“What’s wrong, Hazelmere?” Vukasin asked as they traveled in the cart. They’ve been on the road for quite some time and expected to reach their camp soon.

“Nothing … nothing is wrong,” Hazelmere responded flatly.

“I don’t remember seeing you so dejected before. You’ve been quiet ever since we’ve left the palace. I thought you’d recover on the road but, we’re almost at the camp and you still look as if your soul has been sucked away. What’s troubling you so much?”

Hazelmere let out a deep sigh: “I … I don’t know anymore. I just can’t catch a break. Bad things keep piling on top of me.”

“Now, that’s not true! The demons have sent a new batch of books, even though you’ve torched the first one! How can you consider that to be a bad thing?”

That drew a weak smile on her face: “Yes, you are right about that one.”

“See! Good things are happening too! And we still haven’t been attacked, even though several moons have passed! I don’t know why you see only the bad things, but we’ve been very successful so far, even though we had some serious blunders. Yes, we’ve lost an archmage in the ruins, but now we know there are monsters below us and have taken the measures to secure our camp against them. And we’ve also maintained peaceful contact with the demons on the other side. The safety of our camp and delaying the invasion are our real objectives, and we’ve achieved them completely!”

“Thanks Vukasin, I appreciate it.”

“And yet, that’s not what’s troubling you.”

Hazelmere didn’t respond to that.

“I don’t like prying, so I won’t bother you about it anymore. But the others in the camp shouldn’t see you like that. They may think things are much worse than they are. And that may cause your subordinates to doubt you.”

Hazelmere straightened up and started arranging her hair, much more out of habit than out of any real need.

“I will keep that in mind.”

“Ah, I can see the camp ahead! We’ll be there soon!”

Hearing that, Hazelmere took a deep breath.

However, as they approached the camp, a frown formed on Vukasin’s face.

“Something’s wrong,” he said.

“What?”

“Something isn’t right.”

“What makes you say that?”

“There are some unfamiliar voices in the camp, very deep, harsh, and borderline hostile. Can’t you hear them?”

Hazelmere’s ears moved slowly as she concentrated.

“Oh, yes, I can!”

“Coach! Stop!” He yelled as he started hitting the front of the carriage with his fist, “Stop!”

The coach obeyed immediately.

“I’ll go and take a look with the soldiers. Whatever is inside our camp is making a terrible noise, and I don’t feel like taking any risks,” Vukasin said as he exited the carriage. He slammed the door shut, preventing any further conversation.

Hazelmere considered coming with him, but then remembered her magic wasn’t very useful in combat and would only be a burden to the soldiers. Clenching her fists, she decided to stay inside.

It wasn’t long before the door opened, and Vukasin got back in.

“I was worried the demons might have attacked the camp, but everything is fine. It’s just that our guests are making quite a ruckus.”

“Our guests?”

“The dwarves have arrived, to take a look at the constructs.”

“Oh.”

Hazelmere got lost in thought for a moment.

“Ohh! That’s great news!”

“I’ve told you good things are happening too,” Vukasin said with a smile.

---

The new arrivals have increased the liveliness in the camp tenfold, for better or worse. Everyone seemed to be in a rush, although, Hazelmere had no idea what they could be so busy with.

Her first hint was an almost maniacal roar coming from the distance.

“Not like that, you daft cunt! That’s not how you make a damn plank! What you want me to do with that thing now? Gimme that!”

Hazelmere followed the deep, zealous voice. It sounded as if a sore-throated priest was screaming at a heretic.

It led her to a group of her soldiers, all of them holding various tools in their hands, the kind of tools Hazelmere couldn’t recognize. She recognized Kortan among them, thanks to his unusually broad shoulders.

“You’ve asked me to make you some planks! And I did! What’s wrong with those?” Kortan complained. Right next to him stood a dwarf, his height barely up to the soldier’s chest. However, what he lacked in height, he compensated with his girth. His chest, shoulders, and arms were unbelievably thick, his belly almost perfectly round. He exemplified the timkik ideal of a well-rounded body. But, unlike the timkik nobles, he didn’t achieve it by getting obese. He was well-rounded due to his large muscles and short size. Although, the perfect roundness of his belly indicated that, even though he was quite muscular, it wasn’t all muscle.

He had a long, thick beard, which grew all the way to his groin. At first glance, it looked as if it was a mess but, upon closer inspection, one would realize it was woven in all kinds of complicated patterns. A large, bulbous nose dominated his face, since most of it was hidden behind the massive beard. However, despite the impressive beard sprouting from his lower face, the top of his head was bare. He was completely bald.

“I’ve told ya to make me some planks, expectin'  to get some real ones! Not this useless shit!”

“Well, what’s wrong with them?”

“See this? Seee this?” The dwarf roared, pointing at the plank in his hand, “See how bent it is?”

“It’s not bent!”

“Moradin’s balls it isn’t! Look ‘ere, you daft elf! See how you’ve bent it for three hairs?”

“Well, it has to be bent a little!”

