The Fall of the Elves

by J. J. Thompson

  “Is this what our scryers see when they use the ley lines?” he asked Diane.

  “I don't know,” she admitted. “I imagine not, though. Your scryers can apparently only tap into the ley energy where the lines come close to the surface, as the keepers do. I believe that they are limited to only seeing those parts of your world where the lines are present. That is a limitation that I do not share.”

  “That is fortunate for us,” Ethmira said with her eyes fixed on the globe. “With the lines now unusable by our people, you might not have even been able to scout out the surface if you had to tap into them the way that our scryers do.”

  “Exactly. But as you can see, that is not how I do what I do.”

  Diane frowned at the orb, twirling her fingers as if she was playing an instrument as its surface shifted and rolled in front of her. The images began to slow down and the elves could now make out more details.

  “Do you recognize any landmarks?” Chase asked Ethmira. “I've never been to Othallis.”

  “No, I was very young when I passed through that area of Trillfarness. I was still a trainee back then and my mentor and I were touring various area around the world. I saw so many different places and met so many people that I don't remember many details.”

  “Your memories wouldn't have helped us anyway,” Diane said flatly. “Look. I think I've discovered why Fiad couldn't contact Keeper Kallistra.”

  The orb's surface stabilized and now the observers seemed to be looking down from a great height at the ground below. Malfiess gasped with shock and Chase felt her own stomach lurch with revulsion as she stared at the image.

  “By the gods, what is that?” she exclaimed.

  Ethmira's face was expressionless, but she gazed coldly at the orb.

  “That is the first touch of evil on Trillfarness,” she growled. “That is the very nature of Darkness: corruption.”

  The orb was showing them a scene out of nightmare. The land below was covered as far as they could see with pulsing, oozing fungal growths. Sickly green tendrils writhed and twisted amidst heaps of slimy, belching pustules that looked like huge blisters spread across the ground. The tendrils had a tinge of purple mixed in with the green, the color reminiscent of bruising. Pools of some sort of thick, oily liquid burbled under and around the fungus. A fog of swirling gas floated above the corruption, a thick miasma that almost seemed alive as it crept over the surface.

  “This is, or was, the keeper's grove,” Diane told the elves, her voice heavy with disgust. “Or at least it is the point on the map that indicates it was. We cannot know if the keeper survived this...infestation, but if she did, then I feel our first move should be to locate her and anyone else from the village of Othallis who might have escaped.”

  “You think that the village was engulfed as well?” Malfiess asked, horrified.

  “I don't know. Possibly. But let's find out, shall we?”

  Diane looked down at the map for a moment and then gestured at the orb. The images blurred across its surface again before stopping abruptly.

  “Oh my,” Malfiess said softly.

  “Monstrous,” Chase exclaimed angrily.

  “That is Othallis,” Diane said evenly. “At least I assume so. By the shape of it, that fungus is obviously growing on top of buildings. I'm hoping that when the infestation began, the villagers were able to get away before they themselves were engulfed.”

  “I feel like we're in the grip of a nightmare,” Ethmira said as she watched the writhing mass on the orb's surface. “How did this happen? Who caused it? Yes, I know that it is an attack by the dark gods, but it has to have been instigated by some agent of theirs. Who or what was it?”

  “That is what we must discover,” Diane told her. “But first things first. There may be survivors somewhere and if there are, we must find them and quickly.”

  “I agree,” Malfiess said firmly. “As horrific as that scene is, it is the people who were attacked that I am more concerned about at the moment.”

  “As am I,” Ethmira told him. “Diane, as I said I don't remember much about the lay of the land around Othallis, but I would guess that anyone who survived would have retreated to higher ground. Are there any hills or mountains marked on the map that Fiad gave you?'

  Without looking, Diane picked up the map and handed it to Ethmira,

  “Go ahead and look,” she told the ranger as she continued to stare at the orb. “I don't want to risk losing focus. If I do, I'll have to recast my spell and start again.”

