Thread: Four inches (Story)

"Bitter are the tears that run in my face as I move away from Erelan. The city has fallen and enemies are rushing in. The sun of the east burns the shores of the Empire of Lughna."
Cael Gobiinu, soldier in service of the High King Conall Lugh.

PART 1

Gilmih Ingentium looked at the crowd composed of dwarves and men. He held a letter from the king of the dwarves in his hand, and even though he was a strong and hardened dwarf, his hand trembled. He recognized the faces of several cousins and family and suddenly he was struck with a combined mixture of anger and fear.

"Brothers in arms, and family" he spoke loud. The crowd was silent. "As you know, we have received word from our king Addharam Fargunn..." he made a pause. How could Addharam have sent such a request? How could he read these words of shame? His heart beating fast, he raised the letter to his eyes but decided against reading it. He simply could not do it.

Seeing the pressure that Gilmih was undertaking, Volas walked to him and addressed the crowd. "People, this letter shall be nailed to the door of the great hall. Whoever wants to read it is welcome to do it. The letter shall not be taken away or ripped to pieces. It shall stay nailed to that door until Gilmih himself takes it away".

The words of his brother calmed him a little. Gilmih felt the letter been taken from his hand and for a brief moment, he felt lighter. As if the responsibility of what he was about to do had been taken away from his shoulders. Clearing his throat he spoke loud and clear.

"Fellow dwarves and men. As you know, the king has asked us to leave these grounds and return home to help defend the great mountain. We have sent a letter to our king asking him to reconsider his decision, since we had make an alliance with the humans and we had promised to help them against the golden people." he made a pause to regain his breath. His shoulders started to become heavy once again. "It seems that the smoke blown by our enemies has reached the great mountain and has clouded the mind of our king. He has denied our request and he has stated that every dwarf that chooses to stay shall be called a dwarf without honor and should cut his beard off."

The whispers that started in the crowd soon enough became boasts of rage. Dwarves were cursing and humans were shouting words such as 'treason' and 'shame'. An elderly human raised his voice above the noise of the crowd and shouted. "What will become of us if the dwarves leave?"

Gilmih had predicted all this. He knew this would happen and that he had only one moment now to seize control of the crowd. If he couldn´t shock them enough, the crowd would become a angry and terrified mob that would lay waste to anything on it´s path.

"Half-beards we shall be called and that shall be our honor!" Screamed Gilmih. "No dwarf under my command shall have more than 4 inches of beard. And all the humans that see a dwarf with a short beard shall know that he or she doesn´t take vows lightly. Our short beards shall become our symbol and by not being able to hide it, we shall be judged by all humans and dwarves. Whoever decides to stay with me, you are most welcome. To those that decide to return home, I shall have no grudges with you. You will go to our king, inform our decision and help to protect our homeland. Perhaps when the war is over, we will meet again. Volas, hand me that knife."

Captain Saggard watched in awe as the old dwarf started cutting his own beard. Times where changing, and he could feel a storm in the horizon.

Hours later Capt. Saggard knocked on the door to the quarters of the head of clan Ingentium. Gilmih opened the door and he looked tired. His eyes were deep and he mumbled something to himself as he let Saggard in.

"Gilmih, I am sorry that such a thing has come to pass. Have you considered..."

"Of course I have considered everything" said the dwarf cutting him short. "Today I had to watch 3 young dwarves being dragged by their families to the ships, even though they screamed that they wanted to stay with us. It is a sad day for us."

Saggard kept quiet. He could not imagine the enormous amount of things that were running in his friend mind, and so he decided not to mention that he had overheard some guards whispering that they would never accept any dwarf to fight by their side again. The news had been so shocking that most of the people were simply too confused to even think rationally. Saggard had had some problems already and he had to arrest 2 junior officers that were verbally attacking the dwarves. The dwarves were already touching their battle axes when he arrived and reprehended the officers. There was no good to be achieved though to tell Gilmih about it today. So Saggard simply sat on a chair besides his friend and kept to himself, admiring the wood works on the beams that held the ceiling.

