After he was equipped properly, Owengar brought a straw practice dummy in for Nick to learn the basic fighting strokes. At first it seemed awkward, but Nick wouldn’t quit. Soon he was sweating and breathing hard as he swung the sword at the dummy. He was surprised when he began to enjoy the three steps. A short stroke to the stomach from left to right, a strong follow through from the right shoulder down to the left hip and then a quick lung and thrust into the center of the dummy’s torso. Owengar chuckled “Good, good, you are getting it.” He continued to have Nick practice but now added the shield to his arm to get him used to the movements with it in the way.
When Nick finally became too tired to continue, his arm felt like it weighed a hundred pounds. He slid the sword back into its scabbard and sat down on the cool stone floor. “That will get you in shape.” Nick said. “Get you in the shape of what?” asked Rhen.
“Oh, never mind.” Nick replied when he realized some of the sayings from home did not apply on Terran.
They cleaned up in a shower room just off the main corridor and then they had dinner from some of the food supplies they had been given. After his new sword training, all Nick wanted to do was to sleep. Not long after they had eaten, that is exactly what he did. While Rhen and Owengar discussed the roads they would be traveling, Nicks eyes grew heavy and he retreated to his bed roll. His eyelids closed and he fell fast asleep.
Chapter 18
The Slides
When Dawn came, Owengar woke Nick and Rhen. There was no bacon or eggs for breakfast, but rations from their packs. They each had thick dry cakes that resembled short bread cookies in their packs. The cakes had a very buttery flavor. Nick thought they were pretty good. It didn’t take much to make Nick start to feel full. Only half a cake seemed to be enough.
“What are these made of?” Nick asked Owengar.
“I don’t know really. The cooks in the castle make them for the troops. They have been making them for as long as we have had soldiers. They don’t taste too bad until you have been eating them for weeks. Then you start to dream about eating a real meal. They start to seem flavorless.” Owengar pulled a face as said this last bit.
After eating and packing up, Owengar led them down a set of stairs that was just outside of the armory. The stairs were well worn and spiraled downward. After turning and turning around and around, they came to a landing that opened up to another intricately carved archway. Through the archway was a tunnel. The walls were not cut into flat surfaces but were the results of chipping and digging though the rock. It was raw.
As they walked through the archway Owengar announced, “The ancient mines of Anthril. He was a legendary king, the first king here in this mountain home. He was the one who decided that we would live in the earth, he taught our people to love the stone, and he showed them the treasures that lay entombed there.” Owengar’s eyes beamed in the light of his torch. “This is where it all began!”
As they walked down the tunnel, it started to widen into a large cavern. It reminded Nick of the mines he had been working in. Yet this mine was much cleaner and more organized. Impressive scaffolding lined the walls of the cavern. Pulley systems and buckets ran the length. There were steel tracks with carts on them that ran along the scaffolding. Nick realized that when the dwarves mined, they were very efficient. The bucket lines and carts all seemed to be pointing in one direction, to the other end of the massive cavern, and this was the direction Owengar was taking them.
At the other side of the cavern, the buckets came down to where the carts on the tracks could be loaded. Then the carts followed a track into a small dark tunnel that only had a couple of feet clearance to the top of the cart. Owengar waddled up to the side of the cart in the front of the line with his short legs and threw his pack inside.
“Here is our ride!” he exclaimed with a smile.
Nick and Rhen said nothing but wandered up to the side of the cart and threw their packs in. Rhen dropped to a knee and motioned for Nick to use it as a step to climb in. Nick climbed into the large metal cart. It was just big enough that he could kneel in the bottom and hold onto both sides of the cart with his head sticking out.
After a few moments Rhen had helped Owengar climb over the side and then climbed in himself. Owengar slid his pack to the front of the cart and propped it up like a seat and sat down. There was a torch holder on the outside of the cart that he secured his torch into. When he did it projected light forward in front of the cart. Nick realized that there was a cover around the top of the torch that had some type of glass lens to keep it from blowing out and to project the light like a headlight. It was bulky but it seemed to do a really good job. It reminded Nick of the progress on Earth. First a torch, then a lantern and eventually a light bulb. It was nothing to his world, but he could see it was amazing to Rhen who was leaning over Owengar’s shoulder to examine it.
Owengar was doing something to a hatch on the front of the cart but Nick couldn’t see in the dark. He then heard a screech of metal and could see what he had been working at. He had released some latches on the front of the cart and half of the front panel folded on hinges back into the cart until it rested against the lower side. It made it so they could easily see out the front of the cart and gave Owengar access to a large metal lever.
“Better sit down and secure yourselves!” Owengar said with his head half turned.
Rhen settled back down in front of Nick and grabbed the sides of the cart. Nick slid his pack to the rest against the back panel and sat on it like Owengar had done. His back rested against the back panel. And smiled to himself as he settled into his newly formed seat.
Owengar pushed the lever forward and the cart began to roll toward the tunnel in front of them. It felt like a tight fit with the roof of the tunnel so close to their heads. As the cart rolled faster, Nick instinctively kept ducking his head slightly not knowing what was coming from up ahead. The torch light that projected forward helped to see but it only reached out about twenty feet to the tracks and walls in front of them.
