The Heart Grows

"When we talk," Forerunner said, leading Hilda toward the single entrance to her dungeon home, "I will have to speak for my dungeon. Her voice is soft, too soft for you to hear."

Grunting, Hilda nodded. She thought more on it as they neared the threshold of the other-worldly place that was a dungeon. "You can only speak aloud to it—her?"

Forerunner nodded and led the way in.

Hilda would never have entered a dungeon before, without half an army under her command, but now she had too much invested with this particular one to play things safe. Following the big gnoll, she went down stone stairs several times before the dusty yellow light that was made by no candle became visible.

She sat down on the floor of the room at the bottom floor and nodded, not just to Forerunner, but also the giant crystal beside her. "You can't keep going like this. Other Northerners will come and if they don't have a use for you, they'll destroy you."

It was a relief to hear it with such conviction and certainty. Forerunner had tried to impress upon her dungeon that they needed to think forward and trust these people more, but so far the soul of her pack had been recalcitrant. "It is as she says—as I've been telling you. They have fought off the Northern threat once already, with dungeon help. It would be well if we were part of it this time."

The dungeon, though, was still wary of the offer to open an entrance in the city. It was true, Northridge had assisted it in gaining much strength, and the dragon dungeon too had treated its gnolls with respect and honor, allowing them to share raiding parties. "Two conditions," it told Forerunner, since the human woman couldn't hear it. "The first is that we move not to the city, but this warrior's fortress."

"The second?" Forerunner asked.

"The dragon dungeon has bound outsiders to his service. I would do the same with her. If she agrees, I will trust her to guard my entrance and fight by the side of my gnolls."

Forerunner was stunned for a moment. She'd spent enough time with the stoic Northerner, and though Hilda was far more at ease with gnolls now than she'd been originally, Forerunner was skeptical the woman would go that far. "I will ask, but I doubt she will agree on that."

Raising an eyebrow, Hilda felt obliged to speak. "I will consider any request."

"The first is one I was already going to ask. Instead of relocating our entrance to the city, we instead place it in your fortress," Forerunner said.

"That I am in agreement with. Your pack is strong, but I don't think you want to be directly linked with the city. Our fortress has one dungeon already, a mighty one by all accounts, but it would be stronger beyond measure with your gnoll pack a permanent part of it." That wasn't what Hilda felt would have been a stickler, though. She waited for Forerunner to continue.

"The second condition is you will become bound to the dungeon. I am not sure what that will entail, but my home wishes it." Forerunner expected to get dismissed by Hilda, instead she got a contemplative look.

Hilda's first reaction would have been outright rejection. This was dungeon magic, two things her heritage pronounced evil and worthy of summary destruction. But she'd learned dungeons weren't evil and magic only reflected the desires of its user. With that knowledge to stem the tide of her culture's misplaced panic, she entertained the idea using the more tactical side of her mind.

"What would it entail? I understand Travis, the city dungeon, has done that two different ways. The first changes a person into a dungeon monster, like the kobolds and wolves. If it is that manner, I will refuse." Hilda paid close attention to Forerunner, watching her face turn from reluctant to curious. "The other method, I understand, is much more limited. I would count as among your minions, but you'd have no direct power over me."

It surprised the gnoll dungeon, but made sense. After all, it was fighting to maintain its own independence from the city and other dungeons. It considered the relationships that Forerunner had spoken of, and understood the meaning behind Hilda's request. "I think I can do that. We would be akin to sisters of the same pack," it told Forerunner.

Forerunner relaxed. Trying to negotiate a deadlock between her dungeon and Hilda wasn't something she had anticipated having such success with. "Oh. She thinks she can do the second one. You will be okay with trying?"

The binding to a dungeon was a step Hilda hadn't anticipated, but the more she thought about it, the more it seemed a good idea. It solidified her presence outside the agreement with Northridge's leaders, and would bind her and her people's future with an independent cause. She nodded. "What do you need me to—"

Hilda wobbled a little. Only her life spent training in soldiering kept her from falling on her ass. A presence fell over her, pushing inward, seeking something within her. It took her a few moments to realize it was consent that it sought.

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For a moment she focused on interrogating it—examining what it was offering should she permit it into her. Strength and stamina were things she could train for, but would appreciate. The bond itself would make her and the dungeon, at least in her eyes, siblings. That brought back memories of her own sister, Donna.

There being no hooks or demands in the offer, Hilda pushed aside her emotions and focused on the tactical aspect. This made her stronger and would make her people stronger. It would also make the dungeon stronger by association. She would gain a sister and share her enemies. Hilda accepted and allowed the bond to form.

The dungeon barked in surprise when Hilda crumpled to the floor. This wasn't right! They were meant to be stronger together. "Help her, please! Is she hurt? I found a new thing and used it and it shouldn't have hurt her!"

