Elf Doubt

by Bryant Reil

  She pulled out her map to figure out which door was Calam’s living quarter, and Alonquis rushed forward.

  “You have a map? Let me see that!” He reached to grab it, but Kyla held it away. She was short, but he more so, and his arms had even less reach.

  She pushed him back with her orb-hand. “Don’t touch. It’s mine.”

  “Fine. You just take your time.” Alonquis grinned. Then he ran and leaped, and as he did so, yanked the map from Kyla’s hand.

  As he read it, his grin melted into shock. “How did you know the stone was here?” He pointed at the section of map where Sophrosyne had circled Calam’s room and drawn an ‘X’ at the stone’s location.

  “Stone? What stone? Is it a diamond? I was just told to get some box. Big price on whatever it is.”

  “Who’s paying you? What are they paying? I’ll pay double!”

  “None of your business. And I never break a promise to a client.”

  “Do you even know what it is?” His voice squeaked as he spoke, and once again he turned to his stomach and tried crawling forward.

  “Don’t even care.” Kyla snatched back the map, ripping it in two but ending up with the part she needed. Calam’s door was four over. She strode for it and stumbled to the floor. Looking back, she saw Alonquis had her ankles, and as she fell he crawled over her, pressing his knee into her face as he passed over her head.

  “That’s it,” she muttered. She grabbed the light orb and hit him in the heel as hard as she could. He yelped, immediately cupping his mouth and staring at Calam’s door. Kyla crawled past and then jumped to her feet and ran. He tried to grab her by the robe, but she bit his index finger and he let go with a silent shout.

  She shoved her way into Calam’s door, tucking the light orb back inside her robe to dim the illumination. There was a clap of thunder. Kyla looked up to see a cloudy gray body hovering above a…well, not a proper bed. More of a shelf, as there were no blankets or pillows, which jutted out from the wall in a semi-circle.

  Kyla looked back at Alonquis, who placed his finger over his lips. “Sh! Put that light out now!”

  She complied, noting that Calam’s body sparked a dim blue light throughout the room, which was sufficient. On the other side of the room, on a shelf about halfway up the wall, sat a plain wooden box on a small shelf. It was, as far as Kyla could tell, the only place in the room where the stone might be kept.

  Alonquis walked into the room behind her. “Fine. There it is. Now there’s bigger things going on here than you understand. That stone ain’t something you can sell to some random buyer. It’s big. Could destroy the world, if it got in the wrong hands. Ya got me? So just lay it off. Tell your client it was gone. Somebody else got to it first. And there’ll be a fine reward waiting for you, from me.”

  “I’m not an idiot. I know what the stone’s for. You’re wasting your time, because I’ve got the rest of them, and you’re never getting them.”

  Alonquis smiled, only slightly more happy than wicked, and grabbed her by each elbow. “You’re with us! You’re Avowed. Of course. I’ve been looking for others who are still true to the cause. Calam only cares about power, now. He’s marrying the Duke’s daughter and he fancies himself moving up in rank. But if you’ve got the other stones we can really do something.”

  Kyla smiled as broad as she could. “Well, what luck! I thought I was in this by myself.”

  “Lucky for you. I mean, how stupid do you have to be to get yourself here by jumping off a flying horse and having no exit plan?”

  “Pretty stupid, really. Well, we should hurry. Got to grab the box and get out.”

  Alonquis pushed her aside. “Alarm goes off if you move it. Need to open the puzzle lock. Made it myself, so I’ll do it.”

  The box was too high for either of them to reach on their own, so Alonquis spent several minutes trying, as quietly as possible, to climb onto Kyla’s shoulders. However, despite his small stature, Alonquis was too heavy for her, and so finally, in a desperate attempt at communicating with her hands, she explained that she would climb on his shoulders, and he would have to explain how to open the lock. As she climbed up his back, she was careful to note how the glider was attached to his shoulders.

  “Okay!” she whispered. “What first?”

  “Take the third—”

  There was an unusually large spark from Calam, and Alonquis stared at him for half a minute before daring to continue. “Take the third rod and pull it left.”

  Kyla nodded. Though she could barely see the mechanism, she could feel the parts well enough. She slid it to the side and felt it settle with a soft click.

