Beneath the Earth

by Laura Greenwood

  Yet another royal, Macey thought as she smiled at the gnome.

  "It's a pleasure, Jerimiah," she said pleasantly, wondering whether she should announce her titles as well. But in the end, they didn't really matter. Nobody here would care that she was a kelpie princess.

  The gnome laughed heartily. "Don't be so formal, little one. Any friend of Jared's is welcome here."

  "Little one?" Macey mouthed to Jared who was visibly trying not to laugh.

  "He's not talking about size, he's talking about age," he whispered. "Kabouters can be centuries old, and I think Jerimiah is close to two hundred."

  That made more sense, but still, Macey couldn't get over the fact that a gnome whose long hat barely reached her chest had called her 'little'.

  "Come, come, follow me," Jerimiah called and ran off with the same energy his daughter had shown earlier. Jared chuckled and began to run, leaving Macey to follow him. She would have loved to walk along the beautiful corridors and admire the gem-crusted walls some more, but apparently, kabouters loved running at a neckbreaking pace.

  She was out of breath by the time they reached a cosy, warm cave, the walls sparkling with rubies and garnets. The furniture was a mixture of fur covered stones and simple wooden shelves, which made it all even more comfy looking. It was a home, not just a random cave.

  "Sit, sit," the Kabouter prince encouraged them, pointing to a sofa in the middle of the room. "Smal! We have guests! Make some tea, will you?"

  Before they were even seated, a tiny gnome appeared from another tunnel entrance, her long brown hair almost reaching the floor. She had a perfect hourglass figure and instead of a hat, she was wearing a yellow cap, matching her amber eyes. For a kabouter, she was extremely pretty.

  "Smal, my wife," Jerimiah introduced her. "Do we still have some of the dandelion root tea, darling?"

  Smal wasn't listening though, she was hugging Jared who was looking at Macey with a sheepish expression, as if to say that the embrace wasn't his idea. He gently patted her back while she gripped him tight.

  When she stepped back, her expression turned from a wide smile to a stern glare. "Don't you ever stay away this long again without sending word," she admonished Jared. "I've been worried sick."

  He blushed. "It's not been all that long," he defended himself. "Maybe a year?"

  Smal put her hands on her hips and her glare increased. "Fifteen months. Fif-teen months, young man. That's at least fourteen months too many."

  "I was busy," Jared muttered, looking at Macey for help. She just grinned innocently, enjoying the show. She was beginning to like this Kabouter family.

  "Stop it, Smal," Jerimiah said and pulled his wife away from the incubus. "Go, make some tea, and maybe get some biscuits. Our boy looks like he could do with some food."

  Smal turned her glare at her husband, but then did as he'd asked, hurrying off into yet another tunnel.

  Finally, Macey and Jared sat down on the sofa. The incubus looked relieved now that he was no longer being hugged or admonished by the female gnome. Good, Macey had started to feel sorry for him. Little Gisella seemed to think the same, because as soon as they'd sat down, she jumped on Jared's lap, making herself comfortable. Her hat tickled his chin and he gently readjusted the girl's position.

  He would make a good dad, Macey thought, before stopping herself from imagining Jared holding several of his own children on his lap. Hopefully, there wasn't going to be a baby any time soon; they had a world to save first.

  Which is what had brought them here, after all.

  "I assume this isn't just a family visit to introduce us to your girlfriend?" Jerimiah asked, sitting on an armchair opposite them that seemed to be made from roots twisted tightly together.

  "You know him," Smal scoffed, returning with a tray of steaming mugs. "He only comes when he needs something. He's never got time for his mama anymore."

  "Mama?" Macey whispered.

  "They kind of see me as their adopted son," Jared muttered under his breath. He lifted his voice. "I wanted to visit but then I met Macey and..."

  Smal's expression immediately lightened. "And you only had eyes and ears for her," she finished his sentence. "Of course, we understand, don't we, Jemmy?"

  Her kabouter husband flinched at her public use of his nickname and Macey had to stifle a grin. They seemed like such an adorable couple.

