Elven Blight: A Katrina Baker Novel 02

by D. L. Harrison

  “I’d have allowed him to go with you, but Prince Vaeril was quite clear no humans outside of yourself are welcome in his forests.”

  Damn. The king just explained himself to me, which meant the world would probably end.

  I smiled, or attempted one, “Thank you, majesty.” At least my voice had come out steadily, relatively. I wasn’t afraid I couldn’t do it without him, but I really didn’t want to. This had been one of my biggest fears about marrying Gerard, being split up on different missions. It came true before we could even tie the knot. I wasn’t worried Gerard would stray though, and I knew for sure that I wouldn’t.

  Vaeril stood up, “We must go, it has been several days already, since I left.”

  Translation, he was worried and didn’t know how dire things had gotten in his absence, oh, and he was a pushy arrogant ass.

  I sighed, “I’ll go get ready, and meet you at the stables?”

  Vaeril nodded in cold approval, “That is sufficient.”

  I stood, and pulled on Gerard’s hand. He got the hint and followed me out the door. We were both quiet as we walked through the halls to my guestroom. My stomach was still a bit woozy, and I felt clingy. I wasn’t worried about the mission, I was worried about me, and felt selfish. The mix of anger, love, and regret from Gerard told me he was probably feeling the same about letting me out of his sight.

  As soon as the door was closed, I was in his arms and kissing him with a needy desperation. Let’s just say I gave him a very proper and enthusiastic goodbye for two people about to be married, if not for nearly a long enough period of time.

  Gerard held me after, and I could feel my conflicted emotions match his.

  “I love you Katrina.”

  I smiled, “I love you too, be safe.”

  I bit my lip wanting to steal more time with Gerard, but we both had to go.

  After cleaning up, and one more goodbye, I teleported to my temple room, and put on my riding outfit as quickly as possible. I grabbed a coin purse with a few coins, made sure I had my dagger, and grabbed the saddle bags.

  I’d realized I’d need the saddle bags to carry some oats for Stormy, something I couldn’t summon, but I left the rest behind, I could summon it at need. I was also kind of numb, and felt a little abandoned. It was all tied into my grief for my parents though, Gerard hadn’t done anything wrong, and I’d see him again. Hopefully we’d even manage that marriage after our missions, but this was going to be harder than I’d thought. My best bet was to stay as busy as possible.

  Chapter Six

  Stormy was excited to see me, and a bit fractious and impatient to get on the road. She eventually settled down as we moved out of the city and north toward Bellmeadow. Without Gerard there, I started to watch for trouble almost immediately, both with my eyes, and scans up to a quarter mile out with my telepathic and emphatic powers.

  Vaeril was quiet, which was fine with me, as I didn’t know how patient I could be right then with his aloof arrogance. He was dressed in leather armor, with a sword at his side, and had a long bow tied to the saddle on his left side, and on the right side hung a quiver of arrows. I supposed I liked his horse well enough, but I didn’t dare try and make friends with him.

  I knew it would get old without someone to talk to besides my horse, but I’d take boring over annoying any day. I loved Stormy, and she was smarter than most horses, but she was still just a horse. While helping to save the elven forests appealed to my need to be a hero, if it wasn’t for my goddess and the connection there, I wasn’t quite sure if I’d have gone along with things so easily. I was really hoping his arrogance wasn’t shared with all the elves, but since they were so insular as a kingdom I feared it would be.

  I decided then I needed to read the book on elven history that Danielle had left for me later tonight, when we stopped for the day. It wasn’t that big, and I could probably speed read it and retain most of it in just a couple of hours. I’d have done it in the saddle if we hadn’t needed to keep an eye out for bandits and the like.

  He was ahead of me, and was the only one of us that knew the way. I wasn’t even sure how far north we would go before turning to the west and the elven forests. All I really knew was it would take two or three days to get there.

