The table before him contained a veritable feast. All of it inedible.

Alright, that was being unfair to his dveorgan ‘hosts’—probably not the right term, but it was the one that Callan chose to apply—and their efforts at hospitality. They’d brought what he assumed was the best cave-grown food they had to offer, but it all smelled uniformly like the mush he’d been eating for days now.

Even the consistency was the same. He bit into vegetables like small, white carrots, only to find them soft and flavorless. The hard roll-looking objects proved equally bland. A salad with a bit of color to it gave him hope, but it had the mouthfeel of wet seaweed.

Tentatively, Callan picked at something that he thought might be meat. Pulling it closer, he drew in a breath. The smell was somewhat similar to beef. Certainly better than what most of the table consisted of. His mouth watered.

Excellent choice, Xeph noted as Callan cut a piece with a knife and brought it towards his lips. Broachnid steaks are quite delectable when prepared correctly, and only mildly poisonous to non-dveorgans.

Callan calmly lowered the piece of meat back to the table. “You know what? I’m not actually that hungry right now.”

At the far end of the hall, the wall suddenly wavered and melted away. Callan rose from his seat, glad to finally have an excuse to abandon the meal. Besides, every second he wasted sitting around here waiting for the chief was a second the lud children continued to languish in cages.

However, it was not the dveorgan chieftain that approached through the opening now, but Krov, flanked on either side by a guard carrying a long pole with a curved blade at the top—Callan was fairly certain it was called a glaive.

Before he could even begin to wonder if this was another attack, both of the guards dropped to one knee, laying their weapons in front of themselves. “Ug-mun! Strong-est of ug-mun! We sa-lute you!”

“Uh... thanks?” Callan turned his attention to Krov, who wore an unreadable expression. “Where’s the chieftain?”

“Fath-er is chief no more. He ad-mit he weak. Beg at your feet. This brings much shame to my blood-line.”

“Wait, the chief is your father?” Callan asked, incredulous. Inside his head, Xeph let out a chuckle.

Did you not realize? They look exactly the same!

“Seriously Xeph?” Callan hissed out of the corner of his mouth. “Every one of these dveorgs looks the same. Wait, is that racist of me? Or would it be speciest?”

I don’t think either applies here, no.

Callan sighed and turned his attention back to Krov. “So, who’s the new chieftain then, his son?”

“No. You bring shame to all male line. Ish-ka-plet choose me to take chief’s place.”

“Oh yeah, I’d forgot about that.” He glanced nervously at the guards again, but they remained in their prone position. “You aren’t, ah, mad? About what I did to your dad and brother?”

Krov blinked at him in surprise. “Fa-ther make bad choice, try to take god as slave. His fall is no less than he de-serve. As for his son, he is no bro-ther of mine. Same fa-ther, but not mo-ther. No blood ties us to each oth-er.”

“Huh, okay, if you say so.”

“Come.” Krov gestured, and the two guards leapt to their feet. “We have much to speak on. But first, I take you to see pris-on-ers.”

A pleased smile spread across Callan’s face. “About time. Lead the way.”

She led him back through the waiting doorway, their two guards following at a respectable distance. Soon enough, the hallway ended at a staircase that wound down in a spiral for several floors. The steps were only about half the size Callan was used to, and he ended up doing a quick little crawling hop that was not in the least bit dignifying. Luckily, neither Krov nor their retinue commented about it.

From there, it was only a short walk to reach an open doorway, beyond which lay the city itself. Callan pushed through the doorway and rose to his full height, his back groaning in relief.

The place had been impressive from up above, but ground level granted Callan a whole new sense of wonder.

Far overhead, the ceiling of the cave was lined with a soft fungus that glowed a pale blue. The same color flickered in lampposts set at regular intervals along the boulevard. Trees grew between them, spindly things with pale white leaves, and a soft, grass-like moss grew beneath in little tufts.

