“So you bonded with Felix, did you?” Orir asked.

  I should have known he had the skills to tell. He had worked with Felix since he was a pup, so it was not surprising.

  I just nodded.

  “I knew there was a connection, but I assumed you would want a younger companion.”

  I just shrugged. While we were talking, I was using Spiritual Sensing on the other dogs here, trying to see if any of them also had this affinity. They just came back as dogs. Why was Felix different, and why could I sense it?

  Nobody sensed I was different here. At least, I couldn’t tell if they did, and nobody said anything apart from ribbing me about needing to see a healer for my eyes.

  What I did decide was to stockpile as much strong Astral material as I could. I had limited pack space, but once the summer team got here, my access to this place would probably be restricted. They will have a team of experts and miners, and they will want to protect their investment.

  In my spare time, I mined the ribs and some scales, but the ribs were stronger, so that is where I focused. I found my Tremor Skill useful. I had to chisel a start, use the Tremor to widen the cut, and then keep going like that.

  I searched the cavern for other strong sources hoping to find the remains of a core or something, but I was out of luck.

  In my time on watch on the surface, I carved a piece of rib into a pendant I could wear with one of the Rock Elemental gems in it. Then, if people sense the Astral on me, I can show them the pendant I carved. This is where that strange spirituality is coming from. This also pushed my Carving to the Journeyman Level. I was planning to make the pendant cord large enough to stay on my bear form. I was also going to make a collar for Felix with the second gem.

  I also worked on understanding my affinity and trying to figure out a skill with it. I thought about my Tough Hide and my Spiritual Toughness. Could I infuse these things with the Astral affinity and make them stronger?

  I kept failing.

  What is the Astral? It is the emptiness of the void, the cold and the heat. Trying to fill something with the void is the wrong way to go. I should be doing the opposite.

  I know the cold better than the heat of the sun. The empty void might be a way to hide my affinity. Can I create a void around me?

  I tried to gather the astral energy around me and hold it in place and I kept failing. Again.

  No. It is not a failure. I learned a new Skill: Spiritual Manipulation. It is not what I was going for, but it is certainly progress. I found it was much easier to manipulate the spirituality outside my body with this skill.

  One of my dilemmas was Yoboc and Goldie. They noticed I was not spending a lot of time with them anymore. Goldie is smarter than she lets on. It should have clued me in when she was so good at limericks that she was mentally sharp.

  Yoboc and Goldie normally had the outside watch as they were Hunters and Foresters.

  “What’s up?” Yoboc asked when we were all off watch.

  I shrugged, “Just carving,” I said as that was what I was doing. Felix was asleep at my feet.

  “You are avoiding me, lad,” Goldie said, “I feel like a jilted lover.”

  I am not sure what a jilted lover should feel like, but never mind. These two were my best friends here. Could I trust them? I was frustrated at my lack of progress. Both of them were smart and could help, but would they tell Thomwea?

  I don’t know. I am going to need help.

  “Let’s go hunting,” I said, nudging Felix with my foot to get him up. Felix’s energy is improving slowly.

  Yoboc and Goldie shared a look and then went to get their cold-weather gear. It was cold and cloudy, and there was a light falling of snow—winter.

  We moved away to check the first trap. It was empty. The second had a hare trapped and frozen solid. We cleared the trap and reset it. The third trap was in a sheltered area and had been triggered but not caught anything.

  Goldie reset it as Yoboc turned to me and said, “OK, spill, lad. You have found some secrets. I assume it has to do with the cavern because of all the time you spend in there mining.”

  Goldie turned to look as well, ”My coin is that it has to do with Felix. You taught him to bond but never expected him to, then instead of a young pup, he bonded with… an older pup,” she finished with a grin.

  I looked at them and studied their faces. I was delaying. “This is very personal, and I don’t want it to go any further. From what I have learned from you, this is also something a war will be fought over.”

  “I think we had better sit down then,” Yoboc said.

  “Fucking Troll shit. It is the cavern,” Goldie said. “There goes my coin.”

  As we sat, I said, “It is both, so your coins are safe. Are you under contract to the Forgemakers?”

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  “Yes, but only for hunting and camp work. We are under contract for secrecy about the mine, but not to help with the mining or, I am guessing from your question, to reveal things to the Forgemakers. We are simple hunters and foresters and have only a distant relation to the Forgemakers.”

  “Aye. That's the truth,” agreed Goldie.

  Anyone who thought they were a simple anything was blind and deaf. “What about loyalty to the Kirghiz Kingdom?”

  “You weren’t kidding about a war, were you?” Yoboc asked.

  “You will be a better judge than me on that, but no, I was not kidding,” I said.

  “Double piles of Troll shit,” Goldie swore. “What have you found?”

  “He wants to know our loyalties to the kingdom,” Yoboc said. “It is our home, lad, and while it is not perfect, we will not side against it. On the other hand, it is not perfect and doesn’t necessarily need to know everything.”

