Grand Saint Alloy

Exiting the stewards office was a relief, though Tristan was faced with a very different, but vastly more desirable issue. He was the center of attention and would need to explain how he was even alive. That would be difficult without explaining the concept of kern breaking. While he was not opposed to telling most of the people here, Lesly and Helen still made him wary.

Conni led them towards a building near the edge of the River Caldera. On his way back out, he was no longer suffering from exhaustion and most likely hypothermia. He was still tired, and the fever was still there, but now he had the presence of mind to look around.

The River Caldera was very different from the Forest Caldera. All of the mud homes were better maintained and larger, sporting multiple rooms. The average wealth of the citizens was also higher, judging from the quality of their clothes. Tristan knew that the Forest Caldera was wealthier than the River Caldera, however, the income was generated by a few large organizations there, while here it appeared that every worker was their own business.

Bruce finally turned and made eye contact. There was something hard in them, an anger that had been absent before, “If you survived, how about dad?”

Lesly seemed to want an answer as well, but Tristan was hesitant to tell them, “Are you sure you want to know?”

Bruce nodded, “Please we have to know, tell us everything.”

Solemnly Tristan nodded, “All right, Eve probably told you how he fought and defeated the elite warrior from the Lake Caldera. Well, he did not run when an elemental lord calling itself Ajax emerged. This creature could control metal, he picked Henry up using his armor and then taunted him while he tortured Henry to death. He wanted him to die with regrets and succeeded. Henry’s elemental is now part of an elemental lord traveling with Regis.”

Bruce did not look surprised, it had been the obvious outcome, he asked a different question, “How did you survive then?”

“Well, I got my heart torn out, Conni’s actually holding it in that box over there, and I will die if it does not get put back,” Tristan said, “I won’t say that I have survived quite yet.”

Everyone except Conni looked at the box. He already knew what was in the box, as Vulcan had already told him about the contents. Conni smiled at Tristan, “I am told to say, he is totally not a necromancer.”

Tristan would have glared at Vulcan if he was not currently in a different plane of existence, he decided to explain, “I was able to use metal essence like the elementals do to keep blood flowing, but I still need it replaced soon,” Looking at Eve he asked, “I was hoping you knew someone who could handle that.”

Eve looked unsure, “Maybe, though I don’t think any of them has ever healed something like this.”

“How do they go about healing?” Tristan asked. He knew light kerns made healing available at tier four, but Tristan was sure Henry had been the only tier four with a light kern in the Caldera.

“Doctor, herbalists, and other people specialized in healing spend their whole lives healing. They die and leave behind an artifact designed to alleviate certain ailments and injuries, over the generations enough artifacts have been collected to deal with most issues,” Eve explained, “It’s why you will never find a healing artifact for sale. It either goes to the elder’s physician or the ramparts to assist the warriors against the beasts.”

Tristan was disappointed by the knowledge. He had been hoping for a healer who could just put him back together. What Eve described was much more logical than the Elders having a second secret tier four stuffed away in their vaults. Still, it was Tristan’s best chance.

“That is less ideal, will I be able to meet the healer or is it off limits for outsiders?” Tristan asked. He had never heard of these healers when he was younger. While the Forest Caldera did not have one because of Henry, Tristan should have still met one. The fact he hadn’t made him believe there were intended to be a secret.

Eve sighed, “I don’t know, my grandfather has the final say. Do you have anything to trade for the service?”

“Information. I woke up at the bottom of the elemental’s construction site. Is that good enough?” Tristan was not sure how important the information he had truly was. He had not seen the ground level after all, for all he knew there was a full blown castle above the surface.

Eve shrugged, “Maybe. Let me go talk to him, and tell him the information, it will be much easier for me to spin it in a positive light if you aren’t there.“

Tristan frowned, he knew he was not the most congenial of people, but was it so bad that near strangers would be aggravated? Maybe, he had caused issues for every person he worked for or with. The only one who was an exception was Luke, and only because he was more aggravating than Tristan was.

Tristan explained the situation in the pit. How it was being converted into some sort of hive, the arches being built over the top and the general state of the slaves. The Lord of the Underworld was not cruel to those who obeyed, but he was also not paying them or giving them the option to leave, that was betrayal after all.

Eve nodded, then waved goodbye to Lesly and Bruce before jogging off into the city.

They made it to the building the miners and Conni were staying in. The group had filled the large building. It was a two bedroom home, making substantially larger than most of the other buildings in the River Caldera. Still, most of the floor space was taken up by bed rolls and a small gathering of tents had popped up outside.

