Chapter 047:

Anton felt his fleet slide over the unsteady rocky floor of the tunnel, traveling deeper into the depths of Mount Aspire. He was glad that he could see without needing a source of light. It would give them a great advantage when they came across the rest of the Rock-Rat's. And would be a great spell for future use. Still, his heart was as steady as the floor underneath him.

Talking about returning to the mountain had not been the problem. But now that he was here, in its cold, numbing and claustrophobic depths, he could not help but remember what he did to the women they found. Nobody, to his knowledge, spoke about what they had found in there. Most were completely silent on the matter. Whenever such thoughts came back he pushed it down. He had not thought about it much since that day.

They wanted to die. I told them that we could get them to safety, but they made the choice that was theirs to make.

He took another deep breath, watching Kal sniffing at the air while running her hand along the side of the stone wall.

Oh well, I just need to man up about it.

With another mental push, he forced it down and focused on their mission. Kal was leading and Verona was right behind him. None of them spoke, a small rock tumbling loose by his shoe showed just how easily sound travelled in this network of tunnels. On reflection it was amazing that they got so far the first time without alerting the whole mountain. He got the feeling that Kal was going slow for that exact reason, that and the fact that Anton was not completely focused.

Kal lead them deeper and deeper into the mountain, occasionally stopping them with a raised hand, but continued quickly after. From what little he remembered about the mountain they were approaching the large central cavern that functioned as the Yellow Goblins main home. There was not much there, when they first attacked, so they had left it alone during their search of the mountain. It seemed like a good base for the Rock-Rat's to nest in, and exactly where Kal was leading them.

What was surprising was the lack of Rock-Rat's. He had expected to run into at least one or two of the beasts but so far their had been none. Nothing to hint that there were any more deeper into the mountain, but Kal was adamant. What was the point of the four at the entrance? Where they expecting more to come and they were going to guide the way? Nothing made him feel particularly good about being inside the mountain.

Finally Kal brought them to a stop. The tunnel widened into the large cavern that he remembered at the center of the mountain. Where the Yellow Golbins had nested thousands of their kind. She waved them closer to the end of the tunnel and pointed inwards. Inside were almost a hundred Rock-Rat's sprawled throughout the center of the cavern. Many looked to be in an advanced state of pregnancy, while others moved between, tending and nursing them. However, he could not see anything that they could be eating. There were no piles of food or even scraps.

I don't think they eat rocks or dirt. Insects or seeds? That seems a long way for them to travel out of the mountain...

“How many?” Anton whispered. He readied his mana for some lightning and fire magic in his mind just in case they managed to hear him, but they gave no sign that they had.

“About a hundred and twenty.” Kal answered, “Maybe more. There's something odd over there.”

She pointed to one of the downward tunnels on the far side of the cavern. A Rock-Rat, armed with a sharpened wooden stick, stood guard at an entrance. He was the only one not at the center. While the mass of Rock-Rat's had quite a few guards other than those tending to the mothers, this lone Rock-Rat was looked as if he was trying to stop anyone from entering that tunnel rather than stop possible intruders entering the cavern.

“Are we going to attack?” Verona asked. She kept her back to him and watched down the tunnel they came from. He was proud that she was taking care of things like their escape route without being asked.

“Just a moment.” Anton whispered back. “I want to see if there's any more that's going to come here.”

Verona looked at him, he could see her face clearly with his enhanced eyesight, and smiled. She turned her attention back to their rear while Anton continued to watch. He waited nearly a minute before he finally made up his mind to attack. Just as he raised his hand, to help control the lightning magic, Kal squeaked. It gave him pause as she nodded to the far entrance. Another Rock-Rat emerged from the guarded tunnel. Its coat was covered in dirt and dust. It shook it's body like a wet dog to remove tiny fragments of stone. The emergent Rock-Rat walked over to the main group and laid down. It look exhausted, its chest heaved with every breath.

“What was that about?” Anton asked.

Kal remained motionless. It was highly unlikely that she could know something about these Rock-Rat's in this cavern.

“They're digging.” she said, after some time.

