Chapter One hundred seventy-four

The city was huge, but sprawling in a way the mosui city hadn’t been. All of the buildings there were tall, to the point that all you could see while standing in the street was the walls to each side, a straight corridor ahead and behind, and the ever-present ki-stones above. Here, it looked like the tops of several buildings had been removed, then the square stones were used to create more of the low buildings that kobolds preferred, extending the outer edge of the city far beyond where it originally ended.

As the group stared out from one of the lowest of the open-sided caverns in the sheer cliff walls, Raff let out a low whistle. Nearby, Avli laughed softly. She was holding hands with Dett again, and looked as though she had no intention of ever letting go. The little male looked happier and more relaxed than Kaz had ever seen him, and seemed disinclined to argue with his soon-to-be mate’s display of affection.

“I was young when the Woodblade was lost, but as my mother’s heir, I was taught how to interact with them,” Avli said. “She told me that most humans stayed just long enough to conduct their business, then left. They rarely asked about our people, other than a few who would compliment everything in hopes that this would help them make a better bargain. As a result, few humans ever left the area we prepared for them, and fewer still saw this.”

Lianhua shook her head. She had out her pen and book, but she hadn’t yet begun to draw. “How can they not be curious? Not want to know?”

Raff shrugged. “Lotta rock around us right now. Most folks aren’t real fond of feeling like a mountain is going to fall on them. That, or their hosts might decide to eat them.” He flashed a glance around at Kaz and the other kobolds. “No offense meant.”

Kaz, for one, had never seriously considered eating the humans, even if one of them had died. For one thing, it seemed wrong to eat someone he had conversed with, and for another, he had plenty of other food. Li, on the other hand…

The dragon tilted her head to the side. <Only babies want to eat people,> she said, and Kaz wasn’t sure if she was talking to him or herself. <Besides, Lianhua tasted bad.>

Kaz grimaced, deciding to act as if he hadn’t heard her, and held out his hands for Lianhua’s book. “May I?” he asked.

Gratefully, she passed it over, along with the pen, and Kaz began to draw the city, starting with the large, round, open space in the center, and the five distinct roads leading away from it. Each road ended in a wide archway, with bright-furred kobold guards flanking it.

Three of the five wedge-shaped sections of the city, each one clearly delineated by a road on each side, was primarily occupied by kobolds of a single fur color. Yellow, brown, and green fur dominated the lower right, while white, gray, and pale shades of the other colors occupied the lower left. The upper left area was dark compared to the other two, but the black-furred kobolds seemed most likely to have spots or stripes of bright color somewhere on their bodies, though whether this was natural or an effect created by paint or dye, Kaz had no idea.

The segment at the very top, at least from Kaz’s current perspective, was neat and well-maintained, and almost all of the roofs there were painted in shades of blue or green. Few kobolds wandered the streets, however, and there was no particular pattern to the fur-colors of those who did. It seemed to be open to anyone.

The last section, located at the top right, looked broken down and was, as far as he could tell, completely empty. Not a single kobold walked the winding streets, and no paint brightened the gray stone buildings.

Carefully, Kaz drew lines marking the colors of the different areas, wishing once again for different colored inks or paint. He marked each line with the rune for the color that dominated it, and then blew gently on the page to dry the ink.

Lianhua leaned over his shoulder, watching as he drew in a few last details. “It’s beautiful,” she said. “We’ll have to find you some proper paints and brushes, though. I’d love to see what you can do with color.”

At this, Avli, too, looked at the small drawing and shook her head. “You really are a Woodblade. I’ll have to take you through their section of the city. It’s by far the most beautiful, though I do like what the Waveblades have done with water.”

Everyone else turned to look back at the city, and Kaz pushed a bit more ki into his eyes. The dark section of the city was just that: dark. Except… that darkness caught and reflected the light of the luminescent plants in some places. With that, something in Kaz’s mind clicked, and he realized that some of the ‘streets’ themselves looked like they were made of water. More water gathered at corners, flowing up as if pushed into the air.

“Are those canals and fountains?” Lianhua asked wonderingly. “How is that possible?”

Avli shugged, her soft white fur seeming to float around her, almost making her glow as she was backlit by the cavern’s light. “We each have our own powers, and the city is where we show them off. Come on.”

She turned away, and they followed.

 =+=+=+=

They entered the city through the Mithrilblades’ gate, and to Kaz’s amazement, it looked exactly like the entrances to the ‘secret’ passages he had found in the mid-levels, except much, much larger. The swiveling stone block divided the entrance into two equally large halves, each well over ten feet tall and nearly as wide. The map carved onto one side of it showed only the city in the Deep, and it was so large that Kaz could clearly make out the shapes of the occupants.

They paused halfway through, staring up at the intricately carved slab, which was wider than Kaz was tall. The reptilian creatures who had once lived in the city were a full six inches tall in this version, and the Tree towered over it all on the right side, arching branches forming the ceiling overhead. Looking at it this way, Kaz could understand how his people could believe that the Tree actually held up the mountain.

“What are these?” Lianhua asked, not quite touching one of the reptiles striding through the carved stone street. It looked as if someone had tried to chip away its head at some point, but stopped before they did more than break off part of the snout.

Avli’s lip lifted, revealing fangs. “Traitors,” she growled. “They were supposed to guard the mountain, but they attacked us instead. We fought back and sent them fleeing from the mountain, never to be seen again.”

