A tale of Itharia
Tundle knelt before the font and dipped his gray hand into the cold waters. There was no light in the cavern save for the faint glow of blue phosphorescence in the rock, but it was more than enough for a Deep Dwarf's eyes. He pulled his hand from the water and pressed wet fingers to his forehead, and with a circular motion made the sign of the stone. The gesture was normally formality, but on this day it was a prayer. A cool breeze came in from his right, its touch especially noticeable on his wet forehead, and he shuddered to think of the nearby tunnel the breeze wafted in from, and of the thing that once dwelt there. His thoughts turned to his father's last moments in that hole.
The silence was broken by the grinding of stone on stone, and the door in front of the font slowly slid open, a flickering blue light coming from within. It was a summons, and Tundle stood and entered the council chamber.
The council chamber was lit by a single brazier of blue fire, and the sixteen members who sat at the elevated table were hidden by the violet robes they wore. They were each an elected member of one of the ruling families of the Stone Clans, chosen to serve their people for life, their lives unnaturally prolonged by the Father Gem. Tundle stepped onto the decorated flagstone before them and bowed as low as his squat frame would allow.
"Masters," he said. "I humbly thank you for receiving me."
"Tundle," said a female councilmember, "we are unsure of the purpose of your visit.
You should have found the orders we gave you to be precise."
"Indeed I did masters," Tundle replied. "Yet still I seek clarification. For three hundred years the Father Gem has had us guard the outside world from the creature that lurked just outside these doors. The overlanders never knew of our sacred charge, and thought us evil when we guarded our realm from interlopers."
"We need no history lesson from you, summoner," said a male councilmember with a light, airy voice. "Get to the purpose of your visit."
"Masters, the Devourer of Worlds has escaped. Surely the Father Gem wants the Deep Dwarves to remedy their failure? Surely I should be taking a legion to the overworld to hunt down and recapture our prisoner?"
"You dare question the will of the Father Gem?" boomed a deep voice from the bench.
"No masters," promised Tundle, shaking his head. "But the Father Gem knows my family's history. Long were we the jailers of the Devourer. The beast must be captured or killed lest it begin to lay its seed. And there is no dwarf better suited for the task than myself."
"Is it the beast or your family's honor that concerns you?" asked another voice.
"The beast, my masters. I swear it. Nothing else matters in the face of the Devourer's escape."
"And that is where you are wrong, summoner. You come here before us, daring to question the will of the Father Gem. Yet you do so in ignorance. The Devourer's escape was foretold, and its fate will be determined by another, far away from here. But there is another matter of grave importance."
"Indeed," said another voice. "Even now a great cataclysm is brewing. A human man who is no longer human travels along a red path, and on that path he shall meet a female whose identity is hidden from us. The violence they will do to each other threatens the plans of the Father Gem. And so we have chosen to take sides in the Summoner Wars. Our self-imposed exile ends now." Tundle bowed low again.
"The council is gracious as always. I thank you for your patience and guidance," he said. Other words were spoken out of formality, but Tundle made his exit as quickly as etiquette would allow. When he returned to his quarters, Kynder was waiting.
"How was your visit?" asked the mage with a smirk.
"Flawless," replied Tundle. "They still believe the Father Gem talks to them. When they learn what we have done, it will be too late."
"Shall I have the Father Gem give them one last message before we depart?" asked Kynder.
"No. We are done with them."