Hammer and Feather Ch. 58-64

"You won't burn them that way. They aren't logs." The man leaned on his shovel. "Come here and dig. I'll tear down a house and-"

"If we have to destroy a house why don't we just burn one down with them inside to save work?" Kwes looked back to where the horses were.

"Because they're close together." Valim snorted. "You'd burn them all. I can use the horses and some ropes and tear one down. They don't look like they were built to last."

Something occurred to him and Kwes looked around for Itia. The bird came to him as if called. "Would they have left the houses standing?"

No. If there are others nearby they will be looking for the smoke. The bird bobbed and then took flight. I'll look to see where they are.

"We need to burn the houses. There will be people looking for the smoke."

He trotted down the hill to fetch a horse to use to drag the bodies down. It wouldn't hurt to look through the houses first and make certain they weren't burning anything of value before setting them alight either.

Kwes was rummaging through one of the houses when Valim came down with the priestesses dragging the bodies.

"I was going to come back and get those with a horse."

"What have you been doing?" The man gave him a dirty look. "It isn't working."

"I have been!"

One of the priestesses dropped the legs of the man she was dragging and wiped her hands with disgust. "He's a thief. The goddess said so."

"You're robbing them?!"

The look Valim leveled at him would have made Syreilla proud and as he had the thought, Kwes broke into laughter.

"I'm preparing the houses to burn by removing all of the valuables."

The other priestess started to laugh and he grinned at her.

"Let us help you. Alryna, see what he's already found and I'll get our things."

"Chests with women's clothing are over there." He pointed to a neatly arranged stack of boxes. "I pulled out a chest of men's clothes that looked like it might fit Valim as well and a chest of valuables is next to them. I've been filling a bag and then putting things in it."

The woman smiled, inclining her head, and he asked curiously, "If she's Alryna, what's your name?"

"Nerilin. We'll see what you've pulled out. How many do you have left to-"

"This is the last one. Did you find any feathers?"

"We have some." Valim gave him an annoyed look.

"Put them in the priests' pockets and toss them in one of the houses. We can get them burning soon."

*Sixty*

Orsas was waiting with an amused look as Syr brought Ezphine through the door into the same room as before but this time the Nightforged lined the walls instead of standing in ranks. It seemed as though there might be fewer of them.

"You bring guests into my house as if it were yours, Syreilla."

"If you don't like visitors, tell me and I'll stop. This is my friend Ezphine-"

He blinked and started toward them, "The forge goddess? How did you steal her away from Isca?"

"She asked for vengeance."

"My treasure never disappoints those who ask for her," Vedhethrah purred as he approached. "I knew you would return to me."

She turned a grin on her dragon. "How can I stay away, beloved?"

"Nali has been clucking over him like a mother hen, I brought him here so that we could talk in private."

Before she could say anything else Vedhethrah had pulled her into an embrace, kissing her urgently. Syr returned his kisses hungrily and sighed as he pulled away after a moment.

"I'd be as jealous as a dragon if I had a wife who greeted me that way." Orsas chuckled and shook his head. "I have a bath for the Fellwives you can use if you'd like, Ezphine. We can find you some new clothes or my wives can make them."

"That..." The goddess looked at him oddly for a moment, "That would be kind. You know of me?"

"You do good work, I've seen it." He glanced at the hammer, "That isn't your best but sometimes you need a tool and any one will do."

"Yes." Ezphine looked baffled and then she smiled, "I've seen your work. Syreilla lent me her talons. I needed a hammer in my hand and I had no way to make one, the steel I had was... I had tainted it on Isca's command. I had to use the talons to tear the steel apart. She was very gracious, but I ruined them."

He gave Syr a hard look. "Show me."

Drawing her talons and offering them over he studied them with a frown and then snorted.

"The power you put into those, Syreilla... Khiril told me to expect you to put something in them but I don't think he expected you'd do that. I can remake them but they'll be empty. Take what's left out of these if you want to keep it."

She drew the last of the power from where she stood. "That would be kind. I can put it back later."

"You'll owe me a favor." He grinned. "And I haven't forgotten what you said about Baduil, 'once for twenty years'. This favor may take some time."

Vedhethrah's rumbling growl filled the chamber and the metal dwarves lining the walls turned to face him.

"You can name it now or wait to see if something comes up. You can rely on a Rook, Orsas. But I ask you, as a friend, not to upset my dragons too badly? They get upset when I'm gone."