She glanced up at the cavern's ceiling. “But, this place is so big. They don't have any need to even try to something like that. I don't think they would be trying to dig towards the sound of the lightning...”

“Are they attracted to gold or jewels?”

Kal shook her head. “Not really, not more than anything is attracted to something shiny. They could try and steal better tools and weapons though, iron swords and the like.”

“They do look like the best they can do on their are stone and wooden weapons. Wouldn't want to face them if they had iron, or Bosciycium weapons. Like a thousand needles carving away at you.”

Kal frowned as she turned to face him. “How would they get a hold of that?”

“This place, when it was infested with the Yellow Goblins, was a hoard of stolen weapons and gear. A hoard of everything that they had stolen from the collapsing Kar Kingdom. They got a hold of some of those.” He let out a sigh. “There could be more of that throughout the mountain, other caches of gold and weapons, but we found one and that was good enough for us. Nobody wanted to stay long in these twisting caverns.”

“Don't want them with the same armour that the Goblin Commander had.” Verona almost chuckled. “That stuff he wore stopped my magic. That wasn't a fun fight.”

“So, are you going to attack?” Kal asked.

He raised his hand, feeling a little sorry for the creatures, and the summoned the lightning bombs.

---[]---

The Rock-Rat's never saw it coming. All that Anton could be thankful for was that they had died very quickly, most were dead even before they knew they were under attack. Verona nor Kal had to aid in the fight, only a few Rock-Rat's even realised where the magic attacks were coming from. They were cut down before they could even let out a squeak. Kal had kept a watchful eye over the battlefield during the quick fight. Verona looked ready to lunge into the fray but kept herself in control, she kept most of her attention to behind them. Even with all their strength they could still be killed by a surprise attack from behind.

“I didn't see any escape.” Verona said in her normal voice. It echoed in the cavern. There were no Rock-Rat's to hear.

“Except those that might be down there,” Verona pointed to the formerly guarded tunnel. “There could be quite a few down there, tunnelling.”

Anton peered into the mess of bodies. The Rock-Rat's were completely naked. Fur covered their entire bodies, they had no use for the loin-cloths that the Goblins had. They moved the bodies but found nothing of value.

“There's nothing for us here." Anton said, both girls nodding in agreement. "Not point remaining here. We'll go down there and find out what they were doing. After that, we'll head out the tunnel we came from and seal the remaining entrances. I'm sure Jeff will be delighted that another race of creatures was able to get so close to Atros without his soldiers knowing.”

“Hang on a moment.” Verona said, running back to their tunnel.

She used the spear to grind a large cross next to the entrance.

“Just so we know.” she proudly spoke as she came back to his side. “I don't want to be wandering around this place.”

Verona looked up at the rough stone ceiling. “I don't like this place very much either.”

“I agree. The sooner we are done here the better.” Anton turned to Kal, her hand resting on the hilt of her daggers. “Are you comfortable on taking the lead again?”

Kal nodded and walked to the guarded tunnel. As they approached she took a deep sniff at the air. Even without an enhanced, magical or otherwise, sense of smell, he could tell that something was amiss.

“What's that I smell?” he asked. “It smells...really old and stale.”

“Smells like it's never had fresh air down here.” Verona added, faking a cough.

Kal hummed in agreement. “It's very old and stale air. But, far more so than anything in this mountain I've smelt so far.”

She turned to face them. “Did either of you notice something like this on your...first, time here?”

“Nope.” Verona answered first. “We were more worried about the Yellow Goblins crawling about than what it smelt like.”

“It was a little old and musty, but nothing like this.” Anton added.

He appreciated how Kal avoided saying the issue. Despite everything she had been through, she was capable of being delicate with him, even when his own problems were minuscule in comparison to her own troubles.

“I'll lead.” Kal said, readying her bow and knocking an arrow.

Verona waved him to follow, she took the rear again.

The air continued to become more and more stale as they descended. His breath felt short in some places, the air felt so thick and muggy. Yet again they found no Rock-Rat's or any sign of where they had been digging. Kal glanced down and pointed to some disturbance in the dust covering the rocks. There were more than a pair of rat like foot prints. Quite a few of the creatures were coming down here regularly for something. Again, that something started to worry him.

