"You mean to say that you thought your paralysis is natural?"

A shocked silence came in between them like a thunderbolt. Finally, Thorn stroked his black beard with a shaking hand. Then he opened his mouth.

"You mean to tell me that it isn't?"

His gravely voice became lower as he now openly stared at Robin with an intense gaze. No one, neither doctors, nor magicians who specialize in curses could even discover that he could not walk. Each gave him a complete bill of health. How could this newcomer know so easily what he had spent five years trying to secretly resolve?

"I'm sure you've heard of my actions at the stone gambling market." Robin hinted. She could see that from the knees down, a familiar clear mana had locked the legs in place.

"So, fer some fiendish reason, Ye can see et clear as day, huh..." Thorn sat back in his chair. As a strange emotion washed over him, his dwarvish accent came through that much thicker.

"There were only three people who knew of et before ya. The first was tha culprit, tha second be tha one 'as taken care of me all this time....an tha third 'un be mah father. An' now you...." A piercing gaze fell upon Robin as he fixed his pale blue eyes on her.

"An it was on account of these worthless legs o' mine that that blaggard of a half-breed was made king instead of me."

"So to get back at your half-brother, whom you suspect of poisoning you, you sacrifice the innocents of the city for the 'n.o.ble cause of revenge' huh." Robin rolled her eyes.

"If I wasn't certain that it wasn't poison you had that was locking down your legs, I'd have feared it had gotten to your head instead."

"Ya don't know anythin-"

"I KNOW ENOUGH!" Robin cut him off. "I know enough to see that you are the daftest fool of a half-wit I have ever seen. But you are too caught up in your revenge game, your racism, and your blasted self pity to even care! The burden and honor, the very glory of a king- itself- lies NOT in how many foes he defeats, but in how many of his people he protects!"

Thorn's face twisted. No one had ever scolded at him like that for a long time. Even Ayva had long given up scolding him after he had lost feeling in his legs. Of course, that was because he had stopped seeing anyone after losing feeling in his legs.

Robin narrowed her eyes at him through her mask. It had been a long time since she had been so angry. But this proud dwarf's pitiful excuse of a reason had brought out her inner fire.

Then she smiled. If Christian or Keith had seen her, they'd have recognized that smile. It was the same one she gave when she spoken with the Trader.

Then she spat out the words that she knew would silence his nonsense.

"Your father did not overlook you for the lack of feeling in your legs, but for the lack of brotherhood in your heart. A dwarf that can abandon his people in a moment, cannot become the heart of the dwarven people. For all of dwarven stubbornness, their hearts are not made of cold stone. Yet in you, it seems there is found an exception."

Indeed, Thorn did fall silent after that. Robin stood in the doorway, while Thorn sat in his chair. A fire crackled in the hearth, despite the well-heated underground.

"...Well then. Aren't you here to arrest me?" Thorn asked.

"You can't use your legs now. where would you go?" Robin replied. "Wouldn't you hate for your little caretaker to die when she ambushes me from above? or are you truly so cold-hearted as to care nothing about her?"

Thorn's eyebrow twitched.

"I have two eyes. Perhaps you should have thought twice before placing a mirror above the mantle. She is entirely visible from where I stand." Robin chuckled, remaining in the doorway.

"What a pity. And I had such high hopes. But it appears our conversation is at an end." Thorn sighed, as he pressed down upon the gem in his ring. "I suppose I will see you later. That is, if you don't get squashed of course."

At that, the very room itself, walls and all, vanished into a point in s.p.a.ce and disappeared, leaving Robin in darkness. She snapped her fingers, creating a floating light to examine the area. It was as if someone had chiselled the room out of the very granite itself. All the furnis.h.i.+ngs, even the fireplace was gone.

At that point, Robin started hearing a rumbling sound down the hallway behind her. She paused and looked back, when she noticed the sound was getting louder, and closer.

Her eyes widened. And she quickly threw herself forward into the empty box as the stone pa.s.sageway behind her collapsed. It seemed she was trapped.

Robin coughed, and covered her nose and mouth with her arm as a cloud of dust filled the room. She stood up, and used a spell to gather all the dust into a pile at the center of the floor.

"It seems we will meet again. Though next time, poisoned or not, I will still punch you on your pretentious face." Robin sighed as she examined her stoney prison.

--------

The entire city could hear the stones beneath the ground s.h.i.+fting, as a nearby stone maze collapsed in upon itself. Luckily no dwarf was inside when it did happen. The residents of the 2nd circle, though, were all somewhat alarmed, as they lived near it.

Ayva had been nearby, and rushed over to see the long maze reduced to rubble, and fallen twenty feet under ground level. However, Ayva felt suspicious about the collapse. It was too neat to be a normal cave-in. Almost as if it were done on purpose.

She also began to feel a sense of mild alarm as Robin was nowhere to be seen.

"Get me the map of these grounds! including the underbelly now!" She yelled out. "And get some workers to start excavating. There might be a person trapped down there!"

'Robin, girl, I hope yer okay.' Ayva worried.

--------

Robin frowned. She had been down here for a while already, and the air didn't seem to be getting any thinner. She eyed the collapsed rock where the doorway had once stood. Then she lifted her hand and tried to draw air through any possibly hidden air pathways. But there was no airflow coming from the collapsed doorway.

Robin eyed the walls around her. There was airflow, yet not from the way she had come in. That meant there was possibly a hidden exit somewhere. She closed her eyes and opened her magic sense.

--------

--------

"What was that?" Christian asked, standing up in alert.

"By all indications, it seems like it came from the direction of the 2nd circle, where Ayva and Robin went." The four at the table turned to see Quinn also sitting at the table, drinking from a mug of ale.

"Can you get us over there?" Christian asked, recalling Robin's talk with him.

"Physically? Yes. Legally? no. Regardless, wouldn't you be arrested the moment you stepped foot up there?" Quinn pointed out.

"Are you allowed up there?" Christian asked.

"..Yes."Quinn said after thinking about it.

"And isn't Robin the one paying you with food? If he's in trouble then who will pay you?" Christian pointed out.

"That is indeed a good reason for me to go, though I fail to see why I should bring you along?" Quinn calmly said, watching Christian stare at him. Despite his n.o.ble upbringing, Christian had strangely dropped his n.o.ble mask of feelings completely, and was like an open book.

"What do you want?" Christian asked, his determination outweighing his suspicion at this point.

"What can you give me?" Quinn asked with a smile. It was rather fun to see the suave prince charming to completely lose his cool.

"...My portion of the choklat when Robin makes it." Christian offered across the table, "Do we have a deal?" He held his hand out for a handshake.

"I think....." Quinn paused, then leaned in a bit closer. "...that you have yourself a deal."

Quinn took Christian's hand in a firm handshake. Then Quinn's hand melted into a slime blob which sucked both in at such a quick speed that none of the dwarves noticed. What remained, landing on the table, was a round slime that slipped a tendril into Kenneth's pint, emptying it when he wasn't looking.

"You didn't go with them?" Fairy Elise asked Jasmine.

"Of course not! Someone needs to keep an eye on this drunkard." She pointed to Kenneth. "And I'm not giving up even a bite before I get a taste of that choklat."