Daniel was sure the forest would have been a beautiful place for a picnic, a great place to take your girlfriend or the perfect place to come for that junior high insect collection, but he had no idea where he was and the saddle was killing him. He was also hungry again.
“Barton, any chance of taking a break for a couple minutes and having some breakfast?”
Barton thought about it for a few seconds before he replied, “you should be able to reach some cheese and biscuits in your saddlebag. In a few more hours we should be safe, your backside will last till then. We will be able to relax when we get out of the forest and into the woods.”
Daniel was tired both physically and emotionally, but the idea that they were in forest and not in woods stuck in his head like small details do when a person is exhausted. After being unable to sort this out or forget about it, he finally asked. “Barton, did you say we needed to get out of the forest and into the woods?”
“Yes, and it will be another few hours yet before we reach them.”
“We are in a forest but not in woods? This looks like woods to me, see all the trees?”
“Yes, this is a forest as I already said,” Barton replied with no small measure of irritation in his voice.
Daniel’s irritation was starting to grow as well. This is one crappy coma, he thought. “How can this be a forest and not a woods? What’s the difference?” He asked with his frustration evident in his tone.
“I am beginning to believe that you are truly from nowhere I can imagine or ignorant beyond understanding, or mayhap both,” Barton snapped back. “Forest is hunting land owned by the nobility; our presence here could get us arrested as poachers. A forest might be tree covered or open land. Since the Baron has plenty of cause to track us down, there was little reason to ride around.”
A forest does not have to have trees, and woods are not a forest, Daniel considered. He wondered what else he had been missing, but not for long as he was too tired to care.
Daniel would’ve sworn it had been three hours when they finally broke into a clearing. But maybe not a clearing, he corrected himself. Maybe it was a thicket or some other word that locals use to describe a space where the trees are replaced with a ten-foot high wall of dense shrubbery and brambles. Barton led him nearly halfway around the treeless area before he dismounted and led his horse into the brambles. Daniel followed suit, so happy to be off the horse he didn’t really care where they were going or what it was called. The opening through the scrub could really only be seen from one angle and even then you had to know where to be looking. After a half dozen switchbacks, there was an open area about forty feet across with a circle of stones containing the remnants of an old campfire.
The clearing was one of the strangest things he had ever seen. He was sure that looking at it from above it would’ve looked like a bull’s-eye with a fire ring in the middle, open space making the next ring, then the stunted trees or bushes or whatever they were, and then the tall trees.
“I’ve used this place many times in the past,” Barton said while he was unpacking and unsaddling his horse. “The scrub is so thick that a big enough fire to keep us warm can’t be seen from anywhere but the top of one of those trees we rode through. You pretty much have to know this is here to find it and even then you can miss it easy enough. Probably only a couple dozen people in the whole land know this is here, besides the elves of course. Your horse won’t unpack itself you know.”
Daniel had been standing and holding the reins while he listened to Barton. When Barton’s words sunk in, Daniel started removing his kit from the horse and placing it on the ground trying to imitate Barton.
“Don’t worry about tying the horses up,” Barton said, “this is like a natural corral and they’re not smart enough to find their way out of it on their own, least not their first time here. I suggest we have something to eat and get some sleep, we are about as safe now as we’re going to be.”
Removing blankets, water, and food from the saddle bags, Daniel watched what Barton did and tried to imitate it. Food bags were hung off the ground on branches, the water skins on the ground leaning against a log and the blankets were laid out flat. First Barton laid down, wiggled a bit then lifted the blanket removing sharp twigs and stones. The process seemed painstakingly slow to Daniel as he was ready to drop.
When he decided the ground was comfortable enough, Daniel collapsed onto the blanket, rested his head on his arm and was out in seconds. Barton lay awake for a few minutes settling his thoughts before drifting off.
When Daniel came to, it was with a start. He’d spent most of the trip through the trees feeling watched and he’d had a lot of very strange dreams with eyes everywhere. The last one had taken that feeling of being watched in the woods and amplified it enough to wake him up. The sun was not in direct sight so he guessed they had slept most of the day. He took a deep breath before he sat up and was really glad he had because it made blowing it out in a surprised huff a lot easier.
Sitting about thirty feet away and directly across the fire ring from him was a dark-haired man with pointed ears. He was sitting cross-legged and quietly watching Daniel try and gather his senses. Daniel looked at Barton and saw that he was still sleeping. Being a little bit nervous about standing up or doing anything threatening, Daniel rummaged in the grass until he found some pebbles and tossed one at Barton hitting him on the hands. Barton didn’t move. The second pebble had a little more speed behind it and caught Barton on the knuckle. He jerked reacting to the painful projectile and looked around for the source of his ire. He did not wake up happy.
He quickly spied the pebbles near his hand, and the guilty look of anxiety on Daniel’s face.
