[BlackApostleVilhelm]

Vilhelm stared at the High Dragon Keep in mute satisfaction, he knew dwarven handiwork when he saw it and this was most certainly some of the best he had seen. All around him dwarves from the Steelhammer clan bustled to and fro on thier business errands around the keep, it would appear that he would have some drinking partners after all. He smiled at this thought and vaguely remembered having a cousin marry into the Steelhammer clan, maybe she was here, or maybe his mind was messing with him, either way he was excited to see others of his race around here.

Modeus split them all into pairs, giving each pair a specific task to set about while he was gone doing whatever he was doing. Vilhelm got paired with a tall strong looking man, well tall for Vilhelm that was, everyone was taller then him. They were to study the different books on combat stances and skills, something Vilhelm did not relish doing one bit, while he loved combat he felt that the only true way to learn how to do it best was through actual physical practice.....not reading.

The man introduced himself as Fostolf and Vilhelm bowed in return, "My name is Vilhelm Ironheart." Plain and simple, that was his response, they had much work to do and he was not going to let pleasantries get in the way. He leafed through the first few chapters of the book in front of him and let out a grunt before getting up and grabbing his axe, when Fostolf looked at him he said, "Best way to learn is to do something, so I am doing the stances."

He strode over to an empty space and tried to remember the first stance, picturing how his body should look in his mind. He moved his limbs so that they were in the position they should have been in, but something felt out of place, he knew that the stances should feel normal and not awkward.......which meant he had messed something up. He spent the next two hours goofing around and trying to get the stances right, each one somehow feeling a tad bit off, but he did not expect himself to get them right away anyways.

When their time was up he and Fostolf were supposed to go and feed the dragons, Fostolf grabbing only one big barrel. Vilhelm chuckled, men did not know how to move things properly, dwarves on the other hand had much experience moving things twice or three times their size. He looked around and found one barrel of mead and threw it under his arm while kicking a barrel of meat over and rolling it in front of him, he wasnt quite sure if dragons liked mead or not, but he knew that whatever one was his was going to like it......after all how could a dwarf's dragon not like drink as much as he did?

They entered the courtyard where he could hear growls, screeches, and numerous other noises and stopped as Fostolf was tackled by hungry dragons. He rolled his barrel of food out and saw the dragons split for that one too and slowly made his way out with the mead and looked around. A huge mound of compacted dirt sat in the courtyard and Vilhelm cocked his head as he thought about what its purpose was, "FOOD!" a booming voice echoed in his head and he blinked his eyes and shook his head. He saw the side of the mound start to shake and rumble a bit and soon a golden square head popped out of the dirt and blinked its eyes.

It swung its head around quickly, its nostrils expanding and contracting as it sniffed the air, finally turning its head to regard Vilhelm. Vilhelm smiled and waved, this must be his dragon, fitting really he thought, and also good because he was deathly afraid of heights. The dragon wiggled its way out of the dirt and galloped across the courtyard, pushing the other dragons out of the way with its bulk so that it could get to one of the barrels of meat. Its golden scales shimmered in the sunlight, a stark contrast to the black nubs that were its budding spikes, yet it was still magnificent.

Vilhelm tapped the keg of mead with his hand and the dragon popped its head up, a piece of meat hanging from its mouth, and made its way over to him. It swallowed the piece of meat whole before sniffing the keg, "Food?" the question formed in his mind and Vilhelm shook his head, "No my friend, this is mead, something I am most certain ye will take a liking to." The dragon nibbled on the edge of the keg so that the bronze fluid inside could be sucked out and within three seconds the barrel was gone. It burped and Vilhelm swore that if dragons could smile this one would be doing it right now, he chuckled at his new friend's satisfaction.

Thorygus

Thorygus awoke to the sun beating down on his golden scales and stretched letting the heat warm his body up. He yawned loudly before looking around and seeing the other dragons waking also, they seemed so much frailer then him, he saw one stretch its wings and he tried to do the same but remembered he had none. He grunted and followed them all as they were taken out of the den by some humans who were leading them to where they were going to train, or practice something, he did not really listen that much.

