by Greg Curtis
“An apology is also owed. The dragons told us of how you begged their queen for our people to be spared, and they have been upset by the thought that we could believe that a mortal, any mortal might order them to his bidding. They have said that several times. Many of our people are still hurt and upset by our weakened condition, but all now know it was not your doing and that we have wronged you. And in learning of what Afri has done, we are slowly coming to accept that we still carry the seeds of our own downfall within us. The dragons are wise and we will learn.”
“No apology is owed either.” Again it was the height of rudeness, but Alan felt no need for politeness any longer. He just wanted to return to his peace and finish restoring his home.
“Now I am sorry that you have come all this way for nothing, and I have no tea or food to offer you. But as you can see I have a lot of work still to do. I need to make a start on it.”
“My people have many good artisans among them. It would be our great honour to help you rebuild your home.” By then Dava surely knew his offer would be thrown back in his face, but he still tried, a measure of the man’s decency, though Alan could not accept that from him, not then. But at least he tried to not be entirely offensive.
“I would not want such a thing. This is my home. I have lived here most of my life. My parents are buried here. It would not be right for others to interfere in my work. But thank you anyway.” Finally he must have taken away the last olive branch in Dava’s peace offering because the Huron turned and started walking slowly back to his horse, defeated. But before he mounted up, he let loose a heavy sigh and turned back for one last try.
“Young Alan, I accept that you’re angry and hurt beyond measure, betrayed and threatened all your life by all those around you including most recently by myself and my kin. And I ask you to believe me when I say both our apologies and thanks are genuine. But this does you no good either. Here you are a young man, all alone, and surely not yet sixty. Of an age where you should be thinking of settling down and raising a family of your own. Instead, you harbour your bitterness to you, like a drowning man would cling to a piece of flotsam, and it poisons you. Already you look aged and drawn and you could pass for a hundred or more, and this isolation just adds to your pain.”
“When you are ready, come to us. Please. We will welcome you with all that we have.” With no more than that Dava mounted his mare, and they cantered back on to the trail and then along the path back to New Huron leaving him behind. Meanwhile Alan wondered what he would have said had he realized he was not yet thirty. Barely out of boyhood. But he felt no need to tell him. Rather he felt the need to continue with his work and try and forget about everything else.
Of course he knew the dragons would probably see things differently, and they would tell him off in their own not so subtle way in the coming days and weeks. But then they were dragons, not mortals, and they didn’t really understand the world of men. They said what they meant and they had no true concept of politeness or tact. Besides, Han’gre would probably be upset with him for having said as much to Dava as he had of Ashiel’s plight. Chances were he’d be doing extra workouts for the next month or two for that. Practising his magic until he was ready to drop, reading every tome of magic or history they could find, and even running up and down hills. His teachers seemed to love to make him do that, both the mortal ones and the dragons. Fitness they claimed, was vital for a strong wizard, but he suspected it was really just amusement that they sought, and perhaps some wagering on his performance as well. Dragons he had discovered, loved a good bet.
“Han’gre’s not going to be pleased with you young Alan.” The voice he knew only too well came from behind him causing Alan to jump like a startled rabbit, though he didn’t really mind. With his good humour and friendly smile Ant was always welcome, even if he tended to take his teaching duties a little far. He turned to see the acolyte already making himself at home on his deck, sitting on the floor since he hadn’t yet rebuilt any chairs.
“I know and I will accept the punishment for my speaking out of place. But her family have a right to know, and Ashiel, if she is to recover, must also face what has happened to her and find a way past it. She will need her family to help her do that.”
“This from a young sprat barely out of swaddling clothes and with little or no knowledge of people or families, or even how to deal with them. But I wasn’t referring to your Huron lady friend. I meant the way you so callously snubbed your visitor. How are you to become a successful member of Sera’s house if you can’t even speak to your own guests without creating discord?”
“Maybe I’m not meant to be a member.” It was something Alan had said many times before, and each time he’d simply been told he was. It wasn’t a choice. The honour was imposed it seemed rather than bestowed and who was he to argue with a dragon let alone their queen?
“Let us not delve in to your doubts and melancholy again. You are what you are, and you shall become what you will be. The teachers do not make mistakes.” That last was one of Ant’s favourite sayings, and Alan wasn’t willing to argue with him about it, especially not in the presence of dragons and there were many in the surrounding hills and valleys. Building themselves a new lair not a dozen leagues from his front door. Keeping watch on the Huron he suspected, but also preparing themselves for the necromancer’s coming.
“Is there a reason for your visit Ant?” Not that Alan minded his presence, but he thought it was about time to come to the point. But to make sure he wasn’t offended by his curtness, he put down his tools and went and sat down beside him on the unstained boards of his new deck.
