A crowd of dwarves surrounded the strange creature, who shared the pedestal beside Vaulen\u2019s foot with only two others.\u00a0 He looked to Bolt and Dorn instinctively as the shouts grew louder and angrier.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe\u2019s in league with them harpies as sure as I\u2019ve had the beard since I was ten!\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWe should pluck him bare and see if he can still fly if we threw \u2018em atween the cliffs.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s a bad omen.\u00a0 A mighty bad omen!\u201d<\/p>\n
While Dorn worked to placate the crowd, raising his hands as though they had the power to quell the superstitious lot, another dwarf climbed onto the pedestal.\u00a0 Bolt swallowed away the tension in his throat, having his fair share of conflicts with that member of the clan.<\/p>\n
\u201cYe said the same thing about a human baby that came to us all them years ago,\u201d Lund said, passing a glance in Bolt\u2019s direction.\u00a0 \u201cWe all know the stories.\u00a0 And we know how it ended up.\u00a0 Some of ye wouldn\u2019t even be here if it weren\u2019t for the tall bastard.\u00a0 A bad omen?\u201d He spit on the ground just beyond the statue.<\/p>\n
Finally offered some quiet, Dorn inhaled deeply, and turned to the stranger.\u00a0 \u201cThat still doesn\u2019t excuse you for whatever it was you were doing up there.\u00a0 That\u2019s a link to our heritage\u2014our history.\u00a0 It\u2019s not for folks to lounge about on and offer a place for tired wings to rest.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI wasn\u2019t resting,\u201d the bird man said.\u00a0 His baritone voice surprised the lot of the dwarves, who half expected him to reply with a screech.\u00a0 \u201cI was trying to tug the mythril free.\u201d<\/p>\n
That incited the crowd again, and even Lund realized there would be nothing he could do to placate them.\u00a0 He raised his hands in defeat and hopped from the pedestal.\u00a0 Their loud cries to banish the winged thief echoed out until more of the clan emerged from the long hall.\u00a0 Those closest to the statue almost fell over when a voice they had not expected boomed out.<\/p>\n
\u201cQuiet down, the lot of you!\u201d Dorn cried.\u00a0 His face had gone deep red, and even his son looked on with wide eyes.\u00a0 \u201cYou think there\u2019s mythril in the statue or on the hammer?\u00a0 And that we wouldn\u2019t be using it?\u00a0 Never mind the fact that it wouldn\u2019t even catch a lightning bolt\u2014the whole reason the statue was built here.\u00a0 Our feathered friend is wrong.\u00a0 There is no mythril up there.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThere has to be,\u201d the bird man protested.\u00a0 \u201cThe caravan drivers said\u2014\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cNo one knows this statue better than me,\u201d Dorn interrupted.\u00a0 \u201cNow, you\u2019d be better off telling us why you were trying to steal from us in the first place before you try to argue there\u2019s mythril where there\u2019s not.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cLet\u2019s start with your name,\u201d Bolt pressed.<\/p>\n
The stranger nodded, and the bronze feathers around his neck glimmered in the sunlight even in that subtle movement.\u00a0 \u201cMy name is\u2026 \u2018He who walks with the Sun\u2019.\u201d\u00a0 He looked to the dwarves, noting their curious glances.\u00a0 He gave a knowing nod, and spoke again. \u00a0\u201cI am called Keota.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cAnd was it the sun that told you to steal from us dwarves?\u201d Dorn asked.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe didn\u2019t think anyone would notice or care.\u00a0 No one sees the top of a statue unless they have wings.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
A crowd of dwarves surrounded the strange creature, who shared the pedestal beside Vaulen\u2019s foot with only two others.\u00a0 He looked to Bolt and Dorn instinctively as the shouts grew louder and angrier. \u201cHe\u2019s in league with them harpies as sure as I\u2019ve had the beard since I was ten!\u201d \u201cWe should pluck him bare […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":3522,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"spay_email":"","footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_is_tweetstorm":false},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/tellest.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/05\/Lord-of-Thunder-3-1.jpg","jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p1UVey-14x","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/tellest.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4125"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/tellest.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/tellest.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tellest.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tellest.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4125"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/tellest.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4125\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4126,"href":"https:\/\/tellest.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4125\/revisions\/4126"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tellest.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3522"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/tellest.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4125"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tellest.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4125"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tellest.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4125"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}