The Dwarven Sorcerer

The Dwarven Sorcerer Ch 18

Mordin sat at his stone desk staring at the parchment in front of him, a nearby oil lantern gave his white skin a sickly yellowish glow. The names of all those accused of wizardry were written in front of him. Their family names and occupations were inked in beside the guilty. There was a connection, he knew it but he couldn't see it. The dwarves ranged from the high born to the low, affluent families to miners and masons; some were pillars of the dwarven community, politicians and of the priestly caste; Huskarls, Merkesmenn, and Thenges. Frustration boiled up inside of him.

"Dammit," Mordin slammed his fist on the table.

He leaned back in his chair and rubbed his red eyes with the heels of his hands. A plate of cold roasted goat shoulder sat in a congealed pool of its own juices and was surrounded by wrinkled root vegetables. Room temperature beer, long flat, sat forgotten in a pewter mug next to his food. He pushed his chair away from the desk and paced the room in frustration. He rested his hands on The Hammer of Wizards. He hoped to draw strength and wisdom from it.

Never in the history of the kingdom has there ever been so many wizards, never more than one or two. Why so many now all of the sudden? There must be a connection. He sat heavily back down on the chair and looked at the cold food and warm beer next to him. He seemed almost surprised to see it. How much time has passed since he first sat down?

Mordin picked at the food nibbling on the root vegetables, the congealed goat grease made it unpalatable. He washed the taste away with the beer in one gulp. He moved the parchments around on the table and read one of them for the hundredth time. This time something caught his eye. There was something queerly familiar about the names. Yes, he read them over and over until he had them all memorized, but there was something else this time. He didn't see it at first because the connection was too obvious. The engagement with the orcs and goblins, he remembered. Everyone on the list was either a Huskarl or a Thenge. That seemed obvious at first because nearly every he-dwarf in the kingdom could make that claim, but these ones all fought in the last goblin raid. He wondered if there was another connection. He rummaged through his papers but couldn't find what he needed. A hempen rope hung from the ceiling, he pulled it and a bell rang in another room. A few seconds later a young dwarven page ran into the room.

"Bring me the scrolls that list all the military units and names of the soldiers, Huskarls and Thenges," commanded Mordin. "Everything for the past year."

The page ran out the door without a word. A moment later he returned with the requested parchments. Mordin took them from the young dwarf and laid them over his table as the page left.

Mordin wasn't sure what he was looking for exactly but there was something here, he knew it. He looked at the parchments until his eyes hurt. He blinked away the tears formed by the strain, wanting to sleep. He leaned back in the chair when something stood out on one of the parchments for him. He leaned forward again, looking at the military chronicles. Every battle ever fought was recorded in great detail. The names of every soldier, the wounds each one took, and the number of confirmed kills were pain painstakingly recorded.

It was the Battle of the Hag, as the scroll named it, that interested him. He read the names in the battle, those who fought in which unit, those who died, and those who were caught in the explosion. First were the dwarves who died in the explosion. Their names and ranks were listed. He went down the list until he found what he was looking for: the names of the survivors. Nearly every name on the list who survived the explosion was a convicted wizard. He checked the healing temple's reports and found that those who survived the explosion and woke from the coma were all on his wizard's list. There were still a few names left on the list that weren't convicted though. He looked at the names and copied them down just in case his memory failed him. There were only twelve names on his list. It still might be a coincidence. I need to look into it some more.