Chapter Ninety-six (Patreon)

They were deep in the huyi nest before they saw another of the warrior bugs. This one was walking, apparently aimlessly, its long antennae tapping the floor and walls as it passed. It was in no hurry, unlike the workers, who continued to ignore the kobold intruders, though Dett had them retreat a short distance each time they saw one.

Kaz was in the lead, which would have seemed strange if he wasn’t aware that Dett was perfectly willing to use Kaz as a distraction in order to assure his own survival. Even though Dett had to whisper directions up to Kaz, the smaller kobold remained five to ten feet behind the larger one, and his body fairly hummed with tension each time Kaz glanced back at him.

When Kaz turned a corner and saw the large insect there, casually tapping a frozen rock with one forelimb, he immediately stopped, not even putting down the paw he had raised to take his next step. Behind him, the soft click of Dett’s claws ceased, and they both waited to see what had happened.

Satisfied, the hoyi twisted its triangular head, jaws stretching as it seemed to stare directly at Kaz. It was strangely unnerving that the thing had nothing he could identify as eyes, and therefore he logically knew it couldn’t see him, and yet he would have sworn that it was aware that something was wrong. Was it close enough to detect the warmth of his body? Honestly, he was so cold that he barely even felt it by now, his patchy fur not insulating him nearly as well as it had before it was damaged. Did his skin even have any heat left to detect, or was he only still upright by virtue of the ki he was cycling through his flesh?

If he could have felt a chill, he would have as another warrior hoyi appeared from a wide tunnel ahead. This tunnel was strangely round, and beneath the frost, Kaz thought he could see scratches in the stone that didn’t look like the marks made by pickaxes. Had the hoyi created some of these tunnels, instead of just using natural ones? Were their metallic pincers strong enough to break stone that even mithril pickaxes struggled to chip away?

The two hoyi touched antennae, their heads so close together that they were nearly touching. After several minutes, during which even Kaz’s ki-strengthened leg threatened to start trembling, the each took a step back, clicked their mandibles once in perfect unison, then turned to go back down the tunnel from which the second warrior had emerged.

Kaz still didn’t dare move until he felt the soft prod of a finger in his ribs. “Go on,” Dett whispered, “we’re almost there. Turn left just after the round tunnel, then the crystal I want is in the ceiling.”

The ceiling? Kaz looked up, seeing that while the passage they were in was fairly narrow, the ceiling was high enough that he would have a hard time reaching it even with his pick. For once, he hoped the tunnel would grow smaller, or he would never be able to get this crystal Dett wanted so badly.

The ceiling was lower in the new tunnel, but it was also so narrow that Kaz wasn’t sure he’d be able to swing the pickaxe well enough to chip out the huge crystal nestled  in the center of a shimmering mass of others that were only small in comparison. Kaz stared at it, then back at Dett, though his shoulders were too wide to allow him to turn properly, so he had to crane his neck to do it.

“How is this still here?” he asked softly. He eyed Dett’s diminutive stature and said, “Couldn’t you have gotten someone else to-?”

Dett looked sour. “Anyone else would just take it.” He seemed to realize what he’d just admitted, and quickly added, “I trust you, though, of course. I can tell you’re a good pup, and you understand how much I can do for you if you just help me with this little thing.”

You’re an idiot who doesn’t understand what this is worth yet, Kaz translated internally, and felt Li hiss angrily at the thought. Now that she was awake and was shaking off whatever soporific she had been dosed with, their bond seemed to be recovering, though for some reason he still couldn’t hear anything through it. Li was acutely bored, however, often sending him annoyed little images of the extended period she spent in the dark and squalor of his pack after hatching. Kaz had resorted to sending her a steady stream of his own vision so that she would stop grumbling at him.

Kaz sighed, twisting to look around as well as possible, before flexing his toes to dig his claws into the ice on which he stood. It was a struggle to get the pick into position, but once he did, he looked back at Dett one more time.

“We have to run as soon as the crystal is free, right? Which way do we go?”

Dett rolled his pale eyes. “Ahead, of course. You can’t turn around here even if you wanted to, and do you remember that round tunnel?”

Kaz nodded.

“Tunnels like that lead straight to the center of the hive. I’ve seen a few miners go down one, and they don’t come back. When a warrior calls for reinforcements, that’s where they always come from, if you’re in the right place to watch.” Which was anywhere other than directly in their path, most likely.

