Golden Rook Ch. 47-54

The dwarf sighed and nodded, letting her stand. "I never understood why she split herself. That dragon caused nothing but trouble."

"He's our cousin and he's got a good heart." She followed to the doorway and leaned against it as he started to undress. "It was an adjustment, I'll give you that. He can't grow a beard. I spent a few years trying to convince-"

Kaduil doubled over laughing and she grinned at him. "You tried to convince a dragon to grow a beard?"

"I did! His lack of a beard and lack of hair, in general, was one of the harder things to get used to but he has a few things you don't and I enjoy them." She gave him a playful blink as he shook his head.

"No children?"

"No. Truthfully, I don't know if he wants them and if I can't come and go from Uncle's realm I'm better off not having them. I'd have been a terrible mother if I'd had a child in the past hundred years, easily as bad as the one we had, if not worse.

"I adore yours, though. I'm envious of the life Hammersworn had and I'm furious that it was taken from her."

"You're certain that it was-" He stopped as she made a sharp gesture.

"Don't say his name."

"-her uncle? You're certain?"

"Yes. He confessed it to me. She went to him asking if it were possible for her to go to the dwarven gods in death. He suspected her of trying to get out of the punishments waiting for thieves that the uncle I serve has waiting, so he found a mage and an assassin who liked to work together to take the job. In exchange, he promised them that they would be out of Uncle's reach and out of mine.

"He lied. I dragged the mage to Uncle's doorstep, and my cousin, Cyran,-"

"There were punishments waiting for my Syr?" Kaduil stopped his washing to scowl at her.

"There were. They weren't too bad, I would have been more upset if he'd sent her into the room with the sunshine and blank faces."

His brow furrowed.

"It's supposed to be a reward, if you're good you go to the sunshine and fields of green, the people there are all smiling and blank, empty and... happy." She shuddered and he breathed a laugh.

He resumed his washing and they were quiet for a moment.

"Why don't you work in gold anymore?"

"Gold makes me think of Syr. I can't bear to work it when she's away. Steel feels better."

"You don't like to be reminded of her?"

"Everything in this house, even our children, reminds me of her, Rook. When I work gold, I worry over her. Where she is, how she is, it's too much."

"You know where she is now, Kaduil. For the moment, she's with me, safe and worrying over you, and she's not leaving me until I give her over to Fellforger. You don't even have to worry about seeing the ones who took her from you punished. I'm the goddess of righteous vengeance and I've been seeing to it at every opportunity. That lying uncle of ours is going to find himself replaced and utterly without temples or priests if it's within my power.

"Go back to gold. Do beautiful work in her memory."

His jaw was clenched and his eyes looked damp but he remained silent, drying off and gesturing for her to go upstairs. Syr went up to her room and walked around it before going back out again and opening Kaduil's door.

The dwarf was pulling on his nightshirt and when he saw her the tears he'd been holding in started to pour. She went in and closed the door.

*Fifty-one*

"Why does my Syreilla need me to fetch the stone? She has always brought them to you, Divinity." Vezar's brow furrowed.

"There is more occurring than you understand, son of my son. You must fetch the stone."

"I will, Divinity. I miss my treasure, even seeing her for a moment is a relief."

"You cannot linger. You must bring it to me immediately."

"Yes, Divinity." He bowed and turned to go, making his way to the entrance.

At the very least she would steal a kiss, the warmth each time she saw him made him feel whole. She had been like silk against his skin in the decades after they'd first arrived and now she was once again. He could forget the forty or fifty years of occasional sandpaper easily enough.

Vezar opened the door and stepped through as soon as he was outside. The wooded place was unfamiliar but the golden woman draped with a dark cloth was not. "Syreilla!" He beamed stepping toward her with his hand outstretched, "My treasure, I-"

"There's no time for any of that, Vezar." She thrust a pouch at him. "Take it and go. I-"

He inhaled, leaning toward her, "You stink of dwarf, my treasure." There were other scents as well but that one concerned him most.

"I went to the mine." She gave him an exasperated look, "Go! There's no time!"

Stepping back, he found himself once more on the threshold, without a kiss, and without any affectionate caress on their shared threads from his Syreilla. She stank of dwarf. The memory of her entering the mine and being seduced by the dwarf once before filled him with fear and rage. To lose her...

