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Runaway Dwarves; The Adventures of Gilre and Yilgo



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Sat Feb 18, 2012 8:28 pm
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Mjdwrite says...



"Gilre! I'm home!" Yilgo Hartsum shoved through the small door to his home. His younger sister was on tip-toes, looking into a large pot over the fireplace. "Boy, my back hurts. Mining does that to a dwarf. I can feel every single bone cry out when I move." Yilgo plopped himself into his recliner and moaned. "I'm as starved as a chipmunk mid-winter. What have you cooked up?"

Gilre gave a slight humph and continued stirring. "The same thing that we have every other day. Rabbit stew." Gilre grabbed some herbs that were sitting on a stool next to her and tossed them into the pot.

Yilgo yawned and rolled his eyes. "It smells delicious! I could eat rabbit stew every day of my life! Especially your rabbit stew. You make the best around. You had better write the recipe down so you can hand it down to your children." Yilgo reached for a book.

"We never have anything except rabbit stew. What can I make other than that?" Gilre went to the kitchen cabinets nearby, pulling out two miniature bowls and two child sized spoons. "I try to change it up for you every day but it is so difficult. I only have the limited variety of flavors from the garden, a puny thing that garden."

Yilgo pushed himself out of his comfortable chair for a bowl and poured himself a big bowl of the brown stew. "Oh, quit whining Gilre! Life is perfect how it is! We have a modest home, decent food, and each other's company. What more could you need?" Yilgo dove into the stew with the speed of a hurricane wind. He always loved the home that had been inherited from his father. The dwarf town was the only town he or his sister had ever known and Yilgo liked it that way.
"It is perfectly okay to write garbage – as long as you edit brilliantly" C.J. Cherryh





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Sat Feb 18, 2012 10:22 pm
tgirly says...



Gilre hated the routine.
"Tomorrow, I'm not making stew," Gilre said. Yilgo knew her too well to argue.
"What will you make instead?" he asked. This question threw Gilre.
"Well... I don't know. But not rabbit stew," she said. Yilgo laughed, and Gilre wrinkled her nose at him, which just made him chuckle even more. Gilre sighed and cleared the table. Gilre knew her brother like the back of her hand, but she couldn't understand why he wasn't annoyed by the tedium like she was.
"Good night, Yilgo," Gilre said as she always did.
"Good night, Gilre," Yilgo called after her while she headed to her room like she knew he would. She knew he would stay up for another hour or so watching the fire and drinking some warm tea.
Gilre knew tomorrow would be a welcomed break from the tedium, because tomorrow she would be going exploring in the rolling hills that seemed to stretch on in every direction, broken only from the road that ran North to the nearby town and South to some place Gilre had never been.
When I was young, I admired clever people. Now that I am old, I admire kind people.
-Abraham Joshua Heschel





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Sun Feb 19, 2012 4:07 am
Mjdwrite says...



Yilgo woke up somewhat early the next morning. He sniffed the air for his regular morning tea, the scent of Gilre's home made tea was different from any other tea Yilgo had ever smelled. He sniffed once, no tea, he sniffed again, no tea. Yilgo jumped out of bed and ran to the door. He sniffed again, no tea. He rushed to the kitchen, searching for Gilre and her incredible tea. No tea. He took off towards Gilre's bedroom. The door was cracked open a tad but she was not there. Yilgo turned to the front door. On the coat rack hung only his coat and scarf. The front door hung wide open. Yilgo crossed his chubby fingers and searched outside, in the garden, in the yard, on the road. No Gilre.

"Gilre! GILRE!" Yilgo panicked. She had never gone missing before. Maybe she had been kidnapped. No kidnapper would let her take her coat and scarf first. Maybe,... no! "Gilre! Where are you?"

Yilgo stepped slowly back into the house. He made a measly meal of oatmeal but hardly touched it. "I can't just leave her out there! She could be lost out there!" He put his bowl and spoon back in the sink. He noticed that a small not sat near the sink. It was from Gilre.

