Teiumph of the Crown

3. Kasri

THREE

Kasri

SUMMER 965 MC

Kasri Ironheart made her way through the fortress of Galburn's Ridge. A summoning from her father, King Thalgrun, was no small thing, and although she knew him well, the request's wording left no doubt as to its import.

She passed through the doorway, the Hearth Guard merely nodding at her arrival. Within the makeshift throne room waited the king, flanked by Agramath, the master of rock and stone, as well as the captains of the Dwarven companies. Evidently, this was an official occasion, demanding proper decorum, so she strode right up to him, then bowed deeply.

"You summoned me, My Vard?" she said in her native tongue.

"I did," replied Thalgrun. "We are discussing our association with the Mercerians, and I would have your thoughts on the matter."

She quickly glanced around at the other captains, trying to decipher their moods by their stance, but they were all as stone-faced as her father. It suddenly struck her he might have seen fit to replace her with another heir. It was, after all, the right of a Dwarven king to choose their successor. Had he a change of heart concerning her future? A stubbornness fell over her, and she resolved to tell the truth and suffer the consequences.

"I believe we have much to learn from the Mercerians," she said at last.

"And they from us," replied the king. "It has been proposed that the Life Mage, Revi Bloom, return with us to Ironcliff and commit our magic circle to memory."

The announcement caught her by surprise. "We are returning home?"

"Not all of us, but I shall talk of that in a moment. You are the premier warrior of Ironcliff, Kasri. Do you trust these people?"

"I do, Father. I found them to be true to their word and generous in spirit."

"High praise indeed."

"What does Agramath think of the idea?" she asked.

"He believes it is an acceptable risk. In return for this act, Revi Bloom has agreed to teach the spell of recall to our master of rock and stone, thus making travel between Ironcliff and the Mercerian capital easier. My question to you is whether or not we can still secure the circle should our relationship sour."

"The Hearth Guard is more than capable of stopping any unwanted intrusion, if that's what you mean."

"That may well be, but we won't have the Hearth Guard to rely on, at least not for the foreseeable future."

She felt a slight panic. Surely he wasn't about to disband the elite company? "It matters little. Any of our armoured warriors would be able to do so."

"Good. That's what I hoped you'd say."

Relief washed over her, yet still, there was a nagging feeling. "Might I ask, My Vard, why the Hearth Guard would be unable to resume that duty?"

"As I said, we will soon be returning home to Ironcliff, but when I say 'we', I don't mean all of us."

"What are you suggesting?"

"Our alliance with the Mercerians is not over. We received word that Merceria's ally, Weldwyn, has been invaded. I intend to send a small force to assist them in their endeavours."

"How much of a force?"

"Three companies, including the Hearth Guard. You would, of course, command them."

"It is a great honour, My Vard. One that I gratefully accept."

"Good. In addition to the Hearth Guard, you shall have a company of our regular warriors and one of arbalesters. Within those restrictions, you can choose which captains you would like."

"I shall do so this very day."

"Excellent. Now, although you will command our contingent, you must operate within the established hierarchy of the Mercerian army. I will leave it to you to determine how that will work. At the very least, however, they will need to take on provisioning you, for you will be far too distant from home for us to do so."

"Understood, My Vard. I shall seek out their leaders and bring it to their attention."

"Good. The rest of us shall begin the long march home by week's end. As to your own force's disposition, I suggest you consult with their marshal. No doubt, you'll have enough marching of your own in the coming days. Let us hope it is not through the winter snow."

"Yes, My Vard." She bowed deeply before backing up and away from the makeshift throne.

"Not so fast," said the king. "I am not yet done."

She halted. "Your pardon. I thought the meeting complete."

"Understandable, given what I told you, but there is more."

She waited, noticing the indecision on his face. He was struggling with something, but she had no idea what it might be.

"Come closer," he beckoned. "I would embrace my daughter."

He rose as she moved forward, enfolding her in his arms for a brief moment. "You will still succeed me as ruler of Ironcliff," he whispered, "but the time has come for me to hand down Stormhammer."

He reached down to where the mighty weapon sat beside his chair. Forged over five centuries ago of the finest metals known to Dwarven kind, it was imbued with the magic of a mighty Air Mage.

Kasri looked on in wonderment. "Are you sure, Father? This is your weapon!"

"I shall not partake of another battle, but I suspect you will face many in the years to come. Better it goes where it will be put to good use than to collect dust in a mountain fortress." He placed the weapon in her hands.

"I shall not let you down, Father."

"Of that, I have no doubt. Mark my words, Kasri. One day you will rule Ironcliff; on that, I will never waver, but to do so, you must survive the coming conflict. Do you understand me?"

"I do," she said, "and I will strive to honour this weapon as you have."

"Good. Now, come. We have much to discuss, you and I, and this is not the place to do so."

"What more is there to talk of?"

