Green Fox Chapter 20

The Elder’s modest lodge sat alone at one end of the square. In front of it was a sheltered firepit with a tiled roof. Grey bearded and wizened Dwarves sat around the fire, each one wrapped in a blanket or a shawl to keep the cold at bay. Night had fully descended upon the valley and the absence of clouds unveiled a bright, clear moon. Lamps illuminated half of the village’s windows, but only the children were sleeping peacefully. Everyone else was up and either dealing with the fire at Fraxis’s forge or on the square discussing the strange Human giving off enough heat that none of them needed coats.

Smoke spiralled up from the fire pit, passing through the opening in the roof and dissipating into the fields beyond. Elder Melk pulled her blanket higher around her shoulders and settled her gaze on Eshale, sitting across from her. “It’s only through Dromae’s blessing that nobody was harmed. What about the human? Will he wake again? If he dies here, the council will have to send an official to collect his body. Where would we keep him?” Cosi lay in the square where he’d collapsed. Eva was at his side, along with Eshale’s father, who’d offered to watch over the human while his daughter spoke with the elders. A priestess of Dromae read from a book and scattered crushed rocks around Cosi’s supine form. Frustrated chanting reached those by the fire, but the priestess persisted. “Shouldn’t we bring him inside?” a white-bearded elder said from Elder Melk’s left. The explosion outside the forge had roused the remaining elders still abed and drawn them out into the chilly night air. “It seems wrong leaving a guest out in the cold.”

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