First Time Through (part 2 of 2)

Location: Attica (AEIOU)

Arianna said, "I was hoping we might be able to talk."

The dwarves whirled around. Elrohir shook his head. The head dwarf cut through the crowd of dwarves and stood before Arianna.

"We don't talk to Shaoctin!" he exclaimed. The rest of the dwarves cheered.

"But we are not Shaoctin," Arianna said calmly. "We are a group of Elves exploring what they called the Shao. If you look at us without all the soot and dirt on us, you would see that we aren't as dark-complected as the Shaoctin. If you will give me an opportunity, I believe I can explain most everything."

The head dwarf looked at her expectantly. "You really think we're going to believe that you are Elves and not Shaoctin? The Elves are too busy fighting amongst themselves on the sufrace. They couldn't have found the Shao. Besides, they could never open it without the sphere. And I have the sphere!!"

"You have the sphere?" Arianna blinked. "Why would you have it?"

"To keep the Elves from calling the Shaoctin," another dwarf said.

"So," Elrohir interjected, "the ones who attacked us on the surface were Elves? The ones fighting swords with projectiles?"

The head dwarf nodded, motioning Elrohir to join the two women. "The blessing of the Shaoctin," he said. "We were their allies on this world ..."

"THIS world??" Linwe asked. "What do you mean by that?"

"You guys really ARE new to this, aren't you?" the head dwarf said. "The portal, or shao, that you stepped through links worlds together. The Shaoctin controlled a vast interstellar empire through these portals."

The head dwarf motioned for the circle of dwarves to expand. "They are no threat to us, brothers. They simply happened here on accident." He turned to the three Elves and said, "My name is Prandix. I'm the leader of the Attica Dwarven League, the only free confederation of colonies on this planet."

"What happened?" Linwe asked. "It looked like a warzone above ground."

Prandix gave a brief history lesson. Fifty years ago, the Shaoctin disappeared. They didn't come to collect their annual tribute. After two months of not hearing from the Shaoctin, the three races of Elves began quarreling over who had the proper rights to the shao. The Wood Elves claimed the shao because it was in their forest. The Mountain Elves claimed the shao because they had been the primary contact with the Shaoctin through the shao. The Plains Elves boasted the most elite fighting army on Attica. They wanted to claim it for themselves for "security" purposes. Eventually war broke out between the three races. The forest was wiped out. The Wood Elves were hunted down and killed.

Ten years ago, the shao reactivated but no one came through. The Plains Elves and the Mountain Elves called a truce in their war over the artifact to see if it was even worth fighting over any more. The Mountain Elves' sages, who were keepers of the shao, tried to get the portal to work but failed. Without being able to activate the shao, the Plains Elves slaughtered the Mountain Elves' sages. War erupted and has continued until now.

"But what about you dwarves?" Arianna asked.

Prandix said, "We kept out of it mostly. The Shaoctin maintained their grip on Attica because they had many cells of dwarven assassins. Many among our League continue to train assassins in this way to keep the Elves going. Whenever a cease fire or truce is called, an assassin is sent out to make sure the fighting continues."

Elrohir sneered, "So we really ended up at the bottom of the barrel, didn't we?"

A couple of Dwarves stepped towards Elrohir, but Prandix backed them off. "Not so much," he said. "We don't condone their actions, but we understand the politics behind them. The Dwarves control the mining operations throughout the world. The Elves must purchase their materials from us. They can send each other to the afterlife for all we care. We're still the ones who really rule this planet."

Arianna asked cautiously, "But how can we get off this world? We can't go back to the surface and risk being killed in the battle's crossfire."

"It wouldn't work anyway," Prandix said. "You cannot activate the shao."

"So," Linwe asked, "we're stuck here?"

"Not such a bad thing," several of the Dwarves around them said.

Prandix held up his hand to silence the group. "You cannot activate the shao up there. The activation sphere isn't there. It's down here. The Elves can battle over possession of the shao all they want. They won't be able to make it work." He looked at the visitors, Elrohir especially. "You see, we hold the power in the situation. The shao is useless to the Elves."

"Tell them the rest, Prandix," a loud voice came down a connecting mine shaft. "Let our new friends know about our actions."

An ancient Dwarf emerged from the mine shaft. He was bent over and walked with a cane. He made his way slowly to the middle of the cavern and stood before Linwe and Arianna.

It pained Arianna to see the old dwarf slumped over so much. It seemed that he would topple to the ground by breathing wrong.

Prandix bowed reverently as the older Dwarf passed by him. The old Dwarf said, "The shao above ground is useless. The Elves are fighting over a ring that can do nothing for them."

"But they can use it to go to other worlds as we did," Arianna protested.

"They cannot," the old Dwarf replied. "It is a prototype. It only allows traffic coming in. There is no going out through it."

The old dwarf caught his breath again and continued, "It was part of a Shaoctin experiment that would bring two shao portals to each world. In Attica, the outgoing portal is underground. The Elves want nothing to do with our portion of the world. They leave it to us because they cannot get 'dirty'. That's a Dwarf's job."

The old dwarf coughed quite a bit. After the fit was over, he pointed to Prandix. "My son will make sure you get away from Attica. Our outgoing portal is only good for going to where the Shaoctin Imperical Castle had been. If that isn't where you came from, you'll have the opportunity to try again from there. From there you can go anywhere."

Prandix motioned for the Elves to follow him. He took them through a series of twisting and criss-crossing mine shafts. They finally entered a very large cavern with a shao ring in the middle.

Prandix instructed the Dwarf next to the shao sphere to activate the ring. He stood before the shao and invited the guests to join him. He said, "Here's hoping you get home. Always know that you have friends on Attica that will be available if you need help."

He stuck his hand out to Elrohir. Elrohir reluctantly took it and shook it firmly. "It's good to have friends through the portal."

"Not every place is so friendly," Prandix cautioned them. "There were very many places in turmoil when the Shaoctin were in control. With them gone, there's no telling what those places might be."

The shao shimmered and filled the cavern with a cool, unnatural light. The Elves stepped through the shao and found themselves back at the colony. The colonists ran out excitedly to meet them, but they stopped with a collective gasp to see only three emerge.

The questions of what, where and why kept battering the three survivors. Arianna withdrew the best she could. She had a mission that she had to complete. Failing to uphold a deathbed pledge was like killing the sick person yourself. Arianna had to talk to Marcus ...