The Girl in the Woods

Chapter 10

Apollo and I stayed in the dwarf gren for a couple days. The settlement didn't bother me one bit; although I was no goddess down here, everyone I met was warm and kind and always insisting on feeding me. I swear I gained like ten pounds in the few days we stayed. However, I might have lost it all playing with all the dwarf children who were extremely attached to me.

While Apollo and Mognem had important meetings with a stream of dwarf leaders from other grens, I found myself caught up in a whirlwind of small bodies constantly laughing and pulling and chasing me. I didn't mind though; all the children were huge eyed and plump, and so adorably cute I could play tag and dress up all day.

There was one boy I grew especially attached to. It was the boy with the harmonica; his name was Renbow, and as it turned out, he was Mognem's youngest son. He was only seven, so unlike the rest of the male dwarf population, he was immune to my supposed beauty. I spent the most time with him; whenever I got tired of the smaller dwarves never ending energy, he found ways to sneak me away to somewhere quieter. He was exceptionally brilliant for his age. I constantly thought of the boys I knew when I was seven, and let's just say they were dumber than a box of rocks.

"Do you think there'll be a war soon?" Renbow asked me seriously. We were seated right next to the giant fireplace in the Mess Hall. It wasn't eating hours yet, so the hall was way emptier than the day I arrived. Besides our solitary figures, only a few old matrons shuffle around, and a few humming mothers with four or five little ones trailing them like ducklings.

I paused before I answered. I knew there was a war coming, if it hadn't started already; Apollo's serious green eyes had yet to lie to me. I didn't want to scare him though - the boy was smart, but he was still a kid.

He was too smart for his own good; his green eyes watched my face and saw the answer before I could form it with my lips.

"Do you think I'll have to go fight?" He asked me seriously. He didn't even sound scared.

I looked at him. "I don't know, Renbow. You could be lucky and the faeries won't be able to find you."

"I don't know about that." He replied matter-of-factly. He pulled out his harmonica and played with it, which I was beginning to learn as what he did when he was thinking really hard. "My dad's worried that we were too nice to people in the past. A lot of people know where the entrance is, and they could break in if they wanted."

I silently agreed to this. Mognem could've possibly been the culprit of this; I could remember Apollo saying that he'd told Apollo of it after he'd found the dwarf drunk.

"Well, if they do, I'll be ready." He looked up and smiled at me earnestly. "My big brothers have been teaching me to fight since I was a young one."

I laughed and ruffled his hair."You're still a young one, silly."

He turned his nose up indignantly. "Well, since I was a younger young one, then. Want me to show you how good I am, Lilah? I can show those stupid faeries out the door, real quick."

I laughed again, but it was subdued. What had the world come to when a seven year old was contemplating fighting in a war?

"You shouldn't call them stupid, Renbow." I told him quietly. "They're just frightened and worried. They're scared if they don't do anything, someone's going to keep killing their young ones. That isn't stupid."

What was stupid was that mysterious hooded figure, flying around killing people as if it meant nothing. Stupid hooded guy.

"Okay, you're right." Renbow sounded thoughtful as he looked at me. His eyes were wide and deep and intelligent; I suddenly remembered the picture of Gantris' daughter, Lily, and felt terribly sad. "Do you have any little brothers or sisters?"