by A. L. Sirois
So much Guilhem shared with Oriabel when next he saw her, in their assigned dwelling a day prior to his going into battle. “And what of your experiences seeking treasure for our hosts?”
They sat at their ease, drinking mushroom wine from a carafe. Guilhem found it sweet, though not excessively, rather than dry, and surprisingly palatable.
“Events did not proceed entirely as I had expected,” she replied after a moment’s consideration.
* * *
“On the first day, I was to descend into their treasure tunnels, as they call them, Baubaruva came early for me. He had a piece of surprising advice.
“‘Understand,’ he said, ‘that I have an interest in making sure that you do indeed win free of the sentence proclaimed by the queen. I have vouched for you and Duke Guilhem; and, sorceress or no, you are bound to your promise that you will make every effort to see that my reputation is not damaged. This means being very discreet if you use any... magic.’
“I of course promised that I would be most careful indeed.
“‘See that you do,’ he said. ‘Now attend: A scavenger’s pay is low, and the only way you will be able to procure the money to purchase the supplies you need is to smuggle some of what you find as you seek for valuables.’
“Needless to say, I was surprised by this assertion and questioned him closely on the reason for it as he walked with me through the city to the mouth of the burrow, as I thought of it, leading to the treasure tunnels.
“‘Simplicity itself,’ he told me. ‘Everyone does it. All the larger finds must be reported to the overseer, of course, but smaller ones have a habit of making their way unnoted out of the excavations.’ He went on to explain that each man—or woman, as in my case—was given digging tools and sacks in which to keep whatever they found. On any given day, there were between fifty and sixty nixies working in the tunnels. Some were employed in this capacity on an ongoing basis, but others were miscreants or wrongdoers. The nixie society, which has its share of transgressors, penalizes them by forcing them to labor in the tunnels.
“I set off for my first day, therefore, in a trepidacious mood. Could it truly be that even I, an outsider, was assumed to be engaged in purloining a portion of what I found? If that were true, as Uvaxshtra assured me was the case, the culture must be assumed to be correspondingly corrupt from top to bottom. It was an interesting insight.”
Guilhem grunted. “This nixie society is more like that of human beings than I had suspected,” he said.
Oriabel continued: “At the treasure tunnel entry, Uvaxshtra introduced me to the leader of my work party, a huge, surly fellow named Oxartes. We took an immediate dislike to one another, I regret to say. He assigned me to a crew of female nixies.
“One of the women spoke to me as we pulled on our boots. ‘Do you be wary of Oxartes,’ she said. ‘He thinks he can have his way with us women because we are weaker than he is.’
“‘Thank you,’ I said to the woman, whose name was Iotapa. ‘He will regret any liberties he attempts with me.’
“‘Good! Now let us go... our post is a long way from here. They always assign us women to the remotest tunnels.’”
“As you and I have already discovered, Guilhem, down here where there is no sunlight or clocks, it is impossible to determine the hour of the day. For all I know, therefore, we might have walked for a week or we might have walked for an hour. We finally arrived at the end of the tunnel, and set to work where the previous shift’s excavation had stopped. The digging was indeed laborious, but we also had to put up with the lascivious attentions of Oxartes.
“He was in truth a behemoth of a presence: nearly as broad as he was tall, entirely hairless: a perspiring mass of flesh with piggy little eyes and a prognathous jaw. He made his way from work gang to work gang, inspecting the digging and gauging progress. He was over familiar with his charges, as Iotapa had warned, missing no opportunity to caress or fondle the women in his care if he thought he could get away with it.
“‘Is there no means of redress for his unwelcome familiarities?’ I asked Iotapa, watching Oxartes stroke one of the smaller women.
“She shook her head, and said ‘We here are not regarded as the most trustworthy or reliable of individuals. For some this may be so, because there are habitual offenders here; but in other cases, such as one’s inability to pay one’s taxes due to misfortune—which is true for me; my husband died a soldier, leaving me and our two children without sufficient means—we are here simply to work off what we owe the queen. For me it is doubly hard, because our children are now in the care of my in-laws, who are elderly and have difficulty providing for them. Once my sentence is fulfilled, you may be sure that I will do all I can to ensure I never come here again.’
“I told her I had heard that many of the treasure-miners commonly smuggled trinkets out of the tunnels, and she assured me that this was true. ‘But do you be careful what you take and how you store it in your sack,’ she warned me, ‘because Oxartes inspects everyone’s finds at the end of the day and takes the finest ones for himself.’
“I thereupon determined to see for myself how he conducted himself at the end of the day’s work. The day’s work progressed as you would expect. We dug, sifted dirt, and dug some more. With my ability to scry, I was often able to sense the presence of silver or gold objects buried in the walls: these tended to be small personal things lost by the elves in their day-to-day life as they moved through their city. The nixies have determined that the richest source of these is in what was once the main marketplace, and that is where most of their treasure tunnels are dug. They often turn up coins, rings, earrings, and the like. Occasionally a gemstone of some sort is unearthed, or a bit of gold from the vicinity of a booth where a smith had offerings on display. Over the years the nixies have made a map of the marketplace, and what establishments were likely to have been there.
