“She has missed you,” Nin said. “She still loves you.”
Ti’s head drooped, and moisture glinted in his eyes.
I wanted the rest of the story, but I made myself wait while he took a moment. Questions built up in my mind, and as soon as he took a deep breath and looked back to me, I started in.
“Who are the two dragons that you’ve been working for? Who captured you and checked in on you?”
“Gythornishnar.”
I hadn’t heard that name before.
“And Shaygorthian,” he added.
That name I knew. Dob’s father. The dragon who’d tried to drag me back to the Dragon Justice Court for killing his son. One of many Silverclaw dragons who seemed to be plotting against Zav’s family. No, not seemed to be. They were. If Ti could be trusted—and why wouldn’t I trust Nin’s grandfather?—this plot had been going on for centuries.
“Were any new dragons brought in recently, by chance?” I thought of Zav’s story of his uncle gone missing. What had his name been? Ston-something.
“Yes. A male dragon. I used his arrival to enact my escape. Gythornishnar was busy forcing the sick dragon to one of the life cells. It was an opportunity I’d waited years for, though I might not have taken it, but I recognized the dragon. He was Ston’tareknor, the dragon who ruled over the gnomish home world. Who ruled benevolently over us.
“Our world was claimed long ago by the dragons, our ancient kings turned into governors, and there was great bitterness for a time as we were treated like slaves, but the Reform of 3835 came, and a treaty was signed with the Dragon Justice Court. We were still to have a dragon ruler, but he would allow us to govern ourselves and treat us fairly. He was a Stormforge dragon, the first of three that ruled our world over the last thousand years.”
“And that went well?” I tried to imagine Zav as a ruler, but my wayward mind instead imagined him standing naked in front of me with his robe on the floor.
“Far better than it had been before. The second dragon was reputed to be reasonable, and Ston’tareknor followed in his footsteps. Of course, rule by dragons was not perfect, and not all gnomes stayed—I was exploring when I found Earth and Nin’s grandmother. But we all knew there were worse dragons. And when Ston’tareknor disappeared, our people were told to expect a Silverclaw ruler to take his place. We’d heard all about how their rulers were treating those on other worlds they had gained control of.” Ti shook his head slowly.
“How’d you find out about all this if you were stuck in those caverns?” I asked.
“My people were not unaware that I was imprisoned in the Crying Caverns. They would not dare defy dragons to try to break me out, but over the years, adventurers who came to hunt and explore on the continent where the caverns are located updated me.” Ti touched his temple, which I gathered meant the messages had been delivered telepathically and from a distance. “But it was an old traveling dwarf friend who most recently came and updated me on current events important to our peoples. He also told me of a half-elf who had a Dragon Blade and wasn’t afraid to slay dragons… I impulsively decided that it was worth dying if I could make it here in time and find a way to talk you into helping our people. I hoped my captors had been lying all those years and that the bacteria would not affect gnomes.”
Ti leaned his head back in the chair and wiped his arm over his brow, as if he could wipe away his weariness. “I did not realize how quickly I would succumb and how hard it would be to find you. This world is so much larger than I remembered. I had to gather information and travel across the ocean to reach you.”
“What is it you want me to do?”
I would give this information to Zav—if anyone could do anything, it was he—but I already worried about the consequences. He would want to free his people, and that could end up starting the war the two clans had been flirting with. It could draw in all the other dragon clans, who would be forced to pick sides, and the conflict could take down lots of innocent people living on the worlds across the realms. Would Earth be safe? I doubted it. Would Zav survive? I didn’t want to predict that, but he wasn’t the type to hide behind another dragon. He would lead his family from the front. I had no doubt.
“Help us.” Ti stretched imploring hands toward me. “Help me free Ston’tareknor to take his spot as ruler on the gnomish home world again. He will tell his family what has been going on, and perhaps the Stormforge dragons will war on the Silverclaw clan. If Stormforge comes out ahead, they will return normalcy to the Cosmic Realms. If all the dragons end up killing each other… gnomes could go back to ruling themselves. Either way would be a win for my people—for all of the peoples of the realms. Yours too. Have dragons not recently started terrorizing this world?”
