Dem walked into their home; he was a bit earlier than expected. Egfor would still be at the inn. He had thought of going there, but Copperspire said he needed to ask Egfor a favor. He decided not to be in on that. Besides, he wanted to wrap another present he bought for Yule without anyone around to see his hiding place. Syl hated people who had secrets, and she would love to know what Dem had bought so far and who he intended to give the presents to. He carefully wrapped the gift and quickly hid it in the secret hole he had made when building the root cellar.
That finished, he set about his usual relaxation ritual. The first was to get out of all but his pants. The house was kept warm for Egfor, so he removed all extra clothing when he was settling in for the night. Next, he sat on their bed and pulled out the book on the black gemstones he found at scholars’ stairs.
He has skimmed it, and it was talking about the existence of such gems, but he might have missed something in his skimming of it. The first chapter explained the difference between gemstones and crystals. Something Dem knew nothing about, so he continued reading. His ever-present thirst for knowledge quenched. The feelings through the ring brought him out of his studies. They weren’t bad, just odd. Like Egfor was somewhere he didn’t belong, yet he knew Egfor was at the inn.
Something rippled in the air, like dwarves being strangled or otherwise; the only phrase that came to mind, “put out like a candle.” Dem shook his head. No, while he knew being a soul singer connected him with the souls of all races, he would never feel it unless he was there. Well, he never had before he amended. But Arry had never said anything like this would or could happen.
Egfor collapsed, he felt it, and he was on his feet, his book forgotten on the bed and racing across the frost-covered grass to the inn. He flipped over the fence and hit the ground running. He did not even notice the pain shooting through the knees, ankles, and hips. He burst into the inn, and Copperspire was looking like he was taking notes for some experiment.
“What have you done, you base-born kin slayer?” Dem’s rage swallowed him, and his fist came forward, ready to plow into Copperspire. The elegant elf sidestepped the punch, and Dem’s right hand touched the artifact. The last thing he remembered was the sound of dwarves talking about the return of … as he collapsed nearly on top of Egfor.
“Two humans? I best find Arrygg now. She will most likely try to kill me too.” Copperspire said as he called one of Dem’s messengers in.
