Once the mercenary arrived at the camp, Mark and Elowen delved deeper into the cave. Mark decided to leave the smithy apprentice to test ore samples in the cavern while the mercenary guarded the camp.

They had attempted to talk to the weird creatures when they awoke from Mark’s lightning but quickly realized that neither of them understood the other and gave up.

The heavily walked path zigzagged down the chamber before reaching an underground chasm with a simple rope bridge across it.

Mark had tried to convince Elowen to stay behind, but as expected, she insisted on following.

“Not looking forward to heading back across that thing,” Mark said, holding the torch in his hand and patting himself down. "It's a miracle we both made it across."

“Wowee,” Elowen huffed, her pupils huge like saucers filling her eyes. “That was–”

“Calm down,” Mark said. “Save some of that energy for what’s ahead.”

Elowen nodded anxiously.

“Look, more bones,” Mark said, kicking at the ground. “These bones look like they belong to animals, though.”

The bones covered almost every inch of the platform that jutted out over the chasm, beyond which was another passage.

“Indeed,” Elowen said, squatting down to examine a bone. “Probably the remains of what those things you captured eat.”

The rope bridge made a retreat difficult if they came across a large number of enemies beyond. Still, Mark hadn’t seen anything particularly threatening from the little monsters, even if the nature of the mine and the clan that previously owned it was quite bizarre.

“Well, no time like the present, I suppose. With any luck, we can figure out what those creatures are,” Mark said, leading Elowen into the following tunnel.

“What the–” Mark stammered after taking only a few steps into the cave tunnel. Shaking his head in disbelief, he ran his hand across the tunnel’s walls.

He didn’t need a smith to tell him that the shimmering blue streaks glowing lining the walls and glowing softly were something special.

“What is that…” Elowen gasped, her words catching in her throat.

“No idea, but I have a good feeling about it,” Mark said as he took cautious steps forward.

Gradually, the cave opened to another chamber lined with shimmering blue veins, giving the room the feeling of walking through an aquarium.

The outline of a figure, lit up by Mark’s torch, groaned and steadily rose as they took a step into the chamber.

The figure turned toward them slowly. “Why do you wake me? It isn’t time for breakfast, is it?”

“Breakfast?” Mark murmured as the figure shook its head and long, snaking neck.

“You’re not one of my servants, are you?” the deep but well-spoken voice said.

“Your servants? Who are you?” Mark said, stepping closer.

With each step, the light of Mark’s torch cast more light across the figure at the far end of the chamber, and its long, spiked neck and horned head gradually rose toward the ceiling.

“You haven’t harmed them, have you? Hunting is such a bother,” the figure huffed and stood up. "I would have to punish you if you did."

“A–a…” Mark's brow curled.

A long, dragon-like neck and head sprouted out from a scaled, humanoid body. However, even though the creature must have stood twice Mark’s height, its humanoid body was only slightly larger than his, and a tail whipped at its back.

"What are you?" Mark gasped in disbelief.

“A Dragonite,” It said lazily. “It's your first time meeting one of my kind, I suppose? And it’ll be your last if you don’t start explaining yourself. My servants really were quite good at what they did.”

“I–I… I didn’t harm those things in the chamber above.”

“Those things? Rude. Hovlings are not just things. Sure, they mightn’t be the smartest of creatures, nor the hardest working, or the hardiest for that matter. But they have spirit. In a matter of speaking, at least. Don’t misunderstand me; they’re not spiritual, far from it. But they have spirit, if you know what I mean.”

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“Right,” Mark mumbled with a slack-jawed nod.

“Something the matter?” The dragonite raised a scaled brow and whipped its lizard tongue across its hard, scaly lips.

“You’re just not what I was expecting to find down here,” Mark swallowed, looking up at the beast. “Can I ask, did you kill the barbarians that once mined here?”

“Barbarians?” The dragonite tapped its lip. “You don’t happen to be talking about those greedy humans who mined those worthless metals above, are you?”

“The iron and copper?”

“That’s it,” the beast nodded. “An annoying bunch, really. I tried to work with them, but they wouldn’t listen,” it added with a shrug. "I get quite irritable when little beasts refuse to see reason."

“What do you mean—you tried to work with them?”

“Just as it sounds. I have little need for those weak metals, but their incessant hammering drove me mad. The least they could do was to bring me food, but they refused. I tried putting up with it for a while before I finally drove them out. Then the little hovlings came looking for shelter from the cold, and we came to an agreement rather quickly. Some might look down on their cowardly habits, but it works perfectly well for my needs. But now you're here. Threatening to ruin the peace I found.”

