“We’re hardly some army here to root them out,” Lia said, trying to sound confident. “Besides, we’re different, the fae know our kin, and Grandma was special. Gobann might have even known her.”
Wynn frowned, but then his eyes lifted and Lia knew they were no longer alone.
She whirled around to find four bearded dwarfs staring back at her. Gobann stood next to another his size, who stood next to two shorter dwarfs each holding steaming platters.
“I never had the pleasure o’meeting your kinswoman, but Haegl, another scout, did. He’s retired now o’course, but that’s a whole other story. Anyhow, sit and have some freshers.” Gobann motioned toward the table.
The two shorter dwarfs carried the platters to the table, and then ushered Lia and Wynn to sit in front of the feast. Lia’s unease subsided amid their kindliness, and her mouth watered at the smell of smoked salmon and roasted pheasant garnished with onions, leeks, and turnips. There were glazed apples and honeyed walnuts, freshly baked bread slathered in butter, and rounds of white cheese, all accompanied by goblets of wine. And in the center of it all was a bowl of tiny … rubies?
“Just a small snack before the evening meal. The rubies are a might tart, try ’em with the apples.” Gobann winked. “Like you to meet the greeting crew. This here’s Schorl, respected clan sage, and these two fine ladies are in charge of guests.”
Ladies with beards?
“Oh, well, I’m Lia and this is my cousin, Wynn.” Lia was relieved by their hospitality, yet baffled by their appearance and taste for precious stones. She slipped off her knapsack and reached for some pheasant. When she looked up, her eyes caught numerous small gemstones glittering from the two female dwarfs’ beards. Wynn gaped at the women’s facial hair, which rivaled his da’s.
“Thank you, ladies, Gobann. I should like to have a word in private now.” Schorl waved his bejeweled hand in command. His beard hung in salt and pepper braids against smooth pale skin.
He’s younger than Gobann and definitely less outdoorsy, but he’s their royal sage.
“I’ll just be a quick shout away if you need me.” Gobann followed the lady dwarfs through the door.
Schorl remained, peering down on them, and Lia supposed he stiffened his spine to appear taller. It seemed as if hooks tugged at the corners of his lips, pulling them into a smile. His words came slow and deliberate, “Been a while since our scouts reported humans in the land. Not since your elder was spotted about ten years ago.”
“Our granda stopped coming here,” Lia said. “Nemetona’s Royal Guard began patrolling the edge of fog, and a few years after that, Granda’s legs went bad. He only returned, and brought us here with him, out of desperate need.”
She took a quick sip of wine and continued, “Maybe you already know, but a Straif tree’s breached the fog, attacking and poisoning our people. It attacked Granda here in Brume, in the forest edging the fae meadow. We’re gathering ingredients for the cure, and somehow we have to get a piece from the Straif—”
“And the stone?” he interrupted.
“Uh, yes, the quartz. I’ve been trying to figure out how it works. It grows warm when I touch it, and I’ve dreamed of it burning bright, but I’ve not been able to light it up on my own.” She drew the stone out of her pouch and displayed it on her opened palm.
Schorl’s eyes glinted and his tongue flickered across his lips, as if he was about to strike. Before either of them moved, Wynn scooped up the crystal. “So, are you the one going to teach her how to wield magic from it?”
A flash of anger crossed Schorl’s face and he sneered. “I’m not going do anything except leave you to your meal. Just needed to see it myself, make sure Gobann had it right. What happens next is up to the clan chief.” Schorl turned on his heel and left the cave.
“See what I mean?” Wynn shot an icy glance at Lia and handed her back the quartz. “That clan sage is trouble.”
Lia gnawed on some bread. She wished Gobann would return. She didn’t like that he was sent away. He seemed to know enough about stones, at least enough to show her a few tricks. She’d ask him as soon as he returned, and then they could hurry back to the foothills through the Duir.
The door burst open and Lia watched for Gobann to enter, but was soon disappointed at the sight of four armored dwarfs. Wynn grabbed his blade and kicked his chair against the wall behind him, his eyes darting to each of the guards.
