The great roller coaster loomed over the party, it's shadow equally as threatening as it was exciting. The judge was awed by its absolute size, his beard stretching as he struggled to find the top.

“So this is what you have been doing,” he relented as the brothers stood in front of him, opening the gate toward the platform and to the cart waiting for them in the track.

“It took a lot of work.”

“Lots of sweat, tears, and a little bit of blood.” A slight smirk appeared on the brothers’ faces. Behind them the crowd of dwarfs congregated to witness the inaugural ride of the park’s main attraction.

“Yes, and a lot of it came from the union.” A booming voice spoke up from the control station. The speaker was standing tall with pride—or at least as tall as a goblin could be.

“And you are?” the judge asked, giving a side eye to the strange yellow goblin wearing military dress and a green sash.

“I am Lemin, Chairgob of the green union. The elected leader of the goblin laborers who made this park possible,” he said with a straight, almost hostile posture.

The dwarf answered with a laugh. “It seems you have some competition, Your Highness.” A smile escaped from his beard as he stroked it.

Behind him, his entourage crowded into the carts on the platform.

The princess retained her composure, giving a slight bow as she said with a mischievous smile, “Oh I guarantee you, Your Legalship. There is no competition, only cooperation. My guard have their way of doing work, and my role as their faithful princess is to guide the work and secure what they need for it.” She gave a nod to the yellow goblin in military garb.

Lemin stood quiet, huffing in reply. He gave a slight head-bow of his own to the princess, which she acknowledged with an equally discrete wave of her hand.

“I see,” the judge mused as he began to walk toward the railcart. The brothers held the door open and he proclaimed, “You should beware, your Highness. Diarchies seldom last. But again, I am speaking as a dwarf of course.”

“Enough of politics!” Lemin yelled. “Get in! Prepare to witness the wonder, the might, the awe-inspiring fruits of collective labor!”

His nourished the spirits of not only the goblins but also of the dwarf crowd as they gathered and stared in fear and amazement at what the dreaded sugar gnomes had prepared since their last disaster.

The party sat. The brothers positioned themselves on either side of the judge, whose beard trailed through all of the railcarts and even behind the train.

The princess sat behind, adjusting herself and eagerly waiting for her star champion. Yet the former wizard stood on the platform, his soul diminished as he looked in fear at the tracks above.

“Figwit, come on.”

“Yeah, get in,” the brothers said as the human continued to stare, motionless, at what they had built.

“I huh ... I can't, I'm afraid,” he blurted out. Behind him the crowd of dwarfs and goblins murmured and snickered to themselves.

“Afraid?” Lemin asked in shock. “You were up there! You helped disassemble the mount—” He quickly stopped himself as he glanced to the dark sky above. “I mean, that dreaded peak. For gob's sake.”

“I, I—” He stammered, remembering the shock, the fear, and the agony of when the gnomes had first leapt from the train and into the swamp. “I-It's one thing to slowly build it. It's another when it's going at full speed.”

He began to shake, his body freezing as all the possibilities raced through his mind. A misplaced bolt; a wrong gauge; a faulty wheel. A million disasters manifested themselves in his conscious. But then the brothers spoke. They cut through his anxiety and fear as their familiar, whimsical voices called out.

Reading on Amazon or a pirate site? This novel is from Royal Road. Support the author by reading it there.

“Figwit, it's alright. It won't happen again.”

“Don't worry, we put safety bars! We promise we won't jump out of the train this time,” Ini and Ono reassured with warm smiles that melted away the human’s anxiety. He took a step forward and finally sat beside his beloved.

The safety bars lowered down, and Ivy further comforted him. “Don't worry, my star champion. I am here, I will make sure nothing bad happens to you.” She gave him a soothing smile. Her warm tone and demeanor almost erased the pain of the past few minutes.

The human chortled and grabbed her hand, leaning into her to feel the pulsing of her heart. He let out a reassured, “Thank you.”

“Right!” Lemin yelled, pointing at the other end of the platform where Axel stood at attention, holding a bell. “Ladies and gentlemen, goblins and dwarves, workers and loafers. It is with great pride and great honor that I present to you the fruits of a united front of labor! Of gnomish and goblin engineering! Through effort, toil and suffering, and for redemption! I give to you: the Dwarven Railracer!”

