Short Stories from Mythnium by C. Borden

Author:C. Borden
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: C.B. Writing Solutions

Over the next several days, Estryl’s forge was a hub for dwarves to gather and whisper and point. While she had no problem ignoring the hushed voices and pointing fingers, Estryl found herself wishing to be elsewhere. She began to find reasons not to be in the forge, even at the cost of jobs she had been hired for, but she needed solitude, and while the forge had been a place of solitude for her, it was not anymore.

Still, she forced herself to go for at least a couple of hours each day. After nearly two weeks, she was in the forge and polishing one of her projects when she looked up to see Elder Fredric standing at the edge of the forge. Estryl quickly set her job to the side and moved to greet the elder.

“Elder Fredric. What can I do for you?”

Elder Fredric was a much older dwarf. He had outlived all his wives and even most of his sons, but was still strong and determined. He was known to still be one of the fiercest warriors among the dwarves, and was rather intimidating to look upon, his skin telling the tale of his fierceness in battle.

Estryl ignored the ugly scars that marred her Elder’s face and smiled at him though he only managed a deep frown in return.

“Estryl, you have been summoned. I am to escort you to a gathering of the Elders. We go now.”

Estryl glanced at the work waiting behind her, and then at the still lingering crowd around her forge. She was suddenly eager to be away from the crush of dwarves. She nodded at her Elder and grabbed a clean rag from a workbench, plus a long-sleeved tunic to slip over her overalls. Elder Fredric turned abruptly and led the way through the dense crowd then beyond them toward the center of the dwarven city. As they walked, Estryl wiped her face, neck, and hands. Dwarves were not overly fastidious, but a meeting with the Elders demanded at least a show of cleanliness. Hoping she did a good job of cleaning the soot and ash from her face, she tucked the rag deep into her pocket and then slipped the oversized tunic on over her work pants in hopes that she was presentable.

She paid little attention to the world around her as they walked the streets of the city. The city spanned over a dozen stories high and filled a huge cavern that stretched east to west. The city was built around a fortress-type structure in the center, with the city divided into sections that housed the different clans. Between each of the different clan sections, there were shared marketplaces and communal buildings. The entire cavern sloped downward toward an underwater river they used to travel between other subterranean cities. The higher side of the cavern led to a series of tunnels that led throughout the nearby subterranean world as well as multiple large shafts that led to the surface providing trade with the surface and access to fresh air.

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