The moment he saw it, Kryos knew what it was. Earth dragon. Tier III, and if using the naming schema his mom had taught him for ‘proper dragon description’, lesser drake for size category. They were powerful combatants, but slow—just like him.
Now, it made sense. The silver vein was unclaimed treasure because it wasn’t able to be claimed since it was part of the walls. But the silver ore down here? The other heat he had been feeling in his chest? This was another dragon’s true hoard. All of the silver piles immaculately placed into equal pyramids along the depths of the chasm and ending in this massive pile in this cave? This was a true hoard.
Kryos knew that dragons could sense other dragon’s hoards. His was currently in an extradimensional space, so perhaps his was undetectable, but from the second their eyes met, his heart raced. This creature was stronger than him by an entire Tier of power. Even with Leona’s help, he wasn’t sure if he could compete against it.
His Predation Awareness screamed at him that this was the predator, he was the prey. It was telling him to turn and run, just like it did when he was in the Drakemount, every time he encountered the naturally stronger wyrmlings. But he was frozen in place because the wealth was so vast in this chamber, in this cave, and he had made such a large effort to come here—he didn’t want to leave empty handed.
His mom’s advice was straightforward, and surged into his mind as he faced off against the earth dragon. “When you encounter another of our kind in the wild, you’ll first feel a sense of confrontation. If they are old enough, you can reason with them. Talk if possible. If not, then fight or flight.”
This one did not talk. It simply dipped its head, acknowledging Kryos as a dragon-kin, part of the species.
That sealed it. Kryos was being given a chance. If he didn’t turn tail and run immediately, they would fight. In the end, Kryos grimaced and barely tilted his head down, acknowledging this rival.
That was all the signal needed.
The earth dragon let out a roar, dust falling from above, and began to move forward. Kryos knew he had a tactical advantage for the moment—he was standing in the cave entrance, and thus could keep it from using its bulk and throwing it around: the dragon’s preferred fighting style.
He activated Pressure Field and Singularity Stance, and moved forward, preventing his foe from gaining any momentum in the charge. There was only a thirty-foot gap between the two, and both crossed the intervening distance. Kryos saw the incoming right-claw swipe, and extended his right leg, sliding along the ground as he raised the shield.
Slam! Crack!
The claw came down on his shield, cracking the carapace—but it held firm without bending. Thanks to the slide, Kryos got past the dragon’s neck, right along its left-foreleg shoulder, and slammed with his mace. The weapon crunched into scales and had to bruise muscle underneath, but the goal wasn’t to inflict damage. Kryos’ whole goal was to get his opponent to spin around, revealing its backside to Leona.
One other feature of dragons he knew was that when they traveled from the Drakemount to a world, they were filled with the knowledge appropriate to it—including the language. But, if there were multiple languages, only the dominant one was taught.
Kryos had a well-traveled dad, who made sure he learned several, and he chose to take a gamble. He shouted in Shalassar, “Leona! Its back legs are a lot weaker than the front! Attack it from the flanks!” That language was a common one among elven-kind, so he hoped Leona knew it.
The earth dragon rotated rather quickly, its tail working as a counterweight as it swung around with that same claw it had first struck Kryos with. He had been able to get back to his feet, and took the strike on his shield, taking a stagger-step as to not be thrown off-balance by the strike.
The two were now facing each other, with Kryos toward the center of the hoard chamber, and the dragon’s rear toward the cave entrance—and Leona. Kryos saw her lantern on the floor, casting light from behind, and Leona had both her rondel dagger and rapier in her hands. She was seeming to figure out how best to contend with the tail, which was whipping back and forth.
Kryos couldn’t focus on her as all of his focus was redirected to the powerful foe he was confronted with. His Predation Awareness was still telling him to flee, but that heat in his chest had spread all across his body and was pushing him to conquer this enemy—this rival—and claim the hoard for his own.
