Lily

The car flew along the smooth, uniformly flat tunnel to the surface. Owl Two had made tremendous strides on improving the path between Undercity and the valley in the last decade. It was now wide enough to accommodate two lanes of traffic in either direction side by side. In addition, there was a separate path for foot traffic, and even a set of tracks laid in the cave floor for the ‘train’ the android had constructed.

Lily remembered just how much effort had gone into building the current ‘subway’ from the roughly chewed path, the stone carver rats had gnawed through the mountain. It had taken years of concentrated effort, only for the completed path to remain largely unused, thanks to the schism that had formed between the two groups.

Not wanting to think about the divide, Lily focused instead on the infrequent yokai teams she saw patrolling the subway. They’d kept the scout team size of six members, only the patrol teams all had mounts of various types. Lily followed one patrol team with her eyes as the car flew by. It was composed of four yokai, those being two kaldarr, and two oni, and two of the bugbear girls from her old clan. They rode a mix of cave lizards, white goats, and stone carver rats.

Those rats were a marvel onto themselves, and Lily shook her head in wonder at just how huge they had gotten. They creatures had started off the size of a raccoon, but now they’d been genetically altered, and selectively bred to the size of horses. To her knowledge, they’d never found any more of the creatures. Only the ones the White Flame had captured during his first trip into the caves. She didn’t know how it was possible to create such a hoard of things in just ten years from such a small population, but she suspected she was happier that way.

“We’re almost there, my lady.” Andessa said from the driver’s seat. They’d just passed a mile marker sign, indicating the surface was close, so the shaggy bugbear slowed the car for the check point they’d be hitting soon. Lily nodded her head absently, until she remembered that Andessa couldn’t see her from the front seat.

“Thank you, Andessa.” She said aloud, as the car came to a stop at a heavy portcullis that was fixed across the roadway. She tried not to look at all the guns that covered the walls around the heavy gate. Wondering why Hunter and Benjamin were so confident in Undercity’s chances against the syndicate, when their only means to the surface led through this heavily fortified kill box.

“Please state your name and business,” a bored, but polite yokai asked from the safety of a glass box. Lily looked at the man, he was clearly a civilian member of the White Flame syndicate and looked like a third generation yokai if not more. Lily could tell, because he looked to have both human and kaldarr in his makeup, along with the goblin binder.

“Andessa, driving for lady Lily. The White Flame’s first wife.” Her driver said, looking at the yokai dispassionately. “My lady requests a meeting with Owl Two.” The bored look vanished from the gate keeper’s face, and Lily idly wondered how old he was.

Owl Two wasn’t breeding his troops the conventional way anymore, instead he’d started using glass tanks years ago. He’d been able to more selectively put qualities from the various races he desired into their genetics, while removing unwanted ones. Thanks to that, he was able to keep the rapid growth from the goblins but slow the aging process when the subject reached adulthood. Allowing them to live a longer life.

Once he’d had no further need for the large-scale breeding experiments he’d been carrying out, the Undercity leadership waited for him to cast the unwanted masses aside. Considering just how quickly he’d bred the goblins in the first few years, there were thousands of them, and they had been waiting for a good excuse to condemn the android.

He hadn’t done anything of the sort, however. Instead, he’d separated the military and civilian populations and taught the civilians everything from farming, to building, to weapons and armor smithing. They had potters, and weavers, and everything else a growing city might want. What’s more, he hadn’t restricted them in any way. Treating them with as much respect as any leader treats their population. Sexual inhibitors were optional, and there were now at least a few generations of multi species yokai running around.

Like their gate keeper, who was currently talking excitedly into a landline phone. He could be anywhere from one year old to five or six. Though, not being vat born, he’d be lucky to live past 20 unless he got access to nanites, which was unlikely. Lily wondered what the syndicate would look like in fifty years. Would all the races be blended into a new, homogenized species, or would they fracture as the organization continued to balloon in size?

“My lady,” the anxious gate keeper said after getting off the phone. “The primordial Staz is coming to greet you. If you would step out of your car and come this way? I will have refreshments brought to you while you wait. The primordial will only be a short time.” Lily rolled her eyes at the grandiose title they’d given the oni. Just because he was the only full-blooded member of his race on the planet, they’d named him primordial. Though, she supposed he was the father of all the oni blooded yokai in existence. Even though she was almost positive he hadn’t been with a single woman in the ten years he’d been with them. Though to be fair, she hadn’t been close to him in years, so who could say.

