Golden Rook Ch. 68-75

The dwarf began to grin, "I think there might be."

The elves began to protest and Odos had to beat on the table to get them to cease yelling in their incomprehensible tongue. After they had settled, Rielle asked angrily, "Why would she steal from us when she could make such an offer?"

"I would rather eat my liver, twice, than put myself in your service." Syr came to her feet and folded her arms, the elf woman's aura was more like a visible smell, a thick cloud of cloying perfume and the notes turned sour for a moment at the provocation.

"I liked you where you were." Orsas' quiet words were barely audible as the elves began to protest again.

"Are you flirting with me, Master Fellforger? It's been a long time since I braided anyone's beard. Do you swing your hammer well enough to make it worth the effort?" She gave him an impish grin and a slow blink, watching the dwarf's face flush.

The elves fell silent staring at her with something bordering on horror but Eludora, with her peculiar rain of flower petals, looked amused.

Orsas turned to Odos, "If Hevtos won't sell the Rook, how much to have you steal her for me?"

"She isn't the stay in the mine type and you'd have to fend off an angry dragon just for asking my uncle the question." He gave her a hard look, "I'm surprised she's flirting with you when she has Vezar at home."

"I told you, I caught him fucking the same elf whore as Grandfather. If he's free to do as he pleases, so am I."

"I did not-" Rielle stopped herself and rose from her seat. "Seducing the half-dragon into my service seemed an effective way to stop the thefts. I failed in my goal and I did not take him to bed."

"You were both naked, in bed, and you were on top of him. I chose to leave at that point."

"It went no further. He screamed out in pain as you cut the threads that bound you both and began to weep, calling out for his treasure. If you're going to claim I took him to bed perhaps I should."

"Rielle..." Odos sighed.

"How did it feel?" Atos glared as he made his way in behind the elves and took his seat at the table between them and the human gods. "The betrayal of one you loved?"

"If you took every ounce of pain I've ever felt and pressed it into one moment..." She inclined her head feeling her lips twist. "But I did what you should have done, I cut the ties and stepped away. I may forgive him for it eventually but my trust is hard to gain at the best of times."

A very faint smile curved Atos' lips, "Through him, you were bound to Hevtos, now you are no longer."

"You're mistaken, Grandfather. I gave my word, and you can rely on a Rook."

"To be a thief and a liar." Atos laced his fingers together and looked at her over them.

"Thief, yes, liar... occasionally. I'm also short-tempered and vicious, but at this point, I'm just listing family traits."

"You slight yourself when you slight your family." One of the elven goddesses frowned.

"They aren't slights when they're true. And I don't believe any of them are truly bad in moderation. Even viciousness has a use. Nor did I say we aren't more than those few things. When we bend our will to a thing you can help us or get out of the way. That's why we're here."

Atos exhaled and his eyes burned into hers. "So it is." His gaze shifted and it felt as if a strong breeze blew through the room. Zyulla and Hevtos both entered the chamber. "It has been made clear that my... immoderation has done more harm than I intended. Zyulla, you are free of your prison and none will prevent you from taking worshippers." Atos paused and looked as if he were tasting something bitter, "Brother, you may take up your place again if you wish. Imos will open your garden and your priests will not be hunted."

Zyulla cleared her throat and nodded toward Syr.

Hevtos smiled faintly, "You will not burn Imos' temples, Syreilla the Rook. Nor will you have his name purged from mouth and memory."

She tried not to glower, "If you say I have to, I will refrain, Uncle." As she inclined her head grudgingly, Atos started to smile. She added sourly, "I'm still going to quarrel with him. I'm still mad about Hammersworn."

"He will have to endure your anger, my Golden Rook."

"I'm still angry about the theft of my stone. As are the others, I would think." Atos interjected dryly. "How will you endure our anger, Rook?"

"Our stone," Hevtos spoke firmly. "You alone have had its use for too long, brother. I have done my best to perform my duties, to reward the deserving and punish those who required it with means that have grown more and more limited as you allowed Imos-"

Waving his hand, Atos gave Syreilla an annoyed look. "Why did you have her steal so many stones if ours was what you wanted?"

"I needed them to see Zyulla freed."

"She's free!" Mabor leaned on the table with both arms, "Give them back!"

"My Golden Rook may go fetch them."

Orsas knocked on the table, "I want to buy your Rook, Hevtos. Name a price and I'll see it met."

