Page 105 of The Dungeon Book

“Keep her safe until I come back,” asked Bait, “that’s what I need.”

“Hello, Bait,” I said.

“No,” she said.

“I wasn’t myself? Nothing to forgive? Heroic self-sacrifice?”

“No.” She fetched me down off the wall.

“I gave up everything for you. My new body. A not inconsiderable sum of money—”

“None of it was yours.”

She carried me over to the courtyard well.

“If you’re going to throw me into a pit,” I said, “could I at least be thrown face up? A pit with a view would be a fine thing.”

“Princess Aldebara doesn’t know the Dungeon. She needs an education. You’re going to help her.”

“Of course! Nothing would be more diverting! I’ve always thought my true vocation was as an educator, although—”

She would have handed me the Dungeon Book, but – as you’ve doubtless gathered by this point – I have no hands, so she stuck it between my teeth. I was about to make a counter-argument on how I’d make a truly excellent adviser, a loyal and wise counsellor, the best and most trustworthy of viziers, so perhaps it’s for the best.

“You’re better as a skull,” she said, and I could not argue and do not argue with her.

Then she bade farewell to all the Denizens that crowded around her. The last I saw of her – for now – was as she climbed up the stairs to your old name and life.

And we went down into the dark.

Be not afraid! This realm is strange and perilous, true, but so was the one you leave behind. I shall be your guide to the lands below, and below you shall recover your health. I have no doubt you will thrive down here. I have some experience as a tutor, but, more importantly, I know Bait. She is a singular child, and as you were made from her, you must certainly be a singular changeling. Perhaps one day you may choose to return to the lands above, and she will come back below.

But for now . . .

Now this is the Rule of the Dungeon, writ many levels deep.

You who abide here must know it, for this is the Rule you shall keep.

You who dwell here in the darkness, all you who shelter in stone

Know you are bound by this statute, so long as the Dungeon’s your home.

But I must finish Bait’s story, or begin its next chapter. We left her behind at Dunshelm, and we have had no word from the surface since our parting, so this last section I can only guess at. But I know Bait, and I know you, and I know the lands above and below. So here is what I think happened.

She calls them all into the great hall, where she’s seated on a throne. The chair is strange and uncomfortable. There are lights, candelabra and crystal lamps bright and blinding. The room fills up, more and more people, until she can hardly breathe. She feels lost and afraid in this crowd of strangers. Barons loyal and rebel alike, soldiers, merchant princes, courtiers and clerics, all looking but not really seeing her. Neb is there, too, which is a comfort, he knows her for who she is, but it is still a thunder of strangers, a hundred-headed hydra of stern faces and demanding voices.

She feels very small against such a foe.

She closes her eyes, sees only darkness.

She kicks off her shoes and feels the cold floor of the castle with her bare feet. Feels the cracks, the gaps between flagstones. She traces them like the endless corridors of the Dungeon, and a thousand paths open before her.

She knows where she is. She’s not lost any more.

And she calls a Levelling.