HEIR | The Cursed Monarchy | Book 1

Rise: Part II, Chapter 7

"You must believe that I had no intention of wounding you. I came hunting for the Veils that have been raiding our tunnels and killing our men," Hael said carefully, gesturing with his boney fingers for Cecily to rise.

She managed it, clinging to Cerin for support. Hael's expression was hard to read, in part because she had never had to decipher a dwarf's emotions. He didn't show any concern when she bent down and woozily retrieved her sword.

"You're hunting those things?" Cecily said, taken aback by the notion. Daire's tale – the monsters he had described – sent ripples through her being. How could one dwarf be brave enough to hunt in the darkness? "I believe it was fortunate for you to have stumbled upon us instead."

"Perhaps it is good fortune, as you say, since you and your companion will live to see Bráithre Delve after all." The dwarf winked behind curled tufts of eyebrow at Cecily and went on, "I do not think it would have been so, if the tunnels had been full."

Hael then gestured for Cecily to follow him down the corridor, and she, with a mournful glance back toward the stretch of tunnel she and Cerin had just struggled through, went without a word. There was no way she could climb back up such rocky slope with only one arm, even if Hael would allow her try.

To Cecily, though, the ordeal was far from over. She held her glowing, rune-marked sword before her on instinct. The magic pulsing through the blade was enthralling. The fear in her heart turned into wonder. Soon the steel began to shine brightly like gems, cast of living fire in amber and warm russet. Her shadow leapt and swayed as she continued down the tunnel, unwilling to let the uneven footing hinder her. After a time, she found herself ducking and crouching under hanging rocks with her wounded arm draped over Cerin's shoulder for support.

She did not speak as they advanced; she did not lower her sword or turn her back on the darkness, but she had questions that needed answering and what better way to get those answers than from the source.

"Hael," she whispered. "Why do you hunt Veils alone?"

The dwarf spun to face her. "I am all that is left of my family."

"What happened to them?" Cecily wondered eagerly. "And where have they all gone? And what about the Veils?"

Hael shrugged. "Out of Bráithre Delve," he said vaguely.

Cecily watched his movements warily. The dwarf's body became tense as if he were holding his breath. "Hael?" She nervously waited for an answer. "Were they bewitched by runes?"

Hael shook his head. "Still telling that tale in Imrath, are they?" he asked, pounding his fist encouragingly against the tunnel wall. "Dark magic has never reached our kingdom, and when the Veils come, we drive them out and take our tunnels back for our own."

"Oh," Cecily said, but posed another question, "Then why do they still come, if not because of the dark magic?"

Then, there was a fit of peculiar noises. Was he laughing? "In sooth, you are no beast, for such steadfast curiosity could only belong to children of men, whether in fear or not." Cecily was uneasily aware that the word 'beast' meant something to the dwarves that entirely escaped her. "But those reasons, Raven of Imrath, are not mine to tell you, even if I wished it so."

"Who can tell me what I need to know?" she asked after a moment. The tunnel appeared to be sloping down again, and she could not help but remember what Hael had said earlier about Bráithre Delve being deeper still.

"I will lead you down to the Black Warrens," Hael said; the deep accent lacing the dwarf's voice made it nearly impossible for her even to grasp most of his words. "And to my leader. The leader of my brotherhood."