The Lutin Chronicles Chapter 16 Trial by fire Ephraim was new to the mines. Being a rather introverted gnome, he had enjoyed a quiet life. His time had been spent looking after his father's hardware store. That was gone, now. His father had invested heavily in the mines by donating free tools and materials, and as a consequence had become excessively wealthy. He'd gone into early retirememnt, selling the store for a pittance. The new owner hadn't any appreciation for Ephraim's soft sell style, so Ephraim also found himself in an involuntary early retrement. Sitting at home for hours on end had proven maddeningly boring, so the gnome boy thought he'd give manual labor a try. It was wearying, but he was getting used to it. As Ephraim boarded the train bound for the south end of the pass, he was joined by Jorun. Jorun was a cyclops whose family had recently moved to the federation in search of work. Work, that is, that didn't involve being constantly cheated by their employers as they had been. Jorun and Ephraim had become fairly good friends since they started working together, both of them being equally bad at the job, Ephraim for his size, Jorun for his lack of depth perception, and both of them for their inexperence. "Morning, Jorun." greeted the gnome. "Hey, big guy." answered the cyclops. "Ready for another workday?" "Sure am. I'm starting to like the mines." "No kidding? I never would have figured you for a pick jockey." "It's hard work, but I get lots of time to think." said Ephraim. "Here come the bats." Grickle and Grackle boarded the train next. The two Yarasa boys were already talking animatedly as they hopped on, comparing their favorite musical artists. "Furvis the bard totally rocks." said Grackle. "He's a total music god." "Furvis still says 'thou'." countered Grickle. "Red Hand Haskeril is way cooler. Hey, Ephraim what do you like?" "I Like Lemons." said the gnome. "No, in MUSIC." "That's the name of a band." said the cyclops. "I Like Lemons is a trag rock band. They make music by banging rocks together." A whistle blew. The train began rolling down the tracks. Someone was running after it. It was Ezo, the slightly portly tragso boy. Jorun reached out a hand and pulled Ezo onto the train as it pulled away from the station. "Thanks." huffed Ezo. "I owe you one." "No worries." said Jorun. "Us young miners got to stick together." Ezo looked out the window duirng the train ride. The tunnel seemed unusually dark today. When the conversation hit a lull, he turned to Jorun and said "Do you ever worry about thngs like cave-ins?" As a tragso, being underground always made him uneasy. "Not me." Jorun replied. "I can't die for a long time." "How do you know that?" asked Grickle. "I'm a cyclops. We can foresee our deaths. I'll die in a cave, but not until I'm very old. On the day I die, the foreman looks at me and says 'I can't use you, Jorun. You're well over ninety.'" "So if we just stick close to you, we can't die." said Grackle. "Awesome." When the train pulled into Halfway, the boys got their gear and walked out to the end of the tunnel. It was unusually dark. Only a few lamps were burning. Still, they had a job to do. Ephraim lifted his pick and dug into the rock. Somehow, despite the darkness, it was unusually hot, but the boys ignored the discomfort. Ravenpelt arrived a few seconds later. "I thought I heard voices down here. Didn't you boys get the notice? The main pass is closed today." "Why is that?" asked Ezo. "Algene says some horrible catastrophe is supposed to happen here today, so we've cleared the area between here and Halfway just to be safe. Why don't you come on back toward the mines? I've got a minecart shortcut that needs finishing up and it could use some small guys like you on the job." "Sure thing, boss." said Jorun as Ephraim's pickaxe continued to ring. "Not you." said Ravenpelt. "The tunnel is sixty inches tall. I can't use you, Jorun. You're well over ninety." Jorun's eye was wide with horror. "EPHRAIM!" he shouted. "STOP DIGGING!" "Why?" asked the gnome, slamming his pick into the rock one last time. It was the last thing he would ever say. The pick flew backwards as the wall of rock exploded outwards, suddenly releasing the pressure of tons of magma. The dwarf, the gnome, the trag, the cyclops and the werebats barely had time to scream before they were incinerated where they stood. * * * Sopok was incredulous when he heard the news. "No. Not Grickle and Grackle. You must be mistaken." "Algene and Chara both witnessed the event through their clairvoyance. I'm afraid it's true." Kayrok replied, softly. "Well they're wrong. The three of us can't die apart. We were going to grow up and be warriors together." Kayrok didn't know what to do. He had recently become very fond of Jorun, to whom he had promised a spot in his troop. He had lost people under his command before. There was Dimtorch. Brang. Onju. All of them were close friends. But to lose children, this was unthinkable. * * * Work on the pass stopped for three days, partly to mourn the dead, partly to make sure that it was safe to continue. James led a party of nilbogs to the site of the eruption. When it was determined to be safe, he called for Kayrok and Smallbeard. Dupris, feeling very close to the problem as his city was among the nearest, joined them, as did Gwyn from Halfway. The cavern was immense. It actually wasn't that far to the other side, but the lava was like a river, bubbling and dimly lighting the cavern for miles to the right and miles to the left. The ceiling was also very far overhead, so far away from the light created by the lava that it could not be seen. "It's like standing at the gates of Hell." said Dupris. "I'm not familiar with that term." said Gwyn. "I believe you goblins call it 'everdark'. The land of fire and darkness where evil souls are sent for eternity. For the life of me, I could never understand how fire and darkness could