Page 76 of Dark Elves of Ardani

Zara started when she saw a woman standing in the entrance, leaning against the wall in a relaxed manner. To her surprise, the woman was not Varai. She was stunningly beautiful, with smooth black hair and sun-soaked gold skin. She smiled at Zara and offered her a hand. Uncertainly, Zara went to take it.

Nero quickly stepped between them, catching the woman’s wrist before she could touch her. “No,” he said to the woman. “We don’t need that. Not with her.”

The woman raised her eyebrows. “If you say so.”

“She saved Vaara’s life, remember?”

The woman looked at Zara, her expression growing soft. “Vaara is my husband. You have my thanks for helping him.” She reached for a pair of gloves that were tucked into her belt, put them on, then offered her hand again.

Zara gave Nero a questioning glance, and when he didn’t protest, she shook the woman’s gloved hand.

“I’m Crow,” the woman said.

“Zara.”

“Don’t let the ones inside intimidate you. If they say anything to you, I’ll deal with them.”

“Iwill deal with them,” Nero said, and Crow looked amused. Nero ushered Zara past her into the cave.

The darkness closed in on them. Zara’s steps slowed as she felt a very familiar jealousy of the Varai and their ability to see in the dark. Nero’s hand closed around hers, and he guided her as the light from outside was cut off completely. Zara expected to lose her footing, but the ground was surprisingly even.

And then, just as she had begun to adjust to the utter blackness, she saw a faint light ahead. They rounded a bend, and the passage opened up into a cavern.

Zara blinked in astonishment. The cavern’s walls and ceiling were dotted with specks of blue-green light that lit the space just enough for her to see it in detail.

She looked at Nero. “Mage light?”

“We’re not sure what it is. It could be some kind of bioluminescent growth, like you have in Kuda Varai. None of us sense any magic coming from it, but none of us are mages, so we can’t tell for certain.”

In the cavern was what looked like a small village carved from stone. Some of the rooms and buildings were built from stone blocks brought in from elsewhere, but some of them were simply carved into the walls themselves.

Zara still didn’t see anyone else yet, and she was glad of it. She recalled the experience she’d had at the other Varai camp, and she wondered what would happen when the Varai here saw her. It was doubtful that even outcast Varai living in Ardani would welcome a human stranger among them. Even Nero and Crow had acknowledged that much.

She didn’t know if she had it in her to keep fighting to defend herself. The past few days had left her feeling hollowed-out.

“How many of you are there?” she asked warily.

Nero held her gaze steadily, not answering. She realized that it sounded like something Theron would have asked. Any information he shared with outsiders was information that could be used against them. Showing her this place at all was a huge gesture of trust.

“You do not have to tell me,” she said.

He took her elbow and guided her across the cavern. “A little over a dozen,” he said. “Some people, like me, come and go. I’m not sure whether we should count ourselves as part of the group.”

That surprised her, that he didn’t know whether to consider himself a part of his own group. If he didn’t belong here, and he didn’t belong with any of the other Varai in the mountains or with the humans in their villages, where did he belong?

They left the underground village behind and entered another tunnel. Glowing growth along a corner of the wall lit their way. More corridors branched off from this one. This place was larger than she’d thought.

She heard water. They went down a hall and into a smaller cavern, and she found the source of the sound—a pool of water that took up most of the room. The glowing stuff had grown along the wall and on the rocks beneath the water, which lit the pool with an eerie blue light. Water appeared to be trickling in from one wall and slowly draining out through the other.

She was suddenly warm in her layers. The entire room was warmer than the rest of the cave system. It must have been the water. It was a hot spring.

Nero went to the water and dipped a hand in. “The water will fix your injuries.”

She was skeptical. “Because of the heat?”

“Because of the magic.” He motioned for her to approach, and she stepped up beside him, watching the water.

“Can you feel it?” he asked.

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