  “Now, twist the first one to the left,” Alonquis whispered. “Then pull it up.”

  Kyla did so. This piece lifted straight out of the mechanism, so she softly placed it on the shelf.

  “Then take the fourth piece and pull it down. Then move the second piece up, and it should open.”

  Kyla felt the mechanism. It was more difficult discern the positions, with the other pieces already moved or removed, but managed to locate the fourth and second pieces of the lock. When she was finished, she lifted the lid and shoved her hands into the box. She recognized the feel of the stone, polished and smooth on one side with squiggled etchings of an ancient language on the other. She slipped the stone into her purse, and as she climbed down, loosened the shoulder straps on Alonquis’ glider.

  “Close it back up,” Alonquis hissed in her ear, “so he doesn’t notice we took it when he wakes up.”

  Kyla sighed and nodded, clambering back up and refitting the mechanism before climbing down again.

  “Give it to me!” Alonquis demanded, extending his hand.

  Kyla held up her purse. “Where are you going to carry it? In your pants?” She walked briskly to the door, hoping Alonquis wouldn’t be bold enough to tackle her in front of the sleeping Calam, and turned back to face the room before Alonquis had a chance to catch up to her.

  “Hope you’re having sweet dreams about the wedding, Calam!” she yelled as she sprinted into the corridor. As expected, Alonquis ran after her in a panic. As he ran by, she tripped him, pounced onto his back, and pulled off the glider, quickly shoving her arms through the loops. Alonquis bared his teeth in silent rage and grabbed for her throat, but she pushed herself off the ledge into the center of the tower. The tower’s hollow floor plan proved beneficial as she fell out of reach.

  A big part of her plan was that there would be no floor at the bottom. It was too dark to tell. Well, first things first. She pulled the string to extend the wings. She immediately spiralled downward, soon relieved to discover there was no floor, but now she had to regain control before she plummeted to earth. She lifted her legs out behind her, as she had seen Alonquis do, and found there was a sling to hold up her feet. Steering was done simply by leaning, and she could move up or down by raising or lowering her feet in the slings. A marvellous device. She pointed herself in the direction of her chamber, with her mind less on the angry Alonquis behind her, and more on how she might stop Aura’s wedding.

  ***

  Marik patted his shirt to flatten the wrinkles as he stepped out of the portal. He hadn’t slept well. It was frustrating to find himself once again acting as double-agent. He had posed as an Avowed of Erebus when he began working for Sophrosyne; now Sophrosyne was the poor fool he was spying on. At least his new boss, Aethelwyne, had a legitimate claim to the throne. Perhaps there would be some real reward this time. The new Carmin that Sophrosyne had gifted him wasn’t really working out.

  “Sophrosyne?” His voice echoed through the pillared walkway. No response. He spun his new amulet in his fingers. He knew where the secret door was to her little treasure room but had to remember the pattern to open it. He had made a point to do so but had only seen Sophrosyne open it once.

  Loop to the left, down, across, tap the center. No. The tap was last, he was certain. Down, loop to the left, across, tap. Nope. Across, loop to the left, down,
and tap.

  Success! The stone slab sunk back into the wall with a thud and slid to the left with a hollow grinding noise.

  Would there be a trap, or alarm? He took a cautious step and waited. Nothing. He took another. Seemed safe. He strode in, deciding speed might be more important than caution, as he doubted Sophrosyne would appreciate him being in here.

  Marik had passed through the room once before but had been distracted by Carmin and not done a full examination. Now he scanned the shelves carefully. Most of the artifacts looked like rubbish: a platter woven from reeds, a crude statuette of a bull that looked as though it had been crafted by a child, and various coins and jewelry of little apparent value. However, lining the far wall, sitting in a row on a stone shelf, were four stones of the Stele of Bachtris.

  He raised his hand to his amulet. Sophrosyne likely had a ward on the room, something that could read the minds and intents of whoever entered, and perhaps alert her, or wipe the intruder’s mind clean. Only it couldn’t sense him. Bless this new piece of jewelry. He needed to thank Hajar for pointing it out to him.

