“What do you think?”

  “Looks like the cities on Hobnit,” Newton said. “Just bigger buildings. Taller I mean.”

  I laughed.

  We stood outside the portal, which was now located on a small outcropping up the side of the mountain my home was built on. A hundred or so feet away, around the corner, but close enough that I could keep an eye on it when I was around and far enough away that once it started getting busy, I wouldn’t be disturbed.

  On the rare times I was actually home.

  The portal was now built into the side of the mountain, a stone arch around it. Heavily runed, with two armored guards standing on either side. The outcropping was decent sizes, with a low wall built around the edge.

  For people’s protection of course. It was pretty high up.

  The trail, a single wagon wide, snaked its way down the mountain and to the higher part of Solace Town. There were some stairs built between the snaking branches, making it a little quicker for those walking.

  The two of us stood at the edge, with a good view of Solace Town, Loch Ursa and the forests around both.

  “How far does your territory go?” Newt asked.

  Part of me wondered if he really was a deep cover spy. It was a lot of work to set up that kind of cover and he had taken the Clan Oath, leaving his old Ring Fellowship and joining the Solace Fellowship. So there were a lot of protections in place to prevent that kind of spying, but there had to be ways around that. Some of those Factions on Crossroads were millenia old and had to know all kinds of loopholes.

  I also wasn’t that big of an idiot. Contrary to popular belief.

  I’d made sure to put some protections in place when Newton made his Oath.

  Even with all that, it was still a bit hard to fully trust right away.

  “Our borders are about a thousand miles to the east, west and south and about five hundred to the north.”

  “Hostiles up north? Preventing you from expanding?”

  I laughed.

  “Naw. It’s just freaking cold up there. We pretty much control another thousand miles past the official border, just haven’t bothered claiming it yet.”

  “Thought you said the Faction was small.”

  “It is,” I laughed. “We’re probably third, maybe fourth, in overall territory and about the same in population.”

  I led Newton to the trail down, waving at the guards. They were dressed in the standard armor and uniform for Solace Fellowship Guards, and there were a lot of them. Leather pants with iron plates. Iron boots. Leather sleeves and chest with iron plates. Iron shoulders and iron gloves. All the iron was a dark gray color. It wasn’t Darkiron, which we did have some deposits of, but the stuff we had the most of in our mines was called Duskiron. Not quite as strong as Dark, but Dusk had some interesting properties.

  It was lighter and had some Arcanum resistance, which came in handy against some Essence Abilities. The bits of iron I had on my usual fighting gear was Duskiron.

  We’d also Arcanum-imbued the guard’s armor, giving it some more Resistances and benefits like strength and speed increases. Our guards were a force to be reckoned with.

  There was a helm that went with the whole set, but not everyone wore it. To finish off the ensemble, they wore a dark forest green tunic with the Solace Fellowship bear logo on it. The tunics had no special abilities. The two guards had swords belted at their waists and held halberds.

  Guarding the portal had to be a pretty boring assignment. I’d have to talk to Kat and Derek Horton, the guard captain, to make sure the folks on portal duty got some extra pay.

  It took some time but we reached the bottom. Maybe I’d have to have them move the portal again. It was pretty high up and once we got more traffic through, it could be a pain.

  But the climb also built character.

  Kat waited for us at the bottom with an open topped carriage drawn by a highland cow. Newton gave the cow an odd look, and it gave one back to him. The thing mooed contentedly as I scratched behind its ear. I’d found that highlanders loved that.

  I’d been a fan of the shaggy cows back before the System Integration and I’d been very happy to find out that they’d survived and there was a huge herd in the local area. We had some horses, but used the highlanders as beasts of burdens. The System had made them strong and tough.

  “You couldn’t have met us at the portal?” I asked Kat.

  “The walk does you good. It builds character.”

  I chuckled. Newton gave me a slightly confused look. He still wasn’t used to me, the big bad Faction leader, allowing my followers to talk to me that way. Sunie had given me the same look a couple of times. It seemed my laid back attitude was not the norm in the Multiverse.

  Just one more thing I’d have to change.

  “Newton Graceberry, may I introduce Katrina Anderson. She’s really the one that runs the Fellowship. My name gets to be at top, but she’s the glue that holds it together.”

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  Kat held out a hand, which Newton took.

  “Pleasure,” she said. “And welcome to Earth. You have the privilege of being the first offworlder on the planet.”

  “Unless Subudai brought someone over already,” I said.

  “Not according to our spies,” Kat answered.

  She led the way onto the carriage. I was a bit worried about Newton getting into it. He was small, but he managed. The carriage was nothing special. A driver’s bench, where Mac sat, two bench seats that faced each other in the carriage itself. A low wall in the middle with no door, step to help get in and out. It had some gold trim and stuff to make it a bit fancy, but overall it was just functional.