The earth dragon roared at point-blank range, and as its mouth opened, a spew of steaming-hot mud surged forward. Kryos was able to get the bottom-lip of his shield in the way, directing the stream down to the ground, and was able to back up as the hissing, bubbling stew spread out.
The dragon’s mouth snapped shut, and its back legs shoved down, sending the whole body forward in a launch as both longer foreclaws came slamming down from above. Kryos was able to get the shield in the way of one, but the other slammed down onto his shoulder, and he had to twist his body to prevent his shoulder from being pulverized.
Red-hot pain lanced down his arm, and he gritted his teeth as he moved into the reach of the dragon, let the mace fall out of his hand to hang by the loop around his wrist, brought his finger-claws to a point, and drove it forward into the earth dragon’s eye. He was able to gouge it, forcing the enemy to recoil back with a roar.
Then, Kryos was able to pull away, ducking under the foreleg-claws that came back, trying to pull him in and pin him to the dragon’s chest or the ground to then crush with massive weight. Flicking his mace back to his hand, he grimaced as the pain in his shoulder told him that something in his arm was cracked or fractured.
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HP: 213 / 240
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As Kryos pulled back and took a few steps towards the treasure pile behind him, the earth dragon regained its footing and moved forward, growling in rage as the now-bloodied socket where an eye once was dripped viscous ichor onto the floor, mixing with the still-boiling mud. He could see the power difference between the two of them.
This is the type of strength I can gain, Kryos thought as he kept backing up, wanting the minor height advantage standing on the pile of silver ore would give him. If I grow my hoard enough, I can be far stronger than this thing. An idea shot through his mind. Maybe if I get on top of the hoard, I can claim it as mine? Get an instant level-up and rapidly gain power to stand a better chance against it? He began backing up faster, his feet-claws finding purchase on the silver ore as he ascended the pile.
The dragon seemed to sense what Kryos was doing, and lunged forward, forcing Kryos to dive to his right or risk being crushed by the sudden rush of meat and muscle. Kryos landed in a roll and staggered to his feet, turning, as the earth dragon kneaded its fore-claws into the hoard. It let out a hiss, and opened its mouth.
That heat surged through Kryos’ chest even stronger, and he wanted to move forward and push the dragon off the pile, even taking a step forward and placing his shield in front of him—but he stopped himself.
Leona was on top of the earth dragon. Kryos hadn’t seen her because he was contending with the more upright and raised front end, but she had been on the squat back end, peeling back scales with her rondel dagger and stabbing into the gaps she revealed with her rapier. The earth dragon didn’t seem to care about the injuries she was inflicting, instead focusing more on protecting its hoard.
Kryos moved forward, not with the intent of driving the dragon from the pile: he saw the danger of being obsessed with sitting on it, as the earth dragon was ignoring obvious injury and a threat literally on top of it in order to keep the hoard safe from a rival who threatened to claim it. Instead, he moved closer with shield raised, ready for a foreleg strike, and his mace was held back and to his side, ready for a counter-attack.
The moment he got into range, the earth dragon acted exactly as Kryos predicted. It was an apex predator, after all—why would such a creature ever change its behavior? Kryos had grown up in a place surrounded by them, and had studied them intently.
Its foreleg lashed out, and Kryos flattened his shield so that the strike would skid across instead of taking the full hit. He then spun with the partially-transferred momentum of the strike, bringing his mace around in a vicious backswing that slammed into the earth dragon’s jaw with a resounding crack that echoed through the cave.
The earth dragon went stumbling off the pile, and for a brief moment Kryos thought about mourning the pile and claiming the hoard as his—but he dashed that thought from his mind as he saw Leona bucked off-balance from the sudden move. She had to bail off the top of the dragon, rolling off to her left and hitting the ground hard. She let out a cry of pain as she came to a stop.
The earth dragon started to turn to face Kryos, and the half-dragon moved to interpose himself between it and Leona. “How hurt are you?” he asked in Shalassar.
“Alright,” she replied in the same language. “We’ll talk about this later. How do we kill it?”
