"Do I hit it like this, Papa?" Gerde hit the metal I had placed in front of her several times with the hammer I had made for her.
"Not quite. You need to use these muscles here. Watch me again." I turned the scrap metal I had been way overcharged for into a rough dagger with a few swings of my hammer. "Do it exactly like that, Gerde."
Gerde nodded excitedly before perfectly imitating my movements on the glowing metal, and quickly had the rhythm down pat and soon had the rough dagger shape more refined. I wondered to myself if all beastkin were this talented or whether it was just Gerde.
She had also grown at an exponential rate, way faster than any human or dwarven baby ever could. It was now the spring of her second winter, and she was already four feet tall! Just another six inches and she would be as tall as me. I remembered that Newman had once told me that beastkin were created as a fighting force against the first demon lord, so I assumed that maybe the gods had given them shorter childhoods like the cloned warriors from a science fiction series about a war in the stars.
"How's my Gerde doing?" Bekhi's voice called down the stairs to the work area. She had been working short term yeti hunting quests lately and she must have just come back from one.
"Mama!" Gerde almost dropped her hammer in excitement, but when I glared at her, she carefully put her tools away and safely put the hot metal where it couldn't hurt anyone. "Mama! Did you bring home some tasty meat?" Bekhi caught Gerde's running hug like a rock and returned the loving embrace.
"Yes I did, Gerde. Zhugret is cooking it up now. But before dinner, we need to practice your fighting skills. That way you can hunt your own meat this spring."
"Yay!" Gerde rushed off to her room to get her weapons. Each of them had been handmade by me with the Rune of Softness and blunted edges so that she couldn't hurt herself with them. Even though she was nearly as tall as me, she was still just two years old and I wanted her to be safe while practicing.
"Hey, Kvalinn. How's Gerde's training going?" Bekhi gave me a long tired hug. She had been out walking long distances alongside human hunters for the past week so she was a little exhausted. Half jogging with long limbed human hunters is a lot more taxing than ambling beside heavily laden wagons.
"She's learning incredibly fast. I'd say she's roughly where I was at my third or fourth winter in terms of weapon crafting. If I had access to more metal, then perhaps she would be even further along in her lessons. As it is, I need to melt down the same metal again and again to use as a teaching tool. As for her combat practice, she's a little rough, and she seems to operate more by instinct than by the lessons you teach."
"I can work with that. As long as the shield and armor block any monsters, then I can take my time teaching her how to attack with her weapons." Bekhi leaned back from the hug and gave me a glare. "The shield and armor will keep the monsters from hurting her, right?"
"Without a doubt." I nodded with pride. Gerde's armor was made out of hardened yeti leather that was light yet tough to pierce. As for her shield, it was very large and mostly made out of wood with metal spokes reinforcing it, but I had added three powerful magic runes. The Rune of Blocking would stop any physical damage from getting through it, the Rune of Reflecting would bounce back any magical damage at the caster, and finally the Rune of Weightlessness so that Gerde could wield it. It was one of my best works to date with the runes.
Gerde came rushing back down the stairs with her armor and weapons all strapped on where they should be. For the past few weeks we had been training her as if we were already on the road so that she could get accustomed to fighting in armor.
"I'm ready, mama! I'm gonna block every attack from you this time!" Gerde gave an excited smile that was so bright you would need sun shields to protect your eyes. Her tail was also happily wagging through the hole we had needed to add in all her clothes and armor.
"Alright, Gerde. Here I come!" Bekhi gave her own grin at the prospect of a good fight and began the lessons. Gerde moved with surprising speed and agility to block her mother's weapon thrusts and swings, somehow her twitching ears kept her appraised of her surroundings and her tail kept her balanced. However, Bekhi was still leagues ahead of her in training so she never managed to win any of the practice matches. "Keep your shield up, Gerde. Nope, that's too high. Don't forget to watch your sides. And another strike from above. Ooh, so close to blocking that one. Mind your ears and tail!"
