Tad stared at Kettle's form. The metallic creature was not very tall, but he looked smaller now as if the automatron had shrunk a foot or more. Tad looked at all the strands coming out of Kettle's back. He wondered if the automatron was reshaping himself into the cabinet or was something more was going on. Why did Kettle say he made a mistake? He had never heard of anything like this before.

There was a fine coating of grey dust on everything in the small interior. It swirled around as Tad tried to open other cabinets or panels. Nothing budged. He pulled hard on a couple of them and nothing. He grabbed Galadinidú from the leather strap that held the staff to his back.

"Galadinidú, do you know what this metal is? " projected Tad to Galadinidú, the staff in his hand.

"No, it has no magical resonance, and it is not something I have ever dealt with before," it replied.

Tad touched the staff to one of the cabinets hoping perhaps that might be able to open it.

"I can not interact with this metal, " replied the staff.

Tad hit the panel harder with the end of the staff.

"I do not think I can damage this metal. It might be able to damage me, though. " projected Galadinidú to Tad.

Tad thought about that. This staff hasn't gained even a scratch since he had picked it up. The scratches on it now were the staff's mimicking of the old wooden staff Tad used to carry. Nothing new had shown upon it. Even the demon's sword hadn't scratched it. If this metal could damage it, then there was something very important here Tad was missing.

Tad started looking around more thoroughly. Torekit was trying to get a dagger blade into another panel to open it.

"I do not think we will have much luck opening any of this Torekit," said Tad as Beothorn also came into the structure. It was getting a bit crowded with all three of them in there.

Tad brushed off the chair and the top of another panel. Once the dust was removed, the surfaces looked new. Under the dust were unblemished metal surfaces. They didn't reflect light like a normal metal.

"Your little creature there appears to be growing into that opening. I do not know what he is, or this is, but we will have to report this to the Council. The orcs attacked us. We thought to get the metal we were mining around this structure, but we might be mistaken now. They might have wanted this metal structure. Either way, we will have to escort all of you to the Council, and they will decide what to do next. " said Torekit pointing towards the doorway.

Tad and Beothorn looked at each other. Beothorn gave an affirmative nod, and they both exited with Torekit behind them.

"You will need to accompany us to the Hold," repeated Torekit. "Are there others with you, or is this all of them? "

Tad knew that the old dwarf had seen the guards up top during the fight. It would have been hard to miss. Was the dwarf giving them a chance to protect their friends, or was this some sort of test?

Beothorn answered, "There are several others up there on the cliff edge plateau above us. The pathway leads up to where we appeared. We will need to stop there before going to the Hold. We have some animals and wagons that will need to be cared for and a camp to stow. " said Beothorn looking up at the cliff edge. Tad could just make out the top of one of the guard's helms from here, which looked very far up from down here.

"I and two of the others will follow you up. The miners will stay here and finish the measurements for the hoist. We plan on extracting this metal … structure soon, and this trip was to finalize the measurements and dig the remaining passages for the chains. I do not think the orcs are coming back any time soon. You killed their Shaman up there. He was a powerful caster. That with the loss of their champion there will make them pause their attacks here, I think. " said Torekit.

Tad walked over to where Lamruil, Nico, and Zanna were standing, watching them.

"We are going to go back to the camp. We should be safe. I don't' think the dwarves here want to harm anyone. They don't even look like warriors. Hopefully, we will have time to talk to them along the way. Things are moving very fast, but you can see this isn't the Forest of Mirth. I have no idea where we are, and we need information more than anything right now. Some of the miners are coming up with use to the camp. They said we are going to be taken before the Council, " said Tad. The temperature had steadily risen as what little moisture remained in the air had disappeared. Tad had been in a desert one time several years ago with the Carnival. It was only for a very short leg of their trip to the Carnival destination, but he knew how hot it could get midday. That desert had bushes and some grasses dried up in it. This one was just sand as far as he could see.

The trek up the path had not taken long, and the far side of the small mountain was being heated by the sun. When the group reached the top, Tad saw a half erected Carnival tent with its sides taken off.

The tent was pegged into the stone with metal stakes and heavy rope holding it all in place. It was one of the bigger tents. The quartermaster hadn't wasted time in getting a sun shelter setup. The guards assisted the quartermaster in putting a tent sidewall where the sun was beaming in at the wagons.

The wagons had been pulled into a tight cluster, and the ponies were again in a coral in the shade of the tent.