Slowly the tunnel began to turn back to the center of the mountain as they continued their travel downwards. There were several smaller branching tunnels, but a quick glance showed that they were completely undisturbed or did not go anywhere after a few meters.

Anton was about to ask whether or not they might want to consider going back when he heard a tiny noise amongst the relative silence. This was not their sounds of tiny rocks tumbling as they walked, these were big rocks falling onto the ground. The sound of digging.

Kal crouched low and moved even more slowly, Anton and Verona copying her movements. A few minutes more around they found the source. The rocky and bumpy surface turned completely flat and straight, forming a strange corridor in the otherwise roughly cut stone tunnel. As if it were here that somebody had decided to start building. At the end of this strange tunnel was a single small flickering torch, illuminating three Rock-Rat's trying to remove a pile of rough stone that blocked the path. Above the pile was a hole in the flat surface, extending well over the rock pile. Something had caused this strange tunnel to collapse.

One of the Rock-Rat's looked back towards them. The sheer look of stupefaction on its muzzled face was a thing to behold. It stammered out a few squeaks before Kal loosed an arrow. The arrow struck it through the eye, the creature falling backwards dead. The other two heard the body falling over, and were quickly dispatched by Kal and Verona before they could figure out what was happening.

As Kal recovered her arrows, Anton inspected the strangeness of what they had found. The rock floor and walls of the corridor was perfectly smooth to the touch, made out of the same material as the rest of the mountain. It did not make a lot of sense as to why it was here, and only here.

“How did we not find this before?” he asked aloud.

Verona moved beside him and looked at the flat rock surface.

“There weren't that many of us that headed into the mountain.” she said. “We only went as far as we needed to, to make sure that the Yellow Goblins were dead. This tunnel was quite a long one, if somebody did go this way they would have just turned back. We found those people with that had found that red and silver crystal box thing by travelling less distance, and we went back down to find them.”

“True.” Anton said, “But to think that something like this was right here all the time...”

“You did ask, once, who actually built the tunnels in the mountain. Maybe it was made by the same people that made this.” Verona offered.

“But, why not make the whole mountain like this, or just this bit?”

Verona had no answer. She sighed as she turned to look at the cave in of rocks. Kal was staring at them as well.

“What do you think they were trying to do?” Verona asked.

“They wanted something behind this pile of rocks.” Kal said, clambering onto the pile.

She climbed to the top and moved her head about to see through the cracks.

“If...If you move your head about here, you can see through the pile of rocks. It doesn't seem to be that big.”

Kal stepped down from the pile, waving them both over. Verona went first.

“Oh. I see. It looks like there's something on the other side.” she said. “That might be what they were after.”

“What thing?” Anton asked.

“I...I think it's a door.” Verona sounded very unsure of herself as she slid back. “One made out of stone. It's really big. I can't quite see it properly though.”

Anton took her position and looked through. It took a little moving about but he found the spot they were talking about. Past the pile of rocks, that seemed to be only a few meters thick at the top, was the continuation of the smooth corridor. At the end, another twenty to thirty meters down, did seem to be a stone door. There were no handles on it, at least from where he was looking. It was very hard to get a complete look at it.

As he moved back something on the ground, just in front of the door, caught his eye. It was obsucred by the rocks so it was difficult for him to make it out properly. Even if he used his eyesight enhancement magic he did not have the a clear line of sight.

“There's definitely a door there. But, there's something at the base of the door, seems to run along the bit of the floor that we can actually see.” he glanced at the top of the rock pile. “I can't really tell what it is...If we move these few I think we can get a better look.”

Slowly and delicately they removed the rocks at the top of the pile. For their size they were incredibly heavy. All three struggled with the weight of them, but soon they had enough room so they could see over. Room enough for all three to get their heads through.

They wriggled over the top so their eyes could get a proper look at the other side. Verona upon seeing, squeaked in distress. It was not a good sound, even Kal let out something similar. He could see both quite stressed as their breathing quickened. Kal started to shuffle away as Anton took her position.

