She looked up and saw a small hole in the ceiling. It was too small for a person to fit through, although it was perfect for a chimney. Well, at least the air problem was solved. As for how to get out without accidentally hitting the sewers, hot steam, or volcanic vents: Robin would need to carefully consider things.

"Hmmm..." Robin frowned.

------------

Behind a line of carriages in the shop for repairs, Christian appeared, being spat out of a solitary slime. It then transformed into Quinn. Christian landed on his feet, but almost fell over, as he had landed on a wooden dowel meant to become a wheel spoke. Christian quickly hopped onto solid ground.

"Where are we?" Christian asked.

"The second circle. This was the closest one to the earthquake site. If we follow the stonemasons, we should be able to reach there quick enough." Quinn replied.

"Right." Christian nodded. At that point, a crowd of dwarves carrying large hammers and chisels hurried past the entranceway.

"See? What did I say?" Quinn smirked.

"Don't just stand there! Let's go!" Christian called back as he ran out the door.

Quinn sighed. "So hasty. Does he not have confidence in the hero's plot armor?" Then he laughed. "What am I saying? Even if Robin doesn't have plot armor, she's skilled enough that she can probably deal with it on her own."

Shaking his head, Quinn followed after Christian at a more leisurely pace.

----

Ayva scowled at the stonemason who had reported to her. "Yer saying this was designed this way? Ta just cave in like that?"

"The rubble is too orderly ta think otherwise." The stonemason said. "Look at how level et is. if'n et were an accident, then there'd be an uneven-ness where some parts'd be deeper, an som part's be higher. Also, the edges around the collapse are too clean. Not ta mention the signs of pickaxes on the walls there. If'n et isn't a collapsible tunnel, then Ah'll eat me own boots."

Ayva was quiet for a moment. Then she asked in a somewhat less confident voice.

"Say...What are the odds of a body being buried under all of this?"

"Well-" The stonemason was interrupted by Christian arriving upon the scene, rus.h.i.+ng up to the site.

"Ayva, please don't tell me that Robin is underneath that. He's just helping out somewhere else in the second circle, right?" Christian asked, trying to reign in his growing sense of panic.

"Alright..." Ayva replied slowly. "Ah won't tell Ye. Ta be honest, Ah'm not too sure where Robin be right now. As fer that there rubble..." She turned to the stonemason. "About what Ah asked ye earlier?"

The stonemason shook his head. "If there was a body then there'd still be a sign of uneven-ness. Collapsed tunnels are meant ta interlock in a way as ta completely fill the area underneath. a body would mess with the equilibrium of the interlocking. If'n he be down there, then he's not in tha tunnel."

"So, at tha very least, we can rule out death by collapsed tunnel." Ayva sighed. "Where are the plans fer this area?"

"According ta my records, this stretch of land be under King Throm's brother, Lord Thorn." The stonemason scratched his head. "All of the areas under his lands are handled by mah second cousin's company. So I'm not in possession of tha blueprints."

"Oh, by the king's crown!" Ayva scowled.

Christian felt relieved, though still somewhat worried.

"Perhaps he isn't even under there?" Christian asked, hoping that was the case.

"Nonsense! Robin comes up here for the first time ever, and all of a sudden there's a coincidental cave-in? Robin's definitely involved in this." Quinn quickly shot down Christian's false hope. "But, odds are, sh-he's probably still alive."

Ayva's scowl deepened as she glanced over at Quinn. Was he also aware of Robin's situation? She narrowed here eyes.

"H-hold on!" The stonemason waved his arms hoping to stave off Ayva's displeasure. "Ah said Ah don't know what be underneath, but Ah reckon if'n there be a pa.s.sageway, then there be somewhere the hallway be leadin' to. There's bound ta be a room or something at tha end of et!"

Ayva's scowl lightened as she turned back to the stonemason. "Yer sure?"

"Positive! No lord would only make a pa.s.sageway without even a room at tha end! No stonemason'd join in making such an obviously flawed design. We take safety seriously." The stonemason a.s.serted.

"The only question be, which end be the entrance, and which be the end where the room be?"

------------

Robin then got an idea. She brought out a bobbin of tent repair string and a couple of bra.s.s horns. She didn't know what they were supposed to actually be used for, but necessity is the origin of invention.

She invoked fire and magma shaping spells. The two horns were quickly fas.h.i.+oned into two daffodil-shaped metal cups. There were tiny holes in the bottom of these cups. Robin threaded the tent threads through, and double knotted it to make sure the thread stayed attached.

If someone from earth saw them, they'd look like the speaker piece to an old fas.h.i.+oned wall phone. Now all that was left was to safely get it up to ground level. Robin looked up.

Then she had an idea. She tapped her belt. Bobble, who had stuck with her like glue ever since being attacked, popped up onto her shoulder.

"Bobble, Can I ask you to deliver the other end of this up through that hole to ground level?" Robin asked, showing it the metal daffodil. "I'd be grateful if you could make sure the string doesn't snap either."

Bobble thought about it for a moment before bobbing out a yes. It reached out its tendrils, engulfing the metal bauble before shooting out a transparent thread up towards the hole in the ceiling. It then shot upwards. It disappeared up the hole, the thread trailing behind it.

"I hope I have enough thread." Robin mumbled, glancing at the dwindling pile that she had unravelled from the bobbin.

--------

"You're dwarves! You're acknowledged to be the fastest stoneworkers in the land. Why can't you just dig him out?" Christian asked.

"Et's not that simple. Before we even start digging, we need ta be a.s.sured o' where everything is. Otherwise, if'n we should accidentally block off an air vent, that Robin o' yours might suffocate." The stonemason shook his head.

"We could also end up accidentally opening tha sewers or even worse. We could open a steam vent and release poisoned gas. Not only will et endanger us dwarves, but yer friend wilnae be able ta escape et neither. Tha's why we need ta be extra careful." He explained carefully.

"Where is that cousin of yours?" Ayva asked impatiently.

"Second cousin." The stonemason corrected. "An' he should be here in tha next five minutes as tha special blueprints as always placed in a secure place as needs time ta unlock."

-----

While Christian and Ayva were busy badgering the head stonemason, Quinn was walking around the perimeter of the collapsed area. After a while, he heard a strange sound like metal striking onto something.

Glancing about, he soon noticed movement outside the perimeter. It was in the area opposite Ayva and Christian. A clear tendril was extending out of a metal grate, as if trying to get through, yet held back by something.

"Ho?" Quinn felt his interest was struck as he walked up to it. The slime had a strangely shaped metal object nestled within it. This object was connected to a string that vanished down into the darkness behind it.

The slime could easily get through the grate if it only let go of the metal daffodil. But it refused to let go of the bauble. Quinn recognized the shape of the item.

"You are one of Robin's charges, aren't you? Bobble, was it? Move away. I shall remove this obstacle for you." Quinn smiled as the slime removed itself from the grate. Then his arm turned transparent as it stretched and engulfed the offending grate.

It vanished as if it had never been.

"It is okay now. You can come out." Quinn moved aside as Bobble hopped out of the hole, still holding the bra.s.s cup.

------

Robin looked up at the other end of the makes.h.i.+ft telephone dangling two feet above her head. "Turns out it was a little short, huh." She sighed.