I also toured the copper mines, which were vast and nearly beyond my ability to adequately describe. It’s the pride and joy of the Hold. Each chosen area to mine was built out in the shape of a terraced bowl, beginning at the bottom, and then it spread out in ever-widening circles with ledges or terraces for dwarves to work and walk upon. They explained to me that they dug spiral pits just like they did with gems; however, they would find the lowest part of the deposit and then dig it out using an upward mining technique and gravity as a tool. The lowest spot is not the most recent part of the mine as they dig down; it was the oldest part below the deposit, marking the lower boundary for this particular vein of ore.

  There had to be dozens of potential quests located in those dark and foreboding zones.

  I was also honored to tour the gem cutters' halls and learned that the key which Master Druella presented to me gave me access to their lower levels, where only masters ventured. It was their treasure room that was filled beyond description with precious gems and jewelry of every make and kind.

  The masters who were present all wanted to see me work with some of the stones and gems. They each came forward with one choice from their own collections for me to inspect (and praise their quality) and to pull out a rare power for them.

  With great patience and a lot of questions, I spoke to their gems and drew out an ability from a flawless gemstone for each and every master present. I did not once complain or ask for something in return. In fact, I did not even think about the value of what I had done until resting alone for a few minutes after a short meal at Doric’s home.

  We laughed and joked about gem powers and bonded around gemstones in a way I had never done with my fellow humans. Dwarves understood stone at a far deeper level and with more respect than the other races. True, they also coveted their gems, which was maybe too prideful, but the one trait seemed to accompany the other for them.

  For me, I just loved gemstones like they were a part of me.

  It was during one of the last gemstones, a 42pt flawless topaz, that I discovered something else about my powers. If there were magical casting points stored in a gemstone, any gemstone, I could tap into them. In fact, I could also add my own casting points to it for storage later.

  The topaz was made by this master for a dwarven elementalist and a brother of his who died in the mines defending against reavers, a nasty pack scavenger that could mass in overwhelming numbers. His brother had burnt them out, but at the cost of his own life. This gem was used to help save the lives of others, and the master gemcutter kept it as a reminder of his mage brother’s sacrifice.

  The mage had some casting points remaining in it, and I tapped into it when I entered the gem, almost by nature. I shared with my fellow masters what I had discovered, and that opened another entire round of challenges where stone after stone, gem after gem was presented to me until, laughing, I said I had to return to preparations for travel.

  But the results proved that I could tap or store casting points in any stone or gemstone properly prepared according to one of the magical gemstone cuts.

  That suggested enormous potential reserves for me. I needed more powerful offensive and defensive spells, but such a reserve, given the gems I carried, could amount to hundreds of additional casting points.

  I also learned from them that there was a taboo on magically cutting stones into any size larger than 28pts. I suspected it had to do with the instability that Grandmaster Sage Thaddeus Aurelius Harper warned me about in the capital. There was an upper limit on stones, but I found a wide variety of special and strange abilities in the stones they brought to me. And the same stone type, but from a different location, always had a unique and very rare feature while sharing some common ones as well. It was fascinating.

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  The main gemcutter’s work hall above the master’s treasury was three times the size of my main hall at my shoppe. It had seven rows lengthwise that were continuous stone tables and benches. Each was carved out of the solid stone floor. Hundreds of dwarves worked at their own stations from acolytes and apprentices at the far end of the hall to grandmasters near the front. They joked, saying it was designed so the young, who were best suited to walk, and the grandmasters, who were best suited to sit, had their own places.

  Many of the halls and rooms were connected with a kind of rail system that allowed them to move people, raw material, and finished product from place to place with relative ease. They claimed that there was nothing else like it in all the realms. Only the Dwarven Holds had these, and the rails even extended, through guarded checkpoints, between the great Holds themselves. However, dwarves seldom traveled to other Holds. Like the abandoned halls, there were stories about monsters in the deep that rested in the vast dark places between the holds.

  And, of course, I toured the forges where I was invited to make Dwarven Copper rings. Master Copperheart led the group, and it was a team effort rather than a test. They laughed when I did not know how to use a simple tool of theirs and marveled at my skill with others. I was accepted among them like a lost cousin, which, in a sense, I was.

  I was presented with a set of my own master’s tools at the end of the session, and with the exception of one simple, newly crafted tool used for scraping and collecting excess molten metal, they were all quite old. They shared that these were the tools of former cousins spread out among new masters to keep the tradition going from generation to generation.

