Elf Lords: 01 - Pearls of the Elf Lords

by Richard Saunders

  Petra stepped through the doorway. She wore a gown of purple and white. Her blonde hair was draped over her shoulders. At her side hung the sword of Alexon, now in a new sheath that had been made for it by a local swords smith. As she marched down the center of the aisle beneath the glimmering blades of her knights the people cheered and applauded. Even the prim and proper nobles gave voice to their delight in support of their new Queen. Petra stopped at the foot of the stairs and waited until both Knight-Elder Boothe and Chairman Joth walked over to take her by either arm and escort her up the steps. Petra stood before the throne and turned around. As she did so, Boothe stepped back and drew his sword and held it in salute to her. Joth motioned for Petra to be seated. Once she had done so he turned and motioned for silence. As the crowd quieted Knight-Elder Boothe ordered, “Sir Knights, Salute Swords!” And the Knights of Alexon lowered the swords to salute formation as their Master was doing. Joth picked up the crown and scepter that were sitting on the stand beside the throne. “I present to you your crown.” He carefully placed the crown onto Petra’s head. “I present to you your scepter.” He handed the scepter to Petra who took it with a barely audible “Thank you.”

  Joth turned around, prompting Knight-Elder Boothe to order, “Sir Knights, return swords!”

  All of the Knights—Boothe included—sheathed their swords in one unified motion, resulting in a loud clang that echoed throughout the hall as the hilts slammed home against the edge of the sheathes. Both Elders then returned to stand before their respective seats. When the Elders were in place, Seebaul spoke a lengthy ritual prayer of blessing for the new Queen and for the kingdom of Alexon. When the Arch-Prelate ended his prayer Joth proclaimed, “People of Alexon and our most worthy guests. I present to you the High Queen of the Westland, Queen Petra Sergius!”

  A roar of welcoming cheer filled the Royal Throne Room; outside the people cheered just as loudly, knowing that the new Queen had assumed her duties.

  When the ceremony had ended, Knight-Elder Boothe walked up the stairs and escorted Petra out through the left exit behind the throne. He took her down a side hallway and out onto a balcony along the side of the building where the people could see their new Queen. Petra smiled and waved at the massive crowd that was there to welcome her. She stayed until Boothe directed her to return inside so that she could attend the banquet in her honor.

  * * * * *

  The banquet for the newly coroneted High Queen of the Westland had been an impressive feast and was now turning into a celebration of dance and merriment. Petra looked tired from all that was going on, but she still smiled, looking as radiant as ever, as she greeted everyone that came up to congratulate her. Landis had been avoiding her for most of the celebration, feeling somewhat guilty at having slept with Katryn in the Queen’s library. He wondered if she had already received word of his discovery—naked and asleep—in there.

  Landis had something else on his mind. Try as he might he could not locate Katryn. He had asked around for her, but nobody had seen the tall blonde woman anywhere today. He was ready to leave when he turned and found himself standing face-to-face with Queen Petra. “I have been waiting for you to come speak to me.” She said.

  “My apologies, Queen Petra, but you have been occupied with well wishers all afternoon.”

  “And if you call me Queen again I will have you arrested and thrown into the dungeon. I never called you prince because it offended you. You and I are too close for you to ever call me queen when we are together. Come, dance with me.”

  Landis accepted and walked with the Queen of Alexon—the most powerful person in the Westland—onto the dance floor where they began dancing together. Petra put her mouth close to his ear and said, “So, how does it feel having made love to a Queen?” When Landis did not say anything she said, “I am only kidding, silly. You can relax.”

  They continued dancing until the song ended. As they left the dance floor they found Jaylen, Thenamin, and Eric waiting for them. All three had serious looks on their faces. “What is it?” Petra asked.

  Thenamin broke the news. “Boric has escaped.”

  “And the Pearls of the Elf Lords are missing.” Jaylen added.

