Power flared around all the humans, startling Kaz, and he realized that he had become so used to pushing power into his eyes that he was doing it without thinking. He thought back to their meeting with the Blackbow female, and realized that he’d dimly seen her core and channels, but hadn’t even paused to consider what that meant. He shuddered as he realized that in that simple action, he could have revealed himself as bearing a core and ki, but thankfully it seemed that the female hadn’t noticed anything. Perhaps his caution around females all these years had been entirely unnecessary? Though Rega had said she knew he held power, so how had she known?
He shook his head as Chi Yincang flashed into being beside him, bounding down the stairs while whirling his long weapon. Raff was already gone, his great sword held high as he emitted a credible howl. Gaoda had his full five ki balls dancing and darting around him, and a ferocious grin on his face. The males forged ahead, leaving Lianhua, who had her eyes closed, pushing golden sheaths out over her limbs as an arrow of pure white light flared into being on her bow.
Kaz stepped up beside her as her eyes flashed open, flickering with ki for a moment before settling into their usual bright amethyst. “Lianhua,” he said, resting a hand on her sleeve for a moment.
The female looked at him, pausing in her first stride toward the stairs.
“If anything happens, leave me behind,” Kaz said, hurrying to push the words past what felt like a fist around his heart. “The next several flights of stairs are close together. Just ask whoever controls each one how to reach the next. When you get to the middle levels, wait for me. A day, maybe two. No more. If I take longer than that, you’ll need to find a new guide.”
Lianhua frowned, the light of her arrow flickering uncertainly. “No, Kaz, I promised I would protect you-”
He shook his head. “If it comes to a battle, yes, but I hope it won’t. Hopefully everything will be fine. If not… just trust me, and go.”
She drew in a deep breath, but dipped her head in acknowledgement. “All right. But if you don’t meet us, I’m coming back for you.” Her gaze was fierce, and the terrible clenching sensation in his chest eased.
His tail wagged briefly. “Just remember to tell the tribes at the stairs that I’m coming behind you, and they should let me through.”
Her smile was tight. “I will.”
Together, they turned to face the stairs. The males were probably already nearing the bottom, so Kaz would have to hurry if he wanted to prevent a slaughter. Lianhua seemed to sense his concern, and with a murmured, “Sorry,” she picked him up, holding him easily beneath one arm as she clasped her bow with the other. In spite of the one-handed grip, a glowing arrow still hovered in it, nocked against an invisible string.
Lianhua leaped forward, jumping five or six stairs at a time. She wasn’t that much taller than Kaz, but her longer legs and greater experience with the ki flowing through her body seemed to make this simple, and they soon joined the males, who had actually stopped about halfway down, waiting.
When they arrived, Gaoda huffed an impatient breath, but said nothing before continuing on. Raff leaped ahead again, while Chi Yincang resumed his flickering jumps. Lianhua set Kaz down, then lifted her bow back into place and ran after the others, with Kaz slowly but inexorably falling behind.
As he ran, jumping over a few steps here and there, but mostly forced to scramble down the nine-inch stairs, he pushed ki into his ears, trying to pick up any sound of battle as soon as it began. Not that he knew what he would do if the humans simply threw themselves into an attack. He could only hope they had listened to him, and would restrain themselves to posturing until he caught up.
A large group of kobolds waited at the bottom of the stairs. They, too, had weapons bared, and Kaz saw many drawn bows, as well as an unusual number of all-metal knives, and even a few blades that were several inches longer than a standard stone knife. This tribe was incredibly wealthy by upper-level standards, and their members were scarred and powerful-looking, male and female alike. Kaz even saw one elderly female whose light hovered above her hand, rather than being attached to it or an object, as they usually were. Her core burned particularly bright, though one of her legs was withered, and she leaned on a young female with fur like green agate.
