Alynon's Tear

by Rick Brown

  I gave everyone a nod then started picking my first stalactites. There was a large one between the trolls and our way out. I reached out and grabbed it with my magic. At first it resisted my pulling and it looked like this plan could be a failure. Giving a hard pull, the giant stalactite snapped and plummeted to the stalagmite below. Giving it another magical push, it tipped towards the resting trolls, crashing into them. One was caught by surprise and crushed beneath the stone. Others scattered, running around the chamber shrieking in terror.

  Whilhoit and Barad charged from the hole ready to attack anything that blocked our path. Father Yagen and Abigail rushed out into the chamber, shooting fireballs as they ran. They were followed by the two sneaks, who rapidly shot arrows at the closest trolls. Then I followed those carrying poor Orlik as I continued to target the stalactites over the trolls. Keeping them panicked was our best chance.

  I watched as a troll, in its terror, ran directly into our path. Barad charged the beast and slashed at its hand as it swung towards his head. The creature roared as its blood sprayed from the strike. Abigail fired lightening at the troll striking it across its chest. Instead of running away, the creature ran straight toward us as it tried to escape.

  I drew my sword and rolled under its massive arm as it swung at me, coming back up behind its legs. Swinging as hard as I could, I slashed across its hamstring, bringing the beast crashing to the ground.

  I spun around, looking for everyone. Farloc, Father Pild, and Ryan were halfway across the chamber, while the others had formed a moving ring around them. Looking up, I sent more stalactites crashing to the ground so the trolls would continue their panic.

  One of the trolls was charging the group, ignoring the balls of fire being thrown at it. I chose a nearby stalagmite and exploded it, sending shards of stone flying into the troll. The shock knocked it over, sending it scurrying the other way.

  “Why don’t these things die?” Brianna screamed angrily as she fired another arrow.

  Finally, we crossed the chamber and entered the tunnel on the other side. Barad smashed the jar of oil on the ground and Abigail ignited it, starting a fire that would hopefully discourage any trolls from following long enough for us to escape.

  We continued to run through the tunnel, each taking a turn to help carry the remarkably heavy dwarf. Barad was the first to find the tunnel exit, charging out into the bright sunlight. The first we had seen in two weeks.

  “Couldn’t we have come out at night? Ryan asked as he covered his eyes.

  The tunnel exited into a forest of tall spruce trees. The snow came up to our knees as we waded out from the caverns.

  Farloc looked around. “I know this place. We are not far from the city. Follow me.”

  Chapter 22

  (Lee)

  As we walked down the mountainside, I started spotting the white spires of the elves peaking out over the tree line. The same white spires I had seen in my dream with Alynon so long ago. The cavern exit was only two miles from the city, though wading through the deep snow made it feel much further.

  “Ho! Over here!” Farloc yelled. Looking down our path there were two elves walking towards us. Farloc ran ahead and spoke briefly with the elves, which quickly ran back towards the city. He waited as we all caught up. “They have gone for help. Someone will bring a stretcher for Orlik.”

  “Thank Alynon,” Father Yagen exclaimed. It was his turn to carry Orlik by the shoulders. Father Pild and Whilhoit had his feet.

  Finally, we reached the city and the roads, which had been cleared of the snow. Unlike a human city, the elves had not cleared their city of trees. The roads wound through them, not a straight line to be seen. Soon two elves came running up the road with a stretcher, followed by a large group of elves. Leading them was Councilor Nenelin, Farloc’s father. The elderly elf had his long, gray hair tied up with a leather cord. He wore a white robe, similar to the one he wore when visiting Vennean.

  “Hello, King Eberon. Welcome to Illiner,” The Councilor greeted.

  “Father,” Farloc greeted by kneeling before the Councilor.

  “Rise, my son. You have been missed.”

  Father Yagen, Father Pild and Whilhoit eased the injured dwarf into the stretcher.

  “These elves will see Orlik to the hospital. He will be well treated there.”

  “Do you know Orlik?” I asked the Councilor.

