"Great, wonderful, now you can go and recruit dragons. And make sure the princes and Baldrich are captured alive. You are allowed to kill the rest of them," ordered Nigriel.
"As you command, father, so shall it be," accepted the dark princess, grinning pleased.
In the morning, a small army of about six hundred sombers, including warriors, settlers and necromancers, departed from Angorian for the massive Dragons' Mountain.
Leaving Belvichu, faced with the impossibility of finding the White Magician, Lirieth asked Baldrich to teach him everything he knew about dragons and how to dominate them. That's why every day they moved away from the expedition, prudently, to carry out the lessons.
Lirieth had reached an unusual level of sorcery in almost every facet, except in the domination of creatures, a path she had rarely explored, some of them out of mere curiosity with her brother Turgarok, who was a master of such an art.
When Baldrich noticed the princess's level of beast domination, he reproached her with propriety and respect:
"Excuse me, Your Highness, but I remember hearing you say that you thought you knew how to perform dragon domination and, from what I see, that's a long way from reality."
"You are right, Master Baldrich, it was a white lie to reassure my parents and not to oppose my accompanying my fiancé. I was hoping you could teach me all about it," the princess defended herself, smiling faintly.
"Unfortunately, my knowledge of creature domination reaches only médium species, at most, and of little intelligence. To subdue dragons, one must have an extraordinary knowledge and experience in this ability. I would not be a good teacher for such a task, yet I will begin your instruction with the little that I know, so that I will advance and make my way to the White Magician, if we ever come across him," replied the elf.
"I thank you. If it's all right with you, we'll start the classes right now," asked Lirieth.
In these classes Baldrich had the opportunity to get to know the impressive power of the princess as a sorceress and tried, unsuccessfully and repeatedly, to explore her mental area which he could not access, so insistently that one day the princess faced him.
"Master Baldrich, I thank you very much for the teachings that you offer me, although not to the point of allowing you to enter the area of my deepest secrets, which I do not allow to invade anyone," warned the princess correctly, but also firmly.
"Forgive my audacity, but I must carry out all the explorations I consider necessary to ensure the protection of my prince and an inaccessible area of his future wife does not guarantee me too much security," explained the elf, with a certain boldness.
"Would it be enough if, under a magic oath, I was to declare to you that my fiancé has nothing to fear from me?" the princess asked him.
"That would not allay all my concerns, for I have seen skillful sorcerers mock the truth with magical oaths, and as far as I have been able to observe Your Highness has attained a degree of mastery with magic capable of dealing with such arts," Baldrich declared.
"You don't approve of me, do you? You don't think me worthy of your prince? Because I'm from the orc race," said the princess in a reproachful tone.
"I admire and approve of you, and I consider you to be the worthiest of the suitors who have been shuffled to the present day. However, I also believe that you hide something, I don't know if good or bad, but you hide it and that worries me," replied the magician.
"Believe me or not, I give you my word that, in what is hidden, nothing bad awaits Syriel, my word will have to suffice for you," confessed Lirieth.
"Your words seem sincere, but I don't know whether because they are or because you make them look like," answered the magician.
"Then you will have to accept the shadow of that doubt as your companion," concluded the princess, aching and harshly.
Neither of the two said anything to Syriel about their differences, and despite them Lirieth and Baldrich continued with their lessons for the next few days, in which the princess succeeded in dominating several lizards and even a snake of respectable size, just on the day they began to glimpse the Slanted Mountains far away on the horizon.
A short distance away, but just at that very moment, Syriel scanned the surroundings with concern, as though he had a strange presence watching them from a distance, but he only saw a crow flying from a distant mound and, although he had no certainty, the prince sensed that the bird had something to do with the restlessness that gripped it. He watched the black bird until it was lost in the celestial immensity of the sky.
Looking towards the Slanted Mountains, he also felt a clear unease, as if he sensed that in Karbandur, the real city of dwarves in the Slanted Mountains, some unexpected surprise awaited them, and not exactly pleasant.
Turgarok glimpsed the sky, hoping to find a black spot that was growing little by little. His little friend would have to be back by now, it had left several hours ago and should not be long gone.
At last, he saw a tiny dot on the celestial horizon approaching at great speed.
Turgarok raised his arm, accepting into it a black raven from Karbandur. He received with clear signs of concern the information given to him by his feathery spy, which augured serious problems for princes in the dwarf kingdom.
A few minutes later, the raven moved away carrying a missive in the direction of Urkaroth.
During the following three days, the march of the alliance took place at a good pace and without major incidents. They left the White Mountains behind and began the last stretch of the journey to the dwarfs' main city: Karbandur.
Karbandur was the largest and most majestic of the numerous fortresses, carved under the rocks of the Slanted Mountains, which stretched for about two thousand kilometers. Dwarves carved the rock into the mountains and at various levels both up and down. Karbandur had more than twenty underground levels and as many above the surface, with thousands of ranches in each level that turned it into a real labyrinth for those who did not know it thoroughly. Torches were held by all the walls and from the very high ceilings hung large and numerous oil lamps that more than illuminated the ample stances gained from the rock. The walls were not only smooth, but also, along with the floor, the countless columns and even the ceilings were adorned with figures, statues, motifs of the dwarf culture and phrases and quotations in their complex, but at the same time beautiful writing, all sculpted on the rock of the mountain itself, although in the right measure, without being overloaded.
Karbandur was, undoubtedly, one of the wonders of all Frienia in terms of constructions. Anyone who contemplated it was amazed by the size, the labors and the architectural beauty that the singular city gave off on all sides.
Leaving the White Mountains behind, all that remained was to cross the Forge River Bridge, the end of which, on the other side would leave the small army almost at the very gates of the majestic dwarf city.
The dwarves’ hospitality
Frienia, year 1815 of the second era.
At dusk on the tenth day of the procession, when the squadron of men and orcs was approaching the gates of Karbandur, Ankar, the very king and lord of the dwarves, came out to meet them, with a substantial escort of armed warriors who tripled the number of new arrivals.
When Syriel and Lirieth stood right in front of Ankar, the King of the dwarves told them:
"Welcome to Prince Syriel and all humans, but not to the unclean beasts that accompany