The Shadow Elf

by Terry Spear

  The Shadow Elf

  by

  Terry Spear

  PUBLISHED BY:

  Terry Spear

  The Shadow Elf

  Copyright © 2010 by Terry Spear

  All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without written permission from the author, except for the inclusion of brief quotations in a review.

  Discover more about Terry Spear at:

  http://www.terryspear.com/

  Dedicated to my daughter Jennifer Spear who has always loved my historical fantasies and who inspired me with her red hair. She is actually the cover model for The Shadow Elf, pictured at the Renaissance Fair in Waxahachie where there were elves galore!

  Chapter 1

  With curious intrigue, Dracolin watched the girl, most nearly his age—nineteen or so he imagined as curvy as her form was—standing at the edge of Sontran’s Cliff. Yet she was an odd sort of creature.

  She wasn’t a shadow elf like him, or a high elf or river elf either, not with having rounded ears. He’d never seen anything like it. And yet she had the slim elflike form of any of them. So what was she?

  Her hair hung over her shoulders in waves of red curls. He’d never seen anything like it…except for the merfolk of course. Her eggshell colored tunic was belted at the waist with some kind of forest green pouch and the garment at her legs were leggings like a man would wear as she paced along the edge of the cliff.

  He cocked a brow, admiring her shapely legs, as he stood hidden in the deep shadows of Darkland Forest. The female elves wore gowns or full-bodied breeches, never showing off the curve of their legs. So the sight of the enchanting creature had stopped him in his tracks.

  She glanced in his direction. His heart stilled. She couldn’t see him, not as dark as the woods were this time of morning in the middle of spring. She couldn’t hear him as quietly as he stood observing her, barely breathing. The breeze scattered any scent of him back into the woods behind him, so she couldn’t have smelled him.

  And yet she stared in his direction as if she knew he stood there, gawking at her like some awestruck much younger shadow elf teen.

  He considered her eyes, green as the lake beyond the woods. What creature had green eyes? Well, that and red hair. Merfolk, of course. But not any he’d seen with legs.

  He stood frozen in place, just like she did. What was the matter with him? He had a mission to accomplish. Discover what was blocking the Ro River from traveling to the tributary that brought drinking and bathing water to his kingdom. Already two of the wells had run dry.

  The mysterious creature had caught his eye—that was the matter. At first he thought she meant to throw herself off the cliff and into the ravine where Ro River snaked back and forth like a crooked, blue-green spine. He intended to stop her, too, if he could reach her quickly enough.

  Vaguely, he heard the sound of birds chirping deep in the woods, and the river rushing through the ravine, echoing off the red and gold banded canyon walls. The scent of Agrian pine wafted in the breeze, and something else. An unusual fragrance, floral in nature he presumed as light and sweet as it smelled, drifted to him—from her.

  She parted her lips to speak, but said nothing. Only swallowed hard, then wrung her hands.

  His friends would have chided him for his odd behavior. He could hear them now saying, “What are you afraid of? Find out what she is.”

  And rashly without regard to his safety, he would have done so, without even his friends’ prompting. But something held him back. An odd sense of disquiet fluttered in the pit of his stomach. Even his body temperature seemed to elevate under her scrutiny.

  He was a shadow elf, son of the king’s chief advisor, he reminded himself. He had nothing to fear from a slip of a girl. Clenching his fists, he resolved to step out of the shroud of darkness and reveal himself. But how would she react to seeing him?

  He was handsome by shadow elf standards if the girls’ interest in him were an accurate measure. But what if his dark brown hair and eyes and pointed ears scared her? She stood so very close to the edge of the cliff, if he moved toward her, would she step back in fright?

  If she did, she’d surely fall to her death, forty feet to the rocky shoreline below.

  To his mortification, his friends, Balon and Prince Cronus, crashed through the woods behind him. Dracolin turned and motioned for them to travel quietly, using hand signals. Both the prince and Balon, son of the chief-at-arms, raised their brown brows at him, questioning his action.

  How could he discourage them from drawing closer? From seeing the lovely creature that until now had been for his eyes only? Would they frighten her further?

  Well, he wasn’t sure whether she was frightened or not. Her pacing indicated she was agitated. But the wringing of her hands—nervousness?

  Balon, with his taller stature and longer legs, reached Dracolin first. Before Dracolin could speak, Balon’s mouth dropped open. His black eyes grew as round as the double moons that lighted their way at night, and his tanned skin turned pasty. “What is she?”

  The prince joined them. His round face lighted up as his dark brown eyes sparkled with interest. “Capture her, Dracolin. My father will pay handsomely for the creature.”

  Dracolin looked back at her. Though his companions’ words were hushed, she seemed to hear them, too. Then another notion occurred to him. Would she even understand their language?

  The prince nudged Dracolin’s shoulder. “Go get her. Hurry, before she gets away.”

  Always cautious, Balon said, “What if she is a lure like the golden feathered plumes we use to catch our fish in Lorenf Lake? What if Dracolin leaves the safety of the forest and men of her kind capture him as soon as he reveals himself, instead?”

