Fed up with the road, Beleg had picked up his pace. He trotted straight ahead and without stopping, more accustomed now to the darkness of the terrible track he followed. From time to time he ducked his head, illuminating the trail he was chasing. And for a long time now he was chasing it.
The tunnel had been slowly but steadily turning downwards and if after this he had to drag Mim along with him… well he did not feel strong enough. His courage had been failing him for a long time now, every step would have to be taken again on the way back, and he had already got the kind of side stitch that could defeat you even if you were the greatest hero of legend.
“I''m not even armed,” he began.
“It wouldn''t even do any good to be armed, for I don''t know how to use any tool but the mug” he developed.
“How I would like a mug now, well filled with the cold yellow” he concluded.
As he finished blaming himself for this last thought he bent down to sit, defeated by the aching pain in his side, the mark of one who never exercises and now wants to strain his body. How well I know it.
“Damn it Mim, if you are not close I''m afraid the only thing I''ll end up doing is an exercise in cowardice, already the spirit fails me more than the body”, this he said in a low voice, keeping himself company in the darkness.
Finally, he propped himself up on one elbow and then laid down completely, face up, still debating what to do. He wondered if abandoning his companion would not be an even greater crime than the one he considered perpetrating a few hours ago, when they were still looking down into the crevice, the crevice he never thought he would descend into.
He turned sideways, frolicking in the dusty tunnel, where tiny rocks poked all over his body and dust ruined the color of his chestnut robes. He moved like someone turning from one side to the other on the bed, trying to find the nirvana of comfort, knowing that it was a fleeting sensation.
But, in a twist of his body, his left eye caught a reflection, a bright spot in the darkness that still awaited him on the unexplored path.
No more than a meter forward, still crouching and with the side stitch inching in, she allowed his candle to illuminate the double doors of what was surely a cavernous mansion, her target and the home of the beast that had snatched Mim from him. Now it was a matter of opening them, or giving a few polite knocks.
In the meantime, let us return to the conversation between dwarf and horror.
There in the chair sat Mim, awaiting his fate without much hope, which he now also did not harbor for Beleg, his brother, friend and rival, for the beast, surely through its striking perception, was already awaiting him. Now it was a question of which dwarf had a worse fate pending.
“I hope you like the hall and enjoy its opulence, it doesn''t seem, friend, that your labor brings you a handsome profit, surely you''ve never seen such a collection of gems before?” said the thing behind his back. “Now, swain, I will reveal myself to your eyes and increase your amazement; be here the glory of Avernus.”
Barely making a sound, something slipped behind him. The tension and hardness in Mim''s neck would now have served to cut diamonds, and he could not turn his head as -it- proceeded to parade into the center of his vision.
It was black, all cut onyx and angular, not polished and beautiful like the black gems of his home. Indeed, as Mim was understood by the holes and tears his clothes suffered in the shoulder area, its claws ended in spikes so sharp they could effortlessly pierce his throat. Its legs were hideous, for, although it seemed to walk upright like the dwarves, its knees were inverted and its legs did not end in a foot, like that of all good races, but ended in a single thick spike each, on which it stood with great balance.
This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.
Indeed, its eyes were two large blue opals and the only thing that emitted light in its thin, opaque body, on which the light reflected by the geode it called home was consumed. When Mim dared to study the beast''s head properly he was surprised to see no replication of the angles of the rest of its body, but rather a round face.
The head seemed to lack elements, for, although he could make out lips and eyebrows of onyx, of the nose only the foundation remained, as if the rest had been carved away. The same was true of the ears, both of which, though present, seemed to end in a long tip that had been severed, in both cases by a surely brutal blow.
At the top of what could be called its forehead he carried a symbol, carved as a slit, so it was difficult to distinguish it from the rest of the body, only some reflections within the geode betrayed its presence and led to think that it continued up his forehead to the top of the head. When the demon seemed to realize that Mim was paying attention to its mark, he decided to start talking.
“Friend, I hope you like what you see, though I don''t expect it. I have told you that I am looking forward to getting to know each other better. You, I, and the little black-haired fellow who approaches us every moment, have much to talk about. Perhaps now you are wondering about your future, as anyone who calls himself wise should, but I assure you that you have nothing to worry about.”
“Friend, take me for an ambassador, for all I wish is to parley with you and yours. Please, we must get to know each other well and establish relations to our mutual benefit, it is all for the sake of economic progress and stability, no doubt.”
“Now, my friend, let me have the privilege of establishing dialogue, beginning by sharing my name. My name is Gimno, no more, no less, and I am sure...”
“That''s a dwarf name, DEMON!” shouted Mim, of course startling the creature, whose few-faceted face was unhinged.
“Certainly, and I''m sure...” said the demon trying to save the rhythm of the monologue.
“We have nothing to talk about and you know it well, you won''t fool me with your opals again, thank the Father I have never encountered such a beast before, but I know enough not to trust any deal or ruse!” Mim replied, more confident than ever and regaining his morale as he saw that things were not going the way the beast thought. As he spoke in such defiant terms, he began to rise from the chair, mustering what little strength the recently awakened man has.
“Be thankful that I am not armed, for then I would rid the underground of your horrible presence here and now.”
Then the light inside the geode began to fade: the blues, yellows and reds began to fade, making it increasingly difficult to distinguish the creature''s black body from the dark background that enveloped it.
“LISTEN TO ME STUNTED DWARF, your kind is a race of short-lived greedy people, living a pathetic cycle of accumulation. You squander the wealth of the soil, which always ends up in the hands of those who do not know its true value! Your life will be but a sigh in mine, a sigh that you will waste working for those who have more money than you, because they have more money than you!” Mim shrank back into the obsidian chair, his mouth small and thinking more and more surely that the demon was going to rip his head off with a single sweep of its hand.
“Forgive me, forgive me...” it said as the light regained its power.
“Friend, I know that you are in a strange place and that the situation that attends you does not allow you to see the benefit that my person will bring you. Besides, you are in search of the young lady who fell a while ago... the blonde maiden who seems to have decided to rush down the moat without wings or climbing tools.” At the mention of this information, Mim''s face obviously lit up, and, seeing the betrayal of his emotions plastered on the dwarf''s face, the demon''s face brightened pleasantly too.
“Friend, it seems I have hit the key I was looking for, perhaps we should then dialogue, fair enough, with all involved present as is only fair” at once a fine stone door, surely the entrance to the geode, was heard to begin to open inwards.
“I see that the last guest already arrives, I had left the door open and I see that it has been the right choice. Excuse me!”