It was hot. Hot like metal in a raging furnace. Hot like the barrel of the gun that just killed half a dozen men. Hot like the fires of Hell when it comes time to immolate the newly arrived group of sinners. The sun blazed down upon the ground as if it was daring every living thing in the desert to come out from the shade and die of heatstroke. But, when you actually are Death, heat is not something to worry about. Or so Isaac would have thought.
"It is way too hot," Azrael groaned as the two rode along. "It's like metal in a raging furnace hot."
"Aren't you, like Death or something?" Isaac responded wearily. "What's heat to you?"
"Just because I can't die doesn't mean I can't be uncomfortable. I'm roasting in this sun. In case you didn't know, bones aren't superb at the whole sweating thing. Now, come on, I know we are trying to get to that town or whatever, but we need to stop in some shade."
Isaac shook his head, but knew that Azrael was right. He was already starting to feel a little queasy from the heat and tired in his limbs. He knew his horse needed rest as well. Even though the horses of the Regal Desert were bred to be tolerant of the heat, even they had their limits. They would have to stop, and for a lot longer than the water breaks they had been taking.
"There're some alcoves in that rock formation coming up. We can rest there," Isaac responded. Azrael nodded and after what felt like a scorching eternity, the two had made it to shade. The relief was immediate and immense. "Oh, that is so much better. I feel like I might not die now."
"But probably soon," Azrael said as he removed his hat and wiped at imaginary sweat. Isaac ignored what Azrael had to say, even if it fell under his area of expertise. He had gotten this far, and he was far too foolhardy to fall down dead, yet. Closing his eyes, he was back in Eden Prairie, standing under the big oak tree that grew in front of Farmer Davis's house. A calm and cooling wind blew against his face, his ears losing him in the sounds of the leaves and grass rocking back and forth.
"Hey Isaac", a voice as sweet as sugar said to him from behind.
"Hey Nat," he responded as he turned to face her. She looked as pretty as he remembered. Her red frizzy hair bounced in the breeze. Her smile was made all the more beguiling by the freckles that spotted her face. She stood over him by about a half of a foot because of their age difference of two years and the fact that Isaac was a little short for his age and she was a little tall. Her dress was made from worn fabric that her mother had sewn by hand, but to Isaac she may as well have been wearing the finest silks.
Isaac had known her for years. After he had arrived in Eden Prairie alone and scared, she met him with a smile and a hug. He never forgot the warmth he felt as he held her close. Her soul burned with a fire so rare. As he grew older during his time at the orphanage, he would make as many excuses as he could to talk to her, even during their lesson time, much to their teacher Mr H's consternation. Nat seemed to do much of the same, as once the two of them had grown too old for school, she would idly wand from her finished farm work to where he was doing some odd jobs for spare chits, to shoot the breeze with him. All their time together meant a lot of looks from adults, some wondering how long until they might make some announcement that they would marry, and others strongly shaking their heads in disapproval.
"What are you up to this fine day? Got any work to be getting to? Or do you have some time to waste in idle conversation?"
"For you? It could never be a waste of time, Nat," Isaac said with a sheepish smile. He could see her face turning as red as her hair.
"Isaac, you always seem to have the sweetest of things to say. If I didn't know better, I would think you might have been reading some poetry each day in order to speak so pretty.
It was Isaac's turn to blush as he thought of the volume of poetry he had "borrowed" from the library that was sitting on his small bedside table. He wished he could make her swoon by reciting a sonnet he had recently read. He imagined holding his hand to her cheek and looking deeply into her emerald eyes as he spoke about beauty and love.
"Lost in thought?" she said with a light laugh. He realized he had gone a million miles away and pulled himself back into the present.
"I was thinking about..." He said before choking. There were so many things he wanted to say, but he couldn't.
"About?" she smiled as she tried to drag an answer out of him. A score of answers all landed in his head, crowding out his ability to respond to her. Finally, he answered.
"I was thinking about you." This answer surprised even him in its forthrightness. He prayed he might not grow so cowardly as to walk it back. "I was thinking about you, and how much I wish I could sit with you and spend all day listing the ways you have made my life so much better by being a part of it, and then we would watch the sunset, with you in my arms. Then we would spend all night together, listening to the crickets and watching the fireflies until we both fell asleep in each other's embrace. That is what I was thinking about, Natalie."
There she stood. Her mouth open in shock. He could see her mind reeling as it processed what he had said.
