"Good morning, Kvalinn." For the third day in a row, I was woken up well before the waking hour. I sleepily opened an eye to see Dak shaking me by the shoulder. "Wake up, your father says we need to have a strategy meeting."
Looking around the room, I could see my father sitting on the edge of the only bed in the room. After the feast last night, we were shown to a small stone room with a single bed and three cots, and that was where we had slept. My father got the bed, and the rest of us got the cots.
"Wake up, Kvalinn." My father said with a grim and dark tone in his voice. "I need to warn you about what will happen today."
I shook the sleep from my eyes, and did my best to pay attention. After Bekhi was awake as well, we all sat on the edge of our beds and waited for my father to speak. It took several minutes, but eventually he started.
"This will likely be the most difficult day of any of our lives. Worse than a troll's breath and a goblin's fart combined. Kvalinn, knowing my father, you will be taken to a one on one interview with him where he will test your weapon making skills, and try to determine if you would be more pliable than me in forming connections. Thane Thredak, you and I will be escorted to a room where several of my family members will insert themselves to reach a deal that is most beneficial to themselves and the clan at large."
"What about me?" Bekhi asked. "What will I have to do?"
"Yours will be the most difficult task of all. You will need to convince the members of the clan that you are worthy of joining their ranks." Bekhi had a face that was silently asking if that was all she had to do while she instinctively reached for her hammer. Father gave an annoyed sigh as he clarified. "The Weapon Clan is the oldest of all the clans, tracing our lineage all the way back to the first dwarf, Hjerouhrdinn Godforged. Thus, any who wish to join our clan, either through marriage or talent, will face intense pressure in an attempt to dissuade those who would join only for the honor involved. You will face an inquisition from the female members of the clan who will do all they can to discourage you from marrying Kvalinn."
"Why would they do that when they are also helping you and me reach an agreement in the marriage negotiations?" Dak asked in surprise. My father gave another sigh of annoyance at having to explain himself even more.
"The clan members who live in Midfjall like to engage in negotiations even more than they like to craft weapons. They relish the chance to craft an agreement, even if it goes nowhere and is invalidated by one party dropping the topic. So they will be attempting to forge the agreement and break it up at the same time. I expect that they will begin the meetings after the first meal, possibly sooner."
A knock at the door caused all of us to jump. According to my internal clock, it was just past the waking hour, so if we had slept as normal then we would have just woken up. When father called out to ask who it was, we were informed that Clan Head Irgadhim requested our presence in the great hall. We had slept in our clothes so all we had to do was splash water in our faces to prepare for the audience.
In the great hall we found my grandfather sitting at one of the lower tables, eating a simple meal with a few dozen other clan members. When he noticed us, he got up to greet us.
"Greetings, Ekgor, Thane Thredak. I apologize for asking you here so early, but there is much that needs to be taken care of if your wish to marry your daughter to Kvalinn is to be met, and the evening hours are meant for celebrating the New Years." Irgadhim gestured to a couple of men and women who finished off their beers and stood up from the table. "These are some of the best mediators in the clan. If anyone can help you two reach an accord it will be them."
Father and Dak followed the group to a meeting room, leaving me and Bekhi with my grandfather. He gestured to a group of women who approached while looking at Bekhi with sharply appraising eyes.
"These are some of my daughters, granddaughters, and sisters. They would fain know you better, Bekhi Mubrimssdottir, before you join my immediate family. They have prepared food or drink so that you may eat the first meal while you talk."
I mentally cheered Bekhi on as the family members led her away to another meeting room where the smell of honeyed beer wafted its way to my nose. Leaving me with my grandfather alongside a few other kids who appeared around my age, maybe a bit older.
"Sit down for a moment, Kvalinn." My grandfather sat down again, and once I joined him at the table, beer and oatmeal flavored with honey was served to me.
Honey was expensive down in Nurnwuhr, so it was rare that we ever had more than a small jar, and it was normally saved for my cookies that my father and I still enjoyed. I let the flavor of the sweetened breakfast liven up my taste buds as another round of beers was brought out for everyone else.
When everyone was served, my grandfather took a quaff of beer and spoke to me in a slightly less formal tone than he had been using with my father and Bekhi. "Greetings, Kvalinn. It is good to finally meet you. The only information your father ever sent me about my grandson was 'Kvalinn's doing well. Studying hard. Busy.' and that was it. I've asked a few of the younger members of the clan to join us so that we can get to know you in a more informal setting."
Irgadhim then went around the table, introducing each person there, their age, and their relation to me. There were a total of five underage dwarves, ranging in age from seventeen to twenty five, and the closest relation was my cousin, while the most distant one was my father's brother's nephew's cousin's former roommate.
