WarriorsandLovers by Alysha Ellis Page B

feel as if the walls and floors are moving.”
    “You mean they don’t?” The wavelike movement had felt real
to him. He touched the bump on his head. It felt pretty damn real as
well. The male Dvalinn’s gaze followed the gesture and his eyes narrowed.
Elijah snatched his hand away.
    “It’s solid rock. It can’t move.” The woman tilted her head
to one side. “That’s probably how you hit your head. You adjust for movement
that isn’t there and you lose your balance.” Her forehead wrinkled. “You must
know something about the effects of magnetic sensitivity.”
    Nieko made a sound of disgust and took a stride to bring him
to stand shoulder to shoulder with her. “He’s human. They don’t know anything
about us or our world.”
    “Of course I’m human,” Elijah said. To have ignored the
man’s continuing references would be more suspicious than to address them.
“What else would I be?”
    Openly, with no pretense at subterfuge, Eora said, “You
could be Dvalinn like us.”
    Now was the time to tread carefully, to decide how much
reaction to show. He didn’t want to over- or underplay his reactions, but he
was no actor. He decided to rely on what was rapidly becoming a stock response.
“I don’t understand.”
    Eora turned triumphantly to Nieko. “See! I told you most
humans don’t know about us. If they don’t know, they can’t hate.” She plopped
herself down on the side of the bed. “You surface-dwellers have a restricted
view of the world you live in. Beneath your feet there’s another world, an
underground world where we, the Dvalinn, live.”
    “The Dvalinn,” Elijah repeated. He looked at Nieko. “Why
have we on the surface not heard of you? What are you hiding?” He couldn’t keep
completely hide the aggression in his tone. He didn’t much care. This Nieko had
done little to hide his animosity. They were enemies and both of them knew it.
    “It’s not what we’re hiding,” Eora said. “It’s who we’re
hiding from.”
    “Humans have forced us into hiding,” Nieko burst in.
“Thousands of years ago you drove us from the surface into a world of pale, artificial
light where there is no sun, no sky, no stars.” His lips twisted into a hate-filled
sneer. “You denied us the sunshine and fresh air we loved. But that wasn’t
enough. You sent attack parties into our world to kill us. Innocent men, women
and children who have done nothing to you or your surface world.”
    He stomped over to the side of the bed and poked an accusing
finger at Elijah. “Humans are murderers. If I’d known what you were, I’d have
let you die out in the tunnel. Eora is too kindhearted.” He took a step back.
“When she dragged you in, you had nothing but the clothes you wore. If I find
out you have a weapon hidden somewhere or you mean any one of us harm, I will kill you, I swear.”
    He had nothing? What had happened to his backpack? If they’d
found it any, doubts about his innocence or guilt would be removed. They might
not recognize the remote detonator but they would certainly see it, the
compass, the charts and the notes for what they were—evidence that Elijah’s
presence here was not an accident but a planned incursion. Barely suppressed
violence seethed in Nieko, and Elijah had no doubt he had the strength and
ability to carry out his threat.
    “Leave him alone,” Eora said. “He’s hurt. You know he
doesn’t have a weapon.” A smile curved her lips. “We searched your clothes.”
    She bent down, picked up a bundle at her feet and dropped it
on the bed. “If you’re feeling better, you might want to get dressed.”
    Yes, dressed was good. Naked, he felt vulnerable and
unprepared. He needed to take the first opportunity to escape and do what he’d
come for. The gas vials were in place, waiting. All he needed to do was push
the button.
    He put his hand on the blanket. Instead of turning away as
he’d expected, Eora studied him, a small smile curving the corners of