Pathway

"You planned this well." 

Gallazza said and continued. 

"No angry dwarf mob waiting to pelt me with elemental stones, just a quiet execution when no one is around to see."

"We wouldn't waste normal stones on the likes of you, talkless of elemental stones." 

Moriaka uttered before continuing. 

"Nor would we stab you in the back or jab you with a hidden needle. You'll see your death when it comes, drow. I promise you that."

Gallazza chuckled and made no reply.

When they arrived at king Laggarma's chambers, the king dismissed the guards, except for Moriaka. He led the way through a set of double doors and down a short hall to another pair of doors. The one on the right led to his private bedchamber, though he rarely used the chamber. He opened the door on the left and ushered Gallazza through.

"You can go, Moriaka." 

The king said and nodded in her direction. 

"I'll tell you what guards I'll need when I'm finished here."

"I'll be waiting outside this door for you, my king." 

Moriaka rep led before continuing. 

"You call if you need me."

The king touched Moriaka's shoulder. 

"Thank you." 

Moriaka closed the door behind them. Magical orbs shone from six silver orb holders, lining the center of the room. They rested on a long stone table with fourteen chairs arranged around it. Maps, parchment, and books covered every available surface of the table. A fire burned in a grand gray marble fireplace on the far side of the room. King Laggarma advanced into the room, but Gallazza lingered at the door, openly staring at the walls.

Carved into the stone were hundreds of shelves, containing what must have been thousands of tomes and scrolls. The hoard of books was so large that Laggarma had stopped counting them over the years. The most ancient tomes he kept under glass in one corner of the room, preserved by the strongest magical symbols and energy. Those books were too fragile to handle with anything other than magic anymore, king Laggarma reflected sadly. A shame it was, too, for he still remembered what the cracked leather felt like under his hands, the crisp pages, and the musty book scent that had gradually settled into the whole room.

These tomes and scrolls were memory, poetry, power, and lore. They were king Laggarma's oldest friends.

"Impressed, are you?" 

The king barked at Gallazza. 

"So you should be. Even one as corrupt with dark energy as you must feel the power here." 

He touched one of the open scrolls on the table, lifting the handles to close it. 

"I used to bring only my most trusted advisers and friends to this room, to speak on matters of importance," he said and uttered a bitter laugh. "How things have changed."

He walked back to Gallazza and again removed the key from his spatial sac. He asked the yaomo to turn around and the yaomo did. The king then removed the chains that bound the yaomo's wrists. 

"In a mamner of speaking, you're free." The king said.

"I don't understand." 

Gallazza said. He rubbed his wrists, his gaze wandering over the vast library. 

"What game are you playing?"

"Surely you're accustomed to intrigue and deception in?" King Laggarma said, his laughter echoing eerily in the quiet chamber. 

"You should feel right at home. Or don't you enjoy playing these games among the dwarves? You think we can't manipulate and cheat with the best of your kind?"

The drow took a step back. King Laggarma suddenly realized he'd raised his voice to the point of shouting. With an effort, he controlled himself. He didn't want Moriaka storming in and skewering Gallazza.

Every encounter with the forsaken yaomo was an engagement, a battle of wills. He needed to win this fight, though he wished he wouldn't neee to bring out his weapon. However, if the need be, he will do that. Weapons make him feel more in control—or it might increase the already overwhelming urge he had to crush this spider, this invader in his private space. No, I need him. I must bring him and the other two kids together.

He'd decided to let Chang Chang and Ju Feng talk to the yaomo here. It was a risk, letting him out of his cage, but if Chang Chang saw the yaomo imprisoned, she might start to feel for the creature. He needed their powers, and he couldn't afford to let pity shake ther resolve. Besides, if Chang Chang was going to claim the sphere and the Silver Blood Fire, she would have to do it here in the library. The artifact itself had determined that.

Droya had said Chang Chang's power was a humbling sight. Droya had never said that about anyone, save perhaps her father. Maybe Chang Chang really could break the grip of the spider bitch's magic.

