The Dragon's Apprentice

by Ben Marble

  "You humans cause nothing but trouble anyways," The dwarf started to walk and both Xander and Sierra tripped over themselves to follow before he faded into a side tunnel. "I guess I should have made a better deal. If it's something that can hurt a dragon, that limits my guesses on what it could be."

  Xander and Sierra did not answer the dwarf but hurried to follow him before he disappeared.

  The Underground City

  The home of the dwarves was a bustling world of life and light hidden in the earth. The Buildings were built by stones that had been stacked together, with moss growing in all the cracks acting as a mortar holding everything together. At regular intervals on these buildings, which varied from being one story to a few that reached all the way to the ceiling a couple hundred feet about, were bands of metal and jewels that picked up any light and reflected it so that any light produced was magnified and used to keep the whole city bright and visible.

  Forges were placed around the city showing that the dwarves had one love, and that was the shaping of metal. The back of all the forges had a glass section on the back, causing the fires that smelted the metals to provide light to the city. Xander focused on one of these panes of glass and was rewarded with a glow that showed it was highly enchanted. He was sure that all the glass in the forges was the same.

  He also noticed a similar glow from most of the dwarves coming off different knives, swords, or maces. Even their Pickaxes had some sort of enchantment to them, but he could not place what they did at a glance. He suspected on the weapons and glass that the enchantments made the tools and weapons stronger. Without some sort of testing, he could not be sure.

  It was a full city. It was not as busy as Chicago or New York, where you felt you were in a sea of buildings stretching as far as you could see. Along with the forge shops, there were several jewelers and market houses spaced along the road. Xander pondered if it was still a road if it was underground but could not think of a reason why it would not be. The markets had a variety of foods despite the face the dwarves lived deep in the earth. There were the mushrooms and moss looking items he would have expected. There was also a small selection of hot dogs, burgers, and even pizza. There were carrots, corn, several types of beans, onions, and apples. Apparently, despite the more medieval appearance of the underground city, the Dwarves were open to trade and some modern convenience.

  "You like our home?" Rorshk asked. The old dwarf had finally exchanged his name with Xander right before they reached the city. "It's stood for three thousand years, and who knows how many more during the sleep. We spent the first years after we re-awakened simply cleaning and restoring everything. Now we are almost as beautiful as were in our prime, and earth willing we will be there again soon."

  "It's wonderful. I feel privileged to have the opportunity to see it." Xander was still trying to be as polite as possible. He was sure he would have found the city completely amazing if it was under other circumstances. Now he worried trouble might follow them here dulling his appreciation of the underground city. "I do have some questions, but I will ask them after we get settled."

  "I will be happy to answer what I can, and I will even give a couple of you a quick tour if you are willing to take the time." The dwarf kept a brisk pace even while talking. "If what you told me is true, we have more to discuss, preferably with your master if you can wake her." The dwarf had remained stone-faced as Xander and Sierra had taken turns telling him about the fight with Nightfire and Dell. After a quick discussion, they had felt it was only right to share what they could with the dwarf. As far as they knew, the two were living on the dwarves’ doorstep. This meant that Nightfire and Dell could show up at any time as enemy or friend. Ember might not approve, but their host had been nothing but friendly so far and it was not worth jeopardizing any relationship they might be building here.

  "If she is well, I'm sure she will want to talk to you too." Xander skipped as he almost tripped over a loose rock in the paved road. "It might do the other apprentices some good to stretch their legs as well."

  "I will make sure you have access to our healers," seeing the look on Xander's face Rorshk added, "You wizards sometimes put too much faith in your magic. Sometimes a wound just needs time and the right herbs to heal properly."

  "I heard dwarves didn't use magic, I'm surprised to see how many of your tools have enchantments on them." Rorshk raised an eyebrow and looked at Xander in confusion. "Your pickaxe, the glass on those forges, that sword," Xander pointed at a random weapon on one of the dwarves walking with the group. "They all glow as if they have been enchanted and had magic worked into them."

  "I think you hit your head lad." Rorshk stepped up the pace slightly. "All we put into our weapons and tools is good honest sweat and hard work. Elves like to use magic on their weapons, dwarves just need a strong hand and direction." He seemed uncomfortable as he strode forward. Xander was not sure if it was because he genuinely believed there was no magic in these items, or if he was hiding something. The dwarf had been more than open and honest with him so far, so it was more likely the latter.

  "I may be mistaken then," Technically not a lie. "I would love to see some of your smiths at work sometime to see how they made those items so strong." Rorshk about tripped and looked back at him warily. "Not to learn any of your secrets, I would be just as happy watching them making plow blades and horseshoes as anything else."

  "The fact you speak of those things as simple shows that you have no idea what you're talking about lad. That is the only reason I'm not going to take offense at that request." The pace picked back up again. "We don't share our secrets, even the simple ones if any of them could be referred to as such."

  "I didn't mean any offense," Xander kicked himself mentally. "I will not make any requests like that in the future."

