Olds vows remembered. Ancient loyalties bound by stone. To serve in life and in death. My flame is extinguished, my heartbeat ends, my bones keep moving. My fathers, they look down on me. My mothers, they will have to wait. Until the Suns below shine again. Until the lands below are cleansed. Until Arda’s heart beats again. Until we are but dust. Until the end of days, I serve.

Mantra of the Dwarven Legions

Iliyal finished his two daily reports. One for Kassandora about the Goddesses. That one was simply honest. They would be fine as Great War Era Auxiliary Divines. Nothing exceptional, simply support that needed to be called in to even the gap when White Pantheon armies fielded dozens of their own Divines. Battle skill was the less important issue. Iliyal kept on writing in his tent: Olonia, Saksma and Paida have the most potential to become loyal. They are classically Epan in thinking, falling in line no matter what is told. Saksma and Olonia especially. They appreciate the hardness of the training and treat it as a challenge. Both become excited whenever Fer returns from scouting. Anyone else would write an ‘I think’ there, but Iliyal knew that Kassandora was smart enough to understand this was merely his opinion on the matter. Agrita has potential however her character is rather weak. She looks prone to sloth. Aliana is an issue. The woman seems to have a personal problem with me, although she does not raise any issues in training. This seems to be due to the fact she falls in line with the others, rather than respect for hierarchy.

Iliyal sighed as he sealed off the letter. One down. Now to the Epans. Wissel got it yesterday, Aimone before, Artois, Jozef… So it would be Richard today. This letter would be nothing important, simply an update on how well the Goddesses are doing in training and that they are ready for battle. Iliyal didn’t care about the contents, but the letters needed to be sent off. The leaders had complained originally that Iliyal only sent one between the five of them. Those complaints, Iliyal ignored. The whole point of one letter between the five of them was so that they grew annoyed with him. That annoyance would form camaraderie between them, and the constant weekly meetings between leaders of five nations would definitely be noticed by the White Pantheon.

He finished that letter, stamped it with a wax seal and took both to two clerics who were waiting outside his tent. “Arika.” He handed one the letter to Kassandora. “Epa.” And the other man got the other letter. He didn’t think they would confuse it, the envelopes were marked, but it was always better to use individual couriers. Things could be misplaced out of pure circumstance.

He took five steps towards the Goddesses who were training and stopped. An unnatural breeze was coming from the south east, branches were being broken, leaves were rustling. He turned, calculated where the meteor would land, and took a few steps to the right.

A cloud of dirt and dirt exploded around him. He took another few steps away, Fer wouldn’t hit him, he simply did not want to get dirt on his black uniform. It was a pain to wash off when servants weren’t about, and he wouldn’t humiliate Kavaa’s Clerics by making them wash his clothes, he knew they would, but that’s exactly why he didn’t ask. The cloud cleared after a moment, dust would take longer to clear, but this was all just heavy balls of dirt and clumped grass. It revealed Fer, as it always did. She was smiling, eyes blinking the dirt away and ears jump as she shook that golden mane of hair that fell down to her hips clean. A smile that wide could only mean one thing though.

“I’ve found one.” Fer said so loudly the entire camp heard. Iliyal took a heavy sigh and looked to the Goddesses who were training. All of them looked away simultaneously as if pretending they weren’t interested. Of course they weren’t, and pigs could fly. “What did Kavaa say?”

“She said she’d think on it.”

“I want to go.” Kavaa suddenly shouted from the other side of the camp. Great. And another one. Kavaa at least Iliyal could understand, but Fer should have developed some of Leona’s paranoia at least. Secrecy was never bad.

“She’s just thought on it.” Iliyal corrected himself.

“Wonderful!” Fer clapped her hands. “And them?” She pointed to the five Goddesses.

“Why don’t we take the Clerics too while we’re at it?” Iliyal asked sarcastically.

“We might go in for a few days, I don’t want to carry food.” Fer said and Iliyal sighed. Food was the least of the issue. They were going to see why Irinika and Malam had not gone out. It wasn’t some damn hike.

“I didn’t think we’d be taking them.” Iliyal said.

“It’ll be good training.”

“And if we find something?” There were creatures down there, the highways were safe, but the land had many caves. Iliyal wasn’t a betting man, but if he was forced to choose, then a thousand years would have released something new. In fact, he was sure of it, the Dwarves would have shown themselves at least a few times to simply check up on what was happening on the surface. Something was keeping them down there.

