Chapter 32

They walked the switchbacks warily, but it seemed the majority of the Clinkers were just people trying to stay alive. They'd even gotten an appreciative nod from an older Croc lady who'd seen their interaction with Kang below.

"Kang not bad. Just bluster. Young and proud. Now just young." She cackled at her own joke, and even Oskar felt his mood shift temporarily for the better.

It's good to know not all the Crocs we run into are looking for a fight.

// Well, Crocs are physically dominant. It's what has kept them alive for so long, so they're gonna lean into their strengths like anyone.

Kobolds are smart, Hyena-people are hard working, tough, and pretty reliably work for whoever is in charge. Crocs are strong, and orderly. Humans are adaptable and potentially powerful, but rarely do any thrive, unfortunately. Drakon are more mysterious, and are, from what I remember, a dangerous combination of smarts and strength. But, they keep secrets even from one another. If they were as tight-knit as the other species, they'd be dangerous indeed. There was at least one other species I had records of previously, but I have access to almost nothing right now since there is no global network anymore. But people are people, so you can't rely on this information as rules. There are smart Crocs, dumb Kobolds, and guileless Drakon, and at least one human I'm pretty sure is a stupid pink. //

Hey! I'm not that pink anymore. I've got a little bit of a tan going now.

The path revealed some pretty interesting things that, as always, caused more questions than answers. The higher they climbed, the fewer children there were, and by the time they hit the last three switchbacks, there were none at all. No local humans at all, either, but Oskar expected that. Fox said there used to be an old human that traveled between some of the Collectives, and even visited the Kobolds when she was very small, but she barely had any memories of her at all. As usual, Touwon added nothing.

There were very few Kobolds, as well, and the ones they'd seen had steered well clear of the group as they traveled upward. Fox was wary, but mentioned that could just mean the Crocs were being especially nasty, and one thing that was would be sure to make things worse was Kobolds appearing to "collaborate or consort" with other Kobolds.

"Big words for Crocs."

She gave him a look, but said, "Words the Crocodillian may have trouble saying, but that they very much understand the meaning of."

Oskar nodded, but kept a lookout as they drew closer to the top of the path. Finally, the thing that had been nagging at him became clear; the rambunctiousness and life that had been present at the bottom of the path was all but gone by the time they neared the carefully stacked rock pillars and the archway carved into the cliff wall that made up the entryway. There were fewer tents at the top, but that wasn't all of it. There was no chatter or laughter coming out of the Collective, just the sounds of people working and the too reserved calls of merchants inside.

They were close enough now to see the single guard staring at them. He was a bulky, green Croc, holding his oblong shield and hammer lazily. He was standing back into the entryway a few steps, and even though he watched them suspiciously, he looked more bored than anything. As they walked toward the opening, they felt the full brunt of the wind coming from what would have been the west on earth, and Oskar understood why the guard stayed in the entryway. Bored or not, the guard did eye Touwon's bag as they walked through the stacked stone pillars, but didn't stop them.

The archway opened into a large, flat area dotted with a few dozen tents lined up in mostly orderly rows. The entire thing was partially protected from the wind by a red cliff face that encircled the collective, broken only by the V-shaped opening on the east side that so beautifully hid the red sun the night before and a section of open sky to the west where the suns would eventually set. A stone stairway with steps too small to be ideal for the large Drakon and Crocodilian rose up to the V opening to a smaller platform above.

If they'd had someone with an eyeglass of some sort and looked out from the V, they might have been able to see us. Good thing Touwon was smart enough to hide the fire.

If you spot this narrative on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.

The entire set up made sense when he felt the wind blowing steadily through the flat opening. No one was standing out under the suns, but it was likely borderline comfortable under a tent at night.

Oskar was mostly distracted by the hulking, robed figures, even larger than the Crocs, that stood sporadically around the marketplace. They were massive and watching the small crowds with fiery, predatory eyes. Fox had warned him about the Drakon, but seeing them up close was humbling, for lack of a better word. The green and gray scales that covered their bodies were not uniform at all. It was as of they were put together by hand with volcanic stones. Oskar could hear their long talons clicking on the red streaked stone rock that made up the ground of the Great Collective. They eyed the group suspiciously, which set Oskar’s nerves on edge until he realized they were staring at everyone suspiciously.

