Elf Doubt

by Bryant Reil

  There was no answer, though Eunoe waited a minute, but as she turned to leave she heard Kyla sit up in the bed. Her hair was matted, and she was frowning. She swung her legs over the side and threw off her blanket, revealing that she was still wearing the same clothes from yesterday.

  Eunoe smiled. “Let me grab your shoes for you. Will you need a jacket?”

  Kyla shook her head. Eunoe grabbed the shoes by the door. They had soles made of a soft wood and lined with rabbit hide. Not really winter-wear, but Kyla didn’t seem to care as she slid into them without socks. She stood and waited, saying nothing, but followed as Eunoe led her back to the common room, down the ladder into the Nim’s shoe shop, and outside.

  “Beautiful, isn’t it?” Eunoe said.

  Kyla looked up at the falling snow but didn’t say anything. She was already shivering, but before Eunoe could insist she grab a jacket she was already walking into the forest.

  “You can use my coat, if you wish,” she offered.

  Kyla simply shook her head again. The elf’s eyes wandered about the trees. Eunoe took her hand, half-expecting Kyla to pull free, but she didn’t. Her hand was limp. It was a hold of surrender, not compassion or friendship.

  “A bit of a late snow, isn’t it? The trees were budding so Aspen’s putting them back to sleep before the blossoms freeze. She says the local dryads are too afraid to come out and do it themselves, with the sudden influx of people. The Queen and her entourage have set up a camp nearby, though of course the elves of Aspengrove did offer them places to stay. How kind of her to help with everything! I hear you were a guest at the palace. When I met you, you were just a little happy-go-lucky girl. Now you’re a Chief, and a Queen. Oh, Aias sends his condolences, I should tell you. He would tell you himself, but he’s not comfortable with the language yet. He has started learning, though. I’m on the third draft of his body. Well, his carapace. I’m not going to bother with the innards until I get the look right. He doesn’t seem to care how the inside looks, as long as it all works.”

  The one-sided conversation was challenging, but Kyla firmed her grip on Eunoe’s hand so Eunoe pushed herself to continue. “Aspen and I didn’t see much snow in Arkwood. It would dust over, but nothing like this. Well, usually. We had a couple bad years. Tough down there, because the animals don’t know how to deal with it and they panic. A heavy winter meant no sleep, because to be honest, most of the other alseids just stayed cuddled in their beds while I searched out the critters that needed help. I was so grateful when I finally had Aspen to join me. Made the work a lot more tolerable to have somebody with me.”

  They had circled back toward the house now, though Kyla balked at returning. Instead she wiped the snow from a fallen tree with her sleeve and sat, her eyes to the forest. She looked at Eunoe, her eyes still red, and wiped clear a spot next to her. Eunoe sat down, her arm around Kyla’s shoulder, and held her.

  ***

  Marik stepped into Sophrosyne’s chamber. She was scowling, which could mean either she could read his mind and knew he had failed to obtain the stone, or she could not read his mind and was unhappy with that turn of events. The amulet was tucked beneath his shirt for fear she might recognize it. That her eyes did not wander to its hidden location seemed a sign that she could not, in fact, discern his thoughts.

  He clapped his heels together and stood at attention a few paces away. “I have returned.”

  “And have you succeeded?” she frowned.

  “What, you can’t tell?” A smirk escaped from one side of Marik’s mouth.

  She stood and swooshed her long skirt to the side as she walked around him. “What game is this? What have you done?”

  Marik couldn’t contain his amusement. “Ha! Now you know what it’s like on my end. I guess instead of stealing thoughts, you may need to learn to communicate.”

  She squinted and peered at him closer, and he swallowed and shook as her eyes drifted to his chest. He could feel the amulet against his pounding heart. Could she sense it? Did she know? And what if she did? What would she do with him? What malice hid behind her veneer of pleasantries?

  He exhaled as she passed behind him, afraid she might read his body language. Of course, she had never had the need to learn such skills. He worried too much.

  “Where are Carmin and Hajar?” She passed in front of him, wringing her hands and staring with an eyebrow raised, but her scowl had softened.

