Daniel watched the elves exchange looks, except, he saw, for the mountain clan, whose eyes stayed on Draskin.
Draskin’s tone was no longer flat and there was fire in his voice and eyes. “So ten solders from your world could destroy the king’s knights sacrificing themselves in the fight?”
“No,” Daniel said, “in open combat it is doubtful that any of our soldiers would sustain an injury, unless the battle lasted more than the few minutes I think it would take.”
This last statement led to gasps of surprise and disbelief. They could not fathom such power and yet the figurine presented as a toy would stop an elven blade. Daniel was afraid he had gone too far and looked to his grandfather but found no help there. While Beylvar was trying to look stoic and unsurprised he was clearly shaken as well.
While Daniel had been caught up in his showmanship, he hadn’t noticed the watchers around the clearing who were slowly edging in for a closer look at the marvel he had made. Sensing movement and looking outside the ring for the first time, he clearly saw a variety of emotions ranging from fear, to shock and awe on the encroaching faces. Daniel began to realize that he had had more impact than he ever imagined. In their faces he could see that this mystique about him and the stories it inspired had just become unstoppable. The fact that these emotions were so plain and the silence broken only by low murmurs gave him the measure of the crater he had just made in their lives.
The murmurs stopped when Beylvar spoke plainly and calmly. “Draskin, I apologize for not providing food and rest to our honored guests before now, but I think this is a good time for us to break and consider what we have seen and what actions might be taken.”
With that he rose and gestured for one of his followers to come forward and lead Draskin’s party to what had been prepared for them. Draskin hesitated for a moment looking at both Beylvar and Daniel before following his guide. He carried Mickey with him. The rest of the mountain elves rose and fell silently into step with Draskin.
With the last of the elves moving away from the circle, Beylvar looked at Daniel and with the slightest motion of his head in the direction of Eliana’s, began walking out of the circle. Daniel hesitated for a moment looking for Lissette and found her fast walking toward him already closing the distance.
She grabbed his right arm to pull him close so she could speak directly into his ear. “Did you see their faces? Elves never show that kind of shock. Elders NEVER show that kind of shock. Be careful, Daniel I don’t know how they will take this. They can’t argue about who and what you are now, but that doesn’t mean you haven’t scared them close to soiling themselves.”
She moved away from his ear but continued to almost cling to his arm. Daniel was not unhappy about the closeness but her words and tone were beginning to sink in. He was replaying the whole episode in his head and now was wondering again if he had gone too far. It was obvious Lissette was scared, for him mostly, he thought, but even his grandfather was working hard to hide his nerves. That was the part that worried Daniel the most and he was getting less eager by the step to see what was about to happen in the privacy of Eliana’s.
SEVENTEEN
Draskin was led to a small house with two bedrooms and multiple beds provided in each room. Not the most comfortable of accommodations but he was too preoccupied to care and his mind was spinning too fast to spare the rooms any thought. He and his small band waited at the table quietly while a plain meal of venison, fruits and vegetables was laid out by another male elf. As soon as he was gone the group appeared to be anything but tired.
“Calden, what are your thoughts?” Calden was seated across the table from Draskin and was generally considered Draskin’s closest ally. He finished cutting a hunk of meat and placed it on his plate while he considered his answer.
“There is little doubt in my mind that this is Beylvar’s grandson returned. He seems to have come back with more knowledge and abilities than any of us could have imagined.”
“How can you be so sure?” interjected Graylin, the elf to Calden’s left. “He is no doubt magically powerful but is the rest of the story not too fantastical for belief?”
Argon, the remaining elf at the table answered. “I think the story is too fantastical to be a lie and the material of that figurine Draskin is still clinging to, is beyond any substance we have ever seen. The speed with which it was made is impossible though I have seen it myself and touched the thing. Draskin, you cling to it like it would disappear if you let it go.”
The others smiled slightly at the remark but were too far out of their depth to chuckle at a behavior so uncharacteristic of the leader.
Draskin looked at his hand, white-knuckled, gripping the figurine, and with a half-smile placed it on the table in the center. Looking at each of the others, he took a deep breath and let it out slowly. “I am as mystified by the object as any. It is not possible, yet it sits before us. Even more important is the reaction of the others. Some seemed pleased by the strange magic but others, even Beylvar, were taken aback by the descriptions of the power in the world where he lived. If he speaks true he can change the balance, and perhaps we can rid ourselves of the humans. At least lead them to fear us enough to stay out of the lands we claim.”
Two of the heads nodded. Calden’s was not one of them. In fact his eyes had narrowed as he watched his leader and oldest friend. “What are you thinking?” he asked Draskin with a too-level tone.
“You know what I am thinking,” Draskin replied, “we have been of one mind about the humans for many years.”
