Chapter 7: The Barren Burrow

It was bright outside.

Even with the fire inside the stable, Elma wasn’t ready for the blinding sunshine as they sped out into the Plains. She blinked several times as she tightened her legs on the beetle’s sides. Glancing up, she saw that a gap in the dark grey clouds allowed the full power of the sun to cover the lands.

But the dark figure that sailed overhead pulled her attention to the matter at hand.

They hadn’t escaped yet.

Razzda leaned down, practically laying atop the Beetle’s head as she turned its head northwards. The Beetle followed her guidance, its legs scuttling past the northern edge of the trade fair as Bullwing circled over them.

The pounding of the giant beetle’s wings filled Elma’s ears. Under it, she could hear shouting. Glancing towards Bullwing as it sailed in the air, she saw Luksen pointing towards them and shouting. Elma couldn’t hear what she was saying over the buzzing. Luksen spat at them before raising her horn to her lips.

“She’s trying to call for aid.” Elma reached forward to shake Razzda “How far is this cave of yours?”

“Hush hush, lady lass.” Razzda rubbed their beetle’s head “Buggy get there when get there.”

“But-”

The horn sounded, and Elma quickly whipped her head back to eye the trade fair. The Beetledriver stable was collapsing, smoke spilling from the massive tent as more of its supports collapsed. Nurl were running all over trying to usher the beetles out whilst dousing the flames with buckets of water.

But speeding past them were two Beetles with a pair of Nurl riding each. They gave chase, following behind as Luksen kept blowing her horn.

Elma swallowed dryly. Escaping Bullwing and Luksen was one thing, but they’d get run down eventually if she kept drawing more pursuers with that horn.

“We match, Lady Lass!”

Elma blinked before turning around, Razzda was looking back with a sharp-toothed grin as she pointed to her nose. The blue blood under it had dried, but the sight brought Elma’s attention back to her own broken nose.

Wiping at it again, Elma gestured ahead of them.

“Focus.” She demanded, “We’ve got a hill coming up ahead.”

Razzda leaned up again, and once more Elma couldn’t help but note the way she casually lifted Bullminth’s Blade and pointed forwards.

“Steady tready, buggy!” she declared as the Beetle raced up the hill as fast as its multitude of legs could carry it “Best girl! Best buggy girl!”

As soon as they crested, Elma immediately glanced around to try and spot Razzda’s cave. She saw nothing, only more grassy hills and the mountain range to the west. They descended before she could voice her concerns, with Razzda graciously petting the beetle’s head over and over whilst repeatedly spouting praise.

But Elma’s eyes kept going to Bullwing, the giant Beetle was keeping pace with them with ease. Easily clearing the air ahead as Luksen blew her horn again.

Not a second later, Elma looked back to see the two Beetle Mounts cresting the hill behind them. The Nurl passengers on those mounts were readying weapons, a bundle of knives for one and a bow and arrow for the other.

Elsa turned quickly and shook Razzda again, the Nurl glancing back with a slight snarl as Elma pointed behind them.

“They’re going to start firing at us,” she said, “can you get this thing to move evasively?”

“What you say?” Razzda snorted at the mere thought “Buggy not battle bred, carry-type!”

At that very moment, an arrow punctured the ground beside them. The beetle started snapping its mandibles but kept its course straight.

“Then get back here and swipe those things out of the air.” Elma leaned closer to Razzda

“What?!?” Razzda shook her head “Crazy speak!”

“You did it when you were being chased by the Yisshin.”

“Accident!”

“You can swing your sword fast enough to snap a crossbow bolt,” Elma reached over and gave her arm a shake “They’ll stick us a dozen times over before we reach your cave, now move!”

Razzda hissed but did reach back with her free hand to grab hold of Elma. Sliding past her to the rear of the beetle, Razzda gripped Bullminth’s Blade in both hands as she pressed her back to Elma’s. Elma couldn’t help but grind her teeth at the ease with which Razzda wielded it, but forced her thoughts back to the threat at hand.

Elma leaned forward to give Razzda more room, only to realize that she’d overlooked a crucial detail in her plan.

The Beetle was starting to list to the side without Razzda to guide it.

