Fife had to console herself with being able to lead the eventual charge to make the nature dungeon fall in line. She wasn't fast, she couldn't fly, and pixies were known to be able to hide a dungeon entrance from the eyes of even other dungeon creatures. She had an important mission to attend to, nonetheless. "You feeling okay?"

  Tannyr didn't look up. She knew Fife was right there by how safe she felt. That, and having lived a long life as a dwarf, she was used to everyone being taller than her. "Yeah. I guess kobolds feel afraid of everything, when they don't have another dungeon monster near them, for a good reason." What was nice, though, was that the crowd tended to give Fife a lot of room.

  "You need to take a few levels in Priest, but I don't mind being your portable dungeon boss. If you already follow a god, go with them, it doesn't really matter since Trav will build you a temple to them." Looking over the heads of the people in the crowd was something Fife would never get used to. She had her full armor on, now bearing a tabard with crests that marked her as a soldier of not just Travis, but also Northridge and the kingdom itself.

  Resting on Fife's shoulder was the weapon of choice for guards everywhere—a halberd. It wasn't her preferred weapon but, when you wanted to make room, an axe and spear on the end of a long shaft was a good way to do it. "So, what exactly are we doing, Tannyr?" she asked.

  "I am going to find out who has been stealing our adamantine." Striding ahead into the shadow of the crowd that Fife's presence projected, she was nonetheless relieved that Fife kept up with her. "Our first stop is the Sellswell Merchants."

  The merchant house was nothing like Fife would have expected. She thought there'd be a warehouse with folks hauling things around. Instead, what she got was a small building full of little offices. Continuing to let Tannyr lead, Fife followed her as she was ushered into one of those rooms.

  "Tannyr Stoneshave, it's been some time since we last met, but I believe you told me I would never make a good mason," the young half-elf man behind the desk said. "You were right, and it was exactly what I needed to hear."

  Managing to keep back a laugh for long enough that the trader could finish, Tannyr broke into fits of growling guffaws before managing to reply, "You'll have to narrow it down a bit, lad. I've given that particular advice to a lot of people."

  "Nicolas Sellswell." Reaching across his desk, Nicolas shook hands with Tannyr. "Now, you need information?"

  "Yes. We had contracted with you for the delivery of adamantine mesh to Northridge. We paid, of course, with floating options for mining rights, as is your company's preference with Travis." Tannyr was pleased to note the man was nodding along. "What we received was steel mesh. Not even high grade steel."

  The color drained from Nicolas' face and he wanted to curse. The contracts with the dungeons of Northridge were a boon that would be carrying Sellswell merchants on its back for years to come alone. "I'll be right back with the documentation. I believe we used a subcontractor to provide that."

  When Nicolas was out of the room, Fife let out a sigh. "You saw how pale he turned?"

  "Yeah. All the contracts with Travis don't rest on this, but there are large fees they have to pay if they screw up. To say nothing of their name if Northridge's wall doesn't hold." Tannyr took out her own copy of the paperwork and rechecked her numbers. "To the tune of several million in gold over the lifetime of this one multi-year contract."

  "So he has an incentive to figure this out for us. Neat." Able to feel through the floor as Nicolas ran back to their office, paused outside the door, then slowly entered with a sheaf of paper, Fife did her best "I'm not here/just part of the furniture" impression.

  "Viscount Adreni's trading consortium, it seems. I will immediately see to having the missing metal replaced, and ensure all future deliveries are made by Sellswell's own members." It was the best resolution that Nicolas could offer. There was more, of course, and he'd be remiss for pointing it out. "Both Sellswell and Baron Travis may seek recompense in this matter, as well as Northridge itself. That will become a mess, mind you, since at least two nobles are involved. It will have to be brought before the King.

  "So, we'll need to get Baron Travis as well as the barons of Northridge to initiate that. Our own complaint will be handled there too, unless your lord and the leaders of Northridge don't wish to pursue it?"

  Travis, who'd heard his name spoken with two of his friends present, replied to all three, "I will seek recompense. I'll ask Northridge to ask the council."

  Sitting with a somewhat shocked expression on his face, Nicolas licked his dry lips. "He really can talk to p-people like that." He hadn't experienced anything like it before, and even warned in advance he hadn't been ready. "But, that's good to know. We can set wheels in motion and request an audience with the King."

  "Brolly and Howard said they're in. Christine is in Far Reach at the moment and can't be reached. They have authority for her in her absence, though, so it looks like you have four barons," Travis said. "And, yeah, I can talk to people. It's much easier when a boss like Fife is around."

  The author's narrative has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.

  Fife grinned, showing a hint of her teeth when Nicolas looked up at her in surprise. "Fife, boss of the bottom floor of Travis' dungeon," she said by way of introduction, bowing a little.

  Having grown used to merchants and nobles having a bodyguard with them at meetings, Nicolas had somehow managed to mentally ignore the woman, but now that he looked at Fife, he wondered how that had been possible. "A-A pleasure. I'll arrange a meeting with the King as soon as possible. How would be the best way to notify you?"

