The Toil at the Depths

[Kardel 1054]

"LO!"

 

The column swung through the air, the chains hoisting it above the deep, magma-filled pits below creaking and cranking. An orange haired youth, leading a team of similarly brightly bearded builders, reached forward to grab the stone support at it's ornate head. He had done this many, many times: material transportation was his duty in the new construction project. Such a job required quick reflex and strong arm. A long chain, tethered to a crane hanging from the roof of the cave-setting of the new Kal', would be yoked to a wooden platform which would be laden with materials. The platform would be pushed from one side of the gorge to the other, and a team of lads too stupid to do any other work would attempt to seize the load before it swung back. Too many workers had plummeted to their deaths because of carelessness at this type of labor: lost in their thoughts, or hypnotized by the swing of the crane's arm, the unfortunate lads would be pulled right off of their respective ledge and into those deep chasms below. 

"Eh, Hjor...ye fink dese chains be givin' awaeh?"

 

"Nonsense Borri. Dese chains is as strong as Kjell's swing. Eht'd take a moch 'eavier load den a few collems tae snap 'em. Dey ain't hempen rope."

 

"Roite...jus' mind et, eh? Ye slip off o' dis ledge, yer bound ta take us wif ye down tae Yemekarr knows w'ere."

 

The new Grand King was something, alright. Hjor had previously been able to do his building at his own pace, in peace. Come the new administration, building had sped up. More hours for the same amount of pay...pay that was robbed by the year's tax collections. The only thing keeping the dwedmar contracted by the kingdom building the city was a distant hope for benefits, and the legion cohort stationed at the mouth of the cave to keep anyone from coming in, or more importantly, getting out. Hjor did not mind this too much, though. He had been building for the better part of two centuries. He was but another piece of muscle back when he was hired to help build Kal'Azgoth under Omithiel the Builder. Now he was something of more importance: a foreman-type leader. That was easy work, Kal'Azgoth...nice and on the surface. This project was something short of suicide.

The magma pits below emitted a heat that was just unbearable. Rivers of boiling, sulfurous water coursed through the walls of the cave. A dozen lads had lost their lives just like that, when they unknowingly had struck a hollow wall and loosed a stream of scalding temperature. The "ingenious" government had then utilized the streams to bring water to the workers for drink, as transporting it from the surface was too inefficient. The lads had quickly learned not to drink that water.

 

Kal'Akash had been a surface city, and a poorly constructed one at that. The houses were crumbling, and the columns keeping the roof of the cave from flooding the construction with debris were slowly giving away. The cave in which it was constructed was seen as too unreliable, and so as the Dwedmar usually do when they cannot find their answers by skimming the dirt, they decided to go deeper. And the mountain proved to be something to spelunk indeed. 

 

They had broken into a large cave, with walls diving down its sides into an abyss of unknown depth. The faint glow of lava-filled creaks gave the dwedmar exploring the space some idea of what lay below, but none had dared to descend into those shadowy pits. Instead, the builders had remained atop the jagged rocks, balanced precariously on each other, that jutted out of the depths of the cave like the teeth of a dormant beast, building bridges to connect the hanging sills of stone with each other.

 

 

The transportation of materials from one stone column to the other had been difficult to say the least. Cranes had been erected on each side, and materials were transported via hoisting them above the pits with iron chains and shoving them from one platform to the other. The chain would swing, like a pendulum, and a team of about three dozen dwedmar or so would wait on the distant stone outcropping that the materials were intended for, hoping to seize the chain before it swung back across the chasm. It was horribly inefficient, and dangerous, work, but it had to be done. The flimsy rope-bridges spanning the frighteningly deep gorges of the cave system could barely hold a single dwarf, swaying and shaking like shy maidens before their first wedding night every time a brave soul decided to tread upon them. No materials could be channeled through those. And so, the genial solution of tossing virtual wrecking balls of carved stone and lime-crates over the mouths of hell had been wrought at the last second by the ever-absent planners of the project.

 

 

A large bridge was being constructed to span the chasm, but that had barely even started. The architects, all of them upper-echelon, privileged Dwarves, had been too busy to attend to the bridge. They were arguing over the location of clan halls, an argument that had lasted for the good part of the week. The plans had been shifted numerous times, with one rich clan taking offense from another because the architect belonging to the latter clan had placed the clan hall of the former one a yard too far from the throne room. While those noble architects argued, the toiling were left to hoist material by hinge and pulley, deprived of a stone bridge that would both facilitate city construction and satisfy the workers.

 

Hjor grunted with suppressed frustration, looking back at the far side of the chasm, awaiting that oh-so familiar call:

 

"LO! Another load"

 

"Alright lads, ready...and grab!"

 

Hjor's hands almost lost the chain as it hit his team of grabbers with angry force. All of the dwedmar grabbed onto that platform, halting it, as two especially skinny ones climbed aboard the wooden plank tethered to the bottom of the chain to untie the crates of materials it supported. Cut stone, mortar, and planks. One always had to be careful with the planks. A splinter in the palm could always get infected, and for a grabber such as Hjor, that would make him useless. He would either be stuck doing a menial job, such as yoking hemp for rope, or would be sent up to the surface without an ounce of gold to call his. Hjor especially dreaded the latter. He had a family to take care of, and two young daughters. Income was slow to come, but weeks passed by like hours...there was never enough mina to satisfy the ever evolving needs of a family. Hjor did not dare to imagine what would happen if he were to lose his job, if his family were to be left withou-

 

"LO!"

 

Hjor turned his head towards the hailing. He had been lost in thought. Instead of with the face of the lad on the far side, who always yelled that familiar "LO!" when pushing over a load, his eyes were met with steel  chain rapidly approaching his face. Hjor attempted to lift his hands, to grab the chain, to halt the material swing, but he was too late. Being the foremostof the grabbers in his group, Hjor was at the edge of the chasm: his job had been to pay attention, to be the first to seize the chain. He had failed. Instead, with his arms half raised, he was met with a smack in the face. His balance faltered. Borri tried to grab him, but the momentum of the chain swinging back to its origin in failed mission pulled Hjor forward, over the edge. Over the edge. Into the darkness. Into the pit. Into the chasm. Past the illumination of the magma-creases. Splat.

 

 

What would ever happen to his family now?

 

Just a little RP thing behind the construction of the new city.

 

[ThumperJack 927]

Valun shakes his head after hearing of the deaths coming from the construction "Dey aren' doin' 'et riogh'. Need sum real Starbreakeh expertise wit' da deep places tuh ge' 'et done safeleh."

[Dtrik 330]

"Gud" -Dangren Starbreaker

((TBH: I did not read a thing, but I wanted to post))

[Crowbill 493]

"Ah guess dat's de way uf deh dwed. Live fer the Kingdems gloreh...doi fer deh Kingdoms gloreh" Hellio says to himself as he hears news of the casualties in the tavern.

[1 1393]

Moved to the Archive. It shall be sorted into the appropriate category shortly.