returned.
'Thank you for speaking so frankly,' he said, his voice as soft as silk. 'I know what must be done.'
'I am grateful, lord,' replied the dwarfwoman, who then withdrew to see to the matter of his royal robe.
Darkend took one last look at the stretch of dark road, then turned toward the great doors. Before he could take a step, a figure emerged from the shadows beside the wall, causing the new thane to stiffen with instinctive alarm. His gaze attempted to penetrate the gloom, and he recognized the shrouded nature of the black-clad form.
'Slickblade?' Darkend's fingers tightened around the haft of his dagger until he received confirmation.
'The same, lord. I am here to report success in the matter of your commands.'
'Double success?'
'Of course.' The assassin's tone was injured.
Darkened nodded, pleased with the news that certain significant rivals had been eliminated.
'But wait.' The thane stopped Slickblade before the assassin turned away. 'There is an additional matter… a thing I would like you to take care of…'
Darkend explained the additional task, which the assassin was more than happy to oblige. Finally Slickblade disappeared, though the ruler of the Daergar couldn't say exactly where he went. The dark-shrouded figure had simply vanished into the shadows at the base of the wall.
Immensely pleased, the thane went back into his throne room where he allowed his attendants to drape his black robe over his shoulders. The garment spread to either side of the great chair like the wings of an enormous bat while the black and red banner of the Smoking Forge was grandly displayed behind him. Garimeth took a seat at his side, and he saw with a tight smile that Thistle was nowhere in sight. The Daergar thane reclined with just the right amount of arrogance as two dwarves, each trailed by an entourage fitting to their royal stations, advanced and bowed.
'My lords, I bid you welcome,' declared Darkend, rising and stepping forward as the cloak fanned wide behind him. He took each of the two visiting thanes by the hand, exerting gentle pressure as he looked deep into their faces with eyes that saw well in the lightless vault.
Pounce Quickspring, thane of the clan Theiwar, met Darkend's look with frank, luminous orbs that seemed to swell out of his face. He blinked as the milky lenses of his eyes strained for focus. Darkend shivered, certain that the Theiwar had some item of magic concealed upon his person-typical for a member of his race. Fortunately, Pounce seemed more than happy to keep his private possessions to himself. A bristling head of straw-colored hair grew down the thane's forehead, and he muttered a reply to the greeting with a certain sense of contained agitation.
Beside Pounce, Tufa Bloodeye, long-time ruler of the wild Klar dwarves, squinted to penetrate the darkness. His eyes were flushed with spots of watery crimson that gave ample proof of the origin of his surname. Unlike the suspicious and quiet Theiwar, Tufa beamed cheerfully and shook Darkend's hand with unfeigned enthusiasm. The Daergar thane was pleased by the warm greeting, though he knew that the Klar's disposition could alter dramatically at a moment's notice. Like virtually all of his violent clan, Tufa Bloodeye was more than half insane.
'Allow me to present my sister,' Darkend offered as Garimeth came forward. He accorded her a courtly introduction and she immediately escorted the visiting thanes to the banquet table that had been laid at the side of the huge room. Soon Daergar, Klar, and Theiwar were mingling easily as they sampled a variety of beverages and milled about the great throne room among a mixture of other nobles and their many bodyguards.
Abruptly a gong sounded and the stilted conversations faded away. 'I have arranged for a trifle entertainment,' Darkend announced from the platform before his throne. He indicated a stage at the far side of the room, and all saw that a rack had been placed there. 'Please, be seated.'
The thane indicated benches that his servants had arrayed before the throne, and quickly the guests and hosts were all reclining comfortably with good views of both the rack and the Daergar thane.
'Bring on the subject,' declared Darkend with a clap of his hands.
Guards immediately hustled into view, pulling along a prisoner. Thistle.
At the sight of the thane she screamed and began to plead. 'Sire, what have I done? You are my master. Punish me as you will, but not-'
'Gag her!' directed the thane, unhappy with her stream of verbiage.
The female dwarf's voice was muffled into a series of strangled sobs as the guards hastened to obey. Darkend beamed, watching as she was tightly lashed to the framework of the rack. He was pleased to see that Slickblade had followed his orders with precision. She was not unconscious, nor apparently wounded from her capture.
'This is my favorite mistress, a great treasure of mine,' Darkend began. 'I intend to offer her life as a bond for the words we are about to exchange, and as a symbol of the bond that shall be formed between our clans.'
Thistle moaned in despair at his words, but Darkend continued as if he had heard nothing.
Now he addressed himself specifically to Tufa Bloodeye and Pounce Quickspring. 'We gather here in another cause, that of allegiance between our three great tribes, and I thought it only fitting that my own treasure should serve as the seal of that friendship.
To this end he invited each of the visiting thanes to accompany him up to the rack. They were provided with a rope, a golden tassel knotted with silver ends.
'Please, my guests… you must each take an end.'
'I shall!' said Tufa Bloodeye, enthusiastically eyeing the weeping Thistle as he took up his cord.
'And I, too,' Pounce said seriously, squatting to stare with every evidence of detached curiosity into the female dwarf's bulging eyes. Beads of sweat bursting from her brow, Thistle tried to say something, but could only chew frantically on the gag.
'Good,' agreed the thane of the Daergar, placing a hand at either end of the cord which dangled just below Thistle's neck.
'Tonight we shall talk of great deeds, of mighty goals and important promises. In the nature of our sacred trust, we shall commence by taking this cord and sealing the throat, the breath, and the life of my cherished mistress.'
'And then, my friends,' Darkend declared warmly, as he himself hooked the noose over Thistle's head, 'we shall commence a celebration that, Reorx willing, shall not cease for a thousand years.'
Chapter Nine
An Emissary
Already Tarn could see the improvements that Belicia had made in her ragtag company. First of all, the number of prospective dwarf warriors had more than tripled in a few days. Obviously, Axel and Baker were somehow finding fresh recruits from among the population of Hybardin. And now the dwarfwoman had her recruits marching in time and forming their shield wall with a marked sense of speed and precision. From his comfortable seat atop a sack of mulch, Tarn watched the Hylar train, a process that now required a sizeable swath of the dockside.
'Line forward!' Belicia Felixia barked out the command. Her dwarves advanced, shields and swords set, their straight line unwavering.
'Double march! Now, charge!'
The half-breed couldn't help but admire the quick but coordinated advance made by the line. Now the young dwarves rushed forward with lusty abandon, a hundred voices rising in a fierce, swelling roar. The pounding of boots was a thunderous drumbeat on the stone ground, and Tarn was surprised as he felt a tingle of martial frenzy.
But of course it was just a drill. Belicia halted her advancing shield wall at the very brink of the water's edge and then the recruits were dismissed to their barracks up on Level Three.
