Fortress Al-Mir

“Is this a good idea, Master?”

As used to Vezta as Arkk was, he still jolted at the way Vezta formed a mouth on one of the tendrils that emerged from the shadow around him. It moved with him, just appearing out of the ground. With his blindfold still in place, he only saw it through his employee sight. That only made it all the eerier, watching as it seemed to slide along the ground, inhuman maw facing him.

Despite being unnerved, he put on a smile. “I trust you to keep the gorgon away should they attack.”

The tendril sighed, an odd mannerism from the fleshy limb, and then retreated into the shadows.

“I do have a quick question though,” Arkk said, not pausing as he hurried after the gorgon. He stumbled a bit, tripping over rocks that he couldn’t see. Glowstones in the cave let him see where he was going now that they weren’t being washed out by the daylight outside but the perspective with which he saw occluded the ground directly in front of him. It took a bit of care not to fall on his face. “At Darkwood, several different monsters were working together for that enemy Keeper. Including a monster that I was assured would never work alongside its own kind. Is there something about the Heart that… encourages cooperation, for lack of a better term?”

“As far as I understand it,” Vezta said, tendril emerging once again, “the [HEART] does not impose any mental magic like what we suspected this spellcaster to be capable of. If someone with a bond intends to attack you, the bond will be broken immediately.”

“And that bond doesn’t falter between employees no matter their intentions,” Arkk mumbled to himself, thinking back to the times the orcs tried attacking one another. “Do you have any explanation for the cooperation of the Darkwood ghasts?”

The tendril shook in a way that Arkk recognized as a negative. “Perhaps being bound to the same entity instilled a sense of comradery that the creatures normally lack? Why do you ask, if I may?”

“Just trying to figure out how best to use everything to our advantage,” Arkk said, falling silent as the long tunnel opened up into a much wider cavern. Wooden planks laid out in the tunnel provided extra footing. More wood had been brought in here, anchored to the walls as a rickety staircase that descended into the mine.

The gorgon he had been chasing after didn’t traverse the stairs as easily as the relatively flat tunnel, giving Arkk plenty of time to catch up.

“Wait!”

The gorgon turned its head upward.

Arkk felt something. A tingle in his fingertips and toes. For an instant, he feared he miscalculated with the blindfold. The feeling didn’t progress. A quick check of his hand showed no sign of stone. Shrugging the sensation off as nerves, he turned his head down to fully meet with the gorgon below. “What are you going to do?”

“If the human valuess itss life, the human would leave before drawing the attention of my den.”

“I need to speak with that human,” Arkk said.

“The den won’t allow that human to live after desseiving uss.”

“Yes, well, how are you going to convince your den that he’s a human? You open that door and I bet he looks like a snake again. It is your word against his and your den’s eyes.”

That comment got the gorgon to narrow its eyes.

“The human is a powerful spellcaster,” Arkk continued. “He put an entire human settlement into some kind of sleep that they haven’t woken from even after months. Who knows what he might do if he thinks you all are turning on him.”

“Thiss iss a matter for uss. What iss your sstake, human?”

“He is a powerful spellcaster,” Arkk said. “I’m conducting a ritual that requires many powerful spellcasters, so I would prefer if you didn’t try to kill him. Also, I’m sure people would be very happy if he would undo whatever spell he put over that human village I mentioned.”

“None matterss to uss.”

Arkk pressed his lips together. “I suppose I should have expected that.”

The gorgon turned away, resuming its slow trek down the stairs. Arkk continued after it. “Hold on, you still have to convince the other—”

A loud hissing noise cut Arkk off. It didn’t come from the gorgon he was following but rather from one of the large tunnels branching out into the walls at the bottom of the stairs. He froze, though the other gorgon did not.

The green-scaled gorgon emerged from the tunnel. Larger than the black one with a more masculine frame, it rushed straight to the stairs in a move that made Arkk take a few steps back up. It didn’t rush up the stairs, thankfully, but rather stopped at the black gorgon. They engaged in a rapid series of hissing along with undulating movements of their tails that must have had some kind of meaning. Arkk didn’t understand any of it.

“If they start attacking, collapse the stairs below me?” he mumbled, watching from above.

Vezta didn’t respond verbally but Arkk noted dark tendrils emerging from the shadows to wrap around several of the stairs ahead of him.

As the two gorgon spoke—or communicated—more started emerging from the same tunnel the green one had passed through. In short order, Arkk was pretty sure all of the mine’s eight gorgon were gathered down below, sporting a variety of colors. Green, red and black, yellowy orange, and brown. Only about half of them were actively participating in the argument. The others had taken up positions slithering back and forth at the base of the stairs, waiting for the command to surge upward.

