It was barbaric. More barbaric than what Krull had just asked me. “And it’s always been this way?”
“They appeared in the Depths before I was alive, during my grandfather’s reign. It’s been havoc ever since. Our kingdom destroyed, our resources taken by our enemy. We haven’t been living, only surviving.”
And I thought Vulgaris’s betrayal was the worst thing ever. “I’m sorry.”
“Save your apology.” He suddenly turned cold. “It won’t feed my people.”
“There must be something we can do.”
“I will listen to whatever suggestions you might have, but I know you have none.”
Since I’d been there for just a day, I didn’t take his words offensively. “Thank you for saving me from them.” They could have shared the light with Morco and his people, but they chose to decimate them and keep it for themselves. They were obviously monsters, and I didn’t want to wonder what they would have done to me.
“Don’t make me regret it.”
“How do I do that?” By having Krull’s or some other man’s baby? Having a child when I felt like a child myself?
“Telling me more about these root vegetables would be a start.” He cocked his head slightly, like the subject had captured his curiosity the moment I mentioned it. “All we’ve ever grown are fruits and vegetables that flourish in sunlight.”
“Such as?”
“Tomatoes, strawberries, blueberries, corn…”
“So, everything that grows above ground.”
“Doesn’t everything grow above ground?” he asked with narrowed eyes.
“No. Mushrooms and carrots and potatoes don’t,” I said. “If we can find some growing here, then we can harvest them and take the seeds and start our own garden. It won’t be as bountiful or quick as crops that grow above ground, but at least it would be something. The root vegetables didn’t always have seeds, but over time, they were cultivated to produce them.”
He studied me for a while, almost as if I were playing a trick on him. “Why do you know so much about this?”
“I had a garden at home. It was mostly flowers, but we had other things too. Some flowers are edible, so if we find any of those, that can only help.”
“And where is home?”
“Above ground.” A place I would never see again. If I ever made it back to the surface, I wasn’t sure if I’d want to return to the kingdom anyway—not when Vulgaris would have me killed. But it would always be home to me.
“Help me find these root vegetables.”
“Right now?” I asked.
“Yes.” He rose from the chair and stepped away from the table. “I’ll gather our supplies, and we’ll be off.”
“Just the two of us…in the dark?” Wandering the black abyss, trying to find vegetables that might not even grow down here.
“Yes.” He turned back to me. “Don’t be afraid. I know this land even without my sight.”
“Okay…but can I have a sword?”
He studied me another moment, having another internal dialogue with himself. “You know the blade?”
“Not like you, I’m sure. But enough to survive.”
He contemplated it further, a pause of a few seconds, and then he gave a nod. “We’ll depart in thirty minutes. Be ready.”
“I don’t have any clothes or supplies.” I only had the clothes on my back, the same clothes I’d worn to bed. I’d bathed in the water that had been poured into the tub, but then I’d put on the same dirty clothes I’d arrived in. I was used to a higher standard of hygiene, but I knew those days were gone.
“I’ll be back.”
