This was Queen Komanik's idea; she suggested that her husband attach his cut beard with copper rings and coarse cloth to his original beard. Bellegar did so immediately, successfully disguising the fact that he had cut his beard.
"Oh? That's fine," Rorek nodded. "Breeze Castle is large; we can easily arrange a place for your clan to stay."
Relieved, Bellegar felt that he and his beleaguered clan had finally found a temporary kingdom willing to accept them, providing a foothold at last.
As the dwarves began to drink heavily, Bellegar gulped down malt beer, trying to forget the shame and pain of defeat. In a drunken state, he said, "What's the latest news about those makers of inferior goods (humans)? I heard that the chaos from the north has come down again, scattering them thoroughly."
"That's all in the past; it's time to turn the page," Rorek replied, holding a barrel of malt beer and drinking heartily. "You know, Bellegar, my friend, there's a mighty fellow in the kingdom of knights on this side of the mountain. His name is Ryan Macado, the Earl of Glamorgan. He actually defeated the fearsome Chosen Champion, King 'Red Eye' Egil Stilbjorn of Skarlings, and killed him. Thanks to him, many of our dwarven kingdoms have erased pages from our Book of Grudges!"
"A human warrior that formidable?" Bellegar stuffed a piece of dwarf bread into his mouth, curious. "I knew Emperor Karl-Franz was a man of his word, a decent fellow,
"Hey, Bellegar, you're outdated. Earl Glamorgan is also a man of his word," a long-bearded dwarf interjected. "Many dwarves work under him, and thanks to him, Breeze Castle earns quite a bit more each year."
"Earl Glamorgan, Ryan Macado? Can you tell me more? I've heard his name; they say he's a fierce fighter," Bellegar stroked his beard. "He reminds me of the most unsuccessful Butcher, Gotrek Gurnisson."
Thus, Bellegar learned about Ryan's entire saga from Rorek.
Among dwarves, there is a special kind of soldier known as the Butcher. The Butcher is a symbol of dwarven strength. When a dwarf feels an unbearable humiliation, he can vow the Butcher's Oath and become a Butcher.
A Butcher dyes his beard and hair orange-yellow, tattoos his body, and travels far from home to fight for revenge and redemption until he finds an honorable death.
Some Butchers, because of their strength, never find this honorable death and are known as "the most unsuccessful Butchers," the strongest among them.
The most unsuccessful Butcher, Gotrek Gurnisson, wielded the Axes of Grimnir (one of which was in the hands of White Dwarf Grombrindal). He fought from the Badlands to the Chaos Wastes, from the eastern dark lands of the World's Ridge Mountains to Estalia in the far west of the Old World. All foes fell before him, yet he never found his honorable death, thus earning the title "most unsuccessful Butcher."
Bellegar had once thought that if he could never reclaim the Eight Peaks, he would take the Butcher's Oath. However, it wasn't yet time for desperate measures. Bellegar still had loyal followers, and though his clan was scattered, many were still willing to fight for the reconquest of the Eight Peaks. The situation had not yet become irretrievable for Bellegar.
Deep within the Eight Peaks lay countless ancestral treasures. Bellegar had not been in the Eight Peaks long but had uncovered a sealed treasure worth about five thousand gold coins—a temporary solution to pressing needs.
Bellegar had sold these treasures in Breeze Castle to raise military funds.
There were many more such treasure sites deep in the Eight Peaks. Besides, if he could reclaim the main fortress and open the ancestral temples and dwarven treasuries in the depths of the mountains, there would be even more ores, ancestral weapons, rune armors, and rare treasures sealed by the dwarves. With the inferior mining skills of the greenskins, these treasuries would remain unbreachable.
This confidence in defending the Eight Peaks once reclaimed was why Bellegar remained hopeful. A millennium of accumulation by the dwarves was not a joke. If he could fully reclaim the Eight Peaks and retrieve the treasures, the revival of the Angland clan was assured.