  “Gisella, I think it’s time for you to go to bed,” he said to his daughter instead, and after some complaining, the little kabouter ran off, presumably to her bedcave.

  Jared coughed. "Well, yes, and Macey got kidnapped and it took me a while to find her again. And now..."

  "You let your girlfriend get kidnapped?" Smal screeched and jabbed her small index finger towards Jared. "How is she still with you?"

  Macey shrugged. "I rescued myself, Jared never got the chance to free me. I'm sure he would have done a great job otherwise."

  "Of course he would have," Smal nodded enthusiastically and pressed a mug of tea in Macey's hands. "We raised him. He'd have been your Prince Charming if only you'd let him."

  Was the kabouter telling her off for not staying in the Voice's dungeons long enough for Jared to rescue her? This was getting weirder every minute.

  "We're here because..." Jared began again, but the gnome woman interrupted him.

  "Is she pregnant?"

  "What?! No! Of course not," Macey spluttered. She wasn't even sure if she could get pregnant on land. Most kelpies reproduced in kelpie form, it made the foaling easier.

  "That's neither here nor there," Jared muttered, his already dark skin growing darker in his embarrassment.

  "Having troubles then?" Smal asked, a knowing smile on her face. "I know just the thing for that."

  Before either of them could say anymore, the kabouter was running out of the room and towards whatever it was she had in mind.

  "Sorry," Jared muttered.

  Rather than answering aloud, Macey placed a reassuring hand on his arm, knowing he'd understand what she meant by it.

  "She's just excited about the possibility of babies," Jerimiah explained. "There haven't been any born here in a while."

  "There haven't?" Jared seemed surprised. "Why?"

  "I don't know." The kabouter glanced away, a sorrowful look on his face. "But for the past year, not one of the women has been able to conceive. It's the same across the world."

  "A year?" Macey whispered, counting back the months in her head. Depending how long she'd been in the Voice's care, it'd only been three or four months since their quest to save the Staran had started. Certainly not that long.

  "Yes. At first, we thought it was just a timing thing. Now..."

  "Now it seems more purposeful," Jared finished for him.

  "It's certainly not right. But we're not sure what the cause of it is."

  Macey exchanged glances with Jared, who shook his head slightly. She nodded, there was no use scaring the people he considered family with what had happened to the Staran. It was their issue to sort.

  "That's sort of why we're here," Jared started. "I've been getting this feeling like there's something wrong with the earth."

  "Ah, you've felt it too. I wasn't sure with you living in the mists."

  "Yes, it's only been faint for now, but it's gotten stronger," Jared explained.

  "Worrying," the kabouter mused.

  "Do you have any idea what's going on?" Macey asked, hoping they had at least some answers.

  "No, but the kludde have been getting restless. They've made others very wary of going near the water."

  "Kludde?"

  "Tricksters. They like to lure humans to certain death and destruction. I suppose they're not unlike your Scottish kelpies in their murderous intent," the kabouter said cheerfully.

  Macey bristled, hating the bad reputation of her kind. Jared's firm hand gave her knee a reassuring squeeze. Maybe she shouldn't get too angry. She didn't want them to think even worse of her.

  "I found it!" S
mal interrupted the awkwardness by hurrying back in with something shiny in her hands and a triumphant grin lighting up her face. "Here." She passed the glittering object to Macey who took it reverently.

  Holding it up to the light, the pendant glittered, revealing intricate swirls of thinly cut strips of gemstones. It twirled around in the light, reflecting off the gems. "It's beautiful."

  "Just like you." Smal grinned at her.

  Macey blushed. Beautiful wasn't something she'd considered herself up until meeting her men. In kelpie terms she was kind of plain. When it came to human ideals of beauty, she supposed she was pretty at most. But it was hard to tell when she was looking at herself. It was only when her men's eyes were on her that she truly felt beautiful. There was something about the reverent way they looked at her that spoke straight to her soul.

  "Well, put it on," Smal insisted.