The dwarf laughed and waved for them to come with him. "I would too. I'd have you chained to the floor near my forge so you could watch me work and keep me company."

"You could try." Syr grinned at him. "You could strip me naked and I'd be out of your chains in less time than it took you to look through my pockets."

Ezphine broke into laughter. "She picked my locks! My locks! I tried to tell her it couldn't be done."

"That's why she did it." Khiril grinned as he joined them. "She doesn't believe in impossible tasks. She'd have been one of mine if she were a dwarf no matter what Trueshield says." His eyes narrowed slightly, "Speaking of dwarves and of mine, I want Nali. That girl is a quick one and obedient for all the mischief she gets into."

"I only give mine to Orsas."

"Nali will be mine in time." Orsas waved his hand as Khiril turned to argue. "She isn't mine yet and I won't discuss it until she is."

"She's a girl!" A sharp female voice spoke and a dark-haired dwarf woman joined them as well. "She should be ours."

"Thrastungrid." Orsas' eyes sparkled. "Have you met Lady Rook?"

"I came to have a word with her."

The piercing dark gaze turned on her and Syr put on her widest maddest grin, dipping into a theatrical bow, "Syreilla the Rook, Hevtos' Golden Rook, daughter of Odos, goddess of righteous vengeance and protector of gentle souls. The Lady of smoke and flame."

"You introduce yourself?" The dwarf woman looked aghast.

"No one does it as well as my treasure." Vedhethrah laughed in his throat and caressed her back.

"Syreilla, this is the first of my Fellwives, Thrastungrid, the goddess of oracles and the giver of names."

"You shouldn't have been allowed to choose freely from-"

"You'd have let my Nali die? Alone in the dark?" Syr held her grin but let the mirth drain from it and the woman blinked.

"It would have been tragic but-"

"Should or shouldn't is of no concern to me. Never has been.

"Dwarves have always been good to me. That's why I don't steal from dwarves and I don't allow them to be stolen from. It's easy for me to promise things that will keep dwarves safe and safe from me because I love them. But if you want to stand in front of the Golden Rook and say her priestess should have been allowed to die alone in the dark as a child, I will show you what I am without a veil. Fire and fury. The Lady of smoke and flame." Syreilla drew herself up and scowled down at the dwarf woman.

Thrastungrid took a breath and then inclined her head. "That was not what I meant, Lady Rook. He is permitted to choose from the men. The women are ours. To take one-"

"Do they not all go to Orsas in the end?" Syr tilted her head and looked at the woman with one eye and then the other. She was shrouded but it wasn't a murky shroud, more like an aura of mystery, an enticing misty veil.

Orsas chuckled. "If you didn't have that dragon, Syreilla. They always take the best treasure for themselves.

"I have the right, Thrastungrid, but by custom, I don't exercise it. If I didn't I couldn't enter the hall. I allowed her to choose one dwarf. I may give her more. Clan Hammersworn would be-"

"I've been looking at them." Khiril interrupted him. "They're good with locks, quick on their feet. You claimed Oduil and he's good on the forge but he's sharp. I could-"

"No one takes whole clans. We agreed." Thyldind Trueshield huffed as he came in.

"I'm almost certain he gave me Clan Palestrike." Syr put on a look of innocence as Orsas broke into laughter and the others except for Orefinder turned to give him sour looks.

Khiril chuckled, "That clan died out."

She grinned and nodded, making Orsas and Khiril laugh harder as the other two dwarves turned their sour looks on her.

Vedhethrah began biting her neck playfully and she could feel his amusement.

"She's descended from Clan Palestrike." Orsas wiped his eyes and managed to compose himself. "If she isn't, I'm an elf. Devious, bad-tempered... troublemakers every one of them. If she takes it up the clan is hers."

Glancing at Ezphine, she saw the grin on the goddess' face.

"Nali of Clan Flinthewn-"

"Nali Rookfriend." Orsas corrected the Fellwife. "That is her name. Syreilla doesn't pull her priests into her clan the way we do. They take the second name of Rookfriend. The girl's clan is a matter of debate. Clan Hammersworn has adopted her. Flinthewn has recognized their mistake in letting her go and they want her back. I understand-"

"But I intend to bring her into Clan Orefinder." Khiril folded his arms. "Lady Rook only gives her dwarves up to Orsas, he and I need to discuss it."

