Metal Mage 4

by Eric Vall

  The metal man made a salute to the dwarf in greeting.

  Thrungrig muttered something in his language and slowly returned the gesture. Then he looked up at me with wide eyes. “You make this, too?”

  “Yep,” I replied. “He’s got a big brother, but I can’t keep that one working like this one, it takes too much of my power to keep it up. I thought about using a channeling gem, but they’ve been pretty few and far between.”

  Stan was pointing to the dwarf, so I moved him closer.

  “Here, I think he wants to hang out with you,” I said.

  The dwarf’s eyes were wide as dinner plates, but he held out a calloused hand and jumped a little as the metal man landed in his palm.

  Stan looked around at the view, then motioned to the half-finished wheel.

  “Oh. That’s a wheel,” Thrungrig said awkwardly. Stan nodded, then mimed the motion of hammering, and the dwarf chuckled a little at the sight. “Aye. That’s what I’m doing.” He looked up at me again. “Smart little guy, isn’t he?”

  I could see that Stan had already won over the dwarf.

  “He sure is. He’s watched me in my workshops for a while now.” I looked at the little stick figure, who listened along to our conversation. “You wanna hang out with Thrungrig?” I asked him.

  The metal man gave an enthusiastic nod of his head, and he jumped up and down a few times for good measure.

  Thrungrig laughed at this and turned to bring him over to a stool beside the forge. “Well, that’s just fine. Here, ye’ll get a good view from this one. Show ye’ how it’s really done,” he said with a smile. The dwarf seemed like a big softy all of a sudden as he gingerly lowered his hand to let the metal man settle in on the stool.

  I chuckled at the sight of them and returned to my station.

  Cayla looked like a proud mother watching Stan with the dwarf, and she hopped down from the table with a smile on her face. “So,” she laughed, and her blue eyes gleamed with excitement. “What’s the work for today?”

  She hadn’t gotten to assemble for me since we’d finished King Temin’s first order of revolvers and rifles, and I looked forward to the day ahead. She worked faster than anyone I’d ever met, in this realm or the last, and I knew her help would mean I could finish the engines within the hour and get back to the field in time to begin building upward.

  “Here’s the design,” I said as I handed over the sketch I’d made. “Same as before. I’ve laid all the parts out by type, and they’re actually ordered from left to right, so just start here and--”

  “Yup,” she cut me off and reached for the first piece. “Got it.”

  I chuckled and laid a kiss on her head, but she was already on to the third assembly piece and fully focused. If she kept it up, the engines would be done in half the time I expected, so I quickly got to forming the last of the parts. When I’d finished, the princess had a full engine already assembled, and she gave a satisfied nod before she promptly started the next. I joined Stan and Thrungrig to help with the last three wheels and found the little metal guy propped on the dwarf’s shoulder as he hammered away.

  The two looked up as I approached, and Thrungrig sent me a slightly sheepish grin.

  “Oh. He uh … he wanted to get a better view,” he explained and cleared his throat.

  “Good,” I said with a laugh. “This guy needs to see more of the world. It makes him happy.”

  “Does it? So, he has feelings then?” the dwarf asked.

  “Seems to,” I answered and turned to melt down a chunk of steel to begin a wheel.

  The dwarf considered this. “The bigger one, too?”

  “I don’t know,” I said thoughtfully. “Like I said, I can’t keep him going like this one. Stan kind of … runs himself. Big Guy, that’s what I call his brother, is a little different. I have to manually operate him in a way.”

  Thrungrig nodded as he wiped sweat from his face. Stan mimicked the motion, and the dwarf grinned.

  “You say you need a channeling gem,” he grunted and raised his hammer to continue his work. “You thought of looking in the eastern pass?” His hammer began to fall in a rhythm as he formed the wheel at the forge.

  “What’s the eastern pass?” I asked. I’d just finished a wheel and put it in a vat of water to cool. I could have used my powers to do this, but I wanted to conserve as much as I could, especially with my injuries.

