The dragon dungeon was far different to both the gnoll's own home and the verdant dungeon it had been in. For a start, the huge tower that seemed part of the city was its entrance. Dungeons, it felt, shouldn't have entrances that looked like this. They should be fearsome pits of horror!

Entering this new dungeon was, like the entrance, a strange thing. There were soldiers in here; creatures that carried big weapons, wore armor, and looked at a gnoll like it as if they were figuring out the quickest way to kill it.

But they didn't. They stood by and let a gnoll walk past them as if it was a normal event. This had the gnoll contemplating it and its dungeon's role in the world further.

"I need to leave." Felna gave the gnoll a bow. "Apparently my attention is required elsewhere. Have you chosen a name for yourself?"

"Forerunner." The word, Forerunner knew, hadn't been spoken to it before. It had come out of nowhere, but it liked the feel of it. "I go before; I go first." Looking into the feline's eyes, Forerunner could see not just acceptance, but recognition.

Listening, and examining the gnoll, Travis said, "Wild, can you make sure Forerunner gets any equipment he wants, and anything he might want for his dungeon?"

"I can do that." Wild froze at the look of shock on Forerunner's face. "Travis, I think he can hear you."

"Sorry if it startled you, Forerunner, but can you hear me?" Travis asked.

Nodding slowly, feeling panic within, Forerunner asked, "Have you stolen me from my dungeon?" in a very small voice.

"No! I can talk with anyone I think is an ally. It's a power I researched. It's nothing else, I promise." Travis had never blurted out an explanation so fast before. It left him wondering how fast he could talk before his words would become a mess of sound that made no sense. Then he wondered if his talking made sounds at all.

Processing that, Forerunner asked, "You call me ally?"

"Until you prove otherwise. Dungeons don't have to be enemies. Felna, Wild, and Huntress showed you that. The city here, too."

Grunting, Forerunner shrugged its shoulders. "My home decide."

"This way. We'll head down. Do you need anything to eat or drink?" Wild asked.

Forerunner was about to say no, but a spark of interest hit, and it wanted to find out what the kobolds ate. "Yes."

Leading the way down to the second floor, Wild opened a door and led Forerunner into the tavern there. Inside, he realized there was a family event going on. Mixie was atop on a larger than usual chair that had her practically at table height and Grace, Jacob, and Axel were all sitting around the table.

As four sets of eyes settled on him, Wild said, "Excuse us. We'll go upstairs to—"

"Unc Wide!" Jumping down from her chair (which overbalanced it and sent it crashing backward) and hitting the ground running, Mixie froze when she realized there was another creature between her and Wild. She looked up at Forerunner and tilted her head to the side. "Are you Unc Wide's friend?"

Crouching down, Wild looked at Mixie's curious expression. "This is Forerunner. He's a guest that I'm showing around. His dungeon was only created recently."

"Oooh." Looking up and up and up, Mixie made up her mind in an instant. "Does mister Foren want cake?" In Mixie's own mind it was a completely silly question, but her mom had been getting very particular about asking people before she did something, and besides, if he didn't want any cake, it was more for her!

Looking over at Grace, Wild got a little nod from her. He straightened up and said, "You would be foolish indeed to say no to that offer. Grace makes the best food I've ever eaten."

"Please," Grace said, "I insist. Any guest of Travis' is a guest worthy to sit at my table."

Jacob nodded to that. "Hear, hear!"

Approaching the table beside Wild, Forerunner gingerly took a seat. He looked at the three humans in turn, then at Mixie.

Ever observant, Wild noticed the fixated look Forerunner locked on the juvenile goblin. "She's not from a dungeon. It's a long story, but she is their child. Mixie, is it your birthday?"

Nodding her head as she scaled the ladder back onto her special seat, Mixie started to count on her hand, "One, two, three, five!" She'd had to get onto her second hand to reach the total, but she bounced in her seat. "I'm five! Big girl!"

The only examples Wild had seen of a child growing up were his siblings and now Mixie. As far as he was concerned, she was probably tougher at her age than they'd been. "A very big girl," he said, solemnly.

As soon as her mother set the slice of cake down before her, Mixie attacked it with vigor. Though she was particularly aggressive, she also didn't miss a single crumb. Looking up at Forerunner, she tilted her head to the side. "Eat cake?"

Looking down at the plate before it, and taking its cue from Mixie rather than the other humans, Forerunner picked up the slice with one hand and tossed it into its mouth. A shiver ran from the tip of Forerunner's short tail all the way up its spine and directly into the back of its skull. Eyes wide, it looked down at the plate with a note of sadness.

A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation.

Seeing the despair evident on his guest's face, Wild slid his own plate over to the gnoll. "Here. I know how good that is. You deserve it for not making today more of a struggle."

Tail wagging, Forerunner broke the second piece in half to savor before experiencing gastronomical bliss again.

----------------------------------------

Spitting on her hands and rubbing them clean on her leather shirt, Elanor marched as she'd been directed, her short spear held in one hand while she removed various pieces of armor and hung them off her belt. With her were her two big bloodied wolf friends Bite and Bark, Ripper (her new wyvern friend), and Snipsnap (a cave scorpion).

"So, you're not going to tell me until I get down there?" She marched down through the second floor, one hand on the back of Bark to guide her through the pitch black tunnels.

