Chapter 48: A Man Among Dwarves
Nathaniel Howe
I am sure there was an old story that Adria told Delilah that involved a princess and a group of dwarves. It was a peculiar story where the dwarves helped the princess to overthrow the wicked king and retrieve the kingdom that was rightly hers. The dwarves were fierce warriors, all of them wielding jeweled mauls that were specifically crafted by their ancestors for them. Each of them were noble and wise, they each solved a great puzzle that held the great treasure in a vault deep in the earth. The treasure, a relic of immense power, enabled the princess to defeat the forces of the wicked king with minimal bloodshed. The princess became a wise ruler, but the dwarves returned to the deep stone from whence they came, never to be seen again.
As I walked through the damp tunnels, flanked on all sides by dwarven companions, I recalled the story from my childhood. Other than the dwarven presence, my situation had serious deviations from the story. Instead of eight dwarven warriors with mauls, my companions were far more diverse representatives of dwarven life. The only one that came comparatively close to the stereotype created within the story's mythos was Oghren: a warrior true, but he was also a drunken, axe wielding sot whose bodily functions amused him far more than the rest of us. We also had a mad dwarven explosives expert, Dworkin, who would occasionally giggle to himself if he came across rare lyrium sand samples that he gathered for his experiments. Voldrik was a surly, exacting, dwarven stonemason and architect who was accompanying us to examine some of the ruins in Heidrun Thaig to gain greater insight into his craft and how it could be applied to the tunnels beneath Vigil's Keep. Those two had brought their cousin, Temmerin, whose purpose seemed to be commiseration for the architect and a second set of hands to prevent the explosives expert from blowing us up while working as an apprentice.
We had one senior warden, Seok, who had been assigned to us from the Anderfels, serving as a cartographer, sent by the Warden Counsel to create more recent maps of the Ferelden area Deep Roads. The most recent maps dated back to the Storm Age, during Sophia Dryden's tenure as Warden Commander of Ferelden and the rebellion that resulted in the Wardens being banished from Ferelden until King Maric's reign. Having someone chart the current layout of the Deep Roads (taking into consideration recent collapses, flooding and erosion) was very necessary for any planning to navigate the paths in the dark.
At the last moment, a dwarven deshyr from Orzammar requested to accompany us. The Warden Commander allowed it as a favor to the Assembly and to encourage recruitment among the dwarven community. Lord Enion Lemmink, whose weapons seemed to be purely for decoration and prestige, was the one slowing us down and offered no helpful skills (other than his pomposity) to make up for the delays. During various points I had to convince the others to not drop him down some conveniently abandoned shaft.
Out of them all, the most useful was the perky, "dead" rogue who was my main source of support on this expedition. Sigrun had previously been a member of the dwarven Legion of the Dead before she had been recruited by Lucasta. (I suppose once one has been established as being dead, there is no point to being morbid.) At least the Legion had taught her how to fight and I did not have to worry about her accidently disemboweling me with a drunken swing. I had been relieved when she had been assigned to this expedition, for I considered her as an equal in both skill and common sense. She could handle Oghren's crude jokes, appease Voldrik and take point to scout in the dark.
Another thing that made this journey quite different from the fairytale was the various struggles with darkspawn. There are no darkspawn in fairy tales. Darkspawn lend themselves to nightmares or Chantry allegories more than to fairytales.
It also occurs to me, the fairytales never describe the Deep Roads realistically. In stories the walls of the caves are encrusted with glittering gems. There is no need for torches in fairytales because the tunnels are filled with ethereal light from rare lichen glowing in crevices at regular intervals. In reality, it is dark and dank. The only things encrusted on the walls are the occasional darkspawn spew or excrement. It is never pretty or romantic.
We had been sent to explore a section of the Deep Roads near to the abandoned Heidrun Thaig. Since the fall of Amaranthine and the defeat of the Mother, Warden Commander Lucasta had gravely regretted letting the Architect leave alive. We had limited intelligence on the being at the time and were reluctant to destroy a darkspawn that exhibited the ability to reason. On receiving further information from Weisshaupt, our mistake became clear. There existed records transcribed by an elven mage named Fiona outlining a previous encounter with the Architect, revealing that he had previously tried to unleash the darkspawn taint upon all of Thedas en mas. If this was any indicator, he was capable of further causing unfathomable damage if allowed to remain at liberty.
