We were on the third day of our impromptu journey. I didn’t have any real goal in mind other than scouting and maybe finding some decent dungeons to loot. So far we had just passed the edge of Texas.
A Hornwell outpost marked the border in the distance. I had spotted his flag with the remote viewer. I could even see a few people moving around the small structure, keeping an eye out for trouble. They never once looked our way, the cloak was up and I was flying lower along the mountain. It really did reduce the lensing effect dramatically.
Our flight continued north for another full day before anything changed. The mountain was still as stalwart as ever, rising up to touch the clouds in the east. What should have turned into mostly farmland and flat terrain in the west instead became low rolling hills marked with small groves of some odd tree.
Definitely not a native tree of Earth, the wood was a strawberry red color and the leaves looked like they were dipped in blood. The fact that they dripped occasionally in the heat of the day added to the effect.
The trees seemed to house any number of wildlife, so I had to assume they were benign in nature, at least to that wildlife. I assumed what dripped off the leaves must be some sort of sap.
This wasn’t the only change. Small villages started popping up. All were walled off and I couldn’t imagine more than a hundred people lived in them. We flew near one to check it out and the ‘people’ turned out to be some strange hybrid creature between a goat and a spider. Those were the closest analogs I could think of to describe them.
They had short horns that hurled along their heads and most sported a mane of silver hair. It was mainly the shape of the pupils that made me think of a goat. Not that they were covered in hair or looked like a satyr. They had two arms and three fingers, or two fingers and a thumb, it was hard to tell since the digits were all almost the same length.
The spider part came in at the lower portion of the body. They had six legs, with what I assumed were hooves and a small thorax where a tail might be on a beastkin.
I had also witnessed a gathering of females, weaving cloth from the silk the thorax extruded. I was tempted to go down there to see if I could trade but I didn’t want to spook the natives. Plus those eyes gave me the willies.
We decided to continue on without stopping. While Fiona had found a few dungeons during our stops at night, they were all pretty low level. The highest reaching level seven. We could always check them on the way back to see if we could get a first clear bonus but otherwise, they weren’t worth the effort. There had been no sightings of another horde dungeon but I wasn’t too surprised. From what Fiona told me they were extremely rare. And having been in two put me above ninety-nine percent of the population on her planet. Still, I held out hope for a third.
More and more small towns started popping up the farther north we went. There were even roads and travelers spotted moving northeast and west along a dirt trail. My guess was a real road hadn’t had time to be established to wherever they were heading.
That did give us a good indicator that there should be a large trading town coming up.
I was proven correct an hour later as a large town, nestled against the bottom slope of the mountain, came into view in the distance. I decided to set the fortress down in a valley between two rocky juts from the mountain. It was easily an hour's ride on Bella to the town but I didn’t want to cause an uproar until I got an idea of who the natives were.
“You two ready to say hi to the locals?”
“Yes,” Ska crooned, stretching his stiff muscles from the three-day journey.
“Want me to scout ahead?” Fiona asked.
“No, for the moment stick with us. Once we get closer to the town check it out from above and come back. I can’t imagine a booming trading town like this to turn anyone away.”
I popped Bella out of her cage, she had fully recovered from her ordeal with those despicable dwarves and spent most of her time in the spare storage room while we flew. At nights she hunted around the fortress, sometimes with Ska. The two had finally come to an unspoken agreement, which was good because it had been annoying having them snap and growl at each other all the time.
Ska was able to keep up without issue as I wasn’t pushing Bella to her limit. Thankfully the grimalkin didn’t suffer from prolonged running as cheetahs did.
Half an hour later we arrived on the road heading into the town. The walled-off portion was even larger than Houston. It was surprising seeing this many people so far from where any major town had been prior to the system.
We passed dozens of wagons and just people walking as we neared the town. Most were openly armed and armored as they rode by. There was no open hostility but people did look our way as we passed. I think it had to do more with me riding a war mount than anything.
Or maybe it was the fact that I was human since not a single traveler I had seen had been human so far. I spotted at least six different beastkin varieties and another four humanoids like elves and dwarves, although I didn’t know what their race was. I decided not to be rude by using Identify, we had enough people mad at us for the moment.
When we were ten minutes from the wall Fiona whispered in my ear that she would be back after checking out the town.
“Many beastkin, you think there may be grimalkin?” Ska asked in hope.
“Are your people plentiful?”
“Hmmm, no,” he said dejectedly.
“There may be other feline beastkin.”
That seemed to perk him up a bit.
“Town seems fine, plenty of guards. I don’t recognize the flag but that isn’t too surprising.”
I gave a small nod so Fiona would know I heard her.
We rode through the massive gate. The entrance was large enough to fit four cars side by side and it was packed with people coming and going.
A group of guards was collecting a toll and eventually one approached us.
“Welcome to West Exit. Is this your first time here?”
“Yes,” I replied in confusion, “wait, the town is called West Exit?”
