“How in the god’s names did this come about? You are a prince?”

“Hah!” Kralnik grunted. “Hardly! You explain it, Dirk.”

All eyes turned to me, except for those involved in taking off Kralnik’s platemail. “Kralnik is indeed a member of the ruling family of Bear Clan, but he is not what we Mindolans would call a prince. His father is not the King of the dwarves, just a cousin. He is not in line for the throne at Stronghold, or even in Naugbar, not unless some thirty or forty other dwarves preceding him were all to die without any more being born from the right parents. I imagine Lord Tarin referred to him as a prince merely to signify his membership in the ruling family, or to make it seem like the dwarves sent someone more important than he actually is to our aid.”

“That Rithers fellow said it was to boost morale, which is fine by me, the city stinks of fear. It made me twice as hungry as usual.” Kralnik said, eyes glued to the food laid out on the table while various straps were unbuckled and untied. “Just cut it off me! I’d never wear this in battle, anyway!” Vone chuckled, and merely kept at his task. The rest of us sat around the table and waited quietly until at last Kralnik was freed from his platemail prison and could attack the food he’d been eyeing.

It was great to have him back, table manners and all. The rest of us had large smiles as we began to dish ourselves up while watching, and listening, to the apparently ravenous dwarf.

“You knew about Kralnik’s family all along?” Thilos asked me. I nodded while I chewed. “How come you never said anything about it?”

I finished chewing and swallowed. “He asked me not to when he first hired me. That’s how we met. In my line of work-“

“Former line of work.” Imprid interrupted with a grin.

“Yes,” I agreed, “in my former line of work it was important to always keep an employer’s secrets. In my current line of work, as well, I suppose.” I popped a couple of grapes in my mouth, hoping to end this part of the conversation.

“Where’s everyone else?” Kralnik asked, little bits of food falling from his lips. He still wasn’t one to be shy about talking with his mouth full.

The rest of us looked around at each other. “Padral’s the only other one left alive.” Thilos said sadly. “He is at the mage compound and it must have been too far away for Lord Tarin to want to wait for him to get here. The rest of us all stay here in the palace compound, at least most of the time.”

“I guess that’s why Finril wasn’t at the presentation, either.” I forgot Kralnik didn’t know who he was. “Finril’s the head Elvish mage that Aandarvi sent here to take charge of all the mages here.”

Kralnik had paused in his eating. “So Margor, the other priests of Cramyk and the crewmen from the King’s Honor, the Kathaldi killed them all?”

I nodded. “Them and a whole lot more.”

Imprid held up her hands. “Perhaps we should all fill Kralnik in on what happened to us since we split up during the fight with the Orcin soldiers.” She looked around the table and none of us objected so she pushed on. “Sir Aryoss, would you do us the honor of going first?”

“Of course, my lady.” He took a sip of wine from the fine crystal glass by his plate. Cleared his throat, then told Kralnik his story of going to New Harbor and meeting the God Cindrem, getting a new hand in exchange for swearing an oath to hunt the Kathaldi for the rest of his life and then becoming a Knight of Ral Amin. Kralnik grunted approvingly at several points of his story. Vone went next. More grunts from Kralnik. Thilos told our tory, which I thought was weird since obviously I’m the best storyteller. I mean, how many books has he written? I’ll tell you, it’s none. Whatever. Life. It’s not fair, sometimes.

“I’m not quite full yet, but I see that it’s my time to share a tale.” He wiped his mouth with the back of his hand, ignoring the perfectly nice napkin next to his plate. “Padral put the spearmen on our side asleep. Imprid and I joined Dirk and Thilos attacking the spearmen on their side. I knocked one out of saddle then turned around and rode into the forest on the other side of the road. I decided to head back to Stonehold. I figured if one of you made it to Aandarvi, great, but if they knew that’s where we are all headed, they might catch each and every one of us and then we great another Great Cataclysm. I rode through the forest away from the road and into the foothills, slowly making my way back to the Great Pass. There are back ways into the pass besides the main entrance and I used one of those.” He paused for a long drink of his ale, then let out an impressive, and gross, belch. “Ahh, that’s better. I made my way to Stonehold as quickly as I could. Met with my very distant relative, King Gannik, told him everything and while he may not have believed me, he did provide me with an escort back to Naugbar. I’ve been arguing with my family about what we should do ever since I returned so when Lord Tarin sent a bird asking for help against the drants I argued for it and volunteered to lead whoever we sent. I think they agreed just to get me out of the city and away from them.”

“Not the first time that’s happened, is it?” I said, thinking of several jobs I’d gotten from Kralnik’s family under very similar circumstances.

Kralnik laughed, probably remembering the same thing. “We need to get more people talking about the Kathaldi, though, or we’re never going to have enough support to take out their headquarters.

“We’re on it.” I said a little smugly. “Delik Slin has been working on that exact thing today with the help of our secretaries.”

Kralnik grinned at me. “It’s so hard to think of you with a government job. And you hate lords. Crazy! Although it sounds like you’re just as good at being spymaster as you were at being a thief. It sounds like you’ve really hurt the Kathaldi.”

“I think we have.” I admitted.

“Certainly more than they have been hurt anywhere else.” Delik Slin added.

Thilos nodded. “Not since the Great Catclysm.”

“As fun as this has been I should go check on my troops. They’re really General Sutnik’s, I’m just the figurehead, but I still need to put on a show. I’ll send somebody for the armor. I really hate that stuff. See you guys at dinner.”