Page 19 of Of Nine So Bold

In a rustle of fabric, Ignatius sank down. “What’s your name, son?” The old man’s voice was low enough that the other giants likely wouldn’t hear—especially since they’d all retreated from me in case I might be infected with a plague.

I weighed whether to answer truthfully, but there likely wasn’t anything to be gained by lying. “Niko.”

Ignatius nodded. “Why are you in here with us, Niko?”

Thatquestion, on the other hand, was definitely dangerous. “I, um…”

Gods, what did I say? Generally speaking, Erenlians didn’t take kindly to people who looked like me or my friends.Dwarves, they called us. They’d done everything from treat us with mild contempt to make our lives a living hell. Dex had been cast out as a child, and he’d survived by hiding among the humans until they tried to kill him. Clay and Lars had spent their childhoods as punching bags for their high-society parents before being thrown out onto the streets because their parents’ friends began looking down on the whole family for having children who were “flawed.” Byron never said much about the Order, but I’d gotten the impression even he had struggled to find acceptance.

Thus, it was anyone’s guess what Ignatius would think if he found out I was a human rather than a “dwarf.”

At my anxious silence, Ignatius’s mouth thinned. “If the Aneirans tossed a human in here, they likely don’t want you to survive. Strategically, you’ve got better odds with us on your side than going alone.”

That was a good point… except for the part where I wasn’t human at all.

But then, while I couldn’t be sure Ignatius would be my ally, he also didn’t want me dead. That was something. Yet if my silence made him suspicious I truly was a spy, he might not intervene to stop the bullies a second time.

“I’m Erenlian,” I whispered. “A… a dwarf from the Forest of Azurine. The soldiers captured me in southern Aneira, and they brought me here.” I grimaced. “Wherever here is. But I can’t reach my magic to do anything about it.”

Ignatius went still for a long moment. “You realize that means there’s no way to verify your story,” he said finally. “Even dwarves are generally bigger than you.”

I swallowed dryly. I knew I was smaller than the others. Barely larger than a human male.

Gods, I’d never wished I was as large as Ozias or Dex more than I did at this moment.

“You’re from the Order of Berinlian, right?” I nodded toward his robes. “Did you know a scholar named Byron? Or one called Dathan?”

Ignatius was quiet again. I got the feeling he always thought before he spoke. Normally, I was the same. But right now, the silence made my heart race.

“Describe them.” His voice gave nothing away. “Something that you would only know if you’d met them while they were alive.”

Every thought abandoned me. I scrubbed a hand over my face, trying to make myself calm down enough to coherently describe the friend I’d known for years.

Ignatius straightened. “They bound you.”

I hesitated, lowering my hand. “What?”

“Your wrist.” He twitched his chin at the manacle peeking past my sleeve.

“Um, yeah, I guess?” I glanced around at the other giants nervously, keeping my voice low. “What is this thing? Is there a way to take it off?”

His mouth tightened. “No. It binds our magic. Keeps us from being able to fight back. The Aneirans wear them too, but they serve a different purpose for the soldiers. The shift leaders among the soldiers can lessen the suppressive power if they choose, though. Just enough for us to access our abilities if they decide it’s needed for the mining, though that usually only happens when a tunnel is about to collapse. And it’s never enough power for us to harm them or escape.”

I shifted uncomfortably on the stone.

Ignatius’s eyes narrowed. “There may be truth to what you claim, but I would still hear an answer to my request.”

It’d hardly sounded like arequest.More like a condition of whether he would believe I wasn’t a human spy. Nevertheless, I racked my mind, seeking something that would satisfy him. “Byron took his oaths on his nineteenth birthday. He said it’s all he ever wanted, to become a scholar, and he’s never wavered on holding true to that, not for a single moment since. Dathan was his mentor. When Byron took his vows, Dathan gave him the gift of a simple leather satchel that he could tuck under his robes so he could carry even more books, because Dathan said a scholar could never have too many.” I hesitated. “Byron always regretted that he couldn’t bring it with him when he fled the Aneiran assault on the temple where he lived.”

Again, Ignatius was quiet.

I glanced around, hoping none of the other giants were thinking of ways to take out their frustrations on the dwarf intheir midst. That’d been a favorite pastime of Clay and Lars’ family, I recalled them saying.

Kick the dwarf. Watch him fly. Wonder how long it’ll take him to die.

Gods, the singsong words they recounted from their family’s sadistic games still gave me shivers.

“I taught Dathan many years ago when he was an initiate,” Ignatius said at last. “That sounds like him. I recall he later took on a trainee dwarf as well. He was quite proud of the young man.” The giant drew a breath as if centering himself. “Where are they?”

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