Escape? Slobad asked. Who?
Glissa, his old voice responded. This thing Crab-legs has got you building-it’s gonna kill her. And you. But killing you might not be so bad, huh?
Glissa? Slobad’s splintered mind asked. Who that?
Glissa, as it had turned out, overshot the entrance to Krark-Home when she charged off in a rage. After a confusing, unnecessary chase, Bruenna dragged her back to the hidden door.
“Mother,” Bruenna said, placing her hand against a typical oxidized iron outcropping that looked a little too typical. At Bruenna’s touch and the spoken password, the rock had shimmered and disappeared, revealing a long tunnel carved from solid copper ore lit by erratically spaced goblin flame tubes that sparked and crackled in their sconces. They had landed at the threshold and walked from there. Bruenna informed her that Krark-Home was protected by several magical dampening auras for security, and Glissa didn’t question her. She’d had no doubt the mage knew what she was talking about.
Geth’s head had been mercifully quiet. Probably for his own protection. Glissa kept telling herself she had a good reason to keep the thing with her, and indeed maybe he would be useful. And besides, the Geth was the only other being that had been stuck outside of time along with her. It was a weird bond, but Glissa wasn’t ready to sever it yet. Part of her was still having trouble trusting that this was all real, and Geth’s head was a grisly reality check. She’d found a few old rags lying about and stuffed them over the zombie head to smother the odor a bit, and so far no one seemed to notice it. Either that, or none of the goblin guards they passed were willing to tell her she smelled like a corpse.
Now, the elf girl was going to learn if the long journey had been worth it. She wasn’t sure what to expect from Dwugget. Bruenna had been extremely evasive about who else she could expect to see in the closed chamber before her. Glissa wondered if she wouldn’t have been better off just heading for the Tangle. She imagined what five years of growth around the lacuna would have done to the place. The hunting would be fantastic.
“Glissa,” Bruenna said, indicating the pack holding Geth’s head. “Are you sure you want to bring that?”
Glissa nodded. “He’s with me for now.”
“Up to you. You’re the Chosen One,” Bruenna said. “Ready? We’re on.”
“Will you stop calling me the-” A metallic scraping that ended in a loud click interrupted Glissa, and the heavy clockwork lock on the double doors slid open. The elf girl straightened and shrugged her shoulders in an attempt to make the pack on her back a little less conspicuous. With a rush of equalizing air pressure, the bronze doors swung inward, away from them, with a clang that rang like a gong.
“Presenting Glissa of the Tangle,” bellowed a goblin crier, his voice sending tinny echoes resounding throughout the throne room. “And the Lady Bruenna,” the crier added, almost as an afterthought.
Glissa stood in the archway of a huge cavern. The rusty red walls were coated with centuries of smoke residue from burning flame tubes. Dozens, maybe hundreds of the tubes lined the jagged walls, and smoke from the flames rushed up a wide central shaft that opened overhead. Glissa couldn’t see the end, but the smoke was going somewhere. Cool air also rush in from both sides through vents carved into the walls at floor level.
She wasn’t sure what the cavern had once been, but it was now rearranged into a throne room. A path hewn from the rough copper floor ran straight out ahead of her, watched on the right side by a line of twelve armored goblins carrying spears and shields. Along the left were an equal number of leonin warriors in glittering gold and silver plate. The leonin warriors, all males, clutched battle-scythes and stared straight ahead, chins slightly raised, matching the rigid attention stance of their goblin counterparts. The path ended in a short set of wide stairs leading up to a platform that looked like a small mountain of iron ore the the top sliced neatly off.
Atop the platform sat three ornately carved thrones. The largest, in the center, was plated in gold and held an alert but relaxed leonin male Glissa immediately recognized. A short male goblin was seated to the leonin’s right, and on his left, once again wearing the engraved slagwurm armor of the Tel-Jilad, was an elf. And elf with one eye but a face that was like looking at a mirror. So that’s why Bruenna had mentioned her sister and refused to go into details. If she hadn’t seen it herself, Glissa wouldn’t have believed it. She clenched her jaw to keep it from dropping open.
“Yshkar? Dwugget …” she gulped and forced herself to finish. “Lyese.” When none of the three responded immediately, Glissa followed Bruenna’s lead and bowed deeply.
“So, what’s new?” Glissa asked. “I mean, besides everything.”
CHAPTER 19
Lyese rose from her throne-her sister was sitting on a throne-and walked with unusual dignity and grace down the hewn steps. The elf girl didn’t say a word, but when she reached Glissa, she stopped and stared long and hard into her older sister’s eyes. Glissa returned the stare, but after a moment she arched an eyebrow and asked, “Looking for something?”
Lyese straightened and called up to the platform, “It is Glissa.” She returned to the older girl and swept her into a hug. Glissa held her sister tightly, tears suddenly welling in her eyes. “Lyese,” she said, “I’m so sorry. Sorry I’ve been gone. I was trapped.”
“I know,” Lyese said, smiling through tears. “We had given up all hope, but then Bruenna found a way to get through-Glissa, you’re alive!”
“So why are you-”
“I’m the Khanha!”
“What’s a Khaha?”
“Khanha. I’m married to-”
“You’re married?”
“Yes, I’m the-”
“Khanha. You said that. You mean you’re married to-”
“The Kha,” Yshkar rumbled, striding purposefully down the steps. “We welcome you to our … temporary home. You have come at an opportune time, Glissa of the Tangle.”
“Hold on a minute,” Glissa said, poking a finger into Yshkar’s chest, stopping the surprised leonin in his tracks. “Lyese, you married Raksha?”
“Er, no,” Lyese said, and her eyes fell to the floor. “Raksha is-Glissa, Raksha is gone. Yshkar and I …” Her sister shrugged.
Glissa was floored. Lyese had displayed a crush on Raksha Golden Cub, but Yshkar? It was unexpected, to say the least. “Raksha’s dead? Bruenna, why didn’t you tell me?”
“We asked her to bring you here without delay,” Yshkar said. “Once you’d been detected, we could do nothing else.”
“Explaining about Raksha would have just slowed us down,” Bruenna explained sadly. “It is not a tale I enjoy relating. Truthfully, he may not be dead, but he is no longer with us.”
“Yes, but all say Glissa should know everything, huh?” Dwugget growled, hopping down from his own throne to join the impromptu discussion.
“Thanks, Dwugget,” Glissa said the wizened little goblin. “I think. Hey, why did your men attack me last-uh, decade?”
“You full of questions, huh? Just like the rest of us,” the old cleric said, nodding sagely. “But there is much to tell, from many angles, and much arguing, that always fun. And we have some time, huh? All talk over dinner. Then, action.” He winked. “All friends now, huh?”
“If you say so,” Glissa sighed. She didn’t know what to make of Dwugget’s presence, but he had helped her long ago, when her life had first gone crazy. And Slobad had trusted him. Still, the old goblin seemed filled with tension under his jolly demeanor, shifting on his feet a little too much. She would have to keep an eye on him.