"A well! Where?" Alya demanded.
The Highbulp pointed at the burned-out collapsed mound. Just beside it stood a low circular wall of crumbling blackened stones and a few bits of charred sticks. "Well deep. Fire burn bucket. No reach water now," the Highbulp croaked. Alya crossed to the well and, shading her eyes, looked over the lip of stone. In the darkness below, she saw a faint glimmer of a reflection, and a cool wet scent wafted up the stone shaft, promising water.
"I don't suppose you have a rope," Alya said as she scratched her head and looked around, trying to figure out some way to get to the water.
The Highbulp nodded and dug into the sack dangling by a strap from her shoulder. In moments, she produced a foot-long piece of rotting cotton twine and handed it to Alya.
"Something a bit longer," she said absently. "Valian! Jessica!" she shouted, seeing the two Knights and the priest exiting a distant mound. Catching sight of the squat creatures beside Alya, they hurried over.
"Have you seen any rope?" Alya called as they neared.
"Is this… is one of these Uhoh?" Valian asked. Alya shrugged.
At the sound of that name, the three gully dwarves cringed away from the Knights. They seemed almost ready to forget their thirst and run away.
"We are looking for Uhoh Ragnap," Jessica smiled, trying to calm the gully dwarves' fears. "Have you seen him?"
The smallest of the three dust-coated gully dwarves burst into wails of lamentation. Tears tracked down her face, forming little mudballs, which clung to her cheeks.
"Slagd take Uhoh!" she yammered.
"Slagd?" Alya asked.
"Draconians," Nalvarre said. He knelt beside the weeping gully dwarf. "Glabella? It's me, Nalvarre."
She blinked at him for a moment, sniffling, then threw her arms around his neck and renewed her sobs. The third gully dwarf joined them, adding his tears to the reunion.
"These are the two who were with Uhoh," Nalvarre explained, having to shout to be heard. He pulled Glabella from his neck and brushed the hair from her face. "Listen to me," he said. "Was Uhoh alive?"
She nodded, her lower lip trembling.
"Where did they take him?" he asked.
Sobbing between words, she said, "They take Uhoh to mountain."
"Which mountain?" Alya said. "The whole area is nothing but mountains. Meanwhile, we need to find a way to get to this water. Did any of you see any ropes or chains?"
"Yes," Valian said.
"Well go and get them, and see if you can scrounge up a bucket with a handle," she ordered.
With a dark look at his commander, the elf stalked away.
"After we've all had a good drink and washed the dust from our faces, we can sit down and find out what really happened here," she added.
"Right!" the Highbulp agreed. Then in an aside to Alya, she whispered, "These gulpfungers die of thirst without me and you."
22
The scent of water drew gully dwarves in from the desert in droves. Nalvarre and Lumpo spent most of the afternoon drawing water from the well and filling every vessel and jug the gully dwarves could scrounge. To the surprise of the Knights, many of these were bowls and chalices of beaten gold and jeweled silver. Like magic, the gully dwarves conjured from the earthen mounds treasures worthy of the finest families of Sancrist or even Palanthas.
As darkness fell, Nalvarre built a bonfire around which the gully dwarves celebrated their deliverance by breaking out cactus beer, a bitter brew concocted by a group of old gammers who chewed up pieces of cactus into a mush, which they then spit into a communal cauldron. Once the cauldron was filled, they let it sit for several days to ferment. With this celebration, the gully dwarves brought out a cauldron that had been fermenting for two days. Soon, everyone had a bowl or cup and was dipping into the roiling pink stew.
Glabella brought Valian a frothy bowl, but he politely declined it, saying he preferred water. She shrugged and flopped beside him, sipping her beer and watching him from the corner of her eye. Timidly, she reached out a hand and touched his long white hair.
"You pretty," she said.
He eyed her with a bit of alarm. "Thank you," he said.
"You nice Knight," she whispered. "Uhoh say Knights bad, but you good Knight."
He leaned his head closer to hers and asked, "And why did Uhoh say Knights are bad?"
" 'Cause that's what Papa say when he die," she whispered.
"I see," the elf said.
"But he wrong. You nice," she cooed.
Across from them, Alya and Jessica sat on either side of the Highbulp. Alya leaned forward and clanged her golden drinking bowl against a rock. "I think it is time that we get the whole story. We've wasted enough time on this trip. I want to know what happened to Uhoh?"
The Highbulp rose unsteadily to her feet. "Highbulp Mommamose I tell you. This way it happen. I born good place, plenty food, I very happy," she began.
Alya sighed in exasperation. "We don't want your whole life story, just what happened to Uhoh last night," she said.
With an impatient wave of her hand, the gully dwarf continued. "I very happy. I grow up happy, I marry happy, I have happy baby. Then I drop happy baby on head. I name him Uhoh."
Glabella clapped. "That my favorite story. Tell it again," she said.
"Later," the Highbulp scowled. "One day things go all wrong. Slagd come, put all us Bulps on big ship, we sail and sail and sail, two days. There many slagd on ship, all kinds. Captain no got wings."
"An aurak," Valian said. "How many slagd were on the ship?"
"Two," she said, holding up five fingers. "Ship bring us here."
"Here?" Jessica asked.
"Not here, there," the Highbulp said, pointing north. "How you think ship get here? This desert," she said sarcastically.
"Sorry," Jessica said.
"We get off ship," the Highbulp continued. "Slagd make us help build big castle on mountain by sea. They whip Bulps and put us in dungeon. We no get plenty food. We not happy. I cut stone. All day long I cut stone." She wrung her hands as though in remembrance of the pain.
"When castle done, big no-wing slagd say he Highbulp. Other slagd call him Old Man. They busy, busy all the time then, forget about Bulps. Sometimes we cook, sometimes clean castle. One time thunder hit tower, so we fix it. They forget us most time. We a little happy, but we still not get food."
During this account of the gully dwarves' misery, the look of disgust on Alya's face was slowly replaced by one of curiosity. Finally, she interrupted. "Do you mean to say that there is a draconian stronghold somewhere on this island?"
"Castle Slagd," the Highbulp nodded.
"I never heard of it," Jessica shrugged.
"How long has it been here?" Valian asked.
The Highbulp held up four fingers. "Two years," she answered. "Not more than two."
"This is unbelievable," Alya declared.
"But what happened to Uhoh?" Nalvarre asked.
"I try to tell, but they butt in," the Highbulp said with a frown. "I try to say, I hungry at castle. Those hungry days I look for way out to go find food, and I find way out. So I go find food. Aghar follow me, lots Aghar. I walk this way. We come here. I say I Highbulp now. I Highbulp Mommamose I, and this place Town. We got lots to eat here. Got good lizards, good bugs, good cactus. Good water, good beer. I happy.
"Uhoh sad. He funny 'cause I drop him on head. He not stay. He take young Aghar and go that way," she said, pointing south. "I tell him you no go. You get in trouble. But he not listen. He never listen to Mommamose." She sniffled and wiped away a motherly tear.
"And he get in trouble, like I say. He come back here, but trouble come too. Slagd come. Slagd burn down mound. They take Uhoh, go that way." She pointed north.
"How many slagd?" Valian asked.
"Two," she answered, holding up two fingers.