unwanted elves 7

 

Unwanted Elves

Chapter 7

 

"We are glad to be able to give you our commiserations on the death of Harmon in person at last," said King Thorogar.

"Thank you, your Majesty," I replied, "Your message of sympathy was much appreciated as I know you were friends."

I bowed my head in acknowledgement, and it has to be said, grief for my master Harmon. Although many good things had happened to me since his death, I still missed Harmon greatly. My bow brought me closer to the king's magnificent brown beard. It was braided in at least seven strands I guessed, and was adorned with precious metal ornaments, some of which were jewelled. If I had been a dwarf, the shape, decoration and even metallic content would have given me a wealth of information on Thorogar's lineage and deeds. However, as I wasn't, it didn't. The rubies had told me of his major wars. The alignment of the braids around them and other decorations would enable another dwarf to tell if he was commanding, one of a number of leaders, who he was fighting and whether he performed any personally notable deeds. I had thought the number of braids indicated the age of a dwarf, but I must have been wrong, as that would have made Thorogar over two hundred, and I knew he was not that age, which was considered venerable. King Thorogar was about a century old, if I remembered aright, about middle age for a dwarf, and still hale and hearty. I hoped I looked that good at fifty.

I straightened up, meeting the king’s gaze. I took in the fact that the king, and indeed the entire court were in ceremonial dress. This was a great honour to our party, and was, I thought to emphasise that the visit wasn't by Castamir the wizard and party, but by the Towermaster and retinue. Though I hoped no-one would refer to the ladies as my retinue, as their reaction might be … unfortunate. The king's costume, as well as being of costly brocade, had the royal double capped open sleeves making his broad shoulders appear massive. The slit sleeves were lined with some fur I didn't recognise. Knowing dwarves, it doubtless formerly belonged to some fearsome beastie killed by the king himself. He wore several rings, but his wedding ring he now wore on his right hand in memory of his late queen. That this was a very formal occasion was emphasised by the presence on the dais of Thorogar's heir Prince Thoromir and Princesses Zhelgara and Zhelbemira, the last named after her mother who died birthing her. There was a third female on the dais, standing next to Prince Thoromir. As she had a rather proprietary air about her, and as she and the Prince both wore wedding rings I assumed congratulations were in order.

"And may I offer my congratulations to the royal couple." I said, turning to them, "may you have many years, and many healthy children together," I continued using the proper phrase. They both bowed to me, the bride blushing, which clashed with the, to dwarves, doubtless adorable auburn ringlets covering her jaw line.

"Towermaster Castamir," began King Thorogar, "may I introduce Princess Neveslava, wife of my heir Thoromir, whom you know, as you know also Princesses Zhelgara and Zhelbemira."

From the sudden widening of the eyes, it seemed it had just dawned on Princess Neveslava that the Towermaster outranked her, as she was introduced to me. I hoped this would not cause problems in the future.

"An honour to meet you Princess," I said bowing to Neveslava. I hoped that saying 'honour' rather than 'pleasure' might placate her somewhat. I had no wish to antagonise the wife of the heir to the dwarven throne.

"Towermaster." the Princess replied, in a tone so flat that both her husband Thoromir and the King glanced at her.

King Thorogar stood and addressed the gathered dwarven notables. "We are grateful to you all for your welcome to the Towermaster and his companions." His voice was powerful enough to carry without the need for voice enhancing magic. "Unfortunately," the king continued, "we must urgently discuss important matters of state with the Towermaster." At this the assembled notables bowed to the king and began filing towards the exit. "We can discuss the situation better in an ante-room." said Thorogar and motioned us to follow. Thoromir followed his father, but when Princess Neveslava started to accompany us, the king touched her on the arm, and said in a gentle voice,

"Not you, my dear."

She looked mutinous, and burst out,

"But Goodfather, the Towermaster's women are joining you."

The king winced.

"The Towermaster may be married to his apprentice, but she and the priestess are his advisors," he said sharply.

"But …"

But are you an expert on Elven matters?"

"No. Are they?"

"They are experts in their fields and the Towermaster knows they will aid us with a problem. I indulge you because you are inexperienced as yet. In time, you will doubtless join us for such conferences. For now it would be inappropriate."

Princess Neveslava almost flounced as she turned away. The crown prince followed her, frowning, after giving me an apologetic glance, touching his wife gently on the arm. I was close enough to the couple to hear him say, "We will discuss this later, in our own chambers."

I was fairly certain that the subject of the discussion would be the princess' behaviour not our audience with the king.

"Please excuse her," the crown prince said to me, having turned back to the rest of us, leaving his wife to go to their rooms. "I love her very deeply, but she comes from a family who are not prominent, and you know how court ladies are. She feels very much in need of putting herself forward."

