Broken Mage (11 page)

Scooping up the sword with his right
hand Thad turned on the dwarf just in time to see the dwarf bounce
Avalanche off one of the metal walls. Thad could see blood pooling
on the dwarfs arms though he was surprised Avalanche had not done
more damage.

Thad could see Avalanche lean back
preparing to launch itself at the stout dwarf again. Not wanting
the fight to escalate out of control Thad moved in-between
Avalanche and the dwarf hunching down slightly patting his friend
on the head. The moment was not lost on the dwarf who visibly
relaxed his grip on his axe.

Setting the massive weapon down in
front of him the dwarf made a waggling motion with his fingers.
When Thad didn’t get his meaning he repeated the movement than
pointed at the small spot on his chest where the cloth had been
slightly singed from his fireball.

Hoping he was right Thad formed a small
fireball in his hand and then let it quickly fade away. The dwarf
sat down heavily on the ground with a loud humph. Over the next few
hours the two talked by waving their arms and making weird
gestures. Thad was sure that if anyone had seen the exchange they
would have been doubled over laughing.

The dwarf was currently trying to ask
something about him though Thad was having a hard time making out
what he was meaning. He was using his fingers and making them walk
like a person then he would point at the wall. The dwarf was
quickly getting frustrated with Thad’s lack of understanding and
kept running his hands over his bald scalp that was now covered in
short light-colored stubble. Finally he pointed at Thad, then at
the ground the spread his hands indicating the area surrounding
them.

Laughing to himself Thad finally
understood what the dwarf was trying to get at. The only problem
was Thad had no idea how to answer the question only using his
hands. Then he began laughing again. Why was he using his hands in
the first place? He had other means available to him. With a little
focus Thad made a miniature person appear on the ground surrounded
by forest. Soon other little men began to chase the first until he
ran into a cave. The little men began to fight until the first one
started casting small balls of fire at the cave walls and the cave
began to collapse around him.

The dwarf threw his head back and a
harsh crackling noise issued forth. Thad soon joined in the dwarf’s
merriment. Looking back it was more than a little funny. There had
to be hundreds of ways to deal with the situation back then other
than sealing himself away from the enemy. He had just been so
worked up and frantic he hadn’t been thinking ahead.

After a few moments the dwarf took an
interest in the metal ingots that lined the wall. Using an illusion
Thad explained how he had broken down the metal monster they had
fought into small bars so that he could move them
easier.

The dwarf picked up one of the ingots
and studied it intently for a long period of time. Thad could see
the dwarf’s eyes brighten as he looked over the stack of metal that
towered before him. As if something shot through his mind the dwarf
jumped from his seat and headed for the wall. When he noticed that
there was no door he turned back to Thad and placed his hands on
his hips in an exaggerated movement.

Laughing Thad walked over to the wall
and placed his hand on it. Within seconds the metal shrunk back
into a small ball that he placed carefully back in his pack. The
dwarf slapped him hard on the back giving him a broad grin then
darted toward one of the side tunnels. Not sure what was going on
Thad followed the dwarf surprised how fast he could move despite
his short legs.

The dwarf led him a short way down one
of the tunnels until he stopped abruptly. The dwarf moved a small
boulder away from the wall and pulled a large pack about twice the
size of his own from a small cubby hole in the wall. With his pack
in hand the dwarf turned around almost bumping into Thad and rushed
back toward their little sanctuary.

Thad followed quick behind the bustling
dwarf. As soon as the dwarf reached the small room he started
loading his pack down with the metal ingots. While the pack was a
good size it would still have taken thirty or more of them to come
close to being able to carry what Thad had stacked against the
wall. It took the dwarf a few moments of trying to find ways to
move around his payload before he figured it wasn’t going to be
possible to take all of it at one time.