Axel hit the bell at his side, flooding the entire swamp with a reverberating gong. With applause and cheer from the crowds, Lemin pulled on the lever and the great railcart came to life and began its ascent.

“Oh, I'm so excited!” Ini squealed to the grinning judge at his side. The judge’s beard flowed behind him, pushing Figwit and Ivy together they tried to lean away from it.

The cart reached the first hill as the crowds below watched the judge with bated breath. His beard left a smoke-like trail over the tracks behind him.

They reached the first hilltop. The cart was steady for just a few seconds, dangling over the sharp drop as the devious mechanism built anxiety and suspense inside its occupants. Figwit clung to Ivy and the safety bar. A chill ran down his spine as he heard Ono in front of him.

“Now.”

The cart sank. It gained speed as it raced down the tracks of the first hill but it didn’t wobble from the rail.

“Here's the boost!” Ini screamed, his arms in the air and his spirit soaring with ecstasy from the speed and the air bashing against his face.

The ride became faster and faster. A sharp turn led into a spaghetti of waves, spirals, and sideways turns, the speed of which made the riders feel like their insides were being stir fried by the heat and sparks ejected from the wheels.

“Woooo!” Ono let out as he joined his brother. His body felt loose and free, like a drop in a waterfall crashing into a great river only to be scooped up and dropped again, each time quicker than the last.

“What is that?” the judge said with a mix of excitement and fear, his face almost paralyzed by the barrage of adrenaline in his body.

The train continued its growing pace, racing now on a straight road. Once the riders relaxed and readjusted themselves, they dropped even further into their seats. “It's the loops!” Ono screamed out in joy as he and his brother threw their arms into the air.

“Weeeee!” Ini let out in excitement. The cart followed the track into the loop, pushing its passengers against the boundaries of gravity and defying them as the speed forced the party against their seats. The ground became the sky, and the sky became the ground.

“My ...” the judge let out in amazement. The loop gave way to another set of spirals that drained down into another smaller loop. The tracks pushed and stretched its occupants, making taffy of them as they experienced ever sharper turns, spirals, and looped rings that would crack even the most stoic of Elvish lords.

The judge felt himself being pushed against the ride, and as the world rotated around him, his heart skipped a beat. The wonder, the adrenaline, the changing perspectives dared to challenge everything he thought to be true.

In that joy, in that wonder, in the revolving world of colors, magic, whimsy, and amusement, he smiled and let out a simple “Wow” even as the wind pushed and pulled against his trailing beard.

The cart finished the last loop, but before they had the chance to relax, the passengers saw that one great final climb awaited them. The cart slowed down again. Their breathing resumed as they entered the final climb and the anxiety, the dread, and the excitement began to build.

In the back, the frozen human felt the warmth from his beloved. She too seemed shocked by it all, paralyzed with excitement. They leaned into one another, hugging and holding themselves in an embrace. As the top of the climb menacingly revealed itself, Figwit let out a simple, “Ivy ... I love you.”

She squeezed him as she answered in an equally overwhelmed but honest and humble tone, “I love you too, Figwit. My dearest star champion.”

The cart reached its peak. It held itself just above the drop and the judge stared down to the blurring abyss below and what awaited them.

The gnomes mischievously smiled and said with a devilish snicker, “Your honor, meet our crowning jewel.”

“The gnome's mountain,” Ini and Ono said.

The passengers heard a click, and suddenly the cart dropped into a near-vertical descent.

Everyone screamed. It was a freefall unlike any other, and a freezing excitement took hold of their entire bodies. For a moment, just for a moment, all of them —the judge, the princess, and the human —they all finally understood the madness, the whimsy, and the genius of the gnomes. For just a moment during that drop, their minds became one. For just a moment, they all became gnomes.

The fall ended. Their bodies entered a state of shock as the whiplash of gravity and natural forces barreled against them, and their regular selves struggled to return.

The cart slowed down. Slowly it made its way back to the initial platform along a straight horizontal path and, finally, it stopped.