The human system of gold, silver, and copper coins was directly copied from the dwarven currency system. Dwarven money was valued the same as human money; they just preferred to stamp images of the Book of Grudges, mountains, or anvils on their coins, with the
current High King's portrait, clan emblems, and minting dates on the reverse.
After a hearty dinner, Bellegar left the banquet hall and staggered toward his temporary residence.
Breeze Castle, built underground in the middle of the Grey Mountains, was a large fortress inhabited by tens of thousands of dwarves. This fortress had good relations with the Empire's Reikland and Marienburg, regularly trading and providing military aid when needed.
Huge stone columns towered into the sky, with the entire top of Breeze Castle covered in rock. The fortress had triple-layered walls, and the gates were made of several-meter-thick boulders, with hundreds of cannons lining the defenses. Bellegar knew this was another powerful dwarven kingdom.
Could he ask them for help in retaking the Eight Peaks?
Naturally, Bellegar immediately thought of his lost homeland. Could he request King Rorek of Breeze Castle to help him reclaim the Eight Peaks?
Bellegar felt a surge of hope and almost instinctively turned back to the hall to ask King Rorek for assistance in reclaiming the Eight Peaks.
He had only taken two steps back when a cold, enlightening sensation suddenly made Bellegar stop.
He realized he had seen this scene before, more than once.
Every time he came to a dwarven kingdom, he did this, and those dwarven kings, either out of face or past relationships, mostly chose to lend a hand.
Bellegar had launched three expeditions to the Eight Peaks with the help of these dwarven kings.
Yet, he had failed three times.
Bellegar, Bellegar, are you going to lose your last refuge too? Breeze Castle and Barren Castle were the last two dwarven kingdoms he could ask for help. Would he offend them as well? The King of the Eight Peaks thought of the dwarves who had died in battle, of the news of defeat after defeat, and clenched his fist tightly.
He sobered up.
Bellegar looked up. The walls, statues, and columns of Karak-Windfort were engraved with numerous dwarven runes, many fire pits burning brightly, the ancestors' statues shining under the firelight, crackling flames filling the air.
The battle-hardened Bellegar was overwhelmed with emotions, tears uncontrollably rising. Hiding behind an ancestor's statue, Bellegar Ironhammer, the King of the Eight Peaks, wept loudly. Eighty-five years had passed, and reclaiming the Eight Peaks seemed an impossible task. For three hundred years, Bellegar had tried every possible means. For two thousand years, the Angland clan had bled for this dream.
For his clan, Bellegar had borne too much, but this was his clan's mission, and he knew he had to carry it on. Was cutting off his beard and discarding his cloak shameful? Of course, for a dwarf, this was a humiliation worse than death, but Bellegar knew he could not die, otherwise no one would avenge his clan.
After crying, drying his tears, and washing his face with clean water, Bellegar sat for an hour to make sure he appeared normal before returning to his place of residence.
In the warm, large guesthouse, Bellegar's wife Komanik was sitting on a chair in the room, crafting with a cow's tail. When she saw Bellegar return, she looked up, "Back?"
"Yes, back," Bellegar appeared normal as he pulled up a chair and sat down, sighing. "I've thought a lot, Komanik. We can't keep asking for troops like this. Mercenaries aren't the solution. We need to find a way to get our own land, our own dwarven fortress, gather our people, engage in production, and train an army."
Komanik sighed deeply, looking around the clean, tidy room. The fireplace was unlit, a large wooden table stood in the middle of the room, covered with various items. The Queen of Angland spoke softly, "I advised you of this decades ago, but you wouldn't listen. Back then, we had several places we could have gone. Now you've finally come around, but we have nowhere left to go."
"Let's rest for now; we can talk more tomorrow."
"Yes."
A night without words.
The next day, Bellegar met again with King Rorek of Breeze Castle. He proposed his plan to seize a fortress for himself, call together the scattered members of the Angland clan, and then consider an expedition to the Eight Peaks.