  He gave a broad smile. “Oh yes. He and I got into much trouble in the past. Come. Let’s find a warm place to talk. I would like to hear how you made it up the mountain. We thought it would be impossible for you.”

  “It was,” I said with a smile as we left to follow the Councilor.

  The councilor led us through the woodland paths, and towards one of the towers. “This was your people’s home, King Eberon. It was where they stayed when visiting Illiner. As I told you in our previous meeting, you have elf blood in your veins, as such, you have a home here.” The Councilor opened the door, and allowed us into the tower. Inside, the floors were made of stone. There were leather bound chairs and wooden tables set up across the floor. A large stone fireplace, that had a roaring fire, was across the room. A staircase led upstairs to a floor above. Though not as grand as the Vennean Palace, the comfortable look to the place seemed much more like home.

  “We had the house restored once we heard of your appearance in Vennean,” The councilor explained.

  I walked over and took a seat in an oversized leather chair, sinking into its cushion. “Ahh… Thank you Councilor. This will do nicely.”

  The Councilor sat across from me, smiling at my reaction. “So, your majesty. How did you make it up our mountain in mid-winter?”

  “We did not, Councilor Nenelin. We went through your mountain.”

  The Councilors eyebrow crooked as he considered, then he suddenly smiled. “Orlik! He guided you through the caverns. Ingenious. Risky, but ingenious.”

  “I cannot take credit for the idea. It was Alynon’s suggestion.”

  The elderly elf nodded. “Yes, that makes sense. Is Orlik the only one of you injured?” I nodded in response and explained how he was injured. “Ah, that old fool. He never could resist a fight,” The councilor chastised.

  “So, how do you know Orlik?” I asked.

  “Ah, well. We met many times in Ealinhart, Alsselya’s capital. It was a beautiful place and I enjoyed my time there. It was so sudden, the attack by Dommeran. I was here at Illiner. By the time we received word of the attack it was all over. We believed all of your family to be dead. A few, Orlik and I included, went to help your soldiers at the Fields of Alynon. Orlik had begged his father to come to your people’s defense, but King Fenlek resisted. ‘Why should we lose our lives for an already defeated people’s he argued. It became quite heated. When Orlik left on his own to fight Dommeran in that last stand, his father declared that he was exiled. Since then he has been Orlik the drunk instead of Prince Orlik of the Dwarves.”

  “That’s so sad,” Abigail said, sitting in a nearby seat. “He lost everything for Alsselya.”

  “Not everything,” the councilor corrected. “I might argue that, had he sat by and watched the last of the Alsselyian’s slaughtered, he would have lost much more.”

  “If you don’t mind, Councilor, I would like to visit Orlik. I may not be able to do much with my magic, but it’s possible I could do something to aid in his healing.”

  The councilor nodded, waving over his son. “Please take his majesty to the hospital to visit Orlik,” He instructed. “I’m sorry, Your Majesty. My old body doesn’t move as well as it once did, but Farloc can get you there quickly.”

  As Farloc led me through the Elf city, I had my first opportunity to admire how it was built. There were no unsightly huts or decrepit structures. Everything looked to be well maintained. The road that we walked on was cobbled and didn’t appear to be missing any stones. “How is your city so well kept?” I asked Farloc.

  He shrugged. “We elves plan for the long term. Yo
u humans only look at the present.” I considered that for a moment, then swore to consider the future of Alsselya as I rebuilt, assuming I got that opportunity.

  “Why are so many of your structures towers?” I asked as I saw how many of the buildings were tall towers.

  “Ah. As much as we love our woods, sometimes we like to see what’s beyond the trees. So, we built up. Here is the hospital,” he said as he walked up to the building.

  Unlike the towers that the elves had built, this was a small non-descript building. I looked questioningly at Farloc. “We elves don’t get sick,” he explained.

  Once inside, things appeared very different. It was a chaotic scene as elves rushed from room to room. Farloc stopped someone who was rushing by. “What has happened?”

  “A raid on Dommeran went badly. Zarcharus is injured,” The elf explained. He glanced at me, “If you are here to see the dwarf, he’s in the second room on the right.” I nodded in thanks and started to the room.

