TR: 8

Chapter Eight: Combing the Beach

The gulls were out in full jeer, circling above on the clam hunt. The tide was eagerly pressing in as Karayus made its slow descent below the horizon, kicking up a kaleidoscope of hues as it revealed the atmosphere in all its true, naked splendor.

Kade lay face down, half immersed by the ebbing shore. His first conscious thought was immediately thanks for the cold water of the waves as the sun left him feeling like a twice-baked potato. He blinked awake to glimpse opalescent hues playing across a whitewashed shore before him, puzzled at what he was seeing. A surge of fatigue washed over him and he let his head slump back down on the soft sand, groaning as he closed his eyes once more. Better to just let the ocean carry him away.

A seagull swooped down and planted itself a several hands away from Kade’s head. It waddled up to his face, cocking its head in question–a question about the creature’s mortality laying before it, likely. Testing its theory, the bird leaned forward unreservedly and chomped on Kade’s nose with full aplomb. Kade yelped and rolled onto his back, thrashing his arms at his side. The gull startled, flapping its wings and squawking loudly, as if in mock imitation of the flailing thing before it.  With a last annoyed screech, it took to the sky, chattering to itself as it disappeared from sight over the treeline. Kade sat up abruptly, rubbing his beak-bitten beak. He gasped as water rose up to his crotch, grazing his nether-regions with a cold caress. He watched the tide ebb back toward the ocean and then, seeing the ocean spread out before him, Kade’s memories came back to him in a rush. Getting lost in the forest. Falling from a mountain. The gym and the boy. That dinosaur thing.

Chester.

Suddenly aware of his vulnerability, he jumped up to his feet as spryly as his body would allow. He immediately discovered that he was aching all over, as if he were seven times his actual age. He heard the distant pink noise of a waterfall and he recalled going over its edge before blacking out. How he had survived that he didn’t know but his perspective on his pain went from that of an annoyance to one of luxury. Surely, not everyone walked away from that kind of experience.

“So I guess this isn’t goodbye then, hey Brian?”

Kade span around startled. The real Brian stood behind him, smiling and looking no less the worse for wear. Kade sighed with relief.

“I thought you were him. You scared me.”

“Who? The dinosaur? I think he took his final bath.” Brian laughed.

Kade shook his head. “No, I wasn’t talking about that thing. I meant Chester. I thought you were him. Anyhow, my name is actually Kade.”

Brian’s smile faded. “Darn, I was having so much fun with that. Well, nice to finally meet you again, Brian-now-Kade.”

Brian extended his hand and Kade shook it.

“Who is this Chester guy? You say the name like I should know it.”

Kade groaned as he bent over, stretching his back. “You mean he doesn’t work with you?”

Brian laughed. “Kade, there are over three thousand employees at Falkner’s. I’m a popular guy but I’m no savant. In my little circle of Hell, I know maybe thirty people tops. There’s a Charlie that works in maintenance but I wouldn’t exactly call him the ‘terrifying’ type.”

Kade scratched his head. This Chester person was quite the enigma. Clearly he was someone important at Falkner’s since he had access to so many different areas. How then had Brian never heard of him? Maybe he was using a different name? A different form… It was all possible, given what Kade had seen. But surely someone had to have noticed a connection between his behaviour and the weird things happening in the area. Then again, the entire gym was sitting on a massive ruins that no one knew about other than Chester, so maybe oversight was some kind of trend. Then Kade remembered something: Chester did have connections he knew about. Those two men he had been talking to; the same two he had thrown into the shaft without a second thought. And those horrible sounds that had followed…Kade pushed away the macabre image as he racked his brain trying to recall the names of the two individuals.

“Do you remember… two guys, one that sounded kind of like a, uh… redneck?” Kade asked.

Brian laughed. “I think you’re gonna have to be a bit more specific than that. We’re out in the boonies, man. Everyone’s a redneck”.

Kade nodded, sighing in frustration.

“Speaking of which, why are you all the way out here alone? Did you get lost from your parents or something?”

Kade looked up at Brian. “I was on my way…”

Kade paused, stuck in thought. “I was on my way somewhere. Not with my parents, no. I missed the transport and had to walk. I was heading…to school. Yeah, that’s it! I was on my way to school, I had a big trial to get to but I got lost in the forest. It doesn’t make any sense but I think I…fell from, uh…a mountain. Then I woke up in the gym and everything just went crazy from there.”

Brian looked caught somewhere between humour and disbelief.

“That’s some story. A mountain you say? How could anyone survive that?”

Kade flushed in embarrassment. “I know it doesn’t make any sense but it’s the truth! It’s not like I wanted it to happen. Why would I lie about that? I realise how crazy it makes me sound.”

Brian could sense the youth’s growing anxiety and put a hand on his shoulder.

“Buddy, you don’t have to prove anything to me. I’m sure there’s a good explanation for everything that’s happened. I mean, we did jump into a magical swimming pool, face off against a dinosaur, fall off a waterfall, and live to tell about it. What’s a little old mountain, then?”

Kade raised an eyebrow, searching for the sarcastic riposte to follow but none came. By the look on his face, Brian was honestly attempting to comfort him. And he did raise a good point: they had both seen some pretty bizarre things that day.

“That’s fair, I guess.” Kade mumbled.

Brian could see Kade wincing from the pressure he put on his shoulder and he removed his hand.

“You’re hurt pretty bad it looks like”. He gestured at Kade’s arm.

Kade rubbed his arm gently. “I’ll live. Whoever helped me after the fall, they did a pretty good job of fixing it up. Think I might have sprained my leg on that last one though. Hurts to walk.”

“Here, let me help.”

Brian let Kade put his arm around his shoulder as he braced him and the two began to walk slowly down the beach.

“So this Chester guy you were talking about…He seems like a pretty scary dude.”

Images of Chester’s skeletal face flashed back into Kade’s head. He could feel his blood pressure rising just from the thought.

“Yeah.”

“How do you know him? Was he the one that fixed you up? Didn’t like the wrapping job or something?”

“No, I had never seen him before today. Or…yesterday. Damn, I don’t even know what day it is anymore. But he was the one who put me down in that…that pit, with that thing. I think he’s up to something, maybe linked to the disappearances at the gym.”

“How do you mean?”

“Well, think about it: those missing people ads are everywhere. I don’t know how many in total but it’s gotta be a lot. And it looked like they were all construction workers. You don’t think it’s a coincidence that they’ve all been working on the same place where that creature was? What if he was feeding it? Like, keeping it alive.”

“What, like a pet you mean?”

“Or something. I don’t know, it’s just so creepy. And this guy, he could do lots of weird stuff like turn into dust and disappear through walls…”

Kade let go of Brian, motioning that he would be okay on his own as the pain had abated..

Brian stood there looking confused. “Umm…so this guy was, what…a sorcerer or something?”

Kade shot him an aggravated look. “Look, I know it all sounds crazy but I’m just telling you what I saw. We both know there’s something weird going on with that place. If a giant monster lived in your basement and nobody knew about it, what’s so hard about believing magick is involved?”