“How do I get this thing to ride where I want it?” she asked, causing Razzda to look back at her incredulously.

“No ride bugs, Lady Lass?” she asked as one of the Beetledrivers readied his bow.

“Keep eyes on them!” Elma warned, causing Razzda to look back just as the arrow was let loose. Razzda yelped in fright before swinging Bullminth’s Blade wildly through the air several times before smashing the incoming arrow and snapping it in half.

Razzda locked up, eyes following the pieces of the arrow falling away before eyeing the broadsword in her grasp.

A knife was thrown, and once again Razzda swung.

It was sent tumbling away in the air as the pursuers both readied more arrows and blades.

“Razzda!” Elma shouted, breaking the Nurl from her stupor “The Beetle?”

“Uh… right!” Razzda shook her head before gripping Bullminth’s Blade “Hold buggy stalk, nudge her right way!”

Elma looked ahead, eyes following the head of the Beetle until she realized the only thing that Razzda could be speaking of was the antennae.

Their ‘Buggy’ was absently waving its antennae in front of itself, but not exactly. Something apparently caught its attention, drawing its antennae to the right. Elma didn’t know if it was a preference for elevation or terrain, and her broken nose made noting potential smells impossible.

Holding her breath, Elma leaned forward and wrapped a hand around the base of the Beetle’s left antennae before carefully bending it to the left. The Beetle snapped its mandibles, but its whole head moved with Elma’s movements as the terrain evened out.

“No wrap-type for calming!” Razzda shouted whilst swiping another arrow away “Pet head! Buggy like warm hands!”

Elma wasn’t exactly certain what ‘wrap-type’ meant. She wasn’t even sure if the beetle could feel a head rub through its carapace, but Razzda’s words had worked so far. She rubbed at the beetle’s head between its bulbous eyes, feeling awkward with each motion until it began snapping its mandibles less and less.

Elma decided that it was close enough to horse-riding with her father, that despite the Beetle’s vastly different build compared to a horse there was some crossover in the technique. And if that was the case, then perhaps she wasn’t as lost as she initially assumed

But just when that note of confidence crept into her thoughts, they darted past something that Elma hadn’t been able to see at a distance. Something that had been hidden by the grass.

But now Elma’s eyes shot open at the sight of the large hole they were speeding by. It was easily bigger than their beetle, and Elma kept her gaze on it even when it was behind them.

Some of their pursuers hadn’t noticed quick enough, as the Beetle Mount carrying the knife thrower fell head-first into the pit and disappeared along with its frantically screaming riders.

Above, Luksen’s horn sounded again, only this time sounding shrill instead of the booming drone it had produced prior. The other Pursuers pulled the reins on their Beetle Mount, which slowed to a stop and allowed them to gain distance. Even Bullwing’s pounding buzz pulled away to the side.

But such things were far less of a relief to Elma than they were to Razzda.

“Ha!” the Nurl cheered, waving Bullminth’s Blade triumphantly in the air “Scared em good! Free riding! Free riding for-!”

“You’ve led us over a Beetle Burrow!” Elma shouted, carefully maneuvering the Beetle as she kept watch for any more holes obscured by the grass.

“Yes yes,” Razzda was unfazed “where meet Junk man.”

“Your buyer’s trying to get you killed!” Elma stated, quickly guiding their beetle around another pit “Do you even have the slightest idea how easy it is to get lost in one of these?!?”

Razzda clapped Elma on the shoulder before leaning her head on it.

“Easy, Lady Lass.” She said, “Razzda pick meet place.”

“You what?” Elma couldn’t even begin to process the madness she was hearing, glancing over to see Razzda flashing another sharp-toothed grin.

The Nurl pointed with her free hand towards where the grasslands met the mountain range to the west. There she could see another entrance to the burrow. Willingly diving into a Beetle Burrow, the thought alone was madness in almost every scenario. But Razzda had yet to lie to her so far, and Bullwing still wouldn’t be able to fit in.

They would not go too deep. That was what Elma told herself as she steered their Beetle towards that hole. She could keep track of only a few passages, surely, then maybe convince Razzda to rethink the sale once they were safe.

