Knight Fire

by Brad Clark

  A slight smile came to the king’s face. “It means that as long as the Deceiver only has half of it, he will not attain his full power.”

  Jiahasha replied with smugness in his voice, “If he is not at his full power, then we have nothing to fear. The Humans with their wizards should easily be able to fight against the Deceiver in his reduced capacity.”

  The king scratched his beard, pondering Jiahasha’s words.

  Conner opened his mouth to argue, but Glaerion put a hand on his shoulder and gave him a slight pull backward.

  “What?” Conner snapped just above a whisper.

  “It is time to let the Elven Council debate the issue,” Glaerion replied. “You have said what you need to say. Now, we must let the leaders of the Elven people discuss this.”

  “But they must help us!”

  Glaerion stepped between Conner and the council members, who continued to stand around the small table. “There are no more words that you can say that will convince them one way or another. These are the wisest Elves of our kind, and they will do what is right for our people and hopefully for the world. It is the way of the Elvenkind to let the council do their job.”

  “But if they choose not to?”

  Glaerion put an arm on Conner’s shoulder and directed him towards the exit. “We must trust that they are as wise as we hope they are. It is time for their discussion, and we must let them be.”

  Reluctantly, Conner let Glaerion walk him to a dark corner of the chamber where they could sit and listen and not interrupt the discussion.

  ***

  Conner and Glaerion walked silently through the dark forest. The moon was up high in the sky giving them some ambient light to see the path that led back to the village. Glaerion walked confidently, as his sharp eyes could easily pick out the path. A step behind, Conner walked tentatively hoping that the Elf’s eyes were better than his.

  Conner was not sure what to make of the Elven Council. They had spent many hours listening to the seven Elves debate the merits of helping the Humans. The King Illichian said little, mostly letting the other council members have their say. He seemed to advocate helping Conner and his kind, but he never came out to specifically say that that the Elves should help. Jiahasha was definitively against helping. In fact, he advocated moving the village farther into the jungles to ensure that no war could come to them.

  Conner still could not understand why there was any discussion. He was tired of hearing how the Humans were barbaric beings that didn’t deserve help from the Elves. The Great War between Human and Elves was brought up so many times, he lost count. In an angry outburst, he interrupted their discussion asking why a war five-thousand years ago meant so much to them. He knew as soon as he had said the words he was out of line, but his impatience had gotten the better of them.

  That was when he was asked to leave. The king was pleasant enough, but his disappointment at Conner breaking protocol was obvious. Glaerion was asked to escort Conner back to the village with the implied understanding that he was to watch over Conner.

  “We might as well leave in the morning,” Conner said. “They are not going to help us.”

  Glaerion said nothing for a few steps. When he spoke, it was in a soft, almost defeated tone. “We will wait for the decision of the council. They cannot be rushed, or they will refuse to make any decision.”

  Conner stopped and replied back with a raised voice. “Do they not realize that with each passing day, the army of the Deceiver marches on, killing our people and leveling our cities? Look how quickly he destroyed South Karmon. Even if they decide to help, my entire kingdom could be completely wiped out by the time we return.”

  “You will never understand our people.”

  “I know. You have made that abundantly clear.”

  “How old are you?”

  Conner was taken aback at the question, and it took him a moment to process it in his mind before replying. “What? This past summer was my eighteenth summer.”

  “You’re sure?”

  “Pretty sure.”

  “How many days is that?”

  Conner laughed. “Days? I have no idea. How many days in a year?”

  “Right. That’s how Elves think of years. We don’t keep track of years of our lives because there are so many of them. We think in terms of events, such as when a great storm hit our village, or when we first set foot on this land.” He paused for a moment. “Or when we fought for our survival against a group of evil men. We have seen the slow turn of time and know that no matter what happens, life continues on. To rush into a decision is not necessary because we have many years to make that decision before it affects us.”

  “But the Deceiver is attacking now! We don’t have years to make a decision!”

  Glaerion nodded his head sharply. “Yes, I know that. But the leaders of our people do not know that, or they don’t understand that. They have been living in isolation for so long and have been away from the rest of the world for so long, they do not understand what role they play in the world.”

  “Then why didn’t you tell them!” Conner shouted back. Glaerion flinched back, feeling the wrath of Conner’s words.

  For a moment, Conner thought Glaerion would lash out, but instead, Glaerion replied with an even, calm voice. “You do not understand them. They are the leaders of our entire race and will not listen to the pleadings of someone like me. We are all the same, but we are not. In their eyes, I am just a commoner. A soldier who has no use in a peaceful community. My words cannot convince them. If I were to ask them to go against thousands of years of how they think or how they act, they would completely shut me out, and nothing I would say would mean anything. At least now they will consider our request for help. If I were to tell them they are wrong and must change their ways after thousands of years, I would be outcast and exiled. No, we must let them come to the correct decision on their own.”

  “And if they don’t?”

  “You have already made it clear what we must do. We will fight the Deceiver alone if we must.”

