Chapter 34

Eva Lemuria

It has been a while that I have been constantly moving towards the dwarven kingdom. I think it’s been about three or four months that I have been constantly moving around but I haven't paid attention. Sometimes I will run while other times I will simply walk along roads or animal trails. I have avoided shifting not because I don't want to move quickly, but instead, I just don't want to be found. I have only gone into towns at night and stole food and other supplies. I do this so no one could see me and I can stay hidden. I had left the elven kingdom rather quickly and I have mostly been moving through some woodlands and minor human kingdoms now. I really don't know exactly where I am, but I don't think it matters too much. I will hopefully be able to make it to the borders of the dwarven kingdom soon.

I look up at the black speck that has been flying above me while I run. It comes down and lands on my shoulder. Munin has almost completely matured in this time and I have to say she is way too smart for a bird. She seems to understand everything that I say and has incredibly human like feelings. If she doesn't get something she wants she will pout, if she finds something funny she will make a weird laughing motion, and if she's angry at me she will give me the cold shoulder and ignore me until I spoil her. She really is a cute traveling companion. Over this time I have been trying to feed more mana into her like before she was born, but I can't seem to get any results. I have fed her a lot of mana and I know she has actually taken it, but besides absorbing it she has shown no signs of any other reaction. I guess it's good that nothing bad has happened to her, but I must admit I did kind of want to see her spit out a fire ball or something.

I am amazed that she can keep up with me running as fast as I can. It’s nowhere close to being as fast as when I shift, but she's still amazing for keeping up. I have been having her scout for me to find either villages or hunting targets. She seems to always go for prey that she wants to eat. I know this because I have sensed closer prey, but she always goes for the ones she wants. I let it pass because I am fine with spoiling her as long as it's just this much. I look at Munin on my shoulder and see that she's using her wing to point forward so I keep going the same direction.

I believe my next stop should be the dwarven border post. It will be a small fortress that guards an entrance into the mountains. The dwarves like to keep their homes on the side of the mountains and throughout the whole mountain range. I have never seen one of their cities, but I heard they're a breathtaking sight. Unlike the elves, the dwarves are fine with other races going into all of their cities. There aren't any specific cities made just for trade, but that's probably because they don't have a lot of trade that's even possible with the cities deeper in the mountains because of natural obstructions.

I finally exit the forest I have been wandering in and I am in a large open plane and I see the mountain range far off in the distance. I don't see anything else in sight so I just start walking straight ahead. Munin jumps off my shoulder and flies up and starts doing circles and pointlessly flying around. I thought she was going to go scout the mountain range for me, but it seems she just wants to play around.

“Munin! Go see if you can find and border posts or anything towards this mountains!”

“Squawk!” Munin

After I yell up to Munin she responds before flying towards the mountains. I just keep my same pace of leisurely walking toward the mountain while I keep my senses up as I search for anyone or anything. I never know where an attack can come from so I will keep my defense up constantly. After about thirty minutes I see Munin come back and she lands on my shoulder. She then points her wing slightly off from the direction I am walking so I readjust my path and pat Munin’s head as thanks. After about two hours of walking at a slow pace, I finally can see a giant gate at the entrance to a valley. The gate is nothing fancy like the elves, but anyone can tell its very sturdy and almost impossible to pass. As we get closer I notice the entire gate and wall are covered with designs, but if one looked closer they would see that there are countless enchantments carved into the gates that they look like a piece of art.

The dwarves truly are master artisans. This gate was built with the sole purpose of defending this entryway, but they still worked the enchantments into such an overly complex design. The dwarves have always been one of the most advanced when it comes to advancements like this. They have some of the best enchanters and smiths in the world and its believed that they are the ones that created the current common currency. I have two reasons that I really want to visit the dwarven cities. I want to first look around at what they have to offer and take in the sights and culture. The other reason that I am coming here is to see if they are a threat to the Lemuria Kingdom. A lot of towns and villages have been disappearing on our border and it's basically giving the dwarven kingdom a clear shot at us and that worries me as much as it probably worries my father. I am sure that father has his own spies already looking around the dwarven kingdom, but I want to take a look for myself and see things up front, unlike the shadow guard who is always listening in but never talking themselves.

I reach the gate and notice a large absence of merchants and the main gates are closed, but a smaller gate on the side is open with dwarfs guarding them. The dwarfs almost look just like a normal human except much shorter. They are basically a compressed human because their strength is equal even though their half our height. I look them over and see there are two armored guards on both sides of the gate and each one has heavily enchanted armor. I slowly approach and see the look me over before speaking.

