- 2 - Emmitt Miller

Emmett calmed down and took watch by the entrance to the room.

I can’t shake this feeling.

The mural depicted the Dwarvish city and a record of a dwarvish merchant’s business dealings. According to Lottie he had been in good standing with the merchant guild.

“It’s this part down here that is strange. It seems to be a list of the goods the merchant ships but a few of these items don’t make sense.” Lottie said.

Who cares? So his accounting was off? That’s hardly going to put cash in our hands.

“If I am translating this correctly. And I certainly think I am qualified to.” She said.

“Lottie, you are the best of the best! How many people can say they have spoken Dwarvish with a Dwarf?” Jonathan said.

His sister beamed.

“But please, get to the point.” Jonathan said.

Emmett turned to check the other side of the hall for danger.

“Well it’s quite simple. It’s these 6 materials, their quantities are recorded wrong.” Lottie said.

She pulled out her sketch book and wrote them down, breaking the symbols down into their english translations.

“I don’t get it.” Jonathan said.

“See! Right here, 200 gallons of grain. 100 pounds of water. 5 liters of soil.” Lottie said circling each translation with her pencil. “These are not usually supposed to be liquid measurements and these are.”

“So what? Maybe they made liquids out of them?” Jonathan said. “All this talk of liquids is making me thirsty, let’s head back up and grab some lunch.”

“I second that.” Emmett said. “Lunch above would do us all some good.”

“Hmm, it might be possible to…” Lottie said deep in thought. She started connecting lines between the symbols, pairing them up with the correct units of measurement.

“Of course lunch would be possible.” Jonathan said. “And I came so close to losing my cake I may just eat it today.”

“I’ve got it!” Lottie exclaimed and rushed to the wall with the carvings.

“Lottie wait!” Emmett said.

But it was too late. Before Jonathan could stop her, she was touching the symbols in order, lighting them up in the correct pairs across the bottom of the carving.

The runes lit up in order, left to right and when she had touched the last two she turned happily to the men behind her.

“There! That should do something!” She said with a smile.

A humming grew in the silence and the illuminated symbols started to glow brighter.

“Get away from there!” Emmett shouted.

Jonathan grabbed his sister and they rushed to the hallway as the walls began to shake. A cloud of dust chased them out of the room.

“What did you do Lottie?” Jonathan screeched.

“I solved the puzzle. Nothing bad ever happened from solving a puzzle.” She replied confidently.

“That’s not a saying. Nobody says that. Lots or puzzles are dangerous. Especially glowing rune puzzles in trap happy dwarvish tunnels!” Jonathan shouted.

Don’t know? Don’t touch. Don’t die.

“Keep it down. The rumbling has stopped.” Emmet said from the doorway.

The dust suddenly whooshed away, pulling back to show the room intact. Except the back wall, the one Lottie had been touching, was gone. In its place was a wide hallway that sloped down out of sight.

“Jonathan, get to work. Find us some traps.” Emmett said.

Jonathan started a full room sweep. Each cobblestone and crack was checked. He worked in concentric arcs back and forth across the room.

“The wall is completely gone.” Lottie said in awe.

“It was a door.” Emmett said. “We need to find out what it kept safe.

Or kept locked away.

He held her back from entering the room.

“Wait until Jonathan has cleared the room.”

“Nothing new to see here captain. And no runes are glowing either.” Jonathan said from the far corner of the room. “One last sweep and I’ll have the whole room cleared. Do we dare venture deeper through the door?”

“We would earn a fine enough reward for finding the tunnel if we reported back to the guild.” Emmett said. “And we should not go any further without more preparation.”

Jonathan looked serious for a moment.

“There would be active traps. Not that these tunnels are a walk in a park. But through there we would be the first to pass through.” Jonathan said.

“The first to pass through are the first to pass away.” Emmett intoned.

“Surely a passage secreted away like this was for the Dwarves exclusive use. They wouldn’t set traps where they expected to be safe.” Lottie said. “Would they?”