  “Twenty miles east,” the dwarf grunted again. “It leads from Orebane into Illaria, but it’s a hell of a trip through. Most of the drakes nest over there. That’s where the elders obtained their vast shares of jewels centuries ago.” He finished his hammering and used a large pair of metal tongs to lift the wheel into the vat as well.

  I stared at him. “Are you serious?”

  “’Course,” he said with a shrug. “Well, that’s how it used to be.” The dwarf chuckled as he settled himself on a stool to rest for a minute. “Used to have a crew that worked out of the capital, who went twice a year to mine the gems, but the death toll just wasn’t worth it. There’s no telling how many are left now, though, and there’s no saying you won’t get eaten either. Besides, the elders have enough of them.”

  I couldn’t believe the dwarf spoke so casually about the magical gems, since they were highly coveted and rare in Illaria, but I tried to process the wealth this race had apparently just been sitting on up here in the mountains.

  “That’s unbelievable,” I said at last.

  “Aye, to the southern regions I would imagine. We’re careful with our supply, to be sure they don’t end up all over the damn place. The dwarves don’t have much ill will amongst us, truth be told. But if others, say … the elves, got a hold of as many … ” he trailed off and shook his head. “Still, a few have travelled far, I’m sure.”

  I nodded and joined him on the stools. “Is it really that dangerous,” I asked, “over in the east pass, I mean?”

  He looked me up and down, and his eyes were skeptical. Stan patted the dwarf’s cheek from his shoulder and nodded reassuringly. The dwarf smirked, and then he answered me. “More dangerous to the dwarves I’d expect. With your magic, you might fair better against the drakes. But they nest there, as I said. The females get real ornery around the nests, and the males perch on the upper cliffs to keep watch. You’d have to really want one to even try, and then you’d have to survive long enough to escape.”

  I thought back to the drake I’d battled with Aurora when I first came to Illaria, and then I imagined an entire mountain pass guarded from the sky downward with the ruthless beasts. The excitement I’d started to feel at the prospect deflated immediately.

  “Yeah … ” I sighed. “That sounds like a death wish.”

  At least while there were giants running around. But maybe when we took care of them …

  Thrungrig nodded soberly. “It is. That’s why the capital called off the mining operation. Now, they sit on their supply and guard it closely, so they don’t ever have to bother with the beasts again.” He stood as he finished and returned his hammer to the work table. “Well, that’s it for the wheels. What’s next?”

  I put the idea of the channeling gems in the back of my mind and called my magic to the surface. Then I moved the massive wheels into the empty cart near the entrance of the workshop.

  “Now’s the fun part.” I grinned, then I got Stan from his place on the dwarf and returned him to Cayla’s shoulder. The princess had already started on the third engine, and I left her to her work since she was clearly fully enthralled.

  Thrungrig and I wheeled the cart from the workshop, and when we returned to the field, I was happy to see the initial construction of the catapults was nearly finished. All of the pieces that the Terra Mages would need to raise were lined up in waiting, and the slings of the throwing arms were just being tied.

  I waved to Haragh from across the field and threw a thumbs up over my head. The half-ogre waved back, then did an impressive flex pose from where he stood. I laughed and w
aved him off before I turned to check on the Ignis Mages, but what I saw completely confused me.

  Aurora and her mages ran in every direction and zig zagged at random, but somehow, it all looked kind of organized. Thrungrig began to head toward their corner of the field, so I followed him as I watched the strange exercise and tried to make sense of what I was looking at. As we got closer, I heard a voice that sounded like it gave the orders that sent the Ignis Mages all over the place. When I scanned the line of logs stacked to one side of the field, I found Dorinick perched on a giant log as he pointed here and there.

  “Oh nooo!” he hollered. “Right to the rear, he’s comin’ up now, ice a flyin’!”

  The mages turned and scattered, and flames were deployed in a series of bursts at different heights as they ran in practiced circles and aimed at nothing I could see.