Gilmih, like most dwarves, had a good hand for crafting. Wood was his thing. While most of the other dwarves fencied working with iron and metal, the old dwarf had learned to carve with a knife and soon enough was making small sculptures. Gilmih's room had several miniatures of horses, chariots, dwarves and boats. And that was a strange quirk, for he was the first dwarf that Saggard had known that was interested in boats. He imagined that maybe it was because of the sea and the fact that the closest thing to the ocean that most dwarves had seen were underground lakes.

"How bad is the fall of Erelan going to affect us, Saggard?" said Gilmih breaking the silence.

"Well, as you know, Erelan was the most important harbour in the southern peninsula of the realm. Basically, any ship that would sail to the east would have to stop by Erelan to get suplies. By conquering Erelan, the golden ones have denied us acess to the eastern seas."

"What about food, weapons and artifacts?"

"We didn't lose any important artifacts. We had them evacuated from the city before the golden army arrived. Our greatest losses are lives and holy temples."

"Anthorak, the holy temple." whispered Gilmih as memories flooded his mind.

He had only been there once, but he could remember it clearly. Erelan was divided in two areas basically, the city near the sea and the city around the keep. While most of the commercial activity happened in the harbour area, the keep was the place where the sages, wise men, nobles and priests would gather, mainly to enjoy themselves in the gardens. There were five different gardens inside the keep. They had been built after Connal Lugh had decided to reform the old fortress atop of the largest hill in the area. Since they were at peace at the time, Connal had decided to transform some suply depots and barracks into gardens, in order to create more jobs for the people. Old soldiers lay down their weapons and took up gardening tools, and soon enough people were snooping around filled with curiosity of what was happening there.

Connal was smart, and he charged a small fee for the people to enter the fortress. Small as it was, the fee denied access to the keep for the larger part of the population, and so only wealthy people were seen inside. Rumors started amongst the common folk of the wonders of the gardens of the keep, and people started saving money for the opportunity to buy or rent some good clothes and pass one day of their lives with their family inside the keep. Some people were disappointed that there were no creatures of legend in the gardens, but most people were marveled by the flowers, fountains and trees that had been carefully chosen and placed in different patterns.

Five gardens the keep held, and at the center of the gardens, the temple of Anthorak stood tall, with it´s white marble columns. The building itself was not big, just enough room for small pond, an altar and statues. As Gilmih remembered it, the priests once had formed a line of horses along the sides and had counted 10 of the beasts. That had seemed large for the young Gilmih, which was only 25 summers at that time. And of course, things seem a lot larger when we are children. He imagined how big the temple would be if he entered it now.

Of all the gardens, the one he had liked most was the Garden of Joy, for it had two small lakes and a little stream that ran from one to the other. Gilmih had been disappointed when someone told him that the mages kept the water running. There were no natural water sources in the keep, and Connal payed dearly for the small luxury of having those two ponds. The dwarf guessed that probably the fee to enter the keep was the way he had found to pay the mages. It didn´t matter anyway, for all he cared at the time was that he could test his boat models in the pond. Gurhthan, Gilmih´s father, had taken him and the rest of the family to spend the day at the keep, and he had told young Gilmih that he could take one or two small boats and see if they would float.

The sound of a door closing woke him from his day dreaming, and Gilmih found himself alone in the room. He walked towards the windows and watched the boats sailing in the distance.

Two days had passed since the fall of Erelan and the people in the streets were scared. If Erelan, one of the greatest cities of the western world had been taken so easily, how could they have any chance of survival? Soon enough, rumors of slavery and of dark magic were being whispered in the streets, and more than one merchant would tell stories of how their friends were killed defending Erelan. Of these, Gilmih usually didn´t pay much attention, but one story caught made him uneasy, for it seemed to be more based in facts than in superstition.

"The golden ones are fortifying in Erelan and they are taking the fields nearby. With the coming of summer, they will need to secure those areas in order to be able to feed the city. I have received word that Conall Lugh will try to retake the city at the end of the spring. He is calling upon the alliance with the elves, and it looks like most of the commanders have suggested that us dwarves lead the charge."

"These humans are mad. There aren´t much of us left here, and they plan on making the dwarves lead the charge? That will be a slaughter. There will be no dwarves left to..."

"I know, I thought as much" said the old woman to the young cadet. "I know you have great honour, Ghuy, and that you respect Gilmih and will follow him anywhere he asks. I am just afraid that he will be asked to..."