When Lucasta had informed me that she had selected me to lead this group into the Deep Roads in hope of locating the Architect and gaging the threat his current activities could pose, I was inwardly tempted to ask what I had done to offend her. The prospect of shepherding a herd of dwarves through the Deep Roads was not daunting as much as maddening.
"Who else would you recommend I send?" Warden Commander Lucasta inquired, seeming to read my concern, "I cannot rely on Oghren to take the lead. Sigrun is capable but lacks experience in a leadership position. The cartographer is a long standing Grey Warden, but should have someone to focus on providing protection."
"You are not sending a mage?" I prompted.
She shook her head, "Velanna is currently visiting some of the Dalish clans camping near Ostagar. Anders…" She looked troubled. He had disappeared and had not been seen for more than a fortnight, as I well knew. There were few Grey Warden mages stationed at the Vigil during that time. The only other notable Grey Warden mage in the region was Avernus stationed at Soldier's Peak, and his specialization was research.
"Never mind," I withdrew my concern, "I will lead the expedition."
"The purpose is to gather reconnaissance, allow for Seok to complete his maps and Voldrik will need to get rock samples to study. Make sure that neither Oghren nor Sigrun execute Lord Lemmink in a spell of pique, regardless of whether he deserves it or not. If you should find signs of the Architect, do not engage him, rather strive to discern his intentions and take note of his resources. It has become too quiet, too soon since the siege on Vigil's Keep. We might have wiped out the Mother, but the Architect could have hatched an alternate plan in the interim." She was meticulous in her instructions and I nodded as each point was laid before me.
Noticing a glaring oversight, I questioned, "What about Dworkin? You said that he was to come."
"Yes, Dworkin," her mouth crooked to one side, as if confronted with a challenging puzzle, "the official story is that he is going to research explosive components."
"Is there an unofficial story?" I prodded politely, prepared for her to dismiss me without explanation.
Surprisingly, instead of commanding me to depart and make preparations, she sighed, "News has come to us that his studies have begun to draw attention from a particular quarter…a foreign quarter. They are disturbed by his advances. They find it threatening."
"You mean the Qunari," I stated.
She nodded, "There is concern that they may strike against him, whether secretly or openly we are not sure. After all that has occurred in the last six months, I owe the man. Aside from that, his knowledge is too great an asset to lose. Even without the Qunari, others have raised an interest in his current studies and the danger is that his research could be used for political purposes. It could give an unfair advantage to many that would utilize it for unethical ends. He needs to disappear for a time until we can discover a better solution to this dilemma, find a place where he will be able to pursue his passions without fear of reprisal. I hate to lose him, but something has to be done."
"Understood," I reassured her, "thank you for trusting me with this, Commander."
"You are the only one I can trust with this, Nathaniel." She admitted, before standing and turning her back to me so that she could look out the window.
The action she had taken would have been construed as dismissive or disrespectful by some, but it meant something different to me.
After returning from the Free Marches in the wake of my father's betrayal, few trusted me. My last name meant that I was related to one of the greatest traitors of my country's history. I had no way to appeal to the court to prove myself. I had to sneak into my old home in the hopes of retrieving some of my family's effects and I had been caught by the Wardens. They would have been within their rights to execute me, but the Warden Commander saw something in me. She recruited me, though I was insolent and rude to her. She took me with her, gave me the opportunity to defend her back, she offered trust where no one else would; she listened to my counsel and exhibited respect. She could turn her back to me because she trusted me that much. She could make herself vulnerable to me knowing I would not take advantage. Her back to me was the greatest compliment any could pay.
"I will take my leave of you, Commander and inform Sigrun and Oghren of the orders." I bowed slightly out of my habitual respect for her, though she would not be able to see it. I left and closed the door quietly behind me.
"We are babysitting a dwarven noble?" Sigrun near groaned in disbelief.
"It is necessary," I stated, hoping that would end any further resistance, only to be sorely tested.
