Athol - Captured and Gold

"If I have to cut this scene from Athol, I'm going to cry. It's one of my favorite scenes from the second volume, mostly because Perditus is in such a ridiculous situation." -Casey

Perditus was roughly shoved into the dirt, landing on his hands and knees. He was now at eye level with another wrinkly faced dwarf that glared at him from underneath bushy eyebrows. The creature crossed its arms and shot a glance at the dwarf that had knocked Perditus over. The other dwarf nodded and then yanked the boy’s cap from his head, revealing his long pointed ears.

“We don’t get many elves this far underground,” the dwarf before him chuckled, his voice rough and hard to make out.

“I didn’t mean to trespass,” Perditus began to explain, not daring to lift his head any higher than the dwarf’s for fear of angering him. “I was only looking for a place to hide.”

The dwarf laughed heartily at this and as he did, so did the other dwarves in the cavern. “Well done, boy,” the dwarf breathed. “You could scarcely find a better place to hide. No one’ll ever find ya down here.”

***

“Elves can use magic, can’t they?” the dwarf asked, in more the way of a statement of the obvious than a question.

“Yes…” Perditus answered cautiously.

“Then you can be of use,” the dwarf explained as he held up a dirty black stone the size of his own head. “Change this rock to gold with your magic.”

Perditus glanced from the stone to the dwarf at a loss for words, his expression becoming puzzled and panicked. The dwarf stepped forward to grab a hold of Perditus’ shirt and yank him downward to look him in the eye. “Can’t elves turn straw into gold?” he growled. “Can’t elves command waters to run and lightning to strike?!”

“Yes, yes, but---”

“We don’t want excuses! We want our gold!”

“Yes, of course I can do it!” Perditus shouted, causing the dwarf to release him. The elf straightened his shirt and stared hesitantly at the rock that was being offered to him again. He took it in one hand, never taking his eyes off it. The dwarves watched dubiously and the chief tapped his foot impatiently as Perditus did nothing.

“Do you lie to us, elf?” he asked slowly.

“No, no, I wouldn’t dare,” Perditus assured him, not taking his eyes off the rock. “This is how it’s done, you see.”

The chief furrowed his brow at this response. “What are you talking about?”

Perditus now took the rock firmly in both hands and held it before his face as if he could see through the thing. “Transforming a rock into something as precious as gold takes time,” the boy explained absently, keeping his eyes on the rock. “I have to stare at this for hours and work from its inside out. Otherwise, it might turn to pyrite.”

Perditus narrowed his eyes, and began muttering something in Gaelic that the dwarves couldn’t understand. The chief glared at the elf in annoyance and then waved the other dwarves off.

“Fine,” the chief said. “You’ve got an hour to finish your spell. For your sake, I hope you’re not lying.”

Perditus hardly paid the chief any mind as he continued to stare at the rock, not daring to blink as he muttered over and over again, “God, please let Ciar find me soon.”

Characters and Story (C) SuperheroGeek13