by Allan Joyal
"Compacted ash?" Steve asked.
"Basically," I confirmed. "I'll admit that it didn't lather up like you might expect, but when one of the attendants dumped cold water over me, the grime and sweat washed away with the oil. After that, we soaked in a cold water pool for a while."
"And the dwarves kind of indicated that the pool was used for more than just soaking," Heather said with a coy giggle.
"How?" we heard Al ask from the doorway to the chamber. "I mean, every dwarf I've met has been a boy."
Heather giggled. "No, that was the other part of what we discovered. Female dwarves have beards. So we have no way of easily telling if a dwarf is a male or female."
"But don't ask," I said. "Just treat them with respect. And we don't have to tell everyone about that."
Al frowned. "Aww, I wanted to tell Jennifer. She would find it funny."
"Perhaps when we leave Purahomp," I said. "Meanwhile, I'm guessing everyone else is gathering at the sleds."
"Esme asked to be led to the dwarf she worked on yesterday. I understand that he's healing well," Steve said. "Natalie went with her."
"Hopefully that will be quick. Has everyone else headed down to the carts?" I asked.
"Yes," Al said. "And the dwarves brought some dried meat for everyone. I guess it's supposed to be some kind of jerky, but I don't want to ask what creature it came from."
"Safer that way," Heather said. My blond lover stood up. Somehow while we were talking, she had retrieved her clothing and pulled on her skirt and blouse. She used a piece of leather binding to tie her hair into a ponytail and looked over at me. "Are you going to travel naked, or do you plan on getting dressed?"
Al and Steve burst out laughing as I dove to the floor and started frantically gathering up my garments. The leather pants were hard to wiggle into. I turned my back to my friends as I fought to get the heavy leather up over my thighs, only for Heather to start whistling at me.
Her antics got Al and Steve to laugh again. I rushed through tightening the drawstring waist of the pants and then threw on a top. Al looked puzzled as he noticed my outfit.
"When did you get pants like that?" he asked.
"Kariy made them for him when we stayed that day in the village," Heather said. "Ron just never made a big deal about them."
"They look nice," Al said. "I wish I had some."
"If we stay someplace long enough, Kariy will probably be willing to make more," I said. "However, for now, is there anything here that belongs to us? We shouldn't make the dwarves wait."
"It's all at the sleds already," Steve said. "The bedrolls here were supplied by the dwarves. They are a lot cleaner than the ones we have been using."
"I promise, once we get to Purahomp, we'll take a day to clean clothing and bedrolls. We'll also probably want to look into purchasing some more goods and, if we can, some full size carts," I said as I pulled on my boots. "Let's get going."
The four of us left the room. Al and Steve had to bend almost in half to fit through the doorway. Heather and I followed after ducking our heads. Outside in the hall Al muttered a complaint about the low ceiling as he made his way through the hallway.
"The low doorways are a defense against tall idiots like you," we all heard Morgarn say calmly.
"Sorry," Al said. "It wasn't meant to be a personal attack. It's just ... ."
"They aren't there for you to love," Morgarn said. "Now I need to talk to your leader and his second. You can take the young lady and head to the carts. Your other friends will be finished with Caspern shortly and Mertiln wants to get the caravan moving."
"Are you expecting trouble?" I asked as Steve jumped to put a hand over Heather's mouth. She snorted and carefully pulled his arm away from her face.
"I'm not going to start screaming," she informed Steve coldly. "We've seen since that first village that women on Jord don't receive the respect a woman does back home. But I do want to find out later what you talked about."
I could see Steve wince as Heather stalked past Morgarn and headed toward the end of the hall. Al ran to keep up with her. Morgarn watched them leave and then nodded.
"That one is a blowout waiting to happen," he mused. "Anyways, we aren't a rich outpost, but the earth spirits did say that we managed to retrieve all three suits of armor. The Clan owes you again."
"We did what was right and honorable," I said. "Truly, we never sought a reward for all that we have done."
