The next day was clear and calm. We took the longer route, past a large town called Turinel. It would be longer but might actually be faster. There were rumors the forest was overrun with people looking for the sword. The second dragon attack had happened in there, and it was possible the sword was still there. If we went through the forest we'd almost certainly get into fights, which we'd probably win, but it would be a risk and slow us down.
As we walked, I watched Caveria, trying to judge her feelings. She seemed short-tempered and snappish and that friendlier mood was gone. We’d had a training session in the morning, and she’d been harsh, silent and unforgiving. “Try harder next time,” was all she’d said.
When we got back on the road after our coffee stop, I decided to try to talk to her.
“Hi,” I said and fell in beside her.
“Hi”, she grunted, very uninvitingly and without looking at me. It brought back just how scary she’d been in the beginning, and I almost gave up. Come on, I told myself, she’s a friend. Or at least a member of your party.
“I, uh, I heard what the battle mage said yesterday, and I, I just think... that’s awful.” I bit my tongue. Great. That was lame. “I mean,” I went on, “I don’t know the details, but I want you to know that I’m... I’m here, if you want to talk. And I will fight Lecander, if we need to.”
She snorted, and then began to laugh. I glanced at her, alarmed, as the laugh seemed to grow louder and wilder, but then she cut it off.
“Your amulet won’t help you with Lecander,” she scoffed. “He’s almost as strong as I am.”
Right. And I’m weak and useless, I know, no need to rub it in any more. I glared at her. “Is he as strong as a dragon?” I said. “Because I am going with you to fight a dragon, even though everything I hear makes it sound like lunacy. Lunatic suicide. Even if you’ve done it before!”
She turned her head and looked at me, with a different look in her eyes.
“That’s true,” she allowed. “He’s not as strong as a dragon, no.” She sighed deeply and looked down at the road. “I know, Peter. You want to help, and I appreciate that. I actually do. I'm not... But I don't... I don’t really want to talk about it. It’s too painful.”
“I understand,” I said. “Sometimes it’s less painful to - to talk. But I don’t want to push you. I just... I’m here.”
“Sometimes it hurts more to talk," she said quietly. "But - thank you.” There was a ghost of a smile on her lips. I nodded, and fell back in the group. I wasn’t sure how that went. At least it was a try, and she hadn't snapped at me.
The rest of the day was uneventful. I tried to make small talk with everyone in the party, with varying success, and tried to avoid looking at Caveria who kept to herself and looked unhappy and miserable.
We bypassed Turinel and spent the night in a roadside inn.
On the following day we left the plains behind. The land began to rise, and the mountains appeared on the horizon. The road snaked between hills and ridges before it entered a deep valley with pine forests climbing up the hillsides. In the center flowed a shallow, quick river, lined by farms and meadows. Those thinned out over the course of the day.
It was a pleasant country, and it again reminded me of forest hikes from before, back home. I talked to Serah as we walked, and she pointed out plants, flowers and birds along the way. I kept an eye on Caveria as well, but she still kept to herself.
The most cheerful member of the party was Tiriel, of course. She’d been more subdued in the city, but now that we were back in the forest she was back to her old self. She must have walked twice as far as I did, the way she ranged back and forth across the road and even went down to the river to jump on rocks sticking out of the water. And then back up across the road, into the forest, and occasionally up a tree.
All the while singing and doing little pirouettes and twirls. Strangely enough, it made her look even more regal, like a princess.
Thord was also relaxing, so much so that by mid-afternoon, when we’d climbed halfway up the valley side and reached a tunnel, he took out his battle ax and swung it in the air, laughing.
“This is fine!” he chortled. “Finally back in the mountains, and at a dwarf-built tunnel too!” He turned around and waved towards the plains we’d come from, hidden in a soft haze. “Good-bye flat land!” he called. "May I not see you again for a long time!”
I was amused and surprised by the transformation. He’d been so quiet and steady, almost distant, even when we were in Dwarven Hall in Ambor, but now he walked straighter and with a spring in his step.
The road emerged from the tunnel on another hillside, and snaked down towards a cluster of buildings at the valley’s end. It took me a while to realize the scale - they were far away, but these weren’t ordinary town houses.
“What’s that?” I asked Arndrir and pointed.
“That’s our destination. That’s Ruula, the mining town.”
