Success
Orik smiled vaguely, as the meeting dragged on he had realised that debating finances with other dwarves was not really his forte, in fact, he thought, it was none of their forte, that was why they got nothing done. It was a pity, Orik sighed, that the Dwarves' refused to co-operate with each other fully, in the fear that the other clans would exploit them which, having dealt with them for the past few months, Orik deemed more than likely. Still, he wished futilely, they could at least try to come to an agreement in a good time. Suddenly, his advisor nudged him, and the world was thrown back into sharp relief as his train of thought slid to a halt.
"You might want to pay attention, they have reached an accord."
"As I was saying" said Nado smugly, "We have reached an agreement on what to do with the gold mine just outside of Dalgon. The clans of Feldunost and Fanghur will each take a 35% stake in it, as they are the two closest clans to it, while 5% will go to Ingeitum," the words plummeting from his mouth to the ground like a dead weight, "and the remaining 25% will go to the Dwarven nation as a whole."
After a few moments he resumed speaking, directly addressing Orik now, "We have all agreed to this, now if you would be so kind to snap out of your daydream and approve of it, we might just be able to get out of here."
He took his time in responding, not wanting to fall for Nado's bait to get it approved as quickly as possible, "Yes" he said, finally agreeing to the demands, "But I would like a detailed report on my desk, or handed to me, by the end of this week."
As the dwarves rose to leave, the finely chiselled granite chairs scarping along the stone floor, Orik raised his voice slightly, and said, "Not quite yet, I am afraid, there is still one, or actually two, matters of importance to deal with"
"And what would these be, Your Majesty" saidNado's voice, heavily dripping with sarcasm.
Orik rolled his eyes at the antics, while refusing to be baited, and replied sweetly, "Just the simple matter of dealing with a PUA –"
"A what" interrupted Gannel.
"Potentially Unified Army," replied Orik, rolling his eyes while hiding his smirk, "and the additional issue of how much funds to commit to a) The construction of the dwarven arena, and b) how much to provide to the other races."
Orik was expecting an immediate uproar, and was not disappointed when the meeting group broke out into utter pandemonium. It took Gannel several minutes to quell the fierce debate, and there was still some poisonous muttering going on, by which time he had already whiled away a few minutes by twiddling his thumbs. Although the mutterings did die when Gannel began to speak,
"You will all have time to voice your opinions, for now just listen to one another, and then respond in an appropriate way. You first, Freowin" motioning for him to start.
"I would just like the time to say that, how is it that we have to pay for the other races too, as well as our own."
The other clan chiefs nodded their head in agreement, and again, it was up to Orik to answer their queries, "Well, for a start, there are the organisational costs that we have to cover"
"Yes we know that Orik" interjected Nado angrily, "but we want to know why we have to pay so much more than our fair shair."
Before Orik could respond, however, Gannel stated "You would do good to remember your civility Nado, the same goes for all of you, and I would hate to remind to remind you a second time, otherwise the proceedings might go on with one less."
The threat could not have been more implicit, and all of the dwarves straightened themselves up and adopted the general look and demeanour of a statue, "Not quite like that" Gannel laughed, "But you do get the picture, which is good for your sake and mine."
"Well, as we forged the pact with Nasuada, we have to provide material assistance for matters of shared duty, which I often reminded you about during the proceedings preceding the deal" he crowed, secretly laughing at the other dwarves expressions.
Nado scowled, and Orik personally thought that there could not have been a more unhappy person in the world at the moment, although Freowin's response was coming a close second at that. Likewise, all the other clans were looking mutinous, although they did not comment, heeding Gannel's warning, who himself was sitting expressionless at the far end of the table. Although Orik saw that the dwarves needed further explanation, so he compensated, and added, "Well, the Urgals can't pay their share, so we, the elves and Orrin are all chipping in, with Nasuada supplying the men and expertise."
"She gets the easy bit" complained the clan chief of Feldunost, "We should be providing the expertise, not the funds."
