by Eric Vall
“No,” she replied. “He won’t tell me. I used to guess everything I could think of, sometimes I still do, but Dragir only drinks and shrugs and ignores me.”
I chuckled. “He must really regret it.”
“Yes, he gets rather frustrated about it. Sometimes he storms off and wants to be left alone, and I think it’s this rune that agitates him so much.” Deya pulled her pendant from between her breasts. “With our necklaces, it’s very different. If I’m bothered by the strength of the runes or simply want to be left to myself, I can remove my necklace, and I start to feel better after a little while.”
I furrowed my brow. “Left to yourself?” I asked. “So, they’re like a presence?”
Deya looked like she couldn’t find the right words, and she finally came to a stop and pulled her necklace off. “Only for a moment,” she warned with a smirk, and then she suddenly slipped the silver chain over my head.
The pendant settled against my chest, and I held my breath, but nothing happened.
“I don’t feel anything,” I said uneasily.
“How about now?” she asked, and before I could blink, the beautiful elf snatched my arm and ripped her nails across the tender flesh of my wrist.
My first reflex was to flinch, but then I realized it didn’t hurt. “Holy shit. You don’t feel any pain?”
Deya nodded, and then she lifted my arm a bit. When I glanced down, my skin was peeled open with a few drops of blood just beginning to bead where her nails had scratched me.
“I’m not immortal by any means,” she told me. “This is why I don’t understand the runes. They are impenetrable in many ways, and also not.”
“But if you vanish,” I asked, “can you be found? I mean … could I reach out and find you?”
“Yes,” she said. “Close your eyes.”
I did as I was told, and as I stood in the dim hallway, I began to sense something else. It was like a veil brushed across my arms, and there was a sound I’d never heard before. It reminded me of being underwater, or the way the wind sounds when it blows past, but this had a tone that rose and fell like a dozen faint voices murmuring to one another.
“Can you feel them?” Deya asked softly.
I nodded.
“Let them come closer,” she instructed. “If you feel them around you, you can pull them to you.”
“What do you mean?” I asked.
“Just try.”
I relaxed and breathed steadily as I focused on the murmuring and the peculiar softness that swirled across my flesh. It reminded me a lot of Deya in a way, and I wondered if the runes took after her since she’d worn the pendant for so many years. The sensation was like being lifted into clouds, and although I could feel my feet touching the ground, I had the sense I was lighter than a leaf.
Deya let out a giggle, and I opened my eyes. The beautiful elf looked oddly diluted, like someone had taken the saturation out of everything around me. Her hair was more white than pink, and her violet eyes were an ashy grey.
“Can you see me?” I asked.
Deya shook her head and looked around where I’d been as she smiled. Then she raised her slender arm and slowly reached out.
Her palm settled on my chest, and she looked a little uneasy as she kept it there.
“Do you feel that?” she asked.
I nodded as my heart kicked up a notch, and the warmth of Deya’s palm felt as real as anything else. Then I remembered she couldn’t see me, and I said, “Yes, I can feel it.”
Deya pulled away. “Now you only need to release them,” she told me. Or rather, she told my chest since she couldn’t see where my eyes were.
I took a deep breath and refocused on the murmuring, and the presence felt heavier than it had when I first closed my eyes. It was like the runes pressed in all around me, and even though they were pleasant and soft, I had the sensation of being crowded by them. Like I couldn’t quite push through the many runes that engulfed me.
I furrowed my brow and focused harder, but they only became stronger.
“Mason?” Deya asked. She sounded a little worried, and as I opened my eyes, her palm met with my chest.
Deya gasped as she was thrown back, and her face pinched with pain.
I jumped to help her up from the floor, and she flinched in surprise when I caught her arm.
“Are you okay?” I asked. “I’m sorry, I don’t know what that was.”
“I still can’t see you,” she said as she clutched her hand to herself, “but now I feel very guilty for losing my temper so often with Dragir.”
“Are you okay?” I asked again.