“No, it doesn’t!” The dwarf threw the plank on the ground as if it was his worst enemy, “You’re just shit engineer! Can’t make a simple plank right!”

“I’m not an engineer at all! I used to do some woodwork back in his village, and that’s it. I just wanted to help!”

The dwarf looked at Kortan, seething with murderous rage. He considered what Kortan has said for a few moments.

“Don’t make anythin' if you don’t know how to do it right! Stop wastin' wood if you can’t even make a stupid plank!”

With those words, the dwarf turned around and left. A small host of fellow dwarves followed after him, grumbling as they went.

“What was that about?” Hazelmere asked Kortan once the dwarves were out of the earshot.

“Beats me! We asked him if we can help him somehow, so he told us he could use some planks to build a workshop in the camp. He insisted we make just a few of them and, if he’s satisfied with them, then we’ll make some more. Clearly, he wasn’t. But I have no idea why! What is he expecting me to do, make him a perfectly straight plank? There’s no such thing!”

“We should go and talk to the dwarf,” Vukasin suggested, “having an angry dwarf nearby can get really messy.”

“I agree.”

Due to the small dwarven stature, Hazelmere and Vukasin caught up with the dwarves very quickly.

“Excuse me, sir?”

The dwarves turned around, visibly irritated.

“What do ya want?”

“I’m a … I am sorry I couldn’t introduce myself before. I am the person in charge of this camp, Hazelmere is my name. I was away, had to report to the Emperor, so I couldn’t greet you properly. I would like to redeem that now.”

The bald dwarf nodded his head respectfully: “I’m Brarhumir Wyvernshield, this lad’ ere is Voson Silverhelm, this one’ ere is Katmig Ingotchin, that one is Umikkorlim Warmcoat, and that one is Nuvrom Greystone.”

“Nice to meet you,” Hazelmere did her best to put on an as convincing smile as possible.

“Now that we’ve been introduced, is there somethin' you need from us, or do ya have a bad ‘abit of gigglin’ like that for nothin’?”

“I’m a … I appreciate you coming here to help us, which is why I am hoping I could help you in return. I couldn’t help but hear the conversation you had before. What is it that you need? Maybe I can help with that?”

Wyvernshield let out an irritated grunt while grabbing the top of his head.

“You can’t help me, nor can any other sod in this damn camp! Did you know that the soldiers in your camp can’t make a simple plank?”

“I … wasn’t aware of it.”

“Well, now you know! Your soldiers are shit! Lazy, careless bastards!”

“I have heard you need planks to build a workshop?”

“Aye! Can’t make me workshop without some planks, can I? And I can’t work without havin’ a proper workshop set up! But don’t you worry about that! Me and me lads will take care of it. We’ll just need a few days more to make what we need, cause your soldiers are useless!”

“I am sorry to hear that.”

“Nothin' for you to feel sorry about, it’s not your fault. It’s not a mage’s job to teach people how to make the damn planks!”

“You know I’m a mage? I don’t remember mentioning that.”

“The feathery git mentioned it.”

“The feathery git?”

“Ah, he must mean me,” a soothing voice came from behind Hazelmere.

She didn’t even have to turn around to recognize whom it belonged to. Galizur showed up next to her soon enough.

“I have taken the liberty of briefing your guests on our situation. I hope you don’t mind.”

“No, of course not!”

“I must say, they are a very strange bunch, even for the dwarves. Especially their leader.”

“I … I am confident you don’t mean anything bad with it?”

“No, of course not! For example, I have never seen a bald dwarf before. There is nothing wrong with it. It is just, unusual.”

“The gods were very generous with me, movin' all the hair from my head to my balls. Wanna see?”

As usual, Galizur smiled at the remark and carried on the conversation as if the dwarves weren’t there: “You see, the dwarves see their hairiness as the proof of their masculinity. That is why they are so obsessed with their beards. The thicker the beard, the more masculine they think they are. The same goes for their body hair. They see the other, fairer races as less masculine.”

“Say what ya will, featherhead, but if that weren’t true, your females wouldn’t be enterin' the mountain so often.”

Galizur’s smile only deepened at the obvious offense, but that was exactly what Hazelmere expected from a peaceful angel. What she didn’t expect though, is for the dwarf to become calm. Wyvernshield was fuming out of his ears just a moment ago, but now it appeared as if he was in perfect control of his emotions. There wasn’t even the slightest hint of irritation or anger in his voice, or his mannerisms, even though his words were as venomous as possible.

Hazelmere decided to act before that could change.

“Oh, Galizur, it’s so great you’ve found me! I have to tell you something really important! We must talk right now, before something happens!”

She wrapped her arm around his, not waiting for his answer.

“In the meantime, I will let you dwarves do what you do best. I will make sure you can work in peace, uninterrupted. If you need anything, don’t hesitate to ask! Even though our abilities are nowhere near yours when it comes to engineering, we would like to help however we can.”

Wyvernshield crossed his arms before nodding proudly.

“All right then, I will see you later! I must talk to Galizur right away. Bye!”

Hazelmere turned around and started dragging the angel away from the dwarves.