The Half Dwarf Prince: 02 - The Dwarf War (3 page)

Grundel sat in his room sharpening the knife Frau
had given him. It had been an hour of slow, smooth strokes of steel against stone, but now he was finished. He wished he wasn’t, but he was done. The knife hadn’t been dull to begin with, but now it was ridiculously sharp. After an hour of slowly sharpening and increasing the angle, the edge of this blade could cut to bone with very little pressure. He looked it over one last time before he slid the blade into its sheath.

S
harpening that blade made him miss working with metal. He had thought of himself as a master smith before his father had returned to Evermount. After watching his father work, however, he had realized that, as good as he was, he was still nowhere near a master. His father had worked with him, though; together they had made his axes, and even created a steel replica of his grandfather’s hand. He had improved greatly just watching his father. Now he was lying in bed wishing that he were in a smith. That would be a sure way to distract him from everything else.

Jerrie and Rundo came in soon after he put the knife away.

“Ah, he’s awake,” Jerrie said.

“I thought you would be sharpening that knife. That is why you wanted it
, right? To give you something to do?” Rundo asked.

“I already sharpened it as much as I could. If I made it any sharper the edge wouldn’t hold,” Grundel said
, holding out the knife, still in its sheath.

Rundo took the knife and slid it from the sheath. He touched his finger
lightly to the blade to gauge its sharpness, and a line of blood appeared across his thumb. “You could do surgery with that thing,” he said as he brought his finger to his mouth.

Jerrie took the knife
and examined it. “That really is sharp. How long do you think the edge will hold?”

Grundel shrugged. “It is good
steel. Some of the best. It will hold for a while, or at least until I drag it across the bones of some assassin.”

Jerrie just shook his head. “Everyone is getting together to talk about the trip. We thought you would want to be there. Besides, you spend far t
oo much time in this bed.”

Grundel couldn’t help but smile. He really did appreciate his friends, even if they did berate him at every opportunity. He slipped out of the bed. He took the now
-sheathed dagger from Jerrie and slid it into his boot, then put his leather vest on. The vest had two sheaths on the back that he slid his axe handles into. It still hurt pretty bad to raise his arms over his head, but he managed. Hellen was sure to remind him every time she talked to him that most people would barely be able to stand at this point, and even then they would need support. Grundel had given up the cane yesterday. Now he followed his friends through Shinestone to meet with everyone else.

When they walked into the
great hall, Grundel saw his father, the king of Evermount; his mother, Anna, part of the royal family of Patria; Kraft, the king of Haufen; Frau, the queen of Shinestone; Fuhrung, Frau’s other advisor; Hellen; and Jabaal.

“We don’t need a large force, we just need an escort. It would look better,” his mother was saying.

“Ten is not enough. You and Grundel are both royalty. How would it look if we sent you with such a small force?” Kraft was saying.

Grundel walked into the room and cut them all off.
“We are not taking ten dwarves with us. Jerrie will act as my mother’s personal bodyguard. It won’t be suspicious if I don’t have one. Rundo will come as well. It will keep everyone off guard wondering why we brought him. We will take two other dwarves with us as an escort. They need to be dwarves who can ride. We need to move quickly. Every day could make a difference. We should leave tomorrow.”

Everyone stared at him. He hadn’t really made a recommendation.
Though he hadn’t intended to, he had basically just told a room full of kings and queens what to do. He thought someone was going to chastise him, but they were all looking at him approvingly. Frau and Kraft were actually smiling.

“Well
, you are going to need some armor before you leave, at least some chain mail. We can get someone on it today, but it will take at least two days to finish it,” his father said.

“I think I could take care of that,” came a voice from the corner of the room. Everyone turned toward the sound.

“Anwar!” Grizzle and Jabaal said together.

“I heard you might need some help,” Anwar said
, walking over to the group. Anwar was the mage who had saved them at Evermount. He was the most powerful magic-user in the world except for maybe The Father, a mortal god who was thousands of years old. Anwar was the opposite of everything you thought of when you pictured a wizard. Most wizards spent all their time studying spells and books; they were usually weak and frail and relied on their magic for all their needs. Anwar was nearly eight feet tall and big and muscular, having inherited the size of one of his great-grandparents, a hill giant. He focused on his magic, but he trained hard to be able to fight with his staff as well. His arms and chest were massive and carved with well-used muscle.

