Shadowglade

by Kay L. Ling

  “Bring a few Fair Lands gems. One of the things we’re trying to determine is whether the gnomes have gem powers before they hold my knife or only afterward.”

  “No problem.”

  “While we’re there, we can mention the Ministry of Gnome Affairs and see what Raenihel thinks of the idea,” he said.

  “Free supplies from S’s stockpiles. What’s not to like?” Lana asked.

  “He’ll like it as long as he doesn’t have to work at Shadowglade handing them out,” Franklin said sarcastically.

  That seemed a little harsh, but Lana supposed it was true. It was tough getting gnomes to volunteer for anything.

  Jules said, “Like it or not, some of the gnomes will have to help. Elias and I have enough to do now.”

  “Office space won’t be a problem,” Lana said. “Half the rooms in the castle are empty and collecting cobwebs. Just make sure you put gnomes and breghlin at opposite ends of the castle.”

  She bagged the leftovers, got a few gems from her bedroom, and they headed to the entry hall to get their coats. “I have a new after-hours parking spot,” she told them. “There’s an equipment barn for mowers and tools near Parking Area D. It’s on a non-public trail, and I don’t think the rangers go back there.”

  “Good thinking,” Franklin said. “You shouldn’t leave your car in plain sight after hours.”

  She handed him his coat, put her own on, and then rummaged through the closet to find one for Jules. She held out a navy insulated windbreaker and gave him a look that said, “Don’t argue with me.” “It’s not terribly warm, but it’s better than nothing.”

  Franklin said, “Go ahead. Men wear these.”

  Taking the coat reluctantly, Jules shrugged into it.

  “It looks better on you than it does on me,” she assured him. He looked good in anything, even Elias’s hand-me-downs. Later, she’d find him a warmer coat and reclaim this one. She liked the idea of wearing a coat he had worn. She looked away, trying to avoid blushing. She should probably fight her infatuation, but he was close to being her dream man, and unless she found a gem power that blocked her emotions, she couldn’t help how she felt.

  Lana never tired of visiting the intradimensional Tree Home in the Amulet. Fewer gnomes than usual had gathered tonight, but Raenihel and Gliaphon were among the group. Lana hadn’t seen Gliaphon since he’d been captured by breghlin and forced to work in S’s alamaria mine. Those had been dark days.

  Gliaphon rose from his place by the glowing stones that Lana always thought of as a campfire and came to greet her. She wrapped him in a bear hug that left him gasping for breath. “It’s so good to see you!” she cried, releasing him and holding him at arm’s length. He was a dark-haired, middle-aged gnome with a long beard. “How are you? You look none the worse for your time in the mining camp.”

  He smiled. “I’m quite well, considering. I still have bad dreams occasionally, but I suppose that’s normal. Come. Join us.” He waved for her and the men to follow him.

  The Tree Home towered high overhead, veins of light running through the walls, shedding a soft glow over the fifty-foot room. The Tree Home was always warm, no matter how cold it was outside, and after slogging through snow, buffeted by freezing gusts of wind, Lana found the warmth delightful. A few small tables and stools made of live roots rose up from the floor. It was one of the many curiosities she loved about the Tree Home.

  When they reached the circle, a few gnomes moved aside to make room for the three to sit down beside Raenihel and Gliaphon.

  One of the young females, dressed in a dark green tunic and pants, her waist-length black hair held back by a leather thong, came over with a tray of goblets. Lana smiled in anticipation. It would be fialazza, of course—the gnomes’ traditional drink. Murmuring their thanks, Lana and her companions took a goblet.

  Raenihel turned to Franklin. “You survived enchantment, regained your human form, and you’re no longer crippled. You’ve become quite a celebrity among the gnomes.”

  A look of pleased surprise came over Franklin’s face, but it faded as Raenihel clapped him on the back and added, “Songs will be sung, and legends told of you.”

  “The songs and legends should be about Lana, Jules, and Elias. They used their gem powers to help me.”

  “And we will honor them as well,” Raenihel assured him, “but aside from your recovery, you played an important part in S’s defeat, and we won’t forget your bravery.”

