Thordur tossed a smirk over his shoulder. “We are. And the excess, we sell.”
“To who?”
“To other kingdoms.To yours.”
I scoffed. “Our metals and gems come from a crown-owned mine.”
“Not all.” The dwarf prince looked smug. “My kingdom supplies much of thezupriansteel in your kingdom. We have our ways to transport and sell without being discovered.”
“How?” I demanded.
“Nearby villages and towns are safe to trade with. As we prosper, their lives become easier. They know as well as any how hard mountain life can be, and they also have connections to larger cities where they can trade without issue. And then there are the dwarven nomads. They know about us, and trade when they need to.”
“Why wouldn’t the nomads livehere?” my wife asked. “I understand not wanting to be under King Magnus’s thumb, but I imagine moving all the time is a hard life. This seems like an ideal in between.”
“It is. Yet some prefer to feel more than rock beneath their feet and live to see a true sky above whenever they wish. Who are we to dictate how they wish to live?”
I had no answer for that.
“And here we are. Master Smith Kolmot is the finest smithy in all of Dergia. Dare I say, in all the Land of Winter.” Prince Thordur held open a metal door to a forge, and my eyes feasted on the swooping and lovely lines of gold in the metal as we passed through. An artist and a smith both.
“A hearty claim.” I arched a single eyebrow.
“We don’t call him The Hammer for naught.”
The interior of the forge was as magnificent as the door.Various metals created works of art, and weapons hung from the wall, beautiful and functional. Inside the door, I could hear the pounding of metal, the hiss of water as metal plunged into buckets, and the chatter of workers. The smithy had to have at least ten people working for him.
A young female dwarf entered the foyer. She wore a dress and had not a speck of dirt or grime on her.
“Prince! We weren’t expecting you today. Shall I get you tea so that you might browse the wears?”
“No thank you, Yaggarra. I’m here to show my friends the forge and speak with Master Kolmot on an order, if he has the time?”
“Of course, Prince Thordur. I’ll retrieve him.”
“So this visit was a touch self-serving,” I asked once the dwarf left to get her master.
Thordur shrugged. “Good time management.”
I smirked. I’d have claimed the same.
The Master Smith appeared minutes later, wiping his scarred, wrinkled hands on a cloth. The dwarf was rather old and smaller than many we’d passed by except in his arms, which likely rivaled mine in muscle.
He approached Prince Thordur, a smile on his lips, but when he noticed Neve, the smith stopped walking.
“I’m afraid we haven’t met, miss?”
“I’m a guest of House Fellhelm.”
“An outsider.”
She shifted, a touch unnerved. “Yes.”
“One who comes bearing a blade imbued with shadows.”
I drew in a sharp breath.
“Pardon?” Lines appeared on Neve’s forehead as she arched her eyebrows.
