by Bryant Reil
The heavy thud of hooves charged from behind, and Kyla whipped around to see Heff charging at them. “He got my axe!”
The Grootslang, now at the edge of Kyla’s light, seemed to have decided the axe was not very tasty and dropped it to pursue its meatier prey.
“Oh, crab-apples,” Kyla muttered. She grabbed a hand-hold on the side of the chasm that led up to the mouth of the cavern, but on seeing Hajar frightened and confused beckoned her over. “Grab here. And here. I’ll give you a boost to that foothold.”
“No time!” Heff grabbed Hajar under one arm and leaped at the stone wall, gripping a handhold several feet off the ground. He grunted and pulled himself up with his free hand until his hooves could find purchase against the stone.
Kyla admired his athleticism until she heard the Grootslang bellow, and then scrambled up the cliff’s face. The Grootslang’s trunk gripped one of her pant legs and pulled. She lost her grip on the rock and was nearly pulled into the creature’s waiting maw, but a large hand grabbed her by the wrist. There was a brief tug-of-war, which Kyla enjoyed very little, as the Grootslang dragged her down by the pants and Heff yanked her up by the arm. A sudden tearing noise preceded Heff flinging her onto the ledge above and Kyla rolling onto the cavern floor.
She felt a cold draft and looked down to see her own bare legs. “Oh, crab-apples. I lose my pants every time I come into these stupid caves.”
Chapter Eight
Usurping the Stone
Kyla had lost her bag in the climb, and Heff had dropped the offering of clothing for the Digans. Recovering it was an unpleasant option as the Grootslang was still at the bottom of the chasm. It was too far to see, even with her light orb, but she could hear the creature slithering about and groping at the wall with its trunk.
Heff looked out of the mouth of the cave and snorted. “Back outside.”
“Yeah,” Kyla nodded. “We want to go that way, though.” She pointed across the chasm. “That’s where the Digans live. Dunkin’s pig knocked him down there when he attacked me. And then Linkin helped me get a log so I could cross. We can grab another one.”
Kyla led Heff and Hajar outside, where her nose had never been so happy to catch a whiff of fresh air. “I’m not sure how we’re gonna knock down a tree without your axe. We’ll have to find one that’s already fallen over.”
“I’ll handle it.” Heff marched to the tree line, and Kyla dragged her aching body onto a flat rock. The cool stone felt refreshing against her skin.
Hajar began to follow Heff, but then turned back toward Kyla. “I can sit with you, if you like.”
“He needs your help more than I do.”
“How am I supposed to help?”
“Sing to him. Make him a snack. I don’t care.” There were no more snacks to be had, of course. The Grootslang had earned itself a small treat, if it thought to look in the supply bag.
Hajar looked hurt, though she had no right to be. She had shown no remorse for what she’d done to Kyla, and Kyla felt her benevolence stretched to its limit allowing her along. After an awkward moment of Hajar trying to make eye contact, and Kyla avoiding it, Hajar trotted off to join Heff in the trees.
Kyla drew her knees to her chest and wrapped her arms tightly around them to preserve heat. The sun was setting, and she tried to focus on that. It was peaceful, and simple, and beautiful. But laughter intruded on her serenity. Hajar was making Heff laugh? Kyla longed to know what was being said. But no. For now, she was hurt, and angry, and upset, and didn’t want Heff’s laughter or Hajar’s magical song to ruin it.
Heff and Hajar eventually headed back to the cave, and she could hear them talking about Heff’s family. Kyla let them talk as Heff placed the log across the chasm.
“I made some chalk markings on the walls last time I was here,” she said. “I’ll go on ahead and find the trail. You two can hang back.”
“You have the light,” Heff reminded her.
Kyla sighed. “Right. Well, stay close then.”
She found the first mark. It was as clear as when she first made it, which gave her hope in finding the Digans. She paused to give Heff and Hajar a moment to catch up, though she resumed walking before they got too close.
The series of chalk markings continued, and Kyla became more relaxed and confident. The long, winding corridors became more carved and ornate. Faded colors marked ancient drawings on the walls, and pillars and windows marked lined eroded hallways and rooms. Soon she found the little room where she had slept when she got lost on her last visit.