Rushing to Hilda's side, Forerunner was unsure exactly what to do, so called for her pack's healers with a barking howl. She yipped softly to herself while waiting but, being the boss of the dungeon, she didn't have to wait long.

"Matriarch! What is—" The as-yet nameless gnoll male cut short when he saw the big human woman on the ground. He rushed over and began weaving his magic as well as employing more mundane methods. He lowered his throat, being one of the more sensitive parts of his body, just above her mouth. Counting slowly, he felt the gentle rush of breath in and out.

Swirling his magic around Hilda, he felt a far deeper connection to her than he would have expected. Even as his fellow healers flooded into the room, he wove a protecting spell around her, tapping his foot in time with the magic and reinforcing it with a song under his breath.

When Hilda woke, she did so with a gnoll leaning over her, his own face a finger's width from hers. What surprised her was how it didn't feel threatening. She took a slow, deep breath. The scent of gnoll was no longer something sharp to be feared. Letting out her air, she breathed normally. "What happened?"

"You linked up with me."

The voice came, as Hilda recognized, from a dungeon speaking in her head. Unlike Travis' masculine voice, this one was strong and feminine. "Sisters?"

"Sisters, now. We hunt and fight and grow together!"

Hilda's heart rate sped and she felt excitement boil through her being. From what she could see and feel of herself, she hadn't become a gnoll, but she predicted that the sensations were coming directly from the dungeon. What was more, it wasn't overpowering. "Then let's figure out how to move your entrance to my fortress."

Walking back to her own little demesne, Hilda could feel the need from her new sibling welling inside, impatient for a target. Her head still echoed a little with the words spoken, the feminine growl of the dungeon feeling right to her as a gnoll dungeon should. Clenching and releasing her fist, over and over, she tried to reconcile the magic she felt with her heritage, and found the latter to be lacking.

Since the siege of Northridge—and her sister's death—she'd felt more than a little hollow. Hilda had never realized how much Donna had meant to her. There was nothing of her now except that hollowness. But, while the gnoll dungeon (who she was still trying to figure out the name of) felt like a sister, there was still a lot of space to fill. "Do you feel like this all the time?"

"Like what?" Forerunner asked, having decided to join Hilda on the first step of "moving the dungeon" by dint of opening a new entrance.

"Connection. Strength." Hilda took further stock, and while she felt like she could run forever, that wasn't exactly a new sensation. Feeling the gnolls that escorted her as family, though, was a wonder she hadn't expected.

"That's what being a gnoll is all about." Forerunner gestured to the other gnolls around her, and also to Hilda herself. "Each gnoll—sisters and brothers and pack—give strength. Now you do too, so we share our strength with you."

Hilda stopped for a moment and looked around her. As well as Forerunner, a half dozen huge female gnolls looked back with sparkling eyes that spoke of the violence they would unleash if she asked them to. There were several males too, smaller and less physically dangerous, but just as supportive as their female kin: mages, healers, and musicians if their equipment told her anything. She even recognized the healer that had wakened her after she'd passed out bonding with the dungeon heart.

When Hilda let out a gruff grunt, Forerunner laughed. "You even sound like a gnoll."

Tempted to grunt again, Hilda instead laughed, which got some answering bark-laughs from the gnolls. "I can't win with this argument, can I?"

"Not when you keep making gnoll sounds. Once we have the new entrance, you're sure you can seal the old one?"

"I can. My sister, Donna, spoke of her specialty often enough that I know what is needed. There is another thought, though. We could build it as a trap to tempt their army to enter, only to shred them like Travis did to Donna's troops." Hilda had spent a little time examining the killing path of Travis' dungeon. She had been horrified by how it actively encouraged people to over-extend, make bad choices, and lose themselves to traps and enemies who could literally walk through the walls. "We can talk to Travis and Breeze. They are both experienced in deterring attackers."

Flashing her fangs in a big, gnollish grin, Forerunner nodded. "Is there a way we can prepare to seal it, but let them in until we want to close the entrance?"

Stepping through the gates of the fort, Hilda considered the idea. "We can see. If it seems too hard, we can just seal up the entrance and move on to defending the fort." The guards at the gate didn't do more than acknowledge the gnolls, given how often they trained with the Northerners. "Here, near Breeze's entrance. Let me just—" No sooner had Hilda thought how she might release the magic and open a new entrance than it was done. A hole opened up in the already-existing mound and she could feel her sister's power within.

Hilda walked just inside the entrance and put one rough hand on the wall. "You've made the right choice, and I promise I will not let it be a bad one."

Excitement thrummed through the dungeon. She could feel the honor and trust thrumming through Hilda and let her own rise to join it. A union of their tribes would give them both the strength to overcome the future and keep growing together.

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This story is released under the Creative Commons BY-NC-SA license. If you are paying money to see this or the original creator, Damaged, is not credited, you are viewing a plagiarized copy of the story.