The Stonefather sat alone in meditation, contemplating everything he had witnessed over the last several hours.
The signs could no longer be ignored.
Something was coming.
Perhaps something that had already begun.
He knew what had to be done, even if it meant forcing the Mayor of Stonehaven Hollow to act.
Edric Ironveil carried the title of mayor, but everyone in the Hollow understood the truth. The mayor governed the markets, settled disputes and commanded the town watch.
The priests governed everything that mattered.
The Stonefather opened his eyes.
Before him stood an ancient mirror framed in black granite. Runes carved around its edges began to glow as he placed his hand against the stone.
The glass shimmered.
Edric Ironveil appeared within it.
The mayor immediately bowed his head.
“Stonefather.”
“Edric,” the Stonefather said. “You will call a town meeting at the Temple immediately. Every soul within Stonehaven Hollow is to attend.”
Edric raised his head.
For the briefest moment, uncertainty crossed his face.
“Everyone?”
“Everyone.”
Edric understood.
There were questions a mayor could ask.
There were commands a mayor could challenge.
But not when the Stonefather spoke with the authority of the mountain.
Edric bowed deeply.
“The Mountains will be done.”
The mirror darkened.
For several moments, the Stonefather remained motionless.
Then the first toll of the Deepbell rolled through Stonehaven Hollow.The Stonefather was meditating going over what he had seen over the last few hours. He knew what he needed to do and that meant forcing the Mayor of Stonehaven Hollow into a town meeting.
Then the Deepbell sounded.
Once.
Twice.
Three times.
Throughout Stonehaven Hollow, hammers stopped striking anvils. Merchants abandoned their stalls. Miners climbed from the lower shafts.
No dwarf needed to ask what the bell meant.
The Stonefather had summoned the Hollow
———
A powerful voice boomed “Thorgrim?”. He heard his father well.
Thorgrim went out as docile as he could. “Yes Pa?”
“I will be going out the Mayor has called a town council that all villagers must attend”
“I will be ready in two minutes”
“Not happening. You are not to step foot near the temple. They can see you if you go there. As long as you stay away you are protected. Also you are not or age and all those not of age must stay away”
Thorgrim sighed but when he heard where it would be he knew he didn’t want to go anywhere near the temple. He feared it like he feared nothing else.
His father walked out the door and slammed the heavy stone door shut behind him. That was it there was no changing his father’s mind. He was very stubborn but so was Thorgrim and he was losing his patience and needed to know about his family and what these voices and dreams were all about.
Durak hated lying to him.
The summons had been clear.
Every soul. Young and old.
But Durak would face the lash himself before allowing Thorgrim anywhere near the Temple
——-
Durak had lost his faith many years ago when his wife was murdered in the guise of justice. He has set foot in a temple since his wife was executed. He still wouldn’t have except you can’t skip these meetings on very severe punishment.
The Mayor had said that any who missed wood end up facing legal consequences. This place they used a lot of corporal punishment as justice up to and including flogging people for wrong doing.
Durak wasn’t going to allow anything to make his son visible to these people. He feared for the life of his son and he couldn’t lose him as well. Thorgrim was everything to him.
Durak passed between the punishment pillars.
Iron rings had been hammered into each one.
One still carried a dark brown stain.
Blood.
Fifteen years in Stonehaven Hollow and Durak had witnessed four public floggings here. Four too many.
He could still remember the last dwarf screaming as the lash opened his back.
Durak looked away.
Whatever happened today, Thorgrim would never be chained to one of those rings.
———
Thorgrim was watching the procession of people and felt betrayed when he saw children younger than him also going to the temple. His father had said that it was only for adults, so anyone who reached the age of 31. Why had father lied?
He snuck out and quietly followed the procession. He got near the temple and shivered in fear. He needed to know what was going on and that was overriding his very real fear of the temple grounds.
Seeing the iron rings on the stone columns he didn’t really know that they were made for. He could gather it was for punishment. His father had said the laws were strict and would flog citizens old and young alike.
He crept up and listened at the door which was partially opened. Hundreds of dwarves have been forcibly summoned. Durak is standing among them terrified that someone will discover Thorgrim. The Stonefather should first explain why everyone was ordered there.
The mountain has spoken for the first time in decades. Silver veins have appeared in sacred stone. Ancient runes have awakened.
Perhaps tremors have occurred beneath the temple.
“Children of Stonehaven, for generations we have prayed to a silent Mountain. We have offered iron to its depths, returned our dead to its halls, and waited for a sign that the ancient covenant had not been forgotten.”
He turned toward the Heartstone.
“Three nights ago, the first silver vein appeared.”
Murmurs swept through the Temple.
“This morning, the ancient runes awakened.”
The Stonefather raised his hands.
“And beneath this Temple, the Mountain moved.”
Silence.
“The prophecy has begun.”
Durak’s blood turned cold.