He took the stone to Hevtos, barely registering the command to be ready to retrieve another when summoned, and retreated to his chamber, pacing it endlessly and running his thoughts over the pressed down threads, struggling not to try to pull on them for her attention.

Had her brief visit to the mine done so much damage? Was she longing to return to that wretched dwarf? The memory of how much stronger the threads had been that were attached to Kaduil made him want to rend the creature's flesh and drag her home where she belonged. Syreilla was his treasure. But Hevtos had rejoined her to the half that loved the dwarf... He snarled as the knock on his door disturbed his tortured thoughts.

"You are sent for. You must go to the threshold."

Had it been so long already? It couldn't have been more than a day? This time he would have some certainty, his golden treasure could not leave. She belonged... It had been too long since he was a King but he was still great, he was still more impressive than a dwarf. Vezar hurried to the threshold. She enjoyed the feeling of his skin, of his claws... His treasure needed to be reminded.

The door opened and he went through with determination.

"Vezar, take this to Uncle, I have one left and I'll-" She stopped and blinked in surprise as he embraced her, pressing his face to hers and letting her feel the tips of his claws through her clothes.

There was no answering sensation of pleasure on his threads, no sensation of any kind. She was keeping her threads pressed down tightly and no affection or desire met his attempt.

"My treasure, your dragon needs to know you haven't-"

"My dragon," she pulled away abruptly and gave him a sour look, "needs to take this and let me get back to work. I'm nearly done and then there can be cuddling to your heart's content. I have to be quick and so do you. Go!"

Taking the pouch as it was thrust at him, he went back through the door and stood holding it on the doorstep. Hevtos came to the entrance and studied him with a frown.

"She no longer loves me." The words felt like knives scoring his soul.

"She loves you, son of my son. Come. I will ask her to return for a time to ease your fears when these stones have been gathered. The elves can wait."

"There was nothing, no desire, no joy, no," Vezar closed his eyes as he gave over the stone, "no love when I touched her. You should not have given the mortal half back to her; those threads were always stronger. She has pulled away from me, my treasure will leave me and go back to the mine."

"She will not." Hevtos rested a hand on his shoulder. "There is more than you understand happening, Vezar Edra. When the last stone has been given to me, Syreilla will be joyful to see you."

"And if she is not?" He opened his eyes and met Hevtos concerned gaze.

"She will be."

There had been nothing... He returned to his chamber and caught sight of his reflection in the robe she had stolen for him. Allowing his pain to come out in a resounding roar he tore it and immediately regretted it.

It was the one thing he had that was rich and she had always been pleased to see it on him. The memory of her joy and desire was all he had and he was shredding the gift she had given him. Keening, he crawled onto their bed and prayed fervently that she would not leave, he prayed to Hevtos to bind her here and he murmured a supplication to Rielle, the elven goddess of love and desire to make her love him. Eludora would not be willing to listen with the stone that had been stolen but Rielle might. She had been kind to his family before.

Vezar wasn't certain how long it had been before the knocking came again. He rose and pulled on a plain robe before following the specter to the threshold. Syreilla thrust the stone at him with barely a word.

Giving it to Hevtos, he took a step toward his chamber once more before stopping abruptly. "Divinity, if she only required the stone to be given, why did she not bring it herself?"

"There is more happening than you understand." Hevtos studied his face. "Come with me."

They placed the stone in safety with the others and the divinity took him into a chamber he had not seen. The room held an immense map table that seemed to shimmer.

"I know where mine are..." Hevtos held his hand over the table and the map moved.

There were glimmering towns and cities, roads that were dotted with light, and one bright point alone in a dark spot.

"Dwarf mines are shrouded from me, they are dark."

"And that..." Vezar came to stare at the bright point of light.

For the briefest of moments, the threads between them were visible and he nearly reached out to touch the place Syreilla was. His hand was stopped and the divinity smiled faintly.

"She will return and be joyful to see you. Among other reasons, I mistakenly believed that you would be less upset if you believed she was outside the mine."

"Yes, Divinity." The realization he'd torn the robe she enjoyed seeing him in and he had nothing else to delight her struck him. "I need to find a new robe, Divinity. In my anguish..."

