Free That Frigid Fargin Witch (The Legend of Vanx Malic) by M. R. Mathias

earlier. It wound back around to touch the metropolis at an abandoned looking quay. Some parts of the city were tiny; others were sized for gnomes, and still others for brownies. There were even a few larger buildings, where elves or pixies might dwell or do business. Set back in wide, flat niches along the cavern walls, at various levels, and connected by zigzagging lanes, was what appeared to be entire neighborhoods and farmsteads.
    The place smelled like a city, too—wood smoke, forge fires, cooking, and the ever-present stench of offal that no metropolis could avoid.
    There were several caveways, both large and small, leading away from the city, but apparently the road they were on was the only one they needed to take, for Thorn didn’t lead Poops down any other.
    Vanx didn’t have to ask why the place looked deserted, and that particular observation only urged the group on, toward the nexus. A few of Citadel’s inhabitants paused to give Vanx and Chelda a look. Mostly children and matronly creatures who were too saddened by the murder of their queen, and worried for their loved ones, to garner much hope from the two huge beings. Vanx tried to ease their concerns with reassuring nods and grim smiles, but doubted that it did much good. The fathers and mothers, the sisters and husbands, of all these remaining people had gone on to battle evil. They were most likely under-equipped and unskilled against a rotten, vicious witch who had already killed their queen and Gallarael.
    That thought made him wince.
    Not long after leaving Citadel behind, they came upon a troop of all sorts of fae folk. The group was being led by an elf wearing silver chainmail and a battle helmet. On either side of him, two pixies hovered. They were similarly sized, carried wicked recurved bows and wore brightly painted, plated vests. Vanx noticed that the fiercest-looking of them was the female. The troupe was headed back to the Citadel, they learned, to take another passage to some other fairy mound entrance. The group seemed encouraged by the gargan-sized help that had arrived, but other than the three leading them, they had little in the way of armor or weapons and didn’t have the look of skilled fighters.
    The elf leading them deferred to Thorn’s rank, and openly gawked in reverence at his dog-riding superior. This didn’t surprise Vanx, but Chelda seemed a little mystified by the idea of Thorn holding some sort of high position among his people.
    The two elves conferred briefly, then Thorn dismissed the other with a salute. Vanx caught the eyes of a battle-ready pixie girl as she started to blush and look away, but stopped herself. She puffed up her chest and held out her chin in a show of courage. Vanx wondered how many battle berries the two-foot-tall warrioress had eaten, and if it was enough for her to keep her courage when she faced off with one of those wolfen monsters. Vanx gave her a firm, reassuring nod, even though he had a strong feeling that this ill-fortified group was marching off to its demise.
    A short while later, the murmuring of many voices and the general clamor of a crowd could be heard ahead of them. Thorn caught the attention of two little sprite men who had been buzzing about and gave them some orders in their high-pitched language. They zipped off ahead and disappeared just as the clog of fairy folk threatened to block their way.
    Beyond the jam of people trying to get into the nexus Vanx could see an enormous cavern open up. It was illuminated in a bright purple glow. Apparently though, after a few dozen paces, the floor fell away, for all Vanx could see beyond that were a few sets of shimmering wings here and there as they reflected the source of the radiant lavender light.
    “Silence!” an eerie feminine voice, that was as much in Vanx’s head as it was outside of it, said in crisp, perfectly spoken Zythian. “Silence all! Open a path to me from the Tinker’s Way.”
    “Did you hear that?” Chelda