"Help me up, Geric," Haline said.
"No." Geric faced Haline. "This isn't your route."
Haline narrowed her eyes. "It won't hurt if I know the way."
"Astra and I will take them the rest of the way." Geric softened his voice. "I don't think we can trust you with another route yet. It's for everyone's protection. We've already bypassed enough rules."
"I promise to take good care of them, Haline," Astra hissed as gently as her scratchy voice would allow.
"But, Geric--"
"I'll protect them with my life," Geric said. "You know the rules. If you get caught knowing the entire route, we're all out of business."
"Fine. Just make sure they make it safely." Haline patted the spidren on the side. "Lizzy, you're the soldier, watch over Coal. Don't let anything happen to him. And you ..." She scowled, looking towards Coal. "Stay alert. Don't make Lizzy do all the work."
"This is it." Ambassador Eli held a withered map in his hands. "Centuries ago, this was used as a secret entrance." He pointed to the only lifeless tree in the forest. The bark was completely stripped away, exposing the white and gray surface underneath. An eagle sat on her nest at the top, watching Chalcedony and the rest of her crew with a sharp, wary eye.
"I don't see a door. How do we get in?" Chalcedony asked.
The dwarf bit his lip before he circled the large tree. He looked up and down as he went. Once he'd completed his inspection, he touched the tree. The eagle leaned over her nest and squawked. The dwarf flinched and hurried back to Chalcedony.
"I suppose the map doesn't say how to get in?" Chalcedony asked.
"No, Princess." Ambassador Eli stared nervously at the eagle.
"Of course, it wouldn't."
The eagle looked at Chalcedony through narrowed, suspicious eyes as she approached its home. She stared back at it, daring the mighty bird to attack her. It must have understood the threat because the eagle broke her gaze and began pruning her wings.
There was no obvious door here, so it had to be hidden by magic. Chalcedony placed her hands on the decrepit tree and concentrated. It wasn't dead. It was as old as the forest, but the roots still fed on the water from the soil and the branches still grabbed at sunlight for nourishment. Finally, the magic within the tree snagged on her own. She pushed it back through her fingertips, and an eight-foot-high opening appeared on the side of the tree.
Not knowing what to expect, Chalcedony carefully leaned over. The tree was hollow with a staircase descending into the ground. "This is it."
"Princess, I should go before you." Avonnah placed a hand on her shoulder. Chalcedony stopped and gave the hand a long, hard glare.
"Get your hand off me." Madoc had given both Djamel and Avonnah a verbal thrashing on their inability to protect her. But their job had never been to protect her. Their job was to fight alongside her. Chalcedony should have seen the kick coming. She should have protected herself.
Avonnah removed her hand and shrunk away. "I apologize, Princess."
"Follow me," Chalcedony commanded.
The stairs took them to an underground home with four wooden columns holding up the ceiling. Candles aligned the walls. There was no one there, but she knew someone lived there. A female, Chalcedony sensed. Her energy touched everything. And mixed with it: the unmistakable smell of Coal and Elizabeth. The child had a scent she could only describe as human and young.
Finally, they were getting somewhere. "Search this place. There should be a tunnel."
"In here," Ambassador Eli said.
She followed his voice to a dining room filled with pots, pans, and a dwarven table with four chairs. Ambassador Eli stared at a dirt wall. "It should be here."
Just as she'd done with the tree, she rubbed her hands along the wall, feeling for its magic. Small flakes of dirt fell onto the ground as she traced her hands against the barrier. But there was nothing except for a dirt wall.
"Are you sure it's here?" she asked.
He looked nervously at the map. "Yes."
"How do you open?" she asked, remembering the hidden entrance on the tree.
"I don't know," Ambassador Eli said.
"I'm not talking to you."
He cocked an eyebrow. "Oh."
"How do you open?"
Once more, she placed her hands on the wall, feeling for anything unusual. She grinned when her finger came against a small circular bulge. She pushed it, and a section of the wall moved upwards. Her smile disappeared when she saw an entrance barely big enough for a dwarf.
