The next day we took on the climb. This was the first time I really paid attention to how there was one huge valley going west to east when most others went north to south. It almost looked like there had been a major shift in how the tectonic plates moved. If that was even how it worked in this world. For all I knew, the mountains had entirely grown on top of stone nodes and then been ground down by weather.

Nonetheless, it would make our trip quite arduous. The dwarves’ small legs needed paths that were not too steep. Climbing was possible from what they said but I would go for a smooth journey wherever I could. That way my wards should always be somewhat ready for any trouble that might pop up.

With how long we lingered in the area, I was not surprised to be attacked by another raptor. A falcon found my presence to be an issue and I had to chase her off with an [Intimidating Screech]. Fredreck told me I could just kill the next one to use for dinner. I responded that I did not want to get caught up in an avoidable fight when I was supposed to keep an eye on threats. The idea was not all bad, though, and I ended up hunting for some fresh meat while everyone else was setting up camp. We had enough supplies to last for a month but fresh food was just better and my storage could preserve our stores just fine.

That evening we talked again, this time about ventilation.

“So, you’re saying we have to build some kind of venting system? Wouldn’t the heat being applied through crystals remove that need?”

Smia laughed.

“If only we could do that. Would make it a lot easier. No, if you want proper steel, you need to have a coke fire. The ore is thrown directly into it and binds some of the coal. Then you get something you can actually work with.”

“Good dwarven steel”, Redrick nodded.

“Exactly!”

I took a moment to put my thoughts in order.

“I know steel is an alloy made from iron and carbon. I also know it fuses under high heat, normally. Could it be possible to do it with magic instead? There is an aspect for trees, after all.”

“That’s gonna be a much more challenging project than half a year of teaching mining. We know how much coke and ore to mix to get our proper alloys. We also know what else we can mix in to make steel for different purposes, like pickaxes or rails.”

“Don’t they both need to be hard?”

That got another round of laughs.

“Yes and no. You see, rails need to be able to take some much higher loads without breaking or bending. Pickaxes need a hard tip backed by a soft core. That’ll make it so it doesn’t break when hitting rocks. Now, making steel hard means it can’t be soft.”

“Makes sense.”

“That’s why we take soft steel for the pickaxe and reinforce the tips with essence.”

“Wouldn’t tempering do the same?”

“What’s that?”, Redrick asked.

“You treat the steel with heat. I think you get it to a red glow and then rapidly cool it? Something like that…”

“Ne’er heard of it”, Smia said.

“I have”, Hedreck said, “It was in some book from one of the first dwarves. They stopped trying ‘cause magic’s easier.”

“I see. So, how are you going to do that in the goblin village?”

“I got a Skill”, Smia said, “I’ll teach it to someone interested.”

“Do they need metallum enrichment?”

“Nah. Any essence works, really. Metallum is best but vitreus and terra are both good as well.”

“Someone should have earth. If not, there’s a large node. I could try to harvest some crystals from it for someone to use.”

We talked a little longer until everyone retired for the night. I wondered if it would be a bad idea to try and reinforce my metal form with essence. Maybe I could guide the crystal essence I often used to do that instead of making feathers half from glass. Or it would make me too heavy to fly. Not that that was a real concern.

I decided to keep the thought for later and got some rest as well.

The next few days were very similar. We either had a mountain to climb or one to descend from, oftentimes both on the same day. I flew ahead to plan a route every evening while hunting for dinner and looked for any ork or goblin settlements. On the fourth day in the high valleys, I found one. About 50 little huts stood in a roughly circular pattern around a node. The buildings were small, fitting the inhabitants. The goblins seemed to worship the node with a group of six always kneeling around it in the dirt. I checked the aspects but it was just air and earth, nothing special.

I was not interested in guiding the dwarves right through the middle and found a way around that cost us another day. At least my wards were happy when they saw the clump of backwater civilization down in the valley and did not have to move through there.

Luckily, the goblins did not notice the dwarves even as they descended the mountainside. We decided to spend the night without a fire, just to be safe. Near morning, the thaumonomic sensor went off. Immediately, the dwarves were a pile of confusion while I turned off the blaring bell and swivelled my head around in search of the culprit. Something was snarling from the side and I quickly positioned myself. At least I had taken to only spending dinner in my real body and was prepared to fight.

