I risked the light of a candle on the kitchen floor to examine my bundle of provisions. The only experience I had sneaking out of bed was to come down to the kitchens for that late night forbidden snack. This was the easy part.

I had enough fruits, dried meat, cheese, and water to last me for a few nights. I did not get any details for how long it would take to reach the gnome's home, but hopefully I will be able to live off the land if need be. I wore one of my older dresses that was shorter about the knees and some knee-high boots. I had placed my spyglass in the stocking held there by my garter and the necklace the gnome had given me around my neck. I packed one spare dress and undergarments figuring I could alternate between washing and wearing. What else.... Gathering what I needed made me too aware of how ill-prepared I was to venture out on my own. I didn't even know if I was missing something in my packing.

I then remembered the knights packing some rope in their satchels when they prepare to go off on some long venture. Rope can have many uses... I cannot think of one particular use at the moment but I'm sure I'd feel better having it. After looking around the pantries and cupboards, my search proved fruitless.

Perhaps I should go without it....

I perished the thought. Now that I had convinced myself I needed rope, though I knew not what for, I could not leave without it. Where would we keep rope?

Maybe Tallis would know. He may even provide some useful invention to help me as well! Throwing my black cape over my head, I snuck out into the night and across the courtyard. My heart raced but surprisingly I found myself to be more excited than scared. I was on a mission. I was going to save the gnomes from this 'Darkness' and perhaps better the relations between our people.

It did not occur to me until after I knocked on the inventor's door that I probably should have tried to sneak in through the window or something...

He answered the door with a scowl on his face. His unruly hair stuck out at odd angles. His feet and chest were bare. My heart beat with a foreign kind of excitement as my eyes took in his statuesque physique from his shoulders where I counted five freckles to where his trim abdomen dipped like a V into his pants. His eyes widened and skin flushed.

"Sienna? What are you-- leave here this instant! Are you trying to get me killed?" He tried to shut the door, but I threw my weight against it wedging in my leg.

"Wait! Tallis, please I need your help!"

"Trust me. It can wait til morning," he nervously laughed still barring my entrance.

"No, it can't. I need a rope. Do you have some?"

Something in his eyes changed. A look that was pure agony. Suddenly, he stepped back causing me to fall forward into the room. He shut the door behind me then helped me up by the arms.

"What's wrong? Why do you need rope?"

"For rope things," I answered lamely.

His stormy eyes narrowed. "I am not giving you rope if you cannot tell me what it is for."

"Just seems like something I should have." I shrugged, trying to play it coolly.

"You're hiding something. You come to my room in the dead of night asking for rope... and you have a pack... What is going on? Tell me. Please."

Maybe I was not as fearless as I gave myself credit or perhaps, I could not lie outright to someone I considered a friend... or it was his sudden and unexpected concern for me that weakened my resolve. For whatever reason I told him everything.

By the end of my explanation, he was holding his hand to his face pinching the bridge of his nose.

"Let me see if I got this straight. You plan to just go off into the woods alone with a complete stranger because he told you he needs you, a princess, to help his people. You don't even know exactly where you are going or what exactly this curse entails or how you're supposed to help."

"Not without rope..." I rocked on my heels nervously then tried to gather my courage. "Okay, I know it seems crazy. But no matter the consequences, I have to do what I feel in my heart is right. And this feels right, Tallis!"

"Oh, okay. I mean as long as it feels right. For the love of--- Sienna! Nothing about this should feel anything but wrong. You should wait for your father to return."

"The gnome said it is urgent. If I do not lift the curse by the next bright moon, then his clan is doomed. Father will return too late. And I am afraid Ruby would never let me go if she knew. She wouldn't think me capable, but I can do this."

"Don't make me call the guards here, Princess."

A tense moment went by. His eyes were steel and unwavering. We both moved for the door at the same time, me blocking his way. I pressed my hands to his chest and planted my feet.

"Princess, move!"

"No, just listen to me!"

"The whole thing is ludicrous. If you don't come to your senses, I will throw you out of the way. You wouldn't even make it past the outer walls of the castle undetected."

