Book 2 C 33 The Dwarves

We follow and watch them closely, the four Dwarves seem to be heading out of town with their shopping carts of food. We see a fifth Dwarf running to the group. He stops and reports.

“(My King, the have the Human aggressors holed up in their stronghold. As instructed we have not overrun their position.)” He says to the white bearded one.

“(Good, those fools need to learn a lesson in manners.)”, says the white bearded one, “(they will rue the day they attacked the mighty Trohm clan!)” He says in anger.

Hmm, what I am understanding the Humans here attacked the Dwarves and the Dwarves are retaliating.

“(My King should we not just kill them and be done with this?)”, asks the fifth Dwarf.

“(No, they are really no challenge to us, but their constant attacks and rudeness must be dealt with, they may have some value later to us.)”, Says the white bearded Dwarf, ”(If we slaughter them all, then there will be no meaning in teaching them manners right?)”

“(As you wish my King!)”, says the fifth Dwarf, “(your orders Sire?)”

“(Have our warriors retreat for now, to the outer edge of their stronghold, we have what we came for, the others have already gone ahead with the food to the mountain. Maintain a defensive position while retreating let none get by till we secure all the food. I will send word once all is secured.)” Says the King.

We decide to gamble and step forward, splitting up and reveal ourselves to the gathered Dwarves.

“(Humans, quick an ambush, protect the King!)”, cries one of the four Dwarves pushing a cart, grabbing his double bladed Battle Axe from his back and steps in front of his King protectively. The other too quickly take defensive positions around their King eyeing us with anger and suspicion.

The King grabs his mighty Hammer and shield looking regal and strong, defiance in his eyes, ”(You Humans do not learn huh? Well maybe another lesson in diplomacy is in order!)”, He snarls at us.

“(STOP! We are not here to fight you mighty Dwarven King!)”, I cry out to him, holding my hands up showing I am unarmed. Julie and Aerleras are on my right side, while Cindy and Ki'Diera are on my left side. We agreed to try going unarmed and if things went bad, to teleport back to the keep.

The King hesitates at my words then looks at me with a confused look, ”(you speak our tongue, how is that?)”

"(We are from the South of here, we heard the humans were being attacked and came to investigate, and now we see there seems to be a misunderstanding.)", I say to him calmly and keep my hands raised.

“(There is no misunderstanding, each time we tried to communicate with them they fire those bothersome boom sticks at us.)” says the King angrily. ”(now we just punish them each time we come to this village to gather food.)”

“(Can we resolve this peacefully somehow? Start over and open a dialogue?)”, I ask pleading.

“(It is not us you need to talk to Human, it is your fellow kinsman who are the aggressors.)”, He shouts at me.

“(Very well, we will do so, if you will allow us, I will talk to them and resolve this)”, I say to him.

“(And how do we resolve the dead on both sides.)”, the King accuses.

“(Frankly I do not know, both sides seems to have suffered loss and will not balance no matter what is said or done.)” I say to him, my mind is racing right now looking for a way to appease him to start a dialogue and end this conflict.

“(Your Majesty, if I may, it seems that a peaceful resolution may be possible with the Humans)”, Aerleras says stepping forward and drawing back her golden hair revealing her ears.

Ki'Diera steps forward too, her ears standing up, her tail swaying back and forth. ”(I agree with her, Dwarven King, let us at least try, further bloodshed and loss of life benefits no one here.)”

Seeing the two now closely the Dwarven Kings eyes furl together in thought. ”(You two are not Human, yet you are with them?)”, He asks unconvinced.

“We are the Wives to King Scott Smith before you, King of the Kopeke Kingdom south of here.”, says Aerleras smiling to the Dwarven King.

"(Mighty Dwarven King I am sure, if you give us the chance we can fix this somehow and live in peace, I only beg you to let us try please!)”, Julie now steps forward and pleads with sincerity.

“(Your Majesty, the Humans here do not know of other races and have only faced hardships and monsters for the last two months, seeing your people suddenly in the midst of all the chaos has led to a grave misunderstanding.)” Cindy now says also stepping forward.

“(How is it you all speak our tongue and they can not then, we tried to communicate even knowing it cold be so yet they keep firing those annoying boom sticks at us, even killing a few of our kinsmen with them.)” He asks his anger is still not abated.

“(The Humans here, have been cut off from everything and on their own, have not learned the needed skills or information to understand fully what is going on. They are frightened and sacred, lashing out at anything unknown to them in fear.)”, I say to the King

In thought the King lowers his shield and hammer.”(Very well, however if this can not be resolved we will finish off this bunch and then you and I can sit at a table and start fresh.)”, he threatens.