"Sacrifice himself and all other dwarves..." said Ghuy.

Gilmih could see the struggle in the cadet´s face. Ghuy was a honored soldier, and if Gilmih asked him to take his axe and go pound at the main gate of Erelan while arrows were raining on them, he would do just that. He also knew that Ghuy had been planning on getting married at the end of the year and that more than anything, Ghuy wanted to be safe at home with his wife. Looking through his bedroom´s window at the two people below in the street, the world seemed too far away to be real. Gilmih didn´t want to lead a suicidal attack either, and the dwarf wondered if Connal would ask him to do that.

"Ghuy, the problem is a lot greater than you think." said the woman with the basket. "If Gilmih refuses to lead the attack, Connal is likely to call him a rebel and he could try to arrest all dwarves."

"Why are we the ones that have to carry such problems on our shoulders?" asked Ghuy. "Why are we the ones that have to be faced with such difficult choices. The morale is low enough already. If we charge, we die. If we refuse, we risk getting locked away, dishonoring our family and we could just as well start a new war between humans and dwarves. The golden demons would just love that, wouldn´t they?"

The woman nodded. She put the basket full of fruits on the ground and sat down. People passed them by ignoring them, just as if they were two new statues that had been placed there. Gilmih felt his heart beating fast. He felt the worries of the cadet and he knew that the young dwarf had every reason to suspect a terrible ending if Connal decided to attack Erelan. And then, something occurred to him. If Gilmih gathered most of the dwarf fighters and rangers and just marched out of town to the south, there wasn´t much that Connal could do. He would not be summoned to an embarrassing meeting with the king, and he would not be sent on a suicidal mission either. If they marched south right now, and if they could prevent the golden ones from taking the fields, there was a good chance that he would be in good terms with the farmers in the south. And the farmers wouldn´t risk having the dwarves leave the farms to assault Erelan. Sometimes, the small people could put a lot of pressure in the choices of a king. Specially if the king´s army depends on the food from the farms.

"Ghuy, gather the others, we are leaving the city in three hours" shouted Gilmih from his bedroom. The young cadet looked up a little startled. He had not noticed that he had been talking under the window of the headquarters. He nodded and quickly left running. The woman with the basket looked up and waved to Gilmih. She left with a smile on her lips. Gilmih wondered to himself if the meeting at that exact spot had not been planned. He let out a laugh.

"Women, they surely know how to deal with us stubborn heads..."

PART II

"And so it happened that the dwarves left the city and took the fields. The Golden army had orders not to leave Erelan and they didn´t march much past the few farms around the city. Once the supply of food for the army had been secured, Hasbarah, the Golden Commander fortified in the city and started rebuilding his defenses. Connal Lugh was pretty mad at Gilmih for taking such decisions without consulting him, but he was forced to congratulate him on a well worked plan. The golden army had been kept at Erelan, and at that time, it was all that mattered.

The fall of Erelan had such a great impact in the western world that a new calendar was started. And that is why this year is the 30th after the fall of Erelan, or 25 F.E. as the scribes would write it."

The words of the bard echoed in her mind. Glymreedel had heard the stories since she was a child, and at the age of 26 she decided to visit the emerald island and see for herself if the stories were true. She always wondered how the dwarves with the short beards would look like, and there was a rumor that Gilmih was still alive. If she could talk to him, she was sure he could give him an excellent tale. One that would definitely be worth telling. And that is why she was aboard the ship sailing to that distant island. In fact, the sailors had told her that the island was not far away, and that they would reach it in a day or two. It felt like forever, though, since this was her first time in a boat, and her stomach seemed to remind her of the fact every now and then.

There were other strangers in the boat as well, and she was pretty sure she had seen a man about her height with pointy ears. "Elves" she had thought to herself. It wouldn´t be the first time she had seen them, but Glym was still marveled by them. They were gracious and agile, and sometimes she wondered if she wouldn´t be much happier if she had been born an elf.

"Elves are magical people, and they can communicate with the trees and animals. They can run silently in a carpet of leaves and they will shoot you with their arrows long before you are able to reach for your sword" she smiled as she remembered again the bard´s words. She knew that the bard usually augmented his stories, just a little bit in order to make them more interesting, and Glym was not sure how much to believe. She could just go over to the stranger and ask him, but she was embarrassed to do it. For some reason, she felt a little uncomfortable around elves. They just seemed to fragile and divine. It was almost as if she was unworthy to stay around them.

