“Found it!” cried Kaavi from across the room. Everyone turned to look at her. She beamed at them. She had one hand on a protuberance that had once been a torch-brace. She twisted it upside down and a small section of the floor at her feet fell open.

  “Well done,” Brand said.

  Telyn shot them both a glare, and Brand pretended not to notice. Grasty hurried to the spot, as did everyone else.

  Brand noted that Telyn stood very close to him whenever he got near Kaavi. He felt a flash of amusement. Did she think he could not be trusted to stand alone with the elf girl? That Kaavi might grab him and make off with him at her whim? He struggled to keep these thoughts to himself and attempted an easy smile as he gazed down at Telyn.

  “You’ve found something, sister,” said Puck. “The question is what? And do we wish to explore such a vile little hole? What is this, an oubliette? How many corpses were stuffed down there by your entertaining ancestors, I wonder, Brand?”

  Brand knelt and held his lantern over the circular hole. The feeble glow did not seem to penetrate far. All he could see was the sides of the hole, which were at least formed of stone and mortar rather than crumbling dirt.

  “I don’t see a ladder,” Grasty said, rubbing his beard. “I guess we’ll have to lower one of us down on a rope.”

  “I’ll do it,” Telyn said. The other four glanced at her in surprise.

  “I’m no matron, you know,” she said crossly. “You sent me down into a dragon’s lair last time we went into one of these places, Brand.”

  Brand nodded, thinking about how to handle this. If he denied her, he certainly couldn’t send Kaavi. Telyn would take that as an insult. He decided to take a calculated risk.

  “Well, whoever goes will have to go down on a rope,” Brand said. “I wouldn’t be light enough to pull back up quickly. I say you are a good choice, Telyn.”

  Telyn was delighted. They rigged up a rope quickly and lowered her into the darkness with a lantern and two daggers at her side. She left her bow, saying that if she ran into trouble she’d only get it tangled up, and the best defense would be a quick ride back up on the rope.

  She went down, and when only her face was visible, Grasty leaned close. “Now, make sure, milady,” he said. “If you seen any interesting formations—minerals, I mean—please take a sample and bring it back up.”

  She nodded and they worked to pay out the rope evenly. Brand turned Grasty a sudden frown. Was that the true reason for this exploration? Did Grasty and the other Kindred hope to find something special down here? He’d not seen any hint of dead-things or much else, other than a few vermin. He began to wonder just what was on the foreman’s mind.

  “Do you see anything?” Grasty called down to Telyn. “Anything shiny, I mean?”

  “No, it’s some kind of lower cellar from the look of it. Looks a lot like the one you’re in, but smaller.”

  “All righty,” said Grasty. “Who’s next down this hole then?”

  “What’s the point?” asked Puck. “I mean, if it’s another dead end, we’ve gone as far as we can.”

  Grasty chuckled. “No trust at all, is there? Not that I’d expect it from an elf following one of the Kindred underground. What do elves have to learn in the Everdark? Nothing at all! They’ve learned all there is to know about the depths of the earth—no doubt while sitting on treetops!”

  “No need to be rude, fellow,” said Puck quietly.

  “Quite right, there isn’t. Would I be taking us down here if there was nothing further to see? These warrens are endless and interconnected in a dozen unexpected ways. You didn’t think there was any way out of this room until your sister found one, did you?”

  Puck had to concede the point. He went down next, and Kaavi after, as they were lighter than the rest.

  Brand was anxious to go after Telyn, but he hesitated. The axe on his back was twitching. It sensed something, but that wasn’t unusual. If there were fish swimming under a riverboat the axe was suspicious. In this place, there were doubtless uncounted vermin and dangers to upset it. In fact, the axe’s agitation only made Brand want to move ahead faster. He didn’t want Telyn to spend any more time down there without him.

  “Come on, milord, you’re next,” said Grasty. He ran the rope over his shoulders and paid it out with his leathery hands.

  “Can you hold me?”

  The old foreman chuckled and nodded his hoary head. “I could hold all four of you—could have held five, a century or so back.”

