Of Life and Limbs

Erastus 2nd, 4715

The dwarven warrior sat on a rock and looked out into the wilderness and chuckled to himself. If his old captain knew he was placed on perpetual watch he’d have choked on his own beard. Dulgar knew well his strengths but he also knew his weaknesses. A fine attention to detail… was not a strength. However with the current strengths including darkvision and nearly no need for sleep at all, in a group of this many casters… This was still the right move. Besides… who CAN’T hear a giant, right? This was a job he could handle. Still he’d be the first to admit that watches were terribly boring.

As if on cue, he heard a slight rustle of chains and turned sharply behind him. Spinning his head around he saw their healer Saoirse. A strange woman even by human standards he suspected. Truth was he didn’t know much about her at all. His falling in with this group seemed more fate than anything else, Tibb was talkative, but the rest? Mostly mysteries to the dwarf.

“G’morning Saoirse,” he said in greeting. “All rested up?”

"After last night's festivities?" The woman smirked weakly as she approached, pulling back her hood to loose a sleep-mussed shock of inhumanly blood-red hair into the elements. "As much as could be expected I suppose."

Only hours before, this merry little band of misfits had come frighteningly close to losing two more of their number. Adelbri and Dragomir had found themselves separated from the party while covering a tactical withdrawal after the assault on one of the watchtowers. The signal horn had been blown. A dozen or more giants came to the call with winter wolves in tow -- wolves that would surely have sniffed out the concealed companions, stealthy though they be.

Saoirse had been too far away to aid them if they had been found, and too far away to have taken on their pain if they were injured. The remembrance turned her stomach even now. What could have been. . .

A gelid gust dragged at her cloak and rattled the chains in which she was draped as if in response to the horrid imagining.

"If it hadn't been for your idea about using the other watchtower's horn as a distraction, there would have been no sleep at all. We'd be burying our allies." Saoirse found her smile there in the dwarf's perpetually mirthful eyes. "We owe you much, Dulgar. I owe you much. Thank you."

"Yeah... well, I like the idea of them idjits running here and there. Mostly there,' the dwarf chuckled. "I half wanted to do something like that earlier to either scatter them up or lead 'em to us... You get to know me a bit better you'll see I ain't one for the sneak attacks." He winked good naturedly.

He knew a bit about Saoirse's history with this group. Apparently they had suffered casualties in the past. He had actually been there when they buried the bag o' Frog and had a little funeral. It was a bit awkward at the time.

"So what are ye about then?" Dulgar asked bluntly. The dwarf was known as being personable back home... but rarely subtle. "You've done a great job keeping us on our feet... but I ain't met a healer quite like ye before. No holy symbol fer starters."

"I am not a priest, if that's what you're asking." Saoirse startled at the direct and unexpected question, but lowered herself onto the snow-covered ground beside the dwarf, who now sat head and shoulders taller than her on his rock.

"I'd prefer to think that my destiny is my own and not directed or influenced by some outside powers bent on their own designs." The facetious grin that followed, pulled wide the pierced holes in her upper lip and she chuckled in amusement at her own joke. "No, that's hardly the case. . . The mothers called me an Instrument of Fate -- actually used that moniker more often than my given name, but they're odd like that -- and I suspect that although I don't evangelize for any deity, that the life I live serves out some sort of purpose for one or more of them.

"Conflicting purposes I have come to believe," she added after an introspective breath.

The tiefling looked up at her stocky companion. Her eyes, peculiarly snake-like with their golden hue and jet black irises and pupils, searched his for some amount of understanding. After many years of trial and error, she had come to realize that most others hadn't the foggiest clue what she was getting on about when discussing such topics (let alone her upbringing!) and so, she decided that keeping herself to herself was usually the best bet.

For some reason, whether it be sheer loneliness or a perception granted by the life link that she shared with him, Dulgar was to be one of the rare exceptions to that rule.

"Tell me," she asked delicately. "What do you know of Zon Kuthon?"

