Laugavegur, A Hinterland Journey

Chapter 10 - Bringing Light to the Darkness

It took them two days to set Anja's plan to action. During that time, Anja was seen all over Ravendome, taking different measurements with a tailor's tape she had procured. What had started as hushed whispers about the peculiar activities of the visiting Humans steadily grew to a low rumble of discontent concerning the meddling of the utdingers. This rhetoric was no doubt fanned by Rhonia. As a single Dwarf, screaming into the wind, she was harmless, but as she gained a following and the massed voices became more belligerent, Skari knew their window of opportunity was closing.

The seer was delighted when Anja shouted from across Ongrad's shop, "Just one more to hang, and we are good to go! The moon should be up by now as well." Anja stood on top of a small lashed aspen ladder, pounding a metal eyelet into the blackened stone. Her hair was braided back and held fast with a worn leather thong, her forehead beaded with sweat from her exertions. With a small grunt she fished the final lashing through the eyelet and secured the final crystal into place. Satisfied, she wiped the grime and soot from her hands and nodded to Skari. "Time to see if this was all worth the effort."

Together, Skari, Anja, Tokki, and Ongrad walked toward the entrance of the cave. Ongrad carried the aspen ladder while Tokki carried a length of cotton grass rope. Skari shuffled to keep pace, but his body was revolting against him, causing him to lag. The work of the previous 48 hours had been exhausting. Skari had spent two days shaping stone into geometric shapes. It was something he could do with simple manipulative gauldur, but the process still drained him. Anja, for her part, spent hours calculating and recalculating angles on a wax tablet she had borrowed from Ongrad. The math had all worked out; it had been correct from the onset, but she still checked it time and again to be sure. Her heart thumped in her chest with anxiety. What if something went wrong? What if all the effort had been wasted due to a simple miscalculation. She forced the thought from her mind. The die was already cast, and no amount of worrying would change the result at this point.

Rhonia and similarly concerned citizens of Ravendome had been keeping constant watch on Anja and Skari. Initially, the dwarves had at least attempted to be discreet, but of late, Rhonia or one of her followers would blatantly stand watch outside Ongrad's shop. A day before, Anja had expressed her concern to Skari. "Why do they watch us so closely? Have they nothing better to do with their time than monitor our every move?"

"They have nothing else to occupy them. There is little trade and even less entertainment. We are it. Don't judge them too harshly."

Anja smiled to herself. She was being a bit hypocritical. When she lived in Fjallabak and had gotten bored, she and the other kids went and threw rocks at Skari's cave. At least Rhonia's cronies were not throwing rocks. They did, however, note when the group left Ongrad's shop, making their way toward the entrance of the cave.

Quickly, Rhonia gathered a small group of well-armed and like-minded Dwarves. This would be her chance to see Ongrad and the utdingers out of Ravendome for good. They would just close the door behind them. She double-checked; all the utdingers were there. The old Huldu seer, was falling behind. No surprise. Ongrad. He should have been more careful choosing who he associated with. Ravendome had other glass workers. None with Ongrad's talent and vision, but they would survive. The blond brat and his sister, who she noted was apparently carrying a giant crystal of perlite. Stranger than goose-footed ptarmigans, they are.

When they reached the entrance, Ongrad put down the wooden ladder and unlocked the great vault entry door. It reluctantly groaned open. From down the tunnel, he could hear the din of the approaching mob. "Quickly, now," said Skari. "Time is short." Ongrad laid the aspen ladder against the entry opening while Tokki secured the piece of perlite to the end of the rope with a bowline. Anja was atop the ladder quickly, hammering a metal ring into the rock just above the entrance. She had just looped the cotton grass rope through the eyelet when Rhonia reached the vault door and yelled, "Halt!"