We had some casual conversation together as I ate my breakfast. They were mostly surprised that I had not been to the clan hall before today. Usually, families in the Weapon Clan would bring their children to the clan hall for the first time when they reached the age of five, and then would bring them every couple of years. So my father's decision to keep me in school and not bring me here until now was seen as rather eccentric.
"What is it like down in Nurnwuhr?" Asked one of my cousins. "I'm from the fortress city of Hernboramm and I've never been down that deep."
"According to my great-grandfather, you've been attending something called 'school' for the past ten years? What's that?" The youngest cousin asked curiously. I wanted more information about the first question, so I answered my cousins in reverse order.
"School is where Thane Throdhengrun gathered several Elders and had them teach us a variety of subjects. Personally I studied Rune Theory, Geography, and Advanced Combat, but a friend of mine took Accounting, Advanced Math, and Interspecies Languages. So there was a large variety of classes to learn from. As for Nurnwuhr, it's a small city that only has the school as its claim to fame. But since I spent most of my time in front of the forge I can't say that much about it." I turned to the cousin from the fortress city so that I could ask more about it.
"Hofik, you said you are from a fortress city? What does the city guard against?" Hofik grimaced as he contemplated the subject. He was around twenty years old and had a scar over his right brow.
"We protect the mountain entrance from the dreaded Zaihanian armies, and their even more formidable slaving parties." Hofik pointed at the scar on his brow. "Sometimes they are fierce enough in the attack that the Warrior Clan is not enough to hold them back, and underage people like me are called up to the walls. I got this from a goblin that had been partially tamed by a slaving party."
"Sounds like the people of Zaihan aren't particularly friendly." My comment was met with grim chuckles and guttural growls.
"There are many grudges in both the King's book of grudges, and grudges from every clan against that cursed nation." My grandfather growled out. "I myself have counted dozens, if not hundreds, of grudges in the grudge book of our clan due to the ravages of that pestilent race. Their depravity knows no bounds, as they enslave man, beast, and dwarf to fuel the luxuriant lifestyle of their kings and nobility."
"So that's why my weapons were so eagerly bought up for the campaign." I said to myself. Often in the past, Aundarord had come to my father with large, sometimes excessive, orders for weapons to be shipped to the fortress cities. Even my experimental runed weapons went there to be used.
"Wait, you were involved in those weapon shipments from Nurnwuhr?" A second cousin named Magreana asked, incidentally she was the only girl in the group. She was around seventeen with black curly hair and an earnest face. "I have a friend in the Warrior Clan who said that a lot of powerful but dangerous weapons were coming from there. Her father was assigned a throwing knife with the rune of returning since he is the fastest with a shield."
I nodded as I remembered the weapon. I had translated an old Earth song about returning to the sender, and used the resulting run to a throwing knife. It had worked like a charm, mostly. After impaling the test dummy, it would indeed return to the thrower, but it did so blade first, so you either needed to be really good at ducking or quick with a shield to use it.
"It would seem that I was more involved then I knew. I made those weapons in my spare time and they were prototypes at best. I handed them over to Thane Throdhengrun so that they could be safely stored. If any of your friends or their families were injured, I sincerely apologize."
"You might need more than apologies, Kvalinn." Magreana said with a furrowed brow. "Several of the weapons have caused severe injuries to many in the Warrior Clan, and more than a few grudges have been entered against their creator. You may want to keep quiet about your part in their crafting until you can give gifts strong enough to strike out the grudges."
"Understood, I'll have to stop by Hernboramm and make some of my better weapons in a few years. I can now make weapons with relatively powerful magic runes, and they are mostly safe. As safe as a magical runed weapon can be anyway." My assuring words did not have the effect I was hoping for. Every single one of them stood up suddenly and glared daggers at me.
"You added the runes, Kvalinn?! You didn't just make the weapons?" Magreana asked in a loud voice.
"You can craft magical runes!?" Hofik yelled in surprise and anger.
"You are not satisfied with following the teachings of your clan? But seek to use the abhorrent power of the execrable gods!?" My grandfather bellowed at me in anger. His brows furrowed heavily as he began spitting out a litany against the gods with half decent swear words that would make a sailor blush.
Eventually, my grandfather calmed down enough that he was able to glare at me without launching into more swearing that common decency prevents me from translating, and pointed a furious finger at me. "We are going to my forge. I need to make sure your technique has not been corrupted by those (More swearing) rune crafters. Move!"
I was then led to my grandfather's personal forge. The tools there were exactly the same as in my father's forge, but everything was of much higher quality. From the tongs to the hammers, everything was either coated or made entirely of mithril. Everything also had elaborate carvings everywhere, not to the point of affecting functionality, but coming very close to that line. I was beginning to see why my father had run away to Nurnwuhr as soon as he was able.
