Winter's Crown: Act 4, Chapter 1

Chapter 1

Zu Chiru poked his head out of the tunnel to his home, whiskers twitching as he tested the night air. He stood there for many minutes, as the air was strange and alien – as disconcerting as the countless points of light in the endless ceiling overhead. Eventually, he gathered his courage and stepped out, closing the stone portal behind him. Upon the door was scratched the symbol of the Zu Aygen Clan. Behind it was an expanding network of tunnels and warrens that stretched deep below E-Rantel.

E-Rantel…

The name of this Human city felt as foreign to him as the city itself. At least Dwarves had the good sense to build their cities underground. These Humans left their dwellings exposed on the inhospitable surface, with its chaotic weather and incessant brightness that left the Quagoa blind and helpless.

Even their ‘night’ was no true respite, as it was often filled with the glare of an eerie orb of silvery fire. When their clan had migrated here – well, it was more that they were dumped here – they were told by the Crimson Harbinger of Death that it was where they were to make their new home.

Left exposed to the sky, their children wailed as their furless forms and sensitive eyes burned in the light of what the locals of the city called the ‘moon’. The only thing their parents could do was cover their families with their bodies and scant rags as they themselves trembled in fear and uncertainty, surrounded by the cold, dry and hostile landscape.

Zu Chiru, and the adults of the clan who did not have families to tend to, threw themselves into excavating a new home for their people, making their way down into the soft, black soil. As the hours passed, the skies grew brighter and, to the horror of all, the world became a blinding whiteness. They screamed and cried and whimpered in terror, curling up over their children and doing what they could to shield themselves from the dreadful, searing light.

He was lucky enough to be a ways into the new tunnel, but he still had to squeeze his eyes shut against the light that seeped down from the entrance as he kept digging. He made his way deeper and deeper, claws tiredly pulling apart the strange soil and tossing it aside. He made enough room for another and left the hole, blindly feeling around, calling for anyone who could help. And so another joined him, and they made room for more. Over the hours the tunnel grew, longer and deeper. Those who passed out from exhaustion were dragged back outside and replaced with fresh workers, while the children were afforded room in the expanding underground space first.

Eventually, the Quagoa reached a wall of stone and broke through. They exclaimed between themselves excitedly when they found that a vast network of crude tunnels lay beyond. It was not as warm and wet and full of life as the cavern networks of their former realm, but it was still a comfort compared to the dreadful surface. Amidst the fungi and moss and abundance of crawling things, they decided to move those on the surface to this new shelter…but then something appeared.

A huge Slime rose before them and spoke in a female’s voice. It told them that they could not be here; that they could only make their home below the ‘Demihuman Quarter’, and that they must turn around and fix the hole. Staring after the strange being and the parade of Slimes that followed in her wake, he wondered if they had broken into Slime territory. Did Slimes even have territory? Did they just encounter some sort of Slime Lord? A Slime Queen? Slimes didn’t even have males and females, as far as Zu Chiru knew.

Still, they decided that not to invade the territory of the Slime Queen would be for the best, for they sensed she was even stronger than Pe Riyuro, the greatest of Quagoa Lords. The Quagoa of the Azerlisia range as a whole had just suffered from a nightmarish calamity, losing 7/8ths of their entire population. The Zu Aygen clan was just as devastated as the others, so time was needed to recover before any thought of testing their new neighbours someday.

They covered the hole and returned to their work. Another day passed until they could stuff everyone into the freshly excavated tunnels, and another week went by before a makeshift warren formed.

The efforts underground continued, but shelter was not their only problem. Fortunately, some things came to them. For the first day, Zu Chiru wondered if the worms and grubs they found in the soil would be their only sustenance, and the elders considered ordering raids into the Slime territory for mushrooms, insects and rats. The night after, however, an Elf named Mare and a Human named Florine appeared with food: great quantities of meat kept fresh in wondrous magical containers.

While it was distributed and they filled their empty bellies, Florine explained how things worked in the Human city to the clan leaders. The most important detail at the time was that they would need to earn wages that were exchanged for food and other goods. The idea was strange to the Quagoa, who only knew the toil of expanding their empire under the mountains, offering tribute to their leaders and the Frost Dragons who ruled over them.

It was entirely backwards here: they would receive tribute for their toil. Instead of simply taking what they needed wherever they happened to be, they would need to exchange their treasures instead. Zu Chiru was uncertain how to feel about that. For the time being, they were offered ‘work’ in the Demihuman Quarter, labouring over the ongoing construction at night. They did things that were thought suited for them: establishing foundations and…well, establishing foundations was pretty much all that they did.

