C5 Chapter 5

Departure

They left the museum and climbed up the large staircase. Afterwards, they crossed the entrance hall where Dana once more enjoyed the beautiful paintings, and then stepped out onto the plaza.

“WOW.”

She stopped abruptly and watched the chaos that unfolded in front of her. Out on the plaza, at least twenty dwarfs stood talking loudly to each other.

“Are they all coming with us?” She looked at Toben.

“No, just some of them…”

“And what’s the deal with the military?”, Dana interrupted his explanation.

“It’s the law that an expedition that plans to leave the kingdom, must be accompanied by armed watchmen. After all, we’re not the only ones in these mountains.”

A little off to the side, she saw about ten soldiers and their officer. They stood there, dressed in their full suits of armor, in rank and file, listening to their boss’ commands. Dana curiously inspected their uniforms. Their harnesses and mail coats were made of Mithril, a material that only dwarfs could find and process. It’s harder than steal and lighter than wool, making it a perfect safety measure.

The soldiers in their suits of armor didn’t look quite as magnificent as the palace guards. Their safety clothing was, as ruled by the king, made of pure gold and silver. But, like it was mentioned before, dwarfs didn’t care much for splendor – except for the vain, loopy king. They preferred things to be handy and simple. Dana noticed that the warriors had various weapons. Two of them were carrying halberds, two had spears, two sported bows and arrows, and the rest carried shields. Additionally, all of them had axes. Behind the small group, she saw eleven anxious mounts. They were duckreps, like they were used to pull carts and carriages.

Dana was familiar with the strong duckreps. They were small, strong duckbill lizards. They walked with their backs straight on two short, muscular legs that ended in mighty claws; they were as tall as donkeys and had large heads with duckbills. The head sat on a short, stumpy neck, which ended in a duck like body. Two strong arms, short leathery wings on the back, and a short tail rounded out the strange picture. Their skin was dark and made of leathery scales.

Duckreps were friendly and undemanding creatures, and Dana liked them despite – or maybe because of – their strange appearance. A little way back from the soldiers, Dana saw her father in the mid of his colleagues. He was talking to a rather ancient dwarf who wore magnificent robes.

“Ah, there you are.”

Toben grabbed Dana’s arm and pulled her over to Tolo.

“The exploratory minister is here already to say goodbye.”

When they reached the small group, the minister addressed Dana. “Very well, very well. Here is our young birthday girl now.” While he was beaming at her, he looked for the pixie. “Where is the little fluttering thing? I would like to welcome her as well. After all, you two are something special all right.”

Dana looked around for Shari and saw her picking on the draft animals in front of the carriages. She called her over to meet the minister. After a short introduction by the minister, the little pixie flew away again to keep annoying the animals.

After the official part was taken care of, Dana took in her surroundings. Behind her father’s small group, there were eight other participants. She didn’t know all of them by name. All of them were elbow-deep in boxes, packages and scientific machines of some sort, all busy with loading them up onto the four carriages. Dana walked over to the draft animals and stroked them. At that moment, she heard a quiet voice.

“Hello, little lady, can you understand me?”

Dana looked around sheepishly to make sure that nobody was watching her. Only very few people knew that she could talk to animals. Then, when she was sure that everybody was sufficiently occupied with packing up the equipment, she quietly replied: “Sure, can I help you with something? My name is Dana, by the way.”

“Ok, Dana. Could you make sure that our snaffles and reins aren’t staying on as tight as they’re now? It hurts when we pull.”

She looked at the straps, walked from one animal to the next, and pretended to check them. She whispered: “I’ll see what I can do for you.”

After that she started looking for the charioteers and found them piling stuff onto the carts. After having talked to them, they corrected the fit of the straps and snaffles of their mounts. In the end, they liked Dana too much to brush off her request.

A short time later, Olo called them all together to explain the last instructions for the trip. After everybody had learned what they needed to know, the minister gave a speech, but nobody listened.

The expeditioners distributed themselves onto the carts. Dana was supposed to get up on Olo’s and Toben’s, but she didn’t.

