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Tessa lay in a soft, warm bed, halfway between sleep and reality. She had the most peculiar dream that a group of tiny men had kidnapped her, Andrew, and Travis. It was so ridiculous and yet was so vivid that she wasn't sure if she wanted to wake up from it or not. A mixture of deep laughter, the sounds of a crackling fire, and the rich aroma of food finally woke her up.
She was lying on a cot, covered in a soft fur blanket, in a stone room lit by a fire. "Wasn't it all only a dream?" she thought to herself as she swung her legs to the floor, "am I still dreaming?" She pinched herself on the thigh, hard, and winced in pain. "Not dreaming," she mumbled out loud as she stood up and edged her way to the opening.
Outside her small room, she could see a group of men roasting some kind of small animal over a fire. One of them was telling a lively joke and the entire group burst into raucous laughter. One of the men looked over towards Tessa and quieted them down. "Hush," he said, "the Midgardian is awake." The entire group turned towards Tessa and stared in silence.
"H-hello," Tessa stammered, trying to break the awkward silence, but they all looked at her in silence.
An older man exited a hallway across the room and smiled saying, "Hello, Midgardian, I'm glad to see you on your feet." He strode over to Tessa and stuck his hand out in a gesture of friendship. Tessa grabbed his hand and shook it and gave the man a strange look.
"Where am I?" Tessa asked warily, trying to absorb her surroundings.
"You, mine young Midgardian," the man continued, "are at the Kornud Outpost. I am Jarl Arvid, Son of Thornud, and am I in command here, what is your name?"
"My name is Tessa, Daughter of Martin," she said trying to match Arvid's form. "Why are you calling me a 'Midgardian’?"
"Well Tessa, Daughter of Martin, you are a human from the realm of Midgard, are you not?" Arvid said, clapping her on the back.
"Well, I’m a human," Tessa replied, "but I've never heard of this Midgard place. I'm from New York."
"New York?" Arvid replied, "I've never heard tales of such a place. Where is it?"
"Well, we're in New York.... or under it... I guess," she replied, "It is a part of the country, The United States of America."
"The United States of what?" Arvid asked in astonishment, "you speak of lands of which I have not heard tales of."
"Wait," Tessa interrupted, "you asked if I'm human, what else would I be? Aren't you all human?"
Arvid chuckled, "No Tessa, Daughter of Martin, we are not human, we are the dwarves of Svartalheim."
"Dwarves? Like in Lord of the Rings?" Tessa asked.
"We have many lords but none would be arrogant enough to claim to be the master of rings, to do so would be impossible. Our smiths have made so many marvelous rings that one could not own nor would ever be master of them all."
"Nevermind," Tessa said, shaking her head. "So if you're dwarves, that means the people you took me from are dwarves as well?"
"Aye," Arvid said, "those honorless swine were dwarves of the Blackfall Clan. The way they treated you and your companions brought dishonor on them and their ancestors."
"They still have my brother, Andrew, and his friend Travis," Tessa said with a twinge of sadness and fear in her voice.
"Aye, lass, they do," Arvid responded, "it is regrettable that we were unable to rescue you all. You see, that was our original plan, but it didn't go as well as we had hoped. Their moles sensed us in the dark and our ambush failed. Once we lost the element of surprise we were lucky to even rescue you. Unfortunately, the swine guarding your companions fended us off. Unfortunately, we were unable to rescue them as well, which was not the outcome we had planned."
"Unfortunately?" Tessa said, anger rising in her voice," we were sitting there lost, confused, and injured. And when we finally thought that help was coming, those bullies tied us up and dragged us off into the dark."
"I'm sorry, lass," Arvid said, "but take heart, their traitorous king doesn't have stones for brains like his men. I'm sure he will treat them with the respect that tradition mandates, and by the gods, I promise we will get them back."
"You're hoping for a 'traitorous king' to treat him with respect?" Tessa asked skeptically. "The fact that you call him a 'traitorous king' sounds like the exact opposite. Why can't we just go and rescue them?"
"We tried, lass," Arvid responded, "as soon as I realized that we had failed in getting you all. I had mine scouts search every tunnel all night long, but unfortunately, they escaped. Our best guess is that they have taken him to their king in the City of Steinhardt. Which unfortunately is far too well defended for this small band to assault alone."
"Then what do we do?" Tessa asked in exasperation, hope fading.
