Sebastian woke with a start, looking around frantically for a moment before realizing that he had been having a nightmare about his dad assassinating someone, then hiding on the frontier until everything died down, taking a wife as a cover, until Sebastian figured it out. The shadowy figure of his father saying that he couldn’t risk being discovered and then slashing at Sebastian’s throat is what woke him, and he instinctively grabbed at his neck to make sure he was okay. I really need to find out what Legs knows about my dad. If only to stop me from having that kind of dream again. He did his best to shake it off and started packing up the things he had taken out.

They got underway after a wholesome and thoroughly disappointing breakfast of yet more nasty travel biscuits, and Sebastian wasted no time in asking Legs about his father. “Ah’m afraid I don’t know too much a what you probly wantin to know, your pa didn’t talk too much bout his-self. Alls I know is that when I asked ‘im wot a hoity-toity kingsman was doing way out here he told me he loved his-self a hoity-toity noble lady, an’ her family raised a right stink about it. Now the king is right fond of his fancy kingsmen, but when a whole house o’ fancy pants nobles raises a stink he gots no choice but to do sumthin bouts it. So’s yer pa ended up bein sent away cuz the king got tired o’ listening to all the complainin.”

They continued in silence for a bit while Sebastian chewed that one over in his mind. It certainly made more sense than his nightmare had, but it only raised more questions. Now he couldn’t help what had happened, was his mother the noble lady? Or was she his second love, found after he was exiled? Legs stopped answering his questions though, claiming to not know any more and not wanting to fill his young head with lies about his folks. Or at least that was how Sebastian interpreted the garble of nonsense explanations the man offered him.

Since he wouldn’t answer questions about his parents anymore, Sebastian decided to change the subject, figuring that he would just have to ask his mother when he saw her again. That’s probably the better plan anyways. He sighed. “So why do they call you Legs anyways?”

“Well it’s on account of it being ma name, innit?” Legs said with a snort.

Sebastian rolled his eyes, “No, I meant how did you get the name Legs? Surely your parents didn’t name you Legs?”

Legs chortled, “Ah now that’s a right fine tale ma boy. Ya see, ah’ve lived ma life out on the frontier, when folk move farther out, ah go with em an ah see more o’ the world. One day though, me and me friends got to wonderin’ what makes folk want to live in them big ol’ cities, all pressed in together like. So’s we went for a looksie, t’was bout what I expected, dirty, cramped, and full o’ too many folks what smelled bad. We were bouts ta leave an’ go home ta where da air smells fresh, when I sees me the most bee-yutiful lady I ever laid me eyes on. She ‘ad long hair, and only two warts! Why, ma heart was all a flutter, an’ I couldn’t help but follow ‘er. She went inside this big ol’ house, an’ I knew that tha guards in front o’ it would ne’er let me through, so’s I climbed the wall an’ I knocked on a window when ah saw ‘er walk by, but alas, she was so excited to see me she called out, an’ this old git what was probably her pa got all angry like. He called for tha guards, and shouted about cuttin me legs off as I ran off. Me friends heard ‘im callin out about me legs, an’ ah’ve been Legs evah since.”

Sebastian burst out laughing, “You stalked some lady, snuck onto their property, and had to run from guards? That’s how you got your name?”

Legs chuckled, “There ya are lad, ya gotta stop wearin such a serious face all tha time, wait, hold lad.” His voice turned serious as he pointed in front of them. “We wait here for tha cap’n, this ‘ere ain’t normal rock no more.” He knelt down, running a hand along a ridge of grey stone that Sebastian hadn’t noticed until it was pointed out. “It’s got bits o’ metal in it, like what tha old ones used ta do. Ain’t seen this in a good while. This spot was built, dunno what it’s doin’ down here though.”

Kyle and the rest turned the corner after only a short wait. A short explanation had Kyle swearing softly under his breath, “Okay, found ruin rules apparently gentlemen. Blades out and stay on your toes until we know what might be in there.”

Sebastian looked at him warily while the guards strapped down loose gear and drew their weapons. “What are found ruin rules exactly?”

Kyle sighed, “Every now and then you stumble on ancient ruins, they are all usually different from each other, but they tend to be full of one of two things, the remains of long dead people and their belongings, or the remains of things that have died more recently and whatever decided to eat them. The first one isn’t that big of a deal, sometimes some interesting artifacts are recovered in them that can make a man rich. The second one however, that tends to get men killed often enough for the kingdom to have come up with guidelines for entering places like this.”

Sebastian couldn’t help but ask, “What are the guidelines then? Go in with weapons drawn?”