  “He was given the mission of finding out what’s blocking the river from providing water to our kingdom. As my father’s chief advisor’s son, it is his duty.” The prince furrowed his brow as he stared at the girl. “So, Dracolin, even if you are afraid to capture the female, you still have no choice but to search for the source of the problem.” He motioned to the cliff.

  “I’m afraid as close as she’s standing to the cliff’s edge, she might fall if I startle her with my sudden appearance,” Dracolin said, his words coated with irritation that the prince had insinuated he would not do his duty.

  Balon frowned. “Does she know we are here? She seems to be watching us.”

  “We stand too far from her, I would think. She couldn’t see, hear or smell us from the distance she stands,” Dracolin said.

  “If she were a shadow elf,” the prince argued. “But maybe whatever she is—” The prince quit speaking as the girl suddenly turned and faced the ravine.

  Without another second’s hesitation, she jumped from the edge of the cliff to the river and its rocky shores below. Dracolin’s heart leapt into his throat as he dove out of the woods and dashed for the cliff’s edge.

  ***

  Persephonice settled at the river’s stony bank at the bottom of the cliff, slowing her descent with her inborn abilities. She was determined to keep the shadow elves’ attention long enough for her people to get away. Dracolin, the one who was to discover the blockage of the river, had to be stopped at all costs. Still when she saw him…

  She shivered, not from an unwarranted chill in the air, but with the eeriness she felt at seeing the young man who looked so much like the man chosen to be her lifemate.

  Except for the pointy ears.

  She shuddered this time. Losing her selected mate a year ago, still weighed heavily on her mind.

  Yet, she could tell her appearance pleased
him as much as his looks intrigued her.

  Her people’s mission was to study inhabitants of other worlds. She’d been trained, well—not fully, but enough to take on the job of overseer. But for now, she was to be a distraction. This planet was not on their list of observable planets. Too primitive. Too violent.

  She glanced up at the colorful-banded cliffs high above as the shadow elves ran toward the jagged edge, their leather boots tromping closer on the grassy ground. Quickly, she dropped down and lay on her side. Then as she imagined they had reached the edge and peered down at her, she raised her hand to her forehead and groaned. An actress she wasn’t, but for now, she was determined to play her role well.

  “She can’t be alive,” Dracolin said, his voice laced with anxiety.

  “I told you to capture her!” the prince shouted, evidently distraught that his order hadn’t been obeyed.

  Dracolin climbed over the edge of the cliff, stretching his arms and legs out, searching for foot and handholds on the treacherous climb down.

  She held her breath as she watched, hoping she wouldn’t have to use her abilities to rescue him and frighten him or the others, but she wouldn’t allow him to fall to his death.

  Balon said, “Do you think he should—”

  The prince folded his arms and scowled. “If nothing else, maybe he can learn what she is before she dies.”

  Dracolin’s straight dark brown hair touched his broad shoulders. A light green leather tunic pulled at his back as he worked his way down the cliff face. His arms and legs strained with the effort, revealed by the soft leather that molded to his muscles. Her own kind were more of a slender build, not muscular. None needed to be because of the special abilities they had. But also because of traveling on a research vessel, they just didn’t work out enough to develop muscular bodies.

  The way his muscles tensed and worked fascinated her.

  But it was the concern the elf felt for her that overwhelmed her thoughts. He seemed sure he was at fault for her near-death experience, and she worried he felt awful about it.

  Somehow she had to make it clear she had jumped for a most important reason. But she couldn’t tell him her father’s spaceship crashed in the river some distance upstream. For one thing, he’d have no idea what she was talking about. Then her mind shifted to other thoughts.

  Losing her intended lifemate had made it nearly impossible to sleep some nights. She’d lost weight she could ill afford to lose. And the notion plagued her that she would never find another who would be her partner among her own people forevermore.

  But despite how depressed she’d been, she didn’t want to end her life. She only wished to ensure she distracted the shadow elves sufficiently. She wouldn’t let her people down.

  She sighed, exasperated. The natural inclination for self-preservation in times of danger always kicked in, and she would be as she was before. Alive and well, while her lifemate was dead.

  Still, she had never been so alive as when her father had given her this mission. Certain he had done so to lift her spirits, she couldn’t fail him or her people now.

  Her father had warned her, “We know very little about these shadow elves. Our scanners have picked up the message that they are sending one of them to locate why their river is no longer filling their wells. Only let him see you, but do not let him get close. We can’t afford to lose you. But we’re afraid a male of our kind would alarm him too much. The elf would alert the others and they would no doubt try to destroy our man. Evidence of battles fought for decades are scattered all over the planet. These are violent peoples. Distract the elf, make him forget his purpose until we can repair our ship, but do not allow him to get near you.”

  If the elf got near her, she could vanish. Poof! Into thin air. But then the shadow elf would continue with his mission. No, she had to remain behind if necessary, to allow her people time to escape. And when they left the shadow elves’ home world, the river would be unblocked.