Oghren prefaced his statements with a loud belch, "I remember Lord Lemmink…he had a reputation for carrying a big sword in hopes it would make up for…"
"Don't!" I cut him off, "We must treat him with respect…"
"…whether he deserves it or not." Sigrun finished with a growl.
I sighed, "I know how you feel. I have been embroiled in politics since I was a young child. This is necessary; this is what the Commander has asked of us. I need you at my back, Sigrun. We need to perform the reconnaissance and protect those under our charge."
"Alright, Nate," Sigrun allowed, "I will follow you and I will respect the Commander's wishes, but I swear, if he so much as…" she did not finish for she did not need to. There was a distinct understanding between us that often went beyond words.
"Eh," Oghren clapped me on the shoulder since I sat next to him, "you are one of the few humans I can stomach. I respect you. You know I have your back. Now…are you going to get me another pint or what?"
So, in this story I would have played the exiled prince among dwarves and I have discovered a significant advantage to being a dwarf in the Deep Roads. Some of the passages are quite narrow and small. Many times I had to crawl, while Sigrun and the others remained upright. Compared to them I felt unwieldy and awkward. Standing over a head taller than them dis not instill a sense of superiority in me, I felt like a fool.
"Funny," observed Sigrun when we camped at one point, unsure if it was night or day because of the lack of a sun to signal such delineations, "I am often surrounded by humans now that I live on the surface. Much of the time I am the only dwarf in the room. It always makes me feel so small, near invisible, almost insignificant. What is it like for you to travel with a troop of dwarves and be the only human, Nate?"
I smiled ruefully, "I feel unnecessary, to be honest. You and Oghren are well adapted to these tunnels. Dworkin and Voldrik are surface dwarves, I realize, but even they have an innate sense of movement here. They know the stone. It is in your blood. Seok does not even need light to complete his sketches, he does it by feel. I am in awe of all of you. You do not need me and it baffles me as to why the Commander would bother to send me."
"That is where you are wrong, Nate," Sigrun sat down next to me, leaning forward with her elbows on her knees so that the firelight highlighted her facial tattoos. "As you say, the stone is in our blood, but that is not always good. The stone is a record, it has memory, and we share in it. Stone is a heavy thing to carry, Nate. A thousand thoughts crowd around us: traditions, obligations, passions, failures, and it insulates us on a certain level, but it also makes it hard to see beyond it. You do not carry the stone, as we do. Because you are free of the stone, it enables you to carry us when it is necessary. No pressure or anything!" She smirked slightly, elbowing me in the side, trying to coax a smile to my lips.
"You think I am up for this, then?" I asked.
She smiled widely, "Would I have agreed to baby-sit that pompous windbag if I didn't? How many times do you think I have refrained from giving him a swift kick in the stones because it would distress you? If not for your presence, Nate, that blowhard would have barely made it into the tunnels."
I could barely argue with Sigrun, Lord Lemmink's thinly veiled disdain for us all had succeeded in alienating him from the entire party. He had tried to give orders to Sigrun and Oghren as if they were servants. He pointedly ignored the Glavonak brothers, seeming to feel they were beneath his notice because they were surface dwarves. It is probably a good thing he did not insult them, or he might have been left an explosive surprise by Dworkin, regardless of Temmerin's attempts to keep him from "wasting supplies."
His behavior was not shocking to me, he behaved exactly the same as many human nobles I had observed, my father included. Rather than argue or berate him, the rest of us seemed to come to a silent agreement to ignore the man, though I think Oghren struggled with it more than the rest of us.
Occasionally Oghren would make it a point to put Lemmink at the end of the line and stand just ahead of him so he could cast his "bodily odor" in the proper direction. The man would sputter for hours and Oghren would claim we had come across a patch of fowl air given off by naturally occurring vents in the stone. I'm not sure if the man believed Oghren, but he never argued with the explanation, preferring to sullenly glare in his direction.
After a week we came to the outer borders of what the maps referred to as Heidrun Thaig. The strange part about it, we had only come across a handful of darkspawn the entire time. The quiet in the Deep Roads was eerie and made no sense. The darkspawn attacks in Amaranthine had all but dispersed. For months there had been nothing reported, allowing Vigil's Keep to focus on recovery. However, the lack of darkspawn on the surface meant there should be more amassing in the Deep Roads. We had come across too few for it to be possible. If they were not in the Deep Roads, where were they?
