Chapter 142: The Vole and the Giant

Arthur, being Arthur, immediately had second thoughts about his plan.

Yes, it would be awesome. Yes, it would be the absolute best he could do to create the greatest environment possible for Milo and Rhodia’s wedding. But would it be a good use of community resources and time? Probably not. With the same amount of effort, they could grow a bunch of food, build that many more roads, or check any number of things off the eternal things-to-do list for the town.

It took musing about it in front of Itela and Ella to get him set straight.

“Oh, I think you should just do it,” Ella said. Itela nodded along.

“Really? It’s going to take… I don’t know, at least a couple of days,” Arthur said. “If we can get it done at all. I feel like practical concerns should come first.”

“Oh, practical concerns will always be there.” Itela waved her drink unsteadily. She and Ella had been running experiments in flash-fermenting grain-water, and had evidently reached enough success that neither of them was at their sober best. “Wash this, grow that, build some buildings. Every town has those. It’s what you need to survive.”

“Right,” Arthur said. “And survival is important.”

“It is. But.” Ella leaned into Itela. “What this beautiful cleric is trying to say is, Arthur, that there’s more to life than survival. What you’re talking about making is a place that’s beautiful enough to hold one of your… Earth-joinings. And you are thinking about it as a gift for Milo, right?”

“Right.”

“But it’s not just for that.” Itela interrupted. “It won’t melt away in the rain, Arthur. It’ll be there for the rest of time. For anyone who wants to use it. Think about when you and Mizu started seeing each other. Where did you go, when you were together?”

“On walks. Sometimes to the top of the wall.” Arthur got it, suddenly. “Which people need. Places to go and hang out, have dates, to be alone. Places with views.”

“He’s got it.” Ella nodded. “Lily, I’m surprised you didn’t tell him this.”

“I did,” Lily protested. “Arthur doesn’t listen very well when he’s trying to talk himself out of something.”

Arthur looked at the three demons in agreement and found himself nodding along. “Sorry, it’s a bad habit of mine. And thank you all for convincing me because I do want to do this. I just need to figure out how to move several tons of rock in a few days, and we should be in business.”

“You know who would be glad to help with that?” Itela grinned, then went suddenly somber. “Actually, no, I don’t want the liability for suggesting it. Figure it out yourself.”

It only took Arthur a few minutes to figure out what Itela had in mind, then another little bit to walk down to the beach, where Karbo was still hanging out with his newest friend and source of unlimited fish. Arthur sat down near the giant infernal and explained his plan.

“Arthur, I’m not entirely sure what you’re asking me to do,” Karbo said. “It sounded a lot like you’re asking me to blow up part of the cliff.”

“That’s basically it,” Arthur said. “I’m not sure how much work it would be, and obviously, I can’t pay you in a meaningful way, but I was hoping…”

Arthur was cut off as Karbo suddenly blurred through the short distance between them and wrapped Arthur in an over-sized hug.

“Shhh. Just shhh,” Karbo said. “This isn’t a money situation, Arthur. I’ve been wanting to blow up that cliff since I first saw it. You have no idea how happy you’ve made me.”

Arthur strained his neck, pushing his chin up so that he got a clear view of the big red demon whose eyes were now moist with joy. Karbo wasn’t even looking at Arthur as he slowly crushed him with barely controlled affection and gladness. He only had eyes for the cliff.

“Should I be worried?” Arthur said, heaving the words out.

“Depends on what you mean by worried,” Karbo said. “But by most definitions, yes. How much of the cliff would you like removed? All of it?”

“No,” Arthur said. “Just part of it. Like this.”

Arthur shook loose of Karbo, who let him go. Finding a convenient stick nearby, he drew out rough plans for what he was thinking of. Exact measurements weren’t really at issue. Arthur figured Karbo would probably do a little more than asked, which was fine. There were plenty of cliffsides to go around.

“So, here are the details that spring to mind,” Karbo said, looking oddly serious for once. “Some of this, I can do. But I can’t do it all in one strike, despite what you seem to think. I’m not a god.”

“The warriors actually argue about that sometimes,” Lily said. “I’ve heard them.”

“Just a demon, I swear. But I’ll need a particular tool to do the work you need done, and I’m not going to be all that helpful in terms of refining. Leveling. That’s a different kind of work.” Karbo flexed his big arm. “Unless you just want to leave it the way it is after I’m done, which I don’t recommend.”

Arthur nodded. He had expected as much.

“And the tool?” Arthur asked.

“Just a hammer.” Karbo walked over to his pack, rooting around until he found a particular piece of lime-green stone, which he handed to Arthur. It was surprisingly light.

“Tell Milo I don’t need it to be pure, but I do need it to be evenly distributed over the whole hammer. The words he’s going to want to hear are titan hammer. He’ll know what I mean. And let’s hope he’s up to it. At his level, it will be a close thing,” Karbo said.

Arthur thanked Karbo and walked away, looking not for Milo but for Karra. Lily had some ideas on the refinement of the post-Karbo disaster area, but needed someone with a bit more experience for a reality check.

“This is going to be insane,” Karra said. “And I’d tell people to be in their houses. Or out of town entirely. Uncle Karbo is a lot of things, but subtle isn’t one of them.”