I saw a young woman, who had been hovering protectively near Neveslava move to accompany her. A lady-in-waiting, I presumed.

"No apology is necessary Your Highness," I replied, "I am well aware how … unpleasant court ladies can be. Unlike Chessina, the Princess doesn't have the ability to turn those with poisonous tongues into flatulent toads."

Chessina moved towards us and said, "I'll have a word with the Princess later, when you have spoken to her Your Highness. I'm sure I can help."

 

When we were in the ante-room, the king bade us sit and motioned for me to speak. I told the king what I had recently told King Beremar.

"Are you certain of demonic involvement, Towermaster?" asked King Thorogar.

"That information was provided directly by the goddess Arcana, Your Majesty," I replied, "whom you know as 'Khuzur den Krozor' Our Lady of the Deeps."

"I am disquieted that a deity has directly involved herself," said the king, "I fear that we are digging at great depths."

"Frankly, Majesty, I am more than disquieted, but we must do what we can." I said, not wishing to reveal that I was, frankly, terrified.

"Are you sure that whatever blackmail you have will persuade the elves to stop their encroachment?" Prince Thoromir asked.

"Sure, no Your Highness," I replied, "but we can see no other course apart from war. That is something that should be avoided if at all possible."

"My goddess Silvana also wants elven expansion curtailed." Silavara spoke up, "Particularly if they are subject to demonic influence."

The king turned to Chessina, "Apprentice Chessina, the Towermaster cites you as an expert on demons, which Ambassador Sigeralv confirms in his report to me. He also reports that you and the Towermaster recently defeated a demon in the Royal Court. Tell me, how dangerous are they really?"

"Although I would hesitate to call myself an expert I do know a great deal more than most people, including most wizards. All demons are extremely dangerous, Your Majesty." Chessina added, "Even the least demons, malodorous runts though they are, can be deadly opponents as they are only vulnerable to enchanted weapons and some, though by no means all, magic. Some can spit poison or acid, some have immense strength, some have various magical powers and some can even cast spells. In addition, no two demons, even of the same type or class, are exactly alike. The essence of the Abyss is variability."

"Thank you Apprentice Chessina." The king said, "Not comfortable to know, but very valuable information. I will ask the forge masters to make enchanted weaponry as a matter of urgency, after the reforging of Demonslicer."

Prince Thoromir looked at his father, who nodded. "My father and I have been discussing a report we received recently from one of the merchants who deals with the elves."

Chessina raised an eyebrow, "I am surprised that the elves have dealings with anyone. Oh, forgive the interruption, Your Highness." Chessina blushed slightly. The prince waved a hand deprecatingly and continued. "Those merchants who are allowed to deal with the elves don't do so directly. Contact with non-elves is considered a pollution, so we deal with half-elves at a trading outpost in order not to contaminate their city.

"Presumably half-elves aren't polluted by contact with outsiders?" Silavara muttered cynically.

"I don't think the full-blood elves care much," replied the prince, "I gather that half-elves live in the enclave, not the elven city. From the report, one of the merchants overheard one half-elf muttering to a companion about some of the items that they had been handling recently stinking with evil and those that had black fire-opals stinking worse."

"Black fire-opals! Such gems are highly prized in the Abyss." said Chessina.

"According to my late master Harmon, black fire-opals take demonic enchantments well. It's not an area in which I have any practical expertise." I added.

"Father," said Prince Thoromir, turning to the king, "haven't we had a large order for black fire-opals from the elves?"

"We have indeed," replied the king, "and that is worrying."

"I recall, Your Majesty," said Chessina, "that it was known in the Abyss to beware of weapons and items bearing white fire-opals as the stone was a demon bane."

"This news of demons and of half-elves, reminds me of a tale I came across in the archives some years ago," said the King. "The parchment was a collection of elven legends. It was old and damaged by mould in places but I thought it interesting and had it copied and the damaged portions reconstructed as far as possible. One of the stories recounts how long ago a human came to the elven city, it ran;

‘Behold, one came unto the Elven court, who was to all appearance a human of the aspect of a prince of the Kingdom of Agarak. The human was tall, hawk-faced and handsome, of the tawny aspect of his fellows, with soft, black hair, covered in the barbaric costume of his kind, more gemstone than cloth, the only pleasant thing of such being their propensity to shave all over, in imitation of the natural perfection of elven skin. But still a human. A human who had the audacity to beg the king of the elves, may all nature bless him! for the hand of his beautiful daughter. Naturally this contumely was rewarded only with....’

