Tom had seen dwarves a few times before, but only in passing. He had never done business with a dwarf or worked for one, and so had had no reason to seek them out. This was his first time meeting one.
The man in question was maybe half a hand over four feet, and not as barrel-chested as Tom had expected. From his build, he didn't look as if he had superhuman strength, either. Tom wasn't sure whether he could beat him in an arm-wrestling match, though the smart money still would probably be on the dwarf.
His hair and beard were both blond and trimmed quite short. His eyes showed a dark brown that looked almost black. Predictably, his skin was the ghostly white of someone who almost never saw the sun. He was dressed in casual clothing, although he had apparently just donned a vest, as he was still fiddling with the last button while the door opened the rest of the way. He also wore some sort of leather headband.
"Good day, Priestess...?"
"Deepwell, sir. Camilla Deepwell. This is Tom Walker, a traveling merchant who brought me some disturbing news. May we come in to consult with you?" Tom was glad to finally know her name.
"Grangus Steelfire. Please, be welcome." He gestured in invitation, holding the door.
Tom was relieved to see that at least the first room was of a normal height for humans, and had some furniture to match. Their host pointed them at the full size couch, then climbed into a sturdy chair with a couple of built-in steps. He seated himself with practiced ease, and faced the two humans with their eyes at the same level, a narrow table between them.
"What can I do for the Temple, Priestess?"
"Mister Steelfire—"
"Grangus, please. Half of the men in Corkscrew Mountain are 'Mister Steelfire.'"
"Grangus, then." Camilla Deepwell took a breath. "We appear to have a demon problem, Mister Steelfire."
The dwarf's yellow eyebrows rose. "A demon problem? Are you sure?"
"Why does that surprise you?" Tom asked, curious.
"If something gets past the Web of Stone, lad, the word spreads very quickly among the dwarves. I've heard no such news."
"That's because they didn't come from below," the Priestess explained. She held out a letter, but Grangus waved it away.
"Please give me the gist, Priestess. If I have to read the mole-scratches humans use we'll be here all night." Tom suppressed a grin, despite the seriousness of the discussion.
"Well, to be brief, someone apparently discovered ancient crystals that contained the bound souls of forty-eight demons. They began transporting them from somewhere in the south toward High Pass Temple."
"They did what? They did WHAT?!" The dwarf's eyes were round and his mouth worked silently for several moments. Finally, he found his voice again. "Of all the stupid, troll-brained, idiotic...!" After a moment he started again, a little quieter, sounding amazed. "Every time I think I have seen the dumbest folly humans can produce, your people seem to take it as a challenge. Unbelievable. Where did they even find such things? Binding a demon is nearly impossible!"
"As far as we knew, it was completely impossible," the priestess replied, not offended by the outburst. "We don't have much information. Apparently, they were shipping the crystals in a caravan. I don't know where the crystals came from."
"The guards said that Mr. Sashen joined the caravan..." Tom squeezed his eyes shut, teasing the memory out of his soul. "Four stops before Middleton, I think he said." If I have another dream about the guys, I should ask Vlad's soul to confirm that. He's the one who told me, so he should be allowed to remind me. He opened his eyes to find Grangus staring at him.
"And they were heading...?"
"North."
"Southby, Grange, probably Fort Fury, Kelligar...black luck," the dwarf muttered. "They could have been coming from anywhere before Kelligar." He sighed and raised his voice. "And what happened?"
"The caravan was attacked by bandits."
"Of course it was. Take the straight shaft, boy, where are the crystals now?"
"Forty-two are still in their crates, in Rivermarch—or they were, two weeks ago. Lord Rivermarch was preparing to send the wagon under heavy guard the rest of the way to High Pass Temple, since hopefully they will know how to deal with the situation."
"And the other six?"
"Three crystals are intact, in Rivermarch Temple, but their warding...no, their sealing formation was broken by the bandits. They're going to set up a banishing ritual but apparently they have to send for more spell casters first."
"And the other three crystals broke, didn't they? Three demons are on the loose. Fire of the Core," Grangus swore. "Three of them. Where, exactly, did they break loose, and when?"
"The attack was on Twonight, over two weeks ago..." Tom counted rapidly. "Yes, twenty days ago. Two days north of Middleton on Forest Road."
"Do you know who the hosts are?"
"No."
"Troll shit. Uh, pardon my Elvish, Priestess."
Tom had to stifle a snort.
