Runeblade

Gargantuan canes wound their way upwards, a tapestry of wagon-sized blooms and spear-length thorns. The Wyrdwall was as impressive as it had been the first time Kaius saw it from so close. It seemed unbreakable, especially with the sheer volume of mana that ebbed and flowed through the bramble’s conduits.

Ahead of their group, a small archway opened in the dense growth, leading to a gatehouse. It was almost absurdly normal compared to Baanswell’s Wyrdwall. An arched building of thick stone blocks, with a small guard’s room on each side. A portcullis and thick metal gate sat open in the arch, with guards waving through groups of travellers in ones and twos.

The men at the gate were efficient too — it seemed even with the integration progressing again, the duke hadn’t seen fit to lock down the city. Only a dozen groups snaked along the side of the gate road in a line. Every few minutes, someone joined the back of the queue, but people were entering the city just as quickly.

Kaius eyed a tall farmer in a wide-brimmed hat as he set down his hand drawn cart at the back of the line. It was stacked high with jars of deep red preserves; he must have had an orchid close to the city. If they hurried, they’d be able to slip in behind the farmers before the next group — a gang of nine workers two with horse-driven carts between them. That group would take a while to be inspected, no matter how quick the guards were.

“Let’s see if we can beat the queue,” he said.

They picked up the pace, cutting down the winding path that joined with the gate road. Almost immediately, a few of the guards closer to the edge of the gate watched their approach, shading their eyes against the sun. Kaius would have been shocked if they didn’t get at least a little attention. Being Silver was eye-catching enough, given that even a Copper would feel the richness of their strength. Add on the fact that one of their members was a massive greater beast, and they were just that much more remarkable.

What he didn’t expect was for one of the guards to frown as they slid into the back of the line. The man turned, still leaning on his upright halberd as he whispered something to the guard next to him. The guard nodded, but was facing the wrong way for Kaius to see their expression.

“You see that?” Kaius asked, turning to Kenva.

She frowned slightly. “Yeah, no clue what it’s about though. Maybe Julian left orders to watch for us?”

“I doubt it, even if he forgot to mention something like that, Kel wouldn’t,” Porkchop replied, grunting.

“They’re wondering why yer waiting in line, goodman!” a voice cut in.

Kaius snapped to the farmer right ahead of them. The man was leaning against his cart, grinning at them — though his eyes lingered far more on their gear than their faces.

“Excuse me?” Kaius asked.

“Strong folk like you? You got places to be and monsters to slay! Not enough time to be waiting around with common folk.”

“Aye!” the next man in line agreed, turning to face them. “Especially with this second damn phase change! World isn’t right, bad enough to worry about some bloody Tyrant eating me when I'm out in the fields, ‘n now there’s gonna be more of ‘em! We need fighters fightin’, not waiting by the damn gate, ‘fore we end up like Deadacre!”

The farmer with the wide-brimmed hat nodded like he’d just heard the words of a sage, before he started waving frantically for the gate guards.

Kaius hadn’t anticipated their reaction in the slightest. The line was barely going to take ten minutes — he really didn’t see the trouble in waiting. His friends looked just as uncomfortable.

“You don’t need to do that, friend,” Ianmus said, reaching out to him. “We don’t mind.”

The farmer turned back and locked on to the skeletal Imperial prosthetic that Ianmus had been using since he’d lost the arm in their fight against Katarex, the deep wyrm who they’d found in the Wellspring just weeks before.

“The hells I don’t!” the man said. “Ye out there losing bloody limbs fer us!”

Ianmus froze as the man started waving all the more frantically.

“Oi! Guards! Let these ones through!”

Everyone was looking at them now, from the group of farmers who had pulled up behind them, to all twelve of the gate guards. A flush of heat shot up Kaius’s face. By the gods, they should have stripped out of their armour before they got to the gate. Maybe then they could have slipped through without all the hubbub.

Porkchop let out a soft chuff of amusement. “Yes, I'm sure I would be very inconspicuous in a burlap shirt.”

Hells. “This is going to keep happening, isn’t it?” he said through his communication ring.

“Without a doubt. At least they don’t know who we are, specifically. Just that we’re strong,” Kenva replied.

At that moment, one of the guards left the gate — the same one who had stared at them earlier.

“Bloody finally,” the wide-hatted man said, stepping back to get out of the guard's way.

He stopped in front of their group, giving them a long look as he scanned their gear. He didn’t say anything. Maybe the nobles had forgotten to mention some orders to keep an eye out for Kaius and his group?

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“Delvers?” the guard asked, interrupting Kaius’s train of thought.

He nodded.

“Where you lot been?”

That didn’t help Kaius’s suspicions, but he also didn’t want to lie. Even if it was unlikely, the guard could check with the guild’s register and see they’d taken a job to find alchemicals in Vainblood. Plus, they had nothing to worry about with Julian’s backing.

“Vainblood.”

The guards brow disappeared under the rim of their kettle helm. “Vainblood? Ain’t the pass closed due to some beast that's been taking out wagons?”

“It was,” Kenva replied, a slight grin on her face. “Not anymore, though.”