"Yes, I can! I know every way out of this castle!" He stilled and I took his hesitation to push him back. "I am scared. I do have enough sense to be. But if I do not do this... if I have a whole clan's blood on my hands when it is in my power to prevent it, I will never forgive myself. Haven't you ever felt like you were meant to do something truly important? Please don't sound the alarm." My voice broke.

He once more cursed under his breath then went about his room in haste throwing items into a bag. It took me a minute to realize what he was doing. I asked the stupid question anyway.

"What are you doing?"

"What it looks like," he said throwing on a shirt and jacket then strapping a leather gauntlet to his forearm. "I am coming with you."

"I do not want you to get in trouble."

"Too late for that. When they realize you're missing, they will question me. Nazam will no doubt use his truth spells on me when he returns, or worse. It's better if I go with you now and make sure you don't get yourself killed out there."

"Thank you..." I smiled at him grateful. I cannot pretend I did not feel better now that I wasn't going alone. He said nothing in response.

We made our way out of his room to the surrounding ruins of the tower. He halted my steps with a hand to my arm. "One more thing." He pulled out a bronze hilted dagger still sheathed in a leather scabbard.

"Where did you get that?"

"Aggs gave it to me. Said every man ought to have at least one weapon. Couldn't refuse it without insulting his mother, it would seem. Do you know how to use it?"

I took it reverently. "Of course. I jab with the pointy end."

His hand covered mine on the hilt and raised it to poke his own neck demonstrating the movement. Though the sheath protected him from any harm, my stomach twisted. "The groove on the side of the neck where you would feel a person's pulse, that is where you should aim. Don't worry about slicing a throat. Just plunge the dagger deep and true. Then get away. Got it?"

"What about you? What weapon will you use?"

"Don't worry about me. You need to always have that dagger on your person. Better to be concealed, but I don't have any kind of baldric to give you..."

I hiked up my skirts to wedge it between my garter and my leg next to the spyglass.

He was pinching his nose bridge again when I straightened back up. "You are aware I am a man, right?"

"Of course." I smiled mischievously. "Am I offending your delicate sensibilities, Tallis Grey?"

He did not grace my teasing with a response. I suspected he had rolled his eyes when he turned his head away though. We made our way back to the kitchens under the cover of night. I pointed down the stairs that led into our wine cellars. Tallis nodded and followed.

We stuck close to the walls and both of us paused sucking in our breaths when we heard voices down below. Tallis peered over the railing then held up three fingers signaling there were three guards sitting down below at a card table. I didn't have to look to know that.

Luckily, we needn't go any further down. I placed a finger to my lips and perched up on my toes to reach up behind Tallis to the mounted torch holder.

The knob is here somewhere...

"Did you hear something?" A guard spoke down below. "Who is there?"

Their armor and swords clanked as they mounted up the steps to investigate. Tallis tucked under my arm to go back up the steps. "Sienna! Come on! What are you doing?"

"Hold on. I almost got it." The knob starting twisting until it clicked four times. Pushing on the wall, it gave way. I pulled Tallis along. The wall revolved until we were on the other side in a hidden passageway within the walls just as the guards came up.

"I thought I heard someone up here..." The guard said, their voice muffled by the layer of brick between us. Tallis and I held still until they retreated to their posts blaming it on echoes.

"Oh, good. They didn't hear us." I let out a breath I was holding.

"A warning would be nice, Princess. 'Hey, this wall moves!' See how easy that is?"

"And risk the guards overhearing that? I'm not daft."

He rolled his eyes.

"I shall lead us through the dark. These walls through here are very thin so keep your voice to a whisper. They would smell the burning oil if we lit a torch."

At the end of this passage, there was a drop. It wasn't a hazardous height but it looked deceivingly so. Once we climbed down, the smell of dirt made it unmistakable that we were below ground. This tunnel was held together by packed dirt and wooden beams. The structure was not as sturdy as the castle walls had been. For fear of it collapsing, I did not brave this long stretch of tunnel often. I decided to keep this information to myself and just quicken our pace praying it would hold and we wouldn't be buried alive for sneaking out.

