He stood in the sitting room staring at his clothing. He wore his black leather jacket that Anwar had enchanted to be his armor. He had wiped it down and oiled it making it shine. A tailor had come yesterday and measured him for pants. His mother had sent the man, so Grundel had obliged him. This morning the tailor had returned with three pairs of pants. He had a dark brown pair, a tan pair, and a gray pair. The tailor had recommended the brown pair for the parade, and the gray pair for the feast. It didn’t really make a difference to him, so he took the man’s advice. The pants looked so fine that he was surprised when he put them on. They weren’t as soft as they looked. They were actually quite tough and durable.
“You approve?” the tailor asked.
“I approve. You did a very good job, and I am sorry, but I don’t remember your name,” Grundel said.
“No need to apologize, Your Highness. My name is Renwald. I am glad you approve of the trousers. If I may, I made a few adjustments I thought you might appreciate.” He picked up one of the other pairs of pants. He held out the waist of them. “Here in the back of the waist is a small loop on the inside. I noticed your belt knife. This will allow you to hook the clip of your sheath on the inside of your pants so that others can’t see it. It will conceal the weapon quite nicely when you are wearing your jacket, I think, Your Highness.”
The man was clever. Grundel pulled his belt knife off the waist of his old pants and slipped it inside his waist. When he pulled the blade, it slid from the sheath easily, and the sheath stayed in place better.
“The loop is a strong but flexible material. It will allow you to use other sized knives if necessary, but it will also hold the sheath tighter than the clip alone,” the man told him.
Grundel smiled. “This is great, Renwald, thank you.”
“I took the liberty of making you some new boots as well, Your Highness,” Renwald said, pulling a pair of boots from a bag. They were black boots like the ones he had been wearing. They would go about halfway up his calf. “There is a similar strap on the inside of your right boot, Your Highness.”
Grundel slid the boots on and put his boot knife in the right boot. Sure enough, it held it in place much tighter. It wouldn’t move around and rub against his ankle. “You are a master of your craft, Renwald. You must have been up all night working on this,” he said.
“It was no trouble at all, Your Highness,” the tailor said, but Grundel knew between all of this and whatever clothing his mother had needed, the tailor and a small team of his employees would have spent all night getting these things ready.
“Well, thank you anyway, Renwald.”
“It is a pleasure to serve, Your Highness,” Renwald said.
Grundel saw Rundo standing in the doorway of his room watching with a big stupid smile on his face.
Renwald saw him, too. “If that is all, Your Highness, I will be going.”
“Thanks again, Renwald,” he said to the tailor, who bowed before gathering his things and heading for the door.
The door slammed and Rundo walked into the room wearing his snakeskin vest over a long-sleeved black shirt. “Is there anything that this unworthy halfling may do to be of service, Your Highness?” he said waving his arm in a circle and bending forward at the waist.
Grundel laughed and shook his head. If he said anything he knew that Rundo would just keep going. There was a knock at the door. Rundo went to open it. Master Brennin followed him back in.
Grundel stood there while Master Brennin looked him up and down. His mother had told him that the man would be the best source of advice he could find in the city.
“It is very fitting, Your Highness.”
“Thank you, Master Brennin. Is it time?” he asked the man who served as servant, caretaker, advisor, and Bordin only knew what else.
“It is getting to be, Your Highness. Your mother is nearly ready,” he said very politely.
Grundel nodded. “I will just go grab my axes, and we can go.”
Grundel had barely walked through the door when he heard Master Brennin shout, “Look out!” just before he heard glass breaking. Grundel spun around in time to see Rundo already throwing a dagger at the man who had come crashing through the window. He was about to go running to help when he heard footsteps behind him. He spun around in just in time to see another man lunging at him with a knife. He dodged to the side, barely escaping the dagger, and kicking out at the same time. The man dropped his knife as he rolled back toward the wall with the balcony the man had come through. He turned toward the balcony, and Grundel thought he was going to try to escape, but instead he ran over and grabbed one of Grundel’s axes.
Grundel charged the man. His own axe came down at him with a swing that would have cleaved his head from his shoulders, that is, if the axe hadn’t been enchanted with his own blood. Neither of his axes could harm anyone with the blood of a Stoneheart in their veins. The assassin barely had time to realize that the axe had stopped abruptly at the slightest contact with Grundel’s skin when the blade of Grundel’s belt knife buried into the side of his skull. The man fell to the ground lifeless, dropping the axe in the process.
Grundel ran back to the other room. There were two dead assassins lying just inside of the broken window.
“You’re late,” Rundo said, pausing before finishing with, “Your Highness.”
Grundel smiled. “That one tried to kill me with my own axe.”
“I wondered when that was finally going to do something for you. I thought it was the best thing about the weapons when Anwar enchanted them, but it seems to be the least-used attribute,” Rundo said.
Grundel turned to the old man who had taken care of his mother when she was a child. “Master Brennin, are you okay?”
The old man looked up from the bodies. “Those were Black Dragon assassins.”