  Chapter 34

  “How could this have happened?” Petra demanded of the ten men sitting around her at the table, in what had recently been her grandfather’s War Room. She looked about at Thenamin Sergius, Knight-Elder Boothe, Rathkemp DuJurnor, General Bix, Prince Eric, Trevor Kahn, Jaylen, Landis, Natis, and Jareel, expecting a satisfactory answer. General Bix looked hesitantly at his new Queen. He was hoping that she did not consider him an accomplice after sharing this news. “Captain ReShard had him released into his care. He told the guard that he was going to transfer him over to the Knights of Alexon to hold until after the coronation celebration. He used some such excuse, as that you had insisted that he was not to share the same building with you when you assumed the throne.”

  “And the guard believed that?” Petra asked. “Perhaps he should be punished as well.”

  “Guards are taught to trust their superiors.” Eric reminded her.

  “He would still be in custody had the Knights been permitted to hold him.” Rathkemp interjected.

  “There is no need for finger pointing.” Boothe admonished the Knight-Captain.

  Bix continued his report. “The guard at the gate remembers seeing Captain ReShard riding out of the city with two men during your coronation. He did not recognize Boric as being one of them, but did describe the other as being a skinny man with very curly black hair, with a mustache and goatee. He was wearing a red robe.”

  “Renald,” Natis hissed, “They were working together to steal the pearls.”

  “I have riders out looking for them,” Bix continued. “But Captain ReShard is a well trained soldier. He will know how to avoid detection.”

  “You can stop calling him Captain. He is a traitor, not an officer in my army.” Petra insisted.

  “I have sent Knights out searching for him as well.” Rathkemp informed them.

  “How about the docks?” Thenamin asked.

  Bix answered her, “Every ship is being searched. Fortunately none left port following the coronation today. If Boric is on a ship then he should be found. I am convinced that he was the unknown man riding with Captain…I mean riding with ReShard and the mage.”

  Natis was seething. “I should have seen this coming. Renald was acting too peculiar around the pearls. I knew that he was becoming tempted. Now they have had hours to run in any direction.”

  Jaylen took Eric aside, “Can you send word to your Network to see if they can learn anything, or perhaps capture them?”

  “It has already been done.” Eric assured him.

  Bix offered his theory to those assembled, “It is my guess that Boric is heading to Freeport. He has people there who would protect him and hide him while he can collect much of his gold and then leave on one of his ships to flee the kingdom. He may even sail to the Eastland and try to sell these pearls you are worried about there. He could secure a good life for himself with his fortune.”

  “Well he cannot beat our ships to Freeport. “Rathkemp declared. “I will have a ship ready to sail tonight for Freeport and inform the Freeport Garrison to be on the watch for Boric.” Turning to face Petra, he continued, “If you are willing, you can sign papers declaring his ships and property are now the property of the kingdom and the Knights can seize both. If he has any of his funds stored in our Garrison vaults we will collect those assets as well.”

  “Prepare the documents and I will sign them.” Petra agreed.

  Jareel spoke up, “If I were fleeing—and believe me, I have had to do it before—then I would want to get beyond the borders as quickly as possible. I would think that they would ride east to cross the border. If so, then they would be at Talboth by now. I doubt that they would stay in any city though.”

  “This is getting us nowhere.” Natis flung his hands in the air. “Landis, can you ca
ll on your elf spirits to help us?”

  “I would if I could, Nate. But it does not work that way. How about you, can you do any tracking magic?”

  “Don’t think that I haven’t tried. They are undetectable. Believe me, I would wiz in a cup and drink it if I thought it would tell me where they are going.”

  “I can tell you where they are going.” Katryn’s exhausted voice announced from the open doorway. Everyone turned to see the blonde woman who was being helped into the room by Seebaul. Katryn’s blouse was torn, and her arms and face were covered in scratches and her pants and feet were muddy.

  “Are you okay?” Landis asked, rushing to assist Katryn to the table. Everyone waited in silence as Landis and Seebaul helped her to sit down in an empty chair at the foot of the table.