Grizzle and Jabaal both wrapped their arms around their old friend. “With you on our side
, Tiefes Loch doesn’t have a chance,” Grundel said.

Anwar raised his hands. “Hold on, hold on. I can’t fight with you. I was able to talk
The Father into letting me come, but I can’t stay long, and I can’t fight. I am a representative of balance now. I still have a lot of work to do before I will really have this power under control. If I started fighting an army, I could lose control like I did last time. I can help you with weapons and armor and even some preparations before I leave, but I can’t get directly involved.”

Grundel stepped back. “What do you mean
, you can’t fight? This is balance, too. Those dwarves are trying to take over all of the other kingdoms. They have abandoned our ways and have been planning this attack for centuries.”

Anwar shook his head. “Trust me
, I argued it myself. The Father made it perfectly clear that I am not to interfere in the fighting. The only way we can get involved is if this war threatened to extinguish your race altogether. Right now it doesn’t look like it will. It will cost a great number of lives, but one side will win. I plan on helping set you up to be that side.”

“How do you plan to do that
?” Kraft asked.

Anwar smiled. “I have missed dwarven bluntness. Everything with
The Father is a riddle. He never says what he means, or not so plainly. Let me first give you some information about your enemy. It is a bit more than I am supposed to tell you, but I will do it anyway. The dwarves of Tiefes Loch aren’t lying. They have been breeding rapidly for centuries. They have also made an alliance with the Black Dragons, and with the city of Portwein. That leads me to how I will help you. First, I am going to help with fortifications here at Shinestone. As the dwarves of Evermount know, I am very capable at that. I will also help outside the mountain, making it more difficult for them to attack. And I will help with weapons and armor. They are going to have wizards, so you will need armor to protect against their spells, and weapons that can get through their magical shields. I can’t give your whole army these—that would upset the balance in the world—but I can make you some. It sounds like we should start with Grundel, Rundo, and their new friend, though.”

“My name is Jerri
e. It is an honor to meet you,” Jerrie said, holding out his hand.

“No, the honor is mine. Thank you for taking care of my friends. It is very difficult for me to know they are in danger and not be able to help them. It is good to know they have another capable person around to watch their backs,” Anwar replied
, warmly shaking his hand. “You are Kraft, correct?” he asked, turning towards the Haufen king.

“I am. It is an honor. You have done a lot for my race and I am grateful. Thank you for coming to help us once again,” Kraft said.

“It is my pleasure. That means you must be Queen Frau. I am quite interested to see how this whole thing works out,” he said turning toward her.

“Which thing is that
?” she asked defensively.

Anwar just smiled at her.

“Oh, that,” was all she said.

“Anwar
, how is it that you already know everything that’s going on when you just got here?” Jabaal asked.

“I came from The Father. He keeps an eye on everything that’s happening everywhere. It is all he does
—watch over the world making sure that everything is in balance, that no power threatens that balance, and that the fate of each race is protected.”

Everyone in the room stared at him. They all had heard stories about the man who had lived thousands of years and kept the gods in check, but to see their friend talking about him so plainly was a bit
upsetting.

Anwar looked around the room at his friends. He smiled at them. He understood how unsettling this must all be.

“Okay, we can get to equipping and protecting Shinestone later. If I heard correctly, Grundel and Anna’s group will be leaving in the morning. I think I should get their weapons and armor finished up tonight. If you can set me up in a room with a table, I can start working with each of them on the items they want while the rest of you finish planning their trip. But first, I think I owe Anna a hug,” he said, walking over to Grizzle’s wife. “How are you, Anna?” he asked as he hugged her.

“I am
well, Anwar, thanks for coming,” she answered.

Anwar turned back to the others. “Ok
ay, so who’s first?”

