"Casiron will stay with you... there is no need to be afraid," I said as I looked at the two small girls clutching Bearra's legs.
One was her own daughter. The other was Lileth, the little girl that we had found. Both were shivering, not just from the cold, as they occasionally glanced at a spot beside one of the openings. Bearra ruffled their hair gently, looking at the other girl with a sad smile. She had taken her in almost as soon as she had found out the girl was alone. She followed the gaze of the girls, staring at the troll bodies that lay in a heap.
Should have dragged them into one of those rooms, I thought with a weary sigh.
"What if more of those things come?" Bearra asked as she looked at me, Libidi, Dibidi, and the rogues, all ready to set out.
"There is nothing anywhere out here," Casiron suddenly rumbled, startling everyone around. He was standing in the wider part of the canyon, blocking anything from reaching the survivors. His voice caused the people to look at him, but only the two girls looked somewhat at ease. The rest gazed at him wide-eyed.
I wasn't sure why they were so afraid. They had heard him talk before, and he had only been helping. Was it because I'd leave them with him?
"If anything appears, I will tell Brew, and we can hide."
Listening to my own Vengeful Mount call me Brew surprised me, then I smiled at the girls.
"See? Everything will be fine!"
The two girls nodded.
I hope, I added as I took a final look around. The survivors were all huddled together in the shadows trying to keep warm.
I sighed and looked at the ground beneath my feet, wondering how deep the ruins would be. You better be right about that distance, I thought to Casiron. The range of my normal Vengeful Spirit bodies wasn't that great.
I am right. When I entered this body, I got a notice with all the information, Casiron replied.
You what? What notice?
Just some information in my status window, Casiron stated as if it was the most natural thing in the world. Surprised, I looked at him, then shook my head. I wanted to discuss that with him, but not now. No, now it was time to go.
I looked at Candlewick and her rogues. I'd made a few more weapons for them, more than I'd initially intended, and I was happy for it now. Who knew what was down in those ruins.
"Ready?" I asked as I stomped towards the entrance.
"Would you let us stay if I said no?" Candlewick said softly. Her smile widened when I stopped and stared at her. "No worries. We are ready, and we will do as we said."
Hearing her reiterate the exact same thing again made me wonder if I'd botched the wording of our deal somehow. She'd said the same thing three times now, and it felt… forced. Something about my thoughts must have filtered through because the grin slowly faded until she just silently looked back.
I turned away from her to Libidi and Didibi, who stood beside the entrance. Their faces were like mannequin dolls, their eyes as cold as ice cubes. I was suddenly very happy that Rathica had bound them. At Least I knew they would have my back. Both were holding the new Basilwood daggers that I'd given them, seemingly identical. I was probably the only one who could notice the difference in them, something I'd done on purpose so I could tell them apart. As long as they didn't switch daggers, I knew who was who going forward.
"Let's go and clear out a part of those ruins," I said as I moved towards the dark entrance at the back of the V-shaped cavern.
An inconspicuous stone rectangle, two meters wide and three high, stood there. Nothing indicated that it would lead to a major ancient underground city with a name as imposing as Boglodon.
I stopped in the opening, looking ahead. Although it was dark, I saw a long narrow corridor widen out into a massive hallway and deeper inside where the light didn't reach everything colored red from my night vision. It looked like I was about to walk into some demonic hell, like one of those old games Nana used to talk about. I quickly checked all four of my new thorncasters, gleaming dull grey, while patting the extra wood I had tied to my legs.
"Be ready for anything," I muttered, clenching my teeth at the cliché remark. Then I realized these people probably hadn't heard it enough for it to be cliché.
I stepped inside, and the sounds behind me disappeared as if a switch had been flipped. Gone was the whispering of the refugees, the soft howling of the wind, and even the soft movement of Candlewick and her rogues. I spun around, seeing them standing a few feet behind me, looking at me in confusion.
"Can you hear me?" I asked.
Their mouths moved, and I saw Dibibi nod, but I heard nothing. He stepped forward, and as soon as he passed the doorway, I heard his footsteps.
"I can hear you now," I whispered, and he nodded. "We could hear you from outside."
"I guessed as much," I said as I turned back to face the hallway. "I wonder how those Ogurin knew we were outside," I muttered. Footsteps came from behind us, showing the rest had crossed the threshold.
Nobody answered my question, and I scanned the area. An oppressive stink filled the place, something I hadn't actually noticed before due to the oddity with the sound.
"They lived here for a while," Candlewick said as she looked at a spot to the far left.
Looking over, I saw a large heap of excrement, bones, and other things I couldn't make out from this distance.
Wait, she can see in the dark?
I took a quick look at the rogues and saw that all of them were easily looking around as if the dark didn't bother them at all.
Damnit, I should have thought of this before, I thought as I shelved it for later.