Something the iridescent black gorgon said gave even the ones passively listening pause. It pointed up toward Arkk before swinging its arm over to another tunnel that, from his scrying, Arkk knew led down to where Savren had taken up residence. It then held out its hands, making a spherical motion. Arkk presumed it was talking about the crystal ball.

The deep viridescent snake turned its head upward, aiming emerald green eyes at Arkk. “Human,” it said, voice deeper than Arkk expected yet still maintaining that breathy quality that the iridescent snake had. “Sshow us of what sshe sspeakss.”

“The crystal ball?” Arkk didn’t need to turn his head to look around with the way he was seeing the area. He did so anyway. If the way the snakes had been moving while talking was any indication, body language was important for the gorgon. “What assurances do I have that you won’t attack me if I go down there?”

The viridescent snake drew itself up a little higher. “None.”

“Oh. Well, that’s inviting,” Arkk mumbled. “Do you think you can take on all eight at once?”

He felt something squirming up his back. Warm breath tickled his ear as Vezta spoke from just behind his shoulder. “With my eyes closed, I can do little but thrash wildly.”

“Is that a yes or a no?”

“It’s an ‘I wish my master wouldn’t be so foolish as to descend into the gorgon den.’”

“Since you aren’t protesting more, I’ll take that as a yes,” Arkk said. Louder, he called down to the gathered gorgon. “Alright. I brought gifts. I know you all have been eating rats and I can’t imagine they’re very appealing, so please, enjoy these chickens,” he said, leaving the basket behind so that he could hold the chicken out. The basket was for Savren anyway with its fruits, vegetables, and bread. “And if you don’t attack me, I could probably get more,” he added, descending.

Reaching the bottom, the four that had been slithering back and forth didn’t rush him. He took that as a good sign. Holding the chicken out brought them a little closer, obviously wary. Their tongues kept darting out, licking the air around him. One with an orange diamond pattern down its back snatched a pair of chickens from him as he slowly walked forward. It tasted the air around the chicken in its hands for a long moment before opening its mouth far too wide. Snapping the string that kept the two chickens attached, it reared its head back and shoved the entire bird down its throat, whole. Larry had plucked them before Arkk left but he wondered if that would have even mattered as he watched the snake’s throat visibly constrict and pull the chicken further down into its long body.

None of the others came for the chicken. While Arkk watched in a disgusted fascination that he couldn’t quite look away from, the other gorgon watched as well though with a different purpose, maybe expecting the orange one to keel over from poison.

After a moment, it settled down on its coils, making a noise. An odd buzzing noise. Almost like a cat purring, but not quite as… soothing. Still, it seemed to be a noise of contentment.

Another gorgon picked up the discarded chicken and began the same air-tasting process before it too decided to eat it whole. That broke the tension over the rest. All except the black and green snakes quickly relieved Arkk of his gifts. There was a whole chicken for each of them. That left him holding one pair, which he held out as he approached the two remaining snakes.

The black one accepted it, snapping the string tying the chickens together before handing the spare over. The green gorgon didn’t take it, however, staring over Arkk. It left the black one behind, circling Arkk while its tongue darted out of its mouth.

“I’m not here to be enemies,” Arkk said, speaking with as much confidence as he could muster. The gorgon accepting his offerings helped bolster his confidence quite a bit. It would help even more if that Drought of Rest he had soaked them in actually worked. “In fact, now that I know the situation here isn’t what I expected, I think—”

“You ssmell of the sstarss,” the green gorgon hissed as it came to a stop a little too close for comfort.

Arkk licked his dry lips. It could smell Vezta? “Is that a good thing or a bad thing?”

“That remainss to be sseen.”

Ever since he had been a child, he had quizzed everyone who came to Langleey Village on every topic he could think of. While that impulse had died out a little as he got older, it hadn’t died completely. None had mentioned stars until just the other week ago. The inquisitors had mentioned an unusual smell around him as well. Unable to help his curiosity, Arkk had to ask, “What do stars smell like, anyway?”

The green snake’s tongue shot out into the air again, wiggling up and down for a few seconds before snapping back into its mouth. It turned away without answering, returning to the iridescent black snake. It took a lot longer to taste the air around the final remaining chicken than any of the others had taken but still eventually ate it, shoving the whole thing down its throat.

Arkk let out a small sigh of relief. He wasn’t sure if the contentment the others were showing off was from his alchemical solution to this problem or if they were just happy to have a large good meal. Either way, it couldn’t be bad for him.

