Betrayals

I woke up the next morning to the dwarf jabbing me in the side with the hilt of her ax.

“Must you be so violent?” I asked.

“Must you be so lazy?” She replied.

“That wasn’t a very good comeback.”

“Yeah, we’ll, you can stick it up your” She was interrupted by Stone’s call to breakfast. I was almost disappointed. I’m sure that despite her earlier failure to come up with something clever to say would have been deeply overshadowed by whatever insult she could come up with.

We continued on our journey without much fuss, and by mid-afternoon, we were coming up on the Kogen forest. When we reached the border, Sir Knocks called us to a halt.

"It won't take us long to go through it," He said. "But the beasts will be glad of our visit, and we all need to be fully rested to face them. Plus, we'll be letting our horses go here."

"Why?" the dwarf demanded to know.

"They're a liability in the forest. While the beasts enjoy human and elven flesh, there is nothing that gets their mouths watering like horse flesh."

"What about dwarfs? Why didn't you mention dwarfs?"

"For some reason the beasts have an aversion to dwarfs. How do you not know this? It's rather common knowledge."

"I'm of the deep south. Not much of your northern 'common knowledge' reaches to down in the mines."

"Any road, I'm sure we'll be relying on you quite a bit these next couple days."

We set up camp, and soon the men were napping. Neither the dwarf nor I needed as much sleep as them, so we sat together in tense silence. After a while, it seemed like she couldn't take it anymore.

"What's the deal with you and that brother back at the Order?" She asked suddenly.

"You mean James? Oh, well, when my parents were killed in the Cainlin Fires, the Order took me in with the rest of the orphans. James just happened to be one of the novice brothers assigned to caring for us. We took a liking to each other, and while the other orphans found homes for themselves outside of the Order, I stayed, helping with whatever tasks I could."

"How old were you then?"

"Hmm... 24 human years, I think."

"What does that translate to in elven terms?"

"About 10, give or take a cycle."

"I see."

"What's your story then? How did you escape from the mines?"

"It wasn't escaping. I was forced up here by various unpleasant circumstances."

"Like what?"

"My sister stole my betrothed."

"What?"

"My sister, jealous of the fact that I got the most handsome dwarf in the community for my betrothed, seduced him, while looking like me I might add, became with child, and stole him from me."

"That's harsh. Did you get revenge?"

"It's against our nature to get revenge, at least for something like that."

"I see. But that can't be the only thing that drove you up here. What else happened?"

"There is something else. But it is best left alone."

"Are you certain? I'm a great listener, perhaps it might help you to say"

"Leave it, half-breed." With that, she stood up, and walked a ways away. I'd obviously struck a chord. I was curious, but not enough to go after and pester her. If she didn't want to share, then I wouldn't force her. Even if I desperately wanted to know what her secret was.