"Alright, let's spread out a bit, but make sure you don't go out of sight of everyone else," I said as I continued forward.
The tapered hallway continued widening ahead of us, and I stayed in the middle, walking straight ahead. Our steps echoed hollowly, and a look up showed I couldn't see the ceiling. I stopped walking when even with my night vision, I couldn't see the walls to the sides anymore.
The others were behind me, Libidi and Dibidi to my left and right, and the rogues in a wide line behind us. Candlewick was frowning as she looked at something to the left, but all I saw was reddish darkness above a dark red ground.
She can see further than I can. For a moment, I wondered if I should let her take the lead, then decided against it.
"What do you see?" I asked.
Candlewick turned to me, and I almost took a step back.
Her dark brown eyes had turned to narrow slits like those of a serpent. Candlewick either didn't notice my reaction or didn't care, and she sniffed. Her nostrils widened, and her face wrinkled in disgust.
"The left wall disappears a bit further that way, and a large area opens up behind it. It's hard to see from here, but I think there is a city. We would have to get closer."
I took one look at the ruddy darkness and cursed. I'd always prided myself on my night vision, but it seemed I'd have to ask Rathica if there was a way to improve it. I took another look at Candlewick, then at the darkness, and changed my previous decision.
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"You take the lead. Guide us forward."
Candlewick didn't seem surprised, but she just turned and headed off into the darkness, her head constantly turning from side to side as she scanned everything meticulously.
I walked closer to Libidi until we were almost shoulder to shoulder.
"How much can you see," I whispered.
"More than you but less than her," she whispered back. "I've never met someone that can see in the dark better than my brother…"
I turned to Dibidi and saw he was looking at Candlewick with cold eyes.
I wonder if he is jealous, I thought. Somehow that made me feel a bit better about my apparently lackluster night vision.
As we followed Candlewick, I examined the other rogues and saw that most of them had the same eyes. Only the burly one who had wanted a shortsword had yellow cat eyes, and she stayed in the center of the others.
Some skill or something, I thought as I wondered how to get it. Then again. Was it worth it? My current night vision had been fine up till now, and even now, I could make do if I just kept to the walls.
A low rumbling sound came from far away, the ground below our feet vibrating as if an engine had just been turned on deep in the bowels of the earth.
I stopped, the others doing the same, and looked around. There wasn't anything that had changed, and Candlewick waved her hand forward.
A while later, a soft breeze washed away the stifling, musky scent, and I saw the ground in front of us stop shaking. There was a two-foot high railing with intricate carvings, and closer, I saw the pillars were burly, almost square figures with their hands extended to clasp those beside them. Beyond it was deep darkness, and for a moment, I didn't see anything. A soft whispering came from the rogues, and I saw Candlewick look at something in the distance, her mouth hanging open.
I squinted into the dark, and as my eyes got used to the darkness, a red gleam appeared far in the distance. It started with sharp, angular lines outlining blocky shapes but quickly cleared up until I saw the shape of buildings in the distance. Each building was attached to the one beside it with bridges and ridges, with a distinct pattern to the arrangement. The outside was high, then turned lower to finally end in an area with dozens, if not more, skyscraper tall buildings that towered above the rest. The lines seemed to almost glow, highlighting areas of the ground and cave walls.
From where I stood, I could see almost down on the city, and if I had to guess, the floor below us was almost a mile away. If I could see this much already, the city had to be as large as some of the smaller cities back on Earth. The buildings on the side seemed to disappear straight into the rock, and as I followed the lines, I was stunned by the massive vista in front of me.
"It's immense," I muttered.
The others turned to me, and Candlewick frowned.
"You can see what's there?"
"Only the outline of the city," I answered without thinking.
Candlewick whistled softly, and the other rogues began talking in their clicking and plopping code language.
"Can you see the stairs down?" she asked as she pointed to our right.
I didn't see anything at first, but as I squinted again, I saw a small square building appear a few hundred feet from where we stood. The outline disappeared across the edge and into the depths of the cavernous space below us.
I moved closer to Candlewick.
"Do you see anything moving down there?" I asked softly.
"No, and I don't think those Ogurin even went this far," she replied. "They can't see in the darkness from what I know."
"Alright, let's go down and see what we can find," I said as I moved towards the small building that housed a way down. The others followed after me.
How are things up there? I asked Casiron.
It's getting dark and cold out here, and the survivors are afraid. Some of those small rooms are empty, and I've told them to hide in there, Casiron responded.
Alright. Make sure they don't make any fire. The light will be visible from far, as will the smoke, I replied.
Of course not.
A wave of hilarity came from Casiron as he replied.