They kept practicing at a pace I could barely keep up with for the next half hour. Bekhi was using a twig to make sure she never accidentally hurt Gerde during the practice matches, and to make sure that she stayed light on her toes. When Zhugret called down to the work area that dinner was ready, Gerde was panting on the floor while Bekhi was a only bit out of breath.
"Good job, Gerde. You nearly blocked everything." I hefted Gerde onto my back so that I could carry her up the stairs.
"Mrrr, mama is too fast." Gerde whined into the back of my shirt. "Will I ever be able to beat her?"
"I wouldn't bet on it. No one can beat your mother." I said with a chuckle.
"Not even you, papa?"
"Not even me. Back when me and your mother were in school, she would leave me panting on the floor just like you after a training session. She did that every day until we graduated at fifteen."
"Don't worry, Gerde. Your papa was just really dense during our school years and focused on really weird things. I'm sure you'll beat me in a couple more years if you keep training with me." Bekhi scratched behind Gerdes' ears, causing her to smile and her tail to start wagging slowly.
"There you three are. How is Gerde's training going? Will she be ready for the Vermogen run?" Zhugret served each of us a bowl of yeti and mushroom stew with some beer, Gerde was still drinking milk but that was solely due to there being no other options besides beer, drinking water was an anathema to dwarven culture and only to be done when survival was on the line.
"I'd say that she's ready for everything up to a frost troll." Bekhi said as she blew on the stew to cool it. "She can probably block snow wolves, and ice wraiths long enough for me to kill them. That is, if she hasn't already alerted me to their presence. Last time we were on the road she could detect any monster or beast and would alert me to them before our party leader even knew they were there."
"What about if she's attacked by trolls, wyverns, or dragons?" Weraek asked in concern. Bekhi just grinned in response.
"That's when things get fun for me and I get to test out more of Kvalinn's weapons. There's still a couple in his bag that he refused to take out due to them being 'too dangerous' but I'm sure they'll be fun to use."
"Ancestors beard." Waraek muttered to himself. "What runes could the lad possibly have made that are more dangerous than the Rune of Beer?"
I decided to keep silent on that question. Hjerouhrdinn's ancient books of wisdom had contained several runes that were forbidden for good reasons, with anecdotes as to why they were forbidden included. There were also a couple of my experimental runes that had gone unexpectedly haywire, as well as a few that I had intentionally jury rigged for maximum destruction. My time in the Winter Hall had been well spent making new runes and weapons.
"Anyway, you two should take Gerde to be registered at the Adventurer's Guild." Zhugret said while serving Gerde another helping of stew. "That way if she kills anything of note then she'll get compensated for it and she'll gain acclaim. They should still be open after dinner so you should take her now before they are overwhelmed with adventurer's here for the Vermogen run."
"That's a good idea! Gerde, do you want to go become an adventurer? You'll be able to hunt your own meat if you do." Bekhi's prompt caused Gerde's ears to perk up at her favorite word, and she immediately began enthusiastically nodding.
"When can I go outside!? Can I go now? Will it be light outside?" Gerde's question made me realize that we would probably need to give her sun shields to protect her eyes. She hadn't been outside since arriving nearly a year ago. That might be why she was paler than a normal kid, I mentally kicked myself for that blunder.
"First we need to get you registered at the Adventurer's Guild. We'll go as soon as you finish all your stew, including the mushrooms." Like any kid, Gerde never liked eating anything healthy but the promise of hunting her own meat had her shoveling down her meal in excitement and washing her dish in a heartbeat.
Once we had finished eating, I donned my own equipment so that I wouldn't be the only one of the three of us not wearing armor, and we all went down to the Adventurer's Guild building. It hadn't changed at all since I was last there, the only slight difference was that there were a lot more adventurer's there than last time. For humans, this was a once in a lifetime chance to make a fortune so they were coming here in droves from across the continent.
"Greetings, Bekhi. Are you here for another gate guarding quest?" Khairgik, a guild receptionist, called out to Bekhi with familiarity since she had come here often for small quests.
