by Tj Dixon
At least I don’t need to worry about Elucia blowing up anything. Like the city. The only magic we aren’t going to be able to teach her is dimensional magic, because it is banned in Nirvali. Dimensional magic leaves traces that elemental magic doesn’t. Using it would risk revealing the city to outsiders. Now the enemy have taken control of the temple that is even more important than ever.
Everyone else has already left, but I was tired and am in no particular rush. There is no point waiting any longer though, so I slowly stand and then quickly wash myself with magic. I yawn and take a look at the pot that damned half dwarf used to cook the worms. Worms! I’m a noble, not a bloody fish!
I fly to the door and open it with earth magic. I close it behind me the same way. The air outside seems fresher, even though we are still inside. I noticed it yesterday too, but I was busy wondering what damage Elucia was going to do. Alone and in no rush I open my senses. “Ingenious. A wind magic based air filtration system that is purely powered by the earth’s natural mana. Not even a trace of dimensional magic, and no increase to the mana flow, just elemental conversion. This would be completely undetectable, unless you were already inside the city.”
I have nowhere in particular to go so I just fly along random streets, starting with our own. In our street the homes on our side are all carved into the wall of the cavern. All you can see are the doors, which are very unevenly spaced with just short gaps between some and others a lot further apart. Most of the homes are shielded from my elemental and dimensional senses, so I can’t tell whether this is just because there are big gaps between some homes, or whether some are just much bigger than others. If it is because they are bigger than others, then some are probably even bigger than my mother’s mansion. It could even be that they aren’t homes at all. Perhaps they might be storage facilities or something else entirely.
In other streets the homes are almost all identical, with the exception of the markings at the bottom of each door. I am impressed how the dwarves carved these homes with such precision. Between streets there are often significant differences. Some streets are obviously for richer dwarves, because the houses are huge, although very few buildings look tall enough to have more than one floor. In other streets the houses are just as tiny as ours, so probably only contain one room.
Like in our street the buildings are shielded and have no windows, so I can only make an assumption based on their size. Every building is made from the same black stone, obviously because it was easiest to simply carve the buildings out of the natural stone already here.
The streets are empty of people so it feels a bit eerie. A bit like flying around a ghost town. The white light that just hangs around everywhere, without really coming from anywhere, adds to the sense of eeriness. I hover motionless and listen. It isn’t just quiet. It is silent. Spooky.
“From what Kai said everyone is working, but I am amazed that there isn’t at least someone here.” I say and shake my head.
“The people who aren’t working are in a tavern, at home or at the market.” Says a mischievous sounding deep voice.
“Who are you?” I ask turning. Not seeing anyone I frown and ask. “Where are you?”
“Down here.” He says. I look down and see a black head with short golden hair and piercing green eyes sticking out of a hole directly below me. “I like the way you use magic to obscure the vision of anyone peeking up your skirt. It would be an even better view if you didn’t though.”
“Who are you?” I ask coldly and fly a bit away from him.
“I’m Grunti and I’m a genius, but I’m much more interested in you. I’ve never seen someone so small or so cute.” He tells me with a mischievous grin.
“And why aren’t you at work, or at a tavern, or the market, or at home?” I ask with a frown.
“Because those are the first places my dad would look. Anyway, there aren’t any girls as cute as you at any of those places.” He tells me.
“So, Grunti the self-professed genius, do you know why I’m so small?” I ask.
“It’s an obvious curse, though quite a powerful one. Who’d you piss off?”
“That doesn’t matter. He’s dead now though.” I say with a shrug. “What does matter is whether you know how to remove it.”
“Why would you want to do that?” He asks.
“Why? Who would want to be stuck this small and unable to use their full power?” I ask, rather stunned that he would even need to ask.
“The power issue would be annoying, but most dwarven girls would love to be that small. I’d certainly love for them to be.” He says with a wishful smile.
“Enough with your sick fantasizing, can you remove my curse or not?” I ask with a scowl.
“Yes, but I’m not going to.” He says.
“Because you want paying?” I ask.
