Read Online Hidden Spark (Dark Magic Enforcer Book 6) by Al K. Line - Free Book Online Page B

was.
    "How about we start with why you're my guide?"
    "Because they made me." He bit into rich pastry.
    "Why did they choose you?"
    "Because I'm the one that serves the dragon," he said, shrugging.
    "And how come you serve the dragon?" What was with this dude?
    "Because I'm the only young dwarf around that can enter his lair without going all funny in the head."
    Now we were getting somewhere. "And why would other dwarves go funny in the head?"
    "Because of all the gold. Don't know what all the fuss is about. It's all right, I suppose, but nothing special."
    Aha, so the rest of them couldn't even get inside without being overwhelmed by the riches. Something dawned on me then. "Don't suppose you're a relation to Gavin. I'm his friend, you know?"
    Urrad's eyes lit up instantly. "Really? He's a hero. I wish I could be like him. He drives one of your motor vehicles, meeting all kinds of interesting people, different things every day. Exciting."
    Kids, they're all the same. As soon as it's something they're into they open up. "Yes, he's a taxi driver. But only because he's allergic to gold. Pretty rare that, but it sounds like you have a little of that in you."
    "He's my..." Urrad worked it through in his head. "Er, a cousin, anyway, maybe on my mother's, father's, mother's side, I forget."
    "Right. Poor guy, though, he wants to be back down here but can't because of all the gold."
    "It's lame. Everyone thinks it's this brilliant thing, but it's just yellow rocks." Urrad put a hand to his mouth and glanced around nervously. "Don't tell anyone I said that, they don't like it."
    "I won't." He had every reason to be nervous. It was like insulting the whole of his kind in the worst possible way. You could insult a dwarf's mother and be more likely to keep your life than if you insulted their gold. Any gold. "So, you serve the dragon, do its bidding, because nobody else can handle the stash he's got?"
    "Like I said. He gathered it all up, lots of it anyway, and put it all in one place. Now he won't let anyone have it and nobody can go in and get it because it's too overwhelming and even if they use magic to dull their senses the dragon would fry them to a crisp if they tried."
    "So the dragon is male?"
    Urrad gave me a funny look, like I was utterly daft. "Of course the dragon's male. Are you really a powerful wizard up there? They must have very low standards."
    "Why, you cheeky sod. And you, are you male?"
    "Now I definitely know you humans have something wrong with you. Of course I am, isn't it obvious?"
    "No, it isn't. I hate to break it to you, dude, but where I come from the women don't normally go around sporting full beards and wearing chain mail. Let alone wielding axes. Okay, some of them have axes, but definitely no beards."
    "What do they do to cover their chins?" he asked with real interest.
    "What!? Nothing, they leave them exposed."
    Urrad gasped and his eyes went wide in shock. "And you let them? Aren't they ashamed? Don't they get into trouble?"
    "No, of course not. Everyone has a chin. Most men don't even have beards. Not like yours, anyway. We'd never get anything done if we had to spend all our time brushing them."
    "Only women brush their beards, I'll have you know," he said, indignant. Damn but I was getting a veritable sociology lesson on all things dwarf. I'd learned more from this kid in one conversation than I had in a lifetime. "But that is so disgusting. For a dwarf, showing their chin is like walking around naked and waving your dangly bits about."
    "Hmm, some of us do that." I put an end to the conversation for a while with that, but we do, don't we?
    Once we'd finished our meal, meaning Urrad had stuffed his face until the food was half gone, he packed everything up, shouldered his much lighter backpack—leather, of course—and we headed off.
    Past marvelous architectural wonders, little corners that seemed to be shrines, vaulted chambers and cramped tunnels where Mithnite and I had to bend almost double