by Toni Cox
“The two that are one come as two, but must leave as one.”
Maia and Blaid stopped in their tracks at the sound of the strange voice sounding out of nowhere.
“Who are you? Show yourself,” Blaid demanded.
The area before them shimmered. When the shimmering ceased, an old man sat on the porch of a small tree house, built into a pine tree, five paces off the ground.
“It matters not who I may be, but only the one that you shall be.”
Maia put a restraining hand on Blaid’s arm, for she could tell he was already becoming irate with the old man’s riddles. “We apologise for the intrusion on your land,” she said. “We did not know it was occupied.”
“Those who do not see do not trouble me.”
“We mean no trouble. We only stopped to eat and shall be on our way shortly. Again, we are sorry for the intrusion.”
Maia, her hand still on Blaid’s arm, turned, forcing him to turn with her, and started walking away from the eccentric old man. It was obvious he did not want to be found and, by the way of his speaking, she gathered he had not spoken in a long time.
“Those who see would be like me. Come.”
They swung back to look at the old Elf, who had now risen and beckoned them with his right hand.
“Do not fear the unknown, for there are miracles to be shown.”
Blaid glanced at Maia, raising an eyebrow. She felt none of the unease of earlier, but now she could barely contain her curiosity. Every instinct told her to follow the old man, yet she knew her father, or brother, would warn her about such folly. She remembered what Blaid said earlier about trusting her instincts more often, thus she nodded and led a resisting Blaid towards the small tree house and climbed its stairs.
“Sit by the fire, what do you desire?”
Without waiting for an answer, the wrinkly Elf poured them water from a flask and set it before them. Maia noticed his clothes were old but well cared for. Although the Elf appeared ancient - white hair, wrinkled face, and age spots on his hands - he was well-groomed and healthy.
Maia lifted her mug and tried to read his Eläm as she took a sip.
“Nothing to see,” the old Elf mumbled, and ambled over to the fire place to add another log.
Blushing, Maia set her cup down. Glancing around the small cabin, she noticed scrolls and other papers on a table at a window, as well as ancient books on a shelf above the bed. In the corner next to a stove sat a basket filled with potatoes and, to her left, a rack with drying meat. Everything within the cabin was exceptionally clean.
“Going to save the world alone, where he should be sitting on the throne.”
Blaid shifted uncomfortably. Even Maia struggled with the old man’s riddles. This one especially made no sense to her.
“Please,” she said, “what is it you wanted to show us?”
The old Elf looked at her and his eyes flashed red in the firelight. For a moment, she thought she saw something in his eyes, but then dismissed it as her imagination or the shimmering of the flames. She sat up straighter when he came to the table. With a deep sigh and the sound of creaking joints, the old Elf sat down.
“I was once called Yolanden Oldenspear,” he said. “A very long time ago, I fear.”
“I am Maia Longshadow and my companion is Blaid Elderbow,” she introduced them, not thinking twice about giving their family names. Somehow, she trusted the old man, even if he spoke in a strange way.
“Old names you have. Old families you belong to. Yet young you are and blind.”
Again, Maia put a restraining hand on Blaid’s arm; he grew impatient. “Would you tell us what you mean by that? Maybe then we will see.”
“Aye. You shall see, but only once the two that came will leave as one.”
“We do not understand. What does it mean?”
“Look within you. Do you not feel alone? Are you not missing something of yourself? I was once where you are now and I did not see. I walked alone, a lonely path, for the two that were one did not become one.”
“Become one,” Maia whispered, the statement touching something within her.
“Only as one can the two that are one be strong as two but act like one.”
“Become one?” Blaid repeated.
Yolanden rose from his chair and went to retrieve a glass jar from a cupboard. From it, he pulled something attached to leather string. He set the jar on the counter, and came back to the table.
“For you,” and he handed one of the items to Blaid, “and for you.” He handed the other to Maia.
