by Simon Archer
“What… what is that?” Bernsten stammered. We couldn’t see the source of the noise, though the sound continued to echo throughout the clearing.
“I… do not know,” Akash said slowly, shaking his head as he continued to stare down the beaten path. More screams arose in the darkness.
“Okay, let’s go,” I said, turning in the direction of the great tree and the other forest elves. Then, holding out a hand to Bill and the other horses, “You guys stay here.” I turned to rush down the beaten path, but when I reached Akash, he held out an arm to stop me.
“No,” he snapped, his voice harsh. “We need you to continue on your quest. Please, gather your things and leave.”
“I’m not leaving if your people are in danger,” I said, growing angry.
“We can’t afford to have you in danger,” Akash said, not lowering his arm.
“We’ve faced far worse than this,” I said, pushing his arm away and continuing down the beaten path. Then, to my companions, “Come on, let’s see what’s going on.”
They hesitated, but ultimately followed me, and Akash threw up his arms in defeat and did the same. The horses were still tied to the trees, so they wouldn’t get away. We ran down the beaten path in the direction of the great tree. No eyes followed us from the sides of the road this time, and I reasoned that everyone must be congregated in the same place. The sounds grew louder as we approached the great tree, and as we grew closer, I realized that they weren’t the mindless screams of forest elves in danger, but rather the cries and chants of large groups of them arguing with one another.
“Stay back, stay back!” we heard Amaka cry when the great tree came into view. She was standing in front of it, holding out her arms in a desperate attempt to reason with a group of forest elves who were waving their hands in the air and wielding weapons in her direction. “This will accomplish nothing!” A much larger group of forest elves stood off to the side, watching the altercation uneasily and not doing anything to either contribute to or end the chaos. The smaller group of elves causing the problem called and chanted out demands and questions.
“Where is he?”
“Bring him to us!”
“Hand over the food!”
“What are you keeping from us?”
“Nothing,” Amaka cried. “I have told you everything, except for the whereabouts of the ultimate mage and his companions. That I will not reveal. Their quest is too important to jeopardize in that way.”
“You care more for the kingdom elves than you do for your own people,” the crowd cried in response.
“That’s not true,” I yelled, stepping forward to reveal myself. “She’s doing all of this for you.”
“Leo Hayden,” Amaka cried out in shock. “What are you doing here?”
“We couldn’t abandon you,” I said.
“Indeed,” Marinka agreed. “We heard the commotion and had to see if we could help.”
“You see?” Amaka sighed, desperation in her voice. “They are doing this for us. They’re on our side.”
“You’re not even on our side,” a member of the crowd accused her.
“That’s not true,” Amaka said, shaking her head weakly. “This is what has to be done, my friends. There’s no other option at this point.”
“We won’t leave our home,” several voices cried out in response.
“I don’t like it either,” Amaka said. “None of us do. But we’ll die if we don’t leave. Just the other day, some of you who are resisting it now were calling for this very action!” She was growing angry now, incredulous at the behavior of some of the forest elves.
The crowd didn’t seem to have a response to that, opting instead to continue pressing forward and attempting to push Amaka and several other forest elves standing between them and the great tree out of the way, and I realized that they must be storing many of their needed supplies inside what remained of the hollowed-out trunk.
“Hold on,” I said to my companions, and I used my foot to draw a mage’s circle in the ash-covered dirt beneath our feet on the beaten path. When it was complete, I stood on one end of the circle and held out my hands for my cello. It appeared shortly, and I began to play a tune to a defense spell I had learned for buildings, as opposed to the ones the kingdom elves were currently learning for individuals. I focused intently on the great tree, and a tall shield of golden light appeared in front of it, standing between the crowd of rogue forest elves and Amaka and her companions.
When they heard my music, the forest elves all turned to face me, but they didn’t rush me or do anything, really. Even if they had, my companions surrounded me, prepared to fend them off. But instead, the forest elves all just stared, their mouths agape, mesmerized by the music and my magic. When I finished the spell, I kept some of my focus on the shield, allowing it to remain even when my cello was long gone.
“Thank you,” Amaka sighed, slumping her shoulders and relaxing against the great tree trunk when she realized my shield would hold.
“No problem,” I murmured when I removed my bow from my strings and stood to watch my cello disappear off into the distance in a stream of golden particles. I stayed in the mage’s circle, though, ready to go back on the defensive if the need arose.
“You see,” Amaka said, addressing the rogue forest elves once more. “They stayed to help us even when they had no reason to. They are here to protect us and to save our forest. But we must first help ourselves. The kingdom elves are no longer our enemies, as you can see. We may be leaving our home, but we will find a new one, even if it is only temporary, and I pray that it will be. It’s not safe for us to stay here. There’s not enough food and water. And this unknown enemy in the mountains could strike again at any time. If you won’t do this for yourselves, do it for your children. Think of them now.”