Jonathan raised his eyebrows and pointed to Lottie to show his agreement.

“Don’t be convincing yourselves just yet.” Emmett said.

It’s a risk. But if our scholar says it’s safe then we can take a quick look.

“Alright. Jonathan. If you think it’s a good idea, you can do a quick search. Fifty feet in and back. First sign of a trap we return to the surface and comeback with more bodies.”

“Yes sir!” Jonathan said with a tight salute.

“Be careful!” Lottie called.

“Congratulations on the find Ms. Pandect Scholar. I’m sure they will be excited to hear your report on this discovery.”

“It will be the first of its kind in a decade.” She said with a squeal. “They may promote me to under scholar.”

She’s as excited as a fresh recruit with his first haircut. Thats worth protecting.

Jonathan was humming to himself, something jaunty and off tempo. He crouched low to the ground inspecting a raised step in the floor.

Enjoying this book? Seek out the original to ensure the author gets credit.

“Do you know why this door has power?” Emmett asked. “Why this one and not others?”

“That is the blue ribbon question. We should find the answer as we go deeper.” She replied.

“What do you expect to find?” Emmett asked.

Lottie gripped her sketchbook, her hands were all white knuckles from the pressure.

“I hope to find Dwarves Mr. Miller. I hope to find a city full of dwarves.”

Jonathan called out from the darkness.

“Guys! You are not going to believe this!”

-

Emmett and Jonathan lifted the last storage crate from their sled onto the stack at the mouth of the shaft.

“12 crates! I still can’t believe it!” Jonathan said. He did a little dance then stretched out his tired back.

“And each one weighs a ton.” Emmett said with a smile. “They will sell for a thousand dollars each at the auction house in Jamestown if we can get them there.”

“If we can get my sister to leave this site you mean.” Jonathan said. “I’ll talk to her.”

“Remind her that money means equipment and food. And a mattress, instead of a cot!” Mari said.

Lottie was organizing and packing her notes into a trunk.

Mari was digging a hole big enough for the crates. They could carry one with them on the spare horse and they would have to return for the rest.

With a wagon, the group could return and dig them up again, selling 3 or 4 at a time to avoid flooding the market.

Emmett checked on their dinner, two rabbits roasting on spits and a pot of stew simmering.

He rinsed and set out 5 plates, 5 tin cups, and a clay bottle of whiskey.

We celebrate tonight!

A shadow fell across one of the plates and Emmet looked up to greet their last member.

“Hello Hawk.” He said with a grin.

“There he is! I’ve got some choice words for you!” Jonathan said storming over. “How. Why. And audacity.”

Mari laughed from in her hole. Hawk stayed quiet behind his sand colored poncho and layers of camouflaged scarves. When he crouched on the sand he practically disappeared.

“You let that group of bandits sneak up on me!” Jonathan said. “They nearly stabbed me and took our horses. And my cake!”

Hawk stared at Jonathan, as if to say ‘so what?’

“Let him be Jonathan, there’s good food and whisky tonight!” Mari said. She washed the dirt off her hands in their dish bin before sitting down to pour everyone a ration.

“He’s our ace in the hole! He should have shot them before they got within a mile of us.” Jonathan griped.

“Enough. You were on lookout, you let yourself be ambushed. He wouldn’t be much of an ace in the hole if we didn’t keep him in reserve.” Emmett said.

“Thats why we have a lookout.” Mari said and raised her cup.

Everyone picked up a cup and waited for Emmet to make the toast.

“No.” He said. “I’m not the leader here.”

“To good leaders!” Jonathan cheered.

“To good lookouts!” Toasted Mari.

“To friends and family.” Lottie said.

“Cheers.” Emmett said, and they drank.

Hawk lifted his cup under his scarves and sipped happily.

Lottie coughed, the strong whiskey overpowering her pallet.

