The curled form in front of the fire lifted its head to blink at him, it was Murkuk. He nodded in affirmation before putting his head back down, tinuing to enjoy the fortable heat. Axion cpped his hand on Dink’s shoulder, turning him toward the door. Diantly followed, his expression heavy. The wife-pair silently watched him leave on the verge of tears.

  Outside, the street was filled with people ing up debris from the most ret earthquake. Gng behind him, Dink saw that the Rusty Bde Inn appeared pletely intact. The buildings surrounding the inn were not as fortuhe masonry wall of a house across from him had colpsed, allowing him to see the family ihe thatch roof of the house beside it had imploded. Shifting his attention to the rest of the street, he saw many others buildings simirly affected.

  “This is just the beginning. When the wurm gets here, its mouth alone will be able to devour a building whole. I hope you’re ready for this, Axion. Once we’re underground, we’ll be in its territory,” Dink solemnly said, looking to Axion.

  “Let me just give Betsy a kiss goodbye. Then we go,” Axion lightly replied, walking to the stables. Dink followed behind, lost in thought pnning his approach.

  The wurm’s hide is like armour. I don’t think my trusty bastard sword will be enough to break through its skin. I ’t tell Axion this, but his job is just to keep the bsted thing in the area. He’s going to effectively be the bait while I deal with the beast. I’m going to have to carve my way through the soft and squishy parts.

  Dink dreaded his pn as Axion hurried to Betsy’s stall. He was g softly while making kissy faces at her. He scratched under Betsy’s muzzle, she flicked her tail in te with hee-haw. After he was satisfied, Axiorieved his axe from its mouh the driver’s seat of the cart parked nearby.

  Darby came rushing out from inside ay stall to iigate when he heard Betsy’s bray. Seeing Axioing the great axe onto his shoulder, Darby lifted the pitchfork he was holding in answer.

  “What do you he axe for?” Darby suspiciously asked.

  “I thought I might save you a chore and chop some firewood for you. Got a problem with that?” Axioed.

  “Not at all. A mighty axe such as that should work mighty fi cutting twigs. But you know what they say, It’s not the size that matters. It’s how you use it,” Darby mocked, gng Axion up and down with a jealous smirk. He turned baside the stall and resumed mug it out.

  Axion snorted in amusement while signalling to Dink that he was ready to go. The pair left the courtyard out onto the street. Dink she air to locate the dire of the mine. He frowned after he discovered the smell of the eggs was masked by the st of smoke.

  “They better not be doing what I think they’re doing,” Dink said out loud, walking in the dire of the smoke.

  “The smoke?” Axion asked. Dink silently nodded in agreement.

  He led them through a warren of damaged houses until they reached the outskirts of Burrowton. In the distahey could see the opening of the underground mihey increased their pace, arriving at a hill overlooking their destination not long afterwards.

  Dink could see miners surrounding a voy of fons, holding something burning thick, bck smoke. The sturdy workhorses drawing the wagons were ag agitated because of their tents.

  “It seems we got here just in time. Look at those wagons. I’d wager uhose tarps are the wurm eggs. There’s Flea, we should go pay her a visit,” Dink suggested.

  “My nose isn’t as good as yours, but I’d side with you on this one. Let’s go,” Axion agreed.

  The pair desded the road to intercept the voy. Seeing their approach, Flea hurried to the front. She rao speak with Dink as the voy rolled to a stop, the miners staring warily at the tattoos c Axion’s body and the great axe resting on his shoulder.

  “Dink, I tried to tell the owhat the eggs belong to a wurm. That only increased their greed. Wurm’s haven’t been seehe surfa more than a hundred years. They fled ahead while having us transport the eggs. I remembered what you said about their sense of smell and thought that smoke was the best way for my men to stay alive,” Flea hurriedly expined.

  A deep rumbling roar e echoed out from the underground mihe magnitude of it triggered vibration through the ground. The miners spped the horse's fnks while shoving Flea and Dink to the side. They cast pale gnces over their shoulders as they broke into a run.

  “The best way for your men to stay alive would have been to leave the eggs where they were. Axion andeer us the st wagon, we’re going to ,” Dink directed.

  Axion nodded, his mana tatto to life. He moved with supernatural speed past the first three wagons, arriving in front of the st one in line. He raised the great axe in both hands while dropping into a bat stahe miners ahead of him froze in terror after being fronted by an Attuned, adding to Axion’s enormous stature.

  “I’m going to hat wagon,” Axion stated simply.

  The pair of miners enthusiastically nodded, abandoning the driver’s seat. They gave him a wide berth as they rushed to catch up with their panions. Dink saw a couple of them wait for their arrival before they all tinued with the voy. Only Flea remained behind.

  “Go with them. It’s too te now, Big mama has already found the empty ,” Dink said, gesturing after the voy.

  Flea nodded, recklessly running to catch up to the st wagon and hauling herself on board. She sat and watched from the wagon bed as it crested the hill. Dink jogged to join Axion at the wagon. The workhorse struggled against the reins as Axion attempted to turn it toward the mirance. Axion gave an annoyed sigh before unhitg the horse and spping its rear.

  “Yah! Get out of here! Sigh, the horse smell the wurm. Looks like I’ll have to do it,” Axion said, hitg himself into the harness.

  The pair watched the panicked horse escape far into the distan the opposite dire of the voy. Before it could escape, a colossal creature erupted from the ground, swallowing it whole.

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