by Inlo, Jeff
Still, Pru could not dismiss the signs around him. He had to accept the elf's escape was significant, but he remained both anxious and confused. He still could not understand what had happened to Okyiq, or why the goblin had entered a dwarf tunnel just to disappear.
The half-delver could also not comprehend why the dwarves had become so concerned with his own activities. With each step through the underground city, he was feeling more like a prisoner and less like a scout.
As they made their way to the formidable fortress at the center of Dunop, Pru's anxiety began to build. The dwarves weren't bringing him to a guard post for questioning by some low level battle commander. They were taking him to the very heart of Dunop, the seat of its power. The gray stone structures that previously filled him with awe suddenly began to cast a dark shadow across his every step.
While trying to understand how chasing a goblin turned into such a plight, Pru started to believe fortune had swung against him. He wasn't superstitious to the point of believing in absurd folklore, but he believed he understood luck. It could work for him or against him, and if it turned bad, things could get ugly. Inspecting the expressions of every dwarf he passed, he wondered if he faced a situation that had moved far beyond gruesome.
He was brought inside the castle, down a long hall, and immediately to what appeared to be the throne room. The throne itself was vacant, but many dwarves filled the hall, as did their whispers of concern.
Pru's keen hearing allowed him to monitor a great many conversations at once. It seemed several advisors were considering the aspects of the elf's escape, though initially, there were only fragments of information. In listening to one whisper after another, Pru realized that the news was not only fragmented but also contradictory. He guessed no one was certain what had actually happened and rumor was spreading faster than fact. That was never a healthy environment, and Pru's concern continued to expand.
The dwarf guards directed him to a row of chairs off to the side of the room, and they allowed him to take a seat. They instructed him to wait—that important dwarves would soon arrive who wished speak to him—but nothing else. Two of the four dwarf escorts exited the throne room, but two remained. They did not crowd the half-delver, but they stood close enough so that Pru knew he was still under guard.
While waiting far longer than he expected, Pru monitored the activities of each dwarf who entered the hall. The rumors and wild stories began to dwindle. Those who spoke of the incident began to focus on simple facts. There was less conjecture and even less contradiction. It seemed as if the dwarves settled on certain conclusions; the elf Petiole received outside aid to escape his cell, and he did so with the use of magical teleportation.
As for the half-delver's appearance in the throne room, the other dwarves gave him a glance now and then, but they said nothing further about his circumstances. Perhaps they were instructed to remain quiet regarding the possible intruder or perhaps they knew he might hear them, but they revealed little about what they thought of him. Beyond being the tallest individual in the throne room, Pru was initially nothing more than a curiosity.
Just as the half-delver considered standing to stretch his legs, a contingent of dwarves entered the hall through a side entrance. Pru noticed one of them carrying the crossbow and hunting sword that he recalled leaving at the tunnel entrance. They walked directly toward the half-delver. It was obviously time for Pru to answer their questions.
A dwarf woman moved to the head of the line and took a seat next to Pru before he could stand to greet her. She folded her hands in her lap, looked the half-delver over once, and then let out a soft but deep breath.
She looked about the hall before saying anything, even gave a glance to several of the advisers, but she said nothing to them. She sat back further in her chair and looked up toward the ceiling. An unsettling silence filled the room. Finally, she spoke, but she did not immediately turn her gaze upon Pru. It remained on the gray stone ceiling over their heads.
"I am Queen Therese Folarok. Because this is a very severe situation, I'm going to tell you everything I know. When I ask you a question, I will expect the same of you."
Just as his invitation to enter the palace was not a request, Pru realized the queen was issuing a command. It was said with respect, but also authority.
Pru remained silent even as his curiosity exploded. He did more than just wonder about what was going on around him, he marveled at the thought of sitting beside a dwarf queen. His mind filled with questions about the city and her role. He would have loved to ask her about her history and her experiences.
His delver curiosity, however, was quickly quelled by the dwarf queen's demeanor. Pru didn't need the heightened senses of a delver to know that the circumstances surrounding his arrival did more than simply disturb Therese. He could tell she wanted information, and he doubted she would allow for a delver's irrelevant questions. Pru started to worry again about the timing of his appearance. He silently cursed his luck as the dwarf queen began to explain what had happened in the very bowels of Dunop.
"The elf Petiole has escaped us," the queen declared, and she was not timid about offering details. "He received outside assistance. We have yet to determine exactly how, but we know that enchanted stones were brought into his cell. They contained sufficient magic to overcome the dampening effects of our prison, and they enabled the elf to teleport out of this castle. We believe they were powerful enough to teleport him entirely out of Dunop. Once the stones completed the teleportation, they exploded. The explosion was probably meant to destroy the evidence of the enchantment, but whoever created them did not give dwarf engineers enough credit."
She stopped briefly and motioned for one of her advisers to hold up a small pebble, a piece of debris barely larger than rock dust. She pointed to it so the half-delver could see the evidence. Therese didn't want Pru to assume that she was guessing as to the circumstances of the escape.