"Not this time, Khairgik. We're here to get Gerde registered as an adventurer." Gerde waved shyly at him from behind Bekhi.
Khairgik stared in shock, then he rubbed his eyes and stared some more at her. "This is the same beastkin child who was small enough to fit in your rucksack just last year?! And now you are going to register her as an adventurer?! Please tell me you are not thinking of taking her on the Vermogen run with you!"
"We're taking her on the Vermogen run with us."
"I told you not to tell me that!" Khairgik shouted, he then cradled his head in his hands as if trying to process the information.
"Hey, what's with all the shouting, Khairgik? Are you alright?" Another guild receptionist came over and began shaking Khairgik by the shoulder. Khairgik answered without raising his head.
"Dwolig, would you question my sanity if I told you that that girl in front of you is only two winters old, and that her parents are here to register her as an adventurer so that they can take her on the Vermogen run? Also, that girl is a beastkin. The first of her kind seen outside the Eternal Forest for over a thousand years."
Dwolig chewed on his beard for a few minutes as he attempted to figure out if his colleague was joking or not. He then scrutinized Gerde carefully, trying to figure out if she was actually a beastkin or if Khairgik was pulling his leg. Eventually he made up his mind and grinned like a gold miner striking a jackpot.
"Hjerouhrdinn's hammer! When you first told me that a dwarven couple had adopted a beastkin, I thought you were just too deep in your cups. But that girl is seriously a beastkin and she's going on the Vermogen run? This is gonna be the most exciting Vermogen run in centuries!" He then raised his voice so that the whole guild could hear him and spoke in Imperial for all the humans in the crowd. "Everyone, I've got the gamble of a lifetime for you. Say hi to Gerde. She's two winters old, a beastkin, and her parents are taking her on the Vermogen run. Now come over here and place your bets!"
Dwolig's announcement caused a loud ruckus in the guild room. With several cries of, "A beastkin? What are we children needing a bedtime story?" or "Two winters?! They must be lying!" and "What are her parents thinking!? Taking a child on the Vermogen run! I've heard it's the most dangerous guild quest out there!"
Ignoring all the commotion. Dwolig opened a large ledger and started taking bets on Gerde's survival. "Alright, we'll start off the betting nice and simple with gambling on whether the kid will make it to Vermogen alive at two to one odds. Talk to Dendrik over here if you want to bet on something specific."
"Khairgik! What's going on?! Of course my daughter is gonna survive! And since when does the guild take bets?" Bekhi was furious over the course of events. She seemed to think everyone was questioning her training of Gerde, and that they were accusing her of letting her daughter die.
"I am deeply sorry for my colleagues' behavior. Please do not hold a grudge against him for this. The practice of betting on quests isn't a new one, but it was usually unofficial and with small amounts. However, gambling institutions both here and in Vermogen asked the guild to help with keeping track of the bets for this years Vermogen run. Dwolig and Dendrik, being degenerate gamblers whose vaults are empty, have taken to the job like fish to water and have become overly eager when they see something worth betting on." Khairgik's tone was apologetic, but his eyes were shining at the gold and silver being bet next to him.
"Lay off, Khairgik." A human man in a guild uniform walked out from a back office. "We both know that this gamble is unlike any other so of course they would be eager to get the bets rolling as fast as possible." He then turned to us with a nod. "I'm Heldruik, if you are willing to give us some information about your daughters equipment and training then we can cut you in for a portion of the winnings. I have a gut feeling that everyone in the Assembled Armies will want to get in on this!"
"Excuse us a moment." Bekhi looked to be on the verge of taking her hammer to Heldruik's head so I ushered her to the side. "Take a deep breath, Bekhi. They're just being insensitive."
"No shit! They're casually betting on our daughter's death! I should tear down the entire guild building!" Bekhi was glaring at the betting adventurers with a look that would have had me fleeing for the hills. Not that I would have gotten far, her throwing arm is powerful enough to launch a ten pound throwing hammer at lethal speeds.