  “Then I guess you won’t mind if I move back to Shadow,” Franklin said, looking down at the goblet in his hands. “Elias and Jules need my help. They have too much to handle on their own.”

  “That would be a great sacrifice,” Raenihel said, and Gliaphon nodded in agreement.

  “Not as much as you might think.” Franklin smiled, but it looked forced.

  No one spoke, and then Jules said, “Gnomes need somewhere to go for information and advice. Franklin wants to open an office at Shadowglade to help you. S has stockpiles of everything from grains to metals, and he will help distribute it.”

  The gnomes exchanged pleased looks and conferred in hushed tones. Finally, an older male said, “That’s wonderful, but safety is our greatest concern. We hear armed breghlin are roaming the countryside in increasing numbers. Unless we can travel freely, we’re little better off now than we were under Sheamathan.”

  “We realize that,” Jules said. “We’re doing everything we can to control the breghlin without stirring up a rebellion. We had hoped to give you weapons from S’s armory, but it’s shielded with a defensive ward, and we haven’t been able to get inside yet.” He looked around the circle. “Weapons aren’t always necessary. There are other means of defense.”

  “By that, I suppose you mean gem powers,” a burly gnome with a crooked nose sputtered, “but you’re not around to protect us all the time.”

  “We may not need to be,” Jules said, drawing his knife. He held it out to Raenihel who gave him a puzzled look. “Lana tells me you killed a pythanium with my knife.”

  “That’s right, I did,” he said warily, as if afraid he had done something wrong. Jules continued to hold the knife out, and Raenihel finally took it.

  “What do you know about it?”

  “Legends say it has Fair Lands gems that burn evil creatures from our world. I can attest that’s true.”

  Just then the knife began to glow. Jules let out a soft exhalation of surprise but regained his composure and resumed his line of questioning. “The day you used this knife, did you expect it to glow like it’s doing now?”

  The blade faded and went dark. Raenihel said, “I’ve held the knife before and it glows briefly and goes dark, just as it did now. That’s to be expected, since I’m a gnome.” He turned the knife over in his hands, studying it. “But the day I confronted the pythanium, the blade continued to glow and began to pulse. I did not expect that.”

  It had never occurred to Lana that Raenihel would blame himself when the blade went dark. No wonder he assumed he couldn’t master the knife. He didn’t understand how it worked.

  Jules sheathed the knife, pulled it out again, and handed it to Lana. “Watch what it does when Lana holds it.”

  Soon after she took the knife, the blade began to glow, but it faded a moment later just as it had for Raenihel. She handed the knife back to Jules amid murmurs of confusion from the gnomes.

  “You see,” explained Jules, “when someone with gem powers unsheathes the knife, it begins to glow, searching for evil or danger. If it finds none, the blade goes dark.” He paused for a moment. “Raenihel, when you experimented with the knife you weren’t in danger, and it knew that. The blade behaved just as it should—it went dark.”

  The elderly gnome looked dumbfounded. When he found his voice, it trembled with emotion. “You mean to say the knife behaves the same for me as it does for you?”

  Gliaphon cried, wide-eyed, “He has gem powers?”

  “Yes,” Lana said, nearly as excited as Raeni
hel. “Maybe not as strong as ours, but he definitely has powers.”

  It was stunning news, and the gnomes all began to talk at once.

  Jules sheathed the knife, pulled it out again, and offered it to Franklin. “We may as well test you while we’re at it.”

  The gnomes sitting beside Franklin waved the others to silence.

  “This blade healed me. It owes me nothing more,” Franklin said quietly.

  Lana held her breath, wishing with all her heart the blade would glow, but a minute passed and the blade remained stubbornly dark. Franklin finally shook his head and handed the knife back to Jules. “I’m sorry to disappoint you.”

  “It’s okay. Gem powers are rare,” Lana said.

  “So, who wants to try next?” Jules asked, drawing everyone’s attention away from Franklin. “How about you, Gliaphon?”

  Gliaphon gave a nervous laugh. “It can’t hurt to try, I suppose.”

