The Half Dwarf Prince: 02 - The Dwarf War Read online

  “Try it out,” Anwar said, picking it up and holding it out.

  Jerrie picked it up and gave it a couple of test swings. The balance was perfect. Everything about it was perfect. He liked fighting with knives best, but if he had to use a sword he couldn’t imagine a better one for him than this. “It’s amazing, but, well, I am still not a fan of carrying a sword around.”

  Anwar smiled and held out his hand. Jerrie handed the sword back. Anwar laid the sword on the table, and then set the knife on top of the sword. Jerrie watched as the sword was absorbed by the knife. It just dissolved. It only lasted a few seconds, and then there was just the knife sitting on the table, the sword was gone. He watched silently as Anwar sprinkled diamond dust over the knife, then that dissolved as well. The blade glowed red for a moment and Anwar rapped it on the edge of the table. The glow disappeared, and Anwar looked up from the knife.

  “Here, try it,” he said, holding the knife out to Jerrie.

  “What happened to the sword?” he asked as he took the knife.

  “The sword and the knife are part of each other now. They will respond to your mental command. No words need to be spoken; you just need to decide to have a sword in place of the knife. It will become whichever item you want it to be.”

  Jerrie looked down at his knife and then thought about the sword. All of a sudden the knife in his hand became the sabre. He looked up at Anwar, who wore an approving smile. Jerrie thought about the knife, and the sword was gone.

  “This is amazing.”

  “Thank you. I thought you might like it. Now let’s talk about the next thing,” Anwar said.

  Jerrie couldn’t help but get a little excited now. “What is the next thing?”

  “Armor,” Anwar answered.

  “It’s too hard for me to move with armor. I can’t really get in close unless I can move faster than my opponent,” Jerrie answered.

  Anwar just smiled. It was fun working with someone who hadn’t been around him before. “I can turn anything into armor, Jerrie. If you want I can make your clothes indestructible. You would have to wear the same clothes all the time, though. I would suggest some undergarment that you could wear under anything.”

  “You mean you could make normal clothing as strong as steel?” Jerrie asked.

  “It will be stronger than steel and resistant against magic as well,” Anwar answered.

  “I will go grab an undershirt and leggings and be right back. That should work, right?”

  Anwar nodded. “That sounds perfect.”

  The dwarf returned with a couple of other dwarves while Jerrie was gone. They set down a crate full of scrap steel and a bolt of brown leather next to it. Anwar set the leather on the table and unrolled the first foot of it. He began cutting out the strips of fabric that would wrap around each of Jerrie’s forearms. He could have used his magic, but he chose to use a knife instead. By the time Jerrie got back, he had two lengths of leather already cut and shaped. They just needed to be wrapped around his arms so they could be trimmed up.

  They trimmed up the leather bracers and added some straps. Anwar laid the bracers, the undershirt, and the leggings on the table. First he sprinkled some diamond dust on the shirt and leggings, then poured his magic into them. The dust was absorbed into the items along with the magic, and the items stopped glowing. He moved on to the bracers and poured his magic into them. When they began to glow, he smacked them against the edge of the stone pillar, then he used his magic to impress into the bracers what he wanted them to do—reflect any force used against them. After that he sprinkled diamond dust on them, making them indestructible. He pushed everything across the table toward Jerrie.

  “There you go. This stuff, on top of the magical items you already carry, should have you well prepared for whatever comes against you.”

  Jerrie picked up the first bracer and strapped it to his arm. He took out one of his knives and tried to cut into it. The knife was magical, so it could get through magical shields, but it still didn’t cut through the bracer, and it was gently pushed away as he tried to apply pressure. He brought the blade down harder on the bracer and it was pushed away harder. He put the knife away and slid the other bracer on.

  “Thank you, Anwar. This is amazing.”

  “It’s nothing. Like I said, you are helping protect my friends when I can’t. This is the least I can do for you,” Anwar said.

  Jerrie nodded. “Is there anything I can help you with?”