Chapter Twelve
Chalcedony moved through the tunnel on her hands and knees, making a mental note to start carrying gloves as the grit and dirt cut into her hands. After half a mile of crawling, the tunnel's ceiling was higher and they were able to stand. She stretched her achy back and looked around.
"They couldn't have passed through here more than a few hours ago, Princess." Avonnah inspected the half-burned candles along the wall.
"Good. If we run, we'll catch up to them sooner." Chalcedony sprinted away, not waiting for a response. They knew to follow.
An hour later, they were still running. Chalcedony's legs throbbed, but each time she thought of stopping she made herself move faster. She was close to catching them. She had to be. The thought of losing them because she wasn't fast enough was all the fuel she needed to move quicker.
Running into a wall as she turned the next bend jostled her out of her thoughts. Gasping from exhaustion and disbelief, she realized the ceiling had collapsed, completely blocking the rest of the tunnel. She placed her hand onto the barrier, hoping to push it away. A few clumps of dirt and stone fell, but more took its place. The rest of her soldiers turned the corner and stopped before they collided with the wall.
"Dig." She faced the wall and snatched clumps of dirt and rock from the obstruction.
"Princess." Ambassador Eli gasped for breath. "This could take hours or days to excavate."
Chalcedony dropped the clump of dirt she had in her hand. "Are you sure?"
"Yes. It's a common defense mechanism. If they think they are being followed, they cave in the tunnels."
"Why didn't you say anything before?" Avonnah asked, sweat dripping down her tired face.
The dwarf cowered. Then he must've remembered who he was because he stuck out his chest and raised his chin. "I am an ambassador, not a soldier. Nor do I work in the mines. Dwarves have been doing this for centuries. It's impossible to anticipate everything."
Chalcedony looked at the candles on the wall. All of the candles were still only halfway melted.
She touched one of the candles, expecting to get burned, but it was cool to the touch. It radiated heat, but it didn't burn her hand. When she tilted it, the wax didn't drip onto the ground.
"What's wrong with this candle?" Chalcedony asked, handing it to Ambassador Eli. He inspected the candle, turning it over as Chalcedony had done.
"It's not like any candle I have ever seen," he said.
"It looks like a candle, but it doesn't use wax," Chalcedony pointed out.
"But there's wax dripping down the side." Avonnah's voice was full of curiosity.
"It's only decorative," Ambassador Eli said, confirming what Chalcedony had guessed.
"We were using the candle as an indicator of how much time they had on us. They could be one day ahead or an hour." Avonnah threw up her hands in frustration.
"Ambassador, why didn't you know about this?" Chalcedony tried not to let disappointment show in her voice.
"I've never seen a candle like this. It's old magic, like the door hidden in the tree."
Dammit! Dammit! Dammit! She threw the candle onto the ground and then kicked it away. They'd come all this way for nothing. Why was tracking down two human children turning out to be so hard? She bit her lip, aware that her soldiers and Ambassador Eli were waiting for her to tell them what to do. She stifled a sigh of frustration and exhaustion. She should have been able to sense the magic in the candles. When t
his was over, she was going to study old magic; specifically, old dwarven magic.
"We have to go back. The ambassador is right. It could take hours to dig through this. If Coal is still trying to get Lizzy home, then he can only be headed to one place."
Madoc eyed the dozens of green and tan tents as he rode through Chalcedony's camp. What had started as a small search party for two humans had blossomed into preparation for full-out war. She'd requested most of her soldiers and taken the dragon riders away from their patrols.
The scent of sweat, horse manure, dragon dung, and roasted pig permeated the air. Some of the soldiers were practicing drills, but most were sitting outside of their tents laughing and eating.
Madoc nodded as he passed the two personal guards, Mahala and Jin, which he'd assigned to Chalcedony. Mahala's pale skin refused to tan even in the sun. She was thin with an unhealthy yellow tinge to her skin, but he knew she was not only strong but quick, just like her partner. Jin may have been one of the oldest soldiers on active duty, but he was still stronger than most of the soldiers, and he had an eye for strategy. He couldn't have picked two better soldiers to look over Chalcedony.