Sighing, Travis gave in. "Your first job."

That got Elanor's excitement up to a new level. "Where are we going and what will I be doing? Are we delivering something or escorting someone? I need to—"

"You'll meet the person you'll be escorting. You also need to deliver a message to the royal court." Travis could actually hear her gasp of surprise through the wyverns in the wyvern pens. "The reason you're having this meeting in my heart room is that you aren't to tell anyone. Anonymity and secrecy will be your best weapons."

Thinking about it, Elanor nodded. "So that's why you're not sending someone else to escort… Right, you didn't say. Did I level from that last fight?"

"Yes. Level seven. You got Greater Heal. Felna told you about that one, right?" The topic was safer, and Travis was finally done with his big conversation so he could devote extra time to Elanor now.

"You think there might be other spies in the city?" Elanor asked, taking the back door bypass of the maze directly to the stairs to the third floor. She couldn't see, still, but the wall before her crumbled and a kobold holding a light stick gave her a bow. "Thank you, Robert."

"Seems like big things are afoot in the heart room." Filling up the hole after Elanor and her menagerie had made it through, he caught up to her and passed her the light source. "You need this more than me. How has the training been?"

"I'd say Travis has been doing his best to kill me, but I don't think that was his best." It was always a sobering reminder to Elanor that she had never faced a single one of Travis' bosses, or even his major monsters. "I gained another level, though. I think Travis has been getting some good XP from me, too."

"Has he? I wouldn't have thought so."

"Actually," Travis said, "I think it's because she's a noble. Remember how the prince gave me extra XP? I think that's what's happening, only this system thinks I'm killing a lot of nobles."

"It can really figure all that out?" Elanor asked.

Robert paused a moment and looked up at Elanor. "What do you mean?"

"Well, how does whatever is doing all the stuff in the background of Travis' dungeon know that I'm a noble? What would happen if my parents disowned me? What would happen if I purchased an actual peerage? Would it know I am worth more or less?" Elanor asked.

Rounding a corner and seeing the pink glow ahead, Robert could hear soft voices coming from within. "Well, here we are. Keep the light, and let Travis know if you need help getting back out."

"Thanks. I'll do that." Waving to Robert, Elanor mused on how much more relaxed she felt around men now. Before, she'd been intimidated by them (and more than a little intrigued), but now they weren't strange entities. It wasn't her first time in Travis' heart room, but it was the most cramped time. Penelope was curled halfway around the room, tail coiled around the base of the huge crystal dungeon heart. Leaning against it while sitting, her back touching the facets, was Felna. "Am I interrupting anything?"

"No, Kitten," Felna said. "You've been given marching orders, it seems."

A moment later Elanor sensed someone moving behind her. She turned to see a familiar face that she'd nonetheless not learned the name of. The woman was well-dressed in riding skirts, wearing a large coat, and had a large case in each hand.

"Have you met Brevity Delling?" Travis asked. "She's my lawyer, and I need someone that won't be recognized to escort her to the capital. You'll have a wagon to ride on, that I have hired a merchant to drive. You can take your friends with you so long as you can keep them in the cart and hidden.

"I've had Axel make you some new armor, a shield, and a significantly more deadly spear. I'm sorry for the short notice, but the wagon is being readied right now. You'll be sneaking into it upstairs when the guards clear out my entrance, then continue to Far Reach and get your wagon on the train. Don't stop until you reach the capital."

It was definitely marching orders, and as limiting as it was, Elanor still felt free. She tried to get to the bottom of the feeling, and realized it was how she was commanded. Her uncle would have arranged everything, sent people to tell her what to do, and made sure she spent all of her time being bored and locked away. Travis trusted her to do her job. "And when we reach the capital?"

"Brevity knows who to contact, but if anything happens and you don't wind up in the local temples, go to the palace, get an audience with the prince, and make sure he knows you're a representative for all Northridge. Stephan has paperwork for that." Travis waited a moment before saying, "If you can't do it—"

Shaking her head, Elanor felt her blood burn in excitement. "No! I want to do this. You've helped me so much already, it's time I help you."

"That's my kitten. Dump that armor, we've got some new things for you." Sliding her back up Travis' crystal, Felna sighed. "Let's start with something Tinpot and Axel worked on together: a chain shirt that's made of the thinnest adamantine wire I have ever seen, that has plates of adamantine stitched onto the inside. I am not sure how it is meant to be better, but they assured me that it will stop bullets and swords, and weigh a fraction of a breastplate. You can wear it under a coat, too."

Getting new armor had become just as exciting to Elanor as getting a new dress had been. She stripped off the last of her armor and, standing there in a leather shirt and trousers, she felt excitement bubbling up for the coming weeks. "Will I get a new pistol, too?"

"Yes," Felna said. "Two, actually. You must save one in case you are about to be captured, however."

It made sense to Elanor. She'd died almost every single day since she'd started training, and it had become such a minor thing that she accepted the need to do so to escape as merely part of life. "Are they the new breech-loading ones?"

"Better. Have you read any of Travis' books and heard of something called a revolver?" Felna asked.

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This story is released under the Creative Commons BY-NC-SA license. If you are paying money to see this or the original creator, Damaged, is not credited, you are viewing a plagiarized copy of the story.