“Anyway, yes. The other person here is a human, not a gorgon. He’s a master of mind-affecting magics which is probably why you don’t think he is human.” Arkk slowly, not wanting to make any startling moves, reached down into his pouch and retrieved the crystal ball once again. He probably should have asked the first gorgon if it knew what a crystal ball was and how it worked but it seemed to work out. “So, here we are,” he said, showing off the large room they were in. “And if we move the view down that tunnel over there…”

Several of the gorgon gathered around, peering into the crystal ball. Figuring the green gorgon was the leader given that it was the one who ordered him down here to show this off and was the last to eat the chicken, Arkk tried to pay them little mind as he focused his attention forward. Even still, when he moved the view of the crystal ball into Savren’s quarters, he felt the tension in the air spike.

“This man is Savren. A human criminal wanted for putting an entire village to sleep. We thought he was controlling your minds but it seems as if he has merely been posing as a gorgon.”

“The room,” the black gorgon said, pointing a finger at the crystal ball. “You can ssee the bookss. The chair. We’ve sseen the room and yet itss a human.”

“The ball sshowss liess.”

“It’s just a crystal ball,” Arkk said, feeling a little nervous as a smattering of hissing began from the others around. “If you know how to use one, you can try it yourself without me.”

“We confront Ssavren,” the black gorgon said. “Reveal which human iss desseiving uss.”

“Ssavren is not to be disturbed.”

The black gorgon let out a long, irritated hiss.

“Why?” Arkk cut in before a fight could break out. The way they immediately turned their heads toward him made him think it was a bad idea. Too late now. “Why? If I’ve assembled my timeline correctly, he came here between a few weeks and a month after you all moved in. He isn’t your leader, is he? If he is, how did he become your leader?”

Perhaps there was more mind magic going on than he had thought.

“When exactly did Savren first appear? Why did you start turning to him, following his commands to bring him food and water? He never leaves his quarters, does he? How often do you actually see him?”

Arkk’s questioning seemed to stall the green-scaled gorgon. He could almost see the wheels turning in its mind.

“We will dissturb Ssavren.”

“As soon as you open the door, he’s going to look like a gorgon again.”

Arkk wasn’t sure how he was pulling off his mental magics. A lengthy incantation probably wouldn’t be fast enough. Perhaps he had some ritual circle prepared that he only needed to flood with magic or maybe he was using a magic wand to store his spell. However it was, Arkk doubted that simply opening the door would cause his ploy to fail.

“Let me talk to him,” Arkk said. “I have no weapons on me. If he is a gorgon, he’ll be able to crush me in an instant and you all can go back to your lives. If he isn’t, I can handle him myself. And then…” Arkk trailed off, glancing around. “Then I might have a proposition for you all.”

“More food?” a red and black striped gorgon asked.

“As much as you can eat,” Arkk said. “In a safe location.”

“We are ssafe here.”

“Are you?” Arkk asked, cocking his head. “You might not know this, but the humans that used to work here have a large amount of silver that they are offering to an army that can kill you all.”

It wasn’t exactly a lie but the wording got the intended effect. The gorgon started hissing at one another. Although sedate after having fed, they were getting riled up.

“Can we fight an army?”

“It doessn’t matter. Ssavren will sslaughter the human.”

“The army will sstill be there whether or not thiss human diess.”

“We’ll be punisshed if the human intrudess. Kill it now.”

“I alwayss thought Ssavren acted sstrangely…”

“We sshould confront Ssavren oursselvess. The human cannot be trussted.”

“Ssilence!” The green gorgon slithered around, moving back and forth among the others. “Who ssuggesstss we sslaughter the human now?”

Arkk tensed, looking around through his Keeper sight. He let out a small sigh of relief as only two of the gorgon slithered forward in response. One orange and one brown snake. The latter looked around as if expecting others to join it, giving another brown gorgon a look of betrayal as it did so.

“It promissed food.”

“The human liess.”

“No lie,” Arkk said. “I have a safe, underground home with as much chicken as you could stuff yourselves wit—”

“The human will remain ssilent,” the green gorgon said, coming a little close for comfort. “You will live. For now.” Backing away, it turned back to the rest of the assembled gorgon. “Who would have the human sspeak for uss in front of Ssavren?”

Arkk looked around again, wincing as he noted not a single one of the gorgon moving.

His plan to get Savren out of here wasn’t looking too good at the moment.

“Who would confront Ssavren oursselvess?”

This time, only one of the gorgon remained behind. The orange gorgon who had first come forward for chicken. The same gorgon who had expressed fear over Savren punishing them and one of the two who had just voted to kill Arkk.