“Take Jerrie first. We will finish up here. There is a room down the hall on the right. There are two dwarves outside. I’ll
tell one of them to go with you, and you can send him to get you anything you need,” Grundel said. Everyone looked at him again. He didn’t know why he kept taking charge; he didn’t mean to, but it just seemed easier. He knew what needed to happen so he just said it. No one seemed to have a problem with it, though.

Anwar smiled and nodded to Grundel. Grizzle’s young son was growing up quick
ly. He was intelligent, confident, and humble. He would be a good leader. He was a lot like his father.

“Well then
, Jerrie, if you will come with me? Let’s see what we can do for you.”

When they were gone Grizzle spoke up. “
Well, it sounds like Anna and Grundel have it all figured out. If they are all equipped with Anwar’s magically enchanted weapons and armor, that will make me more comfortable. We can decide on the other two dwarves later, I think. Does anyone have any objections?”

“If Grizzle is good with it
, I am,” Kraft said.

Everyone looked at Frau. “I don’t like it, but I will accept it. Like I said before
, this is Grundel’s decision. I have to accept it just like everyone else.”

“So does this mean we can go watch
Anwar make Jerrie’s items?” Rundo said.

“We shouldn’t risk interrupting him while he is working magic,” Grizzle said.

“Yeah, and I think Jerrie would prefer to have his secrets. Let’s let him show us what he wants. If Anwar makes him something he wants to keep to himself, I think we should respect that,” Grundel said.

“Well
, I guess we just wait here until Jerrie comes out then,” Frau said.

Jerrie stood next to a big stone table in the room with Anwar.

“All right, there are a couple of things we are going to need before we get started,” Anwar said, walking out into the hall. “He should be back in a few minutes with some materials. While we wait, let’s talk about what we are going to do. First, seeing that you have that ring, I assume you already understand what all of the magical items you carry do,” Anwar asked.

Jerrie looked down at his ring. He was surprised that Anwar had known about it. He had never told anyone about it. Anwar just smiled. “Magical Items are a specialty of mine. I wrote a book about it
, actually, and that was before I really knew much about them. Don’t worry, I won’t say anything about your ring. Have you ever used the other ring?”

Jerrie looked at the ring with the red ruby in it. He had taken it
from one of the Black Dragon wizards they had fought when they were taking back Shinestone. He knew what it was supposed to do; he just hadn’t discovered how to activate it yet. “No, I don’t know how.”

Anwar nodded.
“That is expected. That ring, like many items, requires a command to be spoken. What very few people know about this type of item is that the command word is engraved on the item when the enchantment is created. When you find items like this, you just have to search the item for the command word. If it requires a verbal command, the word will be etched there somewhere. It will be very small, and usually you won’t be able to see it with just your naked eye, but you can find it. Using a looking glass should work. Lucky for you, I can use magic to look for it,” he said, holding out his hand to take the ring.

Jerrie hesitated. He didn’t like the thought of handing over the item.

“I have no intention of taking the item from you, Jerrie. It wouldn’t be much use to me,” Anwar told him.

Jerrie slid the ring off his finger and handed it over. Anwar took the ring and
examined it. “Ah, there it is, on the outside of the band right next to the setting holding the ruby. Do you see it?” he asked, holding up the ring for Jerrie to see.

“That little scratch
?” he asked.

“Yes, it actually says
‘Beschuss.’ Be careful though. If you say that word while the ring is on your finger, it will activate it,” Anwar said handing back the ring.

Jerrie took the ring back and slid it on his finger. “Thank you.”

“It’s no problem. Now, I want to talk to you about your bracers. We could do a couple of things with them,” Anwar said.

Jerrie was surprised again. “How do you know about my bracers?”

Anwar just smiled. “I know a lot of things, Jerrie. I spent a lot of time talking with The Father before I came here.”

Jerrie nodded
, embarrassed. “What do you want to do to my bracers?”

“The better question would be
, what do you want me to do to them? I have a couple of ideas. First, we could simply enhance the ones you use. I could make them nearly weightless and indestructible, or we could get some leather, and I could do the same with them, making them indestructible. Leather around your wrist would be less suspicious if anyone saw it. If you have any ideas, though, please let me know,” Anwar said.

