"We have returned," Ir'alith announced.

I… No, I must put these thoughts aside. Rescuing Carl's wife is vastly more important than my feeble recriminations. Mina grimaced. Especially now that I'm complicit in concealing the matter from him. No, no, I mustn't succumb… She stepped down off Ir'alith's side behind her wing, landing on dirt rather than snow or ice. The area was now lit by a series of lanterns that led to and then circled behind a familiar red behemoth.

"Greetings," Jungrathol rumbled. His giant arms were wrapped around the machine, continuing to subdue it. A pair of thin pieces of metal extended from the machine to a point on the ground nearer to her.

"Whosit?!" shouted another voice.

Oh no. Surely he's not—

"S'mine?" Valgud shouted. He was laying face down on the ground in front of the machine to the right of another, blonde dwarf who was in a matching pose, both wearing hats and warm-looking coats. "Ho hoooo! Just'n time!"

Mina clasped the bridge of her nose between her fingers. "Hello, Valgud," she said with a sigh. "I trust you've been well?"

"Lod!" Valgud called. "Flip me over! Feelin' m'beard's got enough charge now!"

"Flip yerself over, ya fuckin' lazybeard," grumbled a different, possibly feminine voice. "M'beard's chargin' more'n yours'll ever…" she stopped talking when Valgud reached out and pushed her shoulder, and the two began shoving at each other.

I'm certain I'll regret this. "I've come to help. What have—"

"STOP SHOVIN' ME, YOU BEARDBRAIN!" Valgud bellowed.

"YOU'S SHOVIN' ME FIRST, YA BEARD-TUGGER!" Lod bellowed back.

"Don't know why I keep bringin' you'long," Valgud grumbled.

"Dunno know why I keep comin'long," Lod grumbled back.

"Valgud, I don't suppose you've been imbibing your thinking brew once more?" Mina asked reluctantly as she stepped closer.

"Wha? Thinkin' brew?" Valgud repeated. "Nah, got m'thinkin' pipe tonight. Lighter on m'body."

"Can't be 'busin' his thinkin' brew," Lod said. "Slept half a day last'ime."

"You my mum now?"

"Stop embarrasin' yerself. Actin' like a fuckin' no-beard."

Valgud rolled back and forth on the ground a couple times before pushing himself to a crouch. "Y'take…" He squinted down at the prone dwarf. "Take that back."

"Or what?"

Valgud shrieked and rolled backwards. "Lod, don't move," he whispered. "They're back. One's hoverin' over you."

How has this happened? Was everything I'd thought about the dwarves being masters of craft and sciences a lie?

"Valgud, you seem unwell," Ir'alith said.

"What?!" he shouted, his head swiveling to and fro until, after three tries, he turned it far enough to catch sight of Ir'alith's massive form. "You're here?! How long you been here? You spyin' on our thinkin' strategies?" He harrumphed. "See Lod? What'd I tell you."

"Told me yer a fuckin' idiot's what you told me."

At least Lod seems to have some manner of control over—

"GOT IT DONE!" Lod screamed as she rolled over. "BEARD'S FULLY CHARGED! CONNECT THE CONDUIT!"

Valgud scrambled to the side and grabbed—after two attempts—the pieces of metal on the ground which extended over to the machine, following which he stumbled over to Lod and pressed them to the sides of her beard.

Mina looked back and forth between the two dwarves and the machine.

"We got it," Valgud said in a tone conveying total confidence. "Felt it that time." He sat back down on the ground. "Thing's just a hunk a'metal now."

"Feelin' drained," Lod said. She patted at her chest, groping among the multitude of pockets in her thick jacket until she reached into one and produced a small, pipe-shaped device, which she raised to her mouth.

"Jungrathol," Ir'alith said.

"There was no change, Protector."

"Valgud," Mina said. She knelt down beside the two dwarves.

Lod blew a puff of multicolored smoke out of her mouth.

"Lod, where's m'thinkin' pipe?" Valgud asked, patting his own pockets.

"Mountain ate it," she replied. She sucked on the pipe again and held it out to him.

Mina snatched the pipe away. "Now then, if you could explain t—"

"He WHAT?!" Valgud pushed himself to his feet and turned to his side, facing a nearby mountain. "Gimme back m'pipe!" he shouted, raising his fist.

Mina clasped the bridge of her nose once more.

"It is good that you have returned," Ir'alith said.

"Does your human smell still pain you?" Jungrathol asked.

----------------------------------------

"Valgud, show me, if you would, the effects you've discovered with your lodestones."

"Didn't have to take away my pipe."

"She took my pipe, Foreman Valgud. You threw yours away somewhere."