"This is…odd," observed Seok, "I sense no darkspawn close by. We have come across so few."
"Perhaps the humans had killed off more during the Blight than we initially thought," offered Lord Lemmink. "The dwarven warriors that assisted reported that large numbers were dispatched. This is good news for Orzammar if the darkspawn numbers stay this low."
Sigrun shook her head and cast me a glance out of the corner of her eye, "I do not like it, Nate!"
"Nor I," I concurred. "Something is terribly wrong, here."
"We are not going to make sense of this standing around and jawing, ladies," spat Oghren, "If they are hiding, we'll find them."
Voldrik glanced at the map over Seok's shoulder, "There is a narrow tunnel further down this way," he gestured with a finger towards our right, "I would like to examine the rock there rather than take the wider route. If there are darkspawn hiding in wait, they are likely to congregate in a larger entrance."
"Fool, going down a narrower tunnel could put us at a disadvantage if we become boxed in," spat Lord Lemmink.
Dworkin sidled up to the Lord and grinned, "If it gets too narrow, I can always widen it." He lifted his satchel suggestively with a gleam in his eye that made Lord Lemmink swallow hard and raise his eyebrows worriedly.
I glanced at Temmerin to get an idea of how serious Dworkin was being and was only met with a shrug. Dworkin had his moments where he would explode something first and ask questions later. He was very meticulous and his aim was usually accurate, but I suspected he enjoyed the corresponding explosion a little too much when his handy work went off. It was odd how such a small man could make an entire party shudder.
Stepping forward, I concurred with Voldrik's observation, "I think we should go with the narrow route. In the event we meet with resistance we can cross back and have Dworkin cover our escape with some well-placed explosions. However, if we can, I want us to draw as little attention to ourselves as possible. We are here for study and reconnaissance, not to engage the enemy needlessly."
Most of the others seemed satisfied with this, though both Dworkin and Lord Lemmick exuded an air of disappointment: Dworkin thinking that he might not get the opportunity to blow up darkspawn and Lemmick worrying that he might not gain the prestige of cutting down darkspawn with his ancestral blade. For both it was a matter of pride.
As we wandered the tunnels surrounding Heidrun Thaig, I felt the emptiness. There seemed to be a pale echo of the taint, implying that the darkspawn had been here at one point, but that was all. For some reason the darkspawn had abandoned the thaig. It seemed strange, unfathomable, what would cause the darkspawn to flee?
There was a tunnel sloping down and we took it, thinking that perhaps a deeper vantage might reveal hiding darkspawn or some kind of reasons for their disappearance. It was at this point that we saw a frightening sight that turned our blood cold. We did not find darkspawn, we found something infinitely worse.
There was a being (I am not sure what else it could be called) made up of a glowing blue core surrounded by free floating rock. The rock made the outline of loose limbs, arms and legs, on which it ambled about. It wandered, seeming unaware of us, allowing us to examine it from a distance. All with me were initially struck dumb by the sight of it and I signaled for them to remain hidden behind the outcroppings of the tunnel until we could discern clearly what it was.
"What is that thing?" I hissed at Seok, since he was the most experienced with Deep Road exploration.
"I never thought to see one as long as I lived," he breathed, near transfixed watching the creature, "there are records in the libraries of Weisshaupt, accounts of some scattered Grey Wardens that have come across them. Few actually took them seriously, thinking it was some kind of madness borne from being in the old caverns more saturated in lyrium. Seeing one, witnessing it first hand, it is an exquisite horror."
Sigrun's brow furrowed, "So they are not some kind of golem?"
"No, they are something else, something more primitive." Seok replied, unable to take his eyes off the being as it walked to and fro, as if passing interminable time and unable to stand still.
At that point, of all of us, Lord Lemmink found his voice and used it to shriek in panic. He was overwhelmed at the sight of the creature and could no longer contain himself, "It is the spirit of the stone, the wrath of the Ancestors given form! It will destroy us!"