Deya nodded and rubbed her palm. “I’m okay,” she assured me. “Mason, take the necklace off.”
I moved to do as she said, but then I paused. “What if I don’t reappear?” I asked nervously.
Deya smirked. “You will.”
I pulled the chain from around my neck, and the world suddenly seemed very vibrant. Deya’s hair was soft pink once again, and I noticed her face was flushed as she continued to rub at her palm.
I handed the necklace over. “Let me see your hand.”
“It’s fine,” she laughed. “There’s nothing to see, look.”
Her palm was bright red, but there was no other sign she’d been hurt.
I offered her an apologetic smile. “I don’t know anything about runes,” I admitted.
“Are you sure?” she asked as she slipped the necklace back on.
“Of course I’m sure,” I chuckled, “that’s kind of why I’m wandering all over Nalnora.”
Deya looked skeptical. “If you say so,” she said, “but I wore this necklace for nearly ten years before I ever did something like that.”
I couldn’t help but grin. “Really? Well, I am a pretty fast learner.”
The beautiful elf rolled her eyes at my cocky grin and turned back down the hall.
“That was incredible,” I told her as I followed. “I think I could hear the runes. They were sort of … I don’t know. Muttering?”
“Yes,” she said. “You can see why it would be nice to remove them if you wished. I think this is why Dragir regrets his branding.”
I nodded. “I can sort of understand why someone would choose branding, though” I mused. “I mean, if you’re battling someone, and your necklace falls off, you’re in a lot of trouble. With a branding, no one could separate you from the rune magic. They couldn’t do anything about it.”
“They could use their own runic power,” Deya explained. “One rune can be countered just as easily by another. If both opponents know enough runes and can wield them well, things become quite dangerous. This is why the great wars nearly destroyed our race. There was so much destruction and mutilation … it was horrible. It went on for nearly a hundred years.”
“Did the great wars start because of rune magic?” I asked curiously.
“No,” Deya said as she shook her head. “Before the great wars, the Elven Nation was not defined by Houses, only the Elite were. They were the richest in every way, not only in wealth, but in numbers and knowledge as well, and they hoarded everything. The keenest elves began to join the Elite Houses as their legacies grew until they eventually formed the first Elven Council. With this, they sought to rule over the whole nation together. This is what started the great wars.”
We’d slowed our pace, and Deya turned a corner to gesture toward a smooth blue window so dark it looked almost black. “What do you think of this window,” she asked with a smirk, “for your project?”
“That’ll do,” I assured her. “Are there any clear ones around?”
Deya nodded. “Four in the next hall that are about the same size. Shoshanne and I already gathered the cushions, and I have two mirrors but am still looking for a third. I wanted black cushions, but we finally agreed on dark blue.”
I grinned. “You’re amazing,” I told her as we continued down the hall and came to the spiral staircase that led to the upper level of the house. “Did t
he rest of the Nation rise up against the Elite, then?”
“No, they didn’t want anything to do with it. The wars began as only a rebellion amongst the elves of the four Elite Houses,” Deya continued. “The elves who had joined over the years gained much by uniting with the Elite, but the majority didn’t want their heads of Houses to rule over all. They wanted the Elven Nation to continue as it had always been. Out of spite, the four heads of Houses turned their armies against their own, and when those who fled attempted to band together with the rebels of the other Houses, the Elite began to war amongst themselves, too. The Houses in the south formed in order to survive, and the strongest Houses were made of those who’d escaped and also possessed amazing abilities. Their own families joined their cause, and the ten Houses that remain are the ones who could not be destroyed in the end.”
“Damn,” I said with a low whistle. “But … if the wars were against the Elven Council’s power, why is there an Elven Council now?”
“To maintain the peace, apparently,” she explained. “In the beginning of the war, there were some allies in the south amongst the rebels, but as decades went on, too many battles had been fought to rely on this. No one trusted the promise of an end to the war. The new Elven Council was meant to acknowledge the separation of the Houses, and their individual strength. It made them all the greedier, though. With ten Houses, the Elven Nation was essentially conquered if they wished it, even though they were deeply divided. There are those who manage to live apart from the ten Houses and still survive, but they are few, and they cannot live easily with the constant tension between the Houses.”
