The Deal

From five dwarven gems arranged just so.

Around and round they make Light’s glint go.

A Pentagram that opens a door,

to a place that ancient Dragons roar.

From those gems they made a hidden blind.

An act that sealed their Fate for all time.

What secret mysteries do they now know,

from five dwarven gems arranged just so.

“Gretchen and Banded Stoutframe,” said the gnome Darkheart as he opened the door to the library.

“Come in, come in,” said Ball Orecrusher as he looked up from the complex magic elven symbol he was studying that was projected in the air above his desk, “I have the documents right here.”

He reached through the image and picked up the papers then handed them to Banded.

“Both of you sign at the bottom of the top three pages,” he said, “the last page is your Dad’s permission slip.”

“Hey what is this, Balls, it makes you one of the board members with voting privileges.”

“Yeah Banded, the backers wanted someone they knew on the board of directors before they would invest.”

“Okay Balls, you want in, you must pull your weight.”

“That’s fine, no one understands elven technology like me,” said Ball.

He pulled a cord and Darkheart the gnome appeared at the library door, “Yes Sir,” he said.

Ball said, “Ale, Darkheart, to toast the new corporation, United Smelters of Mithril.”

The pair signed the papers with a feather quill that Ball had on his desk. Soon the ale was brought and set down on the desk.

Gretchen picked up a tankard and said, “To U. S. Mithril.”

The three tankards clanked together and each took a big sip of ale to seal their fate. Little did they know that destiny had planned for them. That evening Gretchen took the permission form from Ball to her Dad.

As he worked at his desk she walked over, kissed his cheek and said, “Here Dad is a from saying you give permission for our latest project.”

“Humm Chinnie, what this?”

“Just a permission form. Sign it please,” she gave him one of those looks only a daughter can give a dad that would melt the heart of an ice giant.

Banded watch from the hall as the paper was signed and Gretchen strolled away.

“Chinnie, I would have got the fifth degree if I had tried that.”

“Don’t call me that,” said Gretchen, “I’m no child anymore.”

“The way you got Dad to sign that I guess not, Chinnie.”

“Humth! I’ll take this form to Ball tomorrow, Banded.”

“I don’t trust you with Balls alone, Chinnie,” he said, “I’m coming too.”

“I hate it when you call me that,” she said, “Admit it you like his ale.”

“Alright,” said Banded, “His ale is okay.”

The next day both went to see Ball.

Ball said when Gretchen handed him the signed form, “Very good, this puts everything in order.”

Darkheart appeared with three tankards of ale, “I assumed you like this, Sir.”

“Yes, why thank you Darkheart,” Ball said taking a big sip, “Ahh, I don’t know how to put this so I’ll just be out with it. I have a party interested in your blind.”

Banded said “what blind?”

At the same time Gretchen said, “What about it?”

Banded gave Gretchen a dirty look and said, “Chinnie!”

“Oooo, Banded,” She said.

Banded said, “I’m not ready to discuss this yet. Remember the little problem of the dragons.”

“Banded you locked the back plane you said,” she said.

“Yeah well now I think I should lock all planes, Gretchen.” Banded said.

“Ahh,” Ball said, “Not to rain on your parade, but the elves have taken your blind and have a secret project they are conducting. Tell me about this blind.”

Banded said, “It started when Rigid was developing his new cut. Two dozen of the gem he rejected were in the waste. So Gretchen and I started to mess with them.

First, we lined them up and the light flashed though them all like a blazing fire. Next, when we made a pentagram it made a void in the center pentagon that anything placed in the center, and it disappeared. We expanded the area until it was big enough to hide inside of the structure of gems and wood staffs and rods to hold them at just the right angles. The pentagram needed to be tipped at 45 degrees of the floor. The problem was the air movement if the tree like structure was to big one could feel it breathe.”

“Breathe,” said Ball?

Gretchen said, “Yeah, it breathed. What else do you call air moving in and out?”

“That explains a lot,” said Ball, “The elves say your blind is alive and it wants to talk to the creators.”