"Thinking about the elf, lass?" said a familiar voice. Glymreedel turned around to find a smiling halfling staring at her.

"Indeed... how do you do it? How do you always know what I am thinking about?"

"Hah, girls at your age usually spend most of their times thinking about a very narrow amount of things" said Nimmt with a laugh. "Just as I am always thinking about food and delicacies".

Glym smiled back. Nimmt was the first halfling she had met, and he knew how to make her comfortable. Perhaps it was his love of food, or his permanent good mood and jokes. The halfling seemed like someone more real than the elves, someone she could relate to. And probably, that is why she was talking to him instead of the elf.

(Sorry it's not very long Elder but i hope it'll do)

"And so the Emerald Isle aways" Lineel thought to him self as he stood at the edge of teh boat looking out across the sea, he knew that they were only a few days off from the isle however he was still eager to return to his prefered soil and nature, as well as to see the Isle he had heard so much about. Turnign away from the water he looked around the boat, his elvin ears picking up parts of conversations, something he knew was very unbecoming but he somehow found peaceful, as he enjoyed watching how the various beings of this world interacted.

As he began to walk around the boat to pass the time a perticular string of conversation reached his ears, leaning against the rail he looked down and saw the a girl of around his hight talking to a halfling, about him, well sort of, more that she'd been thinking about him. Smiling to himself he was content just to listen in for awhile allowing himself to soak up the serenity of the vastly different natural enviroment around him.

(Not a problem, Renos, welcome).

Glymreedel stared at the ocean while she heard Nimmt talk about a particular nasty adventure he had been forced to undertake. It seemed that the halfling was in debt with a rich merchant of Myrarium, and so he had had to steal a scroll from a noble, or as he put it, 'creative change of ownership rights'. In a few moments his voice just another noise which Glym was barely aware of, and she watched the waves of the sea rocking against the boat.

"Elder would have liked this" she thought to herself as she breathed the salty air. Elderheymn had been a good friend for almost 10 years now, but they had parted some months ago. Glym needed a profession, and Elder had told her to follow a bard named Fyrlas and learn whatever she could from him. The girl soon found that music and songs came easy to her, and for some days, Fyrlas had been proud of her. But then, something happened. They had a huge argument, and the bard had told her that she was taking too much of his time with the lessons, and that she should be on her way. Since Glym couldn´t afford to pay for the lessons, she didn´t have much choice but to leave. Rumours in a tavern lead her to this boat and the promise of meeting Gilmih provided her of some hope to compose a good ballad.
She met Nimmt at that same tavern, and they had decided to travel together to the island.

She turned around to avoid some spray and her eyes fell on the elf once again. He had moved closer and he was looking far to the horizon. "Elven eyes can see farther than us humans, that is why they are so good with bows" she remembered Fyrlas saying. "That is why they are hired as rangers. They can scout well."

A sudden pull on her hand woke her up and she found herself in front of the elf. There was a small hand holding her and Glym realized that Nimmt had dragged her towards the elf.

"A fine day it is, my friend elf, and may I introduce ourselves. This is Glym, jewel of the coast, and I am called Nimmt." Before the elf could say anything, Nimmt started talking without stopping. "We are travelers from the mainland and we are seeking old stories and fortune in the Emerald Island. I heard they have a couple of monasteries and other interesting stuff over there. I even heard books. BOOKS! Can you imagine that? These monks spend weeks copying stuff from one book to the other and they compete with the others to see who produces the finest piece of art. They are crazy these monks. And I also heard they have small beards. Can you imagine that? Dwarves living in a monastery with their beards cut short. I believe..."

"Nimmt! Don´t be rude, you haven´t let our friend speak a single word yet" said Glym interrupting him. The elf smiled.

Lineel had let his thoughts wander as he stared across the sea, back to his homeland in the forest, "How I miss the trees" he thought to himself when he heard a voice from behind him turnign slightly he saw the halfling and the girl he had noticed earlier. He smiled slightly as the halfling began to introduce the pair, and grinned perticually when he introduced teh girl as the jewel of the coast. He opened his mouth slightly to introduce himself in return however the Halflings ramblings cut him short. Smiling he listened to the halfling however was greatfull when the girl he called Glym cut him off.


