Frowning as I pull sacks filled with gems out of another sack, or rather out of a hyperdimensional handysack, I’m not sure what the best course of action here is. I should probably meet the elders, and this circle of twelve ancient consorts, but I really don’t want to sit around waiting for a gathering of elders to come together, or to decide stuff. I’ve got a siege to fight. We. Right, we’ve got a siege to fight. Try to be better about that Reggie. Sure, but then you rag on me for using we in my own mind. I mean I rag on me. I mean—. Argh.
The Aasimovians are looking rough, the ones aboveground anyway. I see a few obvious trapdoors that lead into cellars or catacombs or something, and occasionally straight up holes in the ground that obviously lead into caverns below. Tiago looks weary, and I’m afraid to ask him the status of the patient I provided him. He does hand me back the portable hole, which I peek inside of. Thankfully Shlen, Chuck, and the lovebirds are in it, and doing fine.
Before I need to ask, Tiago responds, “It’s grim, dear sweet friend. You did well with that transfusion. It was the right choice, she’d definitely have died without it. As is, I’m unsure if she will wake at all. I’m not fully used to the biology of, um, scaly humanoids yet, though I’ve had some practice with the kobolds amongst our numbers.”
Gulping back sadness, worry for the kobolds, I glance sadly at Tiago as he continues, “I see it in your eyes, yes, the ones you know are fine, Elder, Miza, Dippy, Scrap, Timbik, the children. Most everyone you know is fine. Except—,” Tiago sighs sadly, shaking his head before going on, “I’ll come back to that in a moment, my dear, dear friend. Your, erm, prisoner I suppose, she wasn’t injured by you wa—, okay, good. I hope she won’t lash out if she does rouse then. I will do my best, though we’ve little in the way of supplies these days.”
There’s hesitation before Tiago returns to what he said he’d return to. Sighing sadly, he finishes what he started, “Keeley. She led a suicidal charge with a small number of the more militaristic amongst us, against the dragons when they made their demands of our band of refugees. It made sense to give up wealth for the aid and protection of the dragons, for their offer of transporting us from the edge of the swamp to the capitol. The labor that we’d be doing was simply rebuilding the capitol anyway, for the most part, being that we’d be able to keep all common minerals from the mining. The elders had already agreed that it would be wise to acquiesce, despite misgivings, but she was having none of it. First Keeley, then with his wife and child gone, Marshal as well led a handful more to their doom. It—. It was awful.”
Closing my eyes, slowing my breathing, and stilling my heart, I try to let the news wash past, and over me. I’d been informed of this, I knew the news was coming. I can’t afford to break down. She was a good woman, despite our differences, and the anger she harbored towards me. Marshal was a wonderful man, and they made a fantastic couple. She was already on borrowed time, but still.
Loosing several tears, they become a stream, which becomes a river, which becomes a cascading waterfall. Good people keep dying. Good people keep getting hurt, or being abused. Life isn’t—, it isn’t fair. I sob for several moments on Tiago’s shoulder as Tiktik pats me on my back comfortingly.
Rattling my skull, I have to get back to it. I have to get on with things, and address issues. If possible, I want to leave the Aasimovians in a better state than I found them in. Hm, there is one way to definitely help provide for them, but it needs top notch security. Taking Tiago and Tiktik to the side, I ask, “Do either of you have, or know of a safe place, and I’m talking so safe, that maybe only you could get into it?”
Tiktik’s eyes widen and brighten as she hoarse-whispers, “Ah Tiger! You’re never gonna guess what I just found!”
When I motion for Tiktik to continue, she pouts, but she realizes that I don’t have the heart for guessing games right now. Half frowning sympathetically at me, Tiktik continues, “Okay, so there I was, helping out digging, unearthing some cellars and caverns and catacombs and whatever, y’dig? Only don’t, ‘cause you’ll get all dirty. Hehe, anyway, digging, right? Little ol’ me, swinging away, and a wall crumbles, and what do I spy? Okay, maybe I didn’t so much spy it as fell into it like a doofy goon, but that’s besides the point. Can you guess what it was?” Clamping my lips together so as not to frown at Tiktik, I attempt to keep a neutral facial expression until she finishes, “An entrance to the ‘Twixt!”
