Chess shrugged off Amber's hand, took a step back, and took a long shuddering breath.
Amber's right. I need to keep it together. She forced her face to something she hoped resembled neutrality before meeting her companion's eyes. Unintentional murder is still murder, she thought before whispering, "I'm fine."
Truthfully, she didn't know what to feel about the two Earthers they'd stumbled upon. She felt more than a little green around the gills thinking about the poor skunkkin girl and her family's pain. At the same time, she knew deep down that she could have easily made the same mistake if circumstances had conspired against her. She'd certainly never heard of a humanoid skunk in all the media she'd consumed... Wait, wasn't there some Disney character? Eh, Disney likes to humanize all animals.
She focused back on the brothers. They seemed familiar to her but only in the past-by-them-in-Walmart way.
"How do they not starve, if it takes a week when large parts of their insides are stone?" Chess asked, trying to force her mind onto a new track.
"I believe a spell that does something similar to your sustenance passive, my lady," Amber explained.
The guard captain shook his head. "We feed them. The organs and head are the last things that change. Most of the week is spent in what master Stoneblood calls body preparation; changing the bones and ligaments to metals of one sort or another. If you want to learn more, stop by near dawn. The grandmaster is a talkative sort. He's more than eager to explain his work to people," the captain finished with a fond smile.
"Right, right," Chess swallowed hard and shivered. Freya's tits! Note to self: learn the laws.
"To answer your guard's question, they'll likely sell the ones the grandmaster doesn't keep for himself tomorrow." The guard chuckled.
"Well, thank you for your time, captain. It's been very… informative," Chess said with a forced smile while stepping past him with Amber on her heels.
They mounted the steep ramp, and Chess did her best to put the encounter behind her.
When they'd passed beneath the second portcullis, Chess glanced back to see the man had returned to his post before shuddering again. "That was… I don't know. Let's get to the Delver's guild."
"Enlightening?" Gia tried, leading their reluctant horses in a line behind her. It seemed they'd realized the bear-kin woman wasn't going to eat them. Chess couldn’t remember when the woman had taken Petal’s reins but shrugged it off.
"Yeah, let's go," Amber agreed, falling in beside Gia a step behind Chess.
"Uh, I don't know where I'm going," Chess said looking about as they passed through the wall and below yet another portcullis. She eyed two groups of guards posted on either side of the wide corridor. Tunnels snaked away in a sharp curve behind each group. Above square chutes peppered the ceiling, each ending in a solid-looking wooden plug. Something didn't add up with the arrangement.
"Stables first," Gia suggested.
"What's that about? Don't extra tunnels kind of defeat the purpose of a killing ground between the portcullis?" Chess nodded behind her as they passed into a wide plaza.
All the buildings were pushed back a good hundred yards and Chess could see the dimples of the titan's back were both filled with elegant fountains. One with a surprisingly accurate Chinese dragon wrought of bronze, spewing water from above. The other fountain had an equally eerily familiar western counterpart doing the same. Roads led off from around each fountain with a wide corridor following the cleft of Silcith's spine between them ending in a large wall far in the distance. That’s curious. Chess let the question the statues engendered drop as Gia spoke.
"Rifts in the titan’s… orifices. Occasionally something unexpected grows, and they have to drop the inner gate until it's dealt with," Gia said, indicating they should head left to what was obviously a large stable. A large fenced-in area filled with horses and other domesticated animals stood before it.
"Wait seriously? There is a rift in her butt and vagina? I don't know if that's funny or just sad." Chess laughed.
Gia smiled. "The ass rift has been made into an undead pit. The unwanted dead people are deposited there. Part of the reason my company is in the area is that the annual clear is coming up and our Boneweaver is looking to resupply. The other rift is a Life rift. Its time dilation is a year inside for every two days outside. They harvest it once every two weeks or so. There is a third underwater rift in Silcith's mouth that is explored occasionally by Count Caldur's wife and his girls when they have the time and proper help. It has breaks often but they don’t cause much trouble as the creatures disappear into the sea," Gia explained as Amber disappeared into the small office attached to the stables.
A question that had percolated at the back of Chess’s mind for a while surfaced again at the mention of the time dilation. She wondered at how to frame her question for a moment before speaking, “I’ve often wondered why people don’t live in rifts for a time. It could be very useful for training armies and such. Back home it was simply not done.”
Gia chuckled. “Oh, they do. In fact, I know a few gladiator schools that operate like that. But there are a few risks involved. Not the least of which is forgetting how or why you’d want to leave.”
Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere.
“Really, like some sort of mind control?”
Gia shrugged. “I’m sure you can find a scholar that can give you a more detailed explanation. I think the real reason most people stay away from the idea is that they are known to change your body to better suit the local environment and are usually very limited in the Pyth that can be found or grown inside.”
“That’s… unnerving.” Chess said and was saved from demonstrating her ignorance further by the return of Amber and a large gray-skinned human. Chess found herself staring at the incongruous gunmetal skin tone and had to shake her head to focus on what he said.
"I know these horses," the man said as he approached and rubbed Petal's muzzle. The mare brushed his hand away and snuffled at his pockets. Chess smiled when the man grunted and offered her an apple.
"That's because the Count waylaid the merchant we traveled with and insisted we trade our mounts and the dwarf’s draft animals for his exhausted ones. It cost us a day and he never returned. Here is the documentation," Amber explained handing over a handful of paper.
