Where Rainbows Dance- Chapter 2

A thick chill penetrated Boroden’s cloth-of-silver lined cloak. What a pity that its main purpose was to repel moonlight from touching him, not provide warmth. He hugged his arms about himself against the cold, avoiding the gaze of his companions. Before he addressed his fellow brownies, he needed to process what had happened and work out a plan to escape this dungeon. He scanned the crevasse where they were trapped.

Damp, stagnant air probed his nostrils. Water drops fell like a barrage of arrows from the cave roof, pelting Boroden’s face as he lifted it upwards. Beyond the fitful light of the torches, the dense darkness beyond threatened to swallow him. Down here, locked so far away from the sky, there was no chance of moonlight hitting him and triggering the curse he might now have been glad of to give him the strength to bound up the sheer rock walls and track down Aira. That plan would never work. There appeared to be no way out other than the towering sides of the cavern — a means of escape which he and his companions had already tried and failed.

Carnelian came to his side, staring at the sheer walls of the crevasse. ‘This is no place for a brownie, let alone the King of the House Elves and his company.’

Boroden nodded, clenching his fists so tightly that his nails bit into his palms. ‘We need to get out of here. If we don’t find a way soon, then the kraken will kill Aira. That is, if she’s not dead already.’

‘I’ve tried, but there’s no way out of this stinking prison.’ Carnelian pushed back straggles of his greying hair. ‘It’s hopeless, lad.’

A leaden weight fell in Boroden’s chest as Carnelian’s words sunk in. ‘It’s all my fault. What was I thinking?’

‘You were only trying to help our clan reclaiming our home in Velmoran.’ Carnelian touched Boroden’s shoulder. ‘Don’t blame yourself, lad. Nothing could be done. It’s too late now to wish things different.’

Boroden peered down at the emaciated form of his old tutor. ‘I can’t believe you’re alive. I thought we were to share our prison with a monster. Instead, we found ourselves with you.’

‘I’ve missed you too.’ Carnelian’s voice quavered. ‘I never thought I’d see you again after Krysila took me in that cave we came to on our journey. One doesn’t escape a kraken like her easily.’

‘For months I’ve thought you dead, taken by the servants of the kraken. Now we’re all here, cast into the dungeons of the Unseelie Court. If you’re alive, then I refuse to give up hope that I’ll see Aira again.’ Boroden set his jaw stubbornly.

‘I pray so too. She’s like a daughter to me.’

Boroden’s breathing caught. A world without Aira would be a void a thousand times darker than this prison. Her smile and steady courage had kept him going through the perils of their journey. She’d grown up beside him, from an impish brownie lass with her golden hair always tangled from playing in the forest near the palace of Velmoran, to the unflinching young woman he had last seen standing her ground against the kraken as he was torn away from her. ‘I love her. I can’t… What if she’s gone? She means everything to me.’

Carnelian sighed. ‘She’s always been there for you.’

Boroden bowed his head. ‘You’re right. When I was a boy confined in the palace of Velmoran’s tower, she befriended me when others feared to approach me. After that, when I endured isolation as most of the others simply saw me as their king, someone to be in awe of or to lead them, Aira never treated me differently.’

‘She has a kind heart. Treasure the blessing of those memories.’ Carnelian’s face scrunched as he fought back tears. ‘As for now… there’s nothing we can do.’

‘Maybe she’ll find a way? She’s the smallest of us all, yet she’s so dauntless and true,’ Boroden said. Aira stood up to the kraken when the other captured brownies quailed. He glanced at the three brownie warriors of his company who shared his prison, biting his tongue against voicing his anguish. If they had joined him in fighting Krysila, perhaps they might never have become imprisoned.

‘I’d pinned my hopes on Aira… hopes that I might live happily with her at my side if we gained a safe homeland again in Velmoran,’ Boroden said.

Torden’s sad frown twisted his lips beneath his tusk-like moustache. ‘I fear it’s too late for Aira, poor flower.’

