Douglas Niles - The Heir of Kayolin

“I’d say gully dwarves,” he guessed.

“Well, that can only be a good sign, then,” Gretchan said with a chuckle. “It means we’re getting out of horax territory and closer to Garnet Thax.”

“I guess you’re right. It seems to be stronger in this direction, up ahead. Should we go have a look?”

“Sure.”

They continued on and soon approached a large, airy cavern, where the stench of gully dwarves seemed to come into sharper-or stinkier-focus. But as they entered, they both felt a more oppressive, sinister presence as well. Three distinct tunnels connected to that cavern. In the center was a deep, clear pool of water, while a number of niches and alcoves around the walls contained dirty mats, well-gnawed bones, and, in one, a ragged, stuffed doll.

“Look-they lived in those little holes,” Gretchan guessed, pointing.

“And here’s a fire pit,” Brandon observed, kneeling to look at a small pile of ashes in a depression beside the pool.

“But where are the Aghar, then?” the cleric wondered aloud.

Brandon made no reply as he stared at several brownish stains that were pretty clearly dried blood. It had been a thriving village of gully dwarves once, but it was a dead village now. They found more of the spilled blood, including telltale trails leading back toward the way they had come, but no living Aghar. Nor, despite the signs of battle, were there any bodies there.

“The horax took them,” Brandon said grimly. Gretchan, her expression equally serious, could only nod in agreement.

They were just starting to look through the pathetic little hovels, many of them blood-spattered, all of them empty, when they heard the sinister clicking of horax mandibles.

“Did you see them?” demanded Sadie Guilder, clocking Peat over the head with her bony fist. “They were gully dwarves! Right in our shop, big as life and bold as you please!” She lowered her voice to hiss accusingly, “You let them come through the dimension door!”

“ I let them?” Peat retorted, raising his arms and shielding himself as best he could. “It was your spell! You copied it; you cast it! Why didn’t you think of the danger? Where did they come from?”

“They came from Pax Tharkas, of course. And don’t you dare talk to me like that!” she spat. “I’ll turn your tongue into a lizard!”

“Oh, you’d like that, wouldn’t you?” he shot back, straightening up when he sensed that she was through hitting him, for the time being at least. “Well, I’d turn you into a shrew, but that would be redundant!”

“How dare you-”

She stopped at a loud knocking coming from the front door. Glaring at each other’s pale, disheveled faces, they immediately nodded with businesslike efficiency. Sadie adjusted her thin white hair while Peat patted down his beard and made his way over to the door. Bracing himself, he pulled it open as if he had nothing in the world to hide.

Why wasn’t he surprised to see Abercrumb standing there? Peat forced himself to adopt a confident, beaming facade.

“Abercrumb!” he declared heartily with a big smile. “What can I do for you?”

His neighbor and fellow merchant didn’t reply. Peat noticed the fellow was standing almost on his tiptoes, trying to see over the Theiwar’s shoulder as if determined to examine the interior of the shop. Peat heard Sadie come out of the back room, closing the door behind herself, so he stepped out of the way to graciously usher the Hylar into the shop.

“Sadie, look who’s come calling,” he announced-perhaps a little too cheerfully, he thought, as he drew a sharp, disapproving glance from his wife.

“What does he want?” she demanded tartly.

“Well, just stopped by to ask how business has been,” said their neighbor with a cheerful tone that matched Peat’s own. “I mean, since I’ve noticed some folks coming and going. Which is more than I can say for myself!” His voice dropped to a conspiratorial whisper. “Though I can’t say I like the sight of all of ’em. Those last two that came out of here-forgive me for saying so, but they looked like gully dwarves!”

Peat felt his stomach turn into knots. He groped for a clever or dismissive reply, but all he could come up with were variations on the confession he’d soon be giving to the king’s interrogators. Or, even worse, to the Master. Willim the Black didn’t mind his agents making a small profit from their shop, but Peat felt certain that the black-robed mage would take a dim view of their new, and very lucrative, side business.

Fortunately, as usual, Sadie was thinking a little faster than he was. “Filthy scum, they were!” Sadie spit. “Don’t think we let ’em through our door! Why, I heard them slip the lock somehow-probably thought we’d left the neighborhood, as so many have around here-but when I caught them in the act, I kicked them six ways from Gods’ Day, don’t you know! You should have seen them scurrying down the street.”

“Well, as a matter of fact, I did see them,” Abercrumb explained. “And they were certainly beating a hasty retreat. But, the thing is, I could have sworn that your door opened without any help from you, and that they came out of your shop on their own legs. Mind you, I don’t think Two Guilders, for a moment, would entertain those filthy wretches as customers. But, well, a fellow has to know what’s going on in his own neighborhood, doesn’t he? I mean, with the king’s proclamation and all … was it number seventy-seven or seventy-nine? You know, the one where Aghar are banned from the kingdom?”

“Of course we know the gully dwarves are banned!” Sadie declared. “You don’t think we’re familiar with the law of the land?”

“No, of course not. That is, I mean, everybody knows about the gully dwarves,” Abercrumb stammered hastily, retreating a step from the angry, old crone.

“Why, certainly!” Peat agreed. “And surely you’re mistaken.” He turned to Sadie with a puzzled expression. “You didn’t let those rascals into the shop, did you?” he asked innocently.

“Most certainly not!” she replied. “Why, they would have bothered the paying customers!”

“Paying customers? You had paying customers?” Abercrumb said breathlessly. “Why, yes, I thought I spotted a happy couple. A Daergar fellow, I do believe, and a lass who was, well, rather much younger, I thought.”

“Yes. The old fellow wanted a charm for … well, for personal reasons,” Sadie said with a knowing wink. “And in fact, yes, the, er, lady was quite a bit younger.”

“I should like to meet them!” Abercrumb declared, beaming. “They’re still here, aren’t they? I mean, I saw them come in, but I feel certain I didn’t see them leave again.”

“Oh, they left, all right. Right after I shooed off those Aghar. You must have been distracted by the little gullies-not that I blame you one bit. Why, they’ll steal the very belt off your waist if you’re not paying attention.”

“But I’m certain-” Abercrumb started to object, but Sadie cut him off.

“Peat, we have that stink potion brewing in the back room! Get me some newt powder … right now.” She turned to their neighbor apologetically. “I’m so sorry, but we have to finish this. If we don’t, well, there could be an accident. A very bad accident. It would make the neighborhood unpleasant for, oh, I don’t know how many years.”

Abercrumb, like most dwarves, was terribly suspicious and fearful of magic. Eyes wide, he quickly made his excuses and was out the door before Peat even knew what was happening. By the time he realized there was no stink potion brewing in the back of the shop, Sadie had him by the arm and was dragging him into their private room.