Free Blue Diamonds (Book One of The Blue Diamonds Saga) by R.E. Murphy

growing a beard, which was utter blasphemy to his kin. It was a right of manhood for dwarves to wear a beard (male or female), but Pall couldn’t care less.
    In addition to his strange hairstyle and headband, you could always count on him to wear his favorite white fur coat and leggings, also put together by elfin hands, which were sewn with thin silver chains instead of thread, with chain link buttons to match. On his feet were thick block sandals of iron that he swore was the secret to keeping balance when swinging his huge axe.
    “So, what adventure does our man have planned for us this time?” His smile had mischief written all over it. According to Pall, going anywhere with Shomnath was synonymous with having a grand old time. You never knew what would happen next.
    “He wouldn’t tell me,” answered Kala with a shrug.
    “No, Really?” Pall’s face beamed even brighter. “Must be something real good.”
    “Good like his bright idea to peep on giants mating, and barely escaping as they heaved boulders at us? Or good like the time he wanted to steal a bearwolf cub for a pet, not knowing that bearwolves travel in packs?” she teased as she pranced around Pall and hopped onto the fallen tree.
    “Well, it don’t get much better than being outnumbered by bearwolves twenty to four,” he said petting his axe. “I had a good story to toast to for a long time.”
    “Too long, if you ask me. The last time you told the story we were outnumbered one hundred to four. Or was it two hundred?” Kala was twirling on top of the felled tree, with one foot extended out above her head while balancing on the tip of her big toe. Elves can be as light as the wind on command, and Kala loved to flaunt her acrobatic skills. Most of the city elves lost these unique skills with lack of practice, but in rebuttal they would tell you that they were now civilized, and had no time to waste dancing in the woods like their ancestors.
    Watching her move was like watching a butterfly in a dream. Everything seems to go still while in the presence of such a sweet and innocent looking girl like Kala. Though she was a young elf, she was ninety-three in human years. She donned the appearance of an eighteen-year-old human girl. An athletic, slender, six-foot tall human girl, with pointed ears being the main visible difference.
    Pall always said that her youthful smile was one of her deadliest traits. Enemies seemed to lower their guard a little when approached by her in combat, possibly because when in combat she was always smiling. She relished the thrill of a fight as much as anyone he knew, and he knew better than anyone that lowering guard to this girl was a mortal mistake.
    “Ye calling me an exaggerator?” said Pall. He looked up for an answer but she was gone. Pall knew that only meant one thing. Someone else was there.
    “Who in the blazes are ye talking to?”
    Pall turned around to find his uncle Burt standing several feet away scratching his bushy beard, a puzzled look on his face.
    “Nobody uncle, just talking to meself about where to start with this canoe.”
    It was always easy to distract his uncle. Uncle Burt thought himself to be the all-knowing presence in their clan, and could never resist the opportunity to teach how to do something the right way.
    “Don’t let yer father know ye would rather build a darn boat over yer new home,” Burt peered around Pall at the log for a moment, which made Pall a little nervous, “but if ye want to know how to make a real boat ye only need to ask yer Uncle Burt,” his uncle said, chest puffed out proudly.
    “Uncle, ye know ye’d be the first on me list to ask fer help,” he lied. Pall had become quite good at saying those words with a straight face. Not that his uncle hasn’t helped him out before, but his advice wasn’t always perfect, and got less so as the years passed.
    “Well, I won’t tell yer father what ye’ve been up to, but he asked me to fetch yer butt. Sounds