Forging the Peace

The group's anger with the Orc-King for the trick he had nearly played on them - and the world - ran pretty deep. Once the prisoner was safely bestowed in a dungeon cell deep below Reital Castle, Sack went to work on him with a pair of pliers, separating him from his fingernails over a significant period of time. Hildraft then healed the injuries (though not the mutilation) and Sack removed the King's gag and ear plugs.

Garkaur stared around wildly, and then laughed as Hildraft vainly tried to cast a Zone of Truth on him. The dwarf then spoke to him in his own language, trying to get from him the reasons for what he had done. Nothing was forthcoming, so Sack cut off another, fairly important part of his anatomy. "Laugh that one off," he signed for Hildraft to translate.

Hildraft tried again; "Why start a war?" he asked.

"Who wants to know?"

'Whack!' ''Why start a war?"

"Well, if you put it like that... Kurvanog off!"

Hildraft then unleashed another powerful spell, the mindreading magic Brain Spider, but to no avail; the King's mighty will threw it off with contempt.

Sack then uncovered one of Garkaur's eyes. Surprise!

"Why have you done this?" he demanded; ''I thought we were allies!'' Sack shook his head in mock sorrow, and the interrgation continued. To no avail; once he realized who his captors were, he went silent. In the end they gave it up and left him in the dark.

There was some discussion as to what to do with the renegade King; give him to the Elves, to Skufruss, or to his own people - either the breakaway faction or his former vassals. Finally, they settled on using him as the linchpin of a peace conference. Formal invites were penned, for both Skufruss and Doronond, inviting them to come to Reital as neutral territory, with an honour guard of fifty each. Mention was made that the real culprit behind the infamous letter was in custody and would be produced at the conference.

Sack took Skufruss' to Vorsand via his Helmet, and Hildraft Wind Walked to Belamir carrying Doronond's invite. Meanwhile Surya organized the venue, setting up the required rooms and preparing his castle guard for trouble.

Belamir, The Desolation, 7th November 1601

As he crossed the northern border of Belamir, Hildraft felt no frisson from the wards that had been there before; he looked down on a very changed scene.

Vast earthwork ramparts reared through the trees, and elven troops in impressive numbers were readying the defences to resist an invasion. Off to the east, he saw a vast white ovoid resting lightly on the grass, and knew that he was looking at the prison of the Elf Hammer.

Alighting as near to Elverandil's tower as he could, he materialized and was instantly surrounded by about a dozen Shadowguard, blades drawn, who escorted him carefully to the tower of the Mastersmith. Alerted by the dwarf's Sending, Elverandil was waiting, and listened carefully to what the dwarf had to say.

To Hildraft's surprise this most moderate of elves was apalled at the idea of peace with Skufruss! He felt - and said - that the Kin were unnatural, and had no place on the earth; "Mutant, sterile spawn of an unholy mating," he said. Hildraft suggested that all Kin were different, and reminded him that the Elf Hammer had been stopped by two Kin. "Why?" asked the smith forcefully. Hildraft had no answer for that. He changed tack.

"Things have changed," he said. "It's no longer elves controlling the Bad Creatures for everyone else." Elverandil sighed. "Things were easier then..." he said. "Yes," said Hildraft, "we remember you arriving and changing that."

This was a joke, and a brave one; elves and dwarves had come to blows over such debates of precedence. He had judged the Mastersmith properly though.

"We are too good friends to fall out over that," he said, and rising, took the dwarf to see the High King of the Elves.

Although he'd been to Belamir before, Hildraft had never been inside the Tower of the King. Now, he gazed around at a splendour from before his day and age. Towering white and silver columns, sweeping balconies and galleries, magnificent banners and splendidly-dressed courtiers adorned the court of Doronond. The King himself sat a crystal throne atop a marble dias; but he stepped down to greet the dwarf, for these two were Wyrmslayers. They had stood and faced the greatest dragon of the age together, and whatever came after, nothing could change that.

Carefully, Hildraft laid out Surya's invitation to a peace conference, and delivered the written text into the King's hand. Rather to his surprise, Elverandil spoke up in support, urging the King to accept the invitation. Doronond thought it through for a moment or two, and then declared that he would attend... if Skufruss would.

Vorsand, Tarlanor, 7th November 1601

Sack sauntered into Skufruss' audience hall, the invitation rather carelessly crumpled in one hand, and a chicken leg he'd snagged on the way in in the other. After a brief indescision, he delivered the missive, and then crunched on his snack while the Dark Lord read.

Skufruss was at first unconvinced, but when Sack opened a small pouch and poured out a handful of fingernails he was rather more interested. The half-orc also waved a second pouch containing Garkaur's naughty bits at him, but declined to pass that over. Skufruss, laughing, agreed to come to the talks.