coexist. Now I know." "Blisteringly hot, it is." said Smallbeard. "Just standing here is making me feel ill." "I can fix that for you." said James. "No, no. I'll be fine. How in blue blazes, or red blazes, I suppose, are we supposed to cross this?" "It's too long for a bridge." Kayrok noted. "We would need supports in the middle, and there's no way anything would last in that." "What about an arc bridge?" asked James. "Still the same problem" Kayrok replied. "The supports wouldn't be far enough away from the magma on either side. They'd melt in short order." "It's too bad we can't be your bridge." said one of the nilbogs. "Hot lava doesn't bother us in the least." "It looks like there's only one thing to do." said the captain. "We have to go up to the surface." * * * Gerf was a happy lutin. Fugu had taught him the basics of plumbing and told him to create a downspout to take water from the aqueduct into Mountainshade for a more convenient drinking water supply. What he built was obviously the work of an idiot, as anyone might expect. He had used a combination of ceramic and copper pipes. The ceramic ones were much larger than the copper portions and had to be fitted using a series of adaptors. Neither did the pipeline run straight. Gerf had constructed it in a zig-zag pattern so that the copper pipes went up and the ceramic ones went down. The copper pipes had also been decorated with coils of illuminum, or alluminum as Gerf liked to call it. The end spilled out onto the ground, not far from where the aquaduct itself spilled into the pond that fed back into the river. "Why?" asked Splim. "You know he's an idiot." "But he's a harmless idiot." replied Fugu. "I can still run another line out into Mountainshade, and really, he's hurt nothing." "Looks weird." said Splim, who thought about going back in to bake something, but was enjoying the sunshine too much. It had been a cold spring, and the heat of summer was a welcome change. Gerf giggled as he lapped up water from the end of the pipe. "Good!" he chuckled in admiration of his own work. "Yes, good job, Gerf." said the engineer, condescendingly. "You try." "I'm not thirsty, Gerf. But thanks." "Try! It's good!" Gerf insisted, looking a little hurt. "All right." Fugu agreed. He bent down and stuck his lips into the water flow. Immediately, his eyes widened in surprise. "This is ice cold!" he exclaimed. "Yep!" Running over to the end of the aqueduct, he put his hand under the water. It was lukewarm. He ran back to Gerf's spout. The water was so cold that a thin layer of frost was beginning to form at the mouth. "Gerf, how did you do this? How did you get it so cold?" Gerf shrugged and smiled. "The pipes tell me what they want to do. They make pictures in my head. I do what they say." "Well I'll be a certified elf-sucker." said Splim. "I've heard about this but never seen it before. You know what you have here?" Fugu merely raised an eyebrow in question. "You have an idiot savant. A guy who has a barrel of talent, all so focused on one thing that he's dumb at everything else." Fugu looked Gerf in the eyes. "Gerf, can you create a way to make water flow uphill so that we can take it up into the hills to the north?" Gerf didn't answer right away. Instead, he stared at the pipes he hadn't yet used. "The pipes say yes, but it's going to take a lot of them." * * * Kayrok was having a cup of morning coffee with Sytet and discussing the business of the day. "...and we've discovered that the reason for the dobhar-chu being there is due to randomization effect on a transformation spell." the werebat was saying. *THUMP* "You're not saying it was once goblin?" Kayrok worried. *THUMP* "No, Sir. The spell was used on different kinds of wildlife that had been attracted to rotting meat cubes." *THUMP* "The idea was to use transformed insects and worms to stock the lake with fish." *THUMP* "So the caster set the spell to create random water creatures, then?" *THUMP* What IS that sound?" the captain rose from his chair and went outside to investigate. There was Sopok, an axe in his hands, attacking a segment of log. "Son, what's going on?" *THUMP* "Nothing." said the young Yarasa with a sneer. "Sopok, are you sure you can hold that axe properly? Your fingers are still growing back." "I'm FINE." snapped Sopok. *THUMP* "Son, what's wrong?" "Who said anything was wrong?" *THUMP* Kayrok didn't respond. He simply stood and waited for Sopok to give him an honest answer. Sytet stood silently behind him, wisely not opening his mouth at all. "How could Vertarbna have let it happen?" Sopok asked with panting breath. "How could he have let them all die like that?" "I wish I could answer that." said Kayrok. "But I'm not Vertarbna. I don't know how he thinks." Sopok swung the axe into the log once again. *THUMP* "He's supposed to be our friend. Why did he let them die?" *THUMP* Kayrok gently grabbed his son's hand. "Sopok, stop. Just stop for a moment. Son, look at me. I'm a military commander. Do you know what that means? It means that people entrust their lives to me every day. I care about every one of them. I care about the soldiers. I care about the miners. I care about the diplomats and the builders and the magicians, teachers and engineers. And if i could, I'd keep every one of them safe from harm forever. But I can't do that. My first job is to command the army. That means deliberately putting people in harm's way. I doubt you remember Brang or Onju. They were dear friends of mine. They died in battle. They died because I told them to fight, to put themselves in a position of danger." "Grickle and Grackle weren't soldiers." "No. But they are." Kayrok pointed toward the coral where several ponies were placidly grazing. "Dad, those are animals." "Yes. And that makes it worse. Take my pony, Heather. The day may come when I'll have to ride Heather into battle. Then I'll be putting her life in danger. She may be killed, and