  Chapter Seven

  Elissa let her body slide underneath the hot water. It had been so long since she had taken a hot bath, she forgot how comforting and soothing it was. With a smile on her face, she closed her eyes and let her head fall under the water. The hot water not only caressed every muscle and joint of her body, but it also eased her mind as well. All cares and worries disappeared with the steam that rose out of the water. After holding her breath for as long as she could, she slid her head above the water and looked into the bright, smiling face of Hallendrielle.

  “Is it not as wonderful as I said it would be?” Hallendrielle said.

  Elissa giggled. “Yes, it is!”

  They were in a small square hut at the edge of the forest near a small, steadily flowing stream. The tub sat against a wall and was filled bucket by bucket with water from that stream. There was no fire underneath the tub to keep the water warm, nor was there a cauldron being heated nearby to provide hot water. Elissa had not questioned how the water had been heated, but her curiosity was piqued.

  With a raised eyebrow, she moved the water around and asked, “How?”

  Hallendrielle’s smile became wider. “You can never tell the males, for they will not approve!”

  “Oh?”

  Hallendrielle stepped over to the bath water and touched it. Her lips moved as she mumbled and almost instantly the water became just a little bit hotter.

  “Oh!” Elissa exclaimed, both from the surprise that she used magic to heat the water and the pleasant stinging of the hot water.

  “The males do not like it when we use magic in such an unproductive manner.”

  “Unproductive? Have they ever taken a hot bath?”

  Hallendrielle shook her head and laughed. “Not often. Another thing they do not approve of. Elf males can be odd and difficult at times.”

  “That is for sure,” Elissa replied aloud. Then she realized what she had said and quick
ly tried to apologize, but Hallendrielle’s laughter grew.

  “Yes, you have noticed?”

  Elissa nodded her head, glad that Hallendrielle had not gotten angry at her words. There was something about the female Elf that was so different than what she expected. She was neither harsh nor angry like her husband had been. She had expected all the elves to act like Glaerion, and many of them did. But Hallendrielle had been warm and kind to her from the moment they met.

  “Glaerion took some getting used to,” Elissa said. “He has been a good friend, though, especially to Conner.”

  “He means well. Always has.” Her voice trailed off, and she turned her head presumably in the direction where Conner and Glaerion were meeting with the Elven Council. “What happened to him?”

  “What do you mean?”

  “He is not the same as when he had left. The anger is gone. No, it wasn’t just anger that consumed him, it was rage. What happened?”

  Elissa sat up, oddly comfortable around the female Elf. Although modesty around the young maidens who served her when she was still a princess was always not possible, it had always made her just a little bit uncomfortable to expose herself to them while they dressed her. In time, she got used to the young chambermaids seeing her without clothes, but she had always shied away from the older ladies. The only thing she could compare her feelings to would be if she were with a sister. A warm, comfortable feeling came over her as she thought of Hallendrielle in that manner.

  “He was intolerable at first,” Elissa said. They both shared a chuckle. “But soon, I think he realized that we were not the people that he was angry at. Whoever it was that made him have so much anger, so much rage, they are dead, and we were not them. I’m not sure what we really did. We just acted…like ourselves.”

  “Maybe that’s what he saw. He finally saw Humans for what they really are. They aren’t evil spellcasters who are trying to take over the world. They are, in many ways, just like us.”

  “Were you there? In the wars that Glaerion talks about?”

  She looked down at the floor. “Female Elves were not always warriors. Some were, but not many. There was no reason for it. There were enough males to fill the ranks of guards and soldiers. But when the wars with the Humans started, many of the females took up arms. As the wars raged, even those of us who did not want to fight were forced to take up arms.”

  “I’m sorry.”

  Hellendrielle looked up and smiled. “Don’t be. It was a long time ago. We are farmers, hunters, and fishermen now. We live a peaceful existence.”

  “Not anymore,” Elissa said with a somewhat sharp tone.

  “No, not anymore. What about you? Have you fought?”

  Elissa snorted, feeling angry at Conner all over again. “No, but I am learning how to fight with a sword. Conner does not like it. I think he sees me as too weak, but I can hold swords just as well as any man!”

  “Yes, you can! Do not let any of them tell you what you can or can’t do. The males did not like it when the females took up arms and marched to the battlefields. But we fought as hard as they did and many battles would have been lost without us joining in the fighting.”

  “I will be a great warrior. Conner says he does not want me to fight because he knows how bad it is and that it will change me. I’ve seen death, and I am not afraid of it.”

  “In this, my dear, your Conner is right. War is not a place for anyone, much less a lady. Especially a queen! We did it because we had no other options, and you do it because you must as well. But listen to him when he says it will change you because it will.”

  “I must do my part.”

  “He’s only trying to protect you, and in that, he is wise. But he is young and will soon understand how important it will be for everyone to know how to fight and defend themselves.” Her tone softened, and a smirk fell upon her face. “So, this Conner. Are you two together?”

  “Yes,” Elissa replied, but then she quickly corrected herself. “No! We are friends.”

  A hearty laugh came from Hallendrielle. “Friends do not look at one another the way you two do!”

