More gnomes.
For a dizzy moment, Daniel thought that it might be the Gegan clan-whom they had somehow circled around to meet again. But the light of their own torches soon revealed a fatter, swarthier gnome with different clothes and hair. Daniel took a deep breath and stepped forward. “Hello,” he said and introduced himself.
“Halloo!”
“Hail, and well met!”
“Welcome!”
“Pleased ta meetcha.”
“Hello,” said the rotund figure at the head. “Our name is Ergan.”
“Greetings to you, friend gnome,” Swi?gar said, coming to stand beside Daniel.
The gnome gaped up at the knight-many times taller than he-and blinked rapidly.
“Are you-do you have two cousins?” asked Freya.
The gnome turned his eyes to her and seemed to ponder the question. There was a confused muttering behind him. “Yes, we believe we do. Gegan and Negan are kinsmen of mine. Have you met them?”
Ecgbryt snorted and nodded his head. “For all the good it’s done us.”
“Yes,” said Freya, “we have.”
“They are silly folk,” said Ergan. “One of them won’t go anywhere and the other tries to go everywhere at once. So they end up nowhere!”
“Yes!” said Daniel. “Exactly!”
“When really,” continued Ergan, obviously pleased at the reception he was getting, “it doesn’t matter where you go, so long as you go somewhere.”
“Right,” said Daniel. “Exactly. Listen, we are searching for the entrance to the Sl?pismere. Do you know where that is?”
“Oh . . . ,” said Ergan slowly. “I think we do. That is, we must do-we have walked these tunnels long enough! Let us see . . . Let us see . . . We shall consult the maps. Bring the maps!”
There was a chorus of “bring the maps!” and after some bustling, several bundles of scrolled-up parchment were produced.
The lamp was turned up to give enough light to read by, and the four travelers could see that they were now in the company of a much more sophisticated type of gnome. These seemed much more prepared than any of the others. Some of them were wearing metal helmets and had coils of rope across their shoulders. There was a call for more light and candles were produced.
“At last!” said Ecgbryt excitedly. “We can move onwards!”
“I thought that we were moving onwards, bro?or,” Swi?gar jibed.
Ecgbryt glowered. “For lack of a leader,” he said, “we were simply moving-or drifting, rather. Rudderless, directionless.”
“So, you disregard my advice and claim that you had no direction?” Swi?gar charged, his voice rising.
Ecgbryt batted the question away with a flip of his hand. “Bah, he is starting to sound like Ealdstan,” he muttered to himself, bending over the maps that the gnomes were spreading out.
Swi?gar’s teeth clenched. He folded his arms across his chest and turned away.
“Ah, here we are,” announced Ergan. “We haven’t come across the Sl?pismere yet, but we know several places where it could be.”
“Show us,” said Ecgbryt, bending over.
“Show him,” commanded Ergan with a signal. Instantly, four gnomes sprang forward and pointed fingers at different points on several of the scrolls that had been unrolled before them. “The lowest points of the tunnel we’ve found are here, here, and here,” he explained. “Found on maps 27-12, 18-39, and 111-3e7. However, none of those tunnels diverge and at no point are any of the tunnels crossed by any streams or tributaries.”
Ergan paused as Swi?gar and Freya joined them to look over the mapwork. “However,” the gnome chief continued, “however- ah, do you know in which direction this Sl?pismere lies?”
Swi?gar shook his head.
“Pity,” said Ergan. “Because that would have helped us narrow it down. You see, there are, as yet, at least one hundred and thirty-four unexplored branches and divergences.” All of the rest of the gnomes reached into their satchels, pulled out unrolled maps, and waved them in the air.
Swi?gar sighed and removed his helmet. Daniel and Freya watched him run a hand several times across his head.
“This is what you do?” Swi?gar asked. “You search through the tunnels and make maps of them?”
All of the gnomes’ heads began nodding furiously. “Yes,” said Ergan proudly. “That is what we do.”
“How long have you been doing this?” asked Freya.
Every shoulder of every gnome shrugged once; Ergan shrugged too. “Years and years. Maybe a hundred. Since I was this high.” He placed his hand at his waist, roughly twelve inches from the ground.
“And not once have you discovered the Sl?pismere, or imagined where it might lie?”
Ergan shook his head. “No, we can’t say that we have.”
“What have you discovered?”
“Tunnels!” squealed Ergan delightedly. Several gnomes behind him echoed the word in a happy fashion. “Lots and lots of glorious tunnels! Every one of them a marvel. Don’t you find them simply fantastic? How many people have wandered these tunnels over the years? Who made them? What stories do they have to tell? Why, when we think of how much there still is to do, it makes our hearts ache. So much to look forward to, and so much that we may not live to see. Still, at least future generations will be able to enjoy the benefits of our work and go wherever they want, whenever they want. You-do you not think that grand?”
Ergan faltered when he realised that the look on the companions’ harrowed faces was anger dangerously mixed with a little fear.
“What?” squeaked Ergan. “Whatever is the matter?”
“I think I understand,” said Ecgbryt calmly, drawing his axe.
“Hold by, gnome. I am a master axeman and this will be done quickly . . .” He took a couple steps towards the small figure.
“What are you going to do?” asked Freya.
“Since we cannot coax the direction we need from them, I am going to peel the chief’s skin back and see if it lies inside of him.
And if not him, then I’ll try the next. I’ll unravel every last one of them, if I have to. Unpleasant work, certainly, but I am resolved to it.”
The gnomes’ faces blanched in terror, their eyes staring from their round heads. There were many confused cries and shouts.
A dozen hands were placed on Ergan and with a chorus of voices yelling, “Save the chief!” they fled back down the tunnel. The light from their lantern bobbed in the darkness when they could be seen no longer, and then it too disappeared.
Ecgbryt was laughing as he sheathed his sword.
“That was mean,” said Freya.
“And pointless,” said Swi?gar.
“But hilarious!” exploded Daniel.
“Aye, the boy has me,” said Ecgbryt. “It was all for the look on their funny little faces.”
“But now we are worse off than before,” said Swi?gar gravely.
Ecgbryt shrugged. “Perhaps.”
“No, we aren’t worse off,” said Daniel. “In fact, we’re better. All those gnomes were just confusing us, and I think they were meant to. What if this is a trap of some kind? We’re probably meant to wander around forever and become just as confused as those gnomes. We have to go back to the big cavern-I think there’s something we’ve missed.”
Swi?gar frowned. “What you say may be true, but then again, it may be that the path lies some farther distance up and we do not know it yet.”
“Of course,” said Daniel, “but I don’t think so. Remember what Ealdstan said? Gad would want to make sure that he could get to his heart quickly if he needed to. So the hiding place wouldn’t be too far away. Besides, those gnomes have been wandering everywhere and haven’t found a thing. No, we went wrong at the start of this, somehow.”
“A riddle!” Ecgbryt exclaimed gleefully, rubbing his hands together. “Now my blood is running and my feet shall go no slower. Come, ??elingas, I wist you will have a job to keep up.”
Daniel and Ecgbryt virtually leapt back down the way they had come, with Freya and Swi?gar trailing behind them. But after a few steps, she hesitated and stopped, wanting to turn to Swi?gar, who she knew was still standing there unhappily. She decided not to in the end, thinking it might embarrass him. Instead, she spent an extra long time adjusting her pack.