“Are you okay with this?” Rabel said to the girl.
“They’re shorter than me?” Ellen asked Beck.
The bearded man smiled at her. “Some are, some are just a bit taller than you.”
Ellen looked up at Rabel and said, “I know the shield spell and I can make fire. I’ll be fine.”
Rabel smiled back and tousled her hair. “I’m sure you will.”
“If not, you know what to do,” Jarin said with a hint of a growl in his tone.
Ellen smiled at him and touched his arm. “I’ll give the signal and you’ll come to the rescue, right?”
“Exactly,” Jarin said with pleasure.
“Because I’m just a little girl and I can’t take care of myself,” Ellen said, her tone going brittle.
“No,” Jarin said hastily, “not because you’re little, but because I don’t want anything happening to you.” Then, as if abashed by his admission, he added, “It would upset Rabel.”
“I swear she will be safe with me,” Hamo Beck said, nodding to the dragon and the god-touched man. He gave a shorter nod to Ibb. “Besides, they know I am meeting under your authority, they won’t want to upset you.”
Ibb rumbled approvingly.
“There, it’s all settled, everyone knows what’s going to happen,” Ellen said, reaching to grab one of Hamo Beck’s hands and dragging the man behind her to the cave. In a lower voice she implored him, “Come on, before they think of more things to worry about.”
Rabel snorted in amusement.
Hamo moved ahead of the young girl, keeping her hand clutched in his. “When you make your flame, be careful not to frighten people.”
“I’ll make a little flame,” Ellen promised. Again.
In front of them, in the darkening night, was a large entrance at the base of the hills. Hamo turned to Ellen and said, “Last chance.”
Ellen snorted and tugged him forward. “They’re smaller than me.”
“Most of them,” Hamo warned her. They entered the cave and were soon lost from view.
#
“Shouldn’t we be seeing something by now?” Ellen asked for the third time as they made they way deeper and deeper into the caves. “It’s getting too dark to see.”
“For you, maybe,” Hamo told her, leading her firmly forward. “Mind your step there’s —”
“Ow!” Ellen cried as she stubbed her toe on a rock.
“A rock,” Hamo finished lamely. He could see Ellen glare at him but pretended not to notice.
A moment later a light flared beside him.
“Too bright!” Hamo warned. Ellen dimmed the flame even as she caught sight of dozens and dozens of eyes reflecting the light back. Ellen clutched Hamo’s hand more tightly. He paused and told her, “Don’t worry lass, they’re friends.”
“Provided you don’t blind us,” a voice growled nearby.
“Sorry,” Ellen said before Hamo could react. “My eyes aren’t as good as yours.”
“Get the mechanical to fix that, if you want,” another voice observed.
“Fix what, sir?” Ellen asked.
“Those eyes of yours,” the voice replied. “‘Tain’t no good to have sky eyes down here.”
“Sky eyes?”
“Granno means your eyes, child,” Hamo Beck said. “Eyes that are built for the surface.”
“Rabel’s daughter Krea had sensitive eyes,” Ellen said, “she wore special dark lenses when she went out, would they work for you if you went out above?”
“Why would we ever want to do that?” another voice asked.
“We have others to do our bidding above ground,” Granno said, “we don’t need to fix our eyes.”
“Is my light too bright now?” Ellen asked. “I can make it dimmer.”
“Too bright?” Granno exclaimed with a snort. “No, child, it’s not too bright for us.” He raised his voice and seemed to turn away from them as he called, “Lights!”
Suddenly Ellen’s little light was lost in a blue-green brilliance which filled the entire cave. She gasped as she took in the size of it, saw the vaulted arches way above her, the carefully laid cobblestones on the path, the marvelous stone dwellings all around.
And the people!
She cried with delight as she caught her first sight of one of the underground people — she guessed it was the one named Granno because his voice had come from the same place. His face was smooth, his eyes big, his ears tall and pointed, his shoulders broad, his feet huge on the end of sturdy thick legs and his belly was huge. She just wanted to run up and hug him. He was shorter than she was!
