Heart Song (39 page)

“They?”
I asked.

He nodded. “
Ye'll
see.” He moved over towards the arched iron bars and pulled them free from the wall with very little noise. He set it to the side,
then
motioned for me to go in. I hesitated, looking at Marren, hoping he would
argue my being first. He only nodded once.
Crushing my hopes of him intervening.

I approached the opening, dropping to my hands and knees. The cold water seeped into my clothing and skin. It reached into every nerve ending, threatening to freeze me solid. At the far end something twinkled. Quickly, I dismissed it and looked one last time behind me at Marren, now standing in the water beside me. With a smile from him, I returned my gaze ahead of me and started to crawl through.

It was dark. Nothing gave off an aura.
I swallowed the lump in my throat as I was reminded of my time in the Tombcell
. Everything in my situation had mimicked the other in all of the most frightening ways. The dark, the damp, the tight space, the way the air seemed so much thicker and harder to breathe. It was enough to cause a small surge of panic inside me, adding to the already cramped space.

A wave a fresh air entered my nose. It was cold and carried a high level of stone and iron. It was quiet around the opening, but sounds in the distance came as if there was just as much business after dark as there was during the day. Or there was a celebration. Either way, no one would be paying much attention to strange figures in black robes crawling from the city's run off.

I poked my head out, keeping my eyes alert to any movement. Stacked against the walls were wagons and old broken down carts. This must have been storage of some sort, long forgotten and unvisited.
All the
better. I crawled out and noted that the iron bars to seal the run off rested against the wall just to the side of the opening. Above us was a roof made from wooden shakes. We were well hidden.

Marren crawled out, along with the small man who had done more for us than any other stranger would do. I had to know why. I waited for him to finish replacing the bars into the opening and dusting his pants off before I said, “I don't understand one thing. Perhaps you could clear it up for me?”

His eyes were clear, free from emotion, but his lips pressed together in a soft, yet firm smirk and ever so slightly, his jaw clenched.
“Anything.”

“Why help us?”

“Why not?” he asked.

“Relena, not right now,” Marren said.

“Yes, right now, Marren. I want to know why he's so willing and eager to help us after such little propositioning while everyone else in the world would happily behead us without a moment’s thought.” My eyes never left the man’s. Nor did his leave mine.

“It's quite all right. I‘ll answer her question.” His eyes clouded slightly,
then
in a lower voice he said, “As ye can see I'm short in stature, but far too thin to be a dwarf, but that doesn't mean that I'm not part-blooded.” He paused as he lifted his head proudly into the air. “My grandfather was full-blooded dwarf. He was all I had. All that tied me to my heritage...to who I am.

“My mother was human, my father was dwarf. It caused friction in my father's family and so he was disowned until my birth. When I was born with a short stature, my grandfather made an appearance in my life and continued to appear regularly throughout my years.

“My mother was ridiculed by everyone in our village. People would refuse to trade with her and would speak openly about her actions as if she weren't there. It killed her. And my father, who spent his years trying to hunt for food and build a roof over our heads, followed her within weeks.” He shook his head, as if he thought that would shake the tears that had formed in his eyes. He took a deep, shuddering breath and let it out slowly with his hands on his hips.

“My grandfather returned six months after their passing. He stayed with me until I could grow into manhood. Then, the king offered me a job. I refused. His retaliation was public execution. The whole town watched as my grandfather was beheaded. I couldn't do anything. I didn't know how to!

“My only choice was to work for the king.
As the gatekeeper.”

All that time I listened to his short and very sad story. I couldn't help but feel beside myself in my brash and unfounded feelings towards this man. I felt guilty. “What is your name?”

“Gandir.”
Instead of saying it proudly, he looked as though he had just been told he was doomed to die in the next few moments. His shoulders were slouched, his arms were slack at his side, and his eyes remained low.

I approached him, dropped to my knees and wrapped my arms tightly around him. He stiffened for only one small moment then relaxed. “You are more than just your blood. Your parents and grandfather would be proud of you. Thank you for helping us.”

“Ahem. Uh, yes, well...” He took a step back, pulling free from my hold.

I stood.

“Where to now, Gandir?”
Marren asked, taking a hold of my hand. Our eyes met and for a moment, I saw pride and awe shine through them.

“Uh... oh, right. Follow me.”

We followed Gandir out of the covered shelter for the broken down wagons and carts to the side of a building that stretched above the wall. Windows were alight with blinking candles and a soft orange glow behind them. Murmurs
of undecipherable chatter blended into one another and the smell of ale and spice flowed from the openings. It reminded me of the inn, during one of its busiest seasons.

Beyond that was a large open road, bordered by buildings built upon one another of staggered heights. Each one had arched doorways of dark wood and a small hanging sign above the door. Some were dark while some were alive with business. People walked to and from these opened stores. Some even gathered in small clusters. It seemed odd to see such a contrast within such a close area.

“This way,” Gandir said
,
pulling my attention back to where we were walking and not what was going on.

A small space between two buildings offered enough room for us to walk single file through. I only had to flick my hand to get my fingers to touch either wall. There were no windows in these walls, just rough stone squares stacked upon one another to form the sides of the buildings.

The further in we went, the darker it was and the harder it was to discern shapes beyond our own. We arrived at the end of the small alley. Gandir knocked a couple times. A few knocks were returned, followed by something scrapping against the ground. It sounded like stone on stone.

A stone door?

Seems like it.
Marren squeezed my hand.

