To Own a Thought (revised)

“There weren't always Dragons in the Valley,” said Allen Hobart sitting at a table in the War Hammer Pub, “It was the Dwarves.”

The barmaid Margret walked through the din and brought down the charger from her shoulder with four tankards of ale on it. She set them down in front of the four Rangers all dressed in green at their table. Allen gave her five silver pieces.

“More ale, Margret,” Hugo Broadfoot the Halfling said.

“Hold your Ponies boys,” she said and she turned pushing her way thought the loud crowd.

“Excuse me,” Glowing Skyrock the dwarf said, “Ranger, you Humans all were more than willing to trade for our fine products. No one said stop when we found rare gems. Then, we worked the stones, so the light flashed from their very hearts. Their beauty was captivating, but that was just the start. We dug deep.

Next, We found the metals. Gold, Silver, and Mithril in huge quantities. The more we found, the deeper we went. The Dwarves sold the raw metals in ingots of different sizes. The gold and silver we worked into exquisite jewelry. It was the Humans who, for ease of trade, made coins. You must admit all were caught up in making a profit. It was the Mithril that was only workable by the magical super heat of Elven furnaces. That made the armor and weapons that fueled the Human Blood Skirmishes. When the Mithril was found and worked into fine weapons three hundred years of Joy and Trade were transformed into the last thousand years of Greed and Pain.

Only, we Dwarves wanted to learn to work the Mithril. The Elves jealously guarded their secret. One young set of Dwarves named Banded, and his sister Gretchen Stoutframe, found by making carefully calculated cuts in certain gems found at great depths from our mine, and arranging those gems just right, you could bend light. That made things disappear. Unfortunately, it also open a portal that linked them to another realm. One that would link them forever with the Dragons. The pair were brought before the City Council.

Streaking Skyrock is my Dad, let me tell the tale about the council’s inquiry over 500 years ago the Dwarf said, “They were more interested in the furnace, but they ask them about how the dragons attacked. Even now I can see my Dad in council, seeking the truth of the situation ...”

“All right,” said Streaking Skyrock the Dwarf Council Leader, “Just what happened? Meadowdale, the Elven city, was attacked by Dragons. They insist two Dwarves were seen running from the center of the event. You two, what did you do?”

Banded attempted to recounted the events before the City Council, by recalling what led to the Dragons emergence through the portal, and he said, "We were trying to learn the secret of the Elven furnace. We made a blind and moved it close to a furnace.”

Gretchen said, “We were about to give up thinking only Elves understand the complex fire-up sequence when we saw the secret.”

Banded said, “As we watched the furnace, the back of our blind opened like a door. From there, a great Dragon head squeezed into the blind. When it roared we looked back and saw it. It tried to munch us, and we were forced from where we were hiding. When I saw the great Dragon squeeze through the portal, I was so scared the only thing in my mind was run.”

Streaking said, “What of the Furnace? What did you see?”

Banded said, “They made the smelting fire burn bright by magic gas they got out of water.”

Streaking said, “Magic gas my ass, Elven trickery. If it was magic, what was the incantation?”

Gretchen said, “There was none.”

“The Elves,” Streaking said, “I have heard they have been manipulating raw materials and making things from them. They call it Technology. Now they all have talking boxes, but their trash heaps reek and have become strangely poisonous. Tell me exactly what you saw?”

Banded said, “They collected water in huge clear cylinders. There were ceramic tubes that ran from the top of five of the ten massive cylinders. They ran down the side of a set of two cylinders. That tube ended pointing into the fire. At the bottom of each clear cylinder was a cord of metal braid that ran from there to a large magic box on a large podium

A signal was made to an Elf on the top of each of the ten cylinders to turn a wheel, and water from the river poured into the mammoth cylinders. After fifteen minutes, the cylinders were full of water, and the wheel was turned to stop the water flow.

The box was touched and the braids in the tanks started to bubble.”

Streaking said, “They are using their batteries to do something to the water. What else did you see?”

Banded said, “A fire was started in the furnace. When the fire was going well, ingots of Mithril were added to the crucible. The Mithril only glowed a dull red. They added a few shovels of some shiny substance.

All the water in the tanks was gone, and there was only the collected gas. A signal was made to the Elves on the top of the closest five tanks. At one time, they turned another wheel quickly. Water from the river started to flow into the bottom of the cylinders.

You could hear the hiss of gas when the fire under the crucible exploded in its fury. The heat and light were so intense you could not look into the flames. Then it was over. The metal in the crucible was a bright white liquid. It was poured into waiting castings.”

Streaking said, “Only Oxygen does that to fire. Somehow, they must be making huge amounts of Oxygen from water.”

Rose Irongriddle said, “I want to know of the Dragons.”

Gretchen said, “We heard a loud roar behind us in the blind. When we looked behind us, the back of the blind opened like a door. The first of the great Dragons squeezed its head through the portal. When we saw it, we ran from the blind.

