by Liara Woo
"Well done, child of Earth," a soft voice called out. Katie turned to see an elf walking towards her—but something wasn't quite normal. She was slightly transparent and completely colorless, and she was glowing far brighter than any other elf Katie had seen.
"You're a star," she said in surprise.
The elf smiled and walked towards her. "I am. My name is Kylaras."
Katie inhaled sharply. "You're the one who appeared to Halthren. You told him how Nashgor could be defeated."
Kylaras smiled. "Yes. I am the guardian of the two Swords of Goodness."
"Halthren's sword was broken."
"I know. But its purpose was served. If it brings you any comfort, the weapon in your hands can never be destroyed or misplaced."
"Good," Katie said awkwardly, unsure exactly how she should speak with an eons-old elf-spirit. "Uh…can you show me the way out of here?"
"Of course," Kylaras answered. "But first…is there anything you wish to know? I can answer three questions for you."
Katie knew instantly what she would ask. "Can the unicorns send me home?"
Kylaras smiled kindly. "Yes, they can. They can send you back to Earth, to the very moment you left."
"Thank goodness," Katie sighed in relief. "And…could an elf live on Earth longer than Joran did?"
Kylaras's smile vanished. "To do so would mean a slow and very painful death."
Katie frowned, taken aback. "Why?" she asked.
"Earth is a wonderful place, but it was meant for humans. Elves just wouldn't understand it."
Kylaras created a ball of Light in her palms. Gazing into it, Katie saw an elf standing in a school building, out of place in his tunic, cloak, and leggings and obviously uncomfortable among the humans dressed in jeans and t-shirts. She saw the elf in another scene, confused and frightened by the massive buildings and skyscrapers, the cars and trucks, the trains, the televisions, the phones, the computers. She saw him weep at the sight of trees being cut down and burned without reason, and at the sight of the devastation of acid rain. She saw the elf sad and alone, his expression that of pure misery. Then the elf was living off of edible plants wherever he could find them, trying to drink from rainwater puddles, pale and weak, hardly able to breathe. He became thin and starved, his clothing torn and tattered, rejected by all as a freak. She saw, as if in a time lapse, the elf's glow fading away until it was too dim to be seen, and at that point he collapsed, never to move again.
"Such was the fate of an elf I loved dearly. My descendant was accidentally sent through the Forest of Mist, and he tried hard to adjust and to make friends, but it was too much for him. They saw his glow and his pointed ears and declared that he was deformed. No one trusted him; he was shunned by all, and he believed himself to be forgotten by everyone he loved in Allagandria. And so his fate was to die from sadness and the lack of pure Light to bring him strength."
"Oh," Katie said in a small voice.
"You were thinking of Halthren, were you not?" Kylaras asked softly. Katie nodded.
"Does he…does he love me?" she asked, slightly embarrassed.
Kylaras smiled gently. "Yes, he does. Very much. But you cannot ask him to choose between you and Joran. It would tear his heart apart."
"Oh," Katie said again. Then…I will make that choice for him. I will leave, and I won't tell him about it.
"You have asked your three questions," Kylaras sighed, with something that was almost regret in her voice. "But I believe that there is one that you must ask still."
Katie thought for a moment. Then it came to her. "If the Sword of Light can't be destroyed, why is it hidden so well? Why is it so hard to get to?"
"Because it can be corrupted," Kylaras answered. "Keep your heart and mind pure, Katie. Now take my hand and close your eyes…"
* * *
When Katie looked up, the roar of the waterfall penetrated her ears again and she was standing on the edge of the entrance to the cave. The Sword of Light hung in a silver sheath at her side, glowing brightly. "Loriina!" she shouted as loud as she could. "Loriina!"
There was no answer. Either her voice couldn't be heard above the waterfall, or the dragon wasn't waiting for her anymore. "Loriina!" she yelled again. Still there was no reply. I guess I'll go and look for her, Katie decided. There was a small pool to one side of the cascading water. If I land there, I won't be sucked under by the waterfall. She leaped from the ledge and saw the pool rising up towards her—
Something airborne grabbed her upper arms and carried her upwards. "Loriina?" she asked hopefully, looking up. She gasped in horror; instead of sleek silver scales, there were uneven black feathers smelling of carrion. It was a giant vulture. "Ugh!" she exclaimed. "Put me down! Let go of me!"
A demon peered down at her. "Not likely, little girl," he hissed. "Nashgor wishes to speak with you."
A tremor went through her. "No!" she yelled, struggling to free her wrists from the vulture's tight grip.
"Stop fighting," the demon snarled. "Unless you want to fall to your death."
Katie stopped resisting, eyeing the flat desert a long way below her. Devil's Rock Canyon was already far behind them. "What did you do to the dragon that was with me?"
The demon laughed. "We made a dummy that looked like you using the plants and such around here and flew our other vultures towards Kylaras. The dragon thought it was you and followed them. By the time she figures it all out, it will be too late."
"What are you going to do to me?" Katie asked nervously. "What did you do to Halthren?"
The demon laughed unpleasantly. "That's not your business. But like I said, Nashgor wishes to speak with you."
