As we kept going the raging of the dragon faded ever so slowly behind us. I stopped a few more times to taunt it further but after a while even that had no more effect. Eventually Gash'zur and I were left in silence, except for our own breathing. Even the supports of the tunnel stopped groaning after a while as the rock around us finally settled again after all the uproar and destruction curtsy to one damned, overgrown, fire breathing lizard. I sighed and turned towards my companion as I leaned against the tunnels wall to rest for a moment. “Think we bought enough time?”
The giantess raised an eyebrow at first before she finally nodded. “I hope so. I'm not quite sure how long it kept trying to get at us but it must have been an hour at least. Probably more.” She slumped against the opposite wall. “It should have been enough time for anyone still in their right mind to make a run for it. At the very least they should have gotten out of the city. I doubt the dragon would pursue them. It won't leave its new hoard for long and anyway, it knows you are down here and not up there.”
I laughed a bitter laugh. “How very curious, how it has become a good thing that I seem to have the Devourers attention like that. But yes, lets hope for the best. What will be up next though? Do you know of any calamities worse than a dragon we could end up facing? Or worse, will the accursed goddess even have to go to any trouble like that or will we end up lost down here and starve to death?” I couldn't help but notice how my fingers were shaking as the words burst forth from my mouth.
Before fear, worries and depression could tear any further into me though, Gash'zur straightened back up and pulled me into a hug, patting my back as she did so. “Take a deep breath and don't fret too much. This is just the slump after the rush of the recent life and death situation we were in. Its just like after any big battle. The only difference is that we received a bad beating this time instead of achieving a glorious victory. It happens. We are alive. We fight on. Falling into despair right now won't do us or anyone else any good.”
It took a while but finally the shakes wore off. For now anyway. I had no doubt that I would have to deal with them again. I was just as certain that I would not be able to stop thinking about the defeat I had suffered either. Or rather I probably would not stop thinking about its cost in life any time soon. Not knowing exactly how the rest of the army had fared outside the city didn't help either. Quite the contrary was true. Not knowing made things worse, as it sent my imagination spiraling off on the worst possible paths.
Finally I was able to steady myself though and I returned Gash'zur's embrace. I couldn't just lean onto her without supporting her in turn. She in all likelihood had lost her brother after all. Thus we stood there in the rough hewn tunnel for a while just leaning on each other. In the end I had to speak up though. “Now, how do we get out of here? And what is up with these tunnels? This is a mine, right? Why is the ceiling high enough for us to move without hitting our heads? I pretty much expected to be crawling about on hands and knees by now.”
The giantess scratched the back of her head, looking around for a moment. “I'm not quite sure about this place. You are right, this is, or at least was, a mine. It probably has been abandoned for ages though for the better part. There hasn't been any mining done here for some time. They kept the supports in good condition though.” She patted one of the profiled steel supports. “We used things like these back in our ancestral mountain home as well. They are some fine work.”
She shrugged and we started walking again, at a more leisure pace, paying closer attention to our surroundings now. Every once in a while we stopped to take a closer look at some of the stonework or the metal workings supporting it. Well, we took as close a look as a single oil lantern burning at its lowest setting would allow us anyway. After a while my companion stopped again, scratching the back of her head once more. “You know, it might be quite possible that Gothol'gathrak was not originally a dwarven settlement. There are some old stories that my people lost some of our ancestral homes in ages long past. This might just be one of them.”
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“Mhm. You might just be right.” I nodded. That thought had been at the edge of my mind for a while now. Was this really an old ancestral home of the giants? Or could it have been the home of someone else? I couldn't remember any stories of my people ever having or loosing such a place. Nothing we had seen so far had looked like something the trolls would have built for themselves. Not exactly anyway.
Before I could get lost in thought Gash'zur spoke up again though. “This might just be good news for us. If it was an ancient giant city before the dwarves took up residence here it almost certainly is connected to the Deep Dark. All our ancestral homes are.” For some reason that seemed to greatly excite her. She sounded almost joyous.
I raised an eyebrow at that. The only stories I knew about the Deep Dark were not the kind that would fill me with joy. They were mostly stories about ancient terrors lurking in the depth below the world. I just had to voice my doubts. “Are you sure that's a good thing?”
She stopped and turned to face me as I spoke up, flashing me a grin. “Your people don't like it much, don't they?” She thought about it some more as I nodded in reply. She didn't seem worried as she picked the conversation back up either though. “Well, there are old stories about great dangers that lurk in the depth but I doubt we will need to go that deep. Sure, there are some dangers we need to be wary of but nothing too bad.”
She shrugged and got going again. “Don't worry too much. It might have been a while but I have been down there before. Going down into the Deep Dark for a while is something of a rite of passage among my people. We learn how to find food and shelter down there and how to find our way. We learn to spot any signs of danger. We should be just fine.” She turned to flash me another smile. “You might even come to like it once we get down there. Some of the places we might see can be quite enchanting! The hot springs! Or the crystal caverns!”
I still had some doubts but I nodded anyway. “Well, maybe it won't be too bad. Any Idea where or when we will get back to the surface though?”
That question put a damper on her enthusiasm. At least a little. “I can't really tell. It might be days or weeks. Months at worst. Don't worry too much though. We should be able to find more than enough food and water for the two of us. It is quite curious how some of those places, far from the surface and the sun's touch can bring forth so much life!” She was getting excited again. I decided to just let her go on though instead of interrupting her again. “And I can only assume we will get back topside somewhere along the Ringwall Mountains. No clue where exactly though. I can't exactly tell in which direction we are heading either. We got turned around a few times too often while we were on the run.”
The latter, for some reason, didn't seem to bother her although it certainly worried me a little. We might return to the surface far in the east, deeper in enemy territory or we might see the light of day again somewhere in the northwest, close to home. I frowned as another thought occurred to me. At worst we might be heading straight north and come out in the desert at the heart of the continent. I shuddered and decided not to mention the possibility as we kept going.