CHAPTER 32: OR MAYBE THEY DO

Upon returning to the dam, there’s no one in sight save for a single beaver in that middle stage of evolution, where they appear like a beaver should in my memories, save slightly anthropomorphized, standing on their hind legs. I feel Teuila’s hackles raise, at not seeing her family. The hair on the back of my neck stands on end as well.

Trying to remain calm, I call out, “Howdy, where is everyone?” As we glide down on approach. This, as usual, is met with no response. I’m still slightly glitched, and can’t initiate communication with non-party-members. That is vaguely infuriating.

Lil echoes my greeting, and I’m able to hear the response, indicating everyone has been invited in, and are resting within the dam. I guess that makes sense. Teuila still seems on edge, and there’s something odd about the situation, that I can’t put my finger on, but I guess we should join the rest of the family to rest as well. There’s a pretty massive community of beavers here.

Lil has to return to their normal form, as we’re instructed that the entrance is under water. I suppose that also makes sense, which also clarifies why they wanted us to be friends with other aquatic types before gaining their friendship so long ago now.

As the three of us, and our guide, dive into the water, I swear I hear Luni think “No!” loudly in my head, but when I reach out across our mental wavelength, I don’t sense her anywhere. Maybe she’s asleep, or maybe deep diving blocks our connection, like a decent amount of solid material does. Lil looks somewhat distraught, so I try to rig up a vine harness to tie around them as we swim.

I’m exceedingly grateful for being a part of the Shellcracker family, and for having spent so much time swimming while training with Lil and Teuila over the last few weeks, because the path beneath the dam is long and winding, submerged the entire time. It feels like there are offshoots and dead ends that would cause Lil or me to get lost long enough that our breath would run out long before we made it in or out of this place, without a guide.

Even still, I’m starting to approach my limit as I finally see a pocket of air, and a path above the water. Lil seems to be fine, thankfully, and of course Teuila isn’t even fazed. After briefly surfacing, we’re led further down yet again, submerging once more, into winding tunnels that seem to be built beneath even the main riverbed. How long can this possibly go on?

Finally there are signs of life, small offshoots that appear to lead to individual moon pools or whatever caves with air pockets are called. It seems like many of the beavers have their own individual rooms, or rooms for their families. I occasionally sense some movement from those rooms, though it’s tenebrous at best down here. I think that’s another point for me not being entirely human, I can see in this darkness, and have always been able to see fairly decently in the dark. Well, except for when I was blind.

Exhaustingly, we eventually reach an area where we’re treated to the sounds of crowd chatter, far more voices than I’ve ever heard in my life. A louder voice booms, and the rest go silent. We start to pass beavers and beaverfolk hanging about, they smile cordially and chitter at or chat with Lil, Teuila, and our guide. They probably also chitter at me, but, well, we all know my communication difficulties. We’re somewhere fairly deep in the earth at this point, or, well, whatever our planet’s name is, or its name for soil is. I would have been fine just rooming with one of the beaver families on the near edge of this tunnel system, closer to the surface of the dam. There are patches of lichen, and some kind of vines along all the walls, which must filter the carbon dioxide down here. It isn’t too stuffy, so they seem to be working.

We finally get to what can only be described as a great hall, there are dozens of beaverfolk here, and their arrangement, well, I can only describe it as appearing as if they’re split into factions. A smaller group beckons to us. Our guide appears quite nervous, and continues leading us towards the larger group.

“Lil, Te? What’s going on? Something is definitely off.” I can’t shake this feeling, Luni wouldn’t have just zonked out before Lil got back, would she? Was she that exhausted?

“There’s some kind of standoff buddy.” Lil seems to be whispering.

“Where’s our family? This is getting ridiculous.” I glance around at the veritable army of beavers, and then glance at our guide.

“He won’t answer me about that, he just keeps saying they’re resting.”

