An Unexpected Encounter

Lithos knew he was being followed, he just wasn't sure what to do about it. The dwarf behind him was a large male, and his plate armor was covered with viciously sharp spikes, some of which stuck out through holes in the ragged fur cloak that he had thrown over his back. Lithos wasn't even entirely sure the cloak was fastened; it might just have been nailed in place. 

It would have been different if his siblings had been around, of course, but either his luck was a bad as usual or the man had deliberately waited until the weren't. No use dwelling on impossibilities; what could he actually do?

Well, he could stop, and wait, and talk to the man. That might even work; the street wasn't crowded, but it wasn't empty either, and most people would hesitated to perform outright murder in plain sight here in Stoneshore. On the hand, this man didn't look like he much cared what most people would or wouldn't do, and Lithos had never been good at the kind of talking required for a situation like this. 

He could yell for help, but what would he say? There was a scary man on the street behind him? It would be his word -- a dwarf, but goblinborn -- against that of a full-grown dwarf warrior. 

His master had pronounced him a wizard after his last round of tests: a beginning wizard, but more than an apprentice. And Master Flyleaf had advised him to always have one attack, one defense, and one escape hand at any time. Well, he could cast a protection while he walked, but he didn't think his sleep spell would affect this armored monolith at all. 

"You there," said a gruff voice behind him. "If you're going to panic and run, best to do it now."

That wasn't actually a bad suggestion. The man wouldn't be any slower for all the armor he was wearing, but Lithos was faster than any dwarf he had ever met, for all that his legs were shorter. Still, he hadn't spent his school years being tormented by Delver Deepriver and his cronies just to flee in terror because an adult was trying to scare him. 

He glanced back, met the man's eyes, and shook his head. He was almost where he wanted to be... There. He spoke and gestured, and a stone wall materialized in front of the man. 

There was a brief pause, a "WhaaaAAT?" and then the porcupine-armored dwarf burst right through the illusion and came charging forward. 

By then, though, Lithos had vanished, slipping away through the narrow space between Mistress Gaia's Potteries and Petrus Dirtboring's Escritorium. The narrowness of the space barely slowed him, and would be completely impassible to a full-sized dwarf, even if the warrior figured it out. 

He hadn't, though. He was still asking Master Dirtboring if he'd seen a goblin come through here, and then Mistress Gaia emerged and started scolding, and Lithos grinned to himself as he strolled off down the alley. It really would have been perfect...

If the man hadn't come strolling into the Shattered Golem some twenty minutes later, just as Lithos was starting his shift as a server. "Um, Father?" he said, lifting a tray of drinks, and motioned with his head. 

His father turned, focused, and went still as the stone itself. "Get your mother," he said after a moment. "Leave the tray. Don't come out yet."

"I could try to put him to sleep," Lithos suggested. 

"Windborne's been a good influence on you," his father told him, "but here? With all these people around? You'd put a few of them out and leave Allstone untouched."

He'd been afraid of that on the street, too. Without another word, he set the tray on the bar and stepped behind it, following it to the far end where his mother was working. She looked up as he approached. 

"Allstone is here," Lithos told her.

"Allstone?" His mother sounded surprised, but she turned and her eyes found the prickly dwarf immediately. "Opreto take me. He has a lot of nerve..." She stopped, looked down at Lithos. "He didn't...?"

Lithos shook his head. "Followed me for a bit. Tried to get me to run, but he didn't attack me. I blocked his sight and got away."

"Good lad," said his mother, and made her way back down the bar. 

Lithos hopped up onto a stool and glanced at the dwarf on the far side of the bar, who was looking expectantly in his direction. "Brandy," he said. "Silverstreak, if you have it." 

Lithos leaned back and looked under the bar. It should be... sitting on that empty spot on the shelf. "We're out," he said, then added: "Like to have some next week. In the meantime, we've a very good Tamberlin from overhill..." 

The dwarf nodded. "That'll do nicely, young Foundingstone." 

Lithos hopped back down and went to fetch it, along with a glass to pour it into. Somewhere in the midst of things his oldest brother moved into place at the far end of the bar, and between them they kept things going until Mistress Ignient leaned forward and said, "I think yer parents are motioning fer ye, lad."

Well, at least no fights had broken out so far. He hopped back down and made his way back across, tapping his brother's knee as he passed to let the older dwarf know that the bar was his alone.

"You wanted me?" he asked, as he reached the table -- not far from the door -- where his parents were seated with the spiky stranger. 

"Aye, lad," said the heavily-armored warrior. "I owe ye an explanation fer followin' ye. I was tryin' tae see if'n ye'd become a dwarf or were still a goblin at heart."

Lithos froze. Seriously? It must have shown on his face, because the man flinched. 

"I was wrong," he said simply. "Wrong tae test you, wrong tae doubt you, and wrong tae tell yer parents not tae take ye back all those years ago."

Lithos slid one foot back, making ready to advance or retreat as needed. "Yer him," he said, matching the fellow's Dwarvish. "Allstone Graniteweaver. The battlerager." 

"Aye. And ye're Lithos Foundingstone, a pure dwarf for all that ye were born a goblin."

Right. That. Definitely that's me. He paused for a moment, but didn't relax. Let's see if I understand this. "But I fled." 

"Lad, I've known at least a dozen o' the Scribes who'd hae fled as you did: carefully, with a plan, and nae in a panic. And I've known a double-dozen battleragers who've died of not knowing when to back away from something that could kill them. Every single one of them was still a dwarf."

Marduk Foundingstone swallowed. "That was... well-said, old friend." 

"Aye, well, Ah've had a lot o' time tae think about it. Rolled with the battleragers for a bit, and then with the warhounds, and... I wanted tae see how it'd all worked out." He paused, quaffed a glass of something that Lithos suspected was Bitterfall from the smell, and then nodded to Lithos. "Seldom 'ave Ah been so glad tae be wrong." He glanced from Lithos' mother to his father and then back. "Think ye that yer heirs can keep the place runnin' whilst we spend a night catching up?"

Marduk chuckled. "So long as nothin' else comes up, they'll do fine." He turned to Lithos. "I give you my word that I will regret this, but I would have you bring us a bottle of al'cul."