"I will let you go to find one, but not yet. Wait to be sent."

It was a relief to know she hadn't rejected him, but he still wasn't pleased that she was lingering in the mine. He bowed and left the chamber going back to his own to prepare. The threads were intact, he'd seen them... If it wasn't Syreilla he'd embraced... Odos. The trickster gods were known to deceive and wear the faces of others at times. He had been sent for to make it seem as if it were the Golden Rook. She was hiding while her father did the thieving.

He frowned as he pulled on the hood and commoner's clothes that would help conceal his nature. She couldn't have been pleased with that. When he'd had his hands in her threads he'd seen how much she loved the challenge of such tasks. To steal three stones in a few short days, she would have been exultant, not cold.

Impatiently, he waited for a visit from a spectral servant. Spinning on his heel to hurry to the door as it opened.

"The divinity asks you to go to his Golden Rook at the mine. It must be done quickly. Afterward, you may see to your errand."

The thought of seeing her this way was a blow to his pride. He considered making her wait for a short time while he found something suitable but the divinity had said he must be quick.

"I will go."

There was only trepidation as he opened the doorway and stepped through. He was standing in the center of a small camp hidden in trees and looked around with a frown. The mine was where he'd intended to go.

"That was a cruel trick Syreilla." A half-elf was glowering as he stalked into view, "And who is this? You've picked the wrong camp to rob-"

"Vezar!" Syreilla's relieved voice washed over him like warm water and he felt delight rippling along the threads no longer pressed. "I have something for you." She came up to him beaming and put her arms around him, rising on her toes for a kiss.

It was all he could do not to tear the fabric of her clothes as he returned it needfully and pulled her tightly against him. She stank of dwarf. "My sweet Syreilla, you need to bathe." He tried to tell himself she'd been in a mine that was why she stank, not that she'd been embracing... Dipping his head he drew a deep breath against her skin to be sure and she laughed, kissing his neck.

"Kaduil Hardjaw misses his wife, I'm not her. I missed my dragon."

With a groan, he pulled her through the doorway bodily. "I need my treasure beneath me. I need to know that no dwarf has had his hands on your perfect skin my golden-"

"I will ask Odos if the time can be taken," Hevtos sounded amused.

"I doubt it, Uncle. He was up to something while I was in the mine. The Magpie is furious with me and my cousin, Cyran, will barely look at me."

"He wore your face and he was not kind to Vezar while he did."

"Ah." Her face set grimly, "It seems he wasn't kind to anyone. I'll speak to the old man."

Syreilla removed a carved box from her pouch, "I was told that what I asked for was in there, and I can feel something is, but..."

"But you have doubts?"

"I do. I walked the treasure rooms with Sirruil and a dwarf named Orefinder, helping them find more ways to make it secure. I liked him, but I'd trust a knife made out of elf bread before I accepted what he said without question."

Hevtos began to laugh holding the box in both hands. "You are right, my Golden Rook. Within are three stones holding power but not the ones you were told you were taking. They are a promise, if the true stones are needed they will be given. Until then, these are a small gift of power to aid me."

"Who is Sirruil?" Vezar ran his hand down her back and was rewarded with a sad smile.

"Hammersworn's youngest. Oduil Flameborn, her eldest, looks like a slimmer version of his father with just a little bit of point to his ears. He's got a disposition like Batran's, he's clever, serious, and does fine work. Kyrilla, her daughter, is as golden as she was, a dwarvish beauty with her father's sweet disposition." She paused, wrapping her arms around his waist, "But Sirruil, he's like her, he's mischievous and hot-tempered." Laughing, she added, "He looks exactly like Kaduil. She used to tell her husband dwarvish good looks were the only thing he inherited from his father."

"This Oduil isn't a Hammersworn?" Vezar gazed down at her, feeling her desire for children of their own.

"He's of Clan Hammersworn. At a certain age, the boys go through a ritual and become men. They receive a name other than what their mothers gave them, usually only the head of the clan goes by the clan name. Sirruil will go through his soon." Her shoulders slumped, "I'm not permitted to be there for it."

"They belong to the dwarf gods, my Golden Rook." Hevtos smiled faintly. "They guard their rituals and knowledge more closely."

"I know. I understand. It still makes me sad, Uncle."

