The next several hours of the trip were all about Boulder talking about both the quality of rocks and the adventures he’d been on. Chris and Ember listened intently, finally starting to learn some information about what was beyond Basintown. From what they learned, Boulder came from the other side of the sea, where the Rocky Mountains would be—which made sense to Ember. The Rocky Mountains… they eat rocks. Fit the bill.

  He had all kinds of tales. He told them stories about a few dragons he’d come across and massive goblin armies that some of the cities had to fight off. He talked about Caverntown, which was the fourth city situated within the Rocky Mountains, and how there had been a massive battle that took place not even a year ago against a large swath of monsters. When he mentioned the wyvern, Chris asked about it.

  "The wyvern?" Boulder's eyes lit up. "Ah, that was a magnificent fight. The beast was forty feet long, wingspan twice that. Scales like iron plates. It dove from the cliffs above Caverntown, snatched up three guards before anyone could react." He gestured dramatically with his hands. "I was on wall duty. Saw it coming back for another pass. So I did what any sensible person would do, I threw my ald at it." He tapped the axe thing on his back.

  "You threw your what?" Ember asked, trying to imagine the man throwing the massive object like a freesbie. It was an amusing thought.

  "Of course! What else would I throw?" Boulder laughed. "The ald caught it right in the chest. Didn't kill it, but made it angry enough to focus on me. It landed twenty feet away, shrieking. I had to fight it bare-handed until I could retrieve my weapon."

  "Bare-handed?" Chris raised an eyebrow. He was obviously struggling to imagine it, but Boulder was so proud neither of his companions could doubt him.

  "Well, I had rocks." Boulder grinned. "You'd be surprised how effective a good-sized stone is against a wyvern's eye. The rocks I ate that day were the best. Truly a battle of a lifetime.”

  Finally, Ember decided to speak up. He’d been wondering about it for a while now, but he just couldn’t hold it back anymore.

  “So the ald. What exactly is it? A shield or an axe?”

  “Oh, this?” He reached behind his back and pulled it off. On his back was a magnet that seemed to keep the object still. “Well, it’s my ald. What I threw at the wyvern.”

  “Ald.” Ember sounded it on his tongue. “A-U-L-D?”

  Of course, he spoke this to himself. The chances that Boulder would know what the words were were probably low, considering that English didn’t technically exist in this world.

  “Indeed. It’s a mix between an axe and a shield. It’s been my trusted companion for years. I inherited it from my father.”

  “How does it work?”

  The man chuckled, a sound that almost seemed to reverberate through the very ground itself. He slipped his hand through a set of metal straps on the inside of it. The object was shaped like a kite shield, with the handle poking out of the top. The object itself wasn’t fancy or anything, but the pure size was enough to make up for any lack of intresting details. It was as wide as Boulder and nearly as tall.

  After tightening the straps, he grabbed the hilt and pulled, and a massive axe was withdrawn, the shield visibly collapsing, becoming smaller and denser.

  “This is my ald,” he said as he held it.

  The axe was almost as tall as he was.

  “Holy shit,” Chris muttered. “How do you even swing that thing? It has to weigh a ton.”

  “Indeed, a ton it does weigh.”

  “And you’re only a Fundamentalist?” Chris asked, disbelief in his voice.

  The man laughed. “Just because we are shoehorned into a rank does not mean that we always have to exist within the bounds of that rank. Dwarves are naturally sturdy, and our muscles are significantly denser. I’m not even close to the strongest of our kind, because I’m not a full dwarf—I’m only half-dwarf. A true dwarf could be two, three times as strong as I am.”

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  “Huh. So the cup isn’t the end-all, be-all,” Ember murmured.

  Boulder nodded. “Of course. What you’re born with matters just as much as what you can build.” He tapped his axe against the top of the shield, and it melded back into shape.

  Chris grunted in response, “I’ve never seen a combat dwarf in person. Only heard the tales. You’re similar to the dragon fed?”

  The large man paused at the question, “I am surprised you know what that is. Only a select few on the frontier have that kind of knowledge.”

