After Brando fell off his horse the second time, Fin recommended they pull off the road and set up camp for the night. The two found a secluded area near a mulberry tree with the road hidden behind a row of bushes. They peered over them and tried to listen for anyone following. The echoes of their travels still rang through the silence, but they pushed through the phantom noises only to hear the sounds of nature. Finally, they threw their blankets on the grass, collapsed onto them, and were asleep before noon.

Fin woke at dusk, collected fallen branches and twigs, and made a fire. He prepared sausage links and toasted bread, which Brando got up for, ate, and promptly passed out again. Unable to go to sleep so readily, he tended the fire until the embers turned to ash. Then he lay, gazing at the stars until the starlight glow, too, was extinguished behind his eyelids.

The two woke at the same time to the sounds of a struggle. Fin instinctively unstowed two swords and gave one to Brando. They crouched low against the battlement of bushes and cautiously stood to see over the top. What they saw mesmerized and froze them in a half-standing crouch. Fin stowed his sword and wordlessly reached over to take Brando's, too.

Three tiny people climbed on each other's shoulders, pushing up against the tree for balance. They could have been gnomes or young dwarves by the look of their short beards. Several attempts and failures sent the small people tumbling to the ground, but they got back up and tried again. They were trying to make a three-person tower. Fin's leg started cramping, but he disregarded the feeling. He would not allow anything as trivial as leg and back cramps to ruin this perfect moment.

The tower wasn't working, so the one on top moved to the bottom. He braced the tree in front of him while another climbed his shoulders and, in turn, also braced against the tree. Finally, it was the last one's turn. Cautiously, he climbed, using braced arms, shoulders, and heads as handholds and footholds. Then, in a glorious feat of strength and agility, he reached the top, placing each foot squarely on the shoulders below.

Then came the hard part. The one on the bottom turned around and deliberately took one tiny footstep after another, adjusting for balance at each step. When the top gnome and or dwarf reached up and plucked a berry from the tree, Fin's heart mushroomed with pride for the little people. Deep down, he forced an involuntary outburst of praise as another berry was picked and traded off to the hands below. In time, a third berry got plucked from the tree, and the three dismounted from each other's shoulders, landing on their little feet and butts.

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Brando stood up and, with a big grin on his face, yelled, "You did it!"

The three startled and jumped so high they could have almost picked the berries themselves. They scrambled to their feet and ran as fast as their little legs would take them.

"Brando, you scared them!" Fin chided, picking up his blanket off the ground and stowing it.

"At least I waited until they were done!" Brando defended himself, reaching down to pick his own blanket up. He handed it to Fin, who glared at him.

Brando began picking berries off the tree. Fin finally came over to help. Without mentioning it, they only took the higher-hanging fruit. The berries were sweet and delicious. Soon, they were back on the trail, riding their horses with handfuls of berries.

The road began sloping upward between towering pine trees. The further the path stretched, the steeper it became. The warm air turned crisp as the two dismounted to lead their horses on foot. Soon, Fin, Brando, and the horses breathed heavily as they climbed.

Respite came as the path leveled off before twisting downward and around the mountain-studded valley. A bowl of trees, farms, and stone structures populated the valley below, with roads coalescing in front of a structure as magnificent as the mountain it was built into. At a distance, eight uniform pillars appeared as large as Fin's little finger propped up an entire mountain. Through the pillars, he could make out the vague shape of a courtyard.

Traveling closer, the pillars grew to a mammoth proportion, and the courtyard a bustling marketplace inhabited by dwarves, some humans, and sparse others. Brando appeared to be a mixture of awestruck and discomfort. Fin felt none the better.

"We finally made it!" Brando exclaimed in little more than a whisper. "First order of business?"

"Let's get cleaned up and dressed and go tell the king everything we know," Fin suggested, unsure if horses belonged in such a metropolitan area. "Then, I suppose, we get our swords sharpened and look at armor for when we," He made a few stabbing motions with an invisible knife.

"Skewer some goblins?" Brando guessed and added, "Maybe the king will give us everything we need just for agreeing to help. We are nobility now, after all."

Fin agreed and they both set off for the first order of business.