All eyes turned to the dwarf and Syreilla stifled the desire to laugh.

"My Golden Rook is not for sale. I love her dearly and her value is beyond anything you could offer me." He glanced to Zyulla, "Though I may lend her service to those who-"

The gods began to clamor to be heard and not all of them were asking for her service. Syreilla started to grin as some of them demanded she be kept tethered somewhere for everyone's peace of mind. Fellforger was knocking on the table with his heavy gauntlet trying to get a word in.

Zyulla beckoned to her with a smile and Syreilla came to stand in front of her. "Have you spoken of," the faintly shimmering goddess touched Syr's chest, "her yet?"

"Not yet. I'd like to do it before I go fetch the stones back. If I leave and the one I need to speak to has already left..."

"There is more than one you need to speak to."

Syreilla tilted her head curiously.

"I would have you speak to Vezar Edra."

"Grandmother-"

"What he did is not worse than what I did."

"It is!" She stopped, realizing she'd raised her voice and the room had gone quiet.

"Because it was done to you?" Atos sounded smug and she squared her shoulders, keeping her back to him.

"No, Grandfather, because he didn't follow his heart into someone else's bed he followed his fucking cock. That elf whore the two of you-"

"Be respectful to the goddess Rielle!" He snapped and she spun on her heel to face him.

"No! She set out to seduce and harm, she enjoys it. She deserves no respect. I make allowances for love, I felt pulled to both Kaduil Hardjaw and Vezar Edra once. What she did was wrong, what Vezar did was wrong."

"He was deceived." Zyulla reached out and touched her arm, "You know him. You know he longs to be seen as beautiful and Rielle is a goddess of beauty and seduction. Resisting her was beyond him."

"I would argue that what your grandmother did was worse. Vezar's heart may still be yours." Atos muttered.

Zyulla closed her eyes and wilted slightly.

"You'd have been happier if Grandmother was like the elf and wandered into any bed that looked warm enough?"

"You were falling all over a dwarf!" Rielle gestured at Orsas. "How is that different?"

"Before we were split into Hammersworn and the Rook, we had a dwarf for a husband. Hammersworn got to keep him. If I'm free to find another, I'll look in a mine first."

Orsas grinned as he hopped out of his seat. "You had a half-dwarf for a husband. I hope you aren't flirting with me just to get Hammersworn a place with her clan."

"Not just. The mine still felt like home and I'd missed watching dwarves work the forges."

He gestured for her to come stand in front of him and then jerked his finger toward the ground as Batran used to. With a grin, she dropped onto her knees.

"It's the last breath that I take from a dwarf and Syreilla Hammersworn has already breathed her last."

Syr grew more serious, nodding slowly, "Can I give her to you on a breath of mine?"

"If I can get a kiss with it." His dark eyes sparkled and she had to laugh.

"I can do that, Master Fellforger." Drawing a deep breath she leaned in and offered the kiss, tentative and gentle at first until he put his gauntleted hand behind her head and deepened it. As the kiss ended she felt the breath drawn from her and an ache in her chest and knew it had been done.

As he pulled back he smiled faintly, "You can call me Orsas if you give me another."

The laughter bubbled out of her and she leaned in again for a second kiss, pouring both the bittersweet joy of knowing her other half was going to be with her family and her clan and the aching hunger of not wanting to be alone into it.

When she broke the kiss, Orsas murmured in her ear, "Come to me at my forge, Syreilla the Rook. I will forge you a blade of steel and gold like none has ever seen, you will join me in my bed and you will not leave it until you are Syreilla Fellwife."

"You will not steal my Golden Rook from me." Hevtos' sour tone earned him a glare from the dwarf.

Atos began to laugh. "I would rather see her in Orsas' service than yours."

"Grandfather..." Syr took her feet and gave the dwarf a playful blink, "He was talking marriage not service, those are two separate things! And I do enjoy the tasks that Uncle sets me to."

With a last smile to Orsas, she walked toward Hevtos and ducked beneath his arm as he held open the way into the room she needed. The hum of power in the chamber made her feel energized and would have been thrilling if there hadn't been someone waiting there for her. Vezar was pacing in front of the stones on their pedestals wearing a new blue robe with gold and black embroidery, the aura around him looked like roiling storm clouds. He stopped when he saw her and held out his hands.

"My-I beg you Syreilla. Speak to me. Let me..." He inhaled as she came closer to gather the stones. "You... you smell like dwarf."