Kryos glanced at his MP, and had to shut off his Pressure Field as it had drained all of his MP save for the amount set aside for the Toggled Singularity Stance. “The head or the heart. The heart’s in the center of it, so that’ll be tricky.”
“Head it is,” she replied. “I’ll try to get on top of it again.” She dashed to Kryos’ right.
Kryos knew that he could get the earth dragon’s attention if he made for the hoard again, and so he made a feint for the slope. The dragon immediately spewed out a torrent of mud: but not at Kryos, at his path, cutting him off. Then, it bull-rushed him.
Kryos didn’t have the mobility to dodge, so instead he put his mace-hand behind his shield and took the charge headfirst. His bent arms buckled to his chest and he grunted in exertion as his clawed feet dug into the ground behind him, carving into the ground as he was shoved back toward a wall of the cavern. He felt his injured arm starting to buckle.
Slam!
His back impacted the wall, and the only thing keeping him from being fully crushed was the shield, the chitin covering, and the odd shape of the wall which gave him a bit of a pocket to sink into. Mud dripped down the top of the shield, and he let out a grunt of pain as the hot liquid slopped onto his chin and into the top of his armor, burning down the front of his chest.
The earth dragon suddenly pulled back, and Kryos was able to get a breath in. Leona had moved back on top of it again and returned to her peel-scale-and-stab setup. She must have finally hit something painful, as the earth dragon tried to spin her off—but this time she planted her rondel deep into the flesh and held tight.
Kryos used the moment to wind up his mace, waited for the perfect moment where the dragon’s spin would bring its head into range, and dropped his Singularity Stance to get back the 30 MP it took up, while at the same time activating Sobek’s Wrath, draining his MP to zero. The mace blazed with the gold and blue light as he brought it around in an arc—in the opposite direction of the earth dragon’s spin.
Crack!
The rapid spin, plus the amplified damage from the injuries Kryos sustained, his Mass Instinct amplifying the force of his strike, and the extra weight of the swing from the momentum of two different rotational forces—it snapped the dragon’s stumpy neck. The dragon went limp, and Kryos could see it still breathing. He was on the cusp of victory, but he didn’t feel joy or triumph.
He felt hollow as he raised his mace once more and brought it crashing down, over and over on the skull, pulverizing the earth dragon’s head until the brain was nothing but mush. He didn’t savor the kill, because he knew he’d just killed one of his own kind. In a different circumstance, if his dad had been a dragon instead of human, Kryos could have been in this creature’s place.
Leona hopped off the dragon’s back, and stumbled a little bit, recovering from her bout of dizziness. “Can I get a potion?” she asked.
Kryos handed her one and then drained the other, feeling a warmth in his arm as the fracture or break was fixed. He slung his shield on his back and put the mace back into his belt loop, and then let his gaze wander over to the pile of silver ore.
Leona drank down the potion, then corked the bottle and handed it back to him. “How do you know Shalassar?”
“My dad taught me,” Kryos numbly replied. He felt that pulsating heat in his chest, crying out to him to claim that hoard, to gain the immense amount of power that would come with it . . . but he knew better. He could only have one true hoard at a time. If he claimed it, he would gain a lot of power, but then he would be forced to keep his hoard in this location. A location that, soon enough, would have miners nearby, and thus threatened.
Leona put a hand on his arm. “Are you okay?”
“I’m fine,” Kryos replied. “Still a little hurt, but okay.” He began removing his chest plate, and once he had enough wiggle room, managed to pull the now-hardened clods of mud out, then re-tightened the plate down. “What’s the plan? There’s no way we can carry all of this back?”
“Let’s look down the other side of the chasm and see if there’s another way to the surface.” Leona walked back to her lantern, scooped it up, and began walking down the chasm.
Kryos called over, saying, “I’ll just start bagging up silver.”
“Sounds good.”
Kryos set to digging through the hoard pile, looking for valuable items other than silver ore, but found none. With that task complete, he then pulled out six large burlap sacks and set to filling them with the silver ore until they were full enough to pull tight with the drawstring at the top.