"Calm down." I flinched as Bekhi turned her glare at me for uttering that phrase, but I took a deep breath and continued. "It may seem heartless, but you and I both know that Gerde will make it to Vermogen without a scratch. So if we go along with this farce and make some money from this, then we should have enough cash to open a shop in Vermogen where we can finally settle down. Think about it, a nice house on the slope of the mountain where there are strong monsters and plentiful minerals, with Gerde training with you on the lawn and me making you new weapons every day."
"Gaah! I hate the idea of people gambling on our daughter, but that does sound nice. Fine. We'll share the details of Gerde's training with the guild, but do not tell them about any runes you added to the weapons she'll be using on the trip. You did add runes to her weapons, right?"
I just grinned in response. There wasn't anything too destructive, Gerde was just a kid after all. But there was just enough to be dangerous to magical monsters such as ice wraiths and snow wolves. Plus a few weapons in her size that I'd hang onto.
We went back to the counter with our decision. Heldruik passed us a form for us to fill out that would provide betters with information about her weapons, strengths, weight, height, and age, almost as if she were a boxer or a race horse. After it was filled out, he posted it on the wall across from the quest wall and it was instantly swarmed by adventurers. He then helped us register Gerde, and gave her a guild card with G rank.
Bekhi and I stayed for a few minutes to listen to the bets. Needless to say, at two to one odds against Gerde's survival, the outlook of everyone betting was bleak.
"Twenty silver on her not surviving."
"Ten silver that she dies to a winter wyvern."
"Fifty copper that she dies of cold."
"Fifteen silver that she dies to a snow wolf."
"Fifty silver that she survives!"
"Thirty copper that she kills an ice wraith."
"Two gold that she survives."
"Ten silver that she dies to an ice wraith."
"Let's go, Kvalinn. Before I end up with a grudge book fuller than the High King's." Bekhi stomped out of the guild building with me and Gerde following close behind. Once we were outside we saw that the commotion had reached the street and the line for betting was out the door.
"Hey, Kvalinn, Bekhi, what's up?" We bumped into Richard from our adventuring party as we were walking down the road back to our lodgings. He was kitted up for the upcoming Vermogen run and looked to be on his way to the Adventurer's guild to officially put is name down.
"Uncle Richard!" Gerde dashed forward to give him a hug. Richard had visited us several times over the past year and Gerde had started calling him her uncle for some reason.
"Woah there, Gerde! You are getting strong! Any idea what has your mama so angry?"
"She's mad at the mean people who don't think I can survive outside. They were saying rude things about me getting killed and talking about money." Seeing that Richard was looking confused by Gerde's simple answer that was spoken in broken Imperial, I explained that the guild was taking bets on Gerde.
"Hot damn! What are the odds? I can double my money if they are against Gerde surviving." Noticing Bekhi's furious glare, he quickly corrected himself in a deadpan voice. "I mean, how inhumane. I should go in there and really give them a piece of my mind." He then rushed to join the ever growing line of gamblers while fidgeting in excitement.
"Don't mind him." Kat happened to be walking a short distance behind Richard and had seen the entire encounter. "He just knows that there is no way Gerde would die to anything less than a dragon. Especially after the training all of us have been giving her."
It was true that not only Bekhi and I had been training Gerde, but Richard and Kat had done several training sessions with her. Richard was probably going to use his inside knowledge to bet heavily on Gerde's survival. It may not have been ethical, but it was definitely the smart move to make.
"True, but it's still irritating to me that everyone is betting against Gerde. I feel like they are saying I'm a bad teacher." Bekhi gripped the shaft of her hammer while glaring at the adventurers who were animatedly discussing their bets.
"They're just stupid men." Kat grumbled. "Ignore them, and let Gerde steal all their money when she lives."
After a few minutes of idle conversation, Kat left to go sign up for the quest in the guild, while Bekhi and I returned to our lodgings. We would be having one last feast tomorrow with dwarven beer before moving to where the Assembled Armies would be gathering.
