A few days later, I met the dwarves at Borsdown’s gate. Captain Dor and Jorgun Stone were there as well as Safrah and Vivi to send us off. The dwarves I was going to escort for the next few weeks all had large backpacks with them and wore sturdy leather clothes reinforced with metal near the vitals. They carried simple weapons on their hips, swords and axes, and everyone had a shield hanging off the side of their packs.

Captain Dor stood in front and took the word.

“Dwarves of the Gurrin. You have decided to serve your training in a place far away from home rather than the comfort of the Dwarven Hills. As part of the ruling council of Borsdown, I wish you success in your troubles. Bring forth prosperity to the friends of Fio, friend of the dwarves!”

“We will!”, they called in unison.

The captain turned to me.

“With that out of the way, keep these lads safe, Fio. As much as you can.”

“Of course.”

“You’ll need to get a little bigger to call me a lad, Holden!”, Fredreck called, “I still got a few decades on you!”

“You don’t need to keep this one safe”, the captain whispered to me, loud enough for everyone to hear.

Laughter broke out as the leader of the mining squad smacked the captain’s back.

“Stay safe, Fio”, Safrah said after everyone had calmed down.

Vivi nuzzled my head a moment later. I caressed her scalp with my beak.

“I’ve been gone for longer. I’ll be fine.”

I dodged Safrah’s hand reaching for my head. She chuckled.

“See you soon, then.”

I nodded.

“Everyone ready?”, I asked the dwarves.

“Yes!”, was the answer.

And with that, we were off. The first part of the journey would be the easiest. We would take part of the road to move closer to the wall. Since we planned to dodge the ork valley and make our way through the mountains, we would have to get off before reaching it and make through the wilderness. Once we got to the high passes, it would be a slog to get over and through all the passes and valleys while avoiding wildlife, orks and goblins.

I took to the skies and quickly realized a problem. [Telepathy] had a much more limited range than the supersensory matrix. I could not keep in touch with the dwarves while scouting from above. So I flew down and took out the item.

“I’ll be using this to stay in contact with you, Fredreck. It has much higher range than [Telepathy] but is risky to use for a larger amount of people.”

“Understood. We shouldn’t have any trouble until we leave the road so let’s get used to travelling together.”

“Let’s.”

It took three days to reach the part of the road we would leave from. The first night, we camped just off to the side and I pulled out the thaumonomic sensor. It took a bit to fine-tune it not to react to the dwarves and woke everyone up near morning when a mouse scuttled through the remains of our dinner but other than that it worked just fine. The dwarves were happy they did not have to stay up and keep watch. I was happy it triggered only when the mouse got too close to our supplies. If it was something larger, the sensor would have warned us earlier. Or if it used magic. I was confident it would react to a beast with an Affinity or Core even before anything happened.

Once the dwarves had to move through the trees, they slowed down a bit. Less than I expected but still. They kept up in large because I could scout easier paths through the hills and trees. I had to stay lower, though, to make sure I would detect any threats. That paid off on the second day. I had spotted two nodes blocking off the easiest paths to progress. Both of them were medium size and had a guardian. I made sure to use [Hidden Identify] and found neither of them to be sapient. After a discussion with the dwarves, we decided to get close to one of them. The easier one looked to be a lone fox with an air node. The other option was a beaver with a water and ice node. I argued a beast at home in an element it had magical control over was the bigger threat which convinced the dwarves.

While the dwarves were closing up on the node, I hid in the shadows of the treetops keeping an eye on the fox. It soon sensed the approaching threat and readied itself to defend its home. I had to keep up as the beast snuck through the foliage in search of a better angle. Once it was satisfied with its position, I told the dwarves to rush through. The sudden movement made the fox panic and as it was hesitating if it should attack or retreat, I came from the shadows to take it down.