“Numerous bones are dug up as well, but few of these are elven: most often, they are of animals; probably the remains of birds and beasts slaughtered as food and prepared for the people in the market.
“I scryed a small gem in a gold mount—probably part of a necklace—within ten paces of the tunnel wall where I was working, so I dug off at an angle and secured it. I had thought I was unobserved, but when I withdrew the bauble and popped it into my sack, I looked up to see Iotapa watching me.
“‘How did you do that?’ she asked in a whisper.
“‘What do you mean?’ I replied, as innocently as I could. ‘It was a lucky find.’
“‘That it was not,’ she said, shaking her head. ‘You could have dug anywhere, but you deliberately picked that spot without any hesitation whatsoever.’
“I continued insisting that it was mere luck; because, knowing how wary these nixies are of anything smelling of magic, I feared she would report me to Oxartes. For the rest of the day I made no attempt to scry, even though I sensed several other objects buried nearby. Once, in fact, I positioned myself near Iotapa in such a way that she changed her own angle of scraping at the dirt and so brought to light another gem like mine. She seized it with an exclamation of delight, and I smiled at her. ‘How fortunate you are!’ I said.
“She smiled back, but I nevertheless saw a momentary gleam of suspicion in her eyes.
“As the day progressed I made a few other finds, but none as valuable as the first gem. Iotapa showed me how to hide the smaller bits of gold in the lining of my tunic, saying, “‘He will run his hands over you in search of such items... or at least, that is what he claims he is doing... but he pays less attention to contraband than he does to other things, if you understand what I mean.’”
“I nodded, knowing full well what Oxartes was truly after. I resolved that if he searched me, he would find more than he expected.
“True to Iotapa’s warning, as we lined up to surrender our finds for the day, and for the inevitable inspection of our clothing for what we had kept for ourselves, Oxartes progressed down the line, taking libertie
s with each female as he did, making salacious comments and not bothering to disguise his leers. In each case, he would find at least one object of greater value than the rest, and this he would keep for himself, putting it in a basket hanging at his side. It was all I could do to prevent myself from attacking the lecher, but I held my temper in check. At last it was my turn to be searched.
“After a day’s work in the nixies’ treasure tunnels I was far from clean; and beforehand hadn’t bathed for several days. I was, therefore, one of the less savory-looking women on the crew. Oxartes wrinkled his nose when I came before him, but he wasn’t put off. He lifted his hands, preparatory to making an intimate exploration of my garments.
“I brushed them aside. Frowning, he came at me once more, and again I slapped his hands aside. Try as he might, he could not touch me. The reason was simple: I know a spell that increases my speed of perception to that of a fly. Under its influence my eyes and ears function much more rapidly than normal, and I can ‘read’ miniscule changes in someone’s muscular movements. As a fly for example evades a swatting hand, so I can evade a blow of even a touch, if I choose to. My use of this spell is how I could best you, my duke, in our sword contests: in truth, I am much your inferior as a warrior.”
Guilhem exclaimed, “You mean you were cheating during our contests?”
Oriabel looked uncomfortable. “In a manner of speaking. When I use that spell, to me you seem to move so slowly that I can easily avoid your thrusts and counter so swiftly than you cannot avoid mine.”
“When I expressed dismay at your ability to do this, you claimed to have calculated my movements by consulting the movements of the stars!”
“That was sheer drivel, of course,” she said, shamefacedly. “My studies of astrology and the alchemical sciences have convinced me that such a thing is not possible. But you are so unsophisticated when it comes to magic that the foolish idea did not strain your credulity.”
“I cannot decide whether to spank you for being such a liar, or to laugh at your cleverness. Do you continue with your tale while I ponder the question.”
She bit her lips. “A girl must find her amusement where she can. Now, at least, you know the truth.
“But to return to the tunnels, and my dealings with Oxartes...
“As I went to stand before him, then, I took care to mumble that spell, and in consequence he could not place so much as a finger on me. And yet were he to call for assistance, other overseers would seize me and prevent me from blocking his efforts. Therefore, I dug a piece of gold from my garments and handed it to him.
“‘I have no wish to avoid forfeiting my share of our finds,’ I told him as sweetly as I could. ‘You will find me most compliant in that respect.’”
“He glared at me but accepted the trinket. ‘I cannot take the time to remonstrate with you because other miners await my inspection,’ he growled. ‘But we will have further words about this.’
“‘No, we won’t,’ I snarled back, thrusting my face close to his. ‘I do not think your masters would approve of your methods of procuring a larger share of their wealth than is your due. If you try to squeeze me for more, I will make sure that they hear about it. The queen knows I am here and I am sure that before long her minions will come sniffing around to see how I am doing. It wouldn’t be hard for me to catch their ears.’
“So saying, I stalked away.
“In the days that followed I made sure to hand over a sizeable portion of my finds to Oxartes while retaining my share. Some of the other females with whom I toiled began to view me with suspicion because I consistently uncovered more artifacts, and more valuable ones, than did they. Even Iotapa, who is the closest thing I have to a friend in the tunnels, seems now to be avoiding me.