  "See that you don't, some of my kin aren't half as calm as me, and you’re likely to find a pickaxe in between your shoulders if they think you are stealing anything from us. That means anything! Secrets, gold, even our good faith could be something a dwarf might find worth killing for." Rorshk suddenly halted and stopped at a doorway. "Here is where you can stay. I will be back shortly but mark me, do not leave without me or one of my men to escort you here. We don't want strangers just wandering around our city.

  "Of course," Xander bowed politely to the dwarf. "I will get everyone settled and I will see you soon."

  He carefully entered the room and looked around. The building itself was two stories and the center of the top story was open, and balconied so you could see what was going on below you. Unsurprisingly there were two dwarves sitting at a table up there. They made a point of not looking down or acknowledging them, but he was sure they would be down with weapons drawn if they suspected anything funny was going on. He took note of two or three of the dwarves out in the street before he closed the door who were simply sitting there. They were not watching the building but placed where they could be past the doorway at a moment’s notice.

  The room they would be staying in at was large and square. Instead of beds, there were twelve pallets made out of a dark spongy material with blankets and pillows piled on them around the edges. A table in the middle had a meal laid out of different looking mushrooms and a dark grainy bread that Xander suspected was also a sort of mushroom dried and ground into flour. A pile of carved meat lay in the center as well, but what the meat had come from could only be guessed at. It seemed to smell like pork but seemed much too dark.

  It took a moment for the apprentices to all exit the marble. Ember was given a pallet on the side of the room and everyone else picked different spots to rest in. Xander himself was happy they had not put them in a building with bars and a locked door. Despite the laws of hospitality, if Rorshk thought that was the safest situation he would have been in his rights to take such measures, if he walked them out of town when the group was ready to leave.

  They were almost settled in when a group of four dwarves entered. They were all dressed in white and
had elaborate staffs ending in a symbol that would make the world's largest Celtic knot seem simple. Two immediately walked to Ember. Michael stood by Ember's pallet keeping a careful watch on what the dwarves were doing but did not interfere. Sierra was stationed by the doorway and Brianne was already asleep on one of the pallets, being at the end of one of her healing sprints she was exhausted.

  The two working on Ember were quickly checking the wound and spreading a past on it. They did some quick probing and were soon bandaging Ember and sealing everything up. They worked with an efficiency that Xander admired. There was no wasted motion or stopping to question. Just two dwarves focused on the problem at hand.

  It seemed almost no time had passed when the two finished working on Ember. Without saying anything they nodded to the apprentices and walked out the door.

  It did not take two seconds before Rorshk was back through the door. He looked around and took note of everyone, having only met Sierra and Xander so far. His eyes lingered just quickly enough to size them up. He then cleared his throat and addressed them.

  "The king has decided to extend the hospitality to your group as long as you need to heal, as he wants to make sure we keep a good relationship with the dragons." His head then tilted down. "That being said we will not get involved in another chaos war, so if you enemies show up you will not bring the fight to our city. Furthermore, you will not interfere with us if we approach Nightfire, and the other dragons to make sure they are aware of our neutrality as well. This is non-negotiable," He said as Xander opened his mouth to protest. "I will wait until you all are healed and out of our city so that Nightfire can't use our reaching out as a sign that you are staying here."

  "What Chaos war?" Michael was the one who spoke up.

  "The Chaos War. The fight between all you wizards and dragons that caused those big lizards to put us all to sleep." Rorshk looked over at Ember's still form. "Don't tell me they aren't teaching you younglings your own history?"

  "Not so much, but I'm sure they have their reasons," Sierra was watching Ember.

  "Well, then ask your master about it when she wakes. Our healers feel that she will be on the mend quickly enough." The dwarf nodded to himself. “Now, if you’re ready lad I have an offer for you if you're up for making a deal." Rorshk folded his hands in front of him and grinned.

  "What deal would you like to make?"

  "Oh, I think I'd be better off just showing you."

  "Alright, Michael, you’re with me. Sierra, you and Brianne stay back here." Xander turned to follow Rorshk when a rough cough from Sierra made him turn back.

  "You seriously going to leave the women folk behind?" Sierra put a slight southern accent into her voice making it apparent that she was mocking him and questioning him at the same time.

  "No, I am leaving my best fighter and the only one of us who has a healing bone in their body behind so if there is some sort of trouble, I don't have to worry." He was going to have to settle this with Sierra soon. He was only the head apprentice if he held that spot, but he could not have her questioning him out in front of others when they had to appear to be working together.

  "When we are back home safely learning and not running for our lives you question me all you want. I need you to keep your head on straight, so we can get out of this, but if you make me choose to lock you in your closet until we are done, I will do it."

  Not bothering to give Sierra a chance to retort he marched back out the front door. He felt Michael and Rorshk hurry to keep up and fell back a step as soon as he was outside so the dwarf could show them what he wanted.

  ✽ ✽ ✽

  A large section of the cave at the edge of the city lay empty. There were a couple of large stone scarecrows sitting in the middle of what could have been a field had it not been underground. The ground was black tilled dirt, and the smell of broken earth and fertilizer was heavy in the air. Xander and Michael both exchanged questioning looks as they waited to hear what the old dwarf wanted of them.