Both looked down at the items in their hands. Instinctively, Maia reached for the amulet around her neck to reassure her it was still there. The one Yolanden had just handed her was identical in every single way.
“We cannot accept this,” Maia protested at the expensive gift. “It is too much.”
“Accept it you must, for it belongs to you.”
Blaid’s hands shook as he held his up and then draped it around his neck. Maia followed his example, adding Yolanden’s amulet to her own.
“Why are you giving these to us?” Blaid asked, his voice choked with emotion.
“For you need them more than I ever did. For those that are two must leave as one. For without life, death does not exist. For without death, life has not meaning. Now go, leave an old man be. Do what you must, but heed my advice. Those that are two must always be one.”
He ushered them out of his house and down the stairs. As soon as their feet touched the ground, the air around them shimmered and the house was gone once more.
Both stood for a moment, unsure if it had been real. As one, they reached for the amulets around their necks to confirm the reality of what just happened. In a daze, they walked away.
“If I add some more water to it, I might be able to save it,” Maia said, stirring the contents of the pot gently so as not to loosen the burnt matter at the bottom. “I didn’t even realise we were gone so long.”
Lilith snorted, but stood her ground, as Midnight landed a few hundred paces from their camp site. He shuffled his wings, walked in a circle twice and then curled up on the dry, winter grass.
Maia and Blaid both stopped what they were doing and watched the dragon. Absently, Maia carried on stirring the pot.
Waken, shiny ones! Midnight spoke loudly into their minds. Or you shall become as lost as the old man.
Maia blinked rapidly, closed her eyes and held her fingertips to her temples.
“Are you all right?” Hurriedly, Blaid came closer and draped his arm around her.
“I feel as if I just awoke from a dream.” She looked at the pot and removed it from the fire. “There is no saving this. What was I thinking?”
“I feel the same,” Blaid admitted, reaching for the amulet. “Do you think Yolanden put something in our water? Or, maybe there is a charm on this amulet.”
Maia noticed Blaid did not attempt to remove the amulet. She did not think Yolanden put anything into their water, or that the amulet had a charm on it. Charms were rare, and easily broken.
“No,” she said, feeling confident, “it is Yolanden’s words that have charmed us. He told us something we needed to hear, but were not ready to hear yet.”
“Please, do not speak in riddles as well,” Blaid pleaded.
“The two that come as two must leave as one,” Maia mused. “I am sure that is meant for us. Do you think he means that Life and Death should not be together? We came to him as two. Maybe only one of us is to go on to complete our quest.”
“If that is what he meant, then he did not tell us anything new.” Disdain dripped from Blaid tongue. “Why can people not see that we are meant to be together? All everyone tries to do is tear us apart. Sometimes, I wonder if taking you to Elbendal is such a good idea. Maybe the old man is warning us about it.” Blaid paused, thinking with a deep frown on his face. “What if he meant we would arrive in Elbendal as two, but only one of us would leave there again?”
“Blaid, is
there something you are not telling me about your home country? Do you think they will hurt me?”
“No.” He looked up at her, shocked. “No, Maia,” he took her hand, “I am only worried that they will not let me go with you again. The people of Elbendal are as strict about their traditions as your family. Look how your father reacted to me. All I have been thinking is to bring you there so you can ask for their army. I know they would listen to your pleas. Now, however, after meeting Yolanden, I fear that they will give you their army, but will prevent me from going back with you.”
Now it was Maia’s turn to frown. “They could do that? What kind of hold do they have over you that they would be able to restrain you?”
He sighed. “There is much I must still tell you about my people. I am sorry we have not had much time to get to know each other. I realise, although I feel I have known you all my life, we barely know the person behind the Elemental.” He chuckled ruefully. “Although, I do have an advantage over you. I have studied your people for over three years and I have a good idea of your history, your upbringing, and even your childhood.” Shaking his head, he rose to his feet. “Come, there is no point in lingering here. The sooner we get to Elbendal, the sooner their army can be on the march. Let us pack up and we can eat travel bread while we fly.”