She'd always refused personal guards. Her shadows were good enough, she'd said. Djamel and Avonnah were good shadows, but they were meant to track rogue fey in the human realm, and that was best with soldiers that were trained as she was trained. Unfortunately, it also made them just as young and inexperienced as her.
This campaign of hers had given him an excuse to force Chalcedony to take personal guards, experienced fighters that could hold their own in either realm.
In the tent, Chalcedony stood over a table studying maps of dwarven tunnel routes.
She frowned. "Hello, Madoc. What brings you out in the field?" Her eyes were red and weary. He'd only seen her this tired after her mom had died, and she'd been unable to sleep for a week.
"You mean, why am I here, instead of at Legacy taking care of your duties?"
"I've been in the human realm longer than this with no complaints. Why are you complaining now?"
"This is different. You and your shadows are the only ones with the skills and the authority who can patrol our region of the human realm, but your presence here is unnecessary. You should leave this search to one of your senior soldiers and return to Legacy."
"Why would I want to do that?"
"Because you've dispatched most of your army to search for two human children as if you were going to war."
She leaned forward, placed her hands on the table, and glared at him. "You told me if I didn't punish Lizzy I would look weak in front of the realm. At your request, I made plans to imprison a child. But my best friend appointed himself her protector and they escaped. You were wrong about disciplining the child. I should have let it go. Now a small thing has become a huge thing. I will not let Coal get away with betraying me." She leaned back and put her hands behind her head. "No, I'll take care of this myself."
He'd expected to find her demoralized and ready to return home, but she was still confident despite her failures.
"How do you think it looks when you deploy an army to look for two human children?" When she didn't speak, he answered his own question. "It looks foolish."
"It looks like I will do whatever it takes to get back what's mine," she answered coldly. Her eyes were steady and determined. So she wasn't going to give up her search--good. But I still need to play my part.
"Have you thought about what you're going to do when you find them?" Madoc asked.
"They'll be punished."
"How?" he asked.
She rolled her eyes and smirked.
"I won't complain anymore about the resources you're using, but be prepared to finish what you've started," Madoc said. "Once you find them, you cannot show them mercy, nor redemption, nor pity."
She glared at him. "I've done that before."
"You have never punished someone you have loved. But every queen has been betrayed by a loved one. You are not the first. You will not be the last. Prepare yourself for what you'll have to do once you find them."
She stared down at the table, silent.
"I'm leaving. Think hard about their punishment. The resources you are using are great so their punishment will have to be the same. If you are going to use everything you have, don't hesitate to strike, and above all, don't lose."
She looked up sternly. "I never lose."
That's my girl, he thought as he left.
"This is fun," Elizabeth said after they had been traveling for a while. When they had begun, Elizabeth had been a huddled, shivering mess, holding onto Coal with a death grip. After nothing happened, Elizabeth relaxed. Riding Astra wasn't much different than riding a horse. Except Astra was faster, had a smoother ride, and she spoke.
"When we get to my house you can meet my dad." Elizabeth interrupted Coal's thoughts. "He is always super busy, but sometimes we play video games together or watch kung fu movies."
Coal had no idea what she meant by video games or kung fu. "I'm just going to take you home. Then, I'm coming back."
"Is that wise?" Geric sat cross-legged on the spidren. He was both strong and experienced enough to stay on without having to use his legs to keep him upright. "If you return, the princess will send you to the weavers. What about your parents?"
"I was homeless when Chalcedony found me."
"Maybe you can live with me," Elizabeth said, just as Astra stopped abruptly.
"What's going on?" Geric asked. "Why are we stopping?"
"I feel something." Astra lowered her head.
"Like what?" Coal asked.
Astra moved sideways and placed one her front legs on the side of the tunnel. "The wall is vibrating."