"We still owe you," Morgarn said. "We've talked about what we might have available for you. We can't do much. I did ask our gatherers. I can hand over another vial of glow grass."
He held up a tube. I reached out to accept it. "Eighteen blades like the other vials?"
"Yes, do you still have some left?" Morgarn asked.
"One vial with twelve and another I haven't opened," I said. "We gave one vial as well as the vial of phantom caps to the wizards. Shaylin used the six to make a couple of Everlight stones."
"We have that much left?" Steve asked. "You never talked about how much you had."
"That and six of the mithril nuggets we were given," I said. "The wizard's war prevented me from handing over the last batch. But then again, I don't think the wizards gave us full value for the nuggets they were given."
Morgarn paused and looked at me. "If you only got the three sleds and the goods on them, then they definitely failed to return full value."
"Two of the sleds and most of the tools we retrieved from an abandoned farmhouse," Steve said. "Most of the seeds and farming tools we received in trade with one of the merchants. Although I'm not sure how we paid for that."
"I traded the vial of phantom caps to Relway," I said.
"But you said you gave it to the wizards," Steve pointed out.
Morgarn laughed. "Relway and Werlyn are cousins. Anything Ron gave Relway was being passed on to Werlyn. Anyways, I can say that the mithril won't be worth anything to you in the future. The nuggets are too small for anyone except a wizard, and you'll be too far from their academy to tempt a merchant, not for so few nuggets. Your little wizardess won't be able to use it either."
"Why not?" Steve asked. I was wondering the same. I started checking my pouches, looking for the one containing the remaining nuggets.
"Mithril is used in enchanting certain items, but your young girl won't have the skill to do that for years," Morgarn said. "You would be better off giving her more glow grass and maybe a few small gems. Some gems can be quite valuable for a young wizard just learning to do magic."
"I'm sure the gems will be far too expensive for us," I said.
Morgarn smiled through his beard. "Oh, if you were talking flawless diamonds certainly, but I was thinking some pale sapphires, amethysts and rose quartz. They aren't valued by most jewelry makers, but your wizardess will be able to learn and cast several new spells."
"It's a noble offer," I said. "But our biggest need will be for the food to get to our new home and then tools we can use to help set up our home once we get there."
"And don't forget that we'll want more livestock," Steve reminded me. "Right now, Lydia is our best hunter, and we'll probably need more than just her if we are going to have meat for everyone."
"And our group might still grow," I observed. "Aine and Al do seem to be close, but Kariy, Jennifer and you are still looking for someone, as is Verval. I also won't say no to others joining if they will work with us."
Steve nodded. Morgarn just shrugged and turned away. "Give Mertiln the mithril once you get to Purahomp. He'll make sure that you have more goods and he'll provide a token that can be redeemed in Saraloncto for more. You should be going."
Morgarn walked off, so Steve and I hurried down the passage and out into the courtyard of the dwarven outpost.
We found a line of seven large ore carts in the courtyard. Next to them, our three converted sleds appeared small and insignificant. Most of our friends were huddled around Lydia and Victoria. Shaylin, Gertrilla and Corwal were playing a game with the two puppies, holding out
some scraps of leather and pulling them away when the puppies tried to pounce. It reminded me of watching someone play with a cat except the puppies used their mouths to grab at the scraps. Heather smiled and walked over as Steve and I looked around for Mertiln.
"The head dwarf had to return inside for something. We also are still waiting for Esme and Natalie," Heather told me.
"Problems?" I asked.
"No," Heather said with a frown. "Esme was trying to give some more information to the dwarven healers on how to treat the man she saved. I guess he healed faster than she expected, so she's trying to give them an idea of when he can be active based on that. Mertiln said that he needed to retrieve a token of some kind."
"Good. I see the kids are having fun," I said.
Heather giggled. "Gertrilla said they should try to tire the puppies out so that they won't wander off. They don't seem inclined to leave the light, but Mertiln warned us that the trade route we will be following has been a bit wild the last few years. I guess an encampment of some kind died out and, without the regular patrols coming from there, wild cave creatures have moved in."