Rubbing his knuckle, Barton’s sour expression was turned first to Daniel then to the newcomer Daniel kept tilting his head toward, and back to Daniel. “You couldn’t have just called out my name.” He spoke with the irritation of someone who did not want to be awake. “The look on your face, and the less than subtle gesture with your head, tells me you woke me up because we have a visitor. By the dwarves and fairies I swear I was better off in that cell.” Barton’s glower reminded Daniel of one of his nocturnal roommates in college when he was disturbed before noon.
“I thought you said we’d be safe here,” Daniel said in a low voice.
“We are safe here or we’d be tied up or dead already and there’s no point in trying to drop your voice. Take a look at the shape of his ears, boy, there’s not much that can happen in this clearing he can't hear.” Barton turned to face the stranger now, and invited him to move over closer and introduce himself.
The man rose quickly and gracefully and his long lean frame allowed him to close the distance in very few strides. Daniel guessed that the man was six foot three or four and appeared to be about twenty years old. His hair was fine and close-cropped and Daniel smiled when he realized that except for the eyebrows the stranger looked a little bit like Mr. Spock.
The man was sitting on the ground forming a triangle with Barton and Daniel before he said his first word. ”Good day to you both,” he began, “I did not wish to intrude but at this time there are few places in the woods this close to the humans where safety may be found. My name is Alan and I will be happy to share news in trade for my intrusion.”
Daniel was trying not to stare at the pointed ears but it wasn’t easy. Alan’s voice was typical for a man of that size and a little bit disappointing, Daniel realized. He thought his first elf would be more… magical or something.
“My name is Barton and the young fellow staring at you so impolitely is Daniel. You’re not intruding at all and news is always welcome. Would you care for some food?”
Daniel was feeling embarrassed and self-conscious at this point. He thought he had been doing a better job of not staring but obviously he was going to have to work on his poker face. While Barton was digging out food, Daniel was searching for a way to seem a little less like an idiot.
; “I apologize for staring,” Daniel offered. “You’re the first elf I have ever seen.”
Barton stopped parceling out food and turned to look at Daniel. He held Daniel’s eyes for just a second and then looked to Alan and shrugged. While he cut off chunks of cheese and biscuit and sausage he said, “That would be obvious.”
When Alan looked from Barton to Daniel, Daniel could see a slight tightening around his eyes before he spoke. “I am half human and half elf as most would know since I don’t have the almond shaped eyes. As surprised as I was by what you said, you were apparently telling the truth. How can it be that you have never seen an elf?”
Before Daniel could answer, Barton interrupted, “that’s a tale for another time. Why don’t we nibble a bit and exchange news. I took it from your comments that things are stirring in the woods towards the human settlements. What is amiss?”
Alan had taken a small bite from a hunk of cheese Barton provided and swallowed it before answering. “Apparently Kleinhurst is stirred like an ant hill. Two men managed to escape the baron’s castle, which has soldiers turning over every bucket, larder and trap door in the city. With all the turmoil many are grabbing their valuables and fleeing until things calm down. Of course, that many people on the roads makes the soldiers task that much more difficult. The Baron Below has reported that his eyes in the night saw two men leaving the city on foot but, of course, none of the soldiers believe anything he has to say. I don't know that the search parties will come this far into the woods but it is early in the day and the reward must be great to have churned up so much fervor in the search.”
After a sip from his own water skin, Alan turned his attention full on Daniel. “The elven traits I inherited from my father do not leave me much in the way of protection from the soldiers. To the contrary, I look just enough like an elf to allow them free license to harass me in whatever fashion strikes them. So in a way, I am here because of you."
Daniel was eager to press for more details but after Barton had cut him off before, he was learning to listen more and talk less. Clearly, Barton had been right to get them out of the city and as far away as possible. Alan’s delivery had been flat and to the point and that only made Daniel more curious as to whether that was a typical speech pattern for elves or if he was trying to appear disinterested in the happenings.
It was quiet for a few moments before Barton asked, "was there any description of the fugitives that we might know them if we were to run into them?"
The halfling studied his biscuit with far more intent than a biscuit deserved. Slowly, he raised his head enough to make eye contact with the old man. "I have heard of a man who grew up amongst the elves and spent many years living with an elven woman before she was killed in a skirmish ten or so years ago. Perhaps, coincidentally, it was the same man who had been locked in the dungeon accused of magical flimflam by some unhappy customer. I say coincidentally because, if my memory serves me well, both men share the name Barton."
It was all Daniel could do to remain seated and keep his mouth closed. While Alan remained outwardly calm and only mildly curious, Barton's body language was much less relaxed.
"From what you said, your father was the elf and unless he was different from most of the elves I've ever met, he made sure to pass on what he considered to be the important information you would need to walk the line between your worlds.” Barton’s comment to the elf was polite but it was clear to Daniel there was some kind of challenge going on. He could hear his mom’s tone asking ‘were you raised in the barn’? Daniel felt like Barton was asking a question in some kind of elf code.