"Dear brother, I have gone exploring. I will probably be gone when you wake up. I could not stand another day in the same old routine. I needed something different. I love you. Gilre."

Yilgo could not stand it anymore. He had to go protect her and bring her back. He would not allow his world to be flipped upside down. He needed her to keep life stationary. He pulled some ripe vegetables from a basket on the floor and stuffed them into his lunch handkerchief. He threw in a roll of bread and tied it up. His coat and scarf left the rack and draped themselves over his body. Yilgo stomped outside to start his search.

Just as he stepped outside, old man Treyton walked by. "Yilgo!" he cried. "Where your sister headed? She took towards the hills. She never done that before." Yilgo ignored Treyton and walked boldly to the great unknown.
"It is perfectly okay to write garbage – as long as you edit brilliantly" C.J. Cherryh





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Mon Feb 20, 2012 12:23 am
tgirly says...



Gilre had meant to wait to go exploring until her brother had left for the mine for that day. She'd also planned to be back before he awoke. But then she'd woken up early and, with the smell of fresh apples floating through her window from the apple tree outside, she'd decided to go and take a walk. She picked some apples and stared at the sun rise for awhile, and then decided to do some exploring before her brother woke up, just to get a feel for it before her longer exploration that afternoon. Gilre wrote him a note just in case he woke up early, then started her rambling way up the hill toward the sun rise. Once she reached the top of the hill, she gasped in delight. She could see far more of the sun rise now; reds and yellows she hadn't been able to see from her back yard. And beneath her was a lovely little meadow full of purple flowers swaying in the soft Spring breeze. She raced down the hill to the flowers, but once she reached them, she didn't stop. She just kept running. A sense of freedom urged her feet onward until she couldn't feel she could go a step further. She sat down with her feet in a lovely, clear stream and looked around. The sun was much higher in the sky; around lunch time. She was glad she had brought some apples with.
She could just see on the horizon the tall spikes of distant mountains, covered in snow. How wonderful! She looked back the way she came with sadness. The pull of the mysterious mountains was far too strong. She realized she would not be heading back to her brother, at least not yet. Now she wished she'd brought him with her, but, he probably would have refused to come, and wouldn't have let her go. She stood up and started off again; there was far too much exploring to do, so many things to see to stay in any one place for too long.
Little did Gilre know of the evils that were watching her, even as she skipped across the stream...

(If you don't like the last part, I can take it out. I'm not sure what the evils are, but I thought it would add some suspense.)
When I was young, I admired clever people. Now that I am old, I admire kind people.
-Abraham Joshua Heschel





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Fri Feb 24, 2012 3:39 am
Mjdwrite says...



Yilgo trudged on through the fields and on towards the hills. His breath came heavily and he was beyond any exhaustion he had ever experienced. As he continued, the peaks of each hill seemed higher and steeper. The valleys were thick with flowers, slowing Yilgo down to the speed of grass. The grass swayed back and forth as it sang Yilgo a lullaby. It looked so peaceful under the noonday sun in the grass. Gilre was fine, he was certain. She could wait for him while he took a nap. After all, he was not used to such strenuous labor in the sun. All of his work was repetitive, consistent labor in the cold mines.

The grass hummed his name and he collapsed in the grass for a short nap. Just a quick one. He would be up and running after his sister in no time. She wasss....

Yilgo snored heavily before he had time to finish any thoughts about Gilre, alone in the middle of nowhere. He slept under the noon sun but he was not alone out there in the quiet. Someone somewhere was lurking and looking.
"It is perfectly okay to write garbage – as long as you edit brilliantly" C.J. Cherryh





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Fri Feb 24, 2012 10:58 pm
tgirly says...



