Setia walked around the rock and pushed herself through the crack, the width of which barely allowed an adult man to pass through. Behind this natural obstacle was the entrance to the cave, which was covered with a heavy metal grid. It looked like a castle portcullis.
"Hiron!" Setia screamed and the echo repeated the name as if mocking her.
They stood in silence, Moros was curious about the strange place as it seemed extraordinary to him. He wondered who could live in such a cave. After a while, the light of a torch flared behind the bars, and quiet footsteps could be heard. The gate opened with a metallic click, and a dwarf appeared to the eyes of the curious Moros.
Hiron was a little above Moros' waist, with a shaven head and a long beard streaked with gray hair. Blue eyes were set above a fairly large nose, which was watching them curiously. He held a torch in his hand, which he now raised up to get a better look at the newcomers.
"Do my eyes deceive me? Is this you Setia?" For such a small man, Hiron had a surprisingly booming voice.
"You have changed, I know that you have a lot to tell me." He said looking at the girl's face, then looked at the young man standing next to him with a questioning look.
"This is Moros, a friend of mine." Setia pretended not to hear the first remark.
"Will you let us in or are we going to just stand in the entrance?"
"Ooh, sure, come on in, excuse the old weirdo. Lonely living in caves is not good for the development of social skills." Hiron stepped aside from the passage and let the guests pass, then carefully closed the portcullis like gate.
The corridor was hollowed out in the wall of a limestone hill and after 4 meters it turned with a gentle curve to the right and then left again. They walked in silence, watching their steps so as not to trip on the uneven stony floor. In front of them appeared a large cave, with an additional wooden extension. Moros was impressed. He had never seen anything like it before.
"It's a real armory!" He blurted. Hiron smiled. By the wall, set in baskets, there were ready-made arrows, there were also swords, spikes, flails and combat scythes.
The cave was divided into three parts, there was a forged armament against the wall, in front of it there was a simple bed made of wooden boards, undoubtedly belonging to Hiron, and a table and two chairs. To their right was a hearth. Only now did Moros see that part of the grotto's wall was bricked, and above the hearth there was a metal cover ending with a pipe placed in the wall. There was a huge anvil next to it and on the table there were pliers, several hammers in different sizes, a scoring tool and leather gloves. Next to the hearth stood a small stove and a shelf of dishes. Behind which was a window, if Morose's eyes were not mistaken, it was made of real glass. Setia was talking quietly with Hiron and Moros didn't want to disturb them, he was looking around the cave illuminated by several torches embedded in metal grippers attached to the wall.
To the left was another entrance blocked by a door, which meant that this series of caves and corridors could be much longer. Hiron must have been a blacksmith, and a skilled one at that. Moros was examining the ornamented war hammer in the form of a shaft with an ornamented metal head, one side was used to bludgeon while the reverse side to pierce. He also watched arrows, especially arrowheads. They were divided into bundles by the shape of the arrowhead, there were rhomboid leaves with barbs, forked, or a tempo completed for hunting fowl. Hiron's voice snapped him out of his observations.
"Do you like them?" The dwarf stood behind him with his arms folded, smiling slightly.
"Very much! Is that all" - Moros made a hand gesture pointing at all the weapons - "Is this all your work sir?"
"Yes, I have been forging iron for a long time" Hiron came closer and touched the blade of the sword with some tenderness.
"I'm Hiron, call me by name, I am not a master or some kind of sir. Come on, let's have a drink and eat something, you must have a lot to tell me."
Without a word, Moros followed the blacksmith, he was hungry, really hungry.
After he got out of the swamp, he was hungry almost all the time, just as if his body was accumulating food for another season of starvation.
Setia was sitting behind the table on one of the two chairs, Hiron placed an additional stool without a backrest on which he sat himself. On the table were a pitcher of wine, mugs, bread and cheese.
"I rarely have any guests," - the host explained, - "so that's all I can offer you."
"Come on, Hiron, we are so hungry that we would eat anything." Setia eagerly drank the first cup.
"We have been marching all day with empty bellies."
Moros said nothing, contentedly gnawing bread and cheese and drinking wine. Hiron was amused to see the hungry young man.
"Moros has spent many days wandering in the swamps," she said, justifying her companion, "now he doesn't argue when he sees food, he just eats." Everyone laughed.
The wine on an almost empty stomach took a toll on Moros, and he struggled to keep his eyes open.
"Come on," Hiron got up from the table and walked to the side door with its decorative hinges.
"Nice," Moros complimented, pointing to the metal detail
Hiron nodded and moved further down the next corridor, after a few steps he stopped in front of the entrance to the room carved in the rock. It was a small room that barely contained a bed and a chair.
"Here you can sleep." The dwarf smiled and winked at Setia, then, leaving them a torch, he disappeared into the darkness of the corridor, moving noiselessly over the familiar terrain.
Hiron must have thought that Moros is her lover. Setia decided not to correct Hiron's mistake for now, she knew that there were no more sleeping quarters here anyway, and now she was in her old room.
"Haleon, how tired I am." Moros fell on the bed. "This wine was divine." He muttered quietly under his breath.
Without a word, Setia lay down next to him, having placed the torch in a hole in the rock.
"Move." She ordered Moros sprawled on the bed. She closed her eyes and felt her companion wrap his arm around her. She threw the arm off in one motion and growled.
"Keep those hands away."