  He rifled through his pockets. He had gotten in the habit of carrying paper and pencils to take notes when working with Anh-Bul. He slapped a parchment over the first stone and rubbed the pencil over it to preserve the markings. He had more than enough to copy the four. And he still had a copy of the one Kyla had made. There were four left: one, he supposed, was still in the Undine. One, he knew, was in the care of the ciguapa. The whereabouts of the last two he didn’t know. But, if he could get his hands on them, how much power could he wield if he could decipher the spell? How valuable would such a spell be, that could both awaken Chaos, and put him back to sleep?

  All Sophrosyne’s efforts wasted over her own carelessness in keeping the stones.

  He had to laugh.

  Chapter Twenty-Six

  Wedding Avowed

  Kyla opened her eyes to see Ninlil and Ne-o-gah hovering at the foot of her bed. Ninlil held up a lavender dress. Ne-o-gah held a pair of matching shoes and a golden necklace adorned with a black stone.

  “Ah!” Hajar exclaimed. She was already dressed in attire to match Kyla’s. “Marik bought a stone just like that in the shop in the Undine! It has the same magic.”

  “Nonsense,” Ne-o-gah tutted. “This is the stone of the Ukko family. It would not be sold in a common shop. You do not get one, little pet. Only the maids may bear it.”

  “And do watch yourself,” Ninlil added. “Failure to return the stone to the Lord of Storms after the wedding will result in your ignominious, yet likely entertaining, execution.”

  Ninlil floated forward with the dress outstretched. “Hurry. You are to take your place in the wedding chamber.”

  “Please, let her bathe first,” Ne-o-gah insisted. “Look how vile flesh creatures become in the morning.”

  “A rat that licks its fur is still vermin,” Ninlil replied.

  Their insults were becoming less veiled. Perhaps they were testing to see how far they could go before Kyla told them to stop, but frankly she had bigger problems.

  “Thanks for your help last night,” she yawned. “I’ll take a quick bath. Wait in the hall.”

  “Of course,” Ninlil bowed. “And not a ‘please’ to be said. I appreciate the efficiency in your lack of manners.”

  Ne-o-gah began floating to the door. “We understand your need to hide your body, and we thank you for it. And you’re welcome. We were honored to assist in your disgusting tryst with the groom.”

  The two air spirits disappeared through the crack in the door, so only Hajar remained, standing with her hands clasped. She had been up waiting when Kyla arrived home last night and sang her to sleep.

  “Sing through the door to the bathing room, but sing softly,” Kyla requested. “I don’t know that those two could handle your music.”

  Hajar nodded. “Yes, of course. But you should hurry. We are due at the wedding chamber in half an hour.”

  “Yeah. By the way, you said that stone was magic. What does it do?”

  “Well, I was only partly paying attention, but the lady at the shop said it was used to protect your thoughts. You see, in the Undine everyone speaks to each other using telepathy, so if you want privacy, you can use that stone.”

  “It protects people from reading your mind?”

  “That is what the lady in the shop said. Marik was very eager to purchase it.”

  “Yes. I imagine he would be.”

  Kyla felt pretty elated herself.

  Kyla slipped into the lavender dress Ninlil and Ne-o-gah had brought her for the wedding ceremony. It was cute and well-fitted. It was padded a bit in the chest, so her bosom was more pronounced, and fell just below her knees so showed off her calves. The shoes were problematic. They weren’t so comfortable as the shoes her father made, and the heels were a bit high, so she felt as though she were standing on her toes. They did make her feel taller, but the discomfort wasn’t a satisfying trade-off.

  She was sure to grab her purse, though it wasn’t part of the outfit, as she didn’t dare leave the stone unguarded. She watched for Sophrosyne in the corridor, so she could hand it off and be rid of it.

  But no! What was she thinking? She was keeping the stone from Sophrosyne. It was going straight to the Queen, right after the wedding.

  But she couldn’t let Aura marry one of Erebus’ disciples! She still needed a plan to stop the ceremony. Then she had to get out of here, get back to Haven, find the Queen, and—

  “Kyla!”

  Kyla was greeted by a gust of wind. Aura stood in a large double doorway. She wore a long gown, deep blue and embroidered, and her hair was pinned up with a white clip.

