Dark Thane

The passage wound back and forth, as though the dragon that had burned it were chasing something that was trying its best to get away. At one point, they came to a place where a large section of the wall and a portion of the floor opened into empty blackness. "Where that go?" one of the gully dwarves asked.

Shnatz looked back over his shoulder and sneered. "Jump in and see."

The gully dwarf peered into the hole for a moment, a crisp, wet breeze weakly fingering the matted hairs of his beard. He turned to Shnatz and said, "You get ladder."

"Come on. We go this way. You follow me, don't fall in." The nineteen remaining gully dwarves didn't need to be told twice. They gave the hole a wide berth and hurried after their leader, who had already ranged far ahead, his torch winking in the darkness like a far-off star.

Eventually, Shnatz found the place he sought and ordered them all to a halt. They thankfully dropped their digging tools and sank to the ground, panting and weeping of their weariness. "Get up! Get up!" Shnatz growled, kicking them. "We not done yet. We just get here. Now real work begin." Moaning and snarling, the gully dwarves crawled to their feet once more.

"We do job. We follow you just like you say. What we gotta do now?" they complained.

"See this floor?" Shnatz asked. In this section of the tunnel, the slick, glassy floor and walls were covered in a huge spiderweb of cracks. Some of the cracks were a handspan or more wide. The gully dwarves examined the floor for a moment, then nodded. Shnatz continued, "You start digging here. Break open these cracks wider."

"What we dig for?" one of the gully dwarves asked.

"Treasure," Shnatz whispered, to get their full attention. He glanced around as though making sure no one might overhear. The gully dwarves gathered near, their grimy faces eager. "Ancient dwarf treasure of the Great Hylar, left here when Hybardin abandoned."

"No fooling?" they sighed, all their greediest longings kindled.

Shnatz winked and poked one of them in the ribs. "You best diggers of all Aghar. That why I hire you. We all be rich, rich as kings. But you gotta dig quick, before someone find us and run us off, take all treasure for themselves."

The gully dwarves growled angrily that anyone would dare steal their treasure after they had worked so hard to find it. They set to work with gusto. Shnatz had them spread out rather than all dig in one place. When asked why, he said, "Treasure big. You gotta dig big hole!" which doubled their enthusiasm. Picks swung and rock chips flew, and only occasionally did they do each other serious harm. The injured crawled aside to cheer on their fellows, for all were promised an equal share. Shnatz stood well hack, a grin slowly spreading across his filthy face.

It wasn't long before one of the gully dwarves shouted for their leader. Shnatz ordered them to stop digging and approached. "You find treasure?" he asked.

"No. But something wrong with this rock," the gully dwarf, named Hong, answered. To demonstrate, he struck the floor with his hammer. A section of the floor as large as a serving platter sank three inches under the blow.

Shnatz leaped back and began to edge away. "You do good work, better than I thought. Treasure almost ours. But you work hard, need break. Everybody take break. I be right back."

"Where you go?" Hong asked.

"I gonna go spit in that hole, see how deep it is. You stay here," Shnatz said, then hurried away.

Hong looked around at his companions and shrugged. Groaning, they sank to the shattered floor, stretched out their short, weary legs and began to discuss how they were going to spend their riches once they were all kings.

19

In previous years, the Festival of Lights had been Tarn's favorite time of the year. At no other time was his city of Norbardin more beautiful. Being exquisite metalworkers and skilled in the arts of stonecarving, the dwarves delighted in creating the most fantastic lanterns and lamps they could imagine. They made lanterns from the materials they loved most-gold and silver, copper and steel, as well as all kinds of beautiful stone. As he made his way through the city, accompanied only by the captain of his guard, Mog Bonecutter, Tarn delighted in the infinite variety of lights that lined the streets. Whether hung in windows or from lampposts or strung from wires from house to house, the streets of Norbardin glittered with a beauty and a brilliance to rival the stars in the night sky.