24. Chapter 24

Chapter 24

Elessan

E lessan walked around the base of the cliff one more time. "It's here somewhere."

Zadé chortled. "What's th' saying ‘bout dwarf doors?"

He sighed. "I know, I know. But if we give up, then not only would we have traveled all this way for nothing, but we'd be letting Aliya down."

Zadé fixed him with a pointed stare. "Princess isn't aware yer recruiting th' dwarves, is she?"

"No. Of course not." Though he'd kill someone for the chance to let her know.

She leaned against a large boulder and crossed her arms. "Why don't we go to th' pub back-a-ways, get a drink, and see if'n they'll come to us?"

He ground his teeth and aimed a kick at the rock wall. She was right. The sun was setting, and they needed to eat. "Okay. But if this doesn't work, we're back here tomorrow first thing."

She shrugged, turned and led the way back toward town.

They arrived just in time for dinner. The tavern was packed, as he'd anticipated. What he hadn't expected was for the alehouse to be populated by dwarves.

Zadé threw him a toothy grin before walking up and claiming one of the two remaining seats at the bar.

He slipped onto the stool next to her, still studying the room. The room was loud with the sound of dishes and utensils clanking, but no one spoke. Hopefully that was an indicator of how good the food was.

His stomach grumbled.

And there wasn't a human in sight. What a relief.

Zadé gestured to the barkeep and tossed several coins on the counter. The money disappeared, and two steins of ale materialized. She slid Elessan's over until both beverages were in front of her. She leaned back, raised one mug in salute, and downed a swallow.

At the hearth, a dwarf with a hammer over his shoulder and a metal helm stood, telling some epic tale. Every few minutes, he would stop and take a sip from one of the observers' glasses before continuing with his story.

How odd. Elessan never spent much time in the presence of dwarves, but if the man was so thirsty, he should have his own drink. He flagged the bartender, whose attention was also focused on the narrator.

"Excuse me, barkeep," Elessan said, keeping his voice down. "I'm looking for the thane, or his second in command."

"Shhh," he said.

"But I'm hoping you can tell me—"

"Elf!"

Elessan turned. The storyteller gestured to him. "If you think your tale is better than mine, come up here and share with everyone."

He shook his head. "No, that's not what I meant—"

"You spoke during my story, did you not?" The man with the oversized hammer wove through the throngs of listeners to approach.

Elessan swallowed as heat flooded his face. His training in dwarven etiquette appeared to be lacking.

He stepped away from the hearth and headed their direction. "We all want to hear what two elves were doing skulking around the entrance to Vagkuldir. Come, tell us!"

The dwarf grabbed Elessan's arm and Zadé's untouched ale. "The rules are thus. You pause every once in a while and take a drink from the audience. If they let you, they approve, and you may continue. If they don't, you stop and leave town."

Elessan blinked, his mouth opening and closing a few times as the speaker hauled him to the hearth.

"Standard storytelling protocol. We will see if your tale beats that of Thane Hedul Bluntforged." He thumped his chest with his free hand.

Zadé cackled in the background as she took another swig of ale.

Elessan threw her a glare through narrowed eyelids. She'd known this would happen and had let him stumble into it anyway.

Turning his attention away from her, Elessan eyed the crowd of dwarves, their expressions ranging from hostile to disinterested. Well, he had wanted to talk to the leader. But he could have been a little more politically correct about it, apparently.

A baritone voice rang out from the back of the pub. "Hurry up, already!"

Elessan took two deep breaths and glared at Zadé. She leaned back against the bar and lifted her ale in salute. Rolling his shoulders, he studied the room. This would be his one chance to win the respect of the dwarves, and sway them to Aliya's aid. He couldn't let her down. Steeling his spine, he flared his nostrils. "My name is Elessan Svialto, one of the last of the mountain elves that once lived in Aeth Esari. I'm here to tell you the tale of Aliya Larimar, the human queen."

He pulled one side of his mouth up in a smile, flashing his canines at Thane Hedul as murmurs scuttled through the crowd. "Only she's not human, and she's not truly queen. Yet."

Reaching down, he made eye contact with the dwarf in front of him, grabbed his tankard and swallowed a mouthful of ale. Slamming the dwarf's mug back on the table, he continued. "The story starts two centuries ago, at the beginning of the Human-Elf war. Before Aeth Esari fell, there was a woman, Sorisana, my mother. She was young, but youth gave her the energy and dedication she needed to run messages between the various branches of our army. It was a dangerous job, but she was adept at dodging scouts.

"One day, a landslide hit, cutting Sorisana off from our forces in the Shadow Mountains. She was wounded, and the enemy had her pinned in. If they caught her, not only would my mother lose her life, but the location and strategy of the entire elven force would be revealed.

"A human soldier found her as he wandered into the forest to relieve himself. The soldier's name was Ren Larimar, soon to be appointed first Baron Larimar. He was a rare man, for he had honor, and he knew the war was started under false pretenses. He hid my mother and escorted her to safety before the army moved out." Elessan pulled a medallion from his tunic, Aliya's pendant. "My mother gave him this, as a token of our family's friendship and the life debt.

"Imagine my surprise when, two months ago, I found the new owner of this necklace running through the woods. A young girl, fleeing royal guards and the Arcane Inquisitor."

