“What is that thing?” Mizette asked while staring at the huge contraption. The dwarves worked on it hurriedly while the archmages stood around, watching the big, strange, mechanical thing. Heartwell, Vukasin, and a few other soldiers joined them too.
“That … is our farscope,” Wyvernshield answered, sounding quite proud of himself.
“And I suppose it is similar to our magescope?”
“No. Tis’ much better.”
“How?” Cybil joined the conversation, “How can it be better when it is so … unwieldy?”
“It wastes no energy, and it can take a closer look.”
“It uses a bit of energy to move the scope and its parts around,” one of the dwarves remarked.
“Shut up and get back to work! Talkin’ mouth stop hands from workin’!”
“I guess that explains all those carriages you brought with you,” Hazelmere noticed.
“We have a thing for everythin’. Just can’t set everythin’ up right away, it takes a lotta time.”
“When will it be ready to use?”
“The lads are makin’ some final adjustments. It won’t be long. Must make sure everythin’ works perfectly.”
“Certainly.”
“Honestly, this is as alien to me as those demonic constructs are,” Mizette said.
Hearing that, Wyvernshield grunted: “I’ve always found it funny when I saw the stupefied faces of the other races when they had to deal with the dwarven engineerin’. Now, I finally get to understand them, and it’s both exhilaratin’ and terrifyin’ at the same time. I can’t wait to get my hands on one of those constructs you’ve been talkin’ about.”
“They are very good at running away.”
“Aye, I bet they are.”
“All ready, boss!”
“All right, let’s see what they’ve got out there.”
---
Wyvernshield sat on the big, mechanical construct for quite some time, without saying a single word. He was clearly doing something with the machine though. The big tube on top of it was separated into several segments, all of which had different sizes. As Wyvernshield tinkered with the machine, those segments rotated and moved, sometimes independently, sometimes in unison with another segment.
The only sound coming out of him was an occasional: “hmm …”
Finally, Hazelmere ran out of patience.
“Umm, can you see the portal?”
“hmm … yes.”
“Clearly?”
“Yes.”
A long, awkward moment passed. One of the dwarves approached Hazelmere, but she failed to notice him due to his short stature. So, he yanked her dress gently to get her attention. Then, he motioned with his hand for her to bend over so that he could whisper in her ear.
“Our boss immerses himself in his work very easily. That makes him one of the best artisans, since he is so dedicated to his work, but it also makes it impossible to talk to him as he’s workin’. It can sometimes be infuriatin’ but, as long as you don’t interrupt him, you’ll get him at his best.”
“So, I should wait for him to finish his work?”
“Yes! You can’t hurry up a work of art. It takes time.”
“All right,” Hazelmere said with a sigh, sitting on the ground and cradling her chin with both hands.
After quite some time, Wyvernshield finally moved away from the contraption, rubbing his eyes.
“So?” Apathy replaced the lack of patience in Hazelmere’s voice.
“That has to be one of the ugliest things I’ve ever seen,” the dwarf commented, making Hazelmere frown,” whoever made those things has no sense of aesthetics whatsoever.”
“So?”
“That shows us the people on the other side are concerned with nothin’ but efficiency. When a true artisan is creatin’ somethin’, he puts his heart and soul into the thing. There’s no soul in anythin’ out there. It’s as if some soulless drones made those.”This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report.
“That could make sense,” Cybil said, “since we can’t detect any energy coming from the other side. If there’s no energy, then there can be no souls either.”
Wyvernshield’s tired eyes opened wide: “What!”
“We can’t detect any energy on the other side,” Cybil repeated herself.
“That’s … that’s impossible! The constructs can’t move without the energy! There can be no life without the energy, mortal or immortal!”
“True,” Hazelmere agreed, “which is why we think the other side has some other, completely alien form of energy. The only reasonable explanation is that there is energy out there, but it is so different from the energy in our world to the point we are unable to detect it.”
“What a time to be alive!” Wyvernshield stroked his long beard enthusiastically, “Are you tellin’ me there could be an energy form we’re completely unaware of?”
“We can’t take that seriously boss, not until we set up …”
Wyvernshield cut his subordinate off in the middle of the sentence, “go and set it up right now! Start workin’ on it right away!”
“Aye, boss!” The dwarves rushed to their carts at once, their short legs making slow progress, even at the maximum speed.
“Let’s get back to the topic at hand,” Hazelmere said, “what can you tell us about the portal and the things near it? Can you reach any conclusions?”
“I can reach many conclusions, all of which would be wrong! Conclusions are meaningless if we can’t test them! However, I can tell you one thing for sure.”
“And that is?”
“Those … constructs, I guess, near the portal. Those short things. They’re set up in a defensive position, no doubt about it. They’re set up in a way that helps them cover each other. Which makes me think those are some kind of ranged, defensive emplacements.”