Beside her, Hamo Beck grumbled, tightening his hand on hers. “Granduncle, may I make Ellen Unnamed known to you?”
“Unnamed?” Granno rumbled in response.
“Ellen Zebala, if you please you, sir,” Ellen said, pulling her hand away from Hamo and curtsying toward the small man. She turned her head up to Hamo, adding, “I am apprenticed to Rabel, you know.”
“No, I did not,” Hamo replied, bowing his head toward her. “My apologies if I offended.”
“You were unnamed, why?” Granno asked in his deep voice.
“My parents died when I was little,” Ellen said, surprised at how tight her throat had become. “I survived on the streets of Kingston, first with a gang and then on my own until I met Rabel.”
“Alone?” a high-pitched voice cried. Ellen turned toward the sound and was delighted to see a person shorter than her marching toward her. Her features were startlingly similar to Granno’s, so Ellen guessed they were related. “Did no one take you in?”
“They leave children starve, aboveground,” Granno said disdainfully. He pointed to Ellen. “This one was lucky —”
“No!” Ellen cried. “I fought for my food. I earned my years.”
“Of course you did,” the young Zwerg woman said, glaring at Granno and then at Hamo Beck. “These two big oafs don’t know any better.” She seemed satisfied with the looks on their faces for she strode past them and held out her hand. “I am called Diam.”
“You’re amazing!” Ellen said, smiling and shaking the other’s hand eagerly. She leaned down a little and asked, “Can I hug you?”
Diam gave her a wide-eyed look but before she could react, Ellen rushed forward and hugged the young Zwerg woman tightly. After a moment’s bafflement, Diam started patting the taller girl on her back and then hugging her.
“Ahem!” Granno growled angrily.
Ellen stepped back, eyes wide with fear. “I’m sorry, don’t you hug?” she asked Diam.
“It’s not often a person hugs the queen on their own, is all,” Granno grumbled.
Ellen’s jaw dropped. “You’re the queen?” Ellen said to Diam. A dimple appeared in Diam’s cheek and she nodded. Ellen’s face crumpled and she dropped to her knees. “I’m sorry,” Ellen sobbed, “I’m so sorry, I’ve ruined everything and now you won’t help us and they’ll come for us and they’ll — they’ll kill Rabel and I’ll be homeless again!”
Ellen’s wailing stopped only when a hand gently reached for her jaw and pulled her head up. She saw queen Diam looking down at her, shaking her head.
“Oh, child!” Diam told her, pulling her back off her knees. Ellen rose to wobbly feet and suddenly found herself embraced in a tight hug. “Oh, sweet child, you must never think that we of the earth would treat you the same harsh ways the topsiders do!”
Ellen bawled, feebly reaching her arms around the smaller person and nuzzling her head into the crook of her neck. After what seemed forever, she caught herself, pushed herself back from the queen and curtsied. “Your majesty, I’m sorry. I didn’t know —”
“Shh!” Diam said, raising a finger to Ellen’s lips to silence her. “You are welcome here, bright and loud as you are. You are like one of our shinier jewels.” Ellen was a
ware of a tense, expectant silence around her and gave the queen a worried look which Diam met with a smile. “I declare you a friend of ours, Ellen bright-eyes,” Diam said, her voice rising. “Friend and hugger of queens.” Ellen’s eyes bulged with amazement and Diam laughed, raising a hand in caution. “There is but one condition —”
“Your majesty?”
“You have to meet my children,” Diam said with a devilish grin. “Show them your flame and see if you can get them to behave.”
“Don’t do it!” Hamo Beck called from behind Ellen. “No one could ever get her to behave, how can you hope that you’ll get her children to do any better?”
“I’m sure Ellen will rise to the challenge,” Diam shot back. She caught Ellen’s look and chuckled. “Hamo is my distant cousin.”
