“Hmm…I think I have an idea. If this shitty old map is right, we can cut through some hills to at least get closer to there. Appears to be a stream that runs mostly parallel to the road too. No sense in sitting here any longer, lets see if we can find that damn stream before dark!”
With that they set off through the untamed wilderness that surrounded them. This was the first sign of civilization that they had seen since landing, so their spirits were lifted even if they were otherwise weary and sore. They made a point to pick as many nuts and berries as they could find since their rations needed to be stretched as far as possible. As night was falling they heard a distant but discernable sound. They walked towards the unremittent sound of water splashing, and soon were greeted by the sight of a gushing stream of water cascading down from a rocky cliff that towered over them. The waterfall seemed be the genesis of a stream that flowed gently down into a ravine that was now draped in the gloom of dusk.
“Guess this is it, let’s make camp then.”
Gully grunted in agreement and they quickly gathered up kindling and sticks to start a fire. Once they had some light, they went about pitching up their tents and taking advantage of the nearby plunge pool for their canteens. They boiled some wild tubers and vegetables pilfered from Dezlyn’s gardens for their meager supper.
“I pray this is our last day eatin’ like some damn beggars!” Gully declared.
“I pray I don’t have to hear your belly-achin’ anymore! Believe you me we both aren’t cut out for this anymore. I need some damn beauty sleep though, so shut up! Maybe you’ll wake up and be pretty as a princess too.”
“Yeah you wish. Didn’t know your wife was that ugly to make a pass at me.”
“Oh fuck off.”
✽ ✽ ✽
“What’s the matter, don’t like it?”
“It’s uh…strong. Very strong.”
“That’s just how it is in the mountains. You won’t find anything diluted or half-cocked up here. Perhaps some tea would suit you, princess?”
“Burnt beans, burnt leaves, what’s the difference?”
“That’s the sprit! Now finish up, we have to go meet up with Gundir at the smithies.”
Naurus choked down the last biscuit and its slathering of lard therein before washing it down with the unpleasant kick in the mouth that the dwarves dared to call coffee. That didn’t make for the most pleasant breakfast in recent memory, not especially with the locals goggling at them as if they knew of nothing and no one outside their mountain strongholds.
Outside, the duo of strange foreigners was greeted with the wagging fingers and piercing laughter of a gaggle of children who ran off as quickly as they appeared, waving around wooden swords and scrap metal guns like a rabble of bandits. Morra led the way through the winding streets and confusing mish-mash of artificially built and stone hewn buildings and markets. The dull orange glow climbing over the rim of the caldera made for some ominous shadows that hid weary, beady eyes along with the scampering of skittish cats and dogs.
“I think this is it…at least with how he described it last night.” Morra stopped and scratched her head in front of a nondescript, dome shaped building with a smokestack puffing away in the middle of it. She apprehensively opened the iron door and the loud squeak it made was sure to alert anyone in the vicinity. Sure enough a familiar face was inside waiting for them.
“Ach! Ya found me! Welcome to my dingy little workshop. Come on in and don’t be shy!” Gundir said with a smile.
It was certainly a workshop but seemed to be particularly focused on firearms with all manner of barrels, stocks, rifles, pistols, and shotguns both new and old strewn about on large benches and hanging from hooks on the walls.
“Fancy yourself a gunsmith now, Gundy? Didn’t think you’d ever accept this newfangled technology you salty old bastard!” Morra said.
Gundir threw his knotted hair over his shoulder.
“Yeah yeah, gimmie a damn break. I started to like these damn things after all, sure is profitable too! Now come place those wheel-guns over ‘ere and let me take a look at these relics.”
Morra produced the pair and set it on the workbench that the dwarf pointed to. Naurus looked on in awe as the man grabbed a screwdriver and made quick work of popping the grips off before scrutinizing them with a magnifying glass.
“Ah-hah! Found the makers mark alright. Looks like these were built by the combine under contract for—"
“What combine?” Morra cut in.
“Apel-Lorran! The best combine we ever had!”