The next day, Zhugret served up yeti cooked in mead, with a mushroom soup and relatively fresh bread. It was a feast for dwarves living under the mountain since both mead and fresh bread were expensive commodities. The only reason they were affordable here was because this was a border city that didn't have to transport the goods deep into the mountain.
"Kvalinn, you and your family will be missed here." Weraek said with a smile. "Ever since our last child moved out several decades ago things have been too quiet. Of course, you will be missed for how fast you can repair weapons and add runes to them at the same time. With you working by our side this was the first time we finished our quota ahead of schedule in decades."
"I will miss working here too, Weraek. It's been nice to have access to a rune forge all day to practice with and train Gerde with. Hopefully I'll be able to set up one of my own in Vermogen where I can use the skills you taught me regarding adding gold and silver decorations to my weapons."
"I don't doubt that you will, Kvalinn. Vermogen is a trading state with a huge port and with your talents, merchants from around the world will come to buy your weapons. Also, you should be able to find rune smithing materials there that would not be for sale anywhere else except at extremely exaggerated prices. Just beware of the elves. They sometimes visit the ports in order to acquire gold and jewels for their island."
"I'll keep my eyes out for them." I said with a nod. Not that I cared about the elves personally, but they were listed as the second grudge in the High King's book of grudges, just after the gods for enslaving the dwarven race, so there must have been some reason for the dwarven animosity to the elven race.
"So how was the betting down at the guild?" Zhugret asked in curiosity. "An old friend popped by as I was preparing the meal and asked for an insider tip since I had hosted Gerde for the past year. I told him to save his money instead of gambling it."
"There is a decent amount of speculation among the Thane and the Elders as well." Weraek commented. "The Thane is betting that Gerde will perish to a snow wolf, but after watching you train her all year, I put down two gold that she will live to see Vermogen."
"Weraek!" Zhugret shouted angrily. "That was your entire bonus money for finishing the Thane's order early! I don't care how sure of a bet it is, do not gamble large sums without consulting me. Or better yet, don't gamble at all!"
Wisely surrendering, Waraek's only response was. "Yes dear."
The rest of the evening passed by with merry feasting and dwarven songs. Everyone of us ate until we were full, since it would be a while before we had the opportunity to eat like this again. While on the road, it would be hard bread, jerky, and a tiny ration of beer to flavor the water barrels. I doubted that I would ever return to these mountains, so it was good to end my time there on a pleasant note.
Early the next morning, Bekhi, Gerde, and I, woke up and left for the assembly area for both the armies and adventurers. The town of Khirndarim didn't have enough room for the dwarven armies and adventurers as well as the treasure of a hundred mountains, so everyone gathered at a gigantic natural cavern that was a few miles away from the town.
Once the word to depart was given, we would all travel through the gates of Khirndarim to the plains of Tochka, and then we would start on the journey west towards Vermogen. I wondered at first why the wagons didn't just go under the mountains to avoid dragons, but then I found out that the mountains had so little trust for each other that they didn't want warriors from one mountain going through one anothers mountains, even if they were all working together to transport the treasure. So to avoid intermountain bickering, they had negotiated with Tochka to travel over their land. To put it one way, it was as if Texas, wanted to ship something to California, but didn't trust the states in between so they sent it through Mexico.
When we arrived at the Cavern of Assembly, as the assembly point was called, all three of us stopped in surprise.
"Hjerouhrdinn's hammer." I mumbled softly in shock. "That is a very large army."
It wasn't until later that I found out the exact numbers, but stretching out in the darkness was an enormous army of over ten thousand dwarven warriors from every mountain in the league, as well as five thousand human adventurers from all over the continent who were there to seek their fortune. The cargo we would be guarding consisted of four hundred wagons packed with gold, six hundred wagons full of silver, one hundred stuffed with boxes of carefully packaged jewelry, and fifty wagons bearing heavy iron safes for storing the expertly cut precious stones. Of course that number didn't include the innumerable supply wagons that held food, water, and spare weapons for the host and the thousands of teamsters driving the wagons.