Oskar imagined their thick scales would sound like rocks clacking together if they tried to move fast, but each one he saw was still or moving slowly, as if their only purpose was to watch. Thin robes hung loosely over their imposing frames. It looked to Oskar as if color were a rank or class identifier of some sort, and they ranged from darker shades of black and grey into varying shades of purple. Menacing, clawed, slab-like hands protruded from their sleeves.

The vendors, for their part, pretended the colossal figures didn’t exist. They vendors were mostly Hyenas with a few Crocs, and they hawked their wares to Hyena, Crocs, and even the rare Kobold, but their eyes slid over and through the robed figures, smoothly making it a point to not draw their attention. It saddened Oskar to see that, just like outside, the few Kobolds they saw were working overtime to pretend Fox and Touwon, as well as the Drakon, didn’t exist. This was made even more difficult by their having to move out of the way of both, as Oskar and his friends walked through the marketplace.

The one time a Drakon approached a booth, though, every other prospective customer suddenly had important business in every other direction, and the food vendor, a Hyena-man in this case, gave him his undivided but deferential attention. The Drakon walked away with a prepackaged bundle of foodstuffs after briefly inspecting it. He carried the package into a large tent with slits in it. The slits rippled softly in the steady wind, obviously allowing airflow, but didn’t allow visibility from the outside, at least from this distance. A minute after the Drakon walked into the tent, a handful of other Drakon walked out and meandered to obviously prearranged locations. A like number of Drakon from the crowd made their way towards the tent to, Oskar assumed, eat.

Who’s even in charge here? The Drakon don’t seem to be openly running things, but it’s obvious they have influence.

Everyone was acting like a whipped dog, and it made Oskar sick to see so many people scared to even smile.

“How can people live like this?” Oskar whispered to Fox as they tried… and failed to not stand out, simply because they weren’t walking around broken spirited like everyone else.

There were zero signs of familiarity between the vendors. No friendly banter. The whole place felt seedy. Contrived. He wouldn’t trust a single vendor in the place. Oskar noticed a series of small caves on the cliff face, and larger caves carved into the cliffs on the floor level that looked to be homes. Their openings were covered with slits of long sheer cloth that blew steadily in the wind, blowing around the edge of the cliff and through the V split. Somehow, perhaps blowing through the caves, the wind caused a constant, low, whistling noise. It wasn’t sharp, loud, or annoying, so he imagined it would be easy to get used to.

Looking around, Oskar saw that basically every vendor was selling food or cloth. There was a strangely colored Hyena with intelligent, green eyes that called out in a low voice that they did repair work on armor, but she turned her dark red head away from them and looked quite busy facing the other way as they walked by. Fox avoided her gaze as well, though.

Odd, that. I feel like asking questions about it might not be worth hurting Fox, but I feel like I'm not getting the full story on something important.

The streaks of red through the stone were the only splashes of color on the rock platform until the cave pocked curved wall that surrounded the center.

The air just off center of the platform was the worst. It was hot and stagnant, but occasionally a breeze came through when it wasn’t being blocked by the Crocs or Drakon who looked to be purposefully hogging it. The nicer stalls seemed to be around the fringes, closer to the homes, or directly between the V and the opening where the breeze was steady and cooler than the still air.

Not nearly as cool as what he’d felt above the clouds, though.

I’d do anything to have the power to go there at will.

He was more motivated than ever to master Sora and the Magic Below. He'd felt the magic coursing through the ground below, he just didn't know what to do with it yet.

I'm gonna figure it out, though, just like I did Sora.

Fox pulled him along to a tent in the more stagnant area, but when they arrived, there was no one there. A nervous cackle behind them was followed by a low whisper.

"No more Kobold vendors. Boss-Boss orders." The Hyena grinned at them, and Oskar heard Fox curse beside him.