Page 104 of Warrior of the Wild
There’s nothing to be done for it now. I’m committed. Whatever secrets this opening holds, I will learn them.
After perhaps twenty more steps, I come to a gate. It’s a metal contraption pounded into the rock on either side. It can’t be to keep mortals out, for that is the lodestone’s job. Perhaps it is to keep the dangerous ziken away?
I find where the gate connects in the center. A length of rope ties the two halves together. I take careful note of the knot, so I can replicate it before I leave, before undoing it and forcing the gate outward.
It opens to a cavern full of comforts.
A massive mattress heaped with blankets and furs. Chairs topped with lavish cushions. Rugs made from animal skins cover the floor. Off to one side are the water barrels from the Payment. A cabinet is full to the brim with the pickled vegetables and preserved fruits from the Estavor village. On a table are leather pouches holding dried meat. Enough food and water to last a single person for several years.
The only things out of place are the shackles dangling from one of the walls, blood crusted to the metal. They rest atop an empty bed. I realize it must be where he keeps the woman sacrificed to him each year. How long was the one I watched dragged away from the clearing kept here before she died? And what did Peruxolo do to her?
Perhaps it’s cowardly, but I don’t want to know. The important thing is that I can stop another girl from ever being sacrificed if I can kill him.
At the far end of the cavern is another path, and I follow it even deeper into the mountain, wondering what I’ll find next. But as I travel, I realize the path doesn’t curve deeper, it moves back around toward the mountain’s edge. Light filters in up ahead, growing more and more bright as I approach. Another entrance.
Whereas the opening I took was a mere slit in the mountain, this entrance is gaping.
And for good reason.
It’s a forge.
Branches hang down over the entrance, providing it with some camouflage while still allowing in plenty of airflow. A larger gate blocks the opening, so nothing can get in. In the ceiling are several openings that appear to have been crafted for ventilation.
The oven is similar in shape to Iric’s. But the castings lining the walls are different, and I can’t make sense of what they’re used to make.
Resting against an anvil are a hammer and a metal sheet about the length of a man’s foot. Little metal triangles are scattered across a table, but they are made from a different metal than the new lodestone, something darker. The edges are sharp—I nearly cut my finger when running it against one of the triangles. Also atop the table is one of Iric’s traps. Did Peruxolo stumble across one? He’s started taking it apart. Was he examining it? Trying to learn how to replicate it?
I hold my hand over a barrel that appears to be full of ash. When I don’t feel any heat emanating off it, I dip in my hand and let the substance slip through my fingers.
Metal fragments. Iron, I think. What is that for?
There is much more to see in the god’s forge, but I’ve tarried long enough. It’s time to leave.
My head swims with images of all the things I discovered in the god’s lair as I trek back through the cavern. I have even more questions than before. What are all the things he builds in his forge used for? Why does an immortal god rely on natural elements to keep us afraid?
At least I can say I’ve confirmed my theory.
Peruxolo uses lodestones to keep mortals out of his home. He wears them as armor so no one can approach him.
But now I know how I can approach him. I know one of his secrets, and I think it’s time someone challenged Peruxolo to a fair fight.
I retie the knot on the gate just as it was so he will be none the wiser and take the spent torch with me. I leave the mountain and head for the tree line where Soren hides.
As we take a long route home, Soren asks what I found, and I tell him everything.
“Iron fragments in a barrel? Sharp metal triangles? What does it all mean?”
“I don’t know,” I answer. “But I don’t care. I think I’m ready to face Peruxolo.”
Soren nearly trips. “Ready! How can you be ready? It would take years to study Peruxolo and learn all his secrets. Learning one doesn’t mean you’ll survive against him in a fight!”
“The important thing is that he doesn’t know what I’ve learned! He’ll think I can’t get anywhere near him because of the iron. Iric’s ziken-hide armor will change that. It will make the battle a fair fight!”
“What about your ax? You still don’t have a weapon that can defeat him.”
“I have the silver dagger he tried to kill me with.”
“It won’t do you any good against a battle-ax.”
