Siege of shadows the kee.., p.25
Siege of Shadows: The Keeper Chronicles Book 3, page 25
“Ah, not to distract from that rousing speech, cousin,” Patlon said, “but what exactly are you going to be doing while we ready the dwarves?”
“I’m going with the Keepers.”
The rest of the room sat in silence for a moment before a roar of dissent rang out.
Patlon raised his hand for silence. “That’s not how being High Dwarf works, cousin.”
Douglon stared at his cousin for a long moment before turning back to the room. “Who here thinks I would run things better than Nurthrum, Patlon, and Torgon working together?”
No one spoke.
“You can’t leave,” Patlon said flatly.
Douglon leveled a gaze at him. “I am breaths away from being High Dwarf. Who’s going to stop me?”
Patlon shifted and glanced at the others. “Your conscience?”
“My conscience is what’s driving all this. You are more than capable of taking care of things yourselves.” Douglon stroked his fingers through his long copper beard. When he spoke again, his voice was resigned. “None of you are any more pleased than I am that I’m about to be High Dwarf. Let it be known there’s a standing reward of a dozen diamonds from the royal vault for anyone who can discover another contender for the throne. I’ll double it if they have a few brains to knock together in their thick skull and have a long, healthy line of children. Until one is found, we all have things to do.
“I’ll stay for a few days until…to see what happens with Horgoth. But those runners better get to Queenstown with news of this entire mess before I do.”
The dwarves stood and headed out of the throne room with a low hum of conversation. Some of them left immediately, some of them congregated into knots. Alaric, Douglon, and Patlon stayed at the end of a table, talking over a map. Will and Killien fell to talking quietly beside Sini.
She leaned her elbows on the table and dropped her head into her hands.
Lukas had gone back to the Sweep and sought an alliance with the people he’d despised. Her eyes felt gritty from the little sleep she’d gotten. How could he have come to align himself with everything she would stand against? The last hope that she knew him crumbled away. Whoever Lukas had become, it wasn’t someone she recognized.
“You’ve seen Sora?” Will interrupted her thoughts. She glanced over to find the Keeper looking hesitantly at Killien.
Killien nodded. “You’d better go find her soon. She’ll kill both of us for not telling her you’re here.”
Will started. “She’s here?”
Killien laughed. “Of course she’s here. Do you think I could find Duncave on my own? She’s been pining for you non-stop. It’s made her even less fun than usual.”
“I have not been pining over anyone,” Sora said from behind them.
Will spun around.
Sini turned to see the ranger. “Sora!” Like Killien, Sora looked tired, and one of her hands was bandaged.
Despite Sora’s words, a smile creased her face and after a heartbeat of stunned silence, Will shoved himself up from the table and wrapped his arms around her.
She returned the hug and buried her face in Will’s shoulder.
“I thought you’d…” Will said, still holding her tightly. “I was afraid…I didn’t…”
Sora pulled a little away from him so she could see his face, and touched the braids in his beard. “I remember a more eloquent man.”
Will laughed and stepped back. He took her bandaged hand gently. “Are you all right?”
“She’s fine,” Killien interrupted. “I’m the one with the terrible leg wound.”
“You twisted your ankle,” Sora said, not taking her eyes off Will. “The only terrible thing is your constant whining about it.”
Killien grinned at them. “I still don’t really understand you two.”
“I do,” Sini said, standing up.
Sora took her hand back from Will and gave Sini a hug. “I heard a female human was here trying to heal Horgoth,” Sora said. “I was hoping it was you.”
Sini set her hand on Sora’s bandage and cast out. There was a deep cut along the back of her hand. Sini pulled some energy from the fire and funneled it into the wound, drawing it together. The vitalle tingled along her fingers, but it didn’t take much.
Sora stretched her hand and raised an eyebrow. “You’ve gotten better.”
“It’s too bad Horgoth’s problem isn’t a cut,” Sini said quietly.
“So,” Will interrupted, taking Sora’s hand back. “You were pining for me?”
