The Shadow Elf

by Terry Spear

  “They tried to take you from him twice last night. That one is a brave shadow elf. If it wasn’t that they are so intrigued by you, they would have killed him for his warlike actions. He cut two of the rocs’ wings using his sword. They’ll heal, but still the word will spread that you must be pretty important to have your own bodyguard.”

  “I’m Persephonice,” she said. “And you are?”

  He bowed his head. “Anton, and in your service.”

  She unfastened Dracolin and her belts, then climbed out of bed. “Can I get rid of the manacles for you?”

  He stared at her, then jumped to the floor. “At once. Unless of course you jest.”

  “I’m not in the mood.” She leaned down and touched the metal with her fingertips. Both melted into puddles of rusty iron.

  “How can I ever…” He leapt back into bed and pulled the covers over himself. “You’d better tie yourself to your guard before they get here.”

  She slipped into bed and retied the belts, not wanting to be separated from Dracolin for a minute while in the roc’s dwelling.

  The door to the cell opened. A sphinx entered the cell, glanced at the one in the bed, then walked over to Persephonice’s bed. He pulled the covers aside and frowned to see her belted to Dracolin.

  A roc followed and motioned with his wing to the door.

  Persephonice woke Dracolin. “We’re being summoned.”

  As soon as they climbed out of bed together, he untied the belts. But when he did, two more roc entered the cell.

  Dracolin tried to move Persephonice behind him, but she shook her head and resisted. “No. They might hurt you. I think they’re curious about me and won’t try to harm me.” The scowl on Dracolin’s face indicated he wasn’t happy that she wasn’t going along with his plan.

  One of the rocs moved closer to her and tried to push her aside with his talon. Persephonice poked her finger into his feathered chest. “Listen, you, I’ve come here on a peaceful mission. Speak, so I can understand your language.”

  When he tried to shove her with his talon again, she slapped it aside, attempting to provoke him into speaking. He stared at her and twisted his head to look at the others.

  None seemed to know what to do with her. Then one cawed in annoyance, “We should have killed them last night like I said.”

  “Killed us?” Persephonice asked, her voice agitated, as she used their language.

  She saw Dracolin ready his sword.

  “I have come all the way from my world to discover what is eating you.”

  “Eating us?” the one cawed.

  “Yes, what is bothering you? Why have you been stealing the sphinx’s offspring?”

  “Whoever heard of a tailless mermaid who speaks as a roc?”

  Persephonice folded her arms. “And not only that, why have you been beating up the griffon?”

  “Beating up?” the roc said, then blinked his golden eyes.

  “Okay, listen, who’s in charge? I want to speak with the big cheese.”

  “The mermaid speaks our language,” the roc said, turning to converse with the others, “but she doesn’t make any sense.”

  “I’m an overseer.” She pulled Dracolin’s free hand. “And Dracolin is my lifemate.” Of course she could say such a thing because he didn’t have a clue as to what she’d said to the roc. But as far as she was concerned, Dracolin and she were…well, almost perfectly matched.

  The roc studied the shadow elf, then the three left the cell, slamming the door closed on their departure.

  “Now what?” Dracolin asked.

  “You spoke with the roc,” the sphinx said, who still stood near the bed.

  The other jumped out of bed. “That’s not all. The mermaid melted my manacles.”

  “What?”

  “I’ll do the same for you.” Persephonice took care of the sphinx’s manacles, then she walked over to the bars. She quickly melted several. “Hurry, before they return. We’ll try to free as many as we can.”

  “They have ten of our children.”

  “Where?”

  “In a special room.”

  Persephonice hurried to the next cell and melted the bars as three sphinxes ran to the cell door. “If we can reach the children and you can get them out of here, can you go where the rocs can’t follow?”

  “We know a way,” Anton said.

  She heated the steel manacles, each dripping to the floor in puddles. “Good, let’s go before they come back for me.”

