The Halfling

Chapter 13

The whole band was pretty confused. But Ulys seemed unaffected.

"You see," he told the princess. "What I said was perfectly true. You are not forgotten in the hearts of your people, my child."

Theresa was breathless, as if she had been sprinting ten thousand miles. But that was quite true, was it not? That search for the past and grasping for it and reaching it cannot be described as anything else as a running and a gasping to hold and caress it in your hands, those forgotten memories, so far away in our minds—wasn't her journey just that?

"Come," said the Elder to the band. "We will forth to the Center, the meeting-place of Men and Dwarves, the heart of the Underground."

They walked to the chanting Men and the hollering Dwarves, some who held each other, shoulder-in-shoulder, bellowing forth lyrics and poems that foretold the return of the rightful heir, which went (I have tried to remember it as best I can) as follows:

Hail to thee, gracious Queen!
Your swift return on rightful steed!
Come you out of least renown,
Instead of cowards easy fleed,
To save the slaves of Undertown:
The battle terrible, results wretched,
Yet heart forsteeled went forth unslain,
To the Dragon wicked fiery lair
His purplish blood with thine Knight,
Valiant man and shining bright,
Hail to thee, gracious Queen!
Hail to thee, gracious Queen!

It was received with a lot of rose-blossom blushes from the princess as she tried to contain the happiness in her heart. And, of course—inescapable it seems—the doubt she had of whether or not they could pull it off. It seemed true to say that the joy she experienced there as she was celebrated was just as oppressing as the sorrows she felt in her journey.

They passed doors built onto graystone walls that coalesced into arches at top, creating a sort of dome. A few droplets of water trickled from the ceiling and when the boy heard its pitter-patters, he remembered the flood from the chimera's cave and was not at all happy about it. Lastly, a hundred set of eyes peered from window-like structures (which were just square figures removed from the walls) and blinked and winked at them, either curious of who these people were or just plain dissatisfied that they were here.

However, apart from its very unwelcoming look, it had a sense of homeliness about it. Smells of jasmine perfume and rhododendrons and lilies emerged from doors opened wide, which reminded the boy of his home in the West and how the flowers flocked like birds and flew toward him. The waft of music and singing wafted to their ears like the drifting of a brass cry of a bell, for that was what it was.

After a few minutes of walking, they reached a gilded structure, which was not housed inside the umber-redness of the walls, but was located outside the trenchant-dug tunnels.

It was a rectangular stone structure topped by a dome that almost hit the ceiling. It was gilded with hints of steel and bronze in the shapes of men, with a few steeples of ripping gold and silver. Not much though for here they barely had time to forge superfluous decorations. What was necessary was what they created. Not much more than that.

It was guarded by a Man and a Dwarf who seemed to bicker about something to each other, but who both saluted when greeted by Ulys.

"May we pass?"

"Of course, Ulys, sir!" said the Man and the Dwarf at the same time, almost as if they've been practicing.

The dust-licked, ragtag collection of peoples now whirled inside the structure, for Ulys was one of the Elders and could enter when he wished. They were guided into a small hall by a Man-guard, whisked up staircases, and, finally, led to the room of the Chief and Elders, the former of course being Giln, father of Grayn, the latter of which consisted of five Dwarves and two Men.