Below the Peak (Sola)

by Juliet Lili

  Eluon’s eyes moved to his once close comrades Síron and Brasson then to the prince and the high lord.

  “Move” Calemir brushed the lord aside roughly as he lunged for the traitor who already had his sword drawn and attacked the two other elves that had been hesitant, unsure whether to attack their friend or not. The two had been incapacitated by the truth they had seen his eyes which gave Eluon a perfect chance to pummel them on the head hard with the heavy butt of his sword that sent them down before pouncing on the prince. With his own unsheathed sword, Calemir fended the blows. The two fought, tearing the room down. AS the two went for each other’s throat, the lord made a dash for the door. Sooner than later, Calemir and Eluon followed behind, flying through the window and landing on the ground with a hard thud. The crash snagged a few bystanders.

  Calemir stalked toward him and rested the tip of his sword at the hollow base of the elf’s neck. “Who else is involved? Where are you planning?” he hissed.

  “Nuxvar” he offered when the tip sank lower.

  “Where else?” the hard gleam in those green eyes stole his breath and left terror in his bone. “Fallkirk and Pirn” Eluon offered eagerly.

  Calemir crouched and leaned closer that he was in the man’s face. “You truly are a traitor. And a coward” feeling his fear leach into his skin.

  Cheek twitching angrily, Eluon spat. “It doesn’t matter if you kill me. He is here.”

  “Who?”

  “Who are you speaking of” Calemir demanded.

  “You know who” the man’s mouth curled up.

  Having had enough of him, Calemir sank the blade into the elf’s throat. Standing up, he rubbed the blood from the blade on the dying man’s clothes. Re-sheathing the sword, he marched to his horse. He was heading to Pirn, the only town he had missed. Finn and Izza were already covering Fallkirk and Nuxvar.

  His heart plunged into heaviness, as the darkness he held at bay, whispered sweet nothing into his mind. He rode fiercely, leaving the city in the dust.

  Nothing strange happened in the town as days went by. People continued with their daily life activities. Still, the guards patrolled day and night, Nara could feel the tension in the calm atmosphere carried by the folks. Izza left the house earlier than usual once she had done the chores. Her parting smiles and assuring words didn’t abate the eeriness in Nara’s gut especially during the night when she was alone in the house. She carefully bolted all the windows and doors of the house which could be used as an entrance before retiring for the night. She slept with one eye open, a dagger under her pillow and a sword resting on the table beside the bed.

  “You surely know how to keep a man from his own house,” the voice had her jumping, shaking remnants of sleep that was still clogging her head. Nara turned and faced him. “Not successfully” her voice was still raspy from sleep. She gave Calemir a quick look over, his hair tossed in a disheveled but attractive manner. He was clothed in a comfortable blue short- sleeve tunic and trousers with his feet bare as he stood outside his room.

  “Hmm, perhaps not enough locks,” he said.

  “Yes, maybe” Nara absently muttered, combing her hair with her fingers. “I’m going to open the door for Izza.” It was early hours of the morning, a little dark outside. She had made a habit of unlocking the front door in the mornings so Izza could let herself in easily when she came.

  “I already did that.” He told her.

  Nara nodded. “I’m going back to bed.”

  “Okay.”

  Nara turned and got back into her room. She crawled on the bed and under the blanket, resting her head on the pillow. Was he alright? She thought. He looked fine just then. A little wave of relief washed over her.

  He is fine. Eyelids shutting, Nara allowed herself to really sleep after whole five days. It wasn’t until much later, during lunch did she see him again. He sat across her as they both savored the meal quietly. “Can I ask you something?” Nara asked, breaking the silence.

  “Go on.” He tore a piece of the bread and dipping it in a bowl of soup.

  “How old are you?” It was certain the question caught him by surprise because he paused, his eyebrows lifting for a second. “A little over a thousand years,” he said, “I think one thousand and twelve hundred to be exact, I could be wrong” he shrugged.

  Her face turned doubtful. “You don’t know your age?”