Bowing slgihtly to the girl then to the halfling he spoke softly, "It's quite alright I was enjoying his ramblings" He said poilitly to the girl before realisign he hadn't had a chance to introduce himself, "I am called Lineel" He said softly "I am traveling to the emerald Isle in my current quest to see the world."

"Greetings Lineel" said Glym. "I am out to see the world as well, it seems we are in the same boat." As soon as she finished the sentence, Nimmt burst out laughing. The girl looked at him not understanding.

"We are in the same boat alright!" said Nimmt with tears in his eyes. And then Glym understood that she had said something awkward and she blushed. Nimmt was bending over, still laughing, and as she looked around, everyone in the boat was staring at her.

"It´s fine, I know what you meant" said Lineel with a smile. "So, what are your plans once we reach the island?"

"Oh well" said Nimmt, still regaining his breath. "We will..." his sentence was interrupted by a desperate attempt to get some air "... we will try to find this dwarf called Gilmih..." The halfling managed to regain his composure but still he chuckled to himself "boat... hehehe..."

"Yeah, Gilmih" said Glym still a little uncomfortable with the situation. "A bard I once knew said that he has participated in great adventures, and that he was one of the soldiers that fought in the war when Erelan was taken."

"Hmm!" said the elf as he thought to himself. "Perhaps he is indeed an interesting fellow."

"Yes, I am hoping so" said the girl. "I am planning on writing a ballad about his adventures, and I am also hoping that I can earn some coin with that, at least to buy myself some food and lodging for the next couple of days."

Glymreedel felt more at easy now. Somehow, the elf seemed not to be in a pedestal anymore, and she felt closer to him. Perhaps not all elves were cold and distant. This one actually seemed to like chatting. And so she started talking to him about little things, such as how she was sickened by the sea and the meals aboard the ship. She told him she had been raised by a friend, an elf as well called Elderheymn, and that it had been some months since she had last seen him. She decided not to mention the fact that Elder was a drow. There was no good that could come of it.

Lineel seemed glad to have someone to talk to, and he told her that even though he missed the forests of his homeland, the sea was intriguing him. They talked for a few hours and then the night arrived. They retired to their quarters and they heard some mariners saying that if they had a calm night, without any storms, they should reach the Emeral island in the morning of the next day.

Glym was glad for that. That night she slept peacefully, and at the break of dawn, when Nimmt woke her up, she could already see the coastline. They would make port in a couple of hours. She had plenty of time to get breakfast, to organize her things and try to find Lineel.

Lineel was already up, and was chewing an apple when Glym entered the common room where the food was. She ate some bread and biscuits and drank water. That was all she could afford for a while. She wondered if Nimmt had bought the cheese and honey he was munching on or if he had just been creative.

"We´ll arrive in one hour" said Lineel. "You have enough time to eat, so you can do that more slowly".

Glym smiled with a mouth half full. She usually was very hungry when she woke up, and that usually meant that she had to put large amounts of food inside her mouth in a short period of time. She still managed to have better manners than most of the farmers and common folk, but she was sure as hell away from being a lady. Lineel watched her eat with curiosity.

"Yes?" asked Glym.

"I am wondering..." said the elf.

"About what?"

"Why your friend called you the jewel of the coast?"

Glym smiled again. "Well, that is probably because I helped him get out of a barrel where he was locked in." Lineel raised an eyebrow. "Well, you can ask him yourself what he was doing inside it, but I am guessing someone caught him being creative with other people´s belongings and tried to teach him a lesson.

"I see... Well, hopefully he won´t be creative with my stuff" he said shooting a glance at the halfling, who ignored him.

"Nah, I don´t think so." said Glym. "Come, let´s go outside and watch the shores arrive. I think I get even sicker when I am indoors".