Brian rubbed his chin as he considered the situation. “Fair enough, I guess. Things have definitely been weird around the gym lately. And it’s not like it’s a secret that the gifted exists. I just didn’t expect them to be, well…out here. I don’t know why any of those kind would want to come to Falkner’s. There’s literally nothing out here but that gym.”

Kade glanced around them. “Maybe that’s what they hoped for. Whoever they are.”

Immediately Brian’s mind went to the Gambonis–to the Tricolour Gang. They wouldn’t stoop to using magick. Would they? It was possible that they could hire a guild or something. The Creator knew they had enough money for it. It didn’t make any sense though; traditionally, the Houses were against associating with the gifted as superstition lined the fabric of everything they did. Why would they now turn to consorting with such folk when their predecessors had made it part of their code to oppose them for centuries prior? No, these issues at Falkner’s weren’t secular enough for the Gambonis, though Brian hated to give them mental credit for anything. Something else–someone else–was involved.

“Those ruins, that big lizard, a psycho in a three-piece with powers…It doesn’t add up. I have to admit, I’m stumped.”

Kade shrugged. “Well, we’re out of that hell-hole now. That’s all that matters.”

“True that. Still, it’s odd that you and I both ended up down there. What was that place, anyhow? Not like anything I’ve ever seen.”

“Me either. Really old, to be sure. And that pool…I think whoever built that place must have been gifted. You think it was elves, maybe?”

Brian shook his head. “Nah. No self-respecting Yan would ever find himself living like that. They are a free people: people of the land. I think they would go insane living underground like that. At least, every elf I’ve ever met.”

“You’ve met an elf?” Kade asked, awe in his voice.

“Well, not here, but in the city, yeah. Elves, pixies, orcs–the whole lot. What of it?”

“Well I…I mean, they aren’t exactly common where I come from. The most exotic sort we get are a passing Poio here and there, sometimes some other merfolk from the Islands, but nothing like that. Those guys are, like, straight out of the fantasy books where I’m from.”

Brian laughed. “Nope, they’re as real as you and I. Not really anything too mystical either I’m afraid. The elves can be a bit stuffy and opinionated and you never want to get in an orc’s way when he’s hungry but other than that, nothing really worth mentioning. Oh, though I went hunting with a wood elf once when I took a group on a tour of this area and he was really, really good. Too good, almost. I think they all might be like that, but it’s hard to say since I’ve not met many of them.”

Kade just nodded as he contemplated such a thing, admiration plain on his face. “So you’re a guide then? That must be a really cool job.”

“I used to be. Got sick of the service stuff and decided to get more involved in the actual fighting side of things. Well, closer to it anyway. I’m a rec tech for one of the house fighters at Falkner’s, a big grumpy bastard named Mik. Stage name is ‘The Mangler, like Mik the Mangler. Irony is that guy’s such a moron he probably doesn’t even get the alliteration. In reality, I’m really just a glorified personal assistant. But it’s one step closer to…”

Brian paused as he considered his next words carefully. “…to my goals.”

Kade looked Brian up and down, seeing his rippling muscles accented through his shirt, his biceps nearly bulging out of the thing.

“Excuse me for saying so but you don’t seem like the kind of guy who would be somebody’s, um…bitch.”

Brian raised an eyebrow. “Your words, not mine. He might treat me like that but without me, he’d be nothing. Says the same thing about me but I think he and I both know how far he’d get trying to tie his own gloves. Guy is completely useless outside of the ring. Though I’d never want to be in one with him, I’ll give him that.”

“Man, your life sounds so much more exciting than mine.”

Brian’s cheeks grew a tinge red from the undue idolization and he cleared his throat. “Falling from mountains…I don’t know, sounds like you’ve got the excitement part down. Since I’ve known you–all of half a day–I’ve already been nearly stranded, eaten, drowned and deserted. How much more excitement do you need in your life?”

Kade sighed. “Yeah, well it’s not like I planned for any of that. I don’t know why this stuff keeps happening to me. I’m just a regular, boring kid.”

“Hmm. So it’s not a thriller, it’s a mystery then.”

A determined look stole over Kade’s face. “No, someone definitely knows. And I think I know who.”

“That Chester guy, you mean?”

Kade nodded. “Maybe not about all of it but he’s definitely connected to the Falkner’s events.”

“How do you figure?”

“To start, he’s the one who put me down in that pit; chased me around half the fa’eling arena in different shapes, trying to scare me to death. And it nearly worked!”

Brian looked past him, contemplating. “That’s funny that you say that. I also ran into a weird dude on the upper levels. Thought it was just a customer wandered and lost but he took off when I called at him. I followed him to the basement but he kind of disappeared. That is, up until…”

Kade looked curiously at Brian. “Until what?”

“Up until he sent me down into that hole, like you.”

Kade’s eyes widened. “What did he look like?”

Brian’s expression suddenly shifted and he looked uncomfortable. “I can’t be sure if I was seeing right, ‘cause the light was pretty bad, but it looked like…he didn’t have any…eyes. And he was really pale. I think he was wearing a suit. You know, the whole ‘psycho in a three-piece’ part.”

Kade’s eyes nearly bulged out of his head as it dawned on him that he and Brian had encountered the same man.

Brian rubbed the back of his head. “Sounds kinda weird I know, but that’s what he looked like.”

Kade grasped Brian’s arm and began to shake it up and down excitedly.

“That’s Chester! That’s the guy! He killed those other two guys and I bet all the others that disappeared too!”

Brian looked surprised. “How could all of that be going on and no one would know about it? That’s not realistic.”

“But maybe people did know!” Kade retorted. “If Chester and those two guys knew, then others must too! Maybe it’s some kind of conspiracy to take over the gym or something.”

Brian laughed and patted Kade’s back. “Or maybe they’re planning on taking over all of Rynn, one rural village at a time. I think you have been watching too many movies my friend. Come on, let’s go back. We can figure it out when we get to my place.”

Kade could see that Brian had a good point. Besides, was it really their problem to begin with?

“I guess I should be thankful that we survived and call it there. I mean, it’s not like we can do anything about it anyway.”

Brian waved a hand. “Hey, I’m not saying we just roll over and die here, just that we take some time to regroup and make sense of it all. We did fall down a waterfall, remember? And you a mountain.”

Kade lowered his head and kicked some sand. “Yeah, well…Mom will be worried stiff about me too, so I should get my Holomate charged so I can get a hold of her. I bet she thinks I got eaten by a bear or something by now.”

“Does a dinosaur count? At least it makes for a good story.”

Kade raised an eyebrow. “Tell her that when she decides to ground me for a year. I might not be allowed to play Up ever again.”

“You play? That’s an impressive game! Never been to a match myself but my little sis, she loves to watch them zip around on the holo. It’s not super popular in my home town but it’s huge in the main city centres and all along the coast, for sure.”

Kade frowned at Brian. “What do you mean along the coast? That’s where we are.”

Now it was Brian’s turn to look confused. “Kade, just where do you think you are right now?”

