The Half Dwarf Prince: 02 - The Dwarf War (11 page)

The path up to the palace was made of stone, but instead of cobbles they were
large stone tiles, cut and smoothed. The palace itself was made of huge blocks of rough-cut stone that had to weigh thousands of pounds apiece. Grundel would have liked to see how they had built this, how they had gotten the huge blocks of stone so high. The steps up to the palace entrance were made from smooth-cut blocks of granite. The door to the palace was a twelve-foot tall, polished steel door. He saw in the inside that there were steel locking bars that slid into steel brackets anchored into the stone wall. It would take forever to break that door down.

Grundel had expected that the inside would be built with wood, but everything was stone. All of the walls were made of smooth
-cut stones of different sizes. It wasn’t the traditional elegance that he would expect from a human palace, but as a dwarf he appreciated this much more. The walked through a large audience chamber with a throne that had been carved out of a huge block of granite that was such a deep shade of grey it was nearly black. Grundel followed his uncle past the throne to a door at the edge of the room. Two of the four guards that had stayed with the king took up posts on either side of the door. When Grundel walked into the room he saw that the other two guards had taken similar positions inside .

Once they were all inside
, the door closed behind them. “This is my personal audience chamber. My room is right through that door. If you have any issues while you are here, please come find me. Now, we can abandon formality and talk,” the king said, and then he walked over to Anna and hugged her. “I really have missed you. I was sorry to hear that you couldn’t make it when your father passed, but I understood your reasons.” He looked over at Grundel. “Nephew, you really are big, aren’t you? We Patrias are naturally tall. I guess you got some of that, too. Not as tall as the rest of us, maybe, but for you to be this tall as a dwarf, well, that is a sight.” He stepped forward and hugged Grundel. “I am glad I can finally meet you. I am sorry that you never got to meet your grandfather; he was a great man. He taught me everything I know. I am sorry I am being rude—who are your friends?”

Anna turned to the others
, starting with Jerrie. “This is Jerrie, Grundel’s friend and my personal bodyguard. He is very capable. He helped Grundel fight off a Black Dragon assassination in Ambar.”

“Wow, now that is impressive. It
’s nice to meet you, Jerrie, and welcome to Patria,” the king said, holding out his hand.

Jerrie took the hand
, bowing slightly. “It is a pleasure, Your Highness.”

“None of that bowing nonsense here. Like I said
, we came here so we could dispense with the formality. Let us talk amongst family and friends,” he said. Grundel noticed that his queen made a face at that. She obviously didn’t approve, but she didn’t say anything, and the expression was gone as quickly as it appeared, leaving a perfectly appropriate smile on her face.

Anna turned to Rundo. “This is Rundo. Don’t let his being a halfling deceive you
. He is a son of Kalise, and a very capable one.”

The king turned to Rundo. “A halfling druid
? Well, that is a first for me. It’s an honor to meat any child of Kalise, but even more so one that holds the respect of my beloved cousin,” the king said to Rundo, holding out his hand.

“Thank you for your hospitality
, Your Highness. It is an honor,” Rundo responded.

Anna motioned toward the brothers. “These two are the brothers Dobo and Gobo. The one with the scar on his right cheek is Gobo. They are members of my husband
’s guard. They have come as security for our little group as well as envoys from Evermount. Grundel speaks with the authority of Evermount and Shinestone.”

“Thank you for bringing my cousin safely to Patria
, Dobo and Gobo. I am honored to meet the dwarves that my cousin would trust with her husband’s safety,” he said to the dwarves, bringing his fist to his chest in the dwarven salute of respect.

The brothers both returned the salute. “Thank you for bringing us into your home
, Your Highness,” Dobo said.

“Well
, we will have to plan a feast.” He looked to his queen. “What do you think, tomorrow?” he asked her.