  She took a deep breath. She would be but a small sacrifice to her people’s cause. A memorial on her home planet would be erected, as it was done for her lifemate. Maybe she’d even earn the Malevon Order of Bravery.

  Now she realized her father had given her a reason for living again.

  And then she reconsidered the notion. No one as young as she, would be left to oversee a civilization as primitive as this one was supposed to be.

  She swallowed hard. Had her father decided her fate after all?

  She glanced back at the river that veered off into the distance as the canyon shifted southeast. The ship had crashed close to two miles away. The engineers predicted it would take them two hours to repair the craft adequately.

  And yet a small thought nagged at her. Did her people intend to leave her behind on purpose? She thought back to cases like hers. To her horror, she recalled the story of a girl, very nearly her age who had lost her lifemate before she was of age.

  Like her, the girl had faded away to near nothingness from grief. She’d been abandoned on a distant planet within the year. What was an overseer without a mate? But no! Worse than that, she couldn’t be an overseer without a mate.

  Persephonice’s people were going to abandon her because she was useless to them? She could never be an overseer on an observable planet?

  The sound of the elf’s soft leather boots crunched on the gravel as he ran toward her, but before he reached her, she jumped up from her stony bed. Her people wouldn’t leave her! Well, if it had been her choice, fine. But not like this!

  The elf gasped and suddenly stopped several feet away. She glanced at him, her eyes blurry with tears. His mouth dropped open. His beautiful brown eyes, like liquid pools of dark garinia gems, widened.

  His fingers rested on the hilt of a sheathed sword.

  Her father said the shadow elves were little more than barbarians, using primitive weapons to kill their enemy.

  What were her people then?

  Worse.

  She punched the button on her transporter wristband. No response. She poked at it several more times. They were leaving her! In a panic, she realized she couldn’t be transported to the ship anymore. They must have disabled the tracking device.

  A senseless terror sliced through her as she realized she couldn’t vanish if the elves threatened her.

  She stormed past the stunned elf and headed upstream, hoping he wouldn’t use that long, wicked sword on her.

  If she hurried, she could catch the ship before it left. She’d give her father a piece of her mind. How could he do this to her?

  All she’d ever dreamed of was becoming an overseer. Why didn’t he tell her without her lifemate she could never become one? But no way could they mean to discard her like this!

  Groaning, she shook her head. Life was totally unfair. But she had every intention of making it fairer. She wouldn’t be left behind.

  “Why are you hesitating, Dracolin? Get her!” the prince hollered as Persephonice hurried back to the ship.

  Chapter 2

  Dracolin’s heart nearly stopped when the girl jumped up from being mortally wounded, to fully agitated and tearful all at once. What in the world was she?

  No elf could have survived such a fall. Not only had she survived, not a scratch seemed to have marred her perfect, peach-colored skin. She’d brushed off her strange garments, then poked at a leather strap on her wrist. But nothing seemed to happen, except her cheeks grew as red as the neleron flower.

  Now that he was close…well, closer to her as she stormed off, he could see she stood more than a foot shorter than his six-foot height. Female elves of his kind were only an inch or two shorter than him. When he kissed them, he never had to lean over very far.

  He watched the girl’s aggravated stride, as long as she could stretch it out with her shorter legs. What would it be like to kiss her pouting lips? And what crazy notion even brought that to mind? Rejection from Tslian—that was sure to be the reason.

  How would kissing some unknown cr
eature elevate his self-esteem? He must have been out in the sun’s strong rays too long the day before.

  When the girl headed in the direction he needed to go, he followed, not willing to let the remarkably entrancing creature out of his sight. After all, he would need to report back to his king all there was to know about the unusual girl. What if she were a danger to his people?

  She glanced at him, glaring. Her vivid green eyes darkened as he raised his brows at her.

  Clearly, she didn’t like being followed. But she was in his territory…well, actually the river elves’. Still she wasn’t one of them either. What if they tried to harm her? He couldn’t allow it.

  So when did he become the protector of unusual female creatures?

  When they looked as pretty and defenseless as she did…that’s when.

  So far, she hadn’t done anything threatening. Though his fingers stayed near his sheathed sword just in case.

  The prince and Balon ran after them at the top edge of the cliff, with the prince’s orders continuing in heated fashion. “Get her! Stop her! Bring her to me!”

  But Dracolin had no way to take the creature back up the cliff face. Not if she couldn’t climb, and certainly not if she didn’t want to go with him.

  Then an annoying notion crossed his mind. She didn’t seem frightened of him. Shadow elves prided themselves in being fierce warriors. Didn’t she recognize this?

  Even when his hand rested on the hilt of his sword, she didn’t seem to care. Not that he wanted to frighten her, but for her to ignore him and dash off like she had done really cramped his style.

  He had proved his prowess time and again when fighting the river elves and on occasion a high elf or two. But this girl seemed unaware he was a warrior of great stature. She should have at the very least, cowered at the tall sight of him. She should have stood still until he had a chance to question her while she quivered appropriately in the leather ankle-high boots she wore.