“My yo-yo!” she called back. The human toy she had bought for a hundred dollars in Whitehall lay in a corner. She put her finger through the loop, wound the string, and snapped her wrist to send it toward the floor. It spun on the end of its cord and climbed back up.
“I think we need to go through that door over there,” she pointed as Heff approached. “I stopped making marks here because Lug found me and took over navigation. And he kept getting lost.” She ignored Heff’s snort and scowl as she looked around the cavern. “I know for sure it wasn’t that one.”
Hajar’s eyes moved up and down with the yo-yo. “What is that? It bears no magic.”
“It’s my yo-yo. Left it here on my last visit.”
“Can I try?”
“No. Come on. We have to move.”
After several minutes of walking into dead-ends and turning around, a low rumble nearly shook Kyla from her feet. She managed to stay standing, though Hajar nearly fell and clutched Heff’s arm for support. The great minotaur looked around, his hands balled into fists. One of the walls sank into the floor, and behind it stood four stone elementals. The largest, who stood slightly taller than Heff, strode forward.
“Rhkkmr rhmr.”
Heff lowered his hands. “He wishes us to follow. I suppose we’ve found a better guide.”
***
Bremnos sat back and plopped his feet onto the foot-rest in front of the fire. He pulled out a bag of his oldest silage and plopped a pinch in his cheek. He had been saving this for a special occasion, but right now his nerves needed the support. He didn’t mind killing soldiers, but the slaughter of inexperienced teenagers haunted him. There must have been a diplomatic way to deal with them. Oberon hadn’t put in much effort toward peace.
There was a zap, and Bremnos stood and bowed as Oberon, in his diminutive fairy size, appeared next to his chair.
“I apologize for the intrusion, Bremnos. I need you to prepare to join me at the portal at sunrise. There is a rumble of insurrection in Kaussgale.”
The orcs and trolls of Kaussgale were notoriously unhinged. They were strong and violent, but few. Another massacre.
Bremnos bowed his head. “Pardon, Your Majesty, but you would be willing to listen to my counsel, would you not?”
Blue arcs sparked from Oberon’s body. “You are unhappy with how I managed the Erebus affair, and the battle at Dassidin. You wonder why I allowed the massacre, and then left a pile of weapons at their doorstep.”
“Yes. And I fear you will do it again.”
Oberon stood silent. Bremnos couldn’t read his face. His expressionless features might as well be carved in stone. Finally, the King spoke.
“There are many things you do not know. I will tell you, if you can trust me for a short time longer.”
Bremnos swallowed his silage and replaced it with a new fingerful. “How many more people will die before I find out?”
“I need your support and confidence more than your questions. It is vital that you trust me if I am to take you any further. You may meet me at sunrise at the portal, or you may consider yourself relieved of your position as a functionary in the Royal Army, and you and your belongings returned to Kulgoth.”
Oberon was giving him an out. Not the approach of a madman or despot.
Bremnos nodded. “Yes, Your Majesty. I shall sharpen my axe and see you in the morning.”
Oberon disappeared with a zap, and as he did, Bremnos thought he saw
the King’s stoic face break into sad relief.
***
The cavern was lit by phosphorescent dust that powdered the walls and ceilings and drifted throughout the inner chambers. Kyla, Hajar, and Heff were led to a large stone slab, which Kyla recognized as the door that led into the Digan chief’s court. She waited as the elementals pushed them open, causing a stony grinding sound to echo through the chamber. After a brief announcement in low rumbling tones, one of the elementals bade her enter.
The Digan chief was reclining on his great bed of cloth - or ‘soft’ as the Digans called it - and didn’t bother to rise as they were introduced. Kyla looked about for the strange-looking Digan that had demanded her skin on her previous visit. Creepy or no, he was the most likely to know what happened to Lug.
“Mrkhrmrmhr rkhm mrhkr,” the chief rumbled.
