Warrior King New Worlds (Crystal Kingdom #6) - Milly Taiden Page 0,12

metal for the swords and knives come from?”

Honestly, she hadn’t thought about it. The forest dwellers didn’t have metal utensils. They ate with wooden sticks like chopsticks. When they arrived in the main cave, the soldiers were training with large, heavy metal weapons.

“What does a volcano have to do with metal?” Daphne asked. That was Lilah’s next question also.

“The magma has the metal in a liquid form. The smith takes out the liquid and shapes it into forms we need. Most is used for weapons. The swords break so much that we need a constant supply for the soldiers to keep training.” Shinni scowled then rose and walked away, mumbling, “If the males would listen to us, then they wouldn’t have so many problems.”

What did that mean? Daphne glanced at her as she must’ve heard it too. All righty then. Lilah stood, dropping the soil.

“Let’s go inside, and I’ll show you around the food preparation area.” The fae gracefully floated over the rugged terrain to the slope like a prima ballerina. Lilah was as far from that as could be. Daphne grabbed her hand and pulled her along, helping her keep her balance on the tilted mountainside between the garden and kitchen entrance.

Stepping onto the slope, she noticed a mirror inserted into the rock wall. “What’s that for?” she asked. Then she saw how the light bounced off it, going farther into the cave. Her eyes followed the invisible trail to another two reflectors.

Good god. She hadn’t thought about it when they had first arrived in the kitchen, but the space was brightly lit. Not a torch to be seen. Not that using mirrors to move light was a new concept, but making it really work was impressive. Couldn’t they bounce light down to the main cavern? Was it too far down?

Shinni took them away from the stone island toward another space where she heard water running. Women not in brown ponchos stood over a raised basin with a small waterfall coming through a hole in the ceiling. The sight was charming, with sunlight shining off the water—the perfect place to have a picnic if they hadn’t been in a mountain.

Seeing one of the women stepping away with a dripping load in her arms, she realized they were washing clothes. The fae moved into an area with row after row of thin rock walls about four feet tall. Clothes of all sizes were draped over the tops—even children’s garments.

Many girls of all ages roamed the kitchen area, helping the women. But where were the boys? Were they with the soldiers? That was a bit old fashioned if you asked her. Some of the best chefs were men. And she knew some women who could totally beat any man’s ass in a mixed martial arts cage.

Coming back to the island where women cut and diced food, Lilah noted the women who had their brown sheets off had bodies the same shape as she did. The climb from the throne room to here solidified in her mind the reason for such muscle-laden bottoms.

Not paying attention to her surroundings, her elbow bumped a bowl off the surface to break into stone pieces when it hit the floor. Horror shot through Lilah. How long did it take them to carve the large bowls from rock? Days? Weeks?

“Don’t worry,” the woman next to her said, bending over to gather the pieces. The fae set the chunks on the island and mashed the parts in her hands like they were dough. As Lilah and Daphne watched, the female squashed the doughy sections into one gray ball then worked it into a bowl shape. She moved the dish to the middle of the table, where it slowly hardened into the rock it had been.

Holy shisterbots! That was amazing. Their magic was manipulating the material they had in abundance—stone. That explained the stone cups, plates, and other items lying around. Her attention went to the knives used to cut food.

The blades were shiny and looked sharp as hell as they sliced through carrot-looking items with ease. The swords which the warriors trained with didn’t shine. She wondered if there was a difference between the two materials that made each.

“Shinni,” Lilah said, “do you have the same problem with your knives as the guys do with their swords breaking?” The raucous reaction from the women startled her. Some slammed their knives on the table. Some gave her a look of disgust. Others snorted. “What?” Lilah asked, afraid she’d said