The rest of the journey, as short as it was, proceeded uneventfully; the familiar road to the trading station granting no further challenges to their progress.
The land they were now crossing had been secured – as far as relative wilderness allowed – by the forces of Ashenvale in the past months.
The wide stone-paved road that led from the city to the dwarven town had been used frequently by caravans moving to secure supplies for the coming winter.
Uther felt that it was a great shame that most of those supplies had been wasted. Well, at least those that had been moved to the outlying towns was likely to still be intact, and that was something.
Approaching their destination, he saw that little had changed from his last visit.
Well, this time there was no dwarf threatening to throw fire at them, which was a pleasant change.
He really had enough of fire to last a lifetime; and more was sure to come. After all, the dragon would have to be dealt with.
“Eyla, go secure rooms at the inn for us. I’m going to seek out the dwarven… overseer, right?”
Eyla nodded. “As you wish. And yes, it’s overseer.”
“Right.” Uther steered his mount over to where he remembered the offices of the aforementioned dwarf. After all, he would probably have to petition him to send for the dragonslayers they needed.
As they passed through the streets of the port town, Uther and Lyssia seemed to be something of a focus of the dwarves’ attention.
The guards eyed Uther with a weary eye, and all of them seemed to shy away from looking at Lyssia too directly.
It seemed they recognized him; and remembered how he had humiliated them in combat the last time he had been here.
Well. Luckily the only enduring injuries seemed to be bruised egoes.
They dismounted in front of the three-story guild building, and entered. Hopefully, they wouldn’t need Freidrich’s linguistic skills this time; especially considering that he was not here.
Joteim was buried in reports of the quarter’s financial states when his work was rudely interrupted by a loud knock on the door.
Snapping up straight in his seat, he looked around with bewilderment.
He had specifically asked to not be interrupted until noon. He looked at the window, where the sun was still climbing towards its apex. It was clearly not yet noon.
“Yes? I hope it’s important!”
His aide, a young dwarf with scarcely any hair on his chin peeked his head into the office.
“There are people here asking to see you.”
Rolling his eyes, Joteim let out an annoyed sigh.
“If I have guests you’re supposed to present them by name, title, and the reason for their visit. I do say, Quentin, you’re quite disappointing in the execution of your work.”
The youth stiffens. “Lord-Protector Uther of Ashenvale is here to see you, sir! It’s about killing a dragon!”
“…” for a moment, Joteim was speechless.
“Well, let him in, then!”
The youth nodded, and disappeared out the door before it opened completely.
The man who entered was the familiar human that Joteim had negotiated with previously.
Well, at least this time the risk of having his skull cracked was notably diminished.
He rose from his seat, before walking over to the man.
“Ah, welcome, lord-protector. I wasn’t aware you were intending to visit. What’s this about a dragon? Please, sit!”
He motioned the human towards the chairs lined up in front of his desk as they shook hands. The human’s grip was firm and strong, yet gentle.
“Ashenvale has been attacked by a dragon.” The human’s words are blunt and straight to the point; both qualities Joteim oft missed among the people he normally interacted with in the course of his duties.
“We want to hire experienced dragonslayers to help us end the threat once and for all, and I’ve been made aware there are such individuals among your people.”
“Attacked, you say? You’ll have to fill me in on the details of that, if you have the time. Anyway, it is true that there are dragonslayers among my kin, but they normally don’t stray this far into the lowlands…”
For a moment, he pondered the most efficient way to get a crew of slayers here. The humans’ gold was plentiful and pure. He had no doubt there would be several who wanted a piece of the action. Then again… He remembered an Enforcer report from a few days prior. There could be a dragonslayer already in town. Well, at least if that drunken brawler’s claim was correct.
“I could send for a group of dragonslayers to come down from the highlands, but that would be pricy and would take a while-”
“We’re ready to pay good gold for this service.” the human interjected.
Joteim held up a hand. “Please, sir; allow me to finish. There could also be a dragonslayer already in town. He’s hardly the most, eh, reliable account for his skills; but he beat down a group of off-duty guards who disputed his claims, and did possess dragonbone weapons. He should still be in the bar, if he didn’t leave this morning. So if you need a dragonslayer quickly, you may want to begin there.”
The human quickly rose from his all too small chair, and Joteim could see the excitement written on his face.
“We’ll head there immediately. Thank you for your time.”
Joteim smiled slightly. “Ah, yes, don’t mention it. But before you go, what happened in Ashenvale?”
The excitement drained from the human’s face. “The city nearly burned to the ground. There were almost a thousand dead.”
He turned, and walked out the door. Joteim could see his Drow companion from before waiting for him outside.
As Uther entered the Inn, he was immediately struck with the sight of one of the hairiest creatures he’d ever seen, dancing atop a table. The dwarf was shirtless, and his bushy beard and overwhelming chest hair made a remarkable contrast with his exceptionally bald head, which seemed to be almost reflective.
In the background, a group of dwarves were providing the music, using odd instruments that looked to be two pieces of wood connected by some sort of leather contraption.
Most of the other dwarven patrons were clapping along with the frantic music, and the bald one didn’t seem to miss a beat.
Quickly, Uther found himself faced with Eyla, who grabbed his sleeve and pulled him aside to a booth in the dining section of the lower floor. “There are elves here.”
Uther sat down heavily as Eyla pushed him onto a seat.
“What?”
“Elves. From the empire. Over there.”
She subtly motioned for another corner of the room, and when Uther looked where she had pointed, he saw a group of elves; One exorbitantly dressed, and three more armed and armored.
Uther’s eyes narrowed.
“Imperials? Here? I’m almost impressed with their courage. Don’t they know that they’re miles away from imperial territory?”
