A slight breeze disturbed the water condensing on the reigns in Celeste's hands. "Was being in the military as boring as this?" She asked Miguel, irritation clear in her voice.

"At times," Miguel answered. "But if you want to swap and let me ride in the wagon while you walk, I'd be willing to trade with you."

"I would," Celeste said with a smile," but I'm being trained to be drover. Gotta learn how to do this before we stop for the day you know."

Miguel laughed as he adjusted his armor to try and let some air in between it and his skin. "Should we wake Deandra? If she sleeps this whole trip she'll be up all night."

"Let her sleep a little longer. Nothing wrong with an afternoon nap. Besides, these tunnels are a bit monotonous."

"Yeah they are. You know what I'm still having trouble getting used to?"

"What's that?"

"The fact that we can see in these tunnels. Like it's pitch fucking black. No one has any torches or anything. But I can see the next four wagons in front of me."

"Yeah, it's kinda weird isn't it. Back in Kan Ladur I didn't notice it so much because of the lights. And when we went to help the miners there was little time to think. But now… it's just strange."

"Too bad we can't see colors, though. That would be cool."

"Luitwin explained that one to me. So regular vision works just like it did back home. You see the colors based on what part of the light spectrum something reflects. But right now, there's no light for anything to reflect so you can't see the colors."

"Then how can we see anything."

"Aether."

"Seriously. The answer is just 'magic'?"

"No no. That's not what I meant. Aether permeates nearly everything in this world. And dwarven eyes are able to see that Aether. That's why you don't see fine details but just shapes and outlines of things unless you have certain skills to improve your vision. But, if something had absolutely no Aether in it, it would be invisible to us in the dark."

Liam spoke up at this, "So, if we could make a cloak or pajama set that that didn't have any Aether left in it, we would invisible in these tunnels? Would that work on the monsters as well? What if we did that with a whole wagon?"

"Where in tha hells are ye lot from that ye don’t know these things?" asked Metztli, the drover that was riding with Celeste. "Ye all act as though ye've never been in a tunnel before. Like ye just woke up last week as dwarves for tha first time."

The three looked at one another realizing they had been too free with their words, before looking back to Metztli. Celeste laid a hand on his shoulder, "No, not last week. But it's only been a few months."

Metztli just stared at them for a moment in confusion as Angle continued talking, "Metztli, we're all Twiceborn. And we really need you to keep that a secret. We've a job to do and if word gets out it will make things harder. Can you keep our secret, please?"

Metztli looked to the side and seemed to just stare off into space for a few moments. Finally, he turned back to Celeste and answered, “I’ll not lie for ye, but I won’t volunteer any information, either. But by tha time we make it back to Kan Ladur, I expect ye three to do some excitin' things so I’ll have stories I can share with me children and grandchildren. Otherwise, what’s tha point o' meetin' ya?”

At this Miguel and Liam both started to laugh. Celeste just smiled and said, "I'm sure you'll have some stories by then."

Their secret being exposed seemed to loosen some tongues and soon Liam was regaling Metztli with tales from earth. This continued on until they rounded a bend in the tunned and saw light in the distance.

"Metztli, are we going to the surface?" Miguel asked.

"Aye, headed to tha Shieldbelt. Do ye not know what that is?"

"We were just told it was a series of watch towers and outposts set along the border. I just assumed the border was underground as well."

"Ahh, well, seein' as how ye're in a completely new world, ye probably shouldn’t be makin' assumptions. Tha places we’ll be visitin' are all above ground, though we’ll do most of our travelin' below tha earth, as Gaans intended. This tunnel will actually surface inside a fort. But don’t let that light fool ye—it looks close, but it’s still more than an hour’s ride. And we are sometimes attacked in this area by monsters tryin' to take advantage of tha light messin' up our dark vision. So stay on yer guard."

The party stopped talking as they each fingered their weapons making sure they were ready to be drawn at a moment's notice. The last bit of the journey passed uneventfully and the party laid eyes on Traum's surface and sun for the first time. The light shining on the wagon even woke Deandra up.

You might be reading a pirated copy. Look for the official release to support the author.

As the wagons left the tunnel the party was given a view of mountains rising up on either side of them and a stair-stepped wall about four hundred feet in front of them. In the clearing there were buildings and what appeared to be rooms and tunnels carved into the surrounding mountains. Areas were designated for various tasks, such as crafting, livestock, a garden, and even what looked to be a playground that had half a dozen dwarven children playing on it. The wagons were all directed to one area, except for Miguel's. The soldier directing everyone pointed them toward what looked like an inn on one side of the fort. Metztli stayed and helped the group get the llamas unharnessed and situated for the evening before leaving to rejoin his fellow troops.

"How tall do you figure that wall over there is?" Liam asked.

"Looks like five levels to it and dwarves seem to build most ceilings about six feet or so tall. Maybe, thirty, thirty-five feet?"