Gretchen said, “I don’t think that Banded and me will going to Meadowdale real soon. The elves think we are responsible for a few deaths and exposure of their secret super furnace. An elf lives forever and so does their memory.”

“What if you could talk to them from here and not be there,” Ball said?

Ball took out a small flat box and said, “I can talk to my operative Vlad Moonglow on this magic box.”

“Show me,” said Banded.

Ball said, “Watch this.”

Ball poked his finger at the box a couple of times and set it down.

Suddenly an elf face appeared on the surface of the box and the image said, “Ahoy Ball, good to hear from you.”

Ball said, “Ahoy Vlad, I have some friends here who you wanted to talk to about the gateway blind.”

“Really, Ball are they there with you now?” the voice from the box said.

“Yes, I have Gretchen and Banded Stoutframe with me.”

“Good, I’m Vlad Moonglow, nice to me you. The gems in the gate way what are they?”

Banded said, “They are called Demon Tears and are from very deep in our mine. They are very expensive could we get them back?”

“Get them back? We were interested in more,” Vlad said, “How much?”

“They are not for sale,” Gretchen said, “Dad would will be angry over the missing gems in the blind.”

Vlad said, “Tell your Dad we will pay him handsomely for another set of gems. 25,000 gold today.”

“No we better not,” Gretchen said, “Dad will is going to ground us forever when he finds out about the lost gems.”

“I’ll pay for the lost gems and a new set of gems 500 platinum,” Vlad said, “Only, they must be cut just like these.”

Banded said, “I give you five gems and you give me 50 ten packs of platinum worth 50,000 gold?”

Vlad said, “Yes, do we have a deal?”

Banded said, “No Way. 75 ten packs of platinum.’

Vlad said, “Deal! I’ll have the platinum over to Ball before noon. I must have another set of gems to experiment on. When do I get the gems?”

“I have the next set right here,” Banded said holding up a gem bag, “We are not responsible for any dragons you let escape.”

The Dwarves put away six tankards of ale by the two hours time the payment took to come to Ball’s house. The Dwarves unloaded the elf cart of the ten packs. A quick jiggle and a dwarf knew exactly how much was in each roll and what kind of coins were in each ten pack. They took the coins and loaded them on to a dwarf cart borrowed from Ball for Gretchen and Banded to use.

“I want 8 ten packs commission for the deal,” said Ball.

Gretchen said, “You take four.”

Ball said, “And a date tonight.”

“Balls!” said Banded.

Gretchen giggled and said, “Okay.”

“Chinnie!” said Banded.

Gretchen ignored her brother and the delivery elf took the five gems back to Vlad.

Ball said, “We need a couple sets of gems to see if we can tell what the elves are up to.”

“Sure we will make you a set Ball and give it to you if you are a gentleman with Gretchen tonight,” Banded said.

Ball said, “very good I’ll see you tonight for dinner Gretchen.”

When they got to their house, most of the family was still enjoying after lunch ale on the porch.

Rigid said, “And where did you children steal a pony wagon from.”

Gretchen said, “We are just borrowing it to move our ten packs of platinum.”

“You don’t have any platinum,” said Mobile, “Let alone a ten pack, Chinnie. Stop your bull and come clean. It’s rocks your pretending to be rolls of platinum.”

Everybody laughed, but Casted. He got up and shook one of the rolls. The sound made everyone stop and stare. Even the youngest Stoutframe knew what platinum pieces sounded like in a ten roll pack.

He said, “I count 71 rolls. And odd number, eh?”

Banded said, “Yeah there were 75 but Ball took 4 for commission making the deal and a date with Chinnie.”

Gretchen said, “Stop calling me that I’m a big girl now.”

Casted said, “My Chinnie on a date? Where has time gone.”

Rigid said, “You children paid 4000 gold commission for a 75,000 gold deal? What did you sell, the family jewels?”

Gretchen “Nope, just some trash we had laying around. We are going to put this in the family vault and seal the wax with our signate rings ”

That afternoon Banded and Gretchen made fifteen more gems for three more blinds. Each took a bag of five stunning gems.

Gretchen picked up the third bag and said, “I’ll take Ball his set of gems tonight.”