“(Thank you mighty Drwarven King, please allow us to go to them and have your people withdraw for now.)”, I say to him.

“(King Scott Smith, know this is your only chance, our patience is beyond their limits with these fools.)”, says the Dwarven King.

“(You said only a little bit ago, you only wanted to teach them a lesson, now you want to wipe them out?)”, Julie asks in disbelief.

“(My lady, we would have done so, but now that you are here, our plans have changed. Direct negotiations with incentives can make for a better result.)”, The King says to Julie.

“(But you are threatening to wipe them out!)”, Julie cries out.

“(You are an emotional one my lady, I am sure your King here will meet my expectations on this)”, The King now gives a knowing smile. He then turns to the fifth Dwarf, “(withdraw the troops and let them pass)”.

“(As you wish your Majesty!)”, says the fifth Dwarf. The other Dwarves now lower their weapons and but do not put them away, uncertainty and mistrust in their eyes as they keep watch over what is said and done here, protecting their King.

“(Follow me I will lead you to the other Humans)”, says the fifth Dwarf. He is 4'6” tall muscular and well rounded in build, black long curly hair and beard, both go to his waist. His beard is braided like the others and tucked into his belt. He carries a one handed single edged battle axe and round shield. His armor is metallic and looks scaled, a darkened color, more earth toned brown in nature. A Soft glow emanates from it, showing that mana enhances the armor. From all the hair not much of his face is revealed except a large nose and puffy looking lips. His eyes look like steel in color, and show a dislike for us. However he is resolved to follow his King's orders and guides us to the other Humans.

We bid the King farewell for now, as he takes his food supplies to safety, leaving us a chance to talk to the Humans here. We agree to meet again in a few hours, at this very location and discuss the next step and future between the Humans and Dwarves.

We approach the campus area, and we see hundred of Dwarves gathered in small groups in various locations, many wield cross bows with glowing arrows. While some have the large rectangular shields set up to shield them from gun fire. Julie at our direction has her area mana barrier up. A shot ricochets off the barrier as we approach.

The fifth Dwarf stops and calls out, ”(By order of the King, warriors withdraw!)”, A horn, then two, then more start to sound off and the warriors all begin to pull back hiding behind the shields. “(I shall then withdraw too and leave you Humans here.)” He says then quickly turns and runs off with his fellow Dwarves.

In no time Julie, Cindy, Ki'Diera, Aerleras and I are alone on an empty campus. The Dwarves retreating into the distance. Gun shots are bouncing off of the area mana barrier. I sigh and we all begin to walk towards the main building, it is 2 stories tall. We can see several people in the windows with rifles and the like, firing at us as we approach.

As we near the building, the shooting is more concentrated and faster. “HOLD your fire! We are from Kopeke and here to help you!”, I yell to those shooting at us.

“Bullshit, no way you are from Kopeke, we saw you with those monsters!” One yells and fires again.

“How else would we know of Kopeke, think about that!”, I yell back at him.

"Hold your Fire!”, yells a female voice from inside,”Hold your Fire! They are from Kopeke here to help us, We are talking to their people on the radio now.”

“Im...impossible, no way they could have gotten here so fast, it would take hours to get here from there”, yells the man again, but does not fire.

“We are from Kopeke and here to help! We heard your distress call and came right away!”, I yell, my patience is starting to wear thin at the pop shots at us.

“Hold your fire dammit!”, yells a mans voice now, different from the others.

All shooting stops and people now reveal themselves in the windows, guns pointed at us, there are hundreds of people here, all armed and ready to shoot, male, female and even children.

“Send a representative out or we can come in, your choice.” I yell. “ The Dwarves have withdrawn for now.”

“We are coming out”, yells a female voice, ”stay there please”, the female voice says politely.

We wait a few minutes and a group of 8 come out of the building. Five men and three females all armed with various guns and rifles and walking towards us. Julie keeps her area mana barrier up for just in case.

As they near I can see mixed emotions on their faces, however one female has a bright smile on her face. She looks familiar somehow, her eyes are fixed on me, then she pushes all to the side and runs towards me “Scott! It really is you!”, She laughs and hits the barrier and falls on her butt. I move quickly and leave the barrier to help her up, she grabs a hold of me and quickly gives me a deep passionate kiss, before I realize what she is doing.

“What the hell!”, Julie cries out.

“Scott!”, Cindy growls in anger.

“Scott?”, Aerleras asks.

“My Warrior, what is this?”, Ki'Diera cries out.

Oh boy!

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