He did convince Li not to mention that he was now the Dog and Mei was the Rat. He was certain that Mei would prefer to let Ky know in her own time, and he wasn’t sure he ever wanted his cousin to know he was anything other than an unusually powerful male. Not because he thought Ky would tell anyone, but because he was afraid she wouldn’t feel free to tease and py with him if she found out he was, in some way, a little bit like one of the humans’ gods.
By the time they cleared away all of the cores that were directly beneath the opening to the tunnel, enough rubble had built up against Kaz’s shield that they had to move even more cores. As Kaz gently set the st sphere onto a triangur stack, he shook his head, looking at Ky. “How long is that tunnel? I thought we were only fifty feet or so down, but there’s a lot of rock ready to fall when I drop my shield.”
Ky gave him a look that young kobolds had been giving older kobolds for as long as Kaz could remember. It was a look that told Kaz his question was ridiculous, and he really should know better, but she wasn’t going to say so out loud. “It’s at least a hundred feet,” she told him. “It was hard to tell while I was sliding down it. They’re probably making stairs, or would be if you’d clear out the rock in the way.”
Kaz blinked. “That quickly? For that matter, how did Mei get here so fast?”
Ky smirked, her ears twitching. “The Goldbdes are very, very good at digging, but Mei is even better.”
Kaz stared at the tunnel, seeing that what had been bright golden cores were now noticeably dimmer, and closer. Mei’s core, on the other hand, was still overhead, next to Raff’s blend of mana and red sparks of ki. He could even see five tiny cores burning beside Mei, though they were difficult to pick out against her white light. They certainly didn’t seem to be a hundred feet or more away.
Then he realized what was happening. Kaz himself had become more powerful, and now he could see far more clearly at a greater distance. Curious as to what the limit might be, he let his physical eyes unfocus as his internal vision snapped into sharp definition.
It was like looking up at the stars. Thousands of them; some bright, some dim. A few flickered and went out even as he watched. Each one represented a single kobold, with denser gatherings making up families and tribes. If he wanted to, Kaz thought he could have picked out Katri and her Longknife tribe. Resisting the urge, he turned his head, staring away, outside the mountain, toward the rest of the beings for whom he had taken responsibility.
If looking up had been like gazing into a clear night sky, looking around was like staring at the embers of a fire. Dogs of all kinds were everywhere, and he realized abruptly that he could see all of them, not just the ones with cores, though those drew his eyes the most. And out there, mingled among coyotes and jackals, were more kobolds, gathered in small groups of mostly females, each with one bright spark at the heart of it.
The Fallen. But how did they Fall? What was so special about the inside of the mountain, and why did Kaz’s people lose their intelligence and power so quickly when they left? It was something else he could need to think about, but not yet. Right now, he had stairs to clear.
Opening his eyes again, he found that everyone was staring at him. Ky looked impatient, while Li seemed thoughtful, and Heishe’s dark eyes held a depth of understanding he could hardly bear to look at.
Kaz nodded, suspecting she was speaking from hard-won experience. Heishe had told them that she spent long years deep below the surface of the earth, swimming through hidden waterways, only to find most of her siblings dead or missing when she finally emerged. If she saw her serpents like he did his dogs, it would indeed be simple to believe that their sheer numbers meant that they were fine.
Kaz looked from his dragon to his cousin, twitching his ears in curiosity. “What?”
Ky let out a beleaguered sigh. “They howled from above. They can’t dig any deeper while you’re holding the debris.”
Huffing in embarrassment, Kaz motioned for everyone to move back. Li had allowed Shom to slip from her back quite a while ago. Fortunately, it wasn’t that far from her back to the floor, and Shom was astonishingly resilient, but Kaz still moved her limp body a bit further out of the way before removing his shield.
He immediately realized that he really should have howled a warning, because loud yelps sounded from above as a cascade of rock poured out of the tunnel. Fortunately, the Goldbdes’ cores didn’t slide down too far before they apparently managed to regain their paws, but then a whole group of other people detached from those above, and began to hurry down the stairs, making Kaz back up and start casting longing looks over his shoulder. Surely it wouldn’t be that difficult to make his way back across the room filled with trash, and he would have to face it eventually anyway.
Yingtao came first, her hands buried in her sleeves as she leaped lightly to the top of the pile of rubble, not disturbing a single stone. Lianhua was next, and Yingtao helped her mate down from their precarious perch. After that were Ija, Avli, and Tisdi, in no particur order, as they all seemed determined to be first and instead nearly plugged up the hole. Kaz could see that Raff and Mei were still above, as was Tisdi’s mate, Baihe, and Elder Long.
