Elf Killers

by Phipps, Carol Marrs

  "Is that how I've been acting lately...?"

  "Oisin, they've got Doona. And we're on our way to get her back before they cook her. Are you coming? And they've probably got Renny and Lilee by now, too."

  "You mean to tell me that you know where their cave is?"

  "No, but we're not too far from the Great Rock Wall. Isn't that where everyone says their caves have to be?"

  "Yea, and nobody knows for certain because no one has gone there and lived to tell about it. Look Olloo. Doona's all you've got. I'll risk my skin to help you get her back. But mind you, I'm the eldest of us and that makes me responsible for you three. If I go with you and I think things are too dangerous, we're all coming back on my decision. You got that?"

  "Indeed," said Olloo, giving his chest a proud thump which could be heard in the dark. "And you know what? Doona is the best sister ever, and if we get her back, I'll owe you forever."

  "Well you lead the way then," said Oisin. "It looks like you know what you're doing."

  Renny and Lilee ran on through the moonless dark, flinging aside saplings and stumbling.

  "Stop Renny!" cried Lilee, gasping for breath as she staggered to a halt. "Did you hear that? There. What is that?"

  "It's just some kind of big old owl that lives up in the mountains. I know it sounds awful, but it won't hurt you. Come on, we've got to keep going."

  "But I don't think I can go another step."

  "Oh yes you can. It wasn't that long ago that we could hear them tramping in the leaves."

  On they went. Suddenly they found themselves over the edge of a hogback in the blackness, flailing their arms, taking long plunging steps down in the skidding leaves until Lilee ran headlong into a tree and fell limp astraddle the foot of its trunk. "Lilee!" wailed Renny, gently tugging at her arm. "Oh Lilee, please wake up...!"

  A massive presence grabbed Renny's arm. "Pyrn-tey," he said with breath like smashed bird's eggs, "du-yuy...pyrn-tey," he said to Lilee, with a cruel shake of her shoulder.

  At sunrise, Neron sat astride his unicorn looking over his search party. It was a small assemblage, scarcely more than a few family members of the missing, including Oisin's older brothers, Illiam and Orry. There would have been more had every available person not been needed to guard the camp and to help with the final preparation of the ships.

  The Marfora Siofra had not come during the night. Instead there had been a mysterious fire aboard one of the ships. It was even suggested by a few that it had been set by the Marfora Siofra, but no one could imagine how trolls could possibly have managed it, even with their stealth and their owl-like ability to see in the dark.

  Neron gave his head a shake. He needed to think about the task of rescuing Oisin and the children. It was not likely that he would have more than a day. "Let Faragher sort out the fire," he thought as he gave nods to Illiam and Orry and shook his reins.

  Chapter 2

  The Great Rock Wall was considerably further than any of them had imagined.

  With no moon, there was no way to get glimpses of it through breaks in the trees, and the only way they had of knowing that they were heading toward it at all was by going up the slope. Even this was bewildering at times, for unless they were certain that they were following the main ridge of a hogback, they could easily find themselves struggling up the side of some ravine, going off at a right angle to the way they wanted to go. In spite of this they were making progress, and after a time, most of the purple-ribs they heard were far behind them, down below in the timber.

  Up here, great grey owls traded baleful wails hither and yon which could have stood the hair up on any of the young Elves were, they not tramping along bravely in each other's company. There seemed to be more pines and spruce. Not only was it beginning to sigh overhead in places, but the leaf litter was taking on a spongy quietness. "The better for sneaking," thought Olloo. He was growing keenly aware of the dirk at his waist, which he usually seldom noticed.

  "Mian," cried Kieran. "Would you quit stepping in front of me?"

  "...in front of me? ...front of me?" came an echo.

  "Hey!" shouted Oisin in a whisper. "If those echoes came from the Great Rock

  Wall, then there might be caves any time. Let's stay closer together. Fates forbid! No more shouting. No more speaking out. We need to start being as quiet as we can. And it may be a very long way yet. Who knows how far it is to their caves?"

