“I’m shocked you could do the spell at all let alone four.”
“You only ever saw about me what you wished and you always wished to see a weak half-human. If you know nothing about me then it is your own fault, not mine.”
He nods once and grunts the acknowledgment of my words.
“What else is needed?”
I sigh this is the tricky part.
“Uncle had the brilliant idea to make an agreement with the mermen. When their princess Marina arrived most fell under her spell. The kingdom is being taken over without a drop of blood being spelled. Most succumbed to it. The ones here, plus aunt, and one of the general’s back home are all that resisted.”
“How do I know you resisted? Mayhap this is a trick.”
I raise a hand and point at him anger on my face.
“Then test me if you wish! I do not fear your ‘justice’!”
My father nods and a guard steps forward to grab my arm. Viktor pulls out a sword and steps between the guard and I. This will not end well. I put a hand on his shoulder but he doesn’t respond to me he just waits for the Elf to make his move.
“Your guard is out of control Elainne.”
“He isn’t my guard he is my Kemp.”
The Elvin guard, much insulted by my words draws his sword. Viktor draws his second one and glares almost as if he will relish a fight. I remove my hand and look towards the King.
“Bring the man or woman to give them back their identities; you will see I do not lie. If I do you may punish us both.”
The guard backs away with a word from my father, a woman is brought in, one I recognize and nod to in acknowledgment. She smiles back and looks at all of us frowning. Likely wondering why we are such insane children to strip ourselves of our identities.
I am wondering how to explain to her the situation when Madeline steps forward.
“I will go first I wish to be myself again.”
The lady nods and does her spell. Madeline feels no pain this time, she feels whole again, alive for the first time since I stripped her of this. Mason is next and both look healthier and more invigorated than ever. They will feel much better from now on. Mason will not flounder as much now.
She turns to Viktor and Madeline steps forward again.
“You cannot do him before Elainne. He is tied to her as Elainne. I do not believe it will work. He embraced his new identity as a part of himself. It was a missing part the princess said. I do not believe you can do much other than meld his two parts together but she will have to be Elainne again for it to work since he is tied to her.”
Madeline had indeed studied a lot about the Elves before I came to live with my aunt. Though she seems to be babbling a bit from nervousness.
“I shall see if he truly is tied to her. Nothing will happen if I do him first and he is.”
The Elvin mage tries the spell and nothing happens to Viktor. He stands there grumpy and glaring still. I almost laugh at his reaction to my father’s ‘hospitality’.
“Nothing happened sir; it is as the princess says. He is tied to his new name.”
“What of her claims on their connection?”
“I will not know until I reverse her. If she is honest, they will both feel the effects. I would recommend a healer for her though; she is quite drained using her power while not being connected to her family name that holds the power she drew from.”
I nod; it is likely why I passed out for so long and why I feel so terrible now. My father nods and a guard leaves to get the castle healer and likely torturer as well in case I lied.
However, when she reverses my name when she makes me whole again not only do I smile but Viktor does as well. I can feel his strength running through my veins and my magic runs through his. Both of us are invigorated and healed and can sense the other, even with our eyes closed. I can tell he can sense me and that he knows I can sense him. It is strange, I cannot read his thoughts but I feel his presence like a light in the dark. The Elvin mage gasps in shock as does most of the room. I open my eyes as he does and he is bathed in a golden light, I look down and I am as well.
When I look at Madeline she is smiling and nods for me to go to Viktor. Mason is gaping like a fish out of water, much like the rest of the room. I gold out my hand and Viktor comes overtaking my hand and standing next to me one sword still unsheathed. The light fades but I can still feel the connection. I let go of Viktor and walk to the throne where my father sits clearly in shock.
“Do you doubt my word now your majesty?”
He shakes his head no and calls for the healer and his personal attendant.
“See to it that they have rooms, adjourning as I know how twitchy a Kemp gets away from his charge, and make sure food and baths are prepared for them all. The two girls in one room, the boys in an adjourning one. I want them to all have beds; no one of nobility sleeps on a couch in my palace.
“Make sure their wounds are tended and they are well rested so tonight we may have dinner in my study to discuss business. If their comforts are not seen to properly or something bad befalls them I will be most cross so I suggest guards be posted outside their rooms for safety.”
My father has the great gift of getting his point across without yelling. Everyone knows if something were to happen to us everyone will be punished. I am here as his Elvin daughter and an emissary. We will be kept safe and happy while here. Hopefully, his threats will be enough to ensure it.
Chapter Eleven
Later in our rooms after making the boys go to bathe and be dressed in new clothes and Madeline and I have bathed and dressed in new clothes laid out for us as well she and I go to look at the boy’s rooms. It is almost as nice as ours and I nod glad my father is not cutting any corners. He wouldn’t consider Viktor important if he wasn’t my champion so I see no reason to tell him the boys are not his idea of nobility. Besides, I think they are very noble.
“Come to our room, food is being brought. Our table is bigger and all four of us can dine together. Then we should get some sleep. The journey here took a long time even with the carriage to hurry us along. Tonight, we will dine in private with the king and hammer out an agreement. My father has ensured our safety so we should nap while he is feeling kindly.”