  “I’m going to find out what happened,” Farloc called out after me. “I shall meet you in Orlik’s room.” I gave a wave of acknowledgment and entered the room.

  As I entered, I noticed an elf sitting on a chair next to Orlik’s bed. Glancing at my friend I could see his skin had turned a pallid gray again. Watching his chest, his breathing seemed labored.

  The elf rose and gave a bow, “You must be King Eberon. It is a pleasure to meet you. I am Doctor Yorlin.”

  “Doctor, how is the patient?” I asked as I pulled another chair up next to the bed.

  She sighed. “Not well. I heard how you were forced to carry him in order to make you escape. While I understand you had to do it, I fear it aggravated his injures.”

  “If you don’t mind, I did some magic on him in the cavern that seemed to help. I’d like to try again.” The doctor gave me a dubious look, but nodded.

  “You may want to stand back,” I warned. Father Yagen and Father Pild would have appreciated that advice in the cavern.

  Placing my hand on his chest, I once again sent my magic into my friend. The scene was just as confusing as it was the first time. I finally identified the troublesome rib again, this time it was pressed into the lung, preventing it from inflating as the other one did. Once again, I used my magic to shift the bone back into place, and again I pushed out some fluid that had gathered in the injured lung.

  Now that I had more time, I looked at the break in the bone. It was relatively clean, so the two pieces fit well when positioned correctly. I tried to picture the bone unbroken and applied my magic to it, but that did nothing. I tried again, but this time I pictured the magic repairing the bone and the crack healing. I applied my magic and this time I could see the bone stitching together. It wasn’t completely healed, but it looked like it would stay.

  Focusing on the hole in his lung, I did the same, picturing the two sides lining up and healing. The flesh reacted much better than the bone, and soon there was no obvious damage to the lung at all.

  Releasing my magic, I fell back into my chair panting. Even though I have worked on building my endurance since Brianna was stabbed, I found that healing was still exhausting.

  The doctor looked shocked and started examining Orlik closely. “What did you do?” She asked incredulously.

  “I was able to stitch the bone together some, but it’s not a complete healing. I also repaired his lung.”

  She turned to look at me, some glimmer of hope in her eye. “Can you do this for anyone?”

  I shrugged. “I’m not medically trained, so I don’t really know what I am doing. A rib and a lung are pretty easy to identify. There are a lot of organs in there that I have no idea what they do.”

  “Come with me,” she ordered as she grabbed my hand and pulled me into the hall.

  “But how is Orlik,” I asked

  “He’s out of danger now, thanks to you,” She answered as she continued to tug me along.

  “Where are we going?” I asked as we pushed our way through a crowd and into another room. There were a group of elves gathered around an injured elf who was lying unconscious in a bed. I noticed Farloc was standing quietly in a corner.

  Doctor Yorlin jerked me forward, presenting me in front of the elves. “I just watched King Eberon heal the broken rib and punctured lung of the dwarf. He can heal with magic!”

  “I told you he could do it!” Farloc called angrily from the corner.

  I looked at the injured elf. He’s side was wrapped in bloody bandages. My years of battle told me he was on the verge of death. “I’m a magic user, not a doctor. I can try to help, but someone needs to explain to me what needs to be done.”

  The elves turned and looked at a single elf out of their group. He was an elderly elf, similar to Councilor Nenelin, except he was bald, other than thin layer of hair just over his ears. There was silence for a moment as he stared at me. Then with a nod, he turned his back.

  The other elves grabbed me and sat me in a chair next to the wounded elf.

  One of them grabbed my shoulders and looked into my eyes. “We believe that the sword hit his bowels, causing them to leak. If so, they could turn septic. We need the bowel closed and any discharge removed.”

  I gave a fake nod, because in reality I had no idea what I was doing. Don’t kill him, Lee. I placed my hand over the bandage and cast out my magic. I thought the upper chest was confusing, but the guts were a mass of tubes that overlapped each other like a knotted rope.