Gilre stopped to watch an eagle soaring high overhead, majestic and beautiful, her piercing eyes following the eagle's path as it flowed with the wind. Gilre wished she could fly like that. It would make exploring a lot easier.
Gilre settled down for a nap a bit after she'd finished all her apples for supper. She was unsure what she would eat the next day, but decided she'd cross that bridge when she got there. She fell to sleep, using the grass and flowers as a cushion against the hard, bumpy ground.
She woke to the sensation of movement. She didn't know where she was. It was too dark to see anything, and when she tried to stand up, she found the space too small even for that simple act. Panicing, she cried out.
"Yilgo!" she called, "Yilgo!" She felt the smooth wood of the inside of a large barrel, and then began pounding her fists against it, trying to escape. She only managed to turn it on its side so she couldn't even sit up straight now.
Gilre took several deep breaths, trying to stay calm. Maybe this was a dream. That was it. This was a frightening dream, and all she had to was close her eyes and wake up again and she'd be back in the meadow, asleep under the sun, or maybe in her own bed at home, and she could start the adventure all over again.
She drifted to sleep again in the barrel.

*You can decide whether this is a dream of something to come, just a dream, or if it actually happened.*
When I was young, I admired clever people. Now that I am old, I admire kind people.
-Abraham Joshua Heschel





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Sat Feb 25, 2012 4:57 am
Mjdwrite says...



Yilgo awoke feeling more refreshed than ever before. He could not exactly remember why he was in the field far from home until he reached into his pockets and pulled out Gilre's note.
"Gilre!" Yilgo cried his baby sister. He picked up his makeshift pillow and wrapped it back around his neck where it belonged. On he journeyed through the endless flowers and hills. As he reached the low point of another valley, he noticed that the flowers were flattened in a small circle.
He spun around and looked for anyone nearby. just a few feet away lay a small purple lump. The small purple lump turned into Gilre's scarf as Yilgo picked it up. Yilgo searched in that direction for his sister but all he saw was more flowers. He was unsure of where to go from here.
"Gilre! Gilre!" Yilgo followed the scarf with a much quicker pace. Along the way, dark pieces of charcoal and sprinkled ashes guided Yilgo.
All of this spurred Yilgo on faster and faster.

(Should the same happen to Yilgo? Or should he find someone who can tell him about the people who took Gilre?)
"It is perfectly okay to write garbage – as long as you edit brilliantly" C.J. Cherryh





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Sat Feb 25, 2012 4:27 pm
tgirly says...



(Whether it happens to him can be your choice. It would be easier for him to find her that way, but harder for them to escape.)

Gilre woke and found she was still trapped. This time, instead of panicing and pounding on the barrel, she sat still and listened. She could hear rough voices, but the barrel's walls muted their voices too much for Gilre to make out what they were saying. A whimper escaped Gilre. She was scared, and she wanted her brother.
When I was young, I admired clever people. Now that I am old, I admire kind people.
-Abraham Joshua Heschel





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Sat Feb 25, 2012 11:04 pm
Mjdwrite says...



Slowly but surely, the flowers became more and more sparse until Yilgo was walking on a dirt plain. The land gave birth to growing trees, a dark and leery sight. Just as Yilgo decided to turn around and look for Gilre via any other route, everything went dark.

Yilgo could feel darkness all around. Everything was still. Am I alive? Though Yilgo couldn't see, he could feel his whole body being turned on it's side and rolled.

"Ugh!" Yilgo was thankful that he had a light breakfast, otherwise he would surely have thrown up in this black prison! "Gilrrrre!" He moaned on and on. All sense of motion ceased and the world was put upright. A bright light shone from above, blinding Yilgo instantly. "Stay away from the light! I need to find my sister! Please God, I am not ready yet!"

"Shuuuuut uuuuuup! Moron." A gruff voice came from the light. It definitely did not sound like God. "I am doing a job here and you are just making it unbearable!"

Yilgo blinked to bring back his vision. Just before the light disappeared, he found the outline of a tall creature with either a large head or incredibly voluminous hair. He wore no hat and his scarf hid his neck and shoulders. The creature turned Yilgo back over and rolled him some more.
"It is perfectly okay to write garbage – as long as you edit brilliantly" C.J. Cherryh





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Sun Feb 26, 2012 7:40 pm
tgirly says...