Turning to give Razzda a matching smile, her face instead contorted with horror as she saw Bullwing diving towards them from the side. Elma roughly tugged the antennae of their beetle in an attempt to get out of the way, but the Beetle instead gave a whine as it tried to alter its run.

It was far too late, and Bullwing’s horn swept their Beetle’s back legs out from under it. Without a saddle, there was no hope for Elma to keep hold of the Beetle as it flipped over itself. Instead, she brought her arms to the side of her head as she was flung off and slammed into the grass, attempting to catch herself only for her legs to slip into a nearby burrow hole.

She threw her hands into the grass and dug her fingers into the dirt. She managed to catch herself with her chest above the edge, breathing heavily as her vision oriented itself from the fall.

Their Beetle had gotten stuck on its back, all six of its legs flailing wildly to right itself as it released pained whines into the air. Past it, Elma could see Razzda desperately running as Bullwing gave chase. Riding atop him, Luksen shouted and cursed at Razzda whilst tugging on the tightly wound ropes that served as the reins.

Razzda wasn’t even trying to swing Bullminth’s Blade at it, instead focusing entirely on avoiding being crushed by Bullwing’s legs. Behind them, Elma spotted the other pursuing Beetle Mount carefully making its way towards them while avoiding Burrow holes.

Gritting her teeth, Elma clawed at the grass before hauling herself out of the hole with a grunt. She scrambled to their Beetle Mount, practically flinging herself at its side before quickly rubbing at its head.

It took a bit of petting, all the while Elma’s gaze darted from Razzda to the Burrow Hole they were aiming for, but eventually, the Beetle’s legs stopped wildly flailing. It was only then that Elma planted her back against its side and dug her heels into the ground to push it.

She never would’ve even considered such a thing for a regular horse, but the Beetle’s round shape proved far more receptive. It rolled onto its feet again, and Elma wasted no time in mounting it whilst rubbing its head as much as she could. With its whines dying down, Elma’s gaze snapped towards Razzda as she threw herself out of the way of Bullwing’s massive legs again.

The other Beetle Mount was close enough for its rider to ready another arrow, but Elma’s gaze was solely on Razzda as she struggled to get up.

Urging the Beetle forwards, Elma leaned to the side while clasping her legs tightly upon the Beetle’s back. Just as Bullwing reared back, Elma rode by with an arm out to grab Razzda by the scruff of her cloak. She pulled her onto the Beetle just as Bullwing slammed its forelegs into the ground behind them.

Razzda looked around wildly before her eyes settled on Elma.

“Make good Beetledriver, Lady Lass!” she cooed, but a quick glance behind them was enough to wipe the growing smile from her face.

Razzda clung to Elma’s side as she looked back to see Bullwing directly behind them. Its legs crashed into the ground while it attempted to swing its horn into them again. But this time, their Beetle outpaced it swings. Elma found her eyes going wide at the sight of them actually gaining much-needed distance.

Luksen released a stream of curses as she tugged on the reins, making Bullwing spread his wings and begin to lift off again. Elma turned her gaze towards the Burrow hole Razzda had indicated, only a few seconds away at best.

Yet the Buzz of Bullwing drawing near filled her ears rapidly, the beast moving far faster through the air than it had on land.

Elma could feel Razzda’s fingers digging into her, but more pressing was the realization that they’d have no chance to slow down.

“We have to jump.” She stated, a confused look from Razzda being the last thing she saw before she sharply tugged their beetle’s antennae to the side at the Burrow hole’s edge.

She loosened her legs as the Beetle whined and lunged to the side, the shift of momentum carrying her off of it with Razzda still gripping on to her.

The Nurl’s scream as they fell was drowned by a rush of wind as Elma flailed to catch hold of something to slow their descent. But then Bullwing rammed into the side of the hole and cut off the sunlight above.

Elma plunged into the darkness, tumbling as her surroundings were consumed by the inky black.

She didn’t know when she stopped falling, only that she couldn’t see, hear or feel anything around her. It was only her and the dark, with the occasional blur of color passing by.

But the more she focused on those blurs, the more they began to take shape into a murky soup of greens and whites.

Nothing one would associate with a Beetle Burrow.

