108 A Dogs Purpose (2/2)

So that's why you didn't complete our roster back in Fort Darah,” Varda realized. Her fist pounded on the open palm of her other hand. 'You must have been planning this for a while now, Commander.

I glanced back at Darah and quoted Sun Tzu once more, ”Victory usually goes to the army who has better-trained officers and men.”

Then I swiveled my head back to Thor and offered him my hand.

”I'm simply making sure we're prepared for whatever comes our way,” I said knowingly.

It took a few seconds, but the kobold eventually reached out to take my hand with one of his furry ones, and I helped him rise to his full height, which admittedly, was at least a head taller than me.

No, it doesn't count. He's not human, my brain whispered inside.

”So, I guess this means you're in?” I asked, still holding onto his hand.

Thors glanced toward his fellow kobolds who looked just as surprised as him at the strange turnaround of events. When he turned his snout back at me, he said, ”We will join you… Foolhardies, if you promise to help the kobolds of this region.”

I glanced over at Aura and saw her nod silently. In the next second, she ordered her efreet away. Just like that, the tension surrounding the tower's interior faded away as well.

Thor and I shook hands, a concept which perplexed the kobold until I explained this was how humans struck a binding deal with each other.

”Well, now that this is over,” I turned my attention on the thirty-nine other kobolds, ”what say we get your friends looked at by the Foolhardies healers.”

Thors bowed his head low and barked, ”Please do.”

I left Varda, Edo, and Berrian in charge of the situation and led a small party comprised of myself, Kallista, Aura, Ashley, Varda, and Zarz deeper into the tower's interior.

The space we'd left behind was more like a rather large entryway with three sets of stairs. Two found by the walls directly east and west of the tower entrance and a central staircase that rose up twenty feet to a second-floor landing. My party walked up these central steps and found ourselves at the entrance to an even wider circular hallway than the one we left behind.

”Looks like a—”

”—throne room,” Aura finished my thought.

”It's a great hall for supplicants,” Ashley explained, her eyes scanning the interior wall and the relief sculptures carved on nearly every surface of it. ”This tower must have belonged to the shieldmaidens at one point.”

Her point was valid. The wide circular hall with its high ceiling and its stained glass window did resemble the shieldmaiden tower we'd visited once before. Except, some of the designs, like the windows themselves, were dwarven, not elven which was the shieldmaiden default.

Ashley pointed to the nearest wall which was on our right.

”That depicts the first meeting of the lost monarch and the Mab, the shieldmaiden's high priestess,” she explained.

I hadn't forgotten that old sculpture I'd seen of a fairy babe rising out of a dead man's insides. Just remembering it made my face cringe.

”So, what? The shieldmaidens just up and left?” Luca asked.

”Maybe,” Aura agreed. ”Although it doesn't seem like they were the first ones here.”

It was Aura's turn to point her finger, directing all our attention to the raised dais at the end of the circular hall. On it stood a chair carved out of a large chunk of what looked like—

”Silver!” Zarz chirped. ”That throne is made entirely of silver!”

While Zarz raced toward the boulder-sized chunk of metal and the chair carved out of it, I spent the time raising an eyebrow.

”The silver throne?” I said, shaking my head.

”Dean,” Luca called my name. ”It kind of looks like Daenerys' throne in Dragonstone, right?”

I nodded after taking a second to agree that it really did look like that throne in that groundbreaking HBO TV series about dragons and ice zombies which Luca and I could only watch whenever mom wasn't around to scold us for ogling too many nude women.

”You know, it kind of does,” I said.

From across the hall, we could all hear Zarz exclaim, ”This is no elven work. Only dwarves could craft something this beautiful out of such malleable metal!”

”Whoever made this place, I think it would make a suitable headquarters. Right, Dean?” Kallista noted.

”Headquarters?” I turned to look at her and saw the knowing smile on her face. ”Whose?”