Nord lay back on his bed, a copy of Rorchester Wallace's Journey Along the Way in his hands. He hadn't even heard the commotion coming from the common room, so engrossed in his book was he. But he noticed when an older man, with a long white whiskery beard and a bald head, burst through the door to his room.
Nord reached for his sword, leaning haphazardly on the wall next to the bed. He snatched it scabbard and all, swinging it to face the old man.
"Oh, put that toy away, you ijit." The old man admonished him. "You look almost as silly as you did at Tyrosh and Amon's marriage ceremony." He reached out into the hallway, dragging someone into the room behind him.
"Are you done being loud yet?" Nord heard the person ask as they were pulled into the room. His heart skipped a beat when he realized who it was. Nord looked again, then ran over gathering his nephew in a hard hug. "Dalanar be praised! Lovonian!" He exclaimed.
“Yeah, yeah, my father be praised.” Tryton answered cynically before taking a seat in one of the chairs.
Lov pushed against his uncle, trying to get him to loosen his hug. "Not so loud, Uncle! My ears and head hurt so badly. I hear a few thousand people marching across my brain."
Tryton gave a small laugh. "Try closer to fifty thousand. The Anuunaki like having a large standing army." Tryton focused his attention on Nord. "Now you listen carefully, you imbecile." Nord bristled at the second insult from what he knew was Lov's grandfather. "Lov is going through a sensitive time. He's just now experiencing the full stimuli that comes from having a dragon's senses. I don't care how badly you torture him, as long as when I come to pick him up, he's in one piece." He turned back to Lov, stabbing a finger in his face. "And you, stay out of trouble. Keep trying to work your gifts, just try to stay away from the lightning, it’s hard to control in tight spaces."
Nord walked to the bed and sat down "I'm glad to have Lov back, but are you really just going to dump him here like that?"
Tryton smiled a toothy grin. "Of course I am. You're the one he was asking for. Besides, would you bring someone acting as he is to a battle?" Tryton disappeared, a loud clap following, as it always did.
Nord turned to Lov. "That's what you've been dealing with for the past six months?" He asked incredulously. "I only see him in bits and pieces, thank the maker." He took a deep breath, calming the last waves of irritation within. "What has that old bat been doing to you for the last six months?" He really took in how Lov looked. The boy had never really been fat, but what baby fat there had been had melted away. The boy's face had more hard edges, and sharp angles to it. He didn't look like a boy anymore.
"Let's just say that wasn't an experience that I want to repeat, but will have to if I want to save Mother." Lov walked over and flopped onto the bed. "I'm happy to see you, Uncle, really, I am. But all I want to do right now is sleep on this nice soft bed. Without a root in my back, or a rock in my side."
Nord protested. "But it's the middle of the day! We have to find Jaxon, he's outside the temple here, waiting for Sanche." Nord expected Lov to jump at that. He and Sanche had been close.
Lov waved him away. "I'm sorry, Uncle, I just keep getting overwhelmed. I'm hearing so much right now. Like the barkeep complaining about how Tryton is a dick for barging up here."
"He is a bit of a dick, isn't he?" Nord chuckled, glad to know he wasn't the only one upset at that damn dragon.
"Uncle!" Lov barked, command entering his voice.
"Alright, I can see someone missed a few naps because of that old man. I'll check on you soon, in a bit I guess." Nord slammed the door behind him, just because he could.
"You're a jerk, Uncle!" Lov shouted after him. Nord chuckled to himself, going to the bar and getting a disposable cup of beer. It was bitter, but better than anything else an elf would drink. He walked out of The Purple Mushroom, heading deeper into the cavern complex. A wide open area appeared as you passed through the corridor. Huge stalactites hung from the ceiling. Holes had been cut through them for windows. Nord could see hundreds of people stacked together, their faces glowing blue in the light from the bulbs. Short stalagmites served as light posts, while others soared into the ceiling. Nord heard thousands of voices all around him. One thing about the bare stone that served as the home of the Anuunaki, it carried noise. A soft roar surrounded Nord as he walked farther into the complex. He approached the temple the Anuunaki had set up for outsiders to pray to their gods. The Temple of Many Faiths was a magnificent structure, one pyramid leading up to another pyramid, stacked upside down upon it. A large statue of an Anuunaki woman stood outside it. She was the last queen of the Anuunaki, the one that passed breeding to all of her daughters. Her name was Xinthar.
Jaxon was leaning lazily against the statue, looking to the entrance, and puffing away furiously on his pipe. Nord tried to sneak up on his friend, but the halfling turned just as his tall friend was reaching to goose him. Nord snapped his fingers. "I almost had you."
Jaxon laughed. "Are you sure about that? Missy told me you were coming as soon as the old coot left. I've been expecting you."
Nord frowned at his friend. "I hate fairies. And soon dragons will be on the list!"
"He call you an idiot again?" Jaxon asked.
"That's not the point!" Nord snapped. "Besides, I'm more worried about Sanche right now. Has he come out of there yet?"