Alan stared at the empty ring of stones used for banking fires. The ashes were caked and packed down, indicating that a fire hadn't been lit since last rain. Although he was generally wary of humans, the tales he had heard of Barton stirred only curiosity; the other human felt familiar in a way he could not explain. I shouldn’t have expected him to recognize me, Alan thought with a little disappointment, but from the lore surrounding him I expected him to be a little more than human.
Accepting that in his excitement he had overstepped, Alan kept his next words more formal. "You surmise correctly, Barton, my father was elf, and he did his best to help me understand the way of his people. Walking the line with humans and elves is never an exact thing. Like many of us,” he paused here for emphasis, “choosing the right side of the fence to land on is a gamble at best. While I inherited some magical abilities, I am seen as defective by the elves and a constant source of needed favors by my mother's family. Still, as the acorn does not fall far from the tree, even defective elves prefer to stay near their roots.”
Alan could read in Barton’s face that he understood both the apology and admonishing appropriate for a human attempting to school an elf, even a half elf on proper protocol. This more than anything told Alan his suspicions were correct.
Daniel watched the interchange intently trying to analyze what was happening. OK, he thought, Barton is scolding or warning Alan on his behavior and it feels like Alan is doing too much of something. Alan did a kind of apology with a little chiding of his own. This is like a western where the Indians talk about the weather and somehow reach a conclusion on attacking the fort. I never understood how that worked either, he sighed to himself. Whatever is going on, it’s about whether or not they should share information with me, and it is starting to piss me off.
“But I promised you news,” Alan continued, “and I did not get to complete my telling of the mysteries at the Baron’s castle. It seems that the two that escaped the cell did so by boring a perfectly round hole through the entire thickness of the castle wall. Certainly a prodigious feat in itself, but they managed to do so without making a sound or disturbing the guards in any way. The rumors are flying thickly and are filled with many wild speculations, as rumors usually are. But the common threads speak of an elder friend of the elves named Barton, and a young man accused of a accosting the Lady Lissette. I have heard that while the Baron sends many of his men in search of the escaped prisoner, the townspeople are making way to the edge of the moat to see the great hole for themselves."
Alan had been watching both men as he told his story and while the older of the two was stone-faced and hard to read, the younger one looked tense and had more color in his cheeks. "Now logic would imply that since the elder of the two has never been known to demonstrate great feats of magic or power, and the younger of the two seems unknown to all, that the younger of the two must be some great mage or wizard."
Daniel couldn't decide whether he should be looking at Barton or at the elf and was trying desperately to keep his eyes focused on the center of the fire ring. While the elf showed no change in body language and nothing he could interpret as hostile or threatening, he could feel the tension coming from Barton. Daniel focused his attention on the elf, and before Barton could say anything Daniel jumped in. "So Alan, what interest is all of this to you?"
Alan turned his full attention to Daniel and the corners of his mouth twitched up ever so slightly. He held his penetrating gaze on Daniel for several uncomfortable seconds making Daniel wish he’d kept his mouth shut once again. Then the elf lowered his gaze and in a low even voice replied, "Anyone familiar with the Elven lore and magic would have to wonder what power could bore such a hole in the castle wall. In all of the tales taught to me by my father, the only ones ever described as having those abilities, are in myths and whispered stories."
"Tales and legends of the past are always larger-than-life," Daniel said, "and the great heroes were probably all a lot smaller in person."
"True enough," the elf replied casually, "but the interesting thing about this particular story is that the hero has yet to be seen and his prodigious capabilities are, so far, also yet to be seen. Of perhaps further interest is that the tale describes this hero as descendent of a long line of elven elders and that he will appear human." The elf then turned his attention to Barton, "have you not told young Daniel of
this tale?"
The Alan’s implications made Daniel's head nearly snap around as he looked to Barton to hear the old man's response.
Barton appeared tense with his eyes focused on the ground in front of them and it was several seconds before he spoke. "Who is your father, Halfling?"
Alan smiled. The old man was as sharp in person as he was in all the stories he'd been told as a boy. "My father was an unusual man amongst the elves, as his sibling was only a year younger than him. His name," and here the elf paused for effect, "was Alaine but I believe you would be more familiar with my Aunt Malaina."
In the seconds that it had taken him to put the pieces together, Barton had changed completely. At first Barton’s eyes had widened in surprise, then shifted to recognition, and then to a surrender of sorts. The mention of Malaina and the memories it brought back had taken the bluster out of him. It wasn't that all the tension had gone from Barton, it was more like sadness had stolen part of the energy that held him up. Barton physically sagged, his head drooping as his thoughts went to another place, and only slowly, after several seconds, did he lift his head to the elf and respond. "Since it appears this meeting was no accident, what is it that you want, nephew?"
Elves- the Book of Daniel Page 9
