Chapter 26: 24 – [Arrogance Repaid]

After we had finished discussing our new job duties the rest of the group invited us to stay the night and join in the festivities they had planned to celebrate our people re-joining the Fey family. I drank and danced late into the night with the rambunctious fairies and enjoyed a few flirting sessions with some of the more sensual dryad of the clans. The ents had inhabited singing potted plants and dotted themselves across the party, their voices were deep, rich and brought a festive life to the drinks. It was also a bit odd to encounter a circle of laughing fey surrounding a particularly manly elf practicing what looked like the drunken fist at one point in the night.

The sky began to show hints of warmth as I found myself seated near the top of a large tree and looking out over the party-goers who had long ago lost to their need for sleep. The dwarven brothers I had brought along had long since passed out next to their steins and were producing nose bubbles and rumbling snores while some sneaky little fairies and dryads drew on their faces with mud or pollen. A few of the elves that had arrived with Lady Gwaelwen were draped from temporary hammocks along the border of the plaza with Gwaelwen herself looking around much similarly to me on her rocky perch near the center of the camp.

I stood and stretched before dropping heavily to the ground and walking among my men, giving them a hearty good morning slap on the noggin to get them moving before I approached her and puffed out my chest with my arms crossed. "Seems like some of your kin can't handle their booze that well, fair lady. But you look just fine despite matching some of my toughest men stein for stein all night. Perhaps you would care to visit us sometime, of course with gifts of the same delicious honey mead I swiped from some of your tipsier twigs?"

She arched one of her eyebrows at me as a smirk formed at the edge of her mouth. "Indeed, we would be delighted if you were to visit us, with gifts of fine quality craftsmanship. I believe I heard a few of your loudest braggarts talking about a recent adventure into smithing metal bows. Unless of course, the mountain men are nothing but hot air and course stone?"

I couldn't help guffawing loudly and smacking my knee. I stomped my foot as my chuckle died down and put my fists on my hips. "The dwarves will never back down from a smithing challenge, we shall show you what a true elvish bow should look like!" Her eyes narrowed as she fought the urge to break into a grin, "And we elves shall show you dwarves what true spirits should taste like." I huffed and turned to walk back to my men as they finished washing their faces and glaring at a group of giggling fey and heard a faint rustling behind me as she shifted off the rock and glided over to her group of deadbeats.

"Alright men, you've had your fun. Say your partings and we'll be on our way!" I dispersed my men to bid their new friends farewell before I approached the Council group and bowed slightly. "Please let us know if the dwarves can be of help when the clan requires it. We shall stand as the vanguard to the Fey from now until time's end!" They all bowed back before turning to Ashbud as their representative this time. "We thank you, and hope that the time never comes that we must watch from the rear as your Fey dispatch our enemies."

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I arrived back at the gate to the mountain that evening with my men groaning and moaning about booze-aches behind me, lightweights. I knocked the loudest ones to the ground with a single back slap before I poured my Ether into the door and pushed it open. A rain of cheers welcomed me as a hallway full of dwarves filled my sight on the other side. I waived to them as we passed through the crowd, I eventually reached my quarters and sat down heavily in my chair with a glass of our finest human kingdom wine in my fist.

I had only gotten halfway through the tiny glass before Oswallt entered with news from the embassy staff in the mercantile quarter. It appears that another human kingdom had visited while I was away and were waiting "patiently" for my return. According to the reports they had managed to cause enough fuss in a single day to have angered both our smiths and our brewers. I sighed as I signaled to Oswallt to prepare the audience hall for tomorrow morning and went back to the paperwork I had missed in the last day and a half with an even bigger glass next to my quill.

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I was seated in my full ceremonial armor, since this was a previously unknown delegation that had caused trouble already they were not yet familiar enough to me to warrant a fiber-based outfit in our audience. My crown rested peacefully on my head and a new glowing sun-red gem in the shape of an upright a triangle had been embedded into my throne just above my head. My left hand rested under my chin and my right on the armrest not far from the handle of my hammer-ax. The delegation entered slowly and appeared to be comprised of nothing other than middle-aged men with permanent sour faces. Their clothes were even more gaudy and tacky than King Reynard's and they had an obvious problem with the dwarven guards that stopped them from approaching closer than the bottom of the stairs to my throne. These people were going to be trouble...

I nodded to Oswallt who unrolled their scroll of introduction and said, "The delegation from the Gecuria Empire, to our northeast, greets His Majesty Anwirn Gemmolder Brimstone and celebrates the occasion with gifts of fine silks and Deep Emeralds." I kept my face completely still as I expressed my surprise in a light 'Hoh' and eyed the closest diplomats. Deep Emeralds could be found easily in the mountain near the caldera, but they were very rare in human lands. They made for great decorations with their shimmering hue that shifted between dark and light green in the light, but us dwarves preferred them for their marvelous ability to allow us to channel wind Ether with practically no effort when properly processed into an item by our magma smiths.

I waited silently as they each introduced themselves with long-winded names and titles, some redundant and some clearly not earned by them but probably a long-gone family member. I didn't bother remembering the names of any of them other than the main diplomat, an Imperial Duke who is the younger brother of the current Emperor by the name of Claudius Cromwell Gecuria. I waited a few moments for the man to bow after he gave his name and he remained unmoved even after a minute. I decided to not tolerate his pitiful display of fake power anymore and smiled slightly before closing my eyes and slowly releasing my Ether into the room. This arrogant man would bow to the king of the mountain, or the mountain would break him.

A few moments into my Ether expanding into the room a few of the closer diplomats began gasping and panting as their legs and shoulders trembled due to the perceived pressure over their backs. The Duke looked uncomfortable with his eyes darting between myself and the members of his delegation as a small amount of sweat formed on his forehead. Within a few minutes, most of the human men in the hall were down to at least one knee as they struggled for air and the Duke was beginning to show signs of panic and shortness of breath. After five minutes the rest were on their hands and knees with the Duke finally dropping to a single knee with a face contorted in mild rage and humiliation. I had sensed all of these changes through my Ether and slowly opened my eyes as I dispersed the Ether under my command.

"I, King under the Brimstone Mountain, Anwirn Gemmolder Brimstone, greet the representatives from our northeastern neighbor, the Gecuria Empire with open arms. I thank you for the well-received gifts and bid you welcome to our home, tell me, to what pleasure do I owe our auspicious meeting?" I smirked lightly as my tone stressed that our meeting was not as conductive as my words implied. These men were not going to have an easy time in this meeting after I had read through what they had said to my people in my absence that got them so heated up.

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