largest house in the entire place. It was a great, sprawling manor with two wings and a tall, colonnaded facade. Two young handlers, both human lads, came out of the stable to take charge of his horse, and as he made his way up the steps before the house, a bearded dwarf hastened across the yard, wiping his hands on his apron and meeting the marshal with a scowl just outside the front door.
“I thought you weren’t coming until three days from now!” Dram Feldspar complained crossly. “I have the test planned for then!”
“Events are moving quickly,” the marshal replied. “And I wanted to come up here now; I need to be back with the army within a week, for the next campaign.”
“Well, it’s too bad. And Sally will be disappointed; we were going to butcher a prize hog and spend a day roasting the thing, so we could celebrate in style.”
“Your simple country fare will be fine, I’m sure.” For the first time, the man cracked a thin smile, pointing toward his old friend’s bulging gut. “It looks to me as if you’ve been feasting plenty.”
“Aye,” Dram agreed without a hint of embarrassment. “I’ll tell you, married life agrees with me.”
“You don’t say? Sally hasn’t tossed you out on your ear, then?”
“Not a chance. Though I confess, I get a bit of the longing for the trail, and a warm campfire, now and then. And the sound of a good battle-now, that’s something that would get my blood pounding again.”
“Be careful what you wish for,” Jaymes cautioned.
Dram brightened immediately. “Are you here to call me back to arms? My axe is sharp-I keep the blade oiled, you know. I can be ready in-”
“No, no,” the lord marshal countered, raising a hand. “You know better. I need you more here.”
“Bah. I mighta figured. Rubbing shoulders with hill dwarves and gnomes all day!”
“Speaking of hill dwarves, how’s Sally’s father? Still tolerating you?”
The mountain dwarf snorted. “Swig Frostmead would tolerate anyone who brings him as much profit as I do. As to Sally, let’s just say that she and I make each other very happy. As a matter of fact, our family seems to be growing-she’s expecting a little forge-master before the first frost.” He blushed, his pride beaming through the redness that tinged his rugged face.
“Well, congratulations. Even if it turns out to be a forge-mistress.”
“Bite your tongue!” grunted the dwarf. But he halted, and scratched his beard in thought, as if the idea had never occurred to him before. “Do ya think…? Huh! Well, come on in and make yourself comfortable. I sent a message to Swig as soon as the lookouts reported you were coming. No doubt he’ll be over in time for supper.”
“Good.”
“Can you stay for longer than a few days?” He cleared his throat, trying to sound gruff. “I’ve missed… that is, there’s a lot to show you.”
“No, this will have to be a quick visit. The army is concentrating on the west bank of the Vingaard, and I need to meet them in camp as soon as possible. How long will it take to put together the demonstration?”
“Well, I’d prefer more time to prepare, but there’s no real reason why we couldn’t do it first thing in the morning-that is, if you really have to get going.” He looked rather crestfallen, but his expression brightened at the sound of a female voice from the next room.
“Jaymes!” Sally Feldspar came running, or more accurately waddling, into view. The dwarf maid’s rosy cheeks crinkled into a broad smile, and she turned half sideways so that her bulging belly allowed her to clasp the visitor in a powerful hug.
“You’re looking mighty healthy, Sally. Dram told me your good news, or I never would have guessed.”
“Oh, you’re a smooth one, Jaymes Markham. That you are. And I bet a thirsty one, too. That husband of mine doesn’t have the manners to offer an old friend a drink?”
“Darn it, woman!” barked the dwarf, who even then was filling a pair of large tankards from the keg that rested to one side of the entry hall. It was a permanent fixture of the room. “He only just came through the door!”
“Well, let me help the cook get the fire started,” Sally declared cheerfully. “I’m sure you two have a lot to talk about. Get the boring stuff out of the way, won’t you? At dinner, I’ll be joining the conversation and by then I hope you’ll have got around to something interesting.”
