428 Kilot's Infectious Laughter

The last day of travel took the group across a forest, a plain, then finally to a mountain range to the east, where they continued on foot. The Wyverns would have been too flashy so they sent them back to the Mech residence - a decision they soon came to regret as Kilot guided them to the base of a mountain. Hundreds of ancient, stone stairs ran up the mountain like a spine.

"Have I ever said how much I hated stairs?" Elero asked, looking up at it all.

Doevm shrugged: "We might blend in with the dense population, but that is once we are inside the mines. We cannot afford to make a memorable entrance and stand out. The Wyverns had to go."

"I was speaking in the past tense," Elero said. "I'm much better now." To demonstrate she skipped to his side, her jet-black hair bouncing behind her as if caught off guard by the sudden shift in her mood.