The Faithful Ones

Part 1- Chapter 6

Finally the seven had arrived. They ran the last few steps to the warm shelter of the dwarves.
"Tekzû," Raine said.
"Viekëlm. We have watched you travellers all day. Are you likely to stay long?"
"We'll be staying a while, but I don't know how long," Raine said.
"That is well. I'm Zadut."
And I'm Taigat-Zhëtzen. Come, we'll take you to Gatûkai-Zhëtzen." The two dwarves led the Westheathites through fire-lit corridors to a hall with a throne on a dais.

The King -- Raine assumed he was Gatûkai-Zhëtzen -- sat on a padded stone throne, with a golden jewelled crown. He nodded to Zadut and Taigat-Zhëtzen, acknowledging his visitors.
"What are your names?" the King asked. The seven introduced themselves.
"Why are you here? You're too young to be traders."
"We were sent, but we don't know why. A message will come when we've completed our task," explained Raine.
"That is well. I look forward to getting to know you all," Gatûkai-Zhëtzen said. Then he instructed Taigat-Zhëtzen and Zadut to find rooms for the Westheathites.

While Taigat-Zhëtzen went to get some clothes, Zadut gave them a brief tour of the rooms. They were arranged around a more open space that would be a courtyard above ground. In one room there was a small waterfall that they could use to wash themselves. The other rooms were furnished with beds, drawers, and a thick rug to soften the hard floor.
"Why do you have spare rooms?" Sunny asked.
"It's where the traders usually stay when they come," Zadut answered.

"I found clothes, but they mightn't fit," said Taigat-Zhëtzen.
"That's alright. Thank you," Rose smiled.
"I'll come to get you at the tëlëvai-biezhel -- the twelve-bell -- for dinner. Don't wander too far or you'll get lost," the dwarf instructed, and the pair left. The seven took turns washing, and helped each other make the clothes fit. Raine quietly said that she thought the dwarf King wasn't terribly grand, but the kind of plainness that comes from too much grandeur, and most of the others agreed. Some went to sit in the courtyard. Matthew was examining the two relief carving on the walls that depicted a forest and a mountain range. Rose asked Raine how long the dwarves had taken to carve out their home, and Raine said she didn't know. They speculated about various things wondering about all they had to learn from the dwarves, since they hadn't been taught much by the Sage.

"Come on, you seven, time for food! We'll go to the Radû Kaloutûpai feast hall, since that's my clan," said Taigat-Zhëtzen.
"Hang on, the rar-duh-kar-low-what?" Salma asked.
"Rar-duh Kar-low-tuh-pai: Red Clan. We're mostly fire-keepers, hunters, and buchod keepers. Although the buchod keepers are the strangest and the hunters don't like them much."
"What are fire-keepers?" Blaze inquired.
"I'm a fire-keeper. We keep the torches lit so that nobody has to walk through dark tunnels," answered the dwarf.
"Is it hard?" asked Blaze.
"Some days lots go out and I get heaps of messengers telling me where they are. Other days, none go out and I sit at the entrance cave," said Taigat-Zhëtzen. "We're here."

The feast hall was large, and entirely filled with dwarves. Taigat-Zhëtzen pushed through the crowd and the seven followed. Dwarves looked up in wonder at the Westheathites, and they looked back -- down, of course, for the dwarves only came to their chests.
"Tëm nëze kienô utie kenradezhû thaidtan kiedatôzhû," said a dwarf next to Taigat-Zhëtzen.
"Tafô gudf'lë. Utie atai Ëzdhathiemzhû," replied Taigat-Zhëtzen. Raine was just about to ask what they were talking about when Taigat-Zhëtzen answered the question.
"He thought you were the traders' kids. It's around the time they usually come, so the idea isn't entirely unreasonable."
"When will the traders arrive?" asked Blaze.
"Eight of them usually come around the first week of the fifth moon, and two more in the second or third. Don't worry about the rooms, we'll just tell them to share." The seven had only taken up three rooms, so it wouldn't be much trouble.

They woke early in the morning, although they couldn't tell. They dressed and sat in the courtyard. After about an hour, Taigat-Zhëtzen came and took them to the feast hall for breakfast, which was porridge. The Westheathites hadn't had porridge since the last morning they'd been in the village, and they ate with gusto. Afterwards, Taigat-Zhëtzen led them to the carvers.
"Zadut, show these seven your works, would you?" he said.
"Sure!" Zadut put down his tools and explained his role. There were two groups of carvers: the bright carvers made jewellery and such pretty decorations, and the cold carvers brought life to stone. Matthew paid attention to each detail, greatly interested in it all, and when the others went back he stayed to watch Zadut work.

"How did you get those glittery marks?" Zadut asked. He and the seven were sitting in the courtyard.
"The Water Spirit gave them to us. She lives in the pool near our village," replied Rose.
"She gave them to us to remind us of who we are and that we're Chosen -- what for, I don't know," said Raine.
"But you were Chosen to bring hope, weren't you, Raine?"
"H-how did you know?" Zadut shrugged.
"Some things fill one's heart with such a light that it cannot be contained."

Zadut took them to a Buchod Room. The books were different and more numerous than the few in the Spirit-Pool Village. The ones there were thin and plain, with only a few pictures in the margins. The Dwarvern ones filled many shelves, were fat with knowledge and stories, and filled with pictures that each took a page to themselves. The ink was bright, the images were beautifully creaed by skilled hands, and they were incredibly detailed. The books were bound with leather and many had clasps. The large room was quieter than most places in the Dwarvern Caverns, and there were sweet-smelling herbs in the torches and hearths. This created an enchanting and wondrous feel to the Buchod Room, and the seven were most certainly captivated by it.

"Hello Zadut. Shouldn't you be carving?" asked a woman emerging from the shelves with a pile of books in each hand and on her head.
"Yes, but I brought the seven Westheathites and decided to stay a while," he replied.
"I suppose that's well," she turned to the seven, "I'm Amedël, a buchod keeper." Thee Westheathites introduced themselves, and talked with Amedël. She showed them where the section of books written in the common speech was, and explained that she and the other buchod keepers had copied most of the books by hand. What books they hadn't yet copied, Amedël pointed out, and even read a little for the seven. Then she sat at her desk to copy and draw a new book while the seven immersed themselves in chronicles and mythology.