"It's none of your-"

"Syreilla!" The anguish in his voice as he dropped to his knees wrenched at her heart. "I beg you, do not abandon me! I will-I will do whatever you require to atone, but do not abandon me!" The broken look on his face felt like a knife twisting.

"Why did you hurt me that way, Vezar? I split myself in half so that you wouldn't be alone and you..." She stopped as he ran his hands over his face and then held them out to her.

"I will hide nothing from you. I open my threads to you, look, Syreilla. I offer you all."

Taking a deep breath, she shook her head, "This isn't the time. Uncle is waiting."

He drew back his hands and his shoulders slumped. The hopeless agony radiating from him brought to mind the image she'd been shown when she'd chosen to split herself in two.

More gently she asked, "Will you help me? After I've returned the stones we can..." Syr stepped closer and tilted his face up, "We can talk after. I'm not good at forgiving and you know how hard it is for me to give my trust. I can't accept what you're offering me, not yet. But I'll speak to you, and I am Hevtos' Golden Rook."

Vezar took a breath and pressed her hand to his cheek before he stood. "I will help you and we will-we will speak."

*Seventy-two*

Helping her gather all of the stones except for the largest onto one of the black display boards made of basalt, Vezar tried not to think about why she smelled of dwarf. No reason would matter as long as she would come home and be with him again.

"I may need to make two trips." Syreilla surveyed the black stone board and shook her head. "That's too large for me to carry. I'll take them without the board."

"I can carry it." The piece was unwieldy but not unbearably heavy.

"Are you sure?" She frowned at the board and then at him.

"I am. Your dragon is not so weak, Syreilla."

For a moment he thought she would protest but she inclined her head and gestured for him to take it. Gritting his teeth with the effort, he lifted it and followed behind her. He placed it where Hevtos gestured with relief. Looking up, he felt his blood run cold. Rielle was there, smiling like the sun, as if she hadn't tried to ensnare him and cost him his treasure.

"I don't think she could seduce him a second time even if she tried, little rook."

Odos' amused tone made him realize he was glowering at the elven goddess and he averted his eyes. The dwarf they fell on didn't make him feel less like glowering.

"Anyone who can steal this much from us shouldn't be permitted to roam freely!" Silfeya snapped as Mabor snatched his blue stone from the board.

Syreilla stretched her arms over her head with a grin. "When I'm set to a task I try not to disappoint."

"How many wives do you have, Master Fellforger?" Odos asked abruptly.

"How is that your concern, Master Odos." The emphasis the dwarf put on 'Master' felt like an insult but Odos shrugged with a smile.

"You asked my daughter to become a Fellwife and I once heard a dwarf jest that if he didn't love one woman enough he could have as many as Orsas and as many children as there are Nightforged."

"He'll pay for that twice, once for the jest and again for making it in your hearing." The dwarven god's scowl somehow made his dark eyes look as if a hint of red ember burned behind them.

Syreilla put a hand on her hip, "Orsas! If I didn't mind sharing I'd have stayed to watch Vezar with the elf whore and given her advice on the things he enjoys."

Rielle made an indignant sound and flushed as she came forward to snatch her milky lavender gem from the board. It took a great deal not to smile at her displeasure.

"None of my wives would be watching or giving advice." The dwarf tilted his chin up and began to grin as Syreilla turned her mischievous smile on him. "I swing my hammer well enough and you're a quick one."

"I bet you do swing it well, and having Hammersworn so close reminded me of how much we enjoyed skillful dwarvish hammering." She laughed as the dwarven god's face flushed and came to kneel in front of him, "But as much fun as it could be, I don't share, Orsas. You can add greedy and selfish to my list of faults if you like, those traits skipped my father and came to me directly from Grandfather." Syreilla glanced up at Atos, who was watching with faint amusement, and wrinkled her nose at him.

Fellforger sighed and touched her face, "Come to my forge, Syreilla. I can see the blade I want to make for you and I can see you've already earned it."

Vezar realized his hands were in fists and closed his eyes as his treasure leaned in as if to kiss the dwarf, the sound of his blood pulsing in his ears drowned out anything else for a moment.

He heard another loud sigh from the stumpy creature, "What a wife you would have been."

Feeling a hand on his arm, Vezar opened his eyes and saw the subtle nod Odos gave him as he passed by to take two stones.

"I'll take Imos' stone to him. He and I need to have a talk about my fledglings and I hope I'll have the use of your Rook if anyone tries to interfere with them again, Uncle?"