“Well, I’m not sure exactly. But that’s the ocean there, so that means we’re somewhere east of Rebelem, maybe…”

“Whoa, whoa! Rebelem? That’s in Kandel province, right? This here, that’s not really the ocean. I mean, it is, but it’s actually Reelrock Bay, part of the headwaters feeding into the Sequala to the north. There isn’t a sea board within kaldars from here, man. In fact, we’re about three hundred leave from Battlefort, which is the next closest town.”

Kade stood there stunned.

“That’s where I’m from. I just do long stints out here to work since the commute would be totally impractical. I’ve asked head office to look into one of those Warp Chamber things you find in the city but good luck trying to get them to convince the stakeholders of that. Anything with dollar signs on it might as well be a curse as far as they’re concerned.”

Kade shook his head in disbelief. “That can’t be right! I left Hollow only a day or so ago and I was climbing Eagle Mountain and…”

Brian put his hand up. “Whoa, whoa. Eagle Mountain? Hollow? Buddy, we are in Chagr Desh, as in an entirely different province. How could that be possible?”

Kade stood silent, his mouth moving as if to speak though no words came out. “I…But I fell…”

“Which mountain did you say it was that you fell from?”

Kade looked around them, his eyes grazing over the peaks of a not too distant range. They settled on one of the highest ones.

“That one. I’m pretty sure of it.”

Brian nodded. “Mt. Veran. It’s one of the tallest in the range. Popular tourist destination. I’ve taken my fair share of groups up it.”

“That can’t be right! I saw the signs along the way. The mountain, Rebelem, the lake…They were all there. It doesn’t make any sense…”

“You’re sure that was the mountain?”

“It has to be. Well, there wasn’t snow before but that was the one, I’m sure.”

Brian met Kade’s concerned gaze solemnly. “Kade, Mount Veran has snow year round. That can’t be the mountain you fell from then.”

Kade looked like his head might explode. “That can’t be right! There’s no way that isn’t Eagle Mountain! I fell from the sky and…”

“And you hit your head. Man, it’s okay, I understand—I’ve had several concussions from fighting. They have good med-bays back home. We’ll get you into see a med-tech and they’ll figure things out. Don’t beat yourself up over it; we both had a crazy day.”

Kade opened his mouth to argue but, glancing over at the mysterious mountain, his head swimming with all sort of disjointed images, he now could not be sure if they were memories or delusions. He took a deep breath as he attempted to cool his nerves.

“Well, wherever we are, we aren’t where we need to be. So how do we get off the beach?”

Brian looked over the treeline to their right, motioning to the headland beyond, to the waterfall from whence they had come.

“We can’t go back up that way but I know a path in the forest up ahead. It’s a long hike back but it’s probably the safest route. The trail head is only a little ways from here. The scenery’s nice and it takes you right up to the parking lot of Falkner’s. The fighters used to use the path to do endurance training before it was quarantined.”

Kade frowned. “Why was it quarantined?”

Brian shook his head. “Don’t know all the details, just that some weird stuff started happening. A couple of fighters went missing, torn up animal carcasses, things like that. Forensics guys found some strange prints they didn’t recognize. Never figured out what it was that did it. They even called in the REDS—you know those uh, demilitarized guys from the city, wear all red armour and scare the hell out of people. I guess they take contracts so one of the owners had them look into it. Totally bizarre but one of the guys they hired said he found some ‘unusual energy readings’. Whatever that means. Something about unknown radiation or something. Totally beyond me”.

He grinned. “Guess we’re gonna find out though.”

Kade’s shoulders slumped. “Great. So first its dinosaurs, next it’s aliens. What’s next: Bigfist?”

Brian shrugged. “We don’t actually have to go through the quarantine, just kinda…around it. But it’s gonna be dark soon so we should really get going. I don’t want to be in the woods at night, if you catch my drift.”

Brian strutted past Kade with a bounce in his step. Kade didn’t think there was anything that brought the guy down.

“And hey, maybe we’ll have an adventure, who knows?” He shouted back over his shoulder.

Kade smiled wanly. “Yeah.”

***

After treading along for an hour or so, the boys came into a small bay that intruded into the coast, narrowing the beach down to but a small spit. The waves coursed in and out around them, smashing into boulders that sat just off shore. Gulls danced and screamed above as they continued their hunt for mollusks, an occasional shell being dropped from above as they attempted to smash it open on the rocks below. When the boys came around the bend before the bay, Brian stopped and pulled Kade behind a large driftwood log.

“Kade, get down!” He said under his breath.

“What? What is it?” He barked under his breath, looking around in paranoia.

Brian peaked his head above the log.

“Look there. No, over there. Do you see him?”

Kade looked in the direction Brian was pointing. At first he just saw the birds above, sweeping in and out of the bay as they continued to try their luck cracking open mollusks, and then he saw what had caught Brian’s attention. About one hundred blades away, a child was hunkered over, sorting through the rocks on the beach. He was dressed very peculiarly, in a small yellow tunic with a pointed hat to match, but he seemed harmless enough.

“It’s just a kid. So what?” Kade said.

“Just a kid? That isn’t any kid, man. That’s a gnome! They are pretty scarce nowadays, but apparently they have been known to be seen in the area.”

Kade stared at the creature in awe. Just like elves and the rest, he had never seen a gnome before. Until that point, he couldn’t have been sure they even existed out of fairy tales. But there he was.

“What is he doing?” Kade asked.

Brian stared at the little man. “I’m not sure. It looks like he’s collecting something. Rocks, clams maybe. I dunno.”

“Why are we hiding from him?”

Brian glanced at Kade and returned his gaze to the strange man who was skipping along and bending over every so often to stick objects in a small pouch on his waist.

“I once heard that if you can catch a gnome that it’s good luck for a whole year.”

Brian looked back at Kade. “With all the things going on right now, a little good luck wouldn’t hurt, don’t you think?”

Kade stared at the small man. “Good point.” He turned to Brian. “How do we catch him?”

Brian slumped down and rested his back against the log, putting his hand on his chin. “I’m not sure. They are quick little buggers and they have extremely good senses. I don’t think we could sneak up to him on land, but maybe…”

Kade looked puzzled. “How are we going to get in the air? Do you mean sneak through the treetops? That would take all day!”

“No, no. Not in the air.” Brian turned and nodded at the ocean.

Kade took a moment before he clicked on to his idea. “You mean swim up to him underwater and get the jump on him?”

“Exactly”.

“But it’s probably freezing! We could die from hypothermia or catch pneumonia or something.”

“Better than gnomeonia.” Brian laughed and Kade rolled his eyes.

“Sorry, I had to. Relax though: the sun has been cooking the surface all day. Remember how warm the rapids were?”

Kade reminisced, and though he had poor recollection of anything after his fall, he seemed to remember that the water had indeed been very warm.

“Come on, what have we got to lose?” Brian said.

Kade considered the proposal a moment more and then nodded. “The gnome. So let’s try it.”

A large grin grin spread across Brian’s face.