The being, having previously taken no notice of us before, suddenly turned on hearing the terrified screams of the man as he ran back from whence he came, nosily scrabbling and tripping on loose schist as he went. The rock spirit turned toward us at that moment, revealing a pair of burning eyes, slowly building intensity on witnessing us cowering behind the rocks.
It thundered forward, swinging impossible limbs that should have flown apart with the force of the swing and yet remained intact. It slammed a roughly hewn fist upon the ground, causing the cave to shudder and me to lose my footing. I shouted at the others, "Voldrik, Temmerin, Dworkin, Seok, fall back. Try to catch that fool before he brings a horde down on us as well. Sigrun, Oghren, to me!"
Voldrik, Seok and Temmerin followed my instructions readily, but Dworkin merely laughed to himself, perching on a higher outcropping, riffling through his satchel for something, muttering, "I had thought darkspawn would be the peak of my excitement. This is marvelous!"
"Who wants to live forever, eh?" Oghren shouted, throwing himself head first into the creature, swinging wildly, distracting it from the rest of the retreating party. "Prepare to be ground into rubble!"
"Nate?" Sigrun turned my name into a question, helping me to my feet, hastily trying to determine if I was injured.
"Don't worry about me," I growled, finding my feet again, hastily drawing my daggers, "try to move around the perimeter, get a blow in from behind."
"It's rock, Nate! This is not something that will easily succumb to a back stab!" Sigrun argued, barely managing to keep her own fear in check, morphing it into a type of annoyance that she could far more easily process.
"Not so," I argued, pointing, "its core is more exposed towards the back of it. If I am correct, whatever that core is, it is probably akin to a heart. It may be the only thing holding it together. I cannot but sure, but it is the only option afforded us at present."
"On it!" Sigrun nodded, accepting my quick reasoning. She left me then, trying to blend with the cavern shadows cast by the queer glow emanating from the monster, moving beyond the creature's notice so she could come in behind it without drawing attention to herself.
I took point with Oghren, darting in occasionally for a blow, only to be repelled by erratic swings and hearing my blades clink uselessly against its surface. Oghren bellowed and swore, swinging, literally chipping away at our assailant, preventing it from getting around him to follow the others down the tunnel. However, one enraged swing and the red bearded dwarf was sent flying into a nearby wall with a clang from the impact. His axe clattered to the ground and Oghren made not a move.
The beast took one rocky step in his direction and I screamed at it, hoping to draw its attention, "Come on! I'm over here!"
There was the scraping sound of rock against rock as it slowly turned its head in my direction, its arm drawing back to swing. It was at that moment before the swing that it occurred to me that Oghren had strong enough armor and a helmet that would have enabled him to survive the impact of the creature's fist. My dragon-skin armor, however, would never protect me from such a forceful blow. I dove out of the way just in time and the rocky fist made contact with the tunnel wall just behind me, causing debris to rain down from the ceiling, a piece of it striking me hard near the ear, dazing me.
"Pick on me, you nug-snuggling bastard!" I just managed to discern Sigrun's voice shouting, the sounds of rocks making impact with the back of the monster's head with sickening accuracy. The thing turned from me and focused its attention on my companion, exposing its back with easy access to its glowing core. I staggered to my feet, trying to focus my wavering eyesight to make a blow at that bright target, but I paused when I heard a near hysterical laugh.
"Better get clear, lad! That beasty is going to experience something explosive!" Dworkin's voice warned as he smirked at me from his rocky perch above, raising high a spherical device in his hand, beginning the action of throwing it.
I quickly staggered to Oghren and managed to drag him behind some nearby boulders, hoping it would shield us from the blast. All the while I was screaming over the scraping of Oghren's armor against the floor, "Sigrun, take cover! Dworkin is using a…"
My warnings were cut off by the explosion and the subsequent rocking of the stone floor beneath my feet, resembling that of a boat on a stormy sea. The entire tunnel shuddered and I held tight to both Oghren and the boulders we were using as shelter. Amid it all, I could hear the mad dwarf's celebratory laughter, shrieking like the Fade damned.
When the tremors caused by the detonation subsided, I quickly scrambled to my knees so that I could examine Oghren, taking some relief in the fact that I registered some shaky coughs emanating from under his helmet visor.