His eyes glinted with mischief. "Well, for one thing, I must show you how to call on the powers of that hammer!"

Beverly looked down at the crudely drawn map of Norland. "Are you sure you're going to have enough warriors, Father?"

"Of course," said Baron Fitzwilliam. "Gerald saw to that already. Chief Ghodrug also promised I could call on the Orcs of Ravensguard if needed. You, on the other hand, need to get the rest of this army moving south before the snow arrives."

"I'm only worried about you. I don't trust these Norland earls."

"Oh, they're not so bad once you get to know them. You concern yourself with the coming campaign in Weldwyn, and let me worry about settling things here. Remember, we'll soon have a working circle of magic, then we can travel with ease."

"I still don't trust Bronwyn."

"Nor do I," said the baron, "but we may be forced to accept her to expedite a more permanent peace. The simple matter is, we can't afford to maintain a garrison here, not if we expect to liberate Weldwyn."

"You're right, of course," said Beverly. She turned to go, then paused a moment. "I shall miss you, Father."

"And I, you, my dear, but we shall see each other again, don't you worry. If anything, I'm the one who should be worried. After all, it's you who'll be returning to battle come spring."

Beverly smiled as she left the room, her thoughts turning to other matters. Gerald had left it to her to organize the march back to Merceria, a task occupying much of her time of late. Even as she walked, she visualized the supply lists and wagons. So taken with her thoughts was she that she almost collided with Kasri.

"I beg your pardon," said Beverly. "I should've been paying more attention to where I was going."

"Quite all right," said the Dwarf. "I was just coming to speak with you. I understand you were put in charge of taking the army south?"

"Yes."

"Good, because it's that very thing I wanted to talk to you about. How do you think your queen would react if we came with you?"

"That depends," replied the knight. "What do you mean by 'we'?"

"Three companies, including the Hearth Guard."

"I assume you'd be commanding?"

"Of course."

"I think that's marvellous, and I'm sure she'd be thrilled to bits." Beverly suddenly screwed up her face.

"Something wrong?"

"No, merely that you've thrown off my calculations. I'm going to need more wagons."

"Can I help?"

"How? You don't happen to have extra horses in your quarters, do you?"

Kasri chuckled. "No, but each company has a rationeer, and they know how to make stonecakes."

"A rationeer?"

"Yes, what you might call a cook, although our rations are different from what you call food."

"I'm more than familiar with stonecakes. What is it you're proposing?"

"Given some time and access to the ovens hereabouts, we can turn out enough food to take us all the way to Wincaster."

"Then I wouldn't need extra wagons."

"Precisely," said Kasri. "And once we're in your capital, they can make more."

"Enough to feed the entire army?"

"No, but we could probably supplement a few companies, in addition to our own needs, of course."

"I'm sure Herdwin would appreciate that."

"Who's Herdwin?"

"Our Dwarven commander. He's in charge of the companies from Stonecastle."

"How many warriors does he have?"

"Four companies. Why?"

"Well," said Kasri, "if he's organized along similar lines, we can work with his own rationeers to produce even more, but we still can't feed the rest of you for long."

"Why is that?"

"Dwarves can use stonecakes indefinitely, but Humans require a more… what's the word… balanced diet, at least in the long run."

"I'll keep that in mind," replied Beverly. "When would your Dwarves be ready to march?"

"As soon as you like. When are your own troops leaving?"

"I'd like to be out of Galburn's Ridge by month's end, weather permitting. Is that enough time for you to prepare your stonecakes?"

"That's plenty."

"Good enough. Anything else?"

Kasri simply grinned back.

"What?" said Beverly.

"There's something I want to show you."

"Very well, then, what is it?"

"You must come and see."

"Right now?"

"Of course, right now! I can't keep it a secret forever!"

Beverly found the Dwarf's exuberance infectious. "Well, after that kind of endorsement, now I HAVE to see what it is."

Kasri led her through the castle, finally arriving at her quarters. There, she opened the door, then picked up Stormhammer from a nearby table.

"It's mine," she gushed. "My father gave it to me this very morning."

"Congratulations," said the knight. "This is a most wonderful gift."

"It is, isn't it? I think it's made of the same metal as Nature's Fury."

"May I hold it?"

"Of course," the Dwarf replied. She handed it over, taking delight as Beverly examined its craftsmanship.

"It's a little heavier than my own hammer, and there's much more filigree work on the handle, but I'd say it's definitely made of the same material—sky metal."

"It would be interesting to try them out side by side, don't you think?"

"I look forward to it," said Beverly, "but I'm afraid I've got lots of work to do. Anything else you need?"

"Yes, just a quick question."

"Go on."

"What do you know of this Herdwin?"

"He's a smith by trade and a good friend of the marshal's. Why?"

Kasri shrugged. "I wanted to know a bit about him before I go and introduce myself. I've got a feeling we're going to be working together closely in the coming days."

