Bonky jumped back and glared at him. Thork laughed. "Yous doesn't thank him. Bonky was hoping to go frough yous pockets and maybe eat yous if yous was dead."
Alto's smile faded while the goblin's grew. Alto tried, and failed, to repress a shiver. "Uh, well, thanks anyhow, I guess."
Thork chuckled. He moved to several flat rocks that he'd set various alchemical ingredients on and started poking around. He picked up a few and pushed most of the others aside, and then he drew a knife and started to cut some of them up. Finished with one item, he turned to another and smashed it with his palm, and then ground up the little fragments of whatever it had been with the flat of the dagger.
Thork continued, occasionally muttering something, and then he reached into a pouch at his side and pulled out a bright orange wriggling lizard. He used his knife to open it up from belly to throat and caught the blood that ran out in a small bowl. Smoke rose from the few drops that landed on the rock. Finished with the lizard, he tossed it in his mouth and crunched down on it. He belched loudly after swallowing it.
Alto watched, fascinated, as Thork began to combine the ingredients in a larger bowl. He mixed them together with the same knife, and then poured them into a flask. "Dis is for yous," the shaman said as he thrust the metal flask towards Alto.
Alto stared at it but didn't take it until the troll shook it impatiently. "What do I do with it?"
"Yous drink it, stupid!" The troll shook his head. Alto started to raise it but the troll waved his hands and said, "Wait till yous get to da lava flows!"
Alto lowered the flask and made sure the cork stopper was still secure in the neck. "Lava flows?"
"Well if yous wants to bring down da mountain, yous gots to blow it up good!"
Alto felt the hair on his neck stand up at the troll's words. "Bring down the mountain?"
"Derz an echo in here," Thork muttered. Bonky cackled from where he had slid down behind a rock to chew on a bone he'd pulled out of a pouch. "Look, Thork has to make dis potion den protect it from da lava. Yous go down dere and drop it in, den run like da dogs of fear is following yous! Dat potion Thork gave yous will help wif da heat, but nuffin gonna help yous if you don't get far nuff away when da mojo runs out and dat ting blows!"
"It's going to blow up the mountain?" Alto couldn't believe anything Thork could do would have power like that.
"Well, not da whole fing, but enough to send some rumblins for miles an miles!" Thork grinned. "Now go look at dat stuff over der, yous is gonna need some fings to wear if yous wants to get out alive."
Alto followed Thork's gesturing hand and saw a collection of sacks and bags shoved against a wall. He walked over to it and started to look through them with as much care as he could. He was frightened about what he might find. A glint of steel changed his mind and made him dive in. He pulled out suits of mail, both chain and plate, as well as hammers, maces, axes, and swords that were little more than daggers to him. Alto's hopes rose and fell when he realized the gleaming mail was too small for him.
"What is this stuff?" Alto asked.
"What? Oh, dats stuff dem dorfs left behind when dem got runned out. Most of der stuff rotted, but deez tings has magic to dem."
"They're too small," Alto lamented.
Thork guffawed. "How yous fink Thork feels?"
Alto glanced at the towering troll and felt his cheeks warm. The shaman was a couple of heads taller than him and larger around by far. He sighed and moved to the next sack, hoping in vain that he might find something he could use.
"Thork, do you know if my friends are safe?"
The troll glanced up at him and chuckled. It was a sound that Alto suspected might be the source of his next nightmare. "Thork is good, but him's not dat good!"
Alto nodded. He hadn't expected the troll to know but he'd been surprised at almost every turn by the strange being. Speaking of which, that reminded him. "What are you doing here? I know, looking for things. I mean why here? I thought you'd left after helping us go after Barador?"
Thork looked up again from the concoction he was mixing. He frowned, one of his large canine teeth poking between his lips. "Thork likes to be where fings is happenin. Ders lots of stuff going on up here. Lots of stupids and lots of bashins! Dat means dere's lots of fear and when ders fear, ders a chance of finding sumfin special."
Alto pondered the troll's words until he was able to make some sort of sense out of them. "Something special? Like what, a potion or dwarven relic?"
