Chapter Fifteen: Underground Oasis

Dayn approached the large cliff, he examined the stone and after a while found there were holds carved in off to the westernmost side, he climbed up a ways continuing to inspect to make certain they continued.

"I found a way up" he shouted to the group as he continued to ascend, "Get back down here!" Zak shouted after him, "You're going to hurt yourself" A gleam of excitement lit up Ziri's eyes and she ran after Dayn.

Garrok looked at Zak, "Your child is a bad influence" he said a grin coming to his face, Zak rolled his eyes, Dayn wasn't his child but was planning to officially adopt him when they got back. He began laughing, he couldn't resist, an orc telling a human his child was a bad influence was just to ridiculous for him to bear, Garrok began to chuckle along with him.

"We better go after them or they'll be out before we make the top" he said in good spirits, Zak and Garrok moved to the rock face swiftly.

Dayn was nearing the top with Ziri right behind him when the elders made the foot of the wall, the thought of him hurting himself was silly, when he was a kid he was the best tree climber on the block. He chuckled at the thought, he was a kid again and this body was so much different from his own, the holds were well carved and easy to climb though so the risk of falling was slim, his hand finally crested the ridge and he began to pull himself up.

What they thought was a ledge from below turned out to be a large platform, to Dayn it looked like an underground oasis, it was well lit by varying colors of luminescent fungi clinging to the walls and the three massive natural stone columns which centered the area. He could see a grove of tree like mushrooms to his right growing alongside an underground lake, he moved further in and found that he was standing on a lush field of grass, not cave moss, but damp green grass.

Ziri made the ledge shortly after Dayn and had come to stand beside him, "Wow....this place looks even nicer then home" she said in amazement. The two ran through the grass excitedly, Dayn hadn't been on grass for what felt like days, and Ziri had never seen grass before, they came to a stop at one of the cavern walls where they noticed a partially concealed opening.

Dayn poked his torch into the cave and found that it looked like a comfortable den, on closer inspection of the walls he found they had a reddish orange tint, with small white streaks. Dayn ran his hand along one of the streaks it was a lot colder to the touch then the rock around it, Ziri walked in behind him, her eyes lit up, "These walls... have a lot of iron in them." Behind they could hear Zak and Garrok calling for them so they made their way back.

They told them about the small cave they found at the back, Garrok seemed quite impressed with the area, "We should make camp in that cave you mentioned" Zak announced, "I feel like we're nearing the surface now but we were travelling that tunnel for hours." Garrok still felt concerned about the Iron Orc from earlier but was confident it would take them a while to find where the group went.

Their camp was up within the hour, Dayn heated the last of their rations over an open flame just outside the cave where they cut away some of the grass, "We'll need to be out by tomorrow, we're out of food."

Zak looked around the area, "If we're not out we'll have to backtrack to this cavern, there's lots of natural resources to be made use of and if we're lucky that lake will have some fish in it." "Speaking of that, me and Ziri will be staying here" Garrok announced. It made sense to Dayn, they could travel for another several days and not find another place as suitable as this but he still felt a little disappointed.

"Don't worry" Ziri said slapping Dayn on the back hard, "If those dwarves spoke true its close enough for you to come and visit," That was true Dayn entered the mines frequently for work it wouldn't be strange to visit them while he was here.

"He's just a child Ziri, they wouldn't let him enter the mountains alone" Garrok said sternly, as Ziri began to look disappointed Zak interjected. "Actually he's in here quite a bit, he earns coin by cooking food for Sartann's miners," "I'm sure his parents would never allow such a thing" Garrok said shocked, "I don't have parents," Dayn replied "I'm an orphan."

Garrok looked at Zak, Zak shook his head in response, "They were murdered by Inquisitors when I was really young" he said nonchalantly, that was the first Zak had heard of this. Zak frowned, "You shouldn't tell people that freely, they'd kill you just for the accusation" he said, "It's fine, they're not gonna hear about it down here" Dayn replied, "Besides if they find out I can use magic they'll kill me for that as well."

After the awkward conversation they settled down for the night, Zak and Garrok were taking the first watch this time while Dayn and Ziri would have second, although it didn't go as planned this training exercise turned out much better then anticipated Zak thought to himself.

"That western tunnel over there looks like it'll take us to the surface in a few hours" he stated, "We'll be headed out first thing." Garrok nodded, "I hope the lad can visit sometimes" Garrok implored, "It will be lonely for Ziri without any friends" Zak looked at Garrok seriously, "I plan to adopt him in the near future." "He won't remain in Sartann for long, make sure you don't let Ziri wander up the west tunnel looking for him, that'll take her to close to civilization and I don't know what the miners might do if she's discovered."

The hours passed by Dayn and Ziri's watch was coming to an end when they spotted torchlight in the far west entering the chamber from the corridor, Dayn squinted to try to see more clearly. A squat muscular dwarf walked in, he had short salt and pepper hair with a big greying beard, a crossbow was slung over one shoulder and he was dressed in a plain leather tunic.

"Ambrose!?" Dayn said in surprise, he was the scout the miners kept around to check the outer tunnels for monster lairs coming to close to the surface. The man looked directly at Dayn and came bounding over, "Aye lad, what're ye doing down ere?" he asked his eyes wandered over to Ziri, "Found yerself another lass ave ye" he said chuckling. "What does he mean another!" Ziri said grabbing Dayn's cheek hard, "He's just teasing me" Dayn said frantically trying to get her to let go, "Ouch, it's not supposed to stretch like that" he said rubbing his cheek.

Dayn explained what had happened over the past several days to Ambrose, "Ye're friends should be fine livin ere, Iron orcs that close to the surface gonna be a problem."