“Thank you,” she said with a smile, climbing out of the car, and motioning her guards to do the same. “It has been quite the journey; would it be possible to be led somewhere we can freshen up while we wait?” She asked diplomatically, though the burning in her bladder had intensified after she’d stood up, and she hoped they’d be given a bathroom at least.

“Of course, my lady.” The gate keeper said hurriedly, motioning them over to a small door set inside the larger portcullis used for foot traffic. “Please go right over there, someone will open the door and escort you to a waiting room.” With a nod, Lily and her escort approached the door, which was already opening for them.

“Greetings, my lady.” Another yokai said from the other side of the gate. This one was in the military though, so his ancestry was cleaner than the general population. He was one of the oni, goblin hybrids. Lily wondered if it was Owl two’s interference, or a natural result of that pairing, but all the oni were blue skinned, white haired and around six feet tall. All the males anyway. The females were similarly sized, except their skin was red instead of blue. “If you would follow me this way, please?”

They were led to a waiting area where they were able to relieve themselves and stretch their legs. They were even served a light meal while they waited. Thankfully, Staz didn’t take too long to arrive. After fifteen minutes of waiting, the huge oni came into view. He was sprinting through the tunnel as fast as her car could drive, and Lily was reminded just how strong the ogre mage was. He was wearing the heavy metal armor Owl Two had designed for him, from his waist to his ancles. His feet, head and chest were bare, however, showing off the giant’s rippling muscles as he ran.

“Lily,” Staz said once he’d reached the waiting trio. Tupelo and Andessa bristled at the lack of a title, but Lily only gave the giant a half smile. There wasn’t anyone in the valley or undercity, or the known world for that matter, who could challenge the oni in combat. Well, maybe the White Flame’s locust queen could, but she’d been in hibernation for years. Regardless, it was pointless to expect deference from someone so superior to everyone else. Though, the giant had once been remarkably polite to her, long ago.

“Greetings, Staz. What brings the great primordial himself out here to greet the likes of me?” Lily asked flippantly. Grinning despite herself when she saw the giant wince.

“How about we just skip the pleasantries? Owl Two was getting in touch with lord Ronin, and I don’t want to miss the conversation if I can help it. So… hop in and I hope your driver can keep up.” Staz said, pulling the White Flame’s armored truck from his tri-colored storage ring. It clattered to the ground in front of them and he motioned to it impatiently. “Come on, I’m in a hurry, besides, we’re going to see Owl Two. That’s what you wanted right?”

Not waiting for them to speak, Staz turned around and sprinted back up the tunnel. Cursing, Lily motioned her guards towards the truck as she climbed into the back seat. Her husband had loved this truck, though he hadn’t been able to use it more than a few times before he’d left them. Lily fought the memories that tried to drag her down, as Andessa put the peddle to the floor in a bid to catch the speeding oni.

The rest of the trip through the tunnel passed much like the first several hours, until they suddenly weren’t in the tunnel anymore and the blinding light of the sun blasted Lily for the first time in years. She blinked, covering her eyes with a hand as the car swerved and slowed, Andessa doing the same thing in the driver’s seat.

“Glad to see you finally coming out of the dark.” Staz said, now standing beside the truck, “Hope you can find it in yourself to stay enlightened. Now, come on.” Lily didn’t miss the double meaning in his words, but she didn’t have time for a retort because the oni was already running.

“Follow him,” she said with an exasperated sigh, when Andessa turned to look at her in question. “Not like we have many options; this place is a veritable fortress.” She added under her breath, looking around what had once been a mine.

It really had been completely transformed over the years. The surroundings had been cleared away and towering walls had been constructed around the tunnel entrance. Another gate stood open, that Staz was now sprinting through, that also had a set of tracks for the train to exit the tunnel. Yet, Lily couldn’t help but realize this place was just as equipped to keep them in, as it was to keep anyone out. She shuddered at the thought, wondering if she’d be able to get Hunter up here. Maybe if she saw just how outgunned they were she’d calm down her anger a little. Sadly, Lily doubted it. When the truck cleared the fortified wall, Lily’s jaw almost hit the floor. Looking around in astonishment, she couldn’t believe what she was seeing.

The valley had been completely transformed. She stared in amazement as they drove towards the old command cave. The Road they traveled down was in the same spot as the old road, situated between the forest and the mountain wall. The forest was still there, but the mountain wall was gone. In its place was a city larger than she’d have believed possible. Buildings made from concrete and glass were everywhere, turning what had once been a slum into a sprawling city. A city filled with people. Mainly yokai in their various forms, but also loads of hobgoblins, humans, and elves wandered the streets as well. Lily even saw a few giant sparrows flying in the distance, their riders too small for her to see. Yet, the vastness of the city wasn’t the most impressive sight, because the city was still growing.