***

The little man sat rummaging through the pebbles and stones along the shore. He had a particular fancy for the red ones but he knew that anything shiny would do for his purposes. While it was certainly a momentous occasion ahead, he knew the Prince’s focus would be in a million different directions; the chances that he took heed of the gem settings in the rookeries were slim to none. But, if he was lucky, he could catch the eye of the Prince’s bride-to-be, the Princess Elect, who happened to have a special fancy for such things. He only hoped that that stupid bird keeper could remember to get the right doves for the job. The lemon-drops or the collared were preferable and it wouldn’t do to have a lackluster species on display; there would be no promotion in it for him if no eyes fell on his work. And those white short-tips were really an ugly lot. Like a turd with feathers, really. The more he thought about leaving that moron in charge, the faster his pulse ran. The thought of spending all that time collecting precious, hand-picked finery for the occasion, just to be wasted… How did the fool even get the job in the first place? Clearly someone in Gnome Resources wasn’t doing their job…

He picked up a dull green rock and polished it on his tunic, looking it over before plopping into his juele-hide bag. He glanced up when he heard two large splashes off in the distance but thought nothing more on it as he watched the gulls dropping shellfish into the water. He turned back to his bag and rummaged through it, examining his findings so far.

“With a little love and time at the tumbler, you will be as sparkling as the eyes of the princess when they fall upon you, you will! I’ll be a shoe-in for the porter position; maybe even get promoted to head banquetmaster. Drossk knows the old crone should have retired years ago.”

He continued on, plucking up choice rocks and beach glass as they turned up, humming a strange tune in a high pitch as he worked. Out of the corner of his eye a shiny glint caught his attention. There, just near the tide line sat a beautiful abalone shell, upturned and ignored. It almost broke his little dwarf to see such a thing left bereft as if it were a mere shell. Almost. It was a veritable treasure, worth five times its own weight in credits, and now it belonged to him. As he admired the lustrous iridescence of its inner surface–it was a beautiful specimen–he considered making it a centerpiece of his display. After a moment of consideration, reasoning that his display was but in over a hundred and that the Princess wouldn’t know the difference, he snorted as he admonished himself for even considering such a foolish thing. He quickly tied off his jeule-hide bag, pocketing the shell in his tunic.

“Some things even princesses don’t need to know.”

He turned to go back to his foraging but stopped as he realized something felt very wrong. It was the gulls: they had stopped their clam-cracking and had taken to circling above silently, watching keenly down in his direction. Surely he wasn’t that interesting. Which meant… He jerked back around, facing the bay, in time to see two silhouettes emerge from the water, becoming two terrifying, screaming humans leaping out of the water at him. He let out a high pitched squeal and began running in the opposite direction, his boots kicking up sand behind him. The smaller of the two managed to grab him by the ankle before he could get too far but the the older one was not so successful, getting a face full of beach as the dwarf easily dodged aside his attempt at grasping him. Having gotten only a halfhearted hold on him, the gnome’s leg slid free from the boy’s grasp and he sped away toward the treeline, whining in terror the whole way. As he reached the edge of the forest he stopped abruptly, realizing that he was missing a boot. Looking down, he found his toes wiggling back up at him. He knew he wouldn’t get very far in one shoe and, besides, what would Mr. Chubxuinxzyl say if one of his senior foragers returned in such fashion? It would be an embarrassment not just to himself but to his whole team and there would surely be no promotions to speak of then.

Feeling anger seeping into his veins, he glared out at the two marauders as they were getting back to their feet. How could do they do this to him right before the wedding? He had so much time invested in it he couldn’t even count the hours. What reason could two humans possibly have to bother a gnome? It made no sense at all.

Humans made no sense at all. 

He glanced frantically side to side looking for his shoe and just when he feared the worst and thought it washed away on a whim, he saw it: half way up the beach, a little yellow boot, overturned and half-filled with sand. Half way between him and them.

Brian saw the shoe too, sprawled out on his belly, spitting out sand. He looked from the gnome to the boot-in-miniature as he realized the same thing the gnome did. The gnome made the first move and dashed for it and Brian quickly got to his feet and reciprocated. They ran head to head, a life or boot situation. The gnome bit his lip as he pumped his little arms furiously, hoping his superior speed would be enough to gain the necessary ground to oust the big oaf.

It wasn’t.

Brian slid the last blade and snatched the boot up in his hand, kicking a wake of sand up in the gnome’s face, thanking him for the likewise experience. The gnome gasped as he took in a mouthful of sand, coughing as he backed away from the other. Brian quickly got to his feet and lifted the article above his head, as if to taunt him. The gnome jumped up and down as he snatched for his item but only came up to Brian’s chest.

“Give that back you beast! That doesn’t belong to you! Give it…”

Kade wasted no time and dove between Brian’s legs, wrapping his arms around the gnome as they both tumbled to the sand.

“Gotcha!” Kade shouted, in triumph.

The gnome squealed. “Not fair! Not fair!”

He thrashed to and fro, putting up a considerable fight for one so small. “You cheated! You stole my boot!”

Brian pulled Kade off of the gnome and helped him to his feet. He handed the boot back to the gnome and he snatched it from his grip, snarling furiously.

Brian chuckled. “Relax, we were just playing a game.”

The gnome curled his lip. “A game? A game?! You could have given me a heart attack! What on Rynn were you thinking?”

Kade chimed in cheerily. “We wanted to have a year’s good luck. Now we have it! Right?”

Kade exchanged questioning glances between Brian and the gnome. Brian’s smile was enough to convince him.

The gnome gave them both an incredulous look. “Is that what this about? An old fairy hoax? That’s the reason you had to interrupt me? Do you have any idea who I am? How important I am? Ahh! You humans!”

The gnome pulled his boot back on to his little foot, fixed his hat and sneered at them.

“Next time I go foraging I’ll dress up as a badger, or maybe a golemm. Then maybe you’ll think twice about attacking something that will attack you back!”

He put his hands on his hips and grinned fiendishly.

“Gnomes eat people too. Did you know that? In fact, that’s why I was out here in the first place. I was searching for…”

The gnome deepened his voice. “…human flesh!”

He raised his arms and started clawing at the air between them. The boys shared amused looks. Brian grabbed the little man by the collar and lifted him from the ground.

“Hey! Put me down, I say PUT ME DOWN! !” the gnome yelled.

Brian laughed as the little man thrashed about and kicked furiously. Kade couldn’t help but feel a little bit of sympathy for the gnome. Or perhaps it was pity. He had revealed himself to be somewhat of an ass, after all.

“Aw, let him go. We already caught him so let’s let him get back to his family or whatever he has.” Kade suggested.

Brian put the gnome down and the little man grumbled profanities under his breath as he dusted his sleeves off.

“So how does this luck thing work, gnomey?” Brian mused.

The gnome stood with a confused look on his face.

“Gnomey?” An angry expression came to his face.

“Luck thing? You mean because you caught me? You’re both supposed to have a year of good luck, is that it?”