“A conssenssuss hass been reached. We sshall confront Ssavren and ask for proof.”

“He is a mind-affecting spellcaster. He could—”

“Ssilence.”

Arkk stepped back as the green gorgon got in his face once again. He could see the shadows underneath him twisting, reading themselves to attack. The gorgon didn’t, however, choosing instead to just stick out its tongue once again.

“You ssmell far too confident for your possition, human of the sstars.”

“I don’t feel all that confident,” Arkk mumbled, mind racing as he tried to figure out a way to salvage at least some of this trip.

“Ssavren or the human liess. We will kill the liar.”

If the gorgon killed Savren, he would have to look elsewhere for a spellcaster and he had absolutely no other leads. Vezta could probably stop them but that put both of them at risk. All it would take would be a little bite from one of them to kill. Arkk wasn’t sure if Vezta could survive that with her unique physiology but he certainly couldn’t. Besides, if he could get the gorgon to Fortress Al-Mir, it would help on a few different fronts. First, they were strong and powerful enough that their mere presence made mercenary companies wary of venturing in here. Second, if the inquisitors did find their way into the main fortress, a glance from their petrifying gaze would put an end to that incursion.

Third, he would gain renown. Single-handedly saving Silver City from destruction by clearing out their mines? Doing a job entire mercenary companies were afraid of on his own? Even dragging a kicking-and-screaming daughter of a viscount back wouldn’t be worth as much as saving a whole city.

Then, if he could convince Savren to undo whatever he had done to the village of Hope, that would be a second settlement saved in the same fell swoop. That was in addition to his participation in the ritual.

If the Duke refused to invite Company Al-Mir to a party after saving two whole cities, nothing would get him in.

Now, it looked like at least half of those things were going to crumble to pieces, if not all of them. The gorgon were slithering away, heading for the tunnel that led down to Savren’s quarters. There, they would likely kill him or he would convince them to kill Arkk.

“Wait!” Arkk called, stepping after them. His mind raced, trying to come up with something to say to convince them of anything.

A black and red gorgon turned and hissed at him but Arkk kept walking, looking at the green-scaled one. It was the leader here.

What did the gorgon want? As a collective, safety and food. Was there more than that? Revenge against the human deceiver in their midst—whoever they ended up deciding that would be. There had to be more. What kind of hopes and dreams did they have? What could Arkk offer them?

Gold didn’t seem all that useful for the gorgon. It was a human and demihuman currency. They didn’t interact with humans at all. What else? Books? They hadn’t thought it was strange for Savren to be reading books. Could they learn magic? Would they want to?

If he could show them Fortress Al-Mir, let them create their living quarters, see the hatcheries, and even browse the library, would that help?

Arkk, running after the snakes with his blindfold in place, missed a step and stumbled down a sudden slope in the passage. He swung his arms about, trying to regain his balance before slamming into the floor—or worse, slamming into one of the gorgon.

A tendril, stretching out from the shadows, caught him.

As he felt his balance return, he looked around. The gorgon had paused their advance down the tunnel, attention pulled by his flailing and possibly a yelp he had made upon first stumbling.

One of the gorgon came up to him, the orange one that had voted to kill him earlier. It raised its arm and opened its mouth wide with its fangs extended.

“Vezta.”

A dark tendril swept around him. It wasn’t the precise attack that Arkk was used to. It still smacked into the gorgon, flinging it against one of the walls. Three more tendrils emerged from the shadows, wiggling with hostile intent around him.

He thought for just a moment that the others would rush in and attack all at once.

They didn’t.

With all eyes on him, Arkk tensed. This was his moment to say something. Possibly his last words before they confronted Savren. Maybe his last words period. He stared for a long moment, mind racing until the wheels clicked together. Looking at the gorgon’s eyes through his Keeper vision reminded him of something Dakka had said back in Cliff City.

These gorgon didn’t respect him. They didn’t respect some human coming into their den, upsetting the balance of things, bringing gifts and sniveling like a coward.

Arkk took a breath and reached up behind his head. He tugged at the blindfold around his eyes. Focusing on his ire at the situation, at all he was working toward nearly coming to failure once again, and at the thought of finally getting things working in his direction for once.

Letting the strip of cloth fall from his eyes, Arkk stared at the ground for a moment before raising his gaze to meet with the potentially deadly eyes of the snakes around him. As he did so, a bright red light flooded the corridor, coming from him.

Glowing eyes are an ominous omen, Dakka had said.

Arkk, tendrils wiggling around him, turned his head slowly and made sure everyone saw his eyes. “I said, wait.”