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Flint's warm feeling chilled somewhat when he realized
that a low haze hung in the valley where before the air had
been impeccably clear. Of course, there had always been a
little smoke from the town forge....
The town forge! Flint realized the barn beside it was three
times or more the size it had been twenty years ago. A great,
muddy yard surrounded it, containing several parked wag-
ons. The wagons, Flint realized with a jolt, were just like the
one he had encountered the previous night at the pass.
And where once a single stack had emitted the smoke of
the small forge, now four squat chimneys belched black
clouds into the sky. The town itself seemed to have doubled
in proportion, stretching farther to the west toward Stone-
hammer Lake. Indeed, the sleepy village of Flint's memory
now bustled with a size and energy the dwarf found unnerv-
ing. Main Street, which once had been paved with sturdy
stone, was now practically churned to mud by the traffic of
crowds and vehicles.
Flint anxiously made his way down the Passroad until it
became Main Street. He slowed his steps to search for famil-
iar faces - familiar anything! - but he recognized not a one,
nor did any of the busy dwarves look up from their hurried
pace
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