Fikod Dolulshzasit was showing his pick: "..And thats why holding a firm grip on the pick is just as important as your daily alcohol-intake!"
"Oooh, Extremely important then!" Tirist Ònulnòm nodded eagerly.
"Exactly! Now have a go at this wall, let me see what you have learned!" Fikod pointed at a rough wall in an unexcavated section of the mine.
*Right* Tirist thought to herself, *I'll show him that I know how to mine!* and lept at the wall, hacking away with all her strength.
She had come to the dwarven outpost only a half year earlier with high hopes of becoming a master miner. She had even brought her own pick, and soon after her arrival she was assigned to work with the senior miner, Fikod himself. Fikod had told her the story several times, of how he single-handedly had mined out the whole cave as it was before Tirist arrived, and it was just as exciting to hear about it every time! Fikod had been feeding her with wisdom since the first day, telling her things like "And if you hit the Ore at the right spot, a huge chunk will fall out on the first strike! That tecnique, of course, takes lots of patience to learn. And wine. Patience and wine!".
Tirist slammed her pick into the rock, clearing chunk by chunk, remembering the wise words of her master-teacher. She was fully focused on the task at hand, swinging her pick as fast as she could, until her pick suddenly slammed through the rocks and into a clearing...
"Hey Master" Tirist shouted over her shoulder, eagerly looking at the small hole. "I think I found a clearing in the mountain! Come have a look!"
..no response..
.... "Master Fikod..?" she shouted again..
...Suddenly Tirist leaped back, her pick dropped out of her hand, and she screamed "AAAHGG"!
Inside the hole she had seen Fikods face appear from the other side, shouting out at her "BOO!"
As it turned out, Fikod had mined his own little cave around Tirist's small attempt at a straight cave. Being such a great miner made Fikod extremely fast at mining.
"HAHA, did I scare you?? Huh? Did I? HAHAHA" Tirist's heart beat faster than ever before, while she watched Fikod crawl through the hole. Tirist responded with a trembling voice: "Haha.. yeah.. y-you got me!.. hah.. I-I need a d-drink..."
Fikod held out his hand to help her up, and said with a big smile on his face "Me too, I hear they've just finished a fresh batch of wine. Lets go have a taste shall we? Haha! You're still trembling! Oh, I got you good!"
Fikod and Tirist worked well together, and Tirist became better at mining with every day that passed. She so looked up to her master, his humor, his strength.. His .. His unbelievably fast mining! Oh how she dreamed of becoming as good as her master.
There was however one thing Tirist was not able to see, for he was so blinded by her illusion of the perfection of her beloved master... Other dwarves were talking about it, but avoided mentioning it to Tirist, as they thought of her as a bit weird. Fikod, as it turns out, had a colorful outer shell which sparkled with fun, love, hardship and strength. But inside of him was a soft core tainted with sorrow. Sorrow that grew stronger every day and wanted to burst out. He had joined the expedition to this outpost to get away from it all, but he just couldn't quite fully forget about that day long ago!
Sometimes Fikod would sit in his room, dreaming of the wonderous times he had with his love back in the old mountain. How they had laughed together, worked together, lived together.. Everything was perfect back then, until that one day. One day that would be the death of his love, his wife. She had been assigned to excavate a new statue room for the king, and was sent toghether with a new unexperienced miner. She had told the new one her plans for the room, and pointed the youngster in the right direction, but the youngster was way too eager. While she hacked out the last part of the room, the new miner had dug too far on the other side of the room, and the mountain had come crashing down on both of them! Fikod was just back from his lunch-break to see his wife leap towards the newbie miner to stop him, but it as too late.. Fikod couldn't remember the rest of that day as he was knocked back by the huge mass of stone that crumbled down in front of him, knocking him unconscious....
---
Fikod woke up, screaming. He fell on the floor beside his bed, and spotted several dwarves bursting into his room to see what was going on. "Where is she?? Is she alright?" he shouted.
From the back of the mass of dwarves someone shouted "Let me thr... LET ME THROUGH! Stop shoving please!". It was the doctordwarf. "Are you alright? Can you feel your legs? Someone get him some wine!"
Fikod remembered where he was, and that she was still dead after all these years. He calmed the doctor "I'm alright... I just had a nightmare about something.. Something that happened a long time ago...".
The doctor took a careful look at the reduced legend of a miner and muttered "I still think you need a drink..". Fikod nodded, and stood up "Indeed I do! I got work to do!". Suddenly he seemed like his old self again, happy, strong of will and ready for another day of stonechipping. Nobody was able to tell that he actually was thinking to himself *What's the point of moving on..?*
Tirist met up with Fikod in the dining hall and greeted him with a mug of wine. "Morning master! The old man wants us to dig out a new section just across the chasm! He's expecting a noble soon to inspect the outpost, and wants it to look its best! Isn't that just a great idea?"
Fikod smiled at his apprentice, and nodded "Indeed... A fine idea.".
"Master, are you alright? Why do you keep staring at the undertaker..?" Tirist said, and continued "That dwarf just freaks me out! By the way, whats up with that engraving in that corner?" Tirist pointed to the far corner of the dining hall. There was an engraving of a coffin. Tirist kept babbling "Why would they engrave a coffin on the wall of the dining hall..? Thats just discusting. People are eating here, not mourning! Master, don't you think thats a bit weird?"