Lily could see the mountain wall, now moved at least a mile, was being steadily eroded away by hundreds of horse-sized stone carver rats. Some of the stone chips that remained were being processed into concrete blocks. Yet the majority of it was being loaded onto a train car, on a track pointed towards the valley entrance.

“Impressive, isn’t it?” Staz asked, from outside her window. “Owl Two told the Mountain’s embrace government he wouldn’t claim any land outside this valley. But he never said he wouldn’t make the valley bigger, ha-ha.” He laughed as he ran, looking at the city with pride.

“That android is an absolute genius,” he continued. “I mean just look at how much we’ve managed to build under his guidance. Nothing is wasted either. As the rats clear the mountain away, we reclaim the stone for building, either here or raising our defenses at the valley’s mouth. All the minerals the rats find are refined into their armored plates, making them stronger. Eventually, we’ll harvest them for the naturally refined alloy, to use in all kinds of crafting projects. And don’t forget about the…”

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Lily listened with interest as the oni explained several more aspects of their home to her. Much of which she hadn’t known, thanks to Undercity completely shutting the syndicate out a few years ago. Sitting back in the truck’s comfortable seat, she let his words wash over her as she thought about the undercity.

It had only been ten years since they’d established their rule over the city. It wasn’t that long a time, yet it felt like an eternity. She supposed that was partially because the goblins only live ten years at most. There had been enough time elapsed for the original and second generation of goblins to live, grow old and die. To the goblins, it must have seemed like seventy- or eighty-years’ worth of time from a human or bugbear’s perspective.

That didn’t completely explain the complacency they’d fallen into. Undercity had been conquered and inhabited within a year. The hobgoblins had been kicked out, since the scouts and food corps couldn’t stand the sight of them, and they’d pretty much ignored the batlins. Well, all of them except Owl Two, who’d recruited several hundred of them for the syndicate. Hunter had given her blessing at the time, and it was too late for her to take it back now.

After the first year or two of safety though, they’d put away their weapons and picked up crafter’s tools. Sure, they’d maintained a standing army, until the locust threat had been delt with. After that, what was the point? There were no more threats to them, none that could get through the syndicate living at their front door anyway.

Lily snorted with derision at the arrogance she’d shown towards the ambassador. She’d thought they were blooming into an economic powerhouse, when in reality, they’d been wilting like a flower kept too long out of the sun. When she looked at the manufacturing juggernaut the syndicate had become, in addition to their military might, she felt shame fill her. They had been given an opportunity for greatness, and they had squandered it. She wondered if there was a chance to turn it around, or if it was too late already. Her mind turned to her conversation with the queen, and her heart sank. There was too much hatred in the old goblin queen’s heart for change.

“… and here we are.” Staz said coming to a stop beside a giant stone construction. Lily blinked, having been too distracted to realize they’d already driven the six or seven miles to the cave already. She looked with shock at the old command cave, wondering how they’d managed to do what they had in just ten years.

The cave was still there, but the mountains that surrounded it had been chewed away by giant rats. Now, the cave looked like an upside-down bowl resting on the valley floor. They’d excavated the mountain away, leaving a dome of rock to keep the natural cave intact, while continuing to expand the valley. The entrances, she saw, were the same, tunnels at the north and south, curving inwards to prevent someone firing into them. The cave was now a building, but otherwise looked the same as it had before.

“Why did he keep this the same, while changing everything else?” She asked Staz, after climbing out of the truck and watching it disappear back into the oni’s ring. “It seems like it would have been easier to just move the headquarters into a building, rather than adjust digging plans to keep it in place.”

“Owl Two already had his labs set up inside, besides, lord Ronin is familiar with the cave. We didn’t want him to come back and not recognize his home.” Staz said with a shrug, leading the way towards the southern entrance. The cave was now blocked by a metal and glass door, tightly fitted to the cave’s entrance. Lily heard the sucking sound that indicated an airtight seal when Staz opened it, stepping inside, she found a second door ten feet down the tunnel that looked the same. Staz waited until the first door was closed before opening the second for some reason.

“Still Owl Two and lord Ronin?” Lily asked, having to jog to keep up with the giant’s stride. “Why not lord Owl two? You have been following the android’s orders for years, and only ever worked with the White Flame for a single day.” She couldn’t help goading the oni, even though their relationship wasn’t what it had been, she still liked the giant, despite the fact they’d picked different sides. The giant stopped at the question and turned to her, his body taking up a sizable portion of the tunnel, and his face looking grave.