  “Well?” Natis asked, growing more irritable by the minute.

  “Water.” Katryn requested.

  Petra pushed her glass to Katryn, who grabbed it and drank all of it. “Thank you.” Sitting the glass down she said, “They are going to Sedau.”

  “Why on earth would they go there?” Eric asked in alarm.

  “For the same reason Bytorron wanted the pearls there,” Seebaul answered, “to open the Dragon’s Gate.”

  “Open what?” Petra asked.

  Seebaul looked at everyone as if they should know the story. “Surly you know what I am talking about, Jaylen?” He said to the elf. “The Dragon’s Gate that Bytoron had found and transported to Sedau. The gates were used by the four Elf Lords to enter the realm of the dragon. It also permitted the dragons to enter this realm. It was through these gateways that the Elf Lords received their power. It is also where they received the Pearls of the Elf Lords from the Dragon Lords. Or Dragon gods as they would have you believe.”

  “The archway that we found in Bytorron’s chambers.” Natis remembered.

  “Was it oval and made out of dark stone, with a stone crossbeam in the center and indentations at the ends of each crossbeam?” Seebaul asked.

  “Yes.” Natis replied.

  Seebaul clapped his hands together, like an excited child receiving a present on his birthday. “You found one. I knew that Bytorron had one. Nigelie did not believe me, but I told him it was so. Bytorron was a fool. He probably believed that he could use all four keys to open the gate himself. It takes four of us to open it using one key each.”

  “How would Boric know about the Dragon’s Gate?” Natis asked, “We only just learned of it from you: Assuming that you are correct. Did you tell him?”

  “Oh no, I would never tell him about that. It would be foolish to tell a human about the Dragon’s Gate. They could never survive it.”

  “Then how would they know?” Natis asked again.

  “Because Twaller Oakleaf told them about it;” Katryn announced. She looked at Landis, “I am sorry, Landis. But Twaller came to me early yesterday. He told me to leave the city this morning and meet him. He said that we had to go and that it was urgent. He wanted me to stay with you last night so that you would not become suspicious. I did not know what he was up to.”

  “So last night…” Landis began.

  “Last night was real,” Katryn insisted, her eyes wide and tearful. “I did not plan for it to happen, but I swear to you that every moment was true. I did have reason to believe that I would not see you again. So I snuck out this morning and met Twaller at the place he instructed me to go. We met and he had two horses. We rode south down the King’s Road for a ways to another spot where he said that we were to wait for his partners. I still did not understand what was going on. He told me that Triana and Old One—the elves in your visions—had told him that we were to take the Pearls of the Elf Lords to Sedau and unlock the gate to release the White Elf Lord from captivity.

  “Twaller said that Old One is the White Elf Lord, and Triana is his granddaughter. And that they had been imprisoned during something called the Elf Wars centuries ago. He said that the White Elf Lord promised to make Twaller the Green Lord and allow him to become the protector of all nature. He wanted me to be his partner and be with him for all time. I have never seen him this way before. Then the others arrived. I recognized Boric and Renald at once. And they had that Captain with them, the one who was with General Bix. I looked into each of their eyes and saw nothing but evil and lust for power. I tried to warn Twaller but he told me that I was being foolish. Then I saw it rising in his eyes too. I have never seen that in him before.”

  “It is the power of the Green Staff.” Seebaul told her.

  Katryn continued as everyone listened intently. “I was terrified by them. Apparently Twaller had been negotiating with Renald all along. Renald and ReShard worked together: did you know that they are brothers? They have the same father but different mothers.”

  “Renald is from Freeport.” Natis said.

  “ReShard insisted on freeing Boric and taking him with them. They are planning on opening the Dragon’s Gate and freeing the White Elf Lord. ReShard plans to demand that the White Elf Lord give him the Red Pearl and Boric wants the Black Pearl. Then they plan to come back here and wage war on Alexon. When I confronted Twaller with their plans, he said not to worry because Triana has already seen to it. She will take the Black Pearl and they will allow the mage to carry the Red Pearl until they find someone else more suitable to wield it.