Marena was sitting on one of the benches, watching Bubbles circle a flower in a pot on the table. Marena did this when she was unhappy about something. Tad looked around and could make out three bodies still smoldering near the cliff edge.

Before anyone could say anything, Marena said, "We had company. They are over there. " she pointed at the bodies.

"What happened, " asked Beothorn.

"They came down from above the plateau there on that side. They must have been hiding up there when the Carnival first appeared. They rushed the camp when the guards left," said Marena, barely showing any emotion at the statement. Tad could see bits of copper armor and a dropped copper short sword near the corpses. Tad was still trying to mentally deal with the fact he had killed the Orc shaman. It wasn't even self-defense. He wondered what Marena was thinking now.

"Anyone hurt? " asked Beothorn.

"No, scared the ladies though. Iliphar used some sort of insect swarm spell on the orcs to distract them, and I did the rest. There is another one on the other side of camp, " said Marena.

"Lamruil could you and Nico check up on those ledges to make sure no more are hiding please, " said Beothorn pointing at the jagged rocks above the plateau on the other end. There wasn't much up there, but Beothorn was making sure as always.

"Marena, this is Torekit and some of the mining company members from the dig below. He is asking that we accompany him to his Hold to talk to his Council. Can you get your stuff together? We will leave the guards, Iliphar, Bernard, and the rest here while we go to the dwarven Hold. We have no way to get the wagons down at this point, but I do not want to leave them unguarded. The last part of the pathway up is very narrow. The guards and Iliphar should be able to hold it if anyone tries to get up here. " said Beothorn.

The Quartermaster Bernard and Iliphar were making their way over to the group from the other side of the tent. The guards were still working to secure the remaining ropes to fasten that tent edge down.

"Bernard, how much water do we have in the quartermaster wagon? " asked Beothorn.

"Four and a half barrels and a couple of kegs of ale." He must have understood what Beothorn was really after and continued. "We have enough grain for the ponies for several weeks. It's unground, and we can also use it for seed if needed, but we have to keep it out of the sun. We can't let the wagons heat up too much, or the wood might warp, wrecking the enchantments. We have two weeks of water if we do not give too much to the ponies and keep them in the shade. We will need to figure out how to get the wagons down from here also. We could try rigging up a rope sled, but we will need more people than we have here to keep it steady. Also, I'm not sure if the rope will be strong enough for such a distance. " said the quartermaster.

"Good, look for a suitable path down for the wagons using that plan. Several of us will be leaving to visit Torekit's Hold and talk to their Council. We expect to be back within a week with more help to get the wagons off this rock if all goes well. We will leave behind the guards. You all need to keep watch on the wagons and care for the monkeys, bees, and ponies. Iliphar, how much food do we have for those bees you've been raising? " said Beothorn, now looking at the elf druid.

Iliphar cleared his throat then spoke, "I have two full barrels of regular honey left. If they feed at the current rate, it should be enough for a month or more. I think the bees are changing, though, which means they will go from larvae to chrysalis soon. The bigger one is starting to try to communicate to other bees around it. She is probably the queen and is trying to get a hive ready for her birth as the new queen of a swarm. I do not know what will happen when she figures out there are no other adult bees around. I honestly don't even know what they will normally do. I don't think they will go hostile as long as we don't interfere with them too much. We need to find someplace with water and large flowers very, very soon. At the rate of growth, they will be almost as large as those ponies. They will die in a desert without water or food, as will we all."

Tad had no idea how they were going to accomplish this. He looked out again across a vast landscape of dunes with occasional spikes of rocks sticking up. Those orcs were still out there somewhere. In the distance, now that the sun was up, he thought he saw hills or mountains, but who knows how far those were from here. Certainly walking that far would be very dangerous without more water. Where was this dwarven Hold anyway?

Beothorn looked back at Torekit, "How long will it take to reach your Hold? "

"If we travel light about one full night. We can't take all of you or these creatures. Torekit was looking at the ponies.

The ponies were black with yellow eyes and red hooves. The Carnival always called them nightmare ponies. The ponies used to work in a carousel, and children used to ride them. Caring for them was one of Tad's early jobs.

"Those are ponies, " said Tad. He was very attached to these miniature horses, having been their attendant for several years growing up.

Torekit nodded, looking back to Marena, who was still watching Bubbles circle the flower in its pot on the table. The flower had been a gift from Catarine, and Bubbles spent most of its time circling the plant. Marena found it comforting being around both of them, so something must be bothering her. The flower was always in bloom. Tad was unsure if that was because of Bubble's presence or just the plant itself.

