Chereads / Descendants of Midgard - The Lost Dwarfs / Chapter 8 - Riot in the Streets

Chapter 8 - Riot in the Streets

-IronShell: Lower Shell District, Blacksmith Residential Zone

[Day Orfal left]

Dundrid smears a white towel across his face after finishing his days work. He pulls a large lever next to the forge to shut off the air flow and his eyes turn to the flames that slowly dim out. He then begins sweeping up the scale, dusk and metal scraps around his shop. After that's done he peaks around his quiet shop and thinks to himself, 'I have a nagging sensation that I forgot to do one last thing before going home ... but what was it.'

*DING DING*

The blacksmiths thoughts were interrupted by the front door being opened. Dundrid then hears the voice of a dwarf yell, "Dundrid grab your hammer and torch! Everyone is rallying at the Brownfury's manor to punish those sewer rats for stinking up the whole colony."

'Oh yes! That's what I forgot to take care of.' glees Dundrid to himself. "I will be right there don't wait up!" he replies. The dwarf however had already fled out the door and back to the mob gathering in the streets.

Dundrid wiped off his arms with his rag, that's now pitch black, and threw it into a bin with others alike it. He grabbed a small ball point hammer and metal buckler shield then fled out into the street to catch up with the others.

-IronShell: Lower Shell District, Maintenance Residential Zone

The Brownfurys are all gathered at the family conference room in a panic. Roars from the street can be heard by each of the Brownfurys sitting around the table. The tension in the air was so high that it could drown a dwarf.

"That Orfal has doomed us all, every dwarf in IronShell is after our beards and that brat isn't even here to be throw under the axe!" rants a Brownfury elder. The angry elder ends his rant by slaming his fist on the table. This caused all the mead cups to splosh foamy beer heads over their rims spilling out across the age old table.

"Blast it Jornkol don't take it out on the mead!" cried a rather plump dwarf sitting next to the angry elder. The plump dwarf carefully tries to scoop up his beer head off the table and slide it back into his mug.

"There is no time for drinking Wenkol" yells Jornkol while he picks up his brothers mug and tosses it into the fire behind them. "We have a mob outside that is going to break down our gate and destroy everything us Brownfurys have built."

Wenkol cringes at the sight of his beer being thrown into the fire and scurrys after the mug that was thrown. Although Wenkol appears to be chasing after the tossed mug he strategically snatched Jornkol's mug at the same time his landed in the fire. Now Wenkol standing with his back towards everyone and is vigorously drinking his brother's beer before Jornkol takes notice.

An elderly Aunt now stands up and turns towards a younger lady of the family and says, "Little niece where is your scoundrel of a son? If he is not here to fess up his crimes then its you and your drunk of a husband that will be sent out into the mob."

The younger dwarf lady stands up frantically in tears and cries out, "This is some misunderstanding my sweet Orfal would never do such a thing! He is probabaly outside this very minute being unjustly torn apart by the mob. Why are you all in here hiding like a bunch of goblins when we should be out there protecting our kin! Shame on you all"

Every Brownfurys' jaw in the room dropped, aside from Wenkol's jaw that has yet to leave the rim of his brothers mug. Orfal's mother then turned around and rushed out of the room in tears before anyone could recover from their surprise. Did this lady really have the audacity to be scaulding us for her own son's transgressions? No one said a word for a good minute of time, just staring around the room at eachother in silence.

*BUURRRRRRRRRRRRRRP*

The silence in the room was finally broken by Wenkol's loud belch that Sindri himself would nod for.

"Can someone pour me another glass of mead. Mine's rather low." says Wenkol. His face is now red from the alchol and his stance is slouched against the fire hearth to support his drunken body.

"First Wenkol that is mug is mine not yours," Jornkol said as he snatched back his mug, "and second if you put half the time into raising that son of yours instead of drinking all day then we wouldn't be in this mess." Soon the mug in Jornkol's hand shared the same fate as Wenkol's mug and ended up crashing into the fire.

The family drunk, Wenkol Brownfury, is Orfal's dad. He is more of a walking beer keg than a dwarf, but every Brownfury has to tolerant his drunked shenanigans since he is the favorite son of the Brownfury family's patriarch--Orfeygin Brownfury. Today however was different, Wenkols own son had caused a mob to come after the Brownfurys and Orfeygin was not around to protect his son or grandson from the family's own wrath.

All the Brownfurys stood up and yelled at Wenkol. When yelling wasn't enough they started throwing mugs and food at Wenkol.