The discussion lasted all morning.
In the afternoon, Bellegar, both excited and worried, summoned his subordinates to discuss matters.
"We have two places we can go to," Bellegar unrolled a long map on the table. He called over his chief engineer, Harhalaf Gold-seeker, and the captain of the Angland Oathguard, T
orek, then lovingly caressed his son lying asleep on the bed before returning to the table to continue the meeting.
"King Rorek told us there are two ideal places. The first is the Eternal Dragon Rock Castle, also known as Blackstone Fortress, located north of Karak-Windfort. It's a very fine fortress with plenty of ore and gold and silver veins, but it seems to be infested with undead."
"The second is Karak-Coppermount, located south of the Grey Mountains. It also has a fortress, currently only a goblin tribe lurks nearby. Coppermount has a large copper vein, but no other minerals or arable land, and its geographical position is very peculiar; this fortress has no geomantic vein access."
Torek, captain of the Angland Oathguard, explained, "My king, His Majesty Rorek said we could try to take either fortress. He promised to trade with us after we capture the fortress."
"Capture... capture, that sounds easy. I don't know what Rorek is thinking," Bellegar grumbled. "There's a large group of undead in the northern Blackstone Fortress! My beard feels it from five hundred kilometers away! To take down Blackstone Fortress, we'd have to face an undead army. Who can we rely on? Just our few hundred people?"
"As for Coppermount, that's even worse. Coppermount is in the southern Grey Mountains, with elves to the west, greenskins to the north, south, and east! This fortress has no geomantic vein access. If we get surrounded by greenskins, we might not even be able to send out a call for help! Rorek hopes we'll guard his house and yard!" The King of the Eight Peaks blew his beard and stared: "But what can we do? Live under others' roofs? Oh, dwarves can't stand that. I now realize I must have my own land to revive our clan, organize our military, gather funds, and plan to retake the Eight Peaks again."
"Blackstone Fortress is hard to attack but easy to defend. Once we occupy Blackstone Fortress, the east is the Empire, the west is Brittany, both human nations. The makers of inferior goods (humans) usually don't trouble long-beards," Harhalaf Gold-seeker looked at the map, shaking his head repeatedly. "Coppermount is in a worse situation, surrounded by greenskins on all sides. The Angland clan never fears a strong enemy, but Coppermount can't produce grain and has no geomantic vein access. Depending on Breeze Castle for food is far too risky."
"Whichever fortress we try to attack, our current military strength is far from sufficient," Bellegar saw his situation more clearly. "We're just a few hundred people, lacking enough funds. We can't depend on Rorek to support us forever!"
The attending dwarves all nodded; dwarven pride did not allow them to rely on others for long. They had debts to repay and grudges to settle, and many dwarves still felt they hadn't repaid their debt to humanity.
"First, we need to find a way to gather our scattered kin," Bellegar stroked his beard. "We have too few people right now to accomplish anything, hmm!"
The King of the Eight Peaks stroked too hard and nearly tore off his attached beard. He quickly reattached it without drawing attention: "Cough, cough, I mean, we should send a message to all dwarven kingdoms, asking our kin to come to Breeze Castle to gather. With more military strength, whether it's Blackstone Fortress or Coppermount, only with enough forces can we continue to plan our next steps."
The group continued discussing what to do next when Chief Engineer Harhalaf Gold-seeker suddenly remembered something: "Right, I heard from King Rorek that a group of dwarves is settling in Earl Glamorgan's domain in Brittany, working for the Earl, and living well. Their leader is Dugan Ironhand, one of our Angland clan engineers. I remember him."
"I remember him too! Dugan, Dugan Ironhand!"
Updated! A new week, please vote for us!
___________________
(Support with power stones, comments or reviews)
If you guys enjoy this story, In support me on Patreon and get access to +200 advance Chapters
Read Ahead
Patreon.com/INNIT