"We will be traveling as soon as the sun goes down. We have mounts, and we also brought a carrier for the metal if we had found more. We will be using that to transport you to the Hold. Understand we do not see many people, especially elves like these. Few travel these deserts and less survive long enough to reach the mountain crags we are traveling to, " said Torekit.

"How many holds are near," asked Beothorn.

"There is just one Hold. There are no other cities or civilizations near other than the warrens at the other end of the mountain range. That is where those orcs are from," said Torekit.

"Why so few?" asked Tad.

"Water, there is almost no water in the desert here. If you travel far enough, you will reach an ocean, but you can't drink saltwater either. There are very few safe sources of water. There is only one river within the desert on the south side here. The creatures that dwell there are so vicious we gave up long ago trying to create another Hold there. On the other side of the mountain range, it is almost all desert till you reach the volcanoes far to the north. There might be water there, but nobody has ever made it past that point and returned. There are a few ruins scattered here and there, but no water. " said Torekit looking out across the sand.

"Do you have any portals nearby or another way to contact others? " asked Beothorn.

"Portals? We haven't had portals since before my grandfather's grandfather was born. They were all destroyed in the war. I do know of a few caves into the dark pathways, but few go that way either. The only other civilization I know of is the storm giants on their mountain far to the east. We make trade with them once in a while, but mostly at their whim, not ours. They do not like when we trespass. They will occasionally come to the Hold to trade wine and large dates for metals or somethings they might have requested we build for them. The wine is good. The dates are filling. " said Torekit.

"Ok, we will work on setting up a barricade and put some rocks above the ledge before we leave. If the orcs do come back, the wagons should be ok up here," said Beothorn.

Torekit looked over at the spot where the group had come up the trail along the ledge. "The orcs won't return again till they go back to the warrens and create a larger Warband. That won't be soon. They already took serious losses. They will have to declare another Champion and Shaman, which will take weeks of fighting and murder before that is resolved. You should be safe from a full attack here. It's very defensible as long as you have water. There was another much larger expedition planned three days from now. I will inform them they need to send soldiers next time to secure the site while they work."

Beothorn nodded and started walking over to the carnival guards who had finished the tent.

Tad left Torekit there talking to Marena while he moved away with what he was coming to think of as his own Warband. Nico, Lamruil, Zanna, and himself, it was easier thinking of them as a group that way.

"Nico, Lamruil, did you find anything up there on that ledge? " asked Tad.

"No, not much up there. It looked like the orcs scrambled up when the wagons and camp appeared almost on top of them. They hid till our party went down the ramp to attack the Shaman. " said Lamruil.

Nico chimed in, "I went up higher, but it's a jutting of rock, and there is no place for anyone up there past the ledge the orcs were on. "

"Ok, well, we are going to take a trip then. Torekit implied that this Council of theirs would be unhappy with Kettle attaching himself to the artifact, whatever it is. I can't blame them, but I'm also not going to put myself or Kettle at their mercy either. We need to get information on the surrounding area then look for a place that we can make into a stronghold. Samphire had said we have to set up a safe area, and he didn't say find someone else's safe area. He had a reason to say that, so we need to find a map and look around for a portal to somewhere or find a defensible and livable area somewhere here. " said Tad. He looked around, this was a very defensible position, but there was no place to get food or water near, which makes it unusable, at least for now.

"I'm curious what type of creatures he was talking about on the river. Does it have a forest near it, or is there something else there he isn't telling us? " asked Lamruil.

Tad looked at Zanna, who was paying attention but also glancing out at the heat waves now rising off the dunes. She was half-demon and probably thought this was a spa or perfectly comfortable.

"Zanna, what do you think? " asked Tad.

She looked at him, then the others, "The dwarf isn't telling us something. There is probably more than just water keeping them from owning this desert from the underside. You should ask about the dark pathways and find out more. Nothing will grow in this sand, just like nothing grows on my home plane in the sand. Water will not fix sand. It is inferior soil. "

Tad wasn't a farmer or even knew much about it, but he thought as he looked out at the sand around them, she was right.

"Nico?" asked Tad.

"Don't ask me. I have no idea why we are even here. I thought we were going to the Forest of Mirth. There is this beastkin tribe that lives there. There are a ton of cute ladies there. None of them look like dwarves either. " said Nico with a frown.

Tad took a deep breath, gave a sideways look at Zanna before speaking. "Breamas changed the portal sphere. He was in the wagon when I went to get it. He slowed time, told me something about restarting the universe, and thanked me for saving Zanna. Then we were here. " said Tad.