They nod and follow us into our room where I wave the servants forward. They have laid the food out and started to put some on our plates when I decide privacy is better than service.
“We will serve ourselves thank you. I will ring for you when we are done so you can clear the meal. Please go back to whatever chores you have I do not wish to keep you so long you cannot do them.”
Viktor
They nod, looking slightly shocked at Elainne’s words and leave. I say nothing; I am not sure what to say. This whole day has been confusing. First, they had practically done battle with words, though if it is a form of battle it is one Elainne won in my opinion. Then he prepared to torture his own daughter until our connection had solidified and now because of that he is treating us like royalty. Does the man have a split personality or what?
“What happened today?”
For once Mason and I are on the exact same page. Going over it in my mind I can’t make heads or tails of anything that happened.
Elainne looks at me and I can feel her, almost like we are one being in two bodies. I can’t hear her thoughts but I can sense her mood, how she is feeling physically and mentally.
“Viktor embraced his new name when I renamed him, however, I changed mine right after, it didn’t have a chance to sink into us both. When I was given my name back it solidified. We are connected. I can tell he knows I feel pensive but optimistic, he is in excellent health, is confused about today, but feeling better than he ever has in his life.
“Basically, Viktor now belongs to me. He is my champion, my Elvin champion which is not the same as a human one. Elvin champions are connected by magic to their charges, they can sense where they are, what they are feeling if they are hurt in any way. I belong to Viktor as well. We
belong to each other.”
I belong to her. Instead of feeling angry I belong to someone I feel oddly happy, glad, and relieved I have found my purpose in life. It is all so strange. Elainne laughs and smiles as the others look at us confused.
“Viktor is finding it odd that he likes being mine.”
She shoves some more food into her mouth and smiles as the others look back and forth between us trying to figure out what to say. Madeline is the first to break the silence again after drinking some wine.
“Well, I'm glad that’s finally finalized. You can’t go around zapping each other forever it would have eventually caused problems.”
Elainne looks at her shocked.
“How did you know about that I never told you?”
Madeline smiles and shrugs.
“You spent much of our journey unconscious and before the Elves found us, I was trying to explain the difference between types of champions to the boys. I knew about the spark and Viktor admitted to it happening on more than one occasion.”
She looks at me, she is not angry, just shocked. She holds out her hand and I blush but don’t take it. It seems rather embarrassing now. She laughs and rises as the others watch. She grabs my hand. There is a warm pulse, but no shock.
“Hmm, so it does stop once we have connected.”
She returns to her seat and eats some more.
Elainne
Viktor is both weirded out by the whole situation and pleased. I wonder if there is a way to turn that off. Knowing what he feels all the time will get annoying not to mention intrusive. What if he falls in love with someone? I do not want to feel it as well. I will have to research it later. Maybe my father’s library contains something useful. Though maybe questioning Madeline first will be beneficial she seems to know an awful lot about it. My aunt probably helped with that though I am not sure why she bothered to answer questions about Kemps as it was unlikely, I would ever have one. Unlikely, but obviously not impossible.
I swallow and prepare for a verbal battle. Viktor and Mason will not like this. Viktor looks up sensing my doubt and narrows his eyes.
“What’s wrong?”
I flinch; I will have to look into turning off his ability to read me as well.
“I need to tell you two something that you may not like.”
“We aren’t letting you two in that room without us so don’t even think about it!”
I sigh and am glad I readied myself for a battle; Viktor certainly hasn’t proved me wrong.
“I cannot insult my father further by bringing you and making it obvious I cannot trust him with my safety. He is king his rules must be obeyed.”
“You have broken most of them already and this one is the one I refuse to not break. We are going with you or you are not going at all. That’s final.”
I stand slamming my hands on the table. “Who works for whom here Viktor?”
He stands slamming his hands as well. “It is my job to keep you safe from anything and everything including your own stubbornness and I will! I’m going with you or you are not going at all that’s final!”
We all look towards the door where my father stands chuckling to himself. I sit down embarrassed he saw that. How weak do I look not being able to control my own guards?
“You have chosen a champion as stubborn as you are my daughter. At least I can be sure nothing will happen to you while he still breathes. Arguing with a champion over your safety is pointless daughter. When I had one I went nowhere alone. He slept in my room at the bottom of my bed on a cot. Refused his own room saying he was fine on the floor. Drove me crazy for quite a while, then he died doing exactly what he had sworn to do and now I miss him more than anything.”
“Viktor is very loyal but he needs to realize he won’t be sleeping in my room and he cannot always be with me. There need to be boundaries.”
My father shakes his head.
“You may get away with him not sleeping in your room when back with your aunt; the humans always place such importance on such things, even if it is not what they think. Here we understand where you go he does as well. You must understand once you have a champion no boundaries exist.”
Viktor looks pleased and sits slowly so as not to draw more attention to himself. I can feel his smugness and hopefully, he can feel my annoyance and will know it is meant for him.
