Kaz smelled them first, and he had to force himself to continue standing tall, proud and confident. Raff’s random chatter actually helped with this, since it distracted Kaz from the scent of three - no, four - strange kobolds. By the time the red glow of the flames illuminated the Palefur males, Kaz had settled his fur and relaxed his shoulders. The steps were tall enough that he had to touch each one with a hand as he stepped up, but he kept the other one open and visibly empty at all times.
“Hold!” someone barked, and Kaz froze. Looking up, he saw that two male kobolds were staring down at him, holding crossbows aimed at his heart. The light color of their fur was completely eclipsed by the red light, making them look nearly as crimson as Oda had been.
Lifting his hands, Kaz said, “I am a pup of the Broken Knife tribe. I wish only to pass to the next stair.” He shifted his gaze to the second staircase, which began on the other side of the broad hallway.
As he’d hoped, claiming to be a pup threw the other male off, and he stepped back a pace, the crossbow dipping an inch or two before returning to its position. The male shook his head. “You’re too big to be a pup, and,” he squinted and sniffed as Raff came into view behind Kaz, “what is that?”
Kaz ducked his head. “I have not yet had my spirit hunt, though I am nearly of age.” And therefore he could not be challenged, adult to adult, which should leave the guards uncertain what to do with him. He turned to look at Raff.
“This is a human,” he said, motioning to the male, who stood nearly twice as tall as any of the kobolds except for Kaz himself. The Palefurs were actually a bit on the small size, perhaps because they bred for the color of their fur, rather than size and strength, like most tribes.
The Palefur male stepped back again, and now a new male stepped into view. He was taller than the crossbow-wielders, and held a knife made of metal, rather than stone. He was high-ranking then, so the other males should do as he commanded, so long as no females were present.
Lifting his knife, the new male said, “I am Lorn, heir’s mate. Where is your female?” He looked down the stairs behind Kaz as if some female might appear at any moment.
Raff shook his head. “You kobolds and your females,” he muttered. “Look. Blue here is taking me to the, uh, Broken Knife tribe. Some female called Rega, I think. You gonna let us through, or are we going to have a problem?” He hadn’t even bothered to draw his long blade, but his hand hovered by its hilt, and just the combination of his own size and that of the weapon’s sheath should encourage the Palefur males to use caution. That, and the horrifying tales of humans that every kobold pup heard by fireside.
Kaz spoke quickly, hoping to convince Lorn that they were currently no danger to the Palefurs, but it was best if the other male allowed them through. “The humans and my leader, Katri, have slain Mital and her daughters. The Longtooths have yielded. I go to fetch the rest of the Broken Knife tribe.”
Lorn looked shocked. “But Mital won the luegat just yesterday. The Broken Knives should still be in mourning.”
Fighting the urge to bow his head at the shamefulness of his next words, Kaz said, “Katri and the humans attacked before the mourning ended, and won. This human has been sent to protect me as I take the message to Rega.” He met Lorn’s eyes, hoping the other male would understand. The human was strong enough to take down Mital, and he will do the same to you if you stand in our way.
Lorn’s teeth clenched, and he glanced down the hall behind him. “We heard the howling. My mate went to ask our leader what to do. You must wait-”
Metallic scraping cut off his words as Raff withdrew a foot of metal from the sheath at his waist. The sharp edge caught the light of the red flame, gleaming as if it were already stained with blood. “We’re going now,” Raff growled. “I can see the Pellis-forgotten stairs right there, and you can get out of my way, or die like those other kobolds. Doesn’t matter to me.”
Kaz’s gaze met Lorn’s, and some of his desperation must have gotten through to the older male, because he stepped aside. The other three males around him did the same, and Raff pounded up the stairs, his armor clattering as he did. Kaz followed behind, crossing the hall and setting foot to the second set of stairs. As he began to climb, he looked back at the Palefurs.
“We’ll be back soon,” he told them. “It would be best if everyone stays out of our way as we pass.”
Lorn’s lip curled, but he nodded. “I will tell my mate,” he said, and that was as much as any male could do.
Kaz nodded and set both hands to the steps, giving himself an extra boost so he could catch up with Raff. The big human marched on, red light flickering over his face as they rose, step by step. As they stepped onto the stone floor at the top of the stairs, the human looked at Kaz.
“Which way?”
Kaz looked both ways. The Broken Knives commanded a much smaller section of their level than either the Palefurs or the Longtooths, and the stairs were at the very edge of that territory. He knew where they were, of course, but it was possible that a monster or a male from another tribe could be nearby, since the Broken Knives didn’t patrol out this far.
Lifting his nose, he sniffed. He didn’t smell anything except the lingering traces of his own tribe’s luegat fighters, including Katri, Rega, and Oda. Satisfied, he turned to the right. “This way.” He glanced at Raff. “We don’t keep our halls lit, like the Longtooths and Palefurs. We’ll need to stop so I can make a torch, unless you have another way to make a light.”
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Raff muttered in annoyance, but reached into the pouch at his belt and pulled out a round stone that looked like it might be quartz. He tapped it sharply, saying, “Lux.” The stone blazed to life, casting a clear white light fifteen feet in every direction.
Kaz growled, rubbing at his eyes. He should have guessed what the human was up to and looked away, but instead he’d stared at the stone like an idiot and nearly been blinded. Most mountain-dwellers were very sensitive to light, allowing them to see even in near-darkness, and it took several long, painful moments for his vision to clear. When it did, he saw Raff staring at him with a conflicted expression on his face.
“Sorry, Blue,” the human said. “I should have warned you.”
Kaz blinked again, startled. Why was the male apologizing?
