Not Magic Enough and Setting Boundaries - By Valerie Douglas Page 0,48

faces much like the rock they mined, grim and gray - surrounded her, their bodies heavily muscled from years of digging and working the stone.

The Dwarves gave the outward appearance it was the men who led when in truth it was the women - a concession to their dealings with Men after one too many of the Wives had been killed. Men had had no understanding of the importance of Wives to Dwarven culture and society. Like the name of their people - which in their own language meant chosen of the stone while in Mannish it meant small - it was a source of much misunderstanding. Adapted to heavy work in the mines, the men were all obstreperous and volatile when not at work. Smaller in stature and warmer by nature, the Wives were the balance to their men - a calming oasis. They were the Healers among them, the gem miners and workers.

Like Elves the Dwarves were also empathic and there were bindings within their community as deep and strong as the soul-bond that bound Elven couples together, or the true-friend bond Elon and Colath shared. A friendship so deep it held them as close as or closer than brothers. To lose a true-friend was to lose a vital part of yourself, someone who understood you completely.

To lose a soul-bond? It was to lose half of yourself, to always feel that loss keenly, that missing part of one’s soul, one’s spirit, the ease and peace of knowing the one person who understood your heart and soul, the boundless depths of your spirit.

Elon hadn’t yet formed a soul-bond and he felt the absence sharply, especially at times such as these. He’d had alliances and a child had been born of one of them but that deeper bond was denied him. Much older than many of his folk to find his, after so long there was a part of him, buried deep, that feared his soul-bond had been lost in the terrible days of the Wizard Wars or in one of the many conflicts between Elves and men, before he could know her.

In the end, he couldn’t know; he could only serve his people, letting that and his treasured true-friend bond with Colath salve that wound…and wait.

Long-lived, the Dwarves were - like Elves - also less fertile than men. The loss of any of child-bearing age layered disaster on top of desolation.

So the need for subterfuge, foregone here when it was Elves and Dwarves who treated with one another, Jareth’s presence notwithstanding, although she looked askance at him before she chose to ignore him. One or two of the male Dwarves didn’t, their eyes glittering as they eyed him with warning.

This then the reason for sending a Lore Master, as defense against Jareth’s magic.

“Elon of Aerilann,” she said, her voice surprisingly deep, a rumble in her chest, yet the sound was still musical.

Elon inclined his head in respect.

“I am Palic, Lore Master and First Wife here,” she said. “There is one of the race of men with you - a wizard.”

Her tone was accusatory.

First Wife was Elon’s counterpart as First among Equals among the Dwarves - chosen by all of her Cavern to lead.

As many of the Dwarven women were, she was fair to look upon, with hair the color of polished oak. It spilled in tight curls and ringlets down over her shoulders and back. She was sweetly curved but her golden eyes were as cold and implacable as the metal they resembled.

There was power in her, too.

“A wizard, yes, and a man,” Elon acknowledged.

It wasn’t as if the Dwarves hadn’t known they were coming, they’d been warned. This had always been a danger, though. The Dwarves looked for a reason to break the compact.

Jareth went still, his heart in his throat.

Dwarves had no reason to love the men who encroached on their lands, attempted to invade their mines and cheated them - these people to whom a Contract was Law…and as binding.

These folk loved wizards even less than Elves as their people too, had suffered at the hands of his kind during the wizard wars. Like Elves, the long-lived members of this race hadn’t forgotten.

As Elon hadn’t, though he’d been little more than a boy. The memories were bitter and painful. He set them aside.

Thankfully, Palic wasn’t one of those or they might be facing greater difficulty on Jareth’s behalf.

Men - living much shorter lives - forgot easily, considering such things as something from the past, while some