Hearing that, a proud smile settled on Heartwell’s face.
“But, no soldiers are handling them,” Hazelmere pointed out.
“Aye, that’s strange. The logical explanation would be to say those are some kinds of rudimentary constructs, but that begs the question: where are their cores? Construct cores are huge.”
“Indeed, we have reached the same conclusion.”
“That’s what makes me think they’re feedin’ them the energy from a distance somehow. Probably with those black threads that are goin’ through the portal.”
“We think the same thing,” Mizette stepped up, “the golems they have sent had the same black threads attached to them. We also think that is how they are feeding the energy to their constructs.”
“Threads … although, that’s stupid … if those really are the defensive emplacements. Those threads can be torn easily.”
“It’s not stupid if it’s just the first line of defense,” Heartwell said, “or if those are used for observation.”
“Hmm … that makes sense … but why wouldn’t they have soldiers actin’ as sentries instead? Why use costly constructs for such a dispensable purpose?”
“We think it is tied to our inability to detect the energy on the other side,” Hazelmere answered, “the demons may be unable to detect our energy too, which means they are either too concerned to cross the portal themselves or are simply unable to do it at all.”
Mizette nodded her head: “After all, we can’t cross the portal. It drains our energy as soon as we get close to it. They are probably having the same difficulties, which is why they are relying on constructs.”
“I see …” Wyvernshield got back to stroking his long beard, but without enthusiasm this time, “it makes sense to rely on the constructs in that case. And, since those constructs are costly, they’ve probably armed them with some kind of flame-throwers to protect themselves. You don’t need precision to use those effectively, and you can just attach them to the damn things. Although, those things are too small but … it looks like those demons know how to engineer small constructs. Perhaps, they also know how to engineer small weapons.”
“Flame-throwers?”
“It’s a kind of weapon we dwarves have, very effective in the underground tunnels. It’s not a weapon of choice on the surface, but constructs can use it, I guess. It requires no finesse to be handled properly.”
“What, it … like, throws flames?” Hazelmere looked more than confused.
“Aye, it’s like your … flame jet spell, I think?”
“You can recreate a spell with a weapon?”
Wyvernshield smiled from ear to ear: “Anythin’ you mages can do can be recreated with some proper engineerin’! However, I’m just takin’ a wild guess here! There’s no way we can know for sure, not unless we see it up close.”
“Regarding that, I have an idea,” Natle said.
“You think you know how to approach a portal?” Hazelmere asked her.
“No. But, maybe, there is no need to approach it in the first place. The demons have sent us books, right?”
“What about it?”
“Maybe they will be willing to send us something more?”
“What are you getting at?”
“The last time we have sent them books, they have sent their own books in return. So, maybe, if we send them some of our trinkets, they will send us some of their own. If we send them, let us say, a regular iron sword, maybe they will send their own sword to us.”
“It does appear they are interested in trade,” Cybil agreed.
Hazelmere raised her voice slightly: “If you are volunteering to go to the portal yourself, then I may consider it! I am not going back there again!”
“But, do we need to send anyone?” Natle continued, “We have a huge container right here, we can fill it up with the things we want to send. I bet that whatever has brought the container here can also pick it up and take it back across the portal.”
“Hmm … interesting,” Cybil nodded her head, “that way, the dwarves can see the big construct from up close.”
Hearing that, Wyvernshield’s eyes shone instantly: “So, let me check if I’ve understood you correctly. You’ve sent them books, and they’ve sent you their books in return?”
“They have sent us all the books you have seen in the command tent. We have sent them fifteen regular books and got a small library in return.”
“In that case, I have some dwarven trinkets I’d like to send! I’m really curious to see what they’ll send in return for some dwarven tools!”
“Don’t you think you are getting ahead of yourselves?” Mizette said with a frown, “Ok, we will fill the container with some trinkets, but how do you intend to call the big thing to pick it up? It is not like we can communicate with them!”
“We will just wave at the portal while pointing at the container,” Natle said in a level voice.
That only made Mizette’s frown deepen: “Are you serious? The portal is too far away, there is no way they will see us waving at them!”
“I don’t know if it will work, but it is a great opportunity to check just how good their observation capabilities are. If they see us, we will start some more trade with them and confirm they have some impressive sight. And if they don’t, we won’t lose anything. If nothing happens, we will know for sure that they can’t see what is going on in our camp.”
“Besides, the dwarves will be busy setting up their equipment for quite some time, so it is not like we have something better to do,” Cybil agreed.
“Hmm … ok. When you explain it like that, it actually makes sense since we have nothing to lose.”
“Soo … we are to gather some trinkets and put them in the container? Everyone agrees?” Hazelmere asked.
“Why not.”