"There. Got it at last." Katelyn had seen the necessity to her accompanying any delving runs on the goblin dungeon, but it had still rankled that she'd had to leave her work sitting around half done. Also, the research work had suffered due to her not being present.

  Studying her design for the fifth time, she nodded. "Trav?"

  "Just a second…" Travis said, focusing on the last of a progress report on Polfay from Stephan.

  "It's not urgent." Leaning back and stretching, Katelyn blinked a few times to "clear the focus" out of them. She'd been staring at magic trigger and mechanism designs so much she felt she'd seen more gold-circuits than kobolds lately.

  Before Travis could reply again, her stomach gave an upset grumble. "I haven't eaten in… Oh. Days." Slipping off her seat and grabbing her staff, Katelyn stretched again and walked to the door of her trap laboratory.

  "Manasight." Of all the kobolds who were researching or experimenting in the dungeon, she'd recognized the trick of how they could see perfectly in the dark. Not that she needed to. Her staff smoldered and sizzled with the fire that lived within her now, the simple tool a potent expression of the heat inside her wanting to get out.

  Knowing all the good spots to walk through, she pushed easily through the stone and out the other side, reaching the stairs that led up to the top level and heading up them. "This won't be needed soon," she whispered, her claws blackening the wooden planks that made the subtle staircase into a ramp.

  She passed two crews with wagons, guiding them slowly down. Katelyn wondered if she should tell them about her new trap, but thought better of it. "We should charge per teleport."

  At the top, Katelyn stood to the side to let another wagon start its slow trip down the dungeon. Looking around, she pondered setting up one of her new traps right away, but was sure there would be more planning and digging needed to efficiently build a path for it so the wagons could move as efficiently as possible. With a wave to the guards, she took the other stairs down to the second floor and stepped into the tavern.

  Nursing a tall glass of milk, Felna was sitting close to the always-burning open fire. Katelyn waved to her on her way to the kitchen. "Want some… lunch? Is it lunchtime?"

  "Dinner." Felna looked up from her glass and nodded. "I should probably eat something. Do you want some help?"

  "Sure. I was thinking of making some pies. Where I grew up, there were always meat pie vendors, and I learned a few of their tricks." Katelyn set a pot onto the heat and got to work cutting up onions, while Felna found a nearby ball of dough and kneaded it.

  The dungeon's kitchen system was nothing short of genius. It picked up on the recipe and provided mystery meat, aromatics, and even a pie tray. Spices, though, seemed to be beyond it. Luckily, there were fresh herbs hanging from string from the ceiling—gifts from Breeze—that the pair made ready use of.

  "How are things going with you and… them?" Katelyn asked, once she had the filling for the pies cooking.

  For a moment Felna felt surprise, but it shifted to a resignation that bordered on capitulation. "I feel lost. I—" She pondered her words as stew cooked. "I love them both. That's not the problem, though. I'm used to being the…"

  Katelyn watched Felna flex her claws several times, with the feline finally raising one paw above the other. "Provider? Matriarch?"

  "'Matriarch'." Felna felt her way around the word and nodded. "A dungeon and a dragon do not need a matriarch."

  "Physically? No. Neither of them are weak and need coddling. You might want to think further into how they look up to you, though. Neither is familiar with this kind of relationship." Realizing how stilted her speech was, Katelyn explained, "I'm not saying his name deliberately."

  "I figured. He'll notice us eventually, though." Felna fixated on the stove, trying to figure out where it got its energy from—while trying to integrate Katelyn's words with her own worldview. "I guess there's not much else but to try." She risked a smile.

  "That's the— Hi, Trav. You're free now?" Katelyn had sensed his attention only in the last moments of their conversation, and easily let the topic rest.

  Felna blushed, but turned away from Katelyn's eyes as quickly as Katelyn looked away from her.

  "Yeah. Sorry about the wait. Stewart's cousin is holding things together, and even with a writ from him and support from most of the cities, the nobles are still trying to get things by her. I'd send Fife to be her muscle, but Fife's been guarding Heart in Polfay. If Honor had any experience with wyverns, I'd send her a few to keep the nobles off her back," Travis said. "So, what's up?"

  "I made a teleporter trap that can send 'attackers' to a specified location, rather than the entrance." Katelyn checked the stew for flavor and, finding it just right, started ladling it into the casings Felna had prepared.

  If you spot this narrative on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.

  The news dragged Travis' focus back to why he'd wanted that particular option. "Oh! That'll be great. More time mining means we get more resources. Breeze is going to love it too. There will be the population of three cities gathering from her."

  "There's more than that, though. I had to take the entire teleport trap apart to figure this out. Which is why I can now work on a teleport spell for you." Taking one tray while Felna had the other, Katelyn was more than happy to keep Travis' attention away from the topic the cleric didn't want to talk to him about right this second. "It will only work in the dungeon, of course, but what do you bet it counts Northridge, Home, and Polfay as dungeon?"