she would never know why." "But you would have good reason." "You know that, and I know that, but she wouldn't know that. But I do know that she trusts me. If the day came she died in battle, she wouldn't know the reason, but she would know that I wouldn't simply throw her life away unless the reason was worth the cost." Sopok burried the axe blade in the log. "Grickle and Grackle aren't ponies." he said with his throat tightened, then the young goblin returned to his home. "I... I don't know what to say." sputtered Sytet. "It's okay." said Kayrok, wearily. "You did a lot just by being here." * * * The road up to Point grove was long and windy, making its way along the side of several hills. After passing by Singing Pony, it wandered far to the west, then came back far to the east before bending back around and going to Point Grove. Some impatient orchard workers had gotten impatient. They wanted to be able to get from Point Grove to Singing Pony and back quickly, so they had built a new road going straight north and south. It was a tougher climb, but it was also much quicker, especially downhill. At the point where the new road crossed the old, a few small houses had sprung up, mostly belonging to orchard workers who wanted to be halfway between work and shopping. A small store had opened there, run by a fox named Anser and a rabbit named Iota. No one quite knew whether Iota was his roommate, girlfriend, or perhaps something else entirely, but she was nearly always one foot from his left hip. As Gerf and Fugu trudged up the road, the pair came out to meet them. "Welcome, lutins." said Anser. "Welcome to Intersect, the city of many roads. Won't you come in and browse? We have some terrific fresh fish today. Or perhaps you'd like a nice walking stick for your hike northward?" "Not today, thank you." said Fugu. "Are you sure? Perhaps you'd like a glass of iced chota. I've been brewing it in the sun all day, and I've added just a hint of minty spirits." "We're working right now, Anser." "Working?" echoed Anser, sitting upright and tilting his head, a gesture which Iota mimicked. "Doing what?" "We're just scouting the lay of the land. We're going to put in some pipes to send water out to Point Grove." Fugu replied. "Not through here you're not." "I beg your pardon?" "This is privately owned land. If you're going to run anything through here, you're going to have to pay a fee." "Since when?" "Since when? Since I moved in here is when." "But this road is on federal land." Fugu insisted. "Oh no it isn't." Anser shot back. "Singing Pony is part of the Federation. Point Grove is part of the Federation. Nobody laid claim to this spot until I moved in. This entire town is on my land. If you want to run anything through here, I'll have to insist on a fee." "This is ridiculous." muttered Fugu. "We're rich." said Gerf, looking a little confused. "We can pay it." "It's not the money. It's the prinicple of the thing." Down the road from the north came Tiro, a basket of fresh peaches on his head. Tiro had changed immensely since his arrival here. No longer was he the fat, blobby lutin he used to be. All of that fat had been converted to muscle through hard work and frequent travel. He was now quite a specemin of a goblin and quite popular with the ladies. "Hey, guys." he said as he walked up to join the conversation. "Hi, Tiro." said Iota, somewhat bashfully. "Hey." replied Tiro, giving the rabbit a wink and making her giggle and blush. "What's up?" "bush-butt here wants to charge us for laying pipes through here because he says Intersect isn't part of the Federation." "Sounds fair." said Tiro. "Thank you." said Anser, feeling vindicated. "Don't tell me you're siding with him." said Fugu, annoyed. "But tell me something, Anser. What are you doing for water?" asked Tiro "I'm bringing it up from the river by Singing Pony." "Mm hmm. You realize that particular stream is fed by the aqueduct. You're going to have to pay for water usage, since you're not part of the Federation." "WHAT?" the fox balked. "Oh, yes. And you'll have to pay a premium if you want access to the food bank." "But that's supposed to be free for everyone!" "It's free for Federation citizens. And I assume that once it's available up here, you're going to want access to steam." "I hadn't thought about it. I suppose so." "That's another monthly fee you'll have to pay. And then if you want a train stop put in here, so that people will actually stop in town and patronize your store, that will be additional fees to build the stop, to run the station, to maintain the tracks..." Anser lowered his head and grumbled "Intersect humbly requests entry into the Alpha Omega Federation." "I'll tell Captain Kayrok." Tiro continued southward, giving Iota a wink as he passed, making the rabbit giggle again, much to Anser's chagrin. Gerf and Fugu continued northward, also to Anser's chagrin. The fox looked over at the rabbit, who was still grinning after Tiro. "Oh come on." he said, swiping her ear. "He's not even furry." * * * Gork the nilbog was quite enjoying his job. Standing waist-deep in boiling lava was his idea of a good time. It was the best he'd ever felt. His job was to hose down the lava using water piped in from Halfway, causing it to turn to stone. The water, of course, turned into blisteringly hot steam, which was doing wonders for his sinuses. Upon reaching the far side of the cavern, Gork turned the water off and allowed the steam to clear so that he could survey his work. What he saw was that the lava on the far side of the rock wall was going down while the lava on the near side was rising. Gork turned the water back on and continued building the wall, but the more he did, the more the lava continued to rise. Finally, the nilbog got frustrated and got out of the magma pool. "It's no use." he told his supervisor. "That's not a static pool of lava. It's a river. Any wall we build is going to