No.
Not here.
Not now.
He had spent years hiding the boy. Somehow, the mountain had found him anyway.
The closer Thorgrim came to the temple, the louder the whisper became.
Come home.
He stopped.
Nobody around him reacted.
Thorgrim swallowed.
“Not now,” he whispered.
The mountain answered.
Come home.
Thorgrim moves closer.
Another silver vein appears.
The Stonefather stops speaking.
The congregation becomes silent.
Another silver line spreads across the Heartstone.
Durak sees it. Then he realizes why.
Durak stared at the Heartstone.
Gasps rippled through the congregation.
The Stonefather turned toward the sacred stone. “The Mountain speaks.”
Durak didn’t look at the Stone.
He looked toward the doors.
His heart stopped.
Thorgrim.
The boy was here.
All Thorgrim could hear was the stone in his head.
Come home, Silverborn.
Another silver vein appears.
The Stonefather stops speaking.
He started to speak as he realized that the stone was pulsating with a silver throb
Stonefather orders: “Whoever stands beyond those doors, enter and kneel before the Heartstone.”
Thorgrim enters and hides at the back of the congregation he hears a mysterious voice, one he has heard only in his dreams. He always figured it was his mother
Do not kneel.
The Heartstone illuminates.
The Temple shakes.
The Deepbell rings without anyone touching it.
Silver spreads through the floor toward Thorgrim.
Everyone follows it with their eyes.
Durak whispers “Run.”
Thorgrim doesn’t hear him.
The Stonefather slowly turns.
Thorgrim stands framed in the Temple doorway.
The silver veins stop at his feet.
Then the Mountain speaks—not inside Thorgrim’s mind this time.
SILVERBORN
The prophecy is real.
Durak thinks: They’re going to kill my son.
Thorgrim thinks: Why is the Mountain speaking to me?
The congregation thinks: The Silverborn has returned.
Durak shoved through the crowd.
“Thorgrim!”
The Stonefather’s face had gone pale.
“Kneel.”
The woman’s voice whispered again.
Do not kneel.
Thorgrim remained standing.
Durak forced his way through the crowd to stand by his son and defiantly looked at the Priests. “My Son kneels to no man”
The Stonefather glared daggers at Durak “Stand aside or face the consequences of your actions”
Durak looked back showing that he was determined to protect his son “I stood aside once before I will not let you take my son the way my wife was taken”
The Temple shook. Dust rained from the ceiling.
Then came a sound deeper than thunder.
It did not come from the Stonefather.
It did not come from the Heartstone.
It came from everywhere.
From the walls.
From the floor.
From the mountain itself.
SILVERBORN.
For the first time in his life, the Stonefather had no words.
——–
Thorgrim was horrified, the words made his teeth chatter, his stomach has butterflies and he felt the fight of flight instincts come upon him.
A mysterious female voice whispered into his mind.
“Do not fear them, my little stone.”
He had known growing up that it was his pet name from his mother. It was something only two people knew himself and his father and neither would ever tell another soul this information.
Standing as tall as he could he brushed invisible crumbs off of his tunic and looked around. People hadn’t recognized him but they started glaring at him as the eyes started to glow an even brighter silver.
The power was growing inside him and he felt like he was going to explode. He began to move back but silver light erupted from his eyes and encased the stone. Everyone heard the crack as it resounded against the walls. When the silver light cleared the stone laid in pieces, where the stone once stood sat the true power of the Hearthstone. The core was pure silver with beautiful lines of light going through it.
Whispering was heard faintly “Stonebraid”
Another whisper “Impossible, that clan is dead.”
The Silver stone reverberated “No”
Some of the dwarves assembled fell to their knees. Thorgrim was shocked this was not what he had ever witnessed.
Other dwarves turned their backs from Thorgrim. Through it all Durak tried to get his son out kept pushing lightly to move his son toward the door.
Thorgrim was not pleased his feelings were flying around and he felt that he was no longer touching the ground.
Why did my father lie?
Who was my mother?
What is Stonebraid?
Why does the Mountain know my name?
Why is everyone afraid of me?
The Stonefather felt his power over the flock loosening. This couldn’t be happening, No member of the clans had ever been able to touch the power of the Hearthstone in this way.
Thorgrim was a charleton, he must be as there was no way that he could have cracked the protective shell that had been part of the Hearthstone for centuries.
He grabbed his sceptre and felt like using it on Thorgrim and Durak. He was very upset by this as the mountain only spoke to him. What he realized is someone else has more of a connection to the Mountain then be did.
As he moved closer the voice came through clearly to all
“HE HAS RETURNED”
This forced Stonefather to stop in his tracks. The mountain had never spoken so clearly before. Could the Stonefathers of old misread the will of the Mountain? Could the Mountain have abandoned their own people simply because they were ignorant and chose not to listen to the Mountain?
