but men detour

Alex tossed the rock in his hand and stood back up, "Are you sure this was an abandoned quarry? It's barely a cut in the earth."

I didn't say it was big, only that it was abandoned. It all happened before I was born so I don't know any of the specifics, only that it is here, and abandoned."

"It looks like they barely started anything. I wonder if one of the financiers died and the project was canceled."

"Don't know. Do you think we can use it?"

Alex scratched his hand and crouched back down to pick up another rock. "It's bedrock. The dwarves carved their deep roads through the stuff. It's much harder than most stones you can find on the surface, but it can be used for everything from engineering to artwork. It's almost a shame to use it for building material, it's worth much more as decoration than it is as a fortress."

"But you can make a fortress out of it?"

"It can be done, yes, and the hardness on the stone is superior to all others, but it's also difficult to mine without the proper tools. Fortunately I happen to be acquainted with a dwarven mining clan and they'll have the tools needed."

Raven did a little mocking dance in place, "Oooo, look at me. I'm Alexander Lionheart, I've been hiding in my own shadow for a decade but I'll still use my connections to get fancy things."

Alex threw the rock he was holding at Raven, who took the shot in the middle of his back.

"Oww," Raven spun around with minor indignation, "If you don't mind, the jester is trying to mock the hero right now."

Alex chuckled, "Don't turn your back on those you mock."

"I thought we were friends."

"We are. An enemy would have thrown a knife."

"Small consolation for my spine."

Alex surveyed the area again. Realistically this area wasn't exactly defensible just yet. The desert practically ran smack into the side of a cliff face, and the Giages rose steeply for a dozen meters at a time in a very rapid to their full heights. The cliffs themselves would be very treacherous to decent in a raid, but simply dropping the cliffs would be enough to make everything below the falling rocks into a **** zone.

But the bigger problem was the distinct lack of water in the area that would prevent any sort of sustainable establishment.

(There are caves in the cliffs, Master.)

Alex looked up, he couldn't see Demon on the ridges but she had said she wanted to scout above them. (How many?)

(So far I count two of them. One of them looks natural.)

(And the other?)

(Smooth, very smooth. It was either carved by hand or a lot of water rushes through this one every year.)

(I don't see any signs of a waterway or a splash area down here.)

(I don't see one from up here either, although I can smell water in the opening.)

(We should probably have a look at it, where are you at?)

A loud mewing was the answer to his question.

"I thought she was scouting the area?"

"She found something." Alex said scampering in that direction. Raven fallowed behind.

Following the intermittent mewing the two men climbed the rough terrain to were Demon sat outside a hole in the rocks large enough for a man to crouch into, but like she said, it didn't look natural. The opening was almost rectangular and was too constant in size and shape going back into the earth. It lacked tool marks or any of the other tell-tell signs of being carved deliberately.

"That's weird." Raven remarked.

"It smells like water in there." Demon explained, "I'm guessing that someone found a natural waterway and decided to make a full aquifer during a dry season."

Alex looked down the hill, "I don't see anything that looks like a water run out."

"I can't tell how old this hole is. If there was a shift in the earth a fissure might have changed the water course down a new path."

"Maybe." Alex gazed back into the deep, "Either way we should investigate deeper into this. We'd need a water source if we want to try building some sort of establishment here anyhow." Alex dropped his pack and dug around for some of his armor cleaning rags, knotted them tightly around a branch and lit them with a small spark of magic.

"Ooo, sweet trick." Raven nodded.

Lifting his pack back onto his shoulders Alex replied, "You have no idea how long it took me to be able to do that much magic. It takes more than talent, you also have to understand how the spell works and be able to visualize it with fine clarity. A random stray thought can obliterate your own spell which makes magic very hard to learn. I completely lack the capacity to cast magic in the heat of battle, but I've learned a few minor spells that have some decent utility outside of combat."

"Must be nice to not need a flint."

"Flint is good for more than just lighting fires, so I still have one."

"Interesting." Raven motioned to the low tunnel, "After you."

Alex nodded and crouched into the tunnel, squat shuffling forward by torchlight. Behind him a black cat and blood raven followed.