Reital, New Tellare, 18th November 1601

The day of the conference dawned cold and clear. Despite a spirited escape attempt five days earlier, Garkaur still languished in his cell beneath Reital Castle, and the three were confident things would go well. Not certain, however. Surya had made one last try at getting some useful information out of him; but Garkaur had scoffed. "I will not beg, nor buy my life with snippets of gossip," he sneered.

The first to arrive was Skufruss. A dot on the horizon resolved itself rapidly into an enormous dragon - smaller than Varkar but bigger than the Gith dragons Hildraft had antagonized in Vorsand - with riders clearly visible on its' back. Surya had had a field prepared for such transport, and the monstrous reptile landed smoothly in it. The riders disembarked, and proceeded up through the town to the castle, walking between the glittering ranks of armoured men lining the gateway - and vanished like smoke.

At the same time, a messenger arrived to tell Surya that he had guests inside the castle. Investigating, he found Skufruss and forty-nine of his vassals (mostly wizards) waiting for him in one of the corridors. Belatedly, Surya remembered that Skufruss was the master of the Teleport Circle, and had them laid out in any number of unexpected places.

Hildraft, intrigued, went to talk to the dragon, and found that it, like Varkar, spoke the ancient Krultac language. After a few pleasantries, he asked it where it had come from. "The distant north", it said, "whence the dragons come; but now I serve the holder of the Sceptre."

"Oh; we gave him that," said Hildraft without thinking. "Really?" rumbled the dragon softly, "many will be interested in that piece of information...." Hildraft discovered at that point that being Ta'nara did not make it any easier to read a dragon's face.

An hour or so later, a cluster of dots in the southern skies announced the approach of the elves. Twenty-five griffons, each bearing two riders, alighted in a field carefully chosen to be as far away as possible from the dragon, and the elves dismounted and marched into the castle.

Unlike Skufruss, Doronond had brought an almost entirely martial escort, elf-kights clad in gleaming mail and bearing sword and shield. Elverandil had also come, and greeted Sack and Surya warmly.

And so the two rulers, so different and inimical, met across the table for the first time. As Surya rose to open the proceedings, the atmosphere tingled with electric tension. Summarizing, he described the potential war and its' consequences, and then its' causes.  As he reached the letter in his narration, Skufruss bridled, remarking that the letter was a mortal insult. Surya raised a hand, and glanced at Doronond. "Did you write this letter?" he asked bluntly.

"No, I did not," answered the High King of the Elves levelly.

Sack judged that the moment had come, and so he Teleported into Garkaur's cell, scooped up the unfortunate half-orc and plonked him down in the middle of the conference room.

Pandemonium broke out, with elf-knights on their feet with hands to hilts (but no more, after a glance at Surya, calm and deadly in the centre of the table), and Skufruss' magi twitching towards spells. Everyone seemed to be shouting, and it was a long while before anyone could be heard.

Surya finally managed to regain control. "This," he said, "is the Garkaur Kulataur. Not the current one named after the original; the one and only. Half orc and half elf." This nearly caused a fresh riot. "I will not have him harmed here on neutral ground; if the orcs hear either of you has slain him, they will war on you for it."

Skufruss and Doronond sprang to demand justice, for the culprit to suffer, not escape - and then blinked at each other, surprised to find themselves agreeing on something. Each also demanded proof that the prisoner had written the letter, although Skufruss of course was pretending here - he already knew it to be true, but if Doronond found that out he'd lose any trust for the proceedings.

"Release his restraints," demanded the Elfking. "I would speak with the creature." This was done, and Garkaur, held on his knees by Sack with a blade at his neck, glanced from one to the other as Surya said, "They would like to ask you some questions."

"A mutant and a pixe?" sneered the King of the Orcs. "Be my guest."

Doronond led the questioning, with Skufruss chipping in the odd question to maintain the fiction that he was still unconvinced. Sack shifted uneasily as this went on, for the Elf was using a form of cultural intimidation to pressure the prisoner, wielding his people's ancient authority and arrogance ina an attempt to belittle the half-orc. Garkaur appeared unbothered - and said nothing - and eventually Doronond wound down to silence. Then Garkaur spoke.

"Yes," he said, quietly, powerfully, "I did it. And I would do it again."

Disdaining to speak to him or look at him any more, the Elfking turned to Skufruss and spoke, formally and stiffly. "I withdraw my declaration of war. Remove your ... weapon ... from my lands, and we shall have peace."

Skufruss half smiled. "I shall do no war upon you over this matter," he said, "and my armies shall return to their usual occupations. However, the removal of the Elf Hammer is beyond my control at present. As soon as possible, though, I shall retrieve it."

There was a moment's pause as all present savoured this historic moment. Then, with one powerful slash of the Blade of the Sun, Sack hewed Garkaur Kulataur's head from his shoulders, releasing a Sunburst as he did so, which dazzled everyone except himself and Skufruss for a moment - during which he Teleported away with the head.