The gnome chuckled. “Well I’ll tell you what happens with luck: I get lucky because I found me a special item parked in your pocket there…” He pointed at Kade’s jacket. “…and I have high hopes it’s gonna do well over in the market. Or maybe I’ll bring it to the smithy. He can work wonders with this sort of thing. Might even get him to take out that supple looking piece in the middle there. A stone like that…who knows, maybe I’ll use it in one of my pieces. It’s sure to catch the eye of the princess. Either way, there is work to be done. So if you’ll excuse me gentlemen, I bid you adezhzyjmchn.”

The gnome performed a mock curtsy then turned and ran full speed towards the forest. Brian looked at Kade, glancing down at his pocket.

“What was he talking about?”

Kade took a moment to clue in to the answer to that very question and, when he realized to what the gnome referred, he felt his pulse hasten. He felt around in the pockets of his coat and jeans and looked up at Brian with stunned eyes. “He took my thing!”

Brian laughed. “Thing? Is this thing important?”

Kade recalled the images that had come to him when he had looked into that blood-red stone inset in the centre of the metalwork; how enticing that feeling of power had been. He had never experienced anything like it and the thought of losing it… He felt as if the gnome had taken a limb from him.

Kade nodded. “I think so. I don’t really know what it is but…I didn’t tell you before but I found this… never mind. We have to get him!”

Kade bolted after the thief and Brian shrugged and followed.

***

The gnome moved fast. Too fast. Despite Kade’s bummed leg, he could tell the gnome would give him a good run for his money at the best of times. Kade struggled to keep the little man in his periphery, watching him hopping over logs and other dead-falls with ease, maneuvering his way through the trees and shrubs as if they were streets in his hometown. Perhaps this forest was his home town. Kade had no idea where or how gnomes lived. Though Kade began to lag behind, he managed to somehow always keep the gnome in his sights. As they went deeper and deeper into the woods, the forest grew darker the further in they went. It also seemed to grow more dense, the semi-bare shrubbery giving way to denser evergreens and large swathes of dewdrop heather. Where once were paths became scant deer trails, then no passages at all; it was veritable bushwhacking. Kade found himself having to look down frequently, lest he get caught up in a root or, worse, get his foot caught in a rabbit warren of some other sinkhole and risk spraining or breaking his ankle. This laboured process slowed him down some but, determined as he was, he stayed on the gnome’s trail.

The gnome could sense the human’s tenacity and was all the more panicked for it. His little heart beat aggressively in his chest and he feared he would drop dead before he arrived at his destination. Brian followed close behind though he was thoroughly lashed and scraped from all of the rogue branches that had whipped him in Kade’s wake.

“Hey, slow down will ya?” Brian yelled after them.

“I can’t, he’s getting away!” Kade yelled back.

They emerged into a grove though it was far from idyllic; it was as if autumn had just suddenly swept its hand over the place, divesting all of the trees of their leaves and sapping all of the green from the surrounding. Spread out on the forest floor before them was a thick swath of yellow and faded red leaves which crunched underfoot. Kade could hear the small crick crack of the gnome’s steps as he veered through the pine barrens, noting for the first time how amazingly agile the little creature was. Kade wasn’t so sure a dog could even catch him. However, to Kade’s good fortune, the gnome appeared to be bound by the laws of metabolism and he too was growing tired. Kade could see small tufts of air puffing out from the gnome’s mouth, the intervals between each breath growing shorter and shorter as he began to run out of gas.

In the distance, a suspiciously large oak tree–much grander than the rest–came into view. Somehow, this tree had managed to keep most of its leaves and Kade could make out the familiar golden glint of plump acorns hanging from the tree tips, ready to fall at Nature’s beckon call. The gnome ran straight toward the old oak and, as he did so, began fumbling through the bag on his side. The gnome withdrew a wooden key from the sack and hurried into a small alcove formed between two prominent roots which jutted high above the earth. He inserted the key into the base of the tree,  looking back nervously as he fiddled with the lock. There was a distinct click as the lock engaged and the gnome pulled a section of the tree open by a burly knot, revealing a door and an hollow space within. He placed the key back in his bag and hurried inside, grabbing the handle on the other side as he pivoted around to face the oncoming Kade. The gnome stuck out his tongue as Kade ran into the alcove, slamming the door in his face.

Kade cursed and began to feel around where the door had been but there was no outline or evidence of any entrance. He pried on the burl but it didn’t offer any give. Examining the key hole where the gnome had placed the key, it appeared the hole had partially been sealed over. Whatever key the gnome had, it was something special.

Brian came hustling behind him, huffing as he caught his breath.

“Man, that bugger was fast! Did you see where he went?”

Kade scratched his head. “You’re not gonna believe it but he went…in there.”

Kade pointed at the base of the tree.

Brian crossed his arms in front of him and nodded. “Doesn’t surprise me, given all the other crazy crap we’ve seen.”

He walked up to the tree and gave it his own look-over. “How did he do it?” Brian asked, hunkered over several pinches in front of the bark.

“I think he used some kind of key. The hole is right there but it’s sealed over now. What do you think, magick again?”

“Hmm. I don’t know. I didn’t think gnomes were one of the fey, but it’s possible. Maybe they traded favours with one of the other locals. I’ve heard they do that. Kinda like the tinkers: they make and trade things. Tools, machines, stuff like that. I wager it isn’t too hard to find a sell-spell in these parts.”

“Well, if it’s not magick then it’s not like any tech I’ve ever seen.”

Brian chuckled. “No underground tree hideouts in Hollow?”

“Not so much.”

Kade scratched his head as he considered the tree again. “So how do we get inside?”

Brian stood up straight and gave Kade a look that he was beginning to understand meant trouble was on its way. “Maybe we should knock.”

Before Kade could respond, Brian plunged his fist through the tree. Kade yelped, covering his face from the shrapnel and shards of bark that blew past him. Brian pulled his arm out of the hole he had made, revealing a fracture just big enough for a small person to squeeze through.

Kade stared at the hole dumbfounded. “Whoa! How did you do that?”

Brian shrugged. “Just my super power, that’s all. Everybody’s got one.”

“I don’t have a super power.” Kade bemoaned.

“Sure you do. Maybe it’s not punching real hard. It could be something else, like jumping real high or…always knowing what to say.”

Kade thought on it. “I’m really good at flipping coffee creamers on and off each other. Does that count?”

“You see, there you go! Now get in there and flip your way until you get your, uh…thing back.”

Kade glanced over at the jagged hole in the base of the trunk. They peered inside and saw a dirt staircase that lead downwards into the ground, lit by some unseen dull incandescence.

“You’re not coming with me?” Kade asked.

Brian patted his rear. “Are you kidding? I’d never fit my fat ass through that thing. If you crawl, you can probably do it.”

“Why don’t you just punch a bigger hole?” Kade asked.

Brian raised an eyebrow. “Even super heroes have limits to their powers. Besides, it doesn’t matter if I could fit into the tree; there’s no way I could fit down that staircase there. I’m not just gonna punch my whole way through. Think about the trees, Kade.”

Kade shot Brian a snide look and then frowned as he glanced back into the tree.

“I can’t catch him myself, he’s too fast. I’ll need help.”

Brian rubbed his chin. “I have an idea. When you go down there, make a noise, like… knock or something, and I will follow your sounds from up here until you find him. Then we can ambush him from above.”

