Chapter 8 – Vale
VALE
Ipaused before the desk in the room Neve and I had been given, and glanced down at a book, its pages open.
I read a bit and chuckled. In the ten minutes I’d taken to clean the dwarven blood and grime from our travels off me, Neve had requested multiple histories of Dergia delivered.
My wife never rested, just as she never ceased to amaze me.
An illustration featured on the opposite page, one that showed dwarves bearing the historical garb and colors of other mining kingdoms arriving in Dergia, pleading for a home.
The king, likely one of the current king’s ancestors, welcomed them with open arms. My finger ran along the old, dry page. There was so much I did not know.
I looked away from the image, into the fire that burned in the stone hearth dominating one wall of our quarters. Set into the dark stone, fiery gems gleamed, a dwarven touch if there ever was one.
There had been, for many turns, a hidden kingdom within my own. One that treated humans as equals.
The dwarves of Dergia had been here for centuries, hiding so that fae of their race might be as free as they wished. But did they love living beneath the Great Rock all the time?
I suspected no. Or at least, not always. If I had to guess, I’d say that King Tholin was hoping to use Neve’s legitimate claim to Winter’s Realm to bring his people out of the shadow of his mountain. To emerge into the wider Winter’s Realm but continue ruling as a separate entity.
But first they’re giving us a bleeding tour. I shook my head at all that had happened in the last hours.
“Ready?” My wife emerged from the bathing chamber adjoining our quarters looking fresh as newly fallen snow and smelling of her usual smokey vanilla. She wore borrowed black pants and a crisp white tunic while her other clothes were being washed.
I suspected the new clothing had to be from a human, for Neve was curvy and also not a short female.
I wished I’d gotten a change of attire but had settled for handing off my dirtiest clothing to the servants and wearing the most presentable of my traveling clothes.
Never had I met a human as large as I, and as for dwarves—well, just the idea of me attempting to shove myself into their clothing was laughable.
“We don’t want to keep Prince Thordur waiting.” She pulled on her sword belt. Not that we thought we’d need weapons, not as guests of the Crown, but like me, my wife believed it was better to be prepared.
“I’m ready.” I slung on my belt bearing Skelda and went to her, circling my arms around her waist and pulling her close. “Thank the dead gods that you smell like yourself again.”
Neve scoffed, but her eyes twinkled, telling me that she was not upset. “That’s what happens when you travel for weeks!”
“Some of us bathed.” I buried my face into her hair and inhaled, a smirk overtaking my lips at her gasp.
She whacked my shoulder. “I couldn’t bring myself to bathe in the rivers. Not as often as you did, anyway.”
“Some Winterborn princess you are.” A laugh rumbled out of me as she muttered something that sounded a lot like ‘I’ll show you Winterborn’. If only we had time to linger, to indulge in one another. That appealed far more than going on a tour. “You get used to streams when they are the only option.”
“Well, I suppose I’ll have more opportunities to practice when we leave.” Neve drew back and gently placed her fingers on my chin and directed me where she wanted me. My lips on hers. The kiss proved decadent, but far too short for my liking.
“We must go,” Neve said as a horn sounded outside, blaring the hours much in the same way the bells of Avaldenn told them. “That’s the top of the hour. The prince is waiting.”
A sigh parted my lips. “Fine, but after this, no more appointments. We deserve time together.”
“We’re having dinner with the royal family tonight.”
“After that, then,” I grumbled, knowing full well that there would be no getting out of it.
Dinners were a means of forging bonds, and it was clear as glass that the King of Dergia wished to get to know Neve better. I could not stand in the way of a potential alliance that could help keep my wife alive.
She smiled. “It’s a deal.”
A servant stood outside our chambers to show us where the prince would be waiting. I appreciated our hosts’ foresight. As we’d only been in Fellstone Castle for a few hours, most of them spent in one room speaking with the king, his queen, and his heir, we did not know our way around.
Walking through the castle with Neve’s hand tucked into mine, I could finally take in the fortress carved into the interior of the mountain.
Sculptures and tapestries were plentiful here, much like at Frostveil and in the castles of the other great houses.
Other art, however, was rare. I spied only a handful of paintings depicting the royal family.