"I'm alright! I'm alright! Just a tad winded is all! Takes more than that to fell ol' Oghren," he assured me through wheezing laughter as I lifted his helmet off him, revealing a superficial cut on his head that bled heavily but was not serious.
Satisfied that Oghren was stable, I scrabbled around the rubble of what was once the creature, calling, "Sigrun! Sigrun!"
"Answer, damn it all, woman!" Oghren piped up from whence he reclined, though weakly.
There was some coughing, and a pile of rubble shifted, revealing a hand groping out from beneath. I ran toward it, pulling some of the larger stones free. Sigrun had managed to dive under a small overhang of rock near the floor, shielding her from some of the collapsing stone. Her eyes fluttered open as I dragged her out and she smirked, "Don't worry about me, Nate. I guess I'm still alive. Funny how that keeps happening!"
"You are the longest lived, dead woman I know," I chuckled with relief.
"I'm the only dead woman you know, unless there is something you are not telling me." She quipped, groaning slightly as she tried to sit up.
I helped her hobble to Oghren just as Dworkin stated, "I'll go and see if I can get the others to come back here. Wait until Temmerin hears this: field test two-forty five was a success. This is a triumph!"
"Ugh!" I groaned in reply, questing with my fingers to discern if the lump on my skull was serious and satisfied myself that it was, in fact, a minor blow.
When the others returned to us, Seok had an unconscious Lord Lemmink slung over his shoulder. To my questioning look he explained, "I had to do it for the lout's own safety. He near cast himself over the edge of a shaft in his panic. Damn nobles, blood thinner than water, has no spine…" he continued to mumble, disparaging all the noble ancestors and complaining that this was what was carrying forward the lines of his fast disappearing people as he abandoned the Lord's still form on the floor and began to sketch a rough outline of the chambers we were currently travelling.
Voldrik and Dworkin began to examine the remains of the creature, sifting through the wreckage. Voldrik placed a pebble between his teeth, trying to discern its constitution while Dworkin squealed with delight, like at child at Satinalia, handing samples to Temmerin to catalogue and stow in a pack. It continued like this for a while until Dworkin suddenly became serious, near grim, grabbing his brother by the wrist and pulling him away from the pile, warning, "Do not put any more samples past your lips."
I approached the pair as they began to speak animatedly over the rock, asking, "What is it? Is something wrong?"
Dworkin conspicuously put on a heavy leather glove from his pocket and picked up an orb of gray stone, with thin, palely glowing veins from near the center of the pile. He turned it around, looking at it very closely. The rock reminded me vaguely of the creature's glowing core.
"It is lyrium!" Dworkin finally explained, glancing up at me, "A very high concentration of it. I have never come across samples like this. It is near throbbing."
"Why are you so worried, then?" I countered, concerned by the seriousness that seemed so out of place in his usually excited mien, "Dwarves are immune to lyrium, aren't they?"
He shook his head, "Dwarves that live underground are immune for the most part. They are so surrounded by the stuff that they have developed a type of immunity. For surface dwarves, that tolerance begins to abate over time. Dwarves can be affected by lyrium regardless, if exposed to an unusually large amount or if it gets into the blood stream. There is one merchant, Garin from the Commons, whom I have had contact with in a trade capacity: he is lyrium touched because of an accident he had while crafting. It isn't enough to incapacitate him, but he will never be the same. If I were to have such an accident, it could potentially kill me or drive me mad."
"If it hasn't already," Voldrik snorted, though he looked disturbed.
"If this is a highly concentrated ore, could you not use this, Dworkin, to make a more powerful explosive," Temmerin cut in, eyeing the orb in the explosive expert's hand.
"Sure," Dworkin shrugged, though he still held the orb carefully, "but it would be suicide unless you had a long enough fuse to ignite it, and I'm not sure if there is a fuse long enough that would provide safety of that nature. I would be the first to admit that safety is overrated in the pursuit of knowledge, but this…."
"Then leave it here, brother!" Voldrik stated simply.
"But it is the potential," Dworkin wheedled, seemingly at war with himself over the sample he held in his hand, "how many of our kind have found such a vein? It is amazing."
"It is dangerous!" Voldrik spat impatiently.