My eyes flash wide with comprehension. Now that would definitely be a safe space. Tiktik’s the only Fae here as far as I’m aware. Even if she wasn’t, there’s another caveat to being able to enter the ‘Twixt. Something about Tiktik’s heritage is required, something or other, so she’s likely the only one that can access it. Does Tiago understand what the ‘Twixt is? I glance his way, but he shrugs. I gnaw on the inside of my cheeks as Tiktik gets distracted by my tail, and chases it around as I try to keep it from her. I have no idea why we’re playing around in the middle of a conversation, but this is Tiktik we’re talking about. I love the little goon to death.
Taking a deep breath, and loosing it through puffed cheeks and pursed lips, I wait a moment before beginning, “Okay, do either of you remember my stories about our home world? The magic that allowed us to pretty much have infinite food for the Lavaborn Alliance? I can, and want to, provide that to the Aasimovian refugees, but only if we can get it someplace safe, where only someone I trust can access it. I trust you two, George, Tim, Harriet, Berinon, Daffodil, and, well, huff, two that are no longer with us. I also trust Elder, Dippy, Miza, and Scrap, oh, and maybe, maybe Hellga Hellridge if she’s okay. It’s not entirely fragile, but it’s not safe from damage either. If it gets too damaged, boom, no more enchantment. You sort of need two people to operate it, but if I recall correctly, Tiktik you can bring one person with you into the ‘Twixt, yes?”
Chirping chipperly, Tiktik responds, “Yep yep! Got that right buster! Oo Tiger, does this mean I get to take you into the ‘Twixt? Like, like right now? Soon?”
The author's content has been appropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.
Glancing at the rest of my party, they shrug, listening in on my mental monologue. Tiago leans away from our conspiratorial huddle, and flashes me a sad smile, knowing that I’ll be off. I’m sure he hopes I’ll return to say farewell before leaving, but neither of us know if I’ll be able to. Tiktik leads me towards what might have been a central castle, and I’m only slightly surprised when I see what could literally be called a circle of elders beneath a large tarp. It’s rather easy to determine which ones are the twelve consorts, as they all stiffen at sensing my dragonforce, which apparently I’d forgotten to stifle.
Another familiar voice from another familiar face approaching me calls out, “If it isn’t the conquering hero, returning once more to pull us from the almost literal fire. I’d had a feeling we hadn’t seen the last of you, adventurer. Though it seems you’ve undergone some changes since last we spoke. I hear we’ve you to thank for the concessions just made, and the about-face of the rest of the dragons just now. Really, going from extorter to protector in the blink of an eye? If it hadn’t come somehow by your hand, I’d have had a harder time believing it. Once you were mentioned, woosh, all doubts cast aside. I can, and will always do that much for you, my young friend. I’m sorry if it ever seemed otherwise.”
Gulping back a bit of sentimentality, I nod to Harriet before responding, “Yeah, I, well, I kind of figured. I’ve been fighting a war against dragons, with dragons, in the Spine of the World, to stop them from loosing more horrors across the land like the Fel hordes. I happened to be in the neighborhood, so I—.”
Harriet bursts into laughter, almost nearly doubling over as she guffaws. She has to wipe a tear from her eye as she stands. Through humorously labored breathing, Harriet queries, “Let me guess, you accidentally stumbled into a region with an evil ruler, and assassinated them?”
My jaw hangs slack while my right index finger can’t decide whether to point, or curl. That, well, yeah, that is a Reggie Shellcracker patented accidental assassination mission. I mean, it is a running pattern in my life. Really, it’s a tad too frequent for my liking. Though, I mean, these days, I’m just a straight up assassin, rather than an accidental one. I literally topple strongholds a few times a week by slaying their leaders. I would probably find it funny, if it weren’t so grim. Harriet’s heard all the stories though. Hell, it’s the thing she berated me about before we left Autumn Brook the first time. She’s also probably spent plenty of time talking to Tiago or Tiktik, or even George. Speaking of, I wave at him as he glances my way with a startled curious expression, one brow fit to raise off his head.
