Doppelganger was amazed to discover it was still thrilling to talk to Dymphna and believed that her give and take in the conversation was evidence of her own fascination. When he saw a flower by the side of the road, he spontaneously picked it and handed it to her. She thanked him and promptly ate it. Doppelganger smiled and nodded as if he had intended for her to eat the flower all along.
Their final night in the woods, an omega wolf, nearly starved, attempted to snatch Dymphna while the others collected firewood. She was able to leap into a tree until Doppelganger ran back and slew the beast. Dymphna returned to earth and thanked Doppelganger. “Poor beast,” she lamented. Doppelganger asked Dangalf to cast a cold spell on the wolf so as to preserve it for another day.
“I will carry it to Templa Taur,” Doppelganger told Dymphna. “I know the elves detest wasteful killing.”
Dymphna looked at Doppelganger wide eyed. “You are enigma to me,” she said. “You act more elven than human. Let alone a human warrior, the class burdened with the heaviest souls.” Dangalf smiled hopefully. It was as if Dymphna was helping Doppelganger reconnect to the sweet man he was in the other world.
LIV
They began their journey early next morning with Dymphna promising them that they would reach Templa Taur with enough daylight to see the full majesty of the Town in the Trees.
Doppelganger alone was not celebratory. He couldn’t help worry that arriving at the elven village would mean his parting from Dymphna. How could it be any other way? He wanted to tell her that he loved her, but he couldn’t. She clearly appreciated his company on this journey, but what interest would she have in him when she was safe and among her own people? He hoisted the cold wolf over his shoulder. Dymphna, as if she sensed his regret, took him by the hand, and they touched for the first time since he accidentally put his hand to her cheek. “It is truly a magical town,” she said to him, and he was replenished by her smile. What a crime he had committed against himself to spend so much of his life not in love.
Doppelganger and Dymphna walked on and spoke of everything without ever an uncomfortable pause. There were pauses to be sure, but they were the comfortable kind. Dymphna held Doppelganger’s hand without shame.
They crossed a small bridge and entered Albinia. No sign announced the border of the elven lands. None was needed. Where dwarven forest had not differed greatly from human forest, the elven forest was teeming with flora and fauna. The colors were myriad, and the variety of life was astounding: flowers of every shape and size, toadstools the size of shrubbery, and trees towering over them all. The only break in the woods was the road, and even that was as green as grass. Great butterflies and lumbering bees decorated the very air. Dangalf could feel the land was teeming with the protoplasm that powered druidic magic. The usually guarded Ashlyn was giddy and peeled off her boots. She and Dymphna ran into an open field of grass and flowers and rolled around like cats.
“It has been too long.” Dymphna sighed contentedly in the grass.
“Longer than you can imagine,” added Ashlyn.
The men were slightly embarrassed and a bit jealous as they watched the two immortals frolic like children. And they were mighty curious when the two she-elves looked back to them while whispering and then proceeded to blow dandelion spores into each other’s faces. After a few minutes, the she-elves rejoined them, and they continued on to Templa Taur with a bounce in their step. And that bounce was not just because of the springy quality of the mossy road.
Nerdraaage, still on stealth point, alerted them to the approach of two mounted elves. But Dymphna could already see that they were a Templa Taur patrol. Nerdraaage pulled on a horse’s tail to spook the rider and got a good swift kick in the belly for it. It was all he could do to remain unappeared with the wind knocked out of him.
Before the patrol could locate the source of the invisible wheezing, they recognized the princess’s approach and rode to her. The two riders dismounted and bowed. The guards were anxious to speak to her but waited until she spoke first.
“Would one of you guards take the wolf from this brave human?” she said.
“Yes, Your Highness,” said the first guard.
“He has made a long journey,” she continued. “Make sure he receives a proper ceremony and that his pelt goes to the tanner. I want him to make a suitable garment for our ragamuffin sister,” she continued. Ashlyn cast an embarrassed glance down at her wardrobe. The guard laid the carcass across his steed.
“Your Highness, would you take my mount?” asked the other guard.
“You would deny me my boast that I walked from Hammersmith to Templa Taur when I am this close?” said Dymphna. “I will walk with my friends.” One of the guards sent a quick message by bird, and then they both fell behind the others, walking beside their mounts, as the journey to Templa Taur continued.
Dymphna took Doppelganger’s hand again. She did so without gentleness, as if she was entitled to grasp his hand as she pleased, with the presumption of a girlfriend or wife. Doppelganger did not mind. “We are so close now that I want to tell you something,” she said smiling. “Something I have known for some time.”
“Go on.”
“Do you remember the moment we first saw each other?” she asked.
“Yes,” said Doppelganger.
“When was it?” she asked as if she didn’t believe him.
“At the front gate of Hammersmith. You were beautiful but so sad. I didn’t know what to do.”
“I remember too,” she said. “I was heartbroken. Another had given his life to preserve me, and I don’t know that I deserved it. And I looked over to you because you towered over the dwarves.”
