Melabeth Forgive Me, For I Am Sin! (36 page)

A long long time ago,

In days so long

Come and gone:

The sun so bright,

The sky so blue,

The earth was young,

The earth was new.

Silvin Thistlestar

An elf from afar,

He traveled the world

To see the sights,

He found our home

Upon the heights.

Silvin thought dwarves quite queer.

And he did jest and he did jeer:

Your legs are short,

Your voices are gruff,

Your wives have beards,

Your manors are rough,

You live like moles with faces like trolls,

You work all day and never play,

Gold and jewels your only love

You’ve none for trees or sky above.

Silvin thought dwarves quite queer.

And he did jest and he did jeer.

Boren Boneaxe held his tongue.

The ax he bore

Would settle the score.

He cut Silvin down just like a tree,

Hacked off his legs at the knee.

Silvin thought dwarves quite queer.

And he did jest and he did jeer.

The taller you are the farther you fall,

And that’s what you get fer flappin yer jaw! “

The air grew warm as they descended and a low rumbling could be heard from somewhere below.  When they finally reached the forge, the heat was intense and the source of the rambling became apparent.  A stone dragon, which was part of the far wall itself, dominated the huge rectangular room.  A steady stream of lava was flowing out of the dragons gaping jaws, and spilling into a giant stone goblet below.  The detail of these stone monuments was a testament of dwarven craftsmanship.  The dragon, carved of red stone, was incredibly convincing.  Its clear-jeweled eyes gave the dragon a presence of life, glowing with a distorted image from the lava flowing behind them.  The angle of the spewing lava made it seem as if the dragon was using its fiery breath weapon, and the sound of
it reverberating against the cavern walls, was as the dragons roar. 

The goblet was of gray stone, with scenes of battles engraved upon it.  From a peculiar round hole near the bottom of the goblet, it could be seen that the lava actually ran through the goblet and into somewhere unseen below.  The rest of the forge was very plain, the walls were smooth and bare, the floors dull and dusty.  All about was strewn the clutter of hard work.  Stones littered the floor.  Carts filled with various minerals road on tracks that crisscrossed the floor and ran through tunnels leading in and out of the forge.  Everywhere with no semblance of order was scattered things like; racks holding tools, anvils of varying size, small tables and chairs, and most notably was a rack, near the goblet, cluttered with hundreds of bottles containing mysterious substances. 

The dwarves wasted no time and proceeded right to work.  Hamfast went straight to a small table in front of the rack with bottles and began laying out an assortment of small tools, bags, bottles, and other strange implements.  Furwhin, Burbeer, and Pikey began putting on aprons and goggles.  Twillin and Dillin began rolling a cart full of rocks along its tracks towards the table where Hamfast was working. 

“No,no,no…”  Hamfast was saying while examining a rock from the cart.  These just won’t do.  You boys know what to look fer by now, so stop bringing me this useless rubble.”  Hamfast tossed the useless rock back in the cart.

“Ah, but we can’t find anything else.”  Dillin moaned in frustration.

“Ya, and we looked everywhere!”  Twillin added in a pleading tone.

“Don’t give me that boy.”  Hamfast directed his gaze at Twillin.  “You’ve got the whole of the earth to explore.  Now get to it.”  Hamfast motioned his hand as if to slap the boy, though Twillin stood several feet away.  Twillin smiled, and with his little pudgy face, his rosy little checks, crooked teeth and that silly little wispy yellow beard, Hamfast couldn’t help but smile back.

Dillin, who was a little older with dark hair like his father, just shrugged saying, “Fine.”  And with a scowl on his face he grabbed a couple of pick axes from one of the racks and tossed them carelessly into an empty cart.  Twillin grabbed a strange lantern that illuminated when he touched it.  Then the larger stouter Dillin pushed the cart as fast as he could along its tracks and they sped out of the forge through one of the tunnels.

“Are we ready?”  Hamfast asked. 

Furwhin and Burbeer, who were standing on opposite ends of an anvil, held up their hammers in answer.  At that Pikey used a long metal instrument to thrust a rock about the size of a mans head into the round hole on the side of the goblet.  He pulled it back out after only a short moment and the rock was red with heat.  He than placed the glowing rock on the anvil where Furwhin and Burbeer were waiting.  Hamfast poured a vile of blue liquid on the rock, which resulted in a cloud of shimmering steam.  He took a few steps back and yelled, “Strike!”

Furwhin swung first, his hammer striking the rock in a shower of sparks with a sound like thunder.  Burbeer swung his hammer with equal might, and after they both had struck many times, little remained of the rock.  It seemed nothing more than a lump of black powder, but when Furwhin brushed it away with his hand, what was left was an emerald about the size of a dwarven hand.  It was rough and somewhat square shaped, but with a little cutting and polish it would be magnificent. 

Throughout
the day they made many jewels of many hues, and all the while the Basilisk watched in silence.  There was no discernable expression on his face, but he was impressed.  He could not appreciate the beauty of these rare gems though, for beauty he could not see.  Jewels were nothing to him, but he knew of the great value that humans placed in them.  From now on the humans would come to him.  He would make a trail of gems for them to follow if he had to, but in any event, once the humans knew the jewels were there they would come, and he would be waiting.

He could claim this place as his own, the dwarves could not stop him, no one could.  Many heroes had tried; they tried and failed.  The more time he spent with these dwarves, the more repulsive he found them.  He would have liked nothing more than to kill all of them then and there, but they could prove more useful alive.   Instead he would weave a spell to make them his slaves.  They would resist, but overtime his will would over power them.  Once enslaved, the dwarves would keep the gems coming, and thus keep the humans coming as well.  Though it would take some time for the Basilisk to implement his plan, he was content with the certainty of it.

