The Snow Queen's Shadow

was born, she had been struck by the grandeur of the place. The vivid colors, the larger-than-life flowers and trees, the glow of magic. Speas Elan was the opposite, as if something had leached the color from this underground world. Dirt and dust painted everything in shades of red and brown. Even the flames of the knockers’ lanterns appeared subdued.
    Through stairs cut into the left side of the cavern, Tommy brought them down into a second chamber. Here, a group of pixies, goblins, and a troll of some sort sat at a table with what looked like a normal human man.
    “Oh, yes,” Tommy said to her unanswered question. “We have a few humans living down here. Fugitives, for the most part. Veleris has a soft heart. So long as they mind their place and earn their keep, they’re allowed to stay.”
    “And if they don’t?” asked Talia.
    Tommy winked. “The dragons can’t eat fish all the time, eh?” He dismounted and tied his dragon to a stone rail carved into the wall. After a short exchange with the troll, he turned back and said, “The Ladies are in the next room. Try not to make them angry.”
    “What will they do?” Danielle asked.
    “Oh, they probably won’t hurt you, not with the Duchess vouching for you,” Tommy said. “But most people prefer talking to Veleris. Make them angry or upset, and Bellum takes over. Mind your manners, and you’ll do all right. Leave your weapons with Oklok there, and come along.”
    The troll held out a hand large enough to crush a human’s skull. Danielle handed over the short sword she had taken from the bandits, and waited while the others did the same. Gerta gave over a sling and dagger, and Talia did the same with her hunting knife.
    Danielle cleared her throat. “Talia?”
    Talia’s answering look was half innocence, half challenge.
    “We’re guests here, asking for help.”
    Talia rolled her eyes, but slipped the black-hilted athame from her sleeve and gave it to the troll.
    The next room was larger, dominated by a low oblong table carved from the stone. For seating, the floor had been dug out around the table like a moat. At the table, midway through a meal of mushrooms and fish, were a handful of goblins, a greenish wart-skinned creature of a race Danielle didn’t recognize, and—
    “The Fairy Ladies of Allesandria.” Tommy rapped his shovel to his helm twice as he bowed to the two-headed giant sitting at the head of the table. “Veleris and Bellum.” He leaned toward Danielle and whispered, “Veleris is the head on your right.”
    The giant stood. Bellum continued chewing, seemingly absorbed in her meal as Veleris wiped her mouth on her wrist and studied them. They—or was it she?—stood twice as tall as a man, and three time as broad. Her arms were thicker than Danielle’s thighs. She wore a thick knee-length skirt dyed orange, with matching boots. Her skin was as pale as Snow’s.
    Veleris smiled, displaying yellowed teeth the size of a horse’s. Her black hair was pulled to her left in a braided rope that brushed her shoulder, and she wore a leather headband studded with crudely hammered nuggets of gold.
    “Thank you, Tommy,” said Veleris. Danielle recognized the voice. She searched the ceiling until she spotted a small metal cone in the rock, currently blocked by a wooden plug. They must have somehow run pipes through the entire mine to carry the sound to the door on the surface.
    Tommy saluted again and backed away. To Danielle and the others, he whispered, “Good luck.”
    “So the Duchess sent you to us,” said Veleris, studying them each in turn. When she came to the darkling, she grimaced. “And you’ve brought one of her spies.”
    Danielle bowed. “The darkling helped us escape Kanustius, Your Grace.” She wasn’t certain of the Ladies’ proper title, but “Grace” was an accepted default among fairy nobles.
    Veleris and Bellum glanced at one another. Bellum’s hair was shorter, slicked to her right with some sort of oil or grease. Her face was a mirror of Veleris’, broad and blocky, with a heavy brow, but where Veleris seemed genuinely pleased to meet them, Bellum looked like she wanted nothing more than to step across the table and start crunching bones.
    “We are aware of the attack on Kanustius,” said Veleris. “What help would you ask of us?”
    Danielle stepped closer to the edge of the table. “I was told you could help me to find my son, and that you would know how to stop the demon which has attacked