“Yes. It is the west exit to the tunnel through the mountain and the Mohai that created the tunnel gave the town its name. Since this is your first time here, please take this token. It allows one passage through the mountain. Also please stop by the pavilion after you enter the town and read the rules that are posted.”
I didn’t get to ask any more questions as he waved us ahead. The tunnel opened up twenty meters later into a massive open area, some temporary shops had been set up along the edges but it looked like nobody was allowed to set up near the center. The town was a melting pot of hundreds of different species. It reminded me a lot of the Bazaar, if on a smaller scale. I even saw a few humans, even a few Earth humans. The clothing usually gave them away. Although, it seemed like humans were quite the minority in this area of the world.
We made our way over to the posted sign after I stored Bella. The rules were simple. No fighting, no stealing, no slavery, and no rape.
They also only listed one punishment for those crimes, death.
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“So, you want to check out the town, or see this tunnel through the mountain?” I asked Ska.
Unfortunately, his eyes kept darting about and his tail was twitching erratically. He hadn’t heard a word I had spoken. When I followed his gaze I had to groan. There was indeed plenty of female feline kin in the city.
I had to grab him by the straps around his torso as he tried to bolt toward one pack that looked like Persian cats, only six feet tall and with a mane of lustrous white hair. I could see Ska’s attraction. But I didn’t feel like having to deal with a horny cat or flee the city just as we arrived. I dragged the reluctant grimalkin along as we looked for a place to stay.
I did note, however, that Ska drew the gazes of more than one female. I didn’t think he would have any issue finding a willing companion while we were here. I also saw a few gazes sent my way but I ignored them. I wasn’t interested in finding a bed partner, human or otherwise.
***
“Why are we staying in this town?” Fiona asked once we entered the room we rented.
“I want to get a feel for the town, see if this is a viable travel route or if there is a way over the mountains farther north.”
“It just seems like our time could be better spent leveling,” Fiona grumbled.
I waved off her concern. “We have plenty of time.”
“Yes, town is good, I say we stay,” Ska said, his agitation bringing about his old stilted speech pattern. Martin had spent a fair bit of time getting him to speak properly but when he was stressed or agitated he reverted to his old ways. It made reading his mood easy.
He had been like this since I dragged him away from those females. I assumed it was some beastkin physiology at play, giving him a one-track mind. Or maybe their species went into heat like normal cats. God forbid I had to listen to those sorts of sounds all night long.
“Fine, Ska, you can go. Just stay out of trouble and obey the town rules. I mean it,” I said, giving him my most intimidating stare.
He nodded as he rushed out of the room.
We spent a couple of days exploring the town and meeting the locals. I talked with a group of merchants getting ready to head through the tunnel. The town on the far side of the mountain was aptly named East Exit. The Mohai are very literal in their naming sense.
The trip was longer than expected, two full weeks.
“Why such a long journey?” I asked, knowing it shouldn’t take more than a few days.
“The Mohai don’t dig straight tunnels. They like to follow softer stone, as they call it, usually veins of minerals or ore,” the Caravan leader stated. He was a half-dwarf with a shaved head and fu-man-chu mustache.
I thought about exploring these caves and checking out the other city. It wasn’t like the three of us had any pressing business. The remaining Black Dragons were in Chicago, according to Michael. And they would have no way to track my movements anymore. Plus there may be strong creatures or even dungeons within the depths.
That was one of the deciding factors in my choice to go. The other was the token we were given. At first, I thought it just allowed us passage through the tunnel. But it turns out it was a return token. After breaking it, it would teleport the holder back to West Exit square. I thought that was a rather extravagant investment until I learned that the token was just a marker, and the actual enchantment that did all the work was inlaid into the square.
I tried to learn the identity of this master enchanter but whoever it was, was kept a tight secret. After meeting Lord Vik’t, I can’t blame them for wanting to keep this quiet. It seemed to me that the Enchanter guild didn’t appreciate rogue enchanters.
As for the tunnels, I learned quite a bit. There were all sorts of nasty creatures and natural caverns that the Mohai or molekin had dug into on their trek through the mountain. No mention of dungeons though. Not that I was surprised. A dungeon could be a strategic investment if utilized properly.
The Mohai’s natural gift at earth magic allowed them to tunnel through solid rock even faster than dwarves. But as the caravan leader stated, they preferred to follow ore. They also seemed to have some sort of sixth sense about open caverns and other underground oddities.
It would be a few more days before the caravan set out so I walked around town until I found what I was looking for.
“Hey, you,” I yelled, waving over a startled man in a weatherbeaten baseball cap.
‘Man I missed my baseball cap.’
“The man hesitantly walked over, “um… yes?”
“You’re a local… from Earth right?”
“Yes?” the man asked quizzically.
“Sorry, I’m Paul. I was originally from Wisconsin when everything went to shit, just trying to see how the rest of the world fared. What state you from?”