“No need to panic, boy; just a formality,” one dwarf grumbled.
Lia hovered at the tunnel entrance. “Where’s Gobann?”
Wynn teetered on his feet and his head lolled forward. Lia leapt toward him, but her head went dizzy, and her vision turned to mud.
“There now. ’Twas only a bit of m’woozy brew, just enough t’get you t’our inner city without knowing how you got here. You’re of the human race, after all.” The female voice sounded far away, as if it echoed through a tunnel.
Lia’s eyes focused on the tiny room and she found her throat dry when she spoke. “The poison you used … the bells or the shade?”
“Ah, you know the dark ones. Give you a hint: Her leaves do reek, and her fruit’ll bite, and she dangles trumpets of vespertine white.”
Lia was in no mood for riddles. She knew the answer, but her head ached and she didn’t want to play solve-the-riddle. The dwarf moved closer, yellow gems sparkling from her beard.
“You were part of our greeting crew, right? In charge of guests? Where’s Wynn, my cousin?”
“In good hands, not t’worry. Like I said, ’twas a simple act of caution.” She handed Lia a mug of water. “Drink this; it’ll help.”
Lia studied the water. It appeared clear and scentless, and her mouth yearned for it. She drank it down, the cool liquid washing the bitter taste from her mouth.
“Your guides are waiting for you.” The dwarf ambled to the door and opened it. Grunts and throat clearing echoed from the hall.
Lia got up from the bed and steadied her footing, and caught sight of her knapsack draped on a stool. The flap of her pack was undone, and she glared at the nosy dwarf before slinging it over her back.
“I’ll see you at suppertime,” her hostess said, as if drugging guests was nothing to blink twice about.
I’d like to try a few woozy brews on her and see how she likes it.
“Mouse holes,” Lia clipped, stooping through the curved doorway where two armored dwarfs met her. Thick beards covered half their faces and they both wore steel chest plates etched with a wingless, two-legged dragon.
Wingless? Like the tree wyrm, more snake than dragon.
“Follow me,” one ordered while the other took his stance behind her. The three strode in silence through the tunnel. Wall torches cast shadows against the stone, and aside from their footsteps, the passageway was quiet. Nerve-fraying quiet.
After endless twists and turns, they rounded a corner and came upon a door bigger than the usual mouse holes. With a nudge from the dwarf behind her, Lia opened the door to a blaze of sunlight. She stepped forward with her eyes shaded to help them adjust, and a shiver crossed her shoulders from the crisp mountain air. Her vision focused and she gasped. A stone courtyard sprawled into a maze of paths winding around towers of quartz. Towers of quartz!
“That’ll do, that’ll do, run along, she’s in my care now.” A dwarf with wild white hair and a beard to match scuttled toward them. Thick eyeglasses hung crooked on his nose and his eyebrows looked as if they might take flight.
The guards turned back toward the tunnel, but stopped at the sound of commotion coming from inside. The door burst open, its wood nearly splintering, and Wynn tumbled into the courtyard.
“Get your grubby hands off me!” Anger flushed his face. He steadied himself and charged back at the guards.
“Wynn,” Lia yelped.
Though he doubled their height, he might as well have been tackling a brick wall. The dwarfs pushed him away with such force he crashed into a table of rusted shields.
“Wrestle with that awhile, youngling.” One of the guards tossed Wynn’s sheathed sword onto the ground beside him. “He’s all yours,” the guard grumbled before following the others into the tunnel.
Lia reached down to him. “Are you all right?”
He lifted himself out of the mess of shields. The clang of metal hitting metal rang through courtyard. “Half-witted, stinking, hairy stumps—the lot of them! I knew this was a bad idea, knew that stub, Schorl, was trouble—” Wynn stopped short.
The elder dwarf stared at him, wide-eyed and trembling.
“Oh, he didn’t mean you,” Lia jumped in. “Just those pushy guards and that clan sage. We were poisoned, well not really poisoned, but definitely robbed of our wits.”
Wynn’s voice softened and he stepped closer to the old dwarf. “I meant no harm to you, but Lee’s right—we’re being treated like prisoners here.”