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It’ll be a pain to carry, he thought, feeling that heat racing in his chest, but a few trips and we can get all of this back without issue.
Leona returned a few minutes later. “You won’t believe our luck.”
“Oh?” Kryos asked, turning and looking at her.
“There’s an underground stream. We can try following it to see where it leads, but I saw the same type of fish that are in the Sun’s Iris.” Kryos cocked his head sideways, and she clarified. “The lake.”
“Oh. So they’re connected maybe?”
“Possibly. Let's take what we can, and then explore that route. I still have the fluorescent chalk: same markers, but I’ll make them under the overhang. Oh, and dash the mushroom glow stuff.” If this is a viable alternate route, we’ll need to go back the other way and undo all the ropes—but I can do that while you haul on this route.”
The underground river did, indeed, lead up toward Suncrest. In fact, it led up towards where Kryos had first arrived—just farther down the canyon and the side he would have approached from if he hadn’t gone into the crevasse and gone into the cave network that dumped him into the mines.
“Perfect,” Leona said as she set her bag down. “And you mentioned there’s caves nearby?”
“Yes,” Kryos replied as he stood up and cracked his back.
“Then we’ll go back in, and I’ll go out the way we first came in, undo all the ropes and every sign we ever were there.” She held her hands up and wiggled her fingers. “The Artifact I got let’s me choose to leave behind any trace amount as I want when it comes to sneaky activities—and I think stealing from an abandoned part of the mine counts.” She pointed to the crevasse Kryos had first fought a monster in. “Go find a cave and start dumping silver. I’ll bring the crucible over there, and join you. Try and keep it quiet.”
“Understood,” Kryos replied.
Over the next two days, aside from going back to the Guild Hall for food and rest, Kryos and Leona kept up their routine. At night, they headed out, under the guise of going out monster hunting in the mines to try and catch the creatures asleep—but in reality, they were going to that underground river entrance a few miles away from town.
Following that down, they hauled up the silver ore, brought it to one of the largest caves Kryos could find, and then, once all the ore was there, they set to refining and smelting.
Leona made sure to cover their tracks as best she could, and Kryos brought up a few times that they weren’t taking any Quests, but Leona waved the concern off. “We could just say we’re taking exclusive jobs and not giving our cut until the end of the week. That’s not too abnormal. Pavish might get suspicious, but that’s fine: I can shake him with a conversation or two.”
It had taken them several attempts at working the ore into a purer metal that could be poured into an ingot, and they had gone through multiple slips of paper that had written instructions, and each time resulted in failure. Finally, Kryos had to bite the scale and give Leona a few silver coins to purchase a book on refining ore.
This evening, they were trying to follow that process, instead of the shorthand ones she noted from the refinery. Leona was sitting on a rock, flipping through pages, as she read the process aloud. Kryos was busy moving the very pure ore from one device to another, as Leona had secretly snagged a few more items they needed for the process, according to this new manual. Apparently, previously, they were skipping parts of the process.
“And then you just need to start pouring it into the molds,” Leona said as she snapped the book shut and set it down. “This whole entire process has been excellent for me: I got enough Experience to reach level twenty-three!”
“Good for you,” Kryos said as he finished pumping the hand-bellow to fire the charcoal hotter. As the silver fully liquified, he poured it into the bar mold. Then, he moved the mold onto the cave floor, and stood aside to let it cool. “And that's it, huh? The whole process?”
“Yeah,” Leona replied as she looked at their little production process. “It’ll take us weeks with our tools, but this should be plenty to get us—”
“Where in the star-seal did you get all this?!” a loud, older, recognizable voice shouted from the cave entrance.
Kryos turned around and felt his stomach drop as he saw Pavish standing at the opening, the moonlight outlining him. “Uhm . . . we found it?” Kryos said.
