Sachihiro

I lost ten pounds in the spell ritual that replaced my right hand. My still painful, oversensitive useless right hand. Just thinking about it sends a shiver through me as I remember the pain of the process. Dwarves are maniacs, I’d probably have gone a bit mad if I wasn’t already mad with the Rage throughout that shit.

I flex my hand, there are pins and needles persisting even now. The exciting novelty of having a spell done to replace a lost limb is lost because of the pain that accompanied the whole thing. In fact, magic is great and all but it possibly maybe a bit overrated.

I got lost in the Rage like I haven't been since childhood during the bone-bending, that was intense.

The Berserker Rage is as much a defence mechanism as is it an attack ability. During that ritual, it was a defence mechanism helping me keep my sanity but I wonder, had I not been tied down... Years ago I conquered my Rage as we are thought to, sometimes it like a remembered dream but I do remember all I do whilst I Rage. The now slightly embarrassing things I was saying to that bone-bender, promising him death in the most sinister ways possible.

Ahh fuck it, they have bone-bender and we have the berserker rage. I hope he doesn’t take the shit I said personally, though I did at the time.

You won't find any mages among the Tribes nowadays if any at all throughout our history. It is believed that we got the Rage because we don’t have magic, but ma believes that we don’t have magic because we have the Rage. That the rage is somehow preventing Barbarian Tribes from learning to do magic. Maybe that’s our curse more than the angry bloodlust that comes over us when we’re hurt.

We don’t have bone-benders; we don’t have stone-mages, soil-mages, fire-mages or any other amazing and interesting things I’ve seen among the dwarves but we can fight. And in the rage, we bring to bear every ounce of the human will to demolish ur enemies.

Some magic would be nice though.

[Sigh].

Being inside Anastasia City has messed up my sleep rhythm. I have no idea what time of day it is at all, or maybe that bone-bender did something to me. When at home I usually sleep two hours before dawn so as to enjoy the peace of dawn’s renewal in my sleep. Here I can’t sleep at all.

The temperature in the place is consistent, it consistently gets warmer the lower I go as I explore the cave passages and narrow roadways that make up the city streets. We weren’t given guards but we do have watchers. I’m not sure whether or not they are trying to be inconspicuous but dwarves are not very talented in stealth, and I’m a hunter.

It did take me a few hours to realize I was being followed but that’s mostly because I am still in a lot of pain. The slightest bump on my elbow is enough to deliver debilitating pain shooting into my hand. But the warmer it gets, the less it feels like my nerves are exposed to blistering cold air so I've been consistently walking lower and lower.

I don’t try to lose my follower, what would be the point? In a city full of dwarves all 23 of us stand out. And since I have no idea how to get back to my quarters, I may as well ask my follower for directions later.

Freely I walk about, poking my head into people’s workshops. Being chased out, ignore, insulted or interrogated. In no particular order.

Anastasia is a beautiful city and I take it all in as I walk around gawking at every new sight, scent, sound. These dwarves have been self-sustaining themselves for hundreds of years and it shows in their society and what they find valuable.

They have no one, as far as we know, to trade with most of the time isolated as they are from other dwarves said to be found far south-west. My people started raiding these Dawn Dwarves because they tried to trade precious jewels with us the story goes, jewels they have in abundance here.

As an exchange for goods they use silver, gold and platinum to trade among each other, with bags of precious stones used as petty cash for smaller purchases. There are sapphires, emeralds and onyx’s used to decorate beards, clothes, weapons, shields and even the doors of their houses. No one steals it. Not that Barbarians steal, but we do hoard treasures and precious stones yet these people give them to their children to play with in the street.

It’s truly strange the directions isolated societies grow.

When I asked da about the vast wealth on display in this jewel cave of a city, he told me the mountain is full of the stuff. Every tunnel they dig, every road they pave, every wall they carve out spits out jewels like a tree shedding leaves.

As they speak of this place the dwarves were ecstatic to settle here some 300 or so years ago. But as the years went by and more jewels were found and very few ‘worthy’ trading partners, the precious stones soon lost their value in this society. A society that has an abundance of them derives no value from them, there is a lesson here somewhere.

Anastasia is really fascinating if only my hand would stop throbbing.

There are forges at each level; it’s almost as if every other dwarf is a craftsman of some kind. I randomly walk into a store and I see an abundance of jewels, no surprise there. There are two identical dwarven women inside the store. Twins I realize as I move closer. For some reason the majority of the dwarves I’ve spoken to speak Scandinavian to some extent which makes communication somewhat manageable. Though I can barely pronounce the name for their language.