  As the afternoon passed, the rocky ground gave way to rolling hills and more forested areas. We turned off the trail right before the main forest where Bellmeadow village was, still at least a half day’s ride away. It wasn’t really a road, more like a wide horse track with some overgrowth in spots, it was obviously old, and barely used anymore.

  I was also horribly bored, there was nothing to do except be vigilant and look for ambushes. I blame that on my stupidity for breaking the uncomfortable but at least quiet silence.

  “Prince Vaeril, could you tell me a little about the problem, and about elven magic?”

  Vaeril replied coolly, “You’ll find out when you get there, and our magic works in symbiosis with nature, that’s all you need to know about it. I obey my queen mother, but I think this is a mistake. Nothing good can come from allowing a human into our forests.”

  I clenched my jaw, and did not throw him from his horse into the nearest tree. Surely, a sign of my growing maturity. Well, at least I had hope one elf would welcome me, the queen. Hopefully there’d be others as well.

  What wasn’t mature, was my calculated comment. I was mostly ignorant about witch and elven magic, but I had a feeling it’d be an insult of sorts, “So, like a witch then?”

  The prince turned in his saddle and glared, score!

  His voice was absolutely icy with contempt, “Witches don’t work with nature, they twist it, and force it to do their bidding. Ignorant child,” he spat and picked up his horse’s pace. Stormy matched it effortlessly, without any direction from me, while I performed a half-assed effort at suppressing my delight.

  On balance, I felt a bit better. Petty I know, but Vaeril got on my nerves, and it was only the first day. It was either poke the bear and laugh it off, or this was going to be a long mission.

  Everything ends eventually, and that included the hellish first half day’s ride. When we stopped at a small glade in the woods about fifty paces south of the trail, I set up my tent, got a fire started, and ate. The silence was truly oppressive as he too got food from his pack and ate, which is when I learned elves were vegetarians. Not that he told me, but by simple observation.

  After dinner, I retreated to the tent and cast a light spell, and then summoned my paladin’s handbook from the bookshelf in my room in the temple. I’d decided I’d better learn about me before anything else, and we still had at least two more day’s ride before we got there, so I could do both. This book was even smaller than the elven one, since it didn’t include history, just guidelines, rules, and the formalities.

  I’d been in Gerard’s head, and knew some of it, and verified others that I’d suspected. First and foremost, I couldn’t fight on evil’s side, and as I’d assumed, paladins were required to tell the truth, though not all of it. They could keep secrets and be circumspect.

  I also read a long chapter which amounted to the fact I needed to worship and obey Arella. I wasn’t too worried about that, Arella wouldn’t ask me to do anything that I wouldn’t have done anyway. It was why my heart had picked her, and why she was my goddess. There were parts about how to deal with the nobles, and what was standard payment for assistance. It also went over the political landscape a little, which Gerard had explained to me already. It amounted to not sticking my nose in noble and political matters. There was very little that was completely new to me, that I hadn’t either already guessed at, or at least suspected.

  There were a few things however, that I hadn’t a clue about.

  If my beliefs and convictions changed, I could be kicked out. Mortality and free will went hand in hand, and people could change, but the goddess would never change. It wasn’t common though, everyone did change in various ways, but often their core beliefs did not. I imag
ined my priorities would change as I grew older, but I believed that I’d always want to be a hero, and make things better.

  In short, I believed I would remain a dreamer.

  The second thing I learned was my body would become more and more accustomed to Arella’s power as time went on. Often a new paladin could cast only one or two healing spells before they were wiped out, but in later years they may be able to do it a dozen times, or more, before feeling wrung out.

  My body was a super body, enhanced with powers, and had fast recovery and healing, which probably accounted for why I was able to cast four healing spells in a row my first time, before I was too tired to go on.

  The last bit of new information for me was a list of all the gods and goddesses that Arella, and by extension I, was allied with. Which meant if I saw one of their paladins or clerics in trouble, I was honor bound to assist if I could.