There was no cement here, no concrete or steel or glass or anything else that would have been so common back in Seattle—or heck, just about any city on Earth. Instead, it was all one seamless piece of stone, carved into a multitude of dwellings.

Even knowing that the dveorg possessed the same Shape Stone ability as Xeph’s orison, it was still intimidating to take in the scope of the place. The tunnels of the temple had been an impressive enough feat already, but this...

Krov tugged on his sleeve, and Callan turned his attention towards her. “Once you have your pris-on-ers, you will leave? You will hold no ill will towards the Ish-ka-plet?”

“Why, do you not want me to hang around any longer?” Callan chuckled, then noticed the flat expression on Krov’s face. It might have just been the standard dveorg expression, but... “Don’t worry. I’ve got plenty of work to return to in my temple. I promise I’ll speak to the lud and make sure they don’t wander into your territory again.”

“That is good.” The minute dveorg girl nodded and resumed walking.

After a minute, Callan asked, “What if I need to get ahold of you again? Would it be alright to send a messenger down here?”

“Hmm.” Krov took a moment to consider his request. They made their way down a street that was growing busier the further they got from the arena building. Luckily, their two guards were clearing the way ahead of them, because Callan was seriously concerned he might accidentally punt a citizen without noticing. Some of the children barely came up past his ankle.

“I think this could be per-mit-ted,” she said after a moment. “They may come to room where you were ta-ken. We will keep a guard on watch for vis-i-tors.”

“That’s appreciated.” Already, Callan was thinking about a few areas in the temple that needed repair work. Malfunctioning lights, decaying furniture... not to mention the occasional rampaging golem. “Do you think you and your people would be open to sharing your technology with us? We could use their expertise.”

“I do not know.” Krov frowned as several dveorg tried to approach, only to be shoved away by the guards. A woman held up an infant towards Callan, beseeching him with cries of “Ug-mun! Ug-mun!” before she was rudely pushed back. “There is nothing that ug-mun have which is of in-ter-est to Ish-ka-plet. We make all we need right here.”

“Even so...” Callan trailed off as they reached a large doorway set into the side of the cave. Because of the nature of the buildings, it was difficult to tell where the city ended and natural stone began. The guards hurried forward, pushing the doors wide as Krov ushered them inside.

This book's true home is on another platform. Check it out there for the real experience.

They found themselves in a tunnel that had a much more natural look to it. Once the door was closed, the guards lit a pair of blue-flamed lamps and led the way deeper inside.

As they walked, Callan studied the rough stone walls around them. The look of the place reminded him of where he’d first found himself when he’d been captured by the dveorg. That felt like months ago, though it couldn’t have been more than a few days.

His suspicions were soon confirmed. “We kept the pris-on-ers here when they were cap-tur-ed. You were the on-ly one my fa-ther brought to fight. We should reach cage room soon.”

“Huh, funny. I don’t remember seeing anyone else in cages when I fell down here.”

Krov glanced at him. “They were cap-tur-ed la-ter, while you fight. We not know what to do with them, so fa-ther leave them here.”

“Wait, did you say ‘after’?” Callan frowned down at the dveorg girl, but the next moment they rounded a corner and came upon a row of cages sitting in the dark. As the light of the guard’s lamps bathed them in blue, the prisoners sat up and turned in their direction, blinking their eyes to adjust them to the change. One of them he recognized instantly.

“Kivi!” Callan darted forward, reaching a hand through the bars. Only at the last second did he notice the runes glowing along their surface.

Oh great, not ——— again. ——— away, mortal!

Callan ignored his head-mate’s rumblings. It was only for a few minutes, anyway.

“High Priestess, are you alright?”

“Avatar?” The lud girl stared at him a moment, then jumped up. She seized his hand in her own. “Avatar! Is it really you?”

“In the flesh. What are you doing down here?”

