Black Water, White Dragon (part 1)

The Water, chapter 1, part 5

Etin was about to grab the dwarf. She leaned on the remains of the cliff for a moment to find her footing.

There was a tiny shiver in the ground, then, like an afterthought to the catastrophy. It was just enough to topple the last rocks into the opening. Both she and the dwarf jumped - to one side each. Etin ended up sitting on the ground outside, the dwarf was caught behind the rockfall.

She tried pulling on a stone, but it was far too heavy. "Are you ok," she shouted in to him.

"Yes, yes! But the smoke will kill us. Help us, please, dearest, to dig away the fall!" The voice was weak and muffled through the holes in the scree. Small puffs of smoke escaped with the desperate, hoarse prayer.

"I'll get more help," said Etin. "Just stay there!" Oh, that was unnecessary. Where would they go? She felt tears coming - whether it was the smoke or the dwarves' fate, she didn't know. Both, perhaps.

She ran down to the house as fast as she could. Several of the roof slates had slid down. One of the stone pillars under the food loft had collapsed. The building still stood - there were many pillars under it - but it was leaning, and Etin didn't dare to think about what might happen to the food.

Mama had emerged in the yard, gripping Gran by the arm and with her two small brothers behind her. Gran breathed heavily and shook, and Mama was pale and scared. Ansil and Nerath grabbed her skirts tightly.

"Are you well, dearest," asked Mama.

Etin nodded, but gestured to the damage around them. The house was standing, the loft needed repairs, and the stream was gathering in the sheep stall turning the earthen floor into mud. The sheep were bleating pitifully but had nowhere to run.

Mama started towards the food loft, but Etin interrupted her. "Mum," she said, almost out of breath. "There are dwarves stuck behind a rockfall up at our cliff. We need to help remove rocks so they can get out. The smoke is poisoning them behind there."

Mama looked like she was about to collapse, only held up by her hair knot. She closed her eyes and drew a deep breath. Then she looked up at the remains of the cliff side and nodded. "Yes, life is the most important. Nerath, run down to the timber woods and get your dad and Anbar."

"What way did they go," asked Nerath. He was shaking, but biting his lip to avoid crying. He probably wanted to look brave. Ansil let the tears run freely.

Mama looked down towards the birch woods, where her husband and eldest child were to spend the day. The enormous rocks had torn and bent trees in the northern part of the woods, in a broad path down to Plainsvale.

"Southern I think, gods be praised. Ansil, try to calm the animals. Mother-in-law, the food. Etin, you and I see what we can do for the dwarves."

Gran grunted. "They are probably just cooking something strange in their smithies. We shouldn't meddle - put a bit of wood under the loft so it holds up instead. Mixing up in dwarf business will just get us in over our heads."

"In over our heads? The rock fall could have destroyed the whole farm! We almost lost both food loft and sheep stall," said Mama.

"But we didn't so now we should clean up our stuff."

"Mother... If the dwarves suffer, it is our duty as good neighbours to help."

"Good neighbours! Every village from the West Swamps to the Foggy Lake pay tolls to those greedy dwarves," hissed Gran.

"We do not pay toll!" Mama was fast turning from exasperated to angry. All the tiredness erupted into the argument. "They trade fairly with us, and we have all we need, because the dwarves pay us rightfully for our goods. Far more than the merchants of Krathno Town - or the taxmen from the king in Kent Lazpar. If the dwarves suffer, so do we."

Mama stopped to draw breath. "But it's not just about money. We learn from them too. Was it the dwarves who built the new temple-school? No, it was the manservant at Elderton who had apprenticed to them, and brought home tools and knowing."

Gran didn't reply, just grunted and stomped back in the house to restart the hearth and the pot.

Nerath ran down the hills, while Ansil dried his tears and started on the sheep stall. At ten years old there wasn't much he could do, but he grabbed a shovel and started to dig away mud and debris to lead the stream back outside. Mama picked up a crowbar and she and Etin climbed up to the cliff behind the house again. Black, acidic smoke still poured out of all the holes and hollows.

"Hello," cried Etin, and put her ear to one of the holes. She thought perhaps she heard a mumble, but it was terribly faint. "We're here now!" Still no clear reply. Maybe it was just her own echo through deep corridors below the ground.

She and Mama started pulling on the rocks. They pushed the crowbar in between two decent sized lumps, and put their full weight on it. The lump stirred a little. Some few smaller stones moved, but it was heavier than Etin was prepared for, and they both had to stop often, coughing from the smoke. Etin began to fear they would accomplish nothing at all when Pa and Anbar finally climbed the steep incline from the timber site. They too lived, praise the Gods.

"Was all well down there?" asked Mama.

Pa said, "we were on the south slopes. Had we been on the northern end of the woods, the rock fall would have taken us for sure. It was the sheer good will of the Gods that the fall spared our farm."

Etin said, "I saw fire and smoke from Plainsvale, right outside the Zanubegil main gate."

"Saw the smoke, too. And the ground shook like anything," said Anbar. "Toppled loads of the oldest trees - those the scree left standing. Dad almost got an oak on top of him."

"We had to run from our tools. We'll have to go down and gather them up, what we can, later. We have to tend to the wood piles, and the fences. Many good stone walls fell. There is plenty of work ahead of us," said Pa.

He looked just as exhausted as Mama, but he took the crowbar from Etin and started directing them all with new energy. First this rock, then that one. Shove the bar and the stakes in there, everyone press, NOW!

The work was still heavy, and they were only a little further by the time Nerath arrived with Mister Brookstone and his eldest son. Brookstone was a massive man, as wide across the shoulders as the Tsik wings mounted over his door - almost. He breathed heavily from the climb. "So, the boy of yours says there's dwarves behind here?"

Pa nodded curtly and said, "Etin, Emerie, go down and get food in you. This could get late."

"I'll keep food on the hearth for you," said Mama.

Down in the house, gran stood stirring the porridge pot. "Twice cooked, cold and burned food - but that's a farmer's lot in life," she said. She had just pushed the wet ashes and wood to one side and grabbed new. Etin expected the cleaning job to fall to her - wiping down, carefully putting back the useable logs so as not to quench the fire, and sweep up wet, dirty ashes - and she wasn't looking forward to it.

She let her gaze sweep the living room before sitting down. Below the kitchen window she saw the broom and a small pile of broken plates - once Mama's dowry. She met Mama's gaze, but although her mother's eyes were red and puffy, she shook her head and said quietly, "it's just things. We have our lives still."

After dinner, Mama said, "I and Etin see to the food loft." She pointed with her spoon, "Ansil, you are in charge of the dishes. Nerath, you help him. Mother in law, see what you can tidy up in here."

Etin breathed a secret sigh of relief - it looked like Gran was slated to clean up the mess in the hearth. Caring for the food was the job for the mistress of the house, and Etin felt a little bit more mature and responsible helping Mama look over their future.