Forge of Ashes by Josh Vogt

Author:Josh Vogt [Vogt, Josh]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 978-1-60125-743-7
Publisher: Paizo Inc.
Published: 2015-05-11T16:00:00+00:00

Chapter Nineteen

Buggane

No noise alerted her, but Akina glanced back, certain something followed them. A buggane? Yet the way behind her was empty.

A bulky creature walked out of the stone wall on one side and lumbered straight across the tunnel into the other wall, where it vanished.

Akina blinked. Had she seen right?

She turned and tried to catch up with Izthuri. The caligni's wheezing filled the air as she set a near-sprinting pace, and Akina barely kept her fluttering black rags in sight.

"Shattered stones," she called."Leave me behind and I can't help your tribe."

Izthuri slowed enough for Akina to match her, though she continued to burst forward at odd intervals, as if the dwarf were a weight she strove to break free from.

"Can..." Akina gulped a breath."Can bugganes walk through walls?"

Izthuri's head whipped around, her eyes obsidian disks. In answer, she picked up speed, ducking under ragged shelves, sidling along tight channels, and dancing through fields of spiked earth. Akina puffed as she fought to keep up, glad that while some of the narrower tunnels tried to wedge her in, she didn't have to hunch or crawl as often as her companion. Her heavy boots let her crunch over the jagged terrain without pause.

Twice more, Akina checked behind to see a shadowed mass scurry from wall to wall. Big—at least twice her size—but moving fast. She'd hoped the spaces she managed to barely push through might stall it, but solid earth impeded it not at all, and it paced them with unerring steps. No point trying to be quiet.

"How far to the ruins?" she asked the next time Izthuri deigned to let her close the gap. They hurried down a wider tunnel that at least let them run alongside one another.

"Not close. Not far." Izthuri's voice had gone reedy with fear."Two tunnels. One cave. Ruins after."

Then Izthuri stopped so suddenly Akina smacked into her back and almost toppled them both. As she recoiled, Izthuri turned, eyes wide, and swayed in place.

"I... I doom my tribe."

Akina held up hands, trying to placate her."What're you talking about? Why'd you stop?"

Izthuri plucked at her rags, which Akina took to be a sign of distress."Last bugganes kill many of tribe. I not lead then. I hide then. I lead now. They hide now. And..." She stared back up the tunnel."I show bugganes where tribe hide. I might kill all."

"At this point, I'm guessing we'll have to deal with it sooner or later." Akina pushed past and tried to tug her along."If the ruins are a few tunnels away, I'd rather face it there. Otherwise I might not be able to do much besides gnaw at its kneecaps. If it has knees."

Izthuri trembled like a branch in a high wind. Akina dared to press the matter further, sensing she could topple one way or the other.

"Your tribe already has duergar invading their territory, hm? If we lead the buggane away and die at its hands in some random hole, you'll leave them leaderless. The duergar will find them and we won't be around to protect them.

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