Hera and her cousins started moving back out of the dungeon without any of the boys ever stepping foot inside the first cavern. While Evon had been a bit difficult to convince of the necessity of returning for different equipment, Edgar and Elburt had been easy enough to convince, and they had both taken her side.

They were discussing how they were going to sneak into their homes and pull out their winter clothes without anyone noticing as they walked up the tunnel. Evon seemed to believe that he was the sneakiest one in the group, despite all three of the others being adamantly opposed to the idea of Evon being the one to grab everyone’s winter clothes.

They soon saw the glow of daylight, and they stepped out of the cave and into the forest outside. Just to the side was a campfire that had been completely invisible from the tunnel itself, and sitting at it and roasting a few small birds was Burt.

“Well, wasn’t expectin’ yeh just yet, which means yeh’ve got more sense than I thought, or somethin’ scared yeh bad enough that yeh left quick.”

Hera just stared at Burt, stunned to see him just sitting there waiting for her to emerge from the dungeon. What had given her away? She had been so careful!

As she stared at her adoptive father, she noticed that there were four packs piled up beside him, and Hera recognized her own winter clothes.

Burt stuck out his hand towards Hera, snapping her from her daze. “Yeh got somethin’ that don’t belong to yeh.”

Hera sheepishly pulled out Burt’s two knives. She could not help but notice that she had missed a bit of the blue blood when she had been cleaning them, and she quickly moved to wipe the spots off.

“Yeh killed a yeti? Guess yeh were in there longer than I realized. Their blood don’t hurt nothin’ on the blades, but don’t get none on yerself. That frostbite don’t leave fer nothin’.”

It was almost disturbing how casual Burt was acting, and Hera did not know how to respond to it. She had expected to be scolded or punished if she got caught sneaking into the dungeon, but instead, Burt was being so calm that Hera could not help waiting for the other foot to drop.

All four of the youths stared at the older man as he rotated the cooking fowl.

“Um, sorry, Uncle Burt. Guess we shouldn’t of gone in…” Elburt drifted off as Burt gave him a questioning look.

“Why not? Yeh are all adults now. Can’t be tellin’ yeh what to do, and yeh were slow and careful. Even left to get better prepared.”

Hera grew bug-eyed as she stared at her second father. This flew in the face of everything he had ever told her. “Wait, I have a birthday and now you can’t tell me what to do? It was fine to boss me around just last week, but you aren’t going to do it now?”

Burt just turned to look at her. “Woulda told you what to do this mornin’, too, if yeh’d been at the house. You decide to take responsibility for yerself, all I can do now is try to make sure yer careful ‘bout stuff. Can’t make yeh do nothin’, 'Era. Never could.”

Hera opened her mouth to retort, only to realize that Burt was being completely honest with her. He had never once forced Hera to do anything. She had simply gone along with what he had told her because she had always thought she had to because… because…

Well, he was the adult. Still, Burt had admitted his failings to Hera on many occasions, and had even apologized more than once. He had been disappointed in her, but had not once actually punished her beyond refusing to give her any training for a time after she had disobeyed him. Not once had Hera been punished like she had seen her cousins receive, or even as she had with her first father.

“Come on, have a seat. Tell me ‘bout what you saw in there and how it went with the yeti. You seen any of the other beasties in there? Get to the glacier? No, that’s too far fer how long yeh were in there.”

Hera was still standing frozen in place as she tried to process everything that was running through her mind. However, her cousins were already moving to sit around the fire, and Evon was already running his mouth. “Well, we were tryin’ to be like the real delvers we heard ‘bout, so me ‘n Elburt were goin’ to have shields, and Edgar’s got his spear. None of us went in, ‘cause 'Era went first to scout things out. She took a bit, ‘cause she ran into somethin’, guess it’s what yer callin’ a yeti. When she got back to us, she told us it’s too cold to go in ‘thout warmer clothes and some jackets ‘n such, so we came out to get our stuff. Thanks for bringin’ it, by the way.”

