by Tj Dixon
“Yes, I’d like to know that too. Were you here to bring me my amplifier?” Lucy asks.
“Sorry, because it might blow up the world, dad wouldn’t let me. He’s always worrying about trivial little things like that.” Grunti says sadly.
“Trivial?” I ask in shock.
“Yes, for the sake of pleasing a girl, what’s a little risk of blowing up the world?”
“Ummm…” I say unable to find suitable words.
“So why were you here then?” Lucy asks.
“I was searching for Grimji. His dad is a friend of my dad, so I was asked to help find him.”
“So why were you here?” Lucy asks with a frown. Does he suspect us of being involved?
“I was going past your home whilst tracking him, so I decided to pop in to see you. Then I noticed Peter.” Grunti explains.
“You can come back in now!” Kai calls out as she opens the door. We enter and find Elucia is now wearing black clothing. It looks a bit like a shirt and shorts, but I get the impression it is much heavier. She seems a bit uncomfortable.
“I’m really sorry about earlier.” Elucia says meekly staring at the floor in front of her.
“Oh, um, don’t worry about it.” Grunti says obviously rather taken aback by the complete change in her personality. “I could probably make something that would help you control your powers. Perhaps a necklace or a ring. Would you like that?”
“Yes, that would be great! I would be really grateful if you did that.” Elucia exclaims as she looks up. Grunti grins.
“Just how grateful?” He asks.
“I’m not sure what you mean. If you want paying we don’t have much money.” Elucia says, clearly worried.
“No, that’s not it.” Grunti says with a grin as he approaches Elucia. Then he whispers something in her ear. Elucia goes bright red, but it is Lucy who responds.
“I can more or less guess what you just said, and I’m going to start hating you if keep on acting like that.” Lucy says. Grunti’s grin falls.
“Fine, I’ll just make it.” Grunti says.
“That’s better.” Lucy says. “So shouldn’t you be getting back to your search?”
“Wait.” I say. “Grunti, I want to know a bit more about what it was about me that caught your interest. You said I had two souls. Is that true?”
“Yes it is, but the first thing that grabbed my attention was your missing arm. Why don’t you have two?” Grunti asks.
“Oh, I lost my left arm to a curse.” I say looking down.
“But why didn’t you replace it?” Grunti asks.
“Replace it?” I ask confused.
“Yes.”
“Well even if I could regrow it, doing so would bring back the curse.” I tell Grunti.
“But why not make a new one?” Grunti asks.
“Make a new one? You can do that?” I ask.
“Why wouldn’t you be able to?” He asks confused.
“How would you even do it?” I ask.
“The same way you make anything. It would be stone, crystal or metal rather than flesh and blood, but that just makes it stronger. Some dwarves have even been known to cut off their arm, because they want a stone one.”
“So can you make me a new arm?” I ask hopefully.
“Sure, but you’re male so I’m not going to unless you pay me.” Grunti says.
“Don’t be so…” Lucy starts to say.
“No, I’m not doing it. It’s a lot of work.” Grunti says firmly.
“How much would it cost?” I ask.
“A thousand white.”
“How much is a white?” I ask.
“A hundred red.” Grunti says.
“A red is ten blue.” Kai says with a sigh.
“So that’s a thousand blue for just one white. It would take a hundred days to earn each white.” I say with a sigh.
“It sounded like it isn’t just Grunti who can do it though.” Lucy says thoughtfully.
“Maybe Grundle could do it cheaper.” I say.
“I doubt it. A thousand white is cheap for a new arm.” Grunti says.
“Well there’s no way I can afford a thousand white.” I tell him.
“Then you’ll have to make it yourself. The other thing that interested me…” Grunti starts to say.
“I find myself starting to hate you.” Lucy says with a fierce glare at Grunti.
“Oh fine, I’ll go away then. I need to find Grimji anyway.” Grunti says.
“How about I help you?” I suggest.
“Fine, but I’m not making your arm just for a little help from a human boy.”
“I’ll help too.” Lucy says.
“That would be good, but even if you all help I’m still not making the arm.” Grunti says.