  Chris took a swig from his waterskin, “Well, I’m not from the frontier. I came from the civilized world.”

  Boulder stared at him, a hint of surprise in his eyes, “A civ this far in the frontier? You have my respect. Your kind rarely crosses the sea.”

  “So I’ve been told,” he replied dryly, a look of annoyance crossing his face.

  Ember looked between the two as they stared at each other, “What’s a dragon fed?”

  Boulder motioned for Chris to explain. He sighed and adjusted himself in the saddle, “They’re children who were fed dragon meat and skin from birth. They’re really strong physically, but can’t form cups. It’s considered a forbidden practice now, but they are said to be on the level of pinnacles at the minimum. Literal continent destroyers.”

  Ember tried to imagine that kind of strength, but he couldn’t. It was so beyond anything he could do. The conversation died away, leaving Ember with endless questions, as was an existence he was growing used to.

  Another forty-five minutes later, they headed off the beaten path. Ember gripped his sword, slightly unnerved, as they trekked through the dense forest. They left their horses near the road.

  “Chris, do you know where we’re going?”

  “Well, the instructions say follow the compass due north. After about three hours of walking, which I’ve been counting, we head left off the road. We should be close.”

  Boulder spoke up, “Two hours, thirty-nine minutes, and twenty seconds of walking.”

  They both looked at him like he was a ghost.

  “You counted every single second?” Chris asked.

  “Of course. It was a simple matter.”

  “Damn, you get weirder and more impressive the longer I’m with you.” He shook his head, “Anyway, it shouldn’t take much longer.”

  And he was correct. It only took them an hour to reach their destination. They could hear and smell the goblins before they actually saw them. The creatures were situated in a large open field surrounded by forest. They would have likely struggled to find them if it weren’t for the massive smoke plume. Chris's original course was off by several miles.

  Chris pulled out a pair of binoculars and started to count them as the party settled into a small divot near the edge. The camp was fairly large, but what it had inside was significantly more worrying.

  “I’m counting at least twenty,” Boulder rumbled.

  “That is troublesome. I’m not worried about us, however…” He looked at Ember. “Our commoner friend here, I highly doubt he’ll be able to fight such a horde.”

  “I could maybe try to use my ability. I could wipe them out all at once.”

  Chris shook his head. “No, we can’t risk that. You’ve never used it on purpose before. It’s possible you don’t even know how to control it. Not to mention, because your cup isn’t that large, the explosion might not be big enough to really do much. But I’m mostly focused on control. I say we camp out here for the night, and then we try to sneak up on them.”

  Boulder frowned. “I doubt I could do that. I am not much for stealth. Besides, goblins are stronger at night. We would be giving them the upper hand. Their vision is weaker during daylight.”

  Chris paused, “I didn’t know that,” He murmured. He sounded angry at himself, his gaze boring into the ground.

  Boulder patted him on the shoulder, “Sometimes experience is more important than books. That is basic information, but is easy to forget for those who have little experience in the field.”

  Ember stared at Chris, surprised. It was the first time he’d seen him frustrated. Was knowing that really that important? Surely we could have fought them at night.

  “Well, at the very least, we can hunker down and wait a few hours to make sure there’s not going to be any backup coming from an area we aren’t aware of.”

  The large man nodded. “A sound plan. However, I do believe we should attack before the sun sets. Any longer and we will be at a disadvantage.”

  “Agreed.”

  As they waited, Ember pointed out the ald, “How was that made?”

  Boulder smiled, “That is a good question. I do not know myself. My grandfather had it made four centuries ago. The techniques used are only known by the greatest of blacksmiths in the frontier. It is as much a mystery for me. After all, I am not a blacksmith.”

  “Huh.” Ember leaned against a tree, staring at the camp. He couldn’t help but feel useless. So far, he’d done nothing but follow them around, only asking questions. His hands found the hilt of his sword. I’m a grown man. There’s no reason I can’t find a way to be useful. Despite his frustration, all he could do was sit and wait.