  Both Ictia, Gerard’s goddess of battle, and Kutella, Cynthia’s and Jareth’s goddess of wind was on the allied list. There were even symbols next to all the names, so I could identify them, which is how I knew Kutella was the goddess of wind. It had the picture of a woman holding a tornado in her hand, much like their holy symbols had at lunch. I made sure to memorize those perfectly. I imagined it would be an insult to make a mistake that way.

  I sent the book back to its bookshelf, and then summoned my spell book. I went over all the spells, making sure I’d really memorized all of them. My memory was near eidetic, but it wouldn’t hurt to verify them on occasion. The spells I could now cast were limited to healing, dispel magic, cure poison, cure disease, purify water and food, light, magic weapon, divine dream, miracle, and create food and water. I couldn’t control the pre-cognitive and post-cognitive dreams, that was all in the hands of my goddess.

  I sent the book back, and snuffed the light spell. It had only taken me about ninety minutes to read all that, the book was thin, but we’d rode later into the evening than usual, since we’d gotten such a late start in the day. I sent out another wave of power, looking for minds and emotions. Nothing was within a quarter mile except animals, and I laid down to get some sleep. I was fairly sure I’d wake up if anything bad approached, assuming of course they weren’t shielded.

  I did feel better, now that I knew exactly what I was as a paladin, and what was expected of me.

  But I missed my parents. I both wanted, and my body ached for, Gerard. It took quite a while to fall asleep.

  The trees grew taller, and thicker as the morning ride stretched out. Around lunchtime, the southern half of the trail was thick forest and trees as well. I could hear the birds, the wind through the leaves, and the sounds of animals. It was beautiful. I tried to focus on that, the joy of being on the road from Stormy, and scanning ahead with my mind. I tried to ignore the mental hole the prince was in front of me. Cold, aloof, arrogant, and more than that I suspected, prejudiced against humans.

  I just couldn’t imagine he was like this with his own people. They’d have strangled him to death long ago.

  My biggest hope was the queen, I didn’t believe a paladin or cleric of my goddess could be like her son was. I wasn’t sure which she was, but she had to be one of those if Arella, or Arelleas, was sending her visions of the future and what was needed. I was sure her normal worshippers didn’t get the dreams, just her chosen. It’d been in the manual.

  It was later in the day when something changed. I felt the prince’s spell of protection drop. He gave off waves of relief and joy, and his shoulders weren’t as stiff. The cause was obvious, the forest had changed. It was thicker, taller, and greener. It also welcomed us, or perhaps just him, and I was merely feeling it.

  I felt awe, as my emphatic senses picked up emotions from the trees around me. Crude ones, far cruder than from Stormy, or even a dog or cat. The trees were far from sentient, but they had emotions, and were smart enough to recognize and welcome their prince back home. Like a faithful and loving pet.

  The whole forest, which was a bit intimidating. I didn’t think a witch could do that, effect so large an area. I was curious, and frustrated because I wasn’t nearly stupid enough to ask the prince another question. We hadn’t even grunted at each other in almost twenty-four hours. As far as I knew, we were still over a day’s ride from the center where the elves lived. At a guess, that was between fifty and sixty miles, depending on how rough the trail got.

  It was quite a distraction, and took me time to get used to as we rode through the trees. I realized the prince must have lowered his shield to feel the forest, perhaps it blocked elven magic too? He must have felt safe here too, now that he wasn’t in a human kingdom any longer. I knew elves weren’t empaths, which meant their magic must have a similar function when connected to the forest. Perhaps he could feel or perceive the same emotions, but only through his magic and what his magic was connected too?

  In other words, I felt the forest through my empathy, which was probably far different than how he felt it through his elven magic.

  Damn the man for not answering my questions. Regardless, I wasn’t about to tell him I could read his emotions, he might shield up again. He didn’t seem so cold anymore, but it didn’t reach his face or body language when it came to his regard of me, so I didn’t read into it too much.

