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Vol. 8 - Intrigue - Chapter 3
🕑 Added 2020-05-09 01:58:42 +0000 UTCThe following morning, Thomas and Snowlily, in her human form, joined the other women at a dining table and ordered breakfast. As they were eating Thomas spoke up, "I'll be heading out to look for Master Coalheart after this. I probably won't be back until later tonight."
The four women sighed and nodded their heads. The group enjoyed their breakfast. Thomas left with Snowlily when they were done eating. As they walked, Thomas took the storage amulet off and transferred about a hundred and fifty thousand gold into it before holding it out to Snowlily, "I'm giving this to you. It has significantly more space than the ring I gave you. I also put your share from hunting the monsters in the dungeon inside of it."
Snowlily bounced excitedly as Thomas placed the amulet around her neck. When he wore it, the amulet was sized for an adult but as soon as he placed it around her neck it shrank down until it fit her smaller stature perfectly. She excitedly began to play with it and when she saw the huge pile of gold coins inside of it, she leaped at Thomas and wrapped her thin arms around him, "Thank you thank you thank you!"
Thomas laughed and pat the top of her head, "You did earn it. You can spend it on anything you need." He leaned down to look directly into the bright blue eyes, "But you can't spend it all on meat!"
Snowlily froze and then pouted, "No fair!!"
Thomas pat the top of her head again, "When you're all grown up you can do whatever you want. Until then, I'm going to keep my promise and make sure you eat right. Get used to it."
Snowlily continued to pout but nodded her head. Clearly there was no escape from her vegetable fueled nightmare. Still, she was pretty happy about having money of her own that she could spend on whatever she wanted. She got over it quickly and began to skip as she walked next to Thomas. He was making his way directly toward the massive double doors that he suspected led into the real Kafla city built inside of the mountain. As he got closer he could see two distinctly different guard posts at the doors.
The first guard post was made exclusively of humans and looked like they were meant to be guarding what was coming out of the gate given their distance from it. The other group was made up of much shorter men, dwarves, who looked like they were guarding who would be going inside of the mountain. Both groups kept a fair distance from each other and didn't seem to be interacting at all. Thomas found the situation a little weird given his open-mindedness. He honestly couldn't even comprehend racism. For him, racism was just plain bad for business.
As he got closer, one of the human guards approached him and held his hand up to bring the pair to a stop, "State your business."
Thomas looked at the guard. His first instinct was to tell the guard it was none of his business, instead, he said, "I'm here to look for someone I need to meet for business."
The guard narrowed his eyes at Thomas and looked him up and down. Thomas was just wearing normal clothing with none of his armor or weapons equipped. Even without them he had a large arsenal of magic at his disposal and could retrieve his katana in an instant. Snowlily was just wearing a simple sundress and looking as cute as a button. After examining them the guard returned to looking at Thomas, "I'd suggest not taking such a young impressionable girl into the den of those filthy dwarves."
The human guard didn't both trying to speak in a low tone so his words were clearly heard by the dwarven guards. They bristled at his disparaging comment. Thomas just shrugged his shoulders, "Being covered in dust, soot, and sweat is a sign of hard work being done."
The human guard narrowed his eyes at Thomas while the dwarven guards nodded their heads in agreement. Thomas continued, "Is there anything else?"
The guard shook his head, "No. Just know that once you step foot past those doors you are no longer in the country of Solvikia and we are not responsible for your safety."
The guard turned and walked away after that, though he did send Thomas a few dirty looks on his way. Thomas rolled his eyes and headed in the direction of the dwarven guards closer to the entrance into the mountain. As he neared, one of the dwarven guards stepped closer, "Well met, youngin'. Might I know your name?"
Thomas smiled at the grizzled old dwarf. Judging by the full head and beard of gray hair, the dwarf in front of him was definitely old enough to get away with calling him 'youngin'. Thomas smiled politely at the dwarf, "I'm Thomas Darkrose and the adorable one next to me is Snowlily."
Snowlily gave an energetic wave of her hand toward the dwarf. The old man smiled brightly, "I'm Hafril Oakmace." Hafril pulled out a familiar orb, "Before I can grant ya access into the main city I need ta check ya for crimes."
Thomas nodded and placed his hand on the orb. Once it glowed blue, indicating he was crime-free, Snowlily did the same. Seeing both of them weren't wanted for any crimes, Hafril stored the orb away and spoke, "Good, your both free ta enter. Though I need ta ask ya your business in the city."
"Actually, I'm here looking for someone so maybe you could help me out. His name is Fokgrag Coalheart."
Hafril's eyes widened, "Now why would ya be lookin' fer that old coot?"
Hearing Hafril's words brought a smile to his face. He didn't think about it much but there was always a chance that Fokgrag had moved on to somewhere else, "My master, Hekrin Graveljaw, sent me to find him."
Hafril let out a sigh and made a brad gesture indicating the doors behind him, "He won't be hard for ya ta find. He's locked in the cities jail at the moment. Crazy bastard. One of his experiments failed and he leveled not only his home but the homes of his neighbors as well. The magister locked him up and filed a fine against him. Good luck, kid."
Finished speaking, Hafril led Thomas and Snowlily to the massive double doors. There was a set of smaller doors built into them that were large enough for an average-sized human to pass through. Hafril opened the door and gestured inside, "Just ask one of the guards and they'll show ya ta Fokgrag."
