Vonn was still miffed about his father's push to get Urika out of the picture and into the next barony over.

Tazo explained, "It's more like, he played up how useful Urika is and how much military engineering work he's done."

"But it's not even the people's choice! The Duke's probably going to send some inbred... uh. I'm sure he'll pick someone qualified, but it'll be a total stranger."

Dad said, "There's already a message on its way toward Grandbridge to explain how Urika is handling things well. This is a good thing, Vonn. You're still partnered with Urika; he'll be in a position to keep the iron flowing, and there's no way he'll stop supporting the Engineer work."

Dad hadn't been in the room when Baron Bogstep implied that any hint of double-crossing Urika would make Vonn look like a snake. Vonn sighed and said, "Right. Well, it's time for me to test out a signaling idea I'd been wanting to try."

It would involve Tazo and the others using flags or painted rods from the west side of the river, to send messages to the east side, while Vonn went east and incidentally apologized to Bogstep in person.

#

The next day, he took a raft across the Starry River and before going much north, paused to set up his experiment. He had a pair of brightly colored flags (borrowed pieces of cloth) and an agreed-on code. He squinted and could just make out... no. He couldn't spot Tazo on the far shore. Neither of them had put a single point into the Senses ability, so they had no special enhanced vision. So as he'd feared, they were going to need either telescopes or a better qualified scout. The good news was that he'd wasted no effort yet in building a tower to increase the line-of-sight range.

He continued upstream as planned, to Silvermire. The Baron's swampy capital was busy as usual with people digging and sifting and sluicing. He went uphill toward the mansion, a broad one-story home and office built for Centaurs.

The clerk on duty in the front room said, "An audience? My lord's away in the north village today. Oh, you're the Flying Fox, aren't you? I'll let Brightstep know you're here, in case he has time."

Vonn grinned and waited. The office was part of a low-tech command center for the barony: versions of filing cabinets lined the walls, and a regional map had pins in it showing the latest dig sites and more. It surprised him to realize that Bogstep controlled several small settlements besides the three main villages Vonn knew of. (Shieldpoint, Silvermire and that slate-quarry one to the north). He supposed he knew too little of the organization chart in this kingdom.

The secretary returned and the Baron's son was with him, saying, "This is a good excuse to visit the dungeon. Will you come along for some light exploration?"

Vonn had in fact brought his few pieces of patchwork armor in a backpack, along with the wind gun, in the hope of doing just that. So he joined Brightstep and a pair of tough Human bodyguards for an expedition.

The first-floor tunnel was chilly, still just a long straight tunnel that was technically part of the dungeon but really served as an underground road. Brightstep said, "We've been sending a bicycle messenger back and forth. A bit bumpy, I'm told, but convenient." They made their way to the ramp leading down. "So, what brings you here?"

Vonn sighed, keeping his weapon ready. "I just found out that my father is trying to put Master Urika into the Baron role, to replace Kolm. You heard that Kolm got caught and executed, right?"

The young Centaur nodded. "I'd heard about the traitor. But what do you mean, trying to put him there?"

"Taking him around to not just work on the mine problem, but to talk him up and have him start running things as though he's in charge. I wanted to let my lord know this wasn't my idea."

A rippling, animate ball of water flew at them, sprouting spikes of ice like a morningstar. One of the guards deflected it expertly with an angled shove of his shield. Vonn responded by turning to one side and shepherding the threads of whatever the Centaur was casting. Ah! Vonn could see the pattern now, a fire burst. Brightstep called out, "Clear!" seconds later, and the moment his guards backed off he flung a lance of flame. It struck the wall but grazed the rippling, dodging water sprite. The creature hissed, bleeding steam. The men rushed back up and beat it with clubs until it splashed into nothingness.

"You've gotten faster," Vonn said.

"Have you learned fire yet?"

Vonn used all his right-hand fingers to count. "So far just light, sound, cold and now stone. I reached third level; I think Tazo just hit fourth. Where are you?"

"Fifth, and distracted from that by studying to be a Lord. I'm basically allowed one class as a hobby. What was your new feat?"

"Enchanter. Which I haven't really used, yet."

"Hmm, third level with that bonus? Try making enchanted ammunition for your gun. The effect won't last long without spending magicite on it, but you don't need it to. Practice with that and then start more permanent projects. A wand, maybe."

A guard called out, "Zombies!", and switched to a hatchet.

Two of the undead shambled around a corner. Here Vonn was more useful, landing a solid blow with his gun and firing a second time to wing the same one before they could close to melee range. With that head start the men cut the creatures down swiftly.

"So you're a fire specialist?" Vonn asked.

"My best element is stone. I've been learning to work with that and flame for refining, but also for drying parts of the marsh."

"I'd like to see a way of producing steel reliably, with a high temperature furnace that can melt iron. Oh! How hard would it be to get me a few tons of gravel for road building?"

The delve went on a little longer, down to the third level, where they burned one of the muck creatures that shambled around in shallow water. Brightstep and Vonn had gotten into the rhythm of poking into various side rooms and dropping their conversation long enough to fight. But the guards barred the way to the fourth floor, reminding their master, "Off limits for a casual trip, sir."

Vonn said, "You're not barring explorers from the deeper floors, are you?"

"Just our lord's son, unless we're better prepared. Standing orders."

Brightstep sighed. "You're right. Vonn, Murk Passage is now six floors deep, beginning to get serious but also producing larger cores. What's the latest news of... they're calling it Kolm's Fell, right?"

A guard coughed. "This isn't the best place to linger, sir."

"Yes, fine; let's head back."