  "Have someone enter my dungeon and let the nearest kobold know. There is always someone at the entrance ready to take messages."

  "Anything?" Penelope asked, the word a struggle to form because she was practicing the Northern language with Astrid. She had newfound enjoyment for flying, after it had become a task to do for someone else. Though she would admit that it was a task still, but she had a lot more freedom in her search over the forests around Northridge. She'd only landed to find out if her friend had seen anything.

  Shaking her head, Astrid felt a little embarrassed at how ineffective she'd been. She was enjoying using her birth-tongue and assisting Penelope with learning it more fluently. "That might be part of my new condition. It's hard to focus when the world is so alive."

  "Don't feel down about it. You'll get used to this, and it's a good test for you. I doubt their mind games are going to be effective with your Priest class and… your new changes." The conversation reminded Penelope of something she'd been forgetting. "Let's keep going for another hour and then head back. Want to race?"

  Astrid knew she'd have no hope of winning, but it didn't stop her from turning on a dime and running as fast as she could while a laughing dragon chased after her. The world was teeming with magic—magic her people had always told her was heresy. It couldn't be. Nothing this vast and natural could be antithetical to life because it was life itself.

  Even as the sun lowered toward the horizon, Astrid felt her wonder persist. The bright sparks of life that darted out of her way during the light of day were replaced by more persistent ones that were hunting now that the light was about to fade. Her own divine power thrummed in sympathy with the world and cemented her as a part of it.

  That's when she noticed a blankness. It was so sudden and so defined that it made her laugh. When Penelope landed, Astrid was still snorting and giggling at the na?veté of it. Upon a request from Penelope, she was barely able to point, but finally managed to drag herself back to a more serious manner. "It's terrible. Look. They have worked so hard to hide their dungeon—they blocked out all magic from showing."

  Whatever Astrid thought was obvious, to Penelope, wasn't. "I can't see what you're getting at. But you're sure?" She peered again, seeing nothing out of the ordinary.

  "I could find this spot again without a problem," Astrid said.

  "Ugh. You'd think being a dragon boss would let me see this kind of thing. Glad you're with us. Want a ride back or another… race." The last word Penelope said was to empty air that had recently been vacated by a huge wolf/dragon. Draconic urges rose within her at the sight of Astrid running away. Without another thought, she jumped into the air, spread her wings, and gave chase—leaving shrubs and a few trees in her wake suffering badly from rapid exfiltration.

  Staring as the two huge monsters ran away, three pixies did their best to stop trembling. When the dragon boss and the dragon warrior were long gone, they finally let out their collective breath. "They didn't find us!" the first said. "Did you understand what they were saying? The words were weird."

  "It doesn't matter what they said. They were about to find us but didn't!" another said, "they pointed at the dungeon but then ran away!"

  "Only because our magic is so good!" the third of the trio said. "Now let's go tell the dungeon how awesome we are!"

  "I did most of the work." The second pixie puffed out his chest and strutted toward the dungeon entrance. "So I'll tell the dungeon I scared them away… first!"

  Seeing the second pixie break into a run, the other two screamed and raced after their kin. They got to the dungeon entrance and ducked inside without looking around. Racing to the bottom, they got to the big crystal a moment after the second pixie and all three screeched at once, arguing and fighting.

  A surge of anger and confusion hit them from the dungeon heart, which snapped them out of their fight. Walking forward, each patted the giant crystal to reassure it they were there to help. "Don't worry," the first pixie said, "we scared off the bad guys and kept us hidden from them!"

  The confusion emanating from the heart turned to rage, which drove the pixies to posture and swear that next time, for sure, they would defeat the huge dragons.

  Staring at the little rock in the middle of the room, Axel sighed. "This isn't a node. It's barely a single rock."

  "It's the best we're going to get on this floor, it seems." Travis had felt a little letdown with it too. He had expected to have a lode of ore the size of his first gold ones, instead… "Will it even get Fife her armor?"

  "No. Depending on the process and yield, we'll probably be lucky to get a good pair of sabatons from that." Rolling his shoulders, Axel raised his adamantine pick and aimed his first swing at where the divinium attached to the floor. Sparks lanced off from where he connected, and he had to swing twice again to break the ore-bearing rock free.

  Reaching down, he picked it up and hefted the heavy stone under one arm. "Hefty, but no more than adamantine of this size would be. Let me get this to the forge and see how we can use it."

  Leaving the task of filling in the room to someone else, Axel did his best to ignore the feeling of being watched by the city miners who had been explicitly told they were not to touch the new nodes. Carrying the priceless hunk of rock, he approached the wall and pushed through it to absolute safety. With the lit dungeon behind him, he reached into his pocket and pulled out an alchemical light and twisted it on.

  He didn't need the light to see. With his bond to Travis he could see clearly within the tunnels in complete dark, but he liked to be able to see the warm glow as he walked down the tunnels he knew too well. When he got to the forge, the light of the ever-burning flames pushed back the dark and wove flickering shadows into the corners of the room. "Now to make the fanciest nails the kingdom has ever seen."

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