Chapter 99

“First, let’s get you three warmed up,” Mick led us to one of the dull red areas. Up close, I realized they were large, metal cauldrons that had red glowing lights coming from within. Closer up, I realized there was a glowing, boiling liquid within putting out heat. Even closer, I realized the source of it all. The cauldrons were set above holes, and within those holes, a fire raged. Its heat pushed upwards, heating the cauldrons, and in turn caused them to radiate out a comfortable aura of warmth. As we neared it, the few people standing around all gave Mick a wave and nod, before looking at us. Every single one, miners if I had to guess, raised an eyebrow.

“New Coals,” Mick answered their unspoken questions. “Keep them company here for a moment, and I’ll be right back. Going to grab them some clothes.” He paused, looked us all over one last time, and then left.

“What brings the three of you down to the mines?” The first individual asked. She had silver hair as well, and her face was wrinkled and worn from hard work and age. Yet her eyes shown with vigor, as she worked her hands out near the cauldron, warming herself. Dark smudges covered her clothes and face, and I could tell she’d been hard at work.

“We’re trying to level up,” I answered honestly, as Nyle and Lyn gathered around the cauldron. So drastic was the temperature change my body didn’t know how to react. It tingled and itched fiercely as the warmth tried to unfreeze my blood and joints. My hands ached, and I could feel moisture dripping from my defrosting hair and nostrils.

“And you thought the fourth floor would be a good place for that?” The speaker laughed, “dressed like that?”

“We… didn’t know it was like this.” I muttered, once again feeling embarrassed.

“Wait till I tell the others,” She laughed and turned her head away from us.

“Don’t go an pick on—” her companion started, but it was too late.

“Oy, Lark, Oz, get over here and get a load of this.” She caught the attention of two others who were leaning against a sleigh, eating some sort of jerky. The food disappeared, and they headed quickly towards us. It was immediately apparent they weren’t miners. For one, neither was dressed in warm weather gear at all, yet seemed completely unbothered by the temperature. For the other, one of them had a massive hammer on her back, the head of which was the size of a person. The other had no visible weapon, save for the spikes that rose up from the armor around his knees and elbows. Judging by the definition of his muscles, and the grace with which he walked, I figured he specialized in hand to hand combat.

“Do my eyes deceive me?” The first asked, obviously rhetorically, as she neared. “Or are there three little coals where they shouldn’t be?” She looked back to the silver-haired miner, who’d been the one to call them over. “Friends of yours Mery?”

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“Mick brought them over,” the woman, Mery, said. “They’re apparently planning to level up on the floor.”

“And yet,” the hammer user looked us up and down, “they’re rather poorly dressed.” She paused as she and her partner scanned us, their eyes lingering on my daggers, and Lyn’s cloak.

“Hey Lark,” the man said after a moment, “you think these are the three we heard about?”

“Most likely.” Lark looked at me, a thoughtful expression on her face. “You wouldn’t happen to be Ryker’s mentee, would you?”

“And if I am…” I asked hesitantly. Far as I could tell, everyone liked and respected Ryker. Or at least, from what I’d seen. Though, considering how Hans and his companions had acted, I knew that probably wasn’t the full case. It was already clear there were groups and cliques within the Climber’s ranks, and even though we should all be working together, well, that wasn’t always the case.

“If you are,” she continued, “I’m going to give you guys a bit of help and advice.” She grinned, rubbing her hands together, “while also lording it over Ryker once he gets back.” She started laughing, along with the brawler named Oz. “Did he tell you to level up here?”

“Not…quite.” I admitted. “We were told to reach level fifteen before the end of the week, so we can take down the Den Mother.” The two climbers’ nodded as I spoke, “and so we were trying to get those levels today, so we can get fully geared up and have extra time to face her, if we fail…”

“A solid plan,” Lark said with a nod, “though, one you didn’t really plan for, huh.”

“We were told the fourth floor was cold,” Lyn grumbled, “but no one told us it was this cold.”

“It’s the way of the Climber’s,” Oz said with a slight nod of his head, “experience is the greatest teacher, after all.”

I knew that saying. Commander Phyr used to use it all the time. Meaning, while I didn’t recognize either of these Climbers, there was a good chance they’d been trained by him. How many years ahead of us were they? What ranks were they? Judging by their lack of noticeable cold weather gear, they had to have a constitution of at least 31… right? What were they doing down here, if they were that strong?

“I’m guessing you’ve got questions,” Lark pulled her hammer off her back, set one of the massive heads on the ground, and then proceeded to treat the weapon like a chair. One she sat on it, Oz then helped himself to sitting on the massive shaft of the weapon, which was currently running parallel to the ground, like some sort of floating bench.

Nyle spoke first, as he watched the strange occurrence. “You could say that…” he trailed off, and glanced back at me. I shook my head and shrugged.

“How about you three tell us your plans for the day, and what you’ve been up to,” Lark said, noting our mild confusion at the situation, “and we’ll go from there.” She glanced past the miners, in the direction that Mick had run off. “I’m guessing Mick is getting the three of you gear, which will take him a bit of time, at the least. He’s a good man, Mick. Bet he’s not only going to get gear perfectly suited for the three of you out here on the fourth floor, but is going to grab some rations and who knows what else for the three of you.”

“What?” Lyn asked, startled, “we didn’t ask him to do all that.”

“You don’t have to,” Lark countered with a soft smile, “that’s just the type of man he is. He’s kind to everyone, Climber, Miner, you name it. If he can help, he will. Makes it easy to take some time off of climbing, to help out every now and then down here.” Some meat appeared in her hands, and she took a bite of it. From the way she tore at it, and began chewing heavily, it was definitely a type of jerky. “Not to mention, food’s good down here, and there’s plenty Climber’s like us can find to make a day on this floor worthwhile.”

She handed some meat around to everyone, which Oz, and the two miners, dug into eagerly. Then she looked at us and motioned with her hand. “Now come on,” she spoke, still chewing her jerky, “nothing makes a meal taste better than a good story at the same time.”