“A living soul is the greatest gift that can be given to the gods. Today, I shall be giving many gifts.”

Ki’pokkot’peketek’molke, The Unifier

—

In those first moments seeing the fortress, I had two thoughts. First, that I was likely the first Gurngamosi to ever see something like this. Second, I wished Maarken and Esen were seeing it with me. I had nearly forgotten about them in all the panic. I didn’t dare ask about them. They were probably still fighting the comrades of the woman ahead of me.

I let the fortress overwhelm me. It was absurd in a way, a complete mishmash of pieces. It was less a unified structure and more dozens of shacks of various shapes and sizes, all connected with walled-in bridges. They rose and fell, incorporated into the structure of the trees themselves. That made it click for me. This place was a union. The shacks and huts, the homes of diverse peoples. The entire structure, a fusion of nature and artifice.

The roughness of the structure was not just a lack of ability, it was a purposeful disguise. Only looking closer did I notice the smallest shacks on the outskirts, effectively just one-person boxes with slit windows to fire arrows or bolts from. I’m sure I was missing even more, hidden in the branches and leaves.

“Welcome to the Pinewood Iron Fortress. Not very comfortable, but it’s impenetrable.” Ki’Pokiki led us under the fortress and three squrrelfolk dropped around us. I yelped and they all chuckled. My ears dipped in embarrassment. I couldn’t help being spooked!

All three wore chainmail and carried crossbows, likely made for goblins originally given they were a touch small in their hands. The crossbows were backed up with weapons at their hips, mostly axes or swords like mine. Their overall demeanor was the same as the mercenaries I had known. Bold men, all capable of violence at a moment’s notice. Very dangerous to me.

“Take Kepispi to his stall.” Ki’Pokiki ordered, jumping off of her steed and indicating I should do the same. After I did so, if not quite so gracefully, she led me to the nearest tree. I noticed she was somewhat bow-legged on the ground, but that odd lack of grace ended once she reached the tree. Both her gloves and boots were cut short to let the black claws that tipped each digit dig into the wrinkled layers of bark. Nearly instantly, she was at the floor of the fortress, chattering out a password. A nearly-invisible trap door opened and she scurried inside before turning around to wait for me.

I was rather less equipped than her. I too had claws, but they were longer and fragile. They were made for catching small animals, not climbing trees. But the longer I stood there, the more attention I was drawing. I sighed and jumped onto the trunk. My claws managed to find some hold and I dangled there for a moment, kicking at this wall of wood until my toes as well got a grip.

With my feet in place, it wasn’t quite so bad. Despite the strain in my fingers, I managed to scrabble most of the way until Ki’Pokiki offered me a hand. I happily reached for it, then frowned and withdrew. My actual hand was too different from the illusion. There was no way she wouldn’t catch that I had less fingers than I appeared to. Instead, I pushed myself up and leaped, catching the rim with my fingers. With a lot of wiggling and a modicum of swearing, I managed to pull myself up and roll into the room.

“Next time just ask for help, soldier.” Ki’Pokiki cuffed my shoulder and dragged me to my feet.

“Yeah. Okay.” I mumbled in embarrassment. I made a pretty lousy squirrelfolk, I was beginning to notice.

The interior of the fortress was quite dim, lit only by a few narrow windows. The walls were formed of logs stuck together with what smelled like pitch, while the floors were smooth-cut boards. They smelled nicer than the walls, that clean cut-wood scent I associated with carpenters.

The trap door I had just climbed through was difficult to see even from the inside, but for the red circle somebody had painted on it to make it clear. The room was small and packed with barrels, seemingly Gurngamosi-made. I didn’t smell any food and stood on my tiptoes to peek into one. It was piled full of rocks, all of them bigger than my head. If I hadn’t been deemed a friend, one of those likely would have been dropped on me.

Ki’pokiki led me out of the cramped entry-room and down one of the covered walkways. There were more slit-windows and trap doors here. It seemed that every angle of the fortress was covered in them. Looking up, there were even some on the ceiling. People often popped in and out, even those without a warrior’s look wearing at least a padded vest.

We went through a few rooms on our way to wherever we were headed, all sleeping spaces with trap doors. Despite being cramped, there were personal touches here. Many beds had wooden idols at their side, some of them painted beautifully, others rougher-cut and amateurish, likely done personally by their owners. I noticed different elements to each room, with different symbols and medallions hanging from several walls. Finally, after a few of these rooms, we stopped at a spot with a higher ceiling.

“Before I take you to meet everybody, I want to show you something! Come up with me!” Ki’pokiki pointed at the trap door above us and rushed up to push it open. “Come on, come on, see it!”

I stifled a groan and dragged myself up the wall to the best of my ability. This time I couldn’t stop her from catching my wrist and dragging me up top. I found myself face to face with the sky. My large eyes had already adapted to the darkness of the fortress, so I was left blinking for a few minutes. We seemed to be on the roof of the fortress, a surprisingly soft perch. The roof was covered in pelts, likely treated to prevent an attacker from simply burning the place.

When my eyes adjusted, I saw that we were above the trees. The forest that had smothered me before was now below us, spreading in all directions like a green lake. I felt like I understood the world a little better from up here. I looked north and saw the mountains for the first time since leaving them.

They formed a solid wall from horizon to horizon, an endless line of peaks. Some of their peaks smoldered. Others were basically piles of rubble from previous eruptions. Some said that the mountains here burned because of godly forges below, and it would certainly explain the rich mines that thrived on them. The cast-off silver of a god was enough for us mortals to thrive.

Then I saw more smoke, far thinner but coming from closer. Not far to the east, thin plumes rose just above the treeline before the wind dispersed them. It was coming our direction. I sniffed the air and caught the taste of wood smoke and hearty soups of some sort.

“Gurngamosi.” I said, more to myself than Ki’pokiki.

“Yes. A trading post and little more, but it is still nice to have an eye on them.” She said. “Come. You need to be properly introduced.”

She jumped back down where we came from, but I had caught something else. One tree below, a particularly ancient ash with branches like a sea-fiend’s tentacles, stood in the very middle of the fortress. There was a net there between all the buildings, allowing squirrelfolk to run back and forth, but it was the tree that grabbed my attention.

There was a spear sticking from the tree’s side, a great cataphract’s lance, polished black wood but with a rusted blade embedded deep in the bark. And above that, from each branch dangled hangman’s nooses. Only one was occupied. Stripped bare, hairy legs dangling and green skin gone blue, there was a dead goblin.

Bile rose in my throat. Sacrifice. I forced myself to look at the goblin closer. No ears. The only positive I could glean was that they seemed to have been severed after his death. I remembered Ki’pokiki’s necklace and groaned, an uncontrollable sound on the verge of a sob. I had gone from the gates of the underworld straight to the pits of punishment. Holding back tears, I followed the chief and started planning my escape.