Or maybe they had gone extinct. That was possible too.

But then that wouldn’t explain Irinika’s and Malam’s absence. If it was Neneria, it could be reasoned she would sit down to meditate for a millennia. Not those two though. Dwarf extinction meant something had killed Irinika, and if it killed Irinika, then bringing these five was effectively signing their death sentence. Iliyal thought on it for a moment.

If it killed Irinika, then it would handle Fer. Kavaa and himself weren’t even part of the equation. He turned to the five Goddesses. Actually, those five weren’t a bad idea. If worst came to worst, then they could buy time. For Fer at least, Iliyal himself was expendable. “Alright.” Iliyal said.

“That was fast.” Fer said flatly. “I didn’t even have to bargain for it.”

“We can bring them.” Iliyal said. He made up some banal reasoning on the spot. “If we find some lizard, then it will be good combat experience.”

“I knew you’d agree.” Fer said. Iliyal nodded.

“How far is it?” He asked.

“How are we travelling?” Fer asked backed.

“I assume you can’t carry seven people.”

“I can do it four hours. With you and Kavaa.” Fer put her finger on her chin and shook her head from side to side as she thought. “Four thirty?” Fer usually undershot. Five and six hours then.

“And with them on foot?”

“A day?” Fer asked. No chance. Iliyal knew already. Fer’s groundspeed was incomparable, she was as fast as the average Divine who was capable of flight, faster than most of them if she pushed herself. Two days. Maybe three.

“We set off in ten minutes then.” Iliyal said. “Let them prepare.”

Arascus leaned back as he signed another law: The dissolution of the National Assembly, the suspension of the White Pantheon Constitution and the removal of the Grand Court. Kirinyaa would be a success if he had to drag out screaming and kicking, because Kirinyaa’s success would show everyone else why things were so much better under him than the ever-so-noble White Pantheon

Iliyal looked up at the rather small dwarven hold Fer had found. Not one of the Great Bastions, rather just a supply bastion. Hidden within a ravine between two mountain, it was easily missed. Fer had only found it because it was used as a supply base during the Great War. The outside was barely noticeable, merely a large door that had long fallen over its stone hinges, it could have been mistaken for any other cliff.

He sighed and stretched his legs. Travel on Fer’s back always made him feel like child. He doubted there was anyone on this world who could enjoy that brutal rollercoaster even if they were somehow infatuated with the Goddess. He was not, so to him it was especially bad. Kavaa had needed to heal most of his muscle and half of his bones from fractures. She was looking at the other Goddesses. Iliyal didn’t waste the training time, all five of them were in heavy armour and with backpacks filled with various tools they would probably need. Flashlights and ropes and blankets and firestarters. Ammunition for his own rifle too. And rations and water for Iliyal, unfortunately, unlike them, he couldn’t power himself off simple belief. He had the pistol and sword on his belt as always, but there was no point to pretend that larger calibres could not be useful.

Stolen novel; please report.

“We’re here.” Iliyal said and the five Goddesses all sighed with relief. Kavaa took it in stride, although she would used to such marches. Fer merely yawned and stretched.

“That’s it?” Aliana asked.

“Not grand.” Olonia said.

“Most dwarven holds are like this.” Iliyal said. “The grand ones that are locked down were for marshalling armies, these are supply bases that feed into the highway network.” He waited for them to drop their bags and start handing flashlights out. There had been no reason to go easy on them, so Iliyal got one for his head, another in his hand. Kavaa put her own as she watched.

“If we find anything.” She began. “The five of you are to follow one of our orders. Don’t issue your own unless you’re away from us.”

“Understood.” Olonia said excitedly. Saksma and Paida had just as much enthusiasm. Even Aliana was smiling as she clicked her flash light and inspected the opening of the cave. It had long been looted, all the statues were gone. Agrita was the odd one out, she took careful steps. Iliyal was about to speak to her when he turned and saw Fer.