The king cleared his throat. “I’m sorry, there’s a missing bit we were unable to reconstruct, but knowing the elves he was beaten and thrown out probably near the lair of a wild beast, that being the elven idea of humour.”

  I nodded. I knew the elven idea of humour. I had had some of it threatened when I had been merely the apprentice to the Towermaster. 

“Presumably not made to swallow a magical seed to grow in him over the course of a night,” I said, shuddering slightly at the memory of that threat.

“My goddess doesn’t like that aspect of their humour either,” said Silavara, with some asperity.

“Does anyone like the elves?” asked the crown prince.

“I heard it said that the goblins find them quite palatable with enough mustard,” I said.

“Oh, I heard some demons fricassee them with delicate spices... shutting up now,” said Chessina.

The awkward silence that ensued was filled by the Crown Prince who remarked, "According to some humans, the difference between dwarves and goblins, is that dwarves delve in their wells for iron, while goblins dwell on their elves a-fryin'."

We all laughed, which lightened the mood somewhat. Chessina smiled in gratitude at the prince and I knew she would do all she could to help the prince’s wife.  

"Joking aside, I am exceedingly surprised that he wasn't killed on the spot," Silavara said, "or that he even got as far as the city."

"The story throws some light on this later." the king responded.

"Forgive the interruption, Your Majesty." Silavara said.

"None is needed, Priestess. Indeed this situation is very grave and any information that anyone can give could be vital," said the king, "please do not stand on ceremony, anyone.

To resume,” said the king, “The king, may all nature bless him, thought no more about the Agarakian, until the king went to bed and had the most dreadful dream.  In his dream, he was taken from his bed, and transported to a place where he was thrown on the floor of a throne room, by cloaked minions, in front of that same human. And the Elven king was stripped naked, bound with ropes and beaten with staves.  When the king awoke he was stiff and still felt the pain of the beating although he bore no marks. He dismissed the matter as merely a nightmare until the next time he slept when the same thing occurred, the beating however being heavier. Worried, the king consulted his advisors who performed various spells and divinations but learned nothing."

"Does the account say what spells were cast?" I asked.

"No, Towermaster," replied the king, "dwarves tend not to be talented mages, our magics tend to be more oriented to our crafts and metalworking, so we tend to lump all magic together as 'spells and divinations', and leave it at that."

I nodded understanding.

"The elven king tried various spells and potions, to prevent sleep but eventually he slept again. This beating was more dreadful than before and he was even beaten on the soles of his feet. After the beating the man said that he would come to the king again, and this time the king would give the man his daughter."

That phrase rang a distant bell in my head but I couldn't place it and put it from my mind while the king continued.

“The King and his advisors were sore troubled, but lo! The Towermaster, the only human to be tolerated for the Favour owed, had visited, and the Elven King, may nature bless him, spoke to the Towermaster long. And the Towermaster pondered on the conundrum, and he determined that the Agarakian calling himself Sekemhef was in fact a demon or half-demon, and advised the king most strongly not to kill him.”

"Why would the Towermaster advise the elven king not to kill Sekemhaf?" the Crown Prince asked.

"As a half-demon," I replied, "he would have a deep connection to his demonic parent. Killing him would enable the demon to absorb much of his life energy or his soul, if half-demons have one. This would increase the demonic power of the parent, which is generally considered a bad idea."

"I can see why", said the king.

"The Towermaster," I enquired, "What was he doing there?"

"I hoped you could tell us," said the king.

"Do you know his name?" I enquired.

"Unfortunately, the account only says 'the Towermaster," the king replied.

"I could probably find out, but it would take time, which I'm not sure we have." I said.

The king nodded and continued, “The Towermaster aided the Elven king in laying a trap on the floor where Sekmet would tread, and which would transport him to a demon-proof prison behind running water, and with rune-warded walls.

The man did reappear within the city, having somehow avoided or bypassed the guards and protective spells. As he strode up to the throne to demand the king's daughter, the Towermaster’s spells and runes imprisoned the demon and made the Second Favour.” The King shrugged. “And here the mould was too bad to decipher any more; but it appears to be from a written version of an early account of Elven legends. I’ve had what was able to be deciphered copied for your records as well as mine, Towermaster. I thought there might be other useful stories.”

“Thank you,” I said. “Knowledge is always a gift beyond price and to that end I know a number of techniques to reveal obscured information when we have time to spare. I have never heard of this Second Favour until now, and I don’t think Harmon had heard of it either."

"Do you know what the First Favour is, Towermaster?" asked the king.

"Yes, your Majesty," I replied, "and I hope you never find out, as the secret of the First Favour is what we intend to blackmail the elves with. If you do discover it, our mission will have failed.”