Sora raised an eyebrow. “No.”
It was such a familiar expression and tone that Sini grinned. “Will’s been pining for you.”
“And moping and fretting,” Alaric added. “It’s nice to see you Sora.”
She gave him a nod.
“They have no idea what they’re talking about,” Will said. “How long are you here? Why are you here?”
“I’m finished with my clan,” she answered. “It took a lot longer than I thought. When the old holy woman died, there was no one to take her place. Her replacement was only fourteen, and I just ended up drawn into doing…everything.”
“That’s what happens,” Douglon grumbled. “It’s dangerous to even look at the throne. There are forces waiting to drag you into it.”
Will ignored him. “But how did you and Killien get here?”
“I found them,” Patlon said. “It had been so long since either Sora or Killien had sent any messages that when Horgoth broke his leg a fortnight ago, it seemed like a good reason to make myself scarce.” He sighed. “I thought I’d just be avoiding some work, I didn’t realize I’d be missing his last days.”
“I was chased out of the Morrow,” Killien said, “And they followed me to Sora’s clan. We hid my wife and son there, and Sora and I drew away the Roven who were after me.”
Patlon grinned. “When I found them, they were surrounded by rangers. Got a good scuffle out of it and brought them into Duncave.”
Douglon called Patlon and Alaric’s attention back to his map. Will and Sora drew away slightly from the others.
Still at the table, Killien cleared his throat. “It looks like your time with the Keepers has treated you well, Sini.” The smile he gave her was a little unsure.
“It has,” she answered, sitting back down.
He turned his attention back to his hands, clasped on the table. “You don’t dress in the black robe?”
“Somewhere along the line I developed an aversion to grey”—Killien winced—“that spills over into black.” Unwilling for the topic of her slavery to sour the conversation, she attempted a smile. “I’m working on it.”
Killien didn’t smile back. He ran his fingers along the grain of the table. “This past year has taught me a lot, Sini. For the first time in my life, I have no power at all.” He ran a short, broken fingernail along the wood. “I really thought when I was Torch that I was a good leader. That I cared for and protected the people whose lives were in my hands. But I only cared for them in as much as they served my purpose. I don’t think I really saw them.”
He twitched as though he would look at her, but his gaze got no further than the table in front of her. “It seemed to me that if I treated you well, especially knowing where you came from, that it would be enough to cover the fact that I’d taken your whole life.” He risked a look at her face. “I know it wasn’t enough.”
She looked at the man who had once controlled every aspect of her life. The one who had taken her from her family and raised her among the Roven. The one who’d kept her from becoming a Keeper for years. She wanted to feel angry with him, but there was something too broken in him for her anger to settle on.
“I don’t know if I can forgive the Torch who forced me into slavery,” she said honestly. Killien dropped his gaze and nodded. “But I’m just now realizing that I’m no longer the girl who was a slave. And if you are no longer a Torch, perhaps we can begin there while our pasts sort themselves out.”
Killien looked up at her hopefully.
She motioned to his ankle. “I’d help you if magic worked on you.”
He moved his ankle gingerly, “Sora’s right, it’s just a sprain.”
She paused before her next question. “Did you see Lukas on the Sweep?”
Killien shook his head. “He didn’t come to the Morrow. At least not while I was there. I heard he’d visited the Sunn and the Boan. I honestly don’t know what I would have done if he’d come to us.”
“If he was on his dragon, probably nothing,” Sini pointed out.
Killien groaned. “I still can’t believe Lukas has that creature. And that he’s controlled it for four years. The more I learn about him, the more I think I didn’t really…know him.”
Sini shook her head. “I feel like I’ve misjudged him at every turn. Maybe neither of us actually knew him.”
A heavy, bitter regret settled on her at the thought, and the darkness of the throne room felt suddenly oppressive. In effort to shift the mood, she said, “Tell me of Sevien. He must be so big.”
Killien launched into a long, glowing account of his son and Sini listened, letting her more leaden thoughts fall to the wayside.