Calden’s face was unreadable as he took a slow deep breath. “We have, but I think all that we once believed may require a new consideration.”
Draskin started to puff up in angry reply and the other elves remained very still watching an unexpected turn of events. Calden never countered Draskin, not in a hundred years, and not about humans.
Calden held his palms up in an almost defensive manner to slow his friend down. “None of us have a love for humans and we have proved that many times. So hear me before you bluster further. What Daniel can do is beyond what we have ever considered. It changes all plans and all calculations. Armor that stops a sword, a hole in a stone wall, these are things that are beyond describing. Yet there they are before us.” Calden gestured at the mouse on the table with his chin.
“Daniel is not another arrow or sword to add to our cause.” Calden continued. “He is different in more ways than we understand, and after tonight no one will ask if he is Deiniol, they will believe. We must consider our alignment with our brethren here and reconsider the humans and how we deal with them.” He paused again and took the measure of his friend. “I ask you if we can afford to act without all the elves of a same mind. The Humans are growing in number and power and the war may not leave enough of either to be called winner.”
The only sign on Draskin’s face that might predict his reaction to these words was a small artery at his temple that throbbed displaying the speed of his heart to any who looked for the telltales.
“My old friend,” Draskin began in controlled tones, “I cannot argue that things have now changed and those changes affect us directly. However, the goal of eliminating the human threat is the same and Daniel and what he knows cannot be ignored. We must get him to see things from our perspective; we must find a way to gain his confidence.
He is too great a power to leave uncontrolled.”
Calden dipped his head slowly in acknowledgement if not agreement. One of the other elves was nodding with more obvious movement and Argon gave no indications of agreement or disagreement but watched all with keen eyes.
Daniel and Lissette arrived at the house only a short distance behind Beylvar. Lissette had released Daniel’s arm and moved in front of him to climb the two steps and enter the house first. Daniel paused slightly before entering, trepidatious about what might be waiting.
Lissette was standing by Eliana, who was leaning in the doorway to her kit
chen. Beylvar stood in the common room waiting. With another nod of his head to follow, he walked to one of the bedrooms, the one farthest from the kitchen, Daniel noticed. He hesitated before following. It felt like a trip to the principal’s office and he wasn’t all that eager to get there. Entering the room he found his grandfather was sitting on the end of the bed and pointing to a chair sitting opposite him. Daniel shrugged and sat in the chair in anticipation of a “stern talking to.”
Beylvar sat for a few seconds trying to decide how to begin. In the end there was only the beginning. “Daniel, I want this conversation to remain between us because there are things we need to discuss that I would keep from others. I need you to understand what is now happening, and to do that you need more of a history lesson than Lissette can provide. Although,” he said with half a smile, “I am sure her lessons hold your attention better.”
“I know she explained some of the past with our mountain brethren, but there is a lot more. Their dislike for humans did not begin with the murder of the elders. For Draskin, it is more personal. The mountain elves, from the beginning, wanted as much distance between themselves and humans as possible. Every dispute or exercise in expansion by the humans is seen as greed by an inferior group. Some of us recognize that an energetic species expands. They reproduce faster than we do for reasons we do not fully understand but the outcomes seem inevitable. Either they destroy us, they destroy themselves, or we destroy them. Some of us hope to find a balance that allows both to live together in peace but until your arrival our very survival seemed out of the question.
Tonight you announced to all, including me,” he shrugged in admission, “that there are new possibilities at play…namely you. No one is sure what this means. Some have new hope of balance, some see a power capable of driving the humans back and keeping them there, and our mountain brothers, I fear, see you as a means to destroy the humans all together.”
“What do you see, grandfather?” Daniel asked barely above a whisper.
Following a slow deep breath, Beylvar hung his head for a moment before looking up at Daniel. “With the things you can do, I can see the humans being driven back, but unless they are eliminated I fear this will happen over and over and provide no solution to the wall between us. All humans aren’t bad but their leaders are too addicted to power to look to a future beyond their own lives and those of their children…maybe not even that far.”
They both sat quietly. Daniel was trying to process all of the information. His grandfather had a tiredness, or maybe sadness about him Daniel didn’t understand. I wonder if he thought there would be a simple solution to everything, Daniel thought.
Somehow Beylvar had hoped that I could change the equations and now it looks like all the math was wrong. Daniel wasn’t even sure what the variables were. The little voice in in his head that kept trying to remind him this wasn’t real faded into silence as Daniel took in his grandfather’s continence. The psychological protection provided by the coma theory failed miserably when the desperation of people he was starting to care about became so plain.
His grandfather spoke up, breaking the silence. “There is more.” His tone now was even flatter than before if that was possible. “Lissette.” The one word focused Daniel. He hadn’t really expected there could be more and a connection between Draskin and Lissette made him go a little cold on the inside.