  “We are not in the kingdom here,” Goldie said, “but Yoboc is right. It is our home and not a bad one. The Forgemakers produce metals for the Kirghiz Navy, so while this is privately funded, the Kingdom will have a keen interest. If you have found something so big, it will be revealed this summer. We will keep your secrets if we can.”

  That was about as good as I was going to get, and they certainly weren’t going to let it go now. “So you know how Undoth thought the cavern was the carcass of a giant sea creature? It isn’t. It is an Astral Monster.”

  “A fucking what?” Goldie asked.

  “Astral monster. It came from the stars,” I said.

  “How do you know this?” Yoboc asked.

  “Because Felix and I have awakened an Astral Affinity,” I said,

  “You what?” Goldie exploded.

  “I think it best if you start at the beginning, lad,” Yoboc said.

  So I did. I told them everything. If they turned me in, then I would have to deal with that.

  When I finished, there was silence.

  The Yoboc said, “You weren’t kidding. There will be a war over this.” He thought for a bit. “It is fifty-fifty whether they will have worked it out from the samples they took. They will know it is not a sea creature. When the Empire hears about this, a battle fleet will come this way. We will know if they have worked it out when Thomwea arrives because if she knows, she will be bringing the Kirghiz Navy.”

  “It is not just the Kingdom and the Empire that will fight over this,” Goldie said, “The Mer People are strong enchanters, and they inhabit the northern waters. The Avion has a large northern Nest, and they can fly here easily. They are not great miners, but they will want a piece of this. The Elven Forests are a long way away, but they will also want this. The Elves have a long memory, and when the Star Metal was discovered, they entered a golden age for half a millennium.”

  “Star metal?” I asked.

  “A rock that fell from the sky with unique spiritual metal. Well, they thought it was unique at the time,” Yoboc said.

  “What are these minerals used for?” I asked.

  “Many, many things, but the most game-changing thing, fuck, I mean a kingdom-changing thing, is dimensional storage. There is an absolutely massive amount of mineral in that cavern. Enough to change the world,” Yoboc said.

  “Dimensional storage?” I asked.

  “Enchanters can leverage the properties of Astral minerals to make something bigger on the inside than the outside, which is massive for an army on the move,” Goldie said.

  “The only source to date was the Starmetal that fell in the elvish forests, and that has long been used up,” Yoboc said. “Even if this is not the same, they will be able to do amazing things with it. It is probably very similar.”

  “Shall we try to contact Thomwea and tell her to bring the navy?” Goldie asked. “The Commander probably has an emergency beacon.”

  “As soon as the Navy gets here, nobody is leaving for security reasons,” Yoboc said. “And this will be where the war is fought. I don’t want to be here then. This war will be worse than all the previous ones combined.”

  “But won’t Thomwea want to keep this for the Forgemaker Clan?” I asked.

  “She can’t, and she won’t try. They have registered this as a prospecting area and probably by now a mine, with all the metal they have taken home. Therefore, the Forgemakers will be credited with the discovery, and they will get a cut from everything that is extracted from here. They will be rich beyond their wildest dreams and probably be the primary forging clan.” Yoboc paused, “That is all dependent on it remaining in Kirghiz's hands. If she knows, she will bring the navy.”

  “If she doesn’t know, she will be sending for the navy as soon as she finds out,” Goldie added.

  “This doesn’t sound good for me,” I said.

  They both looked at me.

  “It's not,” Yoboc said. “If they find out about your affinity, you will be locked down tight as a national asset. If they don’t find out about your affinity, then you are an unknown and a potential leak, even a spy.”

  “Even when I have no idea what I can do?” I asked without hope.

  “They will help you find out, and you will have no choice. They will pay you. You will be rich,” Goldie said.

  “Not that it will do you any good,” Yoboc said. “You won’t be free to spend it, and you will always be watching out for assassins and kidnappers from the empire.”

  “Assassins?” I asked.

  “If they can’t get you to work for them, they don’t want you to work for the enemy. They will want you dead, and dead is easier than kidnapping,” Goldie said.

  “I need to run,” I said.

  They both looked at me for a minute.

  “You probably do, lad,” Yoboc said, “but if you disappear without a reason, there will be a massive manhunt for you and a bounty put on your head. You probably need to die. There are dangers here. We can stage your death.”

  “You know I am not too keen on hanging around for this,” Goldie said. “This is way more than I signed up for.”

  “Me too, lass, but we can’t all disappear.” Yoboc turned to me, “Give Goldie and me some time to think about this. There is a month or so before the thaw starts, and therefore, Thomwea is probably about two months away, depending on the weather.”

  “You are sure this is how it will happen?” I asked.

  “Ninety percent sure,” Yoboc said.

  “I can’t hide my affinity, can I?”

  “Not for any length of time. There will be specialists here. The Navy will also have their suspicious, sneaky bastards here, and if you are not an asset, you are a liability,” Yoboc said. “You don’t want to meet them.”

  I really didn’t.

  “Give us a week, lad. We will come up with something.”