“I confess to feeling unease,” Oriabel said in conclusion, as she and Guilhem sat sipping mushroom wine. She cast him a hooded look. “We are in a precarious situation, you and I.”
“That we are, that we are,” he said in a distracted manner, examining her gleanings from the treasure tunnels. “There is almost enough here to purchase the supplies we need to continue our journey.”
“You forget that when we leave here we will still be the size of the Persons.”
He sighed, and pushed the stones and baubles away. “No, I had not forgotten that. But we must take these things as they come. Our first and most urgent need is to depart from Fagertärn in safety. We must delay efforts to regain our normal size for the time being.”
“Yes, but even so,” she said, “we need to escape from this place as soon as we can. I have no wish to be accused of sorcery and put to death because of it.”
“I understand your position, and our need for haste. But I will not be able to avoid fighting in tomorrow’s battle between Fagertärn and Cáervine. However, I am a seasoned warrior and am confident that I will emerge unscathed or at least alive.” He paused take another drink of the wine. “This stuff grows on one.”
“Fungi do that.”
He gave her a sharp look, then, seeing the sparkle in her eyes, had the grace to smile. “A worthy jest,” he said, lifting his mug to her. “These nixies... they have no detectable sense of humor.” He frowned. “Although they did seem to relish a laugh at my expense while watching me try to ride a water rat. The finer points of that skill elude me.”
“I wish I’d been there to watch. Yet hold,” she said, seeing him bridle. “You have reminded me of a salient fact: we have not considered the difference between our requirements as nixies and those as normal-sized humans.”
He scowled. “Hmmm. I fear you are correct. Given that, it would seem pointless to resupply ourselves here. Once we regain our proper height, whatever we have secured for ourselves will be so small as to be useless.”
“Quite. We will need several more times gold than we had first supposed. It means that our stay here will be much longer than we had hoped for.” Oriabel tapped her fingers on the table. “I will be forced to spend many additional months in the mines, and you must face further risk among the ranks of the nixie fighting men.”
“As I have said, I am not much concerned about that,” he said in a dismissive tone.
She sat back, unable to keep a sardonic expression off her face. “Rarely have I met such a cocksure man, nor one with such high regard for himself.”
He shrugged. “What is wrong with a strong sense of self-worth? But I am not simply beating my chest, Miss Witchy-woman. Consider this: These people, these nixies, or Persons, or whatever you call ‘em, have been eating fish and mushrooms and bugs for so long that their bodies are all rather slack; have you noticed?”
“I had not,” she admitted, “before you brought my attention to it just now. The laborers I work with are strong enough, probably from constant exercise. I do seem to recall, though, that Oxartes was indeed notably lax of muscle, somewhat flaccid. Hmm. That may well have contributed to my ease in deflecting his attempts to paw me.”
“Well, spend some time with the soldiers and you will see,” he replied. “This it is, mark you, that persuades me I will leave the battlefield, or tunnel, unharmed. They fight well, but without great strength or endurance.”
She nodded slowly. “I believe you have hit on something. Your advantage in muscle power, I now see, is as obvious as mine in speed. Ah! This cheers me! I think we have a glimpse of a way forward.”
“Think you so?”
“I do! Pour some more wine, my dear duke, and let us discuss it.”
Over several more flagons of the fermented mushroom drink they hammered out a strategy. Oriabel sat back with a sigh when they were done. “Well,” she said, “to a casual observer this might not seem like a terribly good plan...”
The duke waved a hand. “It’s the best we could manage. We must see that it succeeds.”
The first part concerned the layout of the many sodden tunnels and underground canals that comprised the subterranean realm of Fagertärn. Guilhem was becoming increasingly familiar with the byways a
nd passages and felt sure that he could guide them out when the time came to escape. Then there was the obvious fact of his great strength as compared to that of the nixies.
“I can tuck away some small amounts of food and water that we can use when the time comes,” he said. “Not enough to sustain us as full-sized humans, of course, but one must start somewhere; and with those foodstuffs we can at least win free of Fagertärn.”
“Well and good,” said Oriabel. “That leaves us with the problem of additional gold. However, I think there might be a way to deal with that complication as well.”
“Oh, eh? And what might that be?”
“Using my scrying skills,” she said to the duke, “I have located several large pieces of treasure that I have not dug out, for fear of arousing suspicion among those with whom I labor that I am using magic.”
“That is sensible,” he said.
“Yes, but it now seems as though I must risk detection in order to bring out more gold.”
“If those pieces are as large as you say, how is that to be done? You have said that this Oxartes extracts his portion from what you win from the soil. You’re not going to be able to smuggle anything sizeable past him without his relieving you of it.”
“This is true, but I have reason to think that what I have discovered will lead me to a storehouse of treasure. Once we secure our freedom—”
His face lit up. “—we dig the stuff out ourselves!” He sat back, laughing, and slammed his fist down on the table. “Oriabel, you are brilliant.”
She frowned. “Were I truly, I would be able to devise a way to keep you from having to go to battle.”