The Half Dwarf Prince by J. M. Fosberg

hit him t oo many times. He brought his head down and smashed it into her face. He felt that nose that he had admired break. He brought his knee up into her stomach. He felt her weight pull towards the ground. Her nose was broken and he had forced the wind out of her. He unhooked his left arm and grabbed the front of her shirt. He held her up in the air with one hand. She was looking into his eyes when his other hand came across and slapped her. He let her fall with that blow. Then he claimed her while the other orcs watched. She was his and his alone. In that one moment he made her his and claimed her clan.
    Vingaza watched the whole thing with a mix of interest and disgust. It was disturbing to watch, but he couldn’t stop watching , either. When it was done he approached Fredin.
    “If you want , I can take you both back.”
    “Hure!” She was still putting herself back together. He waited for her to look at him. “Tell your clan to follow my orcs back to Dungin Mountain. Geischeit will give them a place when they get there. You are coming back with me.”
    Her face was already swelling so Fredin couldn’t make out any expression, but she turned to the orcs who had come with her and gave them orders. Then she came to his side. Fredin had traveled once with Vingaza and it had been unsettling, but he knew what to expect now. He held out a hand and Hure took it. Then he put his hand in the human’s. Hure looked at the man curiously for a second, and then they were lighter than air. A second later they were standing in the passage outside Fredin’s room. He felt her sway as they became solid again. He held her up. Vingaza didn’t say a word, retreating into his own room. Fredin let go of his queen and let her follow him to his room. Once inside he pointed to the water room.
    “ There is a pool in there. The knob will make water come out. You can soak in it if you want.”
    He went to the bed. He would never admit it but she had banged him up a little bit , and lying down sounded really good. When he looked back at her, though, she was not going to the room he pointed to. She was staring at him.
    “What?”
    “Now it’s my turn to take you,” she said.
    Fredin smiled. This day really did just keep getting better.

Chapter Five
Setting Out
     
    “I think we should send a small group to Ambar ,” Grundel said told the council. “They can start prepping supplies while the rest of the force moves south. It would take a small group almost two weeks to make it from here to Shinestone. But it is going to take a thousand dwarves closer to a month. We are going to need to resupply along the way; otherwise we are going to have to weigh everyone down with supplies, use heavy wagons to help carry the load, and live on dried rations for the whole trip. Ambar is just past halfway.” The council had agreed that a thousand dwarves should be enough to take the mountain from whatever pest had decided to inhabit the place in their absence. Now they were figuring out the details of actually getting there.
    “I suppose that you would be the one to go ahead and set that up ?” Bergmann asked.
    “That is an option. I could take Rundo and a small group of dwarves. Rundo has been to Ambar, and we all know that halflings have a talent for lowering prices,” Grundel joked. He figured if he could bring some levity to the situation he might just be able to get what he wanted, and that was to travel ahead of the main force.
    Kraft laughed out loud. “Ya, everyone just agrees to the price the halfling set s, because they figure that selling at a low price is better then having their goods stolen!”
    That made everyone laugh. Frau laughed , too, and Grundel had to admit to himself that he enjoyed hearing her laugh. That was another reason he wanted to go ahead of everyone else. The time he had been spending with her over the last couple of days was really stirring up his feelings for her. She was beautiful and smart and completely out of