"Second names are meant to come from me and the girl needs to come to us." Thrastungrid frowned. "We'll find a place for her. She may be a troublemaker but she's a good girl at heart."

"You'll find that mine are," Syr interjected with a small smile. "I see things differently and mine are weighed by a different measure. I may not intercede here, at least not the way I do for the humans, but Orsas can see it. He understands."

"You see things more like I do." Orsas nodded with a smile. "I wanted her to bless a girl, Thrastungrid, I want a Fellwife who appreciates the parts of me that she does."

"Your wives come to you because of the needs of our dwarves." The dwarf woman's voice was gently chiding. "You can't make one."

"Why not? Aren't his needs a reflection of theirs?" Syr asked curiously. "And if you're his wife, my dragons' needs are an ache that I feel. Don't you feel his the same way?"

Orsas grinned at her. "If Nali doesn't become a Fellwife for whatever reason, maybe you'll have a daughter I can take as my favor. Why don't you go try to give her one in the chambers I gave you, Vedhethrah?"

The dragon behind her purred and pulled her tightly against him.

"Any daughters of mine will make up their own minds, Orsas. But as a favor, I'll bring them to visit you." Syr laughed as her dragon began dragging her backward.

"Syreilla?" Ezphine was no longer amused. "I'd prefer to stay with her."

"There is a bath in our home. It is... spacious." Vedhethrah was amused, she could feel it. "If you stay out of our nest chamber, you may come with us."

"You'll find no chains or ill-will here, Ezphine." Orsas lifted his hand. "You're free to leave as you please, if you can't open a door I can open it for you, wherever you wish. But if you stay and enjoy my hospitality you won't regret it."

"Stay, Ezphine." Syr gave her a reassuring smile. "These are good people. I may quarrel with the Fellwives at times but I quarrel with almost everyone, including my husbands. I need to soothe my husband and then we have work to do."

The goddess looked dubious but gave a curt nod. Syreilla let herself be pulled through a door to a mine that looked as if it hadn't been inhabited for some time.

"He gave us this to use as our nest." Vedhethrah nipped at her neck before turning her to kiss her greedily. When he pulled away she made a disappointed sound and he laughed. "Let me return to my preferred form, my treasure. I will show you the bath and the nest chamber."

He stripped out of his long chain shirt and she picked it up, following with a hand on his scaly hide through the rubble-strewn wreck of a mine around them. He took her to the edge of a large pool, much closer to a small lake, that was filled by water flowing down the far wall over and around fallen stone from above. It overflowed down deeper into the mine the same way from a lip at the side. Above the pool, near where the water came in, was a landing that might once have housed some sort of mechanism for controlling the water. Now, it was overgrown by roots and the stairs had been destroyed.

"We can nest above among the roots, my treasure. The mine is sealed by the power of the dwarven gods and the Nightforged stand watch. No one can find the entrances and we will come and go through the raven's door at Bhiraldur."

"What did you offer to get the use of the Glan Minrhia?" She gave him an impish grin.

"I will protect the mines when summoned to do so, you have offered to protect their caravans, and neither of us will destroy any dwarf mine. Orsas would also have us obey customs and only intervene when our priests ask it of us. He will see to it that I have one.

"This place is safe enough to conceive our children in, my treasure, and safe enough to remain in until they are born. I will move stone and help you create a home here that pleases you."

His satisfaction with the bargain and earnest desire to build their family struck a chord and she pressed kisses against his long neck as she climbed onto his back. "Show me our nest chamber."

*Sixty-one*

Vedhethrah smiled as he felt Syreilla begin to stir against his side beneath his wing. Sex among the roots had been tricky at first but he'd found positions to please and exhaust his treasure. It was clear they would need to create a nest bed from the roots, but what was here could suffice for a night or more.

Her hands roamed along his scaly skin and he lifted his wing to peek at her in delight.

"Is this not a perfect place for a nest?"

"It is, beloved. We just need to build the nest."

He laughed and let her climb with grace out of the warm, safe place she'd slept. "Bathe with me. We can build our nest afterward."

"I need to get back to Ezphine and I still have work to do, my dragon. But I think we can take the time to bathe."

She grinned at him, brimming with mischief, and he reached for her intending to pin her back against the roots for another bedding. Her laughter as she leapt away from him to the edge of the stone landing thrilled him and enchanted him.

