Battle Through the Nine Realms - Chapter 53 - The Problem Behind Walls (Patreon)

“It’s been a while Arn,” Grani said as he looked at the pair of Vikings sitting on the other side of his desk.

The man’s office was a mess with paperwork everywhere, dust and dirt and tons of boxes stuffed with cups, bottles and more.

Two lanterns cast a light that flickered in the room and Einar watched as both men stared at each other for a moment.

“You know I wouldn’t be here if I didn’t need to be.  Like you and your wife, I’m just trying to help people.”

“This boy?” Grani asked, eyeing the warrior before him.

Without responding, Einar just smiled.

“This boy ran into a portal a week ago and destroyed a stone, cutting it off from our realm,” Arngrim replied, smiling when he saw how the owner of the building they were staying in responded.

Those eyes widened, and the man leaned over the wooden desk, giving Einar another moment to bask in the man’s appraisal of him.

“Really... So, the rumors are true…”

“What rumors are those?” Einar asked.

Chuckling, Grani leaned back in his wooden chair, ignoring the creaking of it and crossed his hands over his chest.

“That a new warrior sacrificed themself to close a portal.  Stuff like that gets a lot of attention, especially with how few actually want to die like that.”

“It wasn’t fun, that’s for sure,” Einar replied.  “I’d still like to know how those trolls live with all those bugs that seem to want to stick you with their tail.”

“The trolls probably don’t notice them,” Arngrim said as he leaned forward in his seat.  “Now then, let’s get down to business.  I need to stay hidden for most of the week until the dwarven traders arrive.  Can you find out exactly what day that will be?  I need to—”

“They arrived yesterday,” Grani answered, cutting the rune crafter off.  “Things aren’t going well based on what I’ve heard.  People are offering far less than they want.”

“Yesterday?! How? I heard it wasn’t going to be for another week!”

“That’s not my business. I just hear what goes on and share it with those who want to know.  Rumor is they’ll be here for another two or three days tops.  I think the guilds are trying to get them to lower their prices.  This is the third time they haven’t done much business at all.”

“Son of a bastard!” Arngrim cursed.  “Those fools! Surely, they know that if they don’t buy, the dwarves won't come, and then…”

His mouth stayed open, but his words stopped coming out.  

Einar saw that it looked like a light had gone off inside, flooding his friend with whatever knowledge he had been missing.

“Brand is in charge, isn’t he?”

“Two years ago,” Grani replied, frowning the entire time. Things have gotten worse… much worse since you’ve been gone. To say that they don’t make anything would be an understatement. Unless you’re one of Erik’s men, getting runes worthwhile requires you traveling to Kopanes or Bardmannes. Even then, finding anything above an intermediate rune is impossible unless you know someone or have dirt on someone.”

“So, what’s in all those stores we passed?” Einar asked.  “There were tons of runes on the shelves.”

Both men looked at each other and started laughing at the same time.  One sounded like a goat and the other snorted worse than a pig.

“Those are worthless I told you!” Arngrim said between breathing and laughing.  “Not worth wiping your arse with!”

“He’s right,” Grani added. “Those things are basic at best.  Some of the runes were made by new students.  Everything else gets broken down or shipped off to the fields, buying people off. There are so many kids out there, that even if we gave each one a rune like that, it wouldn’t do anything but reduce their true ability for a lifetime.”

“Because they can’t remove the rune without damaging the slot…”

Both men nodded at what Einar had just figured out.

“Why? I mean… I think I know why, but it makes no sense! Surely the king—”

“Don’t speak about him!” Grani exclaimed, glancing around the room.  “Come up with a code name or something else, but don’t mention him by name or title.  Doing so and getting overheard is a good way to find yourself jailed, killed, or banished like some people here.”

Arngrim shifted in his seat and nodded.  

“Though I’m not sure I’m banished, just not wanted.  There is a difference.”

“Yes one leads to them kicking you out of the city again, the other has you locked in a dungeon, wishing they would kill you or kick you out.”

Waving his hand as if that would make the tavern owner’s concern go away, Arngrim tapped on the edge of the desk afterward.

“The dwarves.  That is actually why we are here.  Just tell me they aren’t in the inner gates.”

Grani snorted like a pig for a few moments, finally stopping when the frown on his old friend’s face took away the joy of laughing.

“It’s been decades since they were let in.  Brand isn’t going to allow that ever again if he has a say.  No, they are in the market square, relegated to a booth, like every other common merchant who wants to sell outside of a shop.”

Arngrim began to twist the branch in his beard and chewed on his lip.

“While I hate that they are forced to be there, that might work better in our favor.  Perhaps the All-Father has a hand in all these things…”

Einar sat there, wondering what in the world he was still missing.  His friend had shared little information about the guilds, except how they kept people from advancing as they should.  The politics and how everything worked with the king left him even more confused about why an entire group of people, supposedly guided by Odin and protecting the nine realms from total destruction, would be acting like this.

“How can I get there with the least amount of trouble?”

“You?” Grani scoffed. “You bring trouble like a pig finds dirt.  I doubt we could do much besides throwing a robe over your ugly face and walking you down the street.  Sure, I could put you in a cart and hide you under a tarp, but it would be far worse if someone spotted you like that.  Then the whole guard would be on me, and I don’t want that.”

“I guess we can walk right in.  I know I look a tad different since the last time I was here.”

“Yes… yes you do.  Like something that’s been living in the countryside.  How do you hope to convince the dwarves you have money to spend on actual reagents?”