“We came to rescue you.” Kivi released his hand and motioned beside her. Belatedly, Callan noticed the aged priest Paeral huddled in the cage as well. The next one over held two lud he didn’t know, and a third held a face he recognized as belonging to the daisa cook named Sworv.

Kivi glanced past Callan at Krov and the guards, who were watching the reunion a short distance away. “Did you... not need to be rescued, Avatar?”

Callan withdrew his arms and settled them on his hips. He gave Kivi a critical look. “Is that what you thought was going on? That I allowed myself to fall through some hole and be captured? There’s no way I’d ever get taken by such an obvious trap.”

—— You ———. Don’t lie to our ——— priestess, mortal.

“Oh hey, Xeph, good of you to join us.”

I only left because you got near those accursed runes again! And tell her the truth. She wouldn’t be here if you hadn’t run off half-cocked in the first place!

That sobered up Callan’s mischievous humor in a hurry. He turned back to Kivi. “How did you find me, anyway?”

Kivi, whose expression had grown paler throughout his mock reprimand, seemed to remember herself. “I simply used the map back in the main chamber. It showed a dot moving about beneath the earth, but not within the confines of the temple. After that it was only a small matter of guesswork to locate the hidden tunnel. Unfortunately, we found ourselves captured and powerless.”

“Yeah, these cages will do that.” Callan turned back to Krov. “Can you release my friends, please?”

“Hmm.” The dveorg leader approached, leaning in to squint up at Kivi. “These are no ug-mun. Guards not say they lud.”

Callan blinked. “You know about the lud?”

“Mmm. Yes. Not good as dveorg, but bet-ter than ug-mun. We trade with lud in the past.”

The doors to the cage cracked open, and Kivi crawled out, followed shortly thereafter by Paeral. Soon enough, all five lud were gathered around Callan. The two dveorg guards had their weapons gripped tight, as if they feared an attack at any moment on their new chief, but wisely kept their distance.

Probably afraid I’ll do to them what I did to the last chieftain’s son, Callan mused to himself. Given the way they had acted on first meeting him, that thought was only half in jest.

Once everyone was gathered, he turned his attention back to Krov. “Where are the children?”

“Ug-mun? I know un-der-stand.”

“The chil-dren,” Callan said, drawing the syllables out. He gestured towards the lud. “That was the whole reason I was down here in the first place. You kidnapped three lud children. I want them back.”

“I no lie to you, ug-mun,” Krov said, puffing out her chest. “None come to Ish-ka-plet land be-fore you fell in our trap—”

“The avatar did what?” Kivi asked. Callan pointedly did not look at her.

“—These all we have. Take lud and go home.”

She turned to leave. Callan grabbed her by the arm, spinning the little dveorg about. “Wait a minute...”

Immediately, the room erupted into chaos. The guards leapt forward, weapons pointed in his direction. Callan snatched his hand away and held them up in a show of peace, even as Kivi growled and began manipulating the stone about her.

Before the priestess could take any action, more stone sprang up, sealing about her arms and legs. The other lud were quickly trapped as well.

A tendril of stone reached for Callan, but he simply activated Mountainform and slapped it away, sending shards flying in all directions. Then he turned to Krov, whose hands froze mid-manipulation.

“Listen, I really don’t want any more trouble, but you need to give me those kids back.”

“I am not my fa-ther, ug-mun,” Krov snarled at him. “I am not weak, or fool-ish like his son. I lead Ish-ka-plet with strength. No one shape stone as fast or well as I. Do not test me on this, ug-mun.”

“Fine, then just give me—”

Mortal. Xeph’s voice cut Callan off, a sharp note to it making his head ring. Just a moment. Look at the dveorg girl.

Callan frowned, then did as Xeph asked. He studied Krov. She stood just a few feet from him, hands at the ready to work her powers further, her entire body quivering with... with...

Oh.