"Did not! I'd remember doing something so—"

"If we might focus a moment…"

"Yeah, yeah. See, we take this big one—Lod give me a hand—and we put it up against this spot here—Lod, hold your end up more—like t—"

"I'm holding the whole thing up while you're standing there combing your beard!"

"I'll show you combing my bea—"

"Valgud, please, if you could muster your full capabilities just for a short while, I'd be ever so grateful."

"Alright. We put this here, and then Jungrathol lets go… Jungrathol, let go."

"I will."

"Oh my. It's indeed become quite sluggish!"

"Yep. Doesn't stick to it, but they're weak to lodestones anyway. Let's—Jungrathol, flip it over, and I'll—Yeah, like that. Should be easier to hold it down now."

If you discover this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the violation.

"It is much easier now. I thank you, Valgud."

"This will be easier than keeping it under the mountain."

"You what now?"

"I cut the mountain like this. Jungrathol held it while I pushed the machine underneath."

"That's, uh…"

"Um…"

"Lod, stop gawping at it like that."

"I was only following your example, Foreman Valgud."

"But it was capable of enduring such a weight? Remarkable."

"Its weight is greater than that of the mountain."

"Perhaps you'd repeat that? I believe I've misheard."

"Its weight is greater than that of the mountain."

"Oh my. Perhaps… If all the machines were crippled in this manner, would that be sufficient for you to attempt a rescue? Or must they be completely incapacitated?"

"I…would attempt it if this was the extent of their movement."

"You seem uncertain."

"It is not your concern. Can lodestones be used to create a larger effect that would suppress the movements of all machines in Khag Daruhm?"

"Valgud? Have you any ideas on the matter? I've little knowledge regarding the capabilities of lodestones."

"Might have an idea if I could have my thinking brew…"

"Foreman Valgud, our workshops can't afford to have you sleep through another day. Rumors were being passed saying that you were tugging your beard."

"What?! Lod, why am I just hearin' about this sorta thing now?"

"You've been very busy, Foreman Valgud. I try to prioritize, and gossip is not very important."

"Um, I've no wish to interrupt what I'm certain is a critical discussion regarding dwarven rumormongers, but if I could trouble you to return to—"

"Yeah, yeah, the lodestones. Lod, we'll talk about this later."

"I'll make a note."

"Thing is, lodestones aren't that strong. Move that one off a little and it's not going to have much effect. There's some that are stronger, but that was the best one I could dig up yesterday. To get one like you're talking about…"

"Foreman Valgud, don't forget the scrap finder."

"The… Oh. Can't see how that'd help, but as long as we're throwing ideas around… Got this chunk of iron wrapped with copper cables that we hook up to the lightning cables fueling the lamps in the workshops. Acts as a stronger lodestone, but it needs to be fueled by controlled lightning to work. We use it to pick up scrap metal off the floor so we don't step on it."

"I see. And you've believed this useless because…"

"Nowhere to get controlled lightn—Oh."

"Ir'alith?"

"I can create lightning."

"And there you have it, Valgud. All the lightning we could hope for."

"If I create lightning near this machine, it will have less power and control."

"We've time aplenty to test this. First, however, I believe we'll need Valgud to fetch one of these scrap finders for us."

"If I'm going back, I'm getting a drink."

"Foreman Valgud, I'll be accompanying you, and there will be no drinking."

"Lod, don't be—"

"Need I remind you that our workshop is still behind the production of Foreman Skommel's, and he—"

"Ah, chew your beard! Don't wanna hear about that now. I'm havin' an adventure! Oi, put me down! Put me down!"

"I will accompany you as well. It has been too long that Annie has remained captive. We will return soon."

"Ah, I've forgotten to give back her pipe."

----------------------------------------

"I am glad he is enjoying it."

"My thanks also for assisting me with this," Mina said as she flew through a portal atop Ir'alith's broad back. I should perhaps inform him that his sun-blocking glasses were crafted by Ir'alith…

"Your assistance was freely given to me. This is no great task."

Mina stared down at her now-skeletal fingers as she moved them back and forth. "I'm hopeful we may realize some progress using this scrap finder as an avenue of thought. Ah, I believe we'll need another portal to reach our destination if we're to continue evading detection. Beyond that wall."

A portal opened just ahead, and they continued on through.

The first district does seem markedly different than what little I've seen of the others. Not nearly to the same extent as the nobles' district is distinct from the remainder of Charus City, but still quite noticeable. This confounded workshop is frustratingly difficult to identify even with the spell to aid my sight, however. Mina frowned as she swung her head around. "Could you perhaps reduce your speed slightly? It was a brown, stone building… Ah, I believe that's the one," she said, pointing to a vaguely familiar structure. Their course adjusted, and they began to accelerate towards it.