Looking over to the smaller group that discreetly tried to call us over earlier, I ask, “Those ones seem to want our attention, maybe we should go talk to them?”

“I’m getting the sense that that isn’t an option pal.”

“I think Lil’s right.” Chimes in Teuila as she clenches and unclenches her fists, one hand on the hilt of her sword.

“What, why?” I ask as our guide stops us in the center of this hall, a curious place to lead us, for sure. If I didn’t know better, I’d say they appear to be sweating. Several other beavers bring a table in from one of the offshoots. The table is laden with ropes, and empty sacks. Another pair of beavers brings in a very large basket with a lid. The basket appears to be wicker, or woven reed or some such. When they remove the lid, it’s completely empty. I’m starting to panic as I think I get the idea of what’s going on.

Okay, okay, okay, breathe Reggie, don’t panic, don’t let on about your inventory magic. “That’s right pal, keep it secret for now.” Lil chimes in, straight into my brain.

Several of the beavers from the larger group are indicating for us to tie ourselves, and to throw our equipment in the basket.

“Why should we!?” Asks Lil, crying out in outrage. There are decidedly evil sneers from the larger beaverfolk. One claps their hands, and my stomach drops as I imagine what’s about to be brought out.

One by one, my family is brought out, borne on the shoulders of beaverfolk, trussed and tied to small logs. First Agwai, then Laomati, two sacks which likely contain the Mana twins, then Mataalii. The beaver carrying Mataalii’s trussed up form is wielding a copy of Gae Buidhe.

I’m furious. How, why did he sneak a copy of that deadly spear? That complete jerk, what was he thinking? One of the beavers in charge points at Lao, and the beaver carrying Ali drops him flat on his face to march towards Lao, spear drawn towards her.

My heart drops into the pit of my stomach, we can’t let her even get scratched by that thing, even as just a minor threat or she might bleed to death! Everyone is blindfolded and gagged, but there’s no sign of Luni. My vision starts to blur, my lips quiver, imagining why Luni isn’t present, why we can’t reach her in our mental bond, Lil is slowly screaming louder and louder into our mental bond. My vision tunnels as I hyperventilate.

“They want us to throw down our weapons, then tie ourselves up, fast, or they’re going to hurt Lao. Reggie what do we do?” The beaver wielding Gae Buidhe is pressing it against Lao’s cheek, and I think I see tears streaming from her eyes.

“We comply, we have to, what choice do we have?” I answer, while trying to concoct a plan that doesn’t get anyone killed. Lil thinks angrily at me that they could fry every last beaver in here if I send them a tether. “But could you do it before Lao gets nicked, before anyone gets stabbed?” Lil rages in our shared think space. They’re furious at the lack of Luni’s presence. Luni’s stats page is grayed out, and I have no idea what that means. I don’t blame Lil. I’m barely keeping it together right now, as I drop my clothing and equipment into the basket. I secret away the danger wraps into my inventory. No one seems to notice some fabric strips, or lack thereof, in the tall basket from a distance. No one knows that my tattoos are a piece of equipment.

Teuila follows suit, divesting and disrobing. Lil growls furiously but hops onto the table, sitting at the edge of a sack. I gulp down breath after breath, trying not to hyperventilate, and failing.

The beavers apparently take that as a sign of hesitation, and begin dragging Mataalii away on his face. I start to cry out to object, but the merest motion is met with the wielder of Gae Buidhe hauling back as if to skewer Laomati. I freeze in panic. Are Sugar and Spice a part of this? Or is this why they wanted to leave rather than spending the night? Their stats pages are similarly grayed out. What does that even mean!? My pulse, and tinnitus feel like they’re destroying my hearing, drowning out everything.

