by B. T. Narro
As he pulled out a scroll and pen and began to write, Khy told him, “I spent much time discussing potions with chemists in your king’s castle, but they were only potions that might be valuable in battle. I was concerned killing was the Humans’ purpose of learning the art of potion-making, so I’m happy to find out there are chemists like you.”
“Yes, there are just as many potions we use to help and heal…if not more.” But I suppose they’re often overlooked in times of war. Is killing enemies really that much more important than saving allies?
By the time they reached the forest, Javy let the Slugari take the lead. Only they knew the location of the entrance to their colony.
Steffen was surprised to find that it was just a hole in a hillside covered by a few knee-high rocks.
“You’re not worried about people finding it?” Steffen asked.
“This is just a temporary entranceway,” Khy answered. “Because we’re in ally territory, we don’t mind the lack of secrecy while we determine a proper place to use as a connection between our underground colony and Kyrro. We’ll cave this in after you leave.”
After the rocks were cleared and the Slugari slithered in, Javy halted Steffen and Marratrice. “Keep your questions to a minimum,” he said. “The Slugari requested someone from the previous group, which is the main reason you’re here, Steffen. But there’s a lot we need to figure out. So keep out of the way when you’re not needed.”
“I understand,” Steffen said, humbled.
“And you.” Javy pointed at Marratrice. “I don’t know what you have planned, but don’t do it.”
What’s he talking about? Steffen expected Marratrice to object, but instead she wore a look of guilt. Javy had spent no time with her. What did he see that Steffen didn’t?
“Are you a psychic?” Steffen asked.
“He’s not,” Jack answered for him. “Leave my chemists alone, Rayvender.”
“Then keep them under control, Rose.” Javy turned and crawled into the tunnel.
“Will it get wider?” Marratrice asked.
“Eventually,” Steffen told her. “But it might be a while.”
“I don’t like tight spaces.” She had a slow breath.
“You don’t have to come,” Jack said.
“No I need…I mean, I want to. I can do it.”
But the tunnel was even smaller than the one in Satjen. Steffen couldn’t fit with his backpack on, so he was forced to push it in front of him and crawl after it.
Marratrice grunted from behind Steffen, muttering curses under her breath.
It wasn’t long before the tunnel was nearly pitch black, the only light a faint glow far ahead. Because of the way the tunnel dipped, Steffen couldn’t see the Slugari he knew to be producing it.
“It’s getting so dark.” Marratrice spoke with a tremble.
“Khy, can you slow down?” Steffen called to her. “We can’t see anything back here.”
No response.
“Khy?”
Marratrice’s hand brushed against Steffen’s ankle and she let out the start of the squeal. “Sorry,” she apologized right after. “You startled me.”
“Steffen,” Jack called from behind. “Didn’t you pack a glow potion?”
“I did, but it’s going to be so bright you’ll probably need to close your eyes, which makes it pointless in here.”
He could hear Jack sighing. “You used a ratio of two-to-one riverdillys to make the potent version of the potion?”
“Yes.” Steffen immediately regretted that decision. He’d figured the brighter the better if he needed to create a glow, but now he couldn’t think of a scenario when blinding light would be more useful than a tolerable glow. “Sorry, Chemist Master Jack.”
There was a shake—with it, a few specks of dirt fell onto Steffen’s neck.
Bastial hell, what was that? But before his thought was even complete, it happened again, more dirt coming down this time.
“Steffen,” Jack said, “what is that?”
“I don’t know, but let’s hurry.” Steffen crawled quickly. He could hear the potions within his bag bumping against each other as he shoved it forward with little regard.
Luckily, soon there was enough light for Steffen to see the dirt beneath his palms. He could see Javy clearly by then, standing beside the two Slugari.
When Steffen reached the end of the tunnel, he was surprised to find himself not within a maze, but standing inside the Slugari colony. The Dajrik was walking away from them, the familiar clay pillars hiding him from view as he went farther.
Marratrice and Jack both were breathing heavily when they came out behind Steffen.
