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briefly. "The Ilbarsi smiths paid to have the rings enchanted by a dwarven
wizard, and we then paid them for both the work on the rings and the
enchantments."
I reached out, taking one of the hoops, and Longtooth smiled. He then slipped
the remaining one on his finger while I slid the right sleeve of my robe up,
slipped the ring over my arm, and shrunk it down over my upper arm as a
bracelet. "I thank you, and I appreciate the gift - it certainly will come in
quite useful if I need to contact you or you need to contact me. Even so, it
must have cost you a fortune. What possessed you to have it made, when you
could simply walk down the road to talk to me?"
Longtooth looked up to the sky. "One of our gods came to me in a dream, and
said that we might have need of it," he replied, then looked down to me as the
rest of the giants gathered around nodded. "I told my people, and they agreed.
We all contributed a portion of what gold we had accumulated from trading
byallar to the dwarves, and had this made for us. It is not merely a gift from
me, it is a gift from all the giants of Dohbari village."
I smiled, then stood and bowed both to Longtooth and all the giants assembled
nearby. "I appreciate the gift, my friends. I shall return as soon as
possible. Farewell."
"Farewell, Eddas Ayar," Longtooth called as I cast my Spell of Returning. The
world blurred for a moment, then I was standing outside Steelgate, the king's
castle in Larinia.
Darian's castle had changed dramatically since I last saw it, forty-five years
ago. Back then, we had just concluded the siege which also ended the war, and
the grounds surrounding the castle were torn and trampled from months of men
and undead marching about. Now, the grounds were immaculate - for nearly half
a league surrounding the castle, there was nothing but short grass. I spotted
a shepherd tending a flock of sheep, and realized how Darian kept it that way.
"He learned his lessons well,' I thought to myself. 'With local shepherds
using the grounds to feed their sheep, there is no place nearby for an enemy
to hide, and at the same time the local shepherds owe a debt of gratitude to
the crown. Yes, I'd have to say I taught him well.'
As I walked up to the castle, I looked it over at length. Gone were the
red-and-black pennants of Dorian's rule. In their place, Darian had put his
own flag - a combination of his father's crest, a sable drake rampant, and his
own personal colors, a field vert. I thought it was a stroke of genius,
myself, and smiled at the flags as I approached the castle.
There were two guards at the gate, and as I approached, they stepped forward
to bar my way. Each was armed with a loaded crossbow, and wore a green surcoat
with a black dragon over their chainmail armor. At their left hip, each
carried a broadsword. The taller of the two looked down at me, a suspicious
look on his face, and pointed his crossbow at me, holding it at his hip. "What
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business have you here, witch?"
"I am here to see King Darian. It is entirely possible I may be expected. Will
you pass the word to him that Raven is here to see him, please?" I said,
smiling pleasantly.
"I will not. The king is quite busy at the moment, and cannot be disturbed."
"I am an old friend of his, and he will certainly make time for me," I said,
still smiling - which was difficult to do, considering he still pointed his
crossbow at me menacingly.
"That, I truly doubt, witch. Begone," The guard replied with a snort.
"Certainly he's told you to be on the lookout for me - his Court Wizardess
visits me often. My name is Raven - the king himself gave me that name. I'm
also known as Eddas Ayar. Haven't they ever mentioned me at all?"
"No, woman. Begone."
I gritted my teeth in annoyance, but pressed on gamely. "Please, won't you
just pass the word that I am here - if for nothing else, at least to see if I
really am expected?"
"No. For the last time, woman! Begone!" the guard snapped.
I considered my options. I couldn't use my Spell of Returning to just enter
the castle - I'd never been inside it. I had a Spell of Teleportation in my
grimoire, but that would take too long to cast, I didn't have the reagents
handy, and without having ever been where I wanted to teleport to, it was
highly likely to fail, anyway.
As I thought about it, I became quite angry. I found the whole situation
highly annoying. Arella could visit me any time she wished, as could Darian
(with her help) or anyone else in the castle who might want to see me, but I
couldn't come see them. They'd never even bothered to tell the guards what I
look like, and who I was. I was nobody to them. They visited me when they felt
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