The Shadow Lord
The Shadow Lord
The elves and the unicorns fought hard all day and into the night. At dawn, the griffins arrived and joined the battle. And yet the Forces of Light were still unfairly outnumbered, and Relenthus's life was swiftly ebbing away, since no one could remove the poison burning through his veins.
Joran, Bloodthorne, Reiltin, and Firdin, alongside Acinoron and Occupinvi, fought as hard as they could. During the night, the demons had become more powerful, since the sky was clouded over and all was dark. But at dawn, when the light of the sun returned, the strength of the elves had returned, and the demons grew slightly weaker. Nevertheless, the Dark creatures outnumbered the Light ones fifty to one. Many were slain.
Blacknack was delighted to have Halthren back in his custody. For the three hours since arriving in Vernisgard, the elf's clothes and flesh had been torn by the demon's talons and he was whipped; the demons chained him to a pole and hurled small pebbles at his chest and legs for several minutes; they slowly cut long, thin gashes in his flesh, and they punched him until he could hardly stay conscious. But just as Halthren knew he was on the verge of death, he slipped a hand into the pocket of his tunic and pulled out the vial of healing water from his aunt. He drank only a sip of it, and it reduced most of his injuries to fading scars.
The demons were appalled. They decided that some terrible Light magic was at work, so they responded by chaining the elf to the wall so that he couldn't move, and then they abused him again, beginning by forcing a foul-tasting potion down Halthren's throat. He screamed as burning pain ripped through his body; it felt as if his insides were being shredded. It took five minutes to wear away completely, and after that the demons armed themselves with hooked whips and thrashed him mercilessly. He hung limp in his chains, in agony, tears mixing with the sweat and blood on his cheeks.
It was during this second beating that the vulture carrying Katie came to Vernisgard, and a group of demons escorted her to the highest tower in the prison. Katie had seen it once before, when it had had a table with a map on it, along with a bucket of black swords in a corner. This time it was completely different—empty and cold, like a dungeon cell.
"Wait here," one of the demons growled. Katie was too terrified to try and escape as they turned and walked out of the wooden door, which was decorated
with designs of hundreds of elves in pain. The demons locked this door; trying not to look at it, Katie went to the window, gazing at the nearly deserted black land before her. Kratchene has been emptied in order to defeat the elves, she realized with a jolt of horror. She shuddered.
Then a voice spoke to her. It was more of a sound than a voice, hissing and cold like a wintry wind and foreboding thunder at once, forming harsh, whispery words.
"I see how you wish to destroy me. I see the elven blade at your side."
Katie spun around in shock and terror, wildly looking around to see who had spoken. Her heart hammering, she realized that there was nothing in the circular stone room except for shadows. "Wh-who's there?" she asked in a trembling voice.
Like a rock grating against metal, whoever was speaking to her laughed. "I am your worst nightmare. I am everything evil in Allagandria. I am Nashgor, which, long ago, was the elven word for 'evil'. And it is true: I am Darkness itself."
Much to Katie's horror, one of the shadows moved. Her eyes widened in fear; as she watched, it grew and stretched, becoming a hovering human-like figure made entirely of darkness. The only parts of it that seemed solid were two glowing red eyes without pupils, located in what would be the creature's head. Terrified, Katie backed against the wall; the Darkness emanating from the monster was making her feel completely sick. Worse, she felt the crueler side of her stirring. Trembling, she drew Light from within herself and held it in both hands, focusing on the radiant glow, and it cleared her thoughts.
"Where is Halthren?" she asked in a shaking voice.
The creature hissed. Katie couldn't see a mouth; the sound seemed to come from everywhere, surrounding her, closing in.
"My servants are bringing him here as we speak. He is to be punished before your eyes for knowing too much and for masterminding the attempt on my life. Through him, both puppets that I created for myself were destroyed. He killed one and told an accomplice how to kill the other. Now he has told you how he thinks I can be vanquished. And so he must pay."
"Are you going to kill me as well? Because you'll have to; if you want to kill him you'll have to go through me," Katie said, mustering as much courage as she could. She didn't look at Nashgor; instead she stared into the ball of Light in her hands.
"I should, but I won't," Nashgor hissed. "I would like you to join me. After all, I have the power to send you home. I can give you whatever you want. I can even make it possible for an elf to live on Earth…with you…forever."
Katie was tempted for a moment. Then everything that Kylaras had shown her came back to her mind, except this time it was Halthren who was frightened, alone, and miserable, dying on the dark streets of Earth. "No. Never!" she spat, anger in her heart.
Nashgor swooped closer to her. In the glow of her Light, It all but vanished. Yet Its eyes remained, glowing like fiery red embers. It looked into Katie's eyes, and her Light seemed to disappear. All that she saw were those hypnotizing red eyes.
"Do you not want to see your parents again? They are so sad…they don't understand why you never came home. I can give you back to them."
"The unicorns can do that, too," Katie snapped, closing her eyes to avoid the red gaze. "No matter what you say, I will never join you."
"Then your precious Halthren will die a most painful death!" the Shadow Lord hissed.
"I will die with him," Katie said coldly, realizing suddenly that her words came directly from her heart. "Even better; I'll destroy you before you have a chance to destroy me or him."
