by Joel Babbitt
“There are many reasons,” Kale said as passed through what appeared to be a guard station. “The area is exceptionally fertile, full of giant mushrooms larger than the ones in the upper reaches of the underdark, sightless fish the size of a kobold or even larger swim there, but mostly it is for the mineral riches to be found at such depths. For me, however, it was to find an expedition that was lost.”
Following old Kale and his grandson Kale through the well carved passageways and smaller ante-chambers, Trallik and Trikki soon found themselves in a massive stone amphitheater. Stopping in stunned amazement, the two young kobolds looked around themselves. The entrance they had come through was set high above the sand-covered floor of the massive hall. A wide stone road formed a ring around the upper edge of the oval-shaped amphitheater, and row after row of stone benches were carved out in progressively smaller circles until they stopped abruptly just before the sand of the amphitheater’s center. The entire place could seat literally thousands of kobolds, Trallik estimated, and wondered why they would have made it so large.
“This is where our people used to meet, before the Deep Gen came to be, back when my father led the Kale Gen’s Stonemason Warrior Group down here,” the old Kale spoke, almost reverently. “At that time the lore master fused his mighty spells with the skills of our warriors to create this place, being an accomplished weaver of the magic of The Sorcerer’s Covenant that he was.” Shaking his head, the old Kale continued wistfully, “I believe he always wanted to see the two gens reunited, but it was not to be.”
“And when the Deep Gen formed after refusing my grandfather’s right to rule them, the loremaster stayed loyal to my grandfather, leaving all the creations he had helped form in his hands,” Kale explained. “There’s more than this, my friends, though this is certainly the largest of the old loremaster’s creations.”
“Aye,” the old Kale’s face seemed to gain strength and a look of nobility at the mention of his legacy, “I miss the old fellow, I do, and how I wish that young usurper had never turned my gen against me!”
The younger Kale did not elaborate on his grandfather’s statement.
In almost reverent awe Trallik and Trikki followed Kale and his grandfather a quarter of the way around the amphitheater to another passageway, one with stairs spilling down from it to a large box at the edge of the amphitheater. This must be where the lord of the gen was meant to enter and descend to his place, Trallik thought.
Plunging into the ornately carved entranceway, the group could feel a change in the air, the comforting warmth that spilled from the entrance was a welcome change after their travels in the cooler caverns of the upper underdark. From what had to be the far end of the passageway a gentle, warm light pierced the darkness in front of them.
As the group came to what was obviously a council chamber, Trikki stripped off the deer fur, Trallik helping her fold it up before he stuffed it under one arm. A mighty throne of deep green marble commanded the far end of the chamber, two tables of the same stone extending out from either side of its cut-granite dais like the arms of a giant, encompassing the entire far half of the chamber. The golden veins that ran through the green stone glittered in the light of the three ever-burning globes that were set in the ceiling. Trallik guessed that these, as well as the stone that Kale had used to light their way, must have been fashioned by the same magic that had helped build the amphitheater and much of the stonework they had seen in the home of the Kales.
“And here, my friends, at one time my great-grandfather once sat in judgment and ruled the kobolds who now call themselves the Deep Gen,” Kale explained as they all stood taking the sight in. Turning back to the young pair, he continued. “But for now, it is but a useless heirloom, though my sons do love to play on the tables,” he said, the nobility of his features creasing in a gentle smile.
As if on cue, the air was split by the laughing and shrieking of several whelps, the noise of it all dutifully magnified and carried by the dome of rock carved out above the council chamber for that very purpose. A pair of older kobold whelps came running out of a side passage, followed in short order by a whole host of much younger whelps, the mix of them all laughing, crying, shouting, or just panting. In a flash, the pair of older whelps were up on the marble table, running down the length of it toward the throne. Some of the younger whelps tried to get up on the table, the smarter ones simply running along side it, trying to catch up to the two older whelps.
