Page 51 of Spelunking Through Hell

“Yeah, they’re assholes. I’m not surprised that enough of them would have been making crossroads bargains to have a breeding population in the terrarium.” Thomas had called this place that earlier, and it was an accurate description: this was a sealed, self-sustaining terrarium that was dying now that its owners weren’t maintaining it the way they used to. My inner conservationist suddenly wished Annie hadn’t killed the crossroads, so I could kick them in the metaphorical face a couple of times to make them understand that this wasn’t how you treated your pets.

“I am a little surprised that there are so few humans,” I continued. “Given how many of us seem to have made crossroads bargains, I would have expected a higher population density. How many of the neighbors are human, or descended from cryptids I’d know from home?”

“There are at least a couple within all three factions,” he said. “The Murrays, to the north, are human-dominant. They have a large enough range to have a stable breeding population, and I think they resent my presence more than any of the others, since I share a world of origin with some of them and should thus presumably share their ideas about ethical behavior. They send assassins periodically, usually young women who’ve been raised to think of me as some sort of soul-swallowing demon from the depths of hell.” He sounded deeply affronted by this, so deeply affronted that I had to laugh.

“I was raised essentially the same way, and we did okay,” I said. “Any of those women here at the moment?”

“No, they don’t tend to last long on the occasions when we’re able to take them alive. Usually, they suicide as soon as their missions fail. The rest are convinced they’ll be killed and eaten, not necessarily inthat order, and we can keep them alive for a few weeks if we keep them away from weapons, but they won’t eat our devil fruits or drink our devil water, and eventually we have to drop them at the border of Murray territory to save their lives.”

I cocked my head to the side. “Do the Murrays let those women come back into the fold?”

“Yes... but if you’re thinking what I can see you thinking, it’s not happening.”

“So how, exactly, were you planning to tell them all that it’s time to leave this dimension, then?” I asked. “You said you wanted to try to get all the people in this world out, so we need to find a way to convince your neighbors that they can trust us, or we’ll have to leave them behind when the extraction team gets here.” I could handle him demanding we find a way to create a much larger rock to smash through this shitty dimensional window and get us all to safety. I couldn’t deal with hanging back to abduct the unwilling.

“I’ll send someone to tell them,” he said. “They still fear me enough not to eat my messengers. But first, we need to fight off the people who are coming to attack us and figure out how exactly we’re going to leave this place.”

“I can help with the first part.” I paused. “You are planning to let me fight, right?”

“As if I’d try to stop you.” He raised an eyebrow. “I’ve never been able to do that, even when it was the best choice for everyone involved, and you’ve had fifty years to get even more stubborn. Even if I were foolish enough to attempt it, I doubt this is when I’d start succeeding.”

“Really? Huh. I guess I’m not the only one being surprisingly reasonable today.”

“Alice.” He sat down next to me, leaning over to cup my cheek with one hand and look into my eyes. “If I had my way, I’d never let you out of my sight again. But yes, I remember who I married.” He dropped his hand as he stood again. “Besides, we need every skilled fighter we can get.”

“Why would you have to let me out of your sight?” I asked. “Aren’t you going to be leading the charge like a proper warlord?”

“One benefit of magic having dwindled so dramatically in the last years—I’m not expected to go to the front line. It would diminish my mystique if I died like an ordinary man.”

He managed to make that sound both disdainful and annoyed, when arrogant would have been so much easier, and I laughed, startled. He blinked at me.

“What? Is the thought of me dying so amusing?”

“No, ’cause you’re not going to die. I forbid it,” I said. “Just... you’re still you. A little battered around the edges, I guess, and with some scars I’m going to need to learn, but still you. You have no idea how relieved I am.”

“I think I may have some idea,” he said, voice going dry. “And you... you haven’t turned into someone I don’t recognize either. I’m not sure how peaceful we’ll be together after this, but it’s not like we ever had a chance to figure ourselves out before, not without the crossroads hanging over us like an ax about to fall. We’re going to learn it now...”

He leaned down again, this time with clear intent to kiss me. I met him halfway. When he pulled back, I smiled.

He blinked at me. “What?”

“Just missed your face,” I said. “That’s all.”

This time I kissed him, and it went on for even longer before I regretfully drew myself away.

“Seriously, don’t worry about me,” I said. “I didn’t make it this far or find you again just to lose you now. We’re going to get out of here together.”

“I’ll hold you to that,” said Thomas, and smiled. “Sally is explaining our plan to the guard now. We’ll be shoring up our defenses at the appropriate points, calling all noncombatants to take shelter in the palace, and setting guards on the fields and the wells. Archers will be posted on the wall in case the O’Vera are foolish enough to attempt a frontal assault.”

“Protecting what they’ll see as your resources,” I said. “What are the O’Vera, anyway?”

“Descendants of our nearest neighbors. They fly, and come in a dozen shades of jeweled green, and eat all flesh without consideration or compunction. I’ve seen them fall upon their own during battle. They seem to be always hungry.”

“Okay, met them, too.” Apparently, the way they handled things next door wasn’t entirely due to the dead world damaging their pneuma. That was an unpleasant thing to realize. I’d been sort of hoping that if we could restore their world, they’d go back to being whatever they’d been before, and Cornale could stay on the list for safe transit. “They’re assholes when they’re at home, although I don’t know if I can blame them. They run the world I used to get here.”

“Meaning they have a rotting universe latched onto their own, poisoning it by inches.”

“Yes. Not much to eat there if you take each other off the menu, and they don’t seem too inclined to do that.”

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