Diaries of a Dwarven Rifleman

“They'd already cut the slab with drills and blasting powder and they horsed it into position with levers and rollers. They set the beams into the ground hard up against the slab with their tops sloped towards each other and tied a rope between 'em. Putting a heavy stone on one end of the slab tipped it just enough that they could slide a narrow pole under the high side between the two beams. Then the 'prentice picked up the rock and walked to the other end of the slab so that it tipped it the other way and the wright put a pole under that end. He just kept carrying the rock from one end of the slab to the other while the Stonewright slid the poles under it. They kept at it until that big 'ol slab was as high as a dwarf can reach. Dangdest thing I ever saw.”

Engvyr studied the hame for a moment and then pointed to the side.

“So then they did somethin' similar to lift those side-blocks into place and dropped the slab on it, I reckon.”

Roel nodded.

“They just cut the rope between the beams and it settled right down into place. Next time we came through on our rounds that place was all finished. The family had already moved in and was planting crops.”

Once Engvyr had heard it told it seemed like the easiest thing in the world. He reckoned that a lot of things were like that. A dwarf needed to learn to look at things in different ways when the way that he knew wouldn't do.

“Might be we could stop admiring the place and go about getting it ready to live in?” Egerta inquired dryly.

The rangers made sure that nothing bigger than spiders and bugs had taken up residence. After they announced that it was safe they lit lamps and went within. There was a large main room with a fireplace under the slab itself. Three smallish rooms had been mined into the rock-face at the rear. A latrine had been built off to one side in a small addition.

The roof of the addition had rotted and fallen in, and the interior needed a good cleaning as animals had sheltered in it from time to time. A stout table made of a thick slab of wood still stood in the main room, likely left as it was too heavy to move and in fact wouldn't fit through the low, narrow door. It was still sound after all these years owing to its heavy construction and the dryness of the interior. They set to work with a will and that night they slept under a proper roof, with a fire in the newly cleaned fireplace.

They found the head of a broadax along one side of the hame, its haft long rotted away. They scoured it with sand to remove the worst of the rust and Rolph showed him how to cut and trim a new handle for it. They used it to cut planks for a door, a new roof for the latrine, some benches and other furniture. They also set up a corral for the livestock and trekked to nearby meadows to cut the tall grasses for feed. In a surprisingly short time the hame was becoming comfortable, even homey.

One afternoon Engvyr was gathering firewood and he heard a soft sound from the hillside above the hame. Moving carefully he came upon his aunt, curled into a ball and sobbing uncontrollably. He knew that she had hardly had time to properly mourn her lost husband before they had departed. With the fresh loss of her daughter and sister-in-law, who had been her best friend in the world, it was a testament to her inner strength that she had held herself together this long.

He moved off quietly and watched over her through the long afternoon until at last her tears ran out. She fell into a deep sleep right where she lay. Not wanting her to take a chill lying on the cold ground he worked his way back down to the hame and called out for her. She came down the hill, eyes dry and once again the model of strength she had been these last weeks.

Nor was his father immune to grief, and though he gave little outward sign he was a quieter man than the one that had raised Engvyr. Though Engvyr never saw him cry he was prone to nightmares and on more than one occasion he was red-eyed and puffy-faced when he rose in the morning.

Berget was now seeing to her own needs and would do as she was told but had yet to speak. When not occupied she would sit for hours staring blindly at nothing. Engvyr took to setting her small tasks to keep her busy, which seemed to help.

Rolph borrowed the Big 14 and went out hunting one day and brought down a boar bigger than he was. He had to fetch Engvyr and Roel to help carry it back to the hame. It took the rest of the day to skin and butcher it. They used some of their remaining salt to preserve large chunks of it and cure the side-meat. His aunt used the intestines and some local herbs to make strings of sausages that they hung by the fire to dry.

Finally Rolph told the family that it was time for them to move on.

“We've been off our rounds for weeks. As it is we'll not make our check-in without cutting out a loop of our patrol route.”

“We'd not meant to keep you from your duty, Ranger,” His aunt said.

He dismissed that concern with a wave.