Raff sighed and started off down the corridor, leaving Kaz to half-jog along to catch up. “Look,” the human said abruptly, “it’s not that I don’t like you. I mean, you’re a Pellis-cursed kobold, but you seem decent enough. And it sounds like we’re going to be stuck with each other for a while, so we might as well be polite, eh?” He slanted a look at Kaz before he went on.
“I was impressed by what you did for those kobolds back there. They would’ve just taken a swing at me, right? And then I would have killed them all. So you stepped in and found a way to keep that from happening. That’s what a good guide does. It’s not just about takin’ us from one place to another, but making sure we don’t step in anything unnecessary along the way.”
Raff shrugged. “I guess I’m sayin’ you may have more to you than just bein’ blue.”
Kaz frowned, glancing down at the rich color of his fur. “Blue?”
Chuckling, the human nodded. “Gaoda got his fortune told before he set off on this big quest. The priest told him the color blue would be very important for this trip, so he gets anything blue he can. When we stayed in a town with two inns, he picked the one with a blue sign. When we buy clothes, packs, even food, he picks whatever has the most blue on it, and when he saw you immediately after we finally found an entrance to this misbegotten mountain, he decided you were lucky, too. That’s the only reason he didn’t just kill you both.”
Kaz stopped in his tracks. “Gaoda is male?” he yelped.
Raff stopped, too, then started laughing, a great, booming laugh that echoed down the tunnel. “That’s what you got from that? You thought he was a girl?”
Kaz gestured vaguely toward his shoulder, where Gaoda’s light-ball usually hovered. “She wields power only females bear, so-”
“He’s a mage, so of course he does. Though he calls himself a cultivator instead. All the same in the end.” Raff waggled his fingers. “Casts spells, makes things go poof, thinks he’s special, just like all the rest. Well, except Lianhua. She’s as nice a mage as I’ve ever met, and I’ve met more than my share.”
Kaz’s head was spinning. “Lianhua… is not a pup?”
The human looked surprised. “You thought she was a kid? With-” his hands made a strange, curving gesture in front of his chest, and Kaz tilted his head in confusion. Raff waved away the question. “Well, you’re built differently than we are, so of course you can’t tell. Yeah, Lianhua is a grown woman, and Gaoda, Chi, and I are all men.”
Kaz blinked. “Are you her mates, then?”
“Whoa!” Raff held up a hand. “No! I barely even know them, really. I guess Lianhua is some kind of scholar, and she’s out hunting something she expects to find at the bottom of this giant hunk of rock. Gaoda’s a distant cousin, or something, and Chi Yincang is Gaoda’s bodyguard.”
The fur over his eyes drew together. “I think. Anyway, they’re supposed to protect Lianhua, and I’m just the schmuck they hired to get them here. I grew up around the Warmane mountains, so I know the area, and the dangers, though I have to admit I’ve never actually talked to a kobold before.”
Raff grimaced, stroking the orange fur on his lower face, “There are some kobolds that live in and around the smaller mountains in the range, but, ah, they aren’t nearly as smart as you lot in here. They mostly just sneak in and try to steal livestock from small villages, until they go too far and kill someone, and the village hires people like me to wipe them out. I’ve never even heard one of them speak, just bark and howl.”
It was Kaz’s turn to make a face. “Fallen ones,” he said. “Tribes who weren’t able to hold a place here, so they went down from the mountain.”
He looked away. “My Broken Knife tribe was very nearly one of them. Without you humans, Mital would have killed Rega and Katri when the mourning period ended tomorrow. The rest of us would have been taken into the Longtooths, or chased from the mountain. At best, we would have tried to survive in the very top levels, but nothing lives there for long.”
Raff hooked a thumb down the hall. “This way, right?” He started walking again, though he didn’t seem inclined to stop talking, now that Kaz was talking back. “Who’re you all mourning, then? That white kobold mentioned it, too.”
Kaz caught up, then passed the human, though his shorter legs had to move faster in order to keep up. Without thinking, he shunted a little of the power he had regenerated into his legs, giving them more strength. “Our chief, Oda, died in the luegat against the Longtooths. When a chief falls, the tribe has two days to mourn her, before any other actions may be taken.”
Raff clicked his tongue. “Your Katri broke that rule, then, hey? Moved right in as soon as we killed Mital.”
Kaz felt his shoulders tighten. “Katri is doing what she must to keep the Broken Knife tribe from falling.”
“Oh, I didn’t mean any criticism,” the human said, cheerfully. “Good for her, taking care of her people. Though, who’s this Rega? Some rival, I assume.”
“Rega is our aunt,” Kaz admitted reluctantly. “She was our mother’s heir. Normally, Katri would have to challenge her, face to face, in order to become the new leader, but instead-”
Their steps echoed as they walked, until Raff said, “She’s using us to take over. So, a rebel at home and on the field, huh?”
“Katri is stronger than Rega!” Kaz said, loyally, though inside he wasn’t as sure as he tried to sound. “The strongest female should be chief, with or without a challenge!”
Raff waved a dismissive hand. “Doesn’t matter to me. I just go where I’m told, and do what I’m paid to do. I learned a long time ago that opinions are for the rich. So long as I’m alive to spend my gold at the end of the day, that’s all I care about.”
Kaz nodded. He wasn’t sure what gold had to do with it, but he understood obeying his leader, and Katri was his leader now.
Wasn’t she?
At the next turning, Kaz held up a hand. “Our den is close. By now, we should have met a guard, or at least a band of gatherers. Something is wrong.”
Instantly, the amusement fled Raff’s face. He set his hand to the hilt of his weapon and said, “Monsters?”
Kaz sniffed the air, frowning. All he smelled were familiar kobolds, but the scents weren’t as strong as they should have been. “I don’t… think so. Just let me go first.”
Raff shrugged and motioned for Kaz to lead the way. Kaz nodded and stepped around the corner.