"How deep is the water below us, beloved?"

"It's too high for you to jump safely, my treasure."

He blinked as she grinned and stepped off of the landing. His heart leapt to his throat as he scrambled to the edge and looked down. She was already in the water. A door. She'd opened a door and slipped through directly into the water below.

Vedhethrah laughed and leapt from the edge as well, unfurling his wings to slow his fall. She made an annoyed squeak as she went under, his weight landing on top of her. His laughter echoed in the mine as Syreilla clawed her way up along his scales and bit into the edge of his wing, making him lift her out before she released it. She gave him a sour look as she swam near him.

"You cannot fault me for playing with you when you give me such looks." He grinned and watched as she tried not to let her sour expression slip. It only lasted a moment before she was grinning back at him.

The sound of metal striking metal got their attention and both looked to the shoreline. Orsas and Ezphine stood waiting. The woman held a pair of curved blades. Syreilla was already swimming toward them. He made a sound of displeasure but followed her, diving and coming up beneath her to take them to the edge more quickly.

"I didn't know dragons could swim." Orsas nodded appreciatively. "I'd ask if you were going to dismount but I don't see your clothes here on the edge, Syreilla."

"They're up in the nest. I can call my cloak down."

"Call your..." Orsas blinked as she lifted her hand.

Vedhethrah peered into her threads and saw her concealed delight as it worked, the cloth of smoke obeyed her command and came to her, wrapping around her like a black shift as she dismounted.

"It smells of smoke but also of my Syreilla." Vedhethrah slipped into the less beautiful human form and stood behind her, holding her possessively.

"You look strange as a human." Ezphine studied him and then smiled at Syreilla. "But he's a beautiful dragon like you said."

"He's unbearably beautiful to me either way."

"Can I see your nest?"

The goddess of the forge looked upward as she spoke and he couldn't keep the low growl of warning from rumbling in his chest.

"Dragons like their privacy, Ezphine." Orsas grinned. "From what I understood you had separate chambers before?"

"No longer. I will tolerate her guests in her garden and that bird you sent in our chamber if she insists-"

The dwarf laughed.

"-but no one else is to enter our nest chamber."

"I enjoy guests. My chamber was open, no doors except the one to the chamber itself and that opened into the one interior room I kept-"

"Your nest chamber." Orsas smiled and shook his head. "I remember you said you quarreled over having gold in your chamber as well."

"The only gold I require is my golden treasure." Vedhethrah held her more tightly. "There is no quarrel."

"If you want gold in our chamber-"

"I want you in our chamber."

The dwarf chuckled. "You did that to yourself, Syreilla. You shouldn't have discouraged him."

"I never said he couldn't have it in his chamber! I like mine to be less ornate. My beloved was a King once and he's like Magpie. He likes gaudy things, everything gilded and draped with silk."

He nipped along her neck and she leaned back against him accepting her punishment for teasing him.

"You complained and now he's not content unless you're in the chamber draped in silk." Orsas grinned at her.

"Draped over silk." Vedhethrah teased. "I need to make our nest more comfortable. She would be content with bare stone and tree roots."

"Is Odos certain she's his? That sounds more like Finwion." Orsas snorted.

The snarl that came from Vedhethrah made both the dwarf and the amused goddess with him take a step back.

"We're not on speaking terms with him right now," Syreilla spoke coolly. "My dragons may never speak civilly to him again."

"I never have, my treasure, I still remember that he wished to steal you from us. He strove to harm you and I will rend his flesh."

The threads of gratitude that curled around him and feelings of love and safety that washed over him from his Syreilla made him purr as she turned to embrace him.

"I've been told he wasn't being malicious but..."

"I will keep my treasure safe."

The way she melted against him was too much to resist. He was changing back into his preferred form as Orsas muttered to Ezphine, "This is why he said not to let them get started."

Syreilla broke into laughter. "My dragon distracts me. It's true. No other creature is as magnificent."

Vedhethrah concealed her behind his wing and dipped his head for her kisses which she gave eagerly before murmuring to him, "But I do have work to do, my beloved. If you want to put some gold in our nest I won't chide you. Just don't get rid of the roots. I trust you to work on it while I'm away. You'll make a nest we both enjoy. I will always return to you as long as you allow me to go when I need to."