"Well," snapped Orik, rather annoyed at the mindless complaint, "If you have looked at a map recently, or indeed ever, you would have noticed that where they are planning for Urgals and Elves to hold the game, is on the other side of Alagaesia."
"Still" persisted Freowin futilely, but he soon lapsed into silence after a meaningful gaze from Gannel. Orik inclined his head in a gesture of thanks to Gannel, and asked the assembled dwarves' "Are there any more issues with the second problem, because we can then move onto the first problem."
"Aye, for one" said Iorrun, one of his staunch supporters during the elections, and indeed, what he considered as to be, one of his friends, "Who and how will we pay for this? It's not as if we have much money left lying around, and goods that we can sell for that matter?"
"We were not just discussing the rights to a gold mine before" joked Orik, chuckling earnestly, although the others did not appear to be amused, so he composed himself from the momentary fit of laughter by stroking his beard thoughtfully.
"It is of no matter, in answer to your question, Iorunn" he said, inclining his head respectfully, "Nasuada mentioned in one of our recent meetings that she wondered what type of ground, or areas, quarry able stone would be to be found. I, being a dwarf, had to enquire further of course," and he was pleased to see that he got a few smiles in return for his little joke, "she told me that Roran, and by extension, the villagers of Carvahall, is, to my knowledge, building a town, and Nasuada expressed an interest in whether we would be able to help build the fortifications. The main thing, though, is that we would get paid for this work, both by Nasuada and Roran, whom I assume has some things of value."
"Surely" interjected Nado, "This won't be enough to pay for the entire fund that is due."
"I recognise this" acknowledged Orik, "and I will come to a solution later, but for now, is there any questions regarding this work."
"What" asked Havard, "will be the kind of work we will have to do?"
"I expect" replied Orik, "it will be mainly involving the fortifications, although, we might need to help with their street design and sewage systems. Nasuada also mentioned that Roran wanted to incorporate some of the designs from our own beautiful cities," which received a chuckle all round, "and the elven cities. However, he also mentioned to Nasuada, something which piqued her interest, and I must say mine as well, that he saw the defence structure of Tierm and thought that it would be a good addition to the city. Any more questions" he asked, after a few moments of silence.
He waited for a few more moments before he deemed it appropriate to continue, and said, "This brings me to the second way we will fund our part for the establishment of the games, we will take part in the refurbishment of Illirea. The elves will also help, and together we will make sure that the city is restored to its former grandeur, which believe it or not, will take a lot of time."
"And why would that be" frowned Hreidamar, "it's not as if we lack in strength, and even if we did, the elves would make up for it four times as much."
"That is true" he conceded, "but Nasuada wants the elves to restore the towers back to their original numbers, as well as fortify the city, and augment it with many spells.
"Why would she need to do so" asked Hadfala, "surely Galbatorix placed enough spells on the city?"
"I think, and don't quote me here; Eragon disabled most, if not all, of the spells. Although I am not sure how, probably some secret technique taught to him by the elves" he added, involuntary shivering.
"That's impossible" replied Gannel, "to disable all the spells within a few days would be a work of a master, something reminiscent of a shade of Durza's forte at least."
Orik shrugged as if it was nothing, "It's not impossible, he did it, and it's possible that the spells could have been affected, or been weakened, by the blast at the end."
"Hmmn, interesting" said Gannel, looking like he was going to pursue the matter further, but decided against it, although he could not shake off the hint of awe on his face.
"Any more thoughts or objections" asked Gannel, they all shook their heads, which pleased Orik immensely, although he refrained from showing even a hint of it. "Then we proceed to the vote."
"All in favour of proceeding with this plan, please raise your hands" he boomed, and slowly, one by one, 11 hands rose into the air.
"Good" he said, in a matter of fact tone of voice, "Now we can backtrack to the first thing I was talking about which was a unified army with the Humans. Not all of our soldiers of course, just enough to provide security across all fronts and army big enough to respond to immediate threats, I think we will have to provide in the range of something like 1000 to 5000 soldiers."