"My dwarves analyzed the room and easily found the enchanted particles. We are very careful about magic. There is no doubt in my mind regarding the stones. Magic was used to assist the elf. That, and the fact that Petiole is now free, are issues of immense concern."
Therese finally took her gaze from the ceiling and placed it upon the half-delver.
"Do you know who Petiole is?" she asked.
"He's an elf," Pru answered honestly, "but I'm really not completely sure what he did."
"Do you know what shadow trees are?"
Pru had heard stories about the unnatural trees that flourished in darkness, but he heard many stories after the magic returned to Uton. It seemed everyone had some kind of experience with terrifying monsters or fantastic horrors. He could not be certain what was hard truth and what was nothing more than exaggerated story telling. He decided to play it safe with his answer.
"I've seen a lot of strange things, but I'm not sure if I've seen one of those."
"Then you have not. Believe me, if you had ever seen one, you would know... and you would not forget. Shadow trees were devised by elves as the ultimate weapon against dwarf cities. Once the seeds are dropped, they grow instantaneously, and they spread like fire over dry grass. They thrive in darkness and are impervious to all things other than sunlight. They do not burn by normal fire, nor do they fall to the axe. They do not even bend to the wind. They consume everything they touch. Given enough time, one seed dropped in the center of this room would turn into a forest of twisted black trunks and sludge filled branches. Thick stalks of shadow would fill every open space of Dunop. Every dwarf would be consumed."
"Sounds terrible," Pru admitted.
"Terrible does not even come close to describing the horror of the trees. Petiole dropped several seeds down the air shafts to Dunop... a crime so barbaric that the elves of his own camp turned him over to us willingly. Had they not, there probably would have been another war with the elves. It was our duty to see to his punishment."
She paused and then looked back up at the stone ceil
ing.
"Ancient magic shaped the shadow seeds, and magic has always been a bane to the dwarves. We are resistant, and that has been a blessing, but we have never been able to utilize the energy as the elves have been capable of doing, or the humans... or even delvers."
After placing obvious emphasis on delvers possibly utilizing magic, Therese paused. Only for a brief instant, but it was long enough for the half-delver to notice. When she resumed, she did so with a simple but direct question.
"Do you cast spells?"
Therese did not turn her head to watch Pru for his answer. She just waited and listened very carefully.
Pru knew exactly what she was doing. He did it himself on occasion. If he listened well enough, he could almost tell when someone was lying. It took practice and it wasn't flawless, but in the right situations, it was fairly reliable. He had no intention of avoiding the truth and saw no harm in admitting what he could do.
"Yeah, I can cast spells."
"Then you know how powerful it can be, and perhaps now you have a better understanding when I say that magic has been used to help free Petiole."
She was repeating herself, but she did so with an emphasis on magic and Petiole's name. She was letting the half-delver know that these two aspects were no small matters. On their own, they were of great significance. Together, the implication was monumental, especially to a dwarf.
"I think I have a decent idea of what you're talking about," Pru confessed, but he admitted another truth. "I'm just not sure what all this has to do with me."
Therese understood the words but did not appreciate the tone. She could tell the half-delver was anxious over his circumstances, but his concern seemed misplaced. She began to believe the stranger sitting before her was much too focused on his own well-being and cared far too little for events that might have great consequences for others.
She allowed a long silence to take hold over the room. She wanted to give the half-delver a moment to collect his thoughts and perhaps reassess the severity of the situation. She also wished to proceed with care. How she handled the escape of Petiole would affect countless lives, and she wouldn't allow blind mistrust to sway her decisions.
His tone, however, had revealed more than a level of confusion. The half-delver appeared to be distancing himself from the severity of the situation, as if Petiole's escape meant nothing more to him than a firefly fleeing a child's grasp. That irritated the queen. After revealing the nature of the elf's crimes, Therese expected a bit more concern, even if the half-delver was completely innocent.
"Aren't you interested in the escape of an elf who committed a heinous crime?" she finally asked. "Petiole's actions could have started a war of cataclysmic proportions. He was imprisoned to prevent that war. He is now free. Doesn't that give you pause?"
"I'm not an elf, or a dwarf."
"No, you are not, but what of your delver curiosity? "
"I'm curious about a lot of things, but I don't try to ask questions that will get me in trouble."
Therese shook her head. It seemed as if her initial assessment of the half-delver had been accurate. He was far more concerned with his own interests, his own skin. She decided to make it clear that Petiole's escape was something Pru should find substantially more distressing.
"It seems as if trouble has already found you," she exclaimed with a harsher tone. "If you are only concerned about your own neck, then that worry should begin to grow. We have questions about you; questions you should understand are extremely important... or are you going to tell me you don't understand why you're here?"
Pru didn't like what was happening, but he couldn't say he didn't understand it. It was as he suspected all along. He was caught in the wrong place at the wrong time. It happens, but he also wanted to point out other truths as well.