  Anwar shook his head. “No, but if you could send Rundo down here I would appreciate it.”

  Jerrie picked up his new armor off the table. “I’ll go get him,” he said, and walked out of the room.

  Jerrie returned with everyone in tow. Anwar laughed.

  “You didn’t think we were going to leave you alone, did you, long legs?” Grizzle joked.

  “Oh no, I’ve been waiting for my child audience,” Anwar retorted.

  Grizzle and Jabaal laughed. “Well, what you gonna do for the little one then?” Grizzle asked.

  “Yeah, what are you going to do for me?” Rundo asked jokingly.

  “I’d like to see what Jerrie got first,” Grundel said.

  Jerrie held up the clothes. “Anwar, you have all that power and you gave the man smallclothes?” Grizzle joked, and then before anyone in the room could react he pulled a knife from his waist and threw it at Jerrie. The knife slammed into the undershirt, pushing the undershirt back into Jerrie’s chest before falling hamlessly to the ground.

  “Now that is impressive,” Kraft said from the back of the group.

  “I’d like you to make something like that for Anna if you would, old friend,” Grizzle said.

  “I was already planning on it. I know she will likely be attending some events, so if she needs a couple of different undergarments done, I can do that.” He turned to her. “Whatever you think would be best, Anna, just bring the garments to me and I will make them stronger than steel armor without taking any of the maneuverability from them.”

  Anna laughed. “The garments you are speaking of offer less maneuverability than a full set of plate mail.”

  Everyone laughed at this.

  “Okay, well, let’s get to Rundo’s items,” Anwar said. “Rundo, I am assuming you are good on weapons now that you have learned to use your druid abilities and since all your knives are magical, but I can still make you something if you like,” Anwar offered.

  Rundo shook his head. “No, I am good with weapons.”

  Anwar nodded. “Okay, so what do you want to do about armor?”

  Rundo looked down. “If you can just do my vest, I should be good.”

  Anwar smiled. “I like that snakeskin. Why don’t you give me your pants, too, just in case?”

  Rundo shrugged. He slid his pants and his vest off and set them on the table. He was getting very comfortable with his nakedness. It had been very awkward that first time in the woods, when he was learning how to turn into a hawk, but now he had been naked in front of most of these people already. He stood there in his smallshorts and a shirt.

  Anwar sprinkled some diamond dust over the clothing and used his magic to make them indestructible and magic-resistant. He handed them over the table to Rundo.

  “Those will help protect you against magic as well. I have one more thing for you, though. Hand me your belt.”

  Rundo picked up his belt and set it on the table. Anwar reached out with his magic, using heat and pressure to melt the buckle of the belt. Then he pulled a black stone from the pouch hanging from his own belt. He set the stone in the molten metal of the buckle and then used pressure to reshape the buckle around the stone. He sprinkled a little diamond dust on the buckle and made it indestructible. It wouldn’t do to have the buckle not be able to withstand the power of the magical item it held.

  “That will absorb magical attacks that come toward it. As Grundel discovered, though, it has to be between you and the magical attack to be effective. If someone fires at your back with
magic, you will have to rely on your vest and trousers, but the exposed parts of your body will be vulnerable.”

  “That’s a black diamond!” Frau said in shock.

  Anwar nodded his head. “Yes, it is, but most people don’t think that they are even real, and no one who does would believe he’d find one in a plain belt buckle like this. Anyone who notices it will assume it is just an opal, onyx, or zircon. The black diamond is one of the best items to retain magical properties. This belt can absorb four to five times the amount of magic as Grundel’s belt.” He handed the belt over the table to Rundo. “Well, I think you are as protected as you are going to let me make you.”

  “Thanks, Anwar.”

  Anwar nodded, then turned toward Grundel. “Your turn.”

  “No, you should do my mother first,” Grundel argued.

