Their father was a little put out by Tia offering their guest house up so freely but quickly got over it when he saw how many pairs of boots they were contracting and being paid for in advance. Tad Senior appeared to be strangely familiar with the dwarfs in general and wasn’t much surprised at the arrival of the exotic group. Tic and Tia listened in on their conversation and were surprised that their own father had met with the emissaries to discuss the logistics of the newly forming trade pact. His business experience made him somewhat of an expert and Rowen’s travels for the company made him a necessary addition to the talks as well.

  “I would like to get something going but it will take me years to get one of my kids to head over there,” Tad Senior said to Tovald who was the leader of the troop and an emissary from the city of Mikalene on the other side of the Swirl.

  “It would be a very profitable for you if you did choose to expand into say…Riverhouse, your brother Rowen already lives there wi—” the dwarf began but stopped at a subtle gesture from their father.

  “I know; I have looked at the numbers. I just don’t think that it is in the cards right now,” he said and the dwarf looked at him oddly before shaking his head. He looked as if he wanted to say more but the slightest shake of Tad’s head discouraged the dwarf from continuing.

  “Too bad, I would like to have access to more of your foot wear.”

  “We do mail order and we have your sizes on record. We’ll be able to keep your feet covered,” Tad Senior finished with a wink.

  The dwarfs raved about the quality of their old boots as they were being measured for the new pairs. It seems nobody in their country had access to the thick rawhide that herds of domestic cattle could offer. That, combined with modern stitching techniques and the liberal use of secret recipe adhesives and oils made for a supple, waterproof seal that they couldn’t find anywhere else. Their father was so flattered by the praise that they gave them some leather slippers to keep and wear so their current boots could be reconditioned overnight free of charge.

  Tic and Tia both wished that they could had stayed up all night with the dwarfs talking of strange lands and fanciful things, but the dwarfs were simply too tired and had to head out early in the morning. It turned out that they were indeed emissaries and off to meet the royal family. Tic was again disappointed as he thought emissaries should be traveling with a lot more fanfare than they possessed, but then maybe that was simply the way of dwarfs. Who knew really, this was everybody's first exposure to the stocky people.

  Tia, as usual, couldn’t get enough of the new situation and snuck out of her room late that evening just to see if dwarfs snored as loudly as it has been rumored that they do. Much to her surprise, they weren’t in their room but the deep rumblings of their speech led her to a smaller study where her father, as well as a couple of other travelers sat with the dwarfs as they sipped on the high end brandy her father always had on hand. Their voices were hushed due to the lateness of the eve but also because they spoke of a very sensitive subject matter.

  “So, you believe they are coming here?” one of the travelers asked.

  “I know they are. We don’t know much about them or where they come from but they look like men. Or at least a type of men. We haven’t caught them red handed at anything yet but bad things seem to follow in their wake if’n you know what I mean,” ToVald said.

  “I guess I don’t know what you mean,” Tad said.

  “Well, some of our rangers who watch over the high reaches up in the spires are telling some tales about a couple of villages up there that are no more and there is no reason why they are gone. I mean, you can see why they are gone, one was destroyed by fire, completely burnt to the ground, which isn’t all that strange considering how dry it can be in the areas that are frozen most of the year. The fact that not one survivor or even word of the event was heard until the ranger stumbled upon it months after it happened. There was no one left and no signs of any bodies, we assume they was just kilt, but where the corpses disappeared to will forever be a mystery,” ToVald said.

  “Don’t forget about the other’n ToVald, that’s even creepier yet.” Tia thought it was Skeet who piped in.

  “I’m not forgetting nothing, Skeet, you jus gotta give me time to get to it is all. It seems there was another village near the burnt out one where jus the opposite happened. That ranger, who is familiar with the half breeds of both villages seein as it’s in his territory an all, went there straight after. Here, all of the people were still there, well their bodies were still there, shriveled up and desecrated as they were. As far as he could figure they all starved to death, which in that part of the world is unheard of. The land don’t provide much up there bein so cold and rocky, but the sea is loaded with all kinds of fish and a major migration path for whales of all kinds. Yet their boat hulls were so dry the seams were startin to gape and the land so full of game it looked like no one had hunted for years. Now I’ll be the first to tell ya that them half breeds are not the type to garner much love from the rest of the world but they needn’t be kilt off like that,” ToVald said

  “It sounds like you don’t like these half breeds much,” Tad said not really knowing what the dwarf meant by the term but not wanting to display his ignorance.

  “Aww, I ain’t got no qualms with’em, in fact my nephew is one of them, though I don’t know which village he lives in. He’s half elf on his Da’s side and a good lad by all standards but most folk have a strong dislike for’em. Now this village that starved, that was a strange situation as the Ranger found evidence of camp fires all around them like they was under seige or somethin. He couldn’t even find any leather left in the village, but there is nobody that would just watch people starve like that. If it were trolls or giants there wouldn’t have been any bodies due to the size of their appetites and the ground would have been covered with bones split for the marrow. There are some mixed gangs of marauders but they simply raid and move on. This is something differnt, an a few of us can’t help but think these new people might have somethin to do with it.”

