Silver Dragon (32 page)

"Thork," Alto said, shaking his head. "About this sword?"

Thork spun back around and faced him. "Dat's right, about dat." He glanced into the forge at the red-hot metal that was slowly being reshaped. He frowned. "Yous need lots more heat."

"Isn't it hot enough in here?" Garrick groaned. Sweat was running down his face again.

"Not for melting dat stuff. Yous should have waited. Thork's got fings yous could use."

"I didn't know when you'd get here," Alto said.

Thork shrugged and turned to the wall next to the door. "Dats okies. Thork's here now," the troll said before he jammed the tip of his spear into the wall and then pushed the blade down to the floor. Instead of a jagged gouge left in the wood, a line of white light shone in the wall. He leaned his spear against the wall and then reached out to poke his fingers into the line of light. He pulled it to either side, enlarging the magical radiance and revealing the portal into his warehouse. He leaned into it, poking his head in and looked around, and then emerged a moment later with a bag. "Try dis," Thork said as he dropped the bag on the floor.

Mordrim glanced at Alto and received a nod in return. Alto had a hunch that the bag contained several of the dwarven weapons and armor that he'd let Alto choose from before. When the dwarf opened it and pulled out a couple of books and then a painting
, he frowned.

"Um, dat's da wrong bag," Thork said. He stepped forward too fast and cracked his head against the rafter again. The troll growled and turned to stare up at the beam,
and then froze when Mordrim gasped.

"What in the name of the saints is this!
" The dwarf was looking at one of the books. The pages had pictures drawn in it of men and women with little or no clothing on them. He flipped a page and turned the book upside down, his jaw opening wide.

Alto dropped his eyes from the book in Mordrim's hands to one of the paintings. The subject was a beautiful woman wearing a two
-headed snake wrapped around her body and nothing else. "Thork?"

Thork snatched the bag up and grabbed the book from
Mordrim's hands. He shoved it in the bag and then picked up the pictures and other books that were lying about. He straightened and held the bag behind his back while everyone stared at him. "Well dis is awkward," the troll mumbled. "Um, Thork collects art and stuff."

"Uh huh," Mordrim said.

Alto shook his head to rid himself of the images. "Thork, the other bag?"

"Yeah, dat one
." The troll turned and tossed the bag in his hands back and then started rooting around until he found the right one to get out this time. He dumped it on the floor and let Mordrim dig around inside it.

The dwarf cried out, the contents of the prior bag forgotten as he pulled out dwarven armor and weapons in near perfect condition. "Where did you find these?"
Mordrim asked the troll.

"Most of dem is from dat mountain.
Dere's some from different places. Couple of dumb dumbs tried bashin Thork a long time ago. Thork took deir stuff when dem got bashed instead."

Mordrim frowned,
and then lost himself in the treasures contained in the bag. He kept pulling more and more out, seemingly without a bottom to the bag.

"Mordrim, the forge?" Alto reminded him.

Mordrim grunted and let his eyes come back into focus. He grinned and picked up a short sword. He spent a few moments stripping the wrapping off the hilt before he tossed it into the cauldron of glowing steel. "This will take a while," he warned. "A couple of days. Forges make for poor smelters."

The shaman turned and ducked into his magical space. When he emerged
, he held a bucket of rocks and a red vial. "Use dis!"

The dwarf
stared into the bucket. "What are these?"

"Fire rocks!"

"And this?" Mordrim took the vial and looked at it.

"Fire wine," Thork said. "Yous wants a taste?"

"I'm supposed to drink it?"

Thork laughed loud as he enjoyed his private joke. When he saw everyone was staring at him
, he let his laughter die and explained, "Pour it on da rocks. Let da fire wine soak in a little bit, den toss dem in the forge."

Mordrim frowned but did as the troll instructed. He waited a couple of minutes after pouring the fire wine on the rocks and then dumped the rocks amongst the coals in the forge.