Thomas smiled and nodded, "Thanks."
He talked through the open doors and was surprised at what he saw through them. The large doors leading into the mountain had to be at least forty meters tall and judging by the tunnel he found himself in, at least five meters thick. It was a hell of a good defensive structure. He walked through the tunnel in the door and was rather surprised when he realized that the large door was made of a single piece of stone. He smiled as he ran his fingers over the smooth, almost glossy, surface of the tunnel through the door. Only dwarves could pull off something so amazing.
As he was walking through the tunnel he came to the conclusion that the dwarves had been here before the country became racist. It would take a long time to construct doors like these and he suspected that the people of Solvikia would allow the dwarves to freely build such a well-fortified area in their territory. If the dwarves had been here first though, then the effort to try and forcefully remove them would be more than it was worth. He mused over his speculations until he stepped out of the tunnel and looked at the city that sprawled out before him.
The city screamed 'Dwarven'. Right outside of the tunnel was a wide avenue lined with buildings made completely out of stone. The oldest looking ones seemed to be carved out of the mountain itself while newer ones seemed to be made of large pieces of stone put together. The street was lined with what Thomas could only describe as street lights. Poles at least two meters tall were topped with spheres that looked like glass and emitted a constant glow that illuminated the area. Every building the could see was at least two stories tall, dwarven height. The entire city was built with dwarven stature in mind so it all seemed short to Thomas but was just right for Snowlily.
As Snowlily looked over the place her eyes practically sparkled. To her, it was like the entire city was built with her height in mind. Thomas reached down and took her hand into his own as they moved toward the city. The streets were bustling with activity as Dwarves walked to and fro on their own business. He got the occasional glance as humans were not a common sight inside of the city. They didn't look at him with disgust or caution but more looks of curiosity. To them, it was obvious that Thomas had no bad intentions as he and the little girl with him were looking around and smiling. Any of the Solvikians that rarely visited always looked over their city in disgust. The difference was clear to anyone with eyes.
As they walked down the street hand in hand, Thomas admired the architecture of the buildings along the main avenue. All of them were shops selling various things, yet even though they were just shops they were inside of buildings that wouldn't look out of place in the average noble district. The oldest buildings that were carved from the stone of the mountain itself had the most intricate murals and designs on their walls. There were columns and arches supporting the structures everywhere. To Thomas, the architecture had hints of Greek and Roman influences in it. Originally, he was in a bit of a rush to find Fokgrag, but he'd become distracted by the beauty of the city.
As they continued to walk, Snowlily's nose twitched. Her eyes widened while her grip on Thomas's hand tightened. She started tugging on his arm while sticking her nose up in the air, "I smell something good!!"
Thomas looked down at the little girl with a wry smile, "It's not even lunchtime and we just ate breakfast not too long ago."
She turned her head to look up at him with pleading eyes. Thomas instantly crumbled, "Alright, lead the way. However! We're not going to eat yet. We'll go there for lunch alright?"
Snowlily pouted, but still tugged forcefully on Thomas's arm and dragged him in the direction of the scent she'd picked up. As they got closer the smell became thick enough for Thomas to pick up with his human nose. He had to admit, the smell was heavenly. No wonder Snowlily was so insistent. As they approached the building the scent was wafting out of, he saw a massive building big enough for not just humans, but even giants to fit inside of. The four-meter tall doors of the building were wide open and showed a massive dining hall about half-filled with dwarves eating and drinking.
The tabled and chairs were made of solid pieces of carved stone. The occupied ones had dwarves sitting in them eating what looked like small feasts and drinking out of large wooden mugs that were all filled with various kinds of liquor, judging by the scent of alcohol wafting in the air with the smell of cooking meat. On one side of the wide-open room was a giant open kitchen with huge ovens. Each oven had a dwarf working at it slowly rotating huge pieces of meat. Occasionally one of the dwarves would brush the meat with its own drippings.
Even though he was still satisfied from his breakfast, Thomas couldn't stop his mouth from watering at the scents pouring out of the building and mixing together in a merely that delighted him. He swallowed loudly and looked down at Snowlily, "We're definitely coming here for lunch, and dinner, and breakfast tomorrow..."
Snowlily looked up at him with glittering eyes and nodded her head rapidly in agreement. They enjoyed the scents for a bit longer before Thomas started trying to leave the area to find a guard for directions. As he took a step he felt his arm stop and looked back at Snowlily. She was just staring inside the building with wide eyes. Thomas had to forcefully drag her away while she protested and struggled. He couldn't help smiling at her behavior. Most children might act this way in front of a toy store or a candy store. Only she would act like this in front of meat.
In the end, he was forced to pick her up and carry her away from the tantalizing aroma's coming from the restaurant. After he got a bit further away from it, Snowlily calmed down enough for him to let her walk on her own. Though, he gripped her hand tightly so she couldn't take off and run back. At least if he lost her, he would know exactly where to go to find her. They walked hand in hand once again. With Snowlily getting a little calmer the further they got from the food, it became easier for him to focus on the task at hand. He got directions from one of the dwarven guards in full mithril plate mail and made his way toward the cities jail. It was time to find Fokgrag and see what he could do about his situation.
Comments
Didn't mind the cutesy filler. Couldn't help smiling while reading it. Thanks
Deathburn
Thanks