“He wants to know why you come without gifts,” Heff translated. “Your shirt alone is not sufficient for his aid.” Heff’s eyebrows seemed to indicate he found the comment odd, though Kyla had already explained to him the value of cloth here.
“Tell him there’s a sack of cloth in the Grootslang cave he can have.” Kyla spotted the odd-looking Digan behind a rock in a far corner. “That little guy over there attacked me and Lug last time I was here. I haven’t seen Lug since. I want him to tell me where Lug is.”
Kyla had never heard Heff speak the language of the earth elementals. At the center of the earth he always spoke to his co-workers in his own tongue. When he started speaking in throaty rumbles, attempting to copy the sound of sliding rocks produced by the Digans, she nearly laughed. Even with no knowledge of the language she could tell his accent was terrible. Yet the Digan chief must have understood, for when Heff was finished the stone giant rose to his feet and took a step forward. Judging by his posture, and his booming response, he was not pleased.
“He claims Lug attacked the other fellow first and is now a prisoner for daring to set himself upon one of his family.”
“Well, I don’t remember who attacked who first, but that guy was trying to take my skin off! Lug was saving me!”
Kyla waited for Heff to translate, but he did not. “He will not see reason,” Heff said. “The Digans are not known for their wisdom or kindness.”
She put her hand on her hips. “Well, you just tell him if he doesn’t tell me where Lug is he’s going to have to deal with me! Oh, and be ready to keep these smaller ones away.”
“I don’t think I can stop them all.”
“Not with that attitude. Tell him!”
Heff translated, and the Digan chief stood tall. Kyla expected he might at least find her challenge amusing, but he roared angrily.
“He says it will be a slow death for all of us.”
“Goodness!” Hajar gasped. “I think we may need to reconsider your plan.”
“Way ahead of you.” Kyla noticed most of the other Digans were watching intently but didn’t seem poised to attack. Neither did they seem amused. In fact, as the chief roared, they cowered. They were afraid of him. And he hogged all the cloth. How loyal could they be?
“I still think it’ll work,” Kyla whispered over her shoulder.
Kyla shouted her best battle-cry as she charged the Digan chief and slapped his ankle with her ring hand. Stones tumbled to the cavern floor, and Kyla would have been crushed had Heff not been quick to intervene and push her out of the way. Yet as soon as she let go, the stones rumbled and rolled back together, so Kyla scrambled back to one of the larger foot-stones and placed her hand on it. The cascade of stones began again, but this time she huddled under a low overhang near the floor, careful to keep her hand on the boulder.
She had been correct that the Digans were not fans of their leader. As she climbed atop the boulder that had once been part of the chief’s foot, the others let out a great noise. It sounded more of a cheer than a battle-cry. Only the small one, the strange-looking one that had fought Lug, seemed upset, and he ran out an opening in the wall by the chief’s throne.
“The one who fought Lug! He just bolted!” Kyla shouted at Heff, who, after a moment of confusion, took off in pursuit. Kyla, making one more look to make sure none of the Digans were going to assault her, climbed onto the boulder on which she held her hand. Hajar, shaking, ran over and sat on an adjacent boulder near Kyla’s feet. They both watched as the Digans inched toward them.
“Do you know any magic to stop them?” Kyla asked Hajar. “In case they get smashy.”
“No. I told you, I don’t know magic. I can only see it.”
“Maybe a song? It hurts the wicked, right?”
“Yes, only it won’t stop them. It will hurt them and make them angry, as it did Mokosh.”
“Oh. Never mind.”
Kyla kept her ring hand ready to strike out should one of the elementals charge her. One broke away from the rest and walked forward, its hands held high, but just before it came into Kyla’s striking range, it knelt on the cavern floor.
Heff held up the little Digan, the odd-looking fellow that had fought Lug, by the neck in one massive hand. “What should I do with him?”
Kyla frowned. “I’ll decide after he tells me where Lug is.”
Heff growled something. The little Digan’s eyes darted about the room at the others, who now sat in a semi-circle around Kyla. When it became apparent no one was coming to his aid, he fell limp. “Mrkrhmr rkhm,” he rumbled.
“He says he will bring Lug if I let him go.”