Feeling somewhat ashamed at having forgotten, Kaz turned to Lianhua. “Is your grandfather going to be all right?” He could tell that the old male’s cycle had been disrupted somehow, and it was far weaker than it should have been, but he didn’t see anything that truly concerned him. Like Shom, Elder Long was far tougher than his age and his small body would indicate, and if he was alive, there was a good chance he would remain that way for the foreseeable future.
Lianhua’s smile was bright with relief, and she actually managed to drag her eyes away from their surroundings to look at Kaz. “He will be. At first we thought Nucai lied or gave us the wrong antidote, but Yingtao tested it, and when we gave it to Grandfather, he almost immediately started getting better. Grandmother is a little worried that his cultivation may have been compromised, and this would be a very bad time for that, but even if it is, it would only mean that he couldn’t ascend.”
Kaz could see the conflict in her eyes as she spoke. There was no doubt that Lianhua wanted both of her grandparents to stay with her, and she had no intention of attempting to ascend. But whether they died of old age or surpassed the heavens, she would lose them in a matter of a few years, and she knew it.
Yingtao id a gentle hand on Lianhua’s back, and Lianhua smiled at her gratefully. The taller female looked toward her brother and said, “I know you’re there, Chi Yincang. What did you think you were doing, coming into this pce without orders?”
Chi Yincang jumped down from the table where he’d been perching, and Kaz realized with a start that the other male had been using his concealment. Apparently that no longer worked on Kaz, in spite of the fact that he was fairly certain Chi Yincang must have had a minor breakthrough, because Kaz had completely lost track of him when they entered Nucai’s den.
The dark eyes were as impassive as ever, but Chi Yincang gave the smallest of shrugs. “I, too, was concerned that this Nucai would betray Elder Long and you. If there was a real antidote, I hoped to find it.”
Yingtao gave him a ft look, as if she didn’t quite believe his words, but there was nothing to be done about it. Chi Yincang’s true motives were as inscrutable as ever.
“I did find this one,” Chi Yincang said, nodding toward Id’s unconscious body. “And some others I recognize from her tribe.”
“Prisoners?” Lianhua asked, as Yingtao said, “Guards?”
The corner of Chi Yincang’s mouth twitched. “Both.”
Ija, Avli, and Tisdi turned away from the cores around them. Ija had her hand across her muzzle, while Avli and Tisdi both looked calm. Tisdi took in Ija’s expression with a hint of surprise, and said, “You must return to the cavern above, Magmabade. No female who has not eaten a core can be allowed to enter this pce, including you.” For once, her dark eyes were compassionate, rather than wary.
Ija shook her head. “I should-”
“Go,” Avli said firmly. “Now.” Taking hold of the other chief’s shoulders, she turned Ija toward the tunnel, pushing her forward until the Magmabde chief began to climb toward the descending Goldbdes.
“That includes the diggers,” Avli called after her. “That’ll have to stop, and anyone who comes down will have to slide the rest of the way.”
Kaz and the others watched the two chiefs in bemusement, until Tisdi quietly expined, “Once someone has eaten one core, the compulsion to eat others is much less. It’s not something we speak of, for fear of encouraging young kobolds to try one. Which makes me wonder, young Ky, why you are here, while your sister was forced to flee.”
Everyone turned to look at Ky, whose ears fttened as her tail hid beneath her new loincloth. Her eyes flickered from the chiefs to the tunnel, as if wondering if there was any way she could escape without them noticing.
“There were these lizards, you see,” Ky finally burst out. “Samanders. And every one had a core! I was out of power, and I knew if I didn’t eat it, we would all die. It’s the only reason I made it through the incinerator.”
Tisdi sighed. “And did you know that part of the spirit hunt for females is resisting the urge to eat any cores they find?”
Kaz hadn’t, but Ky’s muzzle jerked up and down in acknowledgement. “Does that mean I failed?” she whispered. “I’ll have to try again?” She sounded so devastated that Kaz nearly said something, but Tisdi was already speaking.
“That’s up to your chief,” the Wavebde said in such a way that Kaz remembered she had a daughter of her own. There was a wealth of both empathy and reproach in her voice, and Ky visibly sagged.
“You’re far from the first to fail that aspect of their hunt, and still be accepted as an adult,” Avli said. “But you should go up and tell Ija. Privately.”
Ky opened her mouth to argue, but both great chiefs gave her such looks of expectation that she turned and made her way to the tunnel. No more sounds of pickaxes reached their ears, so the Goldbdes must have listened to Ija, which was a good sign. Just before Kaz’s cousin began to climb, however, she stuck her head back out and said, “Don’t start going through the stinky treasure room without me, Kaz!” Then she was gone, leaving everyone else looking at Kaz with much the same expressions of expectation.
Kaz sighed, but Li said,