  “Don’t give me that look” Calemir teased. “Counting each year would drive me insane. Gods, it would drive any elf crazy.” He drew his eyes to hers. “Time isn’t really significant to us and keeping a record of one’s age loses its appeal over the years.”

  His words sounded almost like what Izza had told her, although he didn’t dive deep, she knew he meant the same as what Izza said.

  “How old are you?” he turned the question back to her.

  “Twenty-four.” She would be turning twenty-five in winter.

  The bridge of his nose crinkled a little. “That makes me feel ancient.”

  “You are very old if we aged you in in the span of human life,” she said.

  “let’s not then” Calemir leaned back on the chair. Nara resumed eating.

  “Tell me what is that you normally do on your typical day apart from talking to Izza and riding?” he asked.

  “Not much.”

  “What is it that you did back in Vessener when you were off duty?”

  Nara lifted her head and looked at him, hint of curiosity resting in his eyes.

  “I wasn’t off duty much” she began after a beat of thought. “but when I was, I went for rides” she finished lamely, not knowing what else to say. “It calms me” she added almost defensively when Calemir said nothing. He must be thinking she was boring, and no fun. Nara thought bitterly and held his gaze defiantly. She didn’t care what he thought of her. This was her, and she loved it. Despite her assumptions, there was no trace of judgement aimed at her on his face instead he asked, “Have you thought of going hunting again?”

  Nara wiped her mouth with the serviette first, placing back on the table, she replied, “I had, but I decided against since I still not familiar with what kind of animals you do eat and don’t and which I can hunt and not.”

  Calemir nodded. “That’s very considerate of you.”

  She gave a light shrug. “I didn’t want to shock Izza with a dead rabbit.” He laughed. The contagious sound had her laughing too. Humor remained in his face even when they both recover into a peaceful silence. She watched as his mouth twisted, brows lightly furrowing before smoothing out. “Would you like to go tomorrow with me?”

  “Where?”

  “Hunting.”

  Nara mulled it over for several seconds. It hadn’t sucked when she had gone with him the last time. Goodness, who was she lying to. It had been fun. Besides, she had nothing better to do.

  “I would like that.”

  Chapter Forty-two

  “Are you ready?” Calemir asked as he stepped into the sitting room. She was sitting on the couch, her gear next to her. Her hair was plaited in two thick braids, her attire appropriate for what they had planned to do. Nara stood, picking up her stocked quiver and bow with her and faced him, “Yes I am.” She was excited.

  Calemir turned, showing her the crossbow in the act as he began to walk.

  They were at the stables when she asked. “Is it just us two?”

  “Yes, just the two of us” he stated as he mounted. “is there a problem?”

  “Nope” she muttered and quickly hoisted herself on the steed. Together they shot from the stables, down the hill and out of town. Nara noticed that they hadn’t used the same path as previous. It was entirely a new path for her. Short yellow tender grass rolled up to the thick woodland in front of them. She followed his lead closely as they neared the woods.

  “Wild boar, do you eat that?” he asked, his sharp gaze scanning the thick shrubs in their vicinity. Birds and insect chirped freely. There were inside the woods.

  “Ye
s.”

  “That’s what we are hunting.” He stated.

  “Alright” Nara replied, keeping her eyes on the ground and ears open as they slowly moved.

  “Perhaps, it would be better if we are on the ground” he spoke twenty minutes later that they still had to spot a boar. He didn’t wait for her reply, Calemir dismounted. Not a word, Nara did the same, feeling her excitement go down a notch. The steeds followed them behind as the two of them kept in their hunt. They found themselves moving further and deeper into the woods. Her skin began to get clammy of sweat from the trekking and hot air. It was the warm day that day.

  Nara glanced at his side profile, he seemed a little put out. They had been scouring the woods for an hour now, and there hadn’t seen even clues such track marks that a wild boar had passed through. “I don’t think we will catch one today.”

  “Your right” Calemir sighed and turned to her. “But we can still do something if you are up for it?” there was something in his voice, a light of hope she might say yes.