“What was that shaking?” Marratrice asked.
Then Steffen saw the answer. “It had to have been these…” He didn’t know what to call them. There were two rectangular blocks that looked as heavy as stone, but brown and rough, as if composed from dirt. They were lying on their side, a thick vine coming from the top of each of them. From how close they were to the entrance, it seemed as if they might’ve been blocking it.
“Sorry to startle you,” Khy said. “Our Dajrik had to move the barrier to let us in.” The Slugari must’ve noticed Steffen and the others staring at the strange blocks, each one about as big as Steffen. She pointed a claw and asked, “There’s no more pokihem above ground?”
“Could that be a plant?” Steffen asked.
“Yes, a terrible thing. We grew them years ago so we can have something to block our entrances without dragging wood or stone down here from above ground. The pokihem not only eat the nutrients from the dirt, but the dirt itself. They can grow bigger than our Dajrik, consuming any plant along the way. They even grow strong enough to knock down pillars if they aren’t watched closely and uprooted in time.”
“But they’re so perfectly rectangular,” Jack observed.
“We carved them into that shape.” Khy patted the one nearest to her. “These have been dead many years. We have hundreds blocking the infrequently used entrances below ground throughout Ovira. In case something or someone stumbles upon an entrance above ground, we don’t want them getting into our colony, especially somewhere that isn’t monitored.”
That seemed to draw Javy’s interest. “Are there really hundreds of entrances?”
“Yes.” Khy smiled proudly. “The Slugari have been living underground for many generations. Although we only inhabit one area of Ovira at a time, we have tunnels throughout the entire continent.”
“Including beneath Tenred?” Javy asked.
“Yes. We have tunnels going underneath your enemy’s land.”
“That could be very useful.” He rubbed his chin.
“We’ve also discovered something there that Queen would like to speak to you about.” Khy started slithering forward.
“Where…beneath Tenred?” Javy followed, Steffen and the others close behind.
“Yes, something very dangerous.”
“Dangerous to whom?” Javy asked.
“I’ll let Queen tell you the rest.”
Upon the first turn within the Slugari colony, the tall tunnel opened into a vast cavern. Marratrice gasped and Jack muttered, “My Bastial stars.”
Each of them noticed the caregelows first, for the bright light they produced illuminated every crevice of the cavern. Steffen had forgotten how white their glow was, which he knew to be from pure Bastial Energy that fed the plants around it. Every caregelow was in the center of a vividly colored cluster of flowers.
“How did you grow the caregelows so quickly?” Steffen asked.
“They’ve been here. We have small groups of Slugari that live in the uninhabited portions of our underground tunnels. They take care of the plants they can. Then if we ever need to move there, we at least have something to eat while we plant the seeds from our pouches that we’ve taken from our old home. You’ll see once we get deeper in that there aren’t any more caregelows grown yet. We’ve had to transport food from other ends of t
he continent while we wait for everything to grow, and many Slugari are living elsewhere for now until there’s enough in Kyrro to feed them.”
Khy was right. As they made another turn, the cavern became a dark and sad sight. The only light was from Slugari using Bastial Energy to make their bodies give off a dim glow.
“I suppose that means we won’t be sleeping on a flower bed,” Steffen realized.
“Unfortunately, that’s correct. You’ll be using the dirt just like a Slugari.”
I hope we’re not going to be here too long.
Steffen thought he recognized Queen as the female Slugari coming toward them. The Dajrik was behind her. Marratrice grabbed Steffen’s arm at the sight of the giant.
“It won’t hurt us, right?” she whispered.
“I was about to ask the same thing,” Jack said.
Even Javy took a few steps back, letting out a low whistle of amazement.
Steffen was surprised to see that the wounds on the Dajrik’s chest had healed. He knew the arrows wouldn’t have been enough to kill the giant creature, but he was still in awe at how fast its tough skin had repaired itself.