Naurus noticed a visible facial tic from Morra as he said that, but the dwarf was too busy field stripping the revolvers to notice. He had surprisingly dexterous fingers considering how thick and stubby they were, and in no time both the cylinders had been popped out. He held a candle in the gap left there and looked down the barrels.
“Ach! Gods strike me down with the fury of the sun if I’ve seen a dirtier barrel fer long as I can remember! What did you do, take a shit down these barrels?” Gundir scowled in disgust.
Naurus couldn’t resist laughing and Morra blushed slightly.
“Well, they weren’t ours until very recently. They were a gift from Dez. He said he didn’t need them or something like that.”
“Well, how nice of ‘im to give ya barrels so corroded I can’t even see the riflin’!”
“Well, seeing as you’re the gunsmith around here—”
“Yeah I know, I’ll try my best to clean it up fer ya but just know I don’t usually do this for free!”
“Oh don’t get your beard in a tangle! We do appreciate it, now where is the…well I don’t recall what you dwarves call it but general goods store perhaps?”
“We have no such need for that here, and the bazaars outside will rip ya off like they do those poor traders! There’s a little market down the road to the left that should be opening up soon. Talk to them and tell them I sent ya if they give you grief.” Gundir said with assurance.
“Farewell then, we will return before days end.”
“Nah, stop by tomorrow morning and I’ll see you out. Bye for now then!”
The duo turned around made for the door. Naurus wanted to stop and gawk at all the hardware but Morra wasn’t much for idling around and wasting time when more important matters were at hand. She was set on getting some stocking up some provisions for the trip ahead. They walked out and to the left just as instructed and made their way down the narrow, densely packed street. Pack mules loaded down with all manner of accoutrements made for a busy walk and they eventually found what looked like the market. It looked to be little more than a series of tables carved from the stone laid out in a semi-circle with tin sheets mounted overhead for some shade.
The vendors didn’t seem to be in any particular rush, and the occasion seemed more social than serious work. The bandit rabble of kids came tearing down the street straight towards them. Morra sighed.
“Here we go again.” She said with resignation.
The bandit kids didn’t miss their cue, and hardly paused in their stampede down the street.
“Nyah-nyah don’t touch the monsters! Momma said if we’re bad you’ll eat us up! We ain’t scared of no ugly monsters! I’m telling momma about you and she’ll beat you up!” The squawking and screaming trailed off as the gaggle of grimy bandits scampered away in haste.
Morra buried her face in her hands.
“What’s wrong?” Naurus piped up.
“Well…” She sighed deeply. “Have you ever wanted to wring the neck of a snotty kid?”
“Well, yeah I guess.”
“Good, because I swear on my life next time they come around I’m gonna…do nothing. Damnit, I wish we weren’t outsiders that stuck out so sorely here.”
“Well, don’t your kids act like that sometimes?” He asked, attempting to change topic.
“You speak as if I have kids…”
“Oh, sorry I didn’t mean to imply—”
“It�
�s fine.” She sounded slightly annoyed. “You don’t know any better. So young, so naïve yet so curious. There’s no point in lying to you about stupid things like that. Maybe one day motherhood will come to me, but today is not that day.”
“Right…well let’s go check out the market!” He feigned some excitement, seeing nothing interesting from where he was.
They walked over to the stalls and started browsing. Initially they saw little more than bric-a-brac, polished gemstones, beads, jewelry, even some colorful clothes and scarves. The vendors eyed them with some suspicion, albeit less than they had been getting which was a relief.
“Well, now those are some shit-kickers!” Morra suddenly said.
Naurus looked over and saw exactly what she meant. One vender had all manner of boots, including some with steel bands bent around the toe and heel, and some even had a pair of bands running up the sides. Morra looked sadly at the bottom of her boots and the worn-down hobnails therein. Her young and naïve charge followed suit and realized he was in the same predicament, in addition to the backstay starting to tear but he decided now was not the time to complain about that.
“Aye! You look like a buncha weary travelers! Step right up an’ get ya some new boots fer the road ahead!” The woman behind the table squawked, shaking her bead-laden bangs with her gesticulations.
“Well uh…how much for these?” Morra pointed at the shit-kickers.