Thork snorted and kicked up a small cloud of dust from the powder he was measuring. It puffed up around him and tickled his large nose, causing him to sneeze violently. Herbs, jars, cups, and equipment went flying. Thork stared down at the mess he'd made and ran the back of his hand across his lips. "Oops," he muttered. "Dats gonna change dis."
The troll shrugged and looked up at Alto. "Dorfs got sum neat fings, but nuffin Thork cares about. Thork just collects stuff in case him needs it laters. Or maybe to give to stupids like yous." The troll grinned again but Alto was getting used to the toothy smile. "Sumfin special is a stupid like yous, maybe. Yous learnin how to use yous fear so yous is da one in control. Dats special. Most stupids doesn't do dat. Dem can't do dat."
Alto raised an eyebrow as Thork gathered his scattered items back up. Dealing with his fears was how he'd been raised. His father had told him that a man doesn't run from a challenge when it's something he can put right by facing it. "I guess it's good to be special," Alto said.
"Dat's da troof!" Thork said. He reached into a pocket at his side and pulled out a larger metal flask. He uncapped it and took a healthy drink, and then recapped it and slipped it back into a sack at his side.
Alto noticed the sack looked no different now than when the flask hadn't been in it. "What sort of potion was that?" he asked.
Thork laughed. "Swamp juice! Thork was thirsty."
"Swamp juice?"
Thork grinned and shook his head. "Put hairs on yous chest! Yous want some?"
"Uh, maybe later."
Thork shrugged. "Keep looking. Thork saw some stuff dat might fit yous."
Alto nodded and returned his attention to the sacks. It might be safer if he didn't distract the shaman while he was working on the potion. It wasn't until the third sack that he found something of interest. He pulled out a kite shield embossed with a crown floating over the tip of a mountain. It warmed to his touch.
Alto dug deeper into the sack and pulled out an entire suit of plate mail in pieces. He inspected it closer and saw the buckles and straps looked like they'd been attached only yesterday. He held the pieces up and felt his growing hopes dashed against the rocky walls. The breastplate and cuirass looked large enough for him, but the vambraces, gauntlets, and greaves were too short. Remembering Mordrim's stature, Alto could understand why.
A hauberk in the bottom of the bag caught his eye. He picked it up, sneering at the dirt coating it and expected it to fall apart. Instead, it held together and, where the chain links rubbed against one another, showed gleaming patches of steel.
"How is this possible?" Alto wondered aloud as he continued to rub the dirt and grime away.
"Dorf steel doesn't rust. Even if dat doesn't got no mojo to it, it's still armor da stumpies made and dem make it to last," Thork called over.
Satisfied with the cleaning job he'd done, Alto slipped the hauberk over his head and let it fall on his shoulders. It felt lighter than he'd expected, lighter than his old armor, by far. It wasn't long enough to protect his hips or thighs but it beat running around shirtless in the dark. Alto turned to face Thork when the armor pinched and pulled at the hair on his chest. He yelped.
Thork stared at him. "What yous fussin for? Yous got sumfin."
"No tunic or doublet," Alto explained. "It's going to pinch and pull at me but that's all right."
Thork grinned and dug through a chest behind him. He pulled out a strange tin and tossed it to Alto. "Rub dis on yous chest and back. Wherever yous is gettin nipped."
/> Alto walked over, wincing as he felt several more hairs plucked out. He slipped it back over his head, grimacing at the multiple pricks of pain the armor removal caused. Alto took the tin and popped the lid off, and then looked at the red-colored cream inside it. He shrugged; Thork had been nothing but helpful to him all along. Alto dipped his fingers in and felt a cool tingle in them. He studied the strange substance and then smeared it across his chest, shoulders, and stomach. He gathered more of it and struggled to repeat as much of the process as he could on his back.
By the time he had finished, the cool sensation had changed. His chest had started growing warm and now it felt like it was on fire. Or as if a hundred tiny bees were stinging him. He gasped after fighting against the pain for a moment and then looked up at the troll. "What is this?" he hissed. "It's burning me!"