  Jared took the necklace from her and looped it around her neck, making sure he moved her hair out of the way first. With each brush of his fingers over her skin, Macey trembled and wished they were alone. Maybe that was Smal's plan. Make her so turned on that she had too much sex not to get pregnant.

  She frowned to herself. Incubi were rare, even Jared said so, but why? They were all about sex and needed a lot of it to survive, so surely babies should be common. Unless they took on the characteristics of their mothers.

  "It's very hard for an incubus to have a child," Jared whispered in her ear as he clasped the necklace.

  "How do you..."

  "Your body language," he answered. "And I know you. Your mind is far too curious not to wonder."

  "Oh."

  He leaned back before she could say anything else and she knew the conversation was done for now. They could pick it up later when there was actually time to discuss children and how it would work with four potential fathers. Hopefully she wouldn't add anyone else into the mix, though six did seem like a good family number.

  Macey shook her head, ridding herself of the thoughts that entailed. It was bad enough she had four men, she didn't need more than that. No woman did.

  "What does it do?" Macey asked Smal, while fingering the pendant.

  "It's for luck," Smal responded. "Not specifically for babies, mind. But it'll do the job just as well as any fertility charm."

  Macey hoped not. Though maybe it'd do the opposite just as well too. If she didn't want to get pregnant, then it could stop that. Dragging a baby around while they were on a mission to save the Staran wasn't the best of ideas.

  "Thank you," she said earnestly, appreciating the present even if it wasn't quite for the reasons the other woman intended.

  "Are you done, dear?" Jerimiah asked, his voice filled with adoration for his wife. If Macey didn't have her men, she might have been jealous of the bond the two of them clearly shared.

  "Yes, yes, just making sure we get grandchildren."

  Jared choked a little, but managed to cover it up with a fake sneeze.

  "We have several hundred years for that, don't go rushing him the moment he meets a pretty woman."

  "Hmmm." The kabouter woman crossed her arms, clearly not as sure as her husband was.

  "We were talking about the kludde," Jared prompted, hopefully getting the conversation back on track.

  "Ah yes, the kludde." Jerimiah grew serious again. "The water kludde are not letting anyone get close to their waters, as if they see everybody as a threat. Usually it's them doing the attacking, so I don't know what they could be afraid of. The earth kludde are similarly upset. They usually come out of their holes at twilight and dawn to do their tricks on travellers, but they've been reclusive for months now. The only ones I've seen are the ones we occasionally trade with, and they've not been forthcoming with information about what's going on."

  "Wait, there's water and earth kludde?" Macey asked, confused. How was a horse shifter supposed to live in the ground?

  "Of course," Jerimiah answered, "they're not bound to one shape. In the water, they turn into horses, but their cousins in the ground can take other forms. Often, they disguise themselves as trees to waylay travellers and rob them. But I've even heard of air kludde transforming into birds."

  Macey was almost relieved to hear that these strange beings weren't like kelpies after all. Maybe they even looked like boring normal horses in the water, without pretty scales and webbed hooves.

  The klabouter turned to Jared. "You said you felt a change. Why did you come here? There are places where you can be closer to the earth."

  Macey frowned, but didn't comment. How were they supposed to get closer to the earth than being inside a cave underground?

  "This is where I learned about my magic," Jared shrugged. "You and your family taught me everything I know. I thought you might be able to help me once again, solving this mystery. " He took a deep breath. "It's not just the earth, Jerimiah. At this very moment, friends of ours are fighting a new evil in the Scottish sea that's taken the form of a giant orca. Not long ago, we defeated a being that had fed on the Staran like a leech. And before that, Macey and a friend of ours were kidnapped by the Mahoun."

  Smal gasped. "Isn't that the Celtic version of the devil?"

  Jared nodded grimly. "It is. There's a group of beings, evil creatures that we don't have a name for yet, who possess spaces created by our imagination. The devil is the easiest example. So many people believe in him, but if he doesn't actually exist, a space is formed by the collective belief in it. These beings fill those gaps and turn into representations of the spaces."