Sometimes Dwarves or other races were placed over them; sometimes it was the other way around. There were Undead everywhere as well, performing the most menial of tasks. Though this work was currently plentiful, Zu Chiru thought that it would be limited. Eventually, they would not be needed, then what would they do?

He looked down as he walked out into the night, staring down at a crinkled sheet of paper. Before anything else, he would need to stop by the Vampire Post to pick up a delivery of ores from their old mountain home. His sister had just given birth to her first litter, but she had lost her mate in the battle against the Crimson Harbinger, so now it was up to Zu Chiru to help her out.

Zu Chiru sighed. Before, all he would have needed to do was forage around a bit while doing other things. Now, everything was so horribly complicated. Work for food, work for ores, work for everything. They had to order in what did not exist here. The earth below the city was dark clay that was absent of mineral ores, so the bounty that their people usually existed on was no longer theirs to enjoy. It was not a place where Quagoa would normally live.

“Zu Chiru!” A voice called down to him from above, “You’re joining us tonight?”

Zu Chiru looked up. On the terrace above was a small gathering of his clansmen, who had assembled to do something about the impending lack of work. They had started a project of sorts, based on what they had seen around the quarter.

“After this,” he waved the paper over his head and went on his way.

Up and out of the bowl of the Demihuman Quarter Zu Chiru walked; out to the gatehouse near where the steps leading up to the top of the city’s inner wall were laid. He walked past the Undead sentries, towards the Dragon pens. A pale figure with glowing crimson eyes stood behind a desk in front of the hoardings on the wall.

“Welcome, dear customer,” she said. “How may the Vampire Post be of service today?”

This female always seemed to be here, and she was always so polite. Zu Chiru never knew what to say in reply. He simply dipped his head once and placed the sheet of paper on the counter. She took the sheet in her hand and checked through a book laid open on the desk.

After a moment, she lightly tapped a bell. Another pale, smooth-faced female appeared, taking the paper and walking away into the building. She reappeared with a box between her hands a short while later, placing it on the counter before him. Zu Chiru lifted the cover, sniffing the content. Though riddled with impurities, the ore within was edible. He took the box into his hands and nodded before he walked off. The two pale females bowed.

“Thank you for your patronage,” their voices followed him as he turned to go back the way he came.

As Zu Chiru made his way back to the clan warren, he looked down at the box with a worried sigh. It wasn’t much: barely enough to keep the litter fed until the next delivery came in. Unlike many things that the various peoples in the city consumed, meat and ore were expensive, and his clan toiled endlessly just to get by.

The Human named Florine explained this, too, at length. Something about ‘supply’ and ‘demand’ and how prices for meat would fall eventually and the shortage of ore in the city would only last until ‘trade’ caught up. There was a lot more, but her stream of strange words mostly bounced off of Zu Chiru’s furry head and fell to the ground powerlessly. His parents cared much for him, finding the best ores that they could feed him when he was a child, so his coat was strong and hard to penetrate.

What little he understood of what she said was that things would become cheaper someday. Unfortunately, they would also finish the tasks in this Demihuman Quarter that fed them someday as well. He made his way back down into the warren and left the ores with his sister, then returned to the surface with all of his worries continuing to plague him. The clansmen that had called out to him were still in the same place as before.

With them were members of several other races: two Ogres, some Goblins, a Troll and a handful of Lizardmen. They were prospective students who would pay them for instruction in hand-to-hand combat. In the past weeks, Zu Chiru and his clansmen discovered that the Demihumans in the city were not so great at it. The bare handful of remaining experts in the clan saw this as an opportunity to collect tributes, and these Demihumans were more than happy to pay them to learn. The payments were usually in the form of handicrafts, furs or meat. What they collected was not enough to feed the clan on its own, but at least it was something. Zu Chiru shuffled up to the rows of students and instructors sparring with one another, and he frowned over the sight.

Because Demihumans were of various sizes and had their own racial attributes, he wasn’t sure how well Quagoa combat would work for them. Smaller Demihumans like Goblins were roughly Quagoa sized, but they lacked strong fur and claws Though Lizardmen had a measure of toughness due to their scales, their long bodies and thick tails were something Quagoa did not have. Ogres and Trolls were huge and strong…at least they could partner off one another. Maybe they were just happy picking up pointers and techniques that would work for them? Zu Chiru wasn’t sure if it would ever earn the clan enough to survive – they would need far more students to do so.

“Oh, Chiru, you’re back.”

An elderly Quagoa with red fur shuffled up to him. He was the strongest of the Zu Aygen Clan that remained, having been considered too old to fight on the day of sorrow, and the one who had come up with this idea.

“Zu Loru,” Zu Chiru clasped his hands before him, lowering his head respectfully.

“How is your family?”