Pavish had a scowl on his face as he walked into the cave. He glared at Kryos, then looked at Leona. “The half-dragon I might’ve expected something like this, but you? After what I did for you?”
Leona looked down at her feet, seemingly ashamed, and that made Kryos’ blood boil red-hot. “Look,” Kryos said as he stood up to his full height, which made his horns scrape the roof of the cave. “We found a way into Falkrether’s Demise. All of this?” he gestured to the silver ore. “It was being guarded by a dragon.”
Pavish’s eyebrows raised at that. “And you killed it, I assume?”
Kryos nodded and pointed to the pile of dragon scales, bones, claws, and teeth—he knew those would be valuable, and one of the most respectful ways to treat the remains of his kin was to use their mighty body in future battles.
Pavish clicked his tongue. “The silver doesn’t belong to you. It belongs to Suncrest.”
Kryos felt that heat rage in his stomach again. “We fought for it! I bled for it!” He grabbed Leona’s shoulder—gently—and pulled her next to him, which elicited a slight gasp from her.
Pavish scowled again. “Listen here, foundling, you broke into a mine that’s owned by the town and operated by a mining company. The only Quests we had posted were to clear out monsters—and I checked, you two haven’t been taking any. That's why I followed you.”
Leona sighed. “Shit. I thought I covered our tracks well enough.”
Pavish continued, his tone still that of an upset, admonishing parent. “If you don’t want a black mark from the Quest Conclave, first thing tomorrow morning, you’re going to graciously donate this silver ore to the town. And, you’re going to show them this safer path into Falkrether’s Demise you uncovered.”
“And if I say no?” Kryos asked, feeling complete indignation as days of work and sweat were being threatened—not to mention a truly ludicrous amount of wealth.
Leona grabbed his arm, drawing his gaze down, and she shook her head. “No,” she whispered. “A black mark? It’s not worth it. Our plan . . . black marks mean no Rifts, ever, and you know that those make a lot of money.” She looked around the space with its silver ore piles. “There’s a lot here . . . sure . . . enough to live a long time on . . .” she looked at him. “But not the amount you need.”
Kryos understood her implication perfectly well. He had shared, over the course of those days of hauling silver ore in sacks, that in silver alone, he would need almost three-hundred-thousand coins to reach the highest heights of power in the SAVE system for a dragon.
Even if they smelted all of this ore? Glancing at the ingot and guessing how much it could flatten into, he guessed maybe this could be fifty-thousand coins worth. Gems and other valuables—like rare crafting components—could contribute as well. And Artifacts? Well, just acquiring the single artifact had resulted in a massive spike in his hoard value.
Rifts are more valuable in the long run, he thought. Being eligible to remain in the Quest Conclave, and therefore able to make our own Guild, is going to be more important.
Kryos met Pavish’s gaze. “Is there . . . any way we can keep some of the silver ore?”
Pavish glanced at the silver bar on the ground, still cooling and hardening. “I suppose you can have one night of smelting while I’m here watching you—its the least you deserve for killing a dragon that would have doubtless had a kill-Quest posted to deal with. But then I’m taking you both right to Suncrest, and we’re getting the proper people involved.” He looked over at the dragon parts. “And that, of course, that’s all yours.”
Kryos moved over to the dragon components and began shoveling them into bags, while Leona set to working the crucible under the watchful eyes of the Irontrail Guildmaster. “Oh,” Pavish added, “that bit you smelt tonight, the Guild gets its ten percent cut.”
Of course you do, Kryos thought with a bitter taste in his mouth.
The evening passed and the two Adventurers ended up with one-hundred silver ingots, and Pavish cleared his throat. Leona sighed and gave him ten, which the man put into a pocket. Kryos then put the other ninety into his Trader’s Pouch, along with the book on refining and smelting.
He received notifications from the SAVE system, and pulling them up in the corner of his eye as he carried the bags of dragon parts into the glaring sun, he observed something rather strange.
Huh, he thought. My hoard . . . gets a value from knowledge?