  “At Equinox. Hajar is teaching Carmin to sing.”

  “And what of the stone?”

  “The shop-keep was not inclined to show me where she keeps it, if she even has it.”

  “You gave up easily. Kyla went through—”

  “Not interested in what Kyla did. She’ll undoubtedly fill me in herself. Maybe you can send her to the Undine and figure it out. Me, I’m done.”

  “You tire of your employ?” Her voice was soft, but he felt the verbal lash.

  Sophrosyne continued to circle, and Marik supposed she was weighing his usefulness now that she could no longer read his mind. His loyalty may be in question as well. He had betrayed Erebus to join her, so how could she be assured he wouldn’t betray her as well? But he knew her identity as Nyx. She couldn’t just let him go. She didn’t seem willing to kill him. At least not yet. He had the goddess of night wriggling.

  “I wouldn’t return to report if I wanted to leave,” he assured her. “But I am no longer your servant. From now on, we are partners.”

  As she passed in front, she turned sharply to face him. “You are no equal of mine. I appreciate your service, but I suppose there is no reason to keep you here. Have a wonderful time being secretary to that oaf gorgon at Equinox.”

  Marik smiled. “Thank you. I’ve got bigger plans. Keep me in mind if you need my services in the future. I’m sure we can work out a deal.”

  “We shall see.”

  Her dismissive wave told him no, but what did he care now? She made a mistake letting him go with the secret of her identity.

  Of course, she could erase memories. As he strode to the portal he tried to recall everything he knew about himself: his name, his family, his prior job at the prison. He still knew Sophrosyne was really Nyx, and he knew Kyla was in her employ and had been key in the defeat of Erebus. Yes. He still knew everything.

  He could no longer hold in his laughter as he passed through the portal from Sophrosyne’s lair. He had been so awed by her power in the beginning, but the more he got to know her, the more he understood that the goddess’ mind was no match for his own.

  ***

  Aspen allowed her eyes to wander up. Kyla and Lianaria stood near the patch of earth on which Philosthenes’ body was to be laid. Lianaria looked sad, but stoic, and her eyes kept glancing at Kyla and drooped with worry. Kyla looked almost angry. It was a change, at least, from her gloomy silence the past few days.

  The Queen and her entourage stood to the right. Titania was dressed in royal blue. White was the traditional color of Elvish funerals, but Titania, as Queen, was decorated to preside the ceremony rather than appear as a mourner. At least, that was what Aspen had overheard, as she knew little about such things.

  The elves of Aspengrove stood in rows behind the Queen and her guards and maids. Their funerary clothes and veils blended so well with the snow in the background that with the glare of the sun it all appeared as a cluster of white. Their faces were solemn, and hands clasped in front. They all stood, save a few of the elderly, who were seated on wooden benches along the edge of the crowd.

  Eunoe stood with Castor at the back. She was dressed in blue, as she had no white clothing. She was scratching Castor’s ears, and the white tiger kept turning his head to cast a wary eye at Denzig looming behind him.

  Denzig didn’t pay much notice to Castor. Hajar sat atop his shoulders, with her legs draped down the sides of his neck. She wore her typical brown and green clothing, still worn and stained. As far as Aspen knew, she had nothing else.

  The pall-bearers, of which Bit was
one, had been by to break the frozen ground with picks to make Aspen’s job easier. Normally they would grind the body into the soil with their own tools while singing a Hymn of Renewal but had been honored to have a dryad perform the ceremony instead.

  The pall-bearers appeared now from the trees carrying Philosthenes on an open litter on their shoulders. Bit was the shortest of the lot, and so it tilted that way, but Philosthenes’ body was tied to the poles and wouldn’t fall off. He was dressed in funeral white and covered in lilies of the valley that Aspen had sung into bloom this morning. Once buried she would drop seeds and sing again until the gravesite was covered, though she knew the flowers wouldn’t last long in the snow.

  They set the litter on the churned ground and pulled it into halves out from beneath him. They crossed Philosthenes’ arms over his chest and stepped back.

  “Avaril hai im, lishim si ai venum,” they said together.