Grace was trying to cook dinner while avoiding a small tribe of children ranging from three to ten who always knew just how to be in the way. Everything was pure chaos, Tristan took a long look around and decided that if he had to stay here he would be sleeping outside, snow or no snow.

“So what now?” Tristan asked.

Conni held up the box, “We need to talk about how you managed to get to tier three while we wait for Eve to get back.”

EVE

Eve dashed through the streets, heading towards her family’s estate. She was wearing mythical beast leather armor as opposed to the formal robes that one of her station normally wore. After traveling through the plains, fighting ghost crabs, and elite warriors, and running from elemental abominations, the thin layer of sturdy leather gave her comfort. It also made her look like a wealthy bodyguard.

Merchants and pedestrians yelled at her when she cut them off. She always said sorry, but she needed to move fast. The artifacts Tristan had stolen for her had actually managed to push her most of the way through tier three. All the artifacts were tier three, and while she could use tier threes to get through tier two, it made more sense to leverage her family's wealth to buy the cheaper artifacts.

All this is to say, Eve was very fast. She made it to the estate where her grandfather was holding a meeting with the head families of the four remaining free Calderas. While the meeting was important, Eve had no interest in participating. The older men in there would not appreciate the opinion of someone as young as she was and she would never make these decisions in the future. That odious task would fall to her future husband, which was fine with her.

She knelt on a pillow set just off to the side of the door. Seats were not built into the reception hall, and chairs tended to scratch the soft marble. Thick pillows were the solution the estate’s staff came up with. Several other people were waiting, all of whom moved down a spot to make room for Eve at the head of the queue. She nodded her thanks and took her place.

Eve sat for about an hour. Messengers brought current information and new developments in real time. Most of the time they did not even bother shutting the large double doors before delivering their messages. Eve was surprised to find that the crab plague had not been dealt with, they were fewer in number but were more than a match for an experienced warrior now. Elemental lords had also been spotted on the plains to recruit or kidnap warriors. It was a real hellscape on the plains.

She fiddled with her rings while she waited, she had two one from Kerri and one from Tristan. The first was simply a sign of her duty and station, the second, she wasn’t sure. All she knew was that it was the first genuine gift anyone had given her since her sister was taken. Tristan had claimed it was to help him get through the plains, but she and Bruce had talked afterward. Both believed that even at tier one Tristan could make it through the plains more safely by himself than with a group.

The door finally opened releasing the head families and their retinues. Most were giving orders, or running ideas past their advisors. The fact that they were not pale or despairing was a good sign. They were sure that they could win despite what was stacked against them.

A few minutes later, a doorman stepped out to invite the first person in, “The first may enter. Oh, Mrs. Eve, welcome.”

He led her inside. Elder River was sitting at a table with a stack of documents, looking utterly exhausted. The eighty year old man would not live much longer at this rate, that was most likely why he was desperate to marry off Eve. He needed a successor the people could respect.

The elder’s face relaxed when he saw Eve, “Ah, and what can I do for my granddaughter today?”

Eve smiled, “Good evening, grandpa. I have both a message and a request from a friend.”

A sad look wrinkled his face, Elder River sighed, “I’m sorry, I can’t.” Eve was not sure how he knew what she wanted, a confusion that his next statement cleared up, “Kerri made contact with the temple, if I provide healing to the silver devil, it will fracture the people. That cannot happen now.”

“Why?” Eve said, “He doesn’t even participate in the weekly services?”

“He donates quite a bit of money, and…” Elder River’s eyes dropped to the ring on her right hand. Kerri wanted to protect his property.

“Is there anything you can do?” Eve asked.

“The best that I can do is lend a single artifact, and only if the information is truly valuable, it won’t be public, and the healer will not be notified,” Elder River said.

Eve’s hope was popped like a bubble. There were artifacts for bone growth, organ repair, and even ones for damaged hearts, but they were all separate artifacts. If the heart was repaired, blood loss would kill Tristan in seconds, if anything else was repaired they would not even be able to put the heart back where it was supposed to be.

Elder River rubbed his chin as if he was in thought, “I think it is time we trim the fat from the Caldera.”

Eve cocked her head at the odd statement.

“You know, the best warrior is a well fed one, a hungry man can’t hold a spear,” Elder River said. His tone suggested it was a leading statement.

Eve stopped and thought. Her grandpa could not help her, so he was giving her hints that would allow him to honestly say he did not give her what she needed. Food, fat, hunger, how was that relevant?

Eve jumped out of her seat when she connected the dots, “Give me the best artifact that assists with healing malnutrition!”