"Actually, we may have a lead," Camilla announced, pulling out a folded scrap of paper. "This message was dropped off at the Temple today, anonymously. The outside simply says 'Urgent', and inside it says, 'The name of the enemy is Quazulin, Demon of Hate.' There are also some markings I don't recognize. I was hoping that you might know what they are." She passed the paper across the table.
Grangus reached up to his headband and flipped a piece of glass in front of his right eye. A tap of a finger turned on something like a tightly constrained rock light, and a bright beam illuminated the paper. What in the world...? Tom had no idea how the dwarf could see through that eye or what the purpose of the glass was. It must be enchanted. He dismissed the distraction for the moment.
If you find this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the infringement.
While Grangus squinted at the paper, Tom's soul raced. Who could possibly have left such a message? How could anyone know the name of the demon? It didn't make sense. Were the names in the unreadable pages Mr. Sashen was carrying on him when he died? Or maybe carved in the crate they were sealed in? But, if someone translated them, why drop the information off anonymously, instead of by messenger letter like the other warning? Tom frowned, thinking.
It really makes no sense. Nobody knows the names of the demons, except the demons themselves... Tom's eyes opened wide.
"Oh, demon shit."
"Tom?"
He turned to the priestess. "We thought there was a demon in Oak Mill. We were wrong."
"What?"
"There isn't one demon in town. There are two."
Camilla stared at him for a moment. "Oh, demon shit," the Priestess whispered, then slapped her mouth a moment and shook her head. "How do you know?" she demanded.
"It's the only thing that makes sense," Tom explained. "Who else could possibly know the name of a demon except another one of the demons? No wonder the town is riled up! Two demons are fighting over control of Oak Mill, and one of them wants us to beat Quazulin and banish him so they can take over."
"The lad is right," Grangus grunted, still staring at the paper. "These are demonic runes. They're essentially the One True Name of this Quazulin."
"Is that helpful?" Camilla asked.
"Very much so. I can carve these into something you fill with magic. It'll be at least as strong as the Temple wards, and you can carry it around. Excuse me a moment." Grangus flipped the glass away from his face, jumped off his seat and hurried through a low doorway into another part of the basement.
"So much for the demons avoiding each other," the Priestess grumbled.
Tom sighed. "Sorry. It made sense given what I read in the book."
"Maybe it was a scholar who found out somehow...?" Camilla trailed off and they both fell silent for a minute.
"Oh, by the way, if you have a few spare empty amulets, one of my elves has offered to fill them."
"One of your elves...You're the man with the elven slaves! Wait, you have an elven healer?" The Priestess exclaimed, looking excited.
"She's not a healer. She wishes she were," Tom answered, carefully thinking of Diavla so as not to lie. "But she's refilled rock lights before, so..."
Camilla's enthusiasm had waned a bit, but it certainly wasn't gone. "How many can she fill in a day?"
"No more than a couple, I think. And we were hoping to supply the rest of our group when they arrive, first. Beyond that, I'm happy to donate."
"You have more people coming?"
"Yes, five more, and we don't have enough amulets."
"Well, empty amulets are easy enough to come by. Stop by the Temple and ask for me. I'll give you some. Just donate a little to cover the cost, please."
"Of course. Thank you."
A moment later, Grangus returned, carrying a couple of heavy books, which he set on the table with a thump. "Pardon me. It's been a while since I've had to use runes like this. My Mistress trained me on them, but I never expected actually to need to use them! Now, let's see..."
Grangus started turning pages carefully. "Spring of '68, I think it was...no...I guess it was '67..." He shifted to another section of the book. "I thought it was...ah! Here we go." The dwarf fell silent for a minute, reading his notes. The humans waited patiently.
"Mm." Their host leaned back and flipped the strange glass away from his eye. "Well, I have a few options for you, but they'll take time."
"What are the options?" Camilla asked.
"I usually work in gems, you understand. I could carve a banishment specific to Quazulin into a ring or a necklace. If you can find the host, and force the gem on them, that'll drive the demon deep again where the Web of Stone can catch the bugger."
"That's a tall order," Tom commented.
"Not my problem," Grangus grouched. "I just make things. I leave the fighting to others."
"What else can you offer?" Camilla prompted.
"Well, I think I have a wand of Demon Detection around here somewhere, unless I traded it to MacIron... If I can find it, I'll gladly loan it to you. It's not perfect, just gets brighter or dimmer as a demon gets nearer or farther from it."
"Thank you. What about catching the demon?"
