Chapter Twenty-Three - Shifty Sanders

The two dwarves glanced at each other, then Belt shrugged. "Don't know what you want with our clan head," he said.

"Mostly, I want to ally myself with your people and maybe help you out. You see, I have a plan for the future, and I was wondering if we could come to a mutually beneficial agreement. It would include me taking control of the surface above your lovely tunnels, of course, and the ability to hire or coerce a fair number of your clansmen, but you wouldn't lose access to the surface, nor would your clan ever want for anything again."

Cinder cleared her throat. "The very very very honourable Sir Harold is an ally of the Ashen Forest sect, as well as Shitake city as a whole. We are here to eliminate the local goddess."

"The mantis queen?" the elder of the dwarves asked.

Cinder nodded.

The dwarf stroked his beard and hummed a little. "I don't know, it's not exactly my place to be making decisions like that."

"Could you take us to someone who is better placed for making that kind of choice?" I asked.

Belt slowly nodded, then he raised a hand with two fingers splayed. "You've got two options, dead guy."

"Oh?"

"First, Orbital here and I bring you to the clan compound. That's some ways deeper in, about two Miles down."

I nodded slowly. If I recalled correctly, a Mile was an exceptionally arbitrary unit of distance. About how long an adult dwarf could walk before they wanted a break. "And the other option?"

"We go up," he said. "The whole damned reason us two are out here is because it's the Sander clan's turn to watch the bugs. There's a garrison above, where the tunnels towards the old queen's nest is. You can talk to the captain of the guard, but they might not take you too seriously, what with the whole, you know, being undead thing and all that. We might be able to smooth the way for you a bit. But, I gotta tell ya, the captain ain't the type to listen to someone he doesn't trust. And you? He won't trust you, dead guy."

"I can work through a little interpersonal friction." I said. I'd certainly worked through worse. "Could you lead us up, then?"

My choice was mostly based on the amount of time I'd already spent on this quest. Killing the Mantis Queen was meant to be a slight detour, no more than a quick trip over and back, but I had severely underestimated the amount of effort required just to reach her, let alone the opportunities I'd find along the way.

That was somewhat common. It was rare that a quest was as easily accomplished as I first expected it to. By a similar token, trying to expect trouble was also a lost cause, because the sort of trouble I found was always unique to the situation.

I had been lucky, this time, in that I was able to gather some information about the situation beforehand. Without Rem, Mem, Cinder, or Alex, I might have tried to make my way to the Mantis Queen through sheer force of necromancy, which would have led to a swift death. Of the queen, that was.

Sure, that would be much faster than following a pair of surprisingly talkative dwarves through some tunnels, but it would have meant missing out on so many opportunities. Like creating an alliance with the Ashen Forest, and making friends with the local dwarves.

Well, I was still working on that latter. "So, would you mind if I ask about the situation with the mantis queen, misters Sander and Sander?"

Belt scoffed. "It's the same as its been for nearly a century now. Longer, I suppose. The queen sends her kids down into the tunnels and we fight them back."

"So it's been a standstill?"

He grumbled, then casually reached towards a wall and deactivated a trap. "No. They're gaining ground and have been forever."

"Why is that?" Cinder asked. "Forgive me, but a century is a long time, our records aren't so detailed."

"Hrm, human, right?" Belt asked. "I suppose your lot aren't that long-lived. In the early days, when the mantis queen installed herself up and over our homes, the nearest clan reached out and tried to oust her with a swift kick in the ass."

"I imagine that didn't play out as planned?" I asked.

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"The Nut clan took a hell of a blow that day. The queen herself scoured them from their tunnels and chased them to their home. The place where she lives now is their former clan compound. The rest of the Nut clan lives far below, in little pockets of survivors," Belt said.

Orbital nodded and continued the tale. "The Mantis Queen had her brood spread out, and she set up her main lair, the Nest, on the surface above our heads. Then she sent her young into the tunnels. Every year, the young would come down in swarms, and every year the clans would push them back." He gestured behind him, towards Rem and Mem. "They're strong, you know? It takes at least two dwarves working together to push one back."

"The clans have been bleeding good warriors and losing equipment and tools for a century now," Belt said. "We're sure that we're stronger, but... well, you know how it is."

"Hmm," I hummed. I suspected that I did. The dwarves probably were stronger, assuming that there were a number of clans down here. The problem was likely that they didn't want to cooperate enough to take the Queen down once and for all. Plenty of races had their foibles. Humans were terrible at noticing and acting on the negative changes they brought to their environments. Likewise, dwarves tended to put a lot more importance on infrastructure and long-term growth over smaller, short-term issues.

Even when those issues stretched out into the longer term.

"Is the Sander clan the next nearest to the Queen?" I asked.

"No, no," Belt said. "We're on garrison duty is all. There's a rotation, you see, so that none of us have to lose more than a year or two at the front line."

"We even have it easy. these last couple of months, the younger mantises haven't been crawling down into the tunnels at all," Orbital said.

Rem ground her mandible. "That is because the mother told us to hunt for you," she said, that last part aimed at me.

I shrugged. I had been curious, but didn't need a real answer. I knew the mantis queen had sent her children to hunt me, but I couldn't understand why she hadn't come after me herself. Perhaps she thought her children were enough? Or maybe she didn't want to move out until she was sure of where I was. In any case, it wouldn't be a problem for long, not when I was heading straight for her.

"Who's in charge of the garrison right now?" I asked. "What can you tell me about them?" I could feel more lifeforms ahead. My Detect Animal: Dwarf spell was fading, but not so much that I couldn't tell there was a concentration of dwarves on the edge of the spell's range.

Belt frowned, bushy brows drawing together. "That's Captain Angle Sander, of the Sander clan," he said. "She's a tough one."

"Really tough," Orbital agreed.

"Scary tough," Belt added.

"The reason we're out here checking on traps, tough," Orbital said.

I chuckled. It sounded as if the dwarves were afraid of their leader. Or perhaps respected her. It was hard to tell sometimes, especially when one didn't know the culture very well. Dwarven culture had clearly changed some in the last millenia.

We turned another bend and the tunnel opened up a little. There was a large, natural chamber, complete with stalactites and stalagmites, a few pools, and a small stream that had dug its own path along the floor.

But most importantly, the space was filled with a small fortress, a single tower, really. It stood against the far wall, the stone walls extending from the rough earth and stretching upwards in a square block.

I could sense a large number of dwarves within the structure. And more than a few animals.

We were spotted quickly, and a group of armed and armoured dwarves made their way to the base of the tower, spears held at the ready.

Orbital and Belt led us closer, and I couldn't help but notice that the dwarves weren't looking at me. They were staring at Rem and Mem.

I glanced at the mantises. "Best behaviour now," I advised.

Mem nodded sharply, her eyes never leaving the gathered dwarves. Rem simply clicked her mandibles a few times.

Orbital and Belt stopped at the tower's entrance, and gestured for the rest of us to wait. It was time to meet with the local captain.

***