"Good morning, Kvalinn!" Bekhi greeted me with a cheerful smile from the school steps. "How was your winter break? Did you make anything cool for the Elders?"
Five years have passed since we first started school and we were both ten years old. It's been a relatively peaceful time. Mostly spent working with my father or at school, and mostly free from adventures. Unfortunately, the past five years had not brought me one iota closer to getting 21st century tech to my home.
My abilities in weapon crafting have increased substantially though, I can create nearly any weapon used by men and dwarves. The only thing I can't make is a greatsword, but that's mostly because I'm only three and a half feet tall and a blade that long is almost double my size.
"Good morning, Bekhi." I responded with a reflective smile. "Since we are starting advanced classes today I made the Elders some experimental runes. Hopefully they like them." I shook my bag full of weapons that clanked like a sack of nuts and bolts.
"So we'll need to prepare to duck and cover if any of the Elders decide to test their weapons." Zikruk grumbled as he walked up from behind me.
"Com'n, Zikruk. Kvalinn only overpowered the fire rune once… Maybe twice… ok, so it was at least three times." Bekhi kept counting up on her fingers the times I had accidentally put too much magic into my rune of forging while making a fire rune at the youth center. The resulting runes had created a blast that hadn't killed anyone fortunately, but had injured several people and damaged several pieces of equipment.
"It's been at least a dozen times, Bekhi." Zikruk said with a sigh. "Elder Threrburk is on the verge of banning Kvalinn from the youth center entirely. The only reason he hasn't is because he knows Elder Thrikrondromm will begin teaching Kvalinn this year."
"A dozen times sounds like a lot." I retorted. "But hopefully studying under Elder Thrikrondromm will prevent any future incidents. Anyway, how was your winter break, Bekhi?"
Bekhi giggled in amusement at my attempt to change the subject, but obligingly told me of her winter break. "It was very fun. I was able to travel to visit my parents this year and spent a few days with them before making the trip back. With their help, I was able to prepare gifts for the Elders, and a few treats for you."
The mention of treats had me eagerly looking forward to lunch. Bekhi had made the trip to the surface once or twice in the past five years, and each time she had brought back relatively fresh meats such as sausages, jerky, and one time there was a slab of salted pork! Dinner at home was extremely tasty for the couple weeks when she brought that. Of course she didn't just give me the meat for free, she would trade it for my weapons which were later used in practice matches at the youth center. Bringing great enjoyment to her, and several losses and injuries to her opponents in shieldwall.
"Oh? What weapons do you want this year, Bekhi?" I asked, while thinking up recipes for the meat in her bag. "Father just finished teaching me how to make a dwarven greataxe, and I've managed to stabilize a few of my experimental runes."
My experimental runes were the result of me translating songs from my previous life into the dwarven language with mixed results. Some runes were nonsensical, while others were extremely dangerous and had to be disposed of by Elder Threrburk. Although his method of disposing of them was to lock them in a heavy box while using a surprising variety of swear words. Fun fact about the dwarven language, there are literally thousands of swear words of varying harshness that range from PG, to hard R, to make your ears bleed from hearing them.
"Stabilized?" Bekhi said skeptically. "Didn't the last weapon that you claimed to have stabilized shatter an anvil at the youth center?"
I cringed a little at her jab. The song Bad to the Bone had produced a rune that roughly translated to bone breaker, and when I had attempted to work on the blade some more after adding the rune, the rune had caused the anvil to break into several pieces. Needless to say, that was one of the weapons that Elder Threrburk confiscated, just with more swear words than normal.
"That was one time," I protested, "and I managed to make the rune safer. Or at least as safe as a ten pound battlehammer can be."
"Sure, sure, whatever ended up happening to most of your 'experimental weapons' that you make at home? Are they locked up somewhere? Or has Zikruk been selling them?"
Zikruk shook his head in denial. "My father is still working on getting a license to sell runed weapons, apparently it's a decades long process. So any weapons that Kvalinn makes with runes are donated to the Thane, who then gives them to the warrior clan, where they hopefully sit in a locked closet."
The three of us chuckled at the thought of any unlucky member of the warrior clan who accidentally picked up one of my less stable weapons. They'd be fine, probably.
Our conversation ended when Elder Rongrim entered the room, and school officially began for the year.
