31 – Deeper and Deeper

A circular iron and brass door groaned, rolling aside on tracks to reveal a yawning tunnel. The opening was vast, wide enough for the most ancient of creatures to pass through without scraping its flanks.

A wall of heat slammed out of the darkness. It felt like the breath of a blast furnace, instantly drying the moisture on Ashley’s face and making the back of her throat itch.

“My gnom— I mean, my men.” Gomp said. He marched right to the front of the group, his small legs swinging with exaggerated importance as he turned back to face them. “On this ominous day, the White King has bestowed upon me the honor of leading this expedition into the heart of the mountain. And today, I choose you as my faithful companions!”

Simon caught Paco’s eye. Paco’s jaw hung completely loose, his face blank.

Simon let out a short, dry breath. “I don’t think you understood that correctly, kid.”

“What do you mean?” Gomp asked. He stopped his march and massaged a blunt knuckle against his temple where the slate had hit him. “The King said I have to lead you down there. And lead I shall.”

“I think his words were more along the lines of: your punishment is to accompany them.”

“You’re too literal, Simon. See? He gave me the medal he promised,” he said, adjusting his new glasses on his nose.

Gomp threw his shoulders back, puffing his small torso out to proudly display a glinting ruby medal pinned squarely to his leather vest.

Ashley looked at the pin.

━━━━━━━━ Fire Eater Ruby ━━━━━━━━

[Uncommon Artefact]

[Artefact Effects]

-Purifies the air around the wearer, filtering out toxic fumes and choking gases.

-Reduces the effects of extreme ambient heat, making volcanic environments more bearable.

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

“I got one too,” Simon said. He reached down and tapped an identical red stone fastened near his own collar, his voice entirely flat. “So did the others. He said it’s supposed to shield us from the heat.”

“A medal is still a medal,” Gomp said. He hurried toward an iron lever bolted to the basalt wall and yanked it down with a sharp grunt.

Light snapped to life. Dozens of thick glass bulbs countersunk into the paneled ceiling began to glow, waking one after another down the length of the yawning passage.

Ashley stepped deeper into the corridor, running her open palm across the smooth, cool surface of the metallic plating. “Is this iron? And you use electricity?”

“Ah, you know about it?” Gomp’s grin returned, wide and sudden, split across his bearded face. “Yes! Well, in a manner of speaking. The idea was Kit Kikkity’s, of course. Very brilliant. Very proper. Very Kit.”

He thrust a stubby finger straight toward one of the glowing fixtures humming overhead.

“We draw heat from below, boil water, trap the pressure, spin the turbines, feed the dynamos, and then…” He cast his arms out toward the illuminated chamber. “Light. Motion. Pumps. Gates. Proper civilization.”

His expression softened, the animated pride draining away for a fleeting second.

“The fall of our old home was a terrible day for our people. But if I may say so, tragedy forced us to become more than miners hiding beneath the earth. Down here, we built something new,” he said with pride.

“But enough with that. We’re on a Kingly mission. Now, my men.” Gomp turned his eyes on Paco, his bearded chin twitching. “And lizard. Follow me to adventure.”

He paused, his shoulders dropping slightly as he added in a much smaller voice, “Oh, and don’t touch anything, or Kit will be mad at me.”

The group trailed the gnome into the industrial passage as the grid-lined floor sloped sharply downward. Initially, the metallic walls were smooth and naked, but soon a dense clutter of thick conduits and bundled cabling crowded the iron surfaces.

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They snaked along the corridor walls in tangled, chaotic paths, plunging directly into the plating only to burst out again farther down the track.

Paco lunged ahead every few paces, his snout twitching as he caught a fresh scent in the draft.

Each time the pup moved, Gomp scrambled forward on his short legs to reclaim the front, throwing sideways glares at the small dragon.

Command of the expedition apparently requires constant defense.

The corridor finally flattened out, spilling them into a cavernous, high-ceilinged expanse.

Ashley rolled the smooth ruby pin between her thumb and forefinger, feeling the faint pulse of its warmth. This pin doesn’t work as well as my magic.

“Mistress, please save your mana for when you need it.” Aury cut in sharply.