Chapter 303 - Tisikana (Patreon)

As he had for the past few days, Zeke followed Silik through the tunnels beneath Min Ferilik. The journey had gone well, but he’d grown bored with the unchanging nature of the caves and caverns. Certainly, they’d seen a few notable sights. One – a cave that seemed to have been carved out of a giant diamond – would stick with him for the rest of his life. However, landmarks of that sort were few and far between, and they were only connected by miles of boring tunnels.

It probably wouldn’t have been so bad if the journey had met some resistance, but the tunnels were entirely abandoned, and the three of them – cambion, kobold, and dark elf – had made the trek in complete safety.

Until that point, Zeke hadn’t considered himself to be a battle junky. Sure, he liked a good fight, but he never would’ve thought that he needed it. However, he could now admit that he had grown accustomed to a certain level of action, and now that it had gone missing, he missed it.

Sensing his impatience, Silik turned his reptilian head and said, “Not much further!”

Zeke glanced at Jasper, who seemed entirely unperturbed by the journey. The dark elf shrugged, but he didn’t speak. There was nothing to say. After all, it had been Zeke’s decision to accompany Silik back to the kobold nest in the first place. So, he only had himself to blame for their circumstances.

Back in the First City, it had seemed like such a good idea, if only because it was much better than the alternative. Heading down to the kobolds seemed smarter than sending Silik there to bring his people back – partially because Zeke didn’t really trust the kobold, but mostly because he had a tendency to shy away from delegation.

Which meant that he’d committed to a diplomatic mission. Not for the first time, it occurred to Zeke that he probably wasn’t the right guy for the job, but there really wasn’t anyone else to fill the role. After all, he didn’t fully trust Jasper to represent his interests, and Silik had been an enemy only a few days before. So, he’d had little choice in the matter.

“Do you think we will be missed?” asked Jasper, pulling Zeke from his thoughts.

“Huh? By who?” Zeke asked.

“The dwarves,” Jasper said. “They will surely notice when we fail to return.”

“I wouldn’t be so sure,” Zeke said. “From what I can tell, they don’t really care what we do. I mean, if we want to eat, we have to go back, right? Some of the monsters are probably edible, but getting enough to survive isn’t really that easy. Besides, most of the other slaves are resigned to this life. Even if they could survive for a while down here, why? There’s no way to escape without going through the dwarven city.”

Of course, Zeke had long since decided that there was another exit somewhere. He’d yet to find it, but he was certain that it was there. Jasper didn’t need to know that, though.

“Huh. I never thought about it in that way,” Jasper remarked.

For the next few hours, the three continued their journey through the tunnels until, at last, they found a sign of civilization when they stumbled upon a pair of kobold guards. The two lacked Silik’s size, but they were still much bigger than either Zeke or Jasper. However, a quick [Inspect] told Zeke that they hadn’t even reached level forty.

“I return with our savior,” announced Silik, pride evident in his voice.

“Wait, what? I’m not saving –”

“Is it worthy?” asked one of the guards.

“Not an ‘it’,” Zeke pointed out.

“He is the master of a grand tower made of the purest blood mithril,” Silik explained, ignoring Zeke’s interjection. “He has tamed the bronze statues and slain countless of our brethren. He is worthy.”

It was the most articulate the kobold had ever been, and it took Zeke a moment to recognize the difference. Before, Silik had been speaking a language that came close to the one the dwarves spoke. As such, his command was halting. However, now, he spoke in his native tongue, which explained his increased eloquence. Not for the first time, I felt thankful for the ability to understand multiple languages, but I couldn’t help but wonder if it was common because none of the kobolds seemed like they thought I could understand them.

“Do you require an escort?” asked the guard who’d yet to speak.

“No. I fear nothing from our savior,” Silik pronounced as if it was the most natural thing in the world. An uncommon position, given that the kobolds attacked or were attacked by everything else in the mines.

“Very well. Proceed.”