Similar to our first year of school, the first day was spent in introductions and presenting gifts to our teachers. Now the offerings presented to the Elders weren't just to get on their good side like an apple on the desk, they were also part of our yearly test. If a lazy student presented a gift of the same or, ancestors forbid, worse quality as the previous year. Then the student would be forced to attend remedial classes, and possibly have to repeat a year.
"Greetings, Elder Rongrim. This year I present to you a short sword, with the rune of home. When balanced on your fingertip, it will point the way to your residence." When I demonstrated the runes power, it gently swung about like a compass until it was pointing directly at my house. Elder Rongrim nodded approvingly.
Elder Rongrim took up the sword and nodded approvingly. "Once again, Kvalinn. You have proven worthy to advance another year in school, and receive the wisdom of the Elders. This weapon should prove useful to me when I'm a few mugs too deep and need assistance remembering where I live." He chuckled as he strapped the sword to his side.
Once Elder Rongrim had received all the gifts from the students and passed judgment on them, he began his usual first day announcements.
"Congratulations to all graduating students. You are now fifth year students, and as such, you will now be attending school for the entire day. With this additional time at school, additional classes will now be available for you to take. My assistants will pass out lists with all the available classes you can take, write down what classes you are interested in and hand it in no more than ten minutes from now."
Several teachers assistants then passed out pieces of parchment with a list of all available classes. Due to the cost of parchment, we were instructed not to write on the list, but instead to use our own writing materials.
There was a surprising amount of classes available for a school that existed deep underground. There were the usual mathematics courses like Advanced math, Calculus, and Trigonometry. Then there were the specialized courses such as History, Geography, and Advanced Combat. And finally there were the classes that could only be found in a fantasy world such as, Monster Identification, History of Dwarves and Elves, and Summoned Otherworlder Heroes. After a few minutes of searching through the list, I made my choices and handed them in to Elder Rongrim.
"Interesting choices, Kvalinn Ekgorsson." Elder Rongrim stroked his beard thoughtfully as he read over what classes I was interested in. "Rune Theory under Elder Thrikrondromm was expected due to your abilities, as well as Advanced Combat, but why Geography and Engineering? I would not have thought those classes relevant to your clan."
I had ulterior motives for all three classes. Geography was so that I could learn if any country in this world was famous for its technology so I could go there someday. Engineering was to find out what technology was available to dwarves in this mountain. As for advanced combat, I just wanted to finally beat Bekhi in a game of shieldwall. It was slightly emasculating to have her constantly beat me in group games and one on one matches, and I wanted to get to the point where I could at least fight her to a standstill instead of getting beaten to a pulp.
Since I couldn't say any of my true reasons to the Elder, both because there was no respectful way to say it and because it could have sounded disrespectful to his own teaching, I bluffed as best as I could. "I wish to learn Geography so that if I ever leave the mountain, I'll know where I am, and if I learn the Engineering course then I might be able to craft deadlier and more valuable weapons." I held my breath, hoping that Elder Rongrim bought my excuse. Fortunately for me, he took my explanations at face value and didn't ask any further questions.
"Very ambitious, Kvalinn Ekgorsson, but if you do manage to combine your fathers teachings with that of Elder Voghigg of the engineering class, please do not test whatever you make on school grounds. I often have to listen to the complaints of Elder Threreburk, and I do not seek to write the reports he has to when describing the damages to Thane Throdhengrun. It's very time consuming." Elder Rongrim put aside my list and began talking to the next student.
When I returned to my desk, I asked Zikruk and Bekhi about their class choices.
"I'm taking advanced math classes and interspecies communication. My father thinks I need to learn how to communicate with other races in the world so that I can sell your weapons to humans, elves, and even halflings, if they have the funds."
"I'm taking advanced combat alongside you, Kvalinn." Bekhi said with a smile bright enough to replace a lighthouse. "And since there aren't any other courses that I want to take, I'll be taking a baking and a cooking class."
We chatted for a few minutes until the break was over and Elder Rongrim started calling students to the front. Depending on what classes they had signed up for, he would give them directions on where to find the classroom, or assign a teacher's assistant to guide them. For myself and Bekhi, advanced combat was in the same room as regular combat classes were, just in a different corner.
Elder Dworhick was apparently still going to be the one teaching us, even though it was now advanced combat. For his gift, I gave a warhammer with the rune of impact that was mostly stabilized. It would deliver the target of the blow, the impact of getting hit by a truck, the vibrational feedback that was delivered through the handle was extremely jarring though, to the point of nearly breaking your own wrist while wielding it. When I had tested it at home, the weapon had shattered the test dummy, but I had to wear a wrist brace for a week.