“Everything an acolyte does is for a reason. You should have learnt that by now. But if you mean is there a reason for my visit that concerns you and which you should be told of, yes of course.” Alan didn’t quibble as he knew he was being critiqued once more for his sloppy choice of words and asking questions that didn’t need to be asked. A member of the House always had to say exactly what he meant.
“First, Sera says to say that she is pleased with you. Your first assignment for the House has gone well and she is pleased. But of course with pleasure must come responsibility, and she has given me a second assignment for you.” Somehow Alan had expected that. Despite the fact that he had been sent home supposedly to study and practice what he had been taught for a three month sabbatical, time was short and the danger great. Few would have the opportunity for such luxuries in the coming months.
“I will do my best.”
“There are some tomes which she requires for her servants to continue their study of the ancient necromancer, now that she knows he is an ancient. Fragments of the Book of Days that survive after all this time, as well as copies of the cavern etchings of Sir Neeveon the Bold, and the travel logs of Kirsten Greentree.”
“I have never heard of them, but if there is some clue as to where they may be, I will begin seeking them out immediately.”
“No need, we know where they are. They are all located within the library of Phell in the city of Heartsong. All you have to do is collect them.”
“The high elves!” Alan was almost beside himself with shock, though why he should be after everything else that had happened lately, he didn’t know. All he had to do was collect them? He would have to survive the high elves as well!
“But I’m a dark elf. Even if they’ve been told of the decision of the elders of Soolleni Woods regarding my people, they’d be extremely unlikely to believe it let alone follow it. They are only wood elves after all. The high elves would kill me on sight.” Actually they’d burn him according to the gossip, as they burned all evil beings. They weren’t known for their tolerance.
“That would be an unfortunate step in your education.” One thing about Ant, he noticed, his sense of humour hadn’t become any less wry in the weeks since he’d left the lair.
“Surely someone else could be sent instead. Someone less offensive to them.” And yet even as he said it, Alan knew the
re wouldn’t be anyone. Somehow he knew it would be his task and his alone. There was a perversity about the dragons and their assignments, and he suspected this was as much a teaching experience as anything else. They were teaching him diplomacy at a guess, in their own terrifying sink or swim fashion.
“Sera herself has selected this as your assignment. Would you like me to tell her that you believe she has made a mistake?” Ant knew that he wouldn’t. No sane man would dare to deny Sera anything let alone tell her that she had made a mistake, least of all him.
“No, no. Of course not. I simply misspoke. I will do as she commands.” Which he would. Even if he didn’t want to be a member of the Order or her House as he sometimes claimed, he would never dare disobey Sera. It wasn’t even fear that made sure of that, it was the understanding deep down in his very soul that it was his place to obey her. He suspected Ant knew the same feeling himself, and saw it in him as well. That was a part of why he had been brought into the house, the instinctive understanding of his place as a druid.
“Good. I thought you might. Now, it’s been a long journey and perhaps you might have a cup of tea for a weary traveller.” At least he smiled as he said it, a hopeful sign that Alan had been forgiven for the moment for his foolish words. He even leaned back into the bricks of his house’s new wall and stretched his legs out a little, but Alan wasn’t fooled. His words were forgiven but never forgotten. Sooner or later he would return to his foolish outburst as he’d questioned Sera’s orders, and his once more voicing his opinion that he wasn’t really worthy of being a member of the House of Sera, and there would be much lecturing.
“I’ll light the stove and put the kettle on. But I’m sorry to have to report that there’s little in the way of food to go with it, or even good crockery.”
“Then happy it is that I have brought both.”
Chapter Fifteen.
High elves. The very sight of them filled Alan with a strange mix of fear and loathing, though in truth they weren’t that different to any other elves. Their skin was golden, their ears pointed and their bodies slender and tall, exactly as they should be. The only difference was in their faces, which even in the darkness showed arrogance and pride far beyond all others. But then that too was as he’d expected.
Flying there for two long days as he’d headed further north west than he’d ever been, he’d been dreading meeting with them. But still it had to be. He had been given his orders.
Taking a deep breath to prepare himself, Alan walked the last few dozen steps up the trail to the fire where the guards were all standing, waiting for him in theory. In the dark though they couldn’t see him clearly, they couldn’t see the copper of his skin, and so didn’t know him as anything other than another elf. But the closer he got to the brazier around which they were gathered, the more the fire light reflected off him, and the easier it became for them to see him.
“I am Alan Feralis, Member of the Order of Sera.”
“Callenar!” One of the guards named him aloud in his shock and obvious distaste, and four sets of hands went to their weapons, while Alan tensed. He had said everything he needed to, the decision of the elves of Soolleni Woods had been made known even to the high elves, and a message had been sent to their elders advising of his visit. He should be safe. But should be and was were two different things and the reaction of the guards didn’t fill him with confidence. He clutched tightly to the emblem of the Order that Ant had given him, almost as though it was a shield, and tried to ignore the overpowering emotion of disgust he could feel coming from them.