  “Do what?”

  “Fishing” he stated.

  “Fishing?” she echoed back, surprised. Resting his hand on his hip, looking relaxed than he really was, Calemir said again confidently, “Yes. I know a place it’s isn’t very far from here.”

  Still puzzled, she gave him a quizzical look. “We don’t have anything to fish with” pointing out the obvious.

  “It’s already there,” Calemir said, swinging back on his horse. Nara remained on the ground, not moving. “Come on” he exaggerated the ‘on’. “Just trust me, it’s going to be good.”

  She still didn’t move from the spot she was standing.

  “We have come this far” he cocked one eyebrow. “It would be a waste if we go back home empty hand, don’t you think?”

  “Alright” Nara reluctantly gave in even though she was still doubtful.

  True to his word, it didn’t take them long to reach the place. A lake. A sparkling emerald blue lake was hidden and bordered by trees. Nara glanced at the two boats sitting on the rocks just a meter from the water. Dismounting, they strolled to the boats, the pebbles under their boots making crunchy noise. Nara studied the boats. One of the boats was worn out, the wood rotting, from too much heat and water exposure whereas the other one it seemed right, with a little brittle and discoloration on the dark woods. It also had paddles and a net. A beat up brown satchel under the plank seat caught her eye for a moment.

  “How did you know the boat will be here?” she asked as she took off the quiver bow and put it in the boat. Keeping his gear also in the boat, he said. “It’s mine.” Calemir straightened, his eyes finding hers, “I come here when I need some quietness” something flitted in his eyes when he said that. Nara nodded understandingly. It wasn’t always easy to serve for your kingdom, being on the front line of life and death nearly every day. Having to make hard decisions that could haunt you for the rest of your life.

  “Let’s get this boat into the water” she added lightly, chasing the gloominess that had invaded the air momentarily. Bending over, she pushed the boat by the side while Calemir worked it from the back until they had it in the shallow ends of the lake. Jumping on the boat and sitting as usual across from him, Nara grabbed one of the paddles and used it to push themselves to the shallow end and further into the lake. She was concentrating on paddling until he spoke. “I think this is a good spot.”

  Nara rested the paddle inside the boat and took a moment to stretch her hands. Inhaling the clean air, she finally admired their surroundings. They were at the center of raw beauty and power. Both to her left and right, tall pine and willow trees and hills growing with small flowers hedged while to the very north, ice caped mountains gleamed under the sun. The breeze beat down on her face with caresses invisible fingers. She breathed in again, stealing the pleasant air for her quickly addicted lungs.

  He indeed picked a great spot for himself.

  She swayed when the boat rocked lightly. She brought her eyes to him.

  “Sorry” Calemir mumbled as he hunched over and worked on the fishing net. Part of threads seemed to have knotted tightly on a bolt. It took him a minute to get it sorted. Wanting to do something, Nara gathered the net and cast it into the water. Holding the rope of the net, she sat back on her spot. Nara stared at Calemir, his hands braced on either side of his lean hips with his head titled to the sky. Sun beams adorned his profile. Her eyes raked over the firm set of his jaw, down to the corded muscle of his neck and breadth of his shoulders. S

  “You are staring” his throat worked as the words left his mouth.

  ‘Sorry” Nara mumbled, her cheeks flushing. She looked away from him.

  “Say it.”

  “Say what?” Nara asked. With a mind of their own, her eyes returned to his throat.

  “Whatever is on your mind,” Calemir said.

  Since he wasn’t looking at her, Nara decided to be honest. “If someone had told me at the beginning of the year that I would be boating with an elf, I would have laughed so hard and told them they had lost their damn mind.”

  He glanced in her direction. “Do you hate us so much?”

  Nara shifted her feet. Nerves chewing her stomach. “You must know your kind don’t have a good reputation to the outside world,” she said almost quietly. It was the truth.

  “Hmm,” Calemir hummed, looking away from her face.

  “But I don’t hate you now.” She blurted.