Kade smiled. He discovered in that moment that he liked Brian. He had a good head on his shoulders and it didn’t run out of ideas. He always seemed to be positive too, which was a rare trait to find in anybody. He was the first sane person Kade had talked to in a while and it was nice to be grounded in that way, especially considering that Kade wasn’t sure if his own thoughts were sound.

“Don’t expect me to knock like you did.” Kade jested.

Brian grinned. “I’ll be listening.”

Kade glanced back into the strange hole, down the forlorn staircase. A feeling of angst crept into him. He gave Brian a long look, hoping it wouldn’t be the last one he ever gave. Brian gave him a reassuring nod and Kade matched it in kind, if not a tad more reluctant. Kade slipped through the splintered hole in the tree and got down on his hands and knees, finding the staircase just a hair’s breath too tall for his height. He rounded the corner and descended down into the unknown depths of the tree.

“Good luck.” Brian called out after him.

***

Not too long after descending the first stairwell, Kade came to a wider passage that straightened out, disappearing into the distance; wherever it led, it was considerably long. Standing up, he took in his surroundings. The first thing he noticed was that the ambient light he had seen prior to entering was coming from strange glowing stones inset into alcoves in the wall. The nooks were clearly not natural so someone had intentionally placed the stones there. Whatever they were, Kade had never seen anything like them, and it didn’t appear they were wired in any obvious fashion. If they were Glo, there was no telltale blue indication of such. Kade was beginning to suspect that the gnomes had many hidden tricks up there sleeve. The prospect of discovering a whole new culture both excited and frightened him. What if they were inhospitable to humans? Should he remain unannounced or present himself to avoid the dishonest approach? What if they had some kind of security system and he was walking into a trap? The questions streamed through his mind and, inevitably, he had to shut them off as they distracted him from his simple goal: he needed to get that talisman back.

He didn’t know why it was so important to him; after all, he didn’t even know what it really was. But after having looked into that stone in its center–after having seen what lay within–he thirsted to have it back in his possession. It was like he had an addiction to having it, even though half the time he forgot he carried it on his person. It certainly hadn’t been on his mind while in the underbelly of the gym. No, that time had been dominated by pure survival instinct. Yet, the feeling he had now wasn’t too dissimilar, only with a different focus. For whatever reason, the thought of someone else having access to the kind of knowledge held within the talisman, and he deprived of it, maddened him.

It was like someone had taken his very soul.

Pushing his nagging thoughts away, Kade remember the task he had been charged with. Poor Brian was probably waiting around in silence above, thinking Kade had been swallowed by the earth. He reached up and gave the courtesy knock on the earthen roof. As the passage was rough-hewn dirt, supported by no other material than the earth itself, the acoustics left much to be desired. Kade wondered if Brian would even hear such a thing. How far down was he, anyway? Kade began to feel himself losing track of his place in the world once more, just as he had in that endless wall of darkness sub-Falkners. If there wasn’t a word for that kind of feeling, Kade thought, they should certainly create one. The Thirteen knew it was becoming something of a theme in his life.

As he ambled along in the passage, he continued to knock every several blades or so. The straight-away began to introduce turns and doglegs and, at one point, Kade even thought he was heading back the way he had come, though he couldn’t be sure. If his damn Holomate hadn’t been gassed, he wouldn’t have had to ask twice about his current global positioning. Kade realized in that moment just how useless he was without his tech. He found himself missing his mechs at home; even almost missing Tobor’s incessant sass.

Almost.

Kade plodded on, knocking at intervals, having no clear idea where he was going.

***

Above, Brian followed the sounds below, though barely audible through the forest floor. The path Kade followed seemed to be leading back the way they came but slightly to the west. Brian guessed the gnomes had engineered it that way to lead any potential predators in the wrong direction, duping them and hiding them from the truth: that their lair–or hideout, or whatever it was gnomes lived in–was actually right under their nose the whole time. Right at the entrance. Brian admitted that, if true, it would be quite a clever strategy. Perhaps it was a quality of gnomes to be cunning; perhaps it was how they survived.

Being back in the woods always led Brian to think of his father. While his father had died when Brian was very young, he had fond memories of his time with him, even if they were few. He remembered going fishing in the spring when the salmon runs were at their apex, the spawning grounds reaching their annual fervour. It wasn’t uncommon that they caught a nearly two-tuller fish. But his time hunting was probably the most memorable. There was something about the experience itself, not even the actual killing part, which created an everlasting impression in his memory. There was no greater bonding experience, in his view, than two people out in the elements, risking life and limb for the old ways. His most prominent memory was his first time encountering a jeule–a close cousin of the deer which frequented much of the Atlandian interior. When it came time to pull the trigger, Brian couldn’t kill the animal. He remembered the way it had looked at him as he set his sights on it; those eyes, they weren’t jeule eyes in that moment but another life looking at him. He felt as if the deer was looking through him, as if it could see his intentions. What may have once been a stupid prey animal was now a very real, living, breathing thing. Like him it had dreams and desires for the future. Maybe it even had parents. For all of those reasons and more, Brian couldn’t bring himself to take its life that day, couldn’t bear the thought of seeing that special spark forever extinguished, leaving behind an empty husk to stare up at him, asking the eternal question.

He remembered throwing the gun aside and making up something about how much his stomach hurt. The jeule spooked and the hunt was off. At first, his father had been disappointed but he soon realized that his son was not ready for the games of man. Eventually, Brian would kill but it was never easy. He was never quite ‘ready’ as one would expect an experienced hunter to be. After his father had passed, Brian vowed never to hunt again. Never to kill again. While he wanted so badly for those involved in his parent’s murder to pay for what they had done, he would seek justice, not vengeance. And if he ever felt himself veering toward the other, he would stop what he was doing and take a walk in the woods. There, his father would always be waiting for him; he could hear his voice in the chirping of the birds, his laughter in the wind, see his smile reflected in the dew collected on the leaves…His father was everywhere in that place, and he wouldn’t let Brian forget: to never become like them. Thus, the forest was something of a school for Brian–a systematic yet unconventional education, but a necessity for him. Sometimes, his pain was so great he needed to go there. In that regard, the forest was also a form of therapy for him.

Brian’s thoughts drifted to Kade as he followed the younger’s knocks emanating from below. He reminded him of himself when he was that age, even though they were not really that far apart in years. Oddly enough, Brian found himself growing anxious thinking about Kade venturing underground alone. While he didn’t know him at all, no friend would let another venture into danger without help, and he had done just that. Encouraged it, in fact. Did that make him selfish? While it was out of his character to feel self-pity, he now wondered what his motivations were to have ever suggested such a course of action. Surely, Kade must have been terrified, not knowing whether or not Brian was catching the reports or not. Brian scolded himself for having such a half-baked plan and tried to think of some way he could let Kade know that their plan was working.

“Hey kid, you’re doing good!” Brian called, as loud as he could without sounding hysterical.