  When we stopped a few hours later, he deigned to speak down to me once again in imperious arrogance.

  “We are safe here, the forest itself keeps watch. No human or brigand would be foolish enough to cross the elven border. You will not set any fires here on my land.”

  He didn’t wait for acknowledgment. He just turned his back to me and started to set up his half of the camp. His emotions were clear, and matched his attitude exactly. He resented my presence, and he absolutely loathed humans, or at least, me. Why his mother had sent him on a mission to a human kingdom was totally beyond my understanding.

  I prayed for patience, literally, and decided that wouldn’t stop me from mentally searching the area on occasion. As for the fire, I didn’t really need one anyway. The meat was already precooked, so after setting up my tent, I mixed it up with vegetables and heated it with pyro-kinesis just to warm it up. No fire actually needed, I just vibrated the molecules slowly to a faster state until it was a good hot meal.

  Curious, and still fascinated, I started to send out waves of projective empathy at all the trees surrounding us. Emotions of curiosity, affection, and my honest delight in their existence. I didn’t expect the result I got.

  Every tree around the small meadow shook in excitement, like a dog. Their limbs shook and moved, and the sound of the leaves was almost deafening, as I felt waves of affection and welcome in return. I actually giggled, and shocked myself at how delighted my laugh was. I was quite happy and content for a brief time in that moment. It was an amazing experience, until the prince glared at me and I felt his hate and suspicion slam into my mind.

  “What did you do?” he accused.

  I sighed, no longer angry or amused, as a wave of sadness and pity welled up in me. I was past being angry in return, or being petty, I wouldn’t let his issues affect or hurt me anymore. I wasn’t even mad or annoyed at his accusation, I just pitied him for being so small.

  “I introduced myself to the forest with my own brand of magic, at least the trees like me. That’s all you need to know,” I echoed his own words from yesterday. Then I turned my back, and finished my meal, it was time to read the elven history book, maybe it would shed some light on his attitude…

  Chapter Seven

  When I finished the history, and sent it back to my shelf over two hours later, I had a good understanding of why the prince hated humans. I still didn’t agree with it, bigotry was fuzzy thinking, and accusing a whole race of the actions of a few was stupid. But at least I understood now.

  The elves had been in their forest, the Gwienidd forest, for thousands of years. I was sure I couldn’t actually pronounce that word, but it was the name of their forest and elven kingdom. They were at heart
, a peaceful people, but also a powerful race who wouldn’t hesitate to defend themselves from attack. The forest itself could fight at the call of the elves, though I wish the book had gone into more detail about how that worked, I was still unsure about elven magic.

  What little I did pick up, was that they channeled and infused their magic into nature, such as trees, bushes, plants, and other flora. The magic would strengthen the flora, and even give the flora a crude magical intelligence, and the ability to use the magic to do things. They were still trees though, so it took the elves a long time, and a lot of patience, to coax and encourage certain actions. From simply wanting a better crop yield, or to teaching the trees to strangle an enemy invader with their roots, or to smash them with their large thick branches.

  My current crude understanding likened it to training a stupid dog to do tricks. A lot of patience, a lot of failures, and a lot of time. But once the trees knew how to do it, the elves could direct them to do it again and again with a small bit of magic.

  From what I read, they did not use their magic on animals. Whether from some moral issue or because the magic simply didn’t work that way, the author didn’t know.

  The difference between witch and elven magic was rather obvious to me now, even with a limited grasp on it. Witch magic twisted natural things into something else, or forced nature to do something, and also included animals.

  A witch would cast a spell to control a tree, like that one bandit witch had done to me. An elf fed the tree, made it strong, and gave it love. Then trained and coaxed it to attack their common enemies. The elven way was more symbiotic by far. They also didn’t twist or change nature, they merely made it stronger, and enhanced what was already there.