“My sister married a sky-toucher,” Granno said in a tone of mock annoyance. “And they’ve been afflicted with height ever since.”
“Momma, momma!” a pair of twinkling voices cried out and Ellen laughed with delight as two young Zwerg girls rushed up to grab at their mother, the queen.
“Ellen Bright-Eyes, I introduce you to my daughters,” Diam said, gesturing with each hand to the child on either side of her. To the girls she said, “Introduce yourselves, please.”
“I am Imay,” the taller girl, the one on Diam’s left said, curtsying gaily.
“They call me Missy,” the shorter one said without curtsying, “but that’s not my name.”
“What is your name?” Ellen asked, kneeling down and bringing herself as best she could to the girl’s eye level.
The little girl’s eyes grew huge in her head and she glanced up anxiously to her mother, the queen. Queen Diam beamed down at her, saying, “Go on, then, you can tell her.”
“Mother named me Lissy,” the girl confided shyly.
“And why do they call you Missy?” Ellen asked as clearly was intended.
“Because my sister says that I’m so loud that no one would ever miss me,” Lissy replied, cocking her head around her mother’s knees to glare up at her older sister.
“And which do you prefer?” Ellen asked. She added quickly, “No one ever gave me a nickname.”
“I like Lissy,” the Zwerg girl replied shyly. She glanced around her mother’s knees to stare back up at Imay. “But Missy isn’t so bad.”
Imay smiled back at her sister and reached a hand out to pat Lissy on her head. “As sisters go, you’ll do.”
“Your mother the queen says that I have to get you to behave,” Ellen said. She glanced to the two girls and motioned them toward her. Still holding on to their mother’s hands, the two moved a few steps closer. “She said I’m to show you my fire.”
“You can make fire?” Lissy asked with awe in her voice.
“Rabel taught me,” Ellen said. “And sometimes I don’t get it right, so maybe I won’t be able to do it now.”
“Please try,” Imay said.
“Only not too bright,” Lissy added.
Ellen shook her head. “I’m not so good that I can make it bright or dim, most times.” She took a deep breath, closed her eyes, gathered her strength, opened her eyes and held out her right hand, palm up. “Fire.”
And a small pool of blue light began to bounce above her palm. Ellen’s eyes widened in amazement. “I’ve never done blue before!”
Lissy pranced with delight. “It’s beautiful!”
“It is truly amazing,” Imay said, sounding much more mature. “I have not seen blue light in a very long time.”
“Nor I,” Diam said, moving closer to peer down at it. “How did you come by this magic?”
Ellen screwed up her face and shook her head. “I can’t say,” she replied. “I have some demons that are blue —”
“Demons?” Diam said imperiously. “Show them!”
Ellen gave her a worried look and doused her hand. Then she reached into herself where she’d hidden the demons and pulled one out.
“It was sent to me,” Ellen said, “by Captain Ford so that I could report to him.”
Diam looked down at the small blue-white demon and frowned. “May I hold it?”
Ellen responded by gently dumping the demon into the queen’s outstretched hand. Diam lifted it up and examined it carefully, then swung it around to Granno on her side.
“It is not one of ours,” Granno said knowingly. “I’d say it comes from the south.” He peered forward and made a gesture with his hand. The blue demon responded by stretching upwards, stroking his hand with its head. “It is not here against its will.”
“How did you get this?” Diam said, returning the demon to Ellen’s palm.
“As I said, three were sent to me to let me report to Captain Ford —”
“Who is he?”
“He is the captain of the royal airship Spite,” Ellen said, drawing herself up to her full height with pride. “He paid me to spy on Ibb and sent me these three demons to report back if I had anything of interest.”
“And you had nothing?”
“Nothing that Rabel thought was necessary to report,” Ellen said. She frowned. “Although now…”
“Does this captain have magic or witchcraft?” Granno asked. Ellen shook her head. “So it was a witch that ensorceled them and sent them.”
“Do you know a witch?” Diam asked.
