"Im telling you Ruthar. It was a giant emerald, the size of your giant head. The damn thing glowed. We tried mining it out, and next thing you know, gas started filling the entire tunnel.”

  Kroen moved drunkenly as he leaned out dangerously on his stool before his friend Ruthar yanked it down sharply, spilling some of the drink in Kroen's hand.

  Is that why Blair ain't been to work and Cedric had the shits?" said Ruthor roughly.

  Kroen looked sheepishly as he hid in the remnants of his beer.

  "Gods above boy. Were short manned as it is. You don't go poking at funny rocks and treasures when were down there. We mine iron and stone. That is it. This is a quantity business, so being down two members is unacceptable. You fool!”

  I watched as the older man berated his younger acquaintance. From the badges on their uniforms I could see they were from the mining guild. The Wellsprings that appeared around Jinaral tended to have good iron and stone deposits along with other plants and animals that appeared during that time. Occasionally miners got lucky and the Wellsprings appeared with additional deposits of gold, silver or other precious gems. Rarely though is miners were inside the mines for too long, monsters that began to appear would wait to strike.

  I laughed, raising my own beer in my bandaged hand to salute de miners,.

  "Sounds like a Rovenlor."

  The two miners just looked at me blankly.

  Groaning, I said," Ravenlor are worms that like to tunnel behind gems and shine a light through them. As soon as a gem is struck, it releases a gas to knock out its prey before digesting them. Both of the men looked at me as if Id just murdered their children in front of them.

  “Sounds like you hit an emerald deposit the last time the Wellsprings appeared. TOo bad you found it right after the Blight. Next time, If you see a shining gemstone after the Blight, make you have a wind rune set up to funnel all the gas out of the tunnel. You should have enough time to still mine th gemstone and bolt before the Ravenlor tunnels through looking for bodies."

  Kroen whistled, "Now how’d you know that? You looking for a job? We could use some more people and you sound like you know how to handle yourself.”

  Ruthar scoffed, “ Hes not looking for a job. You can tell hes an adventurer, the smell just comes off of him.”

  Well that was just rude, I had a bath just the other day when I returned to Jinaral.

  “It’s people like you that make things harder for us hard working folk. Out there dying by the dozens for a couple shiny trinkets and spices. We’ve seen hundred’s die over the year’s trying to get their hands on a heart scale. Don’t tell me that’s what your here for too?”

  I flinched at that part.

  “We get it. You hate adventurers. Now shut up and let us drink you old dried up stump!”.A female voice yelled at Ruthar, as a woman approached me holding tray with mugs of beer.

  I moved my empty one over and greedily grabbed a new one between two hands as she passed. I looked up to see Ruthar glaring at the woman then back at me. I raised my mug up to him in salute before taking a deep swallow.

  "I have more than enough beer to hear this again. I’m not stopping you"

  Ruthar turned to the woman, “Lillith, my sweet. Why do you spend you time with a man like this?

  Lillith crossed her legs and leaned back in her chair,” He pays for his requests on time.” She pounded on the end of the table for effect and Ruthar winced.

  “Besides, I needed someone brave enough to collect soul stones for me to create rune lamps and purifying masks for your men. Or would you rather return to the days of wandering dark tunnels with a flame lantern, counting the seconds until your are blasted to pieces beneath the rubble? Good luck with those natural gas deposits. Pesky things do like to remain invisible.”

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  The men grumbled as a waitress came by with two more beers for the men.

  “Don’t aggravate the locals Auren. Ill gladly give you my coin and my time.”

  I took a deep drink, sighing, "Just trying to help out. A shame stumbling on an emerald deposit near here and not being able to mine it before the Wellspring vanished."

  Two sets of eyes darted back and forth over shoulders at him, attempting to skewer him.

  "I know . I know. But telling them how they missed out on a fortune is not going to make them like you.”

  "I suspect I could mine the entire thing and drop it at there feet. They would still hate me for being an adventurer.

  They drank in silence, the biting noise of a full inn in the evening surrounding them. Sillich glanced down at my bandaged hand, where fresh red had already begun to soak through.

  "So, how bad was it?" she asked.

  I looked down, cinching the bandage tighter.

  "Gremul didn’t make it. I’m not sure exactly how he died. I lost my hand to him, though."

  Lilith had found me at the outskirts of town. A runes witch—she was the only person other than the town doctor who could have saved my life. Probably the only person who would save me.

  "The shade walker," she murmured.

  "Can you remove the curse?" I asked.

  She sighed, looking me over. "I need supplies. If I had them, sure. I’d hate for you to escape the mines only for the shade walker to track you down on the surface."

  "What about the other thing?" I asked.

  Lilith gave me a long look. "Are you sure about this? You barely escaped with your head."

  "Duskrunners," I groaned.

  She shook her head in sympathy. "Auren, how could you? You know better than that."

  I shoved my wounded hand in her face and raised an eyebrow. "We do what we need to survive. You know that."

  With a sigh, Lilith leaned back. "I can get rid of the curse easily enough. I just need a bit of wraithvine extract and some oblivion sap. Both are common enough. The curse won’t enter our realm once I have them."

  She raised an eyebrow, clearly thinking. "Though… if you take precautions, the mark will reappear. People would pay good money just for that information. To know the name of the shade walker you encountered"

  "That kind of information will help them get to the heart scale. I’m not interested in helping anyone steal my prize. But it does help to know when the Well spring is back. I still need to check with the scholars on how long it might be between emergences."

  "And what about the shade walker? What do you need for that?"

  Lilith was quiet for a long moment.

  "I’ll need two soul stones, as well as lumisilk threads. As much as you can get. And a Frostfire stem."

  "If you’re really going to try this again, I’ll need those items—so at least your death won’t be blamed on me."

  Auren nodded. He’d known soul stones would be difficult to get. Getting them first would be even harder.

  "Any ideas where the next soul stone wellspring is going to appear?"

  Witches always kept track of potential soul stone mines, ready to convince wide-eyed adventurers to risk their necks for them.

  “Millford” She said cheerily.

  I gave her my best deadpan glare.

  "Fuck you, witch. You just said I pay you in tens. Why would you send me to Millford? That place has a bounty on my head."

  Lilith shrugged apologetically. "If I can find something better, I will. But the Wellspring… I know for sure it’ll appear there next."

  I sighed. I’d been doing a lot of that lately.

  "Please, see what else there is, Lilith. I’m looking to save my life, not end it chasing after some rocks for you."

  Lilith took a slow sip of her beer, mischief glinting in her eyes over the rim.

  "You know. You never did tell me why the Countess of Millford wants you dead.”

  “Nope, and I never will”