Elma shot up suddenly, finding the shocking touch of grass beneath her hands and realizing she was amidst a blurry green field.

The sky was pale, the clouds misty and dull yet still shining light upon her.

But she couldn’t hear anything, just the thrum of a distant buzz as water slipped down the back of her neck.

Her eyes couldn’t focus on anything, just the general shapes of a wooden fence closing the field off in a distance and the brown blobs of houses beyond.

Elma scrambled to her feet, only to find the grass of the field far taller than it had any right to be.

Why was she here? To practice her horse riding, of course. That was the only reason father would let her be in Uncle’s field so late into the day. She must’ve fallen off, but she would never let father know such a thing.

Yes, the more the memories came back the more the brown blobs took the form of Westhaven, one of the Olmerran Union’s greatest suppliers of grain in the south.

Luckily, none of the busy townsfolk had seen her fall, she could get back to her lesson without worry.

Elma was quick to look around, eager to make sure the small mare hadn’t trotted too far off…

…only to find it riddled with arrows against uncle’s fence.

Elma’s heart dropped at the sight, reaching out towards the mare only to find a window between them.

She wanted to lure the horses and cattle in before the attack, but her mother and Uncle forbade her from leaving the farmstead. They had to remain inside while the others prepared. She looked out from the second-floor window of Uncle’s home, ignoring her mother’s calls as she tore her gaze from the dead mare and turned instead towards the barricades erected around Westhaven.

The sky had lost its dull pale luster, turning orange as the sun made its descent. Just enough to hide the red of the numerous hooded men and women guarding Westhaven’s barricades in preparation for the Archon’s assault.

But it wasn’t the Dreamer horde that crested the northern hills, but legions of their own countrymen.

Their neighbors, their allies, their people.

The Olmerran military came in full force, charging Westhaven’s border as another volley of arrows rained down towards the barricades.

But Elma wasn’t able to see them land, a rough hand pulling her away and burying her face in the fabric of a familiar dress.

Elma couldn’t make out her mother’s words, just the distant buzzing growing louder and louder. Her mother didn’t seem to notice the water on Elma’s head, just pulled her so close that Elma found it hard to breathe. She pushed against her mother’s grasp, but her grip was iron.

Only when the woman suddenly went rigid did Elma manage to pull away, but the freedom from her mother’s grasp failed to bring air.

It only allowed Elma to recognize that they were surrounded.

On every side, people of all sizes and ages had gathered at the heart of Olmerra in the vast courtyard before the castle. But none of them had any faces Elma recognized, just more murky blurs shouting unheard words towards the castle.

But it wasn’t aimed at the castle itself, but the gallows erected before it. Where nine figures in red hoods dangled from taut nooses, and the last awaited the same fate. Elma could see the adjudicator’s lips moving behind his veil, but his voice was as lost as everyone else’s.

It didn’t matter to Elma, anything he said could only be lies. Only lies would allow such a thing to happen to their protectors.

To her protector.

She couldn’t even scream out against the injustice, her voice just as lost as all the others. She couldn’t pull away, for her mother had regained herself and demanded she look away as the Adjudicator closed his tome.

But Elma couldn’t stop, couldn’t even try and look away as the final victim fell.

And the buzzing filled the air.

Elma’s eyes snapped open.

The dimly lit tunnel was all that greeted her, the buzzing loud enough to give her a headache. But the ache from the back of her skull was more than just annoyance. She felt a sharp pain lance through her head the moment she tried to sit up.

The buzzing didn’t help, again it filled the tunnel and drew Elma’s gaze to its source. The large rear end of a beetle was struggling to free itself from a hole in the roof of the tunnel. After reorienting its legs, its wings failed to open all the way, ending up just flapping against the edges of the hole uselessly.

Bullwing.

It all came back to Elma, who realized the giant bug had wedged itself into the entrance of the beetle burrow in its efforts to reach them.

Elma got to her knees, reaching for the source of the pain at the back of her head and feeling wetness. Only small rays of light were able to get past the stuck beetle, but Elma didn’t even need it to recognize she was bleeding.

It had leaked through a cloth tied messily around her head.

The fall… she’d hit her head in the fall.