"We must go and consult with mine King," Arvid stated. "Only he has the experience in dealing with the Blackfall Clan to remedy this situation."
"Come, lass," Arvid said as he led Tessa through the same tunnel he had come out of minutes before. It led to the same great chamber from before the ritual had the night before. The chamber looked the same as the previous night, except Arvid and Tessa were the only people there. They walked across the chamber to the picketed moles and Arvid climbed into the saddle. He helped Tessa up into the seat behind him. "Hold on tight", Arvid said and he drove his heels into the mole’s flanks. With a sudden lurch, they started moving towards a large opening near the moles.
Before crossing into the darkness, Tessa scanned the room and saw the door to the room with the stone altar. "What happened to me last night and why did I pass out?" she asked over the scuffling sound of the mole’s clawed feet pushing them forward.
"Austri's Gift was a special event to witness, it hasn't been performed in over a thousand years," Arvid said over his shoulder.
"Austri's Gift? What kind of Gift?" Tessa asked, "and who were those old men?"
"Those old men are the runeweavers for the Kornud Outpost. They provide mine men with all the magical resources needed to operate in this wild area"
"Magical resources?" Tessa asked, astonished, "as in actual magic? Did they place any spells on me?" she asked with a twinge of worry in her voice.
Arvid continued, "while magic affects living beings, the power is usually stored elsewhere. The goddess Austri granted the power of her gift upon the sapphire around your neck."
Tessa looked down and realized she was still wearing the necklace from the night before. "Wait, this is magical?" she asked, grabbing hold of the stone around her neck, her eyes growing wide with shock.
"Aye lass," Arvid answered, "how else would we be speaking in the language of mine race?"
"Wait, it is because of this necklace that we can understand each other? Like it taught me a new language?"
"It is so rarely done that I don't know much about the ritual, nor the specific runes they used," Arvid admitted. "But from mine understanding, you only keep the knowledge as long as that stone is around your neck."
"So if I take it off I'll forget how to speak..." Tessa paused and thought for a second, "wait, what language are we speaking?"
"Dwarvish, of course," Arvid said with a chuckle.
Dwarvish, Tessa thought to herself, what a dumb question. it makes perfect sense since they’re dwarves.
"Where exactly are we going?" Tessa asked, "and how does the mole know where to go with it being so dark up ahead of us?"
"We're going to the Great City of Nul Darahl, it is the capital city of mine nation." Arvid explained, "it is a half day's ride from here."
"And the moles?" Tessa prodded curiously.
"Moles by nature are blind, so they have adapted to use their other senses. That's why they have such long whiskers," Arvid explained. "It also helps that as we've bred them, their intelligence has increased almost as much as their size."
"That was going to be my next question," Tessa said. "Whenever I've seen pictures of moles in school, they always seem so tiny."
"Aye, when mine ancestors first dug these tunnels, the moles were small. By the blessing of the gods and some ‘selective breeding’ they've grown into the beasts you see today."
"What other cities are there besides Steinhardt and Nul Darahl?" Tessa asked curiously.
"The main city of mine clan, the Stronghammer Clan, is Belgurum. That is a two days' ride in the opposite direction."
"Is that where your family lives?"
"Not all lassie, since mine father became king, most of mine family has moved to the Great City of Nul Darahl, but not all."
"Wait, your father is the king?" the revelation surprised Tessa, "so you're a prince?"
"What's a prince?" Arvid seemed confused by the concept.
"Your dad is the King, so you're the next in line to be king," Tessa explained.
"That's not how it works for mine people," Arvid said with a chuckle. "When a king dies, all the Jarls travel to the Great City of Nul Darahl to have a clanmeet. The Jarls then vote and choose a King from within their ranks. It's a majority vote, so whoever gets the most votes becomes our new king." he explained.
"What's a Jarl?" Tessa asked.
"Jarls is the title taken by our clan chief's," Arvid continued. "Since mine father became our King, I, being his eldest son, have taken his place as the Jarl of the Stronghammer Clan. Someday when mine father returns to stone, there will be another clanmeet held for us to crown our next king."
"Oh," Tessa replied, "I didn't realize."
"How could you, lass?" Arvid said with a deep booming laugh that echoed off the walls of the dark tunnel. "As far as I can tell, where you come from is vastly different than here."
"You can say that again," Tessa mumbled trying to process everything.