“I’m not threatening anything,” Mark raised his hands. He wasn’t about to bow to this Dragonite thing, but he didn’t want to start a fight with a creature capable of scaring off an entire clan from a valuable mine, either. “Your hovling friends are still alive and safe. I'm not here to get in the way of whatever agreements you have in place.”

“Good. Then hurry back to wherever you came. I’m feeling a rest coming on,” the Dragonite yawned. "And tell my friends to get back to work. I'm sure to be hungry soon."

“Wait,” Mark stepped forward. “Maybe we can come to an arrangement.”

“Oh?” The Dragonite paused mid-turn. “What could you offer me that my little hovlings can’t?”

“You want food, right?”

“Did you not listen to anything I just said?”

“I did. However, those little guys don’t look like they can go too far. Or hunt particularly well. I could help get you food from all over the place in return for access to the resources here. Rabbit, deer, pork, you name it.”

“Interesting proposition. But why would you do such a thing? You're not planning on digging, are you?”

"Digging? You mean mining?"

"Exactly," the dragonite nodded. "That infernal racket truly tested my patience."

"Ah, well... Maybe a little, but we could keep the noise down."

The dragonite huffed and blew flames from its nostrils.

“Okay, maybe not. But hear me out. I'm sure we can agree on something. How about we start with names?” Mark said.

“Alzuz,” the Dragonite said, its lips curling into a smile. “And you, human?”

“Atlas,” Mark said, extending a hand but quickly dropping it when the beast failed to offer its own in return. “I have a question. If you don't mind.”

“Make it quick, human. You already test my patience."

“This blue stuff within your cabin, what is it?”

“Oh, so your greedy little eyes have taken an interest in it, have they?”

“I was ju–”

“No need to explain yourself, human. I understand your kind all too well. What you see lining my walls is the fabled metal adamantine. It is quite useful for shielding the walls of my home. You see, it can withstand the flames of my breath. It is quite frustrating to melt your living quarters, let me tell you. It took quite some time to find this place. And now that I have, I must say that I find myself quite comfortable.”

Adamantine? Now, that sounds like something that could be a game-changer. But if this guy can melt cave walls, he probably isn’t someone whose bad side I want to be on.

“What about in the tunnel leading here?” Mark questioned. “There’s quite a bit of it out there. Surely you don't need all of it. Maybe we could reach an agreement.”

"You have yet to even convince me that you'd be a better servant than my little hovlings, human, and yet you are so bold to ask for my adamantine?"

"Only if we could come to an agreement," Mark said, taking a step backward.

“Possibly,” Alzuz hummed. “Perhaps I would be willing to allow you and your people to mine the metals above if you can prove your value to me. However, the adamantine is closer to my heart. I can't see what you could possibly offer me, human.”

“Surely there’s something? I'm a lord of my own land,” Mark pleaded.

“Maybe you could, maybe you can't. I grow tired of this."

“What if we provided the greatest dishes in the world for you to try? Maybe that would tempt you, great and all-powerful Alzuz,” Elowen interrupted.

“Oh, I like the girl,” Alzuz licked at his lips. “Greatest dishes in the world? That sounds kind of fun, I must say. But still, for adamantine, that seems rather cheap. You may have the iron and copper above in return for these so-called greatest dishes."

"Great and powerful-"

"Aaa," Alzuz raised a silencing finger. "Adamantine is nearly impossible to remove, and it would make a horrible amount of noise, interrupting my sleep. Not only that, but I doubt you have a forge capable of smelting the metal. Think on it. Or I can just keep relying on my hovlings.”

Right, this stuff is probably nearly impossible to melt.

"It's fine," Mark said. "We'll accept that deal. Let us mine the iron and copper above, and we will bring you food to try."

“Then it is a deal. But you will not touch this precious metal; to do so would bring my wrath upon you, do you understand?"

“Yes," Mark nodded. "We will leave your chamber untouched. I promise."

I doubt anybody in the fort will know how to deal with adamantine right now anyway. Copper and iron is what we need. If something needs to be done about this, Alzuz, we can figure that out later.

Mark turned to Elowen and motioned her to leave with him.

"Don't take too long with your offerings, either. It's a great bother to be awoken by noisy digging. You should be grateful!" Alzuz called out as they walked back through the tunnel. "And send my hovlings down!"

"What just happened," Elowen said.

"We secured much needed metal."

"But we could really use adamantine. The metal is said to be unbreakable. It could really help against the wargs."

"So, you know about the stuff?"

Elowen nodded. "I do."

"Gather everything you can on it when you get a chance. I want to do some reading."