“That there be twenty a pair! Guaranteed to save yer toes from the crush of a cart or the stamp of a hoof with these here steel toecaps, yes indeedy!”
“Twenty what…oh wait.” Morra stammered, remembering the newfangled lack of coin currency.
She pulled out the wad of paper bills from her pouch and eyed them with a quiet discomfort.
“Well, what’cha say lassie? Deal or no deal?”
“I think we don’t quite have enough, thanks anyway!”
Morra grabbed her companion and scurried off.
“So…how much do we have?” Naurus asked, confused at what just happened.
“I only have enough for a single pair, and we still need to be able to eat! Unless of course you’d rather sit out here with a bowl and beg for alms!”
“No, not at all.” Naurus suddenly realized what the thought of food did to him. “I am getting hungry though…”
“Figured as much. We don’t even need a watch, we can just use your stomach to tell the time. Let’s see what we can find around here.”
So they went and walked around the labyrinths of buildings, sheds, shops, and smiths yet found nothing that seemed to fit the bill. High noon had set, and they ended up walking in a ragged circle as they wound up back at the market somehow.
“Well, how about just going back to the tavern?” Naurus suggested.
Morra nodded in agreement and they set off back to the tavern carved out of a great rock face. Inside, a haze of smoke filled the air and some of the regulars recognized the pair from the night before with a nod and a less feverish suspicion as they puffed their pipes. They walked up to the bar top and were greeted with a nod by the same barkeep as the night before.
“What cannae help ye with? Ya seem lost.”
“Oh no, we aren’t. We’re just hungry!” Naurus excitedly said, drawing a smirk from Morra.
“Aye, that so? Special today is mince n’ tatties! Be a fiver fer each plate! Comes with a mug o’ small beer too.”
“Mince and…what?” Naurus stammered out, hardly finishing before Morra nudged him in the ribs with her elbow.
“Yes! That’s great, we will take two plates!”
“That’ll be tenner.”
“Er…sorry how much.”
“I said a tenner!” The barkeep said with a snap.
“I think it’s ten. Just give him ten.” Naurus tried to say to her quietly, but still drew a stink eye from the barkeep.
She produced the bills which he snatched and stuck somewhere under the bar. He went back into another room and the hungry pair were left standing and waiting. After a few minutes, he came back out with two earthenware plates, each with a helping of something that looked like mashed potatoes along with 2 mugs of frothy beer. They took the plates and found a table off in the corner. Naurus picked through the two piles of mashed potatoes, one off white and one a pale gold in color. The only thing that popped out was some minced beef that was mixed in to the mush.
“Are you just going to poke at it all day long? It’s dead, trust me.” Morra snarked, shoveling a spoonful in her mouth.
“It’s…not what I was expecting.” He said with disappointment.
“Well I can’t help you there. You’re in someone else’s house now. I bet you miss your mom’s cooking but seems like your dad didn’t!” Morra said with a resounding pleasure.
Naurus faked a laugh and decided to dig in since he had little choice in the matter. It was edible if nothing else, so it did the trick for now. He quaffed the last of the bitter, pale ale and belched loudly.
“Well excuse you!” Morra blurted out.
“Well it’s not my mom’s house!”
“Har har, got me there you little shit!” She followed up with a hearty belch of her own that even made the nearby dwarves twist around in surprise.
“So, we leave tomorrow?”
“Yes…yes we do. Let’s go get some fresh air for now, this smoke is burning my eyes.”
✽ ✽ ✽
“Wow, that’s shiny. That wasn’t necessary though.”
“Sure it was lass! You can’t be seen in public with dirty ass guns, not of dwarven provenance anyway! We have pride in our tools you see.”
“Of course you do but thank you for this. Oh! That cylinder feels so smooth now. And that trigger…finally doesn’t feel full of grit!”
A loud clicking filled the air as Morra fanned the hammer on the newly cleaned up wheel gun.
“Feel that! Take the other one and test it out!” She handed the other revolver to Naurus.
He followed suit and was pleasantly surprised as well.