This particular store/workshop seems to specialize in jewellery and crystals in general. The shelves are filled with cut stones, uncut stones, jewellery pieces with gems inlaid. Necklaces, rings, bracelets, hairnets, beard hooks, a few daggers. I look around the store wondering what to buy, if anything at all.

I’ve never had money before, I want to keep some to hoard. But ma said we should all learn to spend money instead of burry it, even Tosting seems to agree. Everyone who has come to the dwarven mountain has been extended a line of 'credit', mine amounts to 10 gold and I wanted to have it on hand so they gave it to me. Ma explained how credit works, so I’m also reluctant to spend it all in one place.

Thus I find myself in a jewellery store in a city full of jewels. I figure I could learn to buy in a store with some of the least valuable products to these people.

"Hello," I say after walking around the place and looking around.

"What do you want?"One of the women asks.

And to be honest, I’m not sure what I want, I know very little about precious stones. I decide to go with the honest response and not antagonize them further; it’s obvious I’m the only customer they have. Judging by how common gems are I will probably be the only customer of the day.

"How come you sell precious stones in a city where I can pick them off the street? How do you stay in business?" I ask instead of what I meant to ask.

"Pfffhhh…" One snorts and looks at her sister. Then back at me as she moves between the aisles to get a better look at me I presume.

"You’re not as dumb as Elder Вépa says you Barbarians are," she looks at me up and down as though I were a product she is considering buying. Her sister also moves forward.

"Is it true you traded two tons of celestial ore for having weapons made, a peace treaty and some people taught dwarven smiting?" The other twin asks in a more soft tone.

"And reparations but yes it’s true," I answer honestly, I’m sure the whole mountain knows by now anyways.

"Maybe you are dumb after all." The first lady says shaking her head and scowling.

"Do any of you have any idea how much metal two tons of ore makes when refined?" She shakes her head and moves away as if tempted to spit.

"Lots and lots," the second woman says, smiling broadly. "And some of that is coming to us, for… what’s the word? ‘reparations’, yes?"

I nod. Not sure where this is going but not really interested in their personal affairs. "Anyways, I don’t know much about gems so I was just browsing," I say as I retreat towards the door.

"Oh, I can teach you. Come," the second sister says as she grabs my arm and pulls me further in. The woman is stronger than she looks. Strong hands too.

"Тóma is also happy to have a customer today but she is just too sour to say anything of the sort." She pulls me to a side table with two stools, both look steady enough but they are so low… I sigh and sit. It isn’t like I have anything better to do and my hand is better I suddenly realize. Bewildered.

I don’t say anything though as the grumpy sister brings a jug of ale and three glasses. She goes to the back and returns with an extra stool. I’m not sure why they are accommodating me, but maybe they are just that bored.

"Are all the negotiations between our peoples finished?" Grumpy asks as she pours herself a cup and starts drinking. I join her.

"As far as I know everything is finalized and two copies are being sent back to the tribe," I say after a long draught. Say what you will about dwarves, but they make good ale.

We chit-chat a little bit more. Introducing ourselves and getting to know each other.

"How come you all know how to speak properly?" I ask eventually. Curious since now and again they go back to their native tongue when answering each other’s questions.

"It’s taught at school," Toma says mumbling something about speaking properly and receives a blank look from me. She grumbles under her breathe and downs the last of her ale and refills her cup. "I’m guessing you don’t have school." She says and then begins to ‘educate' me on the benefits of structured learning. On how schools work and how they help create a baseline level of knowledge for each dwarf before they apprentice into something more substantial. Who taught them Scandinavian to begin with is a mystery as well.

"Alright. Enough of that. Let us teach you about gems." Tatiana says with a sparkle in her eye. She places different stones on the table in front of me and makes me identify them, correcting me and changing them out with new ones until I remember all of them. This takes about 90 minutes but she makes a game of it, gems are fascitingly pretty.

The jug of ale is replaced twice more during this time and my follower sticks his head in the door, looks around and leaves as though nothing out of the ordinary happened. The gems are red sapphire, chrysolite, blue sapphire, clear sapphire, garnet, pearls, tanzanite, topaz, amethyst, spinel, rauchtopaz, aquamarine, ruby, citrine, diamond and more.

