The Broken Knife

Kaz woke to the sound of a loud chime, echoing through the den. He sat up and stretched, feeling surprisingly well-rested. Li, who had moved to his side at some point during the night, nearly tumbled off, but managed to catch herself by tooth and claw before clambering up to his shoulder and hissing into his ear.

Raff groaned, then reached up to pull his sleeping pad around his ears, muttering, “To Pellis’ pits with Gaoda and his ‘baijiu’. Next time, I’m pouring it out, an’ it’ll probably eat a hole in the floor we can use t’ get to the next level.”

It was obvious the human wasn’t actually talking to him, so Kaz just stepped over his legs on the way out. When the door swung open, letting in more light, Raff cried out as if he’d been stabbed, and Kaz quickly slipped out and closed the door behind him.

The first person he saw was a female kobold with bright green fur. She was nearly as small as Pilla, but her fur was short and stuck up in strange swirls and tufts, instead of hanging long and sleek. She glanced at Kaz, then away, then back, and finally held out a folded bundle of brown cloth toward him.

This then, must be the person Pilla had assigned to make his new loincloth. Kaz accepted the cloth, and the little green kobold turned and nearly ran away from him without a word. He understood that it wasn’t really appropriate for a female to speak to a strange male, but she didn’t have the attitude he usually associated with females, instead seeming almost shy.

Kaz shrugged it off, turning to go back into the hut. He ignored Raff’s renewed complaints, and quickly stripped out of his old loincloth, dropping the stained and ragged fur to the ground before beginning to wrap the new cloth around his body.

As he did, several things fell out of the folds, clattering to the ground and making Raff flinch with each item. Tucking the ends of the new loincloth in, his fingers lingered on the delicate stitching around the edges that would keep the cloth from fraying. It was a much better job than he could have done, and he wasn’t even sure what thread had been used. Some kind of gut, probably, but it was much finer than anything he’d seen before.

Once he was sure the garment would stay in place, Kaz knelt, examining the objects now scattered by his feet. The first thing was a thick brown leather belt, wide enough to help protect his belly, and with an actual iron buckle. While metal was abundant in the mountain, the ability to produce a fire hot enough to melt it was rare outside the Deep, so most metal objects were beaten roughly into shape while they were cold. This made copper more useful than iron, since copper was much softer and less brittle. This buckle, however, was iron, and looked like it had been poured, rather than beaten. It was simple, but even so, it was more valuable than anything a pup should have been given.

Kaz pushed away an urge to take it to Pilla and tell her the green-furred female had given him the wrong belt. He was fairly certain it was on Pilla’s orders that it had been included with his loincloth, and he felt uncomfortable at the thought of talking to her about it.

As he unfolded the belt, a sheath appeared beneath it, along with a stone knife that must have fallen out of it. Unfortunately, the handle had cracked when it hit the floor, but the blade was still good, so Kaz slid the sheath onto the belt, put the knife into it, and tightened the belt around his waist.

The last thing was a limp bundle of surprisingly fine leather that turned out to be a warrior’s pack. Gatherer packs were designed to be versatile and easy to move around. They were also larger, which meant they could sometimes get in the way, but pups weren’t meant to have to fight, so it didn’t matter. Warrior’s packs, on the other hand, had several straps across the chest that not only kept the pack in place, but also provided some protection from attacks, and were quite a bit smaller.

Again, Kaz hesitated. While he thought his week lost in the tunnels should count, he knew no tribe would consider it a spirit hunt without a female’s agreement. Pilla would probably accept it, since that would bring him one step closer to being a viable option as a mate, but while she seemed like an intelligent and reasonable female, that wasn’t what he wanted. Still, clothing him as a warrior was probably Pilla’s way of making her tribe see him as an adult.