  Brand nodded and took hold of the rope. The hole was a tight squeeze for his shoulders, but he made it through. About twenty feet down, he touched solid rock. He saw the others, who were all poking around the chamber. It was similar to the one above, another empty storeroom. The collapsed stairway stood to the north, clearly a continuation of the one above. Thick stone columns supported the ceiling, as they had in the chamber above. But the three great wheels were absent from the southern walls.

  “Not too exciting,” Puck observed drily.

  “No,” Brand agreed.

  “Any sign of wealth?” asked Grasty from above.

  Brand snorted. “Far from it, I’m afraid.”

  Grasty sighed heavily. “Too bad.”

  Brand looked up at him, frowning. He was about to call up and ask him what they should do next, when Kaavi tapped his shoulder.

  “Shouldn’t we bring our packs down?”

  Brand smiled. “I’ve got mine,” he said, meaning the axe. He caught Telyn staring at them then. He realized he was standing close to Kaavi and she to him, both of them were smiling and almost touching. Brand cleared his throat and stepped away to grab hold of the rope that dangled down from the chamber above.

  “Grasty, send down our packs next man, if you think we can continue.”

  “One moment, your lordship!”

  Brand turned around to find Telyn staring at him. Her eyes were hooded and her arms were crossed. Could she really be angry about such a small interaction with the elf girl? Did he have to evade females at every moment?

  Brand tugged on the rope, taking in a breath to shout up for the packs again. What happened next so surprised him his words died in his throat.

  The rope came down when he tugged it. Coils of it fell into his face with a loud, slapping sound. He stared up, mouth open.

  “What’s this then?” Puck demanded, stepping close.

  “Grasty, you’ve dropped the rope!” shouted Brand.

  “Yes, yes,” came a distant mutter. “Just a moment, this thing is stuck.”

  They heard distant grunting sounds.

  “What’s stuck?” demanded Brand.

  They heard a sudden grating sound. “There we go!” Grasty said somewhere above. “I’ve got it moving now. Won’t be a moment.”

  They saw, to their shock, the hole above them slowly closing. Like an eye into another world, the disk of stone that had covered it slid haltingly shut.

  “He’s closing us in!” Kaavi exclaimed.

  “What’s got hold of you, Grasty?” Brand shouted, coming to his senses. He reached back and grabbed the axe.

  A surge of fury at this betrayal gripped him and it was all he could do not to slash down everyone near. Spittle flew from his lips.

  “I’ll slay your kin, you devil!” he roared.

  “My kin is it?” questioned Grasty. “Who’s the devil now, eh? Brand, forgotten lord of dirt and bones.”

  “Cover yourselves!” Brand hissed.

  “What?” asked Kaavi.

  Telyn knew what was coming. She reached out a hand and slapped it hard over Kaavi’s eyes.

  Brand let go with a brilliant yellow flash then. A stabbing ray of heat and light flashed up like a sunbeam shining through storm clouds. It shot through the opening in the ceiling, the last crescent of space that led from this tomb they were in to the world above.

  There were shouts and cursing, and the disk of stone stopped moving. “Damn you, man,” shouted Grasty. “You know I’ve only got the one eye. I’ll be blinking for the rest of the day now.”

  “Why man?” Brand roared. “At least answer me that, after you’ve shamed yourself, your Queen and all the Kindred!”

  “I met the Shining Lady after you rejected her, axeman!” Grasty cackled. “You should have taken her deal. Instead, you offered her only insults!”

  The Shining Lady. Brand thought of his dream, and understood in an instant what had happened. Spurned, she had sought another, a weaker mind to turn to her hand. He had chopped her body apart, but that had only been in a dream. She had gone on to another dreamer, and gotten a different answer.

  “You serve the Dead?” roared Brand. “I’ll boil your head, traitor!”

  Grasty cackled again. A moment later the disk slid into place and crunched down. They were sealed inside the storeroom below a storeroom—in an underground place of unknown nature.

  Brand stood, breathing like a bull ready to charge. Quivering with emotion and pent up energy, he stared wide-eyed up at the distant ceiling. “His whole family!” he muttered.