“Hurry up, Dana! Hug your mom and then jump on board! We’ve got to get going!”

Olo got impatient. “What’s going on with you?”

“Where is Gomek?”, she asked Toben. “He wanted to come, didn’t he?”

“Gomek is waiting for us behind the city line. He’ll meet us there.”

After these calming words from Toben, she called Shari over, hugged Tala tightly, and then got up onto the carriage with the others. She was buzzing with excitement of what was to come. The minister, her mother, and the rest of the guests waved their goodbyes once more. Slowly, the procession started moving. At the front, there was the officer with six of his soldiers, then the four carts with the expeditioners, and then, behind that, the rest of the soldiers.

They crossed through the craftsmen neighborhood. Since this part of her home was familiar to Dana, she curiously studied the map of the dwarf caves that Toben had given her. “Look, Shari, this is where we need to go!” She pointed at a spot of the map. When Dana didn’t get an answer, she confusedly looked around for her small friend. But Shari was gone, once again driven by her nosiness and off on her on quest.

After leaving the craftsmen neighborhood behind them, they crossed through the newly built neighborhood which, at this point, was only 1500 years old. Then they reached the city limit and stopped briefly to let Gomek onto a carriage. Next, the small, colorful group passed the city lines and followed the street that lead down into the plain. There, the cave became even larger. It was gigantic, and only a natural pillar in the middle of it carried the weight of this cave’s ceiling. Wherever you looked, the limits of the cave were not visible. The dwarfs used to call that vast place “The Land”. This was where the farming for the entire dwarf kingdom took place. Dana, who’d often seen this cave before, was still as speechless when she saw it as she had been the first time, and she was still wondering how the dwarfs had gotten the gleaming crystals up and mounted to the ceiling – she would have to ask Olo about that at some point.

They drove through “The Land”, driving past fields that were to the left and right of the road. These fields were streaked with artificial water canals that ensured the irrigation. Naturally, there wasn’t any rain down here. There were bunches of little houses all around. The farms and their adjacent buildings were used as storage and as a place for the field workers to stay. This was also where the delicious honey was produced. Dana thought that the simple farms looked like tiny gray islands in a large colorful sea of blossoms. The extensive plane was home to wheat, oats, rye, potatoes, and so much more – pretty much everything the dwarfs needed to survive. Dana asked lots of questions about everything she saw, and Olo did his best to give her answers. Shari had disappeared a while ago and was now sitting on the duckreps’ head, playing practical jokes on the animal.

When they reached the end of the cave after traveling for several hours, they passed through an impressive arch formed by nature. This arch lead them into another cave. Dana had to swallow several times at the sight she saw now. Because, what her eyes took in at that moment, made her speechless. They were at the edge of a vast forest – complete with everything that belonged in one: trees, animals, birds, and so much more.

She saw a lumbermill, as well as lumberjacks and forest rangers at work. They were making sure that the dwarf community and the craftsmen were equipped with enough wood. It was also made sure that nobody forgot to reforest again.

It was already dark when they left the forest. An enormously large lake spread out in front of them, a small peninsula in its middle. Someone had erected a tavern on the island that was called “The last resort”, which was the destination of the day.

Dana asked Olo: “Why is this place called “Last resort?”

“Well, because the dwarf kingdom ends behind it. There’s only free land after that. This inn is the last place managed by dwarfs before the rest comes”, Olo replied seriously. “Back there is the unknown.”

A short time later, the impedimenta stopped in front of the inn and everyone dismounted. After unloading the carts and taking care of the animals, Olo strictly reminded everyone to hit the hay early because they were going to leave at six the next morning.

The next day, before having breakfast, Olo was looking for Dana, but couldn’t find her. She was already done and had gone outside. Olo saw Toben who grinned and said with his mouth full: “Dana told me she’d go sit out by the like somewhere.”

Olo grunted ‘thanks’ and rushed through his breakfast. Later, he went out to search for his daughter. He found her sitting on a rock with Shari sleeping curled up in her lap. She looked out at the lake, lost in daydreams. He quietly sat down next to her.

“Hey sweetheart, what are you dreaming of?”