Because it looked like the Dajrik wore slabs of rock, it seemed as if any damage done to its exterior would last longer than a cut on normal skin. But the holes created from the arrowheads were completely closed up, barely visible anymore, even.
As Queen and the Dajrik came closer, everyone backed up. For each step the giant took, Steffen could feel it in his chest, rattling his heart. The Dajrik’s black eyes scanned the group, stopping on Steffen.
“Hello,” he said in Slugaren, his voice so deep Steffen barely could understand the word.
Shaking with nervous excitement, “hello,” was all he could mutter back.
“The Dajrik is happy to see you again, Steffen,” Queen said, slithering forward to close the distance between them. “And I am as well.”
Javy interrupted before Steffen could return the compliment. “We’re overjoyed you’ve agreed to this alliance. I’m Javy Rayvender of King Welson Kimard’s council. I’ll be speaking with you about where to put your tunnels and how you’ll be fighting with us in this war. I was told there’s something you’ve found beneath Tenred that could be dangerous?”
“Yes. And I’m Queen, the leader of the Slugari. I hope you don’t mind if we talk as we travel north.”
“I don’t mind,” Javy answered, moving out of the way for the Dajrik to walk past him and start reassembling the blocks of pokihem across the entrance.
Steffen felt a quick storm of anxiety rush through him when he realized they were closed in, stuck until the Dajrik wished to remove the stone plant blocking their way out.
“May I ask how far north we’re traveling?” Javy asked.
“All the way to Tenred,” Queen said. “We have food and water ready for us along the way. Let me know when you become tired, and we can stop for sleep. Are you ready?”
Javy and Jack shared a look.
“All the way to Tenred?” Javy repeated.
“It’s much better if you see what we’ve discovered for yourself.”
For once, Javy didn’t seem composed. He quickly shifted to let the Dajrik past him. The giant took a spot behind Queen and waited.
“Alright,” Javy finally agreed. “Let’s go see what’s below Tenred.”
Chapter 25:
STEFFEN
Steffen was keen on listening to every word exchanged between Javy and Queen. Both agreed that the Slugari would be better off above ground if there was a spot ready for them in Kyrro—where all their plants could thrive from natural sun and rain. Unfortunately, this wasn’t yet the case. King Welson needed more time to prepare a mass of land for them between Trentyre and Gendock. In the meantime, the Slugari had tunneled into the northern end of Raywhite Forest.
When all logistics were discussed and implemented, the Slugari would join the Kyrro Army at the first sign of an attack, using their touch to feed the mages Bastial Energy. Queen was concerned that the Slugari would end up being little more than a distraction to hungry Krepps, but Javy assured her that the Slugari would be the last to fall if a battle was lost, reminding her that if Kyrro was defeated, nothing would stop the Krepps from wiping out the whole Slugari colony.
Queen wasn’t happy about Javy’s reminder, and there was some distance between them from then on.
When the conversation between them switched to where specific tunnels would be, how many men would be guarding them, what kind of supplies would be exchanged between the Humans and the Slugari in each location, and other boring topics, Steffen began talking with Marratrice instead.
Jack walked alongside Queen and Javy, chiming in about plants when necessary. It gave Steffen enough privacy to ask Marratrice something he’d been wondering.
“Javy brought up that you were planning to do something down here. What was it?”
Her hand went back into her coat pocket. “Nothing.”
“Marratrice, people tell me that I’m terrible at hiding things, but I think you might be worse than I am.” Steffen pointed at her pocket.
“My Bastial stars, it’s been that obvious?”
“What do you have in there?”
She slowed her pace and checked on Javy ahead before pulling out an old leather pouch no wider than her palm.
“What could fit in there that needs to be kept a secret?” Steffen asked.
“Something special.” She spoke with such a playful tone that the sudden contrast to her guilt made her seem relieved to be speaking about it.
Not only was the pouch small, it looked empty from the way the leather folded in on itself.
“You don’t believe me,” Marratrice said.
Steffen fixed his face. “Sorry. It’s just hard to understand how something so small can be that special.”
