by W. D. Newman
CHAPTER 11
MUDCRAWLERS, HOLEDIGGERS, AND STONEBREAKERS
The gnomes led their captives away from the lake, through dark, twisting, narrow passages. Gabriel had lost all sense of direction, but Hob could tell they were gradually travelling upwards. Eventually, they spied a light up ahead and soon emerged into a larger tunnel with multiple rail tracks. Hitched together on one of these tracks were two rusty mining carts. The first cart was flat and had three brightly burning lanterns hanging from makeshift poles, protruding out in front. A large, throne-like chair, draped in garish red and purple cloths, sat in the center, facing forward. The back of the chair rose high above their heads and formed a crude, five-pointed crown. The second cart was an old coal hopper with rickety sides that had been patched many times. Gabriel and Hob were bound hand and foot and forced to lie down on their backs in this second cart.
Once the prisoners were secured in place, Ringwald climbed up onto the flat cart and took a seat upon the throne. The other gnomes lined up in the rear behind the second cart. The gnome king raised his new scepter and the spell catcher glittered brightly in the lantern light. "Forward!" he yelled to the other gnomes.
The gnomes in the rear began to push the carts forward. They were traveling uphill, so the mining carts moved slowly at first, but eventually they began to gain momentum. Soon, they were racing up the tunnel. Faster and faster they flew. The rusty iron wheels screeched loudly as they spun on their axles. Lying on their backs, Gabriel and Hob watched the roof of the passageway fly by overhead as the two carts sped along the tracks. They traveled like this for almost an hour and then suddenly the carts emerged from the tunnel into a vast cavern.
"Halt!" Ringwald commanded as he raised the scepter over his head again. One of the gnomes sprinted up alongside the first cart to pull the brake lever. The wheels protested loudly, but the carts immediately began to slow. When they came to a complete stop, Gabriel and Hob were dragged from their cart and the ropes were removed from their hands and feet. They were in The Great City, the heart of Kahzidar. This was the home of the mad gnome king and the gateway to the dreaded gnome mines.
Gabriel and Hob took in their surroundings. The rail tracks they travelled on were laid upon a broad avenue that was carved into the sides of the cave walls. This road and the tracks ran all the way around the perimeter of the cavern. Above the tracks, rising to the ceiling and circling this immense area, was the capitol city of Kahzidar, the city the gnomes referred to as The Great City. Yellow lights shone forth from thousands of windows, giving a semblance of that time of day when the sun has already set but there is still a warm glow upon the land. A jumbled maze of walkways, platforms, and ladders, bustling with activity, connected the various structures within the city.
However, the light from The Great City was swallowed up in the black chasm beneath the tracks. Hundreds of feet below them, at the bottom of this abyss, the fires of a hundred foundries twinkled like stars on clear winter night. The slave mines of Kahzidar never slept.
Nearby, several large cranes, built from iron and heavy timbers, were anchored along the rim of this enormous canyon of darkness. Beside each crane, gigantic wooden capstans were wound tight with hundreds of feet of rope. These ropes were looped through an intricate array of pulleys and snaked their way to the top of the cranes. At the end of each rope, a large hook was fastened to a wide platform that was suspended over the mines. These crude elevators were the only way to access the slave mines from the city.
A commotion from one of these elevators caught their attention. Hob and Gabriel turned and watched helplessly as an unfortunate group of people were herded onto one of the platforms. The people looked to be a poor family of farmers. There were three small children clinging to the farmer and his wife. Twelve gnomes circled around the capstan by the crane and began lowering the platform down into the darkness. The terrified family clung to each other and, just before the platform disappeared below the tracks, the children began to cry.
Gabriel and Hob were led to a large set of chambers, at the top of the city, and placed inside a tiny windowless cell. Enough light from the outer quarters shone through the thick iron-barred door to illuminate the benches that were carved into the stone walls on either side of the entrance. Hob took a seat on one side of the room and Gabriel sat across from him. Although they were securely locked away, two guards remained outside and kept a watchful eye on them.