As they finally made it to the courtyard they were hit by the sunlight again and Thorygus shook his body in pleasure. He looked around and saw some tables and chairs where they could practice their flight, a deep pool of water, and a mound of compacted dirt that immediately caught his attention. He sprinted towards the mound and occupied himself for the next two hours with digging around in it, the cool dirt cooling his body off, the digging working out his thick muscles.

After the two hours were over he heard the other dragons yelping for food so he made his way towards the side of the mound. He could sense a presence, one very much like him, and knew that it was bringing him food, he shot his thoughts out so that it could hear him before his head finally broke free from the dirt and he looked around and sniffed the air searching for the food. His eye caught the two barrels and he pulled his bulk out of the dirt and muscled his way past the other smaller dragons so that he could get at the meat. Some growled and others hissed but he ignored them, they would be smart to leave him alone until he was done eating, otherwise there would be hell to pay.

He heard a tapping noise and picked his head up to see the being that he had felt was like him. He was much shorter then the humans who had brought them here but he looked a lot like the short ones that he had observed always moving around, he looked stronger then them though and Thorygus knew deep down inside that this being was a true warrior. He made his way over and looked at the barrel listening to the being speak, he asked if it was food and the man chuckled before only saying it was something he would like.

Thorygus munched the outside of the barrel and took a quick sip of the liquid, he found it was to his liking and soon the whole barrel was gone. He belched loudly and knew that the man could feel his happiness.

 

[BlackApostleVilhelm]

Vilhelm

After feading the dragons, and giving this gold one that seemed to have taken a liking to him a nice barrel of mead, they were taken from the courtyard to go eat themselves. His stomach growled loudly and he knew that he was ready to dine with his kin, share stories, make new friends, and drink much mead. When they entered he saw Modeus sitting at the head of one of the tables and he beckoned for them to sit with him and eat, and so they did.

Vilhelm sat himself next to Modeus but far enough so that he had a dwarf on his side that he could converse with. As they got their food he spoke to his kinsman in their native tongue, "Brother, it is good to see so many of our kinfolk in one area. I had come here believing i was going to be the only one of the Dwarven Kingdom living here, it fills my heart with joy to see so many of us here and to see the beauty of this mighty fortress." He looked around him at the fortress's build and could feel himself getting emotional, the old tunnels were full of might keeps like this, but since the dragon scourge many of them had been destroyed or taken over and it filled him with not only joy but also sorrow to see one like this so untouched.

A tear ran down his hard cheek and he wiped it off with his beard, the other dwarf slapping him on the back and handing him a pint of mead with a smile, "We will retake our cities again brother and you will be the one to aide us." Vilhelm smiled greatly and laughed before downing the pint and asking for another one to the great amusement of his kinfolk.

Thorygus

Thorygus watched as the squat one walked away with the others before turning to the books that had been given to them. He nudged one open that was on the dwarven kingdoms and read through what he could before the great black one appeared and spoke to them. He listened to the other dragons and their questions before saying what he had to say, "If we are to help retake the lands that our bretheren had taken wrongfully then I say let us begin with our training immediately."

He looked down at a picture in the book of a mighty dwarven stronghold being defended by brave warriors against a horde of dragonlings and told himself that he would do anything he could to help these people take back what they had lost.

 

[BlackApostleVilhelm]

Vilhelm

He had nodded his head silently at Modeus's quite reprimand and had gone on eating with everyone else in silence, simply enjoying the food and mead and laughter of the other dwarves in the hall. He wasn't too keen on the other races but Modeus seemed alright as did the human Fostolfr, he hadn't much interaction with the others yet, but he had known the elves to be very haughty and full of themselves.....the high and dark elves more so. Thorygus, that was his dragon's name, it must have been the golden one that he had given the mead earlier, indeed that dragon was going to love what he loved most; eating, drinking, fighting, and every now and then throwing some loving in.