“The best surprises can be hidden in the palm of your hand.” Marratrice reached into the pouch and pulled out a single seed. Yellow and shaped like an oval, there was nothing special about it to Steffen. But Marratrice seemed in awe as she held it up between them.
“This seed came from Goldram with the ship carrying Gen Takary and the original settlers of Kyrro,” she said. “It’s been passed down through generations of my family, and my mother gave it to me when I was accepted to the Academy.”
“It must be completely useless by now,” Steffen said.
Marratrice shook her head forcefully, her red hair falling across her cheek. She brushed it back. “These seeds last thousands of years. Have you ever heard the story of the evesal vine?”
“No.” Fiction was of little interest to Steffen. Though from the way Marratrice was talking about this vine, he wondered if she thought it was real.
“They’ve put it into a song in Greenedge. I think it’s most popular up north in Zav, for that’s the land closest to the place where the evesal vine used to grow before desmarls took over.”
Steffen pointed at it. “You’re saying that seed is from northern Greenedge, which has been inhabited by desmarls for hundreds of years?”
“Yes.”
Steffen tried to hide his skepticism, but it didn’t work.
“You still don’t believe me,” she said, sounding hurt.
“I’m sorry.”
“I didn’t make this up. There are plenty of people who’ve heard of the evesal vines.”
“And there are plenty of people who’ve heard of dragons and buried treasure,” Steffen countered. “It doesn’t mean either exist.”
“I know these do.” Marratrice arched her red eyebrows over a flat mouth, ready for Steffen to disagree.
“How can you possibly know that?”
“Because I believe the people who told me.” Marratrice put the seed back in her pouch and then stuffed it into her pocket. “You told me that you believed the Slugari were real before you found out they really were. Why believe in them and not this?”
“There were many facts that helped explain how the Slugari were
most likely real.”
“And how did you hear about these facts?”
“I read them in various books.”
Marratrice turned to show Steffen a triumphant smile. “And I heard about the evesal vines from people I trust, which is a much better source than a book. They’re real. My Bastial stars, Steffen, I haven’t even told you the story yet and you’re already in disbelief. I’ve never met someone so skeptical. What’s made you this way?”
Marratrice was right. Why was he already set to regard her story as fiction?
He took a few breaths to think.
“I suppose it’s because authors know not to put words on the page and claim they’re true when they’re not. Books are sacred not only to those who read them, but to those who write them. What kind of person would go through the trouble just to lie? Writing a book doesn’t just take time and effort, it leaves part of you with whoever reads it. The kind of people who would lie instead of writing fiction have found other ways to deceive people—easier ways, such as telling their story to anyone who’ll listen. That’s why most lies are spoken and not written.”
“So if you read that this seed is hundreds of years old and came from an evesal vine in northern Greenedge, you would believe it?”
“It’s more that, because I haven’t ever read about the evesal vine—or any story about someone holding onto the seeds of an extinct plant from northern Greenedge—it’s difficult to believe. I read a lot of nonfiction, Marratrice. It’s rare for me to hear of something like this that I’ve never read about already.”
“Have you ever thought that maybe the book just hasn’t been written yet?” She had a wry smile.
Steffen didn’t want to argue. “Alright, I’m curious. Why is this vine special, and what’re you planning to do with it?”
Marratrice lowered her voice. “Don’t tell Javy Rayvender after I tell you.” She paused, waiting for Steffen to agree.
“I won’t.”
She cleared her throat. “The evesal vine doesn’t need anything but water and Sartious Energy to grow. But it grows fast, and if it isn’t given lots of SE, it will die. Growing along the vine is a fruit that’s a beautiful green color and is one of the most delicious in the world. When desmarls were small, people put them near evesal vines to guard the plants from bugs and feed them with the SE that the desmarls produced. But after people were forced to flee the north, only a few evesal seeds went with them, and people didn’t have enough control over Sartious Energy to keep them alive once they got big enough to produce fruit and new seeds.”