We didn’t quite reach it that day so we made camp some distance from the road among large boulders. It felt almost like home to sleep under the open sky again, on my bedroll, and to eat stew, bread and cheese for dinner. I might be better suited as an adventurer out on the road than some kind of city boy, I thought as I fell asleep under the softly murmuring trees.
We arrived at Ruula the following morning, just after coffee. It was a clear day, but the sun had yet to rise above the surrounding hills and the town was still in shadow. As we climbed the last slope the buildings of the mine complex loomed above us. Tall smokestacks rose from the roofs, belching black smoke, and bright firelight shone through windows and wide door openings.
It looked like an industrial site, like something out of the Industrial Revolution. It sounded like one too, with a constant din of mechanical noise and roaring fires from all directions. Ruula was obviously in full operation.
There was no town wall, but as we approached a group of men rose from where they’d been sitting outside a hut beside the road. They spread out and blocked the road.
“Halt!” the one in the middle called, his sword in one hand and his pipe in the other. “State your business! This is no tourist site!”
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“Greetings,” Arndrir called back. “We are not tourists. We are on official business from His Highness King Diwelas of the Splendorous Kingdom.” He bowed and swept his arm towards Tiriel, who stepped forward with a suitably regal expression. It would have been perfect, if it wasn’t for her ears. They twitched slightly, like they did when she was holding back a laugh.
The guard captain didn’t seem to notice, though. He frowned suspiciously as he regarded her, and then the rest of us. “What is your business here, then?”
“We wish to see the mine chief in a matter of high importance,” Tiriel said in her haughtiest voice.
“Are you looking for the damn sword?” the guard said. Several of the other guards muttered behind him.
“No,” Tiriel replied, “we know it is no longer here. We wish simply to investigate the circumstances in which it was found.” We’d debated, but in the end decided to just tell them the truth. Well, more or less.
The guard had lowered his sword and puffed on his pipe while he considered us.
“Boss, let’s run 'em off,” another guard said. “We’ve had enough of these adventurers.”
“`S true enough, Keren,” the captain said. “But the Elven King...” he muttered and grimaced. “Alright, you lot!” he barked. “You can go! I’ll send Dameir here with you to the mine offices. Don’t cause any trouble. Dameir, you come back here right away, you hear!”
A young man with a sullen expression led us further up the hillside into the mining town proper. I gazed around with interest.
“What do they mine here?” I asked Arndrir.
“Iron and coal, mostly,” he said. “There’s a deep and rich coal seam leading out towards the plain, and an ore deposit going straight into the heart of the mountains. The mine’s been here for centuries.”
We walked past what seemed to be the housing part of the town, with long two- and three-story buildings, and into the industrial part proper. Here the noise was even louder and the air burned with the acrid smell of coal fires.
The mine buildings were huge, ten stories or more, with flat and mostly window-less walls, and sharply slanted roofs. Cables criss-crossed the space between them, carrying iron buckets from one building to the next, and escalators clanged and clanked as they climbed between different levels.
Many of the buildings had huge doors, like hangar doors, and I could see furnaces and smelters inside, along with a lot of other equipment amid a jumble of ladders and walkways. Intense heat poured out as we passed the doors.
I craned my neck to see as much as possible. This was interesting and I hoped we’d get a chance to look around.
“Do you like this?” Serah asked me with a smile.
“I think it’s very interesting,” I told her. “I was an engineer back home, and I haven’t seen much technology and machinery here.”
“Tecknol - I don’t know that word. Is that what you see here?”
“Yes - well, sort of. Technology, it’s... machines and stuff.” I gestured vaguely. How do you explain technology? “Like tools, and bridges, and how you build them. It’s how you know how to build things.”
She cocked her head. “I believe the dwarves ask the gods for advice. That’s not what you mean, I take it?”
“No! Not the gods! You, you ask... nature. The universe.” I shook my head at her baffled smile.
“But the gods are the universe. They are the powers of the world.”
“No, I mean... It's not... I can’t explain it right now,” I sighed. “Maybe later.”
“I am interested when you do, boy,” Thord chuckled beside me. “I find this interesting too. It is very different from our mines.” He grinned at me.
“Perhaps we can study this together later.”
I smiled back gratefully. It annoyed me that I couldn’t explain better, but I hadn’t actually seen any real examples of technology here. No machines, no complex tools, until now.
