Chapter 13: Zina

WILL THIS CHAPTER BE UNLUCKY????  IT IS, AFTER ALL, CHAPTER 13.
READ ON!!!
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                                                                  CHAPTER 13
    “Thanks for your support,” said Fred.  “We’ll be back soon.  C’mon, guys!!”  He grabbed his toolbag and jumped down from the chair.  Standing, Fred was only around 2 ½ feet high. 
    Grace, Aunna, and Russell followed him out the door back into the tunnel.  Instead of going back to The Flabby Frog, Fred lead them the opposite direction.  The tunnel started to slope up, after a while.  It also got less damp.  Finally, after what seemed like ages, they came to a door.  Fred started to open it quietly.  It squealed, and everyone winced. 
    “This is why I’m a brownie,” whispered Fred.  He unzipped his toolbag and took out a can of oil.  “A few drips and we’ll be good to go.”  Fred dropped some oil onto the hinges of the door, getting Russell to lift him to the higher ones.  He tested the door again.  It didn’t make a noise.  Grace let out a breath she didn’t realize she’d been holding.  Fred eased out the door, Russell followed, and Grace came after him.  Aunna flew over Grace’s head.
    The door led into a dark alley.  Grace shivered.  It was still in the middle of the night, and it was quite chilly despite the summer season.  Fred motioned for them to follow.  They tiptoed out the doorway into what she assumed was the slums of Fantasia.  Shacks and cardboard boxes seemed to be the most common means of shelter.  Waste littered what could hardly be called a street, and the stench was overpowering.  Grace wrinkled her nose.  “Why doesn’t anyone fix this?” she asked Fred.
    “Every country has the other side of the tracks somewhere,” he replied.  “Plus, Gryzo doesn't care who he takes from as long as his soldiers are fed.”  He sounded bitter. 
    They walked for a little longer, and then Fred paused and held up a hand.  Grace looked around.  The company had stopped in front of a shack that was larger than the rest.  It had mysterious symbols painted all around the doorframe, and trinkets hung from the small roof.  Fred tapped on the door.  There was no answer.  He tapped again.  “All right, all right,” a voice said from inside.  “Gimme a chance to get my robe on!!”  The door opened, and a woman stepped out.  If she could be called a woman, that is.  She was short, a foot taller than Fred, stout, and strangly, she had a stubbly beard.  Grace was shocked, until she realized that the woman was a dwarf.    “Fred!” she shouted in a whisper.  “It’s the middle of the night!!  This is no time for a visit, or to bring friends!!”
    “Zina, let us in,” said Fred.  She opened the door wider.  “You had better have a good reason for waking me up at 2 in the morning, Mister Brownie!”
    Grace, Russell, and Aunna followed Fred into the shack.  It held a bed and a table, nothing else.  Curtains separated the bed from the table, and purple cloth was draped around the walls.  Zina beckoned them over to the table.  She could barely look over the top.  She sat down at one end of the table and grimaced.  “Ouch!  These old legs aren’t doing so well anymore.  It’s like they’re made of wood.  Well!!  You certainly didn’t come to talk about my rhumatism.  How can I help you?”
    “We came about a matter of great importance,” replied Fred.  “We need you to Seek and find out if this girl”—he patted Grace’s leg—“is the rightful princess of Fantasia.”
    Zina leaned back and crossed her arms.  “Well, now if that isn’t the funniest request I’ve gotten.”  Her eyes hardened.  “What can you give me in return?”
    “How about you Seek first, and we decide on a price later?” suggested Fred.  “All of Fantasia may hang on the fact of whether she is, or not.”
    “Alright,” sighed Zina.  “Just this once.  We’ll say that it’s in repay of what you did for me.”  She motioned for Grace to come over to the table.  “Come here, child.”  Grace came and sat in a chair at the opposite end of the table.  Zina took Grace’s face in her hands.  She looked deep in Grace’s eyes.  Grace felt a shiver go through her.  Zina closed her eyes, and then opened them again, but they seemed to have lost their focus.
    Suddenly, Zina spoke, but her voice was in a monotone.  “The princess has returned.  She stands before us, young and inexperienced.  We must direct her path.  She will lead the battle against Gryzo, but she must be taught.  This girl will be the most powerfull magic user since the Golden Days, and she must learn from those who could give her the knowledge to defeat Gryzo.  She will lead us out of the rule of the tyrant.  Bring her to Eltobe, brother of Eldor.  He can teach her things, others she must learn on her own.”
    Zina blinked and shook her head.  The glazed look left her eyes.  “Well!!!  That was enlightening.  So you are the princess.  Wonderfull!!!  Remember me when you ascend the throne, dear.”  Her tone became more brisk.  “Now for the price.”
    “Well, I’m out of jewels for now,” said Fred, carefully looking anywhere but at Zina.  “Is there anything you need?”
    “No, not really,” said Zina.  “Unless you have something that will get rid of my rhumetism.”
    “Um, Zina?” spoke up Grace.
    “Yes, dear?”
    “I know how to work with, um, like metal and mechanics and stuff.  I’ve made a hoverboard for one of my neighbors befor.  He really loved it.  It has a remote on the armrest.  It’s kind of like a floating chair.  If I made you one of those, you’d never have to worry about walking.  Or rhumatism.”
    “Hm....”  Zina stroked her stubbly beard.  “Okay, I’ll take it.  What will you need?”
    “Well, it won't take much.  Here, let me write it down.”  Grace took a pencil and a pad of paper out of her pocket and wrote down what she needed.  “I'll just need my tools, and they’re at home.”
    “How soon can you make it?” asked Zina.
    “As soon as you have the stuff and I have my tools.”
    “Alright.  I’ll give you a call when I have everything.”
    “Wait.  You don’t even know my number!” Grace exclaimed.
    “An advantage to Seeking,” Zina said.  “I get contacts from everyone I Seek, just in case they don’t pay up.”
    “Oh, okay.”
    “Well, now that that’s done, go.  Shoo!!!  A person needs sleep at this hour.  Go on!!  Out!!”  Zina shooed them out of her house and shut the door.
    Grace looked at Russell and Aunna.  They shrugged.  “Zina can be a bit.....forcefull, when she wants to,” said Aunna.
    “Okay, come on crew,” said Fred.  “Now that we’ve obtained some information, let’s go back to headquarters.”

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Sorry for the (inevitable) spelling errors.
Hm, if Grace ever rules Fantasia, what do you think she will fix?  
BUT MAYBE SHE WON'T EVER RULE
MAYBE
YOU'LL JUST HAVE TO WAIT AND READ ON
Remember, follow me!
~~Zoë Wingfeather

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