  “They wanted that person to be you, Landis.”

  “Why me?” Landis asked.

  “Because you were suited for the task when they first found you, but Twaller said that you had failed—apparently you could not be corrupted—so they decided to use you to help retrieve the pearls, but you would not be permitted to be one of the four.”

  “Well I guess I have that going for me, so not all is bad with my life.” Landis mocked.

  “Why are you here?” Petra asked, trying desperately to ignore Katryn’s earlier remarks to Landis about last night being real and focus on the more important facts at hand.

  “Because I could not go along with their plan; they are evil and it pained me to be around them for as long as I was. As we rode, I watched for a place where I could make my escape. When I saw it I made the excuse that I needed to relieve myself. Once in the bushes I fled. They tried to come after me at first but eventually gave up. I used my skills to pass through thorns and other brush that would be too difficult for them to follow. Since they could not risk wasting too much time looking for me, when pursuit would soon be coming, they left. Once they were gone I began making my way back to the city on foot. I ran as far as I could and eventually came across some soldiers out searching for them. I told them where they were headed and one of the men brought me back here.”

  “We must go after them.” Natis insisted.

  “Yes, we must.” Seebaul said with glee. “I will finally get my Green Staff back.”

  “Who says that you are going?” Natis confronted the cleric.

  “Why I did, did you not just hear me? How about the rest of you, did you hear me?”

  The mage shook his head, tired of dealing with the crazed elf.

  “I can have a squad of knights ready to leave in less than thirty minutes.” Rathkemp DuJurnor offered.

  “Not without requesting permission from King Jobez first.” Knight-Elder Boothe refuted.

  Eric agreed, “You would be putting my father in a bad situation if you marched an army of Knights of Alexon through Birhirmian territory without consulting with him first. There are those who opposed my father’s intent to unite our two nations through marriage. With those plans off the table, there are some who might fear that such a march to be a first strike against us. I would strongly suggest consulting my father and having him approve it beforehand.”

  “An army would take too long,” Landis added. “Boric is on the run so we need a small force that can travel with speed. We know where they are going and I am certain that Prince Eric can show us some short cuts that a smaller group can manage more quickly than a squad of knights. Who will come with
me?”

  “I am coming.” Jaylen answered.

  “I will.” Trevor volunteered.

  “No, Trevor,” Jaylen rejected his offer, “You are the Sword-Master of Alexon and your duty is to stay here with Petra. She needs someone that she can trust by her side. And you have earned that trust.”

  The new Sword-Master did not like being left out of the chase, but understood his responsibility. “Very well, I will remain here with the Queen.”

  Jareel fingered Konik’s ring that he now wore on his right—non sword—hand, “Well I most certainly do not want to miss out on this journey. Perhaps it will provide the perfect ending for my Uncle’s tale. I was planning on heading back east soon and can do so just as well from Sedau as here.”

  “That makes three.” Jaylen counted.

  “I will ride with you. You’ll need me to show you the shortcuts.” Eric said.

  “I will come.” Bix declared.

  The Knight-Elder objected, “You cannot go. You are a General with responsibilities.”

  “A General who served under the man who tried to have the Queen murdered, and who picked as his Captain the very man who helped break Boric out of the dungeon. My reputation is ruined unless I do something. I believe that I have a personal stake in this. And I am still young enough to ride and fight with the best of them.”

  “I am going with you, Landis.” Katryn said.

  “No, Katryn. You must stay and get some rest. We have to leave immediately if we hope to catch up with them before they reach Sedau and use the pearls to unlock the Dragon’s Gate.”

  “Oh you have time to rest before we leave.” Seebaul informed them. “We know where they are going and what they plan to do. And they no doubt know that we will be coming after them, thanks to Katryn’s escape. So why run head long into a trap when we can take our time and do things properly.”

  “They are going to open the Dragon’s Gate if we do not get there in time.” Katryn stated.