Chapter 3: Visit to Mount Diamond
The general did not say much, just a simple, “Come.”
Kaz could tell real quickly, that he was a dwarf of few words. He walked with a proud step. Those that were potentially in his path, quickly got out of the way.
Ahead, a few times, it could be hard, “The general is coming.”
Kaz could see that those ahead, once hearing those words, quickly made room for him and her to pass. It appeared that their voyage to wherever they were going was not going to be delayed. As the general and she passed, she noticed that very few looked straight at his face. She did not know if that was out of fear or out of respect. It was comforting to her, but a little part of her felt sad about him.
Kaz noticed that there were not any shops on this side of the gate. There was nothing to be seen, so far, but a large natural cave with one simple large building in the center, that reached the ceiling. It was a castle. It was also a palace.
She knew it was a place where the king, the queen, princes, princesses, lords, and ladies would be. She did not know any of the proper decorum expected. This became a big worry to her.
“How am I to talk to the people that I must talk to?” Kaz asked.
The general sharply answered, “With your mouth.”
After a ten minute walk, they reached a castle heavy double door. There were two guards wearing plate mail, with visored helms. They had their spears crossing each other. The guards recognized the general and instantly uncrossed their spears and opened the doors.
Kaz thought there would be multiple rooms to go through, but within less than fifty feet she saw a female dwarf wearing a full suit of plate armor. It was not fancy, but looked battle worn. She had very bright red hair, with orange tones. Her face had a diagonal scar on the left side. She was still a beautiful dwarf. She was sitting on a stone throne.
The walls were simple stone. There were no fancy statues, no elaborate decorations or paintings. There were no expensive metals nor any precious gems on anything. The inside of the throne room was simply simple.
General Wibbs made a small nod to the lady on the throne, and said, “My general, this is Miss Kaz.”
After pausing for a few seconds he then said, “Miss Kaz, this is General Xia, royal prince of The Rouge Empire, commander of the First Army.”
The princess looked at Kaz, and then she looked at General Wibbs, and told him, “Dismissed,”
General Wibbs did a slight head nod again. He did a fancy foot maneuver and started walking back to the double door entrance.
“There is something behind my throne, Miss Kaz. Please go get it for me,” requested the princess.
Kaz went behind the throne and saw a long axe. It was longer than any axe she had seen before. It was not as hard to carry, as she thought it would be. Maybe it was from all those years mining. She walked back to the front of the throne.
“This is great Kaz. You can carry a poleaxe,” commented the general.
“I will explain more, at a later time, but we need to get you ready for some intense training,” she added.
Kaz was curious and asked, “What kind of training, general, your royalness, or is it Mam?”
The princess, commander, chuckled a little, “Oh Kaz, that is too complicated. Mam, for now, will suffice.”
In response the youth said simply, “Yes mam.”
“I have heard that you are a little over seventy years old, is that true?”, asked Xia.
Kaz answered, “Yes mam. I am 72.”
“You look so young for a settled adult. I, myself, am a little younger than you, but my body has seen battle,” said the general.
She continued, “That weapon you are holding is your weapon. Your armor will have to be custom made. None of our chainmail or splint mail in the armory will fit you. You are a little too tall.”
Kaz knew that she was not to speak unless asked a question. Even though she had never been before a royal family member, she was taught at an early age, a little bit about the protocol. Only a few people were allowed to enter Mount Diamond.
Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon.
“You will be staying in an inn that is on the galleria for a few days. Your training will actually be in the Duurdur Foothills,” the royal said.
Kaz’s eyes got big. She has never been outside of her home mountain.
Xia added, “Your first training sergeant is to get your eyes accustomed to daylight from our sun.”
The princess yelled, “Escort!”
From an unseen area a young female dwarf wearing leather armor, similar to Kaz’s appeared and went in front of the throne.
“Yes mam!” offered the escort.
“Take Sergeant Kaz to the selected place that we talked about,” ordered the head general.
Almost robotically she answered, “Yes mam.”
The general added, “Sergeant Kaz, make sure to take your poleaxe with you.”
The escort came up to Kaz and said, “Please follow.”
Well mannered, Kaz rescinded, “yes mam.”
The escort quickly told her, “No, no, no. I am not a mam. I am just an escort, without an advanced rank. Just call me escort or Jilphnod.”
Kaz followed Jilphnod, and she headed towards the double doors, and said,”Open for the royal escort.” and the doors opened.
