Chapter One hundred two (Patreon)

The trip was surprisingly long, and Kaz and Nogz passed through three more caverns just like the first, right down to the blue and yellow crystals in the ceiling, and the broad pools filled with yumi. A group of collared kobolds worked in each, while a niu stood by, strapped to a mat containing heaping mounds of reeds. Each time, Nogz gave a yip or short howl of greeting, and some of the gatherers called back, while others ignored the pup completely. Most of these bore the distinctive red dye of a Redmane.

Nogz saw Kaz’s look, and sighed. “What tribe are you, Kaz?”

“Longtooth,” Kaz said, opting for what he hoped was the truth. “We’re descending.”

Nogz grimaced. “Bad timing. I hope the rest of your tribe is all right.” Absently, he reached out, plucking a small reed from the tangled mass of their niu’s fur.

“Look,” Nogz said abruptly, though his gaze was wary when he glanced back at Kaz. “I’m a Bronzearm. Most of us are. If you’re one of the ones that blames us for all this, just forget it. No one is allowed to challenge anyone else here. We don’t even practice fighting anymore.”

Kaz tilted his head curiously. “Why would I blame you?”

The younger pup looked surprised, then pleased, then uncertain, all the emotions passing quickly across his easily-read face. “You don’t know?” he demanded. “How long has your tribe been in the mid-levels?”

“I… wasn’t with the rest of my tribe,” Kaz admitted, and to his surprise, Nogz looked pleased.

“That’s good. The mosui took my whole tribe, I think, and,” for the first time, the pup looked sad, his ears and tail drooping mournfully, “I haven’t seen anyone except the other pups since we got here. Well, them and Eld, but he just became a warrior right before we were taken. There are some warriors from other tribes, and the Redmanes in particular hate us.”

“Why?” Kaz asked again.

Nogz pulled at his ear. “I’m not exactly sure. We left the Deep after Rolpa lost a luegat with the Goldblades, and she said that if we weren’t in the Deep anymore, we would rule the mid-levels instead.”

He sighed. “That worked for the first four levels, and if we’d just stayed there, Eld says we would have been fine. But then we moved up to the Nine, and for some reason, the mosui attacked us. They took my group of gatherers pretty early, but some of the other pups said they were taken from the den itself. I don’t know what happened after that, but everyone else who comes in is angry at us. One of the warriors even challenged Eld. He lost, of course, but it was bad.”

Glancing at Kaz, he lifted his lip in a puppy snarl. “Don’t you try that, though. I don’t care what Eld says. If anyone else tries to hurt him, we’re all going to defend him, just like we would our chief.”

Kaz shook his head, lowering his own ears. “I don’t want to fight anyone. I’m not very good at it.”

Nogz’ face lit up, and he nodded eagerly. “That explains why someone so big is still a puppy. That’s too bad. Don’t worry, though, because here all you have to do is whatever Eld tells you to do, and you’ll be fine!”

That wasn’t quite as reassuring as Nogz undoubtedly meant for it to be, but Kaz wagged his tail anyway, which pleased the pup. They went on, with Nogz telling Kaz how to cut a reed so it would grow back, and explaining the difference between a root that was ready to be harvested, and an immature one that would taste starchy and bitter.

Eventually, they exited one of the short tunnels that connected the yumi pools, which Nogz called ‘fields’, and instead of finding yet another field, Kaz’s nose was assaulted by the musky smell of many niu. He had been hearing strange sounds for a while, but Nogz had seemed unphased, and now Kaz knew why. This was where the niu were kept, and the sound was the creatures communicating with deep, burbling calls.

As soon as they entered the cavern, their niu, Jute, split away from the pair of kobolds and headed for something that Kaz recognized: one of the crystal-coated platforms. The beast had been completely docile, remaining near Nogz for their entire journey, but the young kobold seemed completely unconcerned when Jute went off on its own.

Seeing Kaz hesitate, Nogz stopped as well, grinning at him. “Don’t worry, Jute’s done this a hundred times. Just watch.”