I smirked. “Yeah, the peace seems to be going really well.”
“It could have,” she insisted. “The Elite only backed down because they believed they would still rule one day, since they still had the scrolls of our ancestors to dangle above the rest. They all knew this. The Elite were waiting and building their armies again. Then it was discovered that the scrolls had been stolen, and every House turned against one another. Anyone who used rune magic was suspected.”
“But clearly, many elves are still using rune magic,” I pointed out.
“Of course,” she scoffed. “We are very proud of what our ancestors learned. The Elite had no right to keep our legacies from us. Those scrolls were made by the elves of our Nation, not by the Elite Houses. Now this Elven Council has overrun everything. They think they may decide every law of our land, and we are expected to believe it is better this way. But the Elven Nation didn’t have a code of law before the great wars. This Elven Council declared their own stations. My ancestors did not appoint them, and certainly every elf in Nalnora did not wish for them to govern. They have no right to decide what is for the good of our race … ” Deya’s face was flushed, and she trailed off as her tone became more furious.
I furrowed my brow. “Your father is part of the Elven Council, though,” I said. “Why would he--”
“What else would the Houses do in such a case?” Deya challenged. “Each head of House could be a member of this new Elven Council if they wished to have a say in anything at all, or they could not. Of course, no House would allow another to have a right they did not. You can imagine how often things get accomplished in this way, when half of the Council despises the very nature of it. They spit on each other, and the Elite sit by. While they argue and prevent any majority rule, they ensure the Elven Council amounts to nothing in the end.”
We turned a corner, and Deya stopped outside of her door. She fidgeted with the folds of her dress a little too roughly, and when she looked at me, her pink eyebrows were crinkled with irritation.
“This majority rule …” I asked. “Is that how they passed the law about your mother’s bloodline?”
“Yes,” she said in a tight voice, “this they managed to accomplish. The Gorak Knights ravaged our lands, and our bloodlines had already diminished badly over the centuries following the great wars. The only vote against it was my grandmother’s father.”
I shook my head and could only imagine how Deya’s great grandfather must have felt that day. “So, your mother and you, and all of your children are destined to … ”
“Yes.”
“That’s fucking bullshit,” I told her bluntly. “They can’t claim your entire bloodline. Who the hell are they to just decide your life isn’t your own? You’re not their property, I don’t give a shit about any majority rule.”
Deya smiled lightly. “You sound like Dragir when you say that.”
“Good,” I said. “I’m glad I’m not the only one in Nalnora with a shred of fucking sense and decency.”
The beautiful elf sighed, and her expression suddenly became hopeless. “I don’t think I have a choice,” she admitted. “I don’t want to do as I’m told, but I don’t want to disappear either. I have never seen my mother again, and I’m afraid if I try to escape … what if she was captured and killed? Or worse--what if she was captured and kept? Anything could have become of her, and I don’t want any of it.”
“What do you want?” I asked earnestly. “Name it, and I’ll help you get it. I can bring you north to the mountains without anyone knowing, or I’ll build you a house somewhere no one would ever look. I’ll hire guards to stand watch every minute. Anything.”
“I want you,” Deya said without pause.
I stared.
“I don’t want to run away, I want to be happy,” she said quietly. “I want to be with you.”
My heart pounded in my ears as Deya’s cheeks blushed a deep pink, and I fought the urge to kiss her right then.
“That won’t stop the Elven Council,” I pointed out. “They’ll still try to claim you.”
“Would you let them?” she asked.
I didn’t hesitate. “Hell no,” I told her, and I pulled her to me by the folds of her dress.