When we were a few feet from the building, I noticed that the entrance was six feet high and six feet wide, low enough for me to have to duck. Carved out images of the stocky humanoids sat on all the surfaces, many with beards. They looked a lot like what I had imagined dwarves would look like, but there was something odd about their beards. They seemed almost sharp, and the individual hairs weren't hollow like the other carvings but seemed filled in by something metallic.
The building was only large enough to house the square staircase within it, and as we moved down the solid stone steps, I found openings in the wall. Through them, I could see the city in the distance. The stairs seemed endless, and when we finally reached the bottom, the rogues were breathing heavily. Only Candlewick seemed unperturbed by the long descent.
Outside the opening, there was a gravelly, dusty road that led straight towards the city. It wasn't that wide and was carved a few inches into the ground. Beside it, the unmodified cavern ground was rough, uneven, and dotted with stalagmites.
We followed the road in single file, and the only disturbance was a small area where some stone had fallen from the ceiling far above and cracked the road, making us climb around it.
It took us almost an hour to reach the first buildings, tall four story towers with slits for archers and a level platform on the top.
"This place is well fortified, but there are no signs of damage. Why was it abandoned?" I wondered out loud.
"Laid to rest,
Dwarves of iron,
On beds of
Rusted beards,"
Dibidi sang softly.
I wasn't the only one who stared at him in wonder. He just shrugged.
"It's all we know of the dwarves of old. The stories say that the first races were all wiped out by one thing or another," he said. "All we know of the downfall of the dwarves is that they got sick."
We silently continued on, passing more of the towers. They stood in concentric circles around the city, each ring closer to the wall a story higher until the last ones that were so tall I wondered how they didn't fall over.
The wall around the city had looked low compared to the buildings behind it, but as we continued forward, I realized they were hundreds of feet high. From this angle, we couldn't see the buildings inside anymore.
"When we get inside, we will find a building small enough to scout but big enough for everyone, and bring the rest here," I said. "It would take us years to scout this whole place."
"How will you feed everyone after we bring them here? Or are you just going to leave them here to figure it out?" one of the rogues asked softly.
I looked at the area around us while my bottom left hand involuntarily went to the pouch on my waist.
"I've got a plan for that," I muttered, hoping I wasn't fooling myself.
The rogues didn't respond as we made our way up a steep ramp that led to a massive double gate. The gate doors were open, swung outward like welcoming hands. The walls were fifty feet thick, creating a wide and high corridor through the wall.
"There's someone standing there," Dibidii whispered, pointing to a shadowy space near the end of the wall.
A small, wide figure stood there, and I pointed two thorncasters at it while holding my breath. The rest lowered themselves into half crouches, but nothing happened. The figure remained unmoving and almost leaning against the wall.
I continued forward, my ax ready, when I got close enough to see the thick layer of dust across the figure's armored arms and shoulders. His armor had rusted, and the same rust covered the face, beard, and hair.
"It's a metal statue," I whispered, carefully prodding the figure's shoulder. Flakes of rust fell off, revealing a puckered grey surface eaten by more rust.
"There's more," Candlewick said, standing beyond the gate and pointing left and right along the side of the wall.
I walked out beside her and looked around. A row of statues lined the wall to each side, shoulder to shoulder with their axes raised in different positions. The line continued for as far as I could see.
"Why do all of them have axes?" one of the rogues muttered as she glimpsed mine.
Nobody answered her, and I looked across the open area beyond the wall. A hundred feet further, a row of buildings began. They all had windows at the exact same spots and no doors that I could see. Narrow at the bottom, they widened beyond the second story, leaving narrow corridors between them. They were all in orderly lines, and straight ahead of us was a wide road that led slightly up and deeper into the city. It wasn't the only one, and I noticed more for as far as I could see, neatly lined up every hundred or so meters.
I shared a look with Candlewick, not even noticing her odd eyes anymore, and then we turned and moved deeper into the city.
"Let's look around for a bit. If we can't find anything, we will clean out the first building we can enter," I said.
The road was steep, and as we walked up, it reminded me of Orlion, where many roads all went either up or down in steep angles. These roads were meticulous, though, and not chaotic and filthy like the ones in Orlion. Also, lines were cut into the stone, making it seem like it was made of individual blocks and providing grip. Everything was covered with a thick layer of dust.
It took almost ten minutes before the road led us to a flat crossroads. As I stepped onto it, I saw there was a massive castle ahead of us. Tall square towers stuck out of a building that seemed carved right out of the stone. It was taller in the middle and had two entrances to each side of what looked like the main entry.
Let's just use that one, I thought as I began walking forward.
"Movement," Libidi whispered, and I froze as a creaking and shuffling sound came from the sides of the castle.
Small shapes appeared, some missing arms, others with half a head. They turned to us, and the darkness receded as crackling blue lightning rippled across them, highlighting them.
Fucking robot dwarfs? I hissed as I took a step back.