"I understand it... to a degree. You found me snooping around. It seems at the same time, someone else was helping this Petiole character escape. The thing is, I really was just chasing a goblin. I don't care about this elf. I'm just making sure you know that all of this has got nothing to do with me."
The denial meant nothing to Therese. Pru would have said the exact same thing whether he was involved in the escape or not. It fell upon her to determine a course of action that would lead to the truth. She decided to put the half-delver further on the defensive.
"You are acting as if we plucked you out of the forest. We did not. You came to us. You were distracting guards."
Pru didn't like the sound of that at all. It was a clear accusation, one that was profoundly untrue.
"I wasn't distracting them! I told your guards what I was doing. I was following a large goblin!"
"I have spoken to all the dwarves that have had contact with you."
"Then you know everything there is to know. I wasn't distracting them from the tunnel. I was focusing on it."
"Do I know everything? You say you are from Burbon. You have also informed my guards that you were chasing a goblin that threatened your town. Beyond that, I know nothing about you other than that your appearance raises certain questions."
Pru could not imagine what other questions might exist, and his delver curiosity got the better of him.
"Is there something else that's going on that I don't know about?" the half-delver asked. "This all seems like a bit too much concern over a poorly timed appearance near a dwarf tunnel."
In hopes of motivating the half-delver, Therese decided to offer a bit more information.
"A series of odd events precluded the escape," Therese explained. "A reflector mirror was damaged outside the castle before the escape occurred. It might not have anything to do with Petiole, but then again, I'm not so sure."
"I didn't break it."
"Of that, I am sure, but as for you, you were discovered at an important access tunnel at the very moment Petiole escaped."
Once more, Therese looked toward the half-delver to accentuate the point.
Sensing the accusation, Pru spoke with greater emotion.
"You think I had something to do with this?"
"You use magic, and as I said, enchanted stones were utilized to help Petiole escape."
"But I didn't even get in Dunop."
"At least two got into the access tunnel."
"Two?"
"The goblin you were following and a powerful spell caster"
"But I didn't get near the tunnel until I called out to the dwarves at the entrance, and..." Pru stopped and considered what the queen had just revealed. "Wait a minute... the goblin? You know about the goblin? Your guards didn't believe me about that!"
"No, they didn't, but since Petiole has escaped, I have ordered a more thorough investigation. Additional dwarves were sent to study the grounds surrounding the tunnel. They followed your trail and eventually they did come across the tracks of a large goblin out in the forest."
"Then you know what I said is the truth!"
"I know you were following a goblin... a very large goblin... a goblin that was able to enter the access tunnel to Dunop without being seen by two experienced dwarf sentries. How would that be possible... without magic?"
"I didn't help him!"
"His tracks disappeared before he got anywhere near the city entrance, but we know he entered the cave. He was with a magic caster, and a spell was cast within the confines of the tunnel."
"It wasn't me!"
Therese decided to pull back, but only slightly.
"In truth, I don't think it was you. I think there was another magic caster that was traveling with him. At least, that is what the signs seem to reveal."
Pru felt a small wave of relief. It sounded as if the dwarf queen was accepting his story, at least part of it, but Therese's admission was still a surprise.
He started to wonder about the possibility of a spell caster. He thought Okyiq was alone. He saw no signs in the forest of anyone other than the goblin, but he couldn't simply discount the possibility. It would explain a great deal, especially how Okyiq
was able to avoid him for so long in the forest.
As much as Pru wanted to believe the theory, he needed to be careful about saying the wrong thing. For all he knew, the dwarf queen was leading him along, trying to trap him. He didn't care about an escaped elf. He no longer even cared about Okyiq. All he wanted was to get out of Dunop. As long as he held to the truth as he knew it, he believed he could escape further suspicion.
"I'm not exactly sure what you're talking about," Pru confessed. "I didn't sense another magic caster, but it adds up. I was chasing the goblin for a long time. I should have caught him, but I didn't. If he had someone with him that could magically aid him, it would answer a lot."
"That may be," Therese acknowledged. "It is entirely possible you didn't sense the magic caster. Spells of concealment were strong enough to keep my sentries from noticing the goblin, thus they could have fooled you as well, even though you are half-delver. I have to accept that as a possibility."
"It's the truth."
"So you say, but I cannot accept every denial as truth, either. There is no clear evidence that explains what has happened. There are only possibilities. Another possibility is that you knew exactly what was going on. You could have been part of a distraction. A goblin entered the access tunnel through the help of magic at the same time Petiole escaped... also with the help of magic. You cast spells, you admitted as much."
Pru felt the suspicion building once more.
"You think I'm part of a plan to get some elf out of your prison?"
"At this point, I will admit I know very little... very little about what happened and very little about you. You're a half-delver who was following a large goblin. Beyond that, everything else about you is speculation."
Along with the suspicion, Pru suddenly sensed the iron grip of futility rising up from the events that had transpired. He felt as if he was placed in the strong current of a flooded river and had little control over where he was headed.