“Trallik and Trikki, may I introduce my children… and some of their cousins for that matter,” Kale said as he loosened the packsaddle from the goat, letting it drop to the ground so the goat could join in the fun.
“And my great-grandchildren!” the old Kale’s wispy voice interjected. After a moment he continued, “Well, many of them anyway.”
Chapter 4 – Among the Kale Family
Trallik had been in too much awe to notice Trikki’s discomfort. The entire time that they had followed Kale here to his home the tension inside her had been building and building. Now, as she sat on the fur of some large animal surrounded by the entire family that called itself by the name of the old Kale, Trallik couldn’t help but notice, and he was now beginning to suspect what the problem was.
The food had been magnificent. The choir of little whelps that Kale’s lifemate Kamia had organized were amazingly cute and surprisingly well-rehearsed, their high pitched voices striking a resonant harmony with each other in the domed chamber. The one in front who hadn’t been able to stop picking his nose reminded Trallik entirely too much of one of his younger brothers, though he hadn’t thought of them since the morning of the Trials of Caste.
Through it all, however, Trikki had kept eyeing a pair of males that had to be only a couple of years older than them. When she and Trallik had first come in, these two had shown cruel smiles of recognition. Throughout the dinner and the entertainment, they had pointed at Trikki from time to time, laughing at what could only be jokes or stories that they were telling each other. Trallik had been able to brush it off at first, for the sake of their host, the spearman Kale, who didn’t seem to notice. Now, however, as the meal had drawn to a close and Kale had spoken words of closing, one of the matrons of the Kale Family stood waiting patiently for the young couple to come to their feet and follow her, motioning to the entrance just behind the pair of jackals.
With deliberate motions, Trallik lifted Trikki to her feet, the bounce in her step having lessened and a heaviness having clearly settled into her heart. Though others might have mistaken it for fatigue from their journey, Trallik saw the link between whatever the two males were laughing about between themselves and the pain evident in her eyes.
Thanking their host sincerely, Trallik’s eyes hardened again as he approached the jackals. He didn’t know why they were tormenting his beloved, but he wouldn’t stand for it. Stopping next to the two, he let go of Trikki’s arm and put a hand on the hilt of each of his long knives.
One of them, seeing the look in Trallik’s eyes, backed up quickly, bumping into his snickering companion. “Hey now, we don’t want any trouble!”
“Why are you two tormenting my lifemate?” Trallik asked, the look in his eyes only made more fearsome by his still battered features.
“Hey, if you want to join yourself to a Temptation from Sultry’s Family, you go right ahead!” the other said, his hands held up showing he didn’t want a fight.
“Speak plainly,” Trallik spat, his face a mask of contained anger. “What is this you speak?!” The chamber had gone silent as everyone turned at the sharp exchange.
Trikki grabbed Trallik by the arm. “Trallik, please! Not here! Let’s go!” she pleaded in a low, urgent voice.
Looking at Trikki in confusion, Trallik could see the pain and desperation in her eyes.
“Please,” she stroked his arm, “let’s not talk of this here.”
Confused, Trallik allowed himself to be led away as Kale came up behind them. The two young males scurried away as he approached. With a tho
ughtful look on his face, Kale stood looking as the two pairs of kobolds disappeared down separate passageways, the young mated pair to a private guest chamber and the two young sons of his grandfather’s leader of scouts toward their assigned quarters.
It was clear to him that someone had to find out what these young scouts knew of Sultry’s Temptations. Running a family of honor took discipline and standards, and these two may have put the family’s reputation at risk.
Equally disturbing, however, was the revelation that Trikki had left the Shallat Family and had become one of Sultry’s Temptations. Had he known, he would have dropped the young couple off with someone else’s family. He certainly didn’t need the troubles that one with that type of a history could bring. He would have the matrons keep a close eye on them all.
Kale shook his head. No, she didn’t seem to be on that path anymore. Perhaps it was best that he had brought her here. Perhaps in time she would open up so the poison she must have drawn into herself might be drawn out and cast aside. In time… if the weight of her deeds wasn’t too great already, that is.