"They have filled your head with lies! Unlike demons, elves do not repopulate like rabbits—quite the opposite, in fact. There was no conceivable way for them to overcome my forces, which were simply in need of better land, since living in Kratchene is not at all enjoyable. The elves were using you. They never cared about you. They never cared for anyone but themselves. They lied!"
"You are the liar here, Nashgor," Katie declared. She searched her feelings and knew that there was no possible way that the Shadow Lord could be telling the truth. Being around him felt terrible and made her want to throw up. But with the elves, she felt safe and loved. She had good, true friends among them. "You will be destroyed, and I will end the misery of the elves!" She drew the Sword of Light from its sheath and raised it above her head. Nashgor vanished.
"Where are you?" she shouted. "Coward! Come out and face your demise!"
There was no response. The circular room was deathly silent. Katie paced with the shining white sword in her hands. Then, suddenly, terrible and despicable laughter filled the air. Katie gasped, every one of her nerves on end. The laughter didn't cease. She raised her sword higher, looking around, but Nashgor and Its gleaming red eyes were nowhere to be seen. Nervously she backed away, into the wall. As soon as her back came into contact with the stones, massive black bars shot up from the floor to the ceiling. With a screech of alarm, she jumped in shock, her heart rate accelerating. Then she walked closer to the bars and touched one of them. An electric shock jolted through her, and she recoiled with a gasp of pain.
Nashgor reappeared, cackling madly. The red eyes glinted. "You fell for my trap," It snarled. "Now you will die with your precious little elf friend."
"Celed Vorello!" Katie shouted, bringing lightning down towards the Shadow Lord. The shadow only laughed harder and the lightning seeped into It.
"Earthling magic!" he shouted. "Earthling magic! Yes! Now I will have the ability to override the protection of the stars and destroy my nemesis!"
Katie felt numb with horror. "What? No!" she exclaimed.
The door slammed open, and fifteen demons bundled into the tiny room, dragging a struggling elf in with them. It was Halthren, and he did not look well. His face was bruised and bloodied and his skin was marked by whiplashes. All that remained of his tunic was around his waist, held there by his belt, and his leggings were bloodstained and tattered. His shoes had been stolen from him. He looked exhausted; there were shadows under his eyes and he looked as if he had been weeping, but it still took all fifteen of the demons punching and kicking him to pin him to the wall. Even then, he struggled fiercely, his teeth clenched and sweat glistening on his face and chest. Then he saw Katie and suddenly stopped fighting, his jaw dropping open in shock.
"As you can see, elfling, your so-called powerful Earthling has failed you," Nashgor hissed.
Halthren struggled against his captors. "No. You're wrong. Wrong!"
Nashgor passed Its ghostly dark left hand through Halthren's middle. The elf cried out in pain.
"She is caged in lightning bars. She can hear us, but we cannot hear her. She will watch you die a slow, agonizing death. Then I will kill her as well."
"No…" Halthren moaned. "Not her as well….just me. Please…just me." Nashgor passed Its hand through the elf's head. Halthren gasped, his breathing short and uneven. His head lolled on his shoulders.
"Halthren," Katie murmured, and her heart was wrenched at the sight of her friend. "Nashgor, please don't do this to him! Please!"
The Shadow Lord's hand passed through his throat this time. Halthren coughed violently and went completely limp, shuddering and drenched in perspiration. Katie scanned her mind for anything that could save him. With each of Nashgor's punches, the elf grew weaker and weaker. He's being attacked by Darkness. Perhaps Light will save him.
Nashgor held Its left hand over Halthren's heart. The elf gasped, a long, heart-wrenching sound, his eyes widening in pain and desperation. Katie extracted Light from herself and threw it as she would a snowball, directly at Halthren's chest. The Light sank into him; with a brief cry he jolted upright, his eyes wide. He looked into Katie's eyes and said, "Thank you."
Katie smiled grimly at him. "Hang on," she said softly, though she knew that he couldn't hear her.
Nashgor whipped Its head—if it could be called a head—around to face her. "You think you're stronger than me, do you not? I rule this land. I have killed thousands of elves. I can crush you if I wish."
&nb
sp; "Not without being 'crushed' yourself," Katie snarled. Somehow she knew that the Shadow Lord could hear her, although no one else could.
Nashgor gathered shreds of darkness from around It, forming a long, cruel, shining black knife in Its shadowy hands.
"Indeed, perhaps I cannot crush you without being destroyed myself…but I can kill him! I have been working on this weapon for a long, long time, Halthren Legendheart. Your friend here unwittingly donated some of her own magic to this knife, so now I can cut through the protection the stars have given you and use Darkness to end your life. This blade will cause you more agony than you've ever felt before, and it will last for one hundred hours. One hundred years you have plagued me; one hundred hours must you suffer. Then you will die."
It raised the knife to throw. Halthren's eyes widened in horror. Katie saw that the silver rings in his eyes had vanished, leaving him completely unprotected by the stars. For a long moment his dark blue eyes regarded the black knife with fear and denial. But then his head dropped to his chest and he silently awaited his demise.