‘Aye, lad. I think I’ll wander up to Stone Mountain and visit old Hathorn. He’s a bit elderly now and doesn’t get out much. Need to chat a bit with his son, Locklan, about this and that. Dwarven business, you know.’
Tomas nodded. ‘I understand. Would you like some company along the way?’ Tomas didn’t want to insult his friend by suggesting he needed bodyguards. After all, the dwarf had run all the way from the Grey Towers with only Alystan for company.
‘No. It’s a short run and I could use some time to think. Besides, it’s been very peaceful these days since you chased the Dark Brothers north. The goblins around these parts may be stupid, but they’re not stupid enough to trouble me.’ He patted the legendary hammer at his side.
Tomas grinned. Dolgan had found the Hammer of Tholin, the sign of his kingship, in the same cavern the then boy from Crydee had found the armour of white and gold.
The powerful armour that provided him with the link through time was safely stored in his quarters, next to the ceremonial gowns and jewellery owned by his wife. Yet no armour was needed to see the power in him. He was arguably the most dangerous being on this world, perhaps only rivalled by his friend Pug, whose magic almost made him a force of nature. But Tomas’s great strength and Valheru magic didn’t give him the ability to see the future.
‘Then fare you well, my old friend,’ said Tomas. ‘Fare you well, lad.’
Just then Aglaranna appeared and Dolgan said, ‘Ah, lovely. Saves me the trouble of tracking you down to say goodbye, my lady.’
‘You are leaving, Dolgan?’
‘Aye, off to visit kin in Stone Mountain, then home before my boy makes too big a mess of things.’
‘Then travel well and visit again soon, my friend,’ she said. He bowed and departed.
Tomas stared out again over the forest below, and his wife regarded him for a moment. She knew his moods and loved him so deeply she barely believed it was possible. She had loved her first husband, the last King of the Elves, but it had been a slowly built affection, a comfortable love that sprang from necessity, for it had been her fate since birth to rule at his side. But the first time she had seen Tomas as a man, no longer the boy she had first beheld, passion she had never imagined had sprung into her heart. Since then they had been as one, and she knew that now he thoughtfully considered the new elf who had come among them.
And she knew he was troubled.
Aglaranna, Queen of the Elves and Tomas’s wife for over a century, came to stand behind him and put her arms around him. The gesture never failed to give him comfort. ‘What troubles you, husband?’ she asked softly.
He turned with a smile, gazing into the most marvellous sight he had ever beheld. ‘Have I told you how beautiful you are?’ he asked with moisture in his eyes.
She couldn’t help but smile. ‘Only every day, my lord.’
He grimaced and said, ‘Well, if it grows tiresome . . .’
‘No,’ she interrupted. ‘I’ll endure you saying so if you must.’
The banter was just what he needed to relax, ‘I’m concerned,’ he said.
‘I know. You are concerned over our guest.’
Tomas nodded. ‘My recollections of Ashen-Shugar are not complete. Many have come to me over the years, but still there are holes. Of all my memories of the edhel, I cannot remember anyone like this Gulamendis.’
‘He is very strange,’ agreed the Queen. ‘The moredhel resemble us, but this . . . elf, he is different.’
‘Dolgan said but for his ears, he seems practically human.’
Aglaranna laughed, a musical sound that always delighted Tomas. ‘My love, have you been with us so long you’ve forgotten you are human too?’
He smiled and folded her into his arms, her head resting snugly under his chin, ‘I am what I am. Yes, I was born human, but that was many lifetimes ago. Only our son, Calis, understands what it is to live half in one world and half in another.’
‘I thank our ancestors he found Ellia and her sons.’
Tomas said, ‘Yes. A family can save a soul.’ He was thinking of his own, and how he had nearly succumbed to the madness of the Dragon Lords. His wife and son had given him an anchor to hold steady in the teeth of the rage that swept over him in battle or the burning desire to dominate that was never entirely gone. Now his son had the same reason to live beyond mere survival, a foster family he had grown to love deeply.
Tomas was silent and Aglaranna was content to wait. After a few minutes of just enjoying one another’s closeness, Tomas said, ‘You rule in Elvandar, my love, so all decisions are yours. Still, as Warleader, it is my duty to be wary.’
‘I understand and always welcome your counsel.’
He smiled. ‘Now, always?’
She returned the smile. ‘Most of the time.’