"An excellent weapon, Kvalinn Ekgorsson. I look forward to testing it on you in the coming years of training." Elder Dworhick swung the weapon a few times experimentally before grinning at me. Before I could ask if he was joking, and possibly sneak out, he answered my unspoken question with the deadly serious smile of a battle junkie. "In advanced combat we will be using real weapons. Nothing motivates you to learn to defend yourself more than life threatening danger. And since the weapons you make for me each year are the most dangerous, I'll be using them in your training."
I mentally kicked myself for giving Elder Dworhick the means to my own demise. The weapons I had given him over the past couple years were rather unrefined and childish in their make and runes, but they were way more dangerous than weapons without any magical rune.
Maybe I'll ask Elder Thrikrondromm if there's a rune of softness. If there was, then I'd be adding that to all my gifts to Elder Dworhick until my graduation.
Once Bekhi and the only other student to join the class had given their gifts to Elder Dworhick, he began the class. "Welcome to Advanced Combat. As you heard me tell Kvalinn earlier, starting from today we will be using real weapons. Weapons that can kill your opponent if you are not careful. This will be dangerous, life threatening even, but if you survive, then you will be able to hold your own against the best in the warrior clan. Or at the very least, a decent sized troll or a small giant. Now go grab a weapon from the rack over there."
Elder Dworhick pointed out a weapons rack full of sharp and gleaming weapons that we had never been allowed to use before. Just as I was regretting my choice of classes, Bekhi unintentionally twisted the metaphysical knife.
"Com'n, Kvalinn! This is gonna be awesome! Now I can finally use all those weapons you've been giving me over the years!" Bekhi then took out of her bag one of the first weapons I had traded her for some beef jerky several years ago. A simple short sword, but with a rune of sharpness that could cut through iron. I gulped in fear and nervousness at the prospect of being on the pointy end of my own creation.
One grueling hour of training later, an hour that seemed to last for a week, I stumbled out of Advanced Combat class with several knicks, bruises, and at least one new scar that would hopefully make for a fun story in a few decades, and began making my way to my next class. Bekhi had gotten better with her weapons after visiting her family and the result had been an unrelenting assault on my shield that made me wonder if I should just forget about trying to use my weapon altogether in a fight against her, and just make myself a shield with a star and stripes.
My next class for the day was Rune Theory with Elder Thrikrondromm. I wondered as I entered the classroom, if he still remembered me. After all, we hadn't seen each other in at least five years.
"Kvalinn Ekgorsson!" Boomed the angry voice of Elder Thrikrondromm. "Get here and shut the door behind you. We need to have a long talk about your 'experimental runes' and the damage they have caused!"
"Um…" I was more than a little confused. Part of me was urging my body to follow the Elder's instructions, while the other half was trying to follow custom and do the ceremonial greeting. Leaving me frozen in the doorway to try and figure out the right course of action.
"Well! What are you waiting for?! You are my only student currently and there are many things I need to lecture- I mean discuss with you. Elder Threrburk has sent me several letters about your creations in the youth center. Now take a seat!"
Elder Thrikrondromm's voice boomed so loud that I was sure that it was audible from the adjacent classrooms. I hastily closed the door and sat down for the impending lecture.
The booming lecture lasted for around half an hour, mostly it was about my stupidity in testing new and unknown runes near where people could get hurt or killed. After that, he lectured me on the danger of creating new runes, and finally he issued an ultimatum to never test or create a rune unless he was supervising. Somehow never lowering the volume throughout the duration of the lecture. He could probably give an army drill instructor a run for his money.
Heaving a sigh of exhaustion. Elder Thirkrondromm sat down at his desk and went over his notes. "So to make myself clear, Kvalinn. Never, under any circumstances, are you to make another rune unless I am directly supervising you, and you will follow my precise instructions when making runes. Is that clear?"
I emphatically nodded. The anger in his voice was palpable, and his furrowed brows and flashing eyes made it clear that if I disobeyed or messed up, I would not be getting a second chance. Both in life, and this class.