The Goddess had a light on her head, and two more, strapped with tape to her wrists. “Pew Pew Pew.” Fer said as pretended the flashlights were guns. Iliyal said nothing but the rest of them giggled at it. He had Kassandora’s method of dealing with fear, which was to cast it to the back of the mind and ignore it. Fear, at the end of the day, was merely a small flame within oneself. It could be locked away and allowed to burn out. But if humour worked, then there was no reason to beat Agrita over the head with platitudes. Besides, the best method to learn how to deal with fear was exposure. Eventually, one got used to it.

“Fer, you lead. Kavaa and I will be second, you five stay behind.” Iliyal said as Fer got to it. Iliyal wondered if that woman ever felt fear, he had not seen it once. But then whereas they were blind here, Fer’s sense of smell was practically a second set of eyes. Her hearing a third. “Don’t get too far Fer.” And so they entered. Through the rubble of the stone gate and into darkness. The outside’s light gave up its battle to light these holds early, a mere dozen steps inside and they needed the flashlights to inspect the walls. All plain stone, carved straight from the mountain. A late-war hold then, they stopped adding decoration and tiles some sixty years in.

“I know.” Fer said as she started walking. Why did she even strap the flashlights to her wrists? Both were pointed at the ground behind her as she walked casually, hands clasped behind her back. The rest of them provided enough light that it didn’t matter, but it was annoying nevertheless. Things should be done properly or not at all.

They inspected the small series of rooms. “What’s this?” Aliana asked as she stopped in a doorway and shone her light inside. Iliyal recognised it immediately, platforms upon platforms, stairways on the walls which had cracked and left rubbles of loose stones on the ground.

“Granary.” Iliyal said as he leaned under Aliana’s arm and shone his light inside. “All empty though.”

“I see.” Aliana replied.

“And this?” Olonia and Saksma were both inspecting a small indent in the ground. Fer turned and extended an arm to the wall.

“You see that hole there?” She said. There was indeed a hole in the wall. Both of the young Goddesses nodded at her words. “Water pipe. There’ll be a drain somewhere here.” Fer made a loose circle at the dusty ground as Iliyal inspected walls. No spiders or cobwebs, nor any signs of animals. Caves like this usually had faeces left about, especially since the forest had spread into the ravine.

“What’s that?” Agrita asked, her voice low as if she was nervous of being too loud. Her flashlight was pointing at a large square hole at the end of the entrance corridor. Classically dwarven, Iliyal had never been in this outpost hold, but it was calming to know that every single one of them followed the same pattern.

“That leads deeper, to the highway.” Kavaa said. She shown her torch through it and turned a little knob on it to increase the strength. The light got stronger, until it hit a ceiling. It was obviously inclined downwards.

“Oh.” Agrita said as she stopped and started inspecting the rest of the walls. “It’s not so scary, I don’t think.” She giggled nervously. Fer was looking up, her brows furrowed as the light on her head scanned the corners of the ceilings. Iliyal noticed it too. She turned to Iliyal, then made a quick nod at the five Goddesses. Iliyal got it immediately, don’t ask the obvious question, if they panicked then they would only slow them down. Iliyal shown his light up at the corners, at the rusted hook that once would have carried a chandelier.

“Old.” Fer said lightly. “And quiet.”

“Indeed.” Iliyal said. “Untouched.”

“By everything.” Fer said. They locked eyes and Iliyal knew the Goddess noticed it too. They weren’t deep in yet. But where were the bats? The other Goddesses started to inspect one of the side rooms. That would be a mere dead end, just this hold’s armoury. There was no point to inspect, they’d shout if there was something scary, and if something was alive in there, Fer would have sniffed it out already. Agrita stayed at the door as Olonia and Saksma pressed inside. One of them fell over, the other burst out in laughter.

But the three who had seen the great war were looking at that grand entrance to the highway. Iliyal saw Kavaa looking at him. She made the motion of opening a door. Iliyal nodded. The highways were never left open. The doors would need a battering ram to siege down. A Divine, or a full team of mages.

And this was open. Fer looked at them and made a simple gesture. Stop and hold. She walked to lightly to the end of the door, her feet not even making a sound. And she peeked past where that door should have been. Left. Right. Left again. Up. Down. She turned. “We all think the same.” She said. “And I don’t know.”

“Don’t know what?” Aliana said from behind.

“There’s statues about usually.” Kavaa said quickly and effortlessly. “But they’re probably stolen.”

“Looters then.” Iliyal backed her up in the lie. Statues going missing would not panic the five Goddesses.