  The company grew quiet at once as they went back to walking, with the scuffling of leaves and the snapping of sticks practically stopping altogether. A shivering owl called out nearby to be answered by another further up the slope.

  "Hogs," whispered Kieran. "Someone's having a roast. Boy! My stomach's growling. How on earth would anyone possibly have a roast up...here?" Suddenly he saw how it all was and wanted to vomit.

  "Who are those vile things cooking?" said Olloo, speaking out without whispering.

  "Hey," whispered Oisin, grabbing him by the shoulders. "If we can smell their fire, you might have just gotten us killed."

  "Please," he said, dropping to whispers. "I'll be quiet. Please don't make us go back. I've got to find Doona."

  "Well, you have to or we die.”

  "So how should we go about this?"

  "We start by being the quietest we've ever been in our lives," said Oisin as he drew them into a huddle. "I say we should follow the smell until we see the fire and then see what we have. We probably won't be able to do one single thing for the captives without all of us dying on the spot. So the question is, Olloo, what happens if you see Doona? Can you turn your back on her if I say we have to leave? Are you that tough?"

  Olloo gave a sigh in the dark. "Yes I am, Oisin. I'm here to save lives. I'll not return your favor by getting you killed."

  "Very well then. When we have our first peek, we need to sneak back a good long way into the woods before we ever try to discuss what to do. And don't forget, even for a moment, that trolls see like owls."

  They were underway at once, pausing briefly for Oisin and again for each of the others to remove his shoes. Even with most of the ground being covered with evergreen needles instead of leaves, the stealthy going seemed to take an eternity. A shivering owl suddenly called out very close by, giving them a start. "At least we're quiet enough not to bother him," thought Olloo.

  Presently they saw the flickering of orange light up the bluff face which reared up beyond the trees. Only a few rods beyond that they began to make out, to their utter horror, one of the girls being roasted, gutted and bound, gagged with an apple and blackened, burnt hairless and dripping fat into the fire from the pole she was tied to. Doona and Lilee squatted at opposite ends of the pole, forced to keep it turning at spear point by a troll-brute who had left bleeding places all over their shoulders and arms. Eighteen more children of the original party of twenty-nine were tied to posts, leaving four unaccounted for. Tears streamed down their grimy faces as they waited in stunned silence for their own ends to come.

  Oisin carefully turned Olloo, Kieran and Mian away and led them back into the woods, well beyond the fire before any of them forgot himself and gave them away. In spite of a couple of muffled sobs, they managed in heroic silence.

  "We're not going to leave, are we?" whispered Olloo, the moment Oisin turned to them.

  "I don't intend to without taking out that stinker back by the fire, but I don't want to spring our own death trap by doing so. Did any of you see any other trolls besides the one?"

  "No."

  "Nay."

  "Nope," said Olloo, "but the way the rocks were lit up all up and down the bluffs,

  I'd say there must be a whole row of caves."

  "Then someone's got to go see," said Oisin, "and just one of us is going to be both faster and quieter. I want the three of you to sit down right here and not say one single word amongst you while I'm gone. If I don't make it back, stay here dead silent until broad daylight and head straight back to camp. Don't you dare go back up to the cave becau
se no one will be alive. Got that?" And with that he vanished.

  He was back in surprisingly short order, struggling to catch his breath before whispering, "There are other caves all right, but there's not a brute in sight. It's all sows and kids. And that brute guarding Doona and Lilee seems to be alone and about to fall asleep. This isn't going to last. Somebody's undoubtedly going to come and eat directly. Silent is the word. Stand behind me until I've got him. Then go cut loose the kids. Remember that trolls can see into the shadows. Tell them to keep their mouths shut, hold hands and stay with us. Ready?"

  They were. In short order they took up positions just beyond the light of the fire. Oisin drew his bow, and with scarcely a hesitation, loosed his arrow. The troll toppled head first into the fire. At once, Olloo, Kieran and Mian rushed to the fire to cut free Doona and Lilee.