Jerrie thought about it for a second. “I always kind of wished that they could deflect a blow. Would you be able to do something like that?”

“I could make it so that anything that came in direct contact would be pushed away some,” Anwar replied. “We don’t want that effect to be too strong, though. It wouldn’t help for you to bump your arm against something have it be thrown violently away from you. I could enchant them so the force of the rebound would reflect the strength with which the item was touched, though. With the indestructibility of the bracers, you wouldn’t have to worry about your arm being damaged from the blow, but the force of the blow will still impact the bracer, so if you take a blow on the bracer it won’t hurt your arm from the impact, but your arm will still react to force of the impact. That means, if you took a heavy hit to your arm—”

“It would still knock my arm down or spin me around or even knock me to the ground,” Jerrie finished for him.

“Yes, the good thing will be that, with your idea added, your attacker’s weapon will be rebounded, giving you some time to recover,” Anwar said.

“I guess if you can do all of that with some leather bracers
, then I don’t need these,” Jerrie said, pulling up his sleeve. He undid the small links on the inside of his forearm and slid the bracers off.

“Well
, if you’re going with the leather, we could use the metal from those bracers to start our next project,” Anwar said.

Jerrie looked at him curiously. “What next project?”

“Well, I know you always fight with knives, but I thought it might be useful for you to be able to have something to give you a little more space in a jam,” Anwar answered him.

“I don’t like carrying around a sword
. It attracts attention,” Jerrie replied.

“I never said anything about carrying it around. Here
, hand me one of your knives. Preferably one that you’re not going to throw in a fight.”

Jerrie hesitated again, but he slid
out the knife from the back of his waist and handed it to Anwar. Then he watched as the mage set it on the table. He set the bracers in front of him, and they began to glow red, then melt, and in seconds they were liquid. He watched as the molten steel was reshaped into a sword, without Anwar ever having touched it.

“How is that for length? I can shape it however you want. I am not really sure what your sword preference is.”

Jerrie looked at the short sword in front of him. “I have always preferred the gentle curve of a sabre.” He watched as the short sword heated up again and the blade curved upward perfectly. It was a beautiful sword. The hilt had just a slight curve in it, and the guard stuck out just slightly to protect the fingers.

“Try it out,” Anwar said
, picking it up and holding it out.

Jerrie picked it up and gave it a couple of test swings. The balance was perfect. Everything about it was perfect. He like
d fighting with knives best, but if he had to use a sword he couldn’t imagine a better one for him than this. “It’s amazing, but, well, I am still not a fan of carrying a sword around.”

Anwar smiled and held out his hand. Jerrie handed the sword back. Anwar laid the sword on the table, and then set the knife on
top of the sword. Jerrie watched as the sword was absorbed by the knife. It just dissolved. It only lasted a few seconds, and then there was just the knife sitting on the table, the sword was gone. He watched silently as Anwar sprinkled diamond dust over the knife, then that dissolved as well. The blade glowed red for a moment and Anwar rapped it on the edge of the table. The glow disappeared, and Anwar looked up from the knife.

“Here
, try it,” he said, holding the knife out to Jerrie.

“What happened to the sword
?” he asked as he took the knife.

“The sword and the knife are part of each other now. They will respond to your mental command.
No words need to be spoken; you just need to decide to have a sword in place of the knife. It will become whichever item you want it to be.”

Jerrie looked down at his knife and then thought about the sword. All of a sudden the knife in his hand
became the sabre. He looked up at Anwar, who wore an approving smile. Jerrie thought about the knife, and the sword was gone.

“This is amazing.”

“Thank you. I thought you might like it. Now let’s talk about the next thing,” Anwar said.

Jerrie could
n’t help but get a little excited now. “What is the next thing?”

“Armor,” Anwar answered.

“It’s too hard for me to move with armor. I can’t really get in close unless I can move faster than my opponent,” Jerrie answered.

Anwar just smiled. It was fun working with someone who hadn’t been around him before. “I can turn anything into armor
, Jerrie. If you want I can make your clothes indestructible. You would have to wear the same clothes all the time, though. I would suggest some undergarment that you could wear under anything.”