  Lianaria approached and turned to address the crowd of mourners.

  “Haila eni averi!” she called, and the elves repeated after her. Aspen muttered the line the best she could, though keeping her voice low so no one could hear her mispronunciation. Then there was a half minute of silence before a low tone emerged from the woods and carried over the crowd. An elf man with an oraina stepped toward the family circle, his bow dancing across the strings stretched parallel down the wooden tube. A few notes missed, but it was a sweet melody nonetheless. The man playing the oraina was joined by two men with pan flutes, and a young girl with a tinkling sa’hadir.

  Four women in white robes and wreaths of flowers about their necks and waists danced as they plucked petals from their wreaths and wove between Kyla, Lianaria, and the pall-bearers, casting handfuls over Philosthenes’ body. As they stopped and formed a ring, a man and a woman, each bearing a flame in a horn of brass, walked to each side of Aspen and stood at attention. She gritted her teeth as flames licked from the ends, only to worry that her fearful grimace might be viewed as disgust.

  Once the dancing and music stopped, Lianaria spoke again. “Evemil asi’esa maila,” she began in Elvish. “Thank you for your support in this difficult time. The dryad Aspen, a friend of Kyla’s, has offered to perform the nesh-pan-li as she sings a Hymn of Renewal.”

  Lianaria nodded at Aspen and motioned for Bit and Kyla and the second circle of dancers and musicians to step away. Aspen’s stomach pitched as she saw the eyes from the crowd staring at her. No time for nerves. She placed her right foot on Philosthenes’ chest, as per the instructions, and began to sing. The Hymn of Renewal was a slow piece but held many note changes, so it took some focus to begin her transformation into her arboreal form. Her limbs stiffened, and skin thickened to bark, and she could feel the roots from her feet digging through Philosthenes’ body and pressing it into the soil. Her touch was dulled in this state, so she couldn’t feel the ooze of blood and guts, but she did sense body fluids absorbing into her roots. She paused a moment, but decided she was fully committed, and continued. Her right foot pressed down on his face, and once his head was crushed and pressed into the soil, her left foot began working on the stomach. She stepped and pressed and stepped and pressed as she sang, grinding the body into the earth. A tree would be planted here in the morning. A hickory, Lianaria said. One of the friendliest of trees.

  The body was well ground into the soil before the hymn finished, but Aspen kept stepping and mixing the earth. It wasn’t until she saw Lianaria crying on Bit’s shoulder that her heart began to ache with sympathy for the poor family. Bit was crying also, though trying his best to hold it back. Kyla’s face, though her eyes were red, had fallen cold and expressionless.

  ***

  Kyla gritted her teeth and drew her blanket over her head as she heard a small group in the distance break into laughter. Why had they come? She felt a pit of anger in her gut. She wanted to feel sad again, but rage was swelling through and pushing the sadness aside.

  Murdered. For some shoes. What kind of monsters would do this?

  She tried to push some tears out. She was more comfortable with pain than with rage, but the fire in her chest seemed to be drying her tears out from the inside.

  They ran him through with a sword. Why? He would have handed over his goods. He could always make more shoes.

  Was it a band of rogues like the one she had encountered on her ride to Equinox? Herleif was right. They should have killed them when they had the chance. They weren’t the same bandits, surely, but they were the same sort. If they didn’t kill her father, perhaps they had killed someone else’s. Those sorts of people didn’t have the right to breathe.

  Kyla got out of bed and looked through the window into the dark night forest. The moon was gibbous and waning. She would have a fully dark night soon.

  It had happened on the road to Monarch. The very city her father and brother had helped after the attack by Erebus’ forces. Perhaps slain by the same people he had comforted only a few months earlier. Why did they get to live, and her father die?

  Not for long, she decided. Who was she up against? Bandits who knew the woods and knew how to use weapons. If she started now she could be there in two days. It meant leaving her friends and family behind. What difference did it make? She would scour the area foot by foot for the rest of her life. She would kill them as she found them. One by one.

  Kyla searched her closets and cupboards for things she would need. Black clothes. Dark polish for her skin. Her father's knife. He had given it to her for whittling. She had never bothered to use it. Now it had a purpose.

