The ground below Aurora gave way before she could react. The earth kept shifting, constantly bringing her downwards and at an angle like the most horrific slide ever created. Were it not for the pocket of air that was being maintained around her body, she would have suffocated from the dirt. As it was, she was slipping into a panic, wishing more than anything to come to a stop. Actually, she wished for anything to happen. Anything but this eternal falling.

Finally her descent slowed, and she was able to grab at the dirt and bring herself to a stop as the hole opened up into a wide cavern. Two gnomes, the ones who had been waiting for her to get more than an arm's-length away from her group before abducting her, stood waiting for her at the exit of the tunnel. Regaining her senses, Aurora brushed herself off and called angrily at the little gnomes, "This is how you treat the Empress? You should be ashamed of yourselves!" She hoped that an overt display of dominance might forestall them manhandling her.

It worked. The gnomes were caught off guard and bowed their heads slightly as she passed. "Now where are we going?" She said in the same brusque tone. The gnomes, used to being dominated by their king, fell in line, one in front and one behind, to escort her on her way. Inside Aurora was terrified, but fear did not show on her face. She had learned during her time in the land of magic that most creatures believed themselves superior to humans—probably because humans could not do magic. Her strength lay solely in her perceived confidence and ingenuity, and she hoped to use both the escape the gnomes' clutches.

The wide cavern became even more spacious, stretching in either direction as far as the eye could see. The ceiling raised higher and higher—or perhaps the ground was sinking lower— until she almost felt that she was outside with a sky of brown overhead. The strange grayish light that lit the cavern seemed to come from everywhere and nowhere. "It is a wonder the ground doesn't collapse on us," the Empress mused while gazing upward. The gnome in front turned to give her a quizzical look. Aurora realized that she had spoken her thought aloud. "How much farther?" she snapped at him.

"Not far," he responded almost apologetically. These two gnomes were obviously underlings. The others would not be so easy to influence.

Ahead Aurora could see a large stone throne surrounded by gnomes in leather armor. On the throne sat a particularly stout gnome with a crown of twisted metal and jewels on his head. It was equal parts gaudy and beautiful. His red scraggly hair, similar in color to Birger's, flew untamed in every direction, giving the king a wild look. Most unnerving of all were his sickly yellow eyes. They were too big and too round for his head, almost as if in response to the darkness underground they had grown to let in more light. With such eyes and a hooked nose, he looked like a deranged owl.

"I am King Baak. You may bow at the feet of my throne," The king motioned to the dirt below where he sat.

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The woman looked at him with disdain. "I will not. If you know who I am, then you know why I cannot." She had curtsied before the elven monarchs because she felt some sort of respect for them. She felt no such honor toward the gnome.

"Yes, Empress Aurora, I know who you are. And although you may not bow before me now, you will." There was a dangerous glint in the king's eyes that made the girl involuntarily shudder.

"No, I most certainly will not. You should have just killed me when you had the chance." Aurora matched the king's brash words with her own. He seemed amused by the little girl who dared to defy him, but it was unclear how long his amusement might last. The Empress needed to tread carefully.

"Just wait until I tell that boastful councilman that I have captured the Empress when he could not." He chuckled, and all his underlings chuckled with him. "He wanted you dead, you know. He convinced me that was easiest. But after you kept escaping your doom, I found you intriguing, Empress…" Baak's words made her skin crawl.

"One of my councilmen?" She asked. "Which one?"

Baak squinted at her, his big eyes becoming barely slits, which was somehow far more upsetting. "Oh, Empress. Deep down you know who has betrayed you."

Aurora was surprised. There had been a nagging in the back of her consciousness which she had been denying. The words of gnome on the beach came back to her. He had called the traitor 'Khay-fehr', but he had been mispronouncing it on purpose. Cafer! It made so much sense. He senses were more attune than any human's, and he constantly undermined her authority. The Empress had ignored the warning signs. She just assumed he was bitter that he was no longer Chief, but perhaps his aim was far more sinister. "It is Cafer," she answered with conviction.

Baak was openly pleased. "We will have to tell that pompous gnome that he is not as clever as he thinks! The Empress knew it was him all the time." The king laughed and the rest of his cronies laughed with him. Unlike the gnomes on the beach, these gnomes all seemed to agree with the king's every whim. He was vain and had surrounded himself with yes-men.

"Tell me you did not bring me here just to gloat," Aurora looked disgusted.

"As I said, I was intrigued by your evasive nature, and I was not disappointed. On top of this, you are very beautiful for a human. Did you know that we gnomes like to steal our wives?"

"It does not surprise me." The Empress had overheard the beach gnomes plan to kidnap a selkie, and her assassin had also said that his elven mother was abducted.

"Now that I have stolen you. You will be my bride." Baak smiled wickedly waiting for her response of horror.

Instead the Empress placed her face in her palm. "Seriously? Does no one around here have an original idea?"

"What?" Baak was confused.

She ignored his question and continued her thought. "And another thing. You did not kidnap me; they did." Aurora jerked her thumb to the two wide eyed underlings who had brought her to the king. "Shouldn't I have to marry one of them?"

This was the breaking point for the Baak. He was king and he would get what he wants. The gnome leapt from the throne toward Aurora, who quickly flipped the hood of the guardian's cloak up to protect her head. "You ungrateful wench! I saved your life when I should have taken it, and you dare to question my every move." Baak took hold of the hood and Aurora's hair underneath and jerked it backwards. His hold only lasted for a split second before a bolt of lightning shot from the cloak into the gnome's arm.

While it did not have quite the same effect on the king as a human (gnomes can absorb a lot of the shock), it still garnered the desired response. Baak released his hold on the hood. "Ah, you have some tricks yet, I see." Baak was back in good humor. He nodded approvingly. "I look forward to making you my wife tomorrow so I can break you. Before long, you will beg me for death." He turned to the guards. "Take her away."

And that is how, for the second time in less than a month, Aurora found herself in a dungeon.