Vel'duith blinked a few times, flabbergasted at Sigrun's outburst. There was the expected concern for completing the mission. There was the unexpected concern for preserving her neck. Which was then explained by her companion's apparently thorough disbelief in the sincerity of her spoken oath. She rose to her feet, gaining perhaps six whole inches of prominence, casting her hat onto the floor. Lip twitching, her voice tried at first to remain calm, but each word came out shriller and louder. Largo would have no problem recognizing the shrew-like, scolding tone that had told off the other two
drow who came in the window, shooing them away from the bed he and his sister had hidden under.
"'All the world,' Sigrun Flintfeet? I promised him no such thing! I cannot bring back the scores of lives my cadre-mates took, nor can I unmake his grief over any who were lost, nor do I profess the power to even erase the horror of his memory of the tragic events. I cannot even bar the horrors from entering my own reverie, and I was merely a witness to them, not a victim. I promise only the return of the ruby-ax itself, and as you rightly say, only
after our mission has been completed."
She turned toward Karskgorak with an arched eyebrow and a raised finger, but then back to Sigrun again as she felt her anger start to break (for who could stay long angry in view of Karsk's jovial presence), starting to wag her finger at both of them in turn, her lips quivering with stubbornly held-in anger.
"And what's more! Know that I would risk neither of you in its retrieval! A dwarf and an orc, no matter how valiant, puissant, and fearless both may be? I may as well bring a drum and a trumpet, too, and herald our entrance to each and every cavern along the path to our eventual grave!"
She turned toward Beldarion, her face still piquant.
"Maester Baldarion, if I may momentarily interrupt your amusement! You should know that the mummy's wards are failing, and more than that, strange magic leaks slowly from them, wafting whither it will, and changing what it touches. It does not happen instantly; hence, our risking bringing it directly to you. But make no mistake, this is a mystery that must needs be unraveled, and swiftly! And preferably outside of the town, which we of course wish no harm to befall!"
As the wind in her sails finally started to ebb, she half wagged a finger at Largo, before placing her palms down on the table with a light slap.
"And lastly, Ser Rubyaxe: if you must further persist in delaying our investigation and the Maester's research on account of- of all things! -
outrage over a door smashed in the course of the rescue of the good maester there, please at least see fit to first drive the mummy-cart a safe distance from the town and bring back Sigrun's faithful elk Honey-Pepper to manger! Our family business shall be assuredly resolved
afterward, as Sigrun rightly protests, and yes, even as Karskgorak guarantees! Know that if I truly held so much regard for my own neck, I would not dare walk undisguised among
dwarves after swearing myself to hunt
monsters, when I could very easily have avoided doing either thing!"
She finally sat the rest of the way back down, breathing in and out heavily, snowy eyebrow twitching, a slight frown scrunching her pointy nose, and her face somehow flushed even blacker than it already was to begin with.
Karskgorak Fiend-Crusher
Sigrun Flintfeet