With that, Silik strode forth, his claws clacking on the ground with every step, and Zeke followed. Jasper brought up the rear, clearly uncomfortable with the situation. Doubtless, he’d fought kobolds even more often than Zeke had; after all, he’d been a slave far longer.

Over the next two hours, there were three more such encounters. The only difference was that, with each one, the number of kobold guards present grew. By the final checkpoint, the force had grown to ten kobold legionnaires that were at least as tall as Silik. However, they all treated him with deference and, once they had a chance to hear Silik’s declarations, the party was allowed to pass unmolested.

“What’s all this about me being a savior?” asked Zeke as they steadily descended deeper into the mountain. Through his attunement, he could feel a huge cavern up ahead, and, given his suspicions about what it represented, he wanted to get a few questions answered before they reached what he expected was the site of the kobold settlement.

“You see,” Silik answered, lapsing back into the dwarven tongue. It was much easier to recognize now that Zeke knew what to look for.

“You don’t have to do that,” Zeke stated. “I understand your language.”

“You do?” Jasper exclaimed from his position at the rear of their small procession.

“I do,” Zeke said.

The kobold legionnaire stopped. Then, looking back at Zeke, he asked, “Is this true?”

Zeke noted that he spoke in the kobold tongue, so when he answered, he did the same, saying, “It is.”

For a moment, Silik didn’t respond. Instead, he merely stared at Zeke as if he were a curious sort of bug. Then, he closed his eyes and bowed his head as he reverently said, “Praise be the savior.”

“What am I supposed to save you from?” Zeke asked.

“You will see,” he said. And with that, Silik cut the conversation off and continued on his way. Zeke and Jasper had little choice but to follow.

A few minutes later, the trio emerged from the tunnel and into an enormous cavern. It was at least as large as the one that contained the First City, but it differed in a number of ways. For one, there was no underground river dividing the chamber in two. For another, the buildings within were cruder, but in good order. And finally, it was far from abandoned.

Everywhere Zeke looked, there were kobolds. Thousands of them. Perhaps tens of thousands. All going about various tasks and living their lives. Some were small, like the ones Zeke had first encountered. Others were as large as Silik. And many were somewhere in between.

There were even a few that would have towered over even Silik’s formidable height.

“This is Tisikana, home to the Aniyaya,” announced Silik.

From context, Zeke figured that Tisikana was the name of the village – or city, rather, given its size. And the kobolds referred to themselves as the Aniyaya. Or perhaps that was their tribe’s name. Whatever the case, Zeke was a little too surprised by the level of development to think about it too deeply.

“Follow,” said Silik, unhesitatingly striding forward. Zeke and Jasper exchanged twin looks of incredulity before following along. As they went, the other kobolds took notice, but no one barred their way. More interestingly, they didn’t look upon the newcomers with fear. Rather, they seemed intrigued. Especially the little ones that Zeke took to be children.

From a rational standpoint, Zeke had come to terms with the fact that he’d killed juvenile monsters. Back in the troll caves, it hadn’t seemed to matter that much, and during his first forays into the mines, killing the attacking kobolds had felt justified. Now, though, seeing the creatures in their native habitat, he couldn’t help but feel a little guilty at his actions. After all, they didn’t seem so different from human children, now.

Sure, they were scaly and had claws that could slice through low-quality armor, but as Zeke and the others passed through Tisikana, he saw the juvenile kobolds playing games like tag and wrestling with one another.

Zeke tried to ignore it. He pushed those thoughts from his mind. But they’d already taken root, and he didn’t think they’d go anywhere anytime soon. So, he tried to focus on the rest of his surroundings.

The architecture of Tisikana was crude, putting Zeke in mind of prehistoric structures he’d seen in school. The Aniyaya favored round buildings with conical roofs, most of which were covered in some white substance that Zeke couldn’t identify.

“Guano,” Jasper stated, guessing what Zeke’s quizzical expression meant.

“Huh?” Zeke asked.

