Derkin nodded and turned. "And you, Talon Oak-beard? Could you be a leader of people?"

"I have no thane." Talon shrugged. "My people were always Einar or Neidar. What people would I lead?"

'The Chosen Ones," Derkin said. "They are your thane. If I pronounce you their chieftain tomorrow, do you pledge to lead them well?"

Talon stared at the Lawgiver for a full minute, hardly believing what he had heard. "I'd do my best," he said finally.

It would be spring before the one called Lawgiver could undertake the journey southward to Thorbardin. There were conferences to be held and plans to be made. There were messages to be sent and pledges to be given and received.

Some of the Chosen Ones would choose to go with Derkin, and some, like Tap Tolec who would replace Swing Basto as chieftain of Thane Theiwar of Thorbardin, would need time to adjust to what Derkin had in mind for them.

There was a great deal to be done and much to be decided before Derkin Winterseed-Hammerhand-Derkin the Lawgiver-could return to Thorbardin to find the rest of his destiny.

Epilogue

The First and Always King

In tbe spring of tbeYear of Nickel, the final year of both the Decade of Cherry and the Century of Rain, frost-bearded guards at a hidden outpost high on Sky's End Mountain looked up from a winter-long game of bones to see movement in the distance-a large caravan approaching from the north. Drums relayed the news to Northgate of Thorbardin, and runners carried the message from there to all of the thanes. It was the day those in the undermountain fortress had been waiting for ever since the message came from Culom Vand months earlier. Derkin the Lawgiver, Master of the Mountains, was coming home to Thorbardin. And this time he was coming to stay-not as a citizen but as regent of all thanes.

Five years had passed since the first visit of Derkin's army, when thousands of dwarves had set up trade pavilions below Northgate, and Thorbardin had rediscovered the value of trade.

This time, there were fewer in the caravan. Only those who chose to live as Holgar-about twelve hundred-had followed Derkin from Tharkas. And this time, they made no camp on the slopes below Northgate. Instead, their drums conveyed their greetings, and the great plug of Northgate opened to receive them.

Escorted by respectful Home Guards, the Lawgiver's party stopped first in Theibardin. They spent two days there, at the end of which time old Swing Basto dourly announced his retirement as chieftain of Thane Theiwar, and Tap Tolec was resoundingly accepted by the Theiwar as their new leader. His first act as chieftain was to grant amnesty to Swing Basto and his followers, forgiving them their past intrigues and pardoning them for their ill-considered involvement in the Wilderness Wars. His second act was a solemn pledge that if any Theiwar ever again embarrassed the dwarven nation by getting privately involved with human emperors and generals, Tap would personally feed the culprit to tractor worms.

From Theibardin, Derkin's party went to Daebardin, where Jeron Redleather pledged the support of the Dae-war to Derkin's regency. Another two days were passed there, with Jeron and his councilors, working out details for trade agreements with the elves of Qualinesti.

From Daebardin, the new arrivals went to the unnamed Klar cities, where Derkin received the pledge of Trom Thule, then to Daerbardin, where Vin the Shadow spent hours with the chieftain of Thane Daergar, Crag Shade-eye, relating the nature of the stone and the richness of the ores to be mined at Tharkas, and where Crag Shade-eye pledged his allegiance to Derkin Lawgiver, then promptly began organizing a mining expedition.

As a matter of protocol, Derkin also paused for a few minutes at the rubble pits below Daerbardin, where the little tribe known as Thane Aghar lived-when they could find the place. There Derkin introduced himself to the gully dwarf leader, Grimble I, who wasn't quite sure why he was being accosted until Vin the Shadow took him by the shoulder and pointed at Derkin. 'This is the new boss around here," the Daergar explained.

Grimble thought it over, then shrugged. "Fine by me," he said. With the matter concluded, the great leader of all Aghar in Thorbardin turned and wandered away.

Grinning and shaking his head, Vin told Derkin, "That's as near to a pledge as you'll get here."

At Hybardin, the Hylar city delved within the living stone of the stalactite called Life Tree, Derkin met with Dunbarth Ironthumb. "As your son told you," he said, "I have set conditions for accepting regency here. One of them is that you let the Hylar name you as their chief."

"I've never wanted to be chief," Dunbarth said.

"And I never wanted to be regent," Derkin responded, frowning. "But I will, providing that I have a Hylar leader I can trust. I trust you, Dunbarth Ironthumb."

Ironthumb spread his hands in acceptance. "It has already been done," he said. "I have accepted the title of chieftain because you demanded it."

"And I have your oath of allegiance?"

"You have it." The Hylar nodded. "I welcome you home to your kingdom, Derkin Lawgiver."

"I have not accepted a crown," Derkin snapped. "Only a regency… or, as an ancestor of mine once put it, I've agreed to be chief of chiefs."

"Why not be king?" Dunbarth gazed at him, puzzled. "All of Thorbardin is ready to bend the knee to you."

"I will not be king of a divided nation," Derkin said. "I will govern, but not rule, until I know that Thorbardin and Kal-Thax are truly united… and know in my own heart that I can rule wisely."

"Then be chief of chiefs until you're sure," Dunbarth urged. "I can accept that."

For the first time in five years, the Great Hall of Audience was packed to capacity when the Council of Thanes assembled there. And for the first time in a century, the great chamber rang with cheers and applause as each order of business was done. Tap Tolec was named to the Council of Thanes, representing Thane Theiwar, and Dunbarth Ironthumb's title was amended on the scrolls, from representative to chieftain of Thane Hylar.

Solemnly, then, the ancient scroll embodying the Covenant of the Forge was produced and read aloud. Following the reading, a single amendment was proposed by Jeron Redleather. The amendment was to delete the passage allowing government by decree only in times of emergency. Such an amendment was necessary to allow for appointment of a regent… or for the coronation of a king.

The old treaty was amended by unanimous vote, and Derkin Lawgiver was appointed Regent of Thorbardin to the cheers of tens of thousands of dwarves. As the applause echoed through the great chamber, Helta Gray-wood entered and walked down the ramp toward the dais, followed by several brilliantly cloaked dwarves carrying an ornate chair. It had once been the chair of state of a human prince, Lord Sakar Kane of Klanath.

Helta directed the dwarves as they set the chair in the center of the dais. Then she turned, suddenly embarrassed by the tens of thousands of pairs of eyes watching her every move.

"It's… ah, this is Derkin's chair," she explained. "He has grown fond of it, so I had it brought along."

Derkin chuckled in surprise, and some of the chieftains smiled. In the gathered throng, a moment of puzzled silence passed, and Helta glared around at the huge crowd. Then, placing her fists on her hips, as her husband so often did, she snapped, "Well, a regent can't do everything standing up, you know!"

The regency of Derkin Lawgiver in Thorbardin lasted for thirty-six years. During that time the war of conquest waged by the Daltigothian Empire against the elves and humans of eastern Ergoth finally dragged to a close, with no real victors. The war never again spilled into the dwar-ven lands, but dwarves were involved in it. Because of the scheming of a Theiwar named Than-Kar, Thorbardin had been demeaned, and the Hylar Chieftain Dunbarth Iron-thumb returned to the field several times with Hylar warriors to assist the elves in their battles.