  “You don’t mean the mordials do ya?” one of the locals asked.

  Mordials? What are…ohg, is that what you be calling the gnashers? No, these are different, though they use the gnasher or at least keep cages of them since nobody has seen them do anything with them,” the dwarf replied in reference to the goblin population on the other side of the Swirl.

  “Tia, what are you doing here?” Tad Junior’s voice snapped her out of her eaves dropping and sent her running for her bedroom where she hid under her covers waiting for her father to come and scold her for eaves dropping. He never came, not that night and only had disparaging looks for her the next morning.

  There was something about all of the exposure to the dwarfs that had her mind in a buzz and she had to confront her father on it. So, it was early evening on the second day after the dwarfs left that she walked into his office with a no-nonsense step in her gait.

  “You’re not ready,” was all he said without even looking up.

  “I haven’t even asked you anything yet.”

  “Oh, I know what you’re going to ask. I saw it in your eyes the moment the dwarves slipped up. You could say that I saw it in your eyes the day you were born, but you’re still not ready.”

  “But Daddy,” she said, dragging out the word, “I have to go. It’s like it’s calling to me; I can feel it in my bones.”

  “I’m sure it is, you and your Uncle Rowen are a lot the same in that sense. The answer is still no. You’re not ready, nor are you capable of setting up a business and all of the banking and things involved.”

  “What are you talking about, I just want to travel,” Tia whined.

  “I get that, but if you’re going to travel you will do it like your uncle does it and make a pile of money in the process. I tell you what, get Tic to go with you and I will finance your first six months.”

  “What? You would let Tic go but not me? He’s more than a year younger than me!” Tia screamed.

  “Yeah, and ten years more mature. That is not even mentioning the fact that he’s probably the smartest person the family has seen in ten generations, if not ever.”

  “Oh come on, Daddy, surely he isn’t smarter than you,” she said, sneaking in close so she could pull at his ear or yank his beard, but he was on to her game and kept her at arm’s reach.

  “Don’t even try that lovey dovey crap right now. You’re not going to butter me up. Tic is barely twenty years old and doing banking practices I have never learned and wouldn’t comprehend if I did learn them. But he needs something more in his life, I can feel it. Convince him to go with you and it is a deal,” Tad said and smiled as he watched the wheels cranking within his daughter’s mind.

  “Hmmm, I’ll have to trick him.”

  “Tia!” Tad said disappointed.

  “What?” she replied innocently. “You never said he had to go willingly.”

  It was only two weeks after the dwarfs left that Tia sat down across from Tic with a huff and looked at him expectantly.

  “What’s bothering you?” he asked looking up from his books. More of the feminist thing?” She glared at him for a second.

  “People,” she said simply.

  “What about people?”

  “They’re just all assholes.”

  “Yes, they are,” Tic answered refusing to have more questions dragged out of him. If she wanted to talk about it, she was going to have to spit it out on her own. Too many times in the past he had been accused of starting a conversation that he had been lured into. She paused for some time before realizing that he wasn’t going to play her way.

  “So…how many have quizzed you on the dwarfs visit?”

  “Several.”

  “How many then felt it necessary to tell you exactly how they feel about dwarfs and the other things they are associated with?”

  “Do you mean elves?” She nodded. “A few.” He replied wondering what her end game was.

  “And how did you feel about their so-called knowledgeable opinions?” she asked and Tic paused for the longest time thinking about exactly what was said to him.

  “Not very loving, if you ask me, I would term it mainly as fearful when I reflect.”

  “Fearful? Not very Loving? Are you insane? Their opinions are downright hateful. Seriously, I don’t know how these people can sleep at night being wrapped within so much hate.”

  “Yeah, it seems silly to me,” Tic replied. “Why would you bother hating something that you know nothing about. It is short sighted to say the least.”

  “So, it bothers you but that’s it? No emotion or feeling beyond the fact that it is silly? I seriously don’t see how we can be related, Tic. We are like complete opposites.” She said it like it was an insult to which he just looked at her and smiled.

  “I am going to go there you know, sometime soon I am going to go and see these elves for myself.” The fire in her eyes was fierce…determined. Tic wanted to discredit her claim but couldn’t. He then realized that if she left, he might actually miss her. She annoyed him constantly, but then again if it wasn’t for Tia, he might go days without talking to anyone.

  “That’s nonsense, you have a job here and family. Literally hundreds of boys are sitting in wait for the day you are eligible and some of those are very wealthy. You’re not going to throw all of that away simply to go and see some elves, are you?”

  “I don’t want any of that, Tic. Marrying a boy from this town will be like giving up on life and laying down for a slow death the moment I become of age. I don’t think that I can do that.”

  “It isn’t really as bleak as you make it out to be, Tia. You’ll have kids and a place of your own—”

  “It won’t be mine, Tic! And who said I ever wanted kids? I’m not all that maternal if you haven’t noticed,” she said. “It won’t ever be mine unless the father of my children dies young. Yes, it is that bleak, Tic; you don’t know what it is to be a woman. I hate it.”