“Please, forgive me!” Trikki pled weakly over and over again with the young warrior as he stood with folded arms and a hardened, blank look on his face. His back was to her now, the impact of the revelation having stripped away much of his ability to feel anything.
A wave of emotions had ripped through his young heart. First was shock… shock at who she was, shock at how he’d been so blind, shock at the fact that he’d joined himself to… that! Then, after several moments, his shock had turned to anger. They had fought for a while, him accusing her of using him, of loving him as little as she must have loved others in the past, of only joining herself to him to escape slavery at the hands of the orcs, and many other such statements that tore through her heart until Trallik had turned away; there was nothing left to tear. By the end of his tirade, she had collapsed in helpless tears.
Now, as she lay on the rug in the center of the ornately carved room, Trallik began to feel the first hints of despair coming into his heart. The thoughts that ran now through his head were dark and depressing, the pain he was feeling as intense as his love for her had been… or perhaps still was.
After quite some time the storm of his anger and the flood of its resultant depression began to wash away, leaving him completely devoid of any emotion. He was numb. Trikki, unable to cry anymore, and unable to stand his smoldering silence as well, had finally curled up in a ball on the floor and fallen into a fitful sleep, rocking ever so slightly even in her sleep.
Though he felt no emotion, his instincts did eventually kick in. Walking over to her, he could feel that the colorless fur of the great blanket that served as their bed was wet with her tears. Unrolling the deer fur, he threw it gently over her sleeping form. Whatever dark dreams possessed her mind, she didn’t seem to notice the fur; the slight rocking continued unabated.
Taking his belts and kit in hand, Trallik numbly did up the buckles and straightened the pouches and two fine fighting knives that had been his loyal companions through so much trouble. Looking numbly one last time upon the sleeping form of the kobold he thought he loved, Trallik turned and walked out the doorway.
“Greetings, young Trallik,” the voice came from the benches to the side of the entrance.
Trallik turned in surprise, his startled nerves had a long knife out before he realized who was there.
“You’ve no need of that,” Kale said gently, holding out a hand in a downward gesture.
Shaking his head, Trallik sheathed the long knife. “Sorry about that. Warrior’s instinct,” Trallik explained clumsily.
Kale only smiled. “I understand, my friend. It’s a reaction you should keep. There are many dangers in the underdark that a kobold must guard against. Come,” he gestured at the bench next to himself. “I see you’re troubled. Tell me what ails you.”
Trallik closed his eyes. He really didn’t want this right now. He just wanted to go.
“Come, my friend. At least sit for a while. If you’re determined to leave, perhaps I can at least tell you how to find your way back to the surface, though I think there’s a young female that will miss you terribly.”
Trallik looked up at the older warrior with annoyance, but he came and sat next to him anyway, knowing that if he didn’t get directions that he’d likely never find his way out of the underdark. If that meant he had to suffer through some pep-talk, then so be it. He only hoped it would be short so he could get on his way.
After a few moments of silence, Kale spoke. “My young friend,” he started. “I would like to say that I know how you feel, but that would be disingenuous of me. My lifemate is the daughter of a Deep Gen leader caste. How I convinced him to give me, an outcast, his eldest daughter is another story. Nonetheless, she was and always has been faithful to me. Her heart has been mine and my heart is hers. We have bound our hearts together through these years, and through our devotion to each other. She is a prize that is perhaps more than I deserve.”
The talk so far had done little more than depress Trallik again. He could see no qualities in Trikki, nor future like what Kale described, with her… especially after tonight’s all-out fight. His heart was torn in half it seemed, for in many ways he still loved her and longed for her, yet every longing was rebuffed by what he felt was her betrayal at not having shared with him who she was.
