Meddling in Foreign Affairs

Chapter 4: Meeting the Mountain King

Dismas was unsure of how much time had passed since he was locked up, but it was at least a few days until Stryel returned. Dismas didn't bother moving when he came to stand outside of his cell. He was sort of miffed with the dwarves in general, seeing as none of them had given him any food, his arm felt infected, they had taken all of his belongings, and his hair was probably a horror to look upon. Any sleep that he got was restless and uncomfortable at best. On a more positive note, however, his beard had started to grow back.

"Good morning, elf. How has your stay here in Dragstyenost been so far?"

Dismas was hungry and exhausted, but that didn't prevent him from responding. "Not gonna lie, I would not recommend it. If it were up to me, you would never have any visitors. It's grand enough, but all the stone is cold, especially without food to warm my belly. But, you know, the wound in my shoulder has provided some heat, so thanks for that."

"I must say, you are one of the more interesting elves that I have captured. Usually they refuse to speak at all," Stryel commented as the dwarf guard unlocked the door to Dismas' cell and roughly made him get to his feet.

Trying not to whimper as his right shoulder was jostled, Dismas grudgingly started following Stryel. "That's because I'm not a bloody elf, idiot."

Stryel led Dismas out of the prison and down the stairs. Dismas couldn't help but smile a bit when he saw the sunlight through the entrance to the large cavern, and he stopped a moment to take it in. He sighed as he was pulled past the market to a staircase going down deeper into the mountain. Just five minutes outside would have improved his mood significantly. Humans weren't made to be underground forever, or at least Dismas wasn't. Although he preferred to live in cities and didn't like the wilderness, the sun was still a beautiful thing. And he missed it.

As they walked down a seemingly unending set of stairs, Dismas got bored. "So, you're taking me to see that Otetsu Gora fellow, right?"

Stryel looked back with a condescending smirk. "Yes. I am taking you to the King's Hall where you will be condemned and properly punished for your crimes."

"Okaaaay, and what crimes are those, exactly?"

"Is elven society so deranged that kidnapping is not considered a crime?"

Dismas swore to himself. Apparently the stupid elf had kidnapped someone. But he didn't appear to have anyone with him when he scammed Dismas, so he must have had accomplices or was being wrongly accused. "I have not a barking clue what the ins and outs of elvish society are like because I am a human. I have met a total of one elf, and am beginning to acquire a dislike for the entire race because of this experience. Dwarves don't seem too great right now, either."

"I am most looking forward to never having to speak with you again, after this. You must be stupid or incredibly arrogant to continue trying to convince us that you are a human, when everyone with any experience with elves knows that they do not follow the normal rules of nature."

Sighing to himself, Dismas cursed the stubbornness of dwarves.

Stryel walked up to one of the largest doors Dismas had ever seen. They were almost as large as the entrance to the cavern, which had been made to fit boats through it. Something about dwarves seemed to make them find it necessary to make normal things huge. It was all very impressive, but made them look even shorter than they were. There were the geometric designs the dwarves appeared very fond of carved into the metal. As Stryel and Dismas drew closer, four dwarves pulled open the grand doors.

"See, that's just silly. Why make doors that need more than one person to open them?" Dismas asked.

Ignoring him, Stryel marched through the doors confidently while Dismas reluctantly followed. The King's Hall was large. That's an understatement. There were huge pillars lining a straight walk to the throne, at least a quarter of a mile away from the door. The entire room was made of dark stone that was polished to reflect the light from the torches, making it almost as bright as being outside. It must have taken a ton of work to build such a place, and Dismas had a hard time wrapping his head around all of this being under the mountain. It was the largest mountain known to intelligent beings, but surely it wasn't big enough for all this.