In the end, Kaz used the knife to cut away all but one of the chest straps, making it look more like a gatherer’s pack. He also put the sheath away in the pack and tucked the knife between his belt and his loincloth instead. Gatherers had small knives they used to cut the stalks of mushrooms and remove chunks of particularly tenacious lichen, but those were small and didn’t require sheaths. This one was full-size, but Kaz was confident that the fuulong silk would keep it from cutting him.

Once he was ready, Kaz went outside again. By this time, Raff was up too, having packed up in silence, wincing at the sound of claws clicking against rock each time someone walked by outside. The human followed Kaz out, sheltering his eyes with his hand, and looked around. There was no sign of Lianhua, but Gaoda was there, looking as ill as Raff, and Kaz began to worry that the humans might have caught some sickness.

Chi Yincang looked fine, and silently supported Gaoda as their small group made its way through the den. The humans had been there long enough to know the way to the dining cave, so Kaz followed them, though he could have found the way by smell alone. It turned out to be one of the other passages near the water cave, and Lianhua was already there, speaking quietly to Pilla as they ate.

Gaoda sent Raff and Chi Yincang to get food, and sat on a rock near Lianhua with an ingratiating smile. Lianhua smiled back, but when she spoke, her voice was a little louder than usual, making Gaoda flinch away and finally retreat when Chi Yincang brought his meal.

Kaz got a bowl of what looked like a meat and mushroom stew, then approached and took a seat near the two females. He pushed a little power into his ears to make it easier to pick out what they were saying from among the general babble, and enjoyed how easy it was to do. He didn’t even feel his channels strain or his power wobble, and even his middle dantian seemed to be spinning more easily today.

At first, the conversation between the females focused on things like how they were feeling and the food, but as the other kobolds finished eating and began to head to work, it shifted, making Kaz’s wandering attention return to them.

“I’ve had my tribe prepare as much food as we can spare. I don’t know how far the fulan extends now, but it was already difficult to get past it all in one day even before we left,” Pilla said.

Kaz’s mind raced. He’d caught a whiff of fulan near the stairs, but he’d assumed that the Copperstrikers and the tribes below had it under control. If it had spread that far, however, the only thing left was quarantine, which was probably why the Copperstrikers fled. He was sure the Stoneborn had mentioned a powerful tribe rising from the Deep, however, so how did that play into things?

“You really think it’ll be that bad?” Lianhua asked, sounding worried.

Pilla nodded. “Absolutely. I can’t prove it, but I believe the Bronzearms intentionally spread the fulan to drive everyone else out. It showed up in too many places at once, and by the time we found some of them, it was too late. When I tried to send a female to speak to the Bronzearms, they threatened to kill her if she got close, claiming that she would infect their territory as well. The tribes in the mid-levels are more insular than the ones in the heights, but we still work together when it comes to things like fulan and muju.”

“Muju are the monsters you told me about, right? The big, squishy ones that can take a lot of damage and kill by smothering their prey?”

“Yes. They’re easy enough to run away from, as long as they don’t trap you in a dead-end tunnel.” Pilla paused. “Speaking of traps, you’ll need to watch out for those as well. Most of them aren’t meant to be deadly, since they’re supposed to trap food or warn the den something is approaching, but some tribes, especially ones near the mosui, have traps that can kill anything foolish enough to set them off.”

Lianhua sighed. “And the mosui are the mole-men? Raff mentioned them as well.”

Pilla’s claws tapped against the rock she was sitting on. “I don’t know about moles, but mosui are mostly blind, with no fur, and wide, flat paws they use for tunneling. They’re more intelligent than beasts, and some of them can speak our language, though most don’t. They’re also incredibly territorial. They’ll kill anything that encroaches on their space without permission, and they almost never give permission.”

“But they control a good part of several levels?”

“Yes. Nine, to be exact. When we and the Stoneborn were driven out, we controlled the majority of the staircases above the mosui levels. They don’t eat plants, so the fulan won’t affect them until their prey starts to starve. They tend to stay in their own territory, and don’t usually seem interested in expansion, but I don’t know what they’ll do when they see our dens and passages are abandoned.”