melt." The supervisor swore to himself. He did not want to have to explain this to Kayrok. * * * The Capital building was a new construction project. Since Camp Dimtorch was the official capital of the Federation, the council had recently decided to build their meeting hall there. They had also decided that Dimtorch should be much more than simply a camp. Little by little, the tents were being replaced with real buildings. A wall was being erected around the city. The infirmary was to become a true hospital, the supply tent a base exchange. And though nothing was finished yet, many members of the council insisted on meeting inside their half-finished hall. James ran up to join Kayrok on the steps of the meeting hall. "I'm really nervous." he confessed. "You'll be fine. Kayrok assured him. "I hope so. I've never been a mayor before. Ravenpelt is... well, he was an amazing dwarf. He left big shoes to fill." "You're amazing too." responded Kayrok. "In different ways. That's the strength of the Federation. Many people being amazing in diverse ways." "True." James held the front door open. "Thank you. Ravenpelt had a family, didn't he?" "Yes, Sir. I'm seeing to the care of his wife and children." "Good man. I'm glad to hear it." The two mayors entered the council room together. "Kayrok, glad you could join us." said Pentagruel, coolly. "Pentagruel, glad you brought your watch. If you check it, you'll see we're still three minutes early." Pentagruel did in fact have a pocket watch, a peace offering from the gnomes of Solace. Unfortunately, he frequently forgot to wind it. Once everyone was present and seated, Hardfoot read the minutes of the last meeting. Many items were discussed, including crop production, mining profits, trade agreements with neighboring towns and the alliance with Wadogo. Point stood up when his turn came and reported on his business. "Significant progress has been made to connect the pond near Point Grove to the river, so as to provide us with significantly more fresh water than we're able to get otherwise. The problem, of course, is that we still have to haul it uphill. Earlier this week, I was approached by Fugu and Gerf. They say they have a way to get water to point Grove with no work involved beyond the initial construction of the system they've designed." "Wait, Gerf?" said Hamal, the badger. "Gerf the lutin? As in the one who still plays with blocks? The man is an idiot." "That's what I said. But Fugu assures me that he has this uncanny gift when it comes to plumbing." "It's true." Fugu confirmed. "I saw him chill water using nothing but pipes of different sizes and materials." "He says he'll need tons of pipe." Point continued. "Two hundred fifty miles of it, and a patch of ground near Sky Valley to build some special machines." "Done." said Smallbeard. "We've got that much stockpiled already." "Why would ye stockpile a quarter thousand miles of pipe?" asked Greenstar. "For the mines, of course." replied the dwarf. "Those mines are going to provide wealth for many years to come, so we want to bring steam down every branch in order to run the tools. The metalworks at Cephas have been cranking them out as fast as you please." "Excellent forward thinking." praised Kayrok. "I have no reason to deny the request." said Count Dupris. "Your lutins may have whatever space they desire." "Wonderful. Next order of business. Do we give the town of Intersect Federation membership? There was a round of groans. "Are you serious?" asked Lo-Mahle. "That would mean giving that annoying fox a seat on the council. "You don't like Anser?" asked Jabar. "Oh, I like him." said the trag. "About as much as I liked the perpetual hunger I used to suffer." "What's wrong with Anser?" Urik inquired. "Anhunger has an agreement to supply him with oranges for his store." Lo-Mahle explained. "The first time he collected a load, he insisted we give him a discount because he had to do his own hauling. So the next time, we took the load up to him instead. Only this time, he tried to dock us for disrupting his work schedule because now that he had to stay in the store and stock the oranges, he'd miss an appointment he had in Bounty." "I say we let him in." said Jun. "Are you kidding me?" said Lo-Mahle. "Not at all. If we make Intersect stay independent, Anser is goign to continue doing exactly the sort of thing you describe. Since we have to go through Intersect to get to Point Grove, we can't simply ignore him. If we allow Intersect in and give him a seat on the council, we can exert some small amount of control over him and exert pressure when he pulls garbage like that." "You have a very annoying habit of making sense." growled Lo-Mahle. "Are we ready for a vote?" asked Kayrok. "All in favor of admitting Intersect?" The vote passed unanimously. "Now then, the part we've been dreading. The pass." "Strictly speaking," said Takka. "the construction of the pass is your business, not ours. However, we will help you in any way we can." "I appreciate the support." said Kayrok. "It is MY business." said Sgt. Oof. "And I've been thinking about the problem. We're always going to run into the same problem if we try to go directly through. Anything we build with is going to either burn or melt. Wood, steel, stone, you name it, it won't be able to take the heat. Not long-term anyway." "Have you come up with any ideas?" asked Kayrok. "Only one, Sir. We can't go through it. We can't go around or under it. We have to go over it." "The rock is too loose." said James. "If we try to burrow through it, we'll fall." The discussion continued for some time. Many possible solutions were suggested, from a dam to magic to literally building on the remains of nilbogs. In the end, only one solution seemed possible. The pass would have to spiral up to the surface. * * * The days went by and the weather got hotter and hotter. Gerf took great delight in his work. Using a water screw powered