  “Crashin’ to the ground!” Dorinick hollered, and the mages crouched and aimed their flames straight along the dirt.

  I chuckled at the sight of the slick-haired dwarf, who apparently had quite a set of lungs on him and actually looked to be enjoying himself.

  “But you’ve missed the bastard on the left!” he went on with mock terror. “He’s gettin’ ready now!”

  Thrungrig chuckled and stood with his arms crossed as he watched the training exercise.

  Aurora rolled and apparently dodged the pretend threat, and then she shot her flames from where she landed on her back.

  Dorinick let out a loud cheer.

  “There ye’ go!” he cried. “Didn’t even see that one. Now what are ye’ gonna do?”

  “Mina!” the half-elf called out.

  Mina leapt over a log and fell to her knees, shooting her flames toward the sky above Aurora, but the dwarf left his log and called the whole exercise off.

  “No, no, no.” He shook his head vigorously. “You’re frozen, miss. Get back to your starting position. What about the one on the cliff over there?”

  Mina let out a huff of disappointment and made her way back over the log. “I forgot that one,” she groaned.

  “Aye, and he didn’t forget you. Now, go again, and you--” he said as he pointed a stout finger in Aurora’s direction.

  She stood immediately and waited for instruction.

  Dorinick looked at her severely for a moment before he suddenly smirked. “Well done.”

  I could see Aurora grin at the dwarf and send him a grateful nod before she returned to the other side of the field.

  “He’s good,” I chuckled, and Thrungrig nodded in agreement.

  “Best there is,” he assured me. “Used to be a general. Now he mines for me.”

  “No shit,” I mused and looked back to the dwarf who screamed as though he was being trampled, while the Ignis Mages zig zagged all over once again. “But he seemed so … quiet? Before, anyways.”

  Thrungrig gave a shrug. “Keeps to himself these days,” was all he said. Then he turned to make his way back toward the troop of dwarves who had finally finished the initial construction.

  We walked amongst the giant beams and compared the designs carefully. Everything looked flawless, and Haragh began to haul the wheels to the base platforms.

  I got the Terra Mages together, and we worked to balance the platform on mounds of dirt while the dwarves quickly mounted the wheels and their axles. I listened to them order each other around in their language, and I had to admire their ability to coordinate, since everything happened without delay or disruption, and every platform stood firmly grounded on their wheels within twenty minutes. Then I gathered everyone together to go over the next step.

  “Alright,” I called as I climbed up on a log, and everyone quieted down. “We’ll raise and secure the a-frames first, then I need the dwarves to get up on their ladders and connect the fulcrum at the vertex. Haragh and I will just have to get the beam up there ourselves, and we’ll help hold it steady while you work. Then we’ll move on to the launching platform, but you won’t need us to do much there. Just get it secured and be sure it’s completely straight between the framework, or when the sling is released, it’ll send it off in a direction you’re not aiming for.”

  The dwarves nodded as they listened.

  “Then we’ll mount the throwing arm,” I continued. “And Terra Mages, remember that we want the arm balanced at the three-quarter point when you position it, otherwise we’re not gonna get the right counterbalance, and they’ll fall short of their mark. Put the longest end toward the south, and we’ll get the counterweight boxes in place last. Sound good?”

  Everyone gave a resounding affirmative, and I grinned at the group in front of me. They’d all banned together without question for this project, and I was proud to see the dwarves and mages working as one, especially after the warnings from Krick and his men about the dwarves running me off a cliff. From what I’d seen in the last few days, they were the most dedicated workers I’d ever met, and their willingness to join with my crew in construction went without question.

  I hopped down from the log, and Thrungrig organized the dwarves into groups so the tasks were evenly distributed and would be well coordinated. I gathered the Terra Mages around the assembled portions of the first catapult, and we all knelt to the ground to join in a circuit. As I felt the magic of the others spark to combine with my own, three mounds rose beneath the three corners of the two-hundred-foot tall frame, until its base was level with the platform. Then I stretched the topmost mound into a pillar to tilt the frame so it stood on its end before I let the weight slide it into place on the giant platform.