The dwarves had asked me to try and keep it alive if possible so I simply landed on top and smothered the beast in darkness. The next moment, a blast of air ruptured through my Skill, cutting it into chunks. The fox squirmed beneath my talons as I stared down at it. The blast of air had ruffled my feathers but not harmed me. Its next move felt different. The fox pushed against the ground with two of its legs, trying to spin around. That threw me off balance for long enough to have it focus a blast of air directly at me. I saw the magic take shape with my [Owl Senses] and dodged the cutting edge of air with a shift of my position. A quick flap of my wings and two feathers of void cut through the fox’s head and chest. It died without making another noise.

I let my heavy breath calm down before taking in the surroundings. The dwarves were standing close with weapons drawn. Fredreck was just sheathing his sword as he walked up to me. He looked down at the dead fox.

“I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have asked you to risk your life like that.”

I shook my head.

“I’m just stupid. And rusty. I didn’t even change to my metal form. It’s been way too long since I last fought.”

“I don’t think that’s a bad thing”, Harra said, “It’s nice if you can live a peaceful life.”

“That doesn’t mean I should forget about my basics. I could have used [Intimidating Screech]. I could have held it down with [Strong Grip]. Those Skills are fine to forget about. I never really used them. But [Eldritch Shift] is the core of my fighting style.”

I blinked off my irritation.

“Well. Now I know. I’m not going to forget again. And I need to keep up some basic sparring. You guys even prepared with the guards. I should have joined you for a session.”

“What’s done is done”, Fredreck said, “You’re our guide. I’ll let you decide if you need to kill or not to let us pass.”

I nodded.

“Okay. Let’s keep going, then?”

The dwarves decided to bring the fox’s body back to its node. It should help attract new potential Guardians, they said. I let them do as they pleased and checked the level I had gained. A single one in [Assassin]. The kill was not very clean but apparently enough to get me to level 74. Just one more for the next milestone. This one would be a little different and let me adjust or upgrade a Skill rather than offering a new one. Captain Dor had recommended to Breakthrough on the last one I received. It would normally be extremely difficult to get higher, otherwise. Nymph had said the same when I asked her opinion. I was not quite sure what I would do but I would make a decision once I saw my options.

We kept moving until close to sundown without any major interruptions. From my aerial position, I could see the wall in the distance. It closed off the ork valley completely forming a bend up onto the mountain flank south of us. I heard it extended all the way to the southern coast with this part being the most reinforced. We were very close to Stormbringer’s path and nobody in their right mind would settle the mountains around here so the dwarves had saved some work by ending their barrier here. We would use that to our advantage and hopefully find a path over the passes that was not too arduous. I spent an hour while the camp was being set up scouting for possible routes.

When I returned, the three tents were ready and the dwarves had soup cooking over a fire. The women were washing themselves at the nearby river while the men waited for their turn. It took another hour until everyone was settled for dinner. I kept some distance while watching the nearby forest. It was uncomfortable to join a group eating their meal when I was not having anything myself. After a few minutes, Lothar called me over.

“Come join us, Fio! Let’s talk tomorrow.”

Since they were mostly done with their meal, I acquiesced and took the offered spot.

“Now, where’re we going?”, Fredreck asked.

“I found a few options but the closest one should be fine. There’s an easier path further north but that’s probably another day before we get to it. And it’s not much easier after getting over the pass.”

“Any threats?”

“There’s a part where you’ll have to hike over a gravelly slope. You will need to take it slow. As for aggressors, I did not see any. We should be fine for tomorrow.”

“Good.”

“So, tell us about those goblins”, Smia demanded, “What’re they like?”

I blinked. This was the first time they tried to include me in the evening conversation. I had kept my distance a little and listened in from time to time to their discussions of mining and forging. It looked like they wanted to start making more concrete plans.

“Well… There are about 55 of them with the new group that joined recently…”

And the rest of the evening was spent with me talking and answering questions about the village we were trying to get to. It looked like it would take a few more days for the dwarves to sate their curiosity. At least I would no longer be as bored while they had dinner.