“Always run away from the round tunnels?” Kaz asked, and Dett nodded.

Turning back to his target, which glittered serenely from its crystalline nest, Kaz drew in a deep breath, holding it as he compressed his core, something that he did almost as a matter of course now, then released both pressure and breath at once.

Ki flooded from his core, and he could feel Li trying to aid him in controlling it, as she usually did. Either distance or whatever other factor was inhibiting their link prevented it, however, and Kaz had to hastily shunt the wave of extra ki into the channels leading to his arms, where it promptly leaked out and into his muscles.

The pick swung almost involuntarily, but instead of the controlled stroke Kaz had intended to use, the mithril pick gouged deep into the stone beneath the crystals, breaking a few, and dislodging the rest, which fell to the ground with an explosive shattering sound.

Behind him, Dett gave a whimpering cry, and Kaz almost dropped the pick as he leaned forward to pick up the largest chunk remaining, and the other male attempted to shove him out of the way. Given how tight the passage was, and how firmly Kaz had dug his claws into the ice, Dett didn’t succeed, but he did manage to make Kaz take a small step forward, stepping on another large piece of crystal, which broke apart, promptly turning cloudy and gray.

Kaz scooped up the big crystal, cradling it to his chest rather than trying to stuff it into his bag. He was already several feet down the tunnel when he realized Dett wasn’t behind him, and turned far enough that he could see what had happened. The other male was on hands and knees, scrambling to shove every piece of crystal he could into his own sack. As if feeling Kaz’s gaze, he looked up, eyes wild and teeth bared.

“Help me, you fool,” he barked, hands never slowing. “This will feed me for weeks. Maybe a month or more!”

Kaz noted the use of the word ‘me’, not ‘us’, and grimly hoped that it was because the other male expected Kaz to take the stairs and escape, not because he planned to do something to make sure Kaz didn’t receive his fair share of the crystals. Kaz still needed Dett, however, so he held up the huge chunk he already had.

“You said to leave everything but the crystal you were after behind, no matter how many there were,” he said. “If you don’t come now, I’m taking this and leaving you here for the hoyi.” It was an empty threat, but Dett didn’t know that.

The small male looked up, eyes wild, and locked onto the chunk of red stone Kaz held. He glanced from it to the scattered pieces on the ground, and visibly forced himself to climb to his paws. Holding open his bag, he said, “Give it to me. That way you’ll have a free hand.”

Without a word, Kaz dropped the crystal into the depths of the sack, and Dett grunted as he felt the weight of it hit the bottom. For a moment, he looked as if he might start spinning in circles like an overeager puppy, but then they both looked behind them as chitinous feet began to scratch and scrape at the ice not nearly far enough away.

“Go!” Dett yipped, as if he hadn’t been the one holding them up, and shoved at Kaz, who stood between the older male and their proposed escape route. Now, he looked like he regretted not entering this particular tunnel first, since there was no way he could squeeze past the younger kobold. That was all right, though, because Kaz could run.

Using more of the excess ki he had cycled from his core, Kaz took off, his partially-refined lungs breathing easily even in the frigid air even as his reinforced claws dug into the ice below them, giving him far more traction than the other male. The exertion actually felt pleasant, chasing away some small part of the persistent chill that he had been afraid might never entirely leave him.

One turn, then another, down a long tunnel, then turning sharply again as he saw one of the round tunnels looming ahead of him, lit with the ubiquitous red glow of the crystals. When he could no longer hear the sound of chitin on ice, he stopped, not even breathing hard.

Somehow, Dett had managed to keep up with him, though the older male’s narrow ribcage was heaving as he gasped for air. Kaz wouldn’t have guessed that the small kobold could run so quickly on such short legs, but perhaps that explained how Dett had managed to survive so long in the mine.

“Just… wait… a… minute,” Dett choked out, lifting a trembling hand. The other one was pressed tightly to his chest, clutching the bulging bag of crystals as if it was his mate or pup.

Kaz nodded, settling into a crouch, though he was ready to run again at the first sign of pursuers. The run had burned off most of the remaining excess ki, though to his eyes, the muscles in his arms were still bright with it, particularly the left one, which hadn’t been able to use as much.