A thought had been slowly distilling upon his mind while Kale was talking, that perhaps she wasn’t that anymore, that perhaps she’d left that life behind. Even as the thought occurred to him, he cast it aside. But the thought wouldn’t be cast aside that easily and seemed to stick in his mind, just out of his foremost thoughts, waiting in the wings where mercy might find it when the time came.
“I couldn’t help but overhear what those young scouts said about your lifemate,” Kale ventured. His acknowledgement was a further blow for Trallik. “And I see by your pain that they did not speak falsely.”
The emotion had begun to flood back into Trallik’s numbed heart. Tears started to flow yet again as the two of them sat staring out into the darkness of the amphitheater.
“How could I not have seen who she was?” Trallik sobbed in utter misery.
“I’m sorry for your pain,” Kale said after a few moments. He waited for the sobbing to begin to subside. “I know it hurts a lot when we feel that someone we love has betrayed our trust.”
Trallik nodded his head, the flow of tears beginning to stem.
“Especially when we love them with all our hearts,” Kale said gently.
Trallik hesitated, then nodded slightly. In a moment, he began to cry again. “I loved her so much. How could she have used me like that?” he exclaimed into the air, the sound carrying across the amphitheater where it echoed, bringing the question right back to him.
Trallik shook his head. Several moments of silence passed.
Finally, Kale broke in. “Have you thought that she might have left that life off? Perhaps finding you was the last step to leaving that life behind. Perhaps she was waiting for the right time to tell you of her past.”
Trallik shook his head. “No. She didn’t want to come back into the underdark. Now I see why. If we’d not come down here, she could have kept it hidden forever.”
Kale smiled gently. His speech was calm and timed to give Trallik time to feel the impact of his own words each time he spoke before Kale responded. “If she had meant to deceive you, I doubt she would have followed us here,” he said. “I think she probably just didn’t know how to tell you, and was searching for the right way and time to broach the subject.”
Trallik’s face was marked by pain and numbness. Did he want to believe Kale? Somewhere deep inside him he knew he did. From somewhere in his heart he ached to believe that she hadn’t meant to deceive him, and that she had left that life behind. Somehow, his pain and numbness both began to recede.
“I couldn’t help but hear your argument through the wall between us,” Kale confessed
.
Trallik looked at him like he’d just slapped him. Were there no secrets?
“You must admit you were both very loud,” Kale responded to the thoughts written on Trallik’s face. “Did she not say that she left that life off, that she’d been caught by the orcs as she had been trying to leave the Sultry Family?” Kale pressed. “Haven’t we all made mistakes, my friend? That doesn’t mean we must all be condemned for our faults.”
The memory of Trallik’s own faults of character began to come back to him. He himself hadn’t led the most noble of lives. For that matter, he’d been a conspirator against the old lord of his gen, which certainly wasn’t a very noble thing. Even worse, he’d promised to kill Lord Karthan’s daughter as part of that conspiracy. Surely killing a helpless female in cold blood wasn’t a noble act either, but did it compare to what Trikki must surely have done?
Even as the words ran through his mind, Trallik’s heart told him clearly what the answer was. He had been a fool to condemn Trikki out of hand, when his record was no better than hers. He remembered well finding Lord Karthan’s two young sons in the lair of the ant queen, with an almost expended Khazak Mail Fist still guarding them. Though he’d not been able to follow through with the murder of Lord Karthan’s whelps, in his heart he knew he might have if the ant queen hadn’t grabbed him first.
Trallik looked away in anguish. “What have I done?” he moaned. His tail began to move furtively behind him.
Kale waited patiently for his own heart to show him the path.
“I’ve ruined our love,” Trallik said miserably, feeling now the pain he had caused her.
Kale placed an arm over his shoulders. “No, you haven’t,” he spoke gently in his ear. “There’s still a chance to save it. Go to her, Trallik. Be the kobold you know you should be.”
Trallik breathed in deeply, beginning to feel the first bits of strength returning. “Will she take me back, after all I said?” he asked, half to himself, and half to Kale.
