We made it to the gate before sunrise.

I’d heard stories about how travelers who wandered the roads in the mountains were attacked by monsters or bandits, but we hadn’t seen any of those so far. I knew that the Kharm kept a hunting ground in the small desert to the south, but the land shark-like nomads rarely came into the mountains. Their ability to travel through the ground was limited to loose dirt, which was mainly sand, though some of them were strong enough to ‘swim’ through regular ground. Despite not being able to breathe underwater, they were also quite good swimmers, though they stayed away from most water on principle.

The gate to Iron Forge was a massive metal construct. There weren’t a lot of travelers from this side of the city, with most either flying in or entering from the river on the northern side. The huge bars of the gate sandwiched the massive metal doors closed. I could imagine that it would be a pain to open, as the outer gate would have to be lifted first, then the doors opened outward, then the inner bars finally lifted.

The three of us stared at the closed gate from our mounts. There was a decent area that had been cleared, which I assumed had been made for travelers to stop when coming to the dwarven city.

I swallowed when I noticed that the two large rocks above each side of the gate could be released to roll over us. I knew that things could get violent the further from the large coastal cities you were, but I never imagined that the dwarven capital would need to have such defenses in place.

“What do we do now?” I looked over at Starna. The beautiful Elf looked like she was deep in thought.

“There’s an eye next to the gate.” She opened her eyes and pointed at a place where the stone was jutting out a little more. “We should be able to get them to let us in there.”

“Because you’ve been here before?” Vin sounded as uncomfortable as I felt.

Starna scowled. “Once I was made Alessa’s companion, we rarely left the castle, let alone the city. But just because I’ve not been here, doesn't mean that I don’t know the protocols.”

“So I’m just supposed to knock on the wall and announce myself as Prince Sectum Malus?” I started to get off my mount.

Ensure your favorite authors get the support they deserve. Read this novel on Royal Road.

Starna pulled a paper out of the pocket of her jacket. “I’ll handle this.” She nodded at Vin. “Get the mounts ready to enter the city.”

I grabbed the reins of her drake as she marched over to the eye.

Vin hopped off his mount and shook his head. “You’d think she thought she was the one in charge…”

“In a way she is.” I ran my hand over her drake’s neck. “The only thing I know about diplomacy is how to haggle and how to kill them before they kill us.” I looked at my brother. “I don’t really see either of those things happening.”

“You never know…” My brother flexed his lower arms. “Punching someone might speed things up.”

“We’re here to investigate a weird door that the Dwarves can’t break.” I shook my head. “But you’ll probably get to punch it at some point.”

The Camadt flashed me a toothy grin. “That’s what I’m here for.”

“I thought you were here to make using magic more difficult.” Starna scowled as she approached us.

“What’s wrong?” I could tell by the way her features had clouded that she was upset, though I doubted it had anything to do with us.

“They don’t believe that we have a tamed Camadt, so they aren’t going to let us directly into the city. Once they find a suitable guide, they’ll take us to the mines where we can go to reach the door.” Our Elf grumbled as she took the reins of her mount from me.

“Tamed?!?” Vin clenched his fists. “I’m not some dog that does tricks!”

“No, you’re a sweet little kitty.” I couldn’t help myself.

“Don’t call me kitty.” My brother glared at me. “I’m not some circus animal.”

I laughed and waved at him. “Let them think whatever they want. We’ll show them what you can do once we get to this door. Then they’ll realize what a sweet kitty you are.”

“I’ll show you..!”

The sound of the eye opening cut off my brother’s threat. It was a recurring theme that we’d had since we were kids. While he acted like he was upset, he actually enjoyed the reference, though I was one of the few people he’d let get away with calling him that.

The Dwarf that exited the wall was riding on the back of an Ibex. The short man was covered in so much red hair that I couldn’t see his face. He was also wearing shiny black armor that covered most of his body, leaving just his fingers and face exposed. The ax on his back looked worn, but well maintained, signifying that we were dealing with someone who wasn’t a stranger to fighting.

“Yer Sectum?” The dwarf rode over to me.

I nodded. “This is Vin and Starna.” I gestured at my companions. “Who are you?”

Once the Dwarf was within arm’s reach, he stuck out his hand. “Gaelun Irongut. Hello cousin.”