“I've got some rather intriguing company here. Won't
ya
let us in?” Gandir's voice was low and deep. I couldn't see anything on the other side of the stone door, but then it scraped some more, raising the hairs on the back of my neck and inside a darkened room stood a figure outlined in a light blue-green aura. 

“Well, let us have a look at this intriguing company. Do step inside.
Quickly.”
The voice came from the other side, thickly accented and choppy. He was tall and thin in stature, judging by the way his robes cloaked him. He turned and walked further into the darkness.

Into the belly of
the city.
At least that's what it felt like. We walked through darkened halls after a long flight of stairs downward. Soon the shadows lightened and the sounds of chatter filled the air. We turned down a hallway and into a room lit with sconces and lanterns. In the center of the room rested a small table, crudely made. A chair sat on the other side of it. It looked like it had seen better days. The walls were bare, made from sandstone and left jagged in areas. Aside from the door, there were no other ways in or out of the room, including the extreme lack of windows.

“Please forgive my humble decorations. It's difficult to find pieces to carry this far. And the dwarfs seem less enthused with building furniture than they are about carving this place out of the ground.” The man took a seat in the chair. It groaned loudly at his weight. He removed his hood to reveal long light brown hair, straight eye brows and bright green eyes. His lips were squared, yet puckered and he had a large scar that crossed his face in a diagonal. I quickly averted my eyes when he noticed my gawking.

“It's quite the sight, isn't it
,
my lady?”

I looked up, meeting his gaze again. There wasn't any sarcasm in his voice and I didn't detect a hint of anger in his face. I smiled politely. “I'm sorry. I wasn't expecting to see... well...”

“Relena was attacked when she was younger,” Marren said. “It scarred her horribly. You are the only one of the immortal races that she's seen with scars like hers.”

“Ah, I see.
Kindred spirits, you and I.”

I nodded.

“The name's Lernn, elven rogue, and leader of this band of dying soldiers.”
He stood then held his hand out to me. I placed my hand in his then he brought it to his mouth and placed a gentle peck just below my knuckle.
“Pleasure to meet you.”
He released my hand and stood formally while looking at Marren. “Master
Marren,
heard a lot of you lately.
Lots of whispers.”

“Whispers?”
Marren asked.

“Yes. It's somewhat of a gift—a talent, if you will.  I'm very good at not being seen or heard. I can blend into the shadows.”

“Interesting.”

“Yes. My talent is very useful. It's saved us a time or two.”

“What kinds of whispers have you heard exactly?” I asked.

Lernn's eyes peeked over my shoulder. I followed his gaze to Gandir, standing silently in the corner. He nodded once then his eyes fell on mine. I returned my gaze to Lernn. “I know that your daughter is being held in the lowest cells of the dungeon. Those reserved for the most heinous and foul offenders. Not many people actually make it that far. Most are beheaded first.”

“You know Naloud is here?” I turned around to face Gandir to yell at him for not being up front with me, but he wasn't there. I hadn't even heard the door. I turned in a complete circle searching for him.

“You'll have to forgive him. We know that you would do anything and risk everything to find your daughter. Unfortunately, that is not the way to help her. If you go running in there like that, you'll likely find your daughter dead.” Lernn's words penetrated the air, dissolving everything around me until there was nothing but his words.

“What else do you know about my daughter?”

“That she's extremely well taken care of, for being a prisoner and all.”

“What do you mean extremely well taken care of?” Marren asked.

“Well, it appears that she arrived of her own free will with a man by the name of Serid. They appear to be quite fond of each other.”

I clenched my fists together. “So you say.”

“Well, I'm no expert on love, but apparently Serid has been taking food and water personally to Naloud,” Lernn said. “Word has it that he's even spent several days with her.”

A growl erupted from my throat.

Marren cleared his throat and placed a hand on my shoulder. “Not exactly the best argument you can present at this point in time.”

Lernn raised his eyebrows as if he was surprised but understood.
“Very well.”

“Just tell me how to get my daughter back,” I said, enunciating every syllable.

“Well it's not going to happen tonight,” Lernn said, stepping around the table and towards the door. He gripped the handle and pulled on it. “You may want to see something first.”

I looked at Marren to see how he was handling it. His eyes found mine, nodded once, and pressed his hand on the small of my back.

We walked towards the murmuring. It started out as a whisper and grew louder as we got closer. We
approached a set of stairs and started to descend. The stairs led to a large open room with large tables and chairs. Lamps and sconces lined the walls and illuminated every corner of the room in a hazy orange glow. Groups of immortal races were gathered and conversing loudly with one another. None were even slightly aware of our appearance.

Lernn had stopped at the last stair then nodded at someone. Three loud booms filled the air, vibrating off the walls. Silence settled as all eyes fell upon me and Marren. Lernn looked at me with a smirk on his face then turned towards the crowd. “These two need no introduction. Their daughter is Naloud. They want to rescue her. Who will stand behind them?”

A loud roar came as a response. Lernn turned towards me then said, “We all want the king dead. And you will too as soon as you find out who he really is.”

“Fine.
How do you propose we do this?” I asked.

His smirk grew into a smile. “I’d hoped you would ask. Follow me.” He stepped through the crowd. It parted as we walked through the long corridor to the room at the end. A figure stood hunched over a table, reviewing a large scroll of parchment unrolled onto its large flat surface. The figure's form was familiar to me and I felt my heart skip a few beats. Light caught golden strands of silk. I held my breath as we entered.