by a great paddlewheel, he transported large amounts of water from the flowing river into a tall tower. This had the effect of creating great pressure on the pipes. Many teams laid the pipes, putting them in underground. This had the effect of chilling the water, the ground absorbing the heat. Gerf also put in one of his chilling devices in each of the towns, provinding welcome cold water to everyone. When asked how they work, Gerf would simply reply "I don't know. I just do what the pipes tell me." * * * Alnatak peered over the rim of the magma pool. Alnalam stayed well behind, having a very healthy fear of the molten rock. Mintaka didn't even get near. "It's like you said sister." noted Alnatak in the language of the giants. "The fires of Hell." "And the lutins are going to build a bridge over it." Alalam added. "You have all six signs." said Mintaka. "The castle, the clams, the horse, the feast, the lake, and now, a bridge over Hell." "But sister," said Alnatak. "We can't just leave. We have lives here, now." "Tak is right. We have commitments, and we have friends here, now. We have homes that don't smell like dead animals." "But we're working to fix that last part." Alnatak joked. Mintaka was nearly dumbfounded, but being Mintaka, she was never short of words. "Commitment? This is the same guy who walked out on a battle with a family of ogres and left his cousin to fend for himself because it was lunch time. And now you're talking about commitment?" "Well, yeah." said Alnalam. "We're different, now." said Alnatak. "This place... it changes you. It gets inside your head, you know?" "Yeah." The other brother agreed. "It makes everything seem so clear. You can see what's important and what's good, and it's not what you thought." "Right." said the first brother. "I used to think all that was important was getting food and sleep for the day, and maybe someday a pretty lady giant. I still like food and sleep." "And lady giants." Alnalam added. "Yes. But now, my job is important to me, and my friends are even more important than my job." "I understand." said Mintaka. In her travels with Algene, she had come to understand the values of the more communal races of people. Ironically, that was exactly why she was distressed. "Brothers, you are important to me as well. You made me a promise that you would leave this place if Algene's predictions came true and move somewhere safe. You must keep that promise, for I would be devastated to lose both of you." "You will not lose us." said Alnatak. "Our friends will find a way to protect us." "I agree with brother." said Alnalam. "They are such smart people. They will save us." Mintaka silently prayed that they would be right. * * * Two weeks had passed since the tragedy that took the lives of the boys and Ravenpelt. Kayrok and the Omega company were no closer to making any progress on the pass than before. A bridge had been tried- a suspension bridge- and had gotten several nilbogs to the other side where they continued to dig, but within hours, the wooden deck of the bridge began to char and the metal to warp. Kayrok was meeting with Chara at Splim's. He would have prefered to speak to Algene, of course, but the cyclops seer was away at Wadogo for the time, and had not taken a radiant. "I feel I have to do this." said Kayrok. "If we don't continue south, those young men will all have died in vain." "Death comes to everyone." said Chara. "Sometimes, it comes with a purpose. Sometimes, it comes for no reason at all. What happened was an accident. There was no purpose. Continuing the pass or not continuing the pass will not change that." "Respectfully, madam seer, I do not agree." "Why did Nasoj put you here." asked the bear. "Why? Well, to die." "And have you?" "Obviously, a few of us have, but no. Most of us have survived." "And you built something." "The Federation." Kayrok confirmed. "An oasis of goodness where they who were once violent, racist, self-centered squabblers have learned to live in peace. A land of plenty. A land of happiness. That is what your pass has brought, Captain Kayrok. Whether you finish it or not, this is your legacy. If you are to assign purpose to the deaths of the young men, then this is it." "But that is exactly why I must continue. This project is what created all this. It has to keep going because it is the heartbeat of the Federation." "Nasoj gave you a foolish mission." said Chara. "Seek your answer at the hands of a fool." "What does that mean?" "I don't want to make it too easy." said the bear as she stood and pushed in her chair. "Seek the answer from the fool. Now, if you'll excuse me, I must return home. I have a knitting project I would like to finish before Algene gets back from Wadogo." As Chara was leaving, Sopok flew in through the open door, changing from bat to lutin as he landed. "Hi, Dad." he said, seating himself. "I hope I'm not too late." "No, no. I was just talking with Chara while I was waiting for you. What have you been doing today?" "Um... practicing magic." Sopok replied. "I think I might persue a career as a magician. Jun says I'm pretty good at it." Kayrok took hold of Sopok's arm. It was covered in cuts. They had healed, but knowing how fast werebats healed, they must have been very recent. "Sopok, what happened to your arm?" "Nothing." said Sopok, trying to pull his arm away. "Son, this isn't nothing. What happened?" "I was practicing." Sopok explained. "I was doing the stone to flesh spell. I needed blood." "So you used your own. Son, you could have gone to a butcher and gotten blood." "This was easier, and I'm a werebat, so I heal up quick." "Why were you practicing so intently?" asked Kayrok, slightly afraid of what his son might answer. "I have a theory." said the boy, animatedly. "Charcoal... it's a kind of rock. It acts like a rock, it looks like a rock... If a person gets burried under hot lava, their body is going to turn to charcoal from