Another barrel bumped into Gilre's
"Yilgo!" she called as loud as she dared. In reply, she heard a muted, "Gilre?"
"Yilgo," Gilre cried again. Her day had brightened considerably now that her brother was with her, though unfortunately not literally, "I'm so glad you found me. We're in a pickle, aren't we, Yilgo?" It was all Gilre could do not to talk her brother's ear off, as she often did when she was nervous, but she resisted, knowing it was not the time nor the place. She couldn't make out what Yilgo grumbled back, but he did not sound happy at all.
"Don't worry, Yilgo," Gilre called, "this isn't quite how I expected my adventure to go, but it is an adventure none the less."
When I was young, I admired clever people. Now that I am old, I admire kind people.
-Abraham Joshua Heschel





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Wed Feb 29, 2012 4:26 am
Mjdwrite says...



Yilgo was tipped back up once more, slamming him into another barrel. "Gilre! I need my sister Gilre! Has anyone seen her?"
A voice next to him groaned. "Gilre? Who?"
A chain reaction began and 'Gilre' was sent from barrel to barrel. Somewhere in the middle sat a lost and lonely little girl in the dark. About 20 barrels outside of the middle sat a gloomy and glum young man who missed his sister.
Yilgo became very bored just sitting in his barrel waiting for his fate to be determined. He began picking at the walls and floor. After hours of this tedious activity, a slight sliver of light shone down on Yilgo. His peeling had brought him light and a new hope. Now he had a foot in the door and could probably escape if not conspire with the groaning voice next to him.
"It is perfectly okay to write garbage – as long as you edit brilliantly" C.J. Cherryh





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Thu Mar 01, 2012 4:06 am
tgirly says...



Gilre soon got to know the occupants of her neighboring barrels very well. One contained an old, wise, if cranky dwarf who often complained about her back hurting. Another contained a cocky boy a few years younger than her who she found quite annoying. Gilre tried to talk with Yilgo through three or four other dwarves, though she soon gave up when the message came back that Yilgo had found a frog, which didn't make any sense.
As she listened to the stories of how the dwarves had ended up in the barrels, she began to become more frightened. One had been grabbed while weeding in their garden with no one else around. Another had been kidnapped while taking a short cut through the streets of a village Gilre had never heard before. Still another had been tooken in the middle of broad daylight, at a festival. No one knew who had taken them, and no one knew where they were going. But Gilre was heartened now; her brother was here, and she fully believed that as long as that was so, everything would be fine, eventually.
When I was young, I admired clever people. Now that I am old, I admire kind people.
-Abraham Joshua Heschel





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Wed Mar 07, 2012 2:48 am
Mjdwrite says...



The wooden cylinders' occupants made such a ruckus. Everyone was trying to speak at once. Yilgo soon let his headache, an agonizing pain that refused to be put down, overtake him. He rested his head on the wall. It was quiet there. No where else was it this low volume. He put his head on the opposite wall. It did not stay there long for his headache reared it's ugly head and forced him back. Yilgo placed his head back where the noise was reduced. There were no awfully long back stories here. Just the leftovers of those nearby.

Yilgo knew from how many voices surrounded him that this peace and quiet would only last for a few hours maybe even only a few minutes, so he took his shot. Three rockings tilted him onto his side into the open space. Yilgo slowly angled his short body to where his feet touched the quiet end of the barrel and his hands were pushing on the noisy end.

Yilgo brought his knees up to his chest and whispered, "This is for my sister." He pulled his knees closer and let them go like a slingshot with a loud grunt. The sun shot through the hole as Yilgo wiggled his toes in the light. "Freedom."

