The Broken Knife

The next time the door opened, Raff peered in. The tall human had to bend nearly double, and there was no way he could fit through the door, which was small even for a kobold. If the door and Zyle were any indication, the members of this tribe must tend toward the petite, though neither the old kobold nor the warriors at the stairs were nearly as stocky as the Copperstrikers.

“You’re finally awake,” Raff said, interrupting Kaz’s completely irrelevant thoughts. “Can you walk? Lianhua’s been pesterin’ me nonstop about checking on you.”

Kaz tried to focus, and found that while it was easier than it had been before he passed out, it was still more difficult than it should be. At least, he was fairly certain that it was. The light hurt his eyes, too, even though it was only filtering in through the door, and seemed to be just the low light provided by firemoss torches.

Still, he owed Lianhua a great deal for carrying him all the way here. She was stronger than a kobold, yes, but he probably weighed almost as much as she did, even though he was shorter. It couldn’t have been easy, carrying him down several hundred steps, but she had never complained or tried to put him down.

Looking around, Kaz saw his pack, as well as a long bone on the ground beside the moss and webbing. When kobolds injured a leg or paw, this was what they usually used to help them get around while it healed, so Kaz assumed it was for him, though it was also possible that it belonged to the old kobold, and he’d just forgotten it on his way out.

Either way, it would work for now, so Kaz pulled on his pack, noting with relief that the special knot he used to tie it shut seemed to be unchanged. The pack itself was crusted with dried goo and bleached from the fluid of the monster. Settling it into place, Kaz sighed as he realized that the straps were damaged as well. He’d just gotten this bag, but he would have to see about getting or making another one soon.

Once that was done, he picked up the long bone and managed to lever himself to his paws, though Li complained as she was forced to relocate from his lap to his shoulder. Kaz found that the bone was just the right length so he could rest his hand on the rounded joint and hobble toward the door, supporting his injured paw as he took each step. It still hurt, but it was wrapped in wide strips of soft leather so it couldn’t flex too much, so it wasn’t nearly as painful as he expected.

The light, however, was. As soon as he stepped through the door Raff helpfully held open for him, Kaz had to close his eyes against what seemed like two knives made of pure radiance that stabbed directly into his brain. He sheltered his eyes with the hand that wasn’t holding the bone and squinted, but still couldn’t make out any details through what seemed like a haze of light.

Something touched his hand and ears, and darkness fell across his vision, then went away again as an object slipped down to dangle from the side of his nose. Raff made a sound that was somewhere between a snort and a laugh, and plucked the thing from Kaz’s face. Kaz squinted, trying to see what the human was up to, but he couldn’t make anything out in the blinding light. His head began to pound with a renewed ache, and he debated turning around and going back into the hut behind him.

With a satisfied sniff, Raff pushed Kaz’s hand out of the way and slipped the thing over his ears again. Comforting darkness fell, though the light still seeped in around the edges, and Kaz was finally able to see well enough to look up at the human.

“They call ‘em darklenses. Made of wire and smoked glass. Bit expensive, but I had a mission in Valile Desert where… Eh. Doesn’t matter. Got these things there, and they’re nice t’ have when it gets bright outside. Never thought I’d need ‘em inside a mountain, though.” Raff grinned and nudged the darklenses, shifting them so they blocked a bit more of the light. The fur behind Kaz’s ear pulled sharply, and he flinched.

Seeing the movement, Raff leaned around, out of Kaz’s sight, apparently checking the back of Kaz’s head. He reached up and tugged at something Kaz couldn’t see, and the pain got better.

“Sorry, Blue,” Raff said, stepping back. “I had to tie a strap to them to keep ‘em in place. I was trying to avoid that bump, but I think it’s half the size of your head, so it’s a bit hard to miss.”

Kaz reached up and felt the object on his face. There were two metal circles, which held the smoked glass that now blocked the majority of the painful light. Two long pieces were attached at the sides, which Kaz guessed were meant to sit over a human’s ears and hold the glass in place. A kobold’s ears were both higher and larger, so Raff had tied a narrow strip of cloth to these long pieces, and the cloth went just under a lump that felt almost as large as the ear it sat behind.

Prodding the bump was painful, but when he reached the top he felt the sharp prickles of gut thread holding a wound together. These weren’t the first stitches Kaz had ever had, and he was just as glad he’d been unconscious when they were put in, especially since there seemed to be a great number of them.

Raff watched all this, and nodded as Kaz gingerly fingered his injury. “That old kobold laid a pretty neat row. I’ve gotten my own share of stitches, and while the thread was finer, I don’t think any of the chirurgeons did a better job.”

Kaz dropped his hand, almost immediately feeling an urge to put it back up, as if to be sure the wound was still there. He was certain it was, though, so he just clenched his fist and looked around. Now that most of the light was filtered through the lenses, he could tell that they were in a wide cavern with a low ceiling. Raff’s head was barely lower than the stumps of some of the larger stalactites, and Kaz found his focus drifting as he wondered if it hurt when the human bumped his head, or if his body was sturdy enough that it just broke the stone on impact.

Raff’s fingers snapped in front of Kaz’s eyes, and Kaz pulled his attention back again. “Sorry,” he mumbled. “It’s like I can’t-” He waved his hand, having no words for what was happening in his head at the moment.

Raff nodded sagely. “Concussion. Used to happen to me all the time before I ranked up. Give it a day or two, and you’ll be good as new. That is, if Lianhua doesn’t kill us both because we took too long gettin’ back to her.”

Reminded, Kaz looked around again. More huts surrounded them, and Kaz realized that some of them were made from stout walls that went from ground to ceiling, with no roof, while others, like the one he’d been in, looked lightweight and easy to move around or tear down as needed. Because of the low ceiling and the full-length walls, it would be easy for a stranger to get turned around, and Kaz couldn’t tell where the exit might lie.