the heat and pressure. You have that person's remains turned into a rock and still in the shape of that person, because as soon as the lava hits them, it solidifies because by comparison, they're ice cold. I think I can restore the victims if I can just master the stone to flesh spell." Kayrok nodded. "I'll be honest with you, Son. I don't think it will work. Charcoal isn't true stone. However, if you want to pursue this, I won't stop you." Sopok immediately felt relief. "But be honest with me. Why have you been using your own blood?" Sopok bowed his head. "You'll think it's stupid." "Try me." "I thought... if it hurt enough... maybe Vertarbna would take notice... maybe he would help me to master this spell." Kayrok placed his hand over Sopok's, comfortingly. "Vertarbna isn't that kind of god, Son. I'm certain that he already took notice when you began to grieve. If your idea is to succeed, i am sure he is already with you. If it is not... don't be disappointed. After all, Stormhaven is pretty wonderful. They may not wish to leave." "I guess that's true. Here comes Feather." "Good evening, boys." said the waitress. "What'll you have today?" "Steak and eggs for both of us." said Kayrok. "Sopok needs plenty of protein." When their meal was over, Sopok rushed off to resume magic training while Kayrok paid his bill. He didn't have to, strictly speaking, since he was entitled to rations, but he prefered to set a good example. On the way out, he met Sergeant Oof, who was also departing. The sergeant saluted, to which Kayrok responded in kind. While protocol tended to be relaxed under Kayrok's command, Oof was still very much a military goblin. He did, however, feel free to speak his mind to the captain. "Bargaining." he said. "Pardon?" replied Kayrok. "The boy's bargaining. I've seen it many times before. Goblin warriors pretend they don't grieve, but they do. It you know what to look for, you can see it. First comes denial..." "He did that." "Then comes the anger. Bloodlust, vows of vengeance, fits of rage..." "That was a bit toned down, thank goodness." "And now comes the bargaining. Doing whatever you can possibly think of in hopes of getting your lost one back." "What's next, then?" Kayrok asked, afraid of the answer. "That's the saddest part. Despair." "And how long does that last?" "Depends on the person. Could be hours, could be months. Sopok's a strong lad, but sensitive. I'd give him a few days. Just give him a little space." "And after despair?" "Healing." "How did you get so wise, Oof?" asked Kayrok. "Too much death, Sir. Nasoj hated me as much as he hated you, only I never had your gift for turning a negative into a positive. My troop has seen much more than its fair share of loss." "I'm sorry, Sergeant." "Don't be. You're the reason what's left of us is still here." * * * The spiral path up to the surface had taken quite a while to dig. In the absence of Ravenpelt, Gwyn had temporarily taken over as foreman. Gwyn was one to lead by example, so she was at the front of the crew, carving stone with magic and with tools, whatever was most appropriate. She kept the ramp good and wide, able to accomodate a giant comfortably. This also gave her the convenience of having giants on the construction teams. As her crew dug, something bothered her. Something seemed out of place. It was as if there was too much noise. Not in terms of decibel levels, but as if there were too many sounds for the tools that were being used. Gwyn chalked it up to echoes and continued digging. When the digging had to go to solid rock, naturally, the stone to flesh spell was employed. The workers put their tools away and broke out magic wands while Gwyn set out a vial of blood and scraped together a pile of earth. All the while, she was aware of an odd tapping sound. Perhaps she was hearing echoes from the mines, she thought. It was slightly disturbing, but not dangerous, so she shrugged it off. "One at a time, gentlemen." said the mayor. "We don't want to do this all at once or we'll have meat cubes raining down on our heads." "I can remember when that would have been a dream come true." said one of Sgt. Oof's men. "As can I, but too much of a good thing is never a good thing." One by one, sections of stone were changed to meat, complete with feathers, fur and scales. Alnatak loaded them into a cart which would carry them all the way out to Dimtorch. Gwyn was always at the forefront, magicking her way slowly to the surface. All the while, the tapping was getting more and more incessant. "What the Everdark IS that?" demanded Gwyn. "I know that rythm." said one of the men. "It's like the one I heard just before the cave-in down in the pearl mine." "Me too." said another. "I heard it just before the steam pipe burst in the bauxite vein." A dwarf at the rear of the group suddenly realized what it was. "Gwyn, it's Tommyknockers! We're in danger!" Even as he said it, Gwyn changed a cube of stone to flesh, bringing a powerful spray of water that knocked her off of her feet. "Get back, everyone!" Gwyn shouted. "We've hit a body of water! If that hole gets any bigger, it could flood the whole passage!" "It's worse than that, Ma'am." the dwarf added. "If that water reaches the magma chamber, it could cause an explosion of steam!" "Run!" Gwyn ordered. "I'll stay behind and collapse the tunnel!" Alnatak had never been a brilliant giant, but even the dumbest oaf was entitled to a great idea once in a while. Grabbing a handful of cubes, he mashed them to a pulp in his fist, then jammed them into the water spray, his phenomenal strength barely holding it in. "Somebody change it!" he shouted. "Flesh to stone!" several voices cried. Alnatak pulled his hand away. The hole had been plugged, if barely. Water still leaked, but now there was time to fix it properly. His hand, unfortunately, had also been turned to stone, but that was easily fixed. Every miner who could cast knew how. "We bester