Tyler and his women made it to the shore, they were out of breath and panting hard. The dwarves had fallen behind but they were still coming and seemed tireless.

Madison scrambled down the steep slope to the rocky beach where she began to strip and push everything into her necklace storage device. Ava did the same and Tyler after another look back at their pursuers did the same.

* * *

The dwarves grinned as they chased the three humans. The damned skinny beanpoles were faster than a sturdy well built dwarf but they lacked stamina.

“We’ve got them now,” bellowed Bloodaxe. “They’ve got nowhere to run now!”

“Spread out lads,” ordered Raax Foefinder. “All they can do now is try to cut past us.”

The nine dwarves spread out into a ragged line as they approached the coast. Then they were lining the top of the steep little slope that bordered the narrow deserted rocky beach. They peered around in bewilderment, the only living things in sight were three seals swimming south as they hunted for their supper.

“By Cragar Cave Lord’s bushy beard where are those damned humans?” asked Bloodaxe irritably. “Riix Hawkeye can you track them?”

“On all those rocks? No chance cousin.”

“Damn sneaky bastards, probably drowned themselves so we couldn’t get our due,” complained Foefinder.

“Yeah, bunch of thieves. Stealing our Mithril,” agreed Hawkeye even as the walruses disappeared round a headland to the south.

Then they spread out and searched the beach, poking at anything that didn’t look like a rock in the hopes of finding something, anything washed up by the sea that would give them a clue where their mithril was to be found.

* * *

Xaar pouted in displeasure. All his relatives had run off leaving him alone in the wilderness. Being an obedient young dwarf he sat on a rock and waited. And waited. And then it was night.

* * * INTERLUDE 1 * * *

Roy Santos or Gator was testing his new dungeon under the streets of New York and chatting with his friend Swampy. Gator was more than pleased with life and was glad to have discarded his human body for the lovely Black Onyx that resided in the little niche at the back of his home cavern. He was still debating what to use as his boss monster but he was happy with the pair of monster alligators in the swamp room that was the only link between his throne room and the rest of his dungeon.

« ting ting ting »

« Huh! Hey Swampy, sounds like we have a message. Figure the System’s already set up the Dungeon Exchange board. Hey buddy wanna look with me? »

Gator felt Swampy latch on and they accessed the message they had received. Swampy just oozed curiosity so gator accessed the roll of dungeons.

« Hey cool Swampy, we’re not ranked novice. Gotta send a thank you note to the girl, got her to thank for being able to shed my former body. Ok, ok Swampy, hold yer horses. Ah, here we are, Tod yeah right. He’s not a dungeon yet. System calls him a proto-dungeon. Zacharias Harmond, a sea human whatever that is and he is currently in Hawaii. And he’s tagged. We’ll keep that to ourselves as all the other dungeons are more powerful than us. »

« Right boss. »

‘ Hey Tod, or d’you prefer Top? You in the army buddy? Cool. Nice ta hear from ya. Hadn’t noticed the Exchange was up and running. As fer dual, simple man, means I’m in touch with my other self on Parthia. Cool right? Two brains just gotta be better than one. See ya, Gator & Swampy.’

Gator looked over his message and went back to it to add a few more spelling mistakes and another cool and a like. Satisfied, he dispatched it.

‘Hi Mary, congrats on being the first among equals here on Earth. Thank you for freeing my other me on Parthia and allowing me to shed my aching diseased body here on Earth. Figure you saved my life so thank you again. Do you want to set up one of your Mock Turtle dungeons here in New York? I’d be happy to help. Any chance you could make me an Alligator beastman. I could really use Gatormen. Regards Gator & Swampy.’

Once again Gator carefully perused his message before sending it.

« Hey Swampy, wanna play with ol’ Vinny. He’s back. »

Gator and Swampy focused on the edge of their domain, Vinny was moving slowly along one of the stretches of the sewers the pair had claimed. Giggling Swampy urged one of their modified alligators while Gator watched. The pair just loved scaring the sewer workers by showing them some of their smaller alligators.

« Hey boss, now all we need is a pink elephant. »

« Oh yeah! That would be fun, a dancing, flying miniature pink elephant. »

Swampy just rolled around the ceiling laughing.