"Not much," Dulgar said with a shrug. What was seen through the armor though was anyone's guess. "I've heard the name a few times. Usually it's referencing something uttlerly evil or depraved. He ain't one very popular in Jangerhoff that's for sure..."

He pointed at the broken chains that adorned her. "What happened... you escape from some of his followers?"

"In a way. . . yes," she nodded. "Though I was told that it was more of a forcible liberation. Skuld takes exception to mortals twisting the threads of fate to their own devices you see, and apparently it's a thing in Nidal to bind the souls of certain 'promising' infants into the service of the Dark Prince. She must have foreseen something and was drawn there during the search for her sisters, but she never would divulge to me the whole story, nor how many she took from the ritual. All I know is that I was taken somewhere high into the Mindspin Mountains and raised alone there by the Norns, my mothers.

"A race of giant fey," Saoirse explained, anticipating the question. "There are three. Urdi - She Who Was, Verthandi - She Who Is, and Skuld - She Who is Becoming. Some call them the Fates. Some worship them as gods. They're not, though they'll certainly not correct you if you address them as such." The tiefling rolled her eyes and offered a disgusted sigh. "They're just arrogant, domineering, and freakishly powerful fey who happen to be annoyingly right -- like always."

In truth, there were days like this when she even missed them, or at least their stories, but she was hardly about to admit that to the dwarf!

Reaching up to the right side of her face, Saoirse ran her thumb and forefinger over the runic-lettered tag of golden fabric that hung from a chain stretching between her nostril and ear. "They had to sever my thread of Fate in order to free me from my binding to Zon Kuthon, but they wove a new thread for me and when I came of age, they pushed me in the direction of Trunau.

"So when I say that Fate brought me together with the lot of you, I mean that quite literally," she chuckled.

Dulgar stared at the strange woman and blinked his bushy eyebrows a couple of times. "Well girlie... You have a lot more story to tell then I thought! I can understand bucking fate. I ain't ever been a fan of being told what to do and when and how... I prefer to go where I want and when. Fate never meant nothing to me... I met up with y'all because neither Umlo nor I could read a bloody map." He laughed aloud at just how far off they'd been. "Never put much stock in Fate as persons... and certainly not as giant sized fairies..."

He eyed her curiously. "How you feeling about killing all these giants? They ain't considered kin I'm hoping."

Saoirse giggled at the mental image of the enormous and wizened Urdi with tiny fairy wings. "No. . . The Norn are large, but there the similarities end. They're also immortal, which I am very glad we have proven that these giants are not!

"But I wouldn't be so quick to write off Fate, Dulgar," she went on, peering up at grey sky. "It often appears as happenstance until you are able to stand back and see the larger picture. Fate doesn't make our decisions for us, it just pulls us along a path. Our choices still matter. Success or failure. . . it still depends on us.

"You need not believe in the Norns' abilities, for they believe in you and if you are ever unfortunate enough to find yourself on the wrong end of their golden shears, well. . .kneeling and supplication wouldn't be out of order. If they sever that golden thread of yours, you're dead. I've seen it happen." The tiefling shook her head, wide-eyed. "Not sure how they see or touch the threads, but it must have something to do with their connection to the First World.

"All I remember from my own experience is an exquisite blinding pain and then blackness. They must have. . .spliced it or something. I have no idea how they kept me alive or maybe I did die and they brought me back," she considered, "but I've been different since that time. A little faded maybe. The pain helps though. You never feel so alive as when all the nerves in your body are on fire and your blood runs hot through your veins and you know unerringly that you are present in that moment but the next is not so certain. Pain is beautiful.

"You can't tell me you don't understand, Dulgar," she smiled seductively at the dwarf beside her. "I've seen you in battle, with or without the influence of that metal hand of yours -- I've seen the joy that combat brings. The exercise of your martial will over another. . ."

Dulgar was quiet for a moment as he thought about what she said. It did sound familiar and not in a particularly good way. "Sounds to me like ya did die, at least for a wee bit. Pain and Blackness... yeah, sounds like a solid death."