Dana silently looked at Olo, then she asked: “Where is this expedition going? … We’re not doing this just for fun – are we?”

Olo tried to figure out where to start his story. In the end, he settled for the following: “A while ago, not that long actually, another expedition stumbled upon a cave, deep in the “Forbidden Land”. Apparently, this cave has been hidden from view for millennials. It looks like she turned up after an earthquake. Inside, they found an old sanctuary with a black monolith in the middle … just like ours on the plaza. And inside the library they found a ton of ancient hieroglyphs, just like the ones on the egg from your basket.

And that’s where you come in. We’re hoping that you can help us. We’re hoping to have you help us in finding out more about you, your heritage, where you come from. Maybe you’ll be able to solve the mystery.”

“How far away is that cave?” Dana had gotten curious then.

“About seven days from here”, he answered and smiled at her.

“What’s it going to be like there – in the “Forbidden Land”? What kind of dangers are there, and most importantly…where will we get light on our trip?” “Light?” Olo smiled knowingly: “Bioluminescence – plants, moss, ferns, and small animals, as well as insects create their own light and so they will light for us. Not very bright, but it will be enough to see our surrounding. As for the rest of your questions – you should just let yourself be surprised.”

He carefully stroked her hair.

“But now we should go meet the others. They are ready to go. Our next leg of this journey is waiting for up – the grand water supply works of the dwarfs.”

Once everyone had taken their respective seats, the train set off in the direction of the water utility. The path lead them along the shore of the lake all day. It was already getting well into the evening when Dana noticed that the opposite shore of the lake came continuously closer and a distant rushing sound got louder and louder. She asked Olo what that meant. “The lake tapers off here and empties into a giant tunnel – from there the water tumbles down hundreds of meters. Down there is today’s destination – the water utility.” He pointed forward where she could see a mighty black hole in the stone wall in the distance.

“That’s where we need to go!”

Another hour later, they reached the stately hole in the wall. Now, from up close, it looked like an oversized bottleneck to Dana.

“Wow!”, she thought. “This tunnel sure is wide.”

The water shot forward with impressive speed, down into the darkness, and the sounds it made were deafening. On both sides of the “bottleneck” there was a tunnel-like path driven into the stone that lead down into the deep dark. Without any light the end of the tunnels wasn’t anywhere in sight. After a good hundred meters, they had reached that day’s destination. The train stopped in front of a large building that was nestled into the rocks. The noise was hardly bearable anymore and the air was drenched in a fine mist of water. They were right on top of the waterfall now.

Shari had already buzzed off into the closest building – gleaming dark gray, as she was mad as all get out. She hated it to get wet, and most of all she hated wet wings! She couldn’t fly when her wings were drenched and was forced to walk. Dana saw Gomek jump down from the cart and run over to the railing. He was standing there now and silently looked downwards. Dana followed him. She cautiously touched his shoulder so that he didn’t jump in surprise and fall in the process. Now they both stood leaning against the railing and watched the show that was presented to them.

Deep down below them, the gigantic water wheels turned with the water that was rushing down, and other wheels that were further away from the falling water were standing still. They were sitting on massive propeller shafts that reached from one rock wall to the other. They could move on rails as they were needed that were tilted to the side and embedded in the walls of the tunnels. All these machines ended at the waterfall to operate the wheels as needed.

Down at the bottom of the fall they could see lights and the dwarfs working. Dana tried to find out where the water was going. All she saw, though, was an infinitely deep and long canyon where the river disappeared into darkness in a jet black, super thing string.

Utterly enchanted, they were standing there, staring downwards, when Olo joined them and motioned for them to walk inside the building. With the deafening sound in the background there wasn’t anything possible that was even remotely reminiscent of an actual conversation. Still numb from the sounds, the scrambled after him. Now, they were in a large hall that had been worked from the rocks. There were several passages that lead to various parts of the facility; for example, the worker’s quarters, the cafeteria, the control center of the plant, and other areas.