“Hmm…my sister is cranky,” Zu Chiru replied. “She wants the little ones to have more ore, but she knows this is all we can afford. I think I end up taking the brunt of her bad mood.”

“Understandable,” Zu Loru nodded. “It was so easy in our old home: even if it wasn’t always the best stuff, we never lacked for ore and food.”

They shared a long moment of silent melancholy. Little else could be done about it.

“Perhaps the tunnelers will find something below…”

“There is nothing below,” Zu Loru shook his head. “They hit bedrock the other day, and it’s just old limestone that smells of nothing else. No food or water; no caves or ore…and we are not allowed to explore beyond the confines of this quarter.”

“Feh. Why did they choose for our clan to come to this place…”

“It should be obvious, shouldn’t it?” Zu Loru’s voice turned bitter, “Because we are of Zu. You don’t see any sign of the Pu and Po here. Even in these dire times, they used the great tragedy as an opportunity, whispering in the ears of those in power to send us away. They do not care that we have been forced to live in this desolate place of black clay and veinless stone!”

Zu Loru stomped the ground in anger, and Zu Chiru scratched his chest. How indeed? The Crimson Harbinger told them to live here, and the Human told them how things worked. By all appearances, they were provided with the bare minimum of what they needed and were left to figure the rest out on their own. He decided to move to a less depressing topic.

“How many new students since yesterday?”

“A few,” Zu Loru replied. “I believe that, once this Demihuman Quarter begins to fill, we can expect a substantial number. The Mountain Mole Sect must be vigilant of the others in the place, however. We must keep prospective disciples from straying into their grasp.”

Zu Chiru nodded in agreement. If they were to afford more and better ores for their offspring, they needed to keep the two other sects in the quarter from gaining in reputation and membership.

The foremost of their rivals was the Azure Sky, Iron Fist Sect, which occupied an expansive complex near the western gatehouse. They appeared to collect the young, training them from an impressionable age. After some digging around, it was found that their buildings were shallow, so what one noted from the surface was all that there was. Though the sect’s disciples were young, the master there was quite intimidating. The one time he went to challenge them, a tall Human female in flowing robes had brandished a long stick of wood at him. The end was wide and covered in bristles – he had never seen such a weapon before. Quagoa were only strong against metal, so Zu Chiru had prudently withdrawn to rethink his approach.

The second rival was more manageable. The Justice Dragon Sect had a single hall in a space between the southern entrance and the eastern wall and had no disciples to speak of. Their ‘master’ was nothing more than an aged Human male of few words. All Zu Chiru had to do there was draw away people that looked interested in learning the ways of close combat. The old man ultimately did nothing: he just sat within his hall as if new students would simply drop in with no effort on his part.

“Zu Loru,” he asked, “the noise from the Justice Dragon Sect the other day: has there been any hint as to what it was?”

“Rumor has been going around that there’s a new student there – the old man is no longer alone in his hall.”

“What! I thought I kept them all away!”

He stormed off towards the Justice Dragon Sect. Perhaps this new student had come in during the day, but it wouldn’t do. They couldn’t let a rival sect gain even a bit of a claw hold.

With few dwellings yet built in the Demihuman Quarter, Zu Chiru could see across the darkness of the night to the rival school. He scurried over in a matter of minutes and studied the face of the building. Running his gaze over its wooden supports and planks, he could hear the voice of a male and a female filtering through the thin panels of the entrance. It appeared that the rumours were true. Zu Chiru pondered how he might wrest away this new student…well, it shouldn’t be hard: the master here was just an old Human who was often away.

Zu Chiru hopped about as he warmed himself up. After feeling suitably ready, he shouted at the building.

“Old Human!”

No response. The voices on the other side paused for a moment before resuming.

“Old Human!” Zu Chiru raised his voice.

The voices inside paused again, only to resume once more.

Really – had they no shame? A challenger had come, and they did nothing but cower inside their hall. A small group, consisting of various quarter residents, started to gather around on the street nearby. Zu Chiru grinned, wheezing laughter blowing out of his nose.

Good. Their cowardice would be seen by all, and the Justice Dragon Sect would lose all face. What Dragon, even? It was just an old man and his timid student.

Zu Chiru took a deep breath.

“Old Huma–”

He fell silent at the sound of someone working the door of the building. After several moments, the entrance slid open. Zu Chiru fluffed out his fur and assumed an intimidating stance.

“You’ve finally shown yourself, old one…”

The head of a Dragon appeared in the doorway, and Zu Chiru froze.

Eh? This is not an old Human...

Before any further thoughts could form, the Dragon’s head lunged forward and snatched him off of the street. He didn’t even have time to scream. The curious residents that had gathered around scattered away in fright.

Zu Chiru disappeared into the bowels of the Justice Dragon Sect, and the door silently slid shut with his passing.