Raff hooked a thumb over his shoulder. “Way out’s this way. The rest of us’ve been sleeping in some of these fold-up huts out there. The tribe wouldn’t let Gaoda and Lianhua in, and Chi Yincang and I decided to stay with them, since that’s our job, an’ all.”

He reached up and tapped a knuckle against the ceiling meaningfully. “Plus, the roof’s a lot higher out there. Come on, then.”

Turning, the human led the way through the den, ducking once or twice to go under particularly low sections. There were a lot of huts, mostly of the tall, sturdy type, but the den didn’t smell like it held nearly enough kobolds to fill them all, and the only scents of females were old, faint traces near a few of the higher-quality buildings.

There was actually a gate across the den opening, which was something no one bothered with in the upper levels. It was rare for any of the beasts in the heights to be strong enough to get past the guards who were supposed to be stationed at the entrance, and having a gate just meant that gate had to be opened and closed each time someone left or returned. Here, of course, things were very different, and the brief delay while an attacker killed the guards and beat down the gate might be enough to allow the kobolds within to rally or flee.

Raff waved to the two warriors at the gate, and one of them nodded back, sharp black eyes taking in Kaz, complete with bone walking aid and darklenses. Kaz thought he must be quite a sight, but the males only peered through a peephole in the gate, then opened it, stepping aside to allow Kaz and Raff to pass.

Three more guards stood outside, their dark fur blending into the pleasant dimness of the tunnel. They, too, stepped aside as the gate clacked shut again, and Raff led Kaz through a passage that was even lower than the ceiling in the den. The small size would make it difficult or impossible for large creatures to reach the den, but it also meant Raff had to crouch as he walked, which led to a fair amount of grumbling, and meant Kaz couldn’t ask any questions about what had been happening since the monster attacked.

When the tunnel opened out, it was in a very large, open cavern that tribes in the upper levels would have been happy to use as their primary den. A small trickle of water formed a shallow pool on one side, and Kaz could see several clumps of moss and mushrooms, though he was too far away and his eyes weren’t working well enough to tell exactly what they were.

In the middle of this space stood a ring of the low, movable huts. A fire had been built in the center of that ring, and Lianhua and Gaoda sat on rocks nearby. Gaoda’s ki orb floated overhead, brilliantly illuminating the scene, so Kaz couldn’t miss the kobold who sat across from them. It was Litz, the female who had challenged Pilla for leadership of the Copperstrikers, and lost.

When Raff’s metallic footsteps rang out through the cavern, they all turned. Lianhua’s face lit up, and she jumped to her feet, hurrying toward them. “Kaz!” she exclaimed. “Raff left to check on you ages ago. I was starting to think you weren’t well enough to come.”

Kaz grimaced, lifting the long bone he had been leaning on. “I’m not very fast at the moment. I’m sorry.”

She shook her head, reaching out as if to touch his head, then pulling her hand back. “I’m just glad you made it. How’s your head? And where did you get darklenses?”

He turned to show her the side of his head that was throbbing in time with his heartbeat. “It hurts, but I can think, at least a little. The light was bothering me, so Raff loaned these to me.”

This time, Lianhua’s smile was all for Raff. “That was very kind, Raff.”

Raff’s brown cheeks darkened even further, and he scratched his unruly beard, looking toward the fire. “Sure. Is that more of those stonebeetles I smell? Never thought I’d like eating bugs, but those things are pretty good, once you get past all the legs.”

Lianhua watched him wander off, shaking her head in amusement. “He wants everyone to believe he never does anything he’s not paid to do, but I think he’s a better person than he’d like to admit.” Turning back to Kaz, she went on, “But how are you, really? That’s a lot of stitches, and your foot is still swollen.”

Kaz shrugged uncomfortably. “Just what I said. My head hurts, and so does my paw, but I think I’ll be fine.”

She leaned in. “And Li?”

Kaz reached up and stroked the dragon on his shoulder, who whistled in soft annoyance, but leaned into the touch. “Fine as well, I think.”

“Your,” her voice dropped to something that was barely audible, even for him, “cores? Did the exposure to fulan affect them?”

Kaz was shocked that he’d forgotten, and instantly tried to look to tell if there was anything different about his core or Li’s. A spike of pain in his head made him gasp, and he was forced to give up before he could see anything more than the most superficial details.

Li clicked softly, tightening her tail around his throat, though not enough to choke him, and sent him silent feelings of reassurance and comfort. She felt healthy, and didn’t think there was anything wrong with either of them, other than the obvious.

He shook his head, instantly regretting the action. “All right, I think. I don’t see any fulan here.” His eyes went to the plants growing near the small pool, but couldn’t tell if they were infected. He assumed not, since the kobolds would have burned them as soon as it was discovered.

Lianhua’s brows drew together. “There isn’t any. It was strange, actually. As soon as we started down the stairs, the spores just vanished. Zyle says it’s part of the magic of the stairs, that no contagion can pass.”

“But we saw spores on both of the other staircases,” Kaz said.

She nodded. “I told him that, and he looked really worried. Said if the power of the stairs is starting to fade, perhaps his tribe should have left the mid-levels, after all.”

“Which tribe?” Kaz asked, finally releasing some of the questions he’d been keeping in. “What happened? How long was I unconscious? Zyle acted like it had been a while, but I don’t feel particularly hungry or-”

Lianhua smiled and held up a hand, then turned back toward the fire. “Come on. You may not feel hungry, but I bet you are. You were out for almost two days. Eat, and I’ll tell you everything.”

Kaz limped after her, and as the aroma of roasting jiachin reached him, his belly began to growl, letting him know that it was indeed very empty.