  “Ah, I don’t think your mother would appreciate me putting all her undergarments on display for the rest of you. I will take care of her items later. We need to protect you, and not with metal this time. I hear you were nearly cooked alive in your armor. I didn’t think you would go for the undergarment idea so I had that brought up,” Anwar said, pointing to the dwarf standing at the door with a roll of black leather. “I figured I’d make you a light leather jacket. The black will look good enough that you could wear it to more formal gatherings in the city. It won’t meet their human standards, but they will accept it as a dwarven style, I think,” he said, turning to Anna for confirmation. She nodded her head approvingly.

  Anwar looked at Rundo. “Would you mind making the jacket? It will look a lot better if you do it than if I do. I have seen your ability to make clothing. Look how good that snakeskin vest looks!”

  Rundo looked at Grundel and then back to Anwar. “I will need a couple of hours.”

  “Fair enough. I can go take care of the items for Anna, if that’s okay with you,” he said, looking at Grizzle’s wife.

  She nodded. Grizzle stepped out in front of everyone. “All right, show’s over, everyone. Grundel, stay here with Rundo and get your new clothes or armor—whatever we are calling it—made. The rest of you go about your business. We will meet up tonight and discuss the final details about them leaving in the morning.”

  Anwar followed Grizzle and Anna out, leaving Rundo to work with Grundel on his jacket. He noticed that Frau stayed behind as well. Once they were in the apartments that Grizzle and Anna shared, Anwar waited in the front room with Grizzle while Anna went to get the clothing.

  “Thanks for coming back, Anwar. I know you can’t stay, but it is good to know that you’re okay. Thanks for all this, too.”

  Anwar looked at Grizzle. He wasn’t meeting Anwar’s gaze. Grizzle had never been big on expressing himself; neither had Anwar, for that matter.

  “It is hard not to be here. I know everyone might not make it through this, but I understand why The Father won’t let me get involved. I am going to do everything I can to help, though. Just wait ’til you see what I’ve got planned for tomorrow. Even you will see some magic you have never seen.”

  Grizzle smiled excitedly.

  Anna emerged with three different undergarments that would cover her from her shoulders to her knees. One of them wouldn’t cover her chest, and Anwar assumed this was for more revealing formal wear, but he didn’t mention it. This was a bit of an awkward situation. He laid each of them out on the ground and sprinkled diamond dust over all three. His magic flowed into the garments, dissolving the diamond dust and imbuing them with indestructibility and the power to ward off magic attacks. He looked up.

  “These are the most now the most expensive undergarments in all of the five cities,” he joked.

  Anna shook her head, and then she hugged him. “Thank you, Anwar. We really miss you. I miss her, too.”

  Anwar nodded to her. “Thank you. I don’t know if it is starting to hurt less or if I am just getting used to the pain. I still think about her all the time, but I am starting to be able to get through the day without always wishing I had died, too.”

  “We are here if you need us. You have given everything for us. We will always be here for you,” she said as she let go of him.

  “Thank you, Anna. I think it helps right now that I have so much to focus on, so much to learn. The things I have learned in just the last few months are unreal. The Father keeps me going nonstop. I don’t know if he is trying to keep my mind occupied or if he is just training me hard, but either way, it is helping,” he told her.

  Anna patted him on the arm, and then went and retrieved her clothing. “Leave it to a woman to spoil the mood,” Grizzle said as Anna carried her clothing back into the other room. Anwar just chuckled.

  “I have one more thing for you,” Anwar said as Anna walked back into the room.

  “Oh? What is it?” she asked.

  Anwar slid a bamboo tube out of his sleeve. He held it up to Anna’s arm. It was about an inch shy of the wrist and forearm.

  “Perfect. You should be able to keep this up your sleeve without it impeding your movement or being too noticeable. This tube will hold a bolt just a little smaller than one used in a crossbow.” He pointed to a small circle toward one end. “If you press this spot, it will fire the bolt. He pointed at the wall and pushed the button. The wooden shaft flew out, then slammed into the wall. It chipped the stone and then disappeared.

  “What happened to it?” she asked.

