As a part of Laryn’s efforts to ensure the kingdom was running well and growing effectively, made the rounds, checking in on everyone.

  Kenna had taken over the management of food production. She’d simply stepped into the role, and nobody had questioned it. Since they were working at the fire pit near the kingdom core, Laryn felt he knew what they were doing.

  He had a list of ways that they could improve their process, but before he started working on that, he wanted to make sure there wasn’t anything else going on that was more pressing.

  Laryn sought out Thallon, who he hadn’t seen in a few days. He felt bad about it, because Thallon’s broken leg was partially his fault.

  When he reached the forge, he realized that the man had been busy coordinating the building of his forge. Low stone walls—open on two sides—surrounded a work area, and a sloped roof provided shade and protection from water. A huge furnace burned within, glowing red.

  Smoldering piles of mud nearby were burning wood down to charcoal to feed the furnace, and one of the Orfswell men worked a bellows.

  Laryn watched as Thallon worked. His splinted leg hampered him, but he still managed to move around. He extracted a small crucible from the flames. It glowed red hot, a small pool of molten metal at the bottom of it. Thallon tipped the crucible, pouring some of the metal onto a flat stone.

  With a pop, the crucible cracked. Beads of metal splattered down, and Thallon cursed.

  The bellows worker wiped his brow, stepping back from his work.

  “You were right, Mat!” Thallon said, peering at the cooling metal. “There is gold in there.”

  “We found it just days before the void overran everything,” the Orfswell man said. “There’s more of it up there, I’m sure of it. We were going to be rich!”

  “What’s that?” Laryn asked, entering the forge.

  Thallon held up a small chunk of the cooling metal, pinched between a pair of wooden tongs. “It’s gold,” he said. “A tiny bit of it, but still gold. Mat found some ore, and suspected but never had a chance to investigate.”

  “That’s great news. We’ll have to look at extracting more of it.”

  “How can I help you?” Thallon asked, turning to Laryn.

  “First I just wanted to know what you were working on. I can see that you’ve put a lot of effort into building this forge,” Laryn said.

  “Yep,” Thallon nodded, smiling proudly. “I even included an integrated bellows, and a nice space here where I can sleep.” He gestured.

  “Is that the best use of our time?” Laryn wondered aloud, and Thallon looked hurt.

  “A forge is essential!” he insisted. “And besides, what else am I working on? I can only make so many void-carapace armor sets. Also I’m working on getting more smelting in place, so we produce iron, bronze, and,” he picked up the small lump of gold, tossed it in the air, “gold!”

  Laryn nodded. “I didn’t mean that critically,” Laryn said. “I think you’ve done well. I also want to pick your brain,” Laryn continued. “We’re getting close to expanding the kingdom again. When we reach Tier Four, we’ll show up on a regional map. Are there more settlements like yours in the wildlands? Who’s attention are we going to draw when we make that leap?”

  Thallon scratched the back of his neck.

  “There were a lot of people, trying to set up villages in the wilds,” he said. “I don’t know how many succeeded. We tended to avoid them, though we did a little trade with Orfswell.”

  “What about goblins, or elves?” Laryn asked. “Any large settlements?”

  “Just Grekhol, the goblin warrens, as far as I know,” Thallon said. “But that’s north west. Not sure about the elves.”

  “Why didn’t you set up trade?” Laryn asked. “You could have made the trip to Townshold; they’re large enough.”

  “We used everything we produced,” Thallon said. “We hoped to be able to trade, one day, but Jardensvale was just scraping by. We needed everything we had. It wasn’t like this.” He gestured with his hand. “That’s an amazing kingdom core, you know. We get so much more done with all that influence.”

  “I know,” Laryn said. “I’m worried about someone trying to take it from us. We were close enough to a fight with the elves.”

  “If I may,” Mat cut in. “I know of a few other settlements. None of them could have grown as large as Vallor, I don’t think, but in Orfswell we were recently visited by a group from somewhere. I forgot the name. They were demanding that we swear fealty in exchange for protection, or something. I wasn’t part of the conversation. I just know that Orf laughed them out of town.”

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  “Something to keep an eye on, then,” Laryn said. “There could be ambitious men with small kingdoms dotted about.”

  “Unless they all fell to the void,” Mat said with a shrug. “Which is possible.”

  “But you haven’t had trouble with the goblins recently?” Laryn asked.

  Both men shook their heads.

  “Good. That’s what I wanted to know. Now I need to find Gall.”

  “Wait,” Thallon said. “We should do something about this gold. You want to establish trade? Let’s mine more of it. Mat got this from a hole in the ground near the cliffs to the north.”

  “That’s right,” Mat said. “I think goblins used to mine gold along there.”

  “We should send someone out there,” Thallon said. “Scout out the mines better, see what’s there for the taking.”

  Laryn nodded slowly. “Near to the pass?” he asked. Townshold sat south of the Ebil river, atop the Ebil plateau to the east. The plateau ended in the sheer cliffs, over which Laryn had plunged on that fateful day.

  As far as he knew, the only convenient pass back up onto the plateau lay somewhere to the north east. He’d been meaning to send someone that way to find the best route from Vallor to Townshold.

  “There were holes along the base of the cliffs for several miles when I was there,” Mat said. “We didn’t go as far as the pass, but I would have to guess it’s the same.”