The door opened and Odos stepped through with a mischievous smile, "I need my rook. I've arranged a meeting with an old friend. He'll help us with the elves."

"I'm angry with you, old man. Magpie and Cyran are upset with me-"

Odos waved his hand, his smile widening. "I'll speak to them."

"I'll speak to them. You apologize to Vezar." Disentangling herself, she stole a kiss before she slipped through the door.

He looked pleased with himself as he straightened his tunic, "Did she succeed with the dwarves?"

"She met Orefinder and knew that the stones she was given weren't the true stones. My Golden Rook said that she liked him but that she would trust a knife made of elf bread-" Hevtos stopped with a smile as his nephew broke into delighted laughter.

"She is my daughter."

"They are a promise and a gift. It is enough."

"Good. I knew she could get at least that from them. She may be less angry with me when she hears how her reputation has grown."

"Syreilla lives for the challenge, Divinity." Vezar frowned and might have said more but the mischievous god laid a hand on his shoulder.

"I'll let her steal the elven stones. She's a good thief, but I'm better and this needed to be done quickly and quietly. I hope you can forgive me for not kissing you."

"I love her, Divinity. I thought she had stopped..."

Odos winced. "If anyone sees through the ruse it will be because of that."

He stepped back and vanished.

"Are you more content?" Hevtos gestured toward the entrance.

"I am, Divinity, but I still want to find a new robe, and perhaps a gift for my treasure."

"You may go to find them, son of my son. Do not linger. She may require you soon."

*Fifty-two*

Folding his arms across his bare chest, Kwes inspected his still pruny hands, "It wouldn't be so bad if it were only the pretty girls I had to wash."

"I can ask her if another duty can be found." Cyran's face flushed, the priest fidgeted with the nearly sheer vest he was wearing.

The goddess' laughter preceded her into the room. "You're the new favorite attendant in the baths. There are men and women marveling that such an exquisite man has chosen to serve me. I've been praised for being so generous not only in granting you your beauty but in sharing it with the rest of my worshippers."

He gave her a sour look, "My father named me Riellion."

The look on her symmetrically lovely and very human face was almost smug, "And yet you're here in my temple. The elven gods have no claim on you, your father saw to that."

"He doesn't encourage reverence or worship of any god, it's true."

"The children of a god belong to that god. We were surprised when your father gave his daughter away."

"The divinity said he believed it was done for a purpose." Cyran inclined his head.

"Call him your father, little one, however angry he is, it's the truth. And I suspect he was right. Odos may be a trickster and nearly unbearable at times, but he was always closer to his mother than his brother was. There may be no point in trying to keep the stones from Syreilla, she took Isca's first and destroyed her puzzle temple with one small application of dragon's fire in the right place as if she'd spent decades studying how.

"She took my stone from a room that should have been impenetrable, even I had forgotten about the cavern beneath that we had covered over. The stone was heated and then struck, I was told. It shattered and allowed her in without difficulty.

"And today, in the daylight, she stole Unren's stone from its watery vault."

Kwes had to laugh and, at the goddess' annoyed look, he waved his hand, "My sister swam through flooded mine tunnels once just to have a look at some stones the dwarf priests brought to her mine. That one was probably easy for her."

"Tell me."

With a gesture, servants dressed much the way that he and Cyran were brought in trays of fruits and decadent-looking bite-sized morsels arranged prettily. He took a seat where she pointed with a smile.

"I don't know much about it, a dwarf priest told the story. She was sour with him for interrupting her while she was looking at the stones in the room of light, whatever that is, like a jeweler. He said she shouldn't have been able to touch them, the stones should have killed a thief, but she wasn't being malicious."

"The intent matters." Eludora smiled faintly. "She isn't stealing them, she's borrowing them. That's a small relief."

"How many are there left for her to get?" Kwes asked as he took a bite of melon.

"Of ours? Unless she intends to steal her grandfather's, something not even Odos could condone, only one. Silfeya will be on her guard. Isca has come to aid her in watching for Syreilla and trying to secure her stone. I think the goddess of war is enjoying herself. It's like a hunt for a very clever creature."

He inclined his head and picked at the food on the trays sourly.

After a time Cyran asked carefully, "You seem angry, cousin. Is it your duties?"