Thork nodded. "Burnin da hairs off! Maybe some skin too, yous should wash it off now."
Alto gasped as his back began to feel singed as well. "Where? I need water!"
Thork frowned. "Oops. Water. Dats a good ideer. Back down dat cave ders da pond Bonky fished yous out of. Try dat!"
Alto tossed the tin on Thork's rock and took off at a run. Within a dozen feet of entering the cave, the light from the fire and the troll's spear faded so that he was stumbling in the dark. He tripped on a rock and bounced off another one before he came to a rest. Gritting his teeth, Alto climbed to his feet and noticed that there was still some light that remained. The cream on his chest and back was letting off a faint reddish glow. He stumbled forward and kept his arms out, feeling blindly until he felt a cool mist on his face.
Using his own radiance to guide him, Alto found the soft muck that promised water ahead. He stripped off his boots and pants and walked forward into the cold mud until icy water covered his feet. Alto kept going until the water was at his knees and the mud was behind him. He dropped down, driving his knees into hard rocks and then prostrated himself in the water. He scrubbed furiously at the cream but felt only the agony of the burning potion eating away at him.
Minutes passed until Alto realized he couldn't see anymore. His skin had stopped glowing, a sign that he'd accomplished his task. He still felt pain but the agony wasn't one of active burning, more of exposed raw skin. He stood up and turned around, searching for the way he'd come. All he saw was darkness.
"Uh, Thork?" Alto called out. He yelled louder and heard his voice echo off the dripping walls. "I can't see!"
Enough time passed in the darkness that Alto wondered if he'd gone farther than he'd thought. He felt about with his feet, trying to find the mud that would guide him to the shore. He was shivering now, his raw skin both aching and freezing as the water dried. Alto was about to cry out again for the troll when he heard a soft splash of water against rock.
Alto spun around, disturbing the water with his movements. He stared without sight and felt his heart hammer in his chest loud enough to make his earlier fears of being burned alive pale in comparison. Whatever it was must be able to see him, but he couldn't see it. Was it just a ripple in the water or was it something else? Something large and hungry?
Or was it the troll himself, come to test and tease him? He had a strange sense of humor, that much Alto had seen for himself, but he didn't think a practical joke like this was in Thork's nature. Thork’s practical jokes, he imagined, were probably more blunt and brutal.
Alto stiffened and held his breath. Thork was a shaman of Jarook, the patron saint of fear. Alto was scared. Was it a test? He slowed his breathing and controlled it, and then shut his eyes. It made no difference on what he could see, but with his eyes closed he could focus on what his other senses told him. Other than that he was cold, that is.
Water was dripping from the wall or ceiling, plunging into the pond. Here and there, he heard the small waves his movement caused lap up against the walls or the shore, but he couldn't tell which was which. A different sound, something sliding through the water and breaking the surface, caught his attention. It came from his right. He turned slowly to face it, and then cursed that he'd left his sword and knife on the rocks.
Alto crouched low, moving slowly to minimize the noise he made, and then waited. He wouldn't be able to strike first but he hoped he could at least keep whatever was coming for him from hurting him too badly before he could fight back.
A guttural word he didn't understand split the air from his left. The force of it struck him with an almost physical effort. Alto turned and saw light coming as Thork ran towards him, his large bulk easily clearing the rocks and boulders in the way. Thork's spear lit up the small cavern with its eerie greenish light. Alto turned back and saw the sinuous form of something snaking through the water away from him.
"My thanks! In my haste, I got turned around," Alto said after he turned back to Thork.
The troll stared past him and then snarled. "Stupid eel," he said. He held his spear up and spoke in a clear and terrifying voice, invoking words Alto couldn't understand. A moment later, he thrust the glowing tip of the spear into the water and made the entire surface of it agitated. Alto gasped and ran out of the water. He felt the energy clawing at his skin.