Chess turned her gaze back to her surroundings as Amber and the man started dithering over the price for stabling the animals.
Most of the shops and homes sported a story or two of precisely cut stone with another story above crafted of beautifully carved wood with their top stories nestled into the arches of their domed roofs. Each was colored in a dizzying array of colors, some complimentary and others clashing badly. No homeowner's association or bylaws here, to keep everything brown or grey. She smiled at the thought.
The carpenter in her took note that none of the buildings seemed to have basements. In fact, the foundations of each varied somewhat to adjust to the curvature of Silcith's body.
"Is there a reason none of the buildings have basements? Is it some sort of religious thing?" she found herself asking. "Magic would make the removal of stone trivial,"
Gia smiled after handing the reins to a pair of teens who came to collect them. "It's the same reason people choose to live here, aside from a convenient place for a Skyport." She gestured to the docks looming above. "Silcith's flesh is immune to both physical and magical effects of all kinds. The most people are able to do is use suction enchantments to bind the buildings and walls in place. With her sheer size, impenetrability from sappers, seaside reefs, Skyport, and local academy the heel has never fallen to an invading army."
"I'm starting to see why Canfree wants his sons to marry into the Caldur family," Chess murmured.
Amber rejoined them with her helm tucked under her arm and her saddlebags over an armored shoulder. "Delver's guild?" she asked Gia.
"Just follow the Spine. It's a huge green and yellow building. It's hard to miss," Gia offered.
Chess shrugged and set out in the lead once again. She found signs for businesses of all sorts she'd expect in medieval society. Herbalists, tanners, smiths of various sorts, booksellers, and a few more along with many others only dreamt of in fantasy such as Runesmiths, enchanters, and charmers. A few were completely foreign like whatever a Stoneweaver was. Though she could hazard a guess. She wondered a moment at the lack of hammer and other loud sounds or the smells often said to stem from tanneries but chalked it up to magic.
People of all sorts went about the day's business. Most were human or mostly human but she spotted many others. More cat, skunk, and bear-kin as well as a few new ones. One looked like a humanoid elephant with a large trunk-like nose that hung to its belly. Another very short and petite woman had absolutely huge brown and white feathered wings that she spread to shake out before folding against her back again. The ruffling looked just like any bird would do. Yet another had a head that looked eerily like a squid.
Chess caught the odd person staring at her or Amber but invariably they'd quickly scurry away when she caught them. In large, people seemed to flow around her group, giving them a small pocket to move in freely. Strange. Is Amber's shield that unsettling?
Chess shrugged and lost herself in the joys of watching the locals, scaring off the looky-loos, and studying the local architecture until Amber’s discussion with Gia drew her attention. She did note a few stores to investigate later, including a Pyth broker.
"So, part of the money will go to the families of their victims?" Amber asked.
Gia nodded. "They do these auctions as a form of spectacle and it generally averages more money for the families than their Pyths or Cores would. There's usually a lot of speculation about anima before the auction since it can be collected by destroying the golem. Some people like to destroy them immediately as part of the show if they think it's worth it. To be fair it takes a real piece of work to not be enslaved for even murder. It has to be particularly heinous or political before Stoneblood gets them. Infamous Pirates and bandits are common, as are attractive female criminals."
"I can see why female golems would sell and why some people would collect particular criminals," Chess said.
Both her companions nodded.
They hadn't gone more than a block before she found a garish lime-green four-story building with a yellow roof and window trims. She winced internally at the color scheme. A large black stone lintel over the massive ironwood doors declared it the delver's guild in bold blue letters.
The heavy door swung out with a surprisingly light pull when Chess tried it.
She stepped to the side immediately to avoid colliding with two men who were bustling out with heavy packs strapped to their backs.
The second man caught sight of her and almost face-planted when he tripped over his own feet. Only a steadying hand from his friend kept him upright.
When the helpful friend caught sight of Amber then her, he did a double-take, then swallowed hard. "Apologies, milady."
Chess smiled at the display of clumsiness. "No worries." She waved them off.
The tripper's light-green skin and sharp features reminded her of Izla Caldur.
"Did you see…" he asked his older weathered human companion.
His friend kicked him in the butt with the side of his foot, making the youth yelp. "Did you see their armor? Didn't your mother ever teach you to stay away from the business of elves?"
"But I'm an elf," the youth protested and rubbed his posterior.
"Barely, yet still the source of many a headache. Now, come on before you get me entangled with a real elf."
Chess chuckled as their voices merged with the hubbub outside.
She turned back to survey the interior of the delver's guild. Which looked a lot like the DMV crossed with an abattoir and a bar. The smells of freshly butchered animals, alcohol, and what Chess would swear was bacon mingled to produce an unsettling aroma.
An old yet sturdy-looking man with white cat's ears but otherwise human features sat balanced on the back two legs of a rickety-looking stool with his feet up on the top edge of a heavy blue shield at the end of the short entrance hall. A short heavy sword rested in his lap with a box full of cards. "Number?" he offered, holding out one of the cards as they approached. Neat balancing act, Chess thought, giving him a wide grin as they passed, where she noticed his matching white and black tail.
"Thanks." Amber nodded and took it before ushering Chess toward the bar.
"A stout drink will help settle the smells while we wait," Amber explained as she flagged down a bartender.
Chess nodded emphatically. She could really use a stout drink.