Whimsically, he wondered what would happen if he didn’t balance the ki he gave two equal body parts. Would one leg become dense and powerful, while the other dwindled away? Would one arm develop massive muscles, like Raff’s, while the other remained lean and relatively smooth? For a moment, he played with various images of a lop-sided blue kobold, sending them to Li, who thought they were very funny and returned versions that were ever more ridiculous.

By the time Dett’s breathing evened out, Kaz had begun relaying images of Li with one large wing and one small one, forced to fly in circles, and the dragon’s indignation amused him so much that his tail began to wag without him noticing.

Dett huffed, then coughed, finally managing to say, “Pleased with yourself, are you, puppy?”

Kaz blinked, having allowed himself to become far too distracted, given where they currently stood. His ears lowered, and he wasn’t sure what response the older male wanted, so he stayed silent.

The small, pale-brown male barked a laugh, and Kaz relaxed as he said, “Because you should. I can hide these and take out just what I need for weeks, without even having to go into the dangerous part of the mine at all. Now, I just need to-” He broke off, gaze calculating as he eyed Kaz.

“Did you see that tunnel back there?” Dett demanded finally. “The round one?”

Kaz nodded.

“The stairs are down there. Follow a round tunnel, then when it meets a wider one, take that. Keep going until you find the stairs.”

Kaz stared at him. “You said no one comes back from there.”

The short male shrugged, looking away as his hand tightened on the neck of the bag until his knuckles turned white beneath the thin fur. “One person did. Me. I followed a fool once, when I was still an even greater fool than him. We made it a long way, just by staying quiet and out of the way of the hoyi. We found the stairs, but they-”

Go up not down, Kaz thought, remembering what Surta told him, but Dett didn’t say that. Instead, he shrugged and finished with, “The hoyi noticed us. That fool died, and I got away. I’ve never gone back since.”

This was the first time Dett had used ‘we’ as if he really meant he had been working together with someone else. His eyes were distant with memories, and Kaz wondered if that lost ‘fool’ had been Dett’s friend. Maybe even another member of his tribe?

Dett focused on Kaz again, and some of his usual strange mixture of furtive pomposity returned, causing his shoulders to straighten, and his eyes to dart around as if looking for hidden threats.

“If you find the stairs, and you do manage to get out, go to the Deep and tell my tribe where I am. I’m certain they just haven’t been able to find me in this lost pit. I’m certain my mother will reward you well for it. She might even be willing to trade for you, though the color of your fur is unfortunate.”

Kaz’s eyes narrowed. Why did the color of his fur seem to matter so much? In the heights, some tribes, like the Palefurs, bred for a certain color, but a puppy born with fur of another shade would be considered less attractive, not less important. It was a mystery for another time, though, so he simply nodded.

“I plan to go to the Deep, and I’ll carry your message,” he told the other male, whose muzzle lifted pridefully again.

The two kobolds turned away from each other, Kaz heading back the way they had just come, while Dett aimed for another, more natural-looking crevice that Kaz probably wouldn’t even fit through. The other kobold’s small size probably came in handy in places like this. He could duck into spaces the hoyi couldn’t reach, at least not without widening the opening, which would probably take time, even for their powerful pincers.

As Dett squeezed into the dark crack, barely able to pull his full sack after him, Kaz called out, “Wait!”

Trotting over, he handed Dett his own empty bag, which had been hanging uselessly from his belt this entire time. “Split it into two bags, so it’s easier,” he told the Goldblade male. “And thank you.”

Dett accepted the bag, though he didn’t immediately take Kaz’s advice. His gaze flickered from Kaz to the passage behind him.

“If you-” he said, voice rougher than the usual kobold growl, “If you do make it to the stairs… It should be obvious, but avoid husede and musui.” He touched the hand holding Kaz’s bag to the collar at his throat. “Any of the musui can burn you, and they will. You might think the husede will help you, but they won’t. They don’t care about us kobolds, only their own people. If they see you, they’ll tell the first musui they see, hoping for a reward. And-”

His jaw clenched before he forced out one last piece of advice. “Don’t panic. No matter what you see.”

With that, he disappeared into the crevice, leaving Kaz with the dwindling sound of his bag scraping against the stone walls, and yet another question.

What, exactly, did Dett think Kaz was going to find?