Fikod stared blankly at the buiscits in front of him, and just said blankly "Tirist... You've come a long way since I first met you. You're mining has great potential. I'm not sure I'm able to teach you much more than I already.. " Tirist interrupted him "What? But Master, I'm not as fast as you yet! Not nearly as fast! Master you gotta teach me the secret!"
"Tirist, I'm just saying. You know all the tecniques now. From now on, it's up to you to practice them and improve yourself. Do you understand?"
Tirist looked back at Fikod with slight disappointment and confusion.. "I-I think I understand.. .. Master.."
Fikod slammed his fist down on the table "NO! Stop calling me master! You are to be the next master miner here! Masters dont call other people 'master'! I need you to understand that, ok!"
Tirist was confused, but wanted to follow every command of her master "Eh.. Yes.. Ok. ok ok.. I get you.. mast-erhh sorry"
Fikod looked at her "Do you understand???! Speak up!"
Tirist felt an urge to shout, inspired by the sound of Fikods voice, and stood up "I am the next master miner!!!"
Fikod responded quickly "Yes! Indeed you are! Come, let us mine!" and rushed down the hallway towards the chasm seemingly exited.
In reality, Fikod glared back at the undertaker with a weird feeling down his spine... Sort of like a chill.. As he crossed the thin chasm bridge, he glanced down into the darkness below. "Right, you know what to do" he told his partner Tirist. "Aye!" she responded and started hacking out piece by piece. Fikod plowed through the mountain faster than a dragon could burn through a small army. Piece by piece, the new statue room was formed.
Tirist was thinking through the words of her master. He had seemed different today, like he was planning something special. Tirist couldn't put her finger on it, but something was different today.. He was so serious during the breakfast. She thought nothing more of it, and kept mining out the last parts of the room.
Fikod watched his apprentice work hard and fast. He felt proud. And sad.. Fikod was indeed different today, for he was filled with memories of the days from long ago. The dream had made him remember it all. All the sadness, the dispair. The loneliness. All the grieving... It was too much for one little dwarf to take..
Tirist hacked out her last chunk in the room, and turned to her master. No, partner. She tried to get used to not calling him master, though she still felt she didn't deserve calling him anything less. "All done!" She proudly told him. Fikod turned to the wall behind him, and said "I need to take out this last piece". He swung his pick around with great speed, smashed it into the rock-wall with such a great force that the slamming sound could be heard throughout the mountain. He hit the rock so perfectly that he needed only one swing to clear out a large boulder of a chunk. There was a loud bouldering sound that surrounded the two miners, followed by lots of creaking and falling pellets... Then there was silence, and Tirist stood there slightly frightened by the sudden noises. She trembled when she talked: "Maste-erhh.. Mr. Fikod, are you sure you should have taken out that last piece of rock..? The mountain sounds like it's hurt.."
Fikod stared blankly back at Tirist "You are the next master" he said calmly. "Tirist, I need you to go back out of this room and.. I need you to go check if the statues are ready. It's a statue room after all." Fikod noticed a small crack started forming on the roof. "And take your time, I wanna have a break now. I think I strained a muscle on that last blow.."
Tirist looked confused at him "But you never strain any muscles. On the one year i've spent here, you've never strained even a finger..." Tirist stopped talking when some pebbles fell down on her shoulder.. "Eh, Fikod, the roof dont seem too stable here.." She looked up and noticed a crack forming. "Oh by the love of everything thats holy and alcoholic, the roof is cracking up! We need to get out of here!!" she shouted and started running. "Come on!! The roof!" There was silence in the room, and only the sound of falling pellets and the running of Tirist could be heard. She looked back and saw Fikod lean back on the wall inside the crumbling room. "What are you doing? The roof!!!!!!"
Fikod watched the crack on the roof grow bigger, and leaned back on the wall behind him. *...I'm coming for you, my love...* he thought. The crack cracked a bit more open, and a Rumble could be heard throughout the mountain. He barely noticed Tirist which was pulling at his arm and shouting, trying to get him to move. All he could sense, was happiness. He felt happy. He had smashed out an important part of the room, and the roof was now going to crash down on him, but he was happy. He would reunite with his lost love. They would be together again, and they would laugh, work and live together. Like they used to.
Tirist screamed and pulled at Fikod, but it was no use. He was too strong, and Tirist was just a weak apprentice miner. She looked up, and saw the crack burst into a slightly longer crack, and a rumble could be heard thoughout the mountain. Fikod was just smiling, looking up at the crack.
Tirist hurriedly thought to herself *What would Fikod do if he was me?* She had an idea, and hurried to gather up some smaller boulders. She hurriedly tried to form them with her pick to fit on top of eachother, and tried to make a supporting pillar in all hurry. She was suddenly interrupted by Fikod, who calmly said "Are you still here?". He then pushed her really hard, almost throwing her through the air, out of the room and into the entrance of the room. Tirist got back up and was about to run back into the room, when she was knocked further back into the wall behind her. The last thing she remembered seeing was lots of stone, falling down, crushing, lots of noise...
(ps, got a weird microsoft wireless keyboard which is impossible to use for print-screening.. -> no screenies of stats, messages etc..
Edit: Spelled the name wrong on the image. (it said Fokid..) Image was updated
[ June 26, 2007: Message edited by: uberubert ]
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Topic: Short story: The Master and the Pupil (Read 653 times)