“Well now, those are the kind of shit eatin’ grins I like to see! My handiwork never disappoints. By the way, I found a lil’ stash of extra cylinders and loaded them up for you, take these.”
Gundir handed over a small burlap bag full of shiny, black cast iron cylinders. Indeed, the brass caps covering the nipples and the shiny leaden slugs inside the cylinders were evident as soon as some were pulled out. Morra smiled and squirrelled the bag away into her pack.
“Oh! I almost forgot, we have been working on a prototype o’ sorts!” Gundir suddenly burst out and his eyes lit up. “You folks might need something a bit more…serious to deal with the local wildlife. Just a moment!”
The dwarf made haste into a back room behind a gun rack, then quickly returned holding something the likes of which that made Naurus and Morra look at each other in wide eyed surprise. Gundir cradled a large leather holster that held a rifle that couldn’t have been more than two feet long. The cocking lever had an unusually large loop that could comfortably fit anyone’s hand. He pulled it out and held it out to them as if presenting a sword to a knight. Morra snatched it up and shouldered it immediately, cycling the action and pointing to different spots around the room as if about to fire at any moment. She seemed especially pleased with the stock that was carved to present a prominent cheek weld even with how short it was.
“Wow Gundir, you are a fucking mad man, but I love it! Who in the world asked you for this?” Morra asked.
“Ah well thank ye lass, but it’s not for any one person. We are considerin’ puttin’ this through trials for the Army of the Confederacy. They want something more powerful than a revolver but can fit in a leg holster. Clever, ain’t it?” Gundir replied smugly, stroking his beard and smiling.
“I love it!” Morra repeated. “And that’s a leg holster? How does it work?”
“Easy as kickin’ kids! Just take these straps and fasten it around your leg…buckle it up, there you go!”
> Morra holstered the rifle and seemed quite pleased with herself.
“So, what do you hairy bastards call this thing anyway?”
“Aye, I haven’t named it officially. But it sort of looks like a mare’s leg, so that what I would call it.”
“I like it.” Morra said. “Mare’s leg it is. Got one for him too?”
“Nay, that’s the first prototype I’ve churned out, but I will be making more. Here’s all this for it too, should be enough cartridges to fend off any man or beast foolish enough to cross you!”
Gundir handed over a canvas bandolier studded with dozens of shiny brass cartridges which Morra slung over her shoulder.
“Now I expect to see you back here soon lassie! No more ghosting that you and Dez seem to like! I need a report on how well that damn thing works too.”
“Yes sir!” She saluted mockingly. “We probably should get going, long road ahead of us. Oh shit! We left the horses out front!”
“Hah!” Gundir burst out. “Don’t you worry about them, I’m sure somebody has already absolved you of that burden. Lots o’ rustlers about anyway. We have some hale pack mules you can ride, strong as oxen! Come, I will show you the trail head of the path that will get you to Wedgewood without any attention.”
Gundir led them through more labyrinths inside and outside the mountain, and eventually they came to a large platform outside that was carved out of the rock. This platform was attached to an arched tunnel that was massive and much larger than was needed for even mining. In front of the platform was a set of rails that looked similar to what mining carts used, but larger and buttressed with thick wooden ties beneath them.
“What’s all this?” Morra was a bit surprised by what she was seeing.
“Oh, you’ll see. It’s a pleasant surprise!”
“I don’t see any mules, or a pathway for that matter. Are we supposed to follow this mining path?”
“Nope! Just you wait, in a few minutes all this will make much more sense.”
Indeed, they only had to wait a few minutes before the prediction bore fruit. At first they felt it as a rumbling similar to a cavalcade. But it was much smoother and lacked the rhythm of horse gaits. Then they heard something coming from deep down the cavernous tunnels. It was at first a brassy growling, which grew a crescendo into a rhythmic huffing and puffing like a great beast. But it was no ordinary beast, this one had bright lantern lights on the front that they saw barreling straight down the tunnel toward them. Morra grabbed Naurus and pulled him back from the edge of the platform as the huge steel beast rolled past and started screeching as the steel wheels ground to a halt against the iron tracks.
Empire's Edge (Path of Light Book 2) Page 9