He reached for another drink. The dwarf's expression did not change, and as he received no objection, Elessan lifted the goblet.

Hedul shoved his hand between the glass and Elessan's lips. "Not that one." He glared at the dwarf who didn't object. "The liquor would blind you, if it didn't kill you, elf." The thane ripped the mug away, emptying its contents on the ground. "Try someone else's."

Elessan swallowed hard. Apparently, there was truth to the rumor that dwarves drank wood alcohol. Nodding his thanks, he grabbed a different stein and took a healthy swig. The liquid burned his throat. He held back a cough. He may not be drinking wood alcohol, but he needed to be careful, or he'd walk out of here as stumbling drunk as Zadé. And that wouldn't help Aliya at all.

He told his audience what Aliya had related of Malkov, her training, and kidnapping. "Now, she's escaped the king's assassins, and is heading to the human capital, Lions Grove, to stand up to the King. If she's lucky, she'll kill him. The elven army supports her. The mages support her." At least, he hoped they would honor their promise, once he hunted down his contact in Westcliff and that crazy little gnome. "But it's not going to be enough. She's our one opportunity to end Malkov's war, and his atrocities against the magic-users and other races of the realm. But to give her the best chance, we all must unite." He fixed Hedul with a stare. "We need you. And not just as soldiers, but for your skill in the forges."

He pulled the wooden box from his pack, tearing off the lid and showing the silver orbs to those watching him. Several dwarves craned their necks, some stood for a better view. He reached for another dwarf's ale and took a drink. The floor tilted to one side.

Smaller drinks from now on, and he needed to wrap up fast.

He handed the container to the thane. "The humans created weapons that can shoot these bits of metal into people, killing them. They murdered Cressida Brightleaf. Elven armor is no protection. But with the skill of your armorers, perhaps some can be developed."

He took a deep breath and caught Hedul's gaze. "They've also built another weapon. Devices known as Whisperers that kill all living beings within a half-mile radius." He wasn't about to pull one of those out of his backpack to show. Not yet, anyway. "I'm going to ask the gnomes and mages to work on discovering how the Whisperers function. It's vital we destroy these weapons before they can be put into mass circulation. We must stop Malkov and his alchemists, and soon, or it'll be too late."

Elessan stepped back, nodding at Hedul. "Thus ends my story. Thank you for listening, and I'm sorry for the breach of etiquette I committed."

The thane stroked his beard, his focus still on the silver spheres. "We—your elven friend, you, and I—will talk. And you'll tell me the exact method of this weapon, and its use. Then, the Council will decide if we will go to war. And if anything can be done about metal balls that kill."

Elessan nodded. Fair enough.

"Next tale!" Hedul hollered.

A stout dwarf in the back stood and made his way to the front. As one, the dwarves thumped their mugs on the table. Elessan sighed. It promised to be a long evening of stories before he and the thane would sit down to discuss his request. Lindir's brief description of the manner of Lady Brightleaf's death would have to be sufficient.

"Before we begin, I'd like to order some food."

Hedul chuckled. He slapped Elessan on the back hard enough to make the elf pitch forward. "Can't hold your liquor, eh? Barkeep! Some dinner for our new elven friends!"

As Hedul escorted Elessan back to his seat beside Zadé, the dwarf leaned toward him. "You'll stay in one of the rooms upstairs, as my guests. I'll meet with the other thanes tomorrow, and we'll give you a decision in two days' time." He studied Elessan, pointedly glancing at his stomach. "And I'll send a healer up."

Elessan glanced down. At some point during his story, he'd torn a stitch. The front of his tunic was soaked.

At Elssan's nod, the thane turned away, rejoining the crowd.

Zadé laughed as Elessan flopped down in the chair next to her. "Good job, Elsan! I didn't know yeh were such a skilled storyteller!"

He glared at her. "You didn't leave me a choice. Some warning would've been appreciated."

She chortled. "But t'was so much fun, watching yeh squirm."

Irritation flared. She'd literally risked the success of their mission on his public speaking abilities.

She met his gaze and dropped the smile. "Sorry. Figured it'd be th' fastest way ta get th' thane's attention."

The heat burning in his chest abated as her words churned through his mind. She was right. With his misstep, he'd become acquainted with exactly the person they'd needed.

The bartender put a steaming roll the size of his head and a rack of ribs in front of him.

Pushing the plate so it sat between the two of them, Elessan raised his eyebrow. "Care to share the meat?" He grabbed the bread and tore off a bite-sized chunk. Hopefully it would absorb some of the alcohol in his stomach so he could avoid a hangover tomorrow.

The barkeep threw him a knowing smile and slid him a glass of water.

Elessan nodded his thanks before he returned his attention to Zadé.

"We have rooms upstairs, to stay as the Thane's guests, until they come to a decision."

Zadé's eyes brightened. "Free room? Free food ‘n ale, too?"

He held back an eyeroll. She was incorrigible. "I doubt it."

She slumped. "I suppose yeh didn't think ta negotiate that little detail."

"No. I didn't. We need these people's help. So, no bar fights while we're here."

She sighed, giving her empty mug a morose look. "Spoilsport."