The snow-headed dwarf relaxed and a smile grew on his face. “Ah well, Schorl’s never been one for tact. But prisoners you’re not, else you’d be hung by your toes by now. No, you’re special. You carry something very special, and you can be sure the whole clan—even the whole race—is talking about it by now.”
Wynn shrugged and bent down to retrieve his sword. He began picking up the strewn shields.
“Oh, leave them. Just keep the one and follow me. This is quite amazing really; wondered if I’d live long enough t’learn the fate of our ancient stones, and here you are, the key t’all our questions right in your hands.” The dwarf waved for them to follow. “Name’s Laguz by the way, head crystallographer in charge of these here quartz.”
Lia gazed at the glassy facets sparkling in the sunlight, her head awash in memories of Rockberg. These towers appeared fresher, or maybe just cleaner, than the ones back home. She and Wynn followed Laguz to one of the great stones with a large table set next to it. Upon the table were a variety of swords and armor, gemstones of all colors, and glass bottles filled with mysterious liquids.
“Come, come. Oh, the excitement! Now, dear, would you be so kind as t’show it t’me?”
Lia eyed Wynn, his face painted with concern, and she withdrew her crystal. Its familiar warmth spread over her palm and she peeled her fingers away to expose it.
“Keep hold of it, ’tis your stone after all. I’ll just rest my hand on top. Might help if you close your eyes t’start.”
Lia hesitated, then closed her eyes and felt the dwarf’s hand come down. The sensation was immediate. The stone burned, barely tolerable against her flesh, its light blazing through the walls of her eyelids. Ohhh.
“Do you feel it?”
“I feel it burning—”
“Not on your hand; you got t’feel it in your mind, in your heart.”
Lia paused in concentration. She had become used to feeling the trees, sensing their energy. How can the quartz be much different? She reached out with her mind and immediately understood the difference. Trees varied in age, some as old as ancient times, but rocks were timeless. From the celestial birth of the planet grew minerals, and from earth’s fiery blood, igneous rocks formed. The precious creations existed long before life roamed the lands and were sure to remain long after life perished. Lia surged with excitement. It was as if she held a piece of the starry sky right in the palm of her hand.
“Good. Excellent. Truly amazing for a non-dwarf. Never knew ’twas possible. Now, child, deep within your mind, kindly ask the crystal t’show you a bit of its recent memory.”
“Uh, all right.” She felt awkward, but focused her thoughts on the request, and a fuzzy image began forming in her mind.
“You’ve got it,” Laguz said, pressing his hand on the stone. “Now, let it become clearer.”
She drew in her breath and held the image, and all at once, a flood of pictures spilled forth. From present time, the pictures ran backward, speedy clips of village life flashing before her. She watched the people come and go like heedless cattle, blind to anything but their daily routines, ignorant to the workings of magic towering on their hillsides. They viewed the great towers as nothing more than an annoying, yet immovable, part of the landscape.
A pang of regret for her people’s disregard shot through Lia. For so long the crystals stood among humans, hovering at the fringes of their lives, barely noticed by them, and never honored. For a while, the luculent stones drew vitality from the plants and insects, and an occasional passerby who bestowed them a glance. However, with time’s incessant chisel, the enchanted quartz fell mute, asleep with the same apathy they’d been doled out. That is, until Lia’s garden danced spirals of herbs and fae around one of them, and the sparkling centerpiece awoke with renewed fervor.
Her stone whizzed her further backward in time and a flood of happiness poured into her. The pictures slowed as the crystal lingered on its memories. The land appeared untouched, innocent. All of the towers beamed auras of light and a flurry of activity wrapped the base of each one. Numerous dwarfs tended their glassy gods. With silken cloths, some polished the vitreous faces while others placed thick hands on them, sending dwarf magic deep into the stones. Weapons, gems, water skins, and bowls of herbs and vegetables bathed in the crystalline glow.
“The items? Why do they put them all there?” Lia whispered.
“Hold on t’your connection, child. Open your eyes slowly, and I’ll show you.”
