All That Glitters Is Not Gold

Dig Down!

Both Nori and Vori were sick now, and no healer would accept his gold nugget when down the tunnel they could get two.

Dig Down!

Tilli mined beside Orin, as always. Braids of silver hair cascaded from below Tilli’s mining helm, and once strong muscles turned ever more sinewy by the day. Orin pitied him. The old dwarf deserved to lay comfortably at home.

Dig Down!

The fissures splitting his head wormed their way into Orin’s knees, into his elbows, even into his finger joints. His normally sure grip on the pickaxe slipped.

Dig Down!

When was the last time he played his flute? Was he destined to take Tilli’s place when the old dwarf finally found eternal sleep?

Dig Down!

Crack.

The stone broke, and all other thoughts vanished from Orin’s mind. He had never seen anything so glorious as the glowing light. Gold, green, and silver light danced on Orin’s face like fairies. Even Tilli who had seen everything below the earth admired the ore’s beauty.

That night, Orin kissed his children. The healer said he’d come the next night after Orin’s shift.

***

In front of Orin’s vein stood a dwarf in silver armor inlaid with gold leaf and perfect diamonds.

“And you are?” Orin shouldered his pickaxe.

“Ah Orin, I am Thaud, the council representative of our Great King Gloin. What a sight!”

“Aye…”

“As you know, the orcs are marching again–”

“Hmm, don’t see any,” Orin said.

Thaud flashed a perturbed look before he continued, “hordes flood a few mountain’s over–”

“Don’t trouble me none.”

Thaud sighed, “They’re coming, and they’ll do terrible things if we don’t use this vein to fund our defenses. Surely you understand as an honorable dwarf?”

Orin laughed sardonically, “and I suppose I’m to mine it out?”

“Well yes, all the royal miners are busy preparing the walls. It’s truly the greatest service you can do for the Kingdom. Naturally, you’ll be compensated fairly.”

As they spoke, a pair of dwarves in war armor filled the tunnel behind Orin.

Dig Down!

The work went quick–easy to carve stone when Orin pretended each blow was Thaud’s pudgy face.

Dig Down!

Orin took the tunnel past the council chambers that night. Sounds of singing flooded out into the tunnel as Orin passed, and he smelled the feast within.

Orin collapsed against Nori and Vori’s bed, broken. Their fevers persisted, yet he couldn’t afford the healer–Orin was no fool, Thaud’s compensation would be a pitance.

Beside Orin, a fire roared in his hearth. He picked up his flute and played a few sad, broken notes to the dancing flames, letting his sorrow drift on the whistled wind.

A gentle knock sounded, interrupting his flute’s lament. Defeated, Orin cracked the door cautiously and peered between the crack, ready to send the healer away.

No one was there.

Orin looked up and down the empty tunnel, ready to close the door when his toe brushed against a sack on the ground. Curious, Orin retreated within his hovel and locked the door.

By the fire, he undid the sack’s string. Instantly, the firelight caught the facets, casting dancing fairies of gold, silver, and green across the room. A small note accompanied the ore. Orin cried. It may not be the whole fortune, but it was plenty for the healer.

Orin read the note in the dancing light:

Orin,

Filched this when I heard that bastard coming. You need it more than me, and certainly more than them.

Dig Down!

Tilli

***

On the floor beside his children, Orin slept soundly for the first time in ages.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

A/N:

WC: 600. I like this quote for many reasons, but most importantly, that it's used as the first line of Strider's Riddle in the fellowship. While money can't buy happiness, it can buy security, which is worth more than its weight. The challenge details can be found below:

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