Raden, Ildir, Enid, Neyr, and a few other therianthropes and elves stood outside of the doors to the mountain village, waiting for us to join them.
“The others, they’ve crossed?” Marren asked Ildir.
“That is the assumption,” Ildir replied.
Enid stood a few feet from the group, hand on the handle of his sword, gazing out over the trees. I wanted to ask him what was going on when Neyr, the Centaur who had helped me when I was stuck inside the Tombcell, and one of those lucky enough to escape Jiren’s control alive, approached me.
“Lady Relena,” she greeted with her right fist crossing her chest and bowing her head slightly. It’s a sign of respect and friendship. Much like Marren’s special way of expressing his emotions to me—his words meaning something deeper than I love you.
“Neyr,” I greeted, following with the same gesture. “Are you ready to finally join the rest of your people?”
She smiled. She rarely smiled. “It is something I’ve wished for, for many weeks now. I only wish it were under less pressing reasons.”
Her face contorted.
“What is it, Neyr? What have you not told us?”
At this, Marren had stopped his conversation with Ildir and Raden and had turned toward mine.
Neyr started to visibly shake, the fur on her back twitching rapidly. She stomped her back hooves a few times while she wrung her fingers together. Her face was bunched as if she wasn’t sure she wanted to say.
“Neyr.” Marren spoke with the tone I’d heard him take only once; with Farrah, back on the mortal realm.
“Please, Master Marren, try to understand I didn’t want any harm to come to any of my people. But I had overheard Jiren speaking about taking ‘the child’, and he saw me. He threatened if I spoke a single word, he’d hunt down my people and make sure I understood loneliness before he ended me as well.”
I understood a little of where her fear came from. Centaurs are social creatures. Loyal, but also social. They live in groups, preferring to not be alone. Alone to them is what living in the Netherworld would be for me. It’s a fate worse than death. In fact, I had been told of stories of banishment being used as a form of punishment for the most outstanding of offenses.
Marren clenched his hands into tight fists—so tight his knuckles turned white. His face was too frightening for me to look at. His eyes held an anger burning so brightly I was afraid his stare alone would set Neyr on fire. I reached out a trembling hand and placed it on his shoulder. He flinched. I sucked in a breath and moved my hand back, afraid he would turn his anger against me.
Seeing the fear in my eyes, his anger dissolved. He expelled a breath and slouched slightly.
“Marren, she was only trying to protect herself and her people. We cannot blame her. Naloud is safe.” I tried to make my words as sincere as I could.
He nodded, grabbing my hands into his. “I suppose you’re right. Mercy in place of fear.”
I nodded and smiled. “Yes.”
Enid approached. “I don’t mean to intrude, but we should move on. Something isn’t right. I feel it. And this storm isn’t going to be gentle.”
I glanced up to see the thick, rolling clouds light up, showing dark powerful puffs. It would be a hard storm, indeed.
***
I knew something was wrong when auras kept moving. There were too many of them to be just a few trees and bushes.
We stepped through the trees, onto the path that led up to the mouth of the cave that used to be flanked by tall statues resembling the Ancients. Only one remained standing. The one depicting Jiren. The others had been destroyed. Their remains lay scattered and strewn around, and more importantly, sealed the cross over. The last of the races that were supposed to have gone through worked on moving the smaller, more manageable sized chunks. The air filled with the sound of a rhythmic rumble that seemed too even to be rolling thunder.
“Marren, what do we do now?”
Instead of answering me, he let go of my hand and stepped closer to the rubble.
“What is it?”
“He couldn’t do something like this alone,” Marren replied.
“Could this have been the loud rumble that shook the ground instead of thunder?” Enid asked, referring to a giant boom that we all thought was the sound of a thunderclap on the way here. It nearly shook us from our feet.
“Quite possibly,” he replied.
“Well, nothin’s gettin done standin ‘round here,” Ildir said.
“Time to do what dwarfs do best,” Raden seconded.
Both stalked off toward the mountain and joined the other group of dwarfs I hadn’t notice until then. The even rumbling, I realized, was the crushing of the rock that blocked our way back to the mortal realm. Parts of their axes and hammers were visible above the mounds of rock just before the crashing sound that followed.
“Marren, it can only go faster if we all work together to move the rock,” I said.
“What is it you’re planning?”
“A chain.”
***