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It was like walking through a forest of smooth stone trunks. Though there were no walls in the massive, high-ceilinged chamber, their field of view was deceptively small. The pillars soon obscured the door they had walked through.
“It just doesn’t make sense,” Laios murmured. He flinched and glanced to the right, but there were only grey shadows on old stone. “I mean, even the sunken parts of the dungeon, you can see a purpose for them, right? But what is this place?”
“I’ve not been here before,” Senshi shrugged a rounded shoulder. “It’s too open to have much livestock. Hmm… it is strange that there isn’t even any moss.”
“I never thought I’d be creeped out by a place not having monsters,” Chilchuck grumbled. He crossed his arms.
Izutsumi scratched the back of her shoulder forcefully. Her scratching echoed across the empty chamber.
“What do you think, Marcille?” Laios asked.
Marcille startled. “About what?”
“Are you falling asleep on your feet back there?” Chilchuck asked.
Marcille pressed her hands to her face and moaned. “I haven’t slept at all… I keep having that dream.”
“About being crushed to death?” Laios asked, cheerfully.
Izutsumi’s ear flicked, irritatedly.
“Mhmm,” Marcille said. She touched her chin. “Plus an insect bit me last night, right under my jaw. Might have been a spider.”
“That’s weird,” Chilchuck said. “I haven’t even seen a centipede down here. Could it be something you brought with you from the jungle rooms we just passed through?”
“No way! I cast a clensing spell every night. Nothing’s sticking to me,” Marcille said. She prodded her insect bite mournfully. It was just her luck.
Izutsumi padded soundlessly, circling the group to walk at the back like a hunting animal.
“Oh, I remember now,” Senshi snapped his fingers. “This area was probably an under-city water reservoir.”
“Right!” Laios said, a bright grin blooming across his face. “I’ve never been to one in any surface city. Oh, oh, and that’s probably why nothing grows down here—they probably charmed the stone to stop things growing on them, right? To stop the water being contaminated?”
“Aye, perhaps,” Senshi said. “That means we won’t find anything to eat until we reach the other side.”
“But we should still take any rock surface we can find,” Laios said. “We might be able to use it as a monster-repellent.”
“Good thinking, lad,” Senshi said, and Laios visibly preened. “Maybe we can even break it up and add it to supplies to slow down any mould or rot from progressing. Let’s see…”
The pair of them started to walk faster, inspecting the pillar faces they passed with renewed interest.
“Aaand they’re off,” Chilchuk murmured to himself. “I can’t believe they can find so much excitement out of a big empty room…” But, as the mystery had been solved, the half-foot’s shoulders relaxed. He clasped his hands behind his head and looked up at the distant ceiling.
Marcille was hardly listening. There was a quiet clatter close behind her, and she felt her bag yank. She spun around staff raised, half a blast spell on her lips.
Izutsumi leaped back, both paws raised.
“Izutsumi!” Marcille yelped, drawing her staff back. “Why are you going through my things?! If you want to borrow something, just ask…”
“I need the iodine,” Izutsumi said, curtly.
“Well you can’t have it,” Marcille sighed. “We used a lot of it after the last battle. We might need it later and it’s really hard to come by pure iodine in the dungeon.”
“I need it. You can just cast a healing spell,” Izutsumi said. She swiped for the bag.
“You just cast a healing spell!” Marcille said, holding the bag out of reach. “It’s my iodine. What do you need it for?”
Izutsumi’s mouth pulled into an unhappy line. Her ears flattened to the curve of her skull. “I need to use it.”
“What for?”
“For me,” Izutsumi said.
Marcille sighed through her nose. The pair of them had stopped walking and the rest of the group was a distance away. The leather of the bag creaked under the elf’s grip.
“I have…” Izutsumi curled her lip, cheeks colouring. “Fleas.”
“Oh, Izutsumi. That’s nothing to be embarrassed by,” Marcille said, pulling her bag back over her shoulder. “Laios once fell into a swamp and we all spent a long evening getting all the poisonous leeches off him. The fumes gave all of us diarrhoea. So there’s really nothing you can do that I’ll be grossed-out by.”
Izutsumi’s ears rose a little.
“But we can’t use the iodine,” Marcille said. She yawned. “I don’t have the focus to do a cleansing spell on you right now, I’m afraid.”
“If we tell the others, Laios will want to eat them,” Izutsumi said.
“It’s okay,” Marcille said. “I have a solution.”
*
There was a crackling flash of magic, and the small stone pool began to steam steadily. “This spell, at least, is easy,” Marcille muttered. Using a small knife, she cut off white flakes of dry, handmade soap (boiled gremlin fat, lye, and water) into the water.
Izutsumi eyed the warm bath suspiciously. “I bet it’ll taste disgusting.”
“It’s soap…” Marcille said. “You’re not supposed to drink it.”
“I like grooming myself. It’s not weird, it’s instinctual,” Izutsumi said.
“You can rinse it off later, if you like,” Marcille said. She held out a whalebone comb. “Be careful with this. It’s my only fine-toothed comb, and it’s not exactly something you can D-I-Y, okay?”
Izutsumi picked the comb up, turning it over in her paws. Something was carved on the spine in looping elvish script, the cursive so fancy it was hard to tell where one word ended and the next began.
“Okay, go ahead,” Marcille said, lifting the edge of the tent. “Let me know if you need me to warm the water again.”
“Wait!” Izutsumi yelped. She snatched the hem of Marcille’s dress. “You have to stay, I need your help.”
Marcille glared at her. She crossed her arms.
Izutsumi’s ear flicked.
“What did you say? I think I misheard,” Marcille asked, icily.
“Please could you stay,” Izutsumi said, ears flattening. “I… need you to comb my back.”
Marcille grumbled. “Ugh… I don’t really want to touch any fleas…”
Izutsumi stared up at her, brow furrowed.
Marcille sighed and rolled her sleeves up. She beckoned and Izutsumi obediently undressed, laying her clothing next to the edge of the pool. Naked, she slipped into the soapy water.
“There might be fleas in my clothes,” Izutsumi said.
“Mmm,” Marcille said, and zapped the clothing with a flick of her staff.
Izutsumi’s ears spiked up in shock. “What was that?”
“It eradicates living biological material,” Marcille said. “It’s much simpler to cast than a cleansing spell—fewer parameters.”
Izutsumi growled a little. With her hair slicked to her skull, her head looked smaller and her ears looked larger.
Marcille drew the comb through the fur on the back of Izutsumi’s head. She pushed her head back into the elf’s hands. Soft, wet hair tickled the underside of Marcille’s wrists.
*
A terrible weight on her chest. Marcille struggled, but it couldn’t be moved. Something was sitting on her chest..
Her eyes cracked open. Black fur was pressed against her nose. Something was gently breathing.
Izutsumi was sleeping on her chest, curled up on top of her. Marcille gave her side a push, but the other girl was surprisingly heavy.
“Ugh, I can’t breathe…” Marcille murmured to herself. She wrapped her arms around the beastman, and to her surprised, she moved. Long arms sleepily wound around her. With a few adjustments, Izutsumi shifted until she lay beside her, not on top of her. Marcille fell back asleep.