  Interestingly, I was also taken to a branch of The Bank of The Realm, and I was able to access my personal magical vault just like I had the day I inherited all of Sundance’s memories and had my shoppe created by the masters. What a worthwhile investment that turned out to be for us all.

  I was given a special key by the Dwarven director of the bank that allowed me to access this version whenever I pleased. He explained that I could enter my vault in Keelwell, conduct my business, and then, before opening the door to depart, if I touched the door with this key, when I opened the door, I would be here. It was a very rare but magical way to move from one bank to another. He admitted that it is kept secret from all except royalty and a privileged few. The king had insisted that I be granted a magical vault if I did not already have one so that I could utilize this peculiar feature of the bank system.

  Given the discussion by the bank director in Keelwell, I had hoped for something like this.

  Both directors also insisted that the keys could never be truly lost. I could summon it to me from anywhere, and it could only be used by me. Their explanations about this feature were nearly identical, although I was not asked to throw the key down the hallway at the Dwarven hold bank. The rest of our conversation was interrupted by a summons back to the Welcoming Chamber for a meal with the King and a small chosen number of honored guests. The king promised that we would hold a celebration at another time, but the Hold was focused on fulfilling its obligation to me and Keelwell.

  After the short meal, there was no time for tours of the silver, gold, or platinum mines. They were said to be significant, but on a scale far smaller than their copper and gem operations. The king did award me a personal suite of fourteen rooms in the royal section of the Hall. They were quite impressive. The hot and cold running water was literally that. Streams passed through the bathing and ablutions chamber. One was fed from hot springs and another from an underground river. It was an engineering marvel that did not rely upon magical elementals for the water to be heated or cooled. The Hold was filled with wonders, and I wished I could stay for weeks to explore, adventure, and learn.

  By the time the twenty-four hours were up, I was exhausted but elated.

  But the surprises were not over. Four dwarf Masters approached with a young dwarf girl dressed in what I had learned were apprentice forge garments, mostly for protection. Three were the masters who had traveled to visit me in Keelwell: Grandmaster Doric Copperheart, Master Galena Warmforged, and Master Saldrock Anvilblade. The fourth master, and the one in the front, was Grandmaster Jonjar Copperheart, Guild Master of Forging, a kind of guild master of guild masters that included all forging guilds. Apparently, he was of the same year and therefore brother to grandfather Doric.

  They stopped before me. “Master Ringweaver,” Grandmaster Jonjar began, “please allow me to introduce you to your new apprentice.” He ushered her forward. “This is Olvar Therian Ringweaver. She is a bit young to be accepted as an apprentice, but she shows amazing promise beyond her years, much like her new master, and she is your sister.”

  I looked at her. Her eyes were huge in both fear and pride. It was my place to speak first, and so I did. “I accept and welcome you, sister.” And then I recalled the words that Sundance said to me and that were burned into my memory as a first impression of him. He spoke them in Trade Speak so I would understand, but in Dwarvish, they sounded almost musical to my ears.

  “By my honor, you will be sheltered. By my forge, you will learn. By my blood, you will be protected. And by your sweat, you will toil.”

  The masters all smiled widely.

  Grandmaster Jonjar remarked, “The old form of taking an apprentice. I heartily approve. And we thought we would surprise you, speechless!” And the masters all laughed.

  I joined them. “You definitely got me, grandmaster. But the words of my own master were imprinted upon me on my day of acceptance as an apprentice, and those were his words to me. They have a special place in my heart.

  My grandfather beamed with pride.

  “Get your pack,” the guild grandmaster told my apprentice. She bolted down the hall and around the corner.

  He turned to me and said, “She won’t be long. It is customary to leave their belongings behind a ways in case a master refuses. It gives them just the right edge of fear to dull the arrogant pride of acceptance.”

  The others nodded in acceptance of this practice.

  Since we were alone, I asked, “Masters, would it not have made more sense for me to apprentice a gem cutter, given my special expertise?”

  The guild grandmaster stroked his beard. “Yes, that was a counterargument that Druella made passionately.”

  “For several hours, in fact.” Master Warmforged confirmed.

  “Our wisdom and counsel are our own, however.” The guild grandmaster remarked. “However, if you wish to disown her-” He added.

  Hopefully, I looked appropriately appalled at the idea. “I have given her my vow!” I said more loudly than intended.

  He lifted his hands and looked back over his shoulder. “Easy lad, easy. Don’t splinter rock. I was honor-bound to ask.” And then he grinned again. “But I see you are hooked, and that is what we hoped for.”

  “Well, okay then,” I said. Not knowing how else to respond.

  They smiled and winked among themselves. What was I getting myself into?