Tomorrow was the day of the tournament. Duris was being dolled up in a golden dress for the pre-tournament ball. Tonight she would be introduced to the suitors her parents had picked out for her, tonight she’d have a last chance to reject some of them and tomorrow one of the leftover men would be her fiancée.

Duris had tried to get out of the arrangement. She had pleaded, she had begged, she had screamed her head off and at one point even threatened to shoot her father. But all of that had only amounted to her bow being destroyed and her being locked up in her quarters 24/7. This was the first night in three weeks she was allowed out.

“How are you doing?” Rana asked, braiding her hair bushy brown hair.

“What do you think? I’m being sold off like a load of gemstones.”

Rana stroked her hair and planted a kiss on her cheek. “Not really Duris. You’ve got a say in this. And besides, they’re all good men. And handsome too, I’ve seen them.”

“You know very well I don’t want a man, I’d rather marry you.”

“Yeah, so you say. But that’s not how it is. I know that, you know that, so quit spouting these crazy notions. And you know, maybe your new husband will be open for some um… experimentations? You have the chance to pick the next king. Just talk to them and veto the ones with backward views.”

She made a good point. At least, she would have made a good point if Duris wasn’t absolutely horrified by the idea of sleeping with a man. It didn’t matter how lenient his views were, Duris was damn sure not one of them would be open to a marriage that wouldn’t be consummated.

“Still don’t want to.” Duris pouted, tying the belt carrying her ceremonial axe around her waist. The 8-inch double-headed axe was a little heavy for its size, since it was made of solid gold. However movement impeding it was, it would be a disgrace not to wear it. A dwarf’s ceremonial axe is made for them by their parents, whilst they’re still in the womb, and is given to them at birth. It is supposed to accompany all of the dwarf’s important life events and ceremonies until death. Then they are buried with it.

Duris’ axe existed of an extremely thin blade of the hardest steel, covered with a layer of 24-carat gold and adorned with rubies, her mother’s favourite gem. The extravagancy of her axe was of course due to her parents being the king and queen. Other dwarves had simpler ones. It was an easy way to tell the dwarf’s heritage. You could always tell a smith’s kid from afar. Theirs may not be as fancy, but they were sure better balanced, more graceful and more usable than hers.

“Well, you do look stunning.” Rana said, as she looked Duris up and down. Duris kissed her, but it didn’t really make her feel any better. She took a last swipe at her handmaiden’s perfect buttocks and knocked on the door, signalling she was ready.

Two guards opened the door and led her to the great hall. It was beautifully illuminated with thousands of candles and a couple of horn players signalled her arrival. She sat down on the golden throne on the left-hand side of the king and pretended the thousands of candles were the night sky. The sky as seen from the top of the tallest tree, nothing between her and endless night.

“Presenting Lord Rudin Goldseeker” the announcer called, and a stocky dwarf with jet-black hair and an impressive beard walked forward and bowed before the assembly of thrones. Cheeky, he shot up a look at Duris, smiled and winked. Duris wanted to call out veto immediately, only to realise that the rest could very well be worse, and she had the entire night left to kick him out. Instead, she raised an eyebrow at him, then looked away.

Next guy, some Ingvar ironsomething was even worse. The golden-haired schmuck with braided beard was actually showing off his muscles in front of her. Confidence unrightfully seeping from each pore as he strutted around like a fucking peacock. Duris vowed she’d kill herself before marrying THAT guy.

After that it hardly got better; an older guy, slightly greying at the temples already, a tall broad-shouldered dwarf with a slightly dumb look on his face (probably her mother's favourite), one that was burly and strong but also slightly overweight, and two other arrogant fucks. 

Duris was absolutely positive she didn’t want to marry any of them. Then again, she’d known that from the start. She had to give her parents credit though, all seven of them looked less of a sissy than the twat Rumbli had. It wasn’t reassuring at all. If they had, Duris could’ve just pointed that out as an argument to call the whole thing off. The guys that she’d been looking at so far didn’t have any un-dwarfish or unmanly characteristics to be called out on. After the men-parade the party guests started mingling and Duris was cornered by her mother.

“Well?”

“What?” Duris asked. It came out defiant and unfriendly. Which wasn’t fair to her mother, but Duris did feel defiant and unfriendly so at least her tone was honest.

“Duris dear, play nice. Tell me, what did you think of them?”

“Meh.” Duris said, shrugging.

“No no no, young lady, don’t be like that. Your father has done an exquisite job. If I wasn’t married to him already, I’d probably marry all seven of them myself.”

“Have fun with that.”

“Duris! I’m trying to have a chat with you, stop being a spoilt little brat and talk to your mother!”

“About you getting all wet for my suitors?”

*SLAP*

Her mother slapped her in the face, grabbed Duris by her chin and looked her straight in the eye with her ‘I-am-now-seriously-angry-with-you’-face. Her voice came out as a menacing whisper. 

“Don’t you dare take that tone with me, young lady. I am not your father, nor am I your subject. I swear on all the gold in this mountain that I will lock you up for the rest of your life if you screw this up. We’ve been very lenient with you, but no more. We’ve invited seven men and at least four of them will battle for your hand in marriage tomorrow. Tonight is the last chance for you to have any say in the matter and I propose you use it. Chat with the guys and if any one of them is obnoxious, tell me and I’ll personally have him removed. But take this seriously Duris, because one of them is going to be your husband, sure as there are diamonds under our feet.”

Duris rolled her eyes, but that made her mother only clench her chin tighter.

“Did I make myself clear?”

“Crystal, mum.”

“Good. Now go check out the guys.”