"Make a short sword." My grandfather said bluntly. "The best one you are capable of. You have until we finish a cask of beer. I want to see how you perform under pressure. Now move!" My grandfather's shout made me jump, and automatically start working. His voice had the same pressure and weight that my father's did when he wanted me to get to work, so my muscles responded automatically. The difference between my grandfather and my father though, was that my father would have begun pumping the bellows and working alongside me, while my grandfather had a lower clan member bring beers for himself and my cousins.
The sight of them relaxedly drinking beers while I desperately pumped the bellows to get the fire going annoyed me a great deal. And I resolved to put my all into making the weapon, even using my magic to make it perfect.
"Time's up!" My grandfather yelled as he tossed the empty cask aside. "Present your work to me, Kvalinn."
I handed over the sword. I had actually finished a while ago and was just adding superlative decorations for the past ten minutes. The weapon was a short steel sword of around twenty inches, with a perfectly balanced handle, and several non magical runes on the blade that loosely translated to 'killer of enemies and slayer of pests'.
My cousins gathered around to see the weapon and there were gasps and whistles of admiration. My grandfather, however, was not so easily impressed. He gave the sword extreme scrutiny, even testing it on the empty beer cask. The blade easily sliced through the wood without causing a single splinter to fly. I had poured in just enough magic from my rune of forging to make the weapon top tier without making it a magical weapon, it was definitely my best weapon to date.
"Exceptional weapon, grandson." My grandfather handed the sword off to one of my cousins, who nodded and took it away somewhere. "Your father has truly taught you well, and you bring pride to the Weapon Clan. I can see that even though you are so young, you have the skills to support a family. I would prefer that you marry someone in our clan though."
He then turned to my cousins with a question. "Magreana, your family has not begun discussing marriage with you yet, correct? It would normally be much too early to discuss this, but I do not wish to see Kvalinn's fate tied to that surface dwarf."
Far from being surprised, Magreana nodded understandingly. "My family has no plans for me yet, aside from completing my training as a weaponsmith, so they should be open to considering the arrangement. Kvalinn will only improve with time, and should be a weaponsmith of legendary quality by the time we are to be wed. And I should be able to help him settle the grudges that he has incurred among the Warrior Clan with his cursed runed weapons."
"Excellent. I'll send word to those serving on guard duty to get those dirt chewing surface dwarves out of my halls at once, then we can have your parents and my son begin the talks at the proper time." My grandfather was about to wave over a messenger when I quickly stepped in to try and stop his rampage.
"Grandfather! While I appreciate what you are trying to do, wouldn't dismissing a Thane's offer so easily cause offense to both Thane Thredak and the King?" Thanes were city rules that had been handpicked by the King, so disrespecting Dak when he was acting in his role as Thane might be seen as disrespect to the King.
"Don't worry about that, Kvalinn." My grandfather said dismissively. "King Thralgrorlum needs the Weapon clan more than ever with the recent rise of Zaihanian attacks. He wouldn't even dare enter this slight into his personal book of grudges for fear of his weapon supply drying up like a shallow well." He again was about to send over a messenger so I spoke up again.
"Grandfather, I am truly honored that you have my welfare in mind. But did you forget about what I want?" This caused my grandfather to pause, and he gave me a side eyed glare for interrupting his plans. But I gathered my courage and continued. "Bekhi Mubrimssdottir has been wielding my weapons since we were both children, she is as much a master with wielding weapons as I am of making them, and I want to see her use my creations until we reach the halls of the ancestors!"
My cousins gasped at my defiance, while Magreana blushed a little at what to dwarves was a romantic outburst worthy only of a romcom. My grandfather bore down on me though with the full weight of his gaze and anger.
"Do you mean to tell me?" He growled out in a soft voice that somehow thundered around the room. "That you would rather marry a dirt grubbing, light seeking, mead swilling, clan disrupting, surface dwarf, who was raised in a house made of decaying trees, and only wields their hammer as a weapon! Rather than marry Magreana, a dwarf whose lineage and talents have no fault!?"
Audibly gulping nervously, I nodded that that was the case. My grandfather backed up from where he was leaning over me in rage and seemed to calm down a tiny bit. His face was no less angry, but his eyes now had an infinitesimal hint of sadness to them now.
"Very well, Kvalinn. If that is your decision." My grandfather nodded to my cousins. "I have some work to do, please attempt to learn some of Kvalinn's skills. His training has clearly been much more rigorous than yours even though he is younger than you."
He then marched off, motioning to a dwarf who seemed to be his personal attendant to follow him. They left together while furiously whispering about something at a rapid pace. I was left with my cousins, who were a little standoffish after what they had just seen. So, being left with nothing else to do, I took advantage of the top tier forge and practiced my weapon making. I was forced to do it alone though, since my cousins just called for another cask of beer while observing me like I was a gamer putting my playing online.