Minutes pass, as Teuila and I remain frozen, gulping. What more do they want from us? Do we have to truss ourselves? As I gaze at Luni, Sugar, and Spice’s stats pages, something weird happens to Ali’s page. It gets garbled, and my eyes go wide as I freak out. Are they in the process of killing him? I exchange panicked gazes with Teuila and Lil. I cautiously try to begin binding my own hands, trying to show that I’m attempting to comply as best I can. I fumble for several minutes, as Teuila follows suit. Lil can only scurry into an empty sack. It’s easy enough to tie our own ankles, but I don’t appear to be able to tie my wrists to their satisfaction.

Suddenly Mataalii reappears, unbound, wielding a spear. I’m conflicted between thinking that we’re saved, or that they’re going to kill Lao because Ali broke out. Yet Mata just marches in our direction, spear aimed at us. My heart sinks further.

There’s no way, there’s no way Mata would ever turn on the rest of the family. Me? Sure, I’d buy it in a heartbeat. This has to be some kind of trick, it’s just a long, elaborate prank that has gone on too long, right? I try to nervously laugh, but that’s only met with weapons poised for striking, Gae Buidhe aimed at Lao, and Mata’s spear aimed at us. I gulp and try to remain frightfully still. Mataalii approaches, and harshly tightens our bindings before shoving gags in all of our mouths, blindfolding each of us, and also binding a sack over each of our heads, including Lil’s entire body.

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I vomit slightly from fear, and it’s soaked up by my gag. I can hear logs being dragged around to our rears, like the ones Lao and Ag are trussed to. Then I feel my limbs jerked into elongated positions, and strapped to wood. There was something wrong with Mata’s eyes, they were unfocused, and his movements, they were a robotic march. He had to have been being controlled, I won’t accept any other explanation.

“I don’t know fam, seems like we got played pretty hard. You saw the spear, Mata had to have snuck one away somewhere.” Lil calls out into my head. But how? How could he possibly have kept that a secret as we marched?

I could kill every last one of them, starting with the ones nearest Lao, I could still do it, almost instantly. All I need do is claim the blindfold, the sack over my head, I don’t even need to claim the binding. I can just expel radiant spears from my inventory, or heck, sharp sticks and chunks of fired clay would be enough to end their lives. Ugh, this is a terrible, horrible, sickening thought. I keep hoping this is a prank. I hope they’ll drag us off to some room, and shout surprise, and they’ll unveil a banquet as they untie us. Realistically, it feels more likely that we’d be the banquet. That doesn’t make sense though, I’m sure they don’t eat people, there aren’t any people around to be eaten, and we were last here months ago.

Suddenly I’m dropped onto my face, and I feel several logs clatter together. I hear the shuffling of feet heading away, and the grinding of stone slamming into place. Did they toss us in a hole and roll a rock over it?

I wait an agonizingly long time before risking it. I claim my blindfold, then the sack covering my head, and immediately regret it as my gaze meets Mataalii’s. Time seems to stop as I begin to panic that I’ve lost our only advantage. Mata stands there however, unblinking. Lil is sobbing in our shared thinkspace, mourning Luni. I can hardly breathe, between panic, and the stuffiness of our cell. I gaze around, I can see Lao, Agwai, three sacks, Teuila, Mata. The sacks are likely the twins and Lil. No sign of Luni, Sugar, or Spice. Despite my freedom of movement, Mata makes no move to reapply restraints to my head. I cautiously claim the bindings on my other limbs as well, and still, Mata stands there, unblinking.

I stand, ever so slowly, and inch towards him. “Ali? Ali, is that you? Are you in there?” Oh mi familia, what have they done to you Ali. I approach him, and knock the spear out of his grasp. He doesn’t react. I carefully hug him. Mataalii, even if you want me dead, you’re a brother to me, what have they done to you? Why did you have a copy of Gae Buidhe? How did you manage to hide it?

I sigh, knowing I can’t spare any more energy fretting over Mata right now. My family is beginning to squirm confusedly. One by one, I go around shushing them, and removing their various bindings. We sit quietly in the dark, not daring speak, until I can bear it no longer.