“So did you.”
“But you much more so. And in that darkest hour I saw you. And more, I saw your brilliant aura, and I had a vision. And what I saw was that while I was with you, no harm would come to me.”
“You knew that before we even left? You might have told us sooner.”
“I pursued my studies long enough to know the first rule of prophecy,” she answered. “If you want a vision to come true, tell no one. We made it safely because you all took the steps necessary to make it so.”
“And your other vision?” asked Doppelganger. “When I touched your cheek?”
“Second rule,” she said. “Refrain from sharing visions until you understand yourself what is seen. But I will say this: I see a time when we are parted. And during that time, look for me close to your heart.”
“What does that mean?”
“That is all I can say for now.” His mind was not sharp, not like he knew it used to be, but he repeated her words, hoping to remember them: I see a time when we are parted. And during that time look for me close to your heart.
And they reached a clearing. “Templa Taur,” announced Dymphna to the group. She watched the faces of her new friends instead of looking at the town itself. Their amazement did not disappoint her.
The town of Templa Taur existed entirely in the giant trees before them. All the buildings, homes, merchants, and the inn were built as magnificent tree houses. Large branches served as walkways between buildings. Many were wide and sturdy enough to support horses and carts. Where branches were lacking, rope bridges and ladders made the connections between buildings and neighboring trees.
At the top of the trees great canopies collected water. They saw elves entering the town in large baskets pulled up from the ground.
“It’s like the buildings grow from the trees themselves,” said Ashlyn.
“Amazing,” said Dangalf. “Is this an engineering feat or elven magic?”
“A little of both,” said Dymphna. “The tree is consulted during each phase of construction so as not to burden it.”
“The tree is consulted!” repeated Nerdraaage injecting the first tone of cynicism in the moment.
“Come, Nerdraaage,” said Dymphna smiling. “Let me repay dwarven hospitality with elven.”
The eyes of the elven guards observe
d the royal approach, and the reeve and other civilians and guards were lowered to the ground just as Dymphna and her escorts reached the basket. The reeve and the other greeters bowed.
“Thank you for greeting us, Master Reeve,” said Dymphna. “If you would be so kind, we have had a long journey and wish to forgo any ceremony.”
“Your Highness,” said the reeve.
“Is the scrivener here?”
“Yes, Your Highness,” said the reeve as the scrivener stepped forward and bowed.
“The elves have new allies who have paid a great service to the royal body,” she said. “Doppelganger and Dangalf of Hempshire and Nerdraaage of Clan Stonefist are honored friends.” The scrivener wrote furiously. “And our sister Ashlyn is also to be honored for her service. She is here for training, and I want that to be charged to me. All of their expenses while here shall be charged to my house.”
“Yes, ma’am,” said the reeve.
“Free room service,” whispered Nerdraaage to Dangalf, who waved him quiet.
They entered the basket and were lifted up into Templa Taur. It was smooth like an elevator but slower. The town bustled similar to Hempshire and Hammersmith, only this one was about thirty-six feet in the air.
“Guard,” said Dymphna. “Please take Ashlyn to Ciar.”
“Yes, ma’am,” said the guard.
“She is our druid trainer,” Dymphna explained to Ashlyn. The guard bowed to Ashlyn before leading her off. Ashlyn followed and spun around quickly to smile anxiously at her friends.
“Are the royal quarters vacant?” asked Dymphna.
“Yes, ma’am,” said the reeve. “They are being readied for you now. And a dispatch has been sent to the royal family advising them of your safe arrival.”
“Very good,” she answered. “Would you see to the quartering of our guests? I will find my own way to the royal house.”
“Yes, ma’am,” answered the reeve as he bowed. He then pointed the way for the Keepers with a flourish of his hand.
Well this is it, thought Doppelganger. It was fun while it lasted, but the princess was back in her own element and had already palmed them off on the reeve. He smiled politely at her as he fell in line behind Dangalf.
Dymphna stopped his progress by holding onto the back of his shirt. He stopped and turned to her, but Dymphna did not smile or even look at him. Dangalf and Nerdraaage turned from following the reeve.
“I’ll catch up with you later,” said Doppelganger.
“Oh,” said Dangalf walking backward. “I see how it is.”
“Should we wait up for you?” asked Nerdraaage mouth agape and tongue hanging out. Doppelganger dismissed them with a wave of the back of his hand.
“May I steal you from your friends for a time?” Dymphna asked.
“As long as you like,” said Doppelganger.
She watched until the reeve was out of sight and then smiled again at Doppelganger. She took his hand and led him quickly away. “He has notified my family!” she said back to him. “We haven’t much time.” Doppelganger’s heart raced with excitement. What did they not have much time for? She led him to a private branch that led to another tree and the most private and ornate residence in town. The guard stations along the way were as yet unmanned. She pulled him inside with her where they found a young she-elf who stopped her cleaning and curtsied nervously.
“Is there only you here?” asked Dymphna.
“Yes, Your Highness,” said the she-elf.
