Vonn brushed his sister's ears backward with one hand and said, "Plane crashed. Tell you everything after. We need the Baron and a magic expert, now."

A quiet whoosh of bright feathers distracted him. A friend of his had just taken off and was rushing over to the Baron's group. Hoofsteps thudded on the grass and two Centaurs approached. Father and son, lightly armored but geared for war. The grizzled Baron Bogstep wasted no time. "Talk."

Kura said, "Sir, there's folk sacrifice happening in the dungeon, and we passed a prisoner being led down there. We got these too." She took out the tainted magicite gem and Vonn fumbled his out of a pocket to show, too.

Bogstep's son, Brightstep, reared up as though wanting to drive a spear down through the things. His eyes were wide, his usually pristine mane pressed under an iron helmet. "I've read about this!" But he turned to a Kobold who was hobbling up to join them, and pointed him to the gems.

The lizard-man reacted nearly the same, but quit hissing and stamping after a moment. "My lords, murder now fuels that dungeon. And by crossing the wards, the young scouts have just warned those responsible."

"Are they dangerous to hold?" asked Vonn, who'd been imagining horrible things involving certain "cursed" heavy metals from Earth.

"I believe not, but let me see." The Kobold snapped his fingers and Vonn and Kura handed over their unwanted treasure. He leaned his staff in the crook of one arm, cupped the gems between his hands, and made them float in a swirl of ugly violet energy. He hissed again, muttering, "I've seen the like only once before, thank... the gods. No, fox, it won't hurt you. My lord, I am willing to swear that this is indeed magicite from a dungeon tainted by vile rituals. As we have samples from the same dungeon last year, we can prove their origin."

Brightstep scuffed one forehoof against the grass, his long ears laid back as he took in the seriousness of the situation. "Well, Father? We have proof now."

Vonn spoke up. "We didn't stop to rescue the man being taken inside, or anyone else already trapped. They're in danger right now."

Baron Bogstep took his Kobold adviser and his son aside, along with a few other people. That left space for a bird girl, Selen Moonlit, to press closer as a flash of off-white feathers. She restrained herself, bumping her fist against Vonn's and saying, "You said the plane's down?"

"Yeah. Engine burst. Your enchanted bracelet things saved us."

Selen cursed in English. "I bet it was the oil. My fault. But think about it later." She backed off and let Vonn's father pat him on the shoulder.

The taller member of the Vulin race had the same coat of red and white fur, marred by a scar on one cheek from his bandit days, and had come here wearing his old cutlass. He wordlessly grabbed Vonn tight before letting go, saying, "You all right?"

"Yeah, Dad. But somebody else over there isn't."

"Okay. You take your sister and Selen home, now, and rouse the militia in case this gets bad."

Vonn bristled. "What? We have to --"

"Absolutely not." Dad noticed the Baron trotting closer, and said, "My lord, please tell him."

"Didn't hear you. If you told the boy 'get your butt back home', I agree. I need you later. Miss... Selen, stick with him. Kura, where'd you go? Ah, good. You up for making some arrests?"

The Kobold drooped. "Honestly, sir --"

"That's a no, then. Escort the civvies home and rest. You earned it." Bogstep brushed past her and commanded his wizard to give Kura back one of the crystals. She stared at it, getting the implication: the Baron and his men weren't certain they'd be coming back.

Kura gulped, shedding some of the calm she'd had down in the dungeon. "You heard him," she said to Vonn, his sister, and Selen.

Another Kobold with indigo scales was there, waving for Vonn's attention. "Glad you're alive, you two. Go rest."

Vonn said, "Kotta! You're not joining in with the fighting, are you?"

Kotta bore a lute and a club, both of which he called his instruments. "I've been pacing for long enough and trying to keep your sister sane. I need a break from the waiting. What's that expression of yours? I'll try to 'stay in the back row' for this one."

Vonn glared back over one shoulder at the western land, knowing that he could've done more and that he'd probably have died again trying it. The System's energy meters didn't convey how strung out he was from travel and stress. He gritted his teeth and said, "Okay. We've done our part for now. Good luck, everyone."

#

Vonn, Kura, Selen and Tazo trekked east from the border of Kolm's land to the riverland ruled by Baron Bogstep. They steered around the Crashing Rock Tavern which had been their source of intel, then finally began to talk more. There was only so much they could mutter about the horrors behind them.

Vonn finally changed the subject. "I think what happened is, the pistons ignited the oil and turned the cylinder into an internal combustion engine. By accident." His airplane had worked on a different principle that he'd named the "frostfire engine", involving hot and cold crystals rapidly manipulating air pressure without fuel. His thoughts kept drifting back to the tainted crystal Kura was carrying, and what evil had made it that way.

Selen said, "And it was my idea to oil it better. I know you don't blame me but I'm still sorry. I'll make you more of those slow-fall rings, of course. If we're not conscripted tomorrow to start building guns."

Vonn nodded. "So Kura, what's the plan? We wake people up and stand ready to join in a war against Baron Kolm? Or send a message up the chain of command, to the Duke?"

The sneaky Kobold frowned. "I'm not handling the politics of it. But our lord was spooked. Turning a dungeon into a, a sacrifice pit like that is legally treason. Punishable by any neighbor immediately capturing him. And Bogstep outright said, 'dead if we have to'."