Chapter 10

Myra was in Valhalla again and not the "real" place that was so different yet the same. She was in Valhalla again, for real. She was back where she had first met Corin; she was back!

"Hey" Corin said from a high branch in The Tree. He jumped down and gave her a hug.

"Hey, I thought you said this place wasn't real?" Myra said squinting at him.

"It isn't"

"Then how come we're here?"

"You don't even want to know"

"Come on, tell me!"

"It's very technical"

"I'll deal with it."

"Okay, Valhalla is an invention of our minds. When we were little both of us were in pain and somehow our minds reached out to each other. Together our minds formed Valhalla, our two favorite places combined into one. When we fell asleep our souls would search for each other during our unconsciousness and they would become one creating our safe haven, Valhalla."

"That wasn't technical!"

"I saved you from the boring parts; I'm good at summarizing."

"Ah, your good old noggin?" Myra said laughing.

"Yep, so did you start your journey?"

"Yeah, we made it to some inn called the Cavern Inn and were searching for dwarves."

"Ah, the children of the earth"

"Children of the earth?"

"That's what they call themselves."

"Oh"

"Very loyal to their King, but they tend to be more loyal to dirt."

"So how should we convince them?"

"Offer them land, the underground part but don't offer them jewels; they're dead to them… or save a life or something."

"What do you mean?"

"You know, gain their trust-"

"Not that!"

"You don't have to yell! Deep in the ground the jewels actually grow and the dwarves tend to them like crops. The ones we have are dead and the dwarves find it useless and spiteful to the live ones."

"They're like farmers?"

"In a way, but below ground not above."

"Opposite worlds"

"Exactly"

"We stopped by an underground lake to rest…"

"…And you fell asleep"

"Oh my gosh!"

"What?"

"I was supposed to be on guard!"

"You must have been tired"

"How do I wake up quick enough?" Myra said anxiously. Corin frowned and gave a large theatric sigh.

"Do I have to do everything for you?"

"Maybe" Myra said playfully. Corin motioned for her to close her eyes and the next thing she knew she was awake.

Myra hands and feet were tied up and gagged in a strange room. She could see the faint outline of Lorain and K'linne nearby. The room was dark and no lights were visible. In the dark, Myra's eyes glowed their eerie yellow giving off enough light to see the silhouettes of people and things. Myra tried to use her magic to get the gag off but nothing happened. Great she thought I can't use my magic!

Myra waited for what seemed like hours until the silhouette of a small man appeared. From what Myra could see he was stout and he was stomping angrily to where they lay. "So, the little maggots have awoken" he said in a low voice. "Ah, looks like this one has the demon eyes. Dangerous that one…" Myra angrily tried to lunge at him but her restraints kept her from doing so. "Me thinks very dangerous, what is Orlo thinking? Maybe they be worth something?" A loud groan resounded from K'linne making him pause. "Poor me, always stuck with dangerous uppers!"

"Grax get away from the prisoners!" a voice yelled from somewhere Myra couldn't see. A shorter stockier figure appeared brandishing an axe, "Nothing but trouble you are!"

"But I finds them! I get reward!"

"The only reward you'll get is your freedom from being in jail!"

"Poor me, mean old Deax, he don't know Grax is smart!"

"Get out of here!" The figure of Grax quickly disappeared leaving Deax standing in front of his captives. "Crazy old hoot!" he muttered. Throughout the entire ordeal Myra had slowly been working on the gag with her teeth and had managed to somehow slip it off her mouth so she could talk.

She worked her jaw until she felt she could talk and she summoned up the courage to talk to her captor. "If you would be so kind, dear sir" Myra said in her sweetest voice, "to tell me why you have captured me and my friends? We were doing no harm; just exploring and all that"

"Just exploring, sure, just exploring! How did you get off that gag? Trouble makers you are, trouble makers with a capital 'T'!" Deax said angrily, "lucky for you, we were just about to go see the king to see about your punishment for trespassing! Or I would have to knock you out!" The moment Deax finished speaking six other large figures appeared.

"Here to take them to the king" a voice said. Deax nodded and the figures grabbed Myra and the rest of the company and dragged them out of the room into other dark shadowy rooms. Eventually, they dragged them down a flight of stone steps that Myra couldn't see but could feel as she was dragged down them. They went threw a large stone door into a badly lit hallway. Myra could now see her captors well enough to see that they were dwarfs as she had expected. They were all short, stocky and hairy. Everyone had a beard and carried some kind of weapon. They were all wearing armor and they had grim looks on their faces. Everything was made of stone and busts of dwarves lined the hallway.

"Who are they?" Myra asked staring at the busts.

"Shut up, upper!" said one of the dwarves dragging Myra. The other one whispered in Myra's ear when no one was looking, "Warriors and kings of the past"

Myra nodded and waited to see where they were taking her. Suddenly, the dwarves stopped and Myra looked up to see a burly dwarf with a peppery beard in front of them. He wore armor as well, but on his helmet there was a large star made out of rubies. Despite the small variation, Myra knew that to the dwarves it was a huge difference; he was the King. "These are the trouble makers?" the dwarf king said in disbelief. "Mere children and a frail old man? Well, our location has been revealed; kill them!"

"Uncle, if I might intrude? As you said they're just children and an old man; maybe we could…" said Deax. The king raised an eyebrow making the dwarf gulp. "Or we feed them to the dragon? After all, it would be better if the dragon ate humans instead of dwarves."

"Nephew, do you mean to undermine my authority?"

"No, sir… it's just that…"

"Do as he says" the king said tiredly motioning for his nephew, Deax, to follow him as he left.

"Sorry" said the kindly dwarf from before, "it looks like you'll be dying a slow and painful death." Myra winced, "Well, if you defeat the dragon, I'm sure the king would let you live… but your so young and a female at that! The rest of them will be knocked out for a couple more hours; so you're on your own!" Myra closed her eyes as the dwarves led her deeper into their tunnels. She only opened them again when they stopped. "This is as far as we go…" the kind dwarf said apologetically. "…the dragon is just below us." He pointed into a pit in the middle of the floor, "He only comes out when he's hungry, so we feed him the troublemakers so he doesn't eat anyone important; we call him Jail cause it's nicer then saying we're going to feed you to a dragon-"

"Just throw them in, Liam!" a dwarf yelled irritably at Liam.

"Good luck" Liam whispered as he untied Myra and the rest of the company and threw them in.