  "I—" Travis was unsure how to think about that sort of power. "All right, that's going to be cool, if it works, but does that mean I could use any of my spells in the cities?"

  "Probably. I was sure you'd used some spell up top somewhere. Oh, aren't your resource production nodes a spell?" With the pies going in the oven, Katelyn worked Travis into more and more complex ideas to try until she could practically hear him buzzing with excitement.

  "I need to test these things out. Uh— I'll go do that now. Thanks, Katelyn!" Travis was about to shift his entire focus onto some others so he could work on his spells, when he realized Felna was there and had been very quiet. He wondered what he should say, if anything. It wasn't like her to be so withdrawn, but at the same time he was worried he'd said something or done something to upset her.

  The feeling of Travis' attention hadn't faded, and Felna felt her mouth opening, her vocal cords tugging, and her lungs breathing out to say, "I love you, Trav." Panic hit her brain as the words reached the air.

  Stopping everything he was doing for a second, Travis couldn't keep a smile out of his tone as he said back, "I love you too, Felna." He fled the scene then, not knowing what else to say and wondering if his heart was strobing or doing some kind of weird thing. He checked, but it seemed to remain its usual impassive pink.

  As the feel of Travis' presence faded, Katelyn looked at Felna with a raised eyebrow. "Made your mind up, then?"

  "As is sometimes the case, I believe my heart made it up for me. I still can't believe I said that, but it feels right." Felna sighed and crouched to look at the fire burning under the oven. "I am still trying to get my head around it, but every time I think of either of them, my heart flutters." She reached into the flames and adjusted the logs. "I might have a drink."

  The speed of Felna's retreat from the kitchen made Katelyn ask, "To drown your sorrows?"

  "Nah. I need to put that thinking behind me. This is to celebrate. I think my heart got through to my head."

  Needing a break from the march, Elanor flew on Ripper's back, soaring high up in the sky. She had stretched herself out along Ripper's spine. Her feet were atop the wyvern's bunched-up thighs, her torso between her wings, and her arms stretched out, resting on the upper arm part of Ripper's forelimbs. When Ripper flapped, so did Elanor's arms.

  She spoke softly, only her wyvern friend hearing the words. "One day, when I'm much older, I believe I will ask Sir Travis to make me a wyvern, or a dragon, so I can fly forever."

  Without the need to carry scouts, Ripper was free to carry her friend and have some fun. Fun involved twists and turns, loops, and all spent in positive g-force to ensure her friend could remain in place. She knew that the bond they shared was supported by her dungeon, and her rider even had dungeon monster levels that helped Ripper stay friends.

  A soft whistle from Ripper urged Elanor to pay attention. She tilted her head to sight down the top of the wyvern's neck and felt her blood turn cold. "Home…" It wasn't. Not anymore. But, it was impossible for Elanor to forget the manor house on the west side of the city as her family's holiday home for four months every year.

  She let out a whine and slid herself up Ripper's body so she was seated instead of lying. "Don't get too close. They have cannons and ballistae that might be able to shoot this high. Also, mages."

  What startled Elanor more was a furious kingdom boiling up inside her. She shuddered and managed to say, "Turn around. We need to go back." In her head, she struggled against the kingdom's will. Please calm down, she thought. I can't attack the city alone. We have an army!

  Putting a cap on its anger, the kingdom took a proverbial breath and calmed slightly. Or, at least, it drew its anger away from its inquisitor. An army was coming. An army of its soldiers. An army led by its king.

  West Reaches froze in her mental tracks. The fury she'd felt, for just a moment, left her feeling shaken. She knew the source. "David?"

  The mental voice of the city, late in the morning, had never felt so small to David Fitzgerald before. "Is something wrong?" he asked, after gesturing to his sparring partner to back off and leave him be.

  Trying to gather herself, West Reaches surveyed her strong walls and the guards manning them. A mighty city built like a fortress, and try as she might to assure herself that she could withstand a siege, the reports of how effortlessly Stewart had taken their delaying armies were eating away at her confidence in the back of her mind. "The kingdom is still alive and—it's coming. I felt it!"

  "We knew this would happen. We're strong here. This is our war to win. How close are they?" Stewart projected strength as best he could, shoring up West Reaches as best he could.

  "It was fleeting; no more than twenty thousand paces."

  That was close enough that David had to move fast. Tossing his practice sword aside, he strode from the training hall and through the building to his main office. Four prepared letters were sitting there. Touching three (the ones that had to travel to other cities) with his magic, each vanished one after the other.

  The magic was short range, but effective. In the stables attached to his personal guards' barracks, three couriers took the letters and mounted their horses. Through the city streets they galloped, each with their own destination already planned out.

  The one final letter sat waiting, and he touched his magic to that too. Rather than the stables, this one ended up in front of the current city guard's commander. Shooting to his feet, the man stormed from his office, already shouting orders to close the gates and seal the city.

  War had come to West Reaches.

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