"We're looking for my great-uncle Ebbitt," said Tal. "An old Chosen. His Spiritshadow has the shape of a maned cat. Have you seen him down here?"
"Maybe," said Crow. Tal noticed that the other Underfolk seemed to recognize Ebbitt's name, and they wouldn't meet his eyes. It was also clear Crow was their leader and they would stand silently while he did the talking.
"Can you take us to him?" asked Milla.
"That depends, doesn't it?" said Crow.
"On what?" Tal asked. He was getting more and more angry. "Why don't you… why don't you just do as you're told?"
Even as the words left his mouth, Tal regretted them. This was exactly how he'd gotten in trouble with the Icecarls. His mind knew better, but it was slower than his tongue.
Crow stared at him, his dark eyes shining with a deep hatred.
"You're still a Chosen, aren't you?" he said, raising his knife. "Do this, do that! We're not your servants down here! We're Freefolk, not Underfolk. And you can wander around down here like little lost light puppets until the guard gets you, as far as I'm concerned!"
Tal raised his Sunstone, his mind concentrating on a Red Ray of Destruction. If Crow sprang at him or tried to throw the knife, he would unleash it.
Crow saw the Red light swirling around the stone, and hesitated. Before either of them decided to break the momentary stalemate, Milla sloshed between them and looked up at the Underfolk on the dock.--
"There should be no fighting between us, when the real enemy is close," she said. "Afterward, when the storm is done, we can settle scores."
Crow stared down at her, the fury still obvious in his face. It looked like he was going to attack anyway, until one of the other Underfolk sidled over and whispered something to him.
"Close it, Clovil!" said Crow, pushing the other boy, hard enough that he fell over a barrel and into a pile of seaweed.
"All right, I'll say it so everyone can hear," shouted Clovil. He was angry now, too, as he clambered out of the seaweed. "We've orders to bring anyone who wants to see Ebbitt to--"
"Close it!" Crow repeated. But he seemed to have lost the heat of his anger, for there was no strength in his words.
"So you do know Ebbitt," said Milla. "And there is someone who gives you orders. Lead us to your Crone."
"Our what?" asked Gill, as Crow frowned and did not answer.
"Whoever is in charge," Tal explained. He'd managed to calm himself down and was remembering his first introduction to Milla and the Icecarls. Obviously these Freefolk weren't normal Underfolk and couldn't be treated like them. He'd have to be more polite. He'd learned at least that out on the Ice.
"I'm sorry about what I said," Tal added, looking at Crow. Crow stared at him, expressionless. There was no knowing what thoughts lay behind those unblinking eyes. Tal didn't know whether his apology was accepted or not.
"Clovil, Ferek," Crow ordered, "lead out. We'll go via forge country and across holding tank four."
"Four?" asked Ferek. He was a small and seemingly nervous boy. He twitched as he spoke. Tal had seen that sort of twitch before. Ferek must have spent time in the Hall of Nightmares.
"I said forge country and holding tank four," snapped Crow. "Do I have to repeat every order?"
"Only the stupid ones," muttered Gill, too soft for anyone but Milla to hear. The Icecarl glanced at the girl, who was surprised to have been heard. She scowled and looked away.
Milla and Tal climbed out of the water and onto the dock, their Spiritshadows rising up close behind them. The Underfolk stepped back, unconsciously forming a line.
"As I said, I am Milla, of the Far-Raiders clan of the Icecarls. What are your names?"
The Underfolk all looked at Crow, who shrugged. Evidently this was permission. Even so, it took a moment before they mumbled their names.
"I'm Gill," said the blond girl. Like all of them, she wore a mixture of Underfolk white robes and odd bits and pieces. In her case, that included the belt from a Blue Brightstar, though the belt was so dirty it could be black instead of blue. She needed it because she was so skinny.
Up close Tal saw that her white Underfolk robes had crude writing on them, as did all the others. He had to crane his head sideways before he could work out that it was the letter
F
from the standard Chosen alphabet repeated over and over.
