Chapter Forty-Five

‘I’m on an adventure.’ I told myself as I got up when the corpse of a dwarf opened the door. He held a spear in one hand and had a magipistol on his hip, his armor was chainmail, which fit what I would expect out of a dwarf. In every representation of them I’d ever seen they tended to wear metal of some sort, if not plate, then chain, plus if they’re underground being able to get out of what they were wearing was probably necessary sometimes when dealing with small spaces.

This one’s face was nothing but bones. He had all his teeth, but other than the ligaments holding his jaw into place, there was just ‘nothing’. Even his eyes were missing.

“I can see you pretty well anyway, so don’t try a dem thing or you’ll ‘gret it, ye understand?” The stumpy dwarf asked as he tilted the spear toward his back, calling us to come out. “Jus you, the leader.”

I swallowed the lump in my throat. ‘I’m on an adventure.’ I told myself again, it was a little spooky, but that underlying thrill wasn’t gone… I wondered, ‘Am I turning into an adrenaline junkie?’

Excitement and novelty were everywhere and I wanted to investigate everything.

The thing that worried me most was… look, I know it wasn’t my best moment, in retrospect, being relieved for myself the way I was earlier, but that was just instincts. Who wouldn’t be glad that they were alive or that they weren’t personally at risk the same second someone else was? I guess I can’t say I’m ‘only human’ anymore, but I’m still a person. So now while I had time to ‘think’ and wasn’t just going on instinct?

I was worried about my friends. And yes, I was starting to think of them like friends. I didn’t have much in the way of ‘friendships’ in the old world. It wasn’t that I was despised or unpopular, it was just… I was different, it was harder to connect in the same way, people didn’t often have my same interests.

So I found it strange to think of people as ‘friends’. I guess I sounded a little defensive too, huh, talking about how being relieved was perfectly natural… knowing that only a few hours before Loysa had jumped on top of both Tess and I when we were at risk.

Excitement and shame are so much alike, and maybe if I combined them like an emotional alchemist, I could make something like ‘bravery’ take shape inside myself.

So I followed the undead guard, and found he was not alone. Two more carried crossbows, and two more at the door held large hammers and magipistols secured and ready in their belts.

I drew a lot of mixed looks from dwarves, it was strange trying to read expressions on faces that were nothing but skeletal flesh. But fortunately there were enough that still were kind of… juicy, and had flesh enough to form a proper expression.

‘Curiosity’ was more the norm, I had to think that meant that word hadn’t spread about Tes’alay’s arrival. ‘Thank you Dwarnav Denikov for having a brain in your head and keeping that information quiet for now.’ I offered a prayer to my new God, I’d never really ‘prayed’ for much, but since gods manifestly existed in this world and could help out now and again, it seemed like a good idea. ‘Hey, Utu, if you’re listening, do me a favor and maybe help a girl out here, eh? I know you’re not the god of silver tongues and all, but… maybe help build some excitement or something, maybe?’

‘That was the worst prayer in the history of prayer.’ I thought and would have laughed at myself if not for the seriousness of the moment. They hadn’t bound my wrists or ankles or anything. I could only assume that meant our status was somewhat ‘in flux’ like we weren’t prisoners, but we weren’t guests either.

From a certain perspective, maybe the chief or mayor or whatever he was here actually considered us to be ‘protected’ for right now.

I was still wondering about that, and whether I should even ‘ask’ about our uncertain status when I arrived at a building with forty-one steps carved into the stone itself. Clearly the mountain city had been carved from the excavation of the interior itself… I could only marvel at how much effort that must have taken. ‘Mental note, do not ever underestimate the dwarves for sheer bloody will.’ I thought as we entered the open doorway.

Interestingly, there were no actual ‘doors’. It was just an open way through. “What happened to the doors?” I asked the guide or… guard, or whatever he was.

“Got none. G’vner buildin’s got no doors, no g’vnin takes place where nobody can see if they want.” He sounded very proud of himself, he even squared his shoulders a little more rather than having the stooped walk he formerly did of someone who was just trudging through their routine.

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Not that I could blame him, remembering the corruption of my old world, I wondered if a doorless government where no secrets could be certain wouldn’t have been better.