"My library will be your new prison," 

King Laggarma said. 

"You'll be under guard, but as long as you don't leave this room, you have the freedom to explore and learn all that you desire."

He listened as Gallazza gradually made his way across the room. So soft were his footfalls, so gracefully and stealthily did he move that it sent a shiver even through the dwarf king. He did not fear an attack from the yaomo. He had protections in place against such treachery, but.… Can I truly leave her alone with this creature? the king asked himself. Am I that desperate, or cruel? Perhaps I've slept in the stone too long. It's infected my heart.

"What is it you want in exchange for this grand gift you offer me?" 

Gallazza said. 

"You've already stripped bare my mind. What else could you possibly want from me?"

"That's for me to worry about," 

King Laggarma said. 

"Your concern, Gallazza, is living moment to moment. I've given you new life, taking you out of that dungeon cell. Loyal as they are, it is only a matter of time before one of my guards refuses to stay his hand against you. I'm offering you a degree of freedom, comfort, and access to the secrets of this city, the history and lore of countless generations. You'd be a fool not to take advantage of the knowledge here."

"You'll kill me before you'll let me use such knowledge against Myria. I see no advantage here." 

Gallazza said. 

"Ah, what a shame," 

King Laggarma said. He clasped his hands behind his back and clucked his tongue. 

"Have you given up all hope of escape, then, since your grand potato scheme failed? I expected better of you, yaomo. You should be planning your next bid for freedom even as we speak. Where is the cold calculation, the survival instinct of your race?"

"It isn't lost, not yet." 

Gallazza said. 

King Laggarma heard the hate in his voice. Gallazza's eyes scanned the room in a quick, assessing glance.what he was looking for.

"Oh, yes, Gallazza. Even the sphere is somewhere in this room," 

King Laggarma said. "You see, it's hidden itself—from me and everyone else in this city. It will only reveal its presence to one it considers worthy. Perhaps you might root it out from its hiding place."

"You're lying. You would never give me that chance."

"I admit I'm fairly certain the sphere will never give itself over to a drow. But don't you enjoy a challenge, Gallazza?"

"Always." 

Gallazza stood next to the fire, the orange flames bringing a bit of life to his dull red eyes. 

"I accept your hospitality, King, Laggarma. I'll play your game. Let it lead us where it will."

King Laggarma again suppressed the urge to cut the yaomo down where he stood. Irrevocably, I have tainted this place, he thought. Whatever happens, there'll be a price to pay. 

***

Chang Chang again dreamed of sphere and spell fire. She sat on a bamboo chair in her great uncle's chamber, a tome propped on her knees. Eagerly, she flipped the pages, but each one was blank. She went through the entire tome, one page at a time, searching for the story, but it eluded her. Slamming the tome shut in frustration, she hurled it across the shop.

It's not there, said a familiar woman's voice in her mind. She recognized it from her dream the night before, the soothing voice that spoke to her while the valley fire raged. You're not looking in the right place.

"Then where is it?" 

Chang Chang cried, waking herself up. Groggily, she pushed herself to a sitting position. The woollen robe covering her slipped off her shoulder, awakening her body with a quick draft of cold. Her hips and legs ached with little pains and complaints, and her arm was stiff from lying on it on the hard bed. She took out some medicinal herbs and started chewing. A low fire burned in a hearth nearby, but even by its light, Chang Chang had trouble sorting out where she was. Her sleep-fogged brain was slow to react to her new surroundings.

She took a breath, and the thick stench of forge fires entered her lungs, eclipsing the more subtle, sweet smoke coming from the hearth fire. With the smell, the events of the previous day came back to her in a rush.

She was miles beneath upper world, in the dwarf city of Myria. The room she'd been given contained a straw padded stone bed, a small stone table with a basin of water on it, and a fireplace. On the walls were empty hooks where earthly weapons used to hang, and discolored patches of floor marked where other pieces of decorations had once rested. These phantoms gave the room an empty, cheerless aspect, broken only by the fire, which cast a golden glow over everything.