"With so many people I probably won't get a decent fight until we reach Vermogen." Bekhi grumbled to herself.
"No meat?" Gerde asked in a sad voice.
"There will probably be a little meat in the evening meal. But not as much as Zhugret gives you." I patted Gerde on the head, and that seemed to pick up her spirits a bit. We then made our way to where all the mercenaries, adventurers, and adrenaline junkies looking for a fight, were gathering.
"There you are, Kvalinn! Alright, fellas, pay up. Gerde does exist and her parents are actually taking her on the Vermogen run." Richard called out to us from a group of adventurers, and once they had removed all doubt that Gerde was a beastkin, they paid him a couple coppers each while grumbling into the darkness.
"Even more gambling, Richard?" Bekhi asked coldly. "How much do you intend to lose before you end up in debtors' prison?"
"Hey, so far I've made around twenty coppers and we haven't even left the caves. Besides, I only bet on stuff that was a sure thing, like her killing an ice wraith or snow wolf. I heard that a couple people bet highly on really ridiculous odds for stuff like Gerde killing a wyvern or dragon."
"What were the odds on that?!" I asked in surprise. I didn't think that anyone was stupid enough to bet on a child killing a wyvern or dragon.
"Last I heard," one of the adventurers drawled out in a Tochkan accent, "the odds of the beastkin child killing a wyvern are at five hundred to one, and the odds of her killing a dragon." He paused for dramatic effect. "Ten thousand to one against her killing a dragon."
"Ancestors beard! Who on the continent would be idiotic enough to take those odds!?"
"No swearing around children." A sudden voice caused all of us to turn. A shorter woman with black hair and wielding a staff walked up to us. "As for what idiot bet on Gerde killing a dragon, that would be our general. Who moronically bet several gold coins on those odds." She stopped in front of Gerde and looked her over before muttering to herself. "So a beastkin child really is traveling with us. May the gods protect her."
"The general himself bet on her killing a dragon!?" Richard said with eyebrows raised in disbelief. "And a couple of gold! Hey, Bekhi-"
"Not gonna happen, Richard." Bekhi cut him off with an angry glare. "If a dragon happens to hit our part of the line then Gerde has been trained to keep her back to a wagon and her shield in both hands. Under no circumstances will she be allowed to go on the offense against a dragon. Also, I'm gonna kill the dragon before she even gets a chance."
Everyone chuckled at that last statement. Most of them thought it was bravado, but Richard was chuckling wryly, because he knew that Bekhi actually would kill a dragon if one dared get close enough to her.
"I look forward to hearing of your exploits." The woman with the staff said admiringly. She then held out her staff as if it was a hammer and spoke in near perfect Dwarven. "Greetings. I am Ulyanna Fireflinger. Commander of the adventurers and human allies. May the ancestors grant us victory in the coming fights."
Bekhi and I were surprised at hearing our language come from someone who looked to be a human and was wielding a staff for magic casting, but we each returned her greeting politely. Gerde did her best to be polite, but she was too giddy about her new hammer I had given her the other night.
"Anyway, I'm going through the lines and providing sun shields to anyone who needs them. Gerde looks like she hasn't seen the sun in a while, so I'm assuming she'll need them more than most." Ulyanna gestured to an assistant who gave out the sun shields, which were basically goggles made of copper and darkened glass, to anyone who requested them. I readied mine in a front pocket for when we got in sight of the gate. Otherwise I wouldn't be able to see anything in the darkness.
Once everyone in our group who wanted sun shields had gotten them, Ulyanna looked to me and Bekhi. "I'll be constantly going up and down the line during the trip, and will be sure to check in on Gerde whenever I do. Apparently the entire army is talking about her." She then moved on to other groups to introduce herself and pass out sun shields, leaving us to wait for the line of wagons to start moving.
Eventually, a cheer was heard from the entrance of the cave, and the lines of wagons started slowly moving forward. I took my first steps towards the gates with a smile, excited to begin the next part of my life, and hopeful that it had more materials to work with and more runes to learn.