"Warn everyone to stay in the light and keep alert," I said formally. "Got it. So we'll start moving shortly?"
Kariy ran up and handed me a bowl filled with some cooked meat. It looked like meat left over from the night before, but I could smell no foulness, so I started to eat. As I was taking my second bite, Esme and Natalie emerged from an open archway. Natalie was limping just a bit as the two girls walked up.
"Nat? You're limping," I observed.
"No, I just thought I'd try out for the ministry of funny walks," Natalie snapped back. "My thigh is tightening up. Esme thinks my quad didn't get a chance to heal properly. But I'll be fine. It's sore, but it doesn't prevent me from walking."
"We could try to clear space on one of the sleds," I said.
"And have the ground beat me up with every bump? These trails are mostly smooth, but those things don't have springs," Natalie said with a snort. "I'll be fine."
"Honey," Esme said timidly.
Natalie whirled to face her lover. "Oh cool it! I know you worry. Ron worries. Lydia worries. I can walk. It hurts, but I'm already used to it."
I put a hand on Natalie's shoulder. She tried to shrug it off, but I gripped tightly as she stood and fumed. "Natalie," I said softly, "do you really mean to hurt your lover? Esme just cares for you. We all do. We hate knowing that you are in pain when we walk."
Natalie nodded and looked up at Esme. Her lover had a hand over her mouth and I worried that Esme would dash off, but the young woman lowered her arm and then spread her arms. "We love you, Natalie," Esme whispered.
Natalie started sobbing and threw herself into Esme's arms. "I'm sorry," the young woman murmured as Esme used her right hand to wave Steve and me away. We turned and started walking over to the rest of the group. I noticed that the play with the puppies had ceased and everyone was looking past me to the two women.
Steve and I kept walking. As we got close, Hencktor opened his mouth, only to have Lydia immediately cover it. "Let me guess," Lydia said. "Natalie is not happy that we are all so concerned about her ability to keep up."
I nodded. Before anyone could add anything, a stream of armed dwarves emerged from a tunnel behind the last of the ore carts. They spread out so that each cart had four dwarves around it. Another six quickly spread out among our sleds, with two dwarves at the front of each sled near the harness where a slumbering beetle waited.
Steve immediately stepped up. "Looks like we are heading out," he called out as the first of the ore carts started to move forward. Let's stay behind the second of our sleds. Shay, Ger, you keep the puppies close."
Heather ran over to walk next to me as everyone moved to stand behind our second sled. As we settled into position, a second and then third ore cart started to move forward.
Natalie and Esme ran up. I could see Natalie grimace a bit in pain as they slipped into the group, but before I could say anything the first of our sleds moved forward. Everyone tensed and stared at the sled directly ahead of us.
The sled had just started to move when Mertiln stomped up and stood beside me. "You have the right idea," he told me. "Our current plan is three ore carts ahead of you and four behind. We also have a food cart joining; it will be just behind your third sled. Now I need to get to the front of this caravan. The guard is supposed to be waiting just outside the gates."
Mertiln stomped away, heading past the now moving sleds. I could see two dwarves starting to poke at the beetle harnessed to our third sled and jumped into motion, slipping in front of the beetle as it rose to its feet. The dwarves appeared to have the beetle under control as I made sure I was well out of its reach.
The rest of the group quickly joined me, spreading out a little in the area between the second sled and the beetle. Like me, most of them maintained a wary distance from the beetle, although the dwarves in charge of it seemed to have it well under control.
I was about to say more when Heather put a hand on my shoulder. "You don't want to do this anymore, do you?" she asked.
I put my left hand over hers and shrugged. "I never sought anything that has happened to us since we arrived. I certainly never contemplated the amount of walking we still have to do."
"It gives you lots of stamina," Heather said with a giggle. "You were perfect last night."
