Chapter 263: To Stonegate.

"It’s early!" Lee heard one of the guards complaining. He clearly was upset, even grumpy."Who cares! Move! We need to get out of the way!" Another one said, and Lee pulled Lieve forward, deeper in the tunnel, following the guards that began to rush forth.

He would’ve loved to ask how deep the steamrunner went, or what the train station looked like. He also had no clue how many wagons were there, or how were they divided between cargo and passengers.

The upside was that his and Lieve’s existences were likely forgotten, at least for now.

Running along with the rest of the guards, the two passed the true reason why no one was capable of infiltrating the underground hub. There was a check-post where along with the regular guards was stationed an elderly man.

He sat there at the side, seemingly asleep, but Lee guessed that was an expert elemental lord, dressed as a regular person, but engrossed in meditation. Noticing the ruckus he opened his eyes, but realizing what it was about, closed again a moment later.

Lee’s guess was that the guards ran for around half a mile until they arrived at a larger hall, resembling a metro station. Fortunately, the steamrunner arrived right after and no one had time to pay attention to the two illegals. Within moments the place was swarmed with people pushing two wheel carts and a bunch of others who began to unload the cargo cars.

Meanwhile from four passenger cars over three hundred people flooded out. The best course of action was to mix in the crowd, but Lieve pulled Lee in the opposite way.

"This is Clampden." She whispered, "We need to go Stonegate first to get to Driftpost."

"You do realize I’ve no clue what you’re talking about?" Lee helplessly said.

"Shut up and get in the steamrunner." Lieve said, "It’ll depart soon."

"Don’t we need tickers, or something?" Lee asked.

"It’s free." She said, "And the food is free. But you better eat and like it!"

Throwing careful glances around, Lieve guided Lee into one of the passenger cars. Inside it was divided into smaller compartments, each likely meant to seat four to six people. It didn’t have a window, but a protective formation on the wall with few embedded stones that illuminated the place.

Lee’s guess was that it had something to do with the spatial storms, but remembering his experience, he prayed they wouldn’t run into any on the way.

The moment the last cargo box was unloaded, the tide shifted. Boxes of smaller size, but visibly heavier, were brought to the station under strict supervision of the guards. Now there were few clerks present who registered the cargo, carefully counting it over and over.

"Very few people are going back to Stonegate." Lieve explained, "As much as I don’t want to return there, we have no other choice."

"I take it’s the central hub?" Lee asked, and got a nod for an answer.

"How long does it take to get there?" He asked.

"From Clampden ... probably half a month." Lieve said, and Lee felt like giving her a good spanking.

How was it better to spend a half month on a train compared to finding a spatial spark in the place they had successfully infiltrated?! It was way easier to remain hidden in a place where thousands of people lived compared to a closed space full of bored people.

"Oh? Hello there!" Lee was proven right a few moments later when a couple, probably at the age around fifty, entered their compartment. The woman, probably wife, was the one who greeted them, and Lee knew he’ll have to suffer from migraines for days. With one look one could tell she had an oral diarrhea.

"I was so afraid we’ll be the only ones on the steamrunner! Didn’t I say so, Alfons? I did, right?!" She said, "After the cave-in, very few people have time to travel. I’m Minnie, by the way. I’m so excited ..."

Lee would’ve much more preferred to suffer the excruciating agony he felt after swallowing a spark than spend a day with her in a closed up space, but fortunately Lieve turned out to be an expert conversationalist.

Apart from introducing them and mentioning her brother Lee was mute and loved leatherworking, she managed to keep the conversation focused entirely on Minnie and her endless list of problems for over ten days. All of them were imaginary, of course. Even as they were getting off the steamrunner upon arriving in Stonegate, she still had only made it half way through talking about them.

Lee felt like his ears were bleeding all this time, but it forced him to focus on crafting better clothing for himself and Lieve. Minnie’s husband, Alfons, for the duration of the ride kept staring in one point, except for the happy interruptions when the food was brought.

The main upside of them meeting was Minnie buying half of Lee’s crafts he made on the way. To avoid any conversations, he kept cutting and sewing every waking moment, in the end completely running out of pelts, but his products also became increasingly better.

The chatterbox happily hoodwinked her two companions by buying the items for half a price, but Lieve was glad to give everything away, effortlessly acquiring some local currency. The only things she and Lee kept were the new pieces they changed into, and now they walked out the Stonegate steamrunner station looking like genuine locals.

From the first glance it was clear that Stonegate was incomparably larger than Clampden, the hub they infiltrated. It was basically a city and if not for the stone ceiling far above, one might not tell they were underground – so spacious it often was.

Of course, it was rather dark – the place was covered in twilight. The only source of light were the many illuminating stones embedded all around the place, making it look like the city was bathing amid stars.

Most buildings were two or three story tall, built from dark rock, but there was some housing carved directly in the cliff or ground. Because of the lack of visibility it was hard to tell directions, but Lee’s guess was that after spending some time here he could get used to it.

Walking the narrow streets of Stonegate he finally understood why everyone wore thick pelts. It was freezing below the surface, even for him. Contrary to the surface, though, it was safe here and there weren’t any spatial storms. In addition, no matter the job, any employed person here grew rich within the span of few years.

Of course, the mortality rate was also through the roof, and thousands of people arrived to fill the vacancies. Migration was strictly controlled and the only legal way to enter Hollowreach was through the rift gate in the middle of the underground city.

It was clear that Lieve knew the place well. After inquiring about the next steemrunner to Driftpost, the hub where her friend lived, she led them to an establishment, a large alehouse-style place, packed with patrons.

Instead of ale or wine, people here drank something called ironbite – a distilled alcohol, but still murky and yellowish in color.

Obviously, it was meant to fight off the bone-piercing cold and, from the looks of it, consuming ironbite in large quantities was the second favorite entertainment around here. The first one, a game named Slapshot, actually included drinking it.

They barely entered the tavern when a well built man, completely wasted, stomped on Lee’s foot, immediately took offense, and challenged him to a round.

Without waiting for a confirmation, he loudly ordered a set of ironbite, that turned out to be two sets of five cups filled with the drink. Then he pulled out a coin from his pocket, and tried hard to focus to toss it.

"What’s happening?" Lee asked Lieve.

She sighed and said, "He’s trying to find out who’s starting the game."

"Game? What are the rules?" Lee asked, uneasy about what was coming.

"Drink and slap!" The drunkard answered in Lieve’s stead.

He finally managed to toss the coin and afterwards catch it, and happy with the result, said, "I’m starting! Get ready!"