"What do you think they want from us?" Hob whispered to Gabriel.
"What makes you think they want anything at all from us?
"Two reasons... One - they have not killed us, and B - we are not in the slave mines."
"You do have a point. I suspect that it has something to do with Merlin's staff. Ringwald knows it is powerful. He believes that, if he can learn to use the staff, all of that power will become his."
"Can he learn how to use it?"
"No, it is not possible. The spell catcher could protect him from a spell, but he has no power to cast a spell or to maintain one nor will he ever be able to do so. Gnomes are not magical creatures. Magic is not something you learn to do. It is something that you either have or you do not have. If you have it, then you may choose to let it lie dormant or you may learn to use it. And, like anything in life, the more you use it, the better you become."
"Practice makes perfect, huh?"
"Not perfect, but definitely better. Shhh, someone comes."
At that moment, Ringwald arrived at the door with two more guards. "Take the sunlighter away," he scowled, "I will not speak with him."
The two guards that were accompanying Ringwald bound Gabriel's hands and marched him out of the room, while the other two guards took up positions inside the room, with their spears lowered, and pointing towards Hob. Ringwald sat down upon the bench where Gabriel had just been sitting. He had the spell catcher in his hands.
"Does the sunlighter speak the truth about this?" he asked, holding the staff up before him. "Is this really the wizard Merlin's staff?"
"So he tells me," Hob answered, cautiously. "I have heard the stories of Merlin, including the ones of the black dragon. Those I can attest to, for I have seen the dragon with my own eyes. You must return the staff to us and help us, or Zoltan will destroy everything."
Ringwald cracked a wicked grin and his eyes glittered intensely. "Why should I help you or your elf friend? For that matter, why should I help any sunlighters? You turn your noses up and look down upon us with disdain, but you are no better than we are. You war among yourselves and among each other. You cheat, and lie, and steal, and yet, whenever an unfortunate gnome ventures out into the sunlight, you slay them and think you have done a good deed."
"The only reason gnomes come to the surface," Hob replied, "is to steal away poor souls to work in their slave mines. Is it any wonder that all races shun and despise you?"
"And that is precisely where you and your elf friend shall end up; just another Mudcrawler in the slave mines. Unless, perhaps, if you can help me unlock the power of Merlin's staff."
"We cannot. And even if we could, we would not."
"You will reconsider this," Ringwald growled, "because if this staff is the only thing that can defeat Zoltan, then Zoltan shall not be defeated. I will see to that. If he destroys the Twilight and all the cities of man, what concern is it of ours? They are all our enemies. If Zoltan defeats them, then we shall worship him and he will be our god."
"You are insane," Hob whispered.
Ringwald laughed. "Yes, I am quite insane, but you have no other options. Help me and I might consider letting you stay here as a Holedigger. And if you are a good and faithful servant, I may even elevate your status to Stonebreaker."
Hob rose to his feet and the guards moved closer with their spears. "I am Hob, of Dwarvenhall, the great dwarven kingdom under the Iron Bone Mountains. King or no king, slave or not, I will never answer to any gnomish name." To emphasize his disgust, Hob s
pat on the ground near the feet of the gnome king.
Ringwald's eyes bulged and his pasty white skin turned scarlet red. Trembling with rage, he leapt from the bench as if to grab hold of the dwarf, but somehow managed to constrain himself.
"GUARDS!" he screamed. "Bring back the sunlighter!" He made to leave, and then turned toward Hob once more. "I will give you and the sunlighter one day to reconsider. If you still refuse to help me, then I fear it will not go well for your companion. Perhaps you will be more willing to help when you hear the sunlighter screaming for mercy and begging for death." Ringwald smiled that wicked, evil smile again. "They do not die easily."
Hob could take it no longer. He lunged at Ringwald, ready to throttle him and wipe that nasty smile off his face. The guards struck him with the butt of their spears and the last thing he heard, before the darkness engulfed him, was the depraved laughter of the gnome king echoing off the stone walls.
*****