There were marks on the other side on the straight correidor. Claw marks, dug easily an inch into the hard stone, sprawled chaotically across the floor, gleaming nearly white. They extended halfway up the sides of the wall as well. There were hundreds of them, all travelling in groups of six. Tracing each one made him feel ill.

What could make such a deep cut in solid stone? The claws of Demons? They're meant to be on the other side of the world, and I think that the gods can see underground...maybe not.

Anton turned to Kal and spoke in the softest voice he could manage.

“Kal, I don't think that Rock-Rat's can do something like that, can they.”

She refused to speak, only shaking her head.

“Goblins couldn't do that either.” Verona said. She looked down at her spear, resting at the base of the pile. “Maybe my spear could, but it would take a while. Or used by something very strong. What sort of monster has claws like that...”

It was not a pleasant thought.

His eyes followed the scratch marks to the door. Two slabs of stone made up the face of the door. The only markings on the door were the natural colour variation running through the stone. It did not look as smooth at the rest of the tunnel, clearly made in a hurry compared to everything else.

As he thought before, there were no handles on the door. Instead there was a thinner slab of stone acting as a bar to hold the door shut. Twenty dull metal slots kept the slab in place against the door. At the center of the bar, where the doors joined, were dozens more white scratches. So many so that nearly a third of the stone bar had been carved away.

Metal spikes had been rammed through the top and bottom of the door, and into the surrounding stone. The stone had buckled and cracked through the force. Despite the damage it looked like it would not budge. Whomever had done this they wanted to make sure that nobody got inside. Or out. And he was certain that it was not treasures inside. Everything screamed that only horror and death awaited whomever opened this door.

“Kal?”

“Yes?”

“At the join of the door, just above where that stone bar is, are there any more white scratches?”

She hesitated before nodding.

“All along it. They look like they came from inside. Like they were coming out as the door closed.”

“Okay. We're done here.” he said, beginning to slide back down as quietly as he could. They did not argue and slid down themselves.

“Let's block this back up. Just in case.”

They quickly put back the hunks of stone back into the cave-in pile. The rocks were not so heavy now. Now that he thought more about it, it was more than likely that this was not an ordinary cave-in. A different feeling filled the back of his head, telling him that they should leave as quickly as they can. The other thoughts were gone.

When they were done he waved for them to leave. He took a step, before pointing at the dead Rock-Rat's. Picking one up by the legs he carried it up the tunnel. Verona and Kal glanced at each-other before taking one themselves and following.

He said nothing until they made it back to the main cavern. As he dumped the body into the pile of dead Rock-Rat's, Verona grabbed him by the arm and looked very worried at him. She glanced back at Kal, who moved in closer.

“What was that?” she asked quietly.

“I really don't think we should go down there again. You saw those claw marks?”

They both nodded.

“I think that it's clear what's behind that door. Nothing good. And I don't think we should ever go back down there to disturb whatever slumbers below."

Verona and Kal hummed in agreement.

“There were no bones or bodies there.” Kal added. “So either it was a really long time ago or they took the bodies with them. If that's what happened those creatures could be long dead by now. You didn't mention anything leaving the mountain, apart from those Yellow Goblins?”

Anton and Verona shook their heads.

“I've never heard of anything that could do something like that. Cleanly cutting through solid stone...”

“So...” Verona closed her eyes and frowned, “The people that made the door also caused that cave-in? Why not just collapse the whole mountains worth of tunnels?”

“They didn't do a good job.” Kal glanced back to the tunnel. “They must have been in a real rush.”

“More reason's for us to leave this place and seal it up.” Anton said, looking to the marked tunnel. “Let's go.”

“Umm...right.” Verona mumbled, glancing at Kal as they headed towards the tunnel.

Anton was glad to be heading away from there. It seemed that nothing good in this world came from caves or mountains.

---[]---

The sun was beginning to set when Anton made it back to the mining camp, and the last tunnel entrance they could find. Kal had found another half dozen entrances they could not find on their own. He deactivated the night vision prayer, receiving a few mumbles of consternation from Verona. Kal seemed to accept the change without issue.