get out here." said the giant. Everyone agreed. * * * Kayrok studied a map of the area over the pass' current end. A very large mountain lake lay directly over where they were trying to reach the surface. Had the breach which Gwyn began been allowed to continue, it would have wiped out Halfway, Refuge and Cephas, probably Camp Dimtorch as well. He looked up at the Tommyknocker standing before him. "Why didn't you tell anyone about this?" he asked. "I did." the knocker replied. "As soon as we realized the situation, I was dispatched to bring this to you. The rest of my group sought out ventilation shafts and started banging out warning signals." "Good work." Kayrok praised. "You and your survey crew may have saved the Federation." "Thank you, Sir." "Dismissed." Sytet, who had been working nearby, raised his head as the knocker left and asked "what now?" "I don't know." Kayrok replied. "I suppose the only logical course is to go around the magma chamber." "That could take years, Sir." "I'm aware." Kayrok opened the door to his personal quarters and peeked in. Sopok was in his bat form, hanging from a rafter, sound asleep. He had been sleeping almost constantly for three days. Kayrok had been trying to come up with a solution to his excavation problem, but it was difficult when his mind kept coming back to worry about Sopok. "Son?" he called, quietly. "Suqeak." So he wasn't asleep after all. "Would you like to go to Splim's for lunch?" "Eek eek." "No? Perhaps Singing Pony?" "Eek eek." "How about that place in Solace? You know, the one with the really salty yam fries?" "Eeek eek." "Well then, what say we try Answer's up in Intersect? I hear it's gotten some pretty good reviews. The prices are a little bit steep, but hey, we're rich." Sopok dropped to the floor, assuming his lutin form. "I'm not really hungry, Dad. And really, I just want to be left alone right now." Other goblin fathers might have cuffed the boy. Kayrok merely said "I understand." and went back out into the office. * * * Kayrok decided to go for a walk to clear his head. As his primary work had come to a standstill, there was plenty of time for it. Kayrok found himself riding the train from town to town, getting off at one stop, walking around a bit, then getting back on to go to another. At Bounty, he found himself getting quite thirsty. A fountain had just been installed in the town square with a perpetually flowing drinking spout. Kayrok bent down to take a sip and was surprised how cold and refreshing it was. "Evening, Captain." said Mayor Hamal, the badger. Kayrok looked up at the sky. It was indeed evening. He hadn't been aware of just how much time had passed. "Evening." he replied, followed by "This is really cold." "And we're all quite grateful for it. Your man Gerf is a life-saver. What with this heat, we've been having..." "Gerf?" "Yes. Didn't you know?" Kayrok recalled that Fugu had mentioned it at the council meeting. Gerf had found a way to make warm water ice cold using nothing but different kinds of pipe. "I don't know how he does it." Hamal continued. "The physics don't seem to make sense, but there it is." Kayrok took one last, quick, gulp of water before exclaiming "I've got to find Gerf!" "I think he's on his way to Intersect right now." Kayrok didn't wait for the train. He took off running. There had been a bit of a race between the two teams of dwarves laying pipes. The Cephas team had been coming down from Point Grove while the refuge team had been going up from Singing pony. The two teams met in Intersect where they had just finished connecting one of Gerf's fountains as Kayrok arrived, somewhat winded. "Turn it on." said the foreman into a radiant. Down in Singing Pony, a worker turned a massive knob. Water rushed through the pipes. The pressure in the water tower up by Sky Valley caused the water to rush uphill. In a few minutes, water came pouring out of the fountain, crackling and clear. Everyone took a drink and celebrated, but none were more delighted than Gerf. The new master plumber clapped his hands with glee. "Now the water goes up!" he exclaimed. "Lots of water for Point!" After Kayrok had drunk his fill, he approached Gerf. "Gerf, I need to ask you something." "Okay." Gerf replied with a vacant smile. "Can you make a water pipe go down through hot lava and not melt?" "Hmm." said Gerf, mulling over the problem. "Let me ask the pipes." The very special lutin stared at his plumbing for a long time, saying nothing. Kayrok worried that perhaps he'd overloaded the poor fellow's brain. Then at last, he said "I'll need a forever water supply with lots of pressure, and an outlet to the steam pipes, and a cheese sandwich." "Cheese sandwich?" "I'm hungry." * * * Gerf's plan was absolutely astounding in terms of its simplicity. The place where Gwyn had accidentally breached into the mountain lake had been very carefully tapped. Heat dissipation systems had been placed every few hundred feet to keep the water extremely cold. Flexible coils fed the icy water into long, vertical pipes before those pipes came back up and emptied into the steam system. Unidirectional valves would make sure that the water always flowed in and the steam always flowed out. Each of the verticals had been wrapped with meat and smeared with fat to eliminate any possible leaks, then the meat turned to stone with the well-known flesh-to-stone spell. One by one, the nilbogs lowered the pipes into the lava. The cold water kept the stone pillars cold enough that they did not melt in the lava. The stone in turn insulated the pipes so that they were not damaged. The steam vented out into the steam pipe system where it would provide the Federation with a gaggle of free energy. Once the verticals were in, construction of a bridge took only days. Gerf ran cooling pipes all along the length of the bridge to protect it from the heat and to keep those crossing it relatively comfortable. It would