Page 34 of Dragon Sword

“And where is the other side?” I asked him.

“The city has been built up over the many millennia and now resides atop a complicated mess of repurposed home foundations and narrow passages that were once winding roads.”

“Like the Grimton catacombs in Mirum?” I guessed.

He smiled at me. “Just like that. The future rises ever atop the past, and many times in a literal sense.”

I noticed a touch of worry at the corners of his lips. “What’s wrong?”

Will leaned back and pursed his lips. “The Grimton’s danger lay in its residents. The danger in the manalla is the passages themselves.”

“Manalla?” I repeated. “And what do you mean that the passages are the danger?”

“The name for the place beneath the city,” Will explained as he stared at the ground and furrowed his brow. “The elves all possess magic and have lived in this location for over five thousand years. That long residence has changed the landscape both physically and magically, creating something living beneath the earth that even I find difficult to describe.”

“Is it alive?” I asked him.

He tapped a finger against the ground as his eyes showed his intense thought. “Not exactly, but it can reflect life.”

I blinked at him. “Come again?”

He tilted his head to one side and a thoughtful expression appeared on his face. “The manalla is dangerous because it’s unpredictable. I have been in it only thrice and the experiences were completely different.”

I scooted closer to him and tried to keep the tremor out of my voice. “Different how?”

“The tunnels change and regrets lurk in the shadows,” he told me.

“Like taking the wrong route?” I guessed.

He shook his head. “It’s something more than that. The manalla is able to invade your thoughts and bring out the worst of your memories, forcing you to confront your nightmares.”

My mouth slowly dropped open as I began to understand his meaning. “It. . .it uses peoples’ memories against them?”

“To protect itself and the capital,” he confirmed. “One’s own weakness is what makes the manalla so dangerous. Anyone without either the blessing of the king or a strong confidence in themselves will be run out of those tunnels.”

I swallowed the growing lump in my throat and straightened. “Well, whatever’s down there we have to get through it, right? I’m ready whenever you are.”

He looped an arm around my waist and drew me against his side. I waited for the usual attempt at him trying to convince me to stay behind but he merely smiled down at me. “Then let us to the skies.”

I blinked at him. “The skies? I thought the old bridge was in the vali.”

He stood and helped me to my feet. “It is but in order to avoid detection we have to dive into the vali many miles above the capital. We’ll leave the basket here to lighten the load.” I yelped as he swept me into his arms and carried me through the forest. “Our order of food isn’t all that appetizing, anyway.”

I leaned over and watched the ground flash by beneath his long strides. “Why are you carrying me?”

“Do you not enjoy it?” he teased.

I snorted and snuggled into his arms. “It’s definitely comfortable but I can walk.”

“If we’re both comfortable then why change?” he mused.

I looked him up and down. “You’re worried about me.”

He stared ahead and sighed. “I’m worried about both of us. Our foe is as much a mystery now as when we arrived. We don’t even know their goal.”

“Panic?” I suggested. “There was a lot of that in that ring of stones. Speaking of that, is it always that creepy?”

Will lifted an eyebrow at me. “You sensed something amiss in the stones?”

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