“Be about your duties, captain,” Filbert said. “That is an order!”
Captain Welless drew himself and up and saluted sharply. The general returned it sloppily and nodded him out. When the tent flaps had closed, General Filbert turned toward the others. “How much gold?”
#
“This is all that could be mustered on such short notice, your majesty,” Kavim said apologetically to Diam as they inspected the troops readying for departure.
“How many?”
“Forty regular troops, twenty miners with carts and tools,” Kavim said.
“That should be more than enough,” Diam said.
“Truth be told, what with our work going on in the west —”
“Let us not talk about that, Kavim,” Diam interrupted smoothly. “Some things are best as surprises.”
Kavim’s brows lifted in surprise. Diam nodded at him firmly and the officer returned the nod reluctantly.
“Forty troops and twenty miners should be enough,” Diam allowed. “What does that leave you?”
“Me, Your Highness?” Kavim asked in surprise. “I was —”
“Planning on leading the troops,” Diam guessed. “But Granno should be able —”
“Pardon, majesty, but wasn’t he captured?” Kavim interrupted. “Is it wise to presume that he will be able to perform his duties when he’s released?”
“It’s wise to presume that I’ll manage if needs be,” Diam said. “As it is, I will not leave Lissy and my kingdom solely in the care of one very young dragon.”
Kavim’s eyes widened at the notion. “No, I suppose that’s not the best idea.”
“So, introduce me to the senior lieutenant of the troops and I’ll leave it to you to maintain the guard here,” Diam said with a firm nod.
Kavim gestured to a man at the head of the first twenty troops. “Lieutenant Minto, her majesty, Queen Diam.”
“Y-your majesty!” Young lieutenant Minto replied with a sharp salute. “How may I serve you?”
“We are going to rescue Granno, my daughter, and some humans who have been helping us,” Diam told him. “After, we may excavate the East Pass Fort in search of survivors.”
“Of course, your majesty,” Minto replied clicking the heels of his sturdy boots together. “We are at your service.”
“Good!” Diam replied, gesturing toward the exit. “Then let us go, we must hurry.”
Minto shot Kavim one frantic look and then turned back to his troops. “First platoon, take point. We’re going to the East Pass Fort. Second platoon, take rearguard. Miners, keep to the middle. You’re to guard the queen, on your honor.”
“On our honor!” The voices of sixty zwerg shouted in reply.
#
Rabel was glad to finally be able to lower the exhausted Ellen to the ground in the shadow of the ruined fort. How far they had walked, he couldn’t tell but he guessed they’d been walking at least an hour which meant they’d travelled about two miles through the broken and ruined terrain at the foot of the hills.
“Rest, I’ll take watch,” Imay said as Granno sank beside the two humans.
“Princess?” Granno said, rising to his feet. “I —”
“You took more hurt than I,” Imay said, waving him back to the ground. Her eyes flashed as she added, “That’s an order.”
Granno knew better than to argue and sank back down gratefully. The ground was covered with scant grass and small pebbles. It was not the most comfortable place to sleep but Granno had slept on worse. In moments he was snoring gently.
Rabel settled Ellen as comfortably as he could but propped himself leaning back against the ruins of one of the fort’s turrets.
“You need your sleep,” Imay said to Rabel.
“I’m not one of your subjects to order around, princess,” Rabel reminded her.
“No,” she agreed, “you’re a friend and I worry about you. I’d worry less if you rested.”
Rabel was too tired to argue with her. As a compromise he closed his eyes but kept his senses alert.
Imay snorted and moved off, starting a slow circuit at the edge of their refuge. When she returned, she saw that the human had wrapped himself around the young girl. She smiled and turned back to the night, searching for a stick that might serve as a weapon.
#
Lissy insisted on sleeping with the dragon. Of course, she waited until her mother was safely away before issuing this demand to the harassed Kavim.
“Princess, I don’t think that’s wise,” Kavim told her.
“Why?”
“Well,” Kavim said with a shrug, “he’s a dragon, your highness.”
Lissy pointed to the sealed door and the sounds coming from within. “He’s asleep, what harm is there?”
“He’s safe enough there, your highness,” Kavim said. “Dragons… well, they can be dangerous.”
“I flew on his back,” Lissy said by way of argument.
“And you were extremely lucky in that,” Kavim agreed. “But still —”
“Let me in,” Lissy said, eyeing the guard and Kavim both. “You can lock me in with him —”
“Never!” the two said at once.
“Or leave the door unlocked, if you wish,” Lissy quickly allowed. “But if he wakes up, lonely, won’t that be worse?”
Kavim and the guard exchanged glances. The little princess had a point.
“He knows me,” Lissy insisted. “Besides, I owe him. He saved my life.”
With a nod from Kavim, the guard unlocked the door. Lissy ran inside before they could react and turned to bow to them. “Thank you,” she told them courteously. She turned back to the sleeping dragon and then back to them, giggling. “He’s buried himself in the gold!”
She moved to the right of the door and found a bunch of old tapestries. Quickly she made herself a den of exquisite silk, curled up once so that she was facing the dragon and closed her eyes. She opened them long enough to say, “I’m safe here. You may close the door.”