“I still can’t understand how you all can stomach this! This is corrosive. It would strip rust off of a rail!” She said causing the group to laugh.

-

Emmett scoured the stew pot clean with sand.

“My complements to chef Mari and our forager Hawk for the fresh meat and forage.” Emmett said.

Jonathan was dealing cards to Hawk and Mari.

“You know, you could call my bluffs once in a while, I did clear the traps that prevented us from finding the loot today.” Jonathan whined.

“Oh we are celebrating a different Westchester tonight. To Charlotte!” Mari cheered and drank.

Mari poured the last of the bottle into their cups and another toast went up.

A small bell jingled south of their camp.

Company!

Hawk rolled backwards out of the firelight and disappeared into the night.

Jonathan and Lottie don’t notice, they were too far into their cups.

That’s a mile run for Jonathan tomorrow.

Emmett looked to Mari and she nodded. She casually tossed a cover over their last unburied crate.

“Jonathan? How about a song?” Emmett asked.

“Oh ho! I knew you liked my singing! Lottie! See I knew it! Yes I knew it!” Jonathan stood on the canvas covered crate and gave himself a high five.

“Yes! You try to come off all cool, and of course the ladies always fall for it! But you can’t fool Johnny Boy! That’s what they say.”

“What ladies? Those women back in Jamestown can throw you over a barrel just as easily as I can. Now sing puppet.” Emmett said.

“You really mean it?” Jonathan asked. “Last time I sang you told me you’d rather be ambushed in the dark than hear me sing…”

Three men rode their horses into the light of the campfire.

Their gear is tied down correctly, they could be trouble.

“Gentlemen, ladies. Good evening. I don’t mean to interrupt your celebration. Have you perhaps been delving in shaft AE-23-19?” He said cordially.

He is dressed well for a boardwalk in a fancy town. A days worth of dust has worked its way into his brow and the folds of his three piece suit. He wears a saber and it is more substance than flash, but it’s not a not a military model.

Emmett leaned back to rest his hand on his bed roll and grabbed his saber.

A soft man that can use a saber. And he speaks like he is used to having the law on his side.

The other two men are hard men. They eat sand and don’t care if they showered monthly. Maybe if it was free with the room they rented.

They held pepper guns across their saddles. One was a midwesterner with their traditional thick dark hair and tan skin.

Armed but not ready to fight. They aren’t expecting trouble.

Lottie turned then and confusion turned to surprise on her cute face. Mari spoke up first.

“We were clearing a few traps today, haven’t gone in too far.” She said. “To be honest, our trapper is a bit slow.”

“I see. Well I appreciate the work you all have put in so far. Might I pay you for an updated map of the shaft?” He asked.

“You might, for the right price.” Mari offered.

“My name is Nathaniel Haversham and I have a claim to this shaft. Bought and paid for with the Delvers guild in St. Louis mind you. It’s all very official.” He said.

“Certainly sounds official.” Mari said.

“And you are Delvers, correct? So I am entitled to a map of the shaft. Any additional payment would be a courtesy.” Mr. Haversham said matter of factually.

Mari let the conversation stall a moment until the man spoke again.

“Yes, well then clear out with due haste.” He said.

“What? But we are having a party!” Jonathan slurred. “We are celebrating the new chamber we discovered!”

Mari tensed and unlatched her knife in its sheathe.

“It’s a beautiful chamber, I cleared the traps myself. By golly it was worth it too!” Jonathan said in a sing song voice.

He slipped off the crate pulling the canvas with it. A night bird careened in the darkness while everyone stared at the Dwarvish loot crate for a second.

Nathaniel Haversham said the last words his two men would hear.

“Kill them.”

The two mounted men fired their pepper guns at Jonathan. The shots scattered and would have torn him up if he hadn’t slipped again, tangled in the canvas. He was still under the effects of a little too much to drink. Luck carried him out of harm’s way.

Mari threw her knife and it dabbled in the cj stuck out of the closest gunman.

