Page 113 of To Kill a King
She shrugged. “I s’pose we could twist the end cap and find out.”
Shaking his head, he stuffed the cannisters back into the pack. Maybe the gnomes, the race of master tinkerers, would be able to tell him how to disarm one without setting it off.
Zadé frowned and picked up one of the metallic spheres. “Do you think these are worth anything?”
He collected the remaining balls and added them to the box. “Silver isn’t cheap. If the metal’s pure enough, it’s probably valuable to a metalsmith.” But they’d be heavy to carry in the meantime.
“Against weapons like these, we’re gunna to need a lot more than th’ sun elf army.”
Elessan thought for a moment. “The mages. They promised Aliya aid in eliminating Malkov.”
Zadé peered at him. “There aren’t many magic users left in th’ human realm, I don’t think. The king’s killed ‘em all. You ‘n Princess’ll need more help.”
She was right. Aliya would require all the allies she could find. “What about the dwarves?”
Zadé choked. “They ain’t come out o’ their mountains in…” She studied her fingers, counting for several seconds before shrugging and dropping her hands. “At least a few centuries. They’re even more antisocial than you mountain elves.”
“Unlike us,” Elessan mumbled, half to himself, “they still have decent numbers.” And rumors claimed they were formidable fighters. “A dwarven city used to exist near Aeth Esari, when it still stood. Vagkuldir. If they’re still in the area, they might be willing to hear us out.”
She crossed her arms and raised an eyebrow. “Elves and dwarves? Working together?”
Elessan bit his cheek and nodded. There had been a time, when he was a small child, when their two cities had maintained strong trade relations. “Give me the box.”
She held it out to him. “Fer why?”
“I think we may have use for the silver after all.”
Chapter 24
Elessan
Elessan walked around the base of the cliff one more time. “It’s here somewhere.”
Zadé chortled. “What’s th’ saying ‘bout dwarf doors?”
He sighed. “I know, I know. But if we give up, then not only would we have traveled all this way for nothing, but we’d be letting Aliya down.”
Zadé fixed him with a pointed stare. “Princess isn’t aware yer recruiting th’ dwarves, is she?”
“No. Of course not.” Though he’d kill someone for the chance to let her know.
She leaned against a large boulder and crossed her arms. “Why don’t we go to th’ pub back-a-ways, get a drink, and see if’n they’ll come to us?”
He ground his teeth and aimed a kick at the rock wall. She was right. The sun was setting, and they needed to eat. “Okay. But if this doesn’t work, we’re back here tomorrow first thing.”
She shrugged, turned and led the way back toward town.
They arrived just in time for dinner. The tavern was packed, as he’d anticipated. What he hadn’t expected was for the alehouse to be populated by dwarves.
Zadé threw him a toothy grin before walking up and claiming one of the two remaining seats at the bar.
He slipped onto the stool next to her, still studying the room. The room was loud with the sound of dishes and utensils clanking, but no one spoke. Hopefully that was an indicator of how good the food was.
His stomach grumbled.
And there wasn’t a human in sight. What a relief.
Zadé gestured to the barkeep and tossed several coins on the counter. The money disappeared, and two steins of ale materialized. She slid Elessan’s over until both beverages were in front of her. She leaned back, raised one mug in salute, and downed a swallow.