The guard closed the door and looked up expectantly at Kavim.
“She’s safe there,” Kavim said with a sigh.
“Safe with a dragon,” the guard, Dermon, said dubiously.
“When your relief comes, be sure to tell them about the princess,” Kavim said.
“Of course, sir,” Demon said bracing to attention. Kavim saluted and he returned it.
As Kavim wandered back down the hall, Dermon thought he heard him muttering, “Safe with a dragon! Safe with a dragon.”
From inside the treasury, the guard heard the princess chirping happily to herself for some minutes before she fell quiet and, shortly after, asleep.
#
“So, Morris, have you got all that?” General Filbert asked as he outlined the plan to the commander of the first battalion. Jeoffroy Morris was also a distant relative who owed his commission to General Filbert and, therefore, of unquestionable loyalty.
“I think so, sir,” Major Morris replied slowly. “We’re to take two companies of men, half of them equipped with carts and pickaxes and the other half deployed as scouts to find the entrance to this cave. Once there we will gain access, destroy any who oppose us —”
“Except for the prisoners,” Filbert interjected. “You need to get them to show you the way to the treasure.”
“— except for prisoners,” Morris said with a grimace. How would he know which prisoners were to be trusted? “At which point we’ll gain access to their treasure and our men will cart it off.”
“There!” Filbert said, smiling. “Quite simple, isn’t it?”
“Yes, sir,” Morris agreed. The plan seemed simple enough but there were so many things that could go wrong…
“And your men must be short, Major,” the ragged airman, ‘captain’ Martel, warned.
&nb
sp; “Short, sir?”
“The zwerg are short,” ‘Captain’ Martel explained. “So your men must be short or they won’t be able to travel through the caves.”
“I see,” Morris said. He turned to the general. “Short men, sir?”
“You heard him, Major,” General Filbert said with an airy wave of his hand.
“I’ll have to comb the troops, sir,” Morris said worriedly. “That might —”
“Just do your duty, Major,” Filbert cut him off peremptorily. “You have your orders.” As the major turned to leave, Filbert added, “And I’ll be with you, of course.”
“Sir?” Major Morris said, turning back. “What about the troops here, sir? And our orders?”
“We’ll be back before we’re needed,” Filbert said airily. With a smile, he haded, “And we’ll be much, much richer.”
“And the troops here, sir?”
“Captain Welless is in charge of the guard, he’ll let us out of the camp without any alarm being raised,” General Filbert said. “And… and that fellow, what’s his name again?”
“Colonel Marchant, sir?” Major Weymund asked warily.
“Yes, yes! That’s the one!” Filbert said with a snap of his fingers. “He’ll keep the troops in order until we return.”
“Does he know where we’re going, sir?”
“No, of course not!” Filbert said. He couldn’t believe the man would ask such a stupid question. If Marchant knew, he’d want a cut of the treasure and that wouldn’t do at all, not at all. As it was, Filbert was already considering the ways in which he could cut Morris out of the split — war was coming and accidents happened. He waved irritably toward the exit, “You have your orders, Major!”
#
“Yes, what is it?” Kavim asked as the zwerg soldier saluted him. “Where are you from? Who sent you?”
“I’m from the southern cave, sir,” the young girl replied. “Listening post. I was sent to tell you that we’re hearing movement coming our way.”
“Coming our way?” Kavim repeated with a frown. “Not going away from us?”
“No, the sound is definitely getting louder, sir.”
“What’s your name, soldier?”
“Adelin, sir,” the soldier replied with a salute. Kavim returned it.
“Could it be the queen coming back, Adelin?”
“I don’t know, sir,” Adelin said doubtfully. “We can hear footsteps and the sound of carts… I suppose it could be.”
“It seems early,” Kavim said to himself. “What direction did you say: south?”
“Yes sir.”
“Not east?” When Adelin shook her head, Kavim said to himself. “Well they could have intercepted…” He cut himself off. “How far away?”
“Ten minutes, maybe less,” Adelin replied.
“Very well, return to your post,” Kavim told her. “I’ll alert the reserve just in case.”
“Yes sir!” Adelin braced to attention and saluted Kavim sharply. Approvingly, Kavim returned it before moving off briskly to alert the reserve forces.
A listening post was a great thing, particular with sky-touchers wondering about but Kavim had always wished that the queen had been willing to excavate more of them, in more directions, so that any sounds could be readily triangulated. But! Kavim shook his head. He knew that any such work took away from mining and, even worse, from the secret project the queen wanted no one to discover.
He paused in his stride and turned back, yelling down the corridor to the distant figure of Adelin.
“Soldier!” Kavim shouted. Then, remembering that she was a reservist, adding, “Adelin!”
The woman stopped and turned around.
“Spread the word! Have them pull up the tracks!” Kavim shouted.
“Pull up the tracks?” Adelin repeated, her eyes wide with horror. “Did you say pull up the tracks?”
“Pull up the tracks,” Kavim repeated loudly. “We can always put them back down.”
“As you order, sir,” Adelin said, snapping a salute. Kavim returned it smartly and turned back to his many duties.
