by A. L. Knorr
"How do I find you again?" Jordan said, her voice cracking.
Not only is she grateful, she seems to want a friendship. Toth's brow wrinkled. That wouldn’t be wise. "Why would you need to find me?"
Jordan's eyes misted. "You saved us. We…we're friends." She hesitated. "Aren't we?"
Toth's eyes shuttered, like someone had pulled the blinds over a window. "Nychts and humans shouldn't be friends. We're trade partners. It's best kept that way." He jerked his chin at the Elf. "I don't imagine she's going to wait all day. Good luck, Jordan." He gave her the smallest smile and stepped back. He spread his wings and the sound of them opening was like the sails of a tall ship catching the wind.
"But…" she was at a loss for words. That’s it? After what we’ve been through together, what he's done for us? It doesn’t seem right.
With a few effortful strokes, Toth left the ground. He gave Jordan a final nod and climbed up toward the sky. Up above the canopy and past the edge of the waterfall, Jordan saw him catch an updraft and pick up speed. He disappeared over the tops of the trees. Jordan felt like she'd swallowed a bag of cold rocks. With a sigh of frustration, she stepped off the riverbank and felt the invisible solid footing beneath her. Without any further hesitation, she marched up to the Elf and walked through the open curtain of water.
***
The tunnel Jordan found herself in was damp and cool and her skin prickled with gooseflesh at the humid air that hugged her. The cave was long enough that the horses were only now reaching the end of it. Their hoofbeats sounded sharp on the stone and echoed back through the cavernous channel. The opening was a small circle of bright light at the other end. The sound of trickling water could be heard through cracks in the arched stone passageway. The Elf made so little sound that Jordan thought she must have stayed behind, but looking over her shoulder, Jordan started in surprise. The Elf was right behind her. Looking down, Jordan saw the reason for her soundlessness–she wore no shoes. Her feet were ghostly pale in the dim light.
"Hello," said Jordan. Her voice bounced off the walls.
The Elf faced her briefly. It was difficult to make out her expression in such darkness. There was no reply.
Jordan nearly stumbled at the steep drop off at the tunnel's exit. A narrow dirt ramp led from the tunnel's exit to the forest floor. The ramp had a gnarled wooden railing so covered in curling ivy that it seemed to be trying to choke the wood. The horses had slowed their pace to navigate the steep downhill, but were nearly at the bottom when Jordan stepped out of the tunnel. Two Elves took the horses’ bridles and two more began to unstrap the rig that Toth had built.
"Please be careful, he's very sick," said Jordan, rushing to help. Sol's body barely jostled as the Elves lowered him and the whole soirat to the ground.
One of the Elves shot her a withering look that said ‘Obviously’.
"Many of the people who visit us are." The other spoke kindly and Jordan found that the sound of his voice plucked a string inside her, one that went on to vibrate even after he finished speaking.
"Can you help him?" Jordan knelt beside Sol and put her hand on his forehead. He was burning up. His breathing still sounded very shallow.
"That depends."
"On what?" Anxiety fluttered in her chest. She hadn't the first idea how to negotiate with Elves. What was it that Sol had in mind to pay them with? Gold?
"Not what," said the Elf, standing up. "Who." His eyes lifted and Jordan followed his gaze.
A tall, slender Elf with long red hair stood at the edge of the clearing just a few feet away. Jordan hadn't noticed her approach. She had skin the color of milk and her hair was a rich dark color, almost burgundy. Her widely spaced eyes were just a little too big to look human and they shone like sapphires.
"Welcome to Charra-Rae," she said. Her voice twanged an entirely different string inside Jordan than the male Elf’s had. This one made her body buzz, which then dimmed rapidly to nothing. Jordan could feel her molars vibrate against one another in her head. It was a startling feeling but not entirely unpleasant. "You're not from The Conca."
"No. We're not." Jordan wondered how she knew that. Even Toth had been fooled by the indigo.
"You're a long way from Rodania," the Elf went on.