  A small hand dared to touch his elbow. He whirled and held the axe upraised. For a fleeting second, he saw Grasty’s face with those big, loose teeth grinning up at him.

  “Brand,” the grinning Grasty said. “Put it away, Brand. It’s me, Telyn.”

  Brand was confused. He wanted to strike. He could take that head off with a single sweep. He could see it happening. Blood would jet from the severed neck. The treacherous little fiend would be cut down. It would feel so good! He would be a man again. He, who had been made to look a fool in front of his wife and the girl he wanted to bed more than any other.

  His wife. The thought came despite his best efforts to keep it away, and he found the thought painful in his mind. He did not want to think, to reason, but he did anyway, and he could see reality again after a moment. The Grasty who dared touch him was Telyn, of course. He could see her clearly now. Her worried, probing eyes, her downturned mouth. His wife.

  Brand lowered the axe. “Sorry,” he said. “It’s been so long since I’ve drawn it in anger…and Grasty’s treachery surprised me.”

  “I know,” said Telyn, leaning against him.

  Kaavi turned away from the scene and began inspecting the room closely, as she had before.

  “What’s that sound?” Puck asked.

  “Sound?” asked Brand. “Good point. You should have been playing your pipes, man. Perhaps you could have charmed Grasty back to our aid.”

  “What works on a wandering maiden will not sway an ancient, leather-faced foreman of the Kindred,” Puck said. He put up a hand and urged everyone to fall silent. Reluctantly, the others quieted. Now that he listened closely, Brand thought he did hear something. A faint scraping sound. Perhaps a grating sound would describe it better. Something squeaked and groaned as they listened.

  “That’s metal moving against metal,” Brand said, listening. “It sounds to me like a ship’s moorings while it sways at dock.”

  Puck shook his head and turned to look at Brand squarely. “Not quite,” he said. “I think Grasty is turning the great wheels. I believe he’s releasing water into the lower chambers.”

  Brand eyed each of his companions in turn. Every face except Puck’s showed fear. Brand wondered just how old the elf was, and if he had been in worse spots than this in his long life.

  “What should we do, Puck?” he asked.

  The elf looked mildly surprised he had been asked. He tapped a finger upon his tapered chin for a moment. He shrugged. “I doubt Grasty would place us here if there were any way to go upward. The stairway, for example, has clearly been collapsed on purpose. We must look for another route. Probably, it will lead downward.”

  “I don’t want to go deeper into this filthy dirt!” Kaavi complained.

  Puck shrugged. “You stay here if you like, sister, when we find the path out.”

  Telyn didn’t bother talking, she went to the walls and sought an exit. She examined the floors closely. Brand decided to have a closer look at the collapsed stairway and the exit in the roof.

  “Possibly,” he said, “if the waters push in until we are floating, we will reach the roof and be able to push that door open.”

  Puck looked up with him speculatively. “I don’t think we can. When we get that high, we will not have anything to push against, we will be treading water. Without a firm stance, I don’t see how we can push very hard.”

  Brand frowned.

  “Once, Brand struck through a similar stone portal in a floor of this same castle,” Telyn said over her shoulder. “Remember Brand? When you discovered the redcap and his armory?”

  “Yes,” he said. “But that was striking downward, not upward while paddling in a flood. If it comes down to it, I’ll give it a try, of course.”

  Brand found the stairway was well and truly collapsed. He wondered if Grasty had done this on purpose, or if it had happened before he’d turned to the Shining Lady’s service. He had no way of knowing the truth of the matter.

  “Shhh!” Kaavi shushed them all. She stood at the south wall in the attitude of listening closely.

  “Is someone coming?” Brand asked hopefully.

  She waved his words away. All of them stood hopeful, quiet. They stared at her. At last, she turned to face them. “It’s the water. I can hear it flowing nearby.”

  Brand held his axe high like a torch. It ran with yellow light. He began pulling bricks and broken masonry away from the fallen stairway.

  “That’s no use, Brand,” Telyn said gently.

  “Maybe not,” he said without turning. “But I’ll not stand here with my thumb in my arse waiting to drown.”

