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“What curse?” Autumn asked.
“The curse of greed.”
The dwarven king was talking in riddles.
“Argen, what is he talking about?”
Rimroc stared off into the fire, stroking his beard. His eyes were unfocused. It was apparent he would be of no use to us any further. His mind was elsewhere.
Argen glanced at his father, then back to me. His eyes settled on Autumn, who was trying to understand what was happening, and the king's words. Argen sighed. “Let's get settled at camp, and we'll talk.”
“Camp?”
Argen led us through several darkened halls until we came to a corridor lit by large braziers that sent silhouettes dancing over the floor.
“Dwarven kings of the past. This is the Hall of Remembrance.”
It was eerie, and our steps echoed as we made our way through, but at one of the statues, Autumn stopped so abruptly that I ran into her. My front bumped her back, and I reached out a hand to steady her and opened my mouth to apologize, but she didn't even glance at me. I stared at the bronze statue that had caught her attention, but it looked no different than the others. It was clear from material and age which ones were from the beginning of this particular dwarven civilization and the most recent. This one was probably a few centuries old.
“What is it?” I whispered. Argen had stopped at the end of the hall, awaiting us with a patient look in his eyes.
I tipped my head closer to her because her face was masked with something akin to fear. I didn’t let go of her forearm but twisted her to face me. I wanted to chase away the strange shadows in her eyes.
“Autumn, talk to me. What’s wrong?”
I watched her pretty throat bob in a deep swallow, and her unfocused eyes finally met mine. Their beautiful gold still shadowed, but they were on mine at least.
“Sahlyn,” she whispered, and her hand came up to cup my cheek. I almost reared my head back in confusion, but I didn’t want her to think I was rejecting her need for comfort or whatever she was doing. So I remained steady, even as I wanted to panic. Autumn seemed to shake herself, but her eyes came back to mine. “I… I think I had a vision.”
“A vision?”
She sucked in a breath, dropped her hand, and glanced back at the statue. “This is Creedell Fang.”
“How… How do you know that?” I gestured to Argen, who sauntered over to us.
“Ev’rythin’ alright, ye two?”
“Is this Creedell Fang?” I gestured to the statue.
“Aye. Damn vile bastard.”
My eyes flew to Autumn’s. How in the Underworld had she known that was him? There were plaques on the statues, but they were in the ancient symbols of the dwarven language.
“How’d ye know that?” Argen asked, his eyes lingering between us inquisitively.
“A voice beckoned me as I passed the statue, but I didn’t understand it. Something inside my head told me this was Creedell, and then I got a distinct feeling that something was wrong. I don’t… I don’t understand.”
“Do ye think we are in danger?” Argen asked, his fingers flexing on his ax.
“Not…” She glanced at me and pulled her lip between her teeth. Now was not the time for me to be mesmerized by the action. “It felt ancient. The voice in my head wanted me to know something about Creedell, but...” She put her hands to her temple. I rubbed the palms of my hands up her arms.
Autumn finally looked at me after a moment and gave me a wane smile. Then, it was my turn to cup her cheek. “Let’s get food in our bellies and some rest. Then, maybe the remainder of this…vision will come to you.”
She nodded but didn’t pull away. I took one of her hands in mine. When she didn’t protest, I twined our fingers and turned to Argen.
He gave one nod, still looking uneasy, and then he opened the massive door, and the unexpected sunset light caused us to squint after being in the darkness of the fortress. Night had descended from the southwestern entrance of the fortress but hadn't quite fallen on this side. It cast a haze of dying light on the area.
Once our eyes adjusted, we were looking at acamp. Huge tents and cabins spread in a valley around a large lake. Cascading waterfalls and watermills created energy with the power of the water. The sound was soothing. There were gardens with little fences encircling them and paddocks for livestock.
