Dwalin and the Pearl

Chapter 8

Finally, an explanation! For days now, I'd been waiting for some straight answers. Was it too much to ask? 

Var got to her feet and walked out the door of Aunt Nott's room. But before I could follow her, Aunt Nott said, "Dwalin. A word." 

I turned to glare at her. Now she wanted to chat? Good thing she was my favorite aunt. 

She beckoned me to her side, and spoke in a soft voice. "Be on your guard, my lad. I don't know what game Var is playing, or what trouble she might be in, but I can tell you that things are not entirely what they seem." 

"What is that supposed to mean?" 

Aunt Nott held up both hands, palms out. "Just be careful. That's all." 

Well. If I'd been worried that I didn't understand a perfectly simple and straightforward situation, I could now rest assured that this situation was neither of those things. 

But I still didn't understand it. And that worried me. 

I went down the hall to Var's room, and for a wonder, she was there waiting for me. She hadn't vanished. The room was comfortable, with a sizeable wardrobe, a fire crackling in the fireplace and cheerful curtains at the windows overlooking the stable yard of the inn. A quick glance out the window showed several carriages and a hay wagon in the yard below. 

If Var thought it strange of me to check out her room like this, she didn't show it. I like to know where I am, and how to leave quickly if I have to. Not that anything could get me to leave, now that Var was going to give me the promised and well-deserved explanation of what the hell was going on. 

Finally, I came to stand in front of her, my arms folded across my chest. "So, tell me." 

Var sat with her chin up, back straight and hands resting along the arms of her chair, like a queen on her throne. She gestured at another dwarf-sized chair. "Sit down." 

"I'd rather stand." 

She shrugged. "Suit yourself. " 

The pearls in her golden hair trembled slightly when she moved. They are exotic adornments indeed for a dwarf woman, because pearls come from the sea, and not deep inside the earth. The crimson satin of her sleeves came down to points over the knuckles of her middle fingers, hiding her still healing wrists. 

I'd gotten used to seeing her in men's clothing, or in random cast-offs, or even (in my mind's eye) in nothing at all, but I wasn't used to seeing her all dressed up. She looked beautiful but strange. I really didn't know her at all, I reminded myself. 

She drew in a breath. "I live in the dwarven settlement beneath Methedras, the southernmost peak of the Misty Mountains. We call it Gabil-inbar, the Great Horn of the South." 

I nodded, and she went on. 

"My people deal in precious gems, the rarest and most beautiful in Middle-earth, which we extract from deep underground. We offer some of our treasures to other dwarven artisans-for a fair price. In the past, Lady Nott has sought me out for special commissions, and over the years we-have been of service to one another." 

There was something about the way she hesitated as she chose her words, like she was picking one sparkling bit of information out of a hoard of facts, which told me I wasn't getting everything.  

"She buys jewels from me, and pays well for the quality she gets. And from time to time, we're able to meet and talk about-matters of mutual interest. Things that concern our clans. After all, we are responsible for transporting valuable goods through lands that are not always safe, and it helps to be fully informed about the state of affairs in the lands through which we travel. 

"But it's usually a matter of paying attention to gossip in certain parts, listening to people talk about their travels, and their business dealings, and putting two and two together. The more one knows, the safer one is, I've found. 

"This time, she'd asked me-" she looked toward the door as the drumming of hasty feet sounded outside in the hallway. 

I strode over to the door and listened. When I heard the ringing slither of steel blades being drawn, I jammed a ladder-back chair under the handle and sprinted to Var's side. "Come on." 

"What the- " she spluttered as I hauled her out of her chair. 

The door was shuddering under a pounding assault. Hoarse voices roared and steel blades clanged in the inn's hallway as I flung open the window sash. "We'll have to go out the window. Looks like whoever's after you hasn't given up yet." 

"No!" she wailed, and clutched at her skirts. "Why does this always happen when I'm not dressed for it?" 

I scooped her up and bundled her through the window. "There's a hay wagon down there. Don't miss it. Then get out of the way, because I'll be right behind you." 

"Grrr," she said, and disappeared into the dark. 

Behind me, the door burst open and three human ruffians armed with swords poured through. I cursed, because I didn't have any of my usual weapons on me. It was an inn, for Mahal's sake. I shouldn't have needed my warhammer. 

Trusting that Aunt Nott would settle up with the innkeeper, I ripped the leg off a spindly little nighttable and thrust it into the solar plexus of the nearest man. He gasped and fell back, and I swung around to block the second man's sword. The blade bit deeply into the wood, got stuck, and I yanked the weapon out of his hand. Then I turned and dove out the window, hoping like hell that there would be a pile of hay beneath me when I landed. 

There was. I hit the wagon hard enough to drive the air from my lungs, but it was better than solid ground. Then the horse that was hitched to the wagon whinnied and the wagon lurched forward. The wagon was moving. 

A heavy body landed on the dirt behind the wagon, and an agonized groan told me that one of the ruffians had just missed landing beside me in the hay. I chuckled. 

"Stop laughing and get up here," Var snapped from the driver's seat. "I can't drive this thing." 

Up in the window of Var's room, the third ruffian was cursing at us. Then he pulled his head in and disappeared. I climbed up next to her and hauled back on the reins until the horse stopped. "Neither can I. Let's go." 

We jumped down from the wagon, leaving the bewildered horse standing in the middle of the stable yard. I grabbed Var's hand, and we ran out into the dark streets of Bree. 

"Where are we going now?" Var asked breathlessly. 

If I recalled correctly, there were other inns in Bree. Not good ones, but at least we could find someplace to hide for the night. In the moonlight, I thought I saw the outline of a familiar sign. 

"This way," I said, and we ran down a nameless street.