"Good. Now show me what you crafted for me. Don't bother with the formal greeting. In my thousand years of life I've never seen the point of it." Elder Thrikrondromm gestured for me to put the weapon, a small throwing hammer, on his desk and then waved me back to my seat. He then took out a pair of runed glasses and began examining the weapon.
"The rune of snow?" The Elder looked sharply at me. "I wasn't aware that rune was taught in Elder Rongrim's class. Also, how do you know about snow if you've never left this town?"
Frankly I hadn't known what the rune was. It had carved itself on the weapon when I tried singing a holiday song from my world, and since neither I nor my father could identify it, I hadn't tested it yet and so didn't know what it did. Once again I found myself bluffing to an Elder.
"I didn't know that was the rune of snow, but I go to class with a girl from the surface and she told me about snow."
"Hmph, the surface dwarf? Interesting. What does it do?" Elder Thrikrondromm clearly didn't want to touch the weapon until he knew it was safe.
"I'm afraid I don't know, honorable Elder. Not knowing what the rune was, I was hesitant to test it."
"Hmm." Elder Thrikrondromm stroked his braided white beard in thought before coming to a decision and speaking in clipped tone. "Pick up that hammer and follow me." He then walked out of the room, at a speed that seemed impossible for his self proclaimed thousand year age, and started down the halls.
I picked up the hammer and rushed after him. Elder Thrikrondromm was walking so fast that I needed to go at a half jog to keep up with him. So we soon reached our destination.
"This is the testing room." Elder Thrikromm said as he stopped in front of a small but solidly built door. "Do not test any of your runes except in this room. It is sealed with several steel doors and at least five feet of solid stone to prevent any magic from leaking out." The elder took a large key and unlocked the doors one by one. Each set of doors got progressively smaller until we had to get on our hands and knees to get through the last one.
The testing room was relatively small, just large enough to swing a greataxe or greatsword without hitting the walls. What made this room ominous though were the deep gouges and impact craters in the solid rock and scrubbed down bloodstains on the walls.
"Welcome to the testing room, where you will live and die by the quality of your runes. Follow my instructions, and you might live through your training. Ignore my words, and you will end up as nothing more than a stain on the wall." Elder Thrikrondromm chuckled harshly to himself. "My mentor gave me that speech some eight hundred years ago when I first started training under him, and I've given it to each of my students since then. Hopefully you will survive to give the same speech to your own students in the coming centuries. Now, wait until the count of one thousand and then test your rune. I will return later to let you out, or retrieve your corpse. And if the rune goes out of control, place it in that box over there and seal the lid. It might increase your chances of survival."
With those bright words, Elder Thrikrondromm exited the testing room and closed the heavy steel door behind him. Since there were no clocks or sun to tell time, I had to count to a thousand before testing the rune. I made a mental note to myself to make an egg timer of some sort later.
After waiting the allotted time, I gripped the handle of the hammer tightly and threw it at a practice dummy like I was a certain Norse god. Even though the target was less than four feet away I still managed to miss. Fortunately there was no one to witness my embarrassment.
The hammer and the rune didn't seem to do anything at first so far as I could see. It just lay unmoving on the floor without any reaction to being thrown. Before I could let out a sigh of relief though, the oddest thing began happening, snowflakes started swirling around the fallen hammer.
For the first couple minutes, there were just a couple white specks floating around the room. It was rather comforting to see, I had grown up with snow and the sight brought back fond memories from my other childhood. It also made me want a cup of hot cocoa. I wasn't able to enjoy the sight for long though, with each passing minute more and more snowflakes filled the air until it was like a raging blizzard. The temperature was also dropping rapidly, causing the snow to accumulate in clumps and ice to form in the corners of the room.
Sensing impending death from the freezing cold, I sifted through the powered snow in a panic until I found the now buried hammer. I threw it in the solid stone box that was helpfully marked with a skull and crossbones, as well as the runes for danger, death, and certain death, and sat on the lid. (Yes, there are two separate runes for death and certain death, I'm not sure why or how that makes sense.)
Once the hammer was in the box, the snow stopped swirling around the room, but the piles of it didn't vanish, and the temperature remained below freezing. This was the first time I'd experienced cold weather in this world, and apparently my dwarven body, which could withstand extreme heat with ease, wasn't made for cold weather.
"Well this sucks!" I indulged myself, and spoke in English for the first time in a while. "At least I didn't put that much magic into the rune while making it. If I had, then this room could have turned into a block of ice with me in it, and being thawed out by future scientists isn't on my bucket list. Well, now to wait for the Elder to come back. But damn! It's really cold here!"