“How do we know they won’t kill us when we get there?” one man shouted.
“And how do we know that when they leave that they won’t take our forest for themselves?” cried out a woman.
“I suppose we don’t,” Amaka said. “At least not to the degree that you want. But at some point, we will have to trust the kingdom elves, just like we have to trust one another. And I believe strongly that now is that time. There are no other feasible options.” Some continued to protest, but I called out so everyone could hear.
“You can stay if you want,” I said. “But you can’t take any supplies from the others. We’ll make sure of that. That shield is only the tip of the iceberg of what we’re capable of with our magic.”
“Now he threatens us?” the same man who had asked whether the kingdom elves would kill the forest elves growled.
“I’m not threatening you, just telling you what I’ll do to protect your people from you if you threaten them,” I clarified. “Which is exactly what you’re doing by going after those supplies.”
“Listen to him,” Amaka warned. “He is correct. You only endanger yourselves and your loved ones by acting in this way.”
“We’ve spent our whole lives distrusting the kingdom elves,” a woman called out.
“And yet only yesterday many of you trusted them still,” Amaka reminded her. “What has changed?”
“What’s changed is that you’re kicking us out of our home and leaving us to starve,” another man said.
“Only if you choose to do so,” Amaka said. She sighed deeply and then continued. “You will be safe should you choose to join us on our journey. Otherwise, yes, you will starve. But that’s your decision to make. I’m offering you a way out. Take it, or don’t. It’s up to you.”
“I thought he was going to save our home,” a woman wailed, gesturing in my direction.
“We’re trying,” I said.
“Yes, he’s trying,” Amaka said, annoyance in her tone now. “And I told you as much. That’s what this quest is. But I never said he would fix it immediately. We don’t even know what caused this. How could it be undone so fast? To expect that would be unreasonable.”
“Very well,” he said, his shoulders slumped in defeat. “We’ll go with you to the kingdom.”
“Good,” Amaka said, sighing in relief. “And mind you, if you strike against us on our journey, we will dispose of you quickly. We may not have magic, but that doesn’t mean we’re helpless.”
“We won’t,” the man assured her. “We don’t want to lose our home, but we don’t want to starve either.”
“Good,” Amaka said again. “I’m glad we’ve begun to understand each other. I believe you may lower your shield now, Leo, thank you.” She nodded curtly in my direction. I released my attention from my last spell, and the shield fell away in a puff of golden smoke. The forest elves gasped at the sight of it, still enthralled with my magic. Part of me thought that that, more than anything else, had convinced them to stand down.
“Thank you, Leo, for what you’ve done for us,” Akash said, turning to me. “Our people grow more in your debt every day.”
“No problem,” I said. “And no debt. Just neighbors helping neighbors.” Akash nodded and smiled at that sentiment.
“Very well,” Akash said. “Nonetheless, someday, we hope to return the favor. Anyway, you should be leaving shortly. This situation is under control for now, but who knows what will happen in the near future.”
“Indeed,” Marinka said. “We will depart shortly after we eat.”
“Very good,” Akash said. Amaka emerged from the crowd at that moment. She reached out and took both of my hands in hers.
“Thank you, Leo,” she said. “Thank you very much. There’s no telling what would have happened without your intervention.”
“No problem,” I mumbled, returning her gesture awkwardly.
“I believe it was the demonstration of your magic that convinced them to listen to reason,” Amaka continued. “They continue to speak of it even now.”
“Ah, that was nothing,” Bernsten said, his voice characteristically booming, so much so that several nearby forest elves turned to look at us in alarm. He slapped me between the shoulder blades and grinned. “Wait until they see my friend Leo Hayden’s other spells. They are truly spectacular.”
“I have no doubt,” Amaka said, shooting me a crooked grin. “I saw some of these spells during the battle that took place when you left the center of the forest on your last quest.” I nodded gravely, remembering that horrible day when there were so many enemies that we had to leave the center forest elves to fend for themselves. As far as I was concerned, after that, no matter what I did for the forest elves, it would never make up for what they had sacrificed for my companions and me.
“They are even greater in power and presence now,” Bernsten said. “His custom spells, in particular, are a sight to behold.”
“Oh?” Amaka asked, arching an eyebrow.
“Yeah, I’m sorry I wasn’t able to use them much here,” I said. “I made some to help you make more treehouses faster and hollow out trees and hunt and stuff like that. But obviously, that’s not helpful right now.” I gestured around at the blackened forest.
“We are grateful for your efforts, nonetheless,” Amaka said. “And let us pray that you will be successful on your quest, and our forest will return to us once more, at which time we would welcome any help your spells may provide us in our attempts to rebuild.” It hadn’t occurred to me that even if we could restore the forest, in all likelihood, the forest elves would still have to start from scratch and rebuild everything they had worked so hard for in the first place.
“It’ll be the first thing we do when we get back,” I assured her. “We’ll get started right away.”
