Chapter 12

When Myra reached the top she was astonished at the sight that beheld her. All six of the dwarves that had brought them to "jail" were unconscious. Myra stared dumbfounded at the curiosity of it all. Who had knocked them all unconscious? Could Martin have done it? Was there more to him that met the eye? Myra pondered these thoughts and decided that there was definitely more to Martin then met the eye.

Eventually, everyone had climbed up looking worse very fatigued and slightly forlorn, that is except for Martin. Martin had a big smile on his face and was happily putting his grappling hook back in his backpack. Martin was very tall and lanky. He had very long arms and legs and seemed clumsy and uncoordinated. Myra wouldn't have questioned it if she hadn't seen him fight the dragon. Martin's hair was straw colored and he was an unearthly pale with his blue vanes standing out and oddly had freckles all over his face. His clothes were nothing but rags and he carried a backpack and on his belt were bags of various items. He smiled once again and led them out the door.

"Ah, the trouble makers have killed Jail!" came a voice who Myra instantly knew was Grax. A short dwarf walked stoutly over to them and bowed. "My apologies for the mishap, I hope you heroes will be kind to a poor fellow like me!" Myra glanced at K'linne only to see Martin at the corner of her eye ram into the dwarf at full speed knocking him down. The dwarf yelped, as Martin looked him straight in the eye, "No not you!" Martin grinned then he reached his hand into Grax's mouth and pulled out a shiny wet rock. Myra almost gagged and it was easy to see K'linne and Lorain were having similar reactions.

Martin abruptly stood up, spitting in disgust and looked down at the dwarf with disdain, "Nasty little dwarf…" He turned around to look at the astonished out onlookers.

"Umm… you can talk?" Myra said surprised.

"Yes, no thanks to that nasty over there…" Martin said angrily. "When I was little that nasty little dwarf stole me away to the caverns. He was an old hermit that was mute and had heard of an old spell that would cure him of his muteness. The main ingredient he needed was a little boy. He stole my voice and put it in this rock" Martin held up the slimy stone. "I could never speak except meaningless sound.."

K'linne laughed making everyone stare, "You didn't need to do that, you could have asked me to reverse it! It's a simple spell and I would have gladly done it for you!"

"I couldn't talk, let alone ask you!" Martin said vehemently. He stormed off down the dwarf hallway. Myra shrugged and they followed Martin down the hall. He led them to a big door and gave them a half-hearted smile, "The problem with Grax's plan was that I'm not one hundred percent human. I should have been able to counteract the spell once I was old enough but I'm on my own and no one could teach me it"

"What are you other then human?" Lorain asked suddenly intrigued.

"I'm part elf," Martin said with a sigh.

"I thought elves had-" Myra said surprised.

"-Pointed ears?" Martin said with another sigh.

"Well, yeah!" Myra exclaimed.

"Well, considering I'm only a baby in elf years I haven't developed them yet." Martin said touching his ears with another large sigh, "you had better not tell the dwarf king about me killing the dragon. Elves are sworn enemies of dwarves."

"Why?"

"They love dirt we love plants, what else is there to say?"

"Total opposites?" Myra said thinking of her conversation with Corin.

"Yeah, they probably don't know I'm part elf but better not take your chances. They'll take any excuse to kill an elf even a half-elf." Martin said with another sigh. "Anyways, Grax felt sorry for me and took care of me until I was about five and pretended I was a dwarf but when I was about his height he left me at the mouth of the caverns where Greg found me; hence his ghoul theory. I hate it down here but eventually he told me about how he got a voice and ever since then I've been plotting on how to get MY voice back. It only just worked because you provided a distraction for Grax. "Now to make sure it will never happen again!" He laughed as he threw it on the ground and stomped all over it. Then he emptied one of the bags from his waist onto it, laughing. "Only copper specks but it does the trick! Now, after we get out of here I can enjoy the fresh air! The sweet fresh air and climb a tree!" Martin gave a big smile as he opened the door, "Welcome to pride of all dwarves, Ruby City!"