“Oh, that? I have it all taken care of,” Arngrim replied.  He picked up the small pack he had been carrying and pulled out a piece of paper.  Handing it to Grani, he leaned back and smiled.

“Jarl Bior… signed for this?

“He did.  I’m working for him under the name Arn.  For now, it provides me with a place to work in silence, food, and mead.  Best of all I can stop worrying about having to pay people to harvest the grains I had to grow.”

Snorting, Grani handed the paper back and nodded.

“Tomorrow, then. I can have you taken in a carriage.  It might seem out of touch, but it will be better that way.  You walking in looks… off, even with your guard with you.  A carriage to the market symbolizes a lot as you know.”

Nodding, Arngrim frowned as he pulled out a few more gold pieces and slid them across the desk toward his friend.

“I’m assuming that will be enough?”

“No, but I owe you.  Now tell me about this warrior with you.  Something about him sets me on edge in a good way.”

Laughing, Arngrim nodded, and Einar felt uncomfortable at what he knew was about to take place.

“Perhaps I should leave you two to discuss this while I sit outside.”

“Nonsense! Stay here and enjoy my stories.  You know I’ll exaggerate and without you here to fix them, soon Grani will believe you can fly from farting.”

Both of the older men chuckled, and Einar sat back in the chair, knowing an hour or more was about to be wasted in this room.

***

“Now if you need anything, Arn, just send this boy to come and get me,” Runa said as she prepared to shut the door. 

“Thanks for everything, Runa.  I’ve missed your beautiful face.”

Rolling her eyes, she waved and closed the door to the room.

Arngrim turned the key on the inside, hearing the lock click and then moved a chair by the handle, wedging it underneath.

“Won’t do much but buy a few more seconds if someone did come. Then it all falls to you.”

“Just how much trouble are you really in?” Einar asked. “I can’t help but feel you’ve kept more from me than you’ve told me.”

“Honestly, I’m probably forgotten by most, only a few would recognize me and if they did, we’d need to make for the docks faster than a boy caught by a girl’s father in her room.”

“Why is it that bad? The real reason.”

Arngrim heard the tone in which Einar asked and saw the frown.  Sighing, he motioned to the bed on the other side of the room as he made his way toward the other.

“Sit, it's going to be a moment.”

***

“The real problem after defying a king, going against the instructions of the guild was me making all the runes that I did.  While technically there was no limit to my ability other than the materials I had on hand, someone forgot to log in and log out quite a bit of materials.  Eventually when it was found out, they couldn’t put the finger on me but only a few of us had access to that area and those supplies.  As the leading problem maker, it all fell on me.”

“How did you not get caught? I mean, surely they would have set up a trap.”

Nodding, Arngrim grinned.

“They did, but I already knew about it.  One of the perks of being me was I had eyes and ears everywhere.  I spoiled people, and gave them treats, mead, ale, food, and more.  A few just got coins since it was far easier to do that than smuggle a dress in.  When you had as many people in my corner as I did, the dots were easy to connect.”

After a month of them watching and waiting and nothing being found, they stormed my quarters, on orders of King Erik,” he said, making an official tone.  “But I was again smarter than them.  Everyone who I helped was loyal to me.  Those who I gave the runes to are even more committed to my beliefs.”

“That everyone should have runes and that we should do something with them.”

“Correct,” Arngrim replied, nodding his head.  “You see it! I see it! Hell, everyone but the people who live in this capital sees it!”

“And the Jarls are powerless to change it, aren’t they?”

“Imagine if those two men, as powerful as they are, were removed and someone was put in place, completely loyal to the people here.  They’ve tried, but it never went well, and other than an outright fight between both Jarls, there is no way to remove them without massive turmoil.”

“If they tried to remove say Bior?”

“Oh, his warriors are dedicated to him.  Those men might not be the greatest warriors compared to the men and women who serve the king, but they would cause enough problems.  The losses on both sides would weaken them all.  The worst part is the other warbands in Kopanes are more loyal to Bior than Erik.  Each of them knows that the only way to get stronger is to find materials through raiding and then to locate someone like… me.”

The grin Arngrim displayed left little doubt why the man was now willing to show himself in Kopanes.  

“Just how much are you planning on making for Bior and the others?”

Taking a deep breath and letting it out, Arngrim shifted as he leaned against the wall, sitting on the bed.

“As many as I can,” he replied. “Einar you’re changing things.  I’m sure you see it but every one of those men and women who come through our city see the difference.  Soon, no matter what you think, you will be ready to form a pack.  When those ten men grow and do what I can only imagine what you will, it will become twenty, then thirty or forty and before you know it, 100.”

Shifting to the edge of the bed, Arngrim stood up and held his hands toward the sky.

“Odin will get honor for all this; you will become a hero that we haven’t seen in generations and then… then the real battle starts.”

“The king and the guild leaders.”

Nodding, Arngrim scowled.

“You think giants, trolls, flaming elementals, the undead or shadow elves are your biggest problem?  No… it’s the very people who live on the other side of the wall near us.  As you grow, everyone one of them will see, and a target will be eventually set on your back.  That is why you need me to make runes and to help outfit your men and women.”

Sighing, Einar knew his friend was right.  It wasn’t enough just for him to be strong, no matter what Odin felt he needed to call him.

One man might be stronger than an army, but eventually it will take more than one army to win the war.

“Tomorrow, then,” Einar said as he began to remove his boots.  “Let’s get some sleep.  If we need to run for the docks, I want a good night’s rest at least.”

Bleating like a goat, Arngrim began to remove his boots as well.

“That’s what I’ve always liked about you, boy.  You see the smartest move and make it.”