before waking up. In fact, he was drenched in sweat. He had been sitting around a bonfire when the spiders came and now he was in a dark room on a stone slab. He sat up and noticed that he had a mud bandage on his neck and across his stomach. The dwarves put herbs next to the wound after they sewed it up. The herbs draw out any infection and the mud holds on the herbs and keeps
out any new infections. Cazz was going to break off the mud when the healer rushed up.
“No, my prince, you must not. It is not healed yet,” the healer said,
Cazz stopped. “What happened to me?”
“You were attacked by spiders.”
“Where are my warriors?” he asked.
“There are only nine left, my prince, and they have not yet awoken. They were bitten also,” said the healer.
“My father will be furious. I left the mountain and was defeated my first night out.” Cazz said, looking around. “Is that a human?”
“Yes, my Prince, he fell coming to your rescue, along with Glowin.” The healer explained. “They were both wounded grievously and not expected to live.”
Cazz sighted Ferdin in the corner sitting next to his wounded father. He stumbled over there, with the help of a healer, and sat down next to them. “I fought along side your father in a small battle once. I was afraid, as it was my first fight. He told me that by grasping my axe very hard, I could force the fear into my axe handle. He was a brave warrior.” He put his hand on the boy’s shoulder.
Ferdin smiled up at him. “They sang songs about him at the feast in the great hall yesterday. He would have been proud to have been there.”
“Tell me what has transpired since I have been asleep,” the prince asked.
Ferdin told him of the meeting with the humans and how they would have fallen to the spiders as well. He told him of the battle in the spider’s lair and the retreat to High Mountain. He told him about the new prince and about the songs of his father at the great feast.
“I missed a victory feast.” Cazz said, “Those are few and far between these days.”