“See!” the hatted farmer said, throwing up his hands. “They ain’t got no business waiting in lines!”

The guard gave him a sharp look to shut him up.

“Annoying, but he is right,” the guard said, turning back to them before he nodded at the gate. “Off you go.”

Kaius paused, still entirely unsure if he was comfortable just waltzing straight through. Kenva and Porkchop made the choice for him, stepping out of the line as soon as the guard told them too.

The entire way through, Kaius had to stop himself from shifting uncomfortably. He swore he could feel the eyes on his back.

A bustling street of red-bricked terraces and towering elms waited for them. They picked up the pace, sticking to the centre of the road that was largely used by carriages and anyone who could comfortably keep up with them. More than a few people turned to stare at Porkchop as he passed, but on the overall people just seemed a little too busy to give them more than an idle glance.

Honestly, after the display at the gate, he was surprised by that. And more than a little relieved. After Deadacre, he’d gotten a little more used to attracting attention. It was, afterall, unavoidable as Silvers. Still, it was easier when it was because someone had seen them kill a big monster, or even just were surprised to see someone of their strength. Those farmers had looked at them like they were more than just an oddity.

Kaius took a deep breath, shaking off some of his discomfort.

“I hope that thing at the gate was just a one off,” he grumbled.

“I doubt it,” Kenva replied. “People always look up to the strong, it’s why delving attracts so many glory hounds. It’s only going to get worse with the Integration making people more and more aware how precarious their peace really is.”

He sighed in defeat, knowing his friend was right. Perhaps Adrian had been right when he said they would need to get used to being more visible. Though, being told to skip the line at the gate was still far less painful than being at the centre of a bloody parade.

They hurried along, slipping down tree-shaded streets as they grew ever closer to the Workingman’s Plaza and the Guild. The closer they got, the more the road widened, and the buildings grew into towering, six-story things lined with a dizzying assortment of shops. Even with the added space, it grew no less busy. If anything, the city seemed to be bursting at the seams.

“Look, there’s some more!” a woman hissed at the side of the road, barely audible over the hubbub of the street. Kaius could tell at a glance she thought they couldn’t hear. “I’m telling you, there’s got to be something happening at the guild. That’s what, the fourth team of Silvers? And we saw those Golds this morning.”

“Bah,” another woman waved her off. “I just wish we’d gotten breakfast with Martha, she saw a Platinum!”

A Platinum? It certainly sounded like there was something going on at the Guild if that many high tiers were gathering there. Baanswell might have had plenty of strong delvers as one of the major cities of the Dukedoms, but most of them were constantly on the move, flowing in and out of the city. Even if the phase change had brought them to the city itself, for them to congregate at the actual guild, there had to be some reason.

Kaius shared a glance with his team. The woman had been loud enough that all of them had caught her.

“Maybe if we’re lucky they’ll have found one of the gates to the Shardworld?” Ianmus suggested.

“We can only hope,” Kaius replied. “Better that than a Tyrant.”

They reached the Plaza within the hour. It was packed, great heaving rivers of people flowing across its flagstones. While some were passing through, or enjoying the shade of the massive tree in its centre, plenty more were there on business. Beneath the local Spire and Collective buildings, robed mages chatted animatedly with runewrights, themselves identifiable by the thick belts of styluses on their waists. That hadn’t been happening when they’d left Baanswell — historically the professions had little overlap. Until, of course, he and Ianmus had dropped off their notes on glyphbinding and keyseal conjuration.

Perhaps they best give that half of the Plaza a wide berth. That was a problem for another day.

Other than that, every fourth person in the crowd seemed to be either heading towards, or leaving the Guild. Groups steadily streamed through the wrought iron gates of the complex, and most of the trees in its forested grounds shaded lounging teams from the soft warmth of the winter sun.

Kaius realised what had left him feeling unsettled since they’d first hit the fields of Baanswell. There was no fear — not like what he’d seen when they’d reached Deadacre after the first phase shift. People moved with purpose. Even those relaxing on the guild grounds were suited up for war, with their weapons easily in reach. They looked…ready.

Crossing the Plaza, the crowd parted before them, leaving them a small bubble of calm in a teaming ocean. It widened as they reached the gate. Delvers took one look at them and got out of their way, clearly not interested in holding them up. That, Kaius could admit, was nice. Delvers, at least, didn’t stare — even if he did see a bit more respect in their eyes than was strictly comfortable.

Stepping into the guild’s grounds, they barely made it ten steps before an unnatural wind tinged with a subtle glow of mana rushed out from the trees and cut across the path. Kaius tensed.

“Perfect timing,” Guilewind’s voice sounded as the breeze rolled over them, like he was speaking right in Kaius’s ear. “Come to the reception, I’ll have an attendant waiting to show you to me. I’ll hear you if you respond.”

“Has something happened?” Kenva asked. “We heard a few murmurs of some Silvers and Golds heading to the guild as we were heading through the city.”

“I called them in,” Guilwind replied. “A week ago, a greater gate was found in the badlands outside of Garsum on the east coast. I’m sharing a preliminary report on the Shardworld in thirty minutes.”

Without a word, they all broke into a run.