The Book of Tales:
THROMBAL
Two guards at the docks of the Dim-bar saw a small boat pulled onto the shoreline, and went to investigate before the stranger eluded them.
"HALT! Who goes there?"
"Lumen. Lumen of Lindol, a map maker."
"State your business in the Dwarf King's realm!"
"I thought the forest of Kinderval was open to all men of the West who desired to hunt."
"You are not a hunter, Map-maker, and we are not in the forest now are we," said the fatest of the two dwarves.
"Why are you sculling about the gulf in this tiny ting," asked his taller companion? "We spied you for the docks over there, yet you landed among the rocks."
"I am an explorer out to map the shorelines of the world."
"What a preposterous notion if ever there was one indeed. You take us as fools?"
"Bamon, I think he does. It is absurd, because the world has already been mapped out."
"My dear dwarves I am mapping out the details of the shoreline that Nuthcorlan himself could --."
"These are King Kwandol's shorelines, not Nuthcorlans. Molin, does he know anything?"
"I think I know he is a spy of some sort. He must be."
"Now hold on there. Why must I be a spy?"
"I don't know why you must be. Do you think the King's guards are fools?"
"I think nothing of the sort my good dwarves. Take me to see the king himself and I will explain away this whole misconception."
"Now we are the one mis-perceiving you think?"
"Not so fast -- spy -- what do you have to offer in way of tribute?"
"A tribute is it now or a bribe?"
"To go before a king the like of Kwandol empty handed is not to appreciate dwarven custom or the one before whom you are standing."
"Have Mitharians learned nothing over the last 50 years? Even Molin here knows to toss a coin for the Captain of the Market-Gate." He laughed hard.
"I'm from Lindol, not Mithar. Be that as it many, you good dwarves do have a point there as mithrel-silver is worth a crate of Lindol's best wine."
"So. What 'tribute' is there in the bag - Explorer?"
"Clothes and writing supplies. I tell you what, how about I do a map of Jebul?"
"You have to do better than that. I believe the King under the mountain knows every corner and chamber of his own kingdom."
"I tell you what, Lumen, how about you go into the woods. If you live to tell the tale, maybe we will take you before Kwandol himself, otherwise piss off boy!"
"No manners at all, Molin."
"Bamon you took the words right out of my mouth; seriously, right out of my mouth."
The stranger stood there in silence for a moment, then got a bag and his pack. Seeing no hope of diswaying them he turned to the left and headed into the forest of Kinderval, even as night was beginning to fall.
Three days later the two dwarven guards, Molin and Bamon saw a figure coming up the trail fro the docks of the Dim-bar. It was the map maker Lumen carrying a bag in both arms, and his pack on his back. "Who goes there," they called?
Approaching them he answered, "A man, a gift and a story fit for a king."
They both looked into his bag then in unison, "Indeed!" Without delay they made their way and in time came before the king under the mountain upon his marbled throne.
With stern glare Kwandol barked, "Who might you be, a wayward thief come to spy out the treasures of my realm?"
"Quiet the contry my good king. I am Lumen, a traveler from Lindol who desires to re-map the world, and the vastness of you realm if you are so pleased. But first, a gift for the likes of a grand kind as yourself." With that Lumen gave over the moving bag to the guard Molin, who bowingly offered it at the king's feet.
Before Kwandol could call for it to be handed to him or opened by another his harsh countenance soften as he laughed, "THROMBAL!" Which in the dwarven tongue means 'Little Destroyer!' A lion cub began playing at the king's boots.
Lumen informed him, "It was the runt of the little sire." Looking at the guards he continued, "I - I came upon him in my travels near the forest of Kinderval. He was in search of his mother, who I found dead earlier. She was surely the yet unclaimed work of the Hora-medion tribesman. But I gathered up this 'little-destroyer' before any more adventures had a chance to go astray."
"King Kwandol said, "A most prized gift indeed! The Hora-medion are not to be intruded upon. Such an escape and wondrous tale deserves an equally prized reward, Lumen of --?"
"Of Lindol, your kingship."
"Of Lindol. You may have free run of my realm to map its most secret of chambers, but know this, in doing so your map will become a king's treasure as well. For in crafting it will take the likeness of a man a lifetime to explore."
"An honored -- captive, mi lord?"
"Personal -- friend -- of the king, an forever our guest. Bamon, provide chambers equal to my own, and Sojuth devise a necklace and paper to reflect my orders. Let the whole realm of Mount Jebul so recognize a world traveler is in our midst and welcome the king's beloved pet -- THROMBAL!"
The chamber roared with the king's laughter as the queen smiled beside her husband, enjoying the sight of his happiness.
...