Hamfast was in deep thought himself.  He had to come up with a plan to get rid of the Basilisk.  He couldn’t possibly afford to keep feeding the Basilisk, besides if he didn’t get rid of the Basilisk soon, Gretchen would kill him.  All the while he worked, Hamfast thought and thought and thought and finally he had a plan.

The next day when the Basilisk awoke the dwarf was waiting for him.  “Are you hungry?”  Hamfast asked.  “Cause if ya are, a couple of cows fell through a vent and into the lower caverns. I think they’ve been down there fer days.  They may have been diseased or somethin.” 

“Disease!”  The Basilisk spoke excitedly.  “Is it anthrax?  Please say it’s anthrax.  Oh how I love anthrax!”

“Well, I don’t know, but we can find out.”  The dwarf answered. 

They traveled through cravens deep in the earth, through tunnels that had only recently been excavated.  When they reached their destination the Basilisk had to squeeze through the entrance.  Sure enough they entered a large cavern with sunlight spilling in from an opening hundreds of feet above their heads.  The Basilisk went straight for the three cow corpses while Hamfast tried to slip out. 

Just outside the entrance, Twillin and Dillin came out from their hiding place.  “Ok you know what to do,” Dillin began.  “When Hamfast comes out we smash these rocks with our hammers and collapse the entrance.” 

“Now?”  Twillin asked. 

“No, not now you idiot!”  Dillin snapped.

Twillin pushed Dillin saying, “ You’re an idiot.”

“That’s it!”  Shouted Dillin and he tackled Twillin sending them both sprawling on the ground.  Something must have been knocked lose during their struggle because the entrance began to collapse.

Hamfast panicked and ran for the exit yelling, “Noooo!”  He stopped just short of being smashed by falling rocks.

“What’s going on here, dwarf?"  The Basilisk rose up from his meal in anger, moving threateningly towards Hamfast.  “Those cows weren’t dead for more than a few hours and now this.  What have you gotten me into?”

Hamfast cringed as he spoke, expecting the worst.  “No, no, it, it, was just an accident.  A cave in, don’t worry I’m sure my people will dig us out soon.”

The Basilisk moved towards the collapsed entry, his eyes shone brightly and a breeze began to pick up as he challenged the very rock itself with the power of his will. He should have been able to force the entrance open, but his attempt was blocked. Among the ruble of the collapsed entry were clusters of quarts crystals that somehow reflected his gaze back upon him. This was the first time the Basilisk had ever been exposed to his own power, and it proved too much even for him. For an instant he was faced with his own evil, and he truly understood the horror that his victims felt. The sensation was exhilarating, but also exhausting.  He was filled with a renewed since of pride at seeing his great evil, but he was angry that he could not force his way out. 

So, they waited, the Basilisk peering up at the hole in the ceiling wondering if he could get out that way, while the dwarf paced back and forth.  On the other side Twillin and Dillin worked furiously to clear the rubble, but they knew it would be hours before they would reach the other side.  They were just sure the Basilisk would be doing terrible things to their father, so they worked at an exhausting pace.

After a while Hamfast began moaning, “I’m so hungry.  We’ve been here for hours, we’ll probably starve before they get us out!”

“Dwarf,” the Basilisk spoke in an exhausted tone.  We’ve been in here for twenty minutes.” 

“I can’t help it,” Hamfast admitted.  “I’m sooo famished.  I feel like my stomach is turning inside out.” 

The Basilisk signed deeply. “Put it out of your mind and think of something else, or better yet, just shut up.”

The silence lasted just a little while when the Basilisk said, “I’m bored.  Let’s have a contest of riddles.”

Hamfast smiled a crooked grin.  “I love riddles.”

“Good, then you make the first one,” said the Basilisk. 

Hamfast scratched his beard for a moment and then said, “Lives like a mole, not in a hole, in dark it lies, growing eyes?” 

The Basilisk had to think about it for some time and then it hit him.  “Damn Dwarf!  I told you to stop thinking about food!”

“I’m sorry Mr. Basilisk, it won’t happen again,”  Hamfast insisted.

They were both silent for the next few hours.  The Basilisk was concentrating on finding a way out in case the dwarf’s kin never came through but he was distracted.  The
dwarf was staring at him whenever he wasn’t looking, and whenever he turned to look Hamfast would look away quickly. 

The Basilisk’s patience was wearing thin, and he was determined to put the dwarf in his place.  “Stop that dwarf!  Stop your games now, or that’s it!” 

Hamfast looked crazed, his eyes were bulging, and he was shaking visibly.  “Stop what?  I wasn’t doing anything Mr. Bas-K-delish.” 

“What did you call me?” The Basilisk shouted. 

Hamfast staggered back in fear, “Ah, nothing Mr. Baskdelish, I mean Basilisk, Basilisk!”

“That’s it!” And with that the Basilisk swallowed the dwarf whole.

That will be the end of that, he thought, and he settled down to take a nap.  Before he could fall asleep, he began to feel a sharp pain in his stomach.  It got worse and worse, until he cried out in pain and agony.  He fell to the cavern floor twitching violently, and then he died. 

After about four or five hours, Twillin and Dillin finally broke through.  Seeing the Basilisk sprawled out with his tongue hanging out they knew he was dead. Still, they approached cautiously.  Hamfast was nowhere to be found.

“Look it’s moving!”  Twillin shouted, pointing at the Basilisk. 

A lump began forming on its body and it was moving up and down.  Suddenly, Hamfast burst out of the Basilisk’s body.  He was covered in its blood and licking his fingers.  He
looked over at Twillin and Dillin, who were standing in awe, and said, “Hmph, needs salt.”