Yilgo slid out slowly and stretched in the open air. He turned slowly and saw a cloaked figure about ten feet away. Yilgo ducked, barely missing the guards spin as he checked out the noise. The three seconds above showed Yilgo just how many barrels there were. At least in this group. There were at least fifty barrels and three guards.

moving was difficult, barrels crowding Yilgo in, so he moved to the nearest barrel and whispered what he had just done to the dwarf inside. "Be careful and as quiet as you can. If at least ten of us get free, we can overtake the guards, let everyone else go and make a run for it." The barrel made no response other than tipping over slowly. The noisy neighbors muffled the silent thump. Yilgo continued to gain followers barrel by barrel.
"It is perfectly okay to write garbage – as long as you edit brilliantly" C.J. Cherryh





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Wed Mar 07, 2012 3:47 am
tgirly says...



A kind of hush fell over the group. Not a literal hush, if anything they became louder, but their tones were different, bated, almost hopeful. Everyone seemed to be talking about rocking and breaking free, so many people talking at once of the exact same thing, Gilre had trouble making out what was being said at first. She smiled. She knew her brother would find some way out. When the barrel next to hers became quiet, she waited a bit then started rocking her barrel as well. But Gilre wasn't as strong as her brother, and her barrel was thicker. She couldn't seem to break through.
"Help," she said as loud as she dared, "help someone, please." But no one heard her in the excitement. She pushed harder with all her strength, and the barrel cracked the tiniest bit, letting in a ray of light.
As Gilre pushed and pushed and worried at her barrel, she wondered if this was how little chicks felt when breaking free from their shells. If so, she was terribly sorry for the chicks. Gilre was cramped and her eyes hurt from the sudden brightness. She clambered out and stood up her barrel again, so that at first glance it would look like nothing was out of place. She smiled at her brother.
"Hello, Yilgo," she said. He harrumphed at frowned back at her. He looked terribly uncomfortable and out of place as all the other dwarves began to gather around him, thinking of him as leader. Gilre giggled to herself. She had never known Yilgo to be the leader of everything, but she guessed everyone tried new things on adventures. She just hoped, for the other dwarve's sakes, that he would be a good leader.
*It's slightly rushed. I might add on later if I have the time.*
When I was young, I admired clever people. Now that I am old, I admire kind people.
-Abraham Joshua Heschel





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Wed Mar 07, 2012 1:27 pm
Mjdwrite says...



Yilgo had gathered his group of ten and quickly knocked out all three of the guards. The band of heros then began spreading the word of how to get out and punched the tops in for those who could not rock their barrel over. Before Yilgo could count to 13, every single barrel was open and dwarves of all shapes and sizes showed their sweaty hopeful faces. It felt so good to have a cooling breeze rush through the air.

Yilgo smiled until they looked around and pinpointed him as their leader. Yilgo ducked once but a beefy dwarf next to him yanked him up by his collar. "What do we do now?"

Yilgo's sinking heart hurts worse than a kidney stone. He groaned. I wanted to take Gilre home and be done with this. Why are they asking me to take charge?

The beefy dwarf placed a barrel where the open part was on the bottom and the solid part created a terrific stand. The beefy dwarf stared at Yilgo and glanced at the barrel. "Tell us what to do."

Scrambling onto the barrel, Yilgo began quietly. "Hello. I guess I am in charge now. Um, I have never done anything like this before. I guess we can all go home now!"

The crowd rumbled and one woman dwarf shouted out. "Who did this to us? Why did they do it?"

Another joined in. "We must avenge ourselves. We must attack!"

Yilgo almost fell of his barrel. He didn't want a fight! "No! We will not! These creatures they... they had a good reason I am sure! Maybe... We don't have enough dwarves to overthrow anyone. We only have about 50. What are we going to do as a band of 50? And some of us are too young or too old to go into any sort of combat!"

"We split apart the young and elderly!"
"We attack like panthers!"
"Eagles!"
"We will be sneaky and catch them by surprise!"

Yilgo was defeated. He slumped onto his little stand, looking over to see Gilre smile and catch a light he had never seen before. The light of adventure that he would never recognize.
"It is perfectly okay to write garbage – as long as you edit brilliantly" C.J. Cherryh








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