A moment later the eel, which had turned and come back for Alto, turned again, started swimming in circles, upsetting the water. The surface frothed around it, surprising Alto until he realized that it wasn't just the eel that was causing the disruption. He saw shapes break the surface, some of them fish and others smaller things that looked like crabs and crayfish. Different creatures attacked the giant eel until it stopped snapping back and turned to flee. The horde of creatures clung to it, bloodying the water and eating it alive until it finally thrashed a final time and sank beneath the surface.
"What was that?" Alto gasped.
"Blood eel," Thork said. "It smelt yous blood and wanted more of it."
"Glad to disappoint it. Seems I owe you my thanks again," Alto said.
Thork nodded. "Yous was a dumdum but Thork felt yous fear."
Alto nodded and shivered. He glanced down at himself and saw that his chest and stomach were a shade of irritated pink now. That, and completely hairless. He groaned and shook his head. If he complained, Thork might offer him more of the swamp juice to put some hair back on his chest. He grimaced and hurried over to pull his pants and boots back on.
"Yous potion is almost ready," Thork told him while he dressed. "It's cookin now."
"Cooking?"
"Yep. Thork has to get it real hot to melt all da stuff together."
Alto nodded. "Well, let's go and finish it then. The sooner I'm out of here, the better. My friends need whatever help they can get."
Thork guffawed again. "Yous not doing so hot either!"
Alto grimaced and blushed. He had made a mess of things many times now. He sighed and started back towards Thork's cave. One mistake after another because he kept rushing in blindly. Was it, perhaps, not so foolish when leaders hesitated before committing their nations or troops to actions that couldn't be undone?
He found the chain shirt waiting for him where he'd left it. He glared at it and then sighed and slipped the cool metal over his shoulders again. His raw skin protested but he ignored it. The irritation warmed him, at least.
Chapter 24
Garrick used his thick sword to smash aside a gnome. What his steel didn't cut or crush, the impact with the cave wall did. Another gnome leapt at him, claws and teeth at the ready. Patrina and Tristam fought behind him, trying to keep up with the barbarian and protect his flank. He showed no signs of needing help; he spun and hewed, cutting through the gnomes like a farmer with a scythe in a field of wheat.
"Garrick, stay with us!" Tristam growled.
Mordrim cracked his hammer against the clutching arm of a gnome, breaking the bone and knocking the wretched creature off balance. He spun back, driving back two other gnomes that had come from the other end of the hallway, and then reversed his swing and drove the pointed end of the hammer into the wounded gnome’s skull.
> "There are too many!" Karthor spoke the words they all knew to be true while he cracked his mace against the snout of a gnome. The priest broke the gnome’s sharp teeth and stunned it, but it was only one of many anxious to rend him limb from limb.
Kar finished a spell and lit up the cave with a ball of fire that streaked out from his hands and blasted aside the gnome in the passage. "Ha!" the wizard cried out. "Take that, you filthy rodents!"
The gnomes on all sides of them recoiled at the display of pyrotechnic magic. Tristam took a moment to look up and around. "Hurry! Kar’s forced an opening!"
"Garrick! Come!" Patrina shouted at the barbarian.
Garrick kicked a gnome off the tip of his sword and looked back at her. His eyes shifted up and behind her, and then he grunted acknowledgement. The northlander brought the hilt of his sword down on the crown of a gnome that picked its head up from where it had been knocked aside earlier, dropping it back to the ground and letting him follow the others.
"This is the wrong way!" Mordrim griped in spite of being swept up and running along with them.
"Any way that keeps us alive is the right way," Tristam said.
They ran down the cave, Kar’s magical lights floating above them and casting threatening shadows. They left the smoking bodies of the gnomes behind but soon they were forced to stop. Two of the subterranean creatures stood side by side to fill the passage and prevent them from going that direction. Neither of the gnome guards advanced towards them.
A hole in the wall to their right opened to another tunnel that widened. Kar sent one of his lights flitting into it and revealed a large number of gnomes moving towards them. "Saints!" Kar muttered. "They’re like rats on a sinking ship."
"These two are different," Patrina noted as she stared at the two gnomes standing guard. The gnomes bared their teeth but they wore mismatched shirts of mail and plate for protection. Each held a long-handled axe, a halberd.
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