  “First, I’d like you to hold Lana’s hematite and tell me if you feel anything. Not just physical sensations—any change in emotions, too.”

  Lana passed the hematite to Gliaphon. He held the black stone for a moment and then shook his head. “I don’t feel anything,” he said, looking disappointed.

  “Fair Lands gems are more powerful in Shadow,” Lana said. “The Amulet isn’t the best place for this test.”

  Jules took the hematite and gave Gliaphon the knife. “True, but it should still work here. Now try the knife, Gliaphon.”

  The gnome stared at the blade as if he could intimidate it into glowing. When nothing happened, he said to Franklin, “Well, Franklin, you and I are ordinary folks without gem powers, but we’re truehearted and brave just the same.”

  Franklin smiled. Gliaphon handed back the knife and called cheerily, “Bring us some fialazza to soothe our injured egos!”

  That broke the tension. One of the females got up and returned with a pitcher. “Hold up your cups,” she told Franklin and Gliaphon. After refilling their drinks, she continued around the circle, serving anyone who wanted more.

  “I’d like to test the rest of you,” Jules told the group. “First, hold the gem. If you feel anything, let me know. Next, unsheathe the knife, hold it awhile, and see if it glows. When you’ve finished both parts of the test, sheathe the knife and let the next person try.”

  There were twelve males and four females. Lana watched anxiously as they tried the gem and the knife, and it began to look as if Raenihel would be the only one with gem powers. Suddenly shouts and whistles erupted. A stunned female around Lana’s age held up the glowing blade. Lana clapped and whistled along with the rest.

  When the commotion died down, Jules asked, “Did you feel anything when you held the black gem?”

  She answered shyly, “No, I didn’t. Is that unusual?”

  “I really don’t know. Try holding the hematite again.”

  Setting down the knife, she took the stone in her right hand. “It feels warm,” she said, eyes widening. “Getting warmer now.” She looked around in surprise. “I feel happier. Lighthearted. It’s hard to put into words, but I don’t think I’m imagining it.”

  Jules said eagerly, “Try to draw more energy from the stone. See if those feelings grow stronger.”

  Soon, she shook her head. “No, it’s the same. Well, maybe a little stronger. I’m not sure.”

  “You’ve touched gems over the years, haven’t you?”

  “Yes.”

  “And have you ever felt anything like this?”

  She didn’t even stop to think. “No.”

  Lana leaned toward Jules and said quietly, “In the beginning when I experimented with gems, I didn’t feel much. I’m surprised she had such a strong reaction on her first try.”

  “It was the same with the two brothers at Shadowglade,” he told her.

  “So, does this test prove your knife is the activator?” she asked.

  “It certainly looks that way. When she held the hematite the first time, there was no reaction. But after holding the knife, there was.”

  The remaining two gnomes performed the test with no success. Aside from Raenihel, only the young female had tested positive.

  Franklin leaned toward Lana and Jules. “We need male gnomes with gem powers. What do we do with a female?”

  “In case you haven’t noticed,” Lana said, “Sheamathan is a female. She did all right for herself. And I think I’ve been pretty useful so far.”

  Jules said hastily, “What Franklin means is females aren’t likely to join militias, and that’s what we need right now.”

  “She wouldn’t have to fight,” Lana said. “She’d be using gem powers. Sometimes a show of power is all you need.”

  Franklin said, “Maybe so, and it’s up to her if that’s what she wants to do, but there has to be something safer that’s helpful.”

  “How about the library?” Jules suggested.

  Lana raised a brow. “Guarding S? That doesn’t take gem powers.”

  “No, I meant translating—with cyanistone.”

  “Oh, I didn’t think about that.” She paused, thinking. “Can gnomes read? If S confiscated their books generations ago, maybe they never learned.”

  Franklin put the question to Raenihel. “Do gnomes read and write?”

  “Most do not. We have little need for writing. Sometimes we send a written message to neighboring clans when we dare not trust it to memory.”

  “When you send messages, how do you do it? Do you have pens and paper?” Lana asked.

  “We use white bark for paper, and a carbon-oil mixture for writing.”

  “What about books? Do you have any?” Franklin asked.

