Total pages in book: 254
Estimated words: 240032 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 1200(@200wpm)___ 960(@250wpm)___ 800(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 240032 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 1200(@200wpm)___ 960(@250wpm)___ 800(@300wpm)
I turned my head just enough to face the direction he and Agnes were staring in. There was an awed look on both of their profiles. On my lap, Duncan’s body went rigid after he moved around to look too. He must have been too focused on his treat to smell everything else around us, but I could tell the moment he noticed them.
Gnomes.
The size of a box of macaroni, if not shorter, one small figure after another were coming out from little caverns along the bottoms of trees in the distance. There was no way I would’ve been able to see them if my night vision wasn’t what it was. But I could, and the scene stole the breath from my whole body.
Gnomes with tiny multicolored hats were coming out of trees. A few of them held torches with green fire burning from them, their skins were wrinkled and various shades of brown, their noses large in comparison to their bodies. Covering their limbs were clothing in shades of browns, reds, and a bluish purple that reminded me of blueberries. And they were marching straight for us.
Where in the world had we moved to?
Sure, I hadn’t seen anything out of the normal in a month, but gnomes?
“I didn’t know there were any here,” I whispered, straight shocked. The gnomes moved effortlessly around wide tree trunks. “I’d heard they existed, but….” I couldn’t believe it. A quick peek told me that I was pretty sure Henri couldn’t either.
Gnomes.
I wished I had something to offer them. Back home, our ogre neighbors had been the ones who told Matti and me about them. I knew all about the offerings the ogres left them in return for their mining efforts in nearby mountains. The gnomes were hard workers who used what they needed of the gems and minerals they excavated and shared their excess with the other magical beings nearby.
They were rare and wonderous, and I couldn’t believe they were here in person.
“Look, Duncan,” I whispered. “They’re gnomes. I read about them to you, remember?”
His “yes” even felt like it had a touch of awe to it.
Henri shook his head slowly, as if doing it too aggressively might scare them off. “They haven’t been seen in these mountains in fifty years,” he explained. “We thought they had left.”
Duncan didn’t move an inch, eyes trained on the small people, his tail a candlestick in the night. I stroked a palm down his spine. “It’s okay,” I assured him. “I won’t let anyone hurt you.” I thought about it. “Or Agnes or Henri.”
Out of the corner of my eye, I could’ve sworn Henri glanced at me.
“Yes.” Dunky’s trust all there, heavy in my heart.
None of us could keep our eyes off them. They were so small!
“I can’t believe it,” the man beside me whispered in definite wonder.
Caution came at me out of nowhere, and I suddenly didn’t know how I felt about these mythical beings reappearing. My body made a decision before my brain did though, and I wrapped a forearm around Duncan before scooting to the side. Closer to Henri.
Maybe this was a coincidence.
But maybe it wasn’t.
Maybe this had nothing to do with Duncan.
But maybe it did.
What I knew for sure was that I wasn’t taking any more chances with his safety.
Not even around people less than a foot tall.
I would grab Agnes after I got Duncan and run, then I’d leave Henri to fend for himself while we got away, I decided at that moment, feeling only a little guilty but not enough to change my mind about that plan.
He’d be fiiine. I’d come back after hiding the kids and help him. I doubted he’d be in mortal danger.
Henri’s knee bumped into my hip when I got close enough to him. I wasn’t the only one moving around either, Agnes crawled around on her belly, hiding behind him. She had faced off against a cannibal river crone but was hiding from a gnome? What did she know that I didn’t?
I tried to remember any other details or information I could about their kind, but with them in person, coming over, with their little green fires, I couldn’t do much more than watch, torn between being absolutely awed and being really overly unsure.
A weight touched the middle of my back, and I looked over my shoulder. Fluff was palming my spine. There was a serious expression on Henri’s features, those amber eyes were still directed on the creatures making their way. They literally almost looked identical to the garden gnomes I saw at the store, only smaller. I noticed then that they weren’t focused on the white wolf or the huge one in human skin.
Every single gnome had their attention on Duncan and me. And when the first of them got to within three feet of us, they started to line up in rows of six. One after another until I was pretty sure there had to be close to fifty of them.