The rumor is confirmed the next day. A poster, nailed to the central pillar of "The Last Gasp" tavern, announces the recruitment. The Iron Claw Mercenary Company is looking for extra hands for a "high-risk mining expedition" in the Ash Pit. The pay is, as promised, astronomical: fifty gold pieces per person for one week's work. It's enough to attract every cutthroat and desperate soul in the Bastion. It is also an indicator of the danger. Such a salary means they are expecting losses.
I do not rush. I spend the day observing, listening. I learn that the Iron Claw is led by a man named Kaelen, a former knight of Kryndal exiled for insubordination, a high-level warrior and a ruthless tactician. I learn that their goal is to retrieve Ember-heart, a magical ore that only forms near sources of extreme volcanic heat, and is said to be found in the heart of the Saurian King's territory.
Recruitment is held at their headquarters, a small fortress within the Bastion itself. I show up late in the day. A long line has formed. Warriors in heavy armor, sharp-eyed archers, mages in frayed robes. It is an impressive gathering of raw power. I feel small and insignificant with my single dagger and leather armor.
When my turn comes, I am ushered into a room where a massive man, undoubtedly Kaelen, sits behind a table. He has the weathered face of a veteran, a short gray beard, and eyes of a blue so pale they seem to be made of ice. He pays me no attention. It is a young woman sitting next to him who speaks to me.
She is perhaps barely older than I am. Her hair is jet black, cut short, and her intense emerald-green eyes are filled with a keen intelligence. She wears no armor, but a simple mage's robe, and a light wooden staff rests against her chair. She is beautiful, but with a beauty that seems dangerous, like a flame about to become a wildfire.
Analyze.
Name: Lyra... no, Lyanna.
Level: 14
Status: Curious
Skills:
[Fire Bolt (Active)]
[Mana Barrier (Active)]
[Magical Analysis (Passive)]
Her name comes to mind, then corrects itself. A strange resonance with the little girl from Whisper-Rock, but it is just a coincidence. Level 14. She is far more powerful than I am. Her Magical Analysis skill perhaps explains the intense way she is looking at me. She must sense something unusual about me.
"Name and specialty?" she asks, her voice clear and precise.
"Reinhardt. Hunter. Stealth."
She writes my name in a ledger. Kaelen finally looks up from his maps. He sizes me up in a second.
"A kid with a toothpick. We're not hiring scouts. We have what we need. We need front-line fighters. People who can take a tail swipe from a Saurian without breaking in two."
His tone is dismissive, final. It is a refusal.
"I'm the one who killed the harpies in the hills," I say, my voice calm. "Alone."
The news has gotten around. Kaelen's expression doesn't change, but I see a flicker of interest in Lyanna's eyes.
"Two harpies don't make an Ash Saurian," Kaelen grunts.
"Give me a chance to prove my worth," I insist. "I'm not asking for full pay. Just a place on the expedition. I'll be useful."
Kaelen is about to send me away, but Lyanna places a hand on his arm.
"Wait, Kaelen. There's something about him." She turns to me. "You seem fast. And confident. Too confident for your level."
She can sense my level? Her skill must be more advanced than what my Analyze can perceive.
"We need people for the dangerous tasks," she continues. "Advance scout, diversion, bait. Missions where the chances of survival are low. If you're willing to take on that kind of role, we can take you on a trial basis. No guaranteed pay. You'll be paid based on your performance. If you survive."
It is an insulting offer. The role of the sacrificial pawn. But it is also a way in.
"I accept," I say without hesitation.
Kaelen shrugs, clearly unconvinced, but he lets Lyanna make the decision.
"Very well, Reinhardt," she says, finishing her writing. "The expedition leaves at dawn tomorrow. Be at the main gate. Don't be late."
I leave their headquarters. I have my spot. The worst one, but a spot nonetheless.
The next morning, the Iron Claw caravan is an impressive sight. Some thirty heavily armed mercenaries, a dozen dwarven miners with their equipment, and several sturdy wagons pulled by large, thick-skinned beasts of burden. It is a veritable small army.
I find my place at the rear, with the other new recruits and support staff. Lyanna comes to see me.
"You came. Good." She hands me a small metal object. It is a brooch in the shape of a claw. "This is our insignia. Wear it. It will identify you as one of us." She looks at me with her piercing green eyes. "I am Lyanna, the company's second-in-command mage. Don't disappoint me, Reinhardt. I don't like to be wrong about people."
She walks away to rejoin Kaelen at the head of the column.
The journey begins. We delve into an increasingly desolate landscape. Plains of ash, rivers of warm mud. The Ash Pit is a volcanic region, a scorched and hostile land.
During the journey, I mostly keep to myself, observing the company's operations. They are professionals. Every man has his role; discipline is strict. It is very different from the army of Kryndal. Here, skill takes precedence over birth.
Lyanna intrigues me. She is young, but she has the authority of a veteran. The mercenaries respect her, not just for her magical power, but for her intelligence. I often see her poring over maps with Kaelen, planning their route.
One evening, as I am on guard duty on the camp's perimeter, she approaches me.
"You're quiet," she says. "That's a good quality for a scout."
"I learn more by listening than by talking."
She sits on a rock near me, her staff resting on her knees. "Kaelen still thinks you're a risk. He thinks you're too young and too frail. I, on the other hand, think you're hiding something. The energy that emanates from you... it's not normal. It's... hungry."
My blood runs cold. She can feel it. Her magical sensitivity is incredible.
I do not reply, my face a mask of neutrality.
She does not press me. "Don't worry. Everyone has secrets in the Bastion. It's what makes us interesting." She looks up at the sky, where a blood-red moon is beginning to rise. "You know, what we're looking for, the Ember-heart... it's not just an ore. It's an artifact. A legend."
"An artifact?"
"Yes. They say it's a fragment of the heart of an ancient fire god, trapped in the earth during a primordial battle. It contains immense power. Enough to power a city for a century, or to forge a weapon capable of killing a dragon." She looks at me. "But they also say it has a will of its own. That it chooses its wielder. Most who touch it are consumed by its power."
An artifact that chooses its wielder. Immense power. Gluttony vibrates within me, a low, greedy hum.
"Is that why you're taking such a risk? For power?"
"Kaelen wants the wealth and prestige that selling it would bring to the company," she says. "As for me..." She hesitates. "I seek knowledge. An artifact of this caliber is a unique source of magical knowledge. I want to study it. To understand how such a concentration of power works."
We talk for part of the night. She tells me about her studies of magic, her desire to unlock the secrets of the universe. I am fascinated by her passion, by the quickness of her mind. She is the opposite of Roxis. Roxis was light, duty, justice. Lyanna is fire, knowledge, ambition. And strangely, I feel closer to her, to her quest for power through knowledge, than I ever did to Roxis's idealism.
As dawn approaches, she gets up to leave.
"Reinhardt."
"Yes?"
"In the Pit, there will be no room for secrets. We will have to trust each other. I took a risk by having you hired. Show me I was right."
She leaves me alone with my thoughts. Trust. It is a word I have banished from my vocabulary. But as I watch her walk away, a slender figure in the nascent light, I feel that a part of me wants to try again.
The hunger for power is one thing. But the hunger for connection, I realize, may be even more primordial.