The Potion of Life

Bergold

Bergold loaded his minecart with raw stones. The cart was almost full now. He went to the lever next to the tracks and pushed it to the right. This set a mechanism in motion, causing the minecart to start rolling on the tracks until Bergold couldn't see it anymore. Then he took his horn and blew on it. Shortly after, Grumdal, Jondrich, and Satrun appeared from different mine shafts. "No sign of Gandogar," Bergold thought to himself. It didn't surprise him; his brother had never been good at following rules. He told the dwarves that they had worked enough for the week and that it was time to return to the city. The dwarves looked relieved, visibly pleased at the prospect of not having to wield a pickaxe for two days.

Bergold was also happy to go to the city to see his parents. On the other hand, he wouldn't mind continuing for a few more days. He enjoyed being deep underground, searching for treasures and unexplored places. He secretly hoped that King Thrandir would select him to explore Midbad. At ninety-one years old, he was still young enough to be selected, and he couldn't wish for anything more. He wanted to explore new caves and find new treasures. Exploring a new continent meant encountering all sorts of new things, including new creatures. He had read about this in the library. When Bergold wasn't working in the mines, he was in the library. There, he read books about the history of the dwarves, types of weapons, and different kinds of creatures. He also enjoyed learning about different languages.

Gandogar was taking a long time, Bergold realized. He decided to go look for his brother. He told the others they could leave without him. Then Bergold started to follow the mine shaft where his brother had last been seen. After a short walk, the mine shaft transformed in a cave: had his brother decided to explore itall alone? Bergold called his name, but there was no response. He tried to follow his brother's trail, which was still doable because his brother had discovered a cave with many spiders. 

From time to time, he encountered the remains of spiders that had been killed by an axe. The spiders varied in size, and some of them surprised Bergold that Gandogar had defeated them on his own. Eventually, he heard the sound of a pickaxe striking stone. Not much later, he saw his brother, who was busy working. He wasn't just hacking at any rock; the rock was diamond, and there were a lot of them. 

"You had to show off again, brother!" Bergold said with a big grin on his face. 

"What can I do? I'm better than you at exploring new caves. Come help me, and we'll get to the city faster." 

Bergold took his pickaxe jewel and began chipping away at the diamond-bearing rock. After an hour or two, they had extracted the diamonds from the rock.

"It's a shame all these riches go straight to our king," Gandogar said with a somber expression."It's not fair in a way. We do all the work, and he gets the riches." 

"We live in his kingdom, Gandogar, and that won't change quickly." Bergold saw that his brother wasn't convinced.  "Thrandir largely uses his wealth for the kingdom; we have nothing to complain about.". 

"You're probably right, little brother. I just feel like we do all this work, and at the end of the day, we're not rewarded for it. Ma and Pa took good care of us, but the Stijfkop name still means little to the other dwarf families. We don't have any form of power."

 Bergold wasn't really surprised by his brother's statements. Bergold was perfectly content with his life, but Gandogar had always been the more ambitious of the two. Bergold was the brother who ventured into the mines to discover new things and learn. When he's a bit older, he plans to leave Bintaviona and embark on a world journey; he wants to see as much of Mysterix as possible. His brother has different goals; he'll do anything to raise the Stijfkop name in social standing. He wants status and power; he wants to achieve something in his life that will be talked about for generations after him.

After a journey through tunnels, using lifts, they finally arrive in their dwarven city: Dhiltodur. As they walk through the gate, the guard tells them to go to the king's palace. Thrandir is making an announcement; it's about the underground systems of Midbad and which dwarves will be allowed to explore them. When they arrive at the palace, Thrandir is already on his balcony. He holds a parchment scroll with the names of the selected dwarves. As the names are called, Bergold hopes he's on the list. Thrandir takes some time, and eventually, he reaches the last name: "Gandogar the Stijfkop."

At first, Bergold is disappointed not to be selected, but when he sees his brother's face, that feeling immediately disappears. He's never seen his brother so happy. Gandogar finally feels like he's achieved something in his life. "A beer to celebrate the good news, brother?" Bergold says with a big smile. Gandogar looks at Bergold and shouts so everyone can hear, "My brother is treating everyone to a round at Runrick's tavern!"