A tall, emerald-colored female stepped forward, and Kaz could see the shimmer of power surrounding her. She was holding a shield, and from the power coursing through her cycle, it didn’t seem to be draining her at all. She looked at Gaoda, though Kaz could see her casting puzzled glances at the other humans, who were clearly using power, but not in a way she was accustomed to.
“No one may pass this way until the Blackbows yield their claim! Turn around and go back, or die.” She lifted a hand, and the archers behind her all pointed their arrows at Gaoda in a smooth, synchronized motion.
Since the female was already speaking, Kaz couldn’t interfere directly, but he hurried forward until he was standing just behind Gaoda. He saw the female’s sulfur-yellow eyes flick toward him, and her puzzlement seemed to deepen.
“Tell her her conflict is with the Blackbow kobolds. You’re humans, and it has nothing to do with you. You could slay her, and her tribe, but will refrain out of respect for their great tribe,” Kaz murmured.
Gaoda did so, then lifted his own hand, making his ki orbs swirl faster and glow with an almost blinding light. As if they had planned this, which perhaps they had, the other males also lifted their weapons. Chi Yincang’s weapon whirled so quickly that it was nearly invisible, but it whistled as it sliced the air, and power pulsed out of him, making the closest males tremble. Raff took one hand from the hilt of his sword and tapped the blade with his metal glove, causing the blade to hum with a deep, thrumming note that lingered long after it should have stopped.
The female took all this in, and stepped back, her shield nearly flaring into visibility as she shunted even more power into it. She opened her mouth to speak again, but the old one cleared her throat. Just once, and gently, but every single Stoneborn kobold instantly fell into absolute stillness.
“I remember humans. I was already old when you stopped coming, and I remember. Our ways are not yours. You may go.” Her eyes, cloudy with age, tried to focus on Kaz. “But no kobolds pass beyond this point. Pup, return to your tribe.”
Kaz’s teeth clenched. Now that the female had spoken to him, he had to respond, so he crouched, ears and tail tucked tightly against his body. “I have no tribe,” he told her. “My chief gave me to these humans. If I cannot go with them, I am abandoned.”
A soft murmur swept the crowd, and Kaz offered Katri a silent apology. If he claimed a tribe, he would be turned away or taken as a prize, watched carefully until he earned their trust. An abandoned pup, on the other hand, was a pitiful thing, and they would assume he would be utterly loyal to any tribe that was willing to take him in. He needed to pass these stairs, and this was the only way he could see to do it without starting a fight.
The old female hummed thoughtfully. Lifting her hand from the agate female’s shoulder, she pointed at Gaoda. “Leave this pup. We will take him. Go on your way.”
She flicked her finger, and a path silently formed between the ranks of kobolds. No one lowered their weapons, but the way through was clear.
The first female spoke up. Her tone was almost belligerent, and she threw a conflicted look at her elder. “I will guide you out of our territory and tell you how to reach the next stairway. We control it as well, so you will negotiate the price of passage with me.”
This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report.
Gaoda had opened his mouth as soon as the old female pointed at him, but Kaz, greatly daring, kicked the human in the leg, making him close it with a click. Now, Lianhua stepped up beside Kaz, and gazed down at him, her eyes filled with worry. He gave her a nod, and she let out a sigh before taking Gaoda’s arm. She was pale, but she hung on as he turned to look at her in surprise.
“Let’s go… cousin,” she said, and a look of triumph passed through Gaoda’s eyes. He laid a hand over hers, and Kaz wondered if he was the only one who saw the way her fingers trembled.
“Good,” Gaoda said, grinning. He shot a glance at Kaz. “I’m sure we can find another blue kobold eventually. It seems unlikely that my fortune referred to this one, after all.”
Kaz almost snorted, but managed to hold his submissive pose as the humans walked past him. Lianhua cast him several glances, and even Raff looked back once, but Kaz remained where he was until the four had disappeared into a tunnel on the right side of the cavern, following the bright green female.