Boroden shivered at the brownie chieftain’s hollow words.

A bloodcurdling shriek came from above them.

‘Aira’s alive!’ Boroden’s horror at hearing Aira’s scream became tinged with hope. It might not be too late to save her.

Torden shook his head, his expression grim. ‘She’ll not survive.’

‘Don’t say that. I can’t just leave her.’ Guilt and frustration choked Boroden.

Another shriek slashed the air. Boroden glared at the cavern roof. ‘I’ve got to rescue her. There must be a way out of here.’

Boroden scoured the crevasse, ignoring his companions.

Another cry pierced his ears. Boroden’s shoulder muscles tightened. He squelched through the slime covering the cavern floor, frantically examining the rocky walls for a place to climb up. The smooth, dark stone offered no handholds. Regardless, Boroden scrabbled at it. He scraped his fingers raw in desperation to find a way out. He needed to escape and save Aira before it was too late.

An armoured worm latched onto Boroden’s leg. He tossed it off. His cousin, Hëkitarka, kicked it, but the filthy creature continued to writhe closer. The bruised worm let off a stench like rotting fish.

‘They can climb. Nowhere is safe from these vile maggots,’ Harfan, Hëkitarka’s elder brother, exclaimed, shaking his mane of golden hair as one of the worms dropped onto his head.

A knocking sounded, hollow and muffled behind the rock.

Carnelian shuddered. ‘Surely that’s not one of them beasties.’

Harfan pressed his ear to the dank stone. ‘Quentillian?’ He turned and looked at Boroden. ‘I think it’s Quentillian.’

Boroden put his mouth close to the rock. ‘Quentillian, is that you?’

‘Yes. Praise be that you’re alive, Your Majesty.’ Quentillian’s voice floated as faint as if through water.

Boroden sighed, relieved that more of his companions survived. ‘Yes, it’s me. Where are you?’

‘In another of the deep fissures in the floor of the Unseelie caverns. I suppose the kraken thought we’d make less trouble if she split us into different cells,’ Quentillian said.

‘Are you hurt? Are you alone?’ Boroden asked.

‘I’m imprisoned with Gefi. He’s a bit stunned, but I don’t think he broke anything. Being swung down into this fissure by the hobyahs almost knocked him senseless.’

‘Hey, I’m fine,’ Gefi protested.

‘It’s a pity the hobyahs took the ropes. We might have been able to use them as a means to escape. If hobyahs ever lower any more prisoners down here using ropes like they did with us, we must try and grab a rope at all costs. If we work together, we might escape out that way,’ Boroden said.

‘Where’s Klaufi?’ Hëkitarka asked, joining Boroden by the wall. Boroden guessed his youngest cousin was keen to make it up to him after his role in landing them in this difficulty, but he was in no mood to face Hëkitarka yet.

Hëkitarka touched Boroden’s shoulder, his handsome features furrowed in concern. ‘Did you see Klaufi? Do you think he managed to escape? Maybe he used his magic to find a way out? He might come and rescue us.’

Boroden bowed his head. He imagined that the young brownie sorcerer was more likely to be dead given his clumsy nature and ineptitude for fighting. It would be impossible for Klaufi to flee the Unseelie Court unnoticed.

‘I didn’t see anything of him, Hëki. But we’ll get out of here magic or no magic, trust me,’ Boroden said, forcing a smile.

Boroden’s fortitude wavered as a gang of hobyahs peered down into the chasm, their bulbous eyes gleaming with malevolent glee. The sight of their bulging stomachs perched on top of grotesquely long legs made Boroden cringe. The hobyahs guffawed as they tossed the remains of their supper of decomposing offal over the prisoners. Boroden did not want to consider what the scraps might be from.

‘Look lively,’ ordered one of the hobyahs who scavenged in the dungeons of the Unseelie Court. The malevolent gleam in the hobyah’s eyes turned Boroden cold. ‘You’ve got a visitor.’