  Luckily, the adult sphinxes were locked in cages on either side of a long hall. As quickly as she was able, she melted bars, then manacles, from cell to cell. “Are the children manacled?”

  “No. And there’s only an unlocked door to their room.”

  “Maybe Dracolin and I can create a distraction.”

  “How will you get home?”

  Persephonice squeezed Dracolin’s hand as he still held his sword readied in the event of trouble, but she knew one shadow elf against the size and power of a roc would do no good.

  “Tell the others where we are, unless I’m able to negotiate a peace. Then they’ll probably return us to your home. Hurry, though.”

  The sphinxes thanked them, then hastened down the hall.

  “Come on, Dracolin. Let’s go the other way and stir up some trouble.”

  He shook his head as he still held her hand. “I should have made you stay at home with me.”

  “You would have been bored with me.”

  He chuckled. “Somehow I think life with you would never be boring.”

  As soon as they pulled a door open, sunlight washed over them with warmth. No one guarded the cells, but then with everyone locked away she figured there had been no reason.

  As they eased their way outside, she saw huge nests made of grass and twigs, but none were occupied.

  “Feeding time,” Dracolin whispered next to her ear.

  “Speaking of which, I’m hungry.”

  They heard rocs cawing in another building. Persephonice moved closer to listen. “They’re telling someone about me.”

  “What are they saying?”

  She took a deep breath, figuring as long as she lived in the elf world, everyone would consider her only as one thing. “They say I’m a malformed mermaid.”

  He smiled. “Best looking legs I’ve ever seen.”

  She quirked a brow. “How would you know?”

  His cheeks colored. “I bandaged your mermaid bite.” He nodded his head at the door. “What else are they talking about?”

  “One said I’m like the torquin who imitates speech. Another one disagreed, saying none of them had spoken the words I used. And some of what I said, didn’t make any sense.” She glanced at Dracolin as he waited for her to tell him more. “What is a torquin?”

  “A bird that mimics the speech of others.”

  “Ahhh. I’m now a high elf, sphinx, sprite, torquin, griffon, and—”

  “Mermaid,” he said, winking.

  Suddenly the door opened and before them stood a roc whose golden eyes widened in surprise.

  “I want to speak to your leader,” Persephonice said. “Now.”

  Chapter 17

  The startled roc cawed as Dracolin pulled Persephonice behind him and readied his sword.

  “What manner of creature are you?” the roc screeched at Persephonice.

  “An overseer. I…mediate between different species to find peace.” Not really, but it seemed it was her new job now.

  “Have the creature enter,” a roc cawed behind the one that filled the doorway.

  He stepped back and motioned with his wing to enter, though he kept his golden eyes on her, his beak raised in haughtiness.

  Persephonice and Dracolin walked into the gigantic hall. The ceiling rose more than forty feet high. Vines covered in purple deep-throated flowers trailed along the ceiling. Tree bark covered the wall simulating a forest. Four giant nests rested on a high platform, eight feet in the air. Upon one of these, a
roc nestled. Persephonice took a shuddering breath and tried to reign in her rapid heartbeat.

  “Their leader,” Dracolin said under his breath.

  With her back stiff, Persephonice took a step forward, but a roc quickly blocked her path. “Do you wish to have peace or not?” she asked.

  “Let the strange female, who speaks our language, and her elf companion pass,” the bird in the nest commanded.

  The roc moved away and she and Dracolin approached the nest. When they reached it, she curtsied. She wasn’t sure if she’d greeted him correctly or not, though she’d practiced such greetings on planets where royalty ruled on other worlds.

  He bowed his head, and she sighed in relief. Then he blinked his eyes. “You say you come in peace.” He tilted his beak up. “But my brethren captured you, rather.”

  “We wished to be brought here.” Persephonice smiled. “What better way to do it than to let your followers believe it was their idea in the first place?”

  The roc looked at the other three. They cawed, disagreeing with Persephonice.

  “It seems my warbirds don’t believe you. You tried to escape and were caught.”