Nodding to Harriet, admitting culpability, or responsibility, I’m not sure of the difference in this particular case—. I went and confused myself. George mouths, “Reggie?” and I nod in return to him as well. I’ve been raising more than a few eyebrows as I wander around, looking like this. I don’t really have the time to explain to everyone that I think I’m now half incubus, or succubus. Wait, when did I turn blue again? Let’s fix that. I could just say that now I’m an Inkling, or a Succling, but that could get—.
Attempting to hide my sigh as Tiktik bursts into laughter, I have a quiet chuckle to myself. Tiktik quickly interrupts, “You have to go with, haha, that last one. Big T’s going to love it. Speaking of, where is she? I don’t feel her brain around, but, but you’d have told me right away, right?”
Gulping down a quick breath, I rapidly reassure Tiktik, “Definitely, Te’s fine, she’s off fighting a fortress of Draconiacs like the wounded woman right now, we had different assignments today. There’s something like seventy three more fortresses with hundreds to thousands of dragonkind in each of them left to topple. It’s been a busy couple of weeks since we got reunited with the Triple L Squad.”
Her eyes widening cartoonishly large on her telepathic avatar, Tiktik quips, “I’ll say!”
After sharing a few more details with Harriet, so that she can make some plans around what I’ll be setting up, I give George a hug when he approaches me. We share some of the same exchanges I’d just had with Tiago and Harriet, much to my chagrin. I really should have just sought out everyone I know and brought them together. That feels a bit presumptuous to believe I should be able to just drop into their lives and summon a meeting of people that I like though.
I spy Daffodil a ways off, and she’s hard at work, despite having one arm. She does apparently at least have a rudimentary leather-and-wood prosthesis for her missing arm. I assume it was likely at least partially constructed by Berinon Tanner. I wish I could afford to pick his brain, or bring him back to Solace, but the refugees need every skilled craftsperson they can get while rebuilding their lives.
Regardless, Tiktik leads me down into a cellar past the elders, and through that cellar into catacombs. We pass by several kobold families munching and digging away as we wind our way deeper into these eerie subterranean hallways. There’s a fair bit of echo of the noise of picks hitting stone, or even lumber creaking as it’s heaved into place, or as it strains under the weight of some load or another.
Arriving at what really does appear to be simply a recently busted hole in a catacomb wall, there is a bit of empty space beyond, before the natural stone of the landscape resumes behind where the wall had been covering it up. Cranking my aura vision to the max though, reveals something of a yearning void in space. Tendrils of energy, etheric mana, seem to wobble and undulate as if in response to some unseen stimulus. Reaching forth my hand, Tiktik leaps to intercept me a tad too late as my hand brushes one of the tendrils, and I suddenly disappear just before she makes contact, as my hand meets the tendril first. That’s not supposed to ha—. Son of a!
Heaving a sigh, I should really probably be laughing right now. Remember what Tiktik said the key to entering the ‘Twixt was? Mixbreeds. Half Fae half something elses with ties to other realms can enter a segment of the ‘Twixt, meant for them or their species or something like that. Gorram friggin’. Of course now I’m half something else. I mean, then again, I was always Can’Z’aasian, and Changeling Fae, and that’s another realm. Still, I don’t think it’d have counted. I’m pretty sure it’s this new half-Fel reincarnated body. Huh, I could call myself a Halffel to try to make it sound like I’m saying I’m a half-elf, while admitting to people that I went through some changes. Heh, half changeling having half gone through some changes I fell into, making me half Fel.
Imagine that conversation though. Hypothetical party asking me, “My my, your biology speaks to perhaps quite an unusual heritage, would you mind elucidating me as to what particularly that is?”
Then I’d respond a mumbled, “Halffel.”
They’d then perhaps semi-jokingly ask, “Half-elf half what else?” before postulating guesses, “Minotaur? Dragon?”
Snrk. Anyway. Okay, well, at least I learned that I can enter the ‘Twixt on my own, now to turn around and—. Of friggin’ course. I knew it before I looked. Genre senses were screaming it. Sighing, I laugh to myself in this dark empty space that appears to be slowly materializing into something, something with no discernible entrance or exit. Certainly with no exit the direction I’d arrived from.