I did not really want to go through them. I did not, in all honesty, want to hurt these people.

 

It was not that they were following orders. It was that I saw them as victims too.

 

On the other hand?

 

They were in my way. I let fire flow around my blade. Not that I expected it to intimidate fire giants.

 

It did not. Two of them tried to take me on. I found, to my surprise, that I matched them, and the dwarves were hitting heads.

 

“Try not to kill them!” I called. “If you can avoid it.”

 

I wasn’t able to…I had to take one of them out, my sword sliding into their heart. The sword was satisfied.

 

I less so. This was not how I had wanted this to end or to be. The death and the fury of those with me caused the rest to make a retreat in search of backup.

 

I glanced at Thruor, who was cleaning blood off her own sword. We kept moving, not wanting to be there when they came back in greater numbers.

 

But I felt bad. Then, I knew this would not have been managed without bloodshed. “Maybe I should have killed them all so they did not know I was here,” I said, miserably.

 

“Maybe,” Thruor said. “But you clearly did not wish to and have to live with it afterwards.”

 

“I’m a warrior, but…”

 

“But you had no quarrel with them, only the one giving them orders.”

 

“I think it would have been different…” I wiped blood from my blade before moving out. “…had I not known he was conscripting people.”

 

“Indeed.”

 

She was in agreement with me. Something about that made me feel better. And we kept moving.

 

“Is that a small mountain or a large spire?” I asked.

 

“A large spire,” Thruor said. “I haven’t been here before, but I’ve seen pictures and descriptions. Surtur’s palace is in the top of it.”

 

“Joy.”

 

Getting up there would be hard. Getting up there without being seen would be even harder. I was not sure I could do it without being caught. Or turning myself in and then running.

 

That was definitely on the list of possibilities.

 

“He may not…”

 

I shook my head. “She’s there.” I knew, suddenly, as if I could feel her. As if the connection between us, now I was closer, drew me back to her.

 

My love was in that tower and I intended to bring her out from it.