The Broken Knife

Katri’s yip of surprise ended in a grunt, and Kaz ran to the opening in the stone, staring down after her. To his relief, he met his sister’s silver eyes immediately, since she lay, face up, in Raff’s arms. The male quickly dropped her, however, shaking his hands with an expression of distaste. She landed with a yelp, and scrambled to her feet, growling slightly as she reached back to feel her tail.

Kaz felt something impact his own tail, however, and lost sight of his sibling as he tumbled end over end through the air. Without thinking, he curled up, pulling in around that core of power in his belly, as if it were the most important part of him to protect. As a result, he barely noticed when Raff caught him, almost instantly dropping him again. He landed on his knees and forearms, not even grunting as he hit the unyielding stone.

Once he realized he was intact, Kaz lifted his nose from where it was tucked against his chest, blinking around at the humans. Gaoda and the pup must have jumped as well, since they, too, stood beside Raff, Chi Yincang, and Katri. And all around them were… kobolds. Or at least what was left of kobolds. He could see Mital, and the three females Katri had pointed out as her daughters. There were several others as well, though, mostly males.

Beyond the bodies knelt the rest of the Longtooth tribe. The young ones looked confused, and their ears and tails were flattened against their small bodies. Some of the adults had their hackles raised, and they stared from the humans to Katri with burning eyes. There was no doubt they recognized the pink female, since her coloration was unusual, and they had fought her in the luegat just the day before. That was good, though, since they would remember that she had been stronger than any of their tribe except the females who now lay dead on the stone.

Katri glanced at Gaoda, who gave her an almost mocking smile and stepped back, waving her hand toward the kneeling kobolds. Katri hesitated, but then her hackles raised and her lips curled as she gave a fierce bark, staring out over the defeated tribe.

“I, Katri, am your leader now! Mital and her daughters are defeated, and I am the strongest!” She beat her fist on her chest, puffing up to look larger than she actually was. “If any of you dare challenge me, speak now, or submit!”

One of the largest of the female pups shifted, but the pale gray female beside her set a paw on her head, forcing it down. For a long moment, no one spoke. Males could not challenge a female for dominance, so Katri’s gaze traveled from one female to another.

Finally, an elderly female with purple fur raised her head, tilting her chin to bare her throat slightly. “We saw you fight,” she said, “You are strongest. We yield.”

Katri immediately darted forward, her teeth latching onto the old female’s throat. She bit down, and the female winced at the pain, but didn’t attempt to escape. After several silent heartbeats, Katri released the female, blood now staining the purple fur, though not enough to indicate a serious injury. Raising her own head, Katri began to howl in triumph. Slowly, the rest of the Longtooth tribe joined in, though their voices held more sorrow than elation.

When the last echo of the howling died, Katri looked around. Now that the Longtooths had submitted, she could, technically, leave, but if she did, it was possible that the whole tribe would abandon the den while she was gone, or one of the females could decide she was willing to risk a challenge after all.

Her hot gaze turned on Kaz, and she said, “Go back. Tell Rega what has happened, and that she must also submit to me. If she refuses,” her eyes turned to Gaoda, who nodded, “bring the rest of the tribe after she’s dead.”

Kaz swallowed hard, feeling his ears flatten, but he ducked down, acknowledging her command.

Lianhua groaned. “Do we have to go back up already? My feet are sore. Can’t you take Raff and go, Gaoda Xiang? You two can handle anything that lives at this level.”

Gaoda snorted. “I won’t leave you with just Chi Yincang, cousin, but you’re right. Raff alone should be able to take out a female even weaker than this one.” Her toe nudged Mitra’s fallen body. “There’s no need for all of us to go back.”

Turning to Kaz, she fixed him with a hard look that made his heart stutter. “Surely there’s a more direct path. Prove that you’re worth the price I’ve paid for you, kobold, and take Raff straight up and back.”

Kaz nodded. He wasn’t used to speaking with females other than his mother, aunt, and sister, but he said, “We’ll have to go through the Palefur’s territory.”

Gaoda snorted and waved a dismissive hand. “Obviously, that’s not a problem. If they try to stop you, Raff can just kill them.”

Kaz shuddered at the complete lack of concern in Gaoda’s voice, but nodded. The Palefurs had remained deliberately neutral during the conflict between the Longtooths and the Broken Knives. Their territory sprawled across the level in between the other two tribes, and even Oda had been careful to go around them during her scouting missions, so she didn’t make them angry and tip the balance of power.

Lianhua’s face held some expression Kaz couldn’t decipher, but she, too, nodded. “Fine, then,” she said. “I hope there’s some water nearby. I’d like to clean up.” She lifted one of her flat paws, examining the bottom of the purple fabric that covered it, and her short nose wrinkled.

“Done,” Gaoda replied. She turned to Raff. “Follow the kobold. I want this finished today, and I suppose we’ll camp here tonight.”

Raff grunted unhappily. “Surrounded by kobolds?”

Gaoda shrugged. “Surrounded by kobolds too weak to even scratch us, but who will provide a deterrent for anything else that might lurk nearby.”

Sighing in resignation, Raff turned to Kaz. “Fine. C’mon then, Blue.”

Kaz blinked. For the first time, he realized that none of the humans had ever bothered to ask for his or Katri’s names. Well, he wasn’t going to correct the man. He didn’t even like the humans, so he didn’t care what they called him.

Shrugging, Kaz led the way out of the den of the former Longtooth tribe. Like most dens, it had one obvious entrance, which would normally be guarded by some of the strongest males in the tribe, as well as a female, who would be in charge in case of any problems. Somewhere, there would be another, hidden, exit, which was also guarded, though less obviously.

