'Well,' said the half-ore, 'if the king is dead, then the Matron will have no choice but to turn the princess over to this Xeries.'
'Why do you think that?'
'Who else is going to negotiate for the safety of the princess? The queen has been dead for almost a year. And there's a huge floating citadel menacing the kingdom that will go away if we just turn her over.' Kleegor puffed up his chest, rather proud of himself for his reasoning skills. 'Seems like we can just wash our hands of the whole thing and go about our business.'
Talish nodded. 'Yep. Except what about the Claw? If we can't negotiate with the king, then who will turn him over to us?
Kleegor brushed him off with a wave of his hand. 'We can deal with that. The Claw is no problem.'
'The Claw is a bigger problem than you think.'
Both Kleegor and Talish nearly jumped out of their skin as the Matron appeared beside the stack of crates.
'Matron! We. We, uh… we didn't see you there.'
'I am aware of that,' she said, walking toward them.
Throwing her hands toward the ground, she spoke a short prayer. With each step, she grew, her body becoming twice the size of the half-ore, then three times, then four.
Kleegor and Talish cowered in her shadow as the giant-sized Matron loomed over them.
'We will do things the way I have planned them. The king is off limits. No one is to touch him. Is that understood?'
Talish nodded, dropping to his knees and bowing his head to the deck of the boat.
'I meant no disrespect, Matron,' said Kleegor. 'I just thought maybe we didn't need to deal with the king anymore. It's getting close to moonrise. Maybe we could just handle the Obsidian Ridge all on our own.'
The Matron grabbed Kleegor by the front of his sweaty, tattered shirt and lifted him into the air. 'We will handle the Obsidian Ridge when the king is in my pocket and the Claw is dead and buried.'
'Yes, Matron,' said the half-ore.
'I am not going to let some parlor magician with a few neat tricks show up and ruin my plans. If this Xeries has a deadline, then let him have his deadline. He will get his after we get ours. Is that understood?' Kleegor nodded.
'Good,' she said, tossing him to the dock. 'Now get back to work!' With that, she turned and walked away from them both, shrinking back to her normal size as she did.
Kleegor dusted himself off. 'Time is running out, Talish,' he said, his snout turned up in an angry sneer. 'We need to do something, and we need to do it now.'
Talish nodded. 'Just don't let her hear you say that.'
++++
Princess Mariko stumbled along as best as she could. Her body felt heavy, her arms weak, and her head still hurt. The antidote she had been drinking regularly had helped, but the spider's venom was still taking its toll on her.
'Hurry.' One of Jallal's guards shoved Mariko, and she stumbled, catching herself against the wall.
She muttered something under her breath and glared at the woman who had pushed her.
'You have something to say to me?' growled the woman.
Mariko closed her mouth and shook her head.
'That's what I thought. Now move it.'
Mariko did as she was told, marching on down the dark corridor.
As the contingent disappeared around another bend, a symbol appeared on the wall where the princess's hand had been. It was dim at first, but then it grew in intensity. The symbol pulsed slowly on and off, lighting the hallway then letting it go dark.
'Is there a reason why we can't travel through the regular hallways?' The Claw slipped sideways between two narrow walls.
'Yes,' said Evelyne.
The Claw waited, but Evelyne didn't elaborate. 'That reason is…?'
'Because everything else travels through them,' she said, a little perturbed. 'And this is a shortcut anyway.'
'A shortcut to where?'
'To where I think your friend will be.'
'What makes you think the princess will be in this place?'
Evelyne stopped. 'Do you want my help or don't you?' 'I do.'
'Then trust me on this.'
'I trust you. I just want to know where we're going.'
Evelyne pressed on, stepping through an opening in the wall, crossing a small room, and squeezing herself into another crack. The Claw followed.
'Let me ask you something,' continued Evelyne. 'If you'd just been thrown into this place and you figured you were going to be here a while, what would you do? Where would you go first?'
The Claw thought about it. 'I guess I'd look for shelter first, a safe place to sleep. Then I'd probably look for fresh water.'
'So that is where I am taking you,' she said. 'To the only source of fresh water in the Cellar.'
They walked on in silence for some time, eventually coming out of the narrow passage they had been traversing into a cavern. To the Claw, it looked like a natural cave. Stalactites hung from the ceiling, liquid dripping from their tips into pools or forming stalagmites below. A glowing, blue-green moss that partially illuminated the cave covered the walls, and the whole place smelled like rotten eggs.
'Don't tell me this is your source of fresh water.'
'Shh!' Evelyne put her finger up to quiet him and her other hand up to her ear.
The Claw listened for the sounds in the cave. He could hear the water dripping into the puddles and the echoes from the drips rippling down the stone walls. But there was little else.
'What do you hear?' he asked.
'There's someone here.' She listened for a moment longer. 'Just one. Could be your princess.'
The Claw pushed past her, but Evelyne grabbed his arm.
'Could be something else too,' she said.
The Claw nodded then slipped into the shadows behind a stalagmite, his body disappearing. Slinking through the darkness, the Claw worked his way down the length of the cave. Deeper in, the dripping water dried up, and the sounds of the echoes grew quieter. Until finally, he was able to make out what Evelyne had heard..»
It sounded like footsteps, but something about them wasn't right. Definitely only one person, walking on two legs, but the pattern was off, as if… he couldn't quite place it. A little farther in, and the Claw saw why.
In the middle of the cave, headed away from the dripping water, was a lone man-his muscular legs ending in hooves. He wore stark white robes with chain mail underneath, and he carried a wicked-looking blade in his right hand. From this distance, it was hard to tell for certain, but to the Claw, it looked as if it were some exotic blade from the Far East.
Slipping from one side of the cave to the other, the Claw took advantage of the dim shadows cast by the patches of glowing moss. He didn't know who this stranger with the foreign blade was, but maybe he knew where to find the princess.
The Claw drew in a little closer.
'I hear you,' said the hoofed man. He stopped walking, but he did not turn around. 'You will not surprise me.'
The Claw stepped out from behind the stalagmite. 'I mean you no harm. I am just looking for someone.'
'You have found someone,' said the man.
'I am looking for a woman,' said the Claw. 'A princess.'
The man's ears perked up. 'A princess? What ever would a princess be doing in a place like this?'
'If you have seen her, just tell me which direction to head,' said the Claw. 'Then I will leave you alone and be
