A miner worked under the tide,

  He dug where the plunder resides.

  With a boom and a crack,

  The earth trembled back,

  And sent him away on a slide!

  

  
• Goldie Honorhide.


  

  I was soon swimming back out to the site with Makara’s back fin cutting through the water next to me. Compared to her, I was like whatever the reverse of a fish out of water is. Not quite as bad as a dwarf in the water.

  We moved the coins away from the danger area as we didn’t quite know how bad this would be. We tied the rope to Makara.

  I checked the cavern area. “You know, if you re-enable the trap, the ice at the bottom will eventually melt and drop the rocks, setting it off. We don’t have to be anywhere near it.”

  “How long will it take the ice to melt?”

  “I don’t know. The sea is only a degree or two above freezing, so a little while,” I said.

  “I want to be sure,” Makara said.

  “Ok, let's try this: you enable the trap, drop some heavier rocks on the ice, and exit out. If the heavy rocks don’t break it, I want to try a skill before you go back in.”

  Makara looked at me, and I knew she wanted to ask what skill, but I took several deep breaths and dived down to the entrance. She followed and swam up the tunnel, leaving the end of the rope with me.

  I sensed when the traps became live again and watched as a large rock landed on my ice. The slow fall of the rock meant it didn’t break through the ice, but a few more probably would.

  Makara appeared at speed at the tunnel entrance. She looked at me, and I shook my head and held up my hand to wait.

  When I was experimenting with my Cosmic Aura back in the large Arctic cavern, I tested Tremor to see if Cosmic Aura reduced the cost. It didn’t seem to, or at least it was not noticeable at Level 1, in the middle of a Frost Spider fight. I had other things to worry about then.

  Now, I have been using Frigid Void with my aura for weeks. I could use the skill anywhere in my aura. I often shaped my aura and filled it with Frigid Void as I was better at that than shaping Frigid Void itself, but I could also do that. I did both when I created the ice shelf. I used my aura to control the depth and size of the ice shelf, but I stopped Frigid Void from extending back to me like my aura did.

  The question is, can I use Tremor the same way in my aura? Tremor is usually a skill based on touch. I set it off through my feet mostly, sometimes my hand. It radiates out from the point of touch, leaving me in the epicenter.

  The skill is only early Apprentice. I had no control during the novice levels, but now, at the apprentice level, I am able to focus the skill on being stronger in a specific direction. I think by journeyman level, I will definitely be able to send it only where I want, but it is still touch triggered.

  It is possible that at Journeyman Level, that will change, but I want to try using it remotely with my Aura. It is a strong possibility this won’t work. Tremor is not an Astral skill. On the plus side, neither is Spiritual Sensing. I won’t know if I don’t try.

  I started by focusing my aura around the ice shelf like I had before. I then focused on my Tremor Skill, which seemed blocked. No, that is not right; it is like the conditions are not right for it. I placed my palm on the rock, and the skill was ready to go based on my palm position.

  What is the difference? It is a skill that originates from me. That is nothing new… no, that is NOTHING NEW! Cosmic Aura is a skill that also has me at its center. Always. It is essential.

  Think. Think. Commonalities. They both originate from me. So do Frigid Void and Spiritual Sensing, and I use Cosmic Aura to focus and direct them.

  I move my aura to cover the rock under my hand. I send a small Tremor into the rock, concentrating my Cosmic Aura to direct it. I put my hand in a space outside the aura and did a slightly larger Tremor. That did work. There was some movement under my hand outside the aura, but not as strong as it should be. The Aura is directing the Tremor.

  The Tremor I tested was not nearly strong enough to reach the ice, and if it were radiating out like normal, I wouldn’t have the strength yet. But with the Aura focusing it, we should reach the ice. The bonus is that we don’t need a big Tremor at the ice to dislodge the rocks. By the time the Tremor travels through the rock to get to the ice, it will not be very strong, but it doesn’t need to be. The ice will dislodge easily, especially with the loose rocks sitting on it.

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  I focused my aura as much as possible. Thinking about it, I probably need it to be in a straight line to the ice. I shift my aura to create a channel. Then I sent a strong Tremor down it. It was not quite strong enough to dislodge the ice. What I did notice was that the edge of my aura seemed to reflect the tremor back, and so did not affect the rock around it much. It wasn’t perfect, but this also seems to be a way to intensify the Tremor.

  I narrowed my aura more, as this was affecting the rock it passed through and the nearby rock. Then I focused my Spiritual Strength and sent the strongest tremor I could. That was sufficient. I widened my aura with Void Sensing and Spiritual Sensing, noting that Temor had risen a level.