I made a makeshift igloo out of the piled snow, and did my best to recall any cold survival tips from my previous life. Counting down the seconds until Elder Thrikrondromm said he would return.
Based on how high I counted, it was over an hour before the Elder returned. From the pounding noises, it sounded like they were using a battering ram to force the door open. The snow eventually was forced back, and Elder Thrikrondromm and a couple other Elders entered the testing room.
"Ancestors beard." Elder Thrikrondromm muttered to himself. "It seems I will have to decipher this rune for myself. Kvalinn, are you still alive? Move around if you are still alive."
The Elders shuffled through the snow until one of them encountered my half frozen body and helped me out of the testing room. I was then given hot drinks and blankets to help get my body temperature back up.
"Congratulations, Kvalinn." Elder Thrikrondromm looked down at my shivering form with an approving nod. "You survived your first time in the testing room without losing a limb. Get some rest, because starting tomorrow, I will teach you how to make your runes just a bit less life threatening to yourself."
Elder Thrikrondromm left me in the care of the medical staff and went off to arrange the cleaning of the test room. From what I overheard, there was an entire team that was paid by Thane Throdhengrun and the school to clean out the testing room each time it was used.
The medical staff working on me decided to take me to the medical class as a case study for how to treat dwarves affected by cold since there was no other opportunity for them to do so since the temperature in the entire underground city was a balmy sixty degrees. The students in the class were all from the scholar clan, hoping to be admitted to the physicians guild. As a result of their care and questions, it was nearly dinner time before I was released to go home.
"Kvalinn!" For some reason, my father was waiting for me near the entrance of the school. "I heard what happened from Elder Thrikrondromm. Are you alright? Did you lose any fingers or toes to frostbite? Did you lose your sight from the blinding snow?"
I mentally chuckled and rolled my eyes. Father sounded like he was getting his information on what snow can cause from a sketchy medical website.
"I'm fine, father. Just a little tired from a long day at school."
"I see." I could feel father's scrutinizing eyes examine me like I was one of his weapons, checking for dents, dings, or incompleteness. When he couldn't find anything wrong, he let out a sigh of relief. "It's been a long time since you've had to stay late at school. Were you successful in impressing Elder Thrikrondromm?"
"Yes, father. Elder Thrikrondromm said that he'd start training me tomorrow, but he also told me I wasn't allowed to make any more runes without his supervision and I can only test them in the testing room."
"I know." I looked at my father in surprise. He had the tired air of a parent who had just gotten a long lecture in a PTA meeting, and heaved an exhausted sigh. "Elder Thrikrondromm took me to the testing room while you were being examined and warned me that unless I wanted our house to end up like that, then I was to ensure you did not make or test any more runes at home." Father shivered overdramatically. "I saw snow once, back when I was traveling the mountain as a lad of twenty four. Never thought I'd have to see the dreadful stuff again, and I never want to see my home covered in it. So no testing runes at home!"
Father's pretend forcefulness soon melted and both of us started chuckling. He never could never get too serious over anything not weapons related. When we stopped laughing though, father momentarily glared at me.
"Don't test them at the youth center either. Elder Threrburk was at the meeting between me and Elder Thrikrondromm and he expressed his anger at having to replace the equipment broken by you."
"Yes, Father." I had been contemplating using the youth center as a neutral place to test the more harmless runes, but apparently Elder Threrburk was ahead of the game in denying me.
"Now, let's go home and celebrate your first day as a fifth year student. I had some spiced beer delivered, and while I was waiting for you, a nice young lady gave me some sausages for you. She said you'll need the extra meat to keep up with her training, and that she wants a greatax in exchange for the sausages."
Father had a grin on his face as he gently elbowed me in the ribs. "It must be nice having the attention of such a pretty girl. Make sure you craft her a good weapon, Kvalinn."
I wryly grinned, even though that weapon was going to be used against me for the next Advanced Combat class, I'd still do my best to make an excellent weapon for Bekhi though. Because if I didn't, then both Bekhi and my father would chew me out. Bekhi for giving her a weapon that was 'no fun', and father would chew me out for bringing shame to the clan. So I began bringing up mental notes from my past life that I had taken from videogames on how to dodge a greataxe, while contemplating the pleasant meal of sausage awaiting me at home.