As soon as the humans were gone, the kobolds surrounding the stairs relaxed, and weapons were returned to sheaths. The archers didn’t unstring their bows, but they replaced their arrows in their quivers. The females released their shields, and the oldest one allowed her light to drop back down to her hand with a faint sigh. Without another word, or a glance at Kaz, she turned away, limping and leaning on the pale green female, and all but one of the other females followed. Several males fell in behind them, though about half remained.
One of them, an older male with fur the yellowish-green color of peridot, walked up the few steps remaining and stood in front of Kaz. “Stand up, pup,” he said, impatiently. “Let’s have a look at you.”
Kaz stood slowly, and it wasn’t hard to keep his ears and tail in their lowered position. He was surrounded, and it would only take a single wrong move for these kobolds to fill him full of arrows.
The male reached out and took Kaz’s chin, turning his head one way, and then the other. His sharp eyes took in Kaz’s bare neck. “Good. You’re old for a pup, though. Did you fail your spirit hunt?”
Kaz shook his head vigorously. Failing the hunt would mean that he would never be considered a warrior or an adult. A male who couldn’t survive a week alone and come back with at least enough kills to make a good necklace of teeth was a male who would always be a drain on his tribe’s resources. If the tribe was large enough, they would be assigned to work with the den-mother, corralling pups and teaching them how to gather and do chores. If the tribe was too small to sustain members who didn’t contribute directly, such a male would usually be abandoned, sent out to try to find a home with a larger tribe, or die on his own. Many never bothered to return if they survived a failed hunt. A tribe like this would certainly never accept such a weakling.
“Too young,” he said. “It was almost my time, but when the humans came through, my chief decided she could spare me, and the humans paid well.” In blood, but he decided not to mention that.
“Hmm,” the male said, stepping back. “We’ll give you a bit to get used to our territory, and you can go on your hunt then. We can always use more warriors, especially ones your size. I’m Pilik, and this is Lonti.”
He glanced around, and a tall young male stepped forward. This new male had fur of such a dark green it was almost black, and his startlingly yellow eyes swept over Kaz before dismissing him with a contemptuous flick. He placed his hand over his heart and bowed respectfully to Pilik, however.
“Lonti, take-” Pilik hesitated, and Kaz filled in his name. “Take Kaz to Nadi. She’ll know what to do with him.”
Lonti bowed again, and turned away, striding toward a tunnel opposite the one the humans had gone down. He clearly expected Kaz to follow, so Kaz gave Pilik an awkward salute and did so.
The Stoneborn den was surprisingly close to the stairs. Generally, a tribe wanted a decent distance between their home and any passages up and down, and Kaz wondered if they’d done this because they were used to keeping their territory small enough to patrol constantly, or if they simply hadn’t found anyplace more suitable. Either way, it made for a short walk, and soon Lonti led Kaz through a den filled with huts that were still only partially set up.
The squeals and yips of pups rang out over the bustle of kobolds going about their assigned tasks, and the two males veered toward the sound. Kaz was surprised to see just how many pups there were, especially since there should be even more older ones out gathering. He would expect to see at least twice as many adults as he had to account for the two dozen young ones visible around a harassed-looking female with the purest yellow fur Kaz had ever seen.
Lonti approached this female, bowing his head. Generally, only weak females took on the role of den-mother, but she was still a female, and therefore higher in the tribe’s ranking than any male.
“Nadi, this is… the new pup. Did you hear about him?” Lonti said, clearly having already forgotten Kaz’s name.
Nadi looked confused, so clearly the gossip hadn’t yet reached her, isolated as she was within the mass of pups. “No,” she said, looking at Kaz curiously.
“Humans came down the stairs, and grandmother let them through,” Lonti told her, somehow managing to sound both awed and affronted at the same time. “This pup was guiding them. His chief traded him to them, but Listet has said no kobolds may pass, so she took him in.”
“Ah. Abandoned, was he? Well, he shouldn’t be as much trouble as this lot, anyway.” She cast an exasperated glance at a pile of pups that had just come to rest against her leg, growling and nipping at each other as they fought a fierce puppy battle over a scrap of meat.