Madeline the traitor laughs aloud for a moment as my father finishes his speech before one look at me has her trying to stifle it. I take a deep breath and prepare myself for the business we have to be about soon.
“I came to see how you all are feeling.”
My father never cared while I lived here and I doubt he cares a whole lot now.
“Why don’t you just ask Viktor what you came to ask and leave until dinner tonight? I know you are busy and I am in no mood for your false pleasantries.”
He nods and turns to Viktor.
“What are your parent’s names, boy?”
Viktor looks confused and I sigh.
“Only someone with Elvin blood can become an Elvin champion. Your father I know to not be Elvin, I sensed nothing in him when I met him. But your mother, well with her being deceased I could not check. I wasn’t sure why we sparked, you do not look Elvin, and I could sense nothing but I generally only can if they are half or more. If your mother was half you would only be one fourth and I wouldn’t sense it. You aren’t fair of eyes or hair so I didn’t think to look more deeply into your background. My father wishes to know which Elf your mother was. Which family you come from.”
“I do not think it anyone’s business but my own.”
The king frowns and opens his mouth.
“It is Viktor’s family, his life, he has the right to make whatever decision he feels is right.”
Viktor
The king looks at his daughter and they both look stubborn and angry. They are going to argue, this will hurt our chances of getting help. I hadn’t thought much about my mother in recent days. I have run from the memory which brings both my greatest times of happiness and is the source of my greatest sorrow. I am not the best at dealing with emotion and her memory makes me do so.
“Lia. She was Lia. I do not know her last name before she took my fathers, I never asked. I was young when she died.”
Both the king and princess look at me open-mouthed. I can feel her shock.
“It’s not possible.”
“Has the name been used since father?”
It is the only time we have heard her call him father.
“No. It’s not a name we allow to be used anymore.”
That sounds bad…
Elainne looks at me with a newfound sense of curiosity in her eyes.
“I wonder…”
“We could have him tested daughter. With your permission of course.”
She nods absentmindedly and continues to stare at me.
“I will discuss it with him before we leave.”
“Discuss what with me?”
They both stop chewing on their lips and stare at me like I have grown another head and look at the other. The king nods and leaves the room. The princess paces the room a bit deep in thought. I don’t interrupt her.
“Viktor I think your mom was not just a normal human woman.”
I glare at a smiling sarcastic Mason who responds with a, ‘you think?’
I am not responding to that. But now I have to ask. “Who was she?”
Elainne stops and looks at me.
“Not a normal mortal human woman for sure. She was part Elf, but only half. You have her eyes. She had dark eyes as well. They came from her father, a mage, the human mages. They are human but much longer lived. They have incredible magic. I mentioned them to my father upon our entrance to the throne room. You can always tell them by their eyes, black as coal, so as not to let anyone see the power within. Other than that they look normal. Usually, they are dark-haired as well but they live in a cold climate with so little sun so it is not shocking.”<
br />
“My mother was part Elf and part mage?”
Elainne
I nod, unsure what to say to Viktor. He is…well numb inside and it is scaring me.
“She was much like me an outcast because she wasn’t pure Elf. She…well she came from a noble house but her mother fell in love with a visiting mage, one trying to secure a treaty with the Elves, with my father. Your grandmother was already betrothed to an Elvin noble. But she fell in love with the mage. He…was kind to her…gave her flowers…and showed her magic tricks. He won her heart I have been told.
“They secretly married. One of the mage’s entourage married people, a traveler; it was one of the ways she made money. She married them. They spent one night together before being discovered. They were both sentenced to death. Her family pleaded for her, and she was granted leniency. He escaped and the mages and Elves have had no contact since then.
“Nine months later your mother was born. Dark hair and eyes, Elvin skin, pure as a new pearl. Your grandmother named her Lia. She grew up distant from others, having no one to confide in, and no knowledge of her father. The day….the day she discovered her heritage was a terrible one. Some Elves were mocking her, picking on her like always…one…one tried to take it to another level, one no one agreed to. He tried to rape her, called her a ‘mage’s bastard’ and she fought back, with magic. Not Elvin magic, the mage’s battle magic. He would have been put to death for his rape attempt had she not killed him but she did.
“Your mother could do both magics. Elvin and mage. Neither as powerful as full blood of each but strong enough. She was sentenced to death for murder. She escaped, much the same as her father had. They searched for her but she was never found. Her name was then ordered to never be used again. So if word ever reached the Elves on her whereabouts they would know it was her not another.”
Viktor
I remember my mother as kind, sweet, and gentle. But here she hadn’t been allowed to be who she really was on the inside, and she had killed. In cold blood. Not that I blame her, being half-blood did not give others the right to mistreat her. I look at Elainne and realize she is much more connected to my mother than I am. She too has suffered much mistreatment by the Elves, and now the humans, because of her background. Because she is a half-breed. I wondered if perhaps I had been drawn to her because they are so similar, even not knowing it, had it made a difference? Is that why I was chosen as her Champion?
Champion Complete Series Page 12