And then, as if the lord of Dark Humour himself was overseeing the scene, Kade’s reports stopped. Brian thought he heard Kade’s voice shout out but it was gone as quickly as it had come. Brian got down on his knees at put his ear to the ground.

“Kade? You alright?” he called.

There was no response.

Brian glanced around, nothing but half-dead leaves making up an understory of otherwise barren trees as far as the eye could see. On top of which hung a very thick layer of silence. No birds, no chattering squirrels. Just…silence. That was when Brian realized he had entered part of the quarantine zone. He didn’t know how he hadn’t caught on to it before but there he was. There had been no signs, no markers but sure enough, it was part of the zone. There was something in the air about the place. He could almost feel it on his skin like the world was presenting him with palpable evidence that something was wrong with it. He didn’t believe in any kind of sixth sense or such nonsense but he did know to trust his gut and his gut was telling him that he had just made a really big mistake. He looked back over his shoulder and tried to make sense of his path but it was a uniform wall of trees and shrubbery all around. He looked down to the forest floor and felt a growing sense of helplessness and dread settle upon him. How could he have been so stupid to suggest they go after the gnome? Now there were two lives at stake and the worst part was that Brian had absolutely no idea what he should be looking out for. He turned his head to the side, listening for his father’s advice in the wind, but no voice came.

He was on his own this time.

***

Kade felt his way through the dark passageway, back to being on his hands and knees again. The passage had narrowed out considerably and, worse, the glowing stones had stopped some time ago. Kade discovered something very interesting in those moments: one did not get used to the terror of being lost in the dark. In fact, his ime in Falkner’s primed him to be more afraid of such experiences. Now, his nervousness was only compounded. Kade thought about turning around but that would only get him more lost, considering how many twists and turns he had taken to get to that point. His only hope was that the passage he took had been the right one and that it led somewhere of import. Or in the least, out of the passageway altogether. In those moments, Kade told himself he would be happy if the passage opened up into Endabarron itself; at least that way he would have enough room to stretch out again.

That familiar silence–the nagging friend who never said anything but still wasn’t welcome–had returned. Devoid of both light and sound, Kade focused on the rhythm of his breath and his heartbeat to drive him forward. Despite being nearly certain he was lost, he had continued to knock along the way in the off-chance Brian had managed to keep up with him. As he knocked on the ceiling above, he stopped as a strange development caught his attention. His last knock had echoed, somewhere in front of him. Kade stopped, listening for a time until the echoes faded. He knocked again and, as before, the sound knocked back, petering out somewhere ahead and below him. Kade reached his arm out and swept it over the ground but nothing seemed out of place. He shuffled forward several more blades and reached up to knock but, before he could, the ground beneath him suddenly gave way to air and he found himself tumbling abruptly down a ramp in complete darkness. He yelled out as he slid face first down the ramp.

After a short time, the passage leveled out and suddenly Kade could make out a small circle of light not too far off. He rolled along as the inertia carried him forward and he came to a gradual stop on his back, finding himself suddenly feeling wet. His heart racing, he stared up at a stone ceiling covered in beads of moisture, one of which condensed and beaded off, splattering onto his face. He made a gagging sound and sat up, wiping the moisture from his eyes and nose. He looked below and saw that he sat in a small rivulet of water that trailed out of the pipe and past him toward the mouth of the tunnel. He appeared to be in some kind of drainage pipe. He got to his feet, hunkering over as the pipe was nearly half his height, and proceeded to a grate at the other end. Kade could hear commotion somewhere nearby and he pressed his face up against the grate to get a better look. On the other side there was a sewer perpendicular to his conduit which trailed off into darkness, a rectangular sluice gate at one end which appeared to lead to the main light source beyond. He pressed against the gate and, to his relief, it opened upwards against the pressure. As silently as possible, Kade dropped down into the sewer, carefully letting the grate fall back into place. The sewer was much larger and provided him with enough room to stand and he took a moment to stretch out his limbs. After working out a kink in his neck he proceeded toward the sluice, taking care to walk to the side of the runoff and avoiding making splashes. As he walked through the sewer, Kade noticed clumps of brightly-coloured mushrooms growing out of cracks in the pipe here and there. Some even appeared to glow faintly, though Kade was sure it was the light playing tricks on his eyes.. He came to the sluice which was just above his eye level so he grabbed the ledge and pulled himself up to gaze through. Kade gasped when he saw what lay on the other side.

It was a giant banquet hall, cylindrical in shape but tapering off near the apex. It appeared to be about four stories in total, each with multiple balconies of their own, staggered between each other. Lanterns, banners and other glittering trinkets were strung across between the different levels in a criss-crossing patterns, culminating in a massive crystal chandelier hanging from the center of the dome in the ceiling. As Kade gazed upward, he realized that the shapes of the lanterns and baubles: almost all of them where mushrooms of some sort. On the ground level there were hundreds of small bodies–gnomes by the look of it–milling about as they worked steadfastly at various tasks. Some worked on elaborate displays made of rocks and shells, driftwood and metal, while others worked tirelessly setting up and decorating the multitude of wall-to-wall banquet tables that lined the main floor. The stools upon which the artisans sat as they worked were toadstool in shape, as were many of the benches, vases and planters littered about the room. It appeared that the gnomes has something of a fetish for mycology. On the far side of the room Kade could make out a stage that had a sweetheart table set upon it with a gnome couple sitting and staring at each with obvious affection. The stage was clearly the focus of the room as the backdrop was so elaborately adorned and embellished with finery that it almost hurt Kade’s eyes to look at it. Unsurprisingly, the stage board was fashioned in the telltale curvature of their friend the fungi.
Kade couldn’t be sure what he was looking at but it appeared some kind of celebration was being held. He watched in admiration as hundreds of little colorful people danced about and laughed while others sat around tables talking or snacking. He couldn’t be sure from where he was perched but he would put money on that mushrooms were on the menu. The sight of food made Kade’s stomach rumble and he suddenly wished he were sitting at one of those tables, shoving his face full of pie. A lilting tune emerged in the air and Kade traced the source to a group of little men against the far wall, playing strange instruments that Kade had never seen before. Each band member was standing on a small raised platform of their own, a solid wooden—you guessed it—mushroom. Kade guesses the band leader was the one on the largest ‘shroom in the fore. Amidst the hubbub, Kade could make out little gnome children running around between the legs of the adults, weaving in and around the many bodies and tables, as if it were a game in itself. Perhaps it was.