Jordan's brows shot up. That’s where Sol is from! But how could she possibly know that? Sol had no wings to reveal his species. Together, Sol and Jordan looked no different from any other human couple. Jordan began to wonder if these Elves had some kind of mind-reading ability. Toth's warning that people entered Charra-Rae but didn't leave rang in her memory. She shoved the warning away. She was here now and while these Elves were a bit disconcerting, she didn't feel like they were dangerous. The Elf went on before Jordan could answer.
"I'm Sohne." She dropped her chin slightly but kept her strange eyes on Jordan.
"I'm Jordan and this is Sol." Jordan shifted from foot to foot. "Please, we need your help. I'm afraid Sol is dying."
"He won't die," said Sohne. She lifted a hand and signalled to the two Elves who had stepped back and stood watching.
Relief flooded Jordan. "Oh, thank you." She closed her eyes in gratitude.
The elven men came forward and picked Sol up. They began to carry him through the trees toward some lights Jordan could see flickering in the distance. Sohne followed them and Jordan fell in step beside her. She wanted to ask how things worked when people showed up needing help. Based on what Sol had said, the Elves didn't just help out of the goodness of their hearts. But before she could organize her thoughts to form a question, the elven city appeared, rendering her speechless for the second time that day.
The thick forest ended and a new terrain began. The ground had broken off or been removed, leaving a grassy ledge. Below them was a rolling landscape of tall trees and stone steps and walkways. A large body of water sparkled in the distance and she could make out elegant huts and buildings nestled among the foliage. Even the Elf-made structures were so organic-looking they seemed to have sprouted from the earth. There wasn't a straight line to be seen anywhere. Dwellings unlike any she had seen before snugged up against trees and streams; some shaped like lumpy, off-kilter huts and others like tall, elegant cones with arched windows. Torches flickered throughout the scene and lights illuminated windows. But the light was not warm and orange like firelight—more a bright blue-white, like starlight. Elves and a few other beings Jordan had never seen before, moved about, talking, working, sitting, or conversing. Some of them held scrolls open in front of them and seemed to be discussing a patch of undeveloped land off to the side.
Movement drew Jordan's eyes upward. High in the trees on a network of vine bridges, people and non-human creatures worked, cutting away the fungus Toth had told her about and gathering it into baskets on their backs.
The sound of footsteps behind her made Jordan turn. Sol, Sohne, and the two other elves had already descended the stone steps leading into the valley. Jordan had been standing there and gaping at the scene alone.
A slow-moving line of people walked by Jordan and down the steps. They were holding baskets filled with the gersher fungus and Jordan could finally see how bright the fuchsia tops of the mushrooms really were. They were so pigmented as to look fake; like they were colored with magic marker.
"Excuse me," she said to them as they passed.
None of them looked up, or acknowledged her in any way. Jordan's eyes narrowed. There was something eerie about these people. She realized that none of them were Elves. Many of them appeared to be human, but there were a few other species in amongst the crowd that Jordan couldn't identify. Shorter, stockier beings with pointed ears. Perhaps trolls? Every one of them had a look of sublime contentment on their face. They walked by single file, with a slow, matching gait. Jordan's forearms prickled as she watched them pass down the stairs and disappear one by one into the thicker trees on the left side of the valley.
When the last of them passed, she followed them down the stairs and went to the ri
ght, where she saw the two Elves who were carrying Sol disappear into a small, not-quite-round hut made of woven vines. The hut was dark, but as Jordan approached, that blue-white light appeared from inside and shone out from between the cracks. She followed them and when she arrived at the hut’s entrance. The hut was a simple space with a stone table covered with leaves in the center. Slender torches with clear balls at the top of them lit the space and made Sol look even paler.
The Elves put Sol gently on the table. Sohne lay a hand over Sol's chest and then over his forehead. "He will need tonight to rest, once I've reversed the infection and the injury." Her voice twanged those strings inside Jordan and she felt the vibration all the way down her spine and through her legs. It even seemed like her feet buzzed against the ground. She scrunched up her toes inside her boots in an effort to stop the tickling.
