As she starts chanting, several things happen at once. The designs on my back start burning…like they are searing into my skin. The jewel in my navel starts to feel hot…like molten lava. Of course, that is why I start screaming. I am completely taken by surprise.

A strange golden glow emanates around the old woman and me. Miri rushes towards us, obviously intent on attacking. Mori is standing there, blue balls of energy at the ready—but she hesitates. As do I. I could easily take out the old woman—but I still feel no ill-will or Darkness coming from her.

Miri and Mori are effectively cut off by the glowing ‘shield’. If anyone is going to do anything, it will have to be me. I decide to wait and see what happens—and motion for them to stand down.

The pain subsides into a strange creeping-crawling itch. I split my focus between monitoring the old woman and myself. It feels like there is something crawling through me, starting at the jewel and then following the paths of my bones and the designs drawn on my back.

After several minutes, the old woman stops and ‘smiles’ at me. She steps back from me--out of the golden shield; THAT seems to be coming from me.

Miri is giving the old woman a severe look. I sit up. Mori is still standing at the ready and gasps when she sees my back.

I feel different.

The old woman hands me a robe and speaks up, “I am sorry, Queen Nelle. This ritual has never been performed on a non-Dwarf before. I knew it would be safe, I did not, however, know how you would react. Let me further explain what just happened…”

She gestures to one of the attendants to bring some sort of hot beverage…a tea of some sort from the lichens growing in the caves. She tells us it is completely safe, although we may have to get used to the taste. THAT is an understatement. It tastes like bat dung…well, what I would THINK bat dung tastes like, anyway…

I let my cup sit in front of me as she continues.

She comes over to me and gently runs her hand down my back. She says, “The jewel is now a permanent part of you. The special golden web that encased it has entered your body and fused with all of your bones. It then followed the special mud designs on your back and became a part of your skin. It is a metal tattoo, of sorts. All of this means that you are now One with the Earthen magic of the Dwarves. You now have access to both sides of the old Earth magic. Together with your inherent Human magic, you are a very formidable person to be reckoned with. With practice and guidance, you will be able to stand up to Drakyre, himself.”

My head jerks up at that one. I had been focusing on the cup of bat dung tea until then. I give her an inquisitive look and ask, “And why not Mori? She is of the same basic heritage as I am and already knows MUCH more of the Magics than I.”

The old woman sighs and says, “The ritual is very hard on the bones. They must be young and strong. Not too young, they should be fully grown, but as young as possible. Older bones are more brittle and don’t survive the process. You see, when the special Golden Web fuses with your bones, it is magically transformed into a very special metal. You may have noticed the fortified doors around here? It is the same metal… It is very strong—it can withstand the attack of an Ogre…even of Drakyre’s new minions. It is also magically inert. Your skeleton is as near to invincible now as it can be.”

I am still surrounded by the golden ‘shield’. I gesture towards it, “And this?”

The old woman shrugs and says, “It is your shield. It is an instinctive combination of all of your Magics. It draws on your Human spells, Elven wards, and new Dwarven energies. It is golden because that is how you are used to seeing such things…it is your mental interpretation of how it should be projected… It looks like your Golden Veil surrounding your Realm. With practice, you will be able to manipulate how it looks...including being invisible. You will also be able to strengthen it, stretch it to include others over long distances and more. As with any Magic, there are consequences, but since you are drawing on so many sources, that used properly, complement each other, you have near unlimited protective powers. We MUST, however, train you to avoid using powers that are antagonistic to one another… You would die very quickly…”

After our discussion, it still took a while for me to get Miri to back down. She was still mad that the old woman had given no one any warning…and she still did not trust her. Of course, she does not have Mori’s and my ability to sense Darkness.

In the end, I order her to come with me to my ‘chambers’ and to help me take a bath. I don’t need help, and that is not Miri’s job, but any cavern in a storm…

She is washing my back and running her fingers over the designs, “They are raised, like there is a thin strand of metal running under the skin… And there is this…tingle…”

I shrug, “You know as much of this as I do… I can tell you that my senses are now greatly enhanced…in strange ways. I can…feel…the rocks… I can tell you exactly where there are gems or precious metals through that wall there… It is like how I can feel the plants and animals of the forest with my Elven magic…I can now feel the rocks. I am still learning to tap into the Elven magic and have learned so much… I am almost afraid to know what I can do with training on using this magic…

The next week is all about learning of my new abilities. It is all about tapping into the Earth’s energies…sort of like grounding myself in the Earth. With the Elven magic, the energy is around you, as long as there are clean sources of plant or animal life. With this, as long as I am on Earth, I always have access to the energy.

The energy is particularly useful for protection; and one of the first things the old woman teaches me is to manipulate my shield. I can make it invisible, or blood red. I can make it black as night, effectively hiding me in the dark. I can shrink to a second skin, or expand it to several hundred paces…all without the old energy drain I am accustomed to.

Being able to identify particular jewels or precious metals from great distances and guide myself straight to them is awesome and has to be the ‘best’ part, from a purely female point of view. By the end of the week, I have a fairly large bag of rubies, diamonds, and emeralds that I find as part of my training; I also have a fairly large bag of gold.

Kir takes the jewels and gold at the end of each day and hands them to one of the attendants to be taken to some hold, I am sure.

By the end of the week, I am better versed in the use of my new magic source. The old woman wants to keep training me, but I need to get back to my own Realm to take care of business there. Aunt Lothi is handling it perfectly, I am sure; but I don’t want to shirk my new duties as Queen.

We are packed and ready to go. We crawl back out the tunnels and I breathe in the fresh air in large breaths, as I shield my eyes from the bright light.

Kir and a small band of protective Dwarves escort us to the border, this time without incident, and we are about to step through the Golden Veil when Kir speaks up, “Queen Nelle, I want to present you with one last present as a token of our commitment to the pact.” He takes out a beautiful golden tiara; but enchanted gold, like the doors. It is dainty and very elegant…and sparkling with jewels. He places it on my head and says, “It is made from the gold and jewels you found over the past week. It is enchanted and has some powers of its own…powers that only someone with YOUR powers can use. You will have to come back for more training…”

He bows and the band of Dwarves turns and heads back into their Realm. I reach up and touch the tiara…I can feel the power in it…

We step through the Golden Veil and go home.