  "O cac!" whispered Oisin at the sight of a huge brute meandering out of the cave into the light. At once he let fly another arrow, quietly dropping the big fellow in his tracks. At once two sows appeared, one after the other. Oisin kept shooting, felling them, too. A half grown kid ran out with a whimper and knelt by one of the sows. Oisin quickly got him before he could make any more noise.

  "Faf-ny-oyd-fy-phn?" said another brute as he stepped out and saw the others.

  Oisin's last arrow went high and got the troll in the throat, sending him into a frenzy of staggering about, gurgling. Olloo rushed up behind and began stabbing with all his might. After seven stabs, the brute fell. Olloo came down on him with bug-eyed fury, plunging his dirk to its hilt in the brute's chest. By the time he'd managed to yank it out, all the Elves had been cut free.

  "Are you all right?" said Oisin, still in whispers.

  "I feel better at last," whispered Olloo with a look of wild-eyed triumph.

  Doona and Lilee were still squatting by the spit, staring out with wide glassy eyes as if they were still tied. Olloo hurried to Doona's side. "Doona?" he whispered. She paid no attention, as if she had not heard her name at all. When he tried to take her hand, she yanked it away and appeared as if she were looking about for somewhere to escape to. Kieran knelt by Lilee and got the same sorts of responses from her.

  "We've got to go now," whispered Oisin.

  Olloo took Doona firmly by the hand and ushered her after the others. Kieran tried it with Lilee only to have her try to bolt away. He sprang up and grabbed her, steering her after Olloo and Doona. Feena, the littlest survivor, also had a haunted wide-eyed stare. She grabbed Kieran by the leg and wouldn't let go. Off they went, jogging into the timber holding hands, crashing into brush and snapping sticks, sounding for the world like some behemoth centipede, but dutifully managing not to utter a sound.

  Oisin took them far away down the length of a hogback, his mind numbed from all he had been through, struggling to decide how far to go with them before stopping. "We're making so much racket, even the owls have gotten quiet," he thought as he shifted his rattling quiver, "but we have to get away from the caves as fast as we can, so we don't dare slow down to be quiet, until we're far enough." Soon he picked a spot where the hogback swept down to the side of a creek. Except for Doona, Lilee and Feena, everyone began talking at once.

  Oisin stood before them in the blackness with his finger to his lips. "Please, we're not really safe here," he said. "There are still a few of us unaccounted for..." He faltered as his eyes brimmed over.

  "They began with the little ones..." said a voice.

  "Yea," said another. "Feena only lives because she bit that first brute you shot. They thought it was hilarious and grabbed up Renny..."

  "Oh no! It was Renny! Poor little girl...!" cried Oisin with a sob as wails of anguish broke out amongst the survivors. After only a moment of struggle with himself, he spoke up, "This place is dangerous. If we get through this we'll be the only Elves to visit the Marfora Siofra and live to tell it. “We must get as far away from here as we can, as quickly and as quietly as we can. In order to do that, we have to bear our grief in silence."

  The talking stopped at once as they began making their way along the bank of the creek, staying out of the water in order to listen for trolls. Before long they began hearing purple-ribs far below them in the timber, and soon they could make out each other's outlines as a hint of deep purple lightened the sky in the east. "I think it might be safe to rest and talk quietly," said Oisin as he turned and spoke to everyone. "I would guess that the trolls have passed by without seeing us, trying to be back by light. But we need to be alert to every single thing around us."

  "It's all right Doona," said Olloo as he sat in the leaves next to her and took her hand. "You're safe now. Won't you talk to me?"

  Doona stared at him, wild-eyed and haunted, jerking free her hand just as she had done by the fire, as she once again looked about for a place to run and hide.

  Oisin looked up and came over to sit beside them. "Doona's soul has flown away," he said.

  "What? What are you talking about?"

  "She's not talking to you because her soul is gone. It was terrified out of her and is hiding out there somewhere. That's all. Use your head and be easy with her and it will soon feel safe enough to come back to her."

  "But what if it doesn't?"

  "It will if you're not impatient with her and don't scare her..."

  "I wouldn't do those things."

  "Then you can trust that it'll soon come back to stay. Right now I just need you to keep hanging onto her and be easy with her, so that we can keep going. We might even be lucky and find a safe place to be before it gets dark again."