"Oh. Kay," said Jordan. "Is there some sort of payment or negotiation we need to do first?"
"I'll deal with him when he's conscious. You and I can talk separately about yours," answered Sohne, coming around the table and putting a hand on her shoulder. Jordan was about to ask Sohne how she knew she even had a request, but she pulled Jordan toward the door. "Eohne will show you where you can spend the night. You must be exhausted."
Another female Elf with long, wavy, brunette hair appeared in the doorway. She seemed a little out of breath. "Sohne, you called?" Her skin was flushed and dewy and her hair looked damp. She wore simple homespun clothes; not a beautiful dress, like Sohne. Just simple pants that looked like they were made of linen and a sleeveless tunic the color of leaves, belted at the waist. Her long bare arms were sinewy and muscular and her fingernails were blunt. Small, odd tools hung from her belt on strings.
"This is Jordan," said Sohne. "Take care of her for the night." Sohne looked at Jordan. "You and I will talk tomorrow."
Jordan allowed Eohne to draw her away from the hut, but she looked back over her shoulder at Sol's form lying on the table. The hut's door closed and Sol and Sohne were hidden from view. Sol had made it sound like the Elves just did magic, but she got the impression that it wasn't as easy as just waving their fingers.
"Jordan." Eohne drew Jordan's attention away from the hut and the mysterious goings on inside it. "Where are you from?"
"We…" Sol's warning not to talk about portals rang in her head. "Came in from Nishpat."
Eohne shot her a look over her shoulder as they descended some uneven rock stairs and joined a path that took them deeper into the elven city. "But you're not from Nishpat. If my ears are tuned right, you're from Earth."
Jordan nearly tripped in the pathway and Eohne grabbed her elbow to steady her. "Wh-what?"
"Don't worry," laughed Eohne. "We don't have any interest in reporting illegal portal travel."
"How can you tell?"
"Your accent, of course," said Eohne as they walked along a narrow burbling stream. Evening sunlight filtered down through the canopy and lit the glen around them in a soft yellow glow. "I don't know where on Earth you're from," she continued. "I don't know it well, but I know all the accents of The Conca and beyond and yours isn’t like any of them. It was a guess, but I can see from your face that I was right." It was too late to deny it.
Jordan's tired eyes were drawn up toward movement in the canopy overhead. People and other species clearly not human, traversed narrow walkways that were built around tree trunks and between the trees and that hung from ropes fastened to limbs high above. Jordan's eyes scanned their faces and she narrowed her eyes as she noticed the same vacant expressions worn by the line of workers who'd passed her earlier.
"Who are they?" Jordan asked.
"Harvesters," Eohne said. "Watch your step here."
Eohne turned off the path and began to climb through thick ferns. Foot-sized stones the color of blood gleamed through the lush greenery and Jordan followed, taking each stone step by step. Jordan was puffing by the time they reached an embankment leading to a path on another level. Arching over their heads was the root system of many trees, entangled and half covering a path that wound along a ledge.
"Why do they look so vacant?" asked Jordan as she followed behind Eohne on the narrow ledge. Roots dangled down and brushed the tops of their heads and draped over their shoulders. "Like they're brain-dead or something."
"They're inmates," Eohne said mildly.
"Inmates?" Jordan brushed aside the roots as they swung from Eohne's shoulders and into her own face. "Like, prisoners?"
The path grew even narrower; Eohne stopped walking and faced the wall of dirt. She braced her foot against a root and stepped up; as she did, her head disappeared into a hole. Jordan watched, narrowing her eyes as bits of dirt and dust fell from the overhang while Eohne climbed up through the root system and disappeared the rest of the way through the hole. Her voice came back a moment later. "Are you coming?"
Jordan frowned as she saw little black beetles scuttle through the dirt around the hole and watched a bright green earthworm poke its head, or maybe its butt, out of the dirt to feel around. "Not really a fan of creepy-crawlies," she muttered.
"What?"