  "I will provide you with a path to the surface if you take care of this little problem for me." He waved his hands at the two stone forms in the middle of the field. "Before the sleep, we were gifted with these two golems. They keep the field plowed, and the soil fertile, however, while we slept they developed an issue." The dwarf picked up a rock and threw it into the field. As soon as the stone landed both stone figures charged and smacked the stone. Rather than pick it up and remove it from the field, they continued to pound it until the dust was mixed in with the surrounding dirt. As soon as the dust settled they ambled back to their positions and stood still looking as if they hadn't moved in the first place.

  "No, that would be great entertainment for us normally, except every time the gnomes try to farm this field the golems attack them with the same prejudice." He shook his head. "You handle these golems so we can use this field again, and I will make sure you have a map that will get you to the surface."

  "Would this be the exit you mentioned earlier that was problematic?"

  "It would be."

  Xander pondered it for a moment and then looked at Michael, "What do you think?"

  "I think if he agrees to give us more information on the problematic part we should take the deal." Michael was examining the Golems carefully.

  "Rorshk, a quick question about that problem at the exit." Xander turned to address the Dwarf who was watching them with a blank expression on his face. "I've seen your weapons and I assume you know how to wield them. Why haven't the dwarves destroyed the golems? It seems to me that while it might be a little trouble, it's something that could be managed."

  "Well," Rorshk coughed and looked embarrassed. "You see the golems were gifts from the elf lords. I'm not sure how they would feel about us just destroying their gifts." Looking out at the golems in the field he continued, "So instead we thought it would be a good idea to get you to take care of them."

  "And if we break them, the elf-lords blame us and not you. Meaning we have to stop them without breaking them if we can." Xander sighed. "Seems you are more than willing to get us in trouble with others on your behalf."

  "Well, that is true. At the same time, you could refuse and then when everybody is healed you can just find your way to the surface on your own." The old dwarf gave them a lopsided grin. "Really, it is your choice to risk gaining the ire of the elf lords if you think you can't handle a couple of golems without breaking them."

  "We should be able to do something," Michael answered. "I say we still take the deal as long as he gives us all the information they have on that other exit. If Ember is up and healthy there isn't much that we shouldn't be able to handle when we leave."

  "If we can wait for her Michael, but I agree. We have to take the deal."

  "What do you mean "If we can wait for her?"

  "Think about it. Rorshk here mentioned the dragons and the chaos dragons had been at war which is what caused the sleep to happen. What do you think Nightfire and the rest of the chaos dragons are doing right now? While all the other dragons are going about their days unaware of the fact their old enemies are preparing a strike?"

  "Careful, you are starting to openly back the dragons."

  "I would happily back the peaceful dictator over the wartime dictator if you give me the choice between the two." Xander huffed. "We need to stop this now, my feelings aside what do you think happens if we have two races of dragons engaging in open war? Do you think we will be standing to help clean up the mess? Or what happens if another sleep is suggested so they can put this off again? No, I'll take my chances with Ember and the order dragons. At least with them, I know they don't want to wipe us off the face of the world."

  "We take the deal then?" Michael started gathering energy.

  "If you're up for this."

  "It's a deal then,” Rorshk gave a bow. “You two take care of the golems. I will get you the information on the path out including why it's so problematic. Good luck, your escort here will take you back when you're don
e." Four other dwarfs appeared from the rocks around him and sat down regarding the two apprentices evenly. Xander suddenly felt irritated that he had missed the hiding dwarves twice now. Without another word, the old dwarf headed away and left them to do their job.

  "I don't suppose you all are going to do more than watch? I mean you can at least cheer if we are winning right?" Michael waited for a response while Xander shook his head. The dwarves just sat watching them. "Ok, then." Michael turned to Xander. "They are too far away for us to examine; do you think they will let us close enough to see what makes them tick?"

  "Rorshk said that they attacked anyone who set foot on the field so let's find out if we can get past that." The both turned and walked to the very edge of the tilled soil. "I wonder why they haven't asked the elves to fix the golem."

  "Oh, that is obvious. I think the golems are functioning as intended. I bet if we could jump back in time that we would find this is what they did from day one." Michael tilted his head, and a strange tone of respect colored his voice.

  "Why do you think that?"

  "Think about it, how has the relationship between the elves and dwarves always been?"

  "Rocky, when they weren't trying to kill each other."

  "So, you Xander are an elf lord and you want to play a massive prank on your enemy. So, in a moment of relative peace, you tell them you have a gift to celebrate the growing relationship between your peoples. You tell them these golems will keep a field maintained underground for growing food, which is something that must be particularly difficult down here. Sure, the dwarves are skeptical, but can you pass on such a gift without giving insult?" Michael laughed softly. "So, the dwarves take your gift and get everything they were promised, a large fertile field for growing different crops. Too bad they can't use it without getting squished. It's the perfect backhanded gift, and the dwarves can't even retaliate because the gift is doing exactly what you promised it would."