We made it to the end of the tunnel where a ladder led up to the inside of a hollow tree in the Blackvine Woods. But we were not in the clear yet. We had to keep moving to put distance between ourselves and the watch towers, so we did, diving deeper into the land.

"So where are you supposed to be meeting the gnome?" Tallis asked after we walked about half a mile.

"In the woods."

Tallis threw up his hands. "That is not helpful. We can't stand around here waiting for him all night. We have to keep moving and a heading would be nice."

"I know that! Um, gnome! Gnome! Where are you?" I called out.

"Does this gnome not have a name? That is not going to---"

"Of course I have a name! But I am more interested in yours." The gnome appeared up in a tree holding a crossbow aimed at the Maruvian. I threw myself in the line of fire.

"Wait, stop! This is Tallis Grey. He's with me."

"Is he... necessary?"

"Excuse me?" Tallis interjected staring silver daggers at the gnome.

"Why have you come, human?" The gnome jumped up over us in a flip, landing on his feet behind Tallis, crossbow still loaded now with a clear unhindered shot.

"If you harm him, your clan and home be damned!" I yelled, twirling between the little man and Tallis again.

"I see..." The gnome lowered his weapon. "Forgive me. We gnomes are not a very trusting sort. Strangers make me itchy. If he is important to you, I shall do him no harm. But I wish you would have come alone. We have lots of ground to cover and not much time for delays."

I breathed a sigh of relief. "Thank you... now that that is settled---"

"No, it is not settled." Tallis pulled me behind him. "What is your name and where are we going?"

The gnome brushed past our legs sliding his bow onto his back. "You may call me Zeph, Princess. We must go and keep the descending moon to our backs. My home lies far beyond the mountains to the southwest. My hope is to make it to the mountains by sun up. You may come along, human."

"I was not looking for your permission," Tallis said.

"I would've struck you down if not for your princess. Humans aren't good for much. Their words pollute the air and attract trouble. I suggest you hold your breath so you do not put us in harm's way."

"Me put us in harm's way? Why should we---"

"Enough! We have a long journey. Let's try to get along," I reasoned.

"Very well. Let's go." Tallis threw his bag over his shoulder. "Those mountains look pretty far. I doubt we will make it there by sunrise ...especially given some shortcomings."

"Tallis!" I chastised.

"Right as rain... but" ---Zeph teleported in front of Tallis nearly tripping him--- "cast away your worries, Master Grey, I have seen many a jackass make the journey just fine. You shall too."

I hid a giggle. Tallis seemed to be biting his tongue and clenching his jaw.

"I understand the urgency, but I am curious. You cannot use your teleportation magic to take us to the mountain, Zeph?" I asked.

"No, I can only snap around the immediate vicinity. I will use it to speed up our travels but alas, it would be too exhausting to do it the whole way there. Once we make it past the mountains, we shall use the menhir."

"Menhir? What is that?"

"A sacred site used by my kind to amplify our magic. But a menhir only has one exit. Our home, EgdirBėhThtėaneb."

"Egdarbethanesaneb?"

"A valiant effort, Princess. Your translation would mean 'the clan beneath the bridge'. It is our ancestral home, and the menhir always brings us back."

"If what I read is true... the location of their ancestral homes is a gnome's most coveted secret. Why show us?" Tallis questioned suspiciously.

"Aye. Desperate times we are in," the gnome offered in response his eyes downcast.

"What exactly happened to your home?" Tallis pushed.

"We have been accursed by evil. And only the---"

"No. I got that part. What exactly is the curse and how is Princess Sienna supposed to help you?"

"The curse is dwindling our supply for the winters. It draws gnome blood on our soil."

"Is it a disease then?"

"A curse!"

Tallis threw his hands in his hair having exerted his patience. I smiled patiently at the gnome. "You will have to excuse my friend, Zeph. Tallis does not believe in curses."

"Not from here, eh?"

I shook my head. "But I would like to know how I can assist you."

"Bless your heart, Princess. You do your race and your ancestor proud. All you need to do is restore that there talisman to the center altar of my home." He gestured to the stone around my neck. "I am certain our suffering will be alleviated the moment you step foot in EgdirBėhThtėaneb."