  The two kabouters looked at each other, equally speechless. Macey wasn't quite sure whether they thought it an outlandish theory, or whether they were shocked by how bad the situation was.

  Eventually, Smal said slowly, "So if we all suddenly started to believe in the Big Bad Wolf, he would become alive? Possessed by these... these things?"

  Macey nodded. "That's how we understand it, yes. We don't know how many people need to believe in something though for it to become a space these creatures can inhabit. The devil, that's a very big one. The one we killed was Self-Doubt, again, a big one. We're not sure which one is harming the earth."

  Jerimiah stroked his long beard, his brows furrowed. "For now, all we kabouters feel is a strange new energy in the earth. It's interfering with our magic, but not much, just enough to be noticeable. I think the earth kludde may be more sensitive to the change, or they're more affected. If the water kludde are feeling it, then it must be strong indeed and not just affecting the earth directly."

  "But what belief is there that the creature could have used?" his wife asked. "There aren't any earth spirits or gods we believe in, and the humans most certainly don't. How abstract are we thinking?"

  "Self-Doubt was feeding on the staran because of the doubts many travellers have," Macey explained. "So maybe it's something people connect to the earth? Some kind of sentiment that a lot of us experience?"

  "Love? Admiration? Life?" Jerimiah suggested, but Macey shook her head.

  "Claustrophobia."

  Jared's eyes brightened. "That could be it! I guess some people could feel that in water as well. But isn't that quite a generic fear, not something we believe in?"

  "Well, Self-Doubt wasn't something as specific as the Mahoun or the Orca," Macey countered. "But for now, we don't really need to know what it is; we need to know where it is so we can find and defeat it."

  "We'll help however we can," Smal announced, and her husband nodded in agreement. "We can send messages to other kabouter families to see if they've noticed anything strange. Our tunnel network reaches most parts of Belgium and even into the Netherlands, so if something is happening in this country, we'll know soon."

  She turned to Macey and gave her a very obvious wink. "You might like to retire to our guest room in the meantime, sweetie? Now that you have that necklace..."

  Was Smal really suggesting that her and Jared were supposed to have sex so they could have grandchildren? Now? In their home? Were all kabo
uters this strange?

  Jared laughed in a strangled sort of way and got up, pulling Macey with him. "Is my old room still empty?"

  Smal looked a little disappointed, but her smile returned immediately. "Yes, although it may be a bit small for the both of you..."

  The incubus grinned. "It will be enough, don't worry. When do you think we'll have an answer from your network? Four hours? Five?"

  "Three," Jerimiah proudly said. "We've improved our communication channels since you left, boy. Every family now has-"

  "Not now, darling," Smal interrupted her husband. "Let them get some rest."

  From her smile, it was obvious that 'rest' didn't equal sleep in Smal's mind. To be honest, it didn't in Macey's either. She wasn't quite sure what time it was, but it couldn't be much later than early afternoon. Sleeping now just seemed like a waste of time, especially when she had the chance to be alone with Jared for a bit.

  "See you later," she told the grinning kabouter woman, and let the incubus lead her outside into one of the tunnels.

  Nine

  “So this is where you grew up?” she asked as Jared drew her into a small cave dotted with glowing gemstones.

  “Yes, maybe about a century ago, I spent a couple of years here being taught what I needed to know.”

  “Only a couple of years?” she asked, frowning.

  “I’ve been back since. I pop in at least once a year.” He smiled warmly at her.

  “You really love them, don’t you?”

  “Of course, they’re my family. Everyone loves family,” Jared pointed out.

  “Yes…” Macey replied, thinking of her own complicated family dynamic.

  “It’ll be okay,” Jared said, pulling her close to him and holding her tightly.

  Macey wasn’t convinced by how right he was about that, but if it meant he’d hold her like this then she was all for it. Saying that, she really did need to visit Aunt Nessie and discover the actual truth about her parentage. Only then would she be able to move forward with a family of her own.