Inside the building, they received towels to dry themselves off after getting drenched outside. Then an age- old dwarf greeted them. He had more wrinkles in his face than Dana had ever seen. His youthful, steely blue, all knowing eyes seemed to glow with excitement to finally have company again. He was the head of the plant who now introduced himself as Aldo and welcomed them warmly, in the end inviting them all to dinner.

Dana watched him from the corners of her eyes. She guessed him to be around a thousand years old. After dinner, Aldo asked his guests if anybody was interested in taking a tour of the facility. Apart from Olo, Gomek, and Dana – and of course, Shari, as long as she didn’t get wet – nobody wanted to come. The rest of the group was tired and wanted to sleep.

At the beginning of the tour, Aldo explained to his listeners: “Right here, we’re producing the energy for our entire state. It’s the only way to bring light into the darkness. If anything, ever happens to this place, the whole kingdom will be caught in a never-ending night.”

The small group followed Aldo into the depth of the mountain to find out more about the energy plant. The dwarfs had done wonders here as well. The steps that lead deep down into the mountain had been driven cleanly into the rocks, just like a regular staircase. At regular intervals, arches had been built in to guarantee stability, and every few meters the wall had nooks that gave room for oil-lamps. Aldo explained to them how these tasks were done, and commented on the thought behind the lamps, which would make sure there was still light if the electricity ever went out. Dana had to ask Aldo about the lamps right away.

“Why oil lamps? There are so many crystals to be used instead!”

He looked up in surprise and happily replied:

“It’s a tradition, you know.”

The trudged on forward, following Aldo, who stopped at every landing to explain what they were looking at. Rock hewn gates decorated every landing, leading into voluminous halls. In some parts of the rooms, dwarfs were busy checking and servicing the generators that were moved by the water wheels.

Other parts of the building were home to chairs and tables, serving as lounges or assembly- and repair- workstations. After endless stairs – that’s what it felt like to Dana – they reached the heart of the facility: the control room. Several dwarfs were sitting in front of a giant control panel and checked measuring instruments, voltage controllers, and other instruments like pressure gages, all to ensure everything went smoothly.

Shari dove for the control panel right away and wanted to start playing with the buttons – it was one of her passions. The dwarfs, though, shooed her away just in time before she could dump everyone into chaos. Flaming a dark red and cursing loudly, Shari flew away. After the first of the sudden excitement and agitation had settled, the rest of the group got permission to look around the control room.

At the moment, they were standing inside a hall-like room, stuffed to the ceiling with even more equipment which was also serving the purpose of controlling and checking the powerhouse. A large window at the end of the room gifted them with a majestic view of the waterfall and the turning wheels.

Dana wondered how it was possible that the noise didn’t reach them in there. She walked over to the window and took a closer look at the glass. It was incredibly thick. Dana also saw that a roofed balcony was in front of the window. It stretched as long as the large window and reached all the way over behind the waterfall and over to the other side. The dwarfs had tediously carved it into the rocks to allow the servicing of the shaft bearings. Again, Aldo explained to his listeners how this place had come to be.

Dana immediately checked with the old dwarf if he would allow them to walk up behind the waterfall. He gave them permission to do just that. Everyone – except Shari, because she could have gotten wet – stumbled through a small door and onto the path that lead behind the waterfall. The noise surrounding them was unbearably loud now. Just two minutes later, they were still dry to the bones and had made it into the cave behind the waterfall. The cave wasn’t exactly deep, but it stretched the hole width of the waterfall. They followed Aldo to the other side, where he was walking towards the only door.

Behind the door, they could talk again, and Dana immediately asked: “I saw a bridge when we came here that lead over the canyon to the other side. I haven’t seen it from up there.”

“Well”, Aldo began. “It’s constructed so that it’s not easily spotted. One must know where it is and it needs to be illuminated by the right lamps, too. You’ll see it for yourself tomorrow morning.”

After they had looked around for a while, Aldo explained that there wasn’t more to see on this side apart from the massive antagonists of the shaft bearings.

Finally, Aldo announced that it was time to return: “We have to get going. They are preparing a night cap for us – and they are probably waiting in the cafeteria. Then it’s off to bed. The night’s over at five a.m. tomorrow.”