Ir'alith landed silently on top of the building moments later, her wings gathering at her sides and beginning to dissolve as she regained her natural form.

Or is is truly her natural form at all? Perhaps this is simply a form she prefers to wear? Mina slid off the back of the dragon which had ceased to be a dragon, taking her skeletal feet as she crouched on the rooftop.

"Do you possess ill will towards this human?" Ir'alith asked. She flexed a hand, displaying short, terrifyingly sharp claws.

"Not directly," Mina said. "And… I've no wish to upset you, but Carl has said some of those he's encountered in this city have been quite strong. If possible, I'd like to avoid fight—"

"Do not fear, Mina," Ir'alith said. "I am the strongest." Her tail tapped on the ground, and she changed again, growing more slender. The claws at the ends of her fingers extended until her hands were nothing more than the nexus where large claws met. The claws on her feet underwent a similar change, and she became slightly shorter, the exposed patches of blue skin shifting to become scales. "Do—"

"Halt," came a woman's deep voice from behind. "What is your purpose in Onyxfell?"

Mina turned around, and a short-haired woman came into view standing on the other side of the rooftop. She was tall, perhaps even taller than Ir'alith, and her body looked to be carved from stone. Her bared arms bulged with muscle, her tree-like torso was covered in light, leather armor over which she wore a distinctive pendant, and each of her legs looked to be as big as Mina's own waist. She stood poised in an obvious fighting stance with her eyes narrowed.

"My purpose is not your concern," Ir'alith said, sounding amused. "Leave, or you will die."

Mina grimaced. "Please, let's refrain from needless bloodshed," she said, looking back to Ir'alith. There's no need to sacrifice who knows how many citizens of Onyxfell that I may steal parts tonight.

Ir'alith's glowing, helmeted head turned to look down at her. "I attempted a threat to avoid fighting. It was not—"

"What is this?" the other woman shouted.

Mina looked back and saw her floating a short ways off the ground several steps nearer than she'd been. She flailed for a moment, and then she began spinning wildly in random directions at a speed too fast to follow, letting out furious-sounding bellows.

"Come, let us retrieve that which you desire," Ir'alith said, no longer paying the woman any mind. Her tail struck out and pierced a hole in the roof in front of her, and she levered a large chunk of stone up with one of her feet.

"What," the woman said, gasping for breath, now kneeling against the rooftop a short ways away, "are you doing to me?" She struggled to retake her feet, her gasps growing deeper, and fell again, bracing herself against the stone.

"Leave, and I will not pursue," Ir'alith said.

The woman managed to take a step forward. "I am," she panted, "Laberia Salonina." She gasped again. "I do not flee."

"What've you done to her?" Mina asked. I'd requested she not kill, but this woman seems decidedly unwell.

"You warned that there may be those who possess great strength in this place, and I am no fool," Ir'alith said. "No matter how strong, she is still human, so I defeated her as a human. A human must touch the ground to fight. I prevented her from touching the ground. A human relies on sight to make decisions. I spun her with my mind to confuse her eyes. A human must breathe to live. While she spun, I stole her breath."

The woman leaned forward then collapsed onto the roof, clawing at her throat.

"As I said," Ir'alith continued, "I am the strongest. Strength is not always strength of body. Humans are weak to magic. If I fight a human, I will strike first with magic. It is easier."

The woman stopped moving.

If I'd ever believed she lacked cunning, this has surely dissuaded me from the notion. Had she truly wished otherwise, I can't imagine humanity would be capable of surviving. Could she enact such a spell across an entire city?

"Come," Ir'alith said again. She stepped forward and dropped into the building.

Mina glanced over to the perhaps unconscious, perhaps dead woman on the opposite side of the roof. I suppose I'm to take her at her word. If she's intent on slaughtering the city, there's little I can do to prevent it. She sighed. And now I'm expected to simply… She looked down at the hole in the roof. Ooh, I do regret asking her to assist me. No, I mustn't think on it further. She closed her eyes and stepped forward, feeling a rush as she fell downwards.

"There are more humans," Ir'alith announced.

Mina opened her eyes. She was now standing on the ground inside the same workshop she'd visited with Phonia several days prior. A trio of men were gasping on the floor near to the front side of the workshop.

"They are much weaker," Ir'alith said. Her tail flicked, likely to indicate her amusement.

Judging based on how quickly they've succumbed, her assessment seems accurate. Mina looked around. At least his business seems unaffected by my prior theft of his tools. How unfortunate for him that he's chosen to align himself with Emma. The first occasion was coincidence, but I'm feeling decidedly upset with her after what she's done to Carl last night.

"I believe we can begin with this steamcar," she said, pointing to the vehicle. With this, I'll have acquired a majority of the parts I'm incapable of creating. How fortuitous. "And I believe this as well…"