“What business do you have here and where are you from?” Guard 1

“I am on a journey around multiple kingdoms to experience different cultures. I am just a wandering orphan. Why is it so empty here? I assumed I would have to wait behind a long line of merchants and other travelers.”

“I see. So just a traveler? Well, it's empty because this isn't actually a very popular pass. The direction you came from is mostly wilderness and small human kingdoms. Beyond that is the elven kingdom so not many come from that direction here. Another reason could be our kingdoms tension.” Guard 1

“You don't need to speak about that. You will just end up persuading her to go somewhere else instead of here. Look at how she's dressed she could have some very unique goods to sell and look at that weapon on her back. I don't know what it is but my curiosity is overflowing. Tell me whats your name?” Guard 2

“My name is Eva. I don't plan on getting involved with anything that causes tension either way. I just want to look around and experience your culture. My weapon is called a halberd and it was apparently made by a dwarven smith. Apparently, it would be a soldier standard weapon if it wasn't so large and hard to use effectively.”

“ Oh? Well, I have never heard of it so if you're here to look for the smith it could be hard with how many smiths we have. It would be easier depending on the quality because you could trace its origins easier. Well, I guess the only other thing we have to ask is whats that?” Guard 1 points to Munin on my shoulder.

“Squawk!” Munin

“That is Munin a young crow that has been with me since she was born. Don't worry she's a good girl. I’ll keep her with me instead of flying around when in cities or towns.”

“Ok, that’s good enough as long as she doesn't go pooping on people.” Both Munin and I look away. “Right. Well, you can go through now, but try to behave please.” Guard 2

After that, I am let through their smaller side gate and I see that there is a straight road leading deeper into the mountains. There is no smaller paths or other trails to follow so I can only go on the one path towards the closest city which can't be that far. I keep walking and notice that there is definitely a lack of trees around here, but the other vegetation seems to strive.

After a while, I finally reach the first city and I must admit it is an amazing view. The city is built between two mountains and most of the city is built on the face of the mountains. There's hardly anything on the actual ground and everything else is on the mountain faces including buildings and homes. There are even bridges that connect both halls and even some lifts that move back and forth. In the center, there is just one central tower that connects both sides. I have to look high up just to see the highest points in this city. I approach the city and notice that there's mostly only walls around the central tower and guards surrounding it. I look around and see that this is the only way to reach the upper part of this city. It looks incredibly difficult to climb the mountain faces because there are basically only steep cliffs.

Another thing I notice is that there is almost only dwarfs and no other races are here. Any that look at me don't give me the usual looks probably because they don't know how out of the norm I am as a human. Elves have their border cities filled with multiple races but even though this can also be considered a border city and the dwarfs are very open there is almost no other race. I guess this is good and bad for me because I don't have to deal with discrimination here, but I won't be able to get information as easily from dwarves as I would from a human. Races always trust each other more than others.

I make my way to the central tower and the guards just look me over before signaling me to move along. I enter the tower and notice that there is a huge staircase on the edge and in the center, there is a large tube with a flat disk in the center. There are two uniformed dwarves constantly on it. I approach it and follow the what the others do as I stand in the center of it. I watch the uniformed dwarves for as the work. One of them seems to be using earth magic to levitate the stone disk and the other is using wind magic to push us upwards at a constant speed. They stop it several times where stone pillars would be pushed under the disk to hold it in place as people get on and off. I stay on until the very top of the tower before I get off. At the top, there seems to be a nice viewing platform to look around the city for tourist, but all the pathways connected to the tower are all blocked by metal gates and guards. I follow the paths with my sight and see they all lead to the nobles homes. They are all fancier than the rest of the city and I cant help but to feel disgusted by them literally trying to be above everyone else. Nobles will aways be nobles it seems.

Thinking of nobles I remember Lucas Sylvari and cant help but put my guard up and look around. Lucas Sylvari was considered a noble so I have to keep my guard up here as well. From the way that he spoke his group must be everywhere. I have to be careful of others it seems like. I leave the top floor of the tower and wander around looking for a cheap Inn. I had asked around and it seems like there's no adventures guild in this city but there are several cheap Inns on the first level. I looked around and found an inn that didn't have a lot of guests, but I could see that it was very secure just not well kept. When I entered the bar it was filled with dwarves, but apparently, they were all just workers relaxing after a long day. I paid for a single night and private use of the baths they had. The baths were relaxing and I finally got the chance to wash Munin and it seemed like she enjoyed the bath almost as much as me as long as she didn't go directly in the water. After the bath, I went to my room and checked it before undressing and laying down to sleep.