She’s terrified, Xeph continued. First you destroyed her brother like he was nothing, likely the physically strongest in the entire dveorg city, and then you humiliated her father. Forced him to admit his weakness in front of everyone. Her control over the dveorg hinges on her appearing stronger than either her father or brother, but she has to know how nebulous that is. We can destroy her with a mere thought. A mere word or two. So... choose what you say carefully.

“Krov.” Callan paused, then sat down, crossing his legs beneath him so he was only towering over the dveorg girl slightly. “I did not mean to offend the mighty leader of the Ish-ka-plet. But I only came to your land because three children of ours have gone missing. Children, Krov, small, innocent children. Can you promise me they aren’t being held here against their will?”

“Chil-dren?” Some of the tension seemed to go out of Krov, and she stood a little straighter. “This I tell you true, ug-mun. We use tun-nel a-bove to watch ug-mun, no more. You catch guard un-a-ware, he run, you fol-low. We drop you in cage. No more. This I swear as chief.”

“Avatar?” Kivi’s voice trembled, but grew stronger as she spoke. “I think she is telling the truth. We could see your location on the map, even when it was outside the temple, but not the children. Wherever they are, they are somewhere that is being intentionally hidden. I do not believe it to be here.”

Callan frowned, but realized the high priestess was right. He hadn’t been able to locate the children using the map, either. Or the dveorg for that matter, at least not until one of them entered the temple proper.

He turned back to Krov and gave a quick bow of his head. “Thank you for your honesty, chieftain. I do not wish to sour future relations between your people and mine so soon after we managed to reach a state of amiable hospitality.”

It was probably the most diplomatic sentence he’d ever strung together. All Callan could do was hope that Xeph managed to translate at least half as well.

Clearly, the god must have managed something, as Krov blinked and bowed back. “We wish no harm to ug-mun and his lud. But dveorg need noth-ing from those who dwell a-bove. We have what we need here.”

“Surely we can come to some sort of agreement,” Callan said, not wanting to let the opportunity pass without at least a single attempt. “There are parts of Xeph’s temple that are of dveorgan design. Your people, or some other dveorgs, must have helped in the past. Is there really nothing I can offer in trade?”

“Noth-ing from you, ug-mun.” Krov paused, then glanced at Kivi. “But lud have things we can take in trade.”

“Us?” Kivi blinked as they both turned their attention towards her. “What would the lud have to offer your people, ah, Chieftain Krov?”

“Your clothes,” the little dveorg said succinctly.

“My... clothes?”

“They come from the tree, yes? Made from bark, and leaves. I can tell, I re-call the feel from when I was a child. Not much left in Ish-ka-plet now.”

“You mean the pythian tree?” Callan asked. The dveorgan chief nodded. He glanced at Kivi. “Didn’t you guys bring a bunch of the pythian products that survived the fire along?”

“Yes, avatar. And it would be easy enough to gather more. Many of the watchers you left in the village are secure in the upper branches of the tree, in case of a surprise attack. It would be easy enough for them to gather more bark and leaves while they were up there.”

Callan nodded, then turned back to Krov. “I’ll send someone to work out the details. But if you want products from the pythian, we’re happy to give you as much as you need.”

“This would please me, ug-mun.” The dveorg girl nodded, then backed up a step. “Now, I ask you and lud to leave, while way re-mains open. We will build a small path that you may use to speak with us a-gain. But for now, bet-ter if you go, and leave dveorg in peace.”

That was probably the most words he’d ever heard out of Krov in a single go. Callan nodded, then rose to his feet. He turned to Kivi. “I believe our exit is this way, High Priestess. Shall I lead the way?”

“If it is all the same to you, avatar, I’d rather if Paeral made certain there are no more traps waiting for us.” The older priest started to protest, but snapped his mouth shut at a glare from Kivi. The High Priestess turned back to Callan and held out a hand. “Shall we?”

“We shall. And on the way you can tell me everything that’s been happening in my absence.”

“Oh, avatar. I hardly even know where to start.”