It wasn't until after lunchtime that I was called to the great hall. Once there, I found my father and Dak looking tired, but satisfied. Evidently they had managed to come to a deal with the help of the clan members standing behind them. Bekhi was there as well, looking completely exhausted and drained, she looked worse than the time I had messed up in Elder Dworhick's class and we were both forced to run laps in two hundred pound cast iron armor.
My grandfather was sitting in his oversized and elaborately decorated chair behind the long table at the end of the hall. When I arrived, he began the business proceedings.
"Ekgor Blazingbrand, Thane Thredak, have you reached an agreement on the marriage between our houses?"
"We have, father." My father spoke first, and taking a piece of parchment, he laid it on the table in front of my grandfather.
Barely giving the paper a cursory glance, grandfather gave me a sad stare before quietly saying. "Hold them."
Before I knew what was going on, my arms were pinned behind me, and I wasn't the only one. My father, Dak, and even Bekhi received the same treatment.
"Father! What is the meaning of this!"
"Clan Head Irgadhim! Assaulting a Thane of the kingdom is an affront to King Thralgrorlum himself! Explain yourself!"
Bekhi was too tired to say anything, she barely even seemed aware of what was happening.
"Grandfather?" Before I could ask what was going on. A fire seemed to ignite in my grandfather's eyes.
"Do not call me that!" He bellowed out. Storming over to me, he ripped off the gloves I always wore to hide my runes, and then tore the back of my shirt off to reveal the one on my back. "It is as I feared! You are tainted with the power of the gods! Your father should never have allowed you to live, much less raised you in the honorable ways of our clan!"
Spitting at my feet, grandfa- Irgadhim returned to his seat before staring into my father's eyes. "Several months ago, someone from the Merchant Clan sent me a letter. In it, he described how Kvalinn attracted goblins as if he were smeared in wormwood, and yet he lived without so much as a scratch. His torn clothes revealed a glowing rune upon his back, and from beneath his gloves, a red light emanated. When I saw Kvalinn's axe last night, I hoped that he could be married into an obscure branch, so that his blemish would be unnoticed. But since both father and son refuse to abide by my wishes, I cast him out!" Looking over at me, his voice boomed in the halls and in my ears. "Kvalinn Ekgorsson! I give you the name Kvalinn Runecursed. But only so that the name of my son is not tied to yours when I strike your name from the records of the clan. No longer do you have any clan, ties, or family. You are forbidden from making weapons anywhere I hold sway on pain of death."
Irgadhim then turned towards my father and Dak, and with deliberate motions, he tore the marriage agreement between me and Bekhi into ribbons. "Ekgor Blazingbrand, my son, you have ten years to remarry and provide a replacement offspring for the one you have lost today." Irgadhim banged his hammer on the table with a thunderous boom. "Remove them from my sight!"
All four of us were then unceremoniously thrown out of the clan halls, and the guards crossed their weapons behind us with a hostile clang.
"Well, that didn't go like I expected." Dak stood up and brushed himself off. "But at least I don't have to be polite to those rock headed, smug, and stuffy beard chewers anymore. Com'n, let's go find an inn with an open room. Gotta be at least one in this dark city."
Bekhi started coming out of her stupor as her dad helped her up. "D-dad? What happened? Last thing I remember is a bunch of women insulting mom and my sisters."
"We got thrown out." Dak said in a casual tone as he put one of her arms over his shoulder. "Com'n, we need to go find a room to stay in for the night, and tomorrow we'll head home."
"D-did I mess up the negotiations?" Bekhi groggily asked. She looked over to me with tears starting to form in her eyes. "Sorry, Kvalinn. I'm not sure what I did, but I didn't mean to mess it up."
"It wasn't anything you did, sweetie. Kvalinn's grandfather never intended to let you two get married in the first place. That probably explains why they went so hard on you and dug in their heels like stubborn mules in the negotiations."
As I started following Bekhi and Dak, I felt a coat be draped over me. I looked over and saw that my father had taken off his jacket to cover up my torn shirt. Neither of us said anything, and we followed to the inn.
"I've only got one room." The innkeeper said. "Will that do?"
"Yes." Dak said. "We'll be leaving the city before the waking hour tomorrow, so could you have food supplies for three days prepared for us? We'll pay now for the food costs."
"Sure, I just need to get your names and titles to fill out the paperwork. Since we are in the capital of Einangrad, the city guards need to make sure that anyone who becomes wanted for crimes later leaves a paper trail."
"I'm Thane Thredak Fieryrage, my daughter, Bekhi Mubrimssdottir, Ekgor Blazingbrand, and Kvalinn Runecursed."
The innkeeper jotted down the names in his book and had a young boy escort us to our rooms. All of a sudden it hit me that my name was now Kvalinn Runecursed, and I was as good as dead to everyone in the mountain that I had spent my entire life in.
I spent the rest of the day in a shocked trance until I fell asleep in my cot. Unsure what life as a dwarf would look like, without family or clan to support me.