“The others will wait here. We’ll draw too much attention if we all go.” Lucy says before anyone else can volunteer.
Chapter 4 (Multiple)
(Grunti)
“This way.” I say walking in the same direction that my impromptu invention points. It just looks like a metal rod with a diamond on the end, but it is attuned to Grimji. I had to visit his home to attune it, but it is definitely attuned correctly so it will lead me to him. I don’t really need any help, but I’m not going to refuse if little Lucy is going to come with me. It’s a pity about the boy. If he wasn’t here it would just be me and Lucy. Instead Lucy is sitting there on Peter’s left shoulder.
“So how does it work?” Peter asks.
“I could explain, but you wouldn’t understand so that would be pointless.” I tell him.
“I bet Rin would understand. She understands everything.” Peter says.
“Who’s Rin? The ugly tall girl?” I ask.
“No, that’s Kai, though I didn’t think she was ugly. Rin is a friend of mine back in Contractia. Her mother is an alchemist and she’s trying to become one too.” Peter says.
“Do you know many girls?” I ask interested.
“Other than me and a few others everyone at the school I attend is a girl. I have quite a few members of my club too now.” Peter says.
“There’s only one other boy there now.” Lucy says.
“I wish I could attend that school.” I say wishfully.
“You’d be executed on your first day.” Lucy laughs.
“Why?” I ask.
“You’d say something stupid.” Lucy says.
“That’s all you need to do to get executed?” I ask a bit shocked.
“If it’s the sort of stupid thing you would say, then yes. What you asked Elucia for would easily get you executed.” Lucy tells me with a grin.
“Contractia sounds a scary place.”
“It is a scary place for men. Of course most men in Contractia are slaves.” Lucy tells me.
“What’s a slave?” I ask.
“A person who is owned by someone else.” Lucy says with a frown. “Do dwarves not have slaves?”
“No. How can you own a person?” I ask a bit horrified. Peter smiles.
“I think I just found something I really like about Nirvali.” Peter says.
“Don’t forget you have a lot of people waiting for your return.” Lucy says nervously.
“I’m not forgetting.” Peter says seriously.
“It looks like we need to leave the dome.” I say as I realise the tracker is now pointing towards the tunnel to the third dome. We are behind a large storage facility that is almost as large as the main forge. Not many people know the tunnel is here of course, but I have visited all the domes, except the fifty first dome. Even I can’t get in that one. The other secret tunnels like this one are unguarded because secrecy and enchantments are considered sufficient. The fifty first though leads into the palace’s dome so there are always guards there.
“So hurry up and lead the way.” Lucy says sounding annoyed.
“It’s odd though. The third dome was flooded and deserted years ago. Nobody lives there.” I say with a frown.
“So
unds like a perfect place to hide. Is it totally flooded?” Lucy asks curiously.
“No, the water is only about two foot deep.” I say.
“Why wasn’t the water drained?” Lucy asks.
“That would have required a lot of magic. There are enough domes that it was better to just abandon one dome than risk revealing all of Nirvali.” I explain.
“I suppose that makes sense. Anyway lead on.” Lucy tells me. I close my eyes, deactivate the traps and unlock the door. It looked just like the rest of the wall but as I open my eyes there is a large round gap where the door was.
“Follow me.” I say and so we enter the tunnel. There is only room to walk single file.
I make my armour glow so we will be able to see and then I close the door behind us. The tunnel gradually slopes downwards and as we follow it we are soon walking through shallow water. It gets deeper as we walk until we reach the end of the tunnel, which isn’t really that far, though the ice cold water is now up to my chest. Many of these tunnels are much longer or even a maze designed to confuse unwanted intruders, but this one is both short and simple.
I open the door at this end. Since the dome is abandoned there is obviously no light, so I keep my armour glowing. There are bits of stone floating in the water. Originally they would have been parts of buildings and people’s possessions. Now though the stone has lost its original shape and is simply rubble. The buildings have partially dissolved to the point that every building in sight has collapsed into a ruin. I have been here before so I know the whole dome is like this.
“This way.” I say and wade through the water, using my hands to push aside floating rubble with every step. Using magic would be a waste.
