The Mines of Lands End. 2

"All right." Insa waved his students down the gang plank. "Lets be quick about this. We shouldn't keep our host waiting"
Zarin, Dack and the others made their way off the ship keeping a sharp eye on Tabor and his group. The trip through town was quiet with Tabor looking back at them then whispering to one of his friends. Dack noticed Craven wasn't with his friends anymore. He had moved back behind them to keep an eye on them.
The dwarven city Lands End was quite a nice little place with almost anything you could find in Winterhaven accept the magic. It was much more of an industrial city. Where Winterhaven used magic for certain things, the dwarfs found mechanical answers to problems like sewage or street cleaning and trash collection. There were tall buildings and shops and schools. People moved about their business just like anywhere else. They passed schools where the children were being trained in their letters numbers and mining. They also saw older kids learning how to mold gold and other precious metals and gems. This was quite a fantastic place the kids thought.
Soon the found themselves at a large fence surrounding one of their mines. At the gate there was a bell rope and a sign which read.

No trespassed. Anyone caught will be judged and disposed of by dwarven law which is swift and final. Theft will be dealt with by death. Welcome to Aesop's gold mine. We sell gold in any form you wish. Please report to the front office before entering or exiting.

"They're serious about their gold." Reno told his friends.

"Yes they are. This will tell you what happens if your caught stealing gold from them." Professor Isa said as he walked to the gate and pulled the bell. The gate opened and a bearded dwarf came out to welcome them. He was dressed in a leather tunic and kilt with a tool belt around his waist.
"Welcome my friends." He smiled. "My name is Gronk and I will be your guide today on your tour. Please come in."
Gronk and Professor Insa stood at the door as they all marched in one by one until the class was all standing in the hall.
"Professor. I have a message for you." He gave him a note. Professor Insa opened it and read it. Zarin turned to the others. "Tabors father set this up to get him away so Tabor could search."
"Tell him." Thalia said.
"Tell him what?" Zarin whispered. "That Tayor is trying to overthrow the council? He won't listen. We have to take care of this ourselves."
"I have an emergency back at home." Professor Insa told the class. "Gronk, can I trust you for a few hours with my kids?"

"I'd be delighted to care for them." Gronk bowed.
"I expect all of you to behave and don't give Gronk a hard time." He looked at Tabor. "That means you Mr. Larin."

Tabor stuck his nose in the air and turned away from the Professor and back to his friends.
"I will be back as soon as I can." Professor Insa excused himself as a trail of smoke followed him out the door. Zarin and Reno watched as he shifted to his dragon form and took off into the air for Winterhaven.

"He's gone at last!" They heard Tabor say. Dack angrily turned and started for him. Reno yanked him back from the mistake he was about to make.
"Are you crazy?" Reno said. "He'll kill you. Besides, we have to stop him, and we can't do it without your help."

"I'm sorry." Dack told his friends. "You're right. I wasn't thinking. I'll follow the plan."
"OK children." Gronk said as he turned toward the mine. "Everyone grab a helmet and follow me."

On a table beside a rack of picks, shovel, lanterns and other mining equipment was a stack of mining helmets. Gronk passed them out then led them in.

There tour was interesting and boring at the same time. All Zarin and his friends could do was listen and keep an eye on Tabor so he couldn't slip away. Gronk told them everything he thought they would find interesting about gold and mining. Craven stayed close to Zarin being careful not to tip Reno off that he was stalker Zarin. Reno was the fighter of the group. He had stuck up for Zarin, Thalia, Dack and Trip since the day they had all become friends. He and Tabor had had plenty of fights over the years they were in school. And Reno usually won, unless some of Tabors cronies jumped in and he was terribly out numbered. Then Zarin and an old friend Prince Shayn would help. But since Shayn had left, it was just Reno and Zarin fighting, Unless Thalia was there. Shes part vampire, so Tabor knew better then to start anything.

An hour into the tour, Gronk announced it was time for lunch. He took them all back to a lunch room where a table had been set up with a banquet for the class. Most of the kids were starving and rushed over and grabbed plates and began filling them up and then moving to the lunch area to eat. Zarin looked around for Tabor and his crew. He didn't see them anywhere. He also couldn't find Thalia or Trip.
"Don't worry." Reno said. "Thalia and Trip are following them. They shifted into bats so they won't be noticed. He's the only one left." Reno indicated Craven over his shoulder.
"Dack." Zarin said. "You still think you can take care of him?"
"Yeah." He smiled. "Just get us out of here and give me a second. Distract him for a minute while I cast and you'll see."

 "Alright. Lets go." Zarin started towards the Dining hall entrance. Gronk was standing there talking to another mine employee.

"We need to use the out room, Dack doesn't feel well."
"Its around the bend there. " Gronk told then. "He can lay down in there and rest too.