When they walked out of the castle, Kaz saw General Wibbs, and said, “Good evening general.”
He replied, “Good evening sergeant.”
Kaz wondered how many knew about her becoming a sergeant before she had known. She wondered if Captain Zindo had known.
The guards at the gate between Mount Diamond and The Sapphire Galleria recognized the escort and let both of them pass through. They were both in the galleria.
Once again, Jilphnod said, “Please follow.”
Instead of passing down the path that Captain Zindo had brought Kaz on, the escort went a different way. She turned right after the gate, and followed the cave wall. After travelling about 300 feet, they came to an inn that was away from the merchants area. The name of the inn was “The Black Gold”.
Jilphnod produced a large key and walked up to the third external door. She unlocked the door, and said, “Please come in sergeant.”
“This is the room that you will be staying in while you are getting accustomed to the outside. Later, in the morning, outside's morning, a tailor and an armorsmith will be coming to get your measurements. I will come back with them,” explained the escort.
It had been a long journey, so Kaz just simply said “Thanks Jilphnod.”
It was a really nice room at the inn. The room was much spacier than her room back home. It was even spacier than her sisters’ room. The bed was longer than hers too. There was a wooden dresser, where she assumed travelers would put her belongings. There was a painting of dwarves mining gold ore. It was beautiful to her eyes.
It had been a long day and a long walk. Kaz was excited, but she was also very tired. She had only what she was wearing. She decided to look in the nice dresser. Kaz was amazed to see that there was a long dress in it, but it looked like it was made for sleeping in. It was not typical dwarven clothing.
There was a knock on the door. It was odd for her to hear a knock. At her home, there were not any doors to separate rooms or even the family unit.
She went to the door and opened it up. The was a young female dwarf, with yellow hair with an orange tint to it. She was wearing a simple brown dress.
The young dwarf asked, “Is my lady ready for her bath?”
Kaz looked at her confusedly, and responded, “I have heard of but, but when you live with warriors, a rune smith, and myself being a miner, we do not take baths. My brother is a trader. He is the one who told me about them.”
“Sorry mam,” she apologized to Kaz.”
She then said, “Oh. Apologies my lady, I did not introduce myself. I am Su, The Black Gold’s chambermaid.
“I am Kaz, of The Auburns clan in Mount Koptniol,” was her introduction.
Su looked at Kaz, and requested “My lady would you please follow me.”
Kaz walked towards the door and exited the room, closing the door behind.
“Are you going to leave it unlocked?” asked the chambermaid.
Kaz questioned back, “Is there reason that I need to lock it? Is someone going to go in and steal my poleaxe?”
Su answered, “I do not see any reason. It is just a habit of some. No one is going to steal your weapon.”
Su walked up to a fancy wooden door. She opened the door, without using a key. The two walked into the lobby of the inn. It had fancy ornamental decorations, very undwarvish. There was an assortment of dwarven quests and work staff.
One whispered, at the center round table, “But she smells like a dwarf.”
Kaz looked around and could not spot who he was talking about.
The chambermaid came to a simple wooden door that had a painting of a water filled oval container on it. She opened it and walked in. Kaz followed.
Within, there was a long oval stone container filled with water. The water seemed to be steaming a little. There were hooks that had long triangular cloths on them, and empty hooks.
Su, sensing that Kaz did not know what this was or what to do explained, “This is our bathing room. The empty hook is where you put your clothes on. The items on the other hooks are called towels. You use them to dry off when you are done. The water filled item is called a tub. That is where you take your bath.”
“Do you want me to give you a bath, or do you prefer to bathe privately?” asked Su.
Somewhat shocked at the offer, Kaz answered “Privately.”
The chambermaid left and went into the lobby, closing the door behind her.
Kaz took off her leather armor and her clothing that was under. She put one foot in the tub to test it. The water was intensely hot for her. She was used to being in the cold caves and mines within a mountain. She did not realize that this was the normal temperature for a heated bath.
It took a few minutes before she got in it. At first it was painful, but after a few minutes her body actually liked it. She just sat in the tub. She did not know what to do.
After about half an hour, she got out of it and entered the inn’s lobby. The chambermaid was waiting for her. They went through the lobby and went back to her room.
When Kaz opened the door, Su said, “Have a nice rest mam.”
“Thank you Su,” Kaz told her, entered the room and closed the door.
Kaz said to herself out loud, “So this is what happens when one meets a royal.”
