The king’s daughters looked like twins. Maybe they were. Both of them had their father’s dark hair, braided back.

“I’m Ebba, and my sister is Jorun.”

I wasn’t sure whether dwarves shook hands. I started to extend my right hand, and Ebba grinned, grabbing both of my forearms for a moment.

Kanesha did the same thing with Jorun.

“Our father went over the rules?”

The sparring arena was a circle in the center of a circular room, with four projections from the edge. Judges and healers watched. And there was a gallery above.

Either Loki really had sold tickets or the dwarves wanted to see their princesses kick outsider butt. Ebba had a hammer and Jorun an axe.

“He did. And also told us not to break each other too badly.”

We had swords. I suspected their weapons of being better. And yes, we were fighting live.

And trusting each other not to break each other too badly. The primary referee was a grey-bearded dwarf…likely a weapons master. He reminded us of the rules, and then we took places on either side of the circle.

I’d half expected the dwarven sisters to be slow, given their chosen weapons. They weren’t…Jorun almost had me bullrushed into the wall, but I brought the hilt of my sword into the shaft of her axe, knocking it and then her aside.

I wasn’t going to underestimate them like that again, but really?

Loki’s prediction was accurate. The dwarfmaids were clearly more experienced than us, savvy with their chosen weapons, and grinning the entire time. Not that I wasn’t having fun, but after Ebba tossed Kanesha into the wall and she dropped her sword to clutch her shoulder. “I yield.”

“Not bad at all,” Ebba said, grinning, as the healers moved to check on us.

“I haven’t had enough practice against axes and hammers. Especially hammers.”

She grinned again. “Should fix that.”

“I don’t have a regular partner who uses one,” I admitted.

“Swords are one thing, but a hammer can break a sword easily.”

“Which is why everyone should fight unarmed,” Jorun backed her up with.

I lifted my hands. The healer was fixing Kanesha’s shoulder, which was dislocated. I was bruised all over. And had dealt a few and a couple of cuts too. “Agreed.”

“But you’re clearly not completely useless, either of you,” Ebba continued. “So…maybe you can help us out with something.”

“And what is that something?”

“A little trip into the mountains.”

“As long as it doesn’t involve dragons.”

They both laughed. “There’s a story there.”

“Not one I’m too keen on telling.”

“But no, it involves a very dangerous bear.”

That didn’t seem much safer than a dragon, but…well…we had to prove ourselves or whatever. “What did the bear do?”

“Eat somebody.”