After that the real lessons began, and Tatiana gives me a piece of paper to write the important points to read later.

"Red jasper is a grounding stone that promotes stability and balance in life. It helps sustain a person in stressful occasions and promotes courage and charisma. Calming emotions. Red jasper also helps with blood circulation andstrenghtening the 3rd chakra.

Amethyst is the stone of spirituality and intuition. It helps a person gain stability, spiritual strength and inner peace. It works well with meditation and the use of spiritual energy acts as a great conductor and slightly amplifies spirit energy.

Amethyst helps provide clarity and enhance psychic abilities. It is mainly connected to the 3rd eye and crown chakra points. Are you writing this down?" Tamia asks and I scramble to keep up.

"Aquamarine is the stone of clarity and purification. It helps ease fears and strengthens the liver and spleen.

Cytrine revitalizes the mind, body and soul. It holds the energy of the sun and boosts self confidence. It helps strengthen or heal the heart and digestive organs."

The lessons go on in this vein with occasional stops to ask me to repeat her words and correct my mistakes.

I honestly have no idea where all this came from, why these strangers were teaching me things, what was in it for them.

We take a break as Tamia invites my follower in for snacks, a bit of ale, and more lessons follow for me. It is the first time I'm exposed to formal learning, and I like it.

After another hour I excuse myself to do more exploring. The city isn't as full as it should be. I mean, there are a lot of dwarves. More than there are Barbarians in any one place, but still, a lot of sections seem empty. It's disconcerting to be honest.

I eventually start heading back, as the pain in my hand increases again.

Back in our quarters, I notice everyone is back. I am over to Om slumping myself against him.

We are closer than we used to be. With Dee off with the Seers for their secret meetings in the mountains and Harold's death, he seems to have been lonely. Putting all his energy into learning new fighting tricks from the veterans, but we got close on the trip here despite his silence.

"How was the smiting?" I ask, and lean into him.

"Good, learning a lot of new techniques and they have better processes. Can you believe that two tons of ore we gave them has already made a ton of ingots? They are tireless," he says nodding admiringly.

"You sound passionate; like you are enjoying yourself down there."

He sighs.

''I know it isn't much to you but having something to do is good for me, besides, I'm good at it," he says in such a matter of fact manner that I know it's not boasting. Just stating facts.

We regale each other with our tales of the day. He seems interested in the attributes of the different stones, and talking about them helps me remember.

An hour of sleep later, Om is getting ready for more time at the forge.

*

We spend an entire ten-day in the mountain. Following a semi-set routine. Me with my meditation, only now it included ma da and Om, me getting lessons as I slowly regained the use of my hand, which is no longer dominant. Om at the forge, me exploring and learning a little about dwarven ways and their language.

After ten days the first war axe came out of the fires.

A single bladed half-moon axe with an 18 inch blade. There is a short thick spike on the back for counter balance and extra damage. The ends of the blade are sharp and it could be used for stabbing. The blade itself is inlaid with small gems, sapphires and onyx. The handle seems to be made from a leather-bound wood. Its 4 feet long; making it more than a short war-axe but less than a pole-axe.

When I got a chance to heft it, I realised it wasn't as heavy as it looked. But it was still a good weight. After the veterans approved the dwarves produced two more just like it. Then three long daggers with the handles inlaid in different gems for each.

I can't wait to get my own weapon. If I even qualify.

After that the weapons started coming in almost daily. All in different designs, testament to the different dwarven smiths. Some who were bottle-necked in their craft saw the working of celestial steel as a way to improve themselves.

*

Trade begins slowly as a few dwarves leave with the tribesmen escorting the weapons. They seem for than satisfied on their return and different tribesmen return to give others a chance to see the fabled dwarven city.

"We want you to help sell our wares to your people." Tatiana says, after a lesson on how to cut certain stones. I grunt, not entirely surprised.

"How much do I keep?" I ask. My ten gold having been spent a while ago. I think I can gauge the value of money better this time around.

"5% on the sales of the cut stones, 15% on the uncut. We won't sell any of the jewellery yet, just the stones.

"That doesn't seem like a lot." I say with a frown."

"Depends how much you sell things for."

We are interrupted from further negotiations by my watcher bagging in.

"The Sandersonians have been spotted 7 days ride from your boarders I hear." He says quickly.

I get up excited and flexing my hands, both ready. I grin, and run up to our level.

Time for a good fight.