* * * INTERLUDE 2 * * *

Mary smiled nastily, Mycroft had come through with the goods. Gallows was just a small minded prejudiced little creep, a willing catspaw. One of the ‘Just following orders’ brigade. So that gained him a little more time while Mycroft and Moriarty followed the threads.

Wouldn’t be difficult to sow a little uncertainty. It wouldn’t surprise her in the slightest if one Gallows’ controllers lost patience with him – with just a little help from Mycroft and Moriarty – and caused him a little accident.

Mary leaned back in the driver’s seat of her jeep and grinned a little wider. ‘I wonder what the Marines will think when we prove that that fine honourable marine Captain Gallows was killed by some feds. Should prove amusing and those same feds will be linked to Harris who shot and nearly crippled another marine officer. And I’m sure Moriarty could link them to that chopper crash. Hmm, that affair just doesn’t add up. I’ll get Moriarty to check it out.’

Mary watched as Joanne hurried down the path of ‘her’ house. Mary narrowed her eyes, Jo looked – younger. Art was climbing into his truck, he also looked younger and she bet that that blue hair was not the result of dye.

‘Poor things, sea humans are very much mine especially now with the new link, must make sure not to abuse the situation ‘cause this lot seem to mean well. Now the poor things are gonna feel so conflicted if they’re asked to do me dirt.’

Mary grinned widely, “Hiya Jo, see you’ve been integrated by Bluey. No problems I hope?”

Joanne scrambled aboard and gave Mary a sour look, “No, no problems. It’s just that I’d forgotten why I was so eager to grow up! Damn hormones.”

« Beep Bluey, why can she swear and I’m still goin’ beep! »

« But you’re less than a year old as a dungeon Mother of Monsters, and Joanne is over fourteen years old. »

Mary sighed and headed for school.

* * *

Mary was bored when the message from Alligator Haven arrived. She opened it and her eyebrows shot up. She remembered Santos, she had not been as repulsed as when she had read Linny but she had not expected much from him. PTS, drugs and alcohol coupled with homeless in New York had not exactly endeared the Vietnam Vet to her.

« Wow Bluey, you’ve been busy. You’ve got the Exchange up and running already. »

« Your fault Blackbeard’s Bane. »

« No need to be snippy ‘bout it Bluey. Trust a Tod like incident is not goin’ to happen again? »

« Snippy? Dungeon yes, proto-dungeon no. »

Mary returned her attention briefly to the classroom, Ms Carrella was still droning on about Romeo and Juliet. So she returned her attention to her message.

« Jerica, what do you think ‘bout this. Can we afford somethin’ like other me’s Mock Turtle dungeon? »

« I don’t know Mary, I think we should pass on it for now. »

« Yeah, the agency drones would freak out if their GPS told them they were bouncin’ ‘bout the planet instantaneously. They’re kind of stuck on the speed of light thing. Could get us into lots more trouble. »

Mary glanced out of the window, Ms Carrella was still droning apparently unaware that most of her pupils were paying her no attention, many were busy texting their friends.

« I Wonder... »

« What are you thinking Mary? »

« Just... I wonder if we could set up a portal on the Moon? Maybe next time I have to visit my dad, we could visit Cape Canaveral and NASA. A moonbase would be cool! ‘K now I have to figure how to harden humans for radiation. That’s gonna be difficult... Maybe... Um... »

« Mary! Wake up! Leave it for later, you’re in school now. Don’t scare the nice teacher or the other kids. »

« Wha... Oh thanks Jerica. So let’s see... »

‘Hi Gator, glad to hear you’re feeling better. Be safe and prosper ‘k. Get me a breeding pair of unmodified Alligators and I can provide you with the template for Gator ‘folk. I already have the crocodile variant so it won’t be too hard. You’ll have to pledge to help me set up a terminus of the Earth variant of the Mock Turtle dungeon in New York at some time in the future. The System insists on a fair exchange. It seems to have a downer on gifts.’

Mary heard the bell and she sent the message and disengaged from the System and joined everyone else in gathering their things and leaving the room.