|[ THE BROKEN SEAL - 3 ]| UNDERGOING MAJOR RE-WRITING

Chapter 7 // Beneath the Dark Earth

I gave Kiera one last scathing look before I left the room, trudged down the steps two at a time and yanked Absalom off the back of the door. Cedric hurried down after me, reaching the foot of the stairs as I wrenched the door open.

“What is her problem?” I snapped as I stormed out of the house, Cedric chasing after me, “It is like there are two of them! One trying to help and the other trying to hinder.”

“I don’t know.” Cedric said softly, “But we can’t be distracted by her now. She told us there is an entrance to the dwarfs’ tunnels near here, but she didn’t say where.” I nodded and we walked around Kiera’s house, looking for any hint of where it might be. I saw her window, a story up, and closed with the curtains drawn.

“Why don’t we try that way?” I asked, pointing in the direction opposite of the window. Cedric shrugged.

“We don’t have anything else to go off. Lead the way.” He gestured for me to walk and I did, glancing around as we moved. He fell in step behind me, his hand loose on his swords pommel. I felt the now familiar weight of Absalom against my hip, swinging alongside my quiver. My heart thudded steadily in my chest as we passed through the first of the trees and into the shade of the forest. There was no path, no track to follow, and we walked slowly, occasionally glancing over our shoulders to make sure the light from the edge of the forest was still behind us.

“If the dwarves were violent towards a child,” Cedric said softly, his voice piercing the silence like a knife, “What do you think they will do to us.”

“I think they were warning Kiera to never go back.” I said, “Trying to scare her off, because they knew it would work. But they might rethink it with us. I mean, we are armed. We are good warriors, and do not easily scare. Perhaps they will be willing to talk with us, at least in the beginning.” I climbed over a fallen tree, the wood so gnarled and rotten it seemed it was about to crumble under my touch. Cedric clambered over after me, landing silently beside me.

There was a wall of rock before us, in a small clearing, with a long crack running through the heart of it. As I moved closer I saw that the crack widened into a crevice and led down into the dark depths of the earth. I moved closer, only stopping when Cedric put a warning hand on my shoulder.

“We do not know for sure that this is the dwarfs’ cave. It could be a home to anything.”

“I doubt anything else would be able to fit comfortably through that entrance.” I said, raising my eyebrow, “And we don’t have time to be cautious. Let’s just go. If we must flee, we flee. It is simple.”

“Patience never was your strong suit.” Cedric muttered, sounding almost amused, as he followed me forwards and through the crevice opening. Inside it was almost pitch dark, icy cool and as silent as a graveyard. Our boots crunched over the dry floor of the tunnel, loud in the quiet, and I blinked rapidly, waiting for my eyes to adjust to the darkness. I heard Cedric move in front of me, as well as the noise of his sword being drawn from its sheath. I followed suit, holding Absalom in front of me. The blade almost glowed before me, though I wasn’t sure if that wasn’t just the light from the entrance of the tunnel.

“Shall we go?” I asked softly, wincing as my voice carried down the tunnel in a whispery echo. I saw Cedric’s outline nod and he began walking, me bringing up the rear. The light from the entrance of the tunnel soon faded into grey and then into blackness as we delved further into the ground. My eyes began to adjust, just enough that I could make out a slight difference between the grey of the floor and the slighter lightness of the walls. The tunnel wound down further and further and I noticed a black bracket hanging off the wall. I reached up and felt it, searching for what it was.