Morgrid shuffled frantically through their notes. Armor clanked in the hallway. Plate slamming against mail. They started throwing papers to the ground. Nothing. Armor clanked again, getting closer. Morgrid ran to a bookshelf, finger running along the spines of books. Again, the armor clanked, nearly to Morgrid’s study. Then, Morgrid stopped, grabbed a book from the shelf, and opened it. A paper which had been shoved into it fell out onto the stone floor. As they bent down to pick it up, the door flew open. Morgrid dropped to their knees.
“My lord!”
“Get your ass up off the floor Morgrid.”
“Of course, my lord.”
“Well…?”
“Yes, my lord?”
“What is it that you wanted me to see?”
“Oh! Yes! Right. You remember the Ironbane Dwarf Project?”
“Yes. That foolish plan to build soulless metal soldiers.”
“Yes, my lord. That’s it exactly.”
“Well, what of it?”
“Yes. Right. You see, the problem with that project wasn’t the creation of the soldiers themselves. Much more reliable than a conscript or a levied dwarf. They can, in theory, endure longer than an hardened soldier.”
“Right.”
“The problem was the lack of a soul. The lack of the spark of life. Of thought.”
“Right. But that can’t be done. The Ironbane Dwarf Project showed that.”
“Almost.”
“Almost?”
“Yes. Almost. I thought so too. But then I came across this.” They brandished the paper that had fallen to the floor.
“What’s that?”
“It’s a blueprint.”
“A blueprint for what?”
“For the salvation of our clan. For the new steel soldier. A steel soldier with a soul. With a mind. And with unquestioning loyalty to you, My lord. The Thundersteel Dwarf.”
The old Earl Thundersteel. stared at their younger clansman. They grabbed the horn at their side and took a sharp swig.
“What would we need for this to work?”
“Steel. A lot of it. Glass. Cogs. Gears.”
“That’s it?”
“And souls.”
“What kind of souls? Soldiers?”
“No. Any soul will do. We just need Lightstone earthspeakers to bind the souls to the steel bodies.”
“And how long would it take to build these soldiers?”
“Three months. Maybe four.”
“Hmm...okay. Who else knows about this?”
“No one, my lord.”
“Good. Let us keep it that way.”
Earl Thundersteel crossed to the door of the study. “And Morgrid?”
“Yes, my lord?”
“This is some fine work.” With that, the Earl slammed the door behind him.
