See TILE 34 https://mb.boardhost.com/BikerMike/msg/1670951506.html and now read on...
"Well lad what you've been suffering from is a bit of a brain fever if you ask me. No surprise looking at all these notes and diagrams of yourn but as it happens I think I knows what your problem is. You were asked to see if you could make them elves something like that harmonizer of yours only bigger, aint that so?"
"Of course!" Tim exclaimed "What was I thinking of to have forgotten the reason for my coming here and now I know what the gate keeper meant thanks to that previous remark of yours about that island we went to where I found the right reeds for my harmonizer. Stay on the path said the voice.
I've been so preoccupied with how to make different sounds from metal, wood, glass, reed and be able to sound them independently or together in different combinations, that I got a bit confused."
"You got it all worked out yet? Cos if you aint then we may as well hold off from going straight to the elves country and maybe take some time to try out and talk about what you've got so far. As it happens I have my tools with me and as we aint expected then theres no rush is there?"
Expecting no arguments from Tim and not prepared to listen to any, Garm headed for the enormous lake that he and Tim had once ventured into before and almost become lost in through no fault of their own.
The lake filled the entire valley on the north side of the dwarf mountains and acted as the unofficial boundary between dwarves and elves. It was wide enough even at its narrowest to require the services of a boat or ferry which was an expensive solution that saved an otherwise week long circumnavigation of its eastern end where Garm was heading.
He knew of a boat builder, a rare human inhabitant of the barrier lands, one Sykes who had built the wagon cum sailing boat that they were riding on. This very clever hybrid was all dwarf as far as the running gear was concerned and the boat cradle too but the wagon body or boat was all Sykes, a clinker built craft that was ideally suited for the lake crossing provided you didnt mind leaving the underframe on the shore awaiting your return.
Garm had an ulterior motive in his choice of destination because a thriving mixed race community had grown up around Sykes boat yard and he hoped the gossips might have word of his daughter Blaise who had left home the last time Tim had visited and abruptly departed without so much as a farewell to her who had accompanied him into the deep forest and saved his bacon as well.
Tim had been a lot younger then, preoccupied with what the elven Time Window had revealed and unable to cope with the entirely unfamiliar assumptions female close companionship can make in expectation of a closer liason boys are not equipped to handle tactfully.
Female etiquette draws a discreet veil over the effect their close presence has on the physical reaction of the inexperienced male who has been taught in no uncertain terms of the potential consequences of acting upon his instincts and his physiological reaction is no help at all.
So Tim had really done a bunk, as the saying goes and left behind a deeply hurt young woman who had been hoping he would stay in the barrier lands and eventually nature would take its course, or so she expected. It was a hopeless wish for any number of reasons none of them implying any shortcomings on either side.
Garm had taken the resulting histrionics quite calmly and said as much in jest as parental wisdom, 'why don't you go off and seek your fortune somewhere else my daughter? Get away from here and you'll forget all about it I'm sure. Besides theres many a young dwarf as would be more than happy to pay court to you. If I was you I'd head off to the lakeside over the way, lots of opportunity there and a mixture of all sorts of folk, human too" he'd said not really thinking that Sykes would attract anyones romantic attention.
The grizzled old boat builder was gruffly pleased to see Tim and Garm pull up by his boatyard.
"Been wondering about you, you old bugger" he said "and I see you've found another unfortunate human to take advantage of. So to what do we owe the pleasure of your company, Garm?"
"Got some building to do of this young 'uns latest invention. He's the lad that built us the laundry machinery we use and its been working steadily all this time."
"I didn't built it I only invented it" Tim added "made all the plans and left instructions for others to follow."
"So I was hoping you might be able to suggest somewhere we could set up and get started on building this here mechanism - show him the plans Tim - and recommend a place for the bits and bobs we'll need to be trying out these ideas. You know, some planking much the same as what you use, a few scraps of leather, maybe some brass and various materials we aint even worked out yet."
"Whats it supposed to be? I see what looks like a bellows and some very complicated valve mechanisms of some kind...is it a bilge pump of a sort? Can't work out what it does not from these diagrams but it do look right busy."
In answer Tim produced his harmonizer and played a verse of the music that had been haunting him ever since his previous visit to the elves.
Message Thread
« Back to index