“Yes, they were,” Rundo said.
“They surprised you, and the two of you still killed all three of them in barely a minute’s time,” the old man said as if he was trying to convince himself.
“They’re not nearly as bad as everyone makes them out to be, once you get to know them,” Rundo said jokingly.
Grundel and Rundo both laughed. Master Brennin looked at both of them and Grundel saw a new respect in the man’s eyes. “I will send someone to take care of the bodies. We will have to get you a new room, I’m afraid; the window will take some time to repair.”
Grundel nodded.
“I will have your things moved to a new apartment before we return,” Master Brennin said.
“Should we go then?” Grundel asked.
“I suppose it is time, Your Highness,” Master Brennin said, leading them out of the room.
When they got to his mother’s apartment down the hall, the door was open. Grundel hadn’t even thought that the Black Dragons might go after his mother. He sprinted the last few paces to the door and into the room, pulling one of his axes off his shoulder at the same time.
His mother sat in a chair while a young woman finished pinning her hair up in the back. Dozens of strands of hair had been pinned up in different directions, making the bun in the back of her head look like some kind of flower. She saw Grundel charge into the room in her mirror, and she hopped to her feet, causing the woman to step back.
“Grundel, what is it?” Anna asked.
“Your door is open,” he said, and she relaxed.
“Oh, the other girl went to tell the king that we were on our way. I asked her to leave the door open so that Allison wouldn’t have to stop what she was doing to come let you in.” She looked at the young woman next to her. “Well, I guess that didn’t quite work.” She looked at Grundel who still had his axe in hand. “What happened? You wouldn’t have come charging in like that just because of the door.”
“Black Dragons in our apartment,” Grundel said nonchalantly. The woman standing next to Anna gasped.
“Is everyone okay?” Anna asked.
“Everyone but the assassins,” Rundo said.
He saw the girl’s immediate reaction to what he said, and he added a “Your Highness.” That seemed to satisfy the girl.
She looked at her old caretaker. “Master Brennin, are we ready?” she asked.
“I believe so, Your Highness. The king will likely be waiting, but I am fairly certain he will excuse the delay given the circumstances,” Master Brennin said.
When they made it to the entrance of the palace, Master Brennin approached the king and whispered in his ear. The King immediately turned to Grundel.
“Are you all right?”
“We are fine, Your Highness,” Grundel said.
“I can’t believe this. The Black Dragons are a nuisance, but they have never attempted to enter the palace before,” he said.
“That is our fault, I think, Your Highness. We were associated with the wizard Anwar who killed a great number of them, and we have killed a fair number in Ambar, and again when we took back Shinestone,” Grundel said.
“Still, the Black Dragons have to know that attacking royalty, and in the palace at that, will make the leaders of the five cities start changing our policy of tolerance,” the king said.
Grundel didn’t respond.
“Well, I suppose this will likely have something to do with why you have come. If everyone is okay, I say we go enjoy the rest of our day. We can get to the unpleasantries tomorrow,” the king said.
They followed the king out of the palace. At the bottom of the dark granite steps were four beautiful white stallions and four black ones. Dobo and Gobo were holding the reins of the two horses in the rear.
The king climbed atop one of the front two horses. “Cousin, if you will ride next to me, Priscilla will ride next to Grundel.”
Anna nodded and mounted the horse with the help of Master Brennin. She wore a long cream-colored dress that hugged her tightly from the shoulders to the waist. The bottom from the waist down flared out. She would be forced to ride the stallion with both her legs on one side, but she sat the horse with an ease that said it was not the first time she had done this. Grundel realized that he knew very little about his mother.
Grundel followed the queen to the two white stallions behind the king and his mother. He helped her into her saddle before mounting his own horse. Jerrie walked up to the front and Grundel could just barely hear him. “Your Highness, given the circumstances, I would like to have me and Rundo ride out front, if that is okay?”
The king thought about it for a moment before nodding his head.
“Thank you, Your Highness,” Jerrie said before walking back and climbing onto the back of the black stallion next to Rundo. The big horse made the halfling look very small, but they had put a child’s saddle on the horse for him. Jerrie and Rundo rode to the front and the king gave the command for the guards to open the gate.
They rode through the gates to crowds of cheering people. Guards lined both sides of the street in freshly polished armor that gleamed in the sunlight. They held back thousands. Grundel had never seen so many people in one place in his life. They continued down the street as people cheered. He heard them all cheering for his mother. They loved her; people were throwing roses at her the whole way.
There was a line of troops walking along next to the horses on both sides of them. After making their first turn and going eight blocks, Grundel saw a glint of light reflecting off of metal up ahead. Jerrie had been expecting it. Just as Grundel noticed the reflection of light, one of Jerrie’s daggers intercepted it, and both knives fell to the street harmlessly. Grundel pushed forward. He saw Rundo throw a dagger into the crowd ahead of him. Cheering turned to screaming. The soldiers pulled the king and his mother off their mounts and surrounded them. Soldiers were moving to pull him and the queen down. He reached across, grabbing the back of her dress with one hand as he pulled her out of her saddle and set her down gently on the ground between the horses. He felt a sharp pain in his stomach as his abdomen attempted to stabilize the off-balance weight, but he ignored it. Once she was on the ground he pulled one of his axes free.