It didn’t take long for the cart to pick up speed. Nicks heart began to race a little as the plummeted deeper into the mine. The cool air was pushing into his face and was making him feel cold. Owengar must have been enjoying this because all Nick could hear was his booming laugh every time the cart dropped onto a steeper incline and Nicks stomach went into his throat. Nick could see the torch light flashing off the rough sides of the tunnel that was shooting past him. He could also see the dark shape of Rhen clinging to the sides of the cart in front of him.
Just then Nicks eyes were blinded as daylight came streaming into his eyes as the cart shot around a corner. The track had left the darkness of the mine and made a sharp left turn as it shot out along a high cliff wall. Nick just saw a flash of green below and then they turned right back into the darkness of the tunnel.
Just then Owengar started to pull back on the large lever and Nick could hear the screeching of the wheels on the track. The cart started to slow as the tunnel opened into a large cavern again. This cavern was not dark. It had a soft glow of daylight filtering up from three tunnels of to the right of the tracks. Nick could see why. There were a few of the carts in front of them with the buckets tilted to the right side to dump their loads. The carts were brought to this point and emptied down these three stone chutes.
As his eyes adjusted to the light, he could also see that the carts ahead of him were in line to turn a tight left and then be pulled up a steep straight track. There was some type of dwarven conveyor system that hooked onto the bottom of each cart and then was pulled back up the track. There were a few carts on the conveyor track, but it was not in motion for them to be pulled up.
Owengar stood up and climbed out of the front of the cart as it stopped. He let out another booming laugh and smiled ear to ear. “That never gets old! Must be my favorite thing to do except for the slides.” He chuckled.
“What are the slides?” Nick had to ask.
Owengar opened his
arms in a grand gesture and waved his left hand toward the three stone chutes, that were to the side of the cart.
Nicks attention went to the chutes. He could see that they were on a good forty-five-degree angle. They reminded Nick of a waterslide carved out of stone. The surface had big marks in it and small gouges the closer he looked.
“What are they used for?” Rhen asked.
“They are used to discard all of the stone that we carve out of the mines and the mountain. Didn’t you wonder how we carved the tunnels in the main city and what we did with the refuse stone?” Owengar asked.
It made sense. Even a mole or a mouse has to push the dirt from their tunnels when they dig. He didn’t even think about how they were getting rid of the excess as they made the mountain city.
Owengar walked just past the chutes and opened a door that Nick hadn’t noticed. He went in and when he came back out, he had a large piece of thin metal. It almost looked like a shield but was long and oval. The edges were bent up and the whole shape curved. It had a large leather pad and leather straps. Owengar placed it on the ground in front of Nick and waved to Rhen to follow him back into the room. They came back with two more of the big metal objects.
He lined all three up in front of each of the stone chutes. “Nick, come and sit here.” Owengar said as he held the straps up.
Nick realized what was going on and his stomach tightened into knots. “Is this even safe?” Nick asked.
“Safe? We have been doing this for hundreds of years Keeper. Do you trust that I will fulfill my Kings wishes?” Owengar asked Nick.
“Well, yes.” Said Nick.
“Then I will get you to the elves safe.” He answered back.
Rhen seemed very concerned as well as his hands clenched and unclenched. Nick walked over and sat on the leather pad as he was instructed. Owengar pulled one strap around nicks waist. He placed his feet into two stirrups at the front of the disk and then pulled two more straps over his shoulders and connected them to the one about his waist and then tightened it up.
He did the same for Rhen and made sure the two were all secured and then walked over to the wall next to the door and pulled down on an iron lever that was next to a torch holder. When he pulled it down they could hear a mechanical clank and then a low rumbling groan.
“That should do.” Owengar mumbled and climbed onto his own disk. “We use these in emergencies, or when we need to check the slides below. It makes things much quicker.” Owengar broke into a big smile and started to scoot his disk forward with his body weight. He stopped when he saw the other two starring at him and doing nothing.
“Well come on now, let’s get going.” He said gruffly.
Nick and Rhen hesitantly began to scoot their disks forward. When Nick felt his get to the edge, he hesitated a moment and then leaned forward. The metal let out a scraping noise as he started to move forward and then he started to slide rapidly down the chute. Rhen must have gone as well because he heard him let out a yelp. There was no question Owengar had started down his chute because Nick could hear his bellowing laughter over the sound of the metal sliding against the stone.
The first fifty feet were straight but as he accelerated downhill, the chute banked slightly. As Nick flew around the corner he realized that the disk was very stable and sailed straight down the center of the stone chute. A large smile worked its way over his lips, and he was actually enjoying this.
The chute banked slowly one direction and then the next. The farther he slid the lighter it became. With the growing light, Nick could see more detail as he flew down the chute. He saw what Owengar had triggered before they had left. There was a metal bank that was shaped to fit the stone tunnel that had been switched across like a switch to a train track. He could see a drop off beyond it that would have tossed him into the piles of rock below that had been dumped from the carts from the top of the chutes. He couldn’t even feel a bump as he hit the metal curve and rerouted to a side chute.