“Ah, she’s a nag, and she bosses me around,” Dram said affectionately as his wife disappeared into the back of the house. “I don’t know how I ever lived without her.”
“It’s a long way from sleeping on the ground next to a fire, wondering if goblins are sneaking around, getting ready to attack our camp. Do you really miss that life?”
“You know?” Dram reflected. “Sometimes I feel like I do. But when I think about it other times, I don’t.” Still, the dwarf’s eyes did not turn back to the kitchen or pantry, or his wife. Almost unconsciously, his gaze shifted to the open window, to the mountain horizon, and the blue sky beyond. He passed a beer to Jaymes, and both sat down, sipping their refreshment and saying nothing further for several moments.
Swig Frostmead arrived shortly. He came into the parlor where Dram and Jaymes were having their beers and enthusiastically pumped the lord marshal’s hand. Jaymes opened his belt pouch and took out a small leather sack. The beaming hill dwarf, Dram’s father-in-law, hefted the sack, feeling its weight, and as he did so, his grin grew even wider. “Hope you don’t mind if I have a little peek?” he asked with a wink.
“Not at all,” said the human.
The hill dwarf chieftain dumped the contents of the bag into his palm, and his eyes glittered as brightly as the pile of gems was revealed. “Diamonds, rubies-and a few of them emeralds I like so much!” he crowed. He looked up at Jaymes and smiled even more broadly. “It’s a pleasure doing business with you, my good man!” he said. “And this time I’m not even going to ask where you keep finding these lovely little baubles!”
“You keep your dwarves busy working in my compound-and keep strangers away from here-and I’ll make sure you keep getting paid,” declared the man.
Swig’s appearance had changed quite a bit since Jaymes had last seen him, before the winter. Where the hill dwarf chieftain had once been content to wear buckskin clothes and soft moccasins, he now sported a silk shirt, tailored trousers, and shiny black leather boots. Platinum chains encircled his neck, and the marshal estimated their weight to be no less than twenty pounds of precious metal. The dwarf’s fingers were studded with rings, and a diamond earring was set into the lobe of his left ear. The formerly bushy beard was now neatly braided, and his long hair combed and oiled, bound with a silken ribbon into a tail that draped most of the way down his back.
Dram might not have had time to roast the hog he had planned to butcher, but the household cook-with considerable help from Sally-managed to lay out quite a feast. They started with crusty bread and creamy butter followed by a soup rich and thick with bacon, potatoes, and onions. The main course was a fat turkey, one of the plump and tasty birds that roamed so freely through the foothills of the Vingaard Mountains. It was stuffed with a mix of mushrooms and herbs, and served in a pool of savory gravy. For dessert there was a tort made from flaky pastry, cream, and fresh strawberries harvested from the bogs that dotted the lowlands at the very fringe of the mountains.
Not surprisingly, Dram had asked about the progress of the war, and now Jaymes filled him in on the latest developments, including how the Crown Knights and foot soldiers of General Dayr’s wing had broken Ankhar’s northern force and driven them, finally, east of the Vingaard River.
“Ah, the thrill of battle! The chaos, the sounds, the danger,” Dram said, taking a deep draught from his tankard. He wiped the foam from his whiskers and shook his head with melancholy. “You know, I miss them times! The best times of my life!”
“You can’t be serious!” Sally snorted, her eyebrows raised scornfully. “The killing, the pain, the suffering? All those things you tell me you’ve tried to forget!”
“Er, yes,” Dram mumbled sheepishly. “Maybe I did a better job of forgetting than I thought. But still, I feel like I should be there with my friend here, should be helping somehow.”
“You are helping, in case you’ve forgotten that too,” Jaymes noted pointedly. “The black powder you’re making here in the Compound is going to be a decisive factor in our strategy; I’m sure of it. First, we need to learn how to use it in battle.”
“That’s what the demonstration is for, tomorrow. The gnomes are supervising the preparations right now. Knowing Sulfie and Pete, they’ll be up all night working and tinkering, making sure we’re good to go after breakfast.”