“No deal. He can tell you where to go, and you carry him. Once Lug is back here safely he can go.”
Heff translated, and the little Digan gave an indignant reply. One of the larger Digans stood and stepped forward. At first the little Digan looked hopeful, and pointed at Kyla, and seemed to expect some support, but instead the larger Digan roared with such force that the room quaked and phosphorescent dust rained from the ceiling. When it was over, the little Digan looked down at the ground and muttered.
Heff snorted. “He swears allegiance to you, the new Chief. He shall do as you command. I shall find Lug.”
“The new what?”
“You defeated their chief. They say this entitles you to his position.”
Kyla nodded. “Huh.” This was a job for which she was not qualified. Her only formal job training, so far, consisted of handing out flyers on campus and delivering messages. Yet she didn’t want to turn down the position, as there seemed to be some advantage to being the Chief of the Digans, given her current difficulties.
“Um...ok. Great. Find Lug and bring him back here. Then we’ll sort out if they can help with the Grootslang.”
Heff barked a command and the little Digan pointed at the entryway. and Heff stuffed him under his arm like a sack of potatoes and stomped out the door.
“Can I help?” sang a cloying voice.
Kyla sighed. She had been doing her best to ignore Hajar. “See if they have a portal. If they do, go to VS1109-B and ask for Denzig. He’s a dragon.”
“Okay! Only, I can’t ask for directions. I don’t speak their language.”
“Well, neither can I. Just look around.”
“But I’ll get lost.”
“Get some chalk and mark the walls as you go, then.”
“Oh, yes! And, um, where should I find some chalk?”
Kyla gritted her teeth. “I don’t know. Look, there’s glowing dust everywhere. Use that.”
“Of course! I’ll be back soon. Are you sure they have a portal?”
“No.”
“What if I can’t—"
“Do your best. Just hurry because I can’t sit here forever. Oh, and have Denzig bring me some pants.”
“Yes, of course. I’ll be back soon.”
Hajar ran from the room and Kyla exhaled deeply. She looked at the elementals. So she was their chief. Well, she couldn’t talk to them, and didn’t like the idea of sitting in this cavern forever. Yet she couldn’t even move from her perch until she sorted out a way to keep the old chief from
re-forming. He would most certainly squash her now, if given the chance.
Kyla drummed her fingers on the stone that had, until moments ago, been part of the Digan chief. Hajar was a long time returning. The Digans were patient, watching her closely. She waved at them to sit in the chief’s mountain of cloth, but they misunderstood and started piling it at her feet.
There was a blast of flame from outside the door. Kyla took her hand off the stone to wave at Denzig as he entered, but as she did the stone began to rumble and she slapped her hand back in place.
“Can’t move or he’ll come back together,” Kyla said wearily.
Hajar skipped past Denzig, currently in his smaller form. He sat on his haunches with his front claws curled at his sides. His eyes dropped to Kyla’s legs and snickered as he tossed her a pair of pants.
Denzig cast his eyes at the Digans, who were sitting in a half-circle around Kyla. “What’s their deal?”
“I guess I’m the new Chief.”
“Oh! So…uh, are you going to be moving down here? It’s a bit far.”
Kyla paused. “What? No! Somebody else’ll have to take care of the place. Anyway, once Lug gets back, Heff and I have to go—"
Kyla cut herself short as Heff, followed by the creepy little Digan, carried a limp Lug into the room. Kyla leaped from her seat, and all the boulders in the room started to shake and roll together until Kyla caught herself and put her hand back on the boulder.
“Bring him over here!” she cried, worried he might be dead. The creepy little Digan ran into a corner and curled up behind a larger one, as though to hide, though now Kyla had no mind for reprimands or revenge. Lug was laid gently at her feet, and she feared him dead until he groaned and sat up.
“You come for me.”
“Yes!” Kyla cried. “You’re alive! Of course I came for you. I’m sorry it took so long.”
“You have to save world. I know. Heff, you come too! And you are friends with dragon.”
“What happened to you?”
“Merker drag me into cave and seal wall. I too sick to dig. Stone here strange.”