  “Oh, I guess that I didn’t realize it was that bad. Sounds like you want to run away worse than I want to avoid the apprenticeship in the capitol, if I were to be this year’s chosen.” Tic replied slipping that nonsense in before blurting out how she sure loved to utilize the fact that she was an attractive young, eligible woman in order to get what she wanted. For so many years he had watched her manipulate their father with a pretty smile or tears and a giggle, it was disgusting but she was good at it.

  “You are going to be this year’s chosen, Tic, I heard them talking while I was filing in at the city offices the other day. Timick and the mayor were sitting with some of the city bigs and they want an academic to go this time around. In the past they always sent the athletic types and got nothing but soldiers in return, so Timick and the mayor mentioned you,” Tia said matter of fact. He wanted to shout at her and say she was just giving him the business but he couldn’t. He too had seen how many situations were manipulated before a so-called vote was called.

  Tic’s family was quite wealthy with their business being as successful as it is, which in turn gave a boy like Tic a lot of freedom. The only time that freedom was compromised was when he performed his two-year mentorship stint with the city, it was an educational experience but not all that enjoyable. Being sent to the capitol to live under the thumb of the royal family would be…exponentially worse.

  “I guess there is nothing that I can do about that if it happens, I’ll just refuse.”

  “You can’t refuse, Tic. Father would disown you so you might as well just accept it. The gods know that you would never… naw, forget it.”

  “What, go ahead and say it.”

  “No, it doesn’t matter, I love you little brother.” She smiled. “You are the only boy I can talk honestly with. I hope that you don’t get chosen at the festival, not yet anyway. But if you do and you really do want out of it more than anything…come and see me.” Tia played her first card.

  “I still doubt it will happen the more that I think about it. Chosen, me? I highly doubt it. I bet it will be Chuck or Collin…one of those warrior types, not me,” Tic said completely oblivious to his sister’s implication.

  She still leaned against the door jamb shaking her head and wondering how Tic would ever find a woman while being so dense.

  “That’s not how it reads, Tic, it is random and your name can be put in the pot multiple times if you impress people and you have impressed a lot of people, especially up with the clerks and politicians not to mention finishing the University in half the time it typically takes. Any one of them could have put your name in the pot.”

  “No, I would refuse.”

  “Refuse? Nobody will ever refuse especially from our family. It is the greatest honor that our city has to offer to anyone.”

  “No, I’m not even going to the festival so I know it won’t be me.”

  “We’ll see brother but when and if it comes down your way you had better not be a little prick about it.”

  Tic shrugged and gave her a look that said he wanted to be alone which she honored by walking back to her own work shop where she cut out the uppers for whatever was in production at that time. He wasn’t too worried about it; the chances of his name being pulled out were ridiculously slim. If it did fall his way, he was sure that he could talk his way out of it. He was simply too busy.

  For the first time in a long time Tic couldn’t sleep, his sister’s words were haunting him. There was no reason for him to fear as there were at least hundred boys in town that were more eligible and had probably gotten more sponsors than he had. He never tried for sponsors like the other kids because he never wanted to go. It is an honor, they say, but it didn’t feel like an honor and Tic had things he would rather be doing. Sure, it was good for the others who wanted to be soldiers, a guard, or law enforcement. For Tic, however, it was a threat akin to prison.

  A prison that he wasn’t sure that he could subject himself to.

  3

  Festival

  Tia’s head was filled with so many things that she heard the dwarfs talking about, but something stuck in her head more than the rest. It was their comments about the mordials being used by these new creatures. She didn’t know how that could be seeing as how mordials were a remnant left over from before the breaking, when humans populated so much of the world it was getting crowded. She couldn’t even imagine that with the whole world so crowded there simply wasn’t enough food or land to go around. Some say the beginning of the end came in the form of disease. An infection spread, altering the very thing that made people human, leaving the vicious mordials behind as a plague to the people who still exist. They occupied the outlands of every country all over the world with bounties on them to keep their numbers low. The dwarf’s called them Gnasher’s and Goblins and said they were being controlled by something new, Tia had heard before her father chased her away.

  However lately, there have been rumors of several bands having been seen close to the towns and cities, and hunting parties had been sent out. Tia wondered if this talk of these new people and their controlling of the mordials might have something to do with it. She had noticed more huntsmen around the city and even a couple legions of pike men had been sent down from the capital, but they were supposedly just show for all of the emissaries headed to the kingdom for the very talks that the dwarfs were headed to. There were supposed to be Piners and Sprints as well as people from the far western reaches who would be represented. Everyone, it seemed would be there, except elves. The elves would never have been invited seeing as how they had their own kingdom and wouldn’t recognize the authority of another race. So rumor about the elegant creatures had it. It was said that they live in a land far to the north. A land so hostile as to support nothing but Trolls and ice. Of course you have to believe in such things as Troll to believe that legend. Tia did. Tia believed in all of it;/ Trolls, Lokai, Sprints and maybe even Giants, yes… maybe, even. Giants.