“Loyalty.” He said, looking her in the eye. “I know you struggle with the concept of loyalty ‘lady Lily’ but I assure you, not all of us do. Ronin is my lord, just as he is Owl Two’s. Him not being here to enforce that loyalty doesn’t change it… Now, if you would kindly follow me, Owl Two is expecting you.” Having said what he wanted, the oni turned and continued to lead the way into the cave.

Lily followed behind him in silence, face flushed with embarrassment at the dressing down. She supposed she deserved it. After all, she had deserted her Gilded Lily clan to save herself, and when she’d lost her baby, she’d deserted her husband as well. It wasn’t a pleasant feeling, to be confronted with your own shortcomings, but Lily was doing her best to face the reality of who she was after the meeting a few months ago, not looking because she didn’t like what she saw wasn’t really an option for her now.

Her mind was distracted from her failures when they entered the cave. She looked around at the large open room, to find everything was much the same as the last time she’d visited. Several of the tents had been removed, and there was no longer a pile of scrap metal, or rat cages, in the back. Otherwise, it was very much the same as it had been. Looking up, Lily did notice the hole in the ceiling had been fitted with a pane of glass, which looked much like the doors.

She shuddered when she saw the cocoon resting in a corner of the large cave. She recognized the locust queen’s new form from when she’d been brought back after the locust war ended. She didn’t know how long the transformation would take, or what the queen would turn into when she hatched, but she wasn’t overly interested. The giant bug could stay in that cocoon forever as far as Lily cared, having seen enough locusts in her time.

“Where is everyone?” She asked, finally realizing the place was empty of people. “Owl Two in his lab again?” She asked, looking towards the work bench where the trap door had been hidden.

“That he is, come on, let’s go down.” The oni said, shrinking to his six-and-a-half-foot form as he opened the trap door and climbed down the stairs. He didn’t look back, simply trusting them to follow. She rolled her eyes at the arrogance of the oni, before remembering how close to indestructible he was, and followed. Turning your back on a potential enemy wasn’t dangerous when there was nothing, they could do to harm you.

Reaching the bottom of the stairs, stairs that were quite a bit longer than she remembered, Lily stumbled at what she saw. She would have fallen, if the quick footed Tupelo hadn’t darted down the stairs to steady her. Thanking the wood elf silently, Lily looked around in amazement. Saying ‘the lab had grown a bit’ was an understatement. Since, the room they were in was now as large as the cave above. With several arched doorways leading off into… Lily could only guess, since most of the doors were closed. One door was open, and that was the room Staz led them towards.

Lily walked into a room straight out of a nightmare. Stopping at the doorway to stare in wide-eyed horror at what she saw all around her. She felt Andessa and Tupelo behind her, both of them captivated by the sight as well. The oni, who was still leading the way, turned around when they’d stopped walking.

“Come on,” he said impatiently. “He is just ahead, and I don’t want to miss the conversation with lord Ronin, there are a few questions I want to ask him.” Lily gulped as she took a few tentative steps into the room. Looking around her in dread as she took in the rows upon rows of fluid filled glass tanks. Each of which held a fetus, in varying stages of development. She’d known Owl Two was raising his soldiers like this, but seeing it was something else entirely. This wasn’t natural.

“These are all made from genetic samples taken from syndicate member’s, right?” Lily asked, catching up with Staz. “Why doesn’t Owl Two use the female soldiers, or the civilians for this?” She shuddered again as she looked at all the tanks.

“What’s this?” Staz asked with derision. “All the scorn you threw the android’s way over ‘forcing’ the goblin women to bear children, and now he’s found a way around that, you want him to go back?... make up your mind will you.” He said, not actually spitting on the floor, but expression clearly showing that’s what he wanted to do.

“This isn’t right. Birth is something that should be shared between a mother and her baby, not some soulless glass tube. At least before, all the kids had mothers.” She rested her hand on her belly, remembering having given birth to her sons, and the child she’d failed to deliver.

“Mothers who turned the babies over to Owl Two without a second thought once they were born,” Staz retorted. “Goblins don’t have those kinds of family ties, you know that. Besides, do you see how many tanks are in here?” He asked, waving his hand around the vast room. “If he used the female soldiers, half the army would be tied up with pregnancy at all times. If he used the civilian population than he’d be denying them the right to choose their own partners and raise their own children, should they wish for a family… this way, the children’s mother is the syndicate. Regardless of if they end up in the military or joining the civilian workforce.” The oni stopped and looked down at her again, that same look of disappointed anger on his face that she’d seen before.