  “Hi!” Kyla smiled as broadly as she could. “Happy…merry…” She wasn’t sure how to wish someone a wedding, especially one that she intended to stop.

  “Thank you. There is a maid’s table over there. You are seated next to Eunoe. Hajar will sit next to you.”

  Kyla nodded. Aspen waved excitedly as they entered the room, and Eunoe smiled and lifted a hand in greeting.

  A voice boomed from above.

  “Announcing Kyla Nim, Chief of the Digans, magnate of the aurichalcum trade, and her hand-maiden.”

  “Did they just call me a magnet?” she whispered to Eunoe as she took her seat.

  “Magnate,” Eunoe corrected. “You are apparently a businesswoman of some importance.”

  “In that case someone owes me a LOT of money, because I haven’t seen it. Look at these dishes! This fork is probably worth more than me.”

  The voice continued. “Presenting the pride of Aeolis, the Daughter of the Great and Mighty Duke Ukko, Lord of Storms, soon to be wife of Calam, Captain of the Guard of the Seventh Gale, the beautiful and just Aura.”

  Aura billowed to the center of the room, turning invisible for a flash before waving to all in the room. The music picked up and Kyla slapped down her fork as she noticed everyone had stood. She jumped to her feet and leaned over to Eunoe. “They should have a rehearsal for these things. How does everyone know what to do?”

  Eunoe held a finger to her lips and replied in a low whisper. “Just watch the host. And we were briefed on the program. Your chaperones should have run you through it.”

  “Ninlil and Ne-o-gah? We got distracted.”

  All eyes were on Aura, and she began to fade until a stern cough from another air spirit seated next to Duke Ukko - Aura’s mother, perhaps? – ordered her to return to full opacity. Kyla could feel the Daughter of the Air’s discomfort, and she didn’t even know her Betrothed’s dark secret. Kyla rubbed her arms. Her skin felt like it wanted to crawl off. Should she break the wedding now? But glancing about, she saw no sign of the groom. She should at least wait for him to show up.

  “Where’s Calam?” she asked. Eunoe shrugged, but Aspen tapped her on the shoulder and leaned in behind Eunoe.

  “He arrives last, because he is coming to form the alliance with Duke Ukko.” Aspen looked at
Eunoe. “Aura told us last night!”

  Eunoe shrugged. “Guess I missed it.”

  Aura flew to her father, who was hovering several feet above the floor against the wall opposite the main entrance. She stood at his right, though offered him only a cursory glance.

  There were a few minutes of silence, which turned into whispers, which turned into chatter. Duke Ukko summoned an air spirit and after a brief deliberation, the air spirit flew up to the announcer, spoke briefly, and left the room. Then the announcer spoke in his deep voice.

  “The mighty and wise Duke Ukko sees that the fleshlings are hungry. As we wish you to be fully energized for the wedding ceremony, we shall serve food before the honorable Calam makes his appearance.”

  “Aura looks nervous,” Eunoe whispered.

  Aspen shook her head. “No, she is relieved.”

  Kyla nodded. “She should be, if he changed his mind about marrying her.”

  Eunoe looked at her a few seconds before speaking. “You know I think anyone who gets married is making a mistake, but at least I can pretend to support Aura at her own wedding.”

  “But she doesn’t want to get married!”

  “Want isn’t the issue. She sees it as her duty.”

  “Yes, but let’s face it: if Calam’s jilts her, she’ll be pretty excited.”

  Rolling thunder sounded from the corridor, and Kyla worried it might be Calam and his entourage but felt relieved to see Sophrosyne and Zen pushing metal carts covered in plates of food, followed by air spirits who began delivering dishes to the tables. Kyla’s hand fell to her necklace, and her eyes wandered to Zen.

  Aspen noticed right away. “Why don’t you go introduce yourself?”

  “Huh? Oh. We’ve met, briefly. I’m not interested.”

  Eunoe rolled her eyes. “Liar.”

  The stone was more important, but Kyla didn’t want Eunoe and Aspen involved. She decided now might be the best time to approach Duke Ukko, when all eyes weren’t on the front. But when Kyla rose, Sophrosyne minced over to the table. “It is considered rude to leave your table during the ceremony, even to relieve yourself.”