Dworkin looked longingly at the orb before carefully laying it once again amid the pile and reluctantly backing away, "You are probably right, brother, but it seems wrong to abandon such a find. Think of what Orzammar would say of it. Think of what could be crafted with it. Think of the memories. Think of the history. Think of…"
"Think of the apprentices that you have blown to bits in your foolish fascination with the stuff. Think of the danger it poses, even if it were not used in one of your explosive mechanisms." Voldrik finished, crossing his arms.
"Bah!" Dworkin huffed, turning away from the pile and walking resolutely, though sullenly, toward the rest of the group, his brother and Temmerin trailing behind. The blond dwarf then shouted at Seok, "Make sure you take note of this place on your maps. I might change my mind and decide to return at a later time if the need arises."
Voldrik shook his head, "Hopefully there will never be a need so great, brother!"
"We'll see," Dworkin cast over his shoulder.
To see the trio so disturbed over the ore troubled me. I had always assumed that dwarves were completely impervious to lyrium poisoning. Mages used it in small amounts for casting, but did not consume it in mass quantities. Having the lyrium so close, its dust potentially filling the air with the sudden rock shifts, made the chamber seem more dangerous now than it had seemed before with the queer rock creature lurking within. I shook my head, trying to clear the muzziness that the injury had caused and commanded, "Let us leave this place and find somewhere stable to camp. If there are more of the creatures, I want to be far from here. We should take a tunnel cutting up. What say you, Seok?"
"If we retrace back, there is a likely shaft that should take us up a few fathoms, towards a more central spot of Heidrun." He offered, squinting at the maps briefly.
"Then that is where we will go," I nodded, my head aching, "after we have walked a few more hours we will camp. Sigrun, how are Oghren's wounds?"
"Bandaged! I only needed to use a small injury kit to stop the bleeding and help the flesh to knit." She replied.
Oghren chuckled, "You can play healer with me anytime you want, you saucy minx!"
"Yes, he is completely himself. He should live if I do not kill him first," Sigrun added flatly to me in response to Oghren's crude, though veiled comment.
Seok questioned, "Should we leave the dwarven lordling here?"
"No," I sighed, "I shall carry him in the meantime."
"Will you tell him about the lyrium?" Seok asked this off-handedly, as if it mattered not to him either way.
"No!" Voldrik answered in my stead, "None must know, particularly not those rock heads in the Assembly. I will allow the knowledge to be kept by the Grey Wardens, but those fools might be driven to try and recapture some lost dwarven glory by obtaining some of the stuff and bringing it back. I am not particularly happy about my brother knowing its whereabouts, but I trust them even less. No good can come of it."
Taking his statements under advisement, I said to Seok, "We cannot decide anything at this time. For now, assume that we will not speak of this to the Lord. By the time he comes to, I doubt he will remember any of what passed here, least of all his cowardice. It is best we do not disillusion him with details."
Sigrun ground her teeth, but I added for her ears alone, "If both Voldrik and Dworkin say the lyrium here is too dangerous, I am inclined to believe them. If keeping this secret keeps others safe from the blundering political machinations of the Assembly, then that is what is necessary. You remember the reports of what happened when they reopened Caradin's research and tried to make another golem. This will be exactly the same type of situation. The only way we can be assured that the Lord will not ask questions, is if we pretend that this whole incident never occurred. I need your trust on this, if nothing else."
"Yes, Nate," she agreed, "I just hate the thought of that lichen licker bragging about his prowess to his cronies when in actuality he ran like a spooked bronto."
I smiled conspiratorially to her, with a wink for good measure, "Do you think it will look any better if it gets around that he tripped and knocked himself unconscious on his own shield? That is what I intend to tell him and to send in writing in the report to the Assembly."
She smiled, comforted in my complicity, "Yes, I believe that will do. Thank you!"
"For a human, you certainly understand how us dwarves think," Oghren sniggered, assuring us of his agreement to my plan.
The others nodded solemnly when apprised of my plan, and, secure in the mutual agreement, we set out to find a safe place to camp amid the labyrinth of Heidrun Thaig.