"I don't know about loving pain... I can take a hit, but frankly don't care for it much myself. I prefer grasping on to life by the beard and enjoying it for all it's worth. Sometimes that means killing some stupid, stinky giants... sometimes it's a fun game of croquet or a party. At least that's what it's been like for me since 'I' came back from the dead."

"That's what I mean!" Saoirse exclaimed a bit too loudly with a slightly disturbing excitement building in her eyes. "Yes, exactly! Grasping life by the. . .well whatever, and truly feeling someth---"

The abrupt pause, hung in the artic air. "What do you mean since you came back from the dead?! That was certainly not on my watch!"

"HAH! Nahhhh that wasn't on your watch. That must have been about forty years before I met ya." The dwarf leaned back and grinned. "Ya ain't heard that one yet?

" I was just a youth at the time with barely any hair on my chin when my pa took me on patrol with him. The giants and dwarves have been natural enemies for centuries ya know... but they'd been fairly quiet at the time. Pa thought it'd be good training for my own knighthood if I rode his crew a few times. He gave me a shiny new axe for my 18th birthday and we set out." He nodded toward the adamantine beast of a war axe he'd been swinging so often. "Not Shortcut of course... that was a gift after I achieved my own knighthood. That trip I just had a standard axe.

"Well, the patrol didn't go quite as planned. Before we were two days out of Janderhoff, we spotted a caravan that had been hit. Stone giants were the guess, and we pursued... after all there were still a few dwarves missing from the caravan. We walked right into an ambush. I don't recall much of the fight. I know I got a hit or two in... but then, like ya said. Pain and Darkness.

Woke up back in Janderhoff just hurtin' like nobody's business and my pa talking with the cleric. They won the day, killed the giants and rescued the prisoners... and drug my sorry self back home. Bringing me back weren't cheap, but that's what happened. Since then... I kind of relish every minute. Annoys my family quite a bit... and a lot of other dwarves, but it is what it is. Life's for livin'... and dyin' comes soon enough.

"And while I never got a rematch with that particular giant... it's fun to know I've more than evened the score!"

"Um, yes I should say so!" Saoirse agreed with raised brows. "And we'll be tilting the scales a good deal more before all this is over."

She'd never met anyone so jovial and full of life and yet so adept at creating dreadful carnage all in one stout form. It was a mighty good thing Dulgar was on their side. . .and frankly, she liked their odds of survival better since he'd joined them.

"Life's for living and dying comes soon enough. . . I like that," she chuckled, patting at her side for her canteen. "A motto worth drinking to surely, but I'm fresh out of anything that's not water and this here is frozen again."

With a little shrug and a rattle of chains, Saoirse scooped up a handful of snow and lifted it as if in toast. "Each day we are alive and fighting against this Tyrant and his army, we give hope to all those in the Mindspin and Belkzen and beyond. So here's to us and those we've lost who will not be forgotten. To living each day as if it could be our last!"

"Remind me to get ya a proper toast when we get ourselves back to proper cifilization,' he grinned as looked out to the wilderness. "That is if we find a pub ya don't get yerself chased out of!" He had fond memories of stomping back in to his old watering holes with giant-sized weapons and armor more epic by the day... Yet Saoirse was the one that had intimidated his brethren.

"As for the fallen... y'all have had rough time of it haven't ya. I remember the froggie funeral... and still don't understand what's going on with that boy and the ghost-elf... He's died twice now that "I'VE' seen... and keeps findin' his way back... Whole thing don't seem natural to me."

"No, it doesn't," Saoirse agreed before stuffing the palm-full of snow into her mouth. "I don't know what powers are at work there. . . Is it simply Adenedhel's force of will as a protector of Trunau that caused his spirit to seek out a host to complete the mission? After the loss of Dragomir's family to the orcs was his mind in such a state to accept such outside intrusion? I mean, I've heard of possession of course, but not possession with manifestation?! More strangely still, I don't know if you've noticed, but Dragomir has been changing. . . I don't mean simply maturing or adapting to the circumstances, but actually changing. He is becoming more and more like Adenedhel in both his thinking and even his speech. All of this is well beyond my understanding, I assure you."