It was strange passing between the totems of another tribe, especially since no males stood beside them, snarling and growling as they passed. Kaz saw the skulls of many janjio, as well as a few particularly large fuergar, their metal-coated teeth gleaming threateningly from the base of the totems. At the top were skulls of much larger creatures, including a conical one that Kaz suspected belonged to a lopo, though he had never seen a dead one that size, much less its bones.

Raff just glanced at the sinister display as they went by, the golden eyes beneath his helmet flat and disinterested. Kaz wondered if the human recognized these monsters of the mountain, and simply didn’t see any of them as a danger to him or his group. If so, then they were as powerful as they were wealthy.

The passage beyond the totems was unusually broad for this high up in the mountain. Ore veins were more plentiful and richer in the Deep, so it was rare for anyone to put in the effort to widen a tunnel more than needed for two kobolds to pass abreast. The marks left by picks were worn smooth, so whoever had created this hall had done so generations ago, which meant Kaz’s faint curiosity as to why it existed would likely never be appeased.

The human male remained silent as Kaz led him through the passages. A mountain-dweller either had a sense of where they were within the mountain, or they died young, and Kaz’s sense of direction was better than most. Though Kaz had only come this way once, when he and the adults of the Broken Knife tribe came for the luegat, he moved quickly through the tunnels that led to the stairway that would take them from one level to the next.

Still, the path was winding, since no tribe wanted a path that led directly to their den, and after the fifth turning, Raff grew impatient. Reaching out, he grabbed Kaz’s shoulder, halting him. “D’you even know where we are, Blue? You’re not going to be much of a guide if you’re already lost.”

Kaz sighed. He might not be as large as the human, but he was used to dealing with males, and he let his lip curl back from his teeth in a snarl as he snapped, “Then go on your own.” His teeth were sharp, and the human looked surprised, though not particularly concerned as he released Kaz’s shoulder.

“Ha! You do have some spirit! You act like you’ll protect Pink, but otherwise you always look like a whipped dog, so I thought you might be craven.” The fur on the human’s face split, revealing his flat teeth as he growled back good-naturedly. “Good t’know you won’t just run or die the first time we find something that gives us a bit of trouble.”

Kaz’s fur lifted as he turned his back on the human, but he did it. Gaoda had given Raff instructions, and males didn’t disobey females, so Kaz knew he was safe. Still, after their little snarl, his instincts told him to beware of a challenge.

“Her name is Katri,” he said, stiffly. He didn’t care what the humans called him, but they should show Katri the proper respect. “She is,” will be, he thought, once Rega yields, “the leader of the Broken Knife tribe. She is a powerful female.”

Raff snorted, the hard shells on his paws clattering as he moved to follow Kaz. “For here, maybe. Hell, she’d probably be pretty tough compared to wild kobolds, though I haven’t actually seen her fight. You have to have some mana just to be able to breathe up here, so she might do better than I think. Still just a low-level monster to any proper mage, though.”

Kaz felt his shoulders tighten even further, but he refused to waste his time arguing with the human. A male’s opinion didn’t matter, just his obedience. The human continued talking, however. “What’s your name, then? I can’t just keep calling you Blue.”

Kaz didn’t even glance back. “What you call me doesn’t matter.”

Silence. Then the human muttered, “Whole different critter now, ain’tcha?”

Kaz didn’t bother to acknowledge the words, so they continued on, until Raff, who was apparently unable to abide silence, said, “Are you sure you know where we are, though? I’ve counted at least eight turns, and-” His voice cut off as they turned the final corner, and the staircase appeared before them.

There were at least a hundred similar sets of stairs drilled down through the mountain. Many of them had been broken, either by rockfalls or backbreaking labor, but the ones that remained were the easiest and most impressive way to travel between levels.

Each stair was exactly nine inches high, and elaborately carved, though the carvings were too worn to be able to make out what they had originally represented. In the deeper levels, they were also topped with solid metal veneers that never seemed to wear down, even though every third step was golden, which was one of the softest metals. Up here, those veneers had been long since stripped off, and the unprotected edges of the stairs were chipped and cracked. Still, the tall steps were imposing. This staircase was one of the highest Kaz had ever seen, and the top would have been dark if not for the eternal red flames that flickered from alcoves on each side.

There were no Longtooth kobolds guarding the bottom of the stairs, though there should have been. When the howl began, any tribe members who were outside the den would have repeated it, so the guards must have heard and hurried back via a shorter route than the one Kaz knew. Kaz couldn’t see the Palefur warriors positioned at the top, but he knew they would be there, and unlike when Oda had arranged safe passage through their territory yesterday - was it only yesterday? - they would not easily let Kaz pass.

Which was where Raff came in, of course, and the question was, how much was Kaz willing to risk in order to prevent the human from simply slaughtering the lot of them? If Kaz went up first, he would have a chance to negotiate, but if they chose to shoot him first, no negotiations could occur. On the other hand, if Raff went first, the kobolds would almost certainly attack, which would result in all of their deaths.

Kaz barely knew any of the Palefurs, since usually only females were supposed to speak to members of other tribes, but sometimes when males, or foraging pups, met each other in the unclaimed places, words were exchanged. Plus, they were kobolds, and they had never done him or his tribe any harm. All he had to do was convince them to allow him and Raff to continue onward to the next set of stairs, which led straight to Broken Knife territory.

Of course, even if he went first, if there was a female above, he would never be allowed to speak anyway. Females spoke to females, and females made decisions, so a Palefur female wouldn’t listen to Kaz. If there were only males, however, there might be a chance, and that small chance was enough to make Kaz’s decision for him. He wouldn’t die to save strange kobolds, but he wouldn’t just let Raff kill them like fuergar, either.

Cautiously, Kaz began to climb, with Raff following close behind.