The dwarf stood and looked down at the
pack as if it had betrayed him then to Thad who lay on the ground a
few feet away laughing. The dwarf didn’t look very pleased with his
amusement. Thad stopped laughing and wiped the moisture from under
his eye. The dwarf gave him a hard look then pointed from the bag
then to the metal ingots then to him. It was obvious the dwarf
wanted him to figure a way to get all the metal ingots into one
pack.

It wasn’t really a hard problem to
address. He had done the same thing with Eloen’s pack. All he had
to do was to make a sub-dimensional area and link it to the pack.
So that when opened it would allow a large portion of things to be
stored and when closed would only weigh a small fraction of the
weight. He had thought about doing the same thing with his pack but
then it would have been hard to sort through the things held
within. If he could make the interior of the pack just big enough
for the ingots it wouldn’t be so bad. All the dwarf would have to
do when he reached where he wanted to deposit the metal was to turn
the pack upside down and empty out its contents.

Thad first made a rough measurement of
the large stack of ingots trying to form a mental picture of the
size needed to house them all within the pack. The whole time he
worked the dwarf continued to pace behind him looking over his
shoulder whenever he stopped moving for too long. Thad could sort
of understand why the metal was so important to the dwarf. It was
strong and light and if the stories were true the dwarfs were
celebrated blacksmiths.

Once he had the basic measurements down
Thad went straight to work. Using a small portion of the
ultra-light metal Thad laced the inside of the bag. Once Thad was
finished he placed three grape-sized gems in the pack. They were to
help hold the temporal space to the inside of the pack. Thad wasn’t
sure what would happen if the link was lost. It was a fifty-fifty
chance. Everything could be dumped all at once into the current
space, or the temporal space could simply close and everything
would be lost to them forever.

Before finishing the dwarf’s pack Thad
stuffed three of the ingots into his own. Thad had worried that the
dwarf wouldn’t take the loss of any of the metal but he seemed to
pay it little mind as they disappeared into Thad’s pack.

As soon as Thad was finished with the
pack the dwarf wasted no time in loading his haul. It didn’t take
long for the metal to disappear into the bag. Thad had been worried
he had made the space within the bag too small but as the last
ingot went in Thad still couldn’t see the top of the
stack.

After he was done the dwarf turned to
him and gave him one of his trademark broad grins. Thad made sure
to keep his back away as it was still stinging from the one he had
received earlier.

“You know I’m going have to call you
something other than dwarf.” Thad said more to himself than the
dwarf sitting across from him. Looking the dwarf over many names
came to mind but most of them were dismissed out of hand.
“Crusher,” Thad shouted after a few minutes of chewing on his nails
much to the dwarf’s amusement.

Thad pointed to himself, “Thad.” The
dwarf seeming to understand pointed at him and smiled. Then Thad
pointed toward the dwarf and said, “Crusher.” The dwarf looked at
him for a few moments then simply shrugged his shoulders. “Ok,
Crusher it is.”

As they ate Avalanche reappeared giving
the dwarf plenty of room as she moved over sitting next to Thad.
Absentmindedly Thad rubbed his hands over the top of Avalanches
head. Crusher looked at Avalanche with a wry grin and pointed at
her.

Picking up the thought Thad made an
illusion playing out their first meeting. Crusher laughed at how
Avalanche had been trapped then laughed harder when Thad showed how
Avalanche had followed him relentlessly until he had given up
trying to get rid of her.

At first Thad had feared that Crusher
and Avalanche wouldn’t get along well especially after how they had
first met. To his surprise Crusher seemed to take a great interest
in Avalanche going so far as offering her a fair sized garnet that
he dug from one of the pockets in his pack. Avalanche wasn’t as
happy to make friends but after a nudge from Thad made her way over
and sniffed at the gem before swallowing it whole. As was her
normal routine she hopped around for a bit barreling into the dwarf
knocking him over.

Unlike Thad, who had to rely on his
shield whenever Avalanche was in a playful mood Crusher seemed to
enjoy the rough play. Thad watched laughing as the two rolled
around on the ground wrestling. When they finished Crusher was
breathing hard and from what Thad could tell he was
laughing.