  After panicking at the enormity of what lay before me, I nearly withdrew my magic, but a life was on the line. Steeling my nerve, I decided on a different tact. Starting at one end, I followed the tubes, much like you would if untying a knot. It seemed like the tube went on forever, until I found an anomaly. There was indeed a tear in the bowel. I pictured the tube healing, just like I did for Orlik. Once again, the flesh healed as I watched. I continued to follow the tube and found two more similar injures.

  After ensuring that there were no more injures, I traced my way back up and looked outside of where the bowels had been injured. It took some time to identify what was foreign debris and what actually belonged in his body. Once I did, I started pushing it up towards the surface, until I found the way blocked by the bandage. I withdrew my magic and opened my eyes.

  The world around me spun as I tried to grab on to the chair. Almost falling until one of the doctors caught me. I was laid out of the floor, as they looked me over. “Chec…Check under the bandage.” I managed to say before passing out.

  Chapter 23

  (Abigail)

  It was fascinating, walking around the inside of the elven tower. My life has taken some crazy turns over the last few weeks, but the wonders I had seen made up for it all. I would never forget the waterfall nor crystal chambers inside the caverns.

  And now, I found myself inside an elven city, on the Veluvian Mountains. The priests were sitting before the fire, drinking some wine they found. Brianna, Whilhoit, Lenux, and Barad were playing some card game, and Ryan was happily reading some book. Farloc and Lee had run off to check on Orlik, and the councilor left right after they did.

  I hope Orlik is all right, I sighed to myself. He was the definition of ‘rough around the edges’, but I found I liked him. I went up the stairs and started exploring the tower. I was shocked to find a room with a tub with a water pump right over it!” I walked over and started to pump the handle. Within a few pulls water started to pump out.

  I noticed a hole in the bottom of the tub letting all the water out. On the side of the tub was a leather plug. I wedged it in and kept pumping. This time the water stayed and filled the tub. I couldn’t be more overjoyed. I closed the door and tried to remember how Lee described heating a bathtub with water. Thinking back to when I nearly burnt my pants, I approached it cautiously. Resting my fingers in the tub I slowly started to apply heat.

  The water was much more resistant to changing temperature, but after a while, I noticed the water getting warm. When I thought it fina
lly hit a comfortable temperature, I climbed into the blissful bath. Next to the tub were soap and a towel. As I grabbed the soap, I noticed it had little flowers embedded in it. Taking a sniff, it smelled wonderful.

  I was busy scrubbing away two weeks’ worth of cavern dust when there was a knock at the door. “Abi? Are you in there?” Bri asked.

  “Yes, you can come in, if you’re alone,” I replied.

  Bri poked her head through the door and gasped as she saw the tub. She came in and quickly shut the door behind her.

  “Did you heat the water?” she asked

  I nodded happily. “I’m just about done,” I said as I tackled my foot.

  “They even have a pump to fill it!” she said gleefully.

  “It’s wonderful! They should do this in every house,” I agreed. Before getting out I felt around and grabbed the plug, releasing my dirty water. I dried myself as the tub water drained, and then Brianna refilled it.

  I wrapped the towel around me and went to help Brianna. This time I knew how much magic to use and quickly heated the water for Bri. As she climbed in, I started to explore the rest of the room. There was a large mirror and desk against the wall. Checking the drawers, I was once again pleasantly surprised. A beautiful ivory handled hairbrush was in one of the drawers. Sitting at the desk, I started working on the tangles in my hair.

  “It’s not the palace, but I could sure get used to living here,” Bri said as she scrubbed away the dirt.

  “What was it like, living at the palace?” I asked, frowning as I brushed at a particularly challenging hair knot.

  “It was wonderful. The servants prepared baths for us every day while we practiced. Breakfast, lunch, and dinner were always on the table with no effort on our part. I miss Arthur. He was Lee’s Chamberlain. He kept everything so organized. We never wanted for anything.”

  “Lee’s Chamberlain? I would have liked to see Lee in the castle. Maybe it would be easier to picture him as a King.”