“Vale,” Neve whispered. I caught her eye, and from beneath her cloak she lifted a single finger, guiding me to look beyond our escort.
Down the corridor, two human women laughed at something a highly decorated dwarf soldier said. One woman carried a basket filled with linens while the other’s dress indicated that she was of a higher class. She bent and the soldier kissed her.
The woman appeared to be highborn—or to have married into the highborn class. A human noble in the fae’s land. That was something I’d never thought I’d see.
We continued through the corridors, spotting a few other races of fae as well as more humans. Others met our curiosity with their own. While we’d passed a faerie or two, it was clear to all that we did not belong here.
The Prince of Dergia waited at the door that we’d entered the castle through. Caelo and Anna stood with him, both looking excited to see the city beneath the mountain.
We joined the trio, and bowed at Prince Thordur, who responded in kind, bowing to me and my wife. He’d changed since meeting us. He now wore armbands made of pure gold around his forearms. On the bands, runes were etched. I knew enough runes to recognize they marked him as part of the royal house.
“I hope you’ve been able to rest?” the dwarf asked as the doors to the castle opened for us.
“As much as one can, having learned such earth-shattering information,” I admitted.
Prince Thordur nodded as if he expected nothing less. “Well, then, let us chip down your preconceived notions further, shall we?”
Green spanned as far as the eye could see. Vegetation crawled down the long cavern, up the walls, and hung from the ceiling.
I inhaled the fresh air, impressed by the sunshafts and mirrors bringing in natural light from high above.
The sunlight combined with the efforts of earth and light fae allowed the dwarfs to grow crops deep within the earth.
To hear Prince Thordur tell it, dwarves once mined this very cavern for minerals and gems. Once it ran dry, they reused the space to grow food.
No space went wasted beneath the mountain.
“So your water fae bring water in from the mountain streams? And is there ever an issue with the food going bad before it can get to market?” Neve gestured to a rail line with many carts waiting on it.
“Or do the mine carts transport food back into the city? That would be far easier than carrying the vegetation. Faster too. It’s damp down here, so I expect timing is of the essence. ”
Throughout the tour, she’d exhibited a thirst for knowledge regarding Dergia that charmed Prince Thordur.
He smiled approvingly down at my wife, the light from a nearby sunshaft caught the gold dust in the prince’s hair and sent it shimmering. Clearly, the kingdom was rich with the precious metal, if the royals, and a few of the other wealthy dwarves we’d met, could wear gold so flagrantly.
“Mostly, you have the right of it,” the dwarf said, “As for the issue of keeping food fresh, there is none. The dead gods blessed my people with strong earth magic and that helps preserve food.”
“I’d always thought that dwarven earth magic was of the metal variety,” Caelo admitted as he ran a hand over a bunch of green onions. “But this proves otherwise. This cavern alone is as large as one of the major greenhouses that feeds large numbers in Avaldenn.”
“Many of my kind do work with metal,” the prince agreed, “but plant magic isn’t rare. Thank the dead gods.”
“Speaking of metals,” I spoke up. “I’d appreciate a view of your forges. I assume they’re a wonder.”
In Avaldenn, dwarves ran the best forges and my own favored smith, Master Urgi, was a dwarf at Frostveil. He was also my close friend Duran’s father.
“Was wondering when you’d ask, Prince Vale.” Thordur turned and waved a hand for us to follow. “The forges are in the city.”
Prince Thordur led us back the way we’d come, through a tunnel that exited on the outskirts of the larger city.
During our hours of walking and taking in the sights, we’d learned that most of the population lived at the foot of the castle, within the massive cavern carved out by the dwarves over centuries.
Though some smaller communities took up residence in smaller caverns that spiraled off the main one.
Their religious fae, scholars, and healers were all examples of communities who had sought smaller caverns for their homes and to focus on work.
“This is all so interesting,” Neve said as Caelo and Anna fell into conversation with the prince. “I find the ways in which they tweaked the common infrastructures quite ingenious.”
“If you live beneath great mounds of rock, you find a way to survive.” I looked up, taking in the magical sky, courtesy of light fae working illusions.
The magic told me the sun outside was setting. The day was ending.
Neve came closer, snuggling into me. For the first time in weeks, we were without our long fur cloaks. I wrapped my arm around her waist, pulling her softness closer.