“Where? To Hest? I think not.”
Catchflea thought for a moment and said, “The gully dwarves, they come down here. Perhaps we could parley with them, yes? They would certainly have food and water. If we approach them the right way, they might help us get around the goblins.”
“They are stupid and ugly and smell bad,” Di An said. “It is foolish.”
“They're basically good folk,” Riverwind countered. “I've dealt with them before. They are simple, but Aghar have been derided for so long that they understand what it means to starve and suffer. I think they'll help us.”
Di An was silent. Finally, her gaze came to rest on River-wind. “This is a mistake,” she said. “But I agree to try it your way.” She stood and walked away, into the shadows.
Riverwind sighed and lay back on the ground. “Old man, do you think this is the right thing to do?”
Catchflea didn't answer. He was staring after the elf girl. Riverwind repeated his question.
“What? Yes, tall man,” Catchflea replied. “I agree that it is our only choice.” He paused. “But I think perhaps you should speak to her.”
“And say what? I'm as frightened as she is.” Riverwind rubbed his abused ribs. “I only want to get back to my quest. It seems like years since I parted from Goldmoon.”
“Something more than fear is troubling her, my friend.” The old soothsayer hesitated a long moment. “I believe she is in love with you.”
“That's ridiculous! She's a child.”
“A child ten times your age,” Catchflea said gently. “Speak with her. I'll stand guard.” The old man walked slowly back to the hole in the cave ceiling.
Riverwind lay still for a few minutes. Di An in love with him? It couldn't be true. She had been acting strangely lately-rude, nay-saying. There was some other answer. She must be homesick. The gods knew he was.
Goldmoon, my beloved, he thought, how far away you seem now.
Di An was crouched in an especially dark corner of the cave, away from the torchlight. She was miserable and she didn't know why.
The trek from Hest had been arduous. She and Catchflea and Riverwind had faced many dangers. The warriors of the dreaded King Sithas. Hunger and thirst. The creeping death. She shuddered. She had watched Riverwind die. She had seen his face go white and still. It was worse than when he had been under Li El's enchantment. He had truly died. When he had at last taken air back into his lungs, Di An had felt a great rushing of joy. It was more than a gladness felt for a friend-she'd had many friends before among the scouts of Hest. This was something more.
“Di An?” Riverwind's voice carried through the cave. “Where are you?”
The elf girl heard the concern in his voice. She made herself stand and call out to him.
“I was getting worried,” he said. “I thought something might've happened to you.”
“Something has,” she blurted.
He took her hand in his own and the warmth of his body made her shiver. “You're freezing,” he said. “Let's move toward the light.” He led her to a rock by one of the torches and sat down, bringing their eyes more on a level.
'Tell me what is bothering you, little one.”
Di An jerked her hand from his. “I'm not a child, River-wind!” she exploded.
He was taken aback. “I know that, Di An. I'm sorry.” He looked closely at her. “You've been crying. What's wrong?”
Her struggle to hide her feelings was plain on her face. It was a battle she lost. “We have suffered through so much together,” she said, “yet you cannot wait to be rid of mel I see it in your face, tall man. You want nothing so much as to be on the surface again, free to return to your-people.” She turned away from him to hide her angry face.
Riverwind realized then that Catchflea was right. “Di An,” he began, “it's no secret that I ache to get on with my quest. I have to fulfil] it if I am to have the hand of the woman I love.” She stiffened when he said that. His voice softened. “You have been a fine companion and a friend. That need not end, ever.”
Her thin shoulders rose and fell with a musical clink from her copper mesh dress. “It is difficult,” she said, “never to fit in. Who am I? In Hest, I was a barren child. In Vartoom, I was Mors's eyes. Here in the tunnels and caves, I am Di An, the same as the old man and you. One of three.”
“You're still one of three,” Riverwind said gently.
“But soon to be left behind. What am I to do on the surface? Where shall I go?”
Riverwind had wondered about those same questions himself.
“I'll be honest with you,” he said slowly. “It won't be easy for you. But you can become anything you can make of yourself. No one on the surface cares if you're a barren child or a digger. Be a traveler, a trader, anything you want. Be free, Di An. Free.” He said the word in her language. “Varin”
He reached out and gathered her into his arms. She buried her head against his chest and wept a bit. Riverwind sorrowed that she was so unhappy because of him. He knew that her future would not be an easy one.
Chapter Seventeen
They took turns watching the hole, but nothing happened for many hours. Riverwind was sitting wedged between two limestone boulders, sipping water from his canteen, when he heard voices from above. Seconds later, a stumpy figure appeared in the hole. It was a gully dwarf. A rope was tied around his thick waist, and someone was lowering him through the hole.
“Make slow!” the Aghar said. He promptly dropped almost six feet. “Slow, dungheads! Slow! Turn rope!” The rope twisted, rotating the little fellow in a circle. He had mouse-colored hair, liberally coated with soot. His stubby fingers were blackened, too. “Make lower,” he said, and he was lowered to the cave floor.
“Torch!” A flaming brand almost hit him on the head.
“Good aim, dunghead!” The gully dwarf picked up the brand and started walking. He didn't bother untying the rope from his waist.
“Any monsters down here?” he called. “Show yourself to Brud. No eat Brud. Taste bad, phooey.” The dwarf waved the torch around. Riverwind crouched lower.
“No monsters here. Pull up now?” The rope remained slack. “Brud Stonesifter valuable fella. You want rock 'spert eaten?” A hefty chunk of paving stone whizzed down the hole. Brud skipped aside. “All very right! I look more.”
Brud was no crafty tracker, but he plainly saw the broken ladder and the marks made when Catchflea and Di An had dragged the unconscious Riverwind away. He walked slowly, peering at the trail. It led him right past Riverwind.
“Valuable Brud, bait for monster. Ha,” the dwarf mumbled as he snooped. “Serve very right if eaten up, then no one find rocks for masters. Ha.” He stumped by Riverwind. The plainsman pulled his knife and grabbed the little man. Clamping a hand over his mouth, Riverwind then cut the rope a foot or so from the Aghar's waist. He carried the struggling gully dwarf around the rocks to his friends.
“Wake up,” he said.
Catchflea rubbed his eyes. “I hope you found something to eat,” he said. Brud froze a second, then redoubled his frantic wiggling. Riverwind gave him a hard squeeze and warned him to be still.
“What have you got?” Di An piped.
“A visitor. If he'll behave, I'll let him speak.” Brud put his most eloquent appeal into his muddy brown eyes. “All right.” Riverwind removed his hand.
“Eeeeeeeyow!” screamed the gully dwarf. The cave rang with his blood-chilling cry. Riverwind clamped his hand once more over Brud's mouth and ducked down behind the rocks that sheltered Catchflea and Di An. The elf girl looked disgusted.
“Treacherous worm,” she said. “Pound him with a stone. That will make him quiet.”
Riverwind set Brud on the ground and pushed his own face close to the dwarf's. “Now listen to me. We are very desperate criminals, and if you make one more sound to alert the goblins, I shall cut your throat.” Catchflea suppressed a giggle at his young friend's fiercely ridiculous threat. Riverwind displayed his knife to Brud, then carefully lifted his hand from the little fellow's mouth.