  “Thank you.”

  Ethmira moved to sit cross-legged and then laid the map on her lap. She touched the mark where the ley lines intersected and examined the area around it. Chase leaned over to look as well.

  “Ah, there is a large hill, flattened like a mesa, directly west of Othallis,” Ethmira exclaimed. “It's several miles away, according to the map, but if the people had the chance to run, I think that is where they might have gone.”

  “To the west?” Diane said. “All right, let's see if they are there. Maybe the corruption hasn't spread that far yet.”

  Chase watched the scene on the orb move again and she clasped her hands tightly together, hoping desperately that at least someone had managed to escape such a horrific death.

  The view slowed and the group saw the land abruptly rise several dozen feet in a sheer cliff. The forest at the foot of that cliff was choked with masses of slimy fungus, but the growths had been blocked by the wall of rock. Chase felt a faint surge of hope as she saw that and all of them waited breathlessly as the orb flew up and over the lip of the cliff.

  “There!” she exclaimed. “I can see people!”

  “I see them,” Diane assured her. “But there are tendrils of corruption moving toward them from all sides.”

  She was right. The small mesa was only about a hundred feet across and almost perfectly circular. Ethmira and the others could see a small group of people, no more than a dozen or so, huddled together in the center of the hilltop. Chase felt a stab of fear as she noticed two small figures among the survivors. Children.

  “Diane, we have to go. Right now,” Ethmira exclaimed. “That fungus is creeping toward those poor people faster than I would have thought possible. They are running out of time.”

  Diane nodded and pushed herself to her feet. With a wave of her hand she dismissed the orb, which disappeared with a loud, tearing sound.

  “All right. Let's get moving. I have a picture of their location locked in my mind.”

  The elves stood up quickly and scooped up their packs. Ethmira looked at Malfiess and Chase, both of whom nodded at her, and then she turned to Diane.

  “We're ready.”

  “Good. Here we go.”

  “Kallistra, those...things are getting closer. Is there nothing you can do?”

  Standing head and shoulders above the elves gathered around her, the keeper looked compassionately at the woman who desperately gripped her arms.

  “I am sorry, Meggia, but no. There is not. I cannot feel the ley energy at all. I was able to warn you all about the encroaching threat only because it attacked my grove first. Like you, I am heart-broken that so many of our people were out in the forest gathering berries and herbs when we were assaulted. They must have been killed by this horrible blight.”

  A harsh wind, cold and bitter with the stink of rot, lifted Kallistra's waist-length white hair and it billowed behind her like a cape. She turned slowly to look at the creeping tendrils approaching them from all sides. They moved steadily toward the group as if they had an evil sentience within them that was determined to engulf the elves.

  The two young children clinging to their parents cried wearily, too exhausted by their fear and by a lack of sleep to do more than stare at their approaching doom with wide-eyed confusion. Kallistra watched them sadly, as if not knowing what else to say or do to allay their terror.

  One of the men raised a scythe that he had brought with him from his home. He looked at the keeper, h
is young face settled into determined lines.

  “I can cut back some of those tendrils, buy us some time,” he told her. “Maybe then you can all...”

  “All what, Dural?” Kallistra replied with a sad smile. “Contemplate our fate for a few more minutes? Extend our agony a little bit longer? I fear that this is our end, but we will not give evil the satisfaction of watching us die without our dignity intact. We are elves, my friends,” she told the others around her, her voice ringing with pride. “And we will go into the Light knowing that we stood against the Darkness and did not flinch or cringe away from it.”

  The elves looked at her and several of them smiled. Even the children looked up at the tall keeper and stifled their sobs.

  “We are with you, Kallistra,” Meggia told her as she stroked the head of her young son. “My child and I are together and that is all that matters. When we fall, we will do so knowing that beyond the veil lies eternal happiness.”

  Her son hugged Meggia's leg and she reached down and brushed away his tears.

