Not All Are Created Equal
I noticed a medium height door that was made out of iron and had giant golden knockers in front of me as the dwarf King told the guards to open the door and allow us into the Royal dining hall.
after the guards received the king's order to open the door they both went to the outside of them and pulled some levers and it caused the door to slowly swing open to allow access to the royal dinning hall.
I walked behind the king and his sons into the dining hall. I then noticed that there was a large table big enough to sit thirty people. it was made of a sturdy metal and it had emeralds around the side of it. The room also had a golden chandelier with oil based light sources. the chairs that surrounded the table were made of a sturdy oak and the table had two massive chairs on both ends. to the right of the furthest chair I saw a small tiny table with a bell on it.
after looking around the room I waited until everyone sat down in their seats around the table and I sat down beside Binyail.
"will anyone else in the family be joining us today father" Binyail asked his father.
"no son I am sorry everyone else in the family is busy at the moment" his father said before he rang the bell that was on the small table by him.
a few seconds after he rang the bell I saw a dwarf chef walk out of a small door behind us and he began to talk to the dwarf King.
"so what is on the menu today?" the king asked the chef as he made it to the dining table and kneeled beside the king.
"the meal for today is a steamed roast beef with a pint of ale and a side of cheese and a veggie of your choice if that is what you want sir" the chef told the king. I was assuming out of custom.
"that sounds like a great" the king said as he pounded the table.
then I saw the chef leave the dinning area and walk back into the small room that he had came from after the king allowed him to leave.
"So why do you want to be a member of the royal Dragon guard anyway?" Binyail's brother asked me as he looked at me with a look of surprise and possibly a look of distrust or disgust.
"well if you must know; the main reason is because I wish to be part of something greater than myself and all dwarfs know of the legendary dragon guard from childhood. so I believe that this group would be a great group to join for multiple reasons."
"oh and I was just curious is your party companion more than just a friend?" he asked me with a great amount of menace in his voice.
"no she is just my party companion and friend." I told the prince.
"well that is good to know. that means that she is available if I ever want her as a possible wife"
"son stop it! this man and his party member are our honored guest for saving your younger brother today. I command you to stop trying to woo every single female that comes into the royal palace" the king said to his son right before he would say something that he might regret.
the dwarf chef came in to the dining hall and had the food that he had told us we were getting today on silver platters. he placed the food down on the table and bowed to the king of dwarfs before going back into the kitchen.
as I ate the food that was presented to me it tasted slightly different than what I was expecting but yet it was not distasteful to my dwarven senses so I ate it with much excitement and fulfillment.
when everyone finished eating the dwarf King snapped his fingers and one of the guards came to his side.
"yes your majesty what do you need?" the guard asked the king as he kneeled beside him.
"now that we are done eating can you please get the captain of the dragon guard."
after the dwarf King gave the instructions the guard stood up and went out of the royal dining hall.
"now when the captain of the dragon guard gets here we're going to have to go through some formalities first and then you can officially be a member of the dragon guard.
"I do think you very much your majesty for allowing myself and my companion to join the dragon guard is has always been a lifelong dream of mine".
"why has your lovely companion not said anything to us?" the King's eldest son asked me as he took a sip of the ale beside his plate.
"you know that one of our dwarven customs is that females do not speak to males unless they are directly spoken to" I told the prince.
did he believe what I had said or did I accidentally say something wrong that would have blown my cover and reveal that I am not from this world. I was going off of the dwarven lore and customs that all of the games that I had played in my former life used.
"of course you are right. I was just testing you commoner".
"for the last time son show this man some respect. if it was not for him your brother would be dead remember that. this man has rights to his own privacy".
"all right father as you wish" the elder son said and then went silent.
everyone went silent for a few minutes until the guard had returned and brought a dwarf with him.
the dwarf that was with him had on black armor with three different crests on it. the first Crest was of a bear, the second crest was of a mountain, and the final one was of a dragon's wings. the dwarf was elderly with a full white beard that was very thick. his right eye had a black patch over it and he carried on his back two massive axes.
"you summoned me your Majesty" he told the dwarf King as he kneeled at his side.
"yes Elvrack; I need you to take this dwarf and his companion to the wall and let them both become a member of the dragon guard." the king told him as he pointed at me and my companion.
"now are you sure that this is something that you want?" the captain asked me as he looked at me and was measuring me up.
"yes this is what I want in return for what I did for the King's son. I want to be a part of something great and something better than just myself" I told the captain as I rose on my feet to prove my point and that I was very adamant about this.
"all right then; I hope you also know that the female that is with you will only be serving as a maid. we rarely ever allow females to be warriors in the legendary dragon guard. is your female companion okay with that".
"do not ask me; make sure that you ask her since she is sitting right beside me and can hear everything that you are saying" I told the captain as I drank some ale and took a sit down in my seat.
then after I sat down the captain turned to my companion and asked her the same question that he had asked me.
"yes I will be happy to start out as a maid in the dragon guard" she said in response to his question.
"all right then it is settled; both of you will follow me to the dragon guards headquarters in the town that is right on the border. after you both take the oath then you will be assigned a station within the dragon guard" the captain said as he walked out of the room after the king released him.
"now that all of the formalities have been done; we can have our dessert for the night" the king said as he rang the bell to call the head chef to his side.
"yes your majesty, here is your dessert" the chef said as he entered the royal dining hall with a plate that had a chocolate cake with peanuts inside.
"I hope that you will enjoy the food. dessert is a very rare thing for dwarfs to have since they all have to be imported" the king said to me as he grabbed a bite from the cake and quickly devoured it.
I took a small plate that was beside my large one and put a small piece of the cake on it to taste it and see what I thought of this other worldly dessert.
after I ate the dessert we walked over to the entrance to the royal dining hall walking over to the captain of the Dragon guard. my companion followed me and we left the Royal Palace knowing that our lives were about to get very interesting or at least so I hoped.