Worry tugged at the corners of the tiefling's mouth.

"I knew Dragomir before, you know. Before the invasion, before his parents met their unfortunate fate. He was only a toddler when I first walked into town. He was always an affable and animated little boy, who loved a good bonfire and a story of adventure. I fear that he now has a much different opinion of both of those things," she grimaced, remembering the bonfire when his parents' bodies were given to flames.

"I knew Adenedhel before, too. Before the ghostly form, before the invasion, before his sloth companion Maksa fell. You might call it a chance encounter on the road," Saoirse teased, "but it was most assuredly Fate. He saved my life when a band of orc attacked the caravan with which I was traveling. He fought at my side, said not a word and then simply disappeared after the battle. The soldiers in the caravan said they saw nothing but a strange golden flash."

Maybe it was a little bit of hero worship that made her save the short bow he'd dropped that fateful night, the bow she'd never even had the chance to return and which now hung on the wall in her Trunau dwelling. Maybe it was something else entirely.

"After that day, this mysterious elf was nicknamed, the Amber Shade and I began telling stories about him around the evening bonfire in Trunau. . . stories which Dragomir loved by the way. How odd it all is!" She exclaimed with a sigh.

"Adenedhel, Maksa and my friend Tumek all died during that brutal invasion. I can't have that happen again, and frankly," Saoirse lowered her voice to a whisper, "I don't know if I could bear it if Dragomir was killed. Firstly, I can't lose Adenedhel again, not even the fragment of him that is left me. Second, Dragomir -- that little boy whom I knew, deserves so much better than this! He was just swept up in this whirlwind and the force of nature that is Adenedhel's will. He doesn't deserve and didn't ask for the brutality of this life! If he dies on my watch, I will never forgive myself. I could never."

Frustrated, she ran her fingers through her tousled hair in a violent attempt to disentangle it.

"Eh... what about that Fate then?" The dwarf's bushy eyebrows furrowed as he listened to her tale. "I don't know much about fate... but a... whatever... six year old? Fighting an army of Giants? I thought he was maybe your kid or maybe Bri's... but if he's just a civilian dragged along by his ghost? His death won't be on your hands. The kid has some skills that I don't understand and frankly as odd as he is, I'd have expected him a bit more reckless and impulsive if he's just lost his family... but even then, frankly, I'm a little surprised he's lived this long with what we've fought. No armor, no strength.... One good...meh, one glancing blow from a frost giant could take him out!"

He knew he was speaking too much about stuff he didn't know about and that made him uncomfortable. Still it seemed to him that Saoirse was claiming that she may embrace physical pain, but emotional could break her... and that seemed almost inevitable to the battle hardened dwarf.

"You may not want to take the blame for the death that comes too soon.... but instead take pride in the lives you've prolonged beyond reasonable expectations."

"Fate is the path, but our actions still have consequence," she reasoned. "Things happen in battle, I get that. I know I can't control every situation and I've seen that Dragomir can handle himself in most situations, but my job is to keep you all alive and I take that pretty seriously." Broken chains rattled as Saoirse leaned her back onto the rock. "If I fail to do my job then his death could be a direct consequence of my action or inaction, and I would have a hard time dealing with that, that's all I'm saying. I just wish he'd had the chance to grow up before experiencing any of this. Sure this is the path he's been placed on, but that doesn't mean I have to like it. He was just a kid, you know? I'm not sure what he is now. . ."

The tiefling glanced up at him. "Did your father feel no guilt in taking you on that giant hunt when you were so young? After what happened, I mean."

"Ahhh, I'm sure that he did. I know for a fact me Ma made his life pretty rough about it. Probably why he pushed me training all the harder, I suppose. I didn't go on a patrol again for quite a few years after that. When I did, I was ready. Still, I think there is a feeling that anyone on giant patrol could get killed at any time. I lost a few friends and warriors in me time, but not through any action of me own. Some things just happen."