Kaz turned his head slightly, trying to watch them more closely without being obvious about it. He fished a few more chunks of meat out of his stew and fed them to Li as Pilla went on.

“The first few levels should be fairly easy, so long as you don’t run out of food. After that, you’ll either find the Stoneborn’s empty dens, the Bronzearms, or perhaps another tribe that’s managed to hang onto their territory, at least for now. Below that is my tribe’s old territory. We controlled three sets of stairs on two levels when we left. We used to have more, but the Bronzearms took three through luegat over the last year, and they were threatening vara when we started to refuse their challenges. After that you’ll find the Nine, the levels where the mosui live. Last I heard, the Bronzearms controlled all of the stairs on those levels, which is the first time they’ve all been ruled by a single tribe.”

There was a long silence as both ate a little more of their food, then Lianhua said, “I’m sorry about your mother.”

Pilla’s ears flattened, but she said, “It’s a chief’s duty to be the last to leave. She just… never left. I hope you’ll be able to find out what happened to her, and let me know when you come back.”

Lianhua’s hand moved, as if she wanted to reach out and touch the young chief, but she restrained herself. “I’ll do my best. You told me what to look for, and-”

Kaz’s attention was drawn away from this fascinating snippet when Gaoda came over, placing himself between the two females. He held two cups, and looked much more alert as he held one of them out to Lianhua, completely ignoring Pilla.

“Cousin, it’s time to go. We’re all packed, and Chi Yincang and Raff have finished putting the food away.” Reluctantly, he turned to Pilla and nodded his head.

“Thank you for giving us so much food. Raff didn’t tell us we might have to go for several days without being able to find anything locally, so we only packed enough for a day or so.”

Lianhua took a sip from the cup, then said wryly, “And tea. We have enough tea for a year.”

Gaoda huffed. “The ‘coffee’ they drink in this country is disgusting. We needed something actually palatable.”

The human female shrugged and stood, taking one more long drink from her cup before handing it to Chi Yincang, who appeared from nowhere, as usual. “I enjoy the tea, I just think the space it occupies could have been used for something more important.”

“Like books?” Gaoda asked archly. “I swear, cousin, you wanted to bring every scroll that so much as mentioned the Diushi and Shensheng mountain, even though you’ve already read them a dozen times each.”

“And would have read them a dozen more, if we’d brought them,” Lianhua told him, then turned to Pilla.

“Thank you for your hospitality, Pilla. I hope our gifts were to your liking.”

Pilla stood too, and Kaz saw that she also had a new loincloth. Hers was made of a turquoise cloth with some kind of animal embroidered around the edge, and went beautifully with her copper fur. A new knife hung at her belt, and the length and style was more like the sword Raff wielded than anything made by kobolds.

She bowed her head, just a little. “They’re wonderful, and will be used by my descendents for generations. Thank you again.”

Pilla glanced to the side, and two male kobolds stepped forward, bowing deeply to their chief.

“Baji and Mik will guide you back to the stairs. I’m sorry I can’t go as well, but we’re still working out a few things after the… events of yesterday.”

Again, Lianhua twitched like she wanted to reach for the little chief, but she didn’t, just bowing her head a little lower than she should have to a female who wasn’t her chief. Kaz would have to talk to her about that later. It wasn’t wise to expose your neck that much to anyone not in your tribe.

“I’m sure they’ll do an excellent job, and Kaz can ask them about anything he can’t remember clearly. When we return, I’ll tell you about what we find.”

The two females exchanged a look, and then Pilla gestured for Baji and Mik to lead the humans away. As Kaz started to follow, Pilla stepped in his way. She didn’t speak, just looked at his belt, where the bare knife hung, and glanced toward the missing straps of the pack. Her lips twitched, and then she turned and walked away.

Kaz hesitated, looking after her, before hurrying after the humans and their new guides. It was time to find out what the mid-levels had in store for them.