The chute flattened out and it was lined with a thick sand that brought him to a smooth stop. To his left he saw Rhen sliding to a stop and just past Rhen came a grinning Owengar. Owengar was still laughing out loud as he unhooked himself and came over to unhook his guests.
“That is the quickest way to travel my friends.” He said with a smile.
Nick and Rhen looked at each other and broke into laughter. Nick didn’t know why but he couldn’t stop. Rhen couldn’t stop either. It felt so good to have fun. Nick had forgotten how good it felt to have fun. Since he had come to this strange land he had felt nothing but fear, hunger and pain. He realized he hadn’t felt much enjoyment at all. He reveled in the feeling of joy and happiness with Rhen and Owengar as long as he could.
Chapter 19
Blacwin
After the laughing fit had passed, they worked their way down a set of stairs that were cleverly hidden in the cliff face. There was a seventy to eighty-foot drop to their right as they descended. From below there was no sign of the steps as they had been shaped to resemble the natural rock face. The steps were very wide and perfectly flat. Nick felt shaky as he worked his way down them. Owengar on the other hand, wandered down them as they were steps at a school. He turned his head and talked with Nick and Rhen as they descended. Nick just wished he would keep looking ahead.
When they reached the bottom, Nick looked back at where the slides had dumped the excess rock onto the side of the mountain. He could see an opening like a small cave, and then below just a big rock slide. It looked no different than the Mountains he had seen before. Nick felt a pang in his heart as he thought about home. It had been months since that day in the hotel. His body was much different from all of the hard work and lack of junk food. He had muscles he hadn’t before and he felt much stronger. He had grown taller as well. His hair was long and shaggy, and he knew it needed to be cut.
“Would they even recognize me?” Nick thought to himself.
Nick was shaken from his inner thoughts as Rhen slapped him on the back and had been saying something to him. “…so high. You can come back later.” Nick just smiled in reply since he had no idea what he had just said.
The mountain sloped down into a small meadow. T the edge of the meadow there was a sharp descent into the trees. They followed a game trail that lead them to a dry stream bed that they crossed over and then worked their way toward the pass that Nick had seen from the lookout area. When they finally reached the pass, they stopped off in the trees so Owengar could slip on a traveling cloak. He did not want to draw attention to himself or his people.
“We travel in the open very seldom, and when we do, we travel alone. Remember, the humans have not seen us for years. They are used to seeing one at a time and mistake us for smaller humans. Let’s face it, we are very similar at first glance. They just aren’t ready for a whole group of us walking down the road in our armor.” Said Owengar.
It made sense. After all these years, the humans had not known the dwarves existed beneath the mountain. Nick was beginning to wonder about his own world. Were there dwarves there? He definitely thought it could be a possibility.
The road was quiet, and they only ran into one traveler along their way. He seemed leery of them and led his pack mule and horse close to the other side of the road to keep away from them. He never made eye contact, just kept his head down and heading forward.
This was a relief to Nick and his party as they didn’t want to draw attention to themselves on their journey. The less strangers they encountered the better.
As they came to the peak of mountain pass, Nick caught his first sight into the valley below. He could see miles of trees and green that ran into blue waters in the distance. What looked like rolling plains lay due north and then to their right a large valley. It was surrounded by small mountains on both sides. Nick could also hear the sound of a small mountain stream dashing off of rocks somewhere down below him.
They continued down the trail of switchbacks that led them down from the steep
mountain pass. The air was cool and got much colder as the light of day started to fade. The sound of the stream grew louder and louder until the trail ran into it at a small waterfall. They sat down here to rest. They were tired from all of the hiking and hadn’t said much since they had left the meadow.
As Nick was taking a drink from his water bag, he heard a loud grunt and a thud. Cursing followed and more thuds. Rhen looked towards the noise and stood drawing his sword. Nick pulled his from its scabbard as well as they moved towards the sound. Owengar swung his axe into his hands.
As they moved around a tall bush on the stream bank they could see what was making the noise. A Dead One with a club in its hand loomed over a large black scaled thin venti. He was busy beating it with the club with fury in his eyes. “Trifle with me and you will learn your lesson child!” seethed the Dead One.
Nick was shocked to see both the Venti and the Dead One. Fear bolted through him as he saw the unfeeling warrior beating the small dragon. Its small wings were folded in except the right one had been broken. The beast couldn’t fold it in as the most prominent joint had been broken and the bone was partially exposed. The end of the wing hung open limply. The Venti tried to fight back, but every time it did, he would club a part of its body with a sickening thud. Soon it would be dead as its strength was draining from the abuse.
Nick felt the fire building with in him. No animal, evil or not should be made to suffer like this. Nick clenched his sword and went to step toward the attacker. Rhen beat him to it. Without a word Rhen slipped around the bush and swung his sword in a high arc bringing it down on the Dead Ones neck. The sharp dwarven blade cleanly removed his head from his body and he toppled forward.
The Scent of Death Page 20