A crossbow was fired at him from a rooftop a few seconds later. He turned his axe to protect his head, trusting in his magically enchanted jacket to protect his body. The bolt glanced off his axehead. The soldiers where already firing their own bows at the roof, but the man had already ducked behind the roof’s wall. Grundel reached up with his left hand and pulled out his other axe before throwing the one in his right hand. His axe smashed through the wall where the crossbowman had been. It didn’t hit the man, but Grundel could see him crouch down beside the hole in the wall. His axe came flying back, spinning horizontally instead of vertically. It cut through the man as it broke through more of the wall. The man fell to the ground amongst a shower of stone.
The soldiers were marching the king and his mother back toward him. Dobo and Gobo had somehow already made it through the soldiers and were walking on either side of his mother. Everything seemed to be under control now, and Grundel realized for the first time that the screams of the crowd were not in fear for themselves, but for the king and Grundel’s mother.
Everyone walked back to the palace surrounded by soldiers. Grundel was the only one who remained mounted, searching for a threat. By the time they made it back to the palace he heard people in the crowd cheering for Prince Grundel.
Grundel dismounted when they were inside the palace walls, and a guard took the reins of his horse. He followed the others up the steps and into the palace. He heard Master Renwald up ahead talking to the king.
“Your Highness, is everything all right?”
“We are all fine, Renwald, thanks to Anna’s and Grundel’s friends. They have proven themselves to be quite capable.” He turned to his cousin. “Anna, I suppose we should discuss what brought you here. It seems that the issues want to press themselves.”
“Should I cancel the feast, Your Highness?” the queen asked.
He looked to his wife. “No, we will not start canceling things because of these assassins; we will just prepare more thoroughly. If you would, Priscilla, let Captain Douglas know that the security for this evening should be doubled.”
She bowed slightly. “Of course, Your Highness,” she said, turning and hustling down the hall.
He turned back toward the others. “Please come with me,” he told them.
They followed him back through the audience hall and into his personal audience chambers. Once inside he asked his guards to wait outside. Grundel couldn’t blame them for seeming to be uncomfortable leaving him in the room with all of these armed strangers. The king closed the door behind the last guard as he walked out, and then turned back to Anna.
“So what is going on?”
“Cousin, the world is falling to chaos, and no one knows it yet. Delvidge sent one of his creatures to the mortal plane. I know it sounds like a story Master Brennin used to tell us as children, but I have seen the beast myself. My son and the others destroyed it in Evermount. An army of orcs marched on the mountain after that. It was only with the power of a great wizard that we survived. Now the dwarves of Tiefes Loch are marching to take the other dwarven cities. They have abandoned the old ways. They are overbreeding and they have enlisted the army of Portwein to aid them. We came here to ask you for your help. The army of Patria is the best in all of the five cities. If you attack from the rear while Shinestone fights the army from the front, we can destroy them.”
He thought about this for a few minutes. “The Black Dragons are with them.”
“We believe they are, but we don’t know for sure,” she told him.
He shook his head. “It’s the only explanation. If Tiefes Loch has persuaded Portwein to ally with them, then they must have promised them arms, armor, and money. Bergmann must have promised them power. But that wouldn’t explain the Black Dragons coming out in the open to attack royalty. They have never been so bold before. If they are coming out and attacking like this, it means they are trying to prevent this alliance from happening. It means that their guil
d of wizards and assassins have joined with this army. If they are part of it, then the army isn’t going to stop with taking control of the dwarven kingdoms. Portwein is going to attempt to seize control of all of Gegend.”
“Does that mean that you will help us?” Grundel asked.
“I don’t know yet, nephew, I don’t know. I will have to talk with my advisors, and my generals. I know we can’t stay out of this, but I will have to consult with them. We will have to gather more information. We still have time to come up with a plan. If we haven’t heard anything yet, then that means that they couldn’t have left Portwein yet. We have received word they had dwarves in the city, but we haven’t heard anything about their army mobilizing.”
Grundel just nodded in acceptance. It was a prudent choice. The king would tell his people what he had heard and allow them to confirm the information. Once they confirmed the information it would be more real to them, and they would be more likely to get involved.
“Well, we will have to deal with this as it comes. I am sorry I can’t give you an answer yet. Either way, you are welcome here as long as you want to stay, and I will let you know everything I find out. You are both members of the Patria line, and we will not accept anyone trying to harm our own family. The Black Dragons have now waged war against the city of Patria, and their presence here will not be tolerated any longer,” the king said with determination.
“You should all return to your rooms and prepare for the feast. Brennin will show you to your new rooms and staff will be sent up to bring you anything you need. I need to talk to my men about the Black Dragons,” he told them as he moved toward the door.
The Half Dwarf Prince Trilogy Page 30