Ellen shook her head. “But Rabel says that he’ll teach me sorcery, more than just the fire.” She did not add that she’d sworn an oath to Ophidian: it seemed to her that the Zwerg were nervous around fire and would not like knowing that they were in the company of the fire-touched.
Granno grunted a laugh and moved toward her waving genially. “She’s fire-touched, for certain,” he said. “The flames prove it, although given that she’s ward of Rabel, it would take a fool not to guess.”
“Sworn to Ophidian, no doubt,” Diam said.
“Is that a problem?” Ellen asked, trying not to sound nervous.
Diam shook her head. “I trust you to keep your oaths, little spy,” Diam said. “I will not try to force your will against Ophidian — we respect him and his — but I trust that if ever your oath to him goes against your pledge to us, that you’ll give us fair warning.”
“I won’t hurt you,” Ellen said.
“Even if one of us is hurting one of yours?” Granno asked.
“Granno, leave off!” Diam said. “She’s too young to have to worry about cross-sworn oaths.”
“I know about them,” Ellen said. “Rabel’s daughter is the winter wyvern. She was pledged to be married to his apprentice but she swore an oath to the dying wyvern.”
“So she did,” Granno said with a nod. “And, last I heard, she’s gone up to the bitter north.” He exchanged a dark look with his queen.
“Well, enough of that,” Diam said, waving a hand dismissively. She turned her attention to Ellen. “You were sent with others, including Ibb.”
“I came with Rabel, Jarin, and Ibb,” Ellen said. “King Markel is planning to invade Soria —”
“So?” Granno asked gruffly. “Sky-touchers are not our concern.”
“Granno!” Diam said quellingly. The taller Zwerg pursed his lips but said nothing more. Diam turned to Ellen. “Say on.”
“Rabel says that you traded with him some time back,” Ellen said. “And that you did not regret it.”
“We did well,” Diam agreed. She cocked her head. “And what does he want to trade with us this time?”
“Ask the price first,” Granno said warningly.
“The price is your help in lifting the East Pass Fort into the sky,” Ellen said.
“What?” “That’s not possible!” “He’s mad!” The cries came from all around them.
“How?” Diam asked.
“There’s a way to make magnets from steel,” Ellen said. “Rabel
plans to set them so that the magnets oppose each other.”
“They push away,” Diam said.
“Set them under the fort and push it up into the sky,” Ellen said. All around her she heard the Zwerg gasp in surprise.
“Just to see that would be payment alone!” Granno swore.
“We’d need your help in undermining the fort as well as making and placing the magnets,” Ellen said.
“And how soon must this be done?”
“A little over ten days from now,” Ellen said in a small voice. She was certain that even the Zwerg could not work so fast.
“We’d need steel,” Granno said to Diam. “We’ve got the ore but we’d need fire, hot fire —”
“Dragon-fire,” Ellen said, raising her hands up, palms together, fingertips pressed tightly. She closed her eyes and drew a deep breath. When she opened them again, she drew her hands apart, fingertip by fingertip until she pulled her two index fingers apart and held one tip up, smiling at them. The tip of her finger burnt with a brilliant white light. A pleased smile touched her lips as she said, “Like this?”
Chapter Six
“Oh, we can get there all right,” Captain Nevins told General Georgos sourly, “but we’ll be just about out of coal, where will we refuel?”
“Korin’s Pass,” the general replied gruffly. “They’ve got a vast coal field there and supply both much of Kingsland and southern Soria.”
“But to get the coal, we’ll have to take the town,” Captain Martel pointed out, glancing to Nevins who nodded in agreement.
“Your two airships and my cavalry will be certain to sweep all before them,” General Georgos said airily. “After that, you’ll have no problem finding ‘volunteers’ to load your fuel.”
“Sounds iffy,” Nevins said slowly. Beside him, Captain Martel nodded.
“It is the plan,” General Georgos replied stiffly. “If you cannot follow it, you may take it up with the King.”
Twin Soul Series Omnibus 2: Books 6-10 Page 19