“I am a dark elf but never a member of the Callenar.”
The silence stretched as Alan stood there, while the guards decided whether or not to draw their weapons. In the end though, they did neither as another guard behind them took over.
“You are the Feralis?”
“I am Alan Feralis.” He wasn’t going to make the mistake of moving forward towards the guards, and so he like the guards just stood there, but unlike them he tried to appear relaxed. A member of the Order was always supposed to remain calm as unease not only made it difficult to act as one should, but it also communicated itself to others, causing them to lose confidence in one. At least so he had been taught. Right then though he simply didn’t want to give these high elves the satisfaction of thinking that they had made him nervous.
“We were told to expect you, and what you were.” The arrogance in his voice, the sneer and the detestation were everything Alan had expected, and yet still somehow he hadn’t quite prepared himself for the true spite of the high elves. As though he wasn’t even a man, but rather some wild, diseased animal. But Alan held his peace. Losing his temper would not help.
“A humble member of the House of Sera, come to make use of your library.” He even managed to smile politely as he said it, though inside he was boiling. It must have been enough.
“So the elders were told and have informed us.” The guard said it as if he believed not a word of it, but he still had no choice. As the elders had been told to expect him, so too had the captain been told in turn. He had little or no choice in his duties, even if he didn’t like them.
“You will leave your weapons here and we will escort you to the library.” Somehow it was everything Alan had expected, even though it wasn’t what custom would have dictated for any other. All elves were free to walk among all elven cities, armed or otherwise. But that apparently did not apply to dark elves, even ones that were members of the Order. Fortunately Alan was prepared for it.
“As you wish, cousin.” He used the term specifically to remind him that all elves were cousins, whether he wanted to remember that or not, and perhaps to aggravate him a little as well. High elves were nobody’s cousin as the tales went. They were above all such things, far above their elven kin, even further above the humans, dryads and dwarves, and most especially above the dark elves.
“I would not wish to create a disturbance.” With no more than the subtle inference that they were frightened of him, something that did not sit well with the guards and he could see them bristling with anger, he undid the clasp that held his sword belt, and then handed the belt and swords to the diamond elemental standing beside him, completely invisible in the night. That created another round of stares and alarm among the guards, as with their eyes all they could see were the swords in their scabbards and belt, hanging in mid-air for no apparent reason. No doubt they had expected him to hand the weapons to them, and he had very grave doubts that they would have been returned.
“What have you done?” Hands were once again on hilts, and there was an edge in the guard’s voice.
“Exactly what you requested. My weapons have been removed and will remain here safe with my companion.” His invisible companion, but they already understood that and they didn’t like it.
“Come, let us make haste towards the library.” With a snap of his fingers a second diamond elemental walked out of the darkness of the night, and into the firelight, causing the guards to step back a pace in surprise. They couldn’t see the elemental at all in the darkness, but they could see the back pack hanging from his gigantic shoulders, ten feet off the ground.
“What is that?” It was the guard captain who finally worked up the calm to ask the obvious question, and he didn’t really want to. He clearly wanted to stick his sword deep into Alan’s flesh.
“Another companion of course. He will carry the tomes for me.” Alan even managed to smile innocently as the guard stared anew.
“He can’t enter.”
“Of course he can. That too was in the message that was sent.” Which it was and they knew it even if they’d forgotten it. The message had said, ‘and companions’. They’d just expected someone visible, not to mention mortal. Suddenly they had no idea what they were facing, and it made them nervous. The truth of course, would have made them more so.
“Let him through.” A new voice came out of the darkness, this time an old woman’s, and the guards suddenly forg
ot their arguments as they snapped to attention. From their surprising haste and the woman’s voice, Alan had no doubt that the speaker was an elder.
“Alan Feralis is an elementalist and summoner as we had heard, and his companions are elementals, diamond if I’m not mistaken. Very well called for someone so young, and perfectly spelled as well.”
“Thank you Elder.” Alan bowed low as was both proper and advisable when meeting an elder for the first time, just as she entered the fire light. She wasn’t just an elder he realized, she was old, very old, and he would have guessed her to be approaching two hundred at least, maybe even three.
“Ahh, so at least you do remember some of our manners. I had heard otherwise young Master Feralis.” Alan didn’t answer but then he didn’t have to. There was humour in her voice, and knowledge. The elder knew about him, knew quite a lot by her tone.
“Captain, see to your men and form an honour guard for our guest. Make sure that no one upsets young Alan Feralis here. This is the one who has awakened the ancients, and the one and the only elf to fight and defeat a demon in living memory. One of the Everliving no less. We stand in the presence of a champion and a druid of great power.”