Eyla shook her head as Lyssia joined them at the table.
“I don’t think they had a choice. Besides, they probably traveled by sea; and at least they don’t look to have brought slaves.”
It didn’t take long before one of the elves seemed to notice the unkind glares of Uther and Eyla.
One of the armored elves nudged the fancily dressed one, who quickly looked in their direction and paled.
Soon, the entire group had made a hasty exit.
It seemed their presence had inspired a measure of dread in the noble, or merchant, or whatever he was.
A dwarf woman came up to their table.
“So, what can I get for you three?” She sounded cheery, and smiled heartily at them. From the looks of it, she either didn’t notice or didn’t care about the sudden disappearance of her other foreign patrons.
“Food and drink.” eyeing the exit where the elves had just escaped, he added “no alcohol, please. Also, I heard there was a dragonslayer here?”
The woman scribbled down their orders on a small chalkboard; and nodded. “Aye, that’d be him on the table there.” she motioned at the bald dwarf that was now emptying a small barrel down his gullet.
Looking at the dwarf, Uther felt somewhat… underwhelmed. Sure, the man seemed to have a imposing physique… for a dwarf, but still it was a longshot from his expectation of some nigh-legendary warrior.
“Thank you.”
The woman nodded, and made her way off to get them their meal.
Rising from his seat again, Uther started to make his way towards the dwarf as cheers erupted from the crowd as the short man threw the empty cask aside with a loud burp.
“I’ll be right back.”
It wasn’t especially hard to navigate among the dwarves. They easily parted before him, and it took less than a minute to reach the dragonslayer’s table.
“Excuse me, sir dwarf.”
The dwarf belched and turned to face him.
The smell of alcohol was potent around the short man, but he seemed to be largely unaffected by the vast quantities he had seemingly already consumed. “Aye, sir human! What can ah do fer ye?”
His speech was accented, but without slur, and both his hands and legs seemed stable.
“I hear that you’re a dragonslayer. Is this correct?”
The dwarf responded with a laugh. “Aye, that ye can bet yer pantaloons on! Ahm retired, though. Just enjoying meself here; Even if the lowland beer ain’t stronger than yakpiss. What’s it to ye?”
Retired? Well. That didn’t sound good, but…
“I need your help to slay a dragon. We’ll pay double whatever you normally charge.”
The dwarf raised his eyebrows in surprise.
“Is that so, hm? Well. What’s this dragon to ye?”
“It assaulted our city, and burned down much of it. We need to eliminate it before it attacks again.”
The dwarf scratched his bare scalp. “Hm, is that so? Sorry to say, but in me youth, I would have leapt at the opportunity to kill the beastie for yer gold, but ah have to decline yer offer.”
Uther slumped slightly. Well. Then he had to go back to the Overseer’s office to send for dragonslayers from the highlands.
He had hoped to get rid of the dragon sooner, and he wasn’t sure how much time they actually had before the dragon struck again.
“What’re ya lookin’ so down for, lad? Ahm just not takin’ yer gold. Ah’ll do it fer free.”
“What?”
“Just one condition, lad. You supply me with a crew. This ain’t no solo mission. Also, next round’s on ye.”
The dwarf was grinning widely. “Ah ain’t a profiteer no more. But for a good cause, ah can’t refuse. Barmaid! More beer!”
This dwarf….
He was odder than even Uther could have expected.
Was it really a good idea to enlist the services of this dwarf?
he seemed somewhat… unhinged.
“Just tell me when yer takin’ off and ah’ll grab my tools.”
….then again, if the dragon struck again, who knew how many more would be lost?
They couldn’t afford to wait.
“….very well. Good to be working with you mr…?”
“Ghergon. And don’t ye ‘mistah’ me. Just Gherg will do.”
Shaking hands with the dwarf, Uther was surprised by the strength in his grip.
“My name’s Uther. Thank you for helping us, Gherg.”
Uther sat down on the bed in their room and watched as Lyssia sat before the mirror, brushing her hair.
She had been very quiet since they had encountered Wodan in the woods; and he could tell that she was trying to hide her emotions. He could tell from her stiff upper lip and her static facial expression. He himself had enough experience in hiding his doubts and sorrows to know when someone else is going through the same thing.
He arose again, taking the few steps over to her, putting his arms around her.
She put down the hairbrush, and leaned her head back, onto him.
“You can talk to me about it, you know.”
She drew a deep, shaking breath after he had spoken, closing her eyes for a long moment.
When she opened them again, all her feigned stoicism had faded. Her eyes were wet, and her brow furrowed.
“I wanted to make him pay.” Her voice was unsteady, and Uther could make out no small amount of pain in her speech.
“I wanted to make him pay for what he did to my sister. An eternity of torment feels too little for what he took from me.”
Uther held her closer, supporting her with his very presence. She placed a hand at his wrist, and ran her fingers down over his hand.
“I wanted to destroy him, but… we can’t afford to, can we? We need all the allies we can get. We’re surrounded by enemies, dragons rain death from the skies and our home was turned into ash. We… we even need things like that demon if we are to survive this.”
She turned, hiding her face towards his chest.
Uther sank down onto his knees, picking her up, carrying her over to the bed, where he placed her in his lap as he sat down.
“Hey..” he spoke softly, now, trying to comfort the quietly crying woman in his lap.
“When we get back, do you want to go plant some flowers on her grave?”
Lyssia sniffled.
This was the most vulnerable he had ever seen her, since the day they had met.
“Y-yeah, I think I’d like that..” she wiped her tears as best she could.
“Then let’s do that. Now, let’s try to sleep.”
She nodded slightly, and they both slid down beneath the covers; sleeping well entangled in each others’ embrace all throughout the night.