by T Nisbet
Chp. 47
A gentle hand gripped my shoulder softly, and I looked up to find Guldan’s impossibly handsome face looking down at me. I saw the sorrow in his eyes.
“We must be away Immortal,” he said softly.
I nodded.
“Let’s finish this,” I said.
“Come on Carla,” said Toby gently. “Lets go home.”
Carla managed an almost imperceptible nod.
“I have a gift for you Carla,” I said, standing up. Reaching into my tunic top I pulled out the chain Queen Illithril had given me.
Toby helped Carla stand up. She looked at me with haunted eyes. I put the golden chain around her neck.
“The Queen of the Fairies gave me this for you,” I said trying to hold back more tears. I needed to be strong for her.
“Really?” she whispered, reaching a hand up to touch the thin links.
“She told me it was a gift worthy of a kingdom.”
“Thank you, Jake.”
I stepped forward and bent down to give her a hug.
“It’s magic,” I whispered in her ear so no one else could hear. “I think it might makes it so that you can change into any animal you have touched.”
She pulled back from me.
“Really?” she said, and for a moment the old spark came back into her eyes.
“I think so. Just remember I’m allergic to cats,” I said, smiling down at her.
She reached inside her tunic and pulled out the Zil’kris. The dark dagger seemed to absorb the light as she held it out to me.
“I was going to use it on him, when the light caught me. Take it, Jake,” she said hollowly.
“No Carla, it’s yours.”
“Hail Immortal.” A melodic female voice said from behind me. “We allow you to bring two death drinkers through our woods and you return with three?”
I turned and saw a beautiful, exotic elven woman standing just outside the woods. Guldan turned a second later, and her smile faltered. She bowed and kept her head down.
“My prince,” Andorthil said.
“You would still call me such?” Guldan grimaced.
She slowly raised her eyes up, looking at Guldan apprehensively.
“You are the eldest son of the King, Prince Guldan,” she replied. “You are heir to his throne regardless of your… choices.”
Guldan’s chuckle was bittersweet. He walked up to Andorthil and kissed her lightly on the forehead.
“Did our friendship survive my betrayal? Should I dare hope little Andorthil… or would you take that dream from me?”
Her beautiful cat-like eyes narrowed.
“The promise I made when we were young still holds, even now.”
Guldan smiled down at her, stepping back.
“You serve my brother now I’m told. Where is dear Halifor?”
“I am here Death drinker,” said a tall elf emerging from the trees. I watched the Elven Prince walk lightly up to stand in front of Guldan. It was the same elf who had ordered us surrounded when we entered the woods. Apparently he didn’t need an interpreter at all.
Guldan’s smile was forced.
“Hail little brother.”
Prince Halifor looked at Guldan with sorrow.
“When the ‘Light Bearer entered our woods I sensed your return would follow, Guldan. Father lies ill.”
Guldan’s brow drew together in a frown.
“Lathris didn’t tell me…”
“He will always feel the sting of thy betrayal most, brother,” Prince Halifor sighed. “He would see me take our father’s place when he makes the long journey. I’m afraid our baby brother will never understand thy decisions.”
“And you dear, brother?” Guldan asked.
Halifor’s laughter carried a note of sorrow.
“Me?” he said shaking his head. “The creator graced me with long life, not immortality, Guldan, and glad I am for it. I admit that I don’t understand why you left our people and became a death drinker, but I know you did it with cause. You were never one to entertain a whim. Has the reason for your betrayal come to fruition?”
He said this last, looking at me. I reached into my pocket and brought forth the Cardinal Ruby holding out for him to see.
Prince Halifor’s eyes went wide, and he looked back at Guldan. Guldan smiled and nodded.
Halifor embraced Guldan and spun him around, laughing. Guldan’s smile said it all. After a moment Halifor let go of Guldan and slapped him on the back.
“Then it was all worth it,” he said.
“It was.”
More elves exited the forest and positioned themselves around us as a guard. Halifor tasked a couple of them with binding Coach. When his cursing became intolerable, they gagged him. When he tried to run, they bound his feet and tied him to a pole so they could carry him like some game being brought back from a hunt.
As we ate a small meal of dried fruits and venison at the foot of the incredible trees, I noticed Brianna’s frequent glances at Guldan. Aside from her new aura, she looked and acted the same as she had before. Well, that’s not entirely true, she did seem to have a certain sparkle in her eye, and now I knew why.
Even though he was in deep conversation with Halifor, Guldan’s gaze lingered on her several times as well. Lord Lathris sat next to me, pointedly avoiding his brothers.
“He turned her, you know,” Lathris said to me, as I watched Brianna. I nodded, I had guessed as much.
“And I let him,” the elf growled at himself. “I let him.”
“You were there?” I asked confused.
Lord Lathris nodded.
“I was her captor.”
“What? I thought you were injured and brought back here. Why did Guldan lie to us?”
“If he had told you the quest would fail if he wasn’t allowed to turn her into a death drinker, would you have allowed it?”
Apparently Lord Lathris had, but I shrugged. He was right though; I honestly doubted any of us would have gone along with it.
“What did turning her have to do with the quest though?”
The blonde elf looked at me and sighed deeply.
“Because of an ancient, obscure prophecy told among my people. It’s long, and mostly gibberish as prophecies are want to be, but there is but one part that is clear:
Un-blooded Queen and Bloody King.
In shadowed land the demon’s sing
Loose the fallen, a broken stone.
A Vampire Queen, her fate unknown
Embraced is evil if with a ring
Un-blooded Queen weds Bloody King.
“And so I embraced an evil, to forestall a greater evil,” Lord Lathris said looking as if his heart had broken.
Bronn who sat on Lathris’s other side put a thick arm around the elf’s shoulder.
“Just as your brother did, young Prince,” he said.
Guldan had turned her so she wasn’t un-blooded any longer. At least that part made sense, if anything that had happened so far in this world made sense.