Vol.2 Ch.61 A Warm Welcome.

Vol.2 Ch.61 A Warm Welcome.

Rya with her elven eyesight notices the statue atop the dome. "Well, the Dwarves sure love to honor their Ale?" Rya mutters out loud while looking at the statue.

"Yeah, that's a statue of my ancestor King Burell Meredydd the Cunning," Quinus explains.

"That explains a lot... And here I thought I was seeing things... Thanks, Quin," Rya said with a raised eyebrow.

She then noticed the palace walls that served as a last line of defense against enemy invaders if they somehow managed to get past the outer city walls. "Look! Look at those walls. They're made out of solid steel. What kind of magic does this place have to create a wall out of nothing but steel?" Rya asked as she looked around at the wall.

"The Dwarves are amazing when it comes to engineering. The Dwarven Kingdom of Hjorleif built this city before becoming a part of Fiafyr," Quinus replied while he looked around for the palace gate. "There it is!... Alright everyone, act casual."

The group heads to the gates of the palace. And now they can see why the town is called Ironside. The gate is made of steel and lined with sharpened purple iron spikes that stick out from the sides of the gates. It reminds Rya of the gate to the Labyrinth.

"Wow! I wonder how long it took the Dwarves to craft all of this," Rya said as she looked at the spiked gates.

"If I remember from what I've read... It took them almost a month to construct these gates and it took a year to build the walls," Quinus replied as he took a step back to get a better look at the gate. That's when he noticed that there was no line to get into the palace. "Looks like it's our lucky day... There's no one trying to enter the palace gates right now. I can't wait to finally relax..."

When Quinus and the group were about ten feet away from the gate, of the palace, the guards noticed the group. "Who goes there?" one guard asked.

Quinus answers. "We are here to see the Baron."

The Dwarven Guard noticed the Prince's golden eyes. "The prince! You've returned!" The guard said in shock.

"Please wait here," the guard said to them with a bow, while the other Guard stood there at attention. He kept glancing at Rya from time to time as he waited for his superior to come.

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The group waits for nearly 45 minutes as the guard talks to the captain of the guard. Finally, the guard returns with an older dwarf wearing a red hat and brown robes carrying a staff. He had a wrinkly face and a gray beard. The man takes a deep breath as he looks at the group.

"Ha ha ha! I knew you would do it! Well done, Your Highness! Let them through the gates!" The old dwarf laughs.

"Thank you," Quinus said as he bowed to the old dwarf and walked in.

Sir George, Percy, and Dalia followed Quinus through the gate with Rya coming up the rear. The old dwarf watched Rya carefully as he followed behind her and when they entered the palace grounds, the old dwarf smiled at Rya and asked, "And who might you be?"

"I accept your challenge Hajdah!" Rya said proudly trying to put up a front as Quin was a little worried about Rya's inability to hold her liquor.

Hajdah smiled and nodded, "I see! So this Dark Elf has the courage to drink something other than rotten grapes! Good, I might start respecting Dark Elves after today!"

Rya could feel the eyes of everyone on her. They were judging her as she tried not to show how nervous she was.

"Huh? Rotten grapes?... I mean, I don't mind wine but I can't deny that beer is better," Rya said with a bit of confusion as to why the dwarf tried insulting her.

"So you prefer beer? What do you think of our ale, Lady Rya?" Hajdah asked with one brow raised.

Rya saw Hajdah's dumbfounded look and realized how much the dwarves respected their ales. She also heard the other dwarves murmuring to each other about Rya's response.

"She likes beer? This is the first time I ever heard a Dark Elf enjoy something other than wine." Whispered a female dwarf.

"Maybe she's just saying that so we let our guard down then she can attack us... Or maybe she's telling the truth? It's hard to tell," Muttered the male dwarf.

"You know what I think? Maybe it was the High Elves lying to us about Dark Elves hating our Ale. I mean it isn't the first time they have lied to us... And this is the first time I've seen a Dark Elf in my 80 years of life," Whispered a third dwarf.

"Well, Lady Rya. I didn't expect you to agree to the challenge. So if you can drink one stein of ale, you'll show us that you're trustworthy," Hajdah said grinning ear to ear.

"Hajdah can you use something smaller than a dwarven stein for Rya? Like a pint?" Quinus asked as he noticed how the dwarves' eyes lit up when Rya mentioned drinking Dwarven Ale.

"Hmm? Are you saying she lied about liking our ale Prince Quinus?" Hajdah asked with a glint in his eye.

Quinus sighed and shook his head. "No, it just-"

"Hmm. Well... We still need you to drink one stein of dwarven ale for us to believe Lady Rya's words, Your Highness." Hajdah said.