——
They shoved through and grabbed Thorgrim and pulled him into the back. Durak rushed after them and pushed his way through one set of doors only to have guardians block him.
The Stonefather looked at the young man and saw the silver eyes start to fade a little bit. “Who are you”
Thorgrim looked shocked didn’t this priest know anything about him “I am Thorgrim son of Durak”
The Stonefather wore a stern look and he kept his eyes on the person who was supposedly the chosen one. “The Priests have been waiting for a Stonebraid for centuries. One has been right under our very noses.” he continued on more speaking to himself and not Thorgrim “Could I have been wrong all these years? We speak for the Mountain, it’s not possible that the Mountain speaks through someone not a priest.”
Thorgrim looks up at the priestly dwarf. “I am sorry Sir but I have to go”. Thorgrim moved closer to the door.
“Wait” he heard in a strangled voice. “Ask your father your heritage, he most know more than he is telling you. Then return and see me, there is much to discuss.”
He backed away quickly, moving away and saw his father frantically trying to find a way into the closed room where his son had been held. “Quickly father we are leaving this horrid place.”
——-
They were finally back home, as it has been tough to get out of the temple. The dwarves were all crazed or so he believed. Too many were kneeling and bowing to him. Some were reaching to touch the man that was the first of the new Stonebraids.
He looked at his father “How long have you known what I am?”
Durak sighed “When your mother first got pregnant she told me about herself and that any children we had would be linked into a perpetual loop where surviving was going to be a full time job.”
He nodded at his father “Why hide it from me? Did you think I couldn’t handle the truth?”
“My son. Your mother was the love of my life and her secret would have destroyed you at a young age. I didn’t want to burden you with that, I can see that my thought process may have been wrong. I lost her and I couldn’t lose you as well.”
Thorgrim nodded but this is not the full story nor is it what he wanted. He wanted the truth.
Durak walked to a chest and unlocked it. “Your mother she was beautiful”. he handed a portrait that was painted and it showed an ethereal beauty that wasn’t like most dwarves.
Thorgrim was speechless, this was the first portrait he had ever seen of his mother. She had long hair that touched the back of her knees. She had been painted with some silver streaks in her hair and a smile that lit up her entire face with life.
“I know you must feel like you are set adrift in the sea. I know how hard it is to see this but there is more. She was a beautiful lady who was strong in her mind as well as strong in body. She had abilities that few understood. One day you may be granted abilities such as her. “
He nodded, tears streamed down his cheeks. “What was her name and was she truly as they call me Stonebraid?”
He nodded “Yes she was a true born Stonebraid, the last of her kind from what we have figured out. By the time we met she had no family left, as they had been wiped out in many of the wars that had come and gone. Her name was Brynja.”
He looked at his father “Why did they kill her “
He shook his head “Piecing together the why is not something that we can ever know is true. What I figured is that the prophecy that they had heard was not full. Hear now the prophecy of Stonebraid that causes the death of so many”
When silver wakes in sleeping stone,
And the Mountain speaks in voice its own,
When forgotten blood returns once more,
The lost shall stand at the sacred door.
From broken braid and murdered line,
Shall rise a child with eyes of shine.
Hidden beneath another name,
Born beneath the shadow of ancient shame.
The faithful shall command him: Kneel.
The Stone shall answer: He is Mine.
For no forged crown and no priestly hand
May rule the blood the Mountain claimed.
When Silverborn touches the Heart of Stone,
The shell shall break, the truth be shown.
Silver beneath the gray shall burn,
And Stonebraid’s ancient voice return.
Beware the Crown that fears the Mark.
Beware the hands that hide the past.
For blood once spilled to silence Stone
Shall cry from halls of shattered bone.
The father who once stood aside
Shall stand again and choose his side.
The mother’s voice, though flesh be gone,
Shall guide her little stone toward dawn.
The twelve shall tremble.
The priests shall doubt.
The buried truth shall thunder out.
For those erased from clan and song
Were never those who did the wrong.
When Deepbell rings by no dwarf’s hand,
When silver rivers cross the land,
When ancient words return to flame,
The Mountain shall remember every name.
Then shall the Silverborn be tried,
By crown, by stone, by blood, by pride.
Three paths before his feet shall lie:
To kneel, to rule—
or let kingdoms die.
Yet heed these words when hope seems gone:
The Silverborn does not stand alone.
For Stonebraid was not destroyed that night.
It was hidden from the light.
And when the last lost braid comes home,
The First Hammer shall strike the stone.
The false shall break.
The lost shall rise.
Silver fire shall fill the skies.
And the Mountain shall speak its final decree:
THE CROWN WAS NEVER YOURS TO GIVE.
THE STONEBRAID HAS RETURNED.
Thorgrim listened and wasn’t sure what this meant and how his life was intertwined with the Mountain. It was definitely going to be strange but eventually he would understand.
Crazy Canadian Writing 