"But that’s only on this side." Another voice interjected from behind them. They turned to see a female dwarf with dark red hair approaching them. "Tha other side o' that wall is a cliff. From that side, tha top o' tha wall stands easily two hundred feet high." Sticking her hand out she continued, "Welcome to Fort Spinel. I'm Yanua, and I run tha inn and tavern here." Celeste clasped wrists with Yanua and introduced her group. Yanua continued, "I was told to expect ye, so I already have some rooms ready if ye’d like to store yer belongings. Just follow me."

They quickly grabbed their packed and followed Yanua inside. The inn was not fancy but was clearly well built. Almost all attention had been toward making it sturdy, rather than attractive, it seemed. Once she'd shown them to their rooms, Yanua let them know dinner would be served in about three hours and then excused herself.

They all took some time to stow their things and freshen up a bit and then met back in the tavern.

"So what's next?" Miguel asked.

"Well, this is our first chance to actually start helping. Guess we should find someone who wants our help," Liam answered.

"Help doing what?" asked Deandra.

"Well, the gods asked us to help others and remind them that the gods love them. How can we show people the gods still care?" Celeste asked Deandra.

"We should go beat up the guy they're at war with!" Deandra said with the confidence of youth.

"Good idea, honey," Miguel replied. "If he shows up here, we'll be sure to do that."

"Maybe she's on to something, though," Liam interjected. "What if we offer to cover a watch shift or something while we're here to give the military folks a chance to take some time off?"

"That could work. With there only being three of us we can't cover everything, but perhaps we could rotate through a few jobs and give others some time off. Let's go find out who's in command here and speak with them."

⚴

"You know, I really expected to help by building things," Liam said as he wiped the blood from his face.

"You have something in your hair," Deandra said while laughing at Liam. "I think it's…”

"We all have things in our hair and it's gross,” Celeste cut in. “I can't believe we brought you along for this."

"We didn't know, okay," Miguel responded defensively. "I thought pulling a single shift on watch would be quiet. No one knew it would get hit this hard."

"What are you two worried about. She did great." Liam said while patting Deandra on the shoulder.

"An eight year old should not be killing people!" Celeste snapped.

"But I didn’t kill anyone! I just cut a few guys who were trying to kill you. And this is Traum. The rules are different here." Deandra said in her own defense. Sure the blood and body parts were gross. But Mardora had taught her well and she knew that she was going to grow up and become one of the best fighters ever.

"She's right, hon,” continued Miguel. “Some kids back home were hunting by the time they were her age. Not to mention the child soldiers in other parts of the world. I know you want to protect her, but the best protection we can offer her is to make sure she's ready to protect herself once the protective ward is removed."

"And if her performance tonight was any indication, she's well on her way. I think she managed to inflict nearly as much damage as the rest of us." Liam said as he turned and saw Sergeant Thrukurd Leadbeard approaching.

The sergeant was a middle aged dwarf, which meant he was between 200 and 300 years old, which Liam still was getting used to. He was bald but had a full beard with a lot of intricately carved beads woven in. They had learned earlier that the sergeant didn't worship any gods and was rather quick to look down on anyone who did. He spent a solid five minutes letting them know exactly what he thought about the gods and anyone fool enough to work with them.

"You four caused more havoc durin' tha battle than any group o' new recruits I've ever seen,” he laughed. “Yer levels are less than half o' tha average private yet somehow ye slew more gryphons and enemy soldiers than any other four on this wall. Ye all need more battle experience. Ye need to learn to work as a team. But yer presence here tonight undoubtedly saved lives. Change o' watch will happen shortly. Once yer relief arrives, ye’re free to leave." With that the sergeant turned and took a couple steps back the way he came before stopping and looking back over his shoulder, "Ye showed up and volunteered to work on tha night we just happen to have tha worst attack in months. Ye said earlier that tha gods sent ye to help. If that’s actually true, tell 'em I said thank ye."

As he walked away the party simply looked at one another and shrugged. Then Celeste spoke up, "He is right about us needing more experience. Trying to cast spells in battle is much different than doing so in Master Luitwin's tower. I have to get much faster."

"That's true, but we need to do a better job protecting you while you're casting," Miguel said. “You were left unattended far too often.”

"Yeah, in retrospect, I probably shouldn't have ran off like I did. There were a couple times where I was completely separated from you three. We need to work together a bit more. Maybe we can look at how the soldiers are doing it and learn from them,” said Liam

"That’s a good idea,” responded Celeste. “Did anyone else gain any levels?"

"Yeah, I gained two." Miguel responded with a grin.

"Awesome! I gained one." Liam added.

"I can't wait until I can gain levels," Deandra muttered.

"In time honey," Miguel comforted her. "Just think about all the levels you're going to get at one time."

"But that's long from now!" Deandra whined.

"I sure hope so," Celeste muttered.