Iron Forged Brotherhood
Chapter 11 - Sharing the load
Kalvis walked along the corridor of Erebor's stronghold with a wounded Eva in arms. He did not let go of her until they were in his bedroom, where he kicked the door shut behind him and laid Eva gently on his bed. A few strands of her hair laid diagonally across her unconscious face. Kalvis tucked them gently behind her ear while contemplating her beautiful features with a softened gaze and a smirk. That's when the prince noticed his blood stained clothes. The Bowman girl would not wake anytime soon, which would give him enough time to change into clean and comfortable clothes. He dropped his coat and shirt carelessly to the floor, a habit so ingrained in him no royal lessons would modify, and then he began to search his wardrobes for something suitable to wear. For obvious reasons, he refused to get help from the annoying royal dressers. Therefore, what should be a simple task became a daily complication; trying to decide by himself which, of all his royal clothes, to pick and what goes first, especially when he had to sort between the many gowns of his late wife to find his own garments.
"What in Durin's name? My life was less complicated when I was just a blacksmith!" he protested over and over. For each piece of his, there were around five gowns of Fariwyn, which reminded him each time the wardrobe needed to be organized. Somehow, he never made time for it because there's always a more important priority at hand. His concentration was interrupted by the hoarse mumbles of a groggy Eva.
"Where am I?" she exhaled weakly. Her heavy eyes fluttered open, unable to recognize her surroundings.
Kalvis turned abruptly to her, tripping on the blood stained clothes he dropped to the floor and landing near her on the mattress. "Safe, in my bedroom. We are not far from your place at all" he responded, running his fat fingers through her dark hair, "Please forgive me, for this is the same bedroom I shared with my wife. But I had no time to make better arrangements". He kissed her forehead and resumed getting dressed.
Eva could not help but notice the room was quite bare for a royal chamber. It had close to no furniture... left. It consisted of hardly a bed, a wardrobe, a few remarkable tapestries and crests on the walls, and one or two chairs that did not match. All of it was luxurious. The rest was a large empty space visually interrupted by a stone hearth. Looking closely, she noticed furniture debris for fire wood; something she was not about to question.
Kalvis wore the first shirt he found and began to lace it up, "I will have our healer check on you twice a day and you will have your meals here in this bedroom until you are well enough" he said with authority. "Oh, and one more thing!" Kalvis sat by her and took a narrow group of hair strands from her right side, which he began to braid. He clipped it at the end with an iron clasp that had the Durin emblem around it.
Still a little disoriented, Eva sensed her braid gently with her fingertips, realizing it was identical to one of many that the prince had on his hair. "What does it mean?"
"If I am to have a woman in my bed, she better be officially engaged to me. That's what it means. No one will dare question you when they see this braid". His sea blue eyes gave her a no nonsense stare. "Eva, I… I care for you." He could not bring himself to say the word Love yet.
Eva smiled warmly with a faint blush on her cheeks, "you mean... Oh Kalvis!" Suddenly she remembered what happened before fainting and her joy became embarrassment, "I'm sorry, I didn't mean those hateful things I said..."
Kalvis interrupted her, "Please know that, as a Prince of Erebor, I am expected to act accordingly and make heirs with a dwarf maid. But I don't like my women bearded and the king has no say in the affairs of my heart." With that said, he realized the next step was to finally organize his wardrobe and this was the perfect moment to do so. He began to put away all of his late wife's belongings; elegant gowns, matching jewelry and shoes, fur coats... all piled up on the nearest chair. He stopped at the sight of a beautifully crafted hilt with the emblem of Ithilien. It was the small sword of Fariwyn. As soon as he pulled it from the wardrobe, it flooded his mind with memories of when they first met, for it was him who re forged it. Kalvis gulped, putting it back in.
All the while, Eva watched him being rid of things from his wardrobe with a questioning look in her face when he returned something to it, but she could not see what it was. At that moment, one of the maids that did his bedroom five times a day was doing one of her rounds. Soon as she opened those heavy doors, she was greeted with a pile of princess outfits that Kalvis placed on her arms, "Be rid of these, lass."
"But milord, what will I do with all this?" asked the burdened dwarf maid.
"I don't know... dump the jewels in the gold hoard, maybe? Absolutely anywhere away from me will be good enough. Use your imagination!" Kalvis locked the door in her face before she could say another word. He returned with an air of victory for killing two birds with the same stone; being rid of the annoying shift maid for the next couple of hours, and finally having breathing space on that wardrobe. His amusement was interrupted with an unexpected question...
"Kalvis, what did you put back in the wardrobe?" whispered Eva sensually while caressing her engagement braid.
