Scourge Thirty-Eight - Mine

Scourge Thirty-Eight - Mine

Scourge Thirty-Eight - Mine

Flying is fun, but even that grows... normal, I guess, after a while.

We cross over woods that become thicker, then more and more sparse as we continue north. After a while the trees below are replaced by big piles of stone and the occasional little peak. A few rivulets cut around some of the hills, with large patches of wild grass around them.

I make a game of spotting monsters and wild animals in the brush below, but as we follow along the edge of the mountains they become less common except for the odd fox or herd of wild goats hanging onto the sides of nearly-sheer cliffs.

Its mid-afternoon when we finally arrive at Lake Casselfella.

The body of water is huge. Stretching out nearly to the horizon, even from as high as we are, I can't see the other end of it as anything more than a blurry line way out in the distance. Esme points to the side, and our mounts swerve around in a great big circle.

There are a few homes along the shores of the lake. Even a few little villages that are all about half a days walk apart from each other. We never get close enough to the shore for them to notice us.

It should be around here! Esme screams back once we circle this one big hill a couple of times. Its a big feature of the landscape, with several more hills popping up alongside it. Each turn around it takes a good twenty minutes, and weve circled it twice already.

Where? I shout back.

Esme points, and I cant quite tell whats below. Still, I direct our bird friends down, and we coast towards the ground and into a large clearing with enough room to land.

Esme and Felix climb off their mount, so I help Bianca down, then hop off myself. I didnt see what you were pointing to, I say.

A trail, Esme says. She turns towards the downwards slope of the hill. Its just a few hundred metres that way, I think. It switches back and forth.

Ah, alright, I say. I guess the vault needs to be reached by carts sometimes. It makes sense that someone would cut a trail to it that isnt too steep.

I gesture to the bird monsters to follow us, and we head downhill. It was nice to just walk after so much time spent riding a monster. My thighs are killing me already. Im glad we only had a day and a bit of flying to do, because any more than that and Id be unable to walk. As it is, Biancas walking a bit crookedy and Esmes muttering complaints under her breath.

The only one thats fine is Felix, and shes cheating by being all light and bubbly.

We find the road a little ways down the hill, through a stand of trees. Its a rough path, obviously someone with some earth-based cultivation ability passed through here and smoothed out the entire hillside to make a road, but that must have been ages ago. Bushes are growing in that little hump in the middle of the road, and even the ruts worn out by cartwheels are filled with grass.

Felix drops to one knee next to the road. Someone drove by here, she says. Look, the grass in the middle is squished. Some of its broken, and theres marks in the mud there. Is there a village or something like that?

Esme moves over to our bird friends, rummages around in her packs, then comes back with a map. No. Nothing up there except for the vault. Well, the vault, and the mine its hidden in.

What kind of mine? Bianca asks.

Thats the mine? I ask.

Looks like it, Esme says.

Theres no cart around, but the ruts in the ground left by whatever passed by are still visible in the weed-choked gravel.

We crunch our way over to the entrance, eyes on swivels to spot any signs that theres anyone watching, but I see nothing.

Okay then, I say as I peer into the tunnel. It goes on for further than my eyes can make out. We need light. I can find a dark pool and then make a small swarm of monsters which glow. Thatll let us see.

Felix steps over to the shack, then swings the door open. Oh, hey, lamps, she says. She steps out with a hard hat with a mirrored cup on the front and a space to place a candle.

Or Felix can just find a tool to do what I want, I say.

Felix pauses, then half-turns back to the shack. I can put it back? she says. Pretend I never found it, if thatll make you happier?

No, I say with a roll of my eyes. Its fine. Let me call up a few local monsters though. There might be some around here that can see in the dark.

Bringing monsters into a vault is kind of heretical, you know, Esme says.

Is Semper having tea with mom heretical too? I ask.

Esme scuffs a shoe on the gravel. A bit?

I giggle, and Felix and Bianca join in too, though Bianca has a hand over her mouth and Felix doesnt giggle so much as she guffaws.

Moving to the edge of the clearing, I send out a couple of little friends to scout around and find some bigger monsters in the area. Ideally theyll find a few that can handle the darkness well. Maybe a mountain lion-like monster or two?

I dont know what to expect of the vault, or even if I should expect trouble at all. Id rather expect it with a small army by my back though. A small army and some trusted friends.

A few wolves pop up, big black fluffballs with glowing red eyes and sharp fangs. They sniff at Bianca, but are well-behaved after I give them a few introductory scritches.

The bears and monster moose that show up I leave at the edge of the entrance, in case anyone tries to sneak in behind us.

Alright, I say. Lets move in.

***