"Thank you." Zarin smiled at him and they hurried around the corner. As the left. They saw Craven dump his food to follow after them.
"He's coming!"

AUDIO VISUAL, SIGHTS AND SOUND.
US FOR THEM WE SWITCH AROUND.
LET HIM THAT COMES AROUND THE BEND.
SEE AND HEAR US AS FRIENDS.

Just as Dack finished, Craven came running around the corner. He stopped when he saw them. Reno thought they were in trouble and started forward. Dack stopped him.
"What are you doing here?" Craven asked looking around. "And where's Zarin?"

"You lost him?" Dack gave him an annoyed look. "Find him before he messes things up for us! Go!"
"I'll find them!" Craven yelled back as he ran down the mine shaft looking for them.
"What just happened?" Reno asked Dack. "I thought we were gonna have to fight."
"He saw Tabor and the Elves instead of us." Dack laughed."

"What happens if the runs into Tabor?" Zarin asked.
"He'll see us. That's the beauty of the spell. He'll attack Tabor instead of us."

Zarin and Reno patted him on the back. "You going to have to tell us later how you came on that spell. Let get moving."

"So how do we find this ring?" Elan asked as the moved deeper into the mine. Tabor shrugged.
"We look for it."

"That's it?" Aron said. " You have no way other then to look for it? You know how big this mine is? It could take us years to find it."

Tabor turned and grabbed Aron by the front of his tunic. "You didn't come up with any swift ideas on the ship and you were all with it as I recall."

"That's cause I thought your father had given you the location of the ring." Aron pulled himself free from Tabor's grasp.

"He did." Tabor said. "He gave me his ring. He said it'll glow when we get near it. So we keep searching, got it!"
"Yeah, we got it." Elan said.
Up over there head two bats crawled across the barn ceiling. Tabor didn't know it but these weren't really bats, and they were following him and watching him. One called out in his mind to a friend in another part of the barn
[ Zarin. Tabor has a ring that will glow when its near the ring. I hope you have an idea.]

"We have to get to that ring first." Reno said. "Or Winterhaven is in real trouble. There has to be some way we can find it. Some magic we can trace."
"That's it!." Zarin said.
"What?"

"Magic! Don't you get it!" Zarin smiled. "We can trace the magic of the ring."
"Can you do that?" Dack asked.
"Watch me!"

Zarin sat down and put his hands to his temple. He felt for any magic in the mine. He felt the magic of the tunnel diggers and the instruments used to check the gold. He sent his probe out further into as many tunnels as he could. Suddenly he saw a light flair up in his mind. That was it! He found it!

"Found it!" Zarin jumped to his feet and took off down the shaft . There was a turn and then the shaft split into three tunnels. Zarin dashed into the left tunnel with Dack and Reno right behind him. Up ahead they could hear voices. The boys slowed as they approached the end of the shaft.
"Listen." Zarin crept closer to the entrance. They could hear Tabor and the others in there.

"It's in here somewhere." He said "Keep looking!"
"Oh on!" Dack whispered. "There going to find first."
"Maybe Trip or Thalia can get it from them." Reno stepped closer to Zarin. "Or I can shift to my wolf form and take it from them."
"Let's just see if they find it first." Zarin said hushing them. They listened as Tabor, Aron and Elan searched noisily. Suddenly they heard a noise coming from behind them. It was Craven.

"It's Craven!" Dack smiled. "I have an idea."
Moving quickly, Craven walked down the shaft. As he reached them, Dack reached out and grabbed him covering his mouth. Surprised Craven started to fight until he recognized them and stopped.

"Shhhh!" Dack uncovered his mouth. "They're in there. So's the ring."

"What do you want to do?" Craven asked as he peered in.
"You lost them." Dack said. "You get it from them."

"Found it!" They heard. "We got it!"

"Go!" Dack shoved him. "Get it and hurry back!"
Craven nodded and ran into the mine shaft. Zarin called Trip and Thalia and told them to get back to the cave entrance. They dropped from the ceiling and flew out and back up the tunnel. Standing at the entrance, Zarin, Dack and Reno listened and waited to see what he would do.

Craven stormed into the shaft as Tabor and the Elves congratulated each other on their success.

"Now we get this back to Winterhaven and the fun begins." Tabor grinned. Then he turned and noticed Craven coming toward them looking angry.
"We found it!" He held the ring out in the palm of his hand. "We can get back to the others now."
"Not with that you can't!" Craven pulled back his fist and sent it into Tabor's jaw. The ring flew up into the air as Tabor fell to the mine floor. Craven reached out and snatched it out of the air and quickly ran out of the Mine shaft.
"What the hell are you doing?" He heard from behind him. Craven found Dack, Zarin and Reno waiting for him. He gave Dack the ring.

"You get back to the class." He told them. "I'll keep them here. I told you I could deal with them. Now go! hurry!"
"Thanks Craven!" Dack took off running with Zarin and Reno laughing,