Hera shuffled forward to take a seat as Evon rattled on. As she sat down, her new knife poked her hip, reminding her of its presence. “Um, Uncle Burt, could you look at this?”

Even after so many years of living with the man, Hera still could not bring herself to call him “father.” She knew that Burt had been more of a father than her own had ever been, but that word carried too many memories and too much pain. Burt was Uncle Burt, and to Hera, that said everything.

Burt cocked a brow as Hera offered him the bone knife. He looked at her, and then back at the white blade. “They’re droppin’ more ‘n bones ‘n such now? This is certainly more useful than a few teeth or bones. Still, somethin’s off ‘bout this…”

Burt examined the knife as he spoke, turning it over, testing the balance, checking the tip and the edge.

Suddenly, his eyes went wide and he swore, “Hidde’s bent blade! 'Era, you noticed this yet?”

Hera felt a bit confused, as it was just a bone knife, even if it was an exceptional piece of workmanship. It would never be able to stand up to steel, or even iron. She had only taken it because it had been left behind when the beast’s corpse had disappeared.

“Noticed what? It’s just a bone knife. Maybe a bit sharper than most, but it’s not a steel blade.”

Burt stared at her blankly for a moment. “'Era, boys, ‘ere’s yer first real lesson on dungeons: anythin’ yeh git from one is better ‘n anythin’ else you can hope to git. This knife’s bone, but it’ll nick those iron axes you boys ‘r carryin’.

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“'Era, touch the blade.”

Hera took the knife back, and this time, she touched the blade and examined the weapon a bit more carefully.

Immediately, she noticed that the blade was still cold from the dungeon, though the hilt was a comfortable temperature. That seemed a bit odd, but no more than a knife appearing from a fading corpse.

Hera felt something pull at something inside of her, and frost appeared on the blade. It started by running along the engraving on the blade, and then covered the rest of the exposed bone.

“Why’s it frozen, Uncle Burt?”

“That’s magic, ‘Era.”

“The dungeon did magic on this knife? How? I thought dungeons couldn’t do anything to things outside of them.”

“‘Era, the knife’s magic.”

Hera just stared at her adoptive father, trying to understand what he was getting at. Of course the knife was magic. How else could it have appeared?

Edgar suddenly gasped. “Are you sayin’ that’s a magic blade, Uncle Burt? Like in the stories?”

Hera and her other two cousins gasped as well as they turned to stare at Burt. This was not something that any of them had considered. Magic weapons were supposed to be things from children’s tales, not anything that actually existed.

Burt nodded. “This’ll pull on yer mana t’ make the blade cold. Not sure, but might be strong enough to freeze whatever yeh stab with it.”

Hera gaped at the blade in her hand as she struggled to believe the gift she had been given by the dungeon.

“Alright, git some food, git yer gear, ‘n then head back in. Ain’t goin’ with yeh, as yeh’ll get more out of it if I ain’t protectin’ yeh. Keep to the first section, ‘n yeh should be ok. Only a few things in there that can kill yeh, so’s pretty safe.”

Edgar nodded along with Hera, Elburt grew a bit pale, but Evon went bug-eyed. “Only a few things can kill us? Pretty safe? Shouldn’t you be tellin’ us to go home?”

Burt gave his grandnephew a questioning look. “Why’d I tell yeh that? If yer goin’ into the dungeon, better to ‘ave me nearby and givin’ yeh some advice than waitin’ for yeh to sneak in like damn fools. Been pretty happy with how yeh’ve all been slow ‘n careful, so yeh should be fine, so long yeh pay my warnin’s heed.”

Hera took a deep breath. “How deep have you gone, Uncle Burt?”

He took a moment to respond. Hera was not sure if he was trying to remember, or deciding what to tell them. “All’s I’ll say is ask me again when yeh know what level fifty means. Don’t ask, ‘cause ain’t tellin’ yeh nothin’ more.

