Rana - Networks of clay and copper pipes climbed the walls of the open mining pit like organ pipes from some devil’s hellish choir room. The yellow gas that billowed out of the pit barely bothered to follow the pipes put there to channel the noxious fumes away from miners. The years had not been kind to this place. It was more wreck than work site.
The boys were busy driving wooden stakes into the ground claiming this poison pit as their own. Did I really want a share in this? From where I stood this place is a long way from earning anyone much beyond a headache and an easy way to empty one’s stomach.
It had been less than an hour since we had passed thought the Poulterhaud Mining company’s gatehouse, erected back when this place was turning the fortunes of Dwarves toward prosperity. It was hard to imagine the well-fed elite of Hlofreden spending long dirty days ripping the guts from earth. One would be hard pressed today to find a calloused hand on any progeny of Dwarven descent.
I found it hard to carry resentment toward Hlofolk with Danin’s chivalrous behavior tearing down the wall I had spent a lifetime building up. In fact, Floki’s friends in general were not as bad as I once believed. When Floki threw in his lot with the boys I thought it was the beginning of the end for him. Mischief seemed to find them and him at every turn. I think I understand now that it wan’t necessarily mischief that drove them.
In the years after Keela went missing the boys were changed. The spirit of adventure had died with their lost friend. Floki and I had been through our own difficulties during that time. Father had moved on. We had to rely on each other, it was a matter of survival. Of late, I felt Floki’s heart awakening again. I saw it in all of them. The spark is back now and would soon become a fire. I loved what I saw in them. That doesn’t mean I welcomed her return.
The group of strangers were looking for a guide who was willing to travel on very short notice. I knew the moment I laid eyes on her who she was. Like a ghost returning from the dead she was standing before me. Her face held no sign of recognition. Was I so insignificant in her world? or was she too playing at some hidden agenda? The handsome captain was silver-tongued and generous with his coins. I took the job as insurance that she would make it wherever she was going. Keela’s magical hold over the boys was supposed to end there. The ocean had swept her away and she could become a ghost once more.
My nose wrinkled at the yellow cloud that belched forth from the pit. The stakes had been planted and we were to continue on to the coast. Sig had sent a note to Beidrick to meet us at the great sea cave to the south. For now I was under contract. I had a job to do. The present demanded my attention more than the future. Once we are gathered around a warm hearth with our bellies full I would ponder further my future more deeply.