“I am sure we could have something ready by tomorrow. The whole city will know of her return by now I am sure. The sooner we acknowledge it
, the better, I think, Your Highness,” she answered him very formally. She was obviously very much about propriety.

“I thought so
, too. It should be a celebration. I was thinking a parade, to let everyone see her again. That is, if that is okay with you, cousin?” he asked, turning back to Anna.

“That would be fine, Your Highness,” she answered with a smile.

He turned to Grundel. “What about you, would you mind? I think it would be good if the people could see you.”

“Whatever you think is best, Your Highness,” Grundel said with a smile. It was entertaining how excited he was getting about showing them off. He hadn’t had any family around for a while
, though, so Grundel tried to understand.

He turned back to Anna. “I know you came to discuss some issues, but if they are not pressing
, can we hold them until after the celebration? I just don’t want to ruin this.”

Anna smiled at her cousin. He
was just over thirty years old, but to him she was still his older cousin. “Of course, Your Highness.”

“It
’s settled, then. Tomorrow we will celebrate the return of Princess Patria, and the arrival of Prince Stoneheart, grandson of the late King Patrick Patria. My queen, would you handle the arrangements?” he asked, turning back to his wife.

“Of course, Your Highness. It will be a day no one will forget,”
she said, smiling politely.

He turned back to all of them. “She really is great at arranging things like this. I am sorry
, I just keep going. I am sure you all want to get cleaned up, and you have to be starved. We have already eaten, but I will send someone up from the kitchen to take your requests. They can make almost anything.”

“Thank you
, Your Highness. What time would you like us for dinner?” Anna asked.

“Let
’s go with seven. That will give everyone plenty of time to get rested up. Do you need any additional clothing or anything?” he asked.

“No,
Your Highness, I believe we are okay for now. Well, I will likely need to have some things made for tomorrow’s festivities, if anyone can ready them in time. I only brought one gown, and it is twenty years out of style,” she told him.

“Of course. Priscilla will send someone up to get your measurements and show you some samples,” he said
, turning back to his queen.

She smiled and bowed slightly. “Of course
, Your Highness. I am sure Renwald could have something ready in that time.”

“Very good. Well
, I will not bother you any further.” He led them back out into the main assembly hall. There was a man waiting there.

“Master Brennin, I can’t believe you are still here,” Anna said excitedly.

The old man smiled at her. “I was old when you left, Your Highness, but I was not that old,” he said to her jokingly.

“I didn’t mean it like that and you know it,” she said hugging the man.

“Of course, Your Highness,” he said with a smile.

The king
was standing off to the side with a big smile on his face. “Master Brennin will be taking care of you as long as you are here. If you follow him, he will lead you to your chambers.”

Master Brennin nodded to the
king. “Your Highness.”

The king nodded back. Brennin turned back to the group. “If you would all follow me
? Hot baths have already been drawn for you.”

They all followed him out of the
audience chamber and down the passageway. Grundel looked at his mother. She had a big smile on her face. She looked over at Grundel.

“Master Brennin was my famil
y’s personal caretaker. He taught me how to read and write, and he took care of me when I was sick. He is very dear to me.”

Grundel smiled back at his mother. She was enjoying being back in her childhood home, and he was enjoying watching her
happiness.

Grundel stood in front of the mirror in the big sitting room of the apartment. that he and Rundo shared. When you came through the door you were in a sitting room with a half dozen comfortable chairs. On the other end of the room was a small circular table with four chairs around it. The door on the wall near that table led to his room. A door on the opposite end of the room led to Rundo’s room. The rooms were comfortable, but not lavish. He had a big, comfortable featherbed with feather pillows. There was a small table with a single chair on one wall. Next to the table was a door that opened onto a balcony. The balcony was made of solid iron plates and steel bars; it was all anchored into the thick stone walls of the palace. On the other side of his room was a door that led to a small bathing chamber. There was a big tub and a small water basin with a mirror above it.

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 size
d 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.

“The
y’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 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 al
l 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.