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The Tunnels themselves were rather difficult to miss. There were three of them, right in a row, and they were so massive that Hector wasn’t sure they qualified as tunnels anymore, particularly because he could see buildings inside them. There were restaurants, gas stations, a few office buildings, and even what looked like residential housing. Sure, they were a bit crammed together--some being partially embedded into the walls or serving as a foundation to an immense support column--but Hector could still hardly believe his eyes.

Most of all, though, Hector admired the vast inlaid stonework. Perhaps it was because he’d recently been trying his own hand at construction back at Warrenhold. The sheer volume of individual bricks that lined the walls here astounded him.

The Elroys observed alongside him, though did not seem particularly surprised. No doubt, they had already known of this place or even been here before.

Garovel offered Hector some context in private. ‘The Lyzakks made these tunnels. You remember them, right?’

‘Your people,’ said Hector.

‘Yep. The Waress Mountains stood between them and the Armans. But instead of going over, they punched through.’

Hector scratched his head. ‘So I guess these were servant-made?’

‘Servants in conjunction with slave-labor.’

‘Oh. That’s... kind of horrible.’

‘Yeah. It was a different time. A time full of shitheaded motherfuckers.’

‘Mm...’

‘Not that we have a shortage of those nowadays.’

‘A tunnel seems like a dangerous way for us to go,’ said Hector. ‘It’s, um... like, a pretty obvious funnel point, isn’t it? I mean, won’t the Vanguard be guarding it?’

Garovel shook his head. ‘The Waress Tunnels are more than just the three you see here. Just in Sair alone, they number in the hundreds. The Vanguard would have a hell of a time trying to block them all. But yes, in the off chance that the Vanguard picked one of these three, Dimas has taken a scouting party ahead.’

‘Ah...’

From their vantage point atop a southern bluff, Hector could see all the different roads convening in front of the Tunnels. It seemed like some kind of major intersection, what with all the directional signs about, but there wasn’t very much traffic to speak of. Only a handful of cars dotted the road. Hector wondered if it was always like this or if the Rainlords had evacuated the place while he’d slept.

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Hector sighed through his nose. ‘Why do you have to torture me like this?’

‘Shits and giggles, primarily.’

‘Garovel...’

‘Oh, come on. This is adorable. Just try thinking about something else. Like why we’ve stopped or where Dimas went.’

Hector hesitated. He hadn’t even noticed that the man was gone. He couldn’t hear the rain anymore, either.

‘You’ve all been out for a while,’ Garovel went on. ‘We’ve already reached the Waress Mountains.’

‘...I’ve heard of those, I think.’

‘I should hope so. They divide the whole friggin’ continent.’

‘R-right...’

‘Also, we flew over them when we left Kuros.’

‘Oh.’

‘We’re gonna have to get you an atlas or something when we get back to Warrenhold. Oh, or you could craft a big iron globe! That could be a neat project. Make it big enough for people to walk into and look at from the inside. I saw a globe like that once. It got destroyed in a fire, though. Yeah, I should definitely have you recreate it. Could be good for tourism, too. Though, if it’s for tourism, then it might be best to put it above ground somewhere. Hmm. It’d look good underground, too, I’m sure. Maybe we could just have--’

‘Uh, Garovel?’

‘What?’

‘Where DID Dimas go?’

‘Oh, he’s scouting ahead to make sure the Tunnels are safe.’

‘Tunnels?’

‘Yup. That’s the other reason why I woke you up. You haven’t seen them before, have you? The Waress Tunnels?’

Hector tilted his head. ‘Uh...’

‘C’mon, then. Get out of the car.’

‘But I’ll wake up Ramira if I move...’

‘Eh, I think you can avoid waking her. C’mon.’

Slowly, Hector pulled himself away from the little girl. He tried not to jostle her too much.

She woke up, anyway.

Hector threw Garovel a look.

The reaper shrugged. ‘Well, maybe she’ll want to see them, too.’

Hector tried to apologize to Ramira, but she didn’t seem too concerned about it, and then Marcos and Emiliana began to stir as well. In the end, they just exited the vehicle together.

And finally, Hector could see what all the fuss was about.

A rocky cliff face towered before the entourage of limousines. It shot up at such a steep angle that, if not for its eroded ridges, Hector would have thought it was manmade. And yet, even with how tall it was and how much of his vision it consumed, the mountain peaks behind it were still more gigantic.

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Ramira yawned and then prodded him with another question. “So how did you become a lord in your country if you weren’t born into it?”

“Ah, uh... it’s a recent thing. And kind of a long story.”

Her big gray eyes seemed to be telling him that she was ready for a long story.

He hesitated, of course, but he gave it a go, beginning with how he met the Queen and giving the highlights from there. And before long, he could see the little girl slowly drifting off to sleep. He didn’t really blame her, though. He wasn’t so great at this storytelling thing, and in spite of all her energy, Ramira had looked pretty tired even since before leaving Luzo. And it actually made the story easier to tell, he found. There was less pressure to get it right when it felt like she was hardly even listening.

At length, Ramira was out cold. And the mask made it hard to tell, but judging from Emiliana’s breathing and the fact that she hadn’t moved her head at all in the last few minutes, she seemed to be out, too. Marcos, as well, had fallen asleep on Dimas’ shoulder.

‘We might as well get some rest, too,’ said Garovel. He attached himself to Hector’s shoulder, and Hector fell quickly into unconsciousness.

The warm darkness washed over him. Familiar and welcome and gone too soon.

He awoke to the realization that the limousine was no longer moving. Garovel was awake, too, but the Elroy children were still asleep.

And Ramira was leaning against his shoulder.

He tensed up, having to resist the impulse to jump out of his seat. If not for a very potent concern that he would accidentally hurt the poor girl, Hector was pretty sure that he would have ended up ripping one of the doors off the vehicle while trying to escape.

Garovel floated in front of him. ‘You okay there, buddy?’

Hector just glared at the reaper with a clenched jaw.

‘Just relax,’ Garovel said privately, unable to hide his laughter completely. ‘She’s not going to hurt you.’

‘Garovel...’

‘Think of this as practice. Y’know, for when you have to touch someone who is actually conscious.’

‘You did this on purpose...’

‘Hey, I didn’t make her fall asleep on you. She did that on her own.’

‘You woke me up.’

‘Oh, did I? My hand must have slipped.’

‘Garovel!’

‘I do have hands, don’t I?’