Jarre cast them all a defiant glance. Her face, in the glampern light, hardened into stubborn lines. Haplo guessed that Jarre’s anger was a mask for affectionate concern, concern for her people and for Limbeck. And maybe not in that order.
Bane, catching Haplo’s attention, raised an eyebrow.
I can handle her, the child offered. If you’ll give me permission.
Haplo shrugged in answer. It couldn’t hurt. Besides being unusually intuitive, Bane was clairvoyant. He could sometimes see the innermost thoughts of others… other mensch, that is. He couldn’t worm his way inside Haplo.
Bane glided to Jarre, took hold of her hands. “I can see the crystal crypts, Jarre. I can see them and I don’t blame you for being frightened of going back there. It truly is very sad. But dear, dear Jarre, you must tell us how to get into the tunnels. Don’t you want to find out if the elves have shut down the Kicksey-winsey?” he persisted in wheedling tones.
“And what will you do if they have?” Jarre demanded, snatching her hands away. “And how do you know what I’ve seen? You’re just making it all up. Or else Limbeck told you.”
“No, I’m not,” Bane sniveled, his feelings hurt.
“See what you’ve done now?” Limbeck asked, putting a comforting arm around the boy.
Jarre flushed in shame.
“I’m sorry,” she mumbled, twisting the skirt of her dress around her stubby fingers, “I didn’t mean to yell at you. But what will you do?” Raising her head, she stared at Haplo, her eyes shimmered with tears. “We can’t fight the elves! So many would die! You know that. You know what would happen. We should just surrender, tell them we were wrong, it was all a mistake! Then maybe they’ll go away and leave us alone and everything will be like it was before!”
She buried her face in her hands. The dog crept over, offered silent sympathy.
Limbeck swelled up until Haplo thought the dwarf might explode. Giving him a cautionary sign with an upraised finger, Haplo spoke quietly, firmly.
“It’s too late for that, Jarre. Nothing can ever be like it was. The elves won’t go away. Now that they have control of the water supply on Arianus, they won’t give it up. And sooner or later they’ll get tired of being harassed by your guerrilla tactics. They’ll send down a large army and either enslave your people or wipe them out. It’s too late, Jarre. You’ve gone too far.”
“I know.” Jarre sighed, wiped her eyes with the corner of her skirt. “But it’s obvious to me that the elves have taken over the machine. I don’t know what you think you can do,” she added in dull, hopeless tones.
“I can’t explain now,” said Haplo, “but there’s a chance the elves may not have shut down the Kicksey-winsey. They may be more worried about this than you are. And if that’s true, and if His Highness can start it up again, then you can tell the elves to go take a flying leap into the Maelstrom.”
“You mean, we’ll have the Liftalofts back under our control?” Jarre asked dubiously.
“Not only the Liftalotts,” said Bane, smiling through his tears, “but everything! All of Arianus! All of it, all the people —elves and humans—under your rule.”
Jarre looked more alarmed than pleased at this prospect, and even Limbeck appeared somewhat taken aback.
“We don’t really want them under our rule,” he began, then paused, considering. “Or do we?”
“Of course we don’t,” Jarre said briskly. “What would we do with a bunch of humans and elves on our hands? Always fighting among each other, never satisfied.”
“But, my dear…” Limbeck seemed inclined to argue.
“Excuse me”—Haplo cut in swiftly—”but we’re a long way from that point yet, so let’s not worry about it.”
Not to mention the fact, the Patryn added silently, that Bane was lying through his small, pearl-white teeth. It would be the Lord of the Nexus who ruled Arianus. Of course, his lord should rule Arianus, that wasn’t the point. Haplo disliked deceiving the dwarves, urging them to take risks by giving them false hopes, making false promises.
“There’s another point you haven’t considered. If the elves didn’t shut down the Kicksey-winsey, they probably think that you dwarves did. Which means that they’re probably more worried about you than you are about them. After all, with the machine not working, they haven’t got water for their people.”