He scratched his head in confusion for a moment. "How's that work anyway... You get yerself killed and yer mama cuts the thread... but what happens when someone comes back? Ya get a new fate-thread... or do the fairies tie a knot in the old one?"

"I wasn't the one who got myself killed actually," Saoirse clarified. "I was probably about Dragomir's age when they severed my fate. If I did in fact die, as you have surmised and which I find likely, then my mothers were the ones to kill me. They did it to free me from the binding that Zon Kuthon's agents' inflicted upon me as an infant, they told me that much, but how it all works, I don't know. I wasn't awake to see and the Norn aren't really a forthcoming trio of giant faeries."

Stifling a snicker at the still-amusing mental image, the tiefling took hold of the small swatch of golden fabric that hung from the chain that stretched between her right nostril and ear.

"They wove this for me from what was left of my old thread, and then gave me my name." She pointed to the runes written from top to bottom on the fabric. "This was to be a reminder, they said that I am free from my bondage to the Prince of Pain. Contrary to some opinions, I don't knowingly serve Zon Kuthon and don't often feel particularly called to do so, but my. . .aberrant heritage blurs the line a bit, I'll admit.

"So, to sum up, my mothers likely killed me in order to set me on a different path. You could say I have some mommy issues," she exhaled a sharp laugh, "and while they're immortal, we don't really talk much anymore.

"What about your parents, Dulgar? Are they still alive? I don't recall you going to see them when we were in Jorgenfist for those few days."

The dwarf's smile faltered as he started to nod.

"Aye... Aye they are... and no I didn't..."  He leaned back on his rock and sighed a bit. "Wasn't quite ready for that reunion. I didn't leave under the best of circumstances." He had hinted at this story when they had turned toward Janderhoff, but he never really did go into details before.

"To Dwarves, pride and family name are some of the most important things ya got. I tarnished ours more than a bit. I broke me word to follow "Lord" Nerat Goldgut. He was a pig-headed old fool who I came to hate... but a dwarf's oath is his oath... Instead of challenging him openly, I went a different route. Found out a few secrets he didn't want known... and humiliated him in public."

Dulgar couldn't help but smirk at the memory. "Can't say it wasn't fun, and can't say I regret it all that much, but it weren't right and it caused a lot of grief for me folks."

He shrugged as he remembered the last time he was really home. "I told them when I left that when I returned it'd be with the name restored in glory... Bad enough that I already went back, but it weren't time for visiting. First I thought finding Steelhand's tomb would be good enough, but that's a little too open to debate I think. On one hand, I'm continuing a great giantslayer tradition and restoring his tomb and such.... on the other," he glanced down at his giant metal hand, "I could be called a tomb raider and maimed meself." He couldn't resist a wry grin at the unintended pun.

"When I make me epic return there'll be no doubts about my deeds. I'm thinking helping Y'all out with an army of giants that are certainly a threat to your land AND me own should be more than enough.

"Besides," he said with a wink, "Glory's only half of it. There's still the people that need defending. Pa will understand."

"I have no doubt he will be extremely proud of his boy," Saoirse agreed with a smile. She looked over the treetops up over the peaks beyond which stretched into the clouds. "Do you think any of them will believe it? This is the kind of tale that bards spin. . .giant armies, a great giant general that lives in the clouds with an artifact that can control dragons? I'd certainly have a hard time believing it. . . I'm having some difficulty imagining it at the moment in fact," she added with brows furrowed.

"Maybe we'll bring some proof back to Janderhoff and I can serve as a witness for you!" Her enthusiasm died on the vine as the memories of their visit were brought to the fore. "Eh. . .considering my frosty reception last time, perhaps I wouldn't be the best herald of your heroic deeds."

"Oh, we'll be able to make them believe. I've no doubt about that." His hand waved out toward the waiting army. "We'll bring back a mountain of evidence if need be... not to mention all the loot we'll have to sell.