  “Very few, but more than most clans, I expect. Sheamathan confiscated books during The Great Upheaval and burned many of them, and it was difficult to preserve those that survived. Over the years, S purposely burned acres of forest, and that destroyed more books.” His lips drew into a thin line. “Fortunately, my clan keeps valuables here in the Amulet. The elders read our books aloud for the benefit of the youngones.”

  “The female who made the knife glow, what’s her name?” Lana asked.

  “Tyla.”

  “Can she read?” Lana asked hopefully.

  “Yes. She is the daughter of one of our elders, so she was taught to read and write at an early age.”

  “We could ask Tyla to move to Shadowglade,” Franklin suggested. “It would make it easier for her to work in the library. And if others in her family test positive, maybe they’d come too.”

  Jules said, “We have plenty of room, but most gnomes want nothing to do with Shadowglade.”

  “It can’t hurt to ask,” Lana said. “Raenihel, what do you think of the idea? Tyla could study books, especially ones written in runes. There’s a gem that translates them into thoughts and images.”

  Raenihel’s expression wasn’t encouraging. “Jules is right. I doubt she’d want to live at Shadowglade. For one thing, you’re keeping S is in the library, which is sure to intimidate her. But she respects you, Lana, so you could ask and maybe she’ll give it some thought.”

  “It might help if we gave Tyla more fialazza first,” Jules suggested with a wry smile.

  Lana stood, glancing toward Tyla who was deep in conversation. “Liquid bravery wears off,” she said, remembering the night she had helped the gnomes search for an enchanted wolfhound—which unbeknown to her had been Jules.

  When Lana touched Tyla’s shoulder, the gnome looked up in surprise. “Excuse me,” Lana said. “May I speak with you privately?” Tyla nodded and rose. Her face was pleasing, Lana thought—large, expressive brown eyes, high cheekbones, and waist-length black hair tied back in typical gnome fashion. Lana led her away from the circle.

  Before Lana could open her mouth, Tyla said, “It’s an honor to speak to you. I’ve heard many tales of Lana of the Fair Lands.”

  Compliments always made Lana feel awkward, but the gnome’s bright smile put her at ease. “Maybe they�
��ll tell stories about you some day. Gem powers are wonderful, but they’re also a responsibility.”

  “I want to help my people.”

  “Even if it means doing something you don’t like?”

  Tyla’s smile faded. “Such as?”

  “S’s library has books confiscated from your ancestors. Some are written in runes, but we have a translation gem. You could help us translate the books.”

  “That doesn’t sound so bad.” Tyla said, in a tone that suggested there must be more to it.

  Lana plunged ahead, hoping Tyla wouldn’t refuse before giving the matter serious thought. “If you lived at Shadowglade you could work every day as much or as little as you liked. It would be really convenient.”

  Tyla didn’t answer, and Lana suspected she was searching for a polite way to say no. “That would be difficult. I have a husband and a young child.”

  Lana hadn’t expected that. Well, that certainly complicated matters. She scrambled to salvage the situation. “We could give your family a suite so you’d have plenty of room. You could bring your own personal items, and we’d supply everything else.”

  Tyla looked away, her face a study in conflicting emotions. “I’m honored. I’d like to help uncover the heritage Sheamathan stole from us, but Shadowglade is no place for a family. My husband is sure to object.”

  “Is he here tonight?”

  “Yes.” Tyla smiled. “He was proud when I made the knife glow.”

  “Talk it over with him,” Lana urged, trying to impart a little of her own enthusiasm. “I know Shadowglade is a dismal place, but honestly, it offers a lot of advantages. Think of it—you’d have servants to cook meals and wait on you and drivers to take you anywhere you wanted to go.” She paused, remembering the objection Raenihel had raised. “If you’re uncomfortable with S in the library, we could move her cage.”

  Tyla’s eyes darkened. “I know I should be frightened of her, but I’m not. She can’t hurt us now. If I come, I wouldn’t want you to move her. She should see us reading the books she stole from us.”

  Surprised but pleased, Lana nodded. Tyla had more spunk than she’d expected.