  “I will always be with you, Kenndal,” she whispered lovingly. “Mother is always here.”

  Kallistra turned away from the private moment between mother and son and looked fiercely at the advancing corruption.

  “Come then,” she muttered at it. “You will find us resolute and ready.”

  A silent moment passed and then with a bright blue flash and a rumble of distant thunder, four people appeared a dozen feet away. A blast of wind smelling like ozone washed over the refugees and they coughed and wiped their eyes as they gaped at the strangers.

  The elf holding the scythe raised his weapon and moved forward, but Kallistra held out her arm to block him.

  “Wait, Dural. Those are not enemies.”

  “Are you sure?”

  “Oh yes. I recognize two of them.”

  The keeper smiled at the newcomers and when she spoke, her voice was heavy with relief.

  “Councilor Malfiess and Commander Ethmira,” she greeted them, speaking loudly so that the people behind her could hear her words. “This is a welcome surprise. How have you come to be here?”

  Malfiess bowed to the keeper while he looked past her at the other elves.

  “Greetings, Keeper Kallistra. We were looking for you when we saw the devastation that had destroyed your grove and the town of Othallis. My friend here,” he said as he gestured at Diane, “a human as you can see, used her powers to find you all and bring us here.”

  “You are a mage, Lady?” Kallistra asked Diane.

  “Something like that, Keeper,” she replied as she stared at the exhausted villagers. “We came to save you and your people. Let us leave this horrible place quickly. Those children have suffered enough. We can speak later.”

  “Yes, of course. We are beyond grateful for your aid.”

  Diane smiled at the keeper and glanced at Ethmira and the others.

  “Get closer to the villagers, please. It will be easier for me to Gate us all if we are in a compact group.”

  “Are you sure that you can transport so many?” Chase asked her anxiously.

  “It will be an effort, but yes, I'm sure,” Diane told her. “Now let's move.”

  Ethmira nodded and hurried over to the villagers along with Chase and Malfiess. Meggia's son looked up at the ranger with wide eyes.

  “Are you going to help us?” he asked her, his little voice thin with fatigue.

  Meggia stroked his dark hair and smiled at Ethmira as the ranger got down on one knee in front of the child.

  “We are indeed,” she told him with a warm smile. “You have been very brave, but I think that it is time to get you and your mother some place safe, don't you?”

  “Yes, I think so too,” Kenndal replied seriously with a glance up at Meggia. “Mother is very tired, you know. She needs to get some rest.”

  Meggia stifled a laugh as tears streamed down her face. Ethmira stood up and took the woman's hands in both of her own.

  “You have done very well,” she whispered to Meggia. “You have saved your son. Hold on for just a few minutes longer.”

  “Thank you, Lady Ethmira,” the mother murmured. “We will.”

  Diane waited until all of the elves were bunched up loosely together. Then she walked over to them and stared at each of them for a moment.

  “I will be taking us all to Alderthal,” she told them. “The Council of Elders will want to know what's happened here, and all of you will be able to rest and recover in safety there. Gating is a little disorienting, but none of you will be in danger because of it. Simply hold your breaths and count to ten. Please do not be afraid.”

  “After all of this,” Kallistra said as she waved toward the approaching tendrils, “none of us fears much of anything. Please proceed, Lady.”

  “Thank you. On three then.”

  Diane muttered and raised her hands.

  “One...two...three.”

  Chapter 13

  In Alderthal, the survivors were warmly welcomed by the people there and they were taken in by several families. Kallistra made sure that all of her charges were being cared for and then she joined Diane and the others at Deakon's inn. The innkeeper was very happy to see Malfiess and Ethmira again and hurried to offer the group a table and some refreshment.

  “It feels like we never left,” Chase said with a smile as she watched Deakon rush off toward the kitchen to fetch them some food and drink.

  “It does, doesn't it?” Ethmira agreed.