Kaz knew Lianhua well enough by now to see the questions flicker behind her eyes, but, as someone who valued words above almost anything else, what she asked was, “What are they?”

“Kobolds,” Avli answered. “Our sisters, and our enemies.” Turning away, she made it clear that she was done with the subject, and Kaz gave the image one last look at the passed by. The long neck, horns, small wings, and serpentine tail were very familiar to him from the vision he’d seen when he touched Emperor Qiangde’s core. These were clearly Nucai’s ‘kobolds’, who called themselves the xiyi, and as they walked down the broad street, that image was far from the last.

Statues and carvings stood at nearly every street corner. All of the statues had been rendered to little more than clawed feet and a bit of reptilian tail on a pedestal, but some of the carvings, especially the ones high on the walls, were almost intact. Kaz could tell that he’d been right, and the taller buildings had simply been disassembled and rebuilt on the ground nearby, narrowing and sometimes even closing off what had once been more of the straight, wide streets. When the buildings were intact, the carvings would have encircled the top of the buildings, but now they were only visible on one in five or six of the truncated structures.

The kobolds - Dongwu’s kobolds, Kaz supposed - had truly transformed the city. Besides the defaced statues, the shortened buildings, and the narrow, winding paths, many walls were covered in paint, or even stretched leather, looking like a normal hut that might be found in any kobold den, other than the fact that it was tall enough for even Raff to walk upright inside.

Metal was everywhere here. Long metal spikes pinned the leather to the walls, and metal wires held niu-fur cloth draped across doorways. There were even delicate metal ornaments on the edges and tops of roofs, though these were distinctly pointy and mildly threatening. Otherwise, the changes definitely seemed to lean more toward the practical than the ornate, making Kaz wonder if there was some airborne threat the residents were trying to keep away from their homes.

Kobolds filled the street, entering and exiting the narrowed paths to the right and left. There were even carts pulled by placid niu, just like in the mosui city, though there were no palanquins, carrying more important members above the rest. All of the kobolds walked on their own feet unless they were driving a cart, and a few puppies sat on the back of the carts, legs dangling as they yipped happily at each other. Males and females even mingled easily, though Kaz did notice that males still stepped aside for females, unless they were with a female as well.

“This seems like a good place,” Lianhua said, watching a trio of puppies run across the road in front of a niu, who halted without prompting, waiting until the pups were out from under its hooves before it continued on.

Avli nodded. “My mother, Zava, was a good chief, though she could be harsh at times. She made sure everyone was fed and safe, and no one was forgotten. She checked on all of our subsidiary tribes personally, which is how she ended up dying.” Her ears flattened, and Kaz saw her fingers tighten around Dett’s. “She was checking to find out why some of their gathering groups had disappeared, and one of these creatures you call shiyan attacked, wiping out almost her entire party.”

Lianhua lowered her eyes, giving Avli a small bow, barely a dip of her head. “I’m sorry for your loss.”

Avli sighed. “Thank you, but…. We weren’t close. She taught me to replace her, and we both knew that someday,” she hesitated,  glancing at the other kobolds surrounding them before pressing her free hand to her belly, “I would replace her. Few puppies of chiefs are encouraged to be fond of their mothers. Most of us believe that will make it easier for them to do what they must when the time comes.”

Kaz gritted his teeth at this, but finally burst out, “Why? Why does… that have to happen? Isn’t our own strength enough?” His throat ached, but he didn’t regret asking.

The Mithrilblade looked sad. “If we didn’t have to fulfill our duties, perhaps. But a weak Mithrilblade cannot work mithril or adamantium, a weak Waveblade cannot raise water from the depths, and a weak Goldblade cannot pull pure metal from an ore vein. No one but the strongest Magmablades can heat the forge to melt mithril and adamantium, and only the greatest Woodblades could help the yumi fields and the Tree thrive. Most kobolds don’t do as we do, and most aren’t strong enough to do as we must.”

Kaz felt his chest tighten. He was certain that if they could see as he did, they would be able to tell which of them was strong enough to do these things. Surely they didn’t really have to eat their mother’s cores, knowing that they would either destroy the last remnant of their parent, or they themselves would be lost.

“Here,” Avli said, stopping outside the first intact multi-level building Kaz had seen since they entered the city. It even had the same openings on the upper levels as the ones in the mosui city. Around the top, some forty feet above them, xiyi stood, captured in a battle scene where the reptiles were most definitely winning.

“Humans usually stayed with the Goldblades, since what they most often wanted was gold, gems, and other minerals. We all had buildings prepared, just in case, and this one is ours. Go inside and see what you think.” She flicked an ear, smiling at Lianhua.

Lianhua started to move, but Chi Yincang appeared from nowhere, holding out a hand as he looked toward Raff. The red-furred human looked startled at first, then his expression went flat, and he opened the yumi-reed door and went inside. The door had barely clattered shut behind him when they heard a soft scuffle, then several pained yelps. 

A moment later, the door opened again, and Raff lifted two gray-furred male kobolds by the scruff of their necks. One was clearly unconscious, a large lump already forming on his forehead, but the other flailed weakly, blood dripping from a long slice down his right leg.

Chi Yincang shifted, stepping in between Lianhua and the Mithrilblades. Kaz, too, stepped back, one hand going to the knife at his waist, while the other checked to be certain that Li was safe on his shoulder.