  "Well why not just make for the camp at all speed? I'd bet we could easily make it all the way there before dark, especially since the trolls have no idea where it is."

  "I wouldn't know about that, Olloo. Where do you reckon they all were last night?"

  "Hunting I'd imagine," he said with a shrug. "How would anyone know...?"

  "All of them?" said Oisin, shaking his head. "There were so many gone that nobody else has ever gotten away with what we just did. Think about why no one knows where their caves are. I'm guessing that they found our camp. Besides, we can't be sure that they don't know where the camp is since they ambushed us as close to it as they did. And why did they jump us before dark? They never do that. Getting ready to make a raid on the camp might be a reason."

  Olloo gave a tense sigh as ravens croaked from the tops of the maidenhair trees along the stream.

  "Look. Let's say I'm wrong. Let's say they haven't discovered it yet. Do we really want to be the ones to make certain that the beasts know where our people are?"

  "But how would...?"

  "Do you think the trolls could possibly overlook our tracks between here and there? They'll come straight for us, wherever we go. And we don't have much time, either. They'll be on us by dark, this evening. Anyway, if we head for camp, so will the trolls."

  Olloo took on a look of dread. "What are you saying?" he croaked.

  "I'm saying that we can't lead the Marfora Siofra straight to our camp right when Faragher plans to leave. You should have seen all of the caves. If they ring the camp, there won't be very many survivors, particularly if they catch everyone trying to board the ships.”

  "So we can't go straight back as long as there's a chance that the trolls would follow us," he said, pausing to gently pat Doona's hand before looking up. "I see that, but what about us? How do we spend the night anywhere without being butchered?"

  Oisin sighed, stood up and stretched. He nervously cast about at their surroundings and squatted again. "You know where Ubh Ollmhor is?"

  "What, that giant pile of tumbled rocks at the foot of Mount Sliabh?"

  "Yea. If we head straight there, I'm pretty sure that we can hide in a place which I remember, and might even get there before dark if we're lucky."

  "And then we can take our time and sneak back to camp when the trolls have turned their attention somewhere else, right?"

  "Well, I suppose we could..."

 
"What do you mean?" said Olloo with sudden alarm. "They'd wait, wouldn't they?"

  At his sudden change in tone, Doona drew in a breath as if to spring to her feet. Olloo put his arm around her and talked to her in soothing tones while Oisin stared at the backs of his hands, now and again glancing warily at the foliage.

  "Surely they've sent out search parties," said Olloo in as soft a voice as he could manage.

  "Oh undoubtedly. And I'm sure they searched high and low. And when they couldn't find us after so long of a time... Well, think about this, how much chance would you reckon a party of children and two youths would have against the Marfora Siofra? How long would you hunt? Besides, don't you suppose our disappearance would make them fear for their lives, particularly if they found Aedan and saw how near to camp we'd been attacked?"

  Olloo listened to the calls of the pewees and tanagers far up in the maidenhairs and looked at his knees. "All right," he said with a resolved nod as he straightened up, "Doona and I are all ready. Show us the way to Ubh Ollmhor."

  King Faragher let go of the fold of canvas with a sigh and trudged to the far end of the marquee and sat heavily in his great chair, just in time for the sound of hooves to gather outside. Directly, Neron entered and tramped up to the throne.

  "You don't have to say it. I saw. I'm very, very sorry, Neron."

  "Do I have time for another quick sortie...?"

  "Did you find where Aedan fell?"

  "Almost straight east, not above five furlong..."

  "That's almost on us. And you didn't come back immediately and tell me?"

  "I felt that there were lives at stake..."

  "There sure are. I've given the order to embark in about an hour. Where did you have in mind for your sortie?"

  "I can see that it doesn't matter now. We felt like we were abandoning them by turning about at the great tree. We wanted to search closer to the Great Rock Wall."

  "Then you were already out of hope,” said Faragher as he stood up and clapped Neron on the shoulder. "Let's set sail now, so that the rest of us don't run out of hope."