“Oh, a fellow Midwesterner… I was in Central Iowa, on my family farm when everything changed. Gotta say, it was a bit hard coping at first but we toughed it out. What with the beasts and the other-worlders running around.”
I nodded along at his story, really only interested in how the mountain looked in the north.
“After my family was killed by a pack of beasts, I ran. I tried heading east, I had extended family in Indiana but the Spine of the World blocked my path. Eventually, I ended up in West Exit.”
“Sorry for your loss,” I replied sincerely.
After that revelation, the conversation started petering out. The man eventually nodded and walked off, lost in his dredged-up memories. I felt bad for bringing it up, but I could probably point to nine out of ten people and get a similar story of people dying around them.
I sighed after talking with a few more people. I had been right the stories were pretty much the same. Almost everyone lost someone. Then they tried to find any connection to the old world, ending up here. When I asked why they didn’t just join a caravan and go through the tunnel, they looked dejected.
Turns out the caravans didn’t want a bunch of non-combatants along for a ride. And they wouldn’t just hire an unknown. They only hired Ska and me because of our high levels, most civilians in the city couldn’t even boast getting to level five. So the people were essentially stuck in town until the city watch threw them out to fend for themselves, or they found a job that paid, allowing them to rent a room.
It was cold and ruthless but that was what the world was now. You couldn’t expect to sit safely behind a wall and not contribute to the city in some way, shape, or form.
The information the farmer provided led me to believe the mountain stretched all the way into Canada. It was hard to believe a mountain range of that magnitude didn’t have any way to pass through it, but the three of us hadn’t found any and it sounded like neither had anyone coming from the north.
Going by the general location of the mountain, it followed a similar path that the Mississippi river once followed. This didn’t seem like a coincidence, and it made me wonder what happened to the massive river. I knew it didn’t exit out into the ocean anymore, the area where it should have exited was a vast desert.
I would have to talk to Martin when I returned to Houston. Setting up an exclusive shipping route seemed like a highly profitable venture, considering that may be one of the only other ways around the mountains. With a little work, I could convert a smaller barge into a hovering ferry. It would be much safer and much faster, even if the merchants were forced to travel south, then back north. It was something to think about as I walked to join the caravan.
“We leave in ten minutes for Fort No Home!,” one of the caravan leaders yelled. “Make sure you are geared up and ready, and keep your eyes open as soon as we enter the cavern.”
I was not at the front, no, I was near the middle, essentially used as a personal bodyguard for a rich merchant. I had a little mental chuckle thinking about this man as being rich. The fortress probably held more value than his entire wares, even my armor and weapon were worth more than most of the stuff I had seen the merchants carting about.
I was surprised to see that few if any had spatial bags or rings. Most had grown up in poor worlds. They had access to the Bazaar but no means to pay the town fees to enter. Now they risked it all to reach a Bazaar to sell their goods. They could sell the items in town but they would fetch far less on Earth since most people didn’t have the credits that established traders could bring to the table. Then there was the fact that most of the stuff they were selling was new. Beast parts and strange plants that had not been seen before. Then there was always the old tech, lying around. One trader had a cart full of old computers, tablets, and cell phones. Even though the items didn’t work he was hoping to strike it rich.
I tried helping out, telling them of the Bazaar in Houston but they were dead set on selling their wares at the one in East Exit. I learned the city used to have another name, Nashville. So at least I had a good idea where we would come out.
The caravan didn’t encounter the first attack until we exited the tunnel into the valley, heading for Fort No Home.
A large flock of angry-looking birds flew down and attacked anything that moved. After a ten-minute fight, the surviving birds flew away while squawking angrily. The creatures were low level but there were hundreds of them. One unlucky merchant had been severely wounded during the encounter but his son had been close by and was able to get him healing in time.
I realized this was probably the most normal thing I had done in months. Simple adventuring. No running from some demented slaver, no fighting for my life against fanatics, or trying to survive in a desert. It was almost enough to get me to forget I had another lunatic trying to track me down… almost.
Fort No Home turned out to just be four tall rock walls with an entrance on one end and an exit on the other. It was situated a couple of hundred meters down the valley from where we exited the first tunnel.
“I see it lives up to its name,” I replied glumly, knowing sleeping on the ground would suck.
“It isn’t much,” the merchant beside me said, “but it is a safe place to spend the night.”
I simply nodded in reply, not in much of a mood to talk. Two days of walking through dark tunnels and I didn’t even get to fight the stupid birds, left me a bit grouchy.
The thick gates to No Home opened as we approached. The fort was large enough to house three times our number, but there wasn’t so much as a building or room to speak of inside the walls. The walls had covered towers for the guards, but that was all.
There was also a fee, charged to everyone who entered.
If it was like this the entire trip, I doubted many merchants would have credits left by the time they made it through. It really was an all-or-nothing gamble for them.