  “Let’s get out there and scope it out. Mat, can you head that up? Take Hober and Ollen; check in on these abandoned goblin mines and find a good way to get from Vallor to the Townshold road. Can you leave tomorrow?”

  Mat nodded. “I’ll go get some things packed up. We’ll take horses?”

  “Of course,” Laryn said. “Keep your eyes peeled for void as well.”

  Mat hurried off.

  “This is a great idea,” Thallon said. “We never managed to get much trade going with Townshold back in Jardensvale, but with gold, we’ll be able to bring in all kinds of valuable goods.”

  “I’m hoping to bring in more people,” Laryn said. “We need more manpower.”

  “That too,” Thallon agreed.

  Laryn left Thallon to his work, and went to find Gall.

  He found the man near the north bridge. He examined the underside of the structure, and emerged when Laryn approached.

  “What are you working on, Gall?” Laryn asked.

  “We’ve been rigging up a quick release,” the man said. “I’m not really an engineer, but Rimba had this great idea. Come on out, Rimba, and tell Laryn how it works!”

  A dirty girl emerged from under the bridge. She wiped her face, smearing the dirt on her forehead. “It’s a bit cramped under there,” she said. "But I think it’ll work.”

  “What will work?” Laryn asked, turning to the young woman. Her hair was straight and dark, pulled back from her face by a headband. She wore the long brown dress woven of rough burlap, which was somewhat too small for her.

  “Oh, my quick release for the bridge. We’ve just adjusted the knots and anchoring over here, so that cutting through this cord here,” she gestured to a length of rope at the side of the bridge, “will send the whole thing crashing down into the water.”

  She looked at Gall. “I think we should keep an axe right here, so there’s something to cut it quickly in emergencies.”

  Gall grinned. “Not a lot of spare axes lying around, but we can make sure that whoever’s on guard has something sharp.”

  He turned to Laryn.

  “Interesting,” Laryn said. “Good idea. I like it, as long as there’s not a risk of the bridge collapsing while we’re using it. That cord looks thin…”

  “No chance,” Rimba said emphatically. “It’s not a weight bearing rope, it’s more like a cotter pin. Bridge is as stable as ever.”

  Laryn nodded. Having a built in weakness was something that an enemy could use to their advantage, but the ability to quickly drop the bridge was worth that risk.

  “Good work,” he said, and Rimba beamed.

  “I’m going to get to work on the north bridge!” she exclaimed. “Working with all this influence is really fun.” She jogged off through the woods.

  Gall watched her go, smiling as she left.

  “How old is she?” Laryn asked. “A bit young for you?”

  Gall blushed, and shook his head. “Not like that,” he said. “She’s helpful. And creative.”

  “So how are the other defenses coming along?”

  “Well, we have about two dozen people on the island who could be helpful in a fight. A few of the women from Orfswell are decent with the bow, and most of their men. We’ve got a lot of good archers, though they’re more used to hunting than warfare. So I figure that against any attack, we’re better off cutting a bridge and picking the enemy off as they try to cross the river.”

  “Makes sense to me,” Laryn said. “What else?”

  “I’m training our people with spears.” Gall hefted his own weapon. “Thallon’s been making some for me, tipped with voidling spikes. We’re practicing tactics for stopping or taking down larger voidlings. But…”

  “But what?”

  “Well, I’m sure it’s nothing.”

  “It’s not nothing,” Laryn said. “Tell me. I need to know what’s going on so I can successfully run this kingdom.”

  “Just some of the Orfswellers aren’t as helpful as I’d hope they’d be,” Gall said. “Dragging their feet. Refusing to participate in some of the trainings. It’s not a problem, really. I’m sure we can work it out.”

  “Okay,” Laryn said. “Keep me posted. I’ve had some training on dealing with recalcitrant recruits.”

  Gall nodded.

  “What are you doing about threats from human enemies?” Laryn asked. “Or magical attacks?”

  “Humans?” Gall asked, surprised. “Who?”

  “Vallor grows, Gall,” Laryn said. “We’re going to reach tier four soon. We’ll be added to the regional map. People will know we’re here.”

  “Why would they care?” Gall asked. “They never cared about Jardensvale or Orfswell. We’re just another small settlement out in the wildlands.”

  “We have something,” Laryn said. “Our kingdom core is very powerful. Vallor is still small, but growing rapidly. We represent a threat to some, and an opportunity to others. We might be hard to reach right now, but I’m hoping to change that, by opening up trade routes.”

  Gall nodded gravely. “Well, I’ll take that into consideration. We’ll want better armor, and fortifications. Fighting organized enemies is very different than fighting voidlings.”

  “Work up a plan, and bring it to me. And remember that we can’t just protect our island. There are other valuable parts of the kingdom, like the elven core that we claimed from Annar.”

  “Of course,” Gall said. “I’ll get my plan to you.”

  Laryn sighed, wiping his brow as he left Gall to his work. He needed parchment, and a quill or something. The academic challenges he’d done in the Temple of Ishtoran were nothing compared to this. He wanted to get his thoughts sorted, so that he could give out better advice to everyone, and make sure things were staying coordinated.

  Perhaps it was time for him to form a council, and require regular meetings and updates, to help him stay on top of things.

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