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[Knightfall]

Dvalin walked the halls of Milo heading towards the Clanhome of the Blackforge. He had two to see and say goodbye to. The first was Rikin Stonefossil and the second was Sannl Blackforge. Dvalin knew that Rikin would be waiting for him at the Stone Gate of the Forge, the entryway into the underground Dwarven City. Rikin had entered his mind first and that was why he counted him as such. Truth to be told, saying goodbye to his blood brother would be harder than this was going to be.

Sannl would not make it easy for him to leave. She was his betrothed, and he cared for her as he would any good friend. Unfortunately, that was all Dvalin felt. He did not love her but he hoped, in time, he’d come to once they were joined. Dvalin’s steps grew heavy as he approached the clanhome of the ruling family of the Kingdom of the Greystones. He was a nervous as an elf in an orcish brothel. He straightened his gear and fussed with his beard. He didn’t want to look like a total ruffian in front of royalty. Why High Thane Ulfgar Blackforge had chosen Dvalin to be Sannl’s husband was beyond him. He was as atypical a dwarf as it got.

For while he loved his family and felt a strong bond with the earth, he just couldn’t get enough of other cultures. Through the years he’d spent more time visiting the human-dominated cities of the Wind Plains to the southeast. He knew the city of Ciros like the hairs of his beard and had traveled as far south as the port city of Raell in the Kingdom of Thallin. While he did not have a love for water, he didn’t fear it like so many of his kind. In fact, it fascinated him. He’d love to try his hand at being a sailor.

“State your name, dwarf.” Brelik was a good guardsman and one of the Ironbound of Milo. He was also a personal friend of Dvalin and Rikin.

“I am Dvalin Thunderstone, son of Brekk, grandson of-“ Dvalin stopped and sighed. “Do we have to do this, Brelik? I’m in a hurry.”

“Dvalin, my commander might be watching! Besides it’s my duty and it’s tradition.” Brelik tried not to look nervous.

“Beard!” Dvalin hated some of the more outdated traditions, at least in his mind. “Very well.”

Dvalin spent the next half-an-hour speaking his family lineage and the honors the Thunderstone Clan had won throughout the last one-hundred years. If it had been an official ceremony, he’d have had to go back three-hundred years. Dvalin couldn’t wait to be on the road again.

Dvalin fished with a gasp and took a drink from his waterskin.

“You may enter.” Brelik smiled.

“You Ironbound bully.” Dvalin smiled back.

Dvalin pushed open the stone doors leading into the antechamber of Blackforge Hall. She was waiting for him. Dvalin was shocked. He had been sure she’d insist he would have to see her father first.

“You cannot go,” Sannl said defiantly.

“Our joining isn’t for another five years. I don’t need your permission to leave. I just came to say goodbye and that I’ll be back next summer.”

“Next summer!” Sannl rushed him bowling him over. “And what about this year. We were supposed to going delving together in the gem holds. You promised!”

“I did no such thing.” Dvalin pushed her off with one great heave. “I said I’d think about it.”

“I could have father order you to stay.” She stood defiantly in front of him. “Maybe have you put back into the Stone Delvers for another year.”

“I’ve done my time in the militia, your father cannot force me to serve again, and if he tried, he’d need my father’s vote amongst the clans. They may be friends but Brekk would never agree to such an act. It goes against the Laws of the Stone.”

“Then I’ll have you thrown in irons and forced to work the mines.” Sannl fumed.

“You are such a temperamental child.” Dvalin glared at his childhood friend. “The words you just spoke is enough of an affront to my family's honor that I could ask for a Sundering of our marriage contract. Is that what you want?”

“But next summer? You’ve never left for so long. I worry you won’t come back.” Sannl pouted.

“Gods, do not be so dense.” Dvalin hoped the tone of his words wouldn’t betray his thoughts. He’d considered it. “Of course, I’m going to come back.”

Without another word Dvalin turned around and left the antechamber of Blackforge Hall.

* * *

Rikin Stonefossil paced back and forth in front of the Stone Gate of the Forge. He looked up towards the carvings of Moradin on the door with reverence and concern. His armor clanked as he walked back and forth but it was lost to the traffic pouring through the gate in both directions. Dwarven pilgrims, merchants, and soldiers came and went like organized ants into a stone anthill.

Rikin hated waiting. But he’d rather wait than have Dvalin leave again. The dwarf shifted uncomfortably in his heavy armor. Of course, as an initiate of the Ironbound he hadn’t yet been given the honor of a full suit of customized dwarven plate. He wouldn’t receive that honor until he became a full member.

“Where is he?” Rikin grumbled to no one in particular. “I must convince him to stay. I must.”

“You will do no such thing,” Brekk Thunderstone appeared out of no where.

“High Defender, father, I did not see you,” Rikin began to motion as to salute.

“Please, do not be so formal. You are my son first, an Ironbound initiate second.” Brekk Thunderstone quickly raised his voice. “And if your commander is listening and has a problem with that, then I’ll see him in the Defender Chamber tonight at stone-dusk.”

“Father, you’re embarrassing me.” Rikin turned red in his armor. He put on his helm to hide his humiliated skin.

“If you wish to be a Ironbound, then you will have to learn how to never be embarrassed.” Rikin’s commander appeared behind the dwarven initiate and smacked him over the helm.

“Aye,” Brekk had both shown his love for his son and tested him at the same time. “You must have an iron will as well as and iron suit of armor. Or you are just a Stone Delver pretending to be something you are not.”

“Aye, father.” Rikin’s commander smacked him again but Rikin didn’t flinch. He removed his helm and let his red skin show. “I understand.”

He stood there at attention under the watchful eye of his commander and his father. Dvalin arrived half-an-hour later.

“You have ten minutes, initiate.” Rikin’s commander barked. “Then I expect o see you back in the barrack in same amount of time.”

The Ironbound commander left with a salute to Brekk. The High Defender of Stone Fists returned the gesture then turned to watch his sons say goodbye.

“Rikin, how did I know you’d be here?” Dvalin put his hands on his brother’s shoulders.

“Where else would I be, brother?” Rikin continued to stand at attention.

“I see your training is well under way.” Dvalin looked at his brother’s new armor with both pride and worry. “I hope you know what you’re getting yourself into?”

“I could ask the same of you.”

“Ha!” Dvalin hugged his brother, a rare show of emotion for a dwarf. “Aye, that you could. We shall leave it at that.”

“Aye,” Rikin could feel the eyes watching them judging his brother’s behavior. “Take care of yourself.”

“And you,” Dvalin didn’t have the heart to tell him or his father that he wouldn’t be back for at least a year. “Now, get going initiate. You have ten minutes to make it to the barracks.”

Without a word, Rikin turned and began to run.

“I worry about the life he’s chosen, father. It is a hard way to live.” Dvalin worried that Rikin might break. “He’s been through so much already.”

“Aye,” Brekk held his hand out palm up. “Take care of yourself, my son.”

“I will,” Dvalin put his hand on his father’s. “And I’ll be back before you know it.”

Dvalin hadn’t expected to see his father at the gate. He quickly turned away not wishing to show his buried emotions in front of the onlookers. He took a deep breath and marched out the Stone Gate of the Forge.

Brekk watched his son leave. He had discovered that Dvalin wouldn’t be back anytime soon. The old dwarf wondered if his son would ever come back. Even so, he would not stand in Dvalin’s way.

“You must make your own stone road, my son. Rikin is not the only one who has chosen the hard way.”
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Up next... Jeddar arrives at Silverdawn, while Bactra meets Garth Tigerstorm at Raln. We'll get back to Dabuk in a little while, he's still wandering around lost in the maze.