Beverly smiled. "Tell him I said hello, and if he wants to dye your hair black, tell him no."

Herdwin looked down at the broken axle. The wagon had been tipped up, the better to get at the bottom, but it quickly became apparent the metal rod was bent far too much to rotate correctly.

"How did this happen?" he grumbled.

In response, his cohorts all looked at their feet as if the answer lay between their boots.

"Oh, now I see how this is going to go. We'll need to replace this if this thing's to be of any use."

"Need help?" The voice took him by surprise. He turned to see a female Dwarf taking a great interest in his work.

"You must be Kasri Ironheart," he said.

"I am."

"Then greetings. I'm Herdwin Steelarm."

"I know who you are."

"In that case, is there something I can do for you?"

"Yes. My Dwarves are heading south, along with the Mercerians. I thought we might travel together."

Herdwin blushed.

"I meant our companies," corrected Kasri, although her face also turned crimson.

"I have two hundred warriors. You?"

"Around a hundred and fifty."

"I couldn't help but notice that many of yours wore plate armour. Are they coming too?"

"Just the Hearth Guard, although I wish it were more. The rest will be armoured much as your own warriors."

"Sounds like a grand idea. Have you spoken to Gerald about this?"

"You mean the marshal? I understood he left for Wincaster."

"He did? He didn't tell me. Who did he leave in charge?"

Kasri smiled. "Who do you think?"

"No doubt that would be Beverly. A fine commander in her own right."

"It sounds like you know her well."

"Her and her husband both. I was the one who told young Aldwin how to create a Dwarven forge to make Nature's Fury."

"I doubt the smiths guild liked the idea of that," said Kasri.

"Between you and me, the smiths guild can go and sit in a deep, dark hole for all I care."

"You have no love for the guild?"

"No. I left Stonecastle years ago because of their shenanigans."

"Shenanigans? I'm not sure I understand?"

"It's simple, really. I was more than ready to move on from my apprenticeship, but their rules said I needed to take another ten years before being eligible for promotion to full smith."

"Perhaps they felt you weren't ready?"

"They told me I was," said Herdwin, "but the guild has a limit on how many full smiths they can employ. Told me if they let me graduate, the increased production would lower prices—competition, you understand, and they couldn't have that."

"So you just left?"

"I did and never looked back. Found myself in Wincaster soon after. Mind you, it hasn't all been smooth forging, but I've done all right. Might even say I prospered."

"You couldn't have fallen completely out of favour. They gave you warriors to command."

"Yes, well, that's a completely different matter."

"I'm listening."

He looked her in the eye, expecting feigned interest, but instead saw only curiosity. "This is hardly the place to talk of such things."

"Have you people who can see to this wagon now that you've identified the problem?"

"I do."

"Then let us find somewhere more comfortable where we can find some decent mead."

"Good luck with that," said Herdwin. "The Norlanders can't brew the stuff to save their lives."

"Then ale, perhaps?"

"Now, that sounds far more promising. One of the camp followers has a fairly nice concoction."

"Camp followers? You mean all those extra people who follow behind the Mercerian army?"

"I know. It's a strange concept, isn't it? No Dwarven army worth its granite would endanger others like that, but it's their way."

It didn't take long to find the wagon he was looking for. Herdwin and Kasri soon had tankards of ale as they wandered the open courtyard.

"You're an interesting Dwarf," said Kasri. "I've never quite met anyone like you."

"Ah well, you wouldn't have, would you, you being a noble and everything. Me, on the other hand, I'm nothing but a guildless smith."

"You're being too hard on yourself. I heard what you did during the siege—that took real bravery. Not to mention how you saved the queen when the entire kingdom was looking for her."

Herdwin blushed. "That's all overblown nonsense."

"So you didn't save the queen?"

"Well, she was only a princess at the time, and I wasn't the only one helping her." He took a chug of ale. "Listen to me blathering on about myself. I hear you've had quite a distinguished career yourself."

"I've done all right."

"And if you don't mind my asking, how is it you're out here, leading a group of warriors? I thought you'd be forged by now with children of your own."

"There was certainly no shortage of possible forge-mates, but none captured my heart. I suppose I always preferred the life of a warrior over that of mere domesticity."

"Well," said Herdwin, "you'll get plenty of experience with the Mercerians. They're a kingdom that seems to be constantly at war."

"I only saw them fight once and was rather busy myself to take stock of their tactics. What's your assessment of their fighting ability?"

"Man for man, they're the best warriors this side of the mountains." He chuckled. "Of course, they're not Dwarves, but the commanders are all well-seasoned. I imagine you could learn a thing or two from any of them."

She moved slightly closer, lowering her voice. "Does that include you?"

He blushed. "I… well, er…"

"Come now," she said. "I'm only interested in your battle experience."

"Nothing more?"

"Well, let's start with that, shall we?"