Coal, Lizzy, and Geric put their hands on the wall. There was a steady, strong pulse, like a heartbeat emanating from it.
"What's that?" Elizabeth asked, her nervous voice breaking the silence.
"Nothing." Geric removed his hand from the wall. "It's probably some farmers tilling their land. Keep moving, Astra."
She moved away from the wall and quickened her pace. Her body stiffened in a way that hadn't been there before. A flake of dirt fell from above and landed in Elizabeth's hair. As Coal watched, more flakes fell. The wizard lights along the wall flickered.
"It's snowing dirt." Elizabeth caught some of the specks in her hand. Giant clumps of rock and clay dropped next to them.
"It's a cave-in," Geric cried. "Run!"
"Hold on." Astra moved faster, trying to outrun the falling earth and rocks. A large boulder fell in front of her. She dodged it, but the quick change of direction sent Geric, Coal, and Elizabeth onto the ground. Before Coal thought to move, Geric leaped onto Astra's nearest leg and climbed back onto the spidren.
"Get up!" Geric screamed. "Hand me the girl!"
Spurred into action, Coal picked up Elizabeth and handed her to Geric. He was about to follow when the entire ceiling collapsed, covering everything in a suffocating darkness. Instinctively, Coal used his arms to cover his head. Before he knew it, he was crouched in a ball, restricted on all sides by chunks of dirt and rock.
Panicking, he tried to stand, hoping if he stood straight he'd be above the cave-in. But there was so much earth and rock that he didn't know which way was up. Terrified, he dug through the rubble. His lungs burned from lack of air while he fought his way to the top.
Someone grabbed his hand.
He was so relieved that he forgot to hold his breath. Dirt filled his mouth, and he gagged on rocks and earth until he was mercifully pulled from the rubble and into the sunlight. On his hands and knees, he coughed up soil and rock, opening his dirt-covered eyes and expecting to see Geric and Elizabeth.
His blood turned to ice and dread replaced his elation.
"Hello, Coal," Djamel said, with a dark, humorless smile.
Chapter Thirteen
Djamel grabbed the front of Coal's shirt and lifted the boy onto his feet. "Don't think about fighting me.
Before you could try anything, I'd have both of your hands cut off. As pleasurable as that would be for me, the princess would be disappointed if she wasn't allowed to dismember you herself."
"How did you find us?" Coal asked, his voice raspy and his throat sore from coughing.
"You could only be headed to one place." Chalcedony approached from behind Djamel. She beamed with triumph as if she'd just won another running race. If he'd been successful at getting Elizabeth home, he would have gladly faced her and accepted his punishment. Now, he couldn't meet her eyes. He turned away, feeling like a failure.
In all of the commotion, Coal had forgotten about everybody else. Astra had climbed out of the hole, and Elizabeth was clinging to her back. They were surrounded by twelve heavily armed soldiers pointing their swords nervously at the giant spider.
"Give up the girl!" Avonnah shouted to Astra.
"No," Astra hissed. She opened and closed her pincers as a white viscous liquid dripped from her mouth and onto the ground. The docile spidren had been replaced by the nightmare everyone had been taught to fear.
Chalcedony directed her attention from Astra and back towards Coal. "Djamel, take him to his tent. I'll take care of this."
"Yes, Princess," Djamel said.
Coal tried to follow Chalcedony towards Elizabeth and Astra, but Djamel pulled him by the shoulder in the opposite direction. "Your part in this game is over. There's nothing you can do for them."
Djamel dragged him past endless rows of tents. Only a fraction of Chalcedony's soldiers were near the tunnel. Dozens more were still in the camp. When the soldiers saw Djamel pulling Coal through the tents, they stopped what they were doing and stared. Some smiled. All had the look of victory on their faces.
They never had a chance, Coal thought, as he took in the hundreds of tents and supplies Chalcedony had brought with her. How could he have competed against all of this?
Djamel stopped at a green tent and pushed Coal inside. "Sit." He motioned towards an old, dingy cot.
Coal: Book One of the Everleaf Series Page 12