“You mean you could make normal clothing as strong as steel
?” Jerrie asked.

“It will be stronger
than steel and resistant against magic as well,” Anwar answered.

“I will go grab an undershirt and leggings and be right back. That should work
, right?”

Anwar nodded. “That sounds perfect.”

The dwarf returned with a couple of other dwarves while Jerrie was gone. They set down a crate full of scrap steel and a bolt of brown leather next to it. Anwar set the leather on the table and unrolled the first foot of it. He began cutting out the strips of fabric that would wrap around each of Jerrie’s forearms. He could have used his magic, but he chose to use a knife instead. By the time Jerrie got back, he had two lengths of leather already cut and shaped. They just needed to be wrapped around his arms so they could be trimmed up.

T
hey trimmed up the leather bracers and added some straps. Anwar laid the bracers, the undershirt, and the leggings on the table. First he sprinkled some diamond dust on the shirt and leggings, then poured his magic into them. The dust was absorbed into the items along with the magic, and the items stopped glowing. He moved on to the bracers and poured his magic into them. When they began to glow, he smacked them against the edge of the stone pillar, then he used his magic to impress into the bracers what he wanted them to do—reflect any force used against them. After that he sprinkled diamond dust on them, making them indestructible. He pushed everything across the table toward Jerrie.

“There you go. This stuff
, on top of the magical items you already carry, should have you well prepared for whatever comes against you.”

Jerrie picked up the first bracer and strapp
ed it to his arm. He took out one of his knives and tried to cut into it. The knife was magical, so it could get through magical shields, but it still didn’t cut through the bracer, and it was gently pushed away as he tried to apply pressure. He brought the blade down harder on the bracer and it was pushed away harder. He put the knife away and slid the other bracer on.

“Thank you
, Anwar. This is amazing.”

“It
’s nothing. Like I said, you are helping protect my friends when I can’t. This is the least I can do for you,” Anwar said.

Jerrie nodded. “Is there anything I can help you with?”

Anwar shook his head. “No, but if you could send Rundo down here I would appreciate it.”

Jerrie picked up his new armor off the table. “I’ll go get him,” he said
, and walked out of the room.

Jerrie returned with everyone in tow. Anwar laughed.

“You didn’t think we were going to leave you alone, did you, long legs?” Grizzle joked.

“Oh no
, I’ve been waiting for my child audience,” Anwar retorted.

Grizzle and Jabaal laughed. “Well
, what you gonna do for the little one then?” Grizzle asked.

“Y
eah, what are you going to do for me?” Rundo asked jokingly.

“I’d like to see what Jerrie got first,” Grundel said.

Jerrie held up the clothes. “Anwar, you have all that power and you gave the man smallclothes?” Grizzle joked, and then before anyone in the room could react he pulled a knife from his waist and threw it at Jerrie. The knife slammed into the undershirt, pushing
the undershirt
back into Jerrie’s chest before falling
hamlessly
to the ground.

“Now that is impressive,” Kraft said from the back of the group.

“I’d like you to make something like that for Anna if you would
, old friend,” Grizzle said.

“I was already planning on it. I know she will likely be attending some events
, so if she needs a couple of different undergarments done, I can do that.” He turned to her. “Whatever you think would be best, Anna, just bring the garments to me and I will make them stronger than steel armor without taking any of the maneuverability from them.”

Anna laughed. “The garments you are speaking of offer less maneuverability
than a full set of plate mail.”

Everyone laughed at this.

“Okay, well, let’s get to Rundo’s items,” Anwar said. “Rundo, I am assuming you are good on weapons now that you have learned to use your druid abilities and since all your knives are magical, but I can still make you something if you like,” Anwar offered.

Rundo shook his head. “No, I am good with weapons.”

Anwar nodded. “Okay, so what do you want to do about armor?”

Rundo looked down. “If you can just do my vest, I should be good.”

Anwar smiled. “I like that snakeskin. Why don’t you give me your pants, too, just in case?”