"Wait a second; you didn't save me!" Zanna said, suddenly paying more attention, "I saved you. I used the key I had for over a century and freed both of you. Then I got YOU out of the fortress. "

"Whoa, whoa, there. I agree you freed us. Those were Breamas's words, not mine, " said Tad holding up his hands in front of him. Tad knew he had saved them from the demons on their trail multiple times, but he wasn't really wanting to have an argument right now.

"What else did Breamas say?" asked Zanna.

"He said something about iterations and restoring the universe and a few other things I do not understand and haven't had much time to think about it. Then he looked at the sphere and said the Forest of Mirth was unexciting and changed it to here. I do not know why beyond that. " said Tad trying to keep Zanna calm. He had seen her burn down a good chunk of those orcs earlier when she was mad. He had no idea what she was capable of.

"Why would he do this? Does he hate me?" asked Zanna, looking more intently at Tad.

Tad could hear and see she was conflicted on something. Breamas was her father, and she knew that "No, I think it's the other way around. He implied that all the previous times the universe failed at something, and he was going to cheat or juke it somehow. I'm not even sure what Juke means. " said Tad. He was definitely not telling the woman what her father said as he departed. He still had no idea what that meant. Zanna was a thousand years old!

"It means fake something, so probably cheat is the better word," said Lamruil.

Tad nodded, "So there you have it. The god of mischief just wrecked our plans. He also stopped Skecan and Jack from porting with us. We could have really used them right now. Hopefully, we can find a portal back to the Grand Bazaar somewhere, and they can join us. If not, we will make do till we find some alternative. I'll see if Beothorn can sense any portals near. He has a talent for that, and this might be a good time to try it. "

"Finding a portal doesn't mean it will lead to the Grand Bazaar. There are millions of portals all over the universe. Most of them don't leave their world of origin. They only make journey's shorter. " said Lamruil.

"Yea, it's looking like Breamas put us in some backwater area. Torekit implied there are almost no visitors to this region. We need to find a map and get some idea of where here is, and then we will probably take a trip to that river of water to see if there is a suitable site somewhere near the ocean he talked about. If we can't travel by portal, then ships might be a good plan. " said Tad. He had never been on a ship. But he had seen many in the harbors where they traveled, and they moved people faster than walking through sand.

"Don't forget the dark pathways," said Zanna. Tad nodded to her. He didn't like the idea of being underground full time. Beothorn sang its praises, but Tad wasn't so sure.

"We also have to figure out how to get Kettle out of that metal thing. I'm going to get my gear. Nico, see if you can get one of the smaller tents from Bernard. Lamruil, will you go around and look for anything out in the desert. " Tad wanted to continue with, and the dwarves probably were not telling us everything, but he didn't want to take the risk Torekit or one of the others would hear him.

Lamruil nodded and started to walk away.

"Oh, and stop by the Quartermasters wagon to get him to apply an interpretation charm to your wrist. He has a tool that will cast the magic for you," said Tad.

"Zanna, get your belongings and anything else you might need from the quartermaster if you think the charm will help you; get it while your there," said Tad as he started towards Marena and Torekit.

"Tad, Torekit believes we should take the flower with us. He thinks it might help convince the Council of our intentions before they hear about Kettle and their magic bean or whatever that is down there," said Marena.

"It is not a bean," said Tad, then he reached out to Bubbles. It is odd he thought that he had lived so long without fully being able to converse with Bubbles till he was older using his soulmancy.

"Bubbles? Have you been listening to the conversation? What do you think? " asked Tad. The creature had always treated him like her cat or a housepet. It was the weirdest feeling sometimes when he talked to her.

"Tad, the dwarf is correct. The flower will have nothing but good effects on the dwarves of the desert," said Bubbles.

"Do you want to come along then? " asked Tad.

"Obviously, I'm coming along. It is my flower. " said Bubbles in some mental huff.

"Umm…. No, it's Marena's flower," said Tad.

"Tad, you have much to learn yet. " projected Bubbles back, then she continued to circle the flower about 10 inches away in a perfect circle.

"Can you dim your light so nobody can see us tonight when we cross the desert? " asked Tad.

"Have no fear, Thaddius," said Bubbles dismissively.

That went well, thought Tad. Half the time, Bubbles just ignores him.

Tad left to his home wagon to gather the remainder of his gear. He also wanted to get the bag of holding and that book on automatrons. He definitely wanted to know what that big thing was that blew the gates off their hinges.

***