Thord fell in beside me and we began pointing out interesting things to each other.
Our guide led us to one of the smallest buildings in the complex. It was made of stone, rather than the sheet metal of the huge ones, and looked very much like an office building. He handed us over to a woman behind a long counter, who told us to wait and sent a young boy running up the stairs to the mine chief.
The offices bustled with people, like the rest of the complex. People came and went, with many of them carrying rolled-up sheets of paper. I wanted to point them out to Serah - see, drawings, that’s how you build things with technology - but I refrained. She’d just smile at me, and not understand.
The boy returned and led us up two flights of stone stairs, to a large reception room. There was a queue of people on one side, shuffling rather quickly to a pair of doors in one corner. In the other corner was another pair of doors. It didn’t take long to figure out that the first pair of doors was the entrance and the second was the exit.
Soon enough, it was our turn. There was a small bell beside the door, and when it rang the boy opened the door and marched through. We followed him and stopped in front of a huge desk. A man sat behind it, right in the center and scowled at us.
“Well,” he said. “You.” He rose and bowed stiffly. “Greetings, High Princess Tiriel of the Splendorous Kingdom. May there be peace between us.” He sat back down and resumed scowling. “I welcome you, of course, but I am not happy to see you or your party. The last month has been very disruptive for Ruula. Many miners have died and the facilities have been damaged. We want nothing more to do with the sword. It’s not here any longer.”
“Greetings, Chief of the Mine,” Tiriel said and returned his bow, almost as stiffly. “My brother sends his greetings. May there be peace between us.” She paused. “We know the sword isn’t here,” Tiriel replied. She seemed on edge somehow. “I am sorry to hear of your suffering. We do not wish to increase it. On the contrary, our aim is to prevent further suffering. We are searching for the sword to keep it from falling in the wrong hands. You will have heard what happened in Ambor. Unless the sword can be found, such scenes will be repeated and chaos threatens all the kingdoms.”
The chief grunted, but nodded.
“Our goal now is simply to confirm that the sword you found was the true Dragonblade.”
The chief groaned and put his head in his hands. “You are not the first. My miners have been interrogated by the King’s agents - three times, and been harassed by too many adventurers to count.” He raised his head and slammed his hands on the table.
“I am sorry, princess. I cannot let you disrupt my mine. We are only just beginning to restore normal rates. However, due to the friendship between our nations, I will allow you to stay for one day only, and find out what you can - without interviewing, interrogating or otherwise inconvenience any working miner. You may visit the taverns and talk with those who allow it. By nightfall, you must leave the mine area. You may stay the night at the guest inn, but you must be on your way in the morning.”
Tiriel was silent for a while, and just as I thought the chief would speak again, she bowed, more deeply and more gracefully this time.
“Thank you, Chief of the Mine. We are grateful for your assistance in completing our task. We shall observe the restrictions you’ve set.”
The chief looked surprised but quickly collected himself. He rose from his chair and bowed at Tiriel. His bow was deeper this time too.
“Thank you for your understanding, princess. I am in your debt, and I hope you will allow me to discharge the debt in calmer times. Send my greetings to your brother, and may there be peace between us.”
“May there be peace between us.” Tiriel nodded, but her smile was sad.
The boy had been hovering a few steps away and at a glance from the chief he led us through the exit door and back down the stairs. We stopped in the reception and the woman handed Tiriel a piece of paper. “Here is your permit,” she said. “Keep it at hand.”
We left the boy in the office building and walked out on the open space in front.
“Serah, how do you want to perform the search?” Tiriel said.
Serah shrugged. “I will need to walk around the area and see what I can sense. I haven’t felt anything that could be dragon magic so far. I haven’t felt much magic at all.”
“Neither have I,” Tiriel said, and shuddered. She glanced around, her nose wrinkled. “We are not very welcome here,” she went on. “I am sorry to hear it - the miners have always been friends of ours but today the chief would have preferred to send us away. Let us be grateful that we were allowed to stay until evening. Do not wander and do not poke your noses into things.” She looked at me and Thord when she said this. “Our task is to find the sword, not study mining.”
“Of course,” I said, but I glanced at Thord and met his gaze. We nodded in agreement. We’d certainly help Serah search for the sword, and would only do a little bit of mine studies on the side. It wouldn’t cause any problems.