"Isaac... I," she stammered. He could now see he had gambled and gone bust as her face grew heavier with concern and disapproval. "I can't. I've thought about it too, but I can't. My daddy. You know he doesn't approve of us even communicating as friends. There is no way he would accept us as being in... I'm sorry." She turned and began quickly to make her way back home. He could hear her stifling her crying. He walked to Mr. Meechum's place, where he had promised to help put together a new chicken coup in exchange for enough chits to keep the orphans fed until the end of the week. He pulled a kerchief from his pocket to wipe away the tears as he tried to think of a sonnet that could encapsulate his heartbreak.
"Kid. Kid! Are you suffering from heat madness? Come on!" Isaac heard as he made his way back to reality. He felt a warm, bony hand against his forehead.
"I'm all right. I'm all right," he lied as he swatted Azrael's hand away.
"Good," Azrael replied as he pulled his hand back. "Through, word to the wise, if you try to hit my hand away like that again, I will make sure you aren't all right for a very long time, ok?"
"Okay. Your position as the big tough guy is noted."
Azrael laughed. "I knew there was a reason I liked you kid. It's that moxie in you that comes out sometimes. Reminds me of me." Isaac rolled his eyes before finding that they had stumbled upon something in the alcove's corner. There was a small passage that looked to lead further into the rock. It looked to have been carved by tools, which was odd seeing as it looked to only be about four feet in height. He tapped Azrael on the shoulder with the side of his hand before directing him to look as the opening.
"What do you think that's about?" Isaac asked. He knew that they should probably just rest where they were until they could keep moving, but he always had a hard time passing up on something to explore.
"Probably gnomes," Azrael responded as though it already bored him. "This place is lousy with them. Probably because they are always underground and never having to worry about the heat. Lucky bastards. They just spend all their time mining for stones and metals and other trinkets. Don't even really use them for anything but trading for food and water when they need it."
"Gnomes, huh? Can we try to meet some? Sounds fun, actually, and we have some time to kill staying out of this heat"
"It isn't fun. Trust me. All they want to talk about is the stuff they have dug up and mining. I mean, occasionally they do some trickery with humans, but mostly they just want to talk about different pretty rocks and minerals they dig up. It's unpleasant."
"Says you," Isaac said defiantly. "I think we should try to find some and talk to them. I think you should remember I'm not as miserable of a person as you are."
"I think you'll find I'm not a person, but fine. Let's go listen to some gnomes explain all the different quartz and mica there are. Woo." Azrael sighed as he made his way into the entrance to the mine. Isaac followed, hunched less than the being he was following. The tunnels were well carved, and soon they found them to be lit by some mushrooms that seemed to glow as bright as lanterns. Isaac had never seen such a beautiful fungus. Carefully he removed one and put it inside a jar he had been storing in his rucksack. As they moved further and further inward, the air grew stale and there came to be a sound that Isaac could not identify until it finally dawned upon him he was not hearing one sound, but many occurring all at once. It was the sound of pickaxes striking stone.
"Is this bringing you back to your time in the Fae realm? We can go back if you want," Azrael asked.
"Nice try. We are meeting the gnomes," Isaac responded to Azrael's consternation. Isaac listened to Azrael as he mumbled under his breath about how much he hated rocks and minerals and little men who talk about rocks and minerals. Isaac decided it was best just to let him stew than try to engage him. They were progressing further and further downward, deeper and deeper below the ground. The sound of the pickaxes grew louder and louder as they went. Soon, they saw their path branch out into many tunnels. Mining equipment appeared as they kept moving.
"You realize we have no way of knowing how to get back to the horses, right?" Azrael huffed. "We will need one of those gnomes to bring us back and you just know he will be talking the whole time about all the rocks and minerals we can see in the tunnels."
"Were you bullied by a geologist growing up? Why the hate for rocks and minerals? I think a lot of it can be interesting," Isaac retorted.
"Rocks and minerals are boring. Talking about rocks and minerals is doubly so. I would rather listen to a person talk about the novel they are working on than listen to talk about rocks and minerals."
"Ok," Isaac blinked. "Duly noted I guess."
"Well, hush up because I think we are almost to where the hammering is coming from."
Isaac had a hard time being able to tell. The closer they got, the more cacophonous all the hammering had gotten, and with the addition of branching pathways, it had grown harder to tell if they were getting closer or just hearing echoes. Then Isaac heard them. The gnomes were singing. They were singing in some language made up of squeaks and chirps and other adorable noises. The melody seemed to be rather cheerful and spirited.
"My god that is wholesome," Azrael said disgustedly. "I think I'm going to be sick."
Isaac smiled, "I think I kind of like it. And their harmonies are fantastic." He moved slowly to stick his head round the corner to see the gnomes. He could see lamplight coming from their direction. As he crept closer and closer to the corner, he positioned his hand on the wall of the cave for balance. He could feel the moisture on the stone, an unpleasant feeling that became all the worse when he managed to stick his hand into some cave slime.
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