46. Clearing the Room
While Rosella wandered around carrying her newly acquired mystery treasure, she pondered just what it was she was
going to do with it. The smell was becoming unbearable not to mention that it was beginning to organically break down.
Her dainty sensitive nose sent a little idea up to her brain above. A treat as putrid as a dead fish might be just what was
needed to clear a mine full of hard working dwarves. Perhaps with them gone, she would be able to safely borrow the
unused tall bucket inside.
By the time the young princess arrived at the mine, the last rays of sunlight were cresting the horizon, and shadows
grew very long. While it was not yet night, a lantern on a post was already lit to keep a glow around the entrance to the
mine, to assure no dwarf would twist his ankle after hanging up his pick axe long after the sun had set for the day.
There was something admirable about the way the seven dwarves began their workday early and ended it late. While it
seemed strange to Rosella their passion was their hard work, the naïve princess wondered just what exactly her passion
was, if indeed she even had one. Such contemplation had no place in Tamir in the dangerous times at hand, so Rosella
quickly brought her mind back to the quest. She took a deep breath and made her way up the stony path to the mine
entrance, the lantern aglow on her blonde head and fair skin.
The sound of the clinking pick axes made Rosella wince a she stepped carefully along the path down into the mine,
mindful of the rocky debris that seemed almost sinisterly waiting for a foolish young lady to come walking by in a pair of
heels so inappropriate for this place. Once again the dwarves seemed to barely pay the slender girl mind but for a
glance and a sneer ‘a stick of a lass, arms to skinny to swing an axe’ and such under-the-breath remarks about her
delicate air. The clever girl waited for her opportunity and saw it rolling by in the form of a dwarf pushing a wheel barrel.
He seemed to be making his rounds up and down the mine, pushing his cart full of fist sized rocks broken out of the
earth, diamonds mashed within like sweet chips in a cookie. While he wasn’t looking, Rosella produced the rotten fish
from within her pouch, and tossed it into the wheeling barrel. The unknowing dwarf continued his rounds up and down
the mine and after but two passes the stench of decayed fish had devoured what little precious air was in the mine like
smoke. There was nothing to breath but foul smell and to Rosella’s mischievous bemusement, the dwarves could not
figure out where such an unholy odor was coming from. At first they argued back and forth that it was one of them and
they might have even tried to point the finger at the elegant young visitor had they had the stomach for it, but by the
time they’re arguing had reached a raucous, the dwarves stampeded from their beloved workplace. Rosella backed up
against the wall slender as she could, holding her skirt around her tight so as not to be snagged on the dwarves as they
rushed past. They were so intoxicated by the rankness in the air that they paid her no heed.
With a flowing sleeve from her dress covering her little nose, Rosella knew the protection wouldn’t last long. She had to
get that bucket and get out fast, lest she find herself sick as well. She picked up the tall bucket, and dragged it out of
the mine by its handle. It was heavier than she imagined, or perhaps she imagined herself stronger. Either way, she
wanted to decide where she was going to use it and fast, because dragging it all over Tamir would get tiresome quick!
As the sly princess exited the mine a chill air kissed her face. Her dress and hosiery were still just damp enough to
make her shiver as she glanced up at the now midnight blue sky and a thousand twinkling stars. Night had settled upon
Tamir and it was beautiful. But with the beauty came a danger. Things that go bump in the night. For not all things
safe during the day, remained so under darkness. Thoughts like these made Rosella’s spine tingle as she caught
herself wishing that she were back in her bedroom, safe in the castle in Daventry with her fireplace, her pillows, and her
bed. Even if she was questing to be the champion of Tamir, she was also just a fragile princess, frightened of the dark,
and all the things that waited for a young girl to step into it.
Using both her little hands to hold the heavy bucket, Rosella decided she would take it to…
The Crypt
The Haunted Mansion
The Ogre's House
The Witches' Cave
Lolotte's Castle