"4000" said Gannel,
"Nonsense" spluttered Undin, "We don't have enough knurlan for that, never mind the resources needed to sustain a mobile army that large, in addition" he stressed, "to the reserve army that we already have."
"I'll think you will find your wrong there Undin" he said kindly, "we can take some of the troops out of the standing army, but I am sure there will be plenty of knurlan who will be happy to be in it, and since there isn't likely to be any trouble except that shade that is foretold to appear, I would suggest sending them to work on the village, which is a good idea in numerous ways."
"Yes," said Thordris. "The main problem, as I see it, is the fact that whether they would stand for such a thing" he asked.
"Aye" said Galdhiem, "I reckon they would stand for it if we paid them well enough."
"Any objections" voiced Gannel, after he moments silence he addressed Orik, saying "Orik, I reckon we can call it a day and be done with it. Negotiate like normal with Nasuada and make sure the terms are exactly as we think they are going to be."
"Aye" replied Orik, "Nothing more I wanted to bring up, so let's get out of this terrible room and have some dinner."
"And mead of course" added Freowin, to everyone's amusement.
"Well, yes, that too" he said smiling.
Just as they were about to get up, Manndrath called out, "Hey Orik, how are the dragon eggs?"
Despite the temptation of food and the prospect of getting out of room, and going to sleep, because it was quite late, they all paused momentarily.
"Well" sighed Orik, "no luck yet. But don't give up hope" he added, as they looked disappointed, "They still have a few cities to go, and they haven't yet come to Farthen Dur, which is where dwarves are most concentrated. Oh, and Arya mentioned that we do get to swap eggs with the Urgals if it doesn't work out."
"So there's still hope" said Thordris, looking a little less glum than before.
"Oh yes," said Gannel conversationally, "there's still hope. But no point wasting our time worrying about it, there's nothing we can do, and food is waiting," he finished delightedly.
It was this last phrase, Orik thought, that cheered everyone up the most, and soon everyone was packing up, standing up, pushing their chairs back in, which created those horrendous scraping noises, and walking out of the door. Within a few moments, he was the only one left in the room, his advisor having left him.
"This is great" he said to no-one in particular, "but I think I'll just step outside."
With that passing remark he swept out of the conference room, inhaling deeply through his nose as the mouth-watering smell of roast boar wafted towards him from the kitchen and dining quarter of the royalty area of Tronjheim. Things were running quite well, he thought, and he hoped they continued like that. He actually enjoyed ruling when he was successful, any other time though, he had realised, it was a complete and utter monstrosity of a job, albeit a well payed one.
(PoV Change)
Murtagh looked up at the sun, judging by its position in the sky; he estimated that he had a few more hours of daylight left. It was a pity he didn't have anyone to share the beautiful sunsets up here. "Oh" said Thorn, feigning hurt, "Do I not count."
"I didn't mean it like that" said Murtagh smiling,
"Oh, so what did you mean by it then" answered Thorn, this time pretending to be offended.
"Nothing, it's just that- actually forget it" he said, changing his mind.
"Whatever Murtagh" Thorn said, "I know your heart pines for Nasuada, don't bother trying to hide it from me, I know you almost as well yourself, if not better."
He grimaced, "It's a little more complicated than that, Thorn."
"I know, matters involving love are never simple. Love is indeed a curious affair, complicated, but very curious" sniffed Thorn.
"You know, I don't think I have ever told you this, but when I first saw Saphira, in real life, not through your memories, I had a strange degree of affection for her. It was unwarranted, I know, as she was probably prepared to rip me too shreds, and probably could have" Thorn admitted. Murtagh acknowledged this act of humbleness with a degree of respect, dragons were rarely ever humble. "But the point is, despite the fact we were facing in open combat, with no limits to the injuries being able to be inflicted, I still had slight feelings for her."