Sure enough, the niu plodded over to the platform, walking completely across it, then stopping when the rolled-up mat it had been dragging behind it rested on the platform instead. There was a flash of red ki, and a small, hollow square Kaz hadn’t even noticed before was filled with a platform holding a single male husede. This male stepped over and detached the ropes from the niu, who promptly walked away, heading for an area where more yumi reeds were piled up, with a half dozen more niu already eating.

The husede returned to his small platform, touching the pedestal there. Red ki flowed from his platform to the larger one, and the big one vanished, replaced almost instantly by an empty one. Kaz’s eyes widened, then narrowed. There was no way anyone had had time to do anything with the first one, which meant this was a second platform, and the first had gone somewhere to await unloading. There was a possibility in that, but he pushed the thought to the back of his mind as the husede dropped something on the ground before vanishing again, and Nogz turned to Kaz.

“See? Now we pick up the stones he left, and when it’s dinner time, Eld will trade them in for food.” He saw Kaz’s look and misinterpreted it, hastily adding, “You’ll get some, too! Eld makes sure everyone has food, as long as you’re doing your best. Some of the pups that come here are really little, and they can’t do much yet, or sometimes someone gets hurt and can’t work, but everybody gets to eat.”

He leaned forward, lowering his voice conspiratorially. “We’re supposed to use all the yumi we gather for the niu or send it to the mosui, but every now and then, Eld lets us keep a little. It’s really good, especially if you cook it long enough for the roots to get all squishy.”

Kaz was startled. “Cook it? Does firemoss grow here?” The only way to heat things was by power or fire, and without females, that only left fire, which meant firemoss.

But Nogz was shaking his head. “We burn dried yumi reeds. There are some that get broken, or grow crooked, and the mosui don’t like those. Mostly, we feed them to the niu, but there are always some that get trampled or that the beasts just won’t eat. We gather those, and when they dry enough, they’ll burn fast but hot.”

That was a use for the versatile plants that Kaz had never heard of before, probably because it would be considered a waste anywhere else. Those reeds could still be stripped and woven, or if they were intact enough, they could become arrow shafts. Simply burning them was madness, and Kaz wondered who had come up with it.

“Who is this, Nogz?”

The voice was gruff, but not unkind, and when Kaz turned, he saw a small male, only a little larger than the miner, Dett. He was no sneaking skulker, though, as the muscles bulging from beneath his light brown fur showed. His fur had the same spotted pattern as Nogz’, so Kaz thought they must be related.

Sure enough, Nogz bounded over, gazing up at the new arrival with the kind of devotion a male usually reserved for his chief or his mate. “Eld! This is Kaz. He arrived while you were out, and wandered over to my field. We had a load ready, so I brought him back!”

Eld ruffled the fluffy fur on top of Regz’ head, then asked, “So where are the mealstones?”

Regz gave a yip, ducking away and running over to where the husede had been standing. Bending over, he scooped up three stones that looked identical to the ones the mosui had traded for crystals in the mines. Just three crystals for all that yumi? How did the kobolds here manage to bring in enough to feed everyone?

The pup brought the stones over to Eld, who accepted them and slid them into a pouch tied to his belt without comment. “Head back, now, pup,” the warrior said. “Take Brun this time. She hasn’t gotten any exercise yet today.”

Regz made a face. “Do I have to?” he whined. “She never wants to leave.”

Eld gave him a flat look, and Regz sighed, trudging off toward the group of niu with his tail nearly dragging behind him. Eld watched until the pup had tied a fresh mat to a particularly hefty niu and set off back toward the fields before he turned to Kaz, body suddenly tense and suspicious.

“Now, who are you, and how did you get here? I know every time the husede bring someone new, and you didn’t come with them.”

Kaz stood stock-still as his mind raced, and Eld finally sighed, seeing that no answer was immediately forthcoming. Silently, the brown-furred male motioned for Kaz to follow, then walked off toward a dark tunnel opening in the wall not far from the large, empty platform.