What met my eyes was a feline predator just a little taller than the dwarves. It was not an ocelot, thankfully. [Identify] told me we were facing a sapient panther. I was curious why it lived so close to the goblins but had to stop thinking about that as the beast gave a bellowing roar laced with magic.

The dwarves flinched back but at least they were not paralysed. Fredreck even stepped forward, sword and shield in his hands. I telepathically told him to stay back and lowered my head while spreading my wings out wide. My metallic tongue clicked and the sound reverberated through the valley. The panther flinched and lowered his ears.

I tried connecting to it with [Telepathy] but something was blocking the Skill. Whatever it did only made the predator angrier and it lowered itself, wiggling to gauge the jump. I noticed some light vis flare to life around and closed my eyes just in time to avoid getting blinded. Predictably, it jumped at the same time everyone was distracted and I had to shift in front of its path, catching claws and a bite to my head. At least its jaws were not strong enough to go through the thaumium.

Shadows flooded the camp as I pulled and pushed with all my might to get the attacker off me. A grinding clang resounded as an axe bounced off my head and finally chased the beast off. I saw a thin spray of blood shoot out from its face as it retreated. One of the dwarves stuttered an apology from behind which I studiously ignored. Once more we squared off. This time, it took a whole five minutes for something to change. I could hear the dwarves shaking behind me, the clothes rubbing on their skin. Then, steps came closer. A goblin entered the little grove we had chosen to camp in, coming from just behind the panther. She stared at us. We stared back. The feline kept its combat-ready pose. The goblin wore a delicate robe for such an isolated community. It looked like gold threads had been woven into cloth that was almost silken. I felt more light vis emanate from her as well as a good bit of air and earth. There must have been another node nearby other than the one in the village.

Finally, the goblin spoke.

“Dwarves? What?”

It was not Ordugh but the smaller greenskins’ language. My eyes fixated on her and the panther growled.

“Easy, Kmika. I don’t think they’re a threat.”

That calmed the cat down a little and I closed my wings most of the way. My feathers still stood on edge.

“Why are you here?”, the goblin asked.

The dwarves looked at each other, obviously not understanding a word. I activated [Telepathy] and connected to her. She blocked me off at first but eventually gave in.

“Where did you learn that?”, she asked.

“Where did you learn to block that?”, I sent back in Goblin.

“Fair. Why are you here?”

“Travelling through.”

“Where to?”

“A goblin village further east.”

“With dwarves?”

I nodded.

She considered for a moment.

“Fine. Be gone by dawn. Don’t come back.”

“We’ll have to go through here when we return, probably.”

The goblin wrinkled her nose.

“Ask for passage, next time.”

“Understood. Do you or the village need anything we could pay you with?”

“Metal. Always scarce.”

“Just iron, or something specific?”

“That purple stuff looks good if you can make more”, she grinned.

I eyed her robe once more.

“You should be able to make it yourself, thaumaturge.”

This time, she cackled, before speaking out loud.

“Let’s go, Kmika. They’re fine.”

The dwarves watched on, stupefied as the predator followed the goblin after accepting a batch of chin scritches.

“I’m Jaka. Give my name and they’ll send for me.”

“Thank you, Jaka. My name is Fio.”

The odd pair disappeared just as suddenly as they had arrived. The dwarves broke out into chatter as soon as they believed we were out of the woods. Technically, our camp was still in the grove but nobody wanted to go back to sleep after that tense encounter.

“What just happened?”, “Why did she leave?”, “Was that a Guardian?”, and other questions rained down on me which I had to quiet down with a metallic click. I explained how I had exchanged words telepathically with the goblin and that she was a thaumaturge. I also told them that we were allowed to pass through but should bring some metal as gifts on the way back. I had the feeling we would not be bothered if we stayed for the rest of the night but it was at most an hour from sunrise and the dwarves were like a bee nest someone had poked with a stick. Several times. It took me a bit but I managed to guide that energy into hiking and soon we were on the way again. I looked back into the valley as I was scouting and spotted the panther still carefully observing us. When it noticed me I saw the animal blend into its surroundings. So we had been seen the whole time. And it had chosen early morning to attack when our guards would be the least attentive, had we any. Quite terrifying and interesting. I was curious to see that Skill at work from close up. Maybe some other time.