I started to deny that dragons had terrorized Earth—so far, the dark elves had done more damage than the dragons—but hadn’t Velilah tried to light me on fire today? And what would have happened to Seattle if Dimitri and I hadn’t gotten that stolen egg back to its owners in time?
“They’ve started to be a problem here,” I said. “But what happens if neither of the two scenarios you suggest occurs? What happens if the Silverclaw Clan is pressed to make a frontal assault on the Stormforge dragons, and it turns out they’re the stronger? They could end up solidifying their rule.”
“I hope you will not let that happen.”
“Me?” I pressed a hand to my chest. “How did that dwarf even hear about me? From that piece of paper from Belohk? How did you get his diary page? And why would you believe that a half-elf could be a dragon slayer and that my sword is special?”
I’d always known Chopper was special, but what was a Dragon Blade? How rare were they? And was it even right that I’d ended up with this one? When I had thought it a prize won fairly in battle, like the charms around my neck, I’d considered it mine fair and square, but now I had to wonder. Zav had said from the beginning that he believed I had a stolen blade.
“The dwarf who came to the caverns was Belohk. He is a traveler as well as a renowned smith and an old friend of mine. He knew I was a prisoner in the Crying Caverns. Years ago, when I was first captured, he tried to free me. Unfortunately, he failed and was almost killed. The booby traps in the caverns are deadly, and they are hidden everywhere along the route to the life cells. I told him to leave me and save himself, but he did not forget that I was imprisoned there. When he found out that Ston’tareknor was being brought to the caverns, he came to warn me and offer again to help me escape. He feared that the dwarves, who have similarly been ruled by Stormforge dragons, would face the same changes soon if something was not done.
“The dragons were distracted bringing in Ston’tareknor, and with Belohk’s help, I was able to slip away. But Belohk was injured by the sentry creatures at the mouth of the valley, so I had to leave him with my people to be healed and continue on to your world alone. To find you. He believed you could help our people the way you’d helped him when he was imprisoned here.”
“You do one good deed,” I muttered.
Ti closed his eyes and slumped lower in the seat.
Nin frowned at him with worry. “Val, my grandfather must rest. Will you watch him while you consider if you can help him? I will go to my food truck and bring back hearty meals for him.”
“We have food in the fridge here.”
“Pop Tarts and breakfast burritos are not food. You do not eat properly.”
“Hey, the Pop Tarts are Dimitri’s. And your gnomish grandfather might like them. He’ll think they’re exotic.”
“I remember from my youth that his favorite food is fish-eye soup.”
“Then Pop Tarts should be a big improvement.”
“The American palate is so strange.” Nin shook her head. “You will watch him?”
“Yes, of course.” I would make him Pop Tarts as soon as she left. He looked like he could use some sugar. “And I’ll talk to Zav about all the rest of this as soon as he comes back.”
“You expect him soon?”
“I hope so.” I needed to get Zav a phone so I could call him if he was anywhere on Earth. Maybe he could keep it in the same extra-dimensional pocket that was now smeared with cake frosting.
Nin patted her grandfather’s hand one more time and headed for the door. “I should be back in an hour.”
“Maybe you should move your food truck to Green Lake so you’d be closer while he’s convalescing.”
She paused with her hand on the door. “That is a possibility. There are food trucks around here, I know. I will research the area and consider if it would be as profitable as my current spot.”
“It might be okay if you made a little less for a month.”
“You are not a good businesswoman, Val.”
“No, but I’m going to let your grandpa stay here, so make sure to bring some takeout for me and Dimitri, please.”
“Always.” She opened the door but paused again. “Now that he is awake, do you wish me to move him to my house? There is not a guest bedroom, but he could use my room, and I could sleep on the couch.” She nodded to herself, as if she’d already decided.
“No.” I held up a hand. “Remember that someone is after him. Sindari and I would have a better shot than you at driving off another batch of orcs. And you don’t want to get your roommates eaten by a monster dog from another realm. They wouldn’t be able to make their rent payments then.”
“You are sometimes wise, Val. I will bring you many meals and stock the refrigerator so you are not forced to eat substandard food out of boxes.”
She waved and headed out.
“The burritos come in bags,” I called after her.
“You are an uncouth cave woman, dear robber,” came Zoltan’s voice as Nin closed the door.
“Why? Because I don’t like my sustenance fresh from a vein?”