It occurred to Limbeck that, once again, he was going to be left alone down here, with no idea how to get out. He must either follow them or…
“Perhaps I could ask one of the dwarves.”
He turned to look into the room and almost dropped his spectacles. Hurriedly, he wrapped the earpieces around his ears, stared hard through the lenses of thick glass, not believing what he was seeing.
The room, which had been filled with light and laughter and humans and elves and dwarves, was empty.
Limbeck sucked in a deep breath, let it out with a shivering sigh. His curiosity overwhelmed him. He was about to slip into the room and investigate when it struck him that the elves—his way out—were rapidly leaving him behind. Shaking his side whiskers over the strange and inexplicable things he’d seen, Limbeck trotted down the halhvay, following the strangely dressed elves.
The eerie red glow of their eyes lit the passages brightly, showed their way. How they could tell one tunnel from another, one arched entry from an exit, was beyond Limbeck. They moved at a rapid pace, never pausing, never taking a wrong turn, never forced to back up or start over.
“What are your plans, Sang-drax?” asked one. “Clever name, by the way.”
“You like it? I thought it appropriate,” said the elf who had brought Haplo down here. “I must see to it that the human child, Bane, and the Patryn, here, are taken to the emperor. The child has a plan in mind that should foment chaos in the human kingdom far more effectively than anything we could do ourselves. You will, I trust, pass the word along to those near the emperor and urge his cooperation?”
“He’ll cooperate, if the Unseen* advise it.”
*An elite unit of soldiers created by the emperor, ostensibly to search out and destroy rebel elves. The Unseen—so called because of their mysterious ability to make themselves very nearly invisible—have gained enormous power—even before the infiltration by the evil serpents.
“I am amazed that you managed to join such an elite and powerful unit so quickly. My congratulations.”
One of the oddly dressed elves shrugged. “It was quite simple, really. Nowhere else on Arianus does there exist a group whose means and methods coincide so well with our own. With the exception of an unfortunate tendency to revere elven law and order and to perpetrate their deeds in the name of such, the Unseen Guard are perfect for us.”
“A pity we cannot penetrate the ranks of the Kenkari* as easily.”
*One of the seven original clans of elves brought by the Sartan to Arianus after the Sundering. All elven clans had wizards among them, but the Kenkari were more powerful in magic than most and, through strict policies of intermarriage, they were able, over many generations, to enhance their magical powers. Consequently, the Kenkari are much in demand by other elven clans. Though they have no lands of their own, they are greatly revered in the elven nation, live as “guests” among the various royal families. Their main duties, however, lie with the Keeping of the Souls.
“I begin to think that will be impossible, Sang-drax. As I explained to the Royal One this evening, prior to your arrival, the Kenkari are spiritual in nature, and therefore extraordinarily sensitive to us. We have concluded that they do not pose a threat, however. Their only interest is in the spirits of the dead, whose power feeds the empire. Their main object in life consists of guarding these captive souls.”
More conversation followed, after that, but Limbeck, slogging along behind and beginning to feel very tired from all this unaccustomed exertion, soon lost interest in trying to follow it. Most of what they discussed he hadn’t understood anyhow, and the small part he understood confused him. He did think it odd that elves, who, moments ago, had been quite chummy with humans, should now be talking about ‘fomenting chaos.”
“But then nothing either humans or elves do would surprise me,” he decided, wishing that he could sit down and rest. Then certain half-heard words of the elves’ conversation jolted Limbeck into forgetting about sore feet and aching ankles.