"Nothing. Coming." She grasped the root system and began to climb. As her head cleared the hole, she saw an exquisitely built wooden house braced between five thick-trunked trees. Like everything else in Charra-Rae, the house had no straight lines and half of it was covered in thick ivy. Stone steps led to the arched front door and purple flowers with blossoms the size of Jordan's head lined the pathway. "Where are we?"
"This is my dwelling. You'll stay with me while you're here." She walked the steps to the door and Jordan followed, brushing dirt from her shoulders. "Welcome," said Eohne and let the two of them in.
The moment they passed the threshold, the blue-white lights illuminated the house, coming from sconces on the walls and long vines hanging down from the ceiling. Eohne's place was small and cozy, with a very tall ceiling and two lofts. At first glance, Jordan couldn't see how anyone could get up to the lofts; then she spotted a ladder of braided vines fastened to the wall.
Shelves covered in all kinds of curious objects Jordan couldn't name covered the back wall. There were jars filled with specimens of insects, old tatty books with cracked spines and falling out pages and a long column of floor-to-ceiling glass with bright yellow butterflies fluttering inside it. "Are you a scientist of some kind?" asked Jordan.
Eohne smiled. "More of an inventor, but I guess you could say I know something about science." She cocked her head. "Our kind of science, anyway. I don't think Earthling science and mine bear much of a resemblance."
"What are you working on?" Jordan approached the shelves and snooped among the items.
"Replicating the fungus that grows here by using magic," said Eohne, clasping her hands behind her back and watching Jordan inspect her workspace.
"And how is it going?" Jordan tapped a finger against a glass jar filled with large clear balls, which also looked to be made of glass.
Eohne frowned. "Not very well. Be careful with those, please."
"Eeep!" Jordan took a step back when a few of the glass balls sprouted legs and began to crawl up the inside of the jar. "What are they?"
"Messenger bugs," Eohne said. "I've been working on them for a few months now, but haven't come up with a better name for them than that."
"Are they alive?"
"Not in an organic sense, no, but they do have a kind of intelligence."
"How do they work?" Jordan stepped closer to the glass again and peered in at the bugs.
"Partially by frequency and partially by magic."
"Would they take a message to Earth?"
Eohne frowned and thought about this. "Yes, in theory. Though I've never tried it. And also to the in between–wherever they find the person's frequency.
Jordan was staring at Eohne, wearing an expression caught between shock and joy. Her exhaustion from the trip was momentarily forgotten.
"What?" Eohne asked at the bright look on
Jordan’s face.
"I didn't expect you to say ‘yes’. Could I send a message to my father?"
A slow smile spread across Eohne's face. She'd never had reason to try sending the bugs anywhere outside of Oriceran. This was just the kind of experiment she loved. "Let's give it a try. We haven't got anything to lose."
CHAPTER EIGHTEEN
"Carry this," Eohne said, handing the jar of bugs to Jordan. She grabbed a second jar with another dozen bugs in it and an over-the-shoulder bag and handed them to Jordan as well. "We have to hike for a bit to get away from all the interference around here."
"We can't send the message from here?" Jordan asked, craning her neck to watch Eohne climb the vine ladder and disappear onto the first loft platform.
Eohne poked her head over the side and cocked an eyebrow. "Why, you have somewhere else you need to be tonight?"
"No." Jordan smiled up at Eohne. "I'm just from a generation of instant gratification."
"Ha!" Eohne disappeared again and Jordan heard some cupboard doors opening and closing and items being rooted through. "We have that same problem here. Why else do you think everyone comes to the Elves when they have a problem? Magic does things faster."
Jordan thought of Sol's wings and how they would take years to grow back if the Elves didn't help him. "Is there anything you can't do with magic?"
"Oh, tons of stuff!" Eohne said as she put a foot on the vine ladder. "Magic can do a lot, but it’s not foolproof; it’s not always predictable, either." Jordan watched Eohne climb down, her movements fluid as water. She landed on the floor in front of Jordan. "Sohne could get a message to your dad faster than I could."