Decades of pent up anger was being released on Wenkol and it the heat of the moment someone shouted,

"Lets just throw him to the mob and let him own up to whats been coming to him."

Everyone looked to Jornkol for a response. The dwarf clears his throat and says, "Brother there is nothing I can do to protect you, Under his flame."

With Jornkol dismissing responsibility of his brothers actions the rest of the family grabbed onto Wenkol by the arms and legs and dragged him outside. The Brownfurys approached the front gate and stopped right at it. They started to swing Wenkol back and forth and when the third swing was in motion one of the Brownfurys opened up the gate and out flew Wenkol about a good five feet off the ground and 10 feet forward.

Wenkol falls like most dwarfs by landing safely on his head.

*CRASH*

He looks up to see stars circling his vision but what really catchs his attention is the group of people outside the gate that are politely shaking his wifes hand. The people noticing Wenkols bad fall immediately come over to lift him up, dust off his clothes and offer him any food or drink he desires.

The Brownfurys back on the other side of the gate have black lines running down their faces at the scene before them. What happen to the gratifying beat down the mob was suppose to give Wenkol. Instead he's receiving beer of all things from the mob!

"Why thank you folks you are too kind," replies a cheerful Wenkol to the crowd.

Next the Brownfurys see Orfals mother laughing and smiling at the crowd as she says, "Oh my son is so lucky to have such great friends like you. Please tell him to not make his mother worry by staying out to late at your groups surprise party."

At this point the Brownfurys have lost any common sense left in their minds and slowly turn around walking back to the manor in delirium.

[thirty minutes earlier]

Dundrid finally catches up to the mob at the gate. While walking he was able to come up with an idea on how to help Orfal.

Amongst the various angry shouts in the mob one scared voice stands out as everyone hears, "That Orfal Brownfury just finished submerging a man in barrels of sh*t just for talking bad about his mum! He stunk up the whole town without a care and warned that he will do it again if anyone dares insult a Brownfury in his presence."

Silence settled on the mob as everyone looked around to see who shouted the frightened warning. Before the person was found though a loud squeek was heard from the Brownfury's gate drawing everyones attention.

Out of the gate came Orfals mother in tears shouting for her son by name. Cold sweats ran down everyone's back as the rumor described by the scared stranger is pressured into belief by the sight of a tearful mothers cries. Was Orfal really such an infamous dwarf? Forget insulting a person behind their back what would Orfal do to us if we offended his mother to her face!?

One by one the dwarfs in the crowd put on sincere smiles and do everything possible to stop Orfal's mother from crying. They shower her in praises and tell her storys of how great of friends they are with Orfal. The give promises of how Orfal is safe and sound and the group at the gate was mearly here to surprise him with a party in his celebration.

Minutes after Orfals mother calming down out of the Brownfury gate came flying Wenkol Brownfury, a reknowned local drunk. This delighted the crowd for it is easy to satisfy a drunk. A little beer offerings and some silver tounge praises made Wenkol grin with pleasure like he was king of the Lower Shell district address his loyal subjects.

"Well that went better than it should have," muttered Dundrid as he pulls away from the crowd and heads back home. "I should charge Orfal a crisis management fee for the help. It's only fair, I did do him a solid."

Dundrid walks off ready to enjoy the next week off of work. Paid time off of course, compliments of the hard working Orfal Brownfury on the Red Tooth hunting expedition.

-Deep Ocean Floor: Red Tooth Hunting Vessel

[Day 2 of the hunting expedition]

Orfal wakes up from his slumber with his head pounding. His scattered memories are slowly recollecting themselves to remember the events of the prior night. He recalls the drinking and singing. He also remembers stumbling back to the boiling room to sleep but the place he woke up at is not familiar.

The noise of the engine can be heard so he's sure to be close to the boiler room. However this room is much darker and has lots of pipes running along the walls and ceiling. The temperature in this room is scalding hot and he realizes blisters have formed all over his tough dwarven skin. He tries to stand up and soon feels a cracking sensation coming from his bones.

"Arghhhh!" yells out Orfal in pain. Almost all the bones in his body are broken and Orfal realizes he is in danger. He looks around the room for anything to help and finally notices a box laying by his feet.

Orfal pulls out the greatest mental strength of his life and fights through the pain to move. Inch by inch he thrusts his arms and legs out to move then passes out from pain. After about an hour of this cycle of moving then passing out, Orfal finally makes it to the box. He begins to laugh out loud through his bloody teeth but laughter soon turns to coughing up red drops of blood and once again Orfal passes out. This time though he lands right on top of the box.