“What happened? Where’s Luni?” Lil perks up at my question, restored with hope that maybe she’s still out there. Teuila grits her teeth, clenching her eyes tight as she fights back tears. I’m sure she imagines Luni is already lost to us.

Lao responds, “She, Sugar, and Spice, were with us one moment, and gone the next.” I vaguely recall Luni appearing as if out of thin air, after the Octorochi battle. Does she have some sort of teleportation, or invisibility song, or something?

“What about Mata? How’d this happen?”

“We were led to a great hall, they marched a table out to us laden with bindings, we thought it some manner of jest. We tried to laugh it off, but they advanced on us, weapons drawn. Then Mataalii drew that dangerous spear of yours as if from nowhere. Stones were flung from slings, and Mata was taken from us, as was his spear. We felt we had no choice but to allow ourselves to be bound at that point.” Lao shakily tells the tale, with Agwai nodding in confirmation.

I only manage to growl as I begin summoning equipment for everyone. I’m going to find my family members, get back their stolen copies of gear, and that ridiculously dangerous spear, and I’m going to get to the bottom of what happened to Mataalii. My determination feels like it burns bright, akin to the time we were hunted by the energy thieves, as if it wants to burst forth from me as flames. Somehow it’s even easier to see in our little cave, then I notice that perhaps my determination is literally burning bright, as I appear to be glowing.

Teuila pokes me, then pinches and pulls at the skin on my arm. My only response to which is, “Um, Te, ow, what are you doing?”

“Since when was your skin glow in the dark?” She prods me a bit more as she asks.

“I don’t know, since now I guess.” I shoo her hands away, since I’m as clueless as she is about this. I’d be laughing and enjoying our exchange at any other time, but right now I’m fighting back a fury that’s begging me to let loose and kill everything between me and finding where Luni is.

Lil calls into my head, “You and me both Reggie, you and me both.” I feel a vein pulse on my forehead, and continue to grit my teeth as I try to calm my breathing.

Pointing between Lil, Teuila, and Myself, I state rather plainly, “Any of the three of us could get us out of here, but Mataalii might be forever lost to us if we don’t find out what’s wrong with him before leaving. That’s not to say anything about having no clue where Luni, Sugar, or Spice are either. I half wish I could call that bear down into these tunnels to cause a distraction while we investigate.”

Wait, that bear, it’s as if it was guarding that pyramid. This couldn’t be some cliche curse of the mummy sort of thing, could it? Somehow one of the beaverfolk woke something that they shouldn’t have, or were controlled by or replaced by something in the pyramid, when its guardian was half-baked by Lil’s flames several months ago? Maybe. But then, if so, what’s the right solution? Do we find the beaver that went to the pyramid? Do we go to the pyramid? I can’t even muster the energy to try to share my train of thought with the family because it’s so obtuse, and such wild mass guessing.

“I’m afraid that whatever’s going on with Ali, is also going on with some of the beaverfolk. When we were in the great hall, it looked like a smaller faction were trying to get us to run towards them. Maybe they’re the only ones left who are unaffected.”

“We noticed much the same, several beckoned us to head off to one side before the table was brought out, then were gone as we faced our choice of submission.” Agwai explains, with Laomati nodding for confirmation.

“Mana, Mana, are you two okay? I’m so sorry for this.” I ask the twins, I’ve rarely ever interacted with them.

“Please save him, you gotta save Ali!” My heart breaks as they beg me, as if it were up to me alone to bring Ali back to his senses.

I grit my teeth and fight back a sob at their request, clenching my fists and my eyes. I inhale a ragged breath before continuing, explaining to Lao, Te, Lil, and Ag. “Any of the five of us could slaughter dozens of them indiscriminately, not that I’ve seen either of you two lift a weapon, but you’re both so fit, and you’ve survived so much, you’re stronger than any of them that I’ve seen. Between that, and the magical equipment, well, yeah.”