His hoard had categories: coins, gems, ransom—items that could be sold like the dragon parts—, Artifacts, and something that just appeared. Knowledge. Specifically, knowledge related to coins, but there was a category for both gems and ransom as well.
Maybe the book on refining ore into ingots and pressing it into coinage counts as this knowledge:coin category, and is adding to the hoard value. I should look into some books, then, if there’s a library or something like it in town. If I found something on crafting with dragon parts, and had a big vault to put all of these components in, then maybe I could amplify the value of the ransom objects.
That gave him a little bit more of a buoyed step, though he was still very aggravated and grinding his teeth because he was effectively being blackmailed into giving up all of that silver ore. Looking at Leona, who was walking ahead of him and just behind Pavish, he could tell that she felt the same, as her shoulders were slumped and she stared down.
They stopped by the Guild Hall, and Kryos went upstairs to drop his sacks of dragon parts in his room—which completely filled up the space. Then, they headed into town, going directly to the mayor’s office. Kryos was numb to the treasure sense at that point—he could still sense it, in all different directions, and even narrow down to specific sources—but after spending several days surrounded by so much raw silver ore, he had honed down that sense quite well and had a grip on it. It was a well-practiced tool instead of an itch that plagued him.
He and Leona were seen to the mayor’s entry room, and Pavish ordered them to sit in that space until he returned with both the Highpeak Mining Company representative and the miner union representative.
Kryos tapped Leona’s thigh, and she glanced up at him. “What did he mean last night, after what he did for you?”
She looked back down at her feet and swapped to Shalassar, saying, “My Class was Rogue, and it’s not one that is looked upon favorably by most. He gave me a chance regardless. That’s . . . that’s one reason I’m way out here in Suncrest. Other Guilds wouldn’t give me a chance.”
Kryos grimaced and cautious, slowly, put an arm around her shoulder and gave her a little side-hug before pulling away. “That’s not fair, getting judged just for what you got assigned by the SAVE system.”
She let out a weak chuckle. “You’re one to talk, mister half-dragon. At least I could travel to a system shrine and try to re-Class. I don’t think you can, can you?”
“Probably not,” Kryos replied. “Why didn’t you re-Class?”
“I wasn’t a Rogue at first,” Leona replied. “I was a Merchant before, but my parent’s business was stolen from them.” She frowned, and turned away. “Sorry . . . I trust you . . . but I don’t want to go blurting my whole entire life story right here and now.”
“I understand,” Kryos replied.
Pavish came back with Trork, the union representative, and someone Kryos didn’t recognize, the Highpeak representative. He was a human in his mid-thirties with a trimmed beard and mustache that was oiled and drawn out to an ostentatious length, with a crop of close-cut hair.
“Alright, you two,” Pavish said to the two men. “To the left hallway conference room.” He then looked at Kryos and Leona. “You two, also. I’ll go fetch the mayor.”
Trork looked at Kryos. “Why are we here? Pavish just said there is news regarding Falkrether’s Demise.”
Leona got off the seat and led the way down the hallway on the first floor. “I don’t want to repeat the story.”
Kryos followed her, and Trork followed, with the new man Kryos hadn’t met on his heels. They entered a larger room with several chairs and a single, large table. It was a barren space, meant for a group meeting. Kryos sat on the far side of the table with Leona, the newcomer sat on the right, and Trork sat opposite him.
Beatrice, the mayor, came in with Pavish, and sat down next to him. “Alright, Pavish, you got us all here. What’s this about?”
“First off, introductions,” the new man said, his voice smooth and calm. “I know of the half-dragon here, but we haven’t formally met.” The man turned to Kryos and dipped his head. “I’m Ashto Proda. Merrik works for me—he spoke highly of you and your Party member’s work. Leona, I believe. That would be you, yes?” He looked at her.
“That’s right,” Leona replied.
“Wonderful. I know the rest of you. Oh, sorry. What is your name, half-dragon? Kryos I believe.”
