Page 20 of The Dungeon Book

“Very good. Can you say them in the human tongue?”

“No,” said the brat. In the human tongue, of course.

“Repeat after me: I pray thee, Denizen of—”

“No.” She peeled more spider web from her hair. “There’s a pretty thing there. Like a pillar with moss growing on top. In a room with a hole in the ceiling.”

She sketched the shape of the thing in the slime.

“That’s called a tree, Bait.”

CHAPTER FOUR

Sir Peledon demanded a curriculum of languages (other than the Dungeon Tongue), history, theology, etiquette, rhetoric, needlework and other subjects suitable for a young lady.

But a good teacher adapts to the student, so our classes covered other topics.

“Why does a manticore have a human face, and a tail with stingers, and a lion’s body, and bat’s wings? Isn’t that too much?”

“A manticore would argue that you, child, are sorely lacking in limbs. It is their nature to be creatures of excess.”

“Where does the Buried River go?”

“Through the Fang Caves, over the Falls of Night, then out of the Dungeon, through the forest, and down through the borderlands. It joins the great river near Crowhaven. The region where they meet is called Eskerlund, and the farms there are exceedingly fertile.”

It was hard for Bait to conceive of farmland. I described it to her, but she had laughed and said there can’t be that much green.

“Where do wraiths come from?”

“Some were oathbound to defend the city, and it seems their oath lacked a clause excusing them from service in the event of death. In retrospect, a regrettable oversight. Others —”

“Why are you a skull?”

“An excellent question! It came as a great surprise to Orphir when he murdered me – and an even greater surprise to me. My assumption is that it’s a side effect of claiming the title of Master in Yrn Kyos’ tower. The old archmage’s spells remain potent after all this time – the Dungeon Tongue, for example, or the command of certain portals and secret ways. When I was Master, I could traverse the hidden passageways and secret stairs that run from the topmost tower to the lowest level.”

“Will I be a skull?”

“Not a talkative one like me. What happens after humans die, child, I do not rightly know – but you need not worry about that for years and years.”

“Gloop.”

“That’s more of a comment than a question.”

“Where did the Dungeon come from?”

“Another excellent question. If you mean this dungeon where we live, which some call the Underhalls, then the simplest answer is that it was a city buried by earthquake – but the deeper levels are older than the city. There are other dungeons, too, under the lands of men – the tombs of forgotten kings, measureless caves, labyrinths – and I suspect they are linked by passageways that not even the masters know. Imagine a subterranean underland, as wide as all the lands above! Why, I remember standing on the ramparts of the border fort, shivering in the snow, listening to Orphir talk of unseen tunnels like veins under the skin of the world, and how a clever man might bleed it—”

“What’s snow?”

*

I found unexpected pleasure in teaching. After years of silence, I had a pent-up reservoir of words, and would have talked my jawbone off answering all of Bait’s questions. More, I enjoyed the challenge of helping Bait find her own ways of navigating the world. Master Pentsable taught me through rote learning and repetition – learn these lists of herbs, verbs, kings and things – and I worked out of fear of being thrown back onto the streets, out of a desire to outdo my peers. I worked because it was the way of things, because generations had toiled before me in that classroom, their initials carved or inked into the battered wooden desks, and generations would come after me.

But Bait was a singular pupil. For her, there was no precedent. We had to discover the systems of the world anew.

My tomb was too confined a classroom, so we roamed the upper levels. She tied me to her back with string, and I offered running commentary and directions as she explored the Underhalls.

Levels in the Dungeon count downwards. The First Level – including the main entrance – was at the top. The Trapsmiths’ Arcade is on the Third Level down. Below, the Dungeon bifurcates. Descending the crumbling, uneven steps of the west stairs brings a traveller down to the Western Halls – manticores, housewares, things with teeth – and the tomb city. Other paths, like the Chasm Hall, descend east into the caves where Nithscalpa had his lair, the Vale of Mists, and, ultimately, the long climb up to the Master’s Tower.