Now the mine camp looked like a small earthen fort. A small ring of raised earth surrounded the mines buildings. The mine itself was left alone, the muddy slopes would be difficult for anyone to climb up. It was also adorned with a wooden palisades under construction and spikes on the earthen rampart. Anton was about to question how they got so much wood when he saw groups of soldiers returning with wooden logs. Part of the forest reached close to the western base of the mountain.

“Last one.” Verona said happily, nodding towards the cavern entrance to the side of the mine. “Then we can get away from here.”

Anton smiled as warmly as he could. He had been acting a little odd, rash and impulsive to leave. He would be happy to leave Mount Aspire. It's name was just an insult now, from what he had found within.

“Thank the gods.” he mumbled.

The soldiers waved to him as he neared and moved towards the last entrance. Summoning the tethered line of lightning bombs, he sent them into the cave and collapsed the last tunnel. With the rumble of collapsing rock and stone, and a blast of air and dust, he felt relieved that the mountain was sealed.

“That was...an interesting day.” Kal said.

“Yes it was.” Anton forced a smile. “Let's tell Jeff the good news.”

They found Jeff next to the largest building of the camp, Avery at his side. He was leaning on the table while talking to a few of the soldiers. They were pointing towards the less complete sections of the wall.

“Anton.” he said with an voice full of joy, looking up and cutting off one of the soldiers. “I can't hear any more of that lightning magic going off. I can assume that means you've taken care of the Rock-Rat's.”

“We have,” Anton said as he approached, the other soldiers nodding respectfully before moving away. “I'm glad you got the message.”

“We were a little concerned that you were heading into the mountain with just the three of you.” Avery said calmly.

Verona shrugged. “We didn't have much time to get it done. If they figured out that they were under attack they could have fled. And then who knows how long we could be fighting that angry tribe.”

“But they are all dead?” Jeff asked.

“All dead.” Anton replied. “At least the ones that we found in the mountain. There could still be one or two roaming about somewhere.”

“Those won't be a problem.” Verona smiled, giving Anton's hand a squeeze.

“One of those creatures isn't a problem.” Jeff happily said, looking towards the mountain. “But several thousand of them would be. I've told the soldiers on look out to keep a better watch.”

“Don't be too hard on them, the Rock-Rat's blend in perfectly with the stone.” Anton said. “Maybe have them keep a very good look out into the grasslands. Their grey will be a severe disadvantage there.”

Jeff glanced at Avery.

“I'll get the next person up there to pass on the message. But, everything's good now. The north is secure, barring an attack from those Orcs and Clansmen you spoke of.”

Anton grimaced, Verona and Kal did not look confident either.

“What?” Jeff asked, the confidence draining from his face.

“We did find something in the caves though.” Anton spoke quietly.

“Another chest of gold, or weapons?” Avery asked.

Anton shook his head. “We need to have a council meeting right now.”

Jeff and Avery looked worriedly at each-other.

“For now, tell everyone that they are not to enter the mountain under any circumstances.” Anton said. “Not to chase something down or just because they are curious. Understood?”

They both agreed, though it was clear they wanted to know why.

“I'll get a cart ready for the return trip.” Avery said, walking away.

Jeff glanced around to make sure that nobody was listening in. When he was certain that there was nobody he leaned in close to Anton.

“What's happening in there?”

“I'm not entirely sure.” Anton replied. “But it's very disturbing.”

Jeff left it at that until they returned to Atros.

---[]---

Crowded would be a polite way of describing the council room in the Main Hall. Everyone had been called, though Anton was not going to divulge what he had seen there until they had all gathered. Once they were, he took his time and explained in detail what they had found at the lowest level of the caves in the mountain.

Nobody said a word as he spoke.

All stared at him in a mixture of fear and stun. None liked what his tale implied, something very dangerous could be living right underneath their feet.

“So, you didn't go any closer to that door?” Zac asked.

Anton shook his head.

