"Here," said Ariana.
"Put your hand on my shoulder, Jesse." "I'll put mine on yours," I told Jesse.
"Samuel, can you see anything?" "I can now," he said.
"It's getting lighter ahead." "Lighter" was a relative term, but the ten stairs we went down I could see.
The stairs ended in a dirt tunnel that was lit by gems embedded in the ground that were as big around as oranges.
The ceiling of the tunnel was about six inches lower than Samuel was tall, and the roof and sides were thick with tree roots.
"There aren't any trees above us," I said.
"And even if there were, we've come down a long way past where I'd have thought there would be roots." "She has a forest lord in her court," said Ariana, reaching to the side where strings of roots made a rough curtain for the dirt wall beyond.
The roots moved toward her, caressing her fingers briefly before falling back where they had been.
"What kind of fae are you, Ariana?" asked Jesse.
"Are you a forest lord, too? Or a gremlin like Zee, because you can work silver?" "There are no others like Zee," she told us.
"He is unique.
Almost all fae can work with silver to one extent or another-- silver loves fae magic.
But you are right: there are iron-kissed fae in my background, and steel holds no terrors for me." We were talking quietly, but I wasn't too worried about being discovered.
There was a feeling of .
.
.
emptiness here that told me that there was no life other than the roots that tangled in my hair and tripped my feet.
"We--" I stopped, remembering that I wasn't supposed to discuss anything about the fairy queen.
Had I already broken my word? Did it matter when we were storming the castle? "Jesse," I said, deciding to play it safe, "we haven't planned anything at all about the rescue." "There's no planning when you're running through Elphame," said Samuel, who was walking bent over, with one hand up to ward off the roots.
"It's not that kind of place.
Ariana will lead us to her grandson and Gabriel, and we'll try to get out by coping with anything that happens along the way." "That sounds .
.
.
simple," I said.
"It could be simple," Ariana told me.
"She cannot be expecting visitors--there just aren't very many fae who could open a back entrance into a fairy queen's lair.
Thralls will not react to us--they know nothing and are not much more than automata who follow the queen's orders.
We may be able to find Phin and Gabriel and leave with them before anyone realizes there is something wrong." "Should we have brought--" Ariana's fingers touched my lips.
"Best we not talk about what that one so desires in her lair," she told me.