"You certainly didn't tell me that" remarked Murtagh, "although it doesn't matter now" he added hastily, in response to Thorn's questioning glance.
"These of course, were further sparked, when Eragon decided to pit his reserve of strength, against yours, and Saphira had me in a hold. Now, she could have easily torn my wing off and we would have been done for, but she didn't. At first my feelings blossomed at the realisation that she must have had reciprocal feelings, but I realised that it was not right, both in terms of the morality of the relation and the fact that she probably didn't have same feelings. Even after the war had finished, it was not right, although my feelings for her have never died, instead they have dimmed slightly. I was torn when I discovered that she held me no more in cursory respect, but such is life I suppose. She might have even liked that green dragon we saw flying off in the horizon a month ago."
"I suppose that you don't want my romantic advice, do you" asked Murtagh sarcastically, to which Thorn chuckled softly, "I think I'll pass for the moment."
"Are you sure" he said, doing his best to feign disappointment,
"Quite sure, actually" replied Thorn, taking the joke in his stride.
"Now," said Thorn, "where were we, I remember we were talking about something do to with the castle."
He looked at the castle, which had all the outer walls finished, but was missing a roof, and said "You know, I reckon we haven't done enough work on it, it looks a little unfinished to me, don't you think."
"Really Murtagh" grumbled Thorn, "I hadn't noticed. Would that be why there isn't a roof?" asked Thorn sarcastically, he was about to reply, before Thorn interrupted his thoughts.
"Wait, hang on a minute, how are we going to hold the roof up, if we use stones for the roof, it'll weigh an awful lot, and there aren't many trees around here" while simultaneously motioning the barren landscape around them, filled with icy crags and snow, with his tail.
"We'll be able to think of something" he assured Thorn, "but in the meantime, let's get ready for bed. I reckon we should have an early night tonight; after all we have done a decent amount of work in the past few months."
"Agreed" said Thorn contentedly, obviously still thinking of the dilemma facing them.
"We could, you know" speculated Thorn, "Have a roof of spells, I mean it would be practical with our strength and expertise."
"Not much of a castle is it then, eh, Thorn," whom appeared to be lost in thought.
"No" admitted Thorn, "but it would still work."
"I'll bear it in mind. If all comes to worst, it won't be too hard to do."
"Maybe we could build pillars inside it?"
"But if you happen to whack one of them with your tail" Murtagh pointed out,
"You could reinforce them with magic" argued Thorn,
"Still" he persisted, "I would rather make it sound, and not have a risk of it falling on our head at any given moment."
He watched as Thorn bounded over to him, traversing the distance in a few hops. The last arc that Thorn completed meant that he was casting Murtagh into shadow from what meagre light was left, but at that moment Murtagh didn't care because the solution him with the full force of a sledgehammer. He wacked his forehead, with his hand, unable to believe that he was so dumb. Thorn lowered his head, and eyed him curiously with an enormous red eye the size of at least a large shield.
"I just figured out what the solution is" he said joyfully,
"Which is" Thorn reminded him. "Oh, yes, we build the roof in an arc, and support it with beams" he answered.
"It's about time we are successful in our endeavours" remarked Thorn.
"We will have to discuss it" he added.
"But first, let's have some dinner."
A/N: Good day to everyone,
I have now finished school for the year, well technically not, but in reality it is pretty much done, only got to get (some possibly dreadful) exam results back.
On the plus side, it means I will be able a), to post a lot more frequently, b) revise all my previous chapters, c) post two new stories I have in mind, and d) get update with beta-work.
I am not sure that I got either Thorn or Murtagh's characters right, but it can't be helped.
I was going to make a 4,000 word chapter, but it took me a whole day to write this, so I decided against it. Although I did spend much of my time listening to Atlas by Coldplay, so that was probably detrimental to my writing.
Anyway, enough talk,
Have a great day,
WiseBeyondYears