Lao begins, “Child, we, we couldn’t,” Agwai interrupts her by clasping Lao’s hands firmly, and shaking their head. Lao continues, “I don’t believe you could either, it’s, it’s not you to suggest such a thing, you’d lose such a piece of what makes you our dear child.”

I sigh, then rattle my brainpan, “I know, I know, I wasn’t suggesting that’s the right thing to do. I was getting at how we have an easy road, and I know we’re not going to take it. Grrr, I can get one, two, maybe three of us out of here, but I fear what they’d do to the ones left behind. I feel as if we need someone to check out the pyramid, someone to guard those left behind, and someone to explore this complex. Oh.”

Teuila bonks me in the noggin as she comes to the same realization I just did. I can evolve Lil, who basically could block off this entire room, and keep any number of beavers at bay, that leaves someone who can guard the ones left behind. I can evolve Teuila, whose speed in her Valkyrie-like form is absolutely blinding, she could get to the pyramid in no time. That leaves me to explore, while trying to hold back and not kill any of the beaverfolk. I drop my forehead into my right hand, close my eyes and sigh. Lil has caught on to my thoughts, and agrees as usual, no questions asked, when offered the chance to evolve. What I wouldn’t give to have that bear here, guarding my family, so that Lil and I could search together.

“Teuila, promise me you’ll be extra careful on the way out. One of them has a copy of Gae Buidhe, promise me you won’t get nicked, and that if you do, you’ll come right back so we can figure something out. Please, I’m begging you.”

“Hey, look who’s talking?” She socks me lightly in the shoulder, hinting that I’m the one always doing risky things, and forgetting to take care of myself.

“That’s not a promise. I love you, I need you to promise, or I won’t be able to concentrate, or keep up the bond.” I stare into her eyes tearfully, panic lacing my voice.

“Shh, shh, okay, yes, I promise. If I get cut, straight back and we figure something out. What are you going to do if you’re the one who gets hit?” She strokes my hair and pulls me close, before turning the tables on me and asking about me.

“I uh, I’ll figure something out, I guess. It’s our equipment, so I should be able to claim it to my inventory, where it can’t hurt anyone, just by getting close enough to it.” I gulp slightly, whether from fear for Teuila’s safety, or my own, I’m not sure.

“My sweets, is this the only way? You’re so strong together. It feels like you’ve never been apart.” Lao coos as she strokes each of our cheeks in turn. I gulp again, this time choking back a sob. She’s right, I don’t want to be apart at all, let alone sending each of us off in such a way that any one of us, or all of us, might die to that stupidly deadly spear. None of us would know about what happened to the others for such a long time, but, well, I guess the stats pages would disappear.

I sigh, regretting even thinking I wanted that bear here. I wouldn’t want to risk it either, any more than any of us. I stare at Teuila for the longest time, I want to remind her that our energy will be shared, linked, and if she does anything fancy, she might put us into energy debt, which at the very least could drop her transformation, or one of the worst options would be both of us falling unconscious for varying periods of time. She knows though, I know she knows. I can’t bear for the last thing I might say to her to be some stupid cautionary knowledge she already knows.

As I extend a tether to her, her form extends, and I just smile sorrowfully. The only words I can find worth saying before she leaves are, “I love you.”

“I know.” She replies, as she nudges the boulder lightly, then leaps through a crack between the boulder and the wall, nearly seeming to teleport out of the room. I gulp back a sob as I sit to regain energy.

I motion everyone to stand back save for Lil, then I extend a secondary tether to Lil, and watch as they assume their Lilagnewt form. My little dragon hugs me with their wings, and begins shoving the boulder far enough out of the way for me to take my leave. I’m scared, I don’t want to leave them behind. I don’t want to get caught and end up like Mataalii. I don’t want any of us to get cut by Gae Buidhe.

I guess my first stop will have to be the grand hall, and the side tunnel with the sane faction of beaverfolk.