  She would have to be quiet. There were guests sleeping throughout the house, so she would have to sneak out of her own window. She could find food in the woods, and the bandits would have food they wouldn't need when she eviscerated them.

  She squeezed through her window without trouble, though she was twenty feet off the ground. Luckily there was a large branch nearby. She swung onto it and perched. She had sneaked out this way many times, but someone had pruned the tree recently and she had to re-evaluate the route down. It was slow going, for though the moon gave some light, shadows from the branches overhead obscured her view and twice Kyla tore gashes in her clothes, leaving burning cuts that felt somehow invigorating as the cold air blew over them.

  There was the smell of smoke and cooking meats from the Queen’s encampment, and more laughter. Kyla was happy enough to leave them behind. Let the Queen sort out her own problems. Kyla was done with messing about in politics and being a servant to Sophrosyne’s manipulations. Let the goddess of night do her own dirty work, and let the Queen figure out what she was up to. She dropped to the ground, gave a long glance at her home, and turned to leave.

  Aspen was there. Kyla stopped, the blood draining from her face.

  “How long have you been there?” Kyla whispered.

  “Where are you going?”

  “None of your business!”

  Aspen didn't move. She eyed Kyla up and down. “Why do you have a knife?”

  “I said it's none of your business!” Kyla tried to keep her voice low so as not to wake anyone up, but in her anger, she was getting louder.

  “I'm your friend. Your happiness is my business.”

  “Then get out of the way!” Kyla stepped forward, but Aspen blocked her path.

  “I said get lost!” Kyla tried not to scream, though her body was shaking with rage.

  Aspen looked into her eyes. She didn't have Eunoe's entrancing gaze, but her eyes were soft and deep and kind. It was difficult to remain angry with the dryad, but Kyla was determined to try. She made another step to go around but Aspen blocked her again.

  “Being your friend doesn't mean I should do whatever you say. It means doing what is best for you.”

  “And how would you know what it best for me?” Kyla shouted. She covered her mouth as a light went on in the house.

  “Kyla?” It was her mother. “What's wrong?”

  “Nothing, Mom! Just talking to Aspen!”

  “Wel
l, hold on. I'm coming out.”

  “No, Mom, that's okay!” Kyla swiveled back to Aspen and tried to run past, but Aspen grabbed her with one arm. Kyla could feel the roughness of Aspen's skin as it turned to bark. Her arms became stiff and strong, and Kyla could hear roots digging into the ground.

  Kyla squirmed as rage boiled inside. Those bandits deserved to be punished. What would the Queen do? Throw them in prison? They deserved to have their tongues cut out, and eyes gouged, and knees broken, and only Kyla would do it. Her mother wouldn’t, nor Bit.

  “Let go!” she hissed, and kicked back with her heel, only to regret it as her foot crunched against solid wood.

  Lianaria stepped heavily around the house, followed by Eunoe who wore a grim expression, and Hajar, who hung back in the shadows. “Kyla! Calm down! What is going on?”

  “Tell her to let me go!” Kyla demanded of her mother.

  “Tell me what's going on! What are you doing out here in the middle of the night?”

  “That's nobody's business! Just leave me alone! Let me go, Aspen!” Kyla started kicking again, ignoring the pain as her heel connected with Aspen’s wood-hardened form.

  “Aspen?” Eunoe asked.

  “She's trying to sneak out. She has a knife. I think she’s going after the men...you know.”

  “What's wrong with you?” Lianaria was upset. Her eyes were red, and tear-stains marked her cheeks. But her lips were turned into a scowl.

  “They killed DAD, mom! Do you think anyone’s going to do anything about it?”

  Lianaria bit her lower lip and shook her head. “How do you think your father would feel about this?”

  Kyla dropped her weight and wriggled from Aspen’s grasp, crawling out of reach. Lianaria stepped in front of her before she could stand.

  “The Queen could have stopped them, you know! She was spying on him. And you. They could’ve stopped them, and they didn’t. Well, I’m the only one that seems to get anything done, and I’m going to make sure they never hurt anyone again!”