A dwarf ran into the throne room, bowing to Douglon. “The High Dwarf’s condition worsens, my lord. The surgeon bids you come quickly.”
Douglon’s shoulders slumped. He turned back to Alaric and waved a hand at the map. “We’ve discussed as much as we can now, anyway. Make yourselves comfortable. I’ll make sure everyone treats you better than they want to treat humans. We’ll leave after Horgoth…”
Without finishing, he followed the messenger out of the throne room.
Will and Sora had disappeared, and Killien joined Roan and Alaric at the map. Pest rejoined Sini from the side of the fireplace and offered to take her back to her room.
Grateful for the chance to escape to somewhere quiet, she agreed. “The quickest way this time, please.”
Chapter Twenty-Four
Horgoth did not die quickly. Though the surgeon gave omens of death nearly every hour, the High Dwarf lingered. The surgeon gave him herbs to dull the pain, and he stayed blissfully unaware of his surroundings and how slowly the infection was killing him.
Douglon swung back and forth between despondency and agitation. To avoid a constant stream of dwarven nobility seeking him out, he took the humans on a tour deep into Duncave. Patlon, despite his disapproval of Douglon’s responsibility-shirking, came along as well. The first evening they visited a mining cave where dozens of dwarves were tinking on walls with tiny hammers. Casks full of glittering blue gems lined the walls. Pest, who’d been shadowing Sini, apparently decided the cave was safe enough for him to lurk near the casks.
Still tired from the long ride the night before, Sini sank down onto a rough bench along one wall.
“What have you done to warrant so much watching?” Sora asked, sitting beside her and watching Pest. “This is the first I’ve seen you without one of your two bodyguards.”
“I wish I knew. They’ve been commanded to guard me.”
“Just you?”
“So it would seem.”
Sora studied Pest and Roan for a moment. “Ordered by who?”
“The queen, I assume.”
Sora gave a noncommittal grunt. “I’m not sure I trust Pest.”
Sini watched the man lingering by the gems. “Why not? Aside from the fact that I’m pretty sure he’s stealing from the dwarves right now.”
“He skulks.”
Sini laughed. “You skulk, and I know many people who trust you, including one Keeper who’s quite in love with you.”
A grin slipped out of the edge of Sora’s mouth. “Will’s too nice. He trusts everybody. And I don’t skulk, I track.”
“There’s a difference?”
The ranger nodded and leaned against the wall, stretching out her legs, seemingly perfectly at ease. But her gaze shifted to Roan.
“Do you trust Roan?” Sini asked.
She shrugged. “I wonder if your soldier there took it upon himself to decide you needed guarding.”
“He’s not my soldier,” Sini objected “and why would he?”
“Because he admires you.”
Sine felt a slight flush at her words. “He does not!”
“He definitely does. I just can’t decide if he’s inappropriate about it. He’s a formal sort of fellow.”
Sini laughed. “Yes. He does nothing inappropriate. Ever. He takes his position and his engagement to the future queen seriously. If he feels anything toward me that is even positive, this tedious guarding began long before that.”
Howls of laughter came from across the cavern where Will was regaling three dwarves with some story. Sini could see a light mist of blue green air around him as he filled his words with enthusiasm. Sora’s face softened.
She glanced back at Sini. “Just be careful with yourself.”
“Not all of us fall in love with someone we’re not supposed to.”
Sora’s smile turned self-conscious. “It’s easier than you think.”
With no change in Horgoth’s condition, the next afternoon Douglon led them to an enormous cavern that was so bright he handed out thin blindfolds before they reached it. Sunlight snuck in through small holes in the roof and an assortment of metal disks reflected the light down into garden. Through the gauzy blindfold Sini could see bright green plants growing in endless rows. Dwarves were sprinkled throughout the room, tending them.