As the small tiff quickly turned into a loud argument he widened his eyes a bit at the spectacle but kept silent, Modeus had to have known that this would happen at some point, they were all still relatively young and the different races had always fought amongst each other. Instead of joining in he simply sat and listened as he ate and drank, the mead finally starting to get to him after round his tenth pint, in fact it hit him rather hard and now he felt oh so very warm inside.

He guzzled down his eleventh pint before eating a large piece of bread and some meat, the whole time trying to figure out what to say to these two. Instead he sat there and mumbled, or at least thought he mumbled, "Idiots..." in common tongue and went back to his food.


Thorygus

Thorygus was excited at his enthusiasm, it meant that he wanted to do his job and do it well, but for now he had to wait. He turned round and went back to the mound before digging through it again, he was slowly carving out a small den where he could sleep during the day if he wanted to, it was definately going to take some time but he was going to do it.

He heard the great one ask if they wanted him to bring back live food and he popped his head out of the side of the mound, "YES!" he yelled. He wanted to hunt something live and licked his lips at the thought of it.

 

[BlackApostleVilhelm]

Vilhelm had been silent as they returned to their study area, practicing with Fostolfr for awhile before both he and Kell decided to go see the dragons. He had an interest in the dragons yes but the practice here was more important at the moment so he stayed put and went on practicing letting the humans go about their own business. That was the thing with humans, they could never concentrate on something for too long, thier minds did not work that way.

Yes they had great cities and wonderful works but those would never amount to anything like the mighty dwarven cities and fortresses. The dwarves always bent their whole minds to whatever their task was, giving it everything they had until it was done and done the right way. Whether it was fighting, masonry, blacksmithing, drinking or eating they always did it to thier full abilities and that was what marked the dwarves out among the other races.

Vilhelm took pride in this, and he would be damned if he did not master these stances the way they were supposed to be done. Yet after awhile a dwarf came in and told him that he was to take his weapons to the forge for Lord Modeus to inspect, and so Vilhelm picked up his large doubleheaded axe and followed his kinsman out of the room. They soon met up with Kell and Fostolfr and he fell into step with them, his axe resting on his shoulder.

As they reached the mighty doors to the forge Vilhelm took a deep breath and got in front of Kell and Fostolfr, "Ah, the might of dwarven engineering, can you smell that boys?" he took a big whiff and smelled the smoke from the fires and the smell of burning iron, "Mmmm it is like I am home again....." he turned to the two men and motioned for them to follow, "Witness the beauty of a dwarven forge." He had to admit he was very excited to enter a dwarven forge, he had expected not to meet any of his kinsmen on this journey and to have the chance to be in the forge again made him very giddy.

One of the dwarves nodded at him and he strapped his axe to his back before putting his meaty hands on the doors and pushing them open with all of his strength, his senses being assaulted by the smells and sounds and sights of the forge, a tear of happiness running down his cheek.

Thorygus

Thorygus had let the others do thier whole play fight and had made his way back to his mound where he had continued digging around before hearing the great one come back. He poked his head out and saw him drop two fresh deer into the courtyard who bolted right away out of fear. He sat in the mound and waited, tightening his muscles and readying himself to pounce should one get close enough for him to leap on it.

He wiggled his head so some dirt fell over it and covered up the shine of his scales and one of the deer made its way towards the back of the mound to hide. He licked his lips before backing back into the dirt. As he pushed his head out the other side he saw that another dragon had cornered the deer and had its leg in his mouth, he cocked his head to the side as he thought on what to do. He figured he should help the other dragon so he rushed out of the dirt mound, using his large muscles to power him across the ground before barreling into the deer.

His left claw hit its front leg as his mouth closed around its neck, the blood pouring into his mouth as he bit down into one of its main veins. He savored the taste and looked at the other dragon, his eyes showing that since he had been the first to the deer that he could have it. As the deer's strength drained away it collapsed and Thorygus let go nodding at the other dragon.