  Puck soon joined him, and the two of them heaved and rolled stones away. They threw handfuls of dust behind them. They worked for nearly an hour, but there was little progress made.

  Sweat stood out on Brand’s brow. He growled and was in a worse mood every minute. His mind drifted to thoughts of mayhem. He imagined Grasty’s head popping up on a fountain of blood. He would kick it higher still, and use it for practice with his axe, slicing away features until it was nothing but a red ruin.

  Telyn came to him and touched his elbow. “Brand, you’re blinding us.”

  Brand noticed that the others had retreated from him while he struggled with the mountain of dust and rubble. Ambros was shining brightly, intensely, making his companions shade their eyes from its glare. He turned toward them with a face stained with sweat and gray dirt. His eyes were glinting and wild.

  He pushed Telyn away, but not so hard as to knock her flat. “Don’t soften me now, woman!” he shouted. “This is not the time!”

  He continued to work alone at the rubble now, keeping the axe held high. He did more work with one hand than five men could do, but it was no use. With each scoop of rubble he removed, a dozen more sifted down to replace it. If anything, the ruined stair was more thoroughly choked with debris than it had been when he had started.

  Finally, he stopped, his sides heaving. The first runnels of water were sweating from the walls now. Behind him, he could hear one of the women coughing. He didn’t know if it was Telyn or Kaavi, and he barely cared which it was.

  Brand sat upon a broken, fallen column and let the sweat bathe him. He remained there, sullen and staring at nothing. His hands clutched the axe, which glimmered at his knees. He ignored the others who spoke to him for a time. There had to be a way out of this.

  Sometime later they noticed visible sprays of water coming into the chamber from cracks in the masonry. The floor turned dark and glistened wetly as runnels of water flowed to join with one another. The dark fingers of water soon widened into pools. Still Brand sat and tried to force his mind to operate. It was not easy with the axe in his hand. He did not want to let go of it, however. He knew he might fall asleep if he did.

  Kaavi came to him, and her soft voice cut into his thought with its sweetness. She said things to him, into his ear. The thoughts soothed him, even if he could not really hear her words. Finally, he felt her soft touch. She combed dust from his hair and untangled it with her fingers.

  Suddenly, Kaavi’s head jerked back and out of his sight. She gave a shriek of alarm and tumbled backward.

  Brand lunged to his feet without a thought. His face split into a grin. Ambros rode high, shining brightly. The axe was eager to finally be given an enemy to hew.

  The axeman faltered when he saw what was amiss. Telyn had yanked Kaavi backward. She’d wound her hands into the elf girl’s hair and had pulled her almost off her feet. The two of them now rolled in the inch-deep water that filled the chamber, hissing and ripping at one another. They parted and drew knives.

  “I’ll not die watching you paw my husband!” Telyn said.

  “Crazy witch!” Kaavi hissed back, no less enraged.

  Brand stepped up to them. They lunged and locked wrists, struggling. He thrust the head of his axe between their snarling faces and commanded it to give a muted flash.

  The women howled and clawed at their eyes, cursing him. They staggered backward and called one another vile names.

  “Telyn, what was that you said?” Brand asked.

  “She’s a slattern dock-whore!”

  “No, no, before that,” Brand said.

  Telyn stared, still blinking with watering eyes. She shook her head.

  “About the redcap…” he said. Suddenly, he had a clear thought. He lifted the axe and swung it down two-handed. He delivered a great blow upon the floor. The stone chamber rang with the booming sound of it. Water and stone chips flew, causing the others to step back in alarm. Brand lifted the axe and brought it down again and again, striking with all his might. The floor began to be cut away, as if a lumberjack chopped through a log.

  “He’ll destroy the axe!” said Kaavi, aghast.

  “No, probably not,” Puck said. “The Jewels are not easily destroyed, no matter what form in which they choose to clothe themselves.”

  “I’ve seen him cut through stone before,” Telyn said. She wiped blood from her lower lip and shielded her eyes from flying stone chips and the yellow flashes of light that filled the chamber with every booming strike. “That’s what he meant about the redcap. He cut through stone then in this very castle.”