“That white substance on the roofs is guano,” the dark elf explained. Then, he pointed to the cavern’s ceiling. Zeke’s eyes followed the gesture, and it only took him a moment to recognize that the jagged surface was covered in giant bats. “My people began their history living underground, much as these…Aniyaya. One of our fables – a proverb, to be truthful – tells of our founders who, upon descending into the caves, built our first settlement. They designed them without roofs. There was no weather from which to protect the residents, so what use was a roof? An infestation of bats taught them the error of their ways. The proverb is meant to teach us to consider a problem from all angles before settling upon a course of action.”

Zeke just shook his head. Of course, if he was confronted with such an issue, his first thought would probably be to exterminate the bats. Perhaps that said something about what kind of a person he was.

The trip through the city was largely uneventful, so long as Zeke ignored the curious glances thrown their way. After a few minutes, Zeke saw their eventual destination. In a lot of ways, the circle of menhirs reminded him of Stonehenge. There were a couple of key differences, though. First, the stones were anything but roughhewn; instead, they seemed to have been cut with perfect precision. Second, they were covered in some sort of script. It was runecraft, though. Rather, it seemed to be a written language.

As they approached, Zeke saw a hundred legionnaires, each half-again as tall as Silik. Down to the last kobold, they were at least level sixty, with a few even cresting level seventy, which gave Zeke pause. If a fight broke out, he would be hard pressed to survive under the weight of such power.

But he couldn’t turn back. Not now. He had come in peace, and he could only hope that they would treat his intentions appropriately.

Silik didn’t even pause as they passed into the center of the ring of standing stones, and when Zeke stepped inside, he got yet another surprise. From outside, the ground had seemed solid, but the moment he’d stepped within the circle, he saw a set of steps spiraling deeper into the earth. Even the senses associated with his attunement had been fooled, but now, he could tell that the steps led nearly a quarter of a mile straight down.

“What’s down there?” Zeke asked.

“The chief awaits,” said Silik. “She will explain everything.”

The chief. He had no idea the power such a being might wield, but he’d already come this far, and he had no intention of cutting his visit short. His reasoning still stood. He needed help if he was going to enact his plans, and the kobolds definitely seemed like capable allies, if the levels he’d seen on display was any indication.

So, he followed Silik, barely even hesitating as they began their descent. Round and round the spiral went, taking them ever deeper into the earth. The entire time, Zeke felt the strength of the ambient earth-attuned mana grow in intensity. Before he’d gained his attunement, he might not have noticed, but now, he couldn’t ignore the waves of mana latching onto his body and seeping into his pores.

And he’d never felt better. The slight fatigue he’d felt after the long journey from the First City was worn away, and it was replaced by implacable strength. He must have gasped in surprise, because Jasper asked, “Are you well, my friend?”

“I…I’m fine,” Zeke said, steadying his breath. “It’s just…the mana here is more than I expected.”

“The chief requires power to keep the nemesis at bay,” said Silik.

“What nemesis?”

“All will soon be explained,” Silik answered. “Please. Let us go. It is…uncomfortable for me here.”

They continued to follow the stairs until, at last, they reached the bottom. There, they were confronted with a wide opening which was barred by an enormous and closed metal door. To Zeke, it looked like it belonged in a prison for Jotuns.

Silik marched forward, the claws on his feet clicking against the ground, and when he reached the door, it swung inward of its own accord. He never broke stride, and Zeke hurried to catch up. Jasper followed close on his heels, and the moment all three were inside, the door shut with a loud clang of metal on metal.

That’s when Zeke noticed the red mist and he immediately thought back to the blood wraith he’d encountered on the other side of the Rainbow Forest. But this mist was much thinner, and he suspected that Jasper couldn’t even see it. However, as they pushed forward through the wide corridor, the mist grew heavier. The tunnel was lit with flickering torches embedded into the walls, but the light reflected off the red fog, giving the place an eerie ambience.

Soon enough, they reached the end of the tunnel, and Zeke’s eyes widened as he beheld the chief in all her glory.

“Welcome,” came a rumbling voice that seemed to permeate the entire cavern. “I smell wyrm blood on you. Tell me, child – if I named you wyrm-killer, would you be bold enough to call me a liar?”