“Let’s assume that it works out,” Lily said, drawing Karra’s attention to the rest of the plans. “What do you think about having the stampers here and you take this area?”

All the hours spent around labor crews in the town were paying off. Lily had the best handle on who could do what and, with Karra, the two of them were unstoppable.

Nodding, Arthur left Lily with Karra and made his way to Milo’s house. He wasn’t there. He wasn’t with Rhodia either, which meant there was only one place the smith could be. Arthur started walking along Milo’s planned railcart route towards the hills.

He found Milo near the Slapstone quarry, talking about soil compaction rates with a couple of stampers. Seeing Arthur, Milo shook loose from the conversation and made his way over.

“Arthur!” Milo was smiling. “Looks like we’re good to start getting the rail laid out. I’d say we’re only a single month away from having a central shipping depot for the whole town. Wagons can swoop in and out, just like that, emptying goods and filling them up in one place. It’s gonna be majickal.”

“That’s great,” Arthur said. “But do we have to make our depot here? It’s pretty far from town. How is word going to get around that we have this nice place if nobody every actually gets all the way to it?”

“That’s not as big of a problem as you think. For one, wagoneers like to stop and rest like everyone else. When it’s convenient for them to, they will. When it’s not, they wouldn’t have enjoyed themselves anyway. Besides, in a couple of years, this depot is going to be in the middle of the settlement. Mark my words,” Milo said.

“This far out? No way.”

“Well, maybe not. That’s Spiky-math. But still.” Milo sighed and plopped down in the dirt. “This entire project is huge. I’m really glad you’re taking the lead on the joining ceremony, or I’d have been stuck thinking about all week. And stressed the whole time.”

“Really? You seemed pretty confident about the whole thing,” Arthur said.

“Doesn’t mean it’s not a big step.” Milo took a deep breath. “Anyway, you didn’t come all the way out here to reassure me, anyway. What’s up?”

Arthur reached into his bag and grabbed the metal that Karbo had given him. Milo’s face contorted into a look of shock.

“This is… don’t tell me you just found this lying around,” Milo warned. “I’ll scream.”

“It’s good stuff?” Arthur asked.

“It’s very good stuff. And it barely exists,” Milo answered. “If you stumbled over it on a morning stroll, I’m going to cut down a small tree and beat you with it.”

“I think we can skip that,” Arthur said. The imagery those words brought up weren’t exactly appealing. “Karbo gave it to me, to give to you. Said he wanted a titan hammer, and that you’d know what that meant.”

“I do. I think.” Milo looked up, bemused. “It’s not a real thing.”

“What?”

“It’s not a real thing. It’s from a book called The Vole and the Giant. A vole demon child takes on a gigantic beast, and the first thing he does is try and make an enormous hammer. It’s called the titan hammer,” Milo said.

“And he hits the giant with it?” Arthur raised an eyebrow.

“No. He can’t even lift it. It’s a brain over brawn story. Eventually, the vole child gets the giant to look way, way over the edge of a cliff and it falls down,” Milo laughed.

“So he wants you to make an imaginary hammer?” Arthur asked.

“Well, yeah. But that’s actually pretty doable. They always draw it the same way in the book. It’s like two big triangles at the end of a stick. I’m gonna have to mix this metal with something else, though,” Milo said.

“Karbo said you would, but that you should distribute it evenly,” Arthur said.

“Got it. Is everything else going okay? You look a little tired.”

“I am a little tired, honestly. But don’t worry. It’s worth it. When can I expect the hammer?”

“Tomorrow morning, bright and early.” Milo bounced the metal in his hand. “I won’t be able to sleep with this stuff in my house anyway. Chances are, I get a level off it.”

“It’s that good?”

“It’s that good. And thank you for bringing it to me. I’ll add it to my things I owe Arthur tab.”

—

A fresh batch of wagons had made their way to town by the time Arthur got back, disgorging moms onto the frontier soil like honeybees leaving their nest in the morning sun. For most of them, he had educated guesses about which town residents they belonged to, or who belonged to them. For two, he was all but completely sure.

“Are you Rhodia’s parents?” Arthur asked, strolling up. “I’m Arthur. I think we’ve met.”

“Yes, I think so.” Rhodia’s mom smiled. “I hear you’ve been taking care of both of them. Thank you for that.”

“And quite the impressive town you’ve built.” Rhodia’s dad, a mouse-demon, was gazing farther into the valley, a bit wide-eyed. “It’s hard to believe you’ve done all this in such a short time.”

“A lot of people worked very hard on it,” Arthur said. “Not least of all, your daughter. In fact, you’re standing on some of her work.”

“Oh, the bricks?” Rhodia’s mom looked down at her feet and smiled. “Good to know we didn’t raise a stuck-up type of girl. I know some potters who would scream at the suggestion for them to make bricks.”

“Not Rhodia, of course,” Arthur said. “I’ve hardly seen her away from a kiln since we got here. I can take you to her. I saw her earlier, and she shouldn’t have gotten far.”

“Yes, please do,” Her father said. “And a meal, too, if you can swing it. It’s been a long ride.”