Lottie scrambled out of the way but then doubled back to grab her sketchbook.

Hawk shot down the other gunman with two precise shots to the chest.

Emmett drew his saber and leveled it at Nathaniel Haversham.

Too soft.

“Let’s see this claim of yours. I doubt it entitles you to our lives.” He said.

Nathaniel scrambled to open his saddle bag and produced an official looking blue leather folio. He revealed the claim and held it up as if it would stop a bullet.

“Aha! Stop at once!” He stammered. “See here! That’s my name and the guild’s seal. It’s official.”

Jonathan swiped the claim from the man’s hand. He stumbled on the corpse of the gunman, oblivious to the carnage around him as he brought the claim close to the fire for a good look.

Like I thought, the Delvers wouldn’t double sell this claim. It’s the wrong color.

“Wow this is nice. Did you pay Mickey $100 for this?” Jonathan asked.

“Well, no. I paid $120. I outbid another prospective businessman.” Nathaniel said proudly.

“It’s a fake then.” Emmett said.

“Certainly is. Mickey out in St Louie can throw together a fake claim in an hour.” Jonathan said.

He tossed the leather folio into the fire where it burned up slowly.

“That’s impossible!” Nathaliel cried. He slipped from his horse and ran to the fire to retrieve the folio.

Emmett stopped him with a hand.

“Unfortunately for you it’s a known scam. Any claims for this region would have to come out of Jamestown. We are outside the jurisdiction for the St. Louis branch.” Emmett said.

“Liars!” Nathaniel said, drawing his saber. “You intend to steal my property. That crate came from the shaft I have claim to and I mean to keep it!” He shouted.

“We found that in another shaft a couple days north.” Jonathan said.

“Arrrrgh!” Nathanial screamed in rage and lunged at Emmett.

Emmett batted the man’s lunge aside with his saber. Emmett took a step back to give Nathanial another chance to strike. When he attacked again, swinging wide, Emmett easily slid inside the strike and gently sliced Nathaniel’s arm in the exchange.

“There. First blood. If this were a duel I would have won.” Emmett said. “Stand down.”

“I challenge you to a duel to the death! Winner has claim to this shaft.” Nathaniel said and lunged in again without waiting for confirmation.

Emmett drew a revolver with his left hand and shot Nathaniel in his sword arm.

“I decline your request for a duel. You have nothing to wager.” Emmett said.

“Aggggggh!” Nathanial screamed in rage and lunged at Emmett with his saber in his off hand.

Emmett parried the thrust easily and stepped past the charging man. He sliced behind his knee in a nasty riposte.

“Good show captain!” Jonathan cheered. He was snooping through the saddlebags of one of the dead gunmen.

“Emmett enough! And Jonathan you are just as bad.” Lottie said. “Certainly this duel is over.”

“Dishonor! You sir have no honor!” Nathaniel raged from the dust. He was trying to staunch the blood from his leg.

“I was a soldier. My honor died with my platoon. All I have left is my life.” Emmett said sadly.

Nathaniel Haversham crawled through the dirt reaching for his horse.

This is what happens when you are too soft for the west.

“You will all be arrested, I will report you to the local authorities.” The man said as he reached his horse.

He fumbled for a flap on his saddle bag. His bloody hands slipped over the leather tie. “Why you won’t see the light of day for-“

Emmett shot the man in the head and holstered his gun. Lottie gasped and Mari led her away.

Emmett pulled out a rag and wiped his saber clean. Mari tossed Emmett his sheathe and he secured his saber.

He reloaded his revolver and slipped the two spent shells into the farthest available loops on the back of his belts.

“Jonathan.” Emmett said.

“Yes Captain?”

“Pass me the spade I’m going to dig a few graves.”

“Yes Captain.”

“And Jonathan?” Emmett said as he walked away.

“Yes Captain?”

“Sing us a funeral song. A sad one. People died today.” He said.