"Nahhh... there'll be no doubt that we did what we said we did, and the bards will sing our tales for years to come. Who knows... perhaps someday someone will track down my own tomb to loot." His mouth curled up in a sneer. "Not really sure how I feel about that...."

He eyed the oracle suspiciously for a moment before asking, "So what about yerself? What was it that made you an adventurer? Did you recognize this whole thing as yer fate, or just sort of fall into it?"

The tiefling decided she liked the term 'adventurer' much better than 'instrument of fate'. Sounded more daring and less. . .tool-like.

"Honestly, I didn't recognize this as my fate until we learned of the amassing army and how it would affect the entire region. Things fell into place then, like why my mothers would even care a whit about any of this. Seeing as they also live in the Mindspin Mountains, I suppose that particular prophecy hit a bit too close to home and they set about stacking the deck.

"I was figuratively pushed toward Trunau when I left them, but never told I was to stay or what to do or what purpose I might serve. I could have gone elsewhere. In fact, two or three times a year I'd accompany the caravan to Vigil's Keep and I made certain. . .contacts there, but there's something about that little town. . .a little bastion of hope set amidst the dangers of Belkzen. Something beautiful about that which drew me in. They live their lives more fully knowing that the worst could happen any day and they certainly seem less likely to take things for granted," Saoirse smiled. "So if I can play some small part in keeping that bloom of life and goodness growing in the wilderness, you better bet I'm up for it. How could I turn my back on that!"

Trunau may never have felt like a true home to the her, but the people were welcoming to all kinds who willingly pulled their weight for the community and Saoirse found a level of acceptance there that she hadn't expected. She certainly felt a good deal of loyalty to the town for the place they had given her among them when she had nothing.

"Smart money may still have us dying in these mountains, Dulgar, but I presume you have big plans for what's next for you? Maybe I'm wrong but you don't seem the settling down sort."

Dulgar laughed boisterously. "I've not a clue. My pa tells me to plan things out more.. and me ma wants me to settle down, but yer right. Neither of those seem like my path. Providing we ain't killed and  eaten by giants of course... I don't know what comes next. Maybe with me honor restored I'll head back home... probably head back home just to make things right at least... But stick around?  Ehhhh... Haven't decided yet. Truth be told, Dwarves are a very orderly lot... they like their hierarchies and if I ain't at the top... I'm not really for taking orders." He couldn't repress a wink. "That's kind of where me troubles started after all...

"I don't see me slipping back into fealty so easily... and I kind of like being out and about like this. It's very freeing. I may keep to the road for at least a little while... help out where I can, get some treasure when I can, stop into town for a party or two. Not sure about Trunau though... They don't seem very lively to me. Maybe they're a bit more fun when they ain't busy burying their own... though I suspect that happens more often than not there."

"Plenty of orcs to be killed in the area though, so there's that," she smiled a toothy smile. "And that's not nothing. I wouldn't mind going on such a hunt myself, but I'm of more use in a group than I am on my own. Not that I can't cave in my share of orc skulls you understand, but I'm not nearly as efficient as you!"

Saoirse chuckled and patted the dwarf on his beefy shoulder.

"Say, there's got to be a few more tombs of dwarven heroes you can rediscover. Maybe one that had a metal right hand? Or a foot! We can turn you into a giant-crushing iron golem piece by piece!"

The dwarf winced at the mention of his lost hand. "Not sure I'd be up for that... Choosing to maim meself as I did was hard enough as it was. Doing it over and over again?? Gonna take a pass on that. Besides... Still have second thoughts on this one."

He wiggled his metal fingers at his friend as he continued. "It's useful no doubt and there's something fascinating about killing giants with the same that Nargrym did... The 'legacy' of it and all.... but I ain't a fan of losing my mind. When that rage takes over and makes me make stupid choices... Hmmm.. it's a price I'm not sure I should have paid. Can't help but think you'll be working overtime to keep me standing."