home

search

137. Kniyan Standoff

  “Hands up!” I commanded.

  The three squinted at me.

  “Now, or I promise you’ll never speak with him again.” I rocked the man’s body a little and squeezed down for effect, looking as threatening as I possibly could.

  But on the inside, my stomach was churning.

  Blood roared in my ears as I held the man’s neck. It felt so odd, choke holding someone like this. Sure, I’d head locked both of my younger siblings throughout our childhood and messed with that kid back in the Gloom, but I’ve never actually held someone down like this, especially not with the intent to harm. But even so, I felt the strength in my arms, one little tweak, one flex and I could halt all oxygen from getting to his brain. Yet that was something we all had to worry about being underground like this.

  I hated it. Not even the sunny disposition that Apis form usually gave me could counteract the nasty feeling welling up inside. Heck, maybe it was its source.

  However, in the current circumstances I had little in the way of choice. I wasn’t about to let some random jackasses kidnap me, no matter how curious I was. And I had too much left to do topside.

  The other three fidgeted around, trading worried glances at each other, before they finally complied and raised their hands. Kind of. They couldn’t raise them any higher than the tunnel.

  Now that I was standing up, I got a better look at them. The leader, Roan, had the pointed ears of an elf, but he could have been a half elf too—I still wasn’t the best at discerning the difference, especially underground and in grayscale. He looked to be too tall for this cave, like myself; we both had to bend over slightly. His uncovered arms and chest were covered in fur, way more than I’d seen anyone have on Kniyas. The man was barefoot as well, with some gnarly looking claws growing from the left foot.

  He reminded me of the werewolf from earlier. The one who attacked me. The one I almost killed. But this guy still had his wits about him.

  The other, Gravels as I’ve been calling him, was a dwarf, sharing the same short and stocky build as Fennel, minus the dog ears. Long scruffy hair and a bushy beard covered the majority of his face. One of his hands, the one I presumed had been used to cover my mouth, had a darker shade to it and looked earthen almost. His other hand looked completely normal. He wore overalls much like the leaders, but he had a shirt on as well as some basic boots.

  The girl…she was a bit harder to look at. She was absolutely covered in dirt from head to toe. It was hard to tell what she was wearing under all the caked on dirt. Our excavator, it would seem. She sat on her knees, but her head was just about level with the dwarf. But none of that was why it took literal effort to look at her. On her particularly normal face, under her particularly normal eyes, sat a very peculiar difference.

  Her nose. A pink, fleshy star shaped schnoz with little tendrils growing from the edges that wiggled. They didn’t even move that much, but that only made it worse. The small, slow movements of the little feelers made my skin crawl. She must have the gene that comes straight from the mole monster I fought all those months ago.

  I almost loosened my grip for a second, just trying to suppress a retch. She didn’t deserve that. Or maybe she did. Dammit, I don’t know. I don’t know anything about these people.

  But I was going to get some answers, then hopefully get a way out of here.

  “Who are you people? Why did you grab me?” I asked, keeping a close eye on all of them.

  They shared another glance, even including my hostage. I shifted back a little. The leader finally nodded his head after an awkward moment of silence.

  “We don’t have a lot of time down here. Our air will run out unless you come with us.”

  “I agree, so just answer my questions. Or even better, just dig us out of here and let me get back to the people.”

  He shook his head. “We can’t do that.”

  I lifted the hostage up a little. I think he was a gnome, considering how easily I could hold him down here. Or a child. God, I hope not. Don’t need to build that kind of reputation among the Ferals.

  “And why in the hell can’t we?” I retorted.

  “We have our orders.”

  “Orders? Whose orders?

  “Our chief’s.”

  “What the hell does your chief want with me? Who even are you people? I’m guessing Ferals but besides that?”

  Gravels growled as I finished, apparently he wasn’t keen on something I said. Or, you know, the fact that I was choking his buddy. His hand unchanged hand moved ever so slightly.

  Reading on this site? This novel is published elsewhere. Support the author by seeking out the original.

  I twisted towards him, flexing the bicep I had on my hostage’s throat, making him let out a tiny squeal.

  “Chill there Gravels, we don’t want this going south, do we?”

  “Yes, yes we do. The village is sou—”

  “Rodis, shut your mouth! I’m handling this,” the leader yelled.

  The girl in the back scoffed. “Don’t look that way,” she said, not so under her breath.

  “Shirles, shut it.”

  I held back a chuckle, hiding my face behind my hostage. Not even at the comment. I was having a hell of a time figuring out how these dysfunctional goofballs got anything done. I threw my serious face back on.

  “Time’s a ticking here, man. What does your leader want from me?”

  “We, uh, she needs, um. Dang it, look, Liam. The reasons are a bit above our purview. We are just one of the extraction crews. I can assure you won’t be harmed. By us,” he waved one of his hands around to the others in the room, “or our people.”