  Again, she smiled. “Very clever of us, don’t you think?”

  He blinked again. “How so?”

  “We have magic…great magic. With a wave of my hand, I sent the sphinxes and their children back to their home.”

  The rocs remained silent.

  Dracolin whispered, “What’s happening?”

  “He’s trying to figure out whether I’m lying or not.”

  “About what?”

  “With a wave of my hand, I sent all the sphinxes home. If he has his birds check it out, he will be admitting he believes us. But if he doesn’t have someone investigate, the notion will continue to nag at him.”

  “I don’t believe you,” the roc leader said.

  Persephonice nodded. “No need. What’s been done cannot be undone. But that’s not why I’m here. Why are you stealing the sphinxes’ children?”

  “The sphinxes are cutting our sacred yucutta trees in the Western Forest. We have used these trees for our nests and homes for centuries. The bark and leaves are scented with a fragrance that repels certain insects. The same insects burrow their way under our feathers and dig into our skin, causing unsightly sores and infection.”

  “If we can get the sphinx to stop cutting the trees, will you stop taking their children?”

  He blinked his eyes, then bowed his head.

  “What of the griffon? They say you fight them, also.”

  “My son lost an amulet in Crystal Lake. It’s a family heirloom passed down from leader to leader. But the warbler griffons act as though what is dropped in their territory remains theirs. We will fight them until we have our cherished amulet back.”

  “And if we get it for you, will that be the end of the fight?”

  Again he bowed his head.

  Suddenly, a roc burst through the open doorway. “Your Loftiness, the sphinxes have escaped. All but two.”

  The leader looked at Persephonice. She shrugged a shoulder. “I don’t know how I could have overlooked the two.” She made light of the issue, but her heart sank. Had the others not made it safely away either?

  “Bring them here.”

  The roc hurried out of the door.

  “What’s happening?” Dracolin asked, his voice deeply concerned.

  “Two of the sphinxes were caught. But, Dracolin, the sphinxes are cutting down the rocs’ sacred trees. As for the griffon, the rocs have lost a special amulet in Crystal Lake. The griffon won’t let them retrieve it.”

  “We can probably get the sphinxes to quit cutting the trees, but neither the griffon nor the roc can swim.”

  “I guess they’ll need a mermaid to help out then.”

  “No.”

  “You sure say that to me a lot. You know, only my lifemate could say that to me as often as you do and get away with it…sometimes.”

  Dracolin’s lips curved up slowly as his eyes darkened with mischief.

  The roc shoved the two sphinxes into the hall.

  Persephonice’s mouth dropped open. “Anton.”

  “Belol,” the other offered.

  “What happened?”

  Anton smiled. “We stayed behind to take the two of you from here. If our queen heard we left the overseer and her bodyguard behind to save ourselves, our people would be shamed forever.”

  “How did the others escape?” the roc leader asked.

  The roc bowed his head. “The metal restraints were removed from their legs. And somehow someone had dissolved the bars in the cells.”

  “Magic,” Persephonice said. “Powerful magic. I’m an overseer after all.”

  “An overseer,” the roc leader repeated.

  She turned to the sphinxes. “The roc wants the sphinx to quit cutting down the sacred yucutta trees.”

  “They’re so fragrant,” Anton said, “the queen loves the scent of the wood burning on her hearth on icy winter nights.”

  “Find another source of timber. The yucutta trees are no longer to be cut down, except by the roc.”

  Anton bowed. “Yes, my lady.”

  She turned to the roc leader. “We will inform the sphinx queen there is to be no more cutting of your trees. And you will no longer steal the sphinxes’ offspring.”

  “And the amulet?”

  “I’ll seek it. If I can locate it, I will return it to you, and there will be no more strife between you and the griffons.”

  “Five of my warbirds will go with you.”

  Persephonice wasn’t sure that would be a good idea. But since she didn’t really have powerful magic after all, she had very little choice.