The interior of the building was decorated with a surprising amount of artwork, dwarves in their prime, holding mining equipment, pick axes, hammers, shovels, and so on in one hand… and a beer stein in the other. Every one of their portraits showed them both drinking and working the mines, even ones that showed them standing in front of what amounted to a tremendous amount of gold or other precious metals.

The undead saw the way I slowed to admire their paintings, “You like our work, eh?” He asked.

“Yes. Admirable.” I said honestly, “It’s hard to believe people with so much wealth would still swing a pickaxe like anyone else.”

“Nobody gets to lead who does nae know how to work.” He said with a swelling in his rotted chest.

He led me deep into the building, and I found myself in a chamber with a dozen or so dwarves in various states of decay. Some had clearly been gnawed on at some point before their bodies were reanimated, others had visible pus. I did notice that none of them had rotted fingers, and recalled the paintings. ‘Work gloves.’ I figured, offered some protection.

“Right,” Dwarvan said and slapped a gavel of stone against a table of the same material, he sat at the center with an equal number of dwarves on either side of him, and said, “your companion found the magitite he sought. Enough for a sample to present to the one you wish to take your offer to. You will write out a letter in our presence, along with a duplicate for our records. You will also sign off on a bill for damages to our golems!”

“But those attacked us!” I exclaimed. I spread my hands out at my side, “What were we supposed to do, just die?!”

“You acknowledged fault at first meeting, there are dozens of witnesses to that effect.” Dwarvan quipped. “You also offered to pay for the damages. If we get the tools we want, we’ll take off the cost of outside artisans, but that’s it!”

“On the condition that you promise you will let us go, all of us, when this is over!” I tried not to shout, but my tails were stiff and my ears were flitting about in every direction as if searching for a threat.

“Course.” He had enough flesh on his face to smile at me. “Ye have to leave if’n yer goin to keep a contract.”

“Then,” I swallowed, “are we not prisoners?”

“Debtors.” He quipped with a wave of his hand, “Ye smashed our golems an yer friend yanked us out of heaven and shoved us back into our rotted corpses. I don’t know what the contract rate should even be fer undead labor! It’s got no precedent.” He snapped and slapped a hand flat on the table, the other dwarves nodded sagely in agreement while the sound echoed over the room.

“Plus there be ample damages to our quality of unlife, no beer and no work and… it’s just no good. Pain an sufferin kinda only apply to mental harm an all that, what with our bein happy before and not so now. But even so, there’s got’a be some justice!” Dwarvan snapped and half rose from his seat before he got control of himself, he took a deep breath he didn’t really need, then sat back down.

“Well, if I can provide you with something that will make you happy, and maybe…” It hit me in a flash of inspiration while I spoke, “what if we did something that could speed up your return to heaven?”

“Lass, if yer gonna suggest just burnin us or smash’n us, no thankee, that’s a foul way to go.” Dwarvan sounded almost sad.

I had to figure there was something cultural in the way there, but thankfully there was something else on my mind. “No, what if we gave you something to help you decay so that you can get back to heaven sooner?”

They all leaned forward where they sat, if their eyes could brighten, I’m sure they would have.

“Let me start at the beginning…” I said and then laid out my explanation of how casinos worked, and some of the games, roulette, blackjack, slots, the use of chips with different values, even gacha games that were only kind of like gambling. “...That would draw tourists back here. As long as you wear masks and say, use all the food you don’t need to mask any smell of decay, you could have the most profitable enterprise for a hundred days travel in any direction. We could even drop off a few fliers for you as we travel from guild to guild and town to town.” I then explained the item Tes made, that shifted the flow of time for the wearer, and how that could be made into a mask to hide their decomposing faces. They’d ‘rot’ faster, time was no longer important, and eventually… they’d all be Heaven bound again. Even if it took a while.

Just as soon as I finished my pitch, I asked, “What do you think?”

“Thas all well an good, lass,” he said, “but while I’d let ye go, there’s the matter of yer companion, makin enough masks fer us all like that’d take a right long time, we’d have to keep her here.”

That threw a wrinkle in my plans, but then… I screwed up my courage to its greatest and said, “Then let’s gamble for her! My best against your best! If we win, she goes with us, she’ll keep making the masks you need, and can pay for the materials. But if she loses, she stays here.”

“Who is your best?” Dwarvan asked, and I said without hesitation…

“Loysa!”

“We’ll bring her at once.” Dwarvan shot to his feet with what I could only call real excitement.