"Nope. In fact, one of the priests in there told me he'd string me to his guitar if I tried to sneak back into the meditation rooms again." Jaxon shook his head. "Never thought I'd see the day a man of cloth threatened bodily harm. But these Anuunaki are touchy."
"Hey now! They aren't so bad." Nord defended. "In fact, I think they're a great group of people."
Jaxon rolled his eyes. "Let me guess, the stodgy one behind the bar didn't like Lov's grandfather either?"
Nord glowered at is friend. "You're entirely too good at that." He waved a cloud of smoke Jaxon blew into his face away, giving a slight cough. "Do you really have to smoke that thing while we wait for Sanche to quit pouting?"
Now it was Jaxon's turn to glower. "First of all, he's not pouting." The little man climbed onto a stone bench nearby, attempting to look his friend in the eye as he defended Sanche. "He's grieving. Did you not hear the story of his journey? And secondly, yes, I do have to smoke this thing." With that, he blew another thick cloud of smoke in Nord's direction.
"Fairies, dragons, and halflings." Nord grumbled to himself, as he leaned against the statue, settling in for a long wait.
Jaxon chuckled. "I welcome my place on that list, my friend!" He said, taking off down the street.
"Hey, where are you going?" Nord shouted after him.
Jaxon yelled back. "I've been here staring at that door for four hours! Your turn for guard duty!"
"Well, where the hell is Missy?" Jaxon ignored his friend, pretending he didn't hear Nord, and continued down the street. He found a guard, standing on a corner of an intersection and approached her for directions.
"Excuse me." Jaxon started, waving to the warrior. She was slightly taller than he was, and held an impressive poleaxe in her arms. It appeared to be made from a large chitinous forearm, and glowed faintly green in the blue light of the street lamps. Her chitin was a dark reddish brown, like oxblood. She turned to him, head cocked to the side. "Do you know where I can find some blue bulbs?" He asked her, looking for guidance.
She shook her head at him and put her arms up as if mimicking a shrug. Jaxon shook his head, then pulled his coin purse from his belt. He shook it, then pointed to the street lamp. The guard nodded and led him through the windy streets, then inside an immense stalagmite, taking him to an Anuunaki male who sat behind a large desk.
"My name is Kaila, can I help you?" He asked from where he was seated, looking to Jaxon. The man's chitin was a deep rich forest green with small yellow spots, circular in shape.
Jaxon flashed the Anuunaki a smile, gesturing for the female to stay. She buzzed a little, then strode away. Jaxon shook his head and turned back to the male. "Well, I've learned that you sell blue bulbs here, and I'd like to purchase some."
"Ah, yes, we usually don't sell them unless we have a bad batch." Kaila gestured around, "We're the only factory in the whole of Gobekli, but this chamber for outsiders is the only one we use them in."
"Ah, I see, well, can I still get a tour? I do use some, and it would be nice to find out how they're made." He shook the purse at his belt, and it jingled with the ring of coins.
"Something may be able to be arranged." Kaila replied, gesturing for Jaxon to show him the money.
Jaxon slid two gold coins across the table, and Kaila just stood there. He slid one more over and Kaila scooped them up and gestured for Jaxon to follow.
He guided Jaxon to a ramp that wove its way around the inner wall of the building. Windows were cut into the outer walls along the passage. As they climbed higher, rooms began to appear on the inner side of the tunnel. The first room Jaxon looked into contained thousands of bright blue bulbs, laying in bins along the wall. Workers swarmed around the room, separating bulbs out by size and shape, before placing them into the bins on the walls. Kaila looked in too, and said. "Not bad production for today.", then went on up the hall.
They passed four more rooms with as many bulbs as the first one before coming to a different chamber. Inside was a fountain, natural looking and constantly flowing. Bright blue liquid poured from the fountain into a large stone vessel, where it collected. Jaxon could see another container off to the side, workers ready to move in when the first one was full. The floor had splatter spots all around where the vessel sat.
"It's beautiful." Jaxon said reverently before being dragged away.
"Yes, but quite poisonous to beings. Those workers are specially bred for this type of work. They'll take the liquid to another room where magic will be used to seal the bulbs. Makes the bulbs less likely to break." Kaila continued walking as he talked. "Now on to the last stage. Where the whole process starts."
"Wait, what about the magic?" Jaxon asked anxiously.
"We don't give away all our secrets." Kaila replied, pulling him into a last room. In it was an open stone vat. Liquid dripped into it from above, at the top of the structure. Workers stood chucking what appeared to be eggs into the vat.
"Those aren't what I think they are, are they?" Jaxon asked gesturing to one of the workers.
"Yes, they are the unhatched fertilized eggs of my people." Kaila gestured into the vat. "The liquid and vat happened to be here when my people first tunneled into the rock formation, looking for a good room to set up for disposing eggs that didn't hatch. One of our workers, when we were slaves to the queen, was careless and dropped his eggs into the vat, which then began to glow. We found they were helpful in lighting up our merchant area, where we deal with outsiders. So as you can see, our recipe can't be made anywhere else."
"In other words, you have me by the balls if I wish to buy some." Jaxon said, thinking of the gold he had asked Missy to carry for him.
"Precisely."