I knew Ashrag was there. I could feel her presence, watching us, even if for some reason, I couldn’t see far, despite my DarkVision ability. I ignored her, checking my people over and making sure they were all okay.
Bane was the last to be set down on the ledge, and he staggered. I grabbed him and looked him over; his health was full, but his Stamina was still low.
Then I did what he least expected, and I pulled him into a hug, clapping him on the back and grinning at the shock on everyone’s faces. He froze for a second, then awkwardly patted my back in return.
“Look, you fuckers,” I said, releasing him and looking the group over, “I don’t care what anyone thinks of propriety. You’re my friends, as well as my people.” I looked to Bane directly and put one hand on his shoulder, feeling the dry, calloused skin under my grip. “And that includes you, you daft sod; I thought I’d lost you.” I summoned a spring of fresh water for him, and once I was sure he was resting and breathing the water deeply, I turned back to the darkness beyond our little ledge and raised my voice.
“Now I can’t see shit, Ashrag, and that means either my abilities failed, which seems unlikely, considering I can see these muppets behind me, or you’re playing silly buggers…”
My voice echoed strangely for several seconds before the magical darkness abruptly vanished, magelights around the cavern springing to life and illuminating a huge cave that vanished back into the side of the underground cliff.
Ashrag sat in the middle of the cave, a huge web supporting her bulk as other spiders moved here and there, running along strands that vanished into the distance. Dozens of smaller spiderlings clambered and shook on the webs everywhere I looked, and possibly hundreds of cocoons hung from the ceiling. I frowned as something glittered under Ashrag, and I focused in, realizing what I’d missed in my first glance.
The cave wasn’t empty.
Besides the multitude of spiders, it also housed buildings, dozens of them. They were coated in webs that hid much of the shape, but the occasional glittering reflection of the magelights made it clear that the doors at least were metal and hadn’t rusted. Judging from Ashrag’s age, and how deep in the earth we were, I could only guess that meant they were bronze…or gold.
“Welcome, Jax, Lord of Dravith and Scion of the Empire; welcome to the forgotten outpost of Isthic’Mirtin.” I could feel the stunned silence behind me as we viewed the outpost. A narrow path ran from the ledge down into the cavern, and I slowly walked along it, ignoring the sounds of spiders moving all around me. I caught peripheral flashes of a black and red body close by, but I faced forward, determined to show some strength.
“I honored the Oaths, little Lord…” rumbled Ashrag’s great voice, the web trembling with it as I moved closer, constantly having to yank my feet free of the webs that sought to trap me. “Now explain why you did what you did.”
“Which part?” I quipped, and Ashrag growled, the sound like a tiger in a subway.
“The Oath! Tell me why…why would you bind yourself to Oaths you had no part in creating? Why would you renew them? Are you stupid, or simply too arrogant to know better!” I felt the air stirring in response to her irritation, and I could see the spiders that surrounded us slowly moving closer.
“I…well, I did it on a hunch, to tell you the truth.” I said, having reached the cavern floor proper, and I gestured to a mound of stone that was coated in webbing. “Mind if I burn that off? I think this is going to take a while, and I’d rather sit while I tell you the tale.”
There was silence for a long minute, before Ashrag shifted, looking to a spider to one side. It moved quickly, darting into one of the web-encrusted buildings, and a handful of heartbeats later, it returned, a stone chair clutched between its mandibles.
“Thanks,” I said, taking the seat. I glanced over at my companions, but got a few headshakes from them, and I realized they were still too freaked out to sit yet, and I don’t think any of them, bar Arrin, wanted anything to do with Ashrag and her kin..
“Well, Ashrag, it’s like this…” I started with my story, who I was, and where I was from, then I moved on to my mental passenger, and my ancestral line. “…So now you know how I got there, but…”
“I know where you came from and why. I know nothing about the Oaths! Don’t seek to hide things under webs of words; tell me straight!” she snapped, and I growled back at her.
“Shut the fuck up… and I will!” I retorted, then took a deep breath. “Amon was a lot of things, including a fucking mental bastard, but what he wasn’t was an asshole without cause. He thinks you’re all right, and that you suffered because of what those fucks did to him and everyone else. He thinks you’re honorable. He thinks you deserve better than a life down here, hidden, and now, so do I.”
Silence greeted my words.
“How long have you been down here, Ashrag? How long have you been in the dark, and why the hell were you in that cave back there, if this is your nest?”
“The Drow.” She spat. “The Drow rule the underworld. They war with the dwarves constantly; all other creatures either pick a side or get consumed. I was forced to accept their trespassing, as there are too many of them for my children to kill easily, and they hide in places my soldiers cannot reach. We were given the choice: guard their paths, or be destroyed, yet still they take