  I saw when the rocks hit the runes. They all flared. All of them in the chamber. Then, the whole area started to shake. I could feel it from where I was holding the rock. The shaking got worse and worse, and then pieces of rock started to come apart.

  My guess is that the runes were an enchanted version of my Tremor skill. I guess that is useful for miners of all species. It seems to gather the Spiritual energy and convert it to a version of Tremor. The blue Bastard must have had some mining experience, as that was when I noticed the runes were not evenly spaced around the chamber, but where there was a weakness in the rocks.

  The trouble was I had created a weakness in the rock when I used my Tremor skill, and the effect was going to be wider than just around the cavern. I pushed off the rocks and put some distance between us.

  I looked for Makara and noticed she was swimming in wide circles around the site. This is good because it will be noticeable at a long distance.

  The Termors did not last long, as the runes were soon destroyed or ran out of Spiritual Energy. I think they were destroyed because this was designed to be a short, sharp destruction of the cache and anybody in it.

  It was effective. He might have been a bastard, but he knew how to build traps.

  I surfaced for a breath and looked at Goldie. She was staring back. Her Journeyman Senses picked up the destruction. I waved the all-good signal. This would have been heard for a long way. We need to get out of here.

  I took a breath and dove down to collect Makara and the coins. Makara found me, though, and led me to the tunnel where we had dug. It was mostly still there. Solid evidence of our actions. She signed me to see if I could collapse it. I nodded. She headed off to collect the coins.

  I ran my Void Senses over the rock. I took a page from the bastard's book and looked for weak cracks in the rock. There were several, and it looked easier for me to do three small-focussed Tremors than to try to do the whole thing at once.

  I focused my aura on the first section and then stopped. I need to keep thinking more about my skills and their interactions, especially their interaction with Cosmic Aura. If I had discovered this ability with Tremor, we could have dug out the tunnel in a few hours rather than days. We would only have had to focus on the last section. That's the benefit of hindsight. I need to work on making it foresight.

  I need to be smarter about my skills and affinity. Even if we find a lore Society with astral information, I won't find all the answers. I'll need to work out how the astral principles apply to me and my skills. I need more Mental Agility and Mental Strength. I need to review my skills and keep learning and testing how they interact.

  This is also one of the benefits Felix brings to our bond. His team leader skills should give me bonuses for learning skills, so I need to lean on him more.

  I focused my aura again and then tried to match the right strength Tremor to the weakness. It collapsed right away, and I think I was still too strong there. The next one up, my Tremor, was slightly too weak, and I had to give it another nudge. The third and top one went well. I think I was about right. It is hard to tell as the cracks are all unique, and this is a judgment thing I will need to work on. This is the art of mining, and the skill went up just with this, and I noticed that Mineral Lore also went up. Matching the strength to the rock and the weakness is the key here. Mine smarter, not harder.

  I don’t want to mine at all. Use Skills smarter, not harder.

  I look around. Everything seems to have collapsed fine. The dust and sand are swirling in the water, but it will settle. My Clearsight sees through it fine. The localised tremors were smaller and less noticeable than a large one. This is good when you want to go unnoticed. Not that it matters in this case, as the collapse of the main cave was very noticeable.

  I swim for the surface in the direction of the shore. I am confident I can leave the coins in Makara’s safe hands.

  I break the surface, take another breath, and check with Goldie. Oh, kraken bait! That is the emergency signal. I feel for Felix, and he is concerned but not panicked. He is also on the move. I swim for shore as fast as I can.

  Makara still beats me there, lugging the sack of coins. I know a lot of those coins are gold, and gold is heavy.

  I hit the shallows and wade the rest of the way as Yoboc and Felix burst out of the bush.

  “Time to leave, now!” Yoboc said. “Orca fins coming fast and heading right for us.”

  Goldie hitches Felix to the sled as Makara ties the sack of coins to it.

  “Not there, you idiot,” Goldie snarls at her. “We need the weight distributed properly.”

  While Goldie fusses, Makara backs off from helping, “How many fins?” she asked.

  “I saw three. There may be more,” Yoboc said.

  “Three makes sense,” Makara said. “There are a number of mercenaries looking for the Blue Bastard and the safe. This is probably Ardlursak, Orca Mer, with his two orca bonds. He will want the bounty for himself. We need to head inland, as he is fairly useless on land and his bonds can’t leave the sea.”

  “Goldie will lead,” Yoboc said. “I will hide our tracks and check we are not being followed. Go now!”

  Felix pulled, and I pushed. Use Skills smarter, not harder. I focused my aura and used Frigid Void to solidify a layer under the rough skids Goldie had made. We would always be on a layer of ice, and there would be less wear on the untreated skids.

  We set out at a run.