"For that, you'll need a sealing formation. Ask the mages in town, they'll be faster than I will. It's much simpler to make a ward than a seal. Give me a day or two, and I can give you a rod that neither Quazulin nor his copies can get within eight or ten paces of. It would be easier if I had materials to practice on..."
"Is that something we can get for you?" Tom asked.
Grangus gave a wry smile. "Not bloody likely, lad. There aren't a lot of enchanting materials in town for rough work. Stone takes too long to carve, most wood won't hold the magic well enough, and I'm not a smith, so I don't have a stockpile of quality weapons. You could send to Rivermarch or Middleton for something, but it will be faster for me just to enchant some jewelry."
"Wait, you need an enchantment-worthy blade?" Quickly, Tom drew the new sword Orvan had urged him to buy in Rivermarch, and offered it to the dwarf. "Would this do?"
Grangus gave him a skeptical look, but flipped the glass in front of his eye again and took the blade, peering at it. "It's human made...but it's not too bad..." The dwarf inspected the blade for another minute—feeling it, sighting along it, peering at every finger-width of the metal, even chanting over it a couple of times. Finally he grunted, and set it on the table.
"It's useable. But," his voice took on a warning tone, "you won't be able to re-enchant it later. Once I carve the runes in, it can't be undone. Even melting the blade down wouldn't be completely certain of removing the effect."
"That's all right. It doesn't have an enchantment anyway, so I wouldn't be any worse off than I am now. Would the sword gain any abilities?"
"I'm just using it as a sketchbook, lad. It probably won't hold any real magic for long. You'd have to pump it in yourself while you were swinging it, and begging yer pardon but you don't look like a mage to me."
"No, a mage I certainly am not." Tom grinned. "If I could, though, what would it do? I'm just curious, I've never owned a magic weapon."
"It'll be a blade for killing Quazulin."
"Only Quazulin? I might be fighting other demons after this one. Would it hurt them?"
"Hurt? Maybe. Kill? No, not like it would Quazulin. And like I said, lad, it won't be able to hold much magic as it is, and I don't have time to do a full enchantment on a gem and make it part of the blade. Don't get your hopes up."
"Well, even if the runes do nothing, it will still be a good sword. By all means, Grangus. Use the blade for practice if it will help you."
"Well, I'll take you up on it, lad. Much easier to carve on a large blade than a small gem."
Tom removed the scabbard from his belt and passed it over. "Good luck, sir."
"I'll have someone bring it to the Temple when I'm finished with it. It'll be at least a day or two."
"That's fine, I can get another sword in the meantime."
"Mm. Now, where did I put that wand...?"
It was another five minutes before Grangus gave a small cry of triumph and marched back out to them, blowing dust off a deep mahogany wand with a small emerald embedded in it near the base. "It's not filled, but you can take care of that, I expect," he told the Priestess, handing it over.
"Thank you very much, Grangus. What do I owe you?"
The dwarf waved a hand dismissively. "Send me some enchanting materials when you can get around to it, and we'll call the deal forged. It's about time I crafted another couple of those, anyway. Don't want to lose my touch. I can keep this?" Grangus held up the mysterious paper with the runes.
"Of course. Thank you again."
"Ah, actually," Tom broke in, "could I borrow it? I wonder whether any of the elves would have other insights about the message."
"Well, let me copy the runes first, then," the dwarf asked. It was a couple of minutes of careful drawing before he finished, and another minute before he satisfied himself that he had copied the symbols exactly. "There, you can have it." He passed the torn scrap of paper across the table.
Tom looked a question at the Priestess, who nodded. He bowed his head a moment. "Thank you." He carefully put away the message in a pouch tucked inside his shirt.
"I appreciate your help, Grangus," Camilla said.
"Mm. Well, it looks like I won't be finishing my adventure book tonight, but thank you for the interesting diversion." Grangus slid the gold coin back to the Priestess across the table. The humans took that as their cue, and bid the dwarf farewell. "Safe travels, and good hunting," he told them, seeing them out.
Tom and the Priestess looked at each other a moment. "Thank you for the lesson in dwarven etiquette."
"Of course. Can't have you making us humans look bad, now can I?" They climbed up the stone stairs back to street level, blinking in the sunlight.
"Well, good luck, Priestess."
"Blessings on you, Tom Walker."
They bowed to each other slightly and went their separate ways.
If you find any errors ( broken links, non-standard content, etc.. ), Please let us know < report chapter > so we can fix it as soon as possible.