“This is our greenhouse,” Douglon explained. “We grow wheat out on the mountainsides, but in here it never gets too hot or too cold, so we have fruit trees and spices. The sunlight comes down chutes from the surface. Every fall we burn the old crops and let the soil lie. Every spring we shovel new dirt down the chutes.”
Until she stepped into the frail sunlight, Sini hadn’t realized how deeply she’d missed the sunfire. It rested gently on her skin, greeting her like an old friend. She worked the blindfold off and blinked into the brightness. Tentatively she drew some sunfire in. She braced herself for the longing for more to return, but she felt nothing beyond a comforting warmth.
“You have sheep herds too, right?” Roan asked. “Is there a cave somewhere housing them?”
Douglon laughed. “They eat too much. We keep them in valleys too isolated for humans to reach.”
Sini breathed in the sunfire and felt something inside her loosen. The light was still the same as it had always been. When Douglon led them back into the dark caves, she followed reluctantly.
Duncave was intriguing, but the shadow of Horgoth’s health hung over them whenever they were in the main city. There was a tavern not far from their rooms, and Sini found herself there more often than not with whoever else was unoccupied.
Pest could navigate the caves well and when he was on guard duty, she had him lead her back to the sun cave just so she could sit in the sunlight and read. Slowly, bit by bit, she found comfort again in the light, and the fear that had eaten at her since feeding the elves faded.
On the third day Alaric and Douglon were tied up in council meetings. Roan and Sini went to lunch at a tavern not far from their rooms where their group ate most of their meals. They found themselves alone until Douglon stumped in and sat down heavily on the bench beside Roan.
A dwarf brought Douglon a large tankard of ale. He took a deep drink and dropped his head into his hands. “What am I going to tell Rass? She can’t come here with me. There’s no grass. She’ll grow weak within a couple days in the tunnels.”
Sini searched for something comforting to say.
“In my study of history, I have noticed,” Roan continued, “when a king chooses his advisors wisely and lets them do their jobs with little interference, the country prospers.”
Douglon looked up at Roan. “You’re saying I’m superfluous?”
Roan laughed. “I’m saying that a government runs a country, not merely a king. Or a high dwarf.” Roan paused. “Three generations ago, our king Tunnred had a wife with fragile health. They had built their home in one of the southernmost valleys of Greentree to take advantage of the warmth. When he became king, she couldn’t follow him to the chilly winters of Queenstown, and as he was unwilling to be absent from her constantly, he spent one month out of three in Greentree.”
Douglon’s bushy eyebrow rose. “And did Queensland prosper?”
“We enjoyed a prolonged season of peace and growth because Tunnred had good people running the country.”
A grin split Douglon’s beard. “One out of three months, huh? Might need to make it one out of two, but that has possibilities.” He considered Roan. “Is Queen Saren going to keep you as ambassador once you’re tethered to the future queen?”
“I hope so.” Roan looked around the tavern. “Trips to Duncave would be vastly preferable to staying at court all the time. But my decisions seem to be made by higher powers.”
“You’d think once you became the higher power you’d actually have freedom.” Douglon peered into his tankard. “But what you lose is the choice of how to spend your day, and who to spend it with.”
Roan let out a long sigh. “I’ve noticed.”
Douglon glanced at Sini. “Keep your head down, and hope the next Keeper they discover is so spectacular everyone forgets who you are.”
“After listening to you two moan,” Sini said, “I certainly will do my best.”
Douglon was summoned to something official sounding, and Roan escorted Sini back to her room before joining him.
“Are you really as upset about your position as you sound?” she asked him.
Roan blew out a long breath. “I was handling it all better before this trip. I’d almost forgotten how much I loved traveling, having concrete goals and destinations. Seeing new places.” He rubbed the back of his neck and gave Sini a troubled glance. “It’s going to be hard to go back to court.”
A bell rang out, echoing down the hallway, signifying the beginning of a council, and Roan smiled a little. “The councils here are far more interesting. The dwarves mostly shout over each other and occasionally bang their axe handles on the floor. And Douglon cuts off anyone who gets too pompous. You want to come?”
