Sineater

The fifth light shattered.

Gaelun swore something inaudible as he pulled a torch out of his bag and lit it.

“I told ye to stay away from the lights!”

“It’s not like I’m trying to break them!” Vin growled, then stepped towards the wall and swiped his hand over the glowing circle. There was a pop as the magic vanished. My brother turned back to our guide. “If I wanted to knock them out I’d just do that, but by the ore, if you hadn’t made these tunnels so sandy small, then maybe I’d be able to stay far enough away from them!”

I shook my head. At least Vin was bringing up the rear, so he wasn’t breaking lights that illuminated where we were going. Starna was following behind our guide and lending her magic to supplement the light in the tunnel. Dwarves could see in very low light, so their lights weren’t strong. Vin’s eyesight was at least as good as a Dwarf’s, but Starna and myself needed a brighter light to show us where we were going.

“Yer lucky da queen is picking up da coin on this or I’d send ya back where ya came from!” Gaelun pointed at the light beside him. “But they still take time ta fix, so stop breakin’ um!”

“What is your problem?” I glared at the Dwarf. “You’ve been bordering on hostile since we met. We’ve only known each other for a few hours, so it can’t be something we’ve done. Is it our dad?”

“That Pyrite shamed da whole mountain when he took ‘is boys ta fight in da Great War. Then he stayed because he was ‘needed there more’!” Gaelun’s voice rose. “After they threw him away, does he come home? No! He goes out in the water like some guppie. Dwarves weren’t made for the sea! We were made for the earth!”

Before I could speak he pushed past Starna to stomp in front of me. It was a little comical that the four foot tall man was trying to be intimidating when I had over two feet on him and he was having to look up at me.

“Da worst insult wasn’t taking in some human boy. We do that all da time. But we don’t give them our name. And we DON’T take in those abominations!” He pointed at Vin without breaking eye contact with me.

“I’ve just about had it with your attitude!” I leaned over the shorter man. “You don’t know anything about us, but you’re judging my brother just because of what he is?”

“That thing ain’t yer brother!” Gaelun’s voice echoed off the walls. “I’ve got more in common with me goat than ya do with the child eater!”

“Wha..?” I looked over at Vin. “Since when have you been eating kids?”

I’d expected my brother to look as insulted as I was, but instead all I saw on his face was shame.

“He’s talking about the Great War.” Vin’s voice cracked as he spoke. “The Camadt wouldn’t help fight against the demons, but after the battle was over they came over and…” He swallowed. “Took care of a lot of the bodies in Crylus.” He looked at Gaelun. “That’s what you’re talking about. You were there weren’t you?”

The shorter man balled his fists as he looked at my brother. “I was in charge of gettin’ supplies ta Garm. Whole thing blew up while I was there. After it was over, I was helping get the boys fixed up when those black ships showed up. Said they had shown up ‘too late’.” Gaelun mocked the words he put inside air quotes. “If Malus hadn’t been there, they might’ve tried ta take da city, but after a few tussles, they started cleanin’ up. Did a good job on the buildings, but they never brought back a single survivor, no bodies, nothin’.” He glared at Vin. “If me king hadn’t ordered me to, I’d never work with one o’ his kind again!”

I looked over at my brother, who shook his head. I knew that the Camadt had an appetite for sentient beings. Fae in particular, but I’d never seen Vin get anywhere close to eating someone. Sure, he bit plenty of people, but that was more to lean into the fear that people had for the Camadt, not because he wanted to taste them.

“Look, the Great War was over a hundred years ago. Neither of us were even born back then. My birth parents weren’t even born back then. So while I know the war was awful beyond anything I’ve seen, it’s not fair to us for you to judge us based on what others have done. We’re here as friends and allies and we haven’t done any…” I winced as another light winked out of existence. “We haven’t done much that could be considered hostile. So why don’t you give us a chance? I promise, my brother has never eaten another person.”

“Da Camadt don’t consider anyone else ta be people…” Gaelun eyed me, then turned to Vin. “Ya git one chance.”

The three of us watched him stomp up the tunnel in silence. It didn’t seem like he had really warmed up to us, but maybe he wouldn’t be quite so hostile.

“We better keep up.” I nodded after the Dwarf. “I don’t think he’s going to…”

Part of the wall caved in. Starna screamed as Vin grabbed her to get her out of the way of the falling rocks.

“VIN!” I held out my hand as the floor broke out from under us.