“Whomever built that door wanted it to be shut for a very, very long time.” Anton forced a weak smile. “I'm not going to just open it to see what's on the other side to satisfy my curiosity.”

“Could it be those demons?” Sam asked. She was very worried that Jeff, or any of them, had been so close to that site.

“I...I don't know.” Anton replied truthfully, “But I don't think so. They're meant to be on the other side of the world. That whole place seemed really, really old. Like nobody had ever been there in a thousand winters. Maybe even longer than this city has been here.”

“You said the Rock-Rat's were digging at the rock pile.” Bertram seemed as tired as when Anton had returned from Maxill. “That sounds like a very odd thing to do. To try and get to it.”

“Especially since they had the whole mountain to themselves.” Kal added. None gave her an odd look, something she seemed grateful for.

“How did we not find it?” Jeff asked. “How long had they been digging for?”

“If they had been digging at roughly the same time the Kobolds attacked,” Kal answered, “Quite a long time. The Goblins might have been digging during their time as well. If they always keep someone working it would not take them that long. They were close when we found them. Perhaps you had found the tunell before but it was completely covered by loose rocks. It seems very odd that it would be so few rocks to keep something like that buried.”

“Do Rock-Rat's follow Nithroel?” Verona asked.

Kal shook her head.

"That's good then."

“Here are the facts, or at least my conjecture.” Anton began. “Something came up from below the mountain, something that could claw its way through solid stone, that something else sealed them in before leaving. We don't know whatever those creature are, or if they are still alive. I'm telling you all this so you know what's happening. Something as important, and disturbing, as this is not something to be kept a secret.”

A tiny shuffle from Kal caught a flicker of his attention. She said nothing.

“Are you saying that we should close the mine then?” Jonathan asked. He had not brought his children this time. For that Anton was a little glad, stories of something that could carve their way through solid stone was the things of nightmares.

It was something that Anton had not thought about before. There was a possibility of them digging so far down that they reach wherever those creatures came from. However, seeing how far they had actually dug down already, along with how much iron and coal they had managed to bring up, it would be some time before they reached the same depth as the corridor and door.

“Not yet.” Anton replied. “I'm not sure how deep we actually went but it was some way. It'll be many, many, winters before the miners dig anywhere near that far.”

Jonathan and Zac relaxed.

“That being said, I think it would be a good idea to tell the miners to look outwards for more sources of iron and coal rather than down.”

They both agreed.

“At least until we figure out what's going on in there.”

“You want to go back down there?” Bertram asked.

“Not if I can help it.” Anton answered. “I don't think I'm liking caves and the insides of mountains very much. Ever since I woke up here the most terrifying things have come from there.”

Verona smiled as sweetly as she could, giving his hand a squeeze.

“This is all disturbing, to say the least.” Bertram said, he glanced at Dennis, face riddled with worry. “Do we tell the people what we found?”

Anton glanced around at the worried faces. “Not yet. We can see what this knowledge has done for us, who knows what it'll do for the stability of Atros.”

Dennis nodded furiously. “I'll make sure that this stays quiet as I can. Any questions on the matter, we'll tell them that the threat has been dealt with. Nobodies going to head there without good reason anway.”

Murmurs of agreement and nodding heads filled the room.

“Since we are all gathered, is there anything else that needs to be discussed?” Bertram asked.

“I would.” Dennis began, “I would like to thank everyone for having trust in me. I will do my best with the position of Sheriff that I have been given.”

Anton swore that he saw Dana rolling her eyes.

“Have you found the building suitable?” Bertram asked.

Dennis nodded. “We have. It's more than sufficient for us. My deputies and I will keep the peace in Atros.”

“That's good to hear. Anything else?”

Nothing was said. Everyone just looked like they wanted to go.

“Alright, let's finish this meeting then.” Bertram said with a grimace. “And see if we can keep our food down tonight.”

The chairs groaned as they left the room and into the early night. A few villagers were starting to set up the central plaza for the dinner, but Anton did not feel that hungry.

“Anton?”

He turned and saw Verona looking at him worryingly.