Kyle gave a grim chuckle, “The first rule is ‘Don’t go in if you don’t absolutely have to.’ No, we are going in weapons drawn and eyes open for two reasons. One: this was built by human hands, it’s thicker than I would have ever imagined since we can’t see any smooth walls or floors yet, but made by humans means that there is probably a way out for humans. Two, and this is the primary reason for us to be as ready as possible: something tunneled through this wall, the ancients didn’t tend to leave great big ragged holes through their walls or floors, whichever this is. No, something went in there, through here, and I dearly hope it was long, long ago, and all we will find is bones, because whatever can chew through metal reinforced stone is not something I want to fight.”

Sebastian could definitely agree with that particular sentiment. He glanced around at the guardsmen around them, watching them get ready to face death yet again, and felt a strange sort of pride well up in his gut. He was curious though, “So what have they found in other ruins that was so bad?”

Greg grunted, and Kyle shook his head before answering, “The worst one I ever heard of was spiders.”

Sarah chimed in, “How are spiders bad? I’ve seen spiders all over the place.”

Legs was staring down the tunnel distractedly, “Yea, missie, normal spiders isn’t too bad, step on em with a good boot and they squoosh nicely. Cap’n’s talkin bout big spiders, bout yay high, right nasty buggers, and they don’t squoosh near as easy.” He waved his hand about mid thigh, earning himself some incredulous stares from Sarah and Sebastian.

Kyle shuddered, “I hate spiders. Alright, enough talking, let’s get moving.”

They made their way cautiously through the narrow passage, pausing when it opened up into a surprisingly large open space. There were a few dust coated crates in the corners, but they turned out to have been cracked open and emptied long ago. There was only one other way in or out, and that was through a set of double doors that looked to have been made of metal and had been smashed open by something. They found a hallway on the other side of the doorway and as they followed it they found more doors that opened into more rooms, all of which had a collection of dilapidated crates that usually crumbled apart at a touch. Most of them had been empty, while one room had some that were partially filled with dirt that the guards said was probably a food storage area.

When they got to the end of the hallway Sebastian heard Sarah gasp in shock, and when he made it through the doorway behind her he found himself agreeing with her reaction. There were bodies littered about, sprays of gore had been splattered across the walls and a couple of tables that had been in there, and the most disturbing part was that it was clearly recent enough to have left fresh bodies. These weren’t the desiccated or decayed remains of those that fell long ago, no, these were only a couple of days old according to Kyle and Greg.

Covering his mouth and nose with the hem of his cloak, Sebastian knelt next to one of them for a closer look. Death smelled foul, and he was doing his best to not lose his last meal all over the fallen, dwarf? Sebastian couldn’t believe it, dwarves were few and far between in the kingdom if the gossip of travellers and merchants could be be trusted. To find a room with seven dead ones was astonishing. As he turned away to see if the others had noticed as well, a flicker of light drew his eye as something reflective caught the magelight they were using. He stepped closer, doing his best to not step in or on anything gross, and grabbed hold of it, gasping when he pulled out a beautifully crafted axe. It had a wicked point extending from one side, while the gleaming blade curved in a graceful arc on the other, leaving just enough room between the lower half of the blade and the haft to comfortably grip it without fear of accidentally catching your hand on the lower point of the blade.

Clutching his salvaged weapon awkwardly in his left hand, he showed it to the others, “Dwarves, these people are dwarves! Look at this axe! This is fantastic! Err, well, not that they died of course, and I hope some of them survived, and,” He trailed off, thoroughly aware of how awful that had come across. He had just been so excited with the discovery of dwarves, and finding an axe that was as much a work of art as it was a weapon that he didn’t think about how it would look being excited while surrounded by the fallen dwarves and holding some of their belongings.

The others knew him well enough by this point though to understand that he hadn’t intended any disrespect to the fallen, and Kyle gestured for the axe so he could take a closer look at it, “This really is a beautiful weapon.” He gave it a few careful test swings, “I don’t think it’s actually steel either, the color is different and the weight is wrong. Well, the weight is wrong for its size, but it’s perfectly balanced. I wonder what they made it out of?” He made to hand it back to Sebastian, while gesturing with his other hand at some of the nearby guards, “Search the rest of the fallen for more, better weapons mean a better chance for survival. Respectfully, we aren’t barbarians. You two, scout out ahead of us in the meantime, whatever did this is likely not far, so be careful.”

Sebastian shook his head, “No, keep it for now, I was never good with fighting up close anyways, and my right hand is broken, so I would be even worse than usual. While it would be nice to have something to hit stuff with, I think it’s probably better for everyone if I stand back and let the professionals hit things so I can avoid that particular embarrassment.”

That got a round of chuckles from the men around him, and they swiftly spread out across the room, stripping useful items off of the dwarves and carefully relocating them to one side of the room where they laid them out as though for a burial service.