“All right then.” Lira turned to lead the way.
Persimmon felt as if she were being watched from behind. When she looked over her shoulder, she saw her father in the shadows. Then in a blur of color, he was gone, not unlike the transporting that Medea and her daughter could do.
“Everyone comes and goes so quickly here on Mura,” commented Persimmon as they headed to the castle.
“There is a lot happening here. You won’t be able to learn about everyone and everything in one night,” Lira told her. “We are glad you decided to live here now, because there are a lot of people to meet and a lot to experience.”
“I’m sure there is.” Persimmon looked down at her pouch, still feeling like a failure and now a liar, too. “I can’t wait for someone to explain more to me about these portals,” she said, not wanting to think about the gazing orb and what had happened.
She saw their daughter cringe when she said it.
“It’s best not to mention them around the children or my husband and his brothers,” whispered Lira. “Excuse us now.” Lira, took the baby from Zann, letting Valindra pull her away as they headed into the castle.
After they left, Zann spoke to her. “She’s right, you know.”
“What do you mean?” asked Persimmon.
“Don’t even mention portals again,” Zann warned her, crossing his arms over his chest.
“I’m sorry, but I don’t understand. Why is everyone acting so odd about this?”
“It’s been over a year now since any portals opened on Mura, and we want to keep it that way. Every time one opens, it means trouble for all involved. Not only trouble, but people end up dying.”
“Oh, nay! They do? So it’s happened a lot then?”
“Not a lot, but too much. And it is better that it doesn’t happen again.”
“Do you think that was a portal I saw in my gazing orb?” she asked Zann.
“Nay!” Zann didn’t seem to want to even entertain the idea that it possibly could have been.
“My mother always told me that the gazing crystal is never wrong.” Since this was the first time she actually saw anything inside the orb, Persimmon felt excited and wanted to see more than just a flash. Still, she didn’t feel as if she could talk to anyone about it. Especially since she wasn’t convinced that it hadn’t just been her imagination and that she hadn’t scried at all.
“It’s never wrong, you say?” Zann raised a brow. “If that is so, then throw the damned orb into the Lake of Souls so you don’t ever see such things again. And whatever you do, be sure not to even mention what you saw again. Never, and I repeat never, mention the word portal again.”
Four
“Put him down, Fang,” commanded Stone, seeing his dog with a struggling little man in his jaws. “We are not here to hurt or kill anyone.”
“Ow! Really?” Aithrod, used his foot to scrape one of these cave-dwelling beings off his leg as the thing started to crawl up him. “Because right now, I’m so hungry that I’m ready to make a meal out of most of them.”
“Make your way to the mouth of the cave.” Stone used his staff to push the creatures aside. He still felt the pricks of their hoes and shovels at his back but tried to ignore them. He didn’t want to hurt them, so he refrained from drawing his sword or using his crossbow. “I have a feeling this is their home and they consider us trespassers.”
Just as he said that, a group of them rappelled down from the ceiling using ropes, with more ropes in their hands. They quickly wound them around Stone.
“Nay! Get off of me,” Stone yelled. “I don’t want to hurt you but I swear I will if I have to.” He pulled at the ropes and pushed at the creatures. Fang barked furiously and snapped at the air. Thankfully, that scared the little people, making them pull back a little.
“Run while you still can!” shouted Aithrod, dashing for the mouth of the cave with an army of the cave-dwelling beings whooping and waving their weapons right behind him. They not only kept up with him, but passed him up, circling back around him.
Just when Stone thought they had no chance of getting out of here without killing some of them, someone else appeared in the cave. He saw a flash or blur of color, and a small man with pointy ears like an elf stopped in front of him with his hands on his hips. He had a pouch filled with something hanging at his side. This man was about waist-high to Stone, but twice the height of the cave-dwellers. This one reminded Stone of an elf.
“Who are you and what are you doing in this cave?” the man demanded to know. His voice was high and nasal sounding.
“Oh, nay. They’re growing in size,” Stone called out to his friend. Fang lunged for the man, but the elf was too fast for the dog. The elf zipped around in a blur, ending up sitting on Fang’s back, yanking at his ears.
“Leave my dog alone!” shouted Stone, holding out his staff, meaning to knock the man off the dog’s back if needed.
“Balderdash! What are you all doing here in my cave?” The elf was thrown off when Fang shook. The man landed on a stone ledge. When he did, his pouch fell from his belt. Lots of rocks fell out. Stone realized that these rocks looked very familiar. Especially since they were sort of sparkling a little.
“I’ve seen those stones before.” Stone pulled another three of the cave people off of him. “Can’t you make these things stop attacking us?”
“They’re gnomes, and, nay, I can’t,” said the elf nonchalantly. “They have minds of their own. I don’t control them.”
“I thought you said this was your cave. So tell them to leave.”
“It’s not that simple, fool.” The elf scooped up the stones and slipped them back into his pouch. “And what do you mean you’ve seen these stones before? I just discovered them in this cave, and I can assure you they are not found naturally here.”
“Arrrgh,” moaned Stone, pulling more gnomes from him, feeling their weapons hitting harder.
“Tell me!” commanded the elf. “Where have you seen these stones before?”
“I have a stone just like that in my pouch,” Stone answered.
“You stole it from me!” The little man accused him, pointing at him with one gnarly finger.
“Nay, I didn’t. I found it on the other side.” Stone looked up to see Aithrod just about at the mouth of the cave. Fang ran in circles barking, snapping at the gnomes that continued to poke at him. The dog put down his head and tossed one of the small men with the pointed hats high into the air. The gnome made a squealing sound and his friends ran forward to catch him.