Kalvis flushed a deep red, scratching the back of his head in a nervous reaction. "Um.. just a sword. A... a reminder that I was once a blacksmith."
"May I see it?" She was curious to see his workmanship, in hopes to learn a bit more about the man before the crown through the art of the steel.
Kalvis sighed before arming himself with courage, sitting at the edge of the bed near Eva to show her the sword. "Mahal, help me" he thought.
Eva ran her hands over the cold steel gently; the chill of it was pleasant to her fingers. "Its beautiful."
"I was requested to re forge that sword, that's how I met… her" Kalvis could not bring himself to say her name again.
Eva immediately understood this was the sword that played such a large role in his life, "This must mean a lot to you still."
"It does..." he responded with eyes cast down, "I am not ready to be entirely rid of her yet. I hope you understand."
"You don't need to forget about her. That would be simply too cruel a thing to do." She smiled and laid her hand on his, "Besides, there is enough love in your heart for us both. We will just have to fight over you in the afterlife."
With a sad smirk, he acknowledged her gesture. His mind was troubled, his gloomy face gave him away, "She died in this very room, perhaps I should make arrangements to move you to another chamber"
For his sake, Eva decided to change the subject. "Will you make me a sword some day? Granted, you'll have to teach me how to use it. As you know, I'm better at archery." She returned the sword to Kalvis, who stored it back in the wardrobe. As he returned to her side, she began to caress her braid again. "Um... Kalvis?" She blushed, "Is this your roundabout way of asking me to marry you?"
"Ahem..." he looked away elusively, "I believe it's too soon to say. I would like to know you better first and give you time to get to know me. But I must confess I like you too much." His tone changed from hasty to inspired, "Eva, you make me feel alive..." He left the bed, ashamed of what he just said. "Enough of the niceties, I do not want to rush up things with you. That's how it was with Fariwyn and how she ended. I want us to last, Eva…" The prince paced the room nervously, stopping before the tapestry of his father and looking at it, pondering if that would be his fate as well.
Eva could not help but laugh at his reaction. It soon turned into a cough, "Can I have some water please?" She asked in a hoarse voice rubbing her throat.
"Water, right!" He poured some into a glass of water from a pitcher at the only table that survived his temper and handed it to her.
After downing some, she found her voice again. "Honestly Kalvis, I'm happy to hear you say that. I too want to get to know you better" She smiled, her face glowing despite how frail she looked right now. "As for your relatives, do not worry. I'll show them I'm as good as any dwarf, though maybe not as hairy."
They both laughed at that last statement, when hasty knocks at the door interrupted the conversation.
"Finally they learned to knock first instead of simply breaking in!" Kalvis opened the door and their healer entered.
A short man was he, with protuberant facial features and a white long beard down to his waist all fixed in narrow braids that connected to one another in an elegant design. "Is the lass presentable, M'lord?"
"Yes, she is right there on bed." The young prince showed him the way.
"I was given orders of examining you, lass. You are not to leave this room until you are fully healed and I will come four times a day to monitor your progress" said the healer.
Kalvis nodded to the given instructions and then turned to Eva, "I'll be outside, and you'll be fine I promise. Holler if you need me."
Eva sat up, narrowing her eyes with a little pain, "Oh my, what a mighty and luxurious beard you have," she paused, "I'm sorry, what was your name again?" She took a second to wink at Kalvis.
"Luxurious beard…" The prince shook his head with a chuckle as he left the room so she could have some privacy. It's not like she had anything to hide from him, but he wanted to save some excitement for when she felt better.
All of this day's events made his stomach grumble, so he snuck into the kitchen to harass the cook and have him bring some room service to Eva. He took the liberty of selecting the menu for her, hoping his choices didn't upset her.
Kalvis was determined to make it work. That's when he stumbled with his tiny bearded aunt.
"I heard you brought a human girl here. Another one, Kalvis?" Her hands were on her waist in a scolding position, while her blue eyes demanded answers.
"Um... Aunt, remember the state I arrived here last week? Like I had a good time? That's her!" he stated with a wide grin.
Dis widened her eyes, "But Kalvis, we spoke of this already…"
He did not let her finish, "Hush woman, how can someone that makes me want to live be a bad idea? Besides, our king has no say in my heart. He cannot marry me off!"
Kalvis lifted his tiny aunt in the air and swept her off her feet, smooching her forehead after placing her back to the floor. "Would you oppose to something that makes me deliriously happy like this? I knew you would not. Now please have that useless maid serve my guest what she needs." He didn't even let her answer his rhetoric questions.
Dis was not able to tell her nephew everything she had in mind because he was already gone from sight. But he was right. No one had seen him so alive ever since his wife died.