All throughout the kingdom in the caves there were tracks laid for the carts that carried workers, gems, gold, and supplies. In an emergency, pulling them up would deny an invader quick access to the kingdom. It was difficult but Diam had ordered that sections be laid that could easily be removed and hidden — usually no more than four or five feet stretches — enough to render the underground railway useless.
Putting it back together would be time consuming but Kavim decided the risk was justified. Besides, if there was nothing to worry about, he’d have it all back together before the queen returned.
#
Imay shook herself as the noise grew louder in the distance. Was she imagining it?
It had been three hours or more since they’d found their refuge beside the ruins of the East Pass fort. Rabel’s gentle snores had turned harsh and then quiet again when Ellen twitched in his arms. Granno slept soundlessly and without noticing the noises of the others.
Imay, who was more used to the peaceful quiet of the dark caves, paced the perimeter restlessly, pausing at every sound, raising her hand-made spear — really, no more than a sharpened stick she’d found on her rounds — ready to attack whatever approached with a roar loud enough to — hopefully — wake the sleepers.
But now… there! Was that an axle creaking? A cart? Many carts? Men?
Imay moved forward, away from their hiding place.
“Halt!” She cried at the top of her lungs when she was convinced her ears were not deceiving her. “Who goes there?”
She was pleased to hear the sounds of Granno and the others stirring behind her, rising to their feet, wiping the sleep from their eyes, preparing — she hoped — to lend her their support. The three were not quite as mighty as a dragon, although —
The noise had stopped. Imay sensed a restlessness out on the plain west of her. Again she shouted, “Who goes there!”
A moment later a most welcome voice replied, “It’s your mother, Queen Diam.”
A tear streaked down Imay’s eyes and a smile stretched across her face. But — protocol must be observed —
“Advance to be recognized!” she called, remembering Granno’s stern injunctions on such matters.
“Very well,” Diam replied, her tone both annoyed and approving at the same time. A moment later, the queen of the Silver Earth zwerg came into the sight of her eldest daughter. “I came as soon as I could.”
Before she could react, Imay threw down her makeshift spear, and rushed to hug her mother tightly in her arms. “Mother!”
Diam patted her and hugged her back, letting out a deep sigh of relief.
“Your majesty, I have failed you,” Granno’s voice interrupted them. Diam looked down to find her chief kneeling at her feet. “I let your daughter be captured. Do with me as you will.”
Diam took a deep breath and said, “Rise, Granno of the guard.”
Granno rose to his feet. Diam was pleased to see Rabel and Ellen approaching from the side. She nodded to Rabel who nodded back, then she returned her attention to Granno.
“Are you prepared to meet your doom?” Diam asked him regally.
Grimly, Granno nodded.
Diam pushed Imay away who looked back at her mother in alarm. Diam awarded with a wink out of her left eye — the one Granno couldn’t see — and grimly moved toward the downtrodden guard.
“Very well, then,” Diam said imperiously. “Your doom, for failing me is…” she held it as long as she could and then rushed to him, wrapping her arms around him and hugging him tightly. “Shut up and never talk like that again!”
“Your majesty?” Granno replied feebly, trying to move away.
“I said, shut up,” she told him again. Granno shut up. She hug
ged him tightly, then pushed him away with her arms on his shoulders. “You did your best, didn’t you?”
Dumbly, Granno nodded.
“So why should I punish you?”
“I failed to protect —”
“You did the best you could with what you had,” Diam told him. “That is all that I can ask.”
“All that I asked, also,” Imay interjected from the side. “And I told you the same thing.”
Granno still looked crushed.
“We learn from our mistakes,” Diam chided him. “We’re no worse for the wear —” she glanced nervously toward her eldest child who nodded in hasty assurance “— so we move on.”
“As you wish, your majesty,” Granno replied hollowly.
“I do wish,” Diam assured him, shaking his shoulders once before releasing him and turning toward the darkness. “And I believe that lieutenant Minto will be more than relieved to have you resume your duties as chief of the guard.”
Granno grinned as he heard a relieved sound from the distance. He turned toward Diam. “How many did you bring and what is your will, majesty?”
“I brought forty troops and twenty miners —”
“Forty!” Granno protested. “That’s more than half the guard —”
“Kavim has roused the reserves, there should be no problem —”
“But we were taken, majesty! Someone found us!”
“Yes, and?” Diam replied frostily.
“What if they saw our troops come out of the southern cave?” Granno asked. His eyes narrowed. “Which cave did you come from, just now?”
“The southern one,” Diam said in a small voice. She turned back, peering to the far side of the valley. “We took two hours to get here, it would take us that long to return.”
“Then we should return,” Granno said seriously.
“What about Ibb?” Ellen asked, moving out of the darkness to join him.
“There may be others with him,” Rabel added, as he approached and nodded to the queen.
“Lieutenant Minto!” Granno called.
“Sir?”
“Approach and report,” Granno ordered. In the darkness they heard the trotting sound of a zwerg approaching as quickly as possible.
“Lieutenant Minto, reporting,” the zwerg said, saluting Granno, bowing to the queen and nodding to the others.
Twin Soul Series Omnibus 2: Books 6-10 Page 26