  Now Gravels took a turn scoffing. “Speak for yourself, fucker calls me Feral again and—”

  “Rodis! Not. Now.” The leader said through gritted teeth.

  Something caught my attention in the leader's words. “Wait extraction teams? How many teams are after me?”

  “Not sure. A lot. Several dozen. We just happened to be the lucky ones.”

  “Stupidly risky ones, more like it. Getting us so blazing close to the Boss like that.” The girl commented, her nose uncomfortably twitching.

  “I told you I had a hunch. And look, it paid off, didn’t it?” The leader said, lowering his hands.

  I lightened my grip again. “Ah ah ah, nothing paid off, alright. In case you forgot, your partner here is still having a slight breathing problem. Did we forget about that?”

  The leader's hands went back up. “I know how it looks. I can’t explain it well, but it is paramount that you come with us. Lisse, our chieftain, can explain why far better than any of us here can. We won’t hurt you.”

  The budding curiosity in my head only grew ever since I shifted into Apis. And this guy’s words were only feeding it. Why was I so important? It’s probably something to do with my mimic gene, it's the only thing truly unique about me in this world, aside from my origins. But I doubt they knew about that.

  And I had to admit, the urge to learn more about the Ferals had only grown ever since I went into the Gloom.

  But it couldn’t be like this. It had to be on my terms, not captured like some prisoner. There was no way of knowing if there was any truth to his words. And I wouldn’t abandon my squad in the middle of a battle like this.

  “No. I can’t come with you. Not yet. Just dig us out of here. Now!” I glared at the mole girl and pointed to the ceiling. “Dig.” I commanded her.

  The girl shifted, fear in her eyes. She moved to the center of the tunnel, until the leader held his hand out, stopping her.

  The hairy man took a deep breath, closing his eyes as if he was getting ready to say something big. He released it after a second and looked at the ground, speaking softly to himself.

  “Hilda, your sacrifice won’t be in vain.” His voice raised. “None of their sacrifices will be.”

  He looked up at me, his eyes hard, full of determination, before shifting down to his companion, the one I held. “I’m sorry Lock. You understand,” the leader said before dropping his hands to his sides.

  My hostage’s head bobbed as he tried to nod to his companion. “I know, my friend. Tell Alman, I love her.” His words strained and coarse, yet still calm and collected.

  The other two, Gravel and the girl, looked at each other. Some unspoken words were shared, and they followed suit, dropping their hands down. The three of them moved towards me, each sharing the same look of resolve on their faces.

  Why? Their friend is about to die. Why are they giving up on him? Just for me? But…but.

  I squeezed down harder, more out of fear than anything. My brain swirled in confusion and doubt. I looked down at the back of my hostage's head. He’d completely stopped fighting, and just went limp in my arms. He’d given up as well.

  I let him go.

  The small man fell to the ground, gasping and grabbing his throat. The others rushed to his side to check on him.

  For whatever reason they needed me, they believed in it with their whole hearts. And I never could have killed him, or anyone for that matter, in cold blood like that, even if this lands me in a worse situation, it's not worth a person’s blood on my hands. I’m a bit too cowardly for that.

  The leader rose up and looked at me. “Thank you.”

  I opened my mouth but nothing came out, but an intense wave of guilt washed over me when I looked down at the man I was just choking. Tears welled in my eyes as the torrent in my gut was getting close to a breaking point. The man’s mouth kept moving, but I didn’t hear a single word.

  Instead, a different voice spoke.

  “Go with them.” Tutor whispered into my head.

  What?

  “But the quest.” I barely got out.

  “This is bigger. Much bigger. It might be too soon, and I’m gonna get a shitstorm thrown at me for this, but trust me. Go with the—” her voice cut out, just like when a phone gets disconnected.

  “What?”

  “I was thanking you for not killing my friend.” The feral leader said.

  I looked into his eyes and nodded blankly. “Yeah. Let’s just go.”

  “Shirles, get us to one of the air tunnels now, we’re all running a little low.”

  “Aye aye.”

  The girl raised her hands. She flung them toward the dirt. But before they collided with the wall, a deep rumbling filled the tunnel. Then the roof opened up, dropping pounds of dirt and rock on all our heads. But before the cave buried us completely, a flirty laugh filled the air as large brown roots dug wrapped around the tunnel. They looked familiar.

  “Shame on you all, taking away my new, cute little protégé like that.”

  I wiped the dirt from my eyes and looked up. It was the wood mage from Jaren’s crew. She wore the same flirty smile from earlier. And just beside her, kneeling on a root of her own, sat Daila. She reached down.

  “Come on Liam. Grab on!”

Recommended Popular Novels