Lonti made no reply, simply bowing more deeply, and she waved him off. Without hesitation, he turned and ran off, probably returning to his post guarding the stairs.
The female looked at Kaz, her eyes assessing him much as Pilik’s had. Instead of his neck, however, they came to rest on his pack, and Kaz had to force himself not to flinch.
“I assume you can gather, pup?” she asked.
He nodded eagerly. “I can hunt, too. A little.”
Her tail wagged gently. “That’s good. What have you brought us?”
This. This was, without a doubt, the riskiest part of his plan. He had to play it just right, or things would go very, very badly.
He hesitated, but pulled his pack from his back with clear reluctance. He could see the female’s eyes light up as she anticipated that he had something good enough inside that he didn’t want to share. Unfortunately, what belonged to one kobold belonged to the whole tribe, if the chief wished it, and pups had essentially no rights whatsoever.
Kneeling, he tugged the pack open, allowing a few clumps of moss and some mushrooms to spill out as he shifted his body to block the female’s view.
Reaching out, she twisted his ear, not hard, but enough to remind him she was the one in charge. Her other hand stretched toward the pack. “Let me see.”
Li’s head popped out of the opening. Through their link, Kaz could see the dragon as it saw itself; golden scales gleamed, and delicate wings rose, stretching gracefully. His eyes, however, told a different story. A grayish-gold fuergar pup bared silvery teeth at the kobold female, though Kaz quickly sent a warning through their bond that the dragon shouldn’t try to bite the extended hand.
With a yelp, Nadi yanked her hand back, shooting Kaz a reprimanding glance. “A fuergar? You’re too old to be trying to tame a beast. Give it here.”
Kaz quickly pulled Li from the bag, allowing some of the filth-encrusted contents to scatter over the stone floor. The knives and the fire-striker, which he had shoved down into the very bottom, remained within, but it was obvious that everything else was grimy, bruised, and gnawed-on.
Crouching, he hugged the little dragon to his chest protectively, and after a moment, the den-mother stepped back, sighing in exasperation. “Fine,” she snapped. “You may keep it until it hurts you, but if it bites someone else, you’ll be held responsible.”
Kaz’s eyes closed briefly in relief, but he nodded, standing and placing the dragonling on his shoulder. It perched there, glaring at the female kobold with eyes that were half whirling pools of black, and half a fuergar’s bulging orbs.
He tapped a hand to his chest in an awkward imitation of a warrior’s salute. He could, of course, perform a much better one, though only the chief should get such a salute, while a bow or nod without the fist to his chest was the proper greeting for a female.
“Thank you,” he whimpered. “It’s my friend. My only friend. Chief said I couldn’t keep it. Sent me away. Thank you.”
Nadi’s expression softened. “Ah. A numb-mind. That explains it. All right, pup. What’s your name?”
“Kaz,” he offered, perking up his ears and letting his tail wag much more enthusiastically than was appropriate for his age.
She nodded. “Kaz. Pick up this mess, and play with those pups over there. Keep them in this area, do you understand?” She swept a hand around. “Keep them here.”
He agreed happily, already scooping handfuls of moss back into the bag. He tried to get Li to go back in as well, but now that the dragon was out, it seemed determined to remain so, ducking and sliding around to avoid his grasp.
Nadi actually chuckled at the sight, and patted his head. “It’s all right. If anyone asks, tell them Nadi said it was fine. Just remember that you can’t keep it once it injures someone.”
Kaz’s ears flattened again, and he whined, but said, “Chief said, too. No biting. No nipping. No scratching.”
“Exactly so,” Nadi said, and patted him again. “Now, go play, and we’ll see what you can do later.”
Kaz’s tail went wild, and he scampered over to join the largest group of pups, using all four limbs to run part of the way. Behind him, he heard Nadi sigh and murmur, “Such a pity.”