“I don’t! I came to asssssk for mercy,” the snakekin said, openly weeping.
“Let her go,” Keaton said again, gritting his teeth as he struggled to his feet, shrugging off help from both Cassia and Adriana.
He might not have been used to the leadership role, but he was the leader. The fact that everyone was treating him like some fragile object was grating.
Orbon listened, at least. He let go of the snakekin, releasing her neck. She fell like a length of rope pooling on the ground, her tail curling beneath her to cushion the blow.
“I’ll give you a few sentences to explain, but after that, I have to defer to my minions,” Keaton said, approaching the snakekin.
She looked terrified. Reptilian eyes were unnaturally round, so large he could see the boundaries of the sclera. She hunched down, cringing away from him, and Keaton actually felt guilty. If he’d acted this way toward Adriana when they first met, where would they be now?
Quit focusing on what’s expected of you and just… do what seems right, he told himself.
“Go ahead. And take your time to say whatever it is you came here to say,” Keaton encouraged, his voice soft.
That seemed to ease her fear a little. She swallowed, looking up at him. For the first time Keaton realized she was much smaller than the other snakekin. They’d each nearly touched the ceiling of the narrow passageways, but this one was shorter even than a human.
“I… I have wanted ssssome way out of this place ssssince I hatched. Our mistresssss is cruel. She worksss us to the bone in the forge, throwsss us away once we have used up the lasssst of our energy. And that isss if we are lucky, or too young to be of use to her in other waysss.”
It took Keaton a moment to realize what she meant. When he did, he winced. Was every dungeon lord like Lord Havron? Just some hedonistic piece of shit who thought they were entitled to everything, including the bodies of those who unwillingly served them?
Sure, the act of bonding with a lieutenant was rooted in something sexual, but he would never force anyone to… service him. It didn’t matter what the circumstances were.
“I do not expect you to help me for no reassson!” the snakekin continued. “I can work a forge. Not asss well as sssome, but I will improve. I will dedicate my life to that, to you, if you will help me.”
“I’m not sure our forge is up to snuff,” Keaton mused. “We came here to see if we could get some weapon or armor designs.”
“I will take you to the forge!” Her sudden excitement almost surprised him, and the desperation shining in her eyes made his heart hurt.
She’d say anything to get out of here, even if it made her look suspicious. That fact alone made Keaton want to help her. He knew he shouldn’t. He knew he’d been duped before. But she seemed painfully sincere.
“This is a trap,” Cassia “whispered” at his ear.
“I ssswear it is not! Pleassse, I will show you. If you sssense anything wrong, ssstrike me down immediately!”
“Oh, I will. Don’t worry about that.”
Keaton turned an incredulous look on his lieutenant. That tone of voice was bone-chillingly disturbing. But Cassia just shrugged.
“I… am inclined to hear her out,” Adriana said, her voice becoming small as she added, “for whatever that is worth.”
Quite a bit, considering what she’d been through. Keaton held her gaze for a moment before nodding.
“Take us to the forge. Help us get a few plans, and we’ll get you out of here.”
“Yesss, of course!” she said, breathless, the rattle at the end of her tail vibrating.
“And if you try to betray dungeon lord I squeeze neck ‘til eyeballs pop out. Then I eat them,” the hobgoblin put in.
Keaton opened his mouth to say something about that, then just shut it again. “Not the threat I would have made, but okay. Let’s just… head to the forge.”
To Orbon’s credit, it did seem to work. She stayed as far away from him as she could, slithering almost silently through the corridors. She stopped at the wall he’d noticed earlier, interacting with it to open up the secret passage. Keaton silently kicked himself for not following through, but for all he knew, the way was guarded.
Which… it was. Or it had been. There were two large snakekin curled on the other side, unmoving. His new guide just contracted the muscles of her tail to get around them without incident.
“Are they… dead?” he whispered. Cassia nudged one with the toe of her boot.
“They are in a hibernation sssstate,” she said, her tone far more detached this time. “It happensss to our kind when we are exposssed to extreme cold. Or to the frostcap plant. They will wake in a few hoursss. I did not want them ssstopping me and asssking questions.”
Keaton blinked, looking between the snakekin and the two large, adult guards. She was half their size, and that was being generous. She also didn’t seem to be an adult herself. Maybe a teen, if he had to guess.
How the hell had she…?
“I like to work with chemicalsss,” she said as if reading his mind. “I wasss born to work a forge, as all our kind are, but that isss not my true passion.”
An alchemist. That could come in handy, too. Then again, their deal hadn’t been for her to join The Labyrinth. He didn’t even know if they could trust her yet, because the frightened girl who’d subjected herself to their mercy also seemed capable of literally poisoning creatures twice her size.
“I do not like this,” Cassia said, stating the obvious again. “There’s something off about her.”
“She has done what she needed to do to survive,” Adriana countered in a whisper. “It’s not something you would understand.”
“Excuse me?”
“Enough,” Keaton hissed. “I don’t know what’s going on with you two but knock it off. Right now.”
Both were silent, and both looked contrite in their own ways. It was more obvious on Adriana’s features, her ears drooping. Cassia’s chin ticked upward, meanwhile, and she walked with a more rigid posture.
They continued on without incident, stepping over the hibernating guards. Keaton didn’t have to ask how far away the forge was, he could feel the shift in temperature. It was like they were walking into the earth’s core, the stones around them seeming to hold residual heat. He smelled the smoke, heard the bellows and the tink of metal hitting metal.
Reaching for his scimitar, Keaton prepared to defend himself.
“They won’t attack,” the snakekin assured them. “They want to get out of here assss much asss I do, but if we all sssstop working, our mistresssss will know.”
He nodded. It was a little reckless. They could be walking right into a… well, a pit of vipers. But he trusted the people he’d brought with him. They’d fight tooth and nail on his behalf and their own. And honestly, Keaton just wanted to believe her.
“You will go in first,” Cassia told her. “Tell them to come out, unarmed, and then we’ll see about going in.”
“Of courssse,” the snakekin said, dipping her head in deference.
She turned and slithered toward the forge. The building was inconspicuous, situated in what would have otherwise been an open chamber. Keaton saw a hint of metal grating and heard the snakekin’s tail scrape against it as she entered. Whether that was to allow more heat in or to vent it, he wasn’t sure. He could see what was happening with the smoke, though. It was being pumped into some kind of tube that moved laterally, piercing through the walls of the cave. If he had to guess, it was likely carved up and out somewhere. Maybe used for some other purpose, maybe just pumped into the desert, though he hadn’t seen any signs of smoke.