Lia drew her eyelids up and found herself encapsulated in light. Her breath slid from her mouth.
“Wynn, is it? All right, lad, I want you t’hand your sword over t’your cousin.”
“Uh, okay.” Wynn entered the bright sphere and set the hilt of his sword into Lia’s free hand. Then he stepped back.
The heat from the quartz shot through Lia’s body, up through her arm, into her torso, and down to her palm holding Wynn’s sword. She vibrated with energy, riding wave after wave of radiant power. After a few moments, the tide subsided and the stone’s light dimmed. She held the sword out to her cousin.
Wynn’s eyes rounded at his glowing blade. He wrapped his hands around the hilt and the blade’s light intensified. “Whoa! It’s like a beam of sunlight.”
“Ah,” Laguz smiled, “I see you’ve both got the touch. Lia’s ignited the blade, and now you, as the sword’s master, have brightened its flame. This one’ll cut through anything now, and I do mean anything. Keep it sheathed ’til you really need it. Always show your blade respect, and it’ll return the favor tenfold. Metal’s like that, you know.”
His eyes sparkled at Lia. “Now, lass, let’s see what you can do with that ol’ shield.”
Lia repeated the process, holding the shield in her other hand while the heat moved through her. This transformation took less time. The rusty, dented shield fired to perfect steel, emblazoned with an etching of the wingless dragon.
“What am I doing to draw this kind of magic?” Lia asked.
“Sharing yourself, connecting your essence, don’t you see? A rock can go through eternity without a thought, but if inspired with the right spirit, it comes alive. And in some cases it’ll attach itself t’that one special soul.”
He winked at her before continuing, “Those crystals were given eons of devotion by skilled dwarfs. They empowered them t’greatness the likes we’ve yet t’see again. Something about you awakened one back t’life. That’s why even the wee version you carry is such a treasure.”
“But what about the quartz here in the courtyard? They look as big, as beautiful as the ones back home.”
“Big and beautiful, yes. Capable of power, yes. We use them t’shine up our metals, enhance our food and drink, even to swirl up curtains of mist t’hide passage into r’caves. But they’re babes really, and don’t hold a torch t’the ones in your village. Takes time t’build such power.” Laguz eyed Lia. “Time or a whole lot of magic beyond my understanding.”
The elder dwarf suddenly scurried away and retrieved a handsome sword leaning against the table. “Here now, I’ll show you the difference. This blade was kiss
ed by one o’these crystals. Wynn, would you do the honor of cutting this here bench?”
Wynn’s brow shot up, but he took the blade and swiped it hard against the wood. It cut through nearly half the width of the bench seat. They all nodded in appreciation.
“Now take your sword and do the same.”
Wynn set the other blade down and unsheathed his own. His sword flashed with light and he swung it down onto another section of the bench, cutting it clean through. “Incredible!”
“And honorable. Your blade will know your intention from the moment you touch it, so no worries over slicing the wrong target.”
“I had no idea the crystals were so …” Lia trailed.
“Vital? Eminent?” the dwarf finished.
Lia winced at his words and sighed. “How you must hate us. Our people, they robbed the crystals from you, then drove you away.”
“Simply the changing of the tides; you get used t’it when you live as long as we do. Our race has seen humankind’s dawn and we’ll be here t’see its dusk. Child, I’d never hate you, but I am worried ’bout what’s t’come. Those quartz towers were enchanted with a special magic. Every dwarf clan existing at the time rallied together with our high sages, all pouring from their hearts and souls into the stones, imbuing into them an important purpose. A purpose carried out even now.”
“Now? But, I thought they’d gone to sleep, nobody caring for them and all?”
“Well, they’re kinda like a sleeping mother, one eye always open. But you have a point, and that’s part of what we need t’know. How much longer will the magic last? How much longer can they enchant the veil?”
“The veil?” Lia’s brow drew together.
“Brume’s fog, child, the veil between our worlds, the great crystal guardians dotting the hills of your village hold and keep the wall of fog. Over the past century, we’ve sensed a shift, and we’re all wondering what it means.”