“Thank you, that is very kind of you, Leo, as always,” Amaka said. “And now, I must ask you to depart. The sooner you leave, the sooner we may have our forest returned to us.”
“Of course,” Marinka said. “We are headed out now.”
“Good luck to you on this most dangerous of journeys,” Amaka said, bowing her head to us in the kingdom elves’ customary gesture. “I will be thinking of you regularly.”
“Thank you,” Marinka said, bowing her head in return. Akash did the same, and we turned to return down the beaten path to our campsite, where Bernsten used his magic to heat a few more strips of bear meat, and we congregated to eat there one last time. We finished our meal in silence, and then packed up our tents, loaded everything onto our horses, and pulled them by the reins up to the wall. The horses didn’t want to leave at first when they saw we wanted them to leave the center back into the wide-open forest, but we pulled them and coaxed them until they relented, and we walked out into the darkness to embark upon the final, and most dangerous, leg of our journey.
17
Eldred
I approached the small cave where I had originally performed my greatest spell for the first time in weeks. I had had to leave and take up residence elsewhere on the mountain due to the presence of the stream of light pouring into the cave from the forest, taking over the entire cave and making it impossible for me to sleep or get any more work done inside. Not that I needed to complete any more work. Not until the spell was complete. I could rest for now, for the first time in centuries upon centuries. For the first time since the war.
I climbed up the gravelly path on the side of the mountain, and the incline grew steeper and steeper the further up I got. But I was used to it by now. I had spent the vast majority of my life living up this high on the mountain so that I could oversee my operations in the forest. I looked forward to the day when I would be able to move deeper into the mountains, deeper into my realm. I smiled as I remembered that today was that day. The spell was not complete, but it should be enough so that I would be able to transport it.
The mouth of my cave came into view, and my smile grew even broader at the sight of it. The cylinder of light emanating from the exact center of the forest had grown larger and brighter in the days since I had left. I crawled into it, reaching up for a ledge hanging over the path and pulling myself up into the cave’s mouth.
The light washed over me, and I held out my arms and closed my eyes to bask in it. I could feel its power and energy rushing through my veins. I breathed in deeply and opened my eyes, holding up my hands to see how the light brightened my skin and made it more youthful. I had to remind myself that this energy was not for me. I grinned broadly at the sight of the light filling the cave and let myself let out a long cackle of laughter. I had to make sure to relish these moments of victory.
I crossed the cave to where my orbs were all stacked against the wall and began to pile them into the gray packs strapped across my back. As I transferred the orbs, I transferred the light as well, and the cylinder of it emanating from the forest below slowly began to pour into the packs themselves as opposed to the wider mouth of the cave.
“Now that the spell is almost complete, the energy can be transferred,” I muttered to myself. I did this to keep myself at least somewhat sane, to create the illusion of social interaction in my life, though I had a feeling I would not be alone for much longer. I finished piling the orbs into the packs, and heaved them all back on my back, full now. It was fortunate that my species was so deceptively strong. Otherwise, I would not be able to carry such a load on my own. It would be a difficult journey, there was no doubt, but a rewarding one nonetheless.
The cylinder of light followed me as I moved, providing me with the extra burst of energy I needed to carry me through this journey. Soon, very soon, the spell would be complete, and I would be able to start my next one, the spell to end all spells,
the spell that would be the end of the kingdom elves once and for all.
When I was finished packing up the orbs, I walked back to the mouth of the cave and looked down at the forest beneath me. I grinned even wider at the sight of the blackened treetops, devoid of their characteristic luscious leaves, and the complete silence that greeted me. There were no bird songs, cicadas, or animal cries to fill the air anymore. All of those animals, along with the plants before them, had sacrificed themselves for my great spell.
“And a great sacrifice it will be,” I murmured, scanning my eyes across the forest as far as I could see. It would not be long now until the forest elves themselves made the same sacrifice. Their backstock of supplies would be running out soon, and they had nowhere else to go. They would suffer, and they would die, just like their beloved plants and animals before them. And their life-force would, in turn, provide me with the energy that I would need to complete my next, even greater spell.
“A glorious spell, for a glorious purpose,” I announced to the surrounding emptiness. The forest elves’ life force would be the nail in the kingdom elves’ coffin. And then, after they were destroyed as well, no one would stand between myself and victory. Not the kingdom elves, not the forest elves, and not this insufferable new mage from another world I had heard so much about from my dead servant.
I had disposed of great magi before, and I would do so again. And then, there would be no magi left deal with. Though I was certain that the kingdom elves and their desperate attempt at creating a savior for themselves were on their way to try to undo my spell by now, but I was unconcerned. They would never dare attempt to follow me into the mountains, and I had little doubt that they would be unable to cooperate effectively with the forest elves. My spell would soon be complete, closely followed by my next one, and I would prevail. I would always prevail, no matter what or who stood in my way.