Thork stared at them while the black lumps sat amid the red, orange, yellow, and white coals. He frowned and looked up at Kar. "Yous got any fire mojo?"

Kar sniffed. "I always have fire spells ready."

"Great! Use one!" the troll said. "Dem has to get really hot to burn."

Kar stepped up to the forge and squinted against the heat coming off it. He raised his hands and chanted,
and then held out his hands and summoned a magical burst of flames that slammed into the forge and rolled around inside the oven. He sustained the burst for several seconds and then stepped back and raised his arm to block the heat from his face.

Garrick cursed at the increase of heat in the room. He moved as far from the forge as he could without leaving the room. Alto stood still but understood
the barbarian's misery. Sweat was running down the warrior's face. Karthor and his father moved away a moment later, leaving only Mordrim and Thork near the forge. Bonky had disappeared.

The flames from Kar's spell continued to circle around the forge
and then they were pulled into the fire rocks. The elemental rocks began to change colors, brightening to brown and then red. They continued becoming brighter until each of them was white hot and putting out enough heat that the air in the room seemed ready to burst into fire.

Garrick was the first to throw open the door and stumble out into the cold night air. The others followed one at a time, gasping for breath. Alto stayed the longest
, save for Thork and Mordrim but he found that he couldn't breathe; the air felt too thin. It reminded him of the lava flow beneath the mountain.

"Frog
ger balls," Thork muttered. "Dat bucket is gonna melt. Use da bucket da fire rocks was in!" Thork told the dwarf. The troll went on to mutter, "Maybe all of dem wasn't so good."

Mordrim managed to transfer the partially melted steel over before he had to escape the room. The thick gloves he'd put on were smoking and the hairs on his beard looked singed and curled. "Never thought I'd see the day a forge was too hot for a dwarf," he complained.

"Thork can make a potion," Alto said between gasps for breath. The rapid breathing made his ribs ache, causing him to hold them as he panted. "It protects you from the heat."

Mordrim nodded and stuck his head back inside
to ask the troll about it. He jumped back out of the way as Thork and Bonky emerged from the building at a run. "Oops!" Thork cried out.

"Oops?" Kar asked.

The wizard's question was answered a moment later as flames burst out of the ceiling of the forge. Alto stared in shock as the forge was quickly consumed. Karthor pulled him away while he stared at it and raged inside at the time lost.

"Dem stupids in da hills is
usin' just one in each forge. Thork figured using lots would work better!" The troll explained his reasoning.

Guards rushed up as it burned and a few people began to wake up. They warned them off, encouraging them to make sure the buildings nearby were safe.

"Damn you, Thork!" Alto seethed when the walls collapsed and everyone who gathered stood and watched. "We have to start over now!"

Thork shook his head. "Nope, dat fing is still burning!"

"I know. That’s why we'll have to start over—it's burned up."

Thork laughed. "Somebody get a new anvil and tools. Den yous just wait and see."

The flames died by the time the sun was rising in the east but the heat was still considerable. Thork motioned for them to follow him and he approached the burned-out smithy. The troll picked his way through the wreckage and used his spear to push away the occasional burning object. He stopped and held his arm up to block the heat and then stared down at the ground. Alto and the others tried to approach but couldn't get close enough. Mordrim alone managed to peer over the edge of the hole in the ground and gasp.

The dwarf retreated and turned to the others. "Fetch some molds!" the dwarf cried. "
The fool troll burned a hole in the ground but the steel is melted and ready to be cast and forged anew!"

Alto stared at the wreckage and shook his head. The troll was a natural disaster waiting to happen but yet again, he'd come through for him. He allowed himself a ragged chuckle and turned to see that the tools were gathered. As he did
, he saw a contingent of knights walking down the road towards them. Sir Amos was at the lead with the freshly appointed Sir Celos beside him. Aleena was beside him and wore her tunic marking her as a squire. Alto could see how proud she was of herself by the way she held her head high.