  Elissa smiled. “I know. I love him, and he loves me. But I don’t know…”

  “What don’t you know? That you love him, or don’t love him?”

  “I love him.”

  “Then what is it?”

  “I am Queen of our kingdom.”

  “And?”

  “And he is not of noble blood.”

  “And what does that mean?”

  “Do you not have different classes? Nobles of high birth and commoners of low birth?”

  “The Elven Council, who are chosen from among the Elves, are what you may call noble. But they are not born that way. That are chosen for their position based on their wisdom and intelligence. Certainly not because of how they were born. What you speak of does not make sense. Is your blood any different than Conner’s?”

  “Well, yes, because I am born of the Thorndale’s. My father was king, and his father, and all the way back to the beginning of our kingdom.”

  “And that makes you better than Conner? Because your blood is somehow different?”

  Elissa dropped her eyes to look at the steam as it rose from the water. “I think I can see how this sounds a bit odd to you.”

  “No, I play with you some. I know of the aristocracy of Humans. It has been that way for thousands of years. Humans like to divide themselves into classes to make some feel better or be more important than those below them.”

  “I do not think myself above others like Conner, but there are many that live in the villages that are not meant only to toil the soil and serve the kingdom that way.”

  “Oh?”

  Elissa’s eyebrows furled as she thought about what Hallendrielle was saying. “Well, our culture could not survive without the different classes. We must have those that rule and those that work. The workers must be told what to do.”

  “The difference with Elven culture is that how we are born does not determine the jobs we do. And we do not need to be told what to do. We learn what we need and then we do it. We must have fishermen and gardeners to feed us, and if we need more fish caught, someone goes with the fishermen and learns how to fish. We all work together this way. In the spring, when it is time to plant, the whole village works the land. Even those on the Elven Council go into the fields.”

  Elissa let out a long sigh and mentally nodded her head. What Hallendrielle said was hard to understand, but made so much sense. The people of her kingdom were really not meant to be beneath her, for if they were, then Conner would be just a simple peasant whose sole purpose in life would be to serve her. He wasn’t born into the right family. He just happened to be in the right place at the right time. Then, she used her own power and authority to try and change that without even knowing what she was really doing. If it had been anyone else, she would not have done it. But it was Conner, and she thought he should have been able to be a Karmon Knight.

  With a fragile voice, Elissa said, “Conner is one of the best warriors that I have ever seen, but he was never allowed to become a Karmon Knight because he was not born noble. He could easily beat the greatest of our warriors, and yet he could never be given the title of Knight because of who his parents were. Or weren’t.” Her heart sank as the weight of her decisions bore down on her. Tears started at the corner of her eyes. “I knew it was not right, and when I became Queen, I disbanded the Karmon Knights because Conner could not be one of them. The greatest soldiers of our kingdom had their honor taken from them. And when an army came to our city, we were not prepared.” Tears flowed down her cheek. “Because we were not ready. It is my fault that our city fell. If I had left the Knights together, they would have been able to defend our city. I did it only because I knew Conner deserved better. It wasn’t because I was trying to change our kingdom for everyone. Just for Conner.”

  No more words came out. Hallendrielle swooped down and took Elissa into a hug, not caring th
at she was getting soaked from the bath water splashing on her.

  “You cannot blame yourself,” Hallendrielle said. She let Elissa cry on her shoulder for some time. Eventually, she pulled herself away and looked Elissa in the eyes. “Tell me, what happened when this army came. Did your men not fight?”

  Elissa nodded.

  “The same men who were once called Karmon Knights? They fought?”

  Again, Elissa nodded.

  “Even though they no longer had a title, they fought. And would they have fought any differently if they had a different name?”

  A snort and a laugh burst from her lips. “No,” she croaked out. “They would have fought just as valiantly. They all would have still died, and the city would still have fallen.”

  Hallendrielle again took Elissa’s head onto her shoulder while Elissa cried. “Trust me, I know the aftermath of war. I know of death and destruction. When the fighting starts, bloodlines no longer matter. Elves learned that many, many thousands of years ago. We all bleed and die the same. And when it comes time to heal, when we all can work together as one, we can rebuild our lives. And our cities.”

  “So many of my people have died,” Elissa cried out.

  “And many more will die before this war is over,” Hallendrielle whispered. A tear filled her eyes. She gently pushed herself away from Elissa so that she could look her in the eyes. “When my Glaerion came home from the war with the Humans, it was the last time I had ever seen him cry. It was the last time I had seen many of our males cry. That sadness turned to bitter anger. I finally realized what that sadness was, and it is the same sadness I see in your eyes. It was a sadness of death. So many of us died in that war, and he felt each one and has carried that for five thousand years. I think now it has taken another war to bring my Glaerion back to me. I don’t want to see him go again, but I know he must. This war of yours, it is not just your war, is it?”

  Elissa shook her head. “It is the Deceiver. He has taken this artifact called the Ark of Life and can bring strange creatures to fight for him. They destroyed our city so easily. Eventually, they will come here because he desires to conquer the whole world. What if your Elven Council decides not to help us?”