  The moment it was planted there, the first group of dwarves clambered up and secured the beams with the strength of their hammers and steel rods. Then my crew and I raised the second a-frame with the same system of mounds and pillars. Once both frames held strong, Thrungrig ordered the next group to step up, and they planted their ladders against the inner walls of the frames.

  The fulcrum was the only part we wouldn’t be able to get into position by manipulating the ground, so Haragh and I braced ourselves for the grunt work. We got the beam balanced between our shoulders, the half-ogre doing much of the lifting, and brought it to the dwarves on the ladders. Then the seven of us worked together to lift and move the fulcrum into position at the vertex. The next group of dwarves scaled their ladders on the outside of the frames, and they were swift enough with their hammers that everything was secured within ten minutes. I was drenched with sweat by the time I finally lowered my arms from the fulcrum, and I held my breath as we all stepped away and waited to see if the structure would hold its own shape.

  Nothing shifted even a single centimeter, and the dwarves cheered.

  I laughed and clapped a hand on Haragh’s shoulder next to me, and the half-ogre grinned back.

  “Now,” I called to the others, “we’ll get the launching pad in place.”

  This part was the easiest, and we were able to move on quickly to the most important part: balancing the throwing arm. The arm was a fifty-foot-long beam of ash that Thrungrig taught me was flexible enough to not snap during the swing, but sturdy enough to support the weight of the ammunition. The Terra Mages and I carefully raised the beam on two large pillars made of earth, and we took a moment to shift the piles and make sure it met the axis at exactly the right point.

  “How’s that look?” I called to Thrungrig.

  The lead dwarf climbed onto the base, then used his expert eye as he paced beneath the axis to be sure the beam balanced at the right point.

  “Ten centimeters back that way,” he gestured, and we adjusted accordingly. Then he called the next group of dwarves over, and they quickly mounted their ladders to secure the beam.

  Once everything was in place, I had the dwarves clear the platform before we released our magic, and the beam turned on the axis, one end falling to rest on the base.

  “Hell yeah,” I said with a grin. Now the Warwolf finally began to look like it should, and I stood for a moment to admire the giant contraption.
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  Thrungrig came over to join me, and I saw an impressed smile start to spread across his face. “Damn thing’s huge,” he chuckled.

  “Yeah it is,” I laughed. “Let’s get the counterweight box on and take it for a test run.” I was eager to see the monster in action and beyond stoked that we had made such good time. The sun would start to set within a few hours, but based on the time it’d taken us to get this far, we would be finished with enough time to spare.

  Haragh sent a rope up and over the short end of the beam and used his own strength to hold the massive thing down so the dwarves could mount the counterweight. Then the only thing left to do was thread the sling that would hold the diamonds at the other end and attach a pulley for reloading.

  The group of dwarves Thrungrig had sent to bring the carts full of tungsten from the lower mine were seated in the shade of some trees at the edge of the field. I headed over to them to help move the four giant carts and noticed the Ignis Mages and Dorinick were finally too curious about the contraption to continue their exercises. They were posted on the pile of logs, and the former dwarf general looked to be in deep conversation with Aurora.

  I couldn’t believe how well this day was going. By my estimate, we’d be able to head to the capital by tomorrow, and my promise to Thrungrig would be more than delivered.

  The counterweight box was mounted and waiting when we arrived with the carts of tungsten, so I used my magic to load the dense metal into the box. Then I sent Haragh to pull a giant stump out of the ground as practice ammunition. There were still the diamond bombs to create, but anything with a good amount of weight would do for the test run.

  The half-ogre didn’t even bother to use his Terra magic. He just grunted fiercely as he braced his shoulder against a giant stump of pine, and the roots gave way under his strength as the stump wrenched clean from the ground.

  Haragh returned with the stump balanced on his green head, and I rolled my eyes.

  “Show off,” I said with a laugh.