He sighed. The troll had saved them time but Sir Amos was probably going to complicate things. "Thork, here comes somebody I'd like you to meet.
They’re Knights of Leander."

The troll turned and watched the approaching throng. He snorted.

Alto sighed. Yes, it was going to be a very long morning.

* * * *

"I believed you," Sir Amos began, "even if everything I knew told me it couldn't be done. You've done some amazing things, Alto, so you earned credit for that. Yet here I'm staring at a kind of troll I've not heard of in years. And he's not trying to eat anyone!"

"And him's able to hear what yous's saying," Thork reminded the paladin.

Sir Amos chuckled. "Yes, so he is. My apologies, Thork. I still can't get over it. At any other time, I'd be certain that two individuals such as ourselves would be trying to kill each other."

Thork offered a confident, and toothy, grin. "Most stupids doesn't get dat Jarook is in everything, good and bad. Even da
youngest stupids dat follow Jarook don't get dat."

Sir Amos frowned as he made sense of what the troll was saying. He nodded at length. "You're speaking of fear? As a Knight of Leander
, we train to strike fear into the hearts of those who would do evil. That would make us allies?"

Thork shrugged. "Sumfing like dat."

"What else is there?"

Thork jerked his thumb towards Alto. "Take dis dumb dumb. Him's known nuffin but fear since Thork met him."

Sir Amos laughed. "Alto? Afraid? Nonsense! That young man has done more than most of my knights could dream of doing. Those aren't the actions of a coward."

Thork shook his head. "Now yous is da idjit. Fear doesn't mean yous's a coward.
Being scared means you isn't stupid. It means yous got yous head on right. And den when yous can do da fing yous is scared of anyhow, dat means yous has power. Dere's not many stupids out dere like dat."

Sir Amos turned to look at Alto. "Is this true? Have you been afraid?"

Alto scowled. "Have you?"

Sir Amos stiffened. He nodded his head slowly. "Yes, yes I understand. Amazing, it took a troll to teach me a lesson in humility."

Thork grinned and started to turn away. Sir Amos cleared his throat, stopping the enormous green man. "Now about the forge?"

"Oh, dat
." Thork grinned again. "Sorry. Thork was trying to get dis done faster. Da hero here is scared dat him's not gonna get to da lady in time to save her."

Alto stiffened. "What? I said no such thing!"

Thork chuckled and leaned forward to whisper in a voice loud enough everyone could hear, "Dumb dumb doesn't know dat Thork can feel his fear when him dreams too!"

Alto let out a sigh and shook his head. He saw Aleena glance away from him and look to Sir Celos. Celos was staring at Thork, his face alternating between disgust and shock. Alto imagined he'd looked much the same way the first time he saw the troll but seeing the expressions on Celos made him angry.

"Here, Thork pay for what Thork done." The troll reached into a pouch and pulled out a handful of black objects that looked like stones. "Oops. Wrong pouch," the troll said before tossing them into his mouth and crunching them down. He tried another pouch on his other hip and removed another handful of black spheres. "Dorf balls," Thork muttered. "Dem was da right pearls."

After Alto reacted
, he saw he wasn't the only one to stare in open-mouthed shock at the troll. Thork had just eaten a handful of pearls and not even realized it!

Thork tossed one of the new items in his mouth and crunched on it. He smiled and held them out for anyone. "De
se is beans from a swamp plant, yous want some?" Everyone gathered was quick to decline. Thork shrugged and put them back in his pouch, and then opened up another one and pulled out a handful of coins and elaborate jewelry.

Alto stared at the gleaming treasure. It looked like something he imagine
d would come from a dragon hoard of legend. "Here, dis is for dat forge." Thork pressed the treasure into his hand and turned away. He glanced back and offered a final toothy grin before adding, "Thork promises him won't burn anyfing else down. Er, on purpose."