still be stifling, but bearable. The bridge itself was enclosed, with only a few glass windows to allow crossers to peer out and see the hellish brimstone below. These were all on the right, as the left had been reserved for the trains. All in all, it was a very impressive bridge. Once the bridge was complete, a city had begun to form on the far side. Because significant progress had been made on the pass, the place was called Progress. The warmth from the lava combined with the darkness of the caverns and the moisture of fresh steam made it a terriffic place to grow mushrooms. Many of the Yarasa children who had come of age had decided to move down here. As the cavern was excavated to make more and more room for the expanding city, it became more and more perfect for the werebats. Sopok had taken a very forward role in helping to build the city up. Once he had come out of his funk, he decided that the best way to honor his fallen Yarasa friends was to help build a community for them down in Progress. He had even taken up their specialty. Finding an island within the lake above, Sopok dug an air vent which would double as a path between the surface and Progress for the young werebats to go hunting. "I'm proud of you, Son." said Kayrok as he took in the grandeur of the cavern which Sopok had been building and the small metropolis within. "I know it was a hard time for you when your friends died, but you really came through." "Thank you, Dad. It feels good to know I'm doing some good down here." Sopok beamed with only a tinge of sadness. Gerf was busy all around the cavern installing a sprinkler system which would keep the mushroom crop well watered. Kayrok smiled to himself as he watched him go. He'd never seen the fellow happier. "Would you believe he's managed to figure out a way to get sewage to flow uphill?" said Sopok. "He says he's going to reclaim our guano to use as fertilizer. It sounds disgusting, but if it keeps the place clean, I'm for it." "Have the people of progress chosen a mayor, yet?" asked Kayrok. "Not really." Sopok answered. "I've kind of become the go-to guy to solve any problems. ...except if they involve plumbing. I'm the one who convinced most of the Yarasa to move here, so they kind of look up to me." "I have the power to appoint a mayor." said Kayrok. "And the custom has been to appoint the one who has worked the hardest to help the community to grow and prosper. If I follow that pattern, then the logical choice is... Gerf." "Gerf? Dad, are you serious?" "He'll need assistance, of course. That's why I'd like you to help him. Fill in the gaps for him as co-mayor of progress." Sopok nodded and bowed. "It would be my honor." * * * Kara and Sualocin soared high above the treetops. Down below, Qlin rode with a load of rocks down the highway headed for some point beyond North Hunger. "That's the fourth time I've seen him taking rocks out that way." said Sualocin. "I wonder what he does with them." Kara squeaked in response. "You haven't taken your speech potion lately, have you?" admonished the reindeer. "Eek eek." replied the one-winged bat. She stuck her tongue out to express her opinion of the potion's taste. "I'm hot." said Sualocin, shaking sweat from his face and neck. "Let's go get some lemonade from Anser's." Iota saw the children coming from far away. She met them on the porch with a glass of ice for Kara and a pan of ice for Sualocin, both of which she filled at the fountain. "Thank you, Miss Iota." said the werebat girl upon changing to her lutin form. "Yeah, thank you." said Sualocin. "Only, I wonder, where do you get all the ice for your drinks?" "It's a trade secret." replied the rabbit. "We were wondering if we could have some lemonade." said Kara. "Oh, I'm sorry, but the lemonade is all sold out and we're out of lemons." "Oh well." said Kara, who filled her glass with more ice water. Something hit Iota on the head. She turned around to see what it was and discovered that the offending missile was a lemon. In fact, there were two large baskets of lemons sitting in front of the store. How strange. * * * It was shortly after the magma chamber explosion. Ephraim found himself sitting in a field of flowers. "Jorun?" he called. "Ezo?" "I'm here." said Jorun, who sat up from a prone position. Ezo was just beyond him, also just sitting up. "Wherever here is." "What a weird dream I just had!" exclaimed Grackle. "I dreamed I got buried under hot lava." "I had the same dream!" declared Grickle. "I don't think it was a dream, guys." said Ephraim. "Oh, good! You're awake!" Everyone turned to see Ravenpelt dressed in white and looking unusually clean. With him stood a man they did not recognize. "I thought about waking you myself, but you all looked so peaceful, I decided to let you nap." "Mister Ravenpelt? What happened?" "Well, the bad news is you're dead. The good news is that Stormhaven is just over that hill, and you're all invited. Oh by the way, this is Onju. He's here to show us the way." Jorun lowered his head. "I don't think that's right." he said. "I... I haven't been a very faithful worshipper of Vertarbna." "Relax, lad." said Onju. "He knows." "We never went to worship." said Grackle. "Like... not once." "Yeah. We didn't worship anyone." Grickle elaborated. "He knows that, too." said Onju. "It's a good thing for you the scarred one one has a soft spot for young ones. They say there are no children in Everdark." "Really?" "Really. Some day, you will have to make a formal decision whether to be a friend or foe of Vertarbna. I trust you'll choose wisely. Until then, you're welcome to come and live with us in Stormhaven." Ravenpelt and the boys followed Onju into the city. Some distance away, a sinister presence watched them go. "Enjoy your afterlives, little ones." it hissed. "You may be safe from me for now, but your families... oh, your families will suffer!" And with a flash of dark, it was once again gone.