“Is it far?” Lucy asks me.
“I can’t tell. I only know which direction we need to go in.”
“How about I fly… us?” Peter says but his voice goes really high as he says ‘fly’. I stop and look at him. He is holding his throat and looks confused.
“It sounds like my Peter may be growing up.” Lucy laughs.
“What do you mean?” Peter asks.
“When a boy is becoming a man there are lots of changes. For one thing his voice deepens, but it also sometimes cracks like yours just did. It may happen again from time to time, but only whilst you are still growing up.” Lucy explains.
“I am grown up!” Peter complains.
“In some ways you are, but physically you are certainly not grown up yet.” Lucy tells him.
“Anyway, how about I fly us?” Peter asks. Lucy looks at me questioningly.
“If it means we can get out of this water I’m all for it. Not too high though.” I say and then Peter lifts us up with flight magic. I don’t like the feeling, but it is better than the freezing water.
I guide Peter and we slowly fly through the dome. Many of the buildings we pass are still recognisable by their general shape and size as homes or small storage facilities. The main forge is obvious because of its sheer size, even though it is so badly wrecked. I recognise one building as an old shop, because the window display isn’t too badly damaged. Most of the buildings though are damaged beyond recognition. Little more than piles of rubble.
“I sense two people up ahead.” Peter tells us quietly.
“I don’t sense anything.” I say with a frown.
“Neither do I, but if Peter says there are two people up ahead then there are two people up ahead.” Lucy says.
“Perhaps Grimji and his kidnapper…” I say a bit worried now. I had hoped that Grimji would be on his own.
“I hope so.” Peter says.
“They could be dangerous.” I warn him.
“I imagine they are, but we should be fine. I’ll hide our presence, but even if they detect us it should be three against one or at worst three against two.” Peter says.
“Can little Lucy really do anything though?” I ask dubiously.
“Call me that again and I’ll show you just what little Lucy can do.” She snarls.
“Sorry.” I say quickly, not wanting to offend such a cute girl.
“I’m about to hide our presence. Be ready to fight.” Peter calmly tells me.
“Ok.” I say. Then he hides us and flies a bit faster. After a moment I can sense the presence of two people still a fair distance away. Their presence is weak so I am impressed Peter detected them so far away. It takes a minute or so to reach them, but when we do Peter hovers us above them.
One is Grimji. I recognise him from the picture I was shown. The other is female but they certainly aren’t acting like captor and captive. Instead they are happily sitting together on a large pile of rubble that used to be a building of some sort. There is a small fire between them and they are laughing heartily, perhaps at a joke one of them has just told.
“Is that Grimji?” Peter asks.
“Yes, but I don’t get the impression he’s been kidnapped.” I answer.
“Let’s land and talk to them.” Peter says and does so before I can suggest we listen into their conversation instead. They are rather startled to have us appear right next to them. They both jump to their feet and look ready to fight.
“Who are you and what do you want?” The dwarven girl asks. Looking at her closer I realise she is rather cute, though not as cute as Lucy.
“I’m Peter and this is Grunti. We were under the impression Grimji had been kidnapped.”
“Don’t be ridiculous. His father knows exactly why he ran away.” She says with a glare.
“His father may know, but we don’t.” Peter says.
“We fell in love, but I’m a century older than Grimji, so his father didn’t approve of our love.” She explains without dropping her guard for an instant.
“Is this true?” I ask Grimji. He nods looking a bit embarrassed. “Then we’re sorry to disturb you.”
“How did you find us?” Grimji asks.
“I invented a universal tracker and attuned it to you using an old shoe.” I tell him. He looks at me incredulously. I show him the universal tracker. It of course just looks like a black stone rod with a diamond on the end. He looks at it and shakes his head.
“Are you a teacher?” Lucy asks, looking at the dwarven girl.
“Yes, how did you know?” She asks.
“Three people went missing last night. You two and someone on the Council of Elders. At least now we know where you both are. That just leaves the council member. Three disappearances on one night would be too much to put down to coincidence, but since yours are connected it seems that you both just happened to run away on the same night he disappeared.” Lucy says.