His eyes traced back up to the balconies and Kade realized several things he had missed on first glance: lining most of the walls were elaborate networks of wooden trellises spanning nearly to the ceiling. Within their honeycomb concavities were hundreds upon hundreds of white and yellow birds–pigeons or doves, perhaps–and they came and went about the room at their leisure, many of which having settled among the rabble below as they searched for scraps. It appeared that each individual bird had been fitted, somehow, with some kind of jewels or glass along their wingtips, glistening in the light every time they took flight. It was quite a marvel to see, as if wishing stars were flitting by just overhead at any given moment. The other piece that Kade had missed were all of the people in attendance above; virtually every seat at every balcony in the cloisters of every level was full, and where there were no seats people stood in the walkways either talking or leaning on the railing as they gazed down to the scenes below. His initial count seemed to have been way off; it was entirely possible every gnome in the world was in that hall at that moment. And then a revelation struck him: the honeycomb patterns of the trellises; the prominent mushroom theme in nearly every facet and design of the room; the shape of the room itself…the whole room was a giant mushroom! Kade couldn’t believe what he was seeing. The trellises were placed such that they emulated the gills—the underside—of the mushroom, and the ceiling high above, where the chandelier hung, was clearly a concavity in the shape of a dome. Perfect analog of a mushroom cap. And he hadn’t been wrong about the little glowing fungi; the clear lighting off the room revealed the same or similar clumps of fungi embedded around the room in the cracks of the crumbling facade, as if they were slowly emerging to take over the room. Which, of course, would have been redundant, given that the room was already one giant mushroom.

As he pressed his cheek against the grate, gazing upward in fascination, a pair of small gnome feet passed by him. He gasped and dropped down in a hurry, allowing himself to be obscured by the ledge. A moment passed and he realized that no one had taken heed of him. All attention was on the goings-on in the room and he let out a relieved sigh. He pulled himself back up to the grate and a motion caught his eye not too far away. A little black and white dog jostled around with a group of children as they chased it in circles, a small bone in its mouth. It wasn’t clear if the dog had stolen it or it was some strange gnome game, but it appeared everyone was having fun nonetheless. Kade laughed and watched the lot play for a time, and then came a loud chiming as a spoon hit a glass, the voices slowly dying down. Kade ducked down behind the ledge again as the room fell silent but couldn’t help himself from peering over the ledge to see what was happening. Even the children had stopped and sat on the ground in place, their attention locked on to a figure standing at the fore of one of the tables nearest the stage. He wore a green crown that shone like emerald in the light and had a great velvet cape draped over his broad shoulders. His belly hung over his waistband, undoubtedly from too many banquets such as this, and his voice was as robust as his mid line.

“Friends and family, I would like to take a few moments to find some words, though I may have drowned a few in the bottom of my glass here.”

Quiet laughter rippled through the hall.

“Though this is but a rehearsal, my words will be no mockery on this day. As you all know, these are dark times. I…”

The king seemed to have momentarily lost his place, and Kade thought he heard emotion break in his voice. It lasted but a moment and the king composed himself once more.

“Despite the absence of my beloved son, today will remain a day of celebration: a day to honour the prince Tobay and his beautiful, new wife, the princess-to-be, lady Nandrine.”

The king gestured to a young gnome woman sitting at the head table, next to a vacant seat. On her other side was an older woman who gently placed an arm around the young girl’s shoulders. They both appeared to be crying.

The king cleared his throat and continued. “For it is perhaps dearest in a gnome’s heart that he honour tradition and in that honour his family. Wherever our prince may be, his spirit has not left these halls, and so we honour this day as if it were just the same; Tobay would have it no other way. May Drossk bring him home safely and be it that he may make marry and marry!”

Another soft peal of laughter in the halls.

“I would like to propose a toast to the young couple: to their everlasting happiness, to their unfettered wealth, to their exciting and bright futures, and most importantly…”

He smiled at the bride. “…To their boundless love. I give my thanks to our great lord Drossk, for providing us his children in which we have made our own. Oh Great Gnome, we bask in your eternal graciousness. Atrende.”

The crowd repeated the prayer and then a sea of chiming glasses sounded throughout the hall, hailing the couple. Happy to oblige, the two embraced, kissing each other and the whole room erupted in applause, the large man with the crown taking a monstrous swig from his glass and raising a triumphant fist in the air. And then, as quick as it had come, the moment was gone and everyone resumed their previous happenings. The children wasted no time jumping back to their feet and the little dog, now having disposed of (or eaten?) the bone, was off to find better pastures, sniffing around the base of tables as he searched for any scraps that happened to make their way to the floor.

Kade took advantage of the lapse in peoples’ attention to see if he could suss out a floor plan of the room. There were multiple doors leading in and out of the main hall but those would all be too risky since they probably led to frequently occupied spaces. That left the cloisters above. Kade gazed upward but, from his vantage point, he couldn’t tell if there was any access to them from the lower levels. As he continued to scan the room, the little black and white dog caught a strange scent and its attention diverted to finding the source of the new smell. It’s nose led it in Kade’s direction and he barely had time to drop down before he caught a glimpse of the dog sniffling up to the grate. He fell back into the sewer, landing hard on his rear, water splashing all up his back and down his legs. The dog startled and jumped back from the grate, snarling as it locked eyes with Kade. It began jumping up and down and barking angrily, signalling it had found an intruder.

Kade shouted at the dog under his breath. “Hey, shut up! Shut up! You’re gonna give me away! Shh! Be quiet you little shit!”

The dog continued to make a scene at the grate. After drawing no attention it began to howl into the air, as if calling to the rest of its pack. Kade’s heart began to race as the reality of being exposed began to become very real. Kade hopped back to his feet and he made a move at the dog to try and scare it away.

“Why you little mutt! I’m gonna…”

Kade heard a voice call over to the belligerent hound. One of the children ran over in their direction and Kade panicked, quickly getting to his feet and searching frantically for a place to hide. The small child walked up to the dog and squatted down beside it.

“What is it girl?”

The dog yipped at the grate. The little boy looked curiously into the drainage pipe but nothing seemed out of sorts.

“You barkin’ at ghosts again, Pepper? Come on, let’s go play! The others are waiting.”

He picked up Pepper and ran back into the hall, although the dog whined as it attempted to paw its way out of the child’s hands, struggling to get back to defending the grate. Back in the hall, the child put the little dog down and immediately made for the grate. Half way there, one of the others called her name and Pepper stopped, looking back at the children playing leap frog and having a merry old time. Conflicted, Pepper looked back to the grate and yipped quietly, as if questioning her own motives. In the end, the children won out and the little dog turned back and joined in with the kids, immediately forgetting the potential threat she had just discovered.

After several minutes, Kade slowly poked his head out of the grate of the drainage pipe, looking over at the sluice. The dog and the child were nowhere in sight. He sighed a large breath of relief and closed the grate as he settled down in the pipe. As unwelcoming as it was, the pipe would have to do while he waited for the gnomes to finish their party and head to their chambers for the evening. Leaning back against the cold, wet stone, he looked up and thought of Brian, somewhere far above on the surface. He wondered how far he had been able to follow him and whether or not he had given up and turned around or if he had gotten lucky and discovered another entrance to the underground. Kade wouldn’t have put money on the latter, given how much work he had to do to get as far as he did. It was clear to him now that the gnomes didn’t want to be found.

He sighed once more and slumped down against the wall of the pipe, resting his hands behind his head. He looked up at the droplets collecting on the ceiling and noticed that the strange glowing fungi had permeated this pipe as well, like tiny globs of fluorescent orange daubed haphazardly over an otherwise drab canvas. He decided he would pass the time counting them all, hoping there would be enough for all of the minutes he needed to wait until the gnomes went to sleep.