“Now, get yer gear on ‘n get movin’. I want yeh gone ‘fore I finish this bird.”

***

Burt watched as the four young people gathered up their equipment and turned to return to the frozen first level of the dungeon. He had made sure not to mention that he had followed them throughout the entire time they had been in the dungeon. He had nearly stepped in when Hera had missed the yeti stalking her, and while she had been dealing with it, he had silently gone and eliminated the others, which was the only reason she had not ended up surrounded.

To say that Burt had struggled to adapt to life after the army would be an understatement. There had been times he had been scared to sleep in the same house as Hera, terrified that he would do something if she woke him in the middle of the night.

His sister had tried to help, but neither she nor her husband Zed could understand what Burt had lived through, let alone how some of those things had pushed their way into his mind, leaping out in his dreams or at random moments when something might force him to relive a moment from years ago.

One time, Elicia had simply pointed to something with a knife while preparing dinner. In an instant, Burt had been back with the Shadow Guard, stuck in enemy territory and trying to fight their way free. When he had come to again, he had found Elicia’s knife in his hand. The blade had been up against her throat, and Zed and the boys had been trying to talk Burt down from hurting his own sister.

That had been one of the worst moments in Burt’s life, and he had considered simply ending things to protect his family.

If he was being honest, he had thought about it many, many times.

Those had been Burt’s worst months, but one day, when he had been out doing a bit of hunting, he had stumbled upon the dungeon. As strange as it sounded to El and the rest, the dungeon had proven to be Burt’s saving grace. It had given him an outlet and a purpose, allowing him a place for the violence that had become a part of his life, while not placing anyone he loved in any sort of danger.

He had spent years exploring the depths of the dungeon, pushing himself far, far beyond anything possible for any other human. Burt had not needed to share the dungeon with anyone, and he had experienced all of the changes that had appeared over the years, including the introduction of levels for skills and even for people.

Burt had always known that Hera would eventually want to push her way into the dungeon. The girl’s lust for strength and power had not been nearly as well hidden as she had believed. She was about as subtle as Elicia, which meant not at all.

Burt shadowed the youths into the tunnel, and on into the first cavern itself. He had acquired a Skill from the dungeon a few years before that allowed him to move without leaving any traces, and he had managed to improve it to level fifty. He could walk up and pinch Hera’s cheek and she would not even notice Burt.

Not that he had ever tried it…

He observed the four youths as they entered the snowy expanse, and Hera drew a yeti out with an arrow. This time, Burt did nothing to stop the yeti’s pack from joining it, though he watched carefully to make sure that none of the youths were placed in any real danger.

He almost stepped in once when Evon had gotten overconfident and pushed forward to the point that the others could no longer support him, but Hera had revealed surprisingly sharp instincts. She had shot an arrow into the yeti closest to Evon, and then used her knives to shift the entire battle closer to Evon, which resulted in the overgrown brat being dragged back into the fray with his family.

Ultimately, the four youths managed to put down double their number in yetis, and two of the brats even managed to obtain boosts from the dungeon.

From there, the brats settled into a steady rhythm as they explored the frozen land and hunted yetis, wolves, hares, and other such creatures of the first cavern. Everything that Burt could see ranged from level one to level two, but with the four youths working together, nothing was too difficult for them.

They improved quickly over the few hours they were in the dungeon, and Burt felt that at least Edgar and Hera might be getting close to level two, though it was just Burt’s own suspicions and he had nothing definitive to support his suspicions.

He pulled back further and further as he realized that they were fine on their own and did not need him at all.

While he was proudest of Hera, Burt had to admit that Elburt was the one improving the most in the live combat situation. The young man was a natural with the ax in his hand, and he quickly learned how to position himself to best protect the other three in his team while also ensuring that his own ax was as free and uninhibited as possible.

He watched them throughout the day and could sense that evening was approaching on the surface.

It was then that Burt’s biggest headache of the day appeared. Just how was he going to drag these four excited brats back for dinner at Elicia’s house as she had made him promise…