“No, I’d do it for free for such a cute girl, if it wasn’t for the fact that it would destroy that cuteness.” He tells me.
“So how much do you want?”
“I’m not doing it. It would be a crime against dwarvenkind, no, against reality itself.” He tells me overly dramatically. Then his head ducks down into the hole. I dart into the hole a moment before it is filled in with the same black stone that must have been there before he popped his head up. We are now basically in a small cavern under the ground.
“Now you wait here, mister dwarf!” I yell at him.
“I’m not unshrinking you!”
“Then unseal my powers without unshrinking me!”
“I suppose I could do that. It would be a pain though. What’s in it for me?” He asks.
“What do you want to be in it for you?” I ask cautiously.
“How about you serve me from now on?” He suggests.
“Do you have a death wish?” I ask sweetly.
“You don’t have your full powers right now.” He reminds me.
“I still have enough power to kill a perverted genius.” I tell him.
“If you do that though, who will return your power?”
“Someone who isn’t perverted.” I answer with a shrug.
“I don’t think I’m perverted.” He says with a frown.
“Says the dwarf who tried to look up my skirt!”
“That was my stone given duty.” He says sounding like he actually means it.
“Never mind, just open up the hole in the ground again.” I say with a sigh.
“If you aren’t going to serve me, how about another cute girl. No bigger than you of course.” He says with a nod and a smile as if he has come up with a perfect solution.
“Are you sure you’re not just an idiot, who says he is a genius?” I ask with a frown.
“What was wrong with my suggestion?” He asks.
“How many girls do you think there are as small as I am?” I ask shaking my head in disbelief at his stupidity.
“Oh fine, I’ll make you your power amplifier. I’ll drop it off at your home. Number three if I recall correctly, near the jail.”
“How do you know that?” I ask.
“That was where you started your little flight today.” He says whilst scratching his head.
“You were following me the whole time?”
“Only since you started talking about the air filtration system my father’s father invented.” He says. I blink.
“You’re the grandson of the dwarf who invented that?”
“Yes.” He says calmly like it is nothing.
“Maybe you really can help me. How long will it take?”
“Well, first I need to design the amplifier, and then… I’d say about half an hour.” He tells me.
“Half an hour… I’ll be eagerly awaiting this power amplifier.”
“See you then. I don’t suppose you could remove that enchantment on your way home?” He asks.
“What enchantment?”
“The one that spoils my view.” He says with a smile.
“No…”
“Pity. Oh well, see you
.” He says and opens a hole to the street above us. I fly up through it and look back, but the hole is already filled.
“See you.” I say shaking my head one last time. Then I race through the empty streets to get back to our temporary home. Of course there is nobody there when I do get back.
(Grunti)
I inscribe the last rune into the emerald and fill it with magic. I close my eyes and create a chain of round jade stones linked together by a string of flexible black stone. The chain moulds to the emerald without spoiling the enchantment. Perfect. That is the part that is easiest to mess up, so I breathe a sigh of relief. It took ages to form an emerald suitable for enchantment, so it would have been a pain to have to make another one. I’ll shrink it to the right size when I put it on her. It gives me an excuse to accidentally touch her.
Now I just need to get there and do this before dad finds me. He’ll be annoyed when he does, but he’d probably forgive me if he saw how small and cute she was. I didn’t even think to ask her name. I’ll have to ask when I give this to her.
“Grunti.” An exasperated voice says. I look up at my dad.
“I just need to take this to a cute girl, and then I’ll be right back.” I tell him and start to focus my earth magic on creating a tunnel. Then he grabs my left wrist. Thankfully the power amplifier is in my right hand.
“Five important orders... I told you we had five important orders to complete today and I even cooked your favourite fried fungi this morning. Despite all that you go off and waste time creating… What in Nirvali is this?”
“A power amplifier for the cute girl. She’s been cursed into a fairylike form. Even you would be moved if you saw how small she is.”
“What exactly does this power amplifier do?” Dad asks sounding rather intrigued.
“Exactly what you think it does. Her soul is still producing power like normal, but her body is too small to allow her to actually store much of it without incinerating herself. If she channels her power through a power amplifier, although she can’t store any more power, she only has to use a small amount of power to create an effect that would normally use lots of power.”