The Elves were stunned to see two Dwarves running toward the exit of their hidden furnace. They grabbed us, but the great Dragon squeezed into the room. It was pandemonium. The Dragon ate one of the Elves. The sound of the crunching of bones and the pathetic cries for help were horrific.

The dragon shot flames at us, and we ran. The last two of the Elves ran, on fire, from the room screaming. The rest of us ran as a group towards the door. As the huge Dragon moved, it knocked over one of the larger five unused gas cylinders. There was a great explosion, and we were thrown clear of the room. As I looked back, another great Dragon came through the portal. Another of the back cylinders fell, and there was another great explosion. We ran and did not stop until we got home. As we ran, we saw many Elves put up a good fight driving off the Dragons.”

Rose said, “Just great. The Elves were forced to flee their Furnace. The only thing the Elves knew was Dwarves were seen running from the scene. Many Elves were killed, and they are pissed off with us Dwarves. They estimate some twenty Dragons were released before the Elves closed the portal. Say, you two look pretty young. How old are you two?”

Banded said, “I’m 56, and Gretchen is 49.”

Rose said, “Who was babysitting with you two?”

Gretchen said, “We don’t need babysitters!”

Rose said, “You are not of age until 75. Until then you need supervision. Now, look at what you have done. The Elven furnace is destroyed. The Elves believe that us Dwarves are somehow responsible for this, and they are very angry. You have somehow released several Dragons into the Sateavin Valley. You are to be under constant supervision. Does the council make itself clear?”

“Yes, Ma’am,” they both said.

“We will decide your punishment after we have time to discuss the situation. Now go home and don’t cause any trouble.” Rose said, “You are responsible for telling your parents what has happened.”

As the Dwarves walked home, Banded said, “The only way that the back could open a portal would be if the back facet of the gem were cut wrong. I can change it so that won’t happen, then it will lock the plane in place.”

Gretchen said, “You are no expert. You have only studied gemology for a decade or two. Are you sure you know what you are talking about?”

“No one knows of this, we are the experts. I won’t know until I try,” Banded said.

“Well, you can count me out, Banded.”

“Come on, Gretchen, I need you to help align the gems in the Matrix.”

“We are in enough trouble, Banded. I don’t think so.”

“I’ve got to know if I’m right, Gretchen. I want to know things that no one else knows.”

“You mean you don’t know, Banded?”

“Yes, I know. Come on, Gretchen. We need to confirm it. Are you afraid of thinking the unthought? Admit it you love the exploring of knowledge. Apart of you wants to know.”

“No, Banded! We are in so much trouble, I will be a thousand years before I can live this down.”

“Okay, Gretchen, I’ll do it myself.”

“Banded, you know you can’t do the matrix alignment yourself. Just give it up for now. Pick it up latter after things cool off.”

“Go hide in your room, Gretchen. The real Dwarves are going to make things happen.”

“Are you sure of yourself, Banded?”

“I would not try it unless I was sure.”

The two Dwarves walked into their house.

“Hi, Mom,” Banded said.

Charity Stoutframe said, “Dinner in about an hour, you two, try and stay out of trouble until then, hmm ….”

Gretchen said, “Sure thing Mom.”

They both headed to the work area.

Banded got five raw gems when they got there, and he carefully cut facets using his brother’s new methode. Then, he made the new calculated cuts to tune the light through the gem.

Charity shouted, “Dinner, wash up and come to the table.”

“Coming,” echoed from many rooms in the house.

The pair put down their work and cleaned up. They went to their places at the table and sat down. When their father, Casted Stoutframe, sat down, they joined hands and bowed their heads.

Casted said, “Lord, we are thankful for your blessing and we ask that you bless this food in your great name. We ask you to continue to watch over our family and our Home Land. We are grateful for your gifts of Liberty and justice. May your Grace and Enlightenment continue to guide us, the end of time.”

Hands were dropped and grabbed for plates of food and ale. A portion of the food was removed, placed on stoneware plate, and the dish was passed to the right.

“Anything interesting happen today,” Casted said.

Gretchen and Banded looked at each other, but before they could say anything, their brother Rigid Stoutframe said, “At the shop today, our suggested modification gem cuts were brought up for review before the Guild.”

Everybody clapped. The word “Congratulations” was repeated around the table.

Rigid said, “If accepted, we will be in line for a fat commission and a Copy Cut fee. We submitted the procedure to the Elves for recognition of ownership. I don’t understand how Ownership is such a hard concept for them. This is ours. You want a superior cut. Use us and pay the fee.”

Patience Stoutframe said, “I heard that the Council learned the secret of the Elven Furnace today.”

Mobile Stoutframe said, “Somebody is going to get rich!”

Banded said, “Ahh, Dad ….”