I shook my head. "You won, you don't need to rub it in." I glanced around. One thing I noticed was that during the night, two new lantern supports must have been installed on the sleds. The area we walked in was illuminated by two lanterns. One hung from the back of the sled we followed, while the other was at the front of the sled behind us. It was a dim light, but it allowed us to look at each other.
The puppies were up against the back of the second sled; they trotted along, staying in its shadow. Occasionally one would look back at the large beetle pulling the next sled and then speed up, pressing its body into the frame of the sled as if to push it out of the way.
I could see Gertrilla and Corwar walking close behind the puppies and watching them. Shaylin was not near them and I looked up only to feel someone tugging at the waist to my pants. I looked down to see the pre-teen wizardess walking beside me and looking worried.
"Yes, Shaylin," I said as I checked for the rest of the group. I found that they were walking in several small groups within the circle of light. No one seemed to be upset or worried, so I looked down at the maiden.
Shaylin shivered. "It's just so dark and depressing. I want to be out in the sunlight."
"We all do," Heather said. "I'm losing my tan."
I shook my head. "It's winter. You don't really have a tan. Heather ..." I moaned.
"Ron," my blond love caroled back. "Don't be like that. You know you'd love it if I had a tan."
I sighed. "Heather, I won't say I wouldn't love to see you tanned, but right now it's a bit more important that we concentrate on surviving. We don't even know how long the journey underground will be."
"Fourteen days," I heard Mertiln call out. I looked up to see him standing just to the left of the passing carts. He waited for us to reach him and then started to walk alongside me.
"Is that how long it will take to reach Purahomp?" I asked. "And will it all be underground?"
"Might take a couple more," Mertiln said as he looked back at the trailing sled and carts. I glanced over my shoulder to see two more carts joining the caravan by slipping in just behind our last sled. The carts had several extra dwarves hovering near them as they linked up and started to follow the rest of the group.
"The food carts?" I asked. "And why so many guards?"
"In the caves, many creatures hunt by smell. The food will attract things that don't respect the neutrality of the caves," Mertiln said.
"Is that all?" I asked.
Mertiln seemed to stare at me for several moments as we continued to walk in silence. Then he spoke. "We do have to worry about some groups th
at might try to take the ore from us. We will pass near territory held by some troglodytes. They do no mining, so the ore carts with us represent a fabulous treasure."
Heather gasped, but I just nodded. "And you probably brought along a large guard force to protect the caravan."
Mertiln laughed. "I can see why you lead this motley group of dreamers. You think." He reached inside his armor. "Oh, I was told that you had mithril to exchange. We're going to do our best to obtain some stuff for you in Purahomp, but Morgarn said he had some gemstones and glow grass for your little wizardess."
I reached for my belt and plucked the pouch containing the remaining mithril. Immediately I held this out to Mertiln. "That's right, I'm supposed to return the mithril to you."
Mertiln nodded as he reached out to accept the pouch. He replaced it with a new one that felt much heavier. I held it up as he made the mithril disappear under the leather vest he was wearing.
"What's that?" I heard Shaylin ask.
I held the pouch out to her. "The dwarves said that you could use this to help learn more spells."
Shaylin carefully reached out to take the pouch from my hand. "What's in it?" she asked.
"Glow grass," Mertiln said. "We figured you might want to make a few more stones in the future. We found a few lodestone fragments we could add. I know wizards use those for weather and navigation spells. A small number of gemstones."
"Gemstones?" Shaylin interrupted.
"I remember amethyst and rose quartz being named," I said.
"Rose quartz?" Shaylin cried out. "I can finally work out that shield spell. I can even look into making a staff. That will help me focus my powers."
"You'll have to wait until we can camp for a day or two," I reminded the young girl.
"More than that," Shaylin said with a snort. "It takes thirty days to properly weave the spells necessary to enchant a staff properly. Sespa back at the wizard's academy doesn't even have a proper staff. He rushed the enchantment and his staff can only glow."
"Well, you can keep everything," I said. "Just don't lose it. Depending on where we end up, it may be ages before we can replace the items you have."