That night when Thad lay down to sleep
Crusher refused Thad’s offered lizard skin, instead opting to use a
nearby rock for a pillow. It didn’t look very comfortable to Thad
but he figured if the dwarf wanted to punish himself who was he to
argue. Avalanche seemed torn between who to sleep next to but
finally solved her dilemma by picking a spot near both of
them.

CHAPTER IX

The next day when Thad woke he already
found Crusher and Avalanche gone. He was slightly worried that
Crusher had left while he slept, with Avalanche following quickly
behind. Thinking about it wouldn’t get him anywhere, so Thad
decided he should take care of his daily chores.

Thad snagged one of the larger pieces
of cooked fish from his pack then grabbing his staff and headed in
the direction of the river. The walk had almost become second
nature to him. There were only four places in which he had to turn
and he could almost tell you how many steps it took to get to each
one. Feeling confident Thad turned off his light ring and switched
his eye into nightsight.

It took him some time after
switching over to get his bearings. He had only used
nightsight during his first test run for the eyes
and had been eager to use it again. It was weird to see the world
he had believed to be nothing but darkness spread out into a myriad
of colors. It was mostly different shades of red though there were
also blues, purples, and oranges.

During his test run he ran into the
walls a few times but he didn’t let it frustrate him. He expected
to encounter a little trouble during his first time using the new
sight. After the third turn he learned to watch for discreet
changes in the heat pattern to show where the tunnel changed
direction.

When Thad finally reached the river he
was astounded at the change. The water was much warmer than the
surrounding area. He couldn’t see any fish in the direct area so he
headed upstream. Luckily he didn’t have to walk far before he saw
the bright red glow of a fish darting around in the light orange
water. The only real problem Thad was having with his vision was
the trouble with depth. He wasn’t sure if it was due to only having
one eye like it did in the normal spectrum or because of the
intricacies of nightsight.

When Thad returned to his refuge he was
welcomed back by both Crusher and Avalanche. When he saw the large
creature that Crusher was cooking over a small fire Thad felt
self-conscious about the small amount of fish he had brought
back.

When Thad sat down Crusher turned away
from the task of cooking the meat and pointed at him then made a
writing motion with his finger. It wasn’t hard for Thad to
understand what the dwarf was getting at. After digging in his pack
Thad pulled out the last two sheets of parchment in his pack along
with a piece of coal he had been using to write with.

Crusher took the parchment and quickly
began to scribble on it. Thad tried to see what the dwarf was doing
but whenever he got close Crusher would move away and shooed him
off with a wave of his hand. Getting the point Thad went to the
fire and tended the cooking meat.

Whatever Crusher had brought to eat was
new to Thad. It was smaller than one of the lizards but it was much
bulkier in diameter. It didn’t look very appetizing but with the
scarcity of food in the subterranean networks Thad couldn’t find it
in himself to complain.

As soon as the meat was done Crusher
stuffed away the pages he was working on and sat down to eat with
Thad. Not wanting to leave Avalanche out Thad reached down and
pulled a fist sized gem from his pack and tossed it to her. The
meat wasn’t too bad though it had a bitter aftertaste that lingered
on his tongue. He tried to wash it down with water but gave up
after his third glass.

Thad was ready to continue on and find
his way out though it looked like his new friend wanted to stay for
a bit longer. It was more than a little annoying that after days of
waiting for the dwarf to wake, he was still stuck without any clear
idea of a way out. The whole situation was bordering on
maddening.

As soon as he was finished eating
Crusher headed off with Avalanche fast on his heels leaving Thad
alone. With nothing planned, Thad spent the first few moments in
utter boredom throwing pebbles at the far wall. When he ran out of
pebbles to throw he began searching through his pack for anything
to keep himself occupied. When he came across his magical tome he
almost laughed. He had nearly forgotten about the book. It was
filled with numerous books that could be switched by touching the
name of the book that one wanted to read.