“You still don't sound like you are doing alright. Is there something you want to talk about?” She came up close and rested her head against his chest. The warmth from her body travelled into his own.

“I'm fine.” he said, kissing her on the forehead. She was not believing him, her hand pinching tight on his waist.

“I...I don't know. Maybe remembering those forty odd women that were being raped by the Yellow Goblins...just made me a bit funny.”

Part of him had to say it aloud. Verona smiled as warmly as she could.

“I know. It wasn't a good day, was it?” she spoke awkwardly.

“No. But, it's over and I'm not going to have to go back there any time soon.”

He took a deep breath and looked at the beginnings of dinner.

“Actually-”

“You're not feeling that hungry?”

Anton nodded.

“Well, I managed to get some preserved food a little while ago and put it in our house.”

“Just a snack...I think that'll be a good idea for tonight.”

Verona smiled, looking around him.

“I'll go and tell the others that we won't be attending dinner tonight. While I do that, you've got someone waiting to talk to you.”

Kal was standing several meters away, patiently waiting in silence.

“Thanks.” he said, Verona giving him a quick kiss before running towards where he had seen the council members heading off to.

“Thanks for guiding us safely Kal.” he said, receiving a warm smile in return.

“It wasn't a problem.” she said. “I...During that trip I've given another thought to how I can help Atros.”

“Oh, how's that?”

“When I was looking at the Rock-Rat's, it reminded me of the Kobolds.” she looked at her hands. “And the poison they have in the spines on their back.”

“Right. We've kept those spines that we recovered from the battle. Their poison seemed like it could be useful for something.”

Kal nodded. “I was thinking that if we could get poison out of those and dip arrow heads in them...”

Anton brushed his hand through his beard. “That sounds very dangerous, for the enemy. But we don't want that stuff on us. I suppose we could use the heavy leather gloves that Zac has got the workers making. That should be enough to stop the poison getting through. I'm liking the idea. Poisoned arrow heads...A good idea, Kal.”

“You...” she hesitated, but took a confident step forward. “You could also use your magic to stop the poision from working when we're working on it, like what you did with our eyes so we could see in the dark.”

“I could do that. It would be a good chance to further try out my magic.” He smiled at Kal. “Alright. We'll give it a go tomorrow.”

“Thank you Anton.” she glanced around, focusing on the silvery head of Verona talking rapidly with Sam and Sybil.

Kal took another deep breath, scrunching her eyes shut, before turning back to him.

“Before, when Verona was attacking the Rock-Rat's, you said that you would tell me something later.”

“Right...” Anton looked around to see who else was close by, there was nobody. “Um...Tomorrow, I'll talk to you about it then.”

Kal bowed her head.

“Thank you. For trusting me.”

Verona quickly trotted back to them, looking very happy with herself.

“Hey Kal.” she said, taking one of his arms. “Just spoken to them and they've said it's fine. They're not feeling that good either, what with that description of all those scratches made into the stone and what could have made them.”

“I can understand that.” Anton said.

“I'm going to sleep as well.” Kal said. “I will see you both in the morning.”

“See ya.” Verona said happily. Kal smiled and made her way quickly through to the east of Atros.

“Come on, we need to go to sleep as well.”

Their night was far more slow and passion filled than normal. Even afterwards his sleep was short and troubled, his mind always being drawn back to the horrific scratches gouged into the stone, the white gleaming like tears through a soul.

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

Hello.

Rock-Rat's didn't put up that much of a fight. That's kind of to be expected.

Also, sort of, answering who made the tunnels in Mount Aspire. Not the Goblins, they've just dug their way through the collapsed tunnels. I said early on that they weren't natural nor built by them, so someone's collapsed everything and it's slowly been excavated over the years, however many years that is.

Everyone a little scared about it. I think I took the right actions when finding something like that. The answer isn't to open it and find out. Better to just leave it alone when you're so weak as a force.

Also Dennis taking some initative in how to deal with telling the people what happened. Cna't tell the whole truth so they'll have to tell the cloest they can. It's much easier to believe that way.

That's really about it.

Hope you enjoyed reading!