“What would happen if you channelled lots of power through this?” Dad asks.
“It would blow up, destroying the world.” I tell him with a shrug.
“Don’t you think that would be a bit of a problem?” Dad asks incredulously.
“Risking the end of the world is a small price to pay for the sake of a cute girl.” I answer with a shrug.
“Grunti…” Dad says shaking his head as if he doesn’t understand.
“Anyway, I’ve just got to deliver this to her and then I’ll help out with the orders.” I tell dad.
“I’m going to have to ask you to destroy that crazy invention of yours. Without destroying the world in the process.” Dad says.
“Don’t be silly. I just spent almost half an hour creating it!” I protest.
“That’s almost half an hour that should have been spent helping me, instead of making me search all of Nirvali for you!” Dad scolds.
“But you didn’t see her. At least take a look at her before you judge me.” I protest quite reasonably.
“I don’t care, even if she is an inch tall, because that doesn’t help me complete the five important orders!” Dad protests. He just has a one track mind. I suppose I do too, but mine is much more sensibly focused on girls.
“What if I said she was just an inch tall?”
“She wasn’t, was she?” Dad asks sounding really interested. Ok, perhaps even he would be moved by that.
“She was two inches ten.” I say.
“That’s almost three inches!” Dad protests.
“See, even you’d be interested if she was one inch tall.” I say with a smile.
“Not enough to risk blowing up the world though.” Dad says sternly.
“It might not even blow up the world even if you channel lots of power through it. I calculated that there would be a one in five hundred thousand chance of the world surviving even if you channelled ten metra through it.”
“Ten metra isn’t much! Destroy that power amplifier right now!” Dad yells at me.
“What if I work late tonight?” I ask.
“After messing around like this you are anyway!” Dad yells.
“I bet she hates me for not turning up.” I say with a sniff. Then I crush the emerald with my right hand. I have to squeeze quite hard to do it. It shatters into thousands of pieces, but my skin is way too tough to get cut that easily. The jade stones fall off the black stone string and hit the ground a moment before the string does.
“Now for some real work.” Dad says and pulls on my wrist. I don’t bother resisting.
(Lucy)
That dwarf said he’d finish it in half an hour. It’s been nine hours now and I have more or less given up on him. That said I don’t dare leave our home in case he really does bring me something to restore my power. Searching for someone else to help me can wait until tomorrow, but I am bored and frustrated cooped up here like a pet or a child. I suppose I am Peter’s pet, but having been stuck in that jail cell for so long I want to fly around freely.
“I’m home!” Elucia calls out with a smile as she throws the door open.
“Welcome back.” I say gloomily and fly past her out the door.
“When Peter comes back, remind him to knock.” Elucia tells me. I shut the door behind me without responding. There are some dwarves going past our house, but in the nearby streets it is much busier. I don’t imagine it will be like this for long, but just a couple of streets away the whole street is filled with the constant flow of dwarves. Then I sense Peter just as he is turning into our street.
“Lucy.” Peter says sounding tired.
“Go right in, nobody is back yet.” I tell him suppressing my grin until he has already opened the door.
Chapter 3 (Multiple)
(Peter)
“You seem to have the hang of it.” Grundle nods grudgingly.
“Thank you.” I say with a smile.
“So here’s your pay.” Grundle says and gives me the usual ten blue coins. “Careful on your way back. There’s talk of strangeness on the streets. Just talk if you ask me, but it never hurts to be careful.”
“Strangeness?”
“Yes, strangeness.”
“What kind of strangeness?” I ask curiously.
“Strange strangeness.” Grundle says with a serious nod. I suppose I’m not going to get any details out of him.
“Thank you for the warning.”
“I wouldn’t want to have to train another new recruit. You’re tall and ugly, and worse you’re human, but you know what you’re doing.”
“See you tomorrow.” I tell him.
“Tomorrow is Hallowed Stone Day, so there’s no work tomorrow. I’ll see you the day after tomorrow. Now off with you.”