“Lissette’s father was a cousin to the king…the previous king. He was a close advisor and a wise and good Human. When his cousin, the king, died, he began to break with the prince, now king, over his desire to expand his kingdom. There were many arguments and more rumors as to the topics and severity of the fighting, but no one fights the king and wins, at least not in politics. Her father died suddenly; many believe it was caused by the king. What we know is that shortly thereafter the king betrothed Lissette to Baron Kleinhurst.
Lissette’s mother has or had no small history herself. Arolwyn was daughter to one of the murdered elders.” At this revelation Daniel was sitting upright and trying to spin all the pieces together. He didn’t have time.
“Before she met Lissette’s father, she was courted by another elf. All thought she
would pair with him, until a gathering between humans and elves, where she met Lisette’s father, Thomas. The match proved irresistible and her elven courter never forgot or forgave.”
Beylvar paused and watched Daniel’s face and waited. It took only a few seconds for Daniel to realize that Beylvar was not going to continue the story till Daniel guessed the answer. When he did his eyes widened and his eyebrows headed for his hairline.
“Not Draskin!” Daniel’s voice was elevated to what seemed like a shout after all the low tones but was still only conversational in volume.
Beylvar nodded.
“So Draskin has been carrying a torch for Arolwyn for twenty years? And blaming Humans. That explains a lot.” Daniel’s head was still spinning but he felt like pieces were beginning to click into place. “What happened to Arolwyn?”
“No one is sure. She fought like a lion to protect Lissette. She claimed Lissette’s elven blood protected her from human rituals but the king… Alas, no one wins a political fight with the king. About six months ago the king formally announced the betrothal, Lissette tried to flee but was caught and given to the Baron where she has been his “guest” until now. No one has heard a word of Arolwyn since.”
“So let me get this straight in my head. Draskin hates all humans because Arolwyn jilted him for one. The Baron knows Lissette has to be held prisoner to be around him, I embarrassed him by escaping, then Lissette escaped…so basically, the Baron hates everybody, but especially me.” Beylvar only nodded.
EIGHTEEN
The escapees had now been at large for over forty-eight hours and the Baron knew full well that every passing hour reduced the chances of catching them. As the chances went down, his anger and frustration went up. “By now they have had time to flee to the deep woods and the elves or into the next barony,” he stated aloud, not particularly to anyone. “What information do we have?”
That question was aimed at his chief advisor Jason. Jason knew there was danger here. He knew that his elven side was going to come up sooner or later as the Baron’s anger and humiliation continued to climb. Though it never showed on Jason’s face, the Baron’s impotency at finding the old man and the boy, and then losing Lissette in the same day, made it hard not to smile. The Baron was feared, not liked, and fear can only be escalated so long before people become numb to it. That time was rapidly approaching.
“We found five trails of two men leaving the city on horses, each in a different direction. If they are on horseback they could be fifty miles away by now. If on foot maybe twenty. Lissette has surely fled to the elves and we are concentrating more men on the woods. But as you know, many fear to go there - especially now.”
“You are not telling me anything I do not already know, advisor. So you best begin advising on what to do.” The Baron’s tone was cold and threatening as he played his too familiar card.
“At this point, I believe we must assume they have joined one of the elf encampments beyond our reach. Punishing guards in the dungeon will accomplish little other than for show. And we might be wiser to punish no one over Lissette’s escape.”
This widened the Baron’s eyes in surprise. “We should let this lapse go without punishing those responsible…or at least closest to responsible? That will only make me look weaker.”
“Perhaps, but there was no collusion that we can discover. Not doing anything to Lissette’s maid or the stable man might also show a disinterest in her being gone and undermine the perception that she was being held prisoner.”
“And how does that not make me look weak?”
Pausing as if to consider the ramifications, Jason looked away for second and then replied. “It could be said that you grew tired of her and she left after rejection.”
The Baron was quiet f
or a moment considering the advice. “No, punish the maid and the stableman, but punish the maid more severely. She should never have let Lissette out of her sight. The stableman has some value to me.” He paused again for a moment and continued. “Say that the maid is being punished for not going with her. No one will believe that, but it might look like concern for that shrew to the king. His opinion is the only one that matters.”
Jason nodded his head, and when the Baron turned away in dismissal, quietly left the room. He would see the maid punished enough to make a racket for shirking her duties, but he intended to let the stableman’s punishment be a lot less. Everyone in the castle would understand the predicament the man had been in and the difference in punishment would send a measure of fairness that could pay well in these times.
Something kept whispering to the back of his mind. He had stronger and stronger feelings that a change was in the air and, despite his current position, he was too shrewd not to consider all his options.
Elves- the Book of Daniel Page 17