  Calemir’s mouth twitched at the corners. “What changed your opinion?”

  Nara swallowed, fumbling with words in her mind. The hate she had against them had dwindled, but it didn’t mean she loved them either. She hadn’t forgotten the atrocity they had done to her people. It’s just the fury of hatred that been burning was just a sleeping flame.

  “I don’t know” is what she could come up with as an explanation.

  “There are multiple sides of a story” Calemir cryptically said.

  Brows knitting slightly, Nara was going to ask him to elaborate on that, tell his side of the story but he spoke again, changing the subject. “We should probably check the net.”

  Nara stored her question at the back of her mind for a later time. Standing, she started pulling the net. It was a little heavy, a sign they might have caught some fish. Calemir moved to her side, his shoulders brushing against hers, closing both hands down the net, he began to pull.

  “Wow,” Nara breathed. Oh, they indeed caught fish. However, more than she had anticipated. The net was almost full. The fish’s tails flapped from the holes of the net as they dragged it carefully into the boat. The fish weren’t tiny either, they were fat and healthy. Nara spread her legs a little wider to stabilize herself as the boat swayed from the weight and movement. “We cannot go back with all these,” she remarked as the fish kept on flapping and beating their tail against the wood.

  “Then let’s take what we need and return the fellas back in.”

  “Good idea. Hold this” Nara gave him the other end of the rope to hold. He opened and folded the net a little to give her room to insert her hands. Cautiously, Nara grabbed one oily fish, dragged it from the net and put it aside. “Is three enough?” she asked as she caught the second one.

  “Yes.”

  Nara grabbed the last one and set it aside again before straightening. She sat down to balance the weight as Calemir dragged the net to the edge of the boat then flipped it, releasing the fish back into the water. She watched as the water splashed and created a ripple. Calemir stepped back and sat on the other side. “Do you want to go back?”

  “Let’s stay for a little while” Nara replied after a moment of thought.

  Calemir nodded.

  They sat there enjoying a silence that needed not be filled with words. Occasionally, their eyes met, and she would break first and look the other way.

  “Look” Nara breathed, pointing to a hill on her left. Right there, a huge white elk with long antlers stood majestically on the hill. Nara
felt Calemir turn and gaped at the beautiful creature.

  “This is a rare sight” Calemir commented. A flash of movement at the corner of her eye had her tearing her gaze from the elk to Calemir. The satchel that was lying under his seat was now on his lap and opened. Nara watched as he took brittle brown papers and handed them to her.

  “You draw?” she asked, studying the various drawings on the papers.

  “Yes,” Calemir replied, retrieving a small stick of black and white charcoal from one of the pockets of the satchel. There were drawings of beautiful landscapes, towns, people. Some bright and some dark. One particularly caught her undivided attention. It was a man kneeling beside a body of another elf with blood seeming to be spilling from his hair and pooling around his head, eyes peacefully closed and hands crossed over his chest. The man kneeling had his hands over his face, apparently weeping over the dead man. His hair was golden like. Nara lifted her head slowly and gazed at the man sitting opposite to her. Calemir was engrossed, his fingers holding a thin black stick and moving over the paper expertly that he didn’t notice her staring at him intently.

  Him and his brother. Nara’s brows pulled ever so lightly. Something tugged at her chest lightly when she looked at him kneeling and crying. She felt a sense of sympathy for him. To lose a brother, it must be painful. She couldn’t imagine how she would feel if Ingrid died. It would hurt certainly. Yet when she looked at his brother, all sentiments vanished. She felt the satisfaction of his death. End of his demise.

  She shuffled the drawing and looked at another one. It was elves dancing in the dark with white light hovering over them. They had a euphoric expression on their faces.

  “It’s done,” Calemir said.

  Nara looked at him. “May I?” she tentatively asked.

  “Sure” he muttered after a second of reluctance, then passed the paper to her.

  He captured the elk and the hills tastefully despite using only black and white charcoal

  Nara’s mouth parted. “You drew me?” she glanced at him.