Deya’s lips were like silk as they met with mine, and she kissed me shyly in a way that made me wonder if she’d ever been with a man before. She clutched my shirt to pull me closer as she kissed me more hungrily, and the book of runes dropped from my hand. A silvery laugh came from Deya’s lips, and she quickly picked the book up as she opened the door. Then she pulled me into her room with her.
A small fire flickered in the fireplace, and Ruela lifted her head from where she lay curled beside it. The wolfish beast took one look at me and laid her head back down on her paws to sleep. Behind her, several deep blue velvet cushions were stacked haphazardly, and I smirked.
Deya’s violet eyes glinted in the dim amber glow when I looked back. There was an ornate iron bedpost just behind her, with small leaves dotting the twisted metalwork all the way to the top. The blankets were a deep black velvet, and it took every ounce of my willpower not to lift her up and fall into the bed with the beautiful elf.
I glanced uneasily around the large room instead. “If they hear us …” I started, but Deya smirked and pulled the silver necklace off to gently placed it on a small table beside the bed.
“Do you see the rune in the corner?” she asked.
I looked to the wall and dragged my eyes all over until I finally found a small engraving in the upper corner of the room.
“What does it do?” I asked.
“The elves can appreciate privacy as well as anyone,” she informed me. “No one can hear us.” Deya sauntered over and slid her palms along my chest as she opened my shirt. “If it makes you feel better, though, I’ll try to be quiet.”
I furrowed my brow slightly. “Have you done this before?”
“I’m not a very young elf,” Deya replied with a smirk. “I have been with a man, yes.”
I caught the woman’s hands before she could undo my belt. “I thought you were … spoken for.”
Deya shrugged, and a mischievous smile came to her face. “I was wild for a guard from House Elyn once, when I was in my twenty-seventh year,” she admitted. “He was a little selfish, I suppose, but I was young and tired of being told to stay inside all day.”
“They killed him,” she said and moved in to kiss me, but I stepped back a few paces.
“What?” I demanded.
Deya sighed. “I don’t know who gave the order,” she told me. “Most likely my father or Dragir. But one day, I found him gutted in the jungle near my home. It was an awful sight. I could hardly sleep for months after that.”
“Fucking hell,” I breathed, and my fingers gripped the roots of my hair.
“They have tried to kill you a few times as well, if I recall correctly,” Deya said with a giggle.
“That’s true.” I raised my brows.
“Come here,” she sighed, and the beautiful elf looped her slender finger around my belt to gently pull me toward the bed.
I couldn’t help but let her, but my heart slammed in my chest as I remembered Aeris’ warning about the armies of Nalnora.
Deya sat on the edge of the black velvet bed, and I stumbled as I dropped down next to her.
“That’s better,” she purred, and then she looped her leg over me and settled herself on my lap.
I groaned as the heat between her thighs burned against my groin, and my hands instinctively clutched her hips.
The slight tremble in Deya’s body gave away how nervous she was, but her violet eyes looked over me hungrily as she slid my shirt from my shoulders.
I began to move her hips against me as desire pulsed through me, and when Deya gently grazed her tongue along my bottom lip, I decided I probably couldn’t die for a better reason.
I’d only meant to flip her onto the bed so she was beneath me, but the force of my grip on the gauzy dress tore it open like nothing, and Deya let out a gasp as she tumbled onto the bed. I ripped the scraps of the delicate dress off with one firm pull and kicked the rest of my clothes to the floor. Then I shifted my knee to part her legs.
Deya giggled and slid her silky thighs around my waist, and when the tip of my cock found the moist flesh between her thighs, I teased her with the tip.
The beautiful elf shook lightly in her arousal. “More,” she sighed. “Please?”
I pushed a little deeper, and even though the tightness of her made my blood burn, I didn’t give her all of me just yet. I dragged my teeth along her slender neck, and Deya shivered as she wove her fingers in my hair and leaned into my bite. So, I slowly locked my teeth on the tender flesh at her throat, and the woman let out a feral moan that made my spine tingle as she began to roll her hips more desperately. Then she started to quiver, and I pulled back to hitch her ankles around my neck.