They walked outside and watched the coast coming closer as time passed them by. Seagulls cried in the morning breeze and there were a lot of busy people carrying baskets and moving animals in and out of the ships. As they drew closer Glym saw the dwarves and she couldn´t hide her surprise as she saw that they had smaller beards than the other dwarves she had met so far. 'The stories are true' she thought to herself. Lineel seemed to be amused as well. He whispered something in a foreign language that Glym didn´t understand, but she thought it was just his native language. Elder had taught her a little bit of the elven language, but his pronunciation and grammar were much too different, she guessed his drow heritage had left marks in his way of speaking as well.

The boat docked, anchors were launched and Glym found herself standing next to Lineel in a very busy street looking around for Nimmt. The halfling was nowhere to be seen and she started worrying if he hadn´t gotten intro trouble already. Minutes later he appeared shouting that he had managed to get a meeting with Gilmih. Glym couldn´t believe that.

"How did you do it? We have been here for just a little time and..."

"I am a merchant, I know people" said the halfling with a grin. "Now, come and bring your elf friend along. It is more likely that we won´t be bothered if we are seen with a warrior type hanging around us."

Glym had a tough time trying to catch up with Nimmt, which seemed to dart from street to street. The halfling being smaller, would just dodge carts and people and would pass through small holes in the crowd. Glym couldn´t do that, and she only managed to catch up with him when the streets had less people enabling her to make a quick sprint and use her longer legs. Eventually the group arrived at a small tower and Glym could see an old dwarf shouting orders from a window in the second floor.

"Nimmt, I see you have found your friends" said the dwarf.

"Yes sir, they are here and we are ready to go out!"

"Excellent, you have 1 hour to gather supplies and meet us outside the gates. And Nimmt, also, be sure to use money to acquire the stuff you need." said the dwarf with a serious face.

"But of course!" said the halfling smiling. He turned back to Glym. "Well, we are set. Let´s find some food and we can..."

"What, what, wait!" said the girl. "Where are we going and who´s that dwarf?"

"Well, Jewel of the Coast, you told me that you wanted to meet Gilmih. You have just met him. We are marching with him to the south in one hour."

"What?! Why?"

"Because he needs company" said the halfling with a smile. "Come, let´s get supplies." He grabbed her hand and started pulling her towards a tavern.

Glymreedel was stunned. She was still trying to understand what had happened and why she was buying food for a journey with a group of people she had just met. And so she spent her last few coppers and left the tavern with a backpack full of food and an empty purse. She wanted to question the halfling, but he was too much excited pulling her towards the gates and she decided to wait to the start the interrogation. Once they were outside, they sat down and her eyes finally met his.

"You have some explaining to do." she said with a firm voice. For an instant the halfling grinned, but then he realized that she wasn´t joking. "Nimmt, I have no money left, I have no idea where we are going or who those people are. Somehow, that is not how I planned my stay here in the Emerald Island."

"I know, Glym, I am sorry. I will tell you the part of the whole scheme of things that I am aware of. My name is Nimmt alright, and I am a servant of Mahat Laa. I am sure you haven´t heard of him, he is a wizard or a holy priest of the second circle in Erelan." said the halfling, and for a short while, that is all that Glym heard. Her heart started beating fast and she felt dizzy. Erelan, the great city, was that their final destination? Who was this halfling called Nimmt and what did he really want? Why was she going along? "... out of the ship and that is how I met Gilmih. He told me I should find at least two others so we could travel in a larger group. Larger groups are always safer for longer travels. I hope Lineel shows up soon, because the dwarves are already here."

"Nimmt, here, look at me. Why me? What am I doing here?"

"It is very simple lass. If you look around you will notice that you are not the only girl in the group. You are here to train us all and teach us how to behave in court and pass out as dukes or whatever."

"A courtesan?! Nimmt, are you suggesting that..."

"Shush. I am not suggesting anything. You are going to make your own decisions." he looked around and whispered. "I suggest you start acting like the daughter of a minor noble house. I told Gilmih that you are a bard and that you can keep us entertained. Also, we will need someone with social skills once we enter Erelan. And by the way, you have 3 weeks to learn the language of the golden ones."

"What?! Nimmt, it´s impossible..." she was cut short again by the halfling. The old dwarf she had seen earlier had arrived and was coming towards them.

"Glymreedel, jewel of the coast, it´s a pleasure. My name is Gilmih, and I am the head of this small caravan."

"It is my pleasure, Gilmih" she said bowing a little. "Your name and fame are well known throughout the realm."