  Anwar handed the tube to her. “It returned to the tube. It will be pretty accurate out to about fifty feet. That bolt will punch through most armor. There is only one bolt, and it has been magically hardened and will return to the inside of the tube once its momentum is stopped. It will likely punch right through your target, but if it gets embedded in bone or something, it will immediately return to the inside of the tube. I got the idea from Rundo’s daggers. I knew you wouldn’t be able to walk around with a weapon—that’s not appropriate for a woman—but this is easily concealed, and no one will know what it is.”

  Anna held the tube in her hand, staring at it.

  “Try it,” Grizzle said.

  She pointed it at the wall and fired. It hit the wall an inch from where Anwar’s had hit, chipping at a small piece of stone between the two points. The bolt disappeared before it hit the ground.

  “Thank you, Anwar, though I hope I never have to use it.”

  “You’re welcome,” he answered with a smile.

  Rundo made marks on the leather while Frau held it up. It wasn’t really an easy job since Grundel was much taller than both of them. He had already cut the piece that would be the back of the jacket. It really was more of a vest with sleeves. The leather was thin and would look good. He finished making the last mark along the underarm.

  “Okay, that’s good,” he told Frau. She took the leather down and set it on the table. Rundo went to work with shears, cutting away all of the excess. Grundel had been very clear he didn’t want a collar. Rundo finished trimming the piece of leather and then laid it on top of the piece what would become the back of he jacket. He lined up what would be the shoulders of the jacket, then poked holes along the edges and ran a thin strip of leather through them. He did the same along the sides. Once it was all put together he cut a line down the front, then cut a small V shape at the top, leaving room for the nape of Grundel’s neck.

  Then he moved on to the sleeves. He left them a little loose. He made his cuts and poked his holes, running the thin string of leather up the inside of the sleeves. Then he connected the sleeves to the vest. On the front he attached the four small, polished-steel buttons that Frau had found. He added a small strip of leather through the other side of the opposite side of each button. The loops of leather wrapped around the buttons lined up the front of the jacket perfectly.

  “That looks good,” Frau said from behind him.

  “The steel buttons add character to it,” Anna said from the doorway. They all turned to look at her. She had Grizzle and Anwar with her. “I bet you’ll start a new style in Patri
a with that jacket. The steel over the black is going to be popular.”

  “That looks good, Rundo. Is it finished?” Anwar asked.

  “It is. As good as I can do in such a short amount of time, anyway,” Rundo said.

  “You ready to finish it up?” Anwar asked Grundel.

  Grundel unhooked the buttons and handed the jacket to Anwar.

  Anwar laid the jacket on the table. When he flipped it over he saw that Rundo had already put the sheaths for Grundel’s axes right into the back of the jacket. Anwar poured diamond dust over the jacket and gave it the same magical properties of all the armor he had made that day.

  “Are you good on weapons?” he asked Grundel when he was done.

  “I have my axes and my knives,” he answered.

  “Can I see your knives?”

  Grundel took the magical dagger Jerrie had given him after the fight with the Black Dragons, and then pulled his new dagger from his boot.

  “That first one is already enchanted. Do you want me to do this one?” he asked, holding up the boot knife.

  “I guess so. I really just got that one to give me something to do while I was lying in bed, but now that I have sharpened it as much as I can, you might as well. What are you going to do to it?” he asked, slipping his other knife back in his belt.

  “Well, we could just make it very hard and able to defeat magical shields. I will do that regardless. On top of that we could give it perfect aim. It would hit any target you threw it at, even if the target moved. Or we could make it so that you could turn it into a sword, or we could make it return to its sheath after being thrown, like Rundo’s daggers. Or if you have another idea I can probably make it happen.”

  “It probably isn’t possible, but I always thought it would be good to have a weapon that would burn the bodies of your enemies. I think it would be really effective against trolls or orcs if they would burst into flames when they were stabbed,” Grundel said, sounding a little embarrassed.

  Anwar thought about it for a second. “It would have to be a really powerful flame to make the whole body burst into flame. I could do it, but it would do it to anyone you stabbed with the dagger—humans and dwarves, along with orcs and trolls.