  “Nick,” Mac said as I took the bench right behind him.

  I’d clapped him on the shoulder as I sat down. He was a good man. Older. He’d been sixty when the System arrived and stayed looking that age. He was as fit as a man half his age though. Not an Adventurer, he was a fighter though. He’d served as a guard for a number of years. One of the first too. Guard captain for a bit, but then he’d retired and settled into being Kat’s bodyguard.

  Not that she truly needed one. But an extra set of eyes that focused on just security was pretty helpful. Mac thought of her like a daughter, so he took his job very seriously.

  “How have you been Mac?”

  “Doing good. How’s that alien world?”

  “Great. You’ll have to come visit.”

  “When Kat goes over, I’ll be there too.”

  “Good man.”

  He flicked the reins and the highlander mooed. It shook a bit before starting to walk off, pulling the wagon behind it.

  ***

  I couldn’t tell if Newton was impressed with the Solace Town Hall, and the town itself, or not. I hadn’t pressed him on information about his Faction and the cities there. That would come when he was ready to give it up. We weren’t going to force him.

  No matter what kind of advantage it might give us.

  Solacetown could have been a tiny village back on his world.

  He followed Kat and I into the Town Hall, up the steps and into one of the meeting rooms. Gunner was already there. A big man, bushy black hair and beard, heavily muscled. He was the stereotypical blacksmith. But he wasn’t just a smith. Gunner had been an engineer before the System and he’d turned that knowledge into a lot of Solace’s inventions. He was also an expert golemcrafter.

  He got up from his seat as we entered, walking around the table to look down at Newton. The halfling looked like an ant when compared to Gunner. But Newton didn’t back down. Gunner laughed.

  “What’s your name?” he asked, his voice deep.

  “Newton Graceberrry. And you are?”

  “Gunner Helmsley. Nice to meet you.”

  Gunner returned to his seat. Kat took the head of the table and Newton got up on one of the chairs across from Gunner. I went to the fridge in the corner, hoping Kat had stocked it. Opening the door I saw a six pack of beer. Kat had done okay. It was just a six pack. She should have planned on more.

  I pulled the six pack out of the fridge, closing the door with my foot. Setting it on the table, I pulled out a bottle and handed it to Gunner. The next went to Kat. She would have probably declined but knew it would be ignored. The third went to Newt, who looked at it funny. I hadn’t sealed the deal, when he’d given his Oath, with a beer. What was wrong with me? Taking the last one, I sat next to Newt.

  “Halfling huh?” Gunner said.

  “We prefer Puka,” Newton answered.

  “Noted,” Gunner said. “Apologies.”

  Newton nodded.

  “Kat tells me that you’re a crafter?” Gunner asked.

  Newt pulled one of his carvings out of his Inventory. Setting a wolf-looking carving down on the table, he sent a bit of Arcanum into it. The wolf started moving around, even howling a bit. Gunner leaned closer, watching the wolf. I could feel some Arcanum moving from him as he used an Ability to study the carving. He leaned back as the wolf came to a stop, out of fuel.

  “Shaping and Manipulation?” he asked.

  Newton nodded.

  “And you’ve only worked with wood?”

  “Yeah,” Newton replied.

  “How big have you gone?”

  If I hadn’t known what Gunner was talking about, I might have spit out my beer at that question. Kat gave me a glance, expecting me to say something crass. I just took another drink.

  “I think the biggest I’ve ever carved and animated was about two foot by two foot.”

  Gunner leaned back, running his fingers through his thick beard. We let him think. He looked at Newton as he thought. The halfling didn’t look away.

  “Yeah,” Gunner said, leaning forward, reaching out a big hand. “I think we can work together.”

  Newton gave a surprised look. I think the whole time he was expecting something horrible to happen. He’d taken a chance and life had beaten into him that he never got what he wanted. He’d been expecting there to be a catch to the whole thing. But we’d surprised him so far.

  He was a bit hesitant before reaching his hand out. Gunner’s much bigger hand engulfed his smaller one as they shook.

  “Awesome,” I said, holding my beer bottle out. “Let’s toast to new partnerships.”

  Newt watched, confused, as Gunner and Kat lifted their own bottles, bringing them to the center of the table. He copied the movement and all of us clinked glasses.

  I had a feeling bringing Newton into the Clan was going to have lots of benefits, and probably some negative ones when the Ring Fellowship found out what happened. But I was okay with that. Let them bitch and moan. I hated bullies and I’d deal with them the same way I dealt with all bullies.