Here is a story that I just wrote, on a whim. It's not that long, so please take the time to read it. Your comments are welcome, of course!
Nimem the dwarf lived in the great fortress of Ironhold, working as a common mason. Almost no one had ever heard of her, as she talked mostly to herself and her cat, Kás. As a mason, she spent her days carting large rocks back and forth, so that other, more important dwarves could carve useless trinkets for trade with neighboring kingdoms. She avoided others, and spent her free time alone, staring into the great magma pit that fuelled Ironhold’s mighty furnaces.
Nimem was neither happy nor unhappy with her life. She regarded it with trifling indifference, and did not very much care about anything at all. When her family deserted her fifteen years earlier, she simply shrugged and went back to her work. When the guards threw her out of her tiny room for not paying rent, she quietly moved her belongings to an empty tomb near the magma furnaces. When the taskmaster ordered her to perform pointless, menial labor, she silently complied, even where other dwarves complained loudly. When the rum ran dry for a full month, she sat in the dining room, stroking Kás’ back and staring blindly into space, while other dwarves pitched fits and threw punches.
Even though he did not particularly like her, the taskmaster recognized that Nimem’s consistient indifference was incredibly valuable in a worker, and offered her a new job working as a stone carver, instead of hauling endless amounts of stone back and forth. Nimem grunted and agreed to take the job; deciding that she would not have to interact with anyone besides Kás if she was a mason. A month after reassigning her, the taskmaster recognized Nimem’s incredible talent for crafting stone. She carved figurines of animals, mostly of Kás the cat, but also of wicked dragons with ruby eyes of hate, fierce goblins carrying miniature iron spears, and great halibut with glistening silver teeth. The Duke took a fancy to her carvings, and offered her a magnificent room, fully furnished. She took the room once the Duke agreed to allow Kás to stay with her, and provided a soft basket for him to sleep in.
One day, when Nimem was indifferently carving the rough fur of a snarling bear, she was struck by a strange feeling. Her mind spun, and she almost lost her balance. Her vision took on a slight tint of red, and everything she heard sounded as if it echoed. Kás mewed as Nimem started breathing heavily. A moment later, she steadied herself on her table. A single thought entered her mind:
Obsidian. Must have obsidian.
She whirled around, and spotted a sizable chunk of obsidian lying neglected in a corner. She crossed the workshop in two huge strides, seized the obsidian, and slammed it onto her crafting table. A disembodied image floated across her consciousness, as if it was not her own: a picture of a bloodstone. Without another thought, she stomped out of her workshop, slamming the door behind her. Somehow, she knew exactly where to go. She turned down corridors she had never seen, following a phantom map in her mind.
Nimem found herself outside a jewler’s office. She threw herself at the door. As it banged open, the dwarf inside looked up inquisitively. He held a small chisel against an uncut bloodstone, his jewler’s hammer ready to split the gem into two halves.
Nimem abruptly extended her hand, and took two menacing strides towards the frightened dwarf.
“Give me the bloodstone!” she shouted in a voice too powerful to be her own.
The dwarf recoiled from the force of the command, and quickly dropped the bloodstone into her demanding palm. Nimem’s fingers clenched the rough gem as she thundered down the halls back to her workshop.
She locked the door, and began to work with a zeal she had never felt. A silent voice somewhere inside her commanded the every move of her hands as she obeyed unquestioningly. Kás looked on with mild curiosity, and occasionally dozed.
After two days and nights of ceaseless working, Nimem was finished. She extended the finished result. Even though she had been working on it for days, it was as if she had never seen the figurine.
It was the likeness of a demon, with curled horns, menacing fangs and claws, and eyes of bloodstone that stared with an unmatched malice. The claws on the feet and hands, as well as the wing membranes, were also made of bloodstone. Nimem wondered how she had managed to carve the bloodstone so thin for the wings. She slowly looked up at Kás, who regarded her with an idle knowingness.
“Kás,” she breathed, “We did it.” Kás yawned, the tip of his tail twitching.
In just a few days, the word of the demon spread throughout the entire fortress. The Duke visited Nimem’s room, where she displayed the figurine. When questioned whether she made the figurine, Nimem nodded stonily.
She soon afterwards went back to her regular work. However, her mind wandered continually to her statue, and she constantly went back to her room to make sure it was still there. She regarded everyone with a contemptuous, suspicious air, not talking to anyone.
One day, she found a group of dwarves gathered around her door, murmuring quietly. She screamed at them all to leave, and leave they did. Everyone completely avoided Nimem from that day onwards, much to her content.
About a year later, the Duke knocked on the door to Nimem’s room, wishing to speak with her. When there was no answer, he slowly, quietly opened the door. Kás was lying on Nimem’s bed, lazily playing with the tip of his tail. Nimem was nowhere to be seen.
Kás looked up. As the Duke met the cat’s eyes, he shuddered. Something in the cat’s eyes made his spine tingle with dreaded expectation.
The cat immediately leaped off the bed, and pranced with unmistakable resolve towards the doorway. The Duke, not knowing why, followed the cat through the halls, realizing that they were moving in the direction of the furnaces.
Kás stopped in front of a solid obsidian wall. The Duke did not recall that the wall was there when he visited the furnaces the previous year. On the ground, he glimpsed the charred handle of a pickaxe. Kás stared at him through narrow, slitted eyes. The Duke realized that the cat’s eyes had a slight tint of red.
Stuttering, he ordered two nearby miners to clear a passage through the wall. They looked puzzled, but obeyed. The Duke, very troubled, returned to his room and locked the door.
One week later, the Duke received word that the miners had discovered something near the furnaces. Without delay, he hurried towards the site, a growing sense of dread filling his heart.
He found a group of miners gathered outside a rough passage in the wall of obsidian. They talked in hushed tones, but abruptly stopped at his approach. Wordlessly, he entered the low tunnel, groping along the dark passage.
He stumbled into a small room, lit with an eerie red glow. Examining the obsidian walls, he saw rough images along the walls. Looking closer, he distinguished depictions of demons, cats, and starving dwarves. Turning his head, he noticed Nimem’s demonic statue at one end of the room. The strange red glow appeared to emit from the demon’s eyes and wings. Nimem’s skeleton lay on the ground, prostrate before the statue.
The Duke heard the mew of a cat near his feet. He looked down, and saw Kás soundlessly slip past him.
Kás turned and sat in front of the statue, directly before his former owner’s corpse. As the Duke beheld the cat’s red eyes, he realized that the glow in the room did not come from the statue. A despairing feeling filled his heart as he sank to one knee, next to the prone form of Nimem.
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Topic: Short Story - The Mad Dwarf (Read 3906 times)