  “You will allow us to ride the sphinxes to see the queen. Once we’ve spoken to her about the trees, we will search for the amulet,” Persephonice said.

  He shook his head. “The sphinxes will tell the queen what she must do. My warbirds will take you to the lake.”

  Okay, that sounded like a good alternate plan as she figured she had no other choice in the matter. She agreed. Then she told the sphinxes what they needed to do and Dracolin what she and he had to accomplish.

  Within the half hour, the party of five rocs, two sphinxes, a shadow elf and one faux mermaid soared over the forests toward the mountains where the sphinxes resided.

  Again a roc carried them in its talons.

  “Are you getting more used to flying, Persephonice?”

  She shook her head while she kept her eyes tightly shut. She didn’t think she’d ever get used to flying at this rate. When it got bad on the spacecraft, at least they had medicine she could take. But on this world, she’d have to learn to get used to it without taking medication to calm her upset stomach.

  “I don’t want you to swim in Crystal Lake.”

  “There are no merfolk in the water, are there?” Her heart rate increased, fearing that she might have more problems with the merman prince who wanted her for his own.

  “No.”

  “Then what? You know I can swim.”

  “I told you how Gavin, the river elf, couldn’t tear himself away from the lake.”

  “Yes.”

  “Something kept him there,” Dracolin said, “against his will.”

  Chapter 18

  By late morning, Persephonice and Dracolin arrived at Gavin’s Crystal Lake with their rocs’ escort. The sandy shore around the lake looked like pulverized crystals of green, purple, red and blue gemstone.

  Alacron stood nearby with five of his griffon, watching to ensure the rocs only came for their amulet, then returned home.

  Dracolin took hold of Persephonice’s hand. “I don’t want you to go in there.”

  She turned her attention from the shadow elf’s dark brown eyes, full of concern, to the lake, shimmering in the sun. The monolithic crystal towers ringing the lake rose thirty feet in places. Others looked like teens not quite grown to reach their parent’s tall stature. An
d a few were baby size, only a foot or so tall. Most of the crystal towers leaned toward the lake as if drawing in the moisture from the water, like a shaded tree stretched its trunk toward the sun.

  The sun’s rays reflected off the gem-like stone and colored the clear water in a kaleidoscope of colors.

  “It’s beautiful,” Persephonice said under her breath, having never seen such a wondrous site before. “It would be the First Wonder of this world.”

  “First Wonder?”

  “Yes. Something so extraordinarily uncommon and breathtakingly beautiful.”

  “Then I would name you the First Wonder.”

  Persephonice slowly smiled. “My lifemate would never have said such a thing to me.”

  “He wasn’t very observant then.” Dracolin touched her cheek and looked into her eyes with longing. “Persephonice, I don’t want you to go into the lake.”

  A shadow fell across them, and they looked heavenward. Balon, Prince Cronus, and Zorak rode the backs of dragons high above. Then the dragons dropped down and landed on the crystal beach.

  Tal fluttered near Prince Zorak’s head and hissed, “Prince Zorak does not want you to swim in the lake.”

  “Nor do I,” Prince Cronus quickly added. “It is said the river elf swam in this lake, drawn in by some water creature, and nobody ever heard of him again.”

  The griffon, Alacron, spoke to Persephonice. “Beware the spell of the lake. Should you see anything down there at all but the amulet, return at once to the surface.”

  She nodded, appreciating everyone’s heartfelt concerns.

  “Will you not reconsider, Persephonice?” Dracolin asked, still holding her hand.

  “No, I can’t.” She took a ragged breath, determined to do right, but deep inside, she was terrified that she might vanish like the river elf. “The sooner I get this over with, the sooner we can return home.”

  Dracolin studied Persephonice as a slight breeze tugged at her red curls. She’d been so pale when they flew here because of her stomach being upset again, but the pretty peach tone of her skin had returned. She put on a brave face, but the number of times he’d witness her take a deep, calming breath, gave him the impression she feared diving into the lake.