ALL NOVEL Chapter 682 – Into the Tunnels
“Most nations had some sort of centralized layout, where their government and military were focused in a central region to their territories. Barring a few exceptions where such was not the case due to tradition or the like, this was something done by nations of all races, mostly out of efficiency and pragmatism.
A central location allowed for forces to be sent out to any other region equally swiftly, and was most convenient for looking over the territory as a whole, which led to the setups most commonly seen these days. Even the more feudal setups where each noble ran their own territory was but a microcosm of this very same model, just done in a more local fashion.” - From a lecture by Garth Wainwrought, Professor of Socioeconomy for the Levain Institute for Higher Learning, circa 603 FP.
“Just take the main tunnel, don’t go into the smaller side ones, stay with the big one all the way, and you’ll reach the next cavern over,” said the dwarven guard as he gave Aideen’s group directions to the next cavern dwelling further in the Kingdom Down Under. Aideen’s group had stayed in the first cavern for a good week and built some rapport with the locals over that time so everyone treated them nicely by then. “Sure you want to go on your own, though? We keep the tunnels pretty safe, but you never know when some vile beasts might cross it, or more disgusting things than beasts, even.”
“We can take care of ourselves, mister,” said Eilonwy confidently with a smile on her face. She knew that the guard was just doing his duty, and while the underground kingdom was safe, accidents and misfortune still happened from time to time. It was harder to keep underground creatures and monsters away compared to the ones above ground after all. “Also, what do you mean more disgusting things?”
“Suit yourself, lass,” said the guardsdwarf with a shrug of his shoulders. “And I refer to bastards who bring shame to their beards and should’ve been shaved bald all over. Scum of the society who lurk in the unused tunnels and prey on travelers if they thought they could get away with it. If our city wasn't always so short on guards we’d have gone out and dug them out of their holes already. Then we would parade them around town after they are shorn.”
“I guess every society has their outcasts and criminals after all, huh?” noted Celia with a nod. Due to her unfortunate past prior to becoming an unliving she was always a touch sensitive about such topics. “I take it that their hideouts are also harder to find here in the underground.”
“There are probably a thousand side tunnels between here and Orsginnad alone, lass,” said the guard as he named the next cavern over. “Some are still in use, but there are many that are made by either passing creatures or fell out of use like old mineshafts left unused. Trying to search through all of them with just the few people we have is an impossibility.”
“Understandable, I guess. It’s bad enough above with forests, but underground it must be even harder with all the tunnels,” offered Rhys.
“You don’t know the half of it lad. All too easy to connect two or more side tunnels together. Any time we try to root the scum out, only the fools get caught. Any with half a brain would lead us around in a wild molechase instead, so all we get out of the ordeal is a lot of sweat and tiredness. Oh, getting scolded by our bosses too. That’s why we can’t really bother to hunt the smart ones who kept things small and otherwise stayed quiet out there.”
“That said, there has been a marked increase in incidents targeting visiting foreigners like you all, though, so I’d still advise caution when you’re out there,” said the dwarf one last time as he opened the gate to the tunnel.
“Noted, good dwarf. Thanks for the warning,” said Aideen as she led the group into the gaping maw of darkness that the tunnel seemed to be. The dwarves had not bothered to put much if any lighting in the deeper tunnels, since it was very rare for non-dwarves to step foot there. Aideen brought a couple enchanted lanterns with her that allowed them to see their way in the darkness, though.
The light from the lantern illuminated the tunnel they went through and revealed to the group how the whole structure was cleverly built. There were plenty of supports to keep the tunnel from caving in, with redundancy that might have seemed excessive, even. Given how the guard emphasized that they sometimes got underground beasts or monsters that might pass through and damage the tunnels though, it made sense to build the supports that way.
After all, the dwarves always tended to be a people that doubled down on preparation and prevention rather than attempting to get things done as quickly or cheaply as possible. When faced with the issue, they built more safety measures and redundancy amongst the load-bearing areas instead, ensuring that the tunnel would not collapse barring truly catastrophic damage.
It was a nice change of outlook compared to the often more short-sighted humans that Aideen had sometimes seen do things with the thought that it only needed to hold on “for a while” without much consideration for the future.
Other than the visible bits of support structure on the walls, the tunnel itself was clean and featureless. The “ground” was stone which formed a smooth surface but not so smooth that it would be slippery and difficult to walk on. The tunnel itself had a shape that was more like a rectangle with rounded edges than a circle, clearly one the dwarves created for transportation purposes.
The process to create such a tunnel must have involved thousands of dwarves over many years, given the distance between the two caverns. There were even designated rest areas – with cleverly designed latrines – every five kilometers or so for travelers to rest after a day’s journey. It was a roughly three to four day journey to the next cavern through the main tunnel, so such areas were needed.
Aideen’s group had a smooth first day of journey and covered a good fifty kilometers or thereabouts, stopping to rest at the tenth rest area they encountered. Along the way they also crossed paths with a couple convoys headed to the cavern they came from.