If I had known what lay just beyond that chamber, if we had travelled mere yards further, I might not have been so eager to leave that place so soon. The maps themselves had a black smudge in that area that Seok had assumed was a result of a careless blot from the original cartographer. None of us had realized what the monster was guarding, and that knowledge could have changed the events of what was to come.
The following day, after we had rested peacefully and dealt with the irate Lord Lemmink, a lord who felt mildly insulted for having been carried by me like a sack of potatoes, we pressed forward into what looked to be an abandoned main commons for the thaig. Voldrik scanned the architecture and support systems, trying to make sense of the old fashioned beam work that his predecessors had utilized. There appeared to be strange pressure valves that he was completely baffled by; he had never seen their like before.
Dworkin had spent most of the travelling in discouraged silence. Temmerin tried to lighten his mood by asking questions and focusing on what the sad dwarf loved most: making explosives. Eventually the expert began to speak animatedly to his apprentice, outlining some simple mechanisms that could be rigged easily in the face of an emergency. The younger dwarf seemed satisfied that he had distracted his master from the brooding that had previously haunted him.
Seok would stop at regular intervals, sketching the trails and noting changes in the environment that the outdated maps had not taken into account. Peering over his shoulder, Sigrun brought our attention to a strange symbol: a large circle, resembling a bracketed wheel, lay in a particularly large chamber to the north.
"I am not entirely sure what it is," Seok admitted, "the few written keys for these maps have long since deteriorated until they are hardly readable. We will not know for sure until we reach that chamber."
It was at that point that we registered the sounds of rushing water. Leaving Sigrun behind in the ruins to watch over the others, I scouted ahead with Oghren, trying to discern the source of the sound. We crept carefully up into the large chamber delineated by the map and were able to tell instantly what the symbol had represented.
A huge water wheel was turning, groaning and grinding on its axis. It resembled the water wheels I had seen on mills on the surface that ground grain, except this wheel dwarfed those in its enormity. The sheer size of it stole my breath and unhinged my jaw. It was a marvel.
"Well, will ya' look at that?" whistled Oghren softly, craning his neck to take in the spectacle of the wheel as it turned.
At that point we heard the sounds of voices, harsh voices, shouting orders and rattling chains echoed up the chamber walls from somewhere below us. Peering over the edge of our ledge, we could discern far below figures kneeling next to the side of the river that was turning the monstrous wheel. The figures were intently working at something we could not interpret and behind them walked another figure; this one appeared hulking in comparison to the others, pacing like a wolf considering its prey. Torchlight glinted off of this figure, indicating that it wore armor, though I could not discern the make or design.
I should have been more careful. It should not have happened….
…but at that moment a hand suddenly clamped over my mouth, pulling me away from the ledge. I could just discern Oghren swearing threateningly at someone, struggling to unharness his axe from his back. Elbowing my assailant in the gut, I was greeted with the sudden groaning exhalation of air of a man without armor. He fell backwards to the ground as I spun to meet him, drawing my dagger in a fluid movement and holding it to his throat before I could get a good look at his face.
"Don't move!" I ordered in an angry rasp, trying to avoid alerting the people in the cavern below.
The man blinked up at me, still groaning, and his hands palms out, indicating that he was unarmed. His eyes stared back at me, not seeming the least bit afraid as he panted, trying to regain the air that had been forced from his lungs. He wore no shirt and his chest was branded with an angry red symbol resembling a sword of mercy.
It was at that moment I registered the sound of Oghren laughing, his words barely filtering through the pounding in my ears.
"Well, if it isn't the pike twirler!" the dwarf rasped, suddenly seeming unconcerned...amused even.
On hearing my companion, my would-be assailant turned his head slightly to cast startled eyes on the dwarf, croaking in disbelief, "Oghren?"
Startled myself, I leaned back turning my attention to my comrade in arms, confused by the man's recognition. When Oghren saw my own baffled expression, he could not help but burst in near humorous ecstasy, impossible to contain. At his elbow stood another man, seeming to reflect my own confusion, looking from the chortling dwarf to the stunned man I was straddling.
Finally, when Oghren regained enough composure to speak coherently, he advised me through a leering grin, "Nate, you had better get up and put that dagger away. You are squatting on the king of Ferelden."