"It stands for Freefolk," said Clovil, who had seen what Tal was doing. "Free of the Chosen. It shows who we are, to separate us from the Fatalists."
"The Fatalists?" asked Tal. "Uh, that starts with
F, too…"
"But they don't have writing on their robes," Clovil explained.
"You mean the… the regular Underfolk?"
Crow made a cutting movement with his hand and Clovil didn't answer. Tal didn't press it. There was still a lot of tension in the air.
"You are called Clovil?" asked Milla, when no one else introduced themselves.
Clovil nodded. He still had seaweed on his shoulders. He was almost as tall as Crow, and from the way he'd behaved before it looked like he thought he should be in charge. His long sandy hair was held back by a comb made from a large white bone. Possibly a human one, though the Underfolk kept all sorts of livestock for the Chosen's tables so it could easily have come from an animal.
"And you are Ferek," continued Milla, pointing at the twitching, small boy. He nodded and smiled eagerly. Crow frowned at him, and the smile disappeared.
Apart from Crow that left a single, stout girl, who had stood silently by the whole time. Unlike the others, she wore a heavy hide apron over her Underfolk robes and had a large number of pouches hanging from her belt.
"That's Inkie," said Gill.
Inkie nodded to them. There was no explanation of why she didn't talk.
"I am Odris," said Odris, after another momentary pause.
As the Spiritshadow spoke, all the Underfolk even Crow--jumped in surprise and Ferek stepped back, shaking uncontrollably, as if he had a sudden fever.
"What?" asked Odris, looking at Milla and Tal. "All I said was my name!"
"Spiritshadows don't usually talk to anyone but their masters, in private," said Tal. He'd become so used to Adras and Odris talking away that he'd forgotten this was yet another way in which the Storm Shepherds were different from other Spiritshadows.
"Odris and Adras are not normal Chosen Spiritshadows," explained Tal to the Underfolk. "They are… um… friends, I suppose, rather than… er… servants."
Milla didn't say anything. She was looking back across the lake, into the darkness. Lights had flared there, a sudden show of distant flashes and stars. There was also the very faint echo of shouts.
"The
guards," she said urgently. "They've found us. We have to move quickly."
"Right," said Crow. "Like I said--through forge country and then across holding tank four. Clovil, Ferek, you lead."
The two named Underfolk ran along the dock to a door in the cavern wall and slipped through it.
"After you," said Crow to Tal and Milla, gesturing for them to go first.
Milla shook her head.
"No," she said evenly. "We will follow you."
Crow stared for a moment, then shrugged and left, followed by the other Underfolk. On the way, he picked up a long strand of the weed, one with very large nodules, and hung it over his shoulder. Gill and Inkie did the same.
Milla and Tal waited till the Freefolk were well in front before they followed. Nothing was said, but both Milla and Tal didn't want Crow behind them.
CHAPTER FIVE
The Freefolk led Milla, Tal, and the two Spiritshadows through winding, narrow pathways that were carved roughly through the pale yellow stone of the mountain. Every now and then a single, fading Sunstone would show that these ways had once been lit and used by the Chosen. But for the most part they were dark, stained with the smoke from Underfolk lanterns, and the only Sunstones were long dead, nothing more than blackened pits in the ceiling or walls.
Clovil and Ferek kept up a fast pace, which pleased Milla, since she knew the guards or their Spiritshadows would soon work out where they'd gone. It would have pleased Tal, too, if his leg didn't hurt so much. He wanted to use his Sunstone to ease the pain, but they never stopped long enough for him to cast any of the healing glows he'd learned in the Lectorium.
After an hour of traveling through the narrowest, most winding ways, Clovil and Ferek slowed down and stopped a few stretches before the next corner. As the others moved up, Tal and Milla heard strange water noises--or something--gurgling and splashing, almost as if a herd of giant animals were drinking and then spitting.
There was also a strange light spilling into the tunnel--a hot, yellow-and-blue-tinged light that Tal had never seen before. At least, never so intensely. It reminded him of something he couldn't quite place.