  She stretched languidly in her seat and focused on Kallistra across the table from her. The keeper looked remarkably calm and alert considering the trauma that she had recently experienced.

  “How are you doing?” Ethmira asked her.

  Kallistra smiled as she looked around the inn. Several other groups of elves were seated at tables and the hum of conversation was oddly comforting. The main room was well lit with lanterns and candles now that the sun had gone down, and the smell of freshly baked bread wafted through the inn every time Deakon opened the door to the kitchen.

  “I am well, thank you,” the keeper replied. “More importantly, the villagers of Othallis are safe and sound now, thanks to the four of you. I am beyond grateful that you arrived in time to save us all. The loss of the others in the attack by whatever that pestilence was is heartbreaking, but at least some people survived.”

  “We were simply along for the ride,” Malfiess told her with a wry grin. “Diane is the true hero here.”

  Diane shook her head.

  “Not at all. If you three hadn't come looking for me, I would never have discovered the devastation that engulfed Othallis, and Keeper Kallistra and the others would have died without anyone ever knowing what had happened to them. I was just happy to help, that's all.”

  “You may call yourself whatever you wish,” Kallistra told her. “But to Meggia and the others, you will always be seen as their savior. You saved her son, Diane. Can anyone do more for a mother? I think not.”

  Ethmira smiled at Diane as the woman shifted uncomfortably in her seat.

  “Not used to such praise?” she asked her.

  “Not used to unearned praise,” Diane replied. “But I do thank you, Keeper. Now, if you feel up to it, can you tell us exactly what happened in Othallis? I need to know everything, every detail that you can recall.”

  “Yes, of course. The attack only began two days ago and we reached that hill where you found us just this morning.”

  Before she could continue, Deakon returned with a tray loaded down with teacups and a large ceramic teapot. One of his daughters carried a second tray and left two loaves of sliced, steaming bread and a large pat of butter on the table. The innkeeper told them that their meal would be served soon and then both of them bowed and went back to the kitchen.

  “Please eat something, Kallistra,” Malfiess told the keeper. “You must be famished after such an ordeal.”

  The keeper poured herself a cup of tea and glanced at him with a smile
.

  “I am a little hungry,” Kallistra admitted as she sipped some tea and sighed with pleasure at the sweet taste. “Let us all enjoy the bread while it is still warm.”

  Everyone took some bread and spread butter on it. While they ate, Kallistra began to recount the events that had led to the destruction of Othallis.

  “The ley lines failed several weeks ago,” she told them. “I assume that is the reason you were looking for me?”

  Diane nodded silently as she ate some bread.

  “Just as I suspected,” Kallistra continued. “Well, since I was cut off from my fellow keepers and had no way to discover the reason for the disruption, all I could do was try to tap into the ley energy every day. I hoped that the failure of the ley was temporary. It seems that I was wrong.”

  “We cannot know that yet,” Malfiess told her. “Diane may be able to do something to restore the ley lines, but first we have to discover what caused the disruption in the first place.”

  Kallistra looked at Diane doubtfully.

  “I mean no disrespect,” she said carefully. “But how could a human mage affect the ley energies? For that matter, how are you even here on Trillfarness? I didn't know that anyone could travel from your world to ours, unless you used one of our portals. And they have failed, obviously.”

  “I have been observing Trillfarness for quite some time now,” Diane replied. “But I did not arrive via an elven portal. As to how I can help you and the other keepers...”

  She glanced around at the other tables. No one seemed to be paying them very much attention, but Diane lowered her voice anyway.

  “I can work with ley energy, Keeper Kallistra,” she said quietly. “And because of that ability, I am hopeful that I can discover what caused the failure of the ley lines and restore them.”

  The keeper gaped at her and Chase pursed her lips to hide her smile. She never thought that she would see someone like Kallistra at a loss for words.

  “How is that even possible?” Kallistra finally managed to ask. “A human? In touch with the ley? I mean no offense, you understand, but I have never heard of any of your kind who could do that.”