Reluctantly, Kaz followed, and the two kobolds walked down a short, dark tunnel, unlit even by the red crystals that were ubiquitous in the city and mine. He could still see a hint of the strange bluish-white light behind them, and a faint red glow was forming ahead when Eld stopped abruptly.

Turning, Eld looked straight into Kaz’s eyes, clearly unworried, in spite of the fact that Kaz was more than a head taller than he was. He pointed toward the crimson luminescence further down the tunnel, though he didn’t look away from Kaz as he did so.

“Down there is where the husede leave newcomers. They have to walk through here to reach the caverns. I stay in the niu den most of the time. Sometimes, if there’s a problem or an accident, one of the gatherers will call me for help, and I leave for a little while. The first thing I do when I get back is check this tunnel.” He gave a deep, demonstrative sniff, damp black nostrils flaring wide as he smelled the air. “This is the first time you’ve ever been here, and I know it. So, tell me, who are you, and how did you get here?”

A strange light gleamed in the brown eyes fixed so steadily on Kaz, and it took him far too long to recognize it for what it was: hope.

So, he told Eld a heavily edited version of the truth. He was part of a group of kobolds who had been caught by the mosui. He had been sent to the mine, but found a staircase in the deepest part of the hoyi mine, and had taken it in hopes of finding the rest of his companions, especially the females.

Eld didn’t interrupt, but his expression brightened when Kaz mentioned the stairs, then darkened again when Kaz admitted he was searching for females. Only when Kaz was clearly finished did he reply, though he was already shaking his head.

“Give up on the females,” he said, tone dark. “I’ve been here for years now, and no one has ever seen a female again after she was captured. Some say they’re killed outright, while others say the mosui put them to work like they do us, just doing something only those with a female’s power can do. Whatever the truth is, there’s nothing we can do about it. So long as we wear these collars, all we can do is try to free ourselves.”

He leaned forward, gaze intense. “Where are these stairs? Did you see any others? What are the mines like?”

Kaz motioned back the way they’d come. “It’s behind a wall in a little building by the field where Nogz found me. There’s a map carved on it, and it swings open-” He broke off, realizing that it took ki to open the wall, and this male had none.

Backtracking, he said, “It swung open when I pressed a button hidden in a hole on the back. It closed behind me, and I couldn’t get it open again.”

Eld frowned, tapping his fingers against the bag on his belt in what looked like a habitual gesture. “So long as we know the stairs are there, we can break through the wall,” he said.

Kaz stared. “But the stone here is practically unbreakable, and I didn’t even bring my pick with me. They have to use mithril picks to even chip out the crystals in the mine.” He wasn’t even entirely sure when he’d dropped his pickaxe, honestly. It had been tucked in his belt, and he suspected it had fallen out during his flight up the stairs.

Eld bared his teeth. “Oh, I’ll find a way. You know how the stairs are. Where there’s one, there’s usually another. Now that I know there are stairs at all, I’ll find the ones that go down, if I have to break every wall in this place.”

Kaz sighed, looking back toward the blue-lit opening. “Why? This place isn’t bad. It’s far better than the mines, certainly, and it seems safer than living in a den.”

The shorter male straightened his shoulders, glaring at Kaz as if he’d just insulted his chief. “And the mosui control everything we do. Sometimes they come and take some of us away for no reason they care to share. They could come tomorrow and take Nogz, or me, or any of the others, and no one would ever know what happened to them. Mosui control what we eat, and when, where we can go, when we sleep, who comes and who goes, and what we do, all day, every day. This is no way for a kobold to live.”

Kaz stared at him. “But that’s exactly what the females do,” he blurted. “We males have nothing, do nothing, unless they tell us we can. We live and die, take a mate and breed, all by their command, and they care nothing about what we want.”

It was Eld’s turn to stare, then his eyes softened and he clapped a hand to Kaz’s arm. “If that’s what your tribe was like, then I’m sorry, pup. Maybe it would be better for you to stay here. But me? I want to go home.”

Turning, he walked back down the tunnel, leaving Kaz in darkness.