The curled form in front of the fire lifted its head to blink at him, it was Murkuk. He nodded in affirmation before putting his head back down, continuing to enjoy the comfortable heat. Axion clapped his hand on Dink’s shoulder, turning him toward the door. Dink reluctantly followed, his expression heavy. The wife-pair silently watched him leave on the verge of tears.

  Outside, the street was filled with people cleaning up debris from the most recent earthquake. Glancing behind him, Dink saw that the Rusty Blade Inn appeared completely intact. The buildings surrounding the inn were not as fortunate. The masonry wall of a house across from him had collapsed, allowing him to see the family inside. The thatch roof of the house beside it had imploded. Shifting his attention to the rest of the street, he saw many others buildings similarly affected.

  “This is just the beginning. When the wurm gets here, its mouth alone will be able to devour a building whole. I hope you’re ready for this, Axion. Once we’re underground, we’ll be in its territory,” Dink solemnly said, looking to Axion.

  “Let me just give Betsy a kiss goodbye. Then we can go,” Axion lightly replied, walking to the stables. Dink followed behind, lost in thought planning his approach.

  The wurm’s hide is like armour. I don’t think my trusty bastard sword will be enough to break through its skin. I can’t tell Axion this, but his job is just to keep the blasted thing in the area. He’s going to effectively be the bait while I deal with the beast. I’m going to have to carve my way through the soft and squishy parts.

  Dink dreaded his plan as Axion hurried to Betsy’s stall. He was cooing softly while making kissy faces at her. He scratched under Betsy’s muzzle, she flicked her tail in contentment with hee-haw. After he was satisfied, Axion retrieved his axe from its mount beneath the driver’s seat of the cart parked nearby.

  Darby came rushing out from inside an empty stall to investigate when he heard Betsy’s bray. Seeing Axion hefting the great axe onto his shoulder, Darby lifted the pitchfork he was holding in answer.

  “What do you need the axe for?” Darby suspiciously asked.

  “I thought I might save you a chore and chop some firewood for you. Got a problem with that?” Axion retorted.

  “Not at all. A mighty axe such as that should work mighty fine at cutting twigs. But you know what they say, It’s not the size that matters. It’s how you use it,” Darby mocked, glancing Axion up and down with a jealous smirk. He turned back inside the stall and resumed mucking it out.

  Axion snorted in amusement while signalling to Dink that he was ready to go. The pair left the courtyard out onto the street. Dink sniffed the air to locate the direction of the mine. He frowned after he discovered the smell of the eggs was masked by the scent of smoke.

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  “They better not be doing what I think they’re doing,” Dink said out loud, walking in the direction of the smoke.

  “The smoke?” Axion asked. Dink silently nodded in agreement.

  He led them through a warren of damaged houses until they reached the outskirts of Burrowton. In the distance, they could see the opening of the underground mine. They increased their pace, arriving at a hill overlooking their destination not long afterwards.

  Dink could see miners surrounding a convoy of four wagons, holding something burning thick, black smoke. The sturdy workhorses drawing the wagons were acting agitated because of their contents.

  “It seems we got here just in time. Look at those wagons. I’d wager under those tarps are the wurm eggs. There’s Flea, we should go pay her a visit,” Dink suggested.

  “My nose isn’t as good as yours, but I’d side with you on this one. Let’s go,” Axion agreed.

  The pair descended the road to intercept the convoy. Seeing their approach, Flea hurried to the front. She ran ahead to speak with Dink as the convoy rolled to a stop, the miners staring warily at the tattoos covering Axion’s body and the great axe resting on his shoulder.

  “Dink, I tried to tell the owners that the eggs belong to a wurm. That only increased their greed. Wurm’s haven’t been seen near the surface in more than a hundred years. They fled ahead while having us transport the eggs. I remembered what you said about their sense of smell and thought that smoke was the best way for my men to stay alive,” Flea hurriedly explained.

  A deep rumbling roar of rage echoed out from the underground mine. The magnitude of it triggered vibration through the ground. The miners slapped the horse's flanks while shoving Flea and Dink to the side. They cast pale glances over their shoulders as they broke into a run.

  “The best way for your men to stay alive would have been to leave the eggs where they were. Axion commandeer us the last wagon, we’re going to need it,” Dink directed.

  Axion nodded, his mana tattoos flaring to life. He moved with supernatural speed past the first three wagons, arriving in front of the last one in line. He raised the great axe in both hands while dropping into a combat stance. The miners ahead of him froze in terror after being confronted by an Attuned, adding to Axion’s enormous stature.

  “I’m going to need that wagon,” Axion stated simply.

  The pair of miners enthusiastically nodded, abandoning the driver’s seat. They gave him a wide berth as they rushed to catch up with their companions. Dink saw a couple of them wait for their arrival before they all continued with the convoy. Only Flea remained behind.

  “Go with them. It’s too late now, Big mama has already found the empty nest,” Dink said, gesturing after the convoy.

  Flea nodded, recklessly running to catch up to the last wagon and hauling herself on board. She sat and watched from the wagon bed as it crested the hill. Dink jogged to join Axion at the wagon. The workhorse struggled against the reins as Axion attempted to turn it toward the mine entrance. Axion gave an annoyed sigh before unhitching the horse and slapping its rear.

  “Yah! Get out of here! Sigh, the horse can smell the wurm. Looks like I’ll have to do it,” Axion said, hitching himself into the harness.

  The pair watched the panicked horse escape far into the distance in the opposite direction of the convoy. Before it could escape, a colossal creature erupted from the ground, swallowing it whole.

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