'Down in the Bottomlands' is a novella written by Harry Turtledove which takes places in an alternative history in which the Atlantic Ocean did not reflood the Mediterranean Sea 5.5 million years ago in the Miocene Epoch, as it did in our history. The Mediterranean Basin thus remains dry to the present day in this time line, as a vast sunken desert called the Bottomlands, averaging nearly two kilometers below mean sea level, with summer temperatures reaching well above 40 °C and with little or no rainfall.

King Jorian was rather attached to his head. Hence, he felt his promise to steal the Kist of Avlen, a treasure trove of ancient manuscripts containing magical lore, was a small enough price to pay for a chance to escape his own beheading. But when the quest pitted him against one peril after another - a murderous wizard and his giant squirrel, a castle full of executioners, a marauding troupe of ape men, and a voluptuous 500-year-old princess who was also a serpent - Jorian began to wonder whether he'd made such a good bargain.

Discovering the countess Yvette hiding behind a bush without any clothes on, Sergeant Thorolf is soon enlisted to take her to Rhaetia, a wizard, in order that he might change her form and help her elude her pursuers.