Kryos nodded but kept his mouth shut.
“Man of a few words, I get it.”
“That’s enough, Ashto,” Trork curtly said. “Now, why are we here, Pavish?”
Pavish pointed at Leona and then Kryos. “These two have something to confess, and are under the Irontrail’s protection. Go ahead, you two.”
Leona squirmed in her seat, and was about to speak, but Kryos put a hand on her knee under the table and squeezed softly, making sure his claws were retracted. The town already has mixed opinions of me, he thought. I can take the blame here.
“It was my idea,” Kryos said. “We found another way into Falkrether’s Demise.” At that, Beatrice, Ashto, and Trork all overlapped with questions—Kryos kept speaking over them. “We killed an earth dragon at the bottom of the chasm, and gathered up about fifty-thousand silver coins worth of ore that had fallen down from prior expeditions or runoff. Then we spent a few days carrying it to a hidden cave to smelt for ourselves.”
Beatrice’s face turned beet-red. “You dare steal from Suncrest?!”
Pavish interrupted, almost shouting, “They came forward now! And they have kept the information secret from all except for those in this room.”
Ashto looked quite enthused, and rapidly asked a flurry of questions. “How far from the mine entrance is this new path? What does the vein look like from below? Is it far enough away from the flying monsters to not attract their attention?”
Trork crossed his arms and said nothing.
Leona spoke up at that point, rapidly answering Ashto’s questions. “The new path is about three miles from the mine entrance.” At that, Ashto’s face sank into dismay, while Trork’s cracked into a smile. “The vein is like a wave cresting on the ocean.” Both men’s faces—and the mayor’s—lifted into giant grins. “The flying monsters didn’t notice us making a racket fighting a stars-damned dragon in the bottom of the chasm, so I imagine there’s some amount of sound muffled.”
At that, the mayor’s expression softened, but there was still a scowl. “I should have you two thrown out of town, or into the stockades for this act.”
Kryos gritted his teeth but kept his mouth shut. He didn’t want to fuel any further hatred, and knew he was already treading treacherous ground.
Beatrice shook her head. “I told you I saw potential, and that Suncrest has rules. You stole from the mine: the mine which belongs to Suncrest. The fact that you’re turning the silver ore over to us after-the-fact—and judging from Leona’s demeanor, Pavish caught you two in the act—tells me that you would not have come forward otherwise.”
Trork slammed the table with his hand. “Come off it, Beatrice. They’re young. Kryos is what, twenty?”
“Eighteen,” Kryos replied.
“I’m twenty,” Leona mumbled.
Trork gestured to the two. “See? Beatrice, they’re young. They made a mistake. They got caught, they’re owning up to it and taking their lumps. Kryos saved four lives when he first got here and didn’t ask for a single thing in recompense. The young man’s got a good heart.”
Ashto seemed to nod in agreement. “From Merrik’s report, Leona Bitterbrine and Kryos . . . sorry, I don’t have a last name—they both comported themselves excellently during the escort mission, including going above-and-beyond the Quest’s objectives. Beatrice, you really must go easier on them. They’re turning over the silver ore.” He looked at Kryos, then Leona. “Correct?”
“Yes,” they both said, not quite in sync.
Pavish added, “They’ll take people from the refinery to the cave they stashed all the ore at. Probably ten cart’s worth.”
Beatrice’s face relaxed as she considered the various arguments being presented, and Kryos was really appreciative of the two people putting forth defenses for him. My kind deeds are being rewarded, he thought. And yet still, I end up with the short end of the stick. I think this cements it: I'm leaving this place.
The mayor finally let out a sigh. “Alright. You two, go with Pavish to the refinery, get some workers, and take them to recover the ore. Pavish? They’re under your watch. Make sure neither of them get sticky fingers.”
“You have my word,” Pavish replied. “Come on, you two.”
Kryos stood up, Leona followed him, and the duo departed with the veteran as heated conversation broke out between the two faction leaders and the mediator of a mayor behind them.