Chapter 98

Now Cara was confident and the pressure was off, the next couple of opponents she faced were good at fighting, like her they were much smarter when it came to actual combat but they were also tired. Cara's stamina was one thing she was proud of it was after all required since they were from the hammer clan, even Roisin always had great stamina.

So when Cara had a biy running at her with a sword, Cara just slammed her hammer on the ground the shockwave from the ground threw the boy on his back skidding away.

It soon got harder to find opponents to fight which meant that more and more people were getting defeated. She also noticed that the walls got more and more wide apart. The less number of people left who were still standing the walls made sure to keep them in a smaller place together.

Cara's mom had been patrolling near the elder camps from Finron mountains. The Krolle's as they were called. The reason for this was because of a small pience of information she received a couple of weeks ago.

As it was common for dwarves to trade with other races, they were one of the most advanced and rich races, and were proud in their technologies, they sold different kinds of goods and services. Most of these trades happened in the Kumb Valley. It was a place near the dwarv mountaibs where merchants from all races came to buy and sell all kinds of things. You could buy anything you wanted here, if you knew where to find it and who was selling it. She as usual was there for selling her clans goods, they were experts in agricultural and metallurgy tools. There iron was one of the most famous and toughest metal in the whole continent. She was one of the heads of forseeing the sales of fhe products. But it was important too to keep informed of the treasures that were being sold in the market. There had been many a time when she found a fool selling a rock or fruit without knowing it's actual value, she felt it was a waste to let such things go. So she had hired various sources to keep her informed of anything like that if it came in the market for selling. What had intrigued her was that the price of white magic crystals had gone way up from the past year. When she has asked her contacts, they had informed her that someone had been buying them in great amounts and there was a shortage in the market now. It didn't took her long to find out who this interested party was, but she was still very surprised to find that it was the Krolle's, moreover they had been buying the stones secretly, keeping their identities hidden, but it wasn't hard to discern the writing of a dwarf, especially the Krolle's. And such amount of moneycan only be possessed by the Elders.

She had informed the elders about this and they had asked her to keep an eye on the Krolle's during the festival.

So she had, and then she saw some of the elders slipping away when the festival was just about to begun, this was definitely out of ordinary and she had followed them at once.

If they were really upto something sinister then it was a serious matter, especially during the festival. The festival wasn't just a tournament for fun, it had serious implications between the mountains, if any clan appeared too weak any year, they can be assured that they will be having troubles with the other mountains the rest of the year. There was a lot of land outside the mountains that the dwarves owned, important for mining and agriculture, different clans monitored different lands and taking over land by force was not an uncommon occurence. If they appeared weak in the festival, the other clans would get too confident and would try to capture their land for themselves. This had almost led to wars many times and the Krolle's were the most notorious ones.

But there was another risk in her following the elders. They were elders, no matter from other clan, but they were still high Jades, and she was a low jade, they were levels apart, one high jade was equal to ten low Jades.

Angering and Elder thus can prove fatal for the interior ranks, just because eshe was from another clan wouldn't mean they would hesitate, even her own clan wouldn't take trouble with a group of elders just for her. So she needed to be really careful.

The white crystals were the most mysterious of all the magical crystals, used by the mages with light affinity, they were the most versatile ones. There were many properties that they showed that hadn't been understood completely. They could be used for many other obscure spells and witches were always carrying them with them.

The elders sneakes to the back of the tents in a secluded place shaded by the tall tents. She watched hiding in a corner, the elders stood in a circle and had drawn some kind of white circle on the ground.

She saw with surpise it was a magic circle, she has never used one herself only small ruin for crafting sometimes, dwarves didn't use them generally, she had only seen other elders working with them.

The crystals were placed on the corners of the magic circle, there were indeed a lot of them and very big in size. The elders started chanting something and the magic stones startes glowing.

Their chants grew louder.

"He is coming, " one of the elders shouted, his face ecstatic. The magic circled bursted in a wall of white flame and someone stepped out of them. All the elders fell on their knees clutching their hands, she hadn't ever seen a Jade do that. As the flames went away revealing who was standing there. It was a Dwarf but she has only ever seen one like that before, Elder Shadow. The dwarf was skinny looking just like him and had white long hairs, he had a strange white glow around him.

Her core was vibrating, she could now feel the power emanating from him. This dwarf had to be a high Jade.

"Welcome, Lord! We greet you with all out hearts, " said one of the elders.

"It has been centuries since an actual diamond has walked among us, " said one of the elders. Cara's mom couldn't believe her ears, her heart was thumping loudly with fear now. A diamond, no that can't be true, she thought.

Cara was almost in the middle of the ground with the remaining coppers standing, she saw plenty of coppers from her clan, which meant they had done well and she was relieved for her whole clan.

A horn sounded then, and several elders walked on the stage.

"So these were the new coppers that our clans have produced this ear, we must appreciate there potential and indeed they have done very well, " the elders were prasing them even the ones who have lost.

The other elders from other clans also gave their speeches, they said the names of the coppers that had impressed them. When Elder Holt spoke he mentioned her name and looked at her with an assuring smile.

Cara was elated and looking at the crowd searching her family, she found her dad and brother together waving at her smiling, she waved back. She was searching for her mother when the atmosphere suddenly went a bit quiter.

She noticed some elders walking on stage, she knew from their colors they were Krolle's but at their front was an elder who looked like Elder Shadow, although he had completely different personality and vibe from him, this elder made her want to get off stage and run back to her house.

The other elders on stage however were looking too shocked and some downright terrified.

"Bow down!" an elder ran forward and shouted.

The white haired elder raised a hand to keep his quiet, he walked to the center of the stage.

"My name is, Bane, and I am all of your ruler from now on, there is no use in defying me, I am way much stronger then you, you will be throwing your life away, but I know some of you will still defy me, it is your duty to protect your clan and your honor after all, so go ahead, anyone who want to fight me can come on stage, other leave, I will take you all at once, " he spoke with his voice carrying to the whole mountain.

Cara was shaking in her legslegs and couldn't move. Some elders left the stage, and some got on. She saw almost all of her clans elders getting on, including Elder Holt, Elder Rahm and others. They all had very somber expressions on their face, like soldiers getting ready for sacrificing their lives.