But how long had she been out? Bullwing was blocking the entrance, and if she was alive and uncaptured then their pursuers hadn’t found another way to them. Or perhaps they were wise enough to avoid entering a Beetle Burrow.

Elma turned to ask Razzda, only to quickly realize a far more pressing detail.

She was alone.

No sign of Razzda, nor Bullminth’s Blade.

She’d left.

Elma reached up to the cloth around her head, only for her to grind her teeth and force herself to her feet.

Her head ached and her body was sluggish, but the tunnel only went one way from Bullwing.

Agonizingly slowly, she stumbled her way closer to the darkness of the tunnel, mumbling Razzda’s name as she drew further from Bullwing’s buzzing.

She almost thought her words had reached her when she recognized a figure approaching in the dark. Rising from the downward slope of the tunnel and eventually growing until Elma realized it was far too large to be Razzda. Not only that…

She couldn’t hear its footsteps.

Tripping over herself and falling to one knee, the silence of the figure made Elma question if it was just a blur formed by her shaken mind. But then the figure managed to take form as it drew closer, every new detail her eyes recognized just served to confuse Elma.

“What was it I said?” the familiar voice asked as fur boots stepped out of the darkness “Try not to get robbed, kidnapped, or killed?”

From his kilt to his armor of tightly wound pelts, Elma could see everything except his face still shrouded in the dark.

“So…” he folded his arms over his chest “Why does it look like you ran headfirst into all three?”

Elma coughed, forcing her head up and trying to blink away her blurry vision.

“Are… you real?” she managed to ask, prompting a sigh as Yorm crouched down and tilted his head at her.

Elma felt his hands under her arms as he pulled her up and leaned her head to the side. He examined the cloth wrapped around her head, turning her around in his grasp to get a better look.

“Well, the effort’s there.” She heard Yorm mutter as he undid the cloth “But it ain’t ever getting sealed, loose as it is. Grit ya teeth a bit.”

“What?” was all Elma could say before a blinding pain exploded from the back of her head.

The pain brought clarity, and her hands shot back to Yorm’s.

“Easy.” He said, so Elma just clenched her fists until he finished tightly tying the cloth around her head “Better?”

Elma had to take several breaths, but whether or not the tighter knot made things better was insignificant to how quickly the shock had cleared her murky vision. She raised her hand in front of her face and clenched it several times before glancing to Yorm and nodding.

“Good.” Without warning his hand lunged forward and roughly jerked her broken nose into place.

The scent of her own blood flooded her nostrils along with a new streak of pain as Yorm stood and stepped away.

“Hold it, there’s some Smearmoss down here you can numb it with.” He pointed ahead, only for Elma to grunt and glare at him.

“Maybe a bit of warning next time?” she demanded whilst shakily rising to her feet “In fact, don’t you walk away! How did you even get here? No, why are you here?”

“To get that sword your friend has?” he stated as he turned a corner.

Elma gritted her teeth and carefully raised a hand, prodding at her aching nose as she followed after him.

Turning the corner, Elma found Yorm crouching beside a steep fall as the tunnel angled downward. A faint glow was illuminating him from below, so she found it easier to approach without tripping over rocks every other step.

“You… were you following me?” she asked

“I should be askin’ that.” Yorm shook his head before glaring back at her “Last thing I expected when keeping watch for her was to see you taggin’ along.”

“But how?!?” Elma narrowed her eyes at him “You were stuck arguing with that broken bug last time I checked.”

“Arguing?” Yorm raised an eyebrow and stood up “She and I had a nice chat, so I managed to pick out where our missing contact was. Just got a way with words like that, I suppose.”

“But-!” Elma bit her tongue and grabbed at her head “That still doesn’t explain why you’re here. If you found out what Fulgan was busy with then…wait…”

The realization came at her in a burst of annoyed disbelief, so much so that she almost wanted to write off the assumption before it could even manifest. But the way Yorm folded his arms at her gave her pause on so simple a dismissal.

Accepting that he had somehow managed to weasel information out of Lefty, that meant he was here because of Fulgan.

“No… the buyer.” Elma winced as Yorm nodded “He… that scheming criminal filth-?”

“Told ya he knows his work.”