“Thank you. Your services are not required further today.”
“Yes, ma’am,” said the she-elf and she curtsied and exited.
Pulled along in Dymphna’s rush, Doppelganger only got a glimpse of the house as she took him upstairs. It was well appointed but almost cartoonish in how high and narrow it was.
Dymphna took them up two flights of stairs to one of the bedrooms. She released his hand as she entered and sat alone on the bed breathlessly. This is it, thought Doppelganger. It’s yours to lose now.
He removed his weapons, his shield, and his mail and set them on the floor in the corner. He sat next to her on the bed. She sat stiffly, giving no hint of her disposition but for the increasing redness of her cheeks. “You blush like a human,” he said. She touched the warmth on her own face and realized her visage had signaled her increasing warmth in more intimate places. “I’m sorry if I embarrassed you. But it only makes you more beautiful.”
“You have caused me to cast away a lifetime of training and protocol,” she said. “But you have struck a chord in my heart that I have had since I was in school and first saw an aspect of a human. I think you are one of those humans with great ambition.”
“Right now I only have one.”
Lowering her gaze she continued, “I remember wondering what it would be like to kiss one of these strange, hairy creatures. But when I was finally able to meet humans, I always found them to be brutish or fawning, and I forgot that fascination. Until now.” She looked back to him with the last two words. They were spoken soft and inviting, and she let her lips remain slightly curved around the last word. Doppelganger placed his large hands around her small hips and leaned in. He watched her close her eyes before he closed his own and placed his mouth on her parted lips. They kissed, and he was relieved when his passion was reciprocated. She moved her hands up to his shoulders. They released the kiss but remained close.
“I would wrap you in my arms if I could but you are too broad,” she said breathlessly. They continued to kiss before she suddenly pulled back. “Forgive me,” she said. “It was a long journey.” He released her as she went into the bathroom, and he could hear the sound of running water.
“You’re going to take a bath?” he called after her.
“I would feel much better. Would you join me? The sun is still out, and the water will be hot.” He walked into the bathroom and saw that it was a large tub that would accommodate even his frame. She came to him and removed his shirt.
LV
The reeve led Dangalf and Nerdraaage to an inn called the King Bee with signage of a bumblebee wearing a crown at a jaunty angle. He left them in the hands of the innkeeper, who led them to a room with four large beds that would comfortably accommodate everyone but Doppelganger. The room also had a small balcony with a view of pristine forest unto the horizon.
On the recommendation of the innkeeper, both Dangalf and Nerdraaage bathed while the water was still hot. Water was not heated by fire. There were no fires in Templa Taur save for those in a few kitchens that were encased entirely in stone and with other precautions.
After washing they put on clean clothes for the first time since they left Hammersmith. It was a sign of their increasing prosperity that they now had clothes to wear while they washed clothes. Their clothes were collected by the innkeeper’s daughter, Ainnir, the she-elf who had just been dismissed by Dymphna in the royal house.
The King Bee had a main room with tables inside and outside on an expansive balcony. Nerdraaage took a seat near the edge of the balcony, and though it was railed by thick vines, they both felt chills as they looked to the ground far below. Dangalf imagined that a balcony on a magically engineered tree was as safe as a skyscraper built by the lowest bidder in their old universe.
Ainnir stood by the table and smiled slightly. She offered them a menu that was indecipherable to them. “What do you recommend?” asked Dangalf.
“Our mead is quite good,” she said. “We have spiced mead, fruited mead—”
“Don’t you have any beer?” asked Nerdraaage.
“We have dwarven beer,” she answered.
“Just bring us two of the house mead,” said Dangalf and, before Nerdraaage could protest, added, “It’s on me. Let’s give the drink of the elves a try.” They lit their pipes and enjoyed the sunset.
LVI
After stopping at the tanner, who promised to stay open until he finished her garment, Ashlyn was taken to the druid trainer. She’d crossed several branches and rope brid
ges when she saw an arched white door built into a large tree trunk. Just before the door, she passed under a large branch, and something told her to look up, and she beheld a beautiful and terrible red-and-gold tyger. The tyger took in Ashlyn’s scent in three large sniffs and, apparently not smelling anything of interest, put his head back down. The guard ignored the cat and opened the white door for her. She entered and he closed the door. She was now alone in the room with a small table, a low lamp, and two chairs. No, not alone. There was a tyger almost indiscernible on a ledge above her.
“Please sit,” said an unseen she-elf. “May I touch upon your mind?”
“Yes.”
“Close your eyes.”
When she closed her eyes, she saw a she-elf well in the distance lit by an unknown source. Ashlyn was apprehensive to meet the druid trainer after Nerdraaage’s initial rebuff by Icil. “If you see anything too terrible or just wish to be released from this joining, open your eyes,” said the figure. “But try to keep them closed otherwise. Come here, child.” Words echoed as if she were in a giant chamber. But she was sure from what she saw outside that no such place could fit into the tree.
Cronica Acadia Page 20