"If she has not been set to another task." Hevtos beckoned and Syreilla came to stand next to him. "Though I suspect she would do both at once."

"And be sour at the reason she was being overburdened." Odos broke into a grin, "The Golden Rook in a bad mood will make anyone think twice." He turned to one of the elven gods, "How is your priest, Ruthaerion?"

"He's gone mad and believes he has no legs despite being able to see and touch them." The elf took the brilliant red gem from the board. "That should not be possible."

"If Agust No-Legs could live his life and even train other mages-"

"Undo it." Atos frowned and pointed to the elf, "That is a command."

"Grandfather, if I knew how, I would. I was casting a ward I learned from Zylius that would have left him with legs that were both frostbitten and burned-" She paused as there were horrified gasps, "In my defense, I wasn't in a good mood and he was attacking me. But he tripped it in the split second before it was fully finished. That must have been how Zylius did the same to Agust."

"It cannot be dispelled?" Atos tilted his head.

"After it's been tripped... Yes and no. All dispelling it does is prevent it from harming whoever tries to help him, it doesn't touch the damage done. These wards are particularly nasty."

"Why would you seek to learn such things?" Zyulla looked aghast.

For once, Syreilla seemed embarrassed, pointing at Odos, "He sent me to Zylius!"

"Odos!" Zyulla's horrified tone made the trickster god cover his face and begin to laugh.

"Mother, I wanted to give her the best education I could and the most skilled mages are vicious. I'll introduce you to my magpie as an apology."

"If you are selfish, my Rook, it is not all from your grandfather." Hevtos' gaze could have frozen water. "The Garden of Night will be reopened soon. Send your priest to me, Ruthaerion, perhaps Agust No-Legs can help him regain some sanity."

"I will. Being in a poor mood is no excuse, Rook." The elf glowered, drawing himself up.

Syreilla tilted her head and met his gaze unrepentantly.

"This Magpie..." Rielle sounded speculative, "He's another of yours, Odos?"

"Did you miss the part where he said I get to go after anyone interfering with my siblings, you blunt-"

"Enough." Hevtos made a gesture and Syreilla stopped though the expression on her face said she was ready to resume her dwarvish cursing and possibly draw blood if he relented.

"I'm not giving away any more of my fledglings, Rielle. He's a thief and he is my son."

"He's a half-elf." The goddess smiled smugly.

"I used to make it a point to hit the temples of Imos whenever I passed one." Syreilla's lips peeled back in a wide smile that looked more like an animal baring its teeth as her eyes flickered with flame. "You go near the Magpie or any of my siblings and I will visit your temples every time I leave Uncle's realm. And when you give up and stop trying to keep even a single candlestick in your temples I'll start on every building near it until no one will build a single thing or even make a camp within a hundred miles of your temples."

"To do that they would have to..." Her eyes widened and she looked to Atos in horror. "She is threatening to have me driven out!"

Vezar could have sworn the King of the gods tried to suppress a smile, "Then perhaps you should leave the children of Odos to their father. Your daughter does have my temper, Odos."

"She takes after you a great deal, Father."

Vezar was certain Atos smiled as the god glanced at the Rook. "So I see. I was told she breathes dragon's fire?"

Syreilla shifted her gaze and her face softened, "I mix it, Grandfather, and blow across it to wake it. It's beautiful. I don't have everything I need but if you want to see-"

Atos held out his hand with a brilliant dancing flame in the palm. "Come and take it, child. I gave you no gift at your birth..."

Vezar watched as Syr came forward in awe and held out her cupped hands to take the flame her grandfather poured into them. For a moment he thought she looked tearful.

"Grandfather... This-this is mine?"

Atos laughed softly, "Yes, Syreilla. It will come when you call it and go when you tire of it."

She closed her hands tentatively and it extinguished, flaming back to life seconds later as she beamed down at it.

"You could even breathe it if you wished." The god sounded as if he were teasing her and she broke into laughter extinguishing the flames and throwing her arms around his neck.

"Thank you!"

"You're rewarding her for her behavior?!" Rielle drew herself up haughtily. "I hope you don't expect the rest of us to give her gifts."

The look Atos gave could have cracked a wall and the elven goddess flinched.

"I never expect gifts." Syreilla stood next to Atos bringing the fire to hand once more and smiling at it. "I've never gotten many but I cherish them when they're given to me."