Fer always caught on quickly. “So heavy, probably Maisara took them.” Kavaa laughed.

“Probably did. Fortia if not her.”

Aliana wasn’t so quick to buy the lie. “Wouldn’t you know?” She asked.

Kavaa shut her down immediately. “I had more important things to deal with than decorations Aliana.”

“Oh.” Aliana said. “Sorry for being rude.”

“Don’t worry about it.” Kavaa said as she pointed her flashlight at the door. “Are we going in?” The question was obviously for Fer and Iliyal.

“Well of course. We’re here for information.” Fer said. That was on the nose, but Iliyal let it slide.

“YOU’RE IN THE ARMOURY, COME ON, WE’RE GOING DEEPER!” He shouted. Paida, Saksma and Olonia all quickly ran out of that. “Which one of you fell over?” Iliyal asked. Two gazes at Saksma and the Goddess’ blush revealed the answer. Iliyal only inspected her armour. Dusty, but not dusty enough for this to be a thousand years old. “Are you fine?”

“I am.” Saksma said with some relief that she wasn’t being told off.

“Alright, let’s go.” Iliyal said. Fer waited for him to catch up. Kavaa took the other side. Iliyal didn’t know if the woman was merely protective of all mortals or what, but he was glad she did. A Divine on both sides did put hearts at ease, even if he didn’t let the uneasiness show.

The floor started to curve into a slope. Slope of ten degrees, as always, it would start to spiral after a while, but the gentle slope was needed to push wagons up from the depths. Iliyal took a deep breath as he buttoned up his coat. Without the dwarven heating system, these caves did get cold. They walked past small rooms, Iliyal inspected the first few himself, then assigned the five Goddesses inspection duty. These had merely served as resting stations in the past. For the crews that would operate the wagons. His eyes went to the ground, at least the stone was untouched here. There wasn’t any great marks of fire or claws in the walls. Apart from the total lack of life, it was as if he was had been a thousand years back. Even the tracks carved into the floor were still here.

“Olonia, you turn on this one.” They had started to get to the spiralling section. Fer was sniffing every twenty steps, but she gave nothing. Her ears weren’t jumping ear, so there was nothing coming towards them. Iliyal sighed as Kavaa laughed.

“It’s cold here.” She said. Their breathes were misting now. It wouldn’t get to freezing here, but it was far too cold for comfort.

“That is it.” Iliyal said and Kavaa chuckled again.

“I thought nothing could get you to complain.”

“I complain about everything.” Iliyal said dryly. “I just don’t voice it.”

“Even Fer?” Kavaa asked.

“Especially about me.” Fer said from the other side. She stopped, turned and looked at the five Goddesses who were all looking into one of the resting rooms.

“And me?” Kavaa asked.

“You’re fine.” Iliyal replied as he turned and shone his light at them.

“What’s the commotion about?” Fer asked. Her voice echoed through the cave and she calmed tone. “Did you find something?” The echo was weaker now.

Olonia’s head popped out from the door frame. “I think?” She said it like a question. What was there to even question? You either found something or you did not. “I don’t know, but it’s not been in the other rooms.”

“Well let’s see then.”

“Is it a skeleton?” Fer asked and Olonia shook her head. Iliyal would prefer if she was scared, then it could be something they could deal with. Simple confusion was more perplexing than fear. He closed the distance as Olonia disappeared behind the doorway.

Iliyal looked through and he stopped. There was a rune on the wall. Jagged and harsh and emitting a delicately faint light. He stopped and felt his hand tighten around the torch, his other instinctively went to his pistol. The five National Goddesses were inspecting looking at it in confusion. “What is that? Important dwarf alphabet?” Olonia asked. Saksma shown her light on it.

“I honestly have no clue.” She said, obviously confused. “You?” She looked to Agrita and Paida, both shook their heads.

Iliyal turned to Kavaa and Fer. Both of them were staring at the rune. Kavaa’s hand was resting on her blade, Fer’s nails had grown into claws. Just like Iliyal, they both knew who used runes like that.

“It’s old probably.” Aliana said. “Probably some old magic, maybe a marker or something? Not to go further?” The woman guessed correctly, that’s exactly what it meant. They called it a rune, but it was actually just a word. A simple one. Stop. But it wasn’t in a language that originated on Arda. And she was wrong too, runes like this burned out after two years.