“War is coming Lily,” he said gravely. “We only got this much of a reprieve because Owl Two changed the flow of time to let us prepare. You don’t like his methods? Neither do I, if I’m being completely honest. You think I enjoy knowing every red or blue face I see has my DNA, even though I’ve never fathered a child of my own before? But if he hadn’t done what he did, we’d be facing the enemy with an army of a few hundred, rather than the thousands we now have. If undercity had helped, we wouldn’t have had to do things this way. So, suck it up and deal with it because it’s the world we live in… Now, shut up and follow me.”

Lily watched his long strides carry him away. Wanting to ask what war was coming. They’d been talking about it for years, but it had never come. Who was the enemy, and how were they going to be attacked? They were completely surrounded by mountains, outside the mountains, was the middle continent, which was also surrounded by mountains, and a lake so large no one had ever crossed it. After the locusts had killed everyone from the middle continent, there was no one left to attack them, apart from the mountain’s embrace kingdom themselves. Well, them and the humans from the spaceship.

Waving away the quiet questions her guards were trying to ask her, Lily followed after Staz. They walked for a long time, before finally exiting the room filled with glass tubes. Entering a much smaller area that had been set up as a laboratory, resembling the one Owl Two had originally used below the workbench. Looking around, Lily noted all the attendees were present at the meeting with the queen of undercity. Owl Two, K2, Unyielding oak, and Staz. There were also over a dozen yokai she didn’t recognize mixed in as well. They were all standing around a tablet, like the one Lily had once been given. Owl Two was talking to it as they walked through the door.

“…now, please don’t stall any further. We can’t afford any more delays.” Having finished his sentence, he reached out and hit a button on the tablet, causing the screen to go dark.

“Damn it,” Staz said, glaring at Lily. “I missed the whole conversation… I wanted to talk to him.” The large oni looked livid, and Lily took a surreptitious step away from him, as Owl Two spoke.

“I recorded the conversation, you can listen to it later… and before you ask, No. You won’t be joining him out there.”

“But…”

“No buts, Staz. We’ve talked about this before. Your strength and power come from your size and ability to regenerate as quickly as you are injured. An ability that makes you nigh unstoppable in here. But you won’t have access to it on the outside. Better to send fighters already accustomed to bodies that aren’t invulnerable.” Staz grumbled as the android stopped speaking, and Lily nodded in sudden understanding. She’d wondered for years why Staz hadn’t been selected to go with his lord so long ago, but this explained it.

“Now, we have forty-seven new slots available to send aid to our lord. I know we’ve drained much of our manpower already, by sending them across. But this batch will be going right to our lord’s side. The first seven will go into already made, high quality, government issue bodies. So, I think you and your team should use those, chief technologist. That way you can get started on the ship repairs right away. Will that be acceptable to you?” Owl Two had shifted his attention to one of the yokai in the room. A goblin, hobgoblin hybrid. He wore a lab coat one might expect to see on a scientist, over the top of heavy work clothes. He looked around at the six similarly dressed hobgoblin hybrids standing behind him and nodded.

“From what I understand, the government issue bodies are already stronger than our current forms, and about the same size. We won’t be taking up valuable resources the soldiers could use and can get started right away. We have no complaints, head researcher.” Owl Two acknowledged the man’s words with a nod before he continued his speech.

“As for the others, most should be soldiers. Apart from a few which I have plans for already, I propose we send over six of the remaining yokai teams. As things stand, they won’t arrive in time to help with the initial clash. So, they will have to expect to come in under fire…. K2, would you go gather yokai teams two through seven to send over… Also, gather teams ten through fifteen as well, I have a feeling they will be needed.” When the kaldarr left the room, Owl Two turned. “Now, what is it you wished to talk to me about Lily?” The android asked, finally looking at her.

Lily stood there, amidst the group of powerfully built and wickedly armed people who had never forsaken their loyalty to the man she’d forced to marry her. She looked around at them all, the determination on their faces, and the dislike of her that some did a better job of hiding than others. K2 had looked at her impassively, while Unyielding Oak openly glared her way. After listening to this planning session, things solidified in her mind at last, and she opened her mouth to tell them about the threat the armored humans posed to their valley. What came out, however, wasn’t what she’d intended to say at all.

“I want to go.” She said, blinking in shock at her own words. Still, her mouth continued to move, completely outside her control. “Send me to the White Flame’s side.”