“Aye,” Maia agreed, but feeling weary. What is he hiding, Midnight? she asked her dragon.
Nothing I know of and nothing he will share with me.
Quickly, Maia helped Blaid pack up their belongings. They did not tie them to Lilith this time, but rather fastened them to Midnight. Blaid draped a blanket over Lilith’s back and secured it with a leather strap. Maia climbed up Midnight’s foreleg and settled on his back.
“Shh,” Blaid whispered to Lilith, and let his calm energy flow into her as Midnight rose. “Steady now.”
Hovering as silently as he could, Midnight positioned himself over the horse and then gently plucked her off the ground. Blaid reassured himself that none of Midnight’s talons were hurting his mare, and then cumbersomely climbed out of the confines of Midnight’s claw and up his leg to settle behind Maia.
“No turning back now,” he said. “To Elbendal we go as two. Or four, if you count Lilith and Midnight.”
Maia elbowed him in the ribs and then Midnight lifted high into the sky before flying off towards the sunset.
Travelling as they now were, they covered distances only dreamed of by the average traveller. Maia thought how fortunate she was for having Midnight and she thanked him over and over, not just for carrying Lilith, but also for him allowing Blaid to sit on his back … and so close to Maia.
Midnight’s thoughts in her head were sometimes all that kept her from giving in to her desires as she felt Blaid’s heat press against her; his body rubbing against hers from the motion of flight.
When they stopped to feed and water Lilith, and sleep for a short while, it took self-control not to let Blaid feel her Eläm and garner her feelings. If he knew how she truly felt, it would be even harder to resist him.
Every day, they spent the hours of flight talking. The more Maia learned about the kind of man Blaid was, the more she adored him. She realised that her attraction to him over the past two years had been shallow - physical attraction of two opposites - and at first she worried, with a chance to get to know him properly, she might not like him.
The opposite was true. At first, she loved him for the pureness of his Death Elemental Eläm. Then she loved him for his vulnerability recovering from the injuries inflicted by the Riven. Now, she came to love his sense of humour, his protectiveness, his morals and ethics, his willingness to sacrifice his life for hers, and his roguish charm.
During this time together, they agreed what they did in the past was wrong, but neither regretted it. It could not be undone. Although Maia felt bad for having violated their code, she would not stop thinking about the times they had been together.
It was difficult for them now, being celibate, but they agreed it was for the best until a solution was found. The solution, though, was one of the few things they disagreed about.
Maia’s first priority was to save her people. If they managed to do that, then she suggested they went away together. Away from condemnation. She hated the idea, to be away from her family, but to be with Blaid she would endure it.
Blaid was of the opinion they could persuade the people to accept them. Maia wanted to believe it, but when Blaid spoke about it, he only ever mentioned her family and Shadow Hall. He made it abundantly clear that he did not think his family would ever accept him back, especially not with a Life Elemental by his side.
Thus, for the most part, they did not discuss the future beyond saving their people. The longer they travelled, the more it became their sole focus. By the time they reached the mountains Maia saw from so many hundreds of miles away, any thought of them being together had been banished to the deepest recesses of their minds.
“I cannot believe this range is even bigger than the Grildor-Bron Mountains,” Maia gasped as Midnight set them down that evening.
“The Elben Torrs are the highest mountains in the northern hemisphere,” Blaid said, looking up at them with a sparkle in his eyes that belied his harsh thoughts about going home.
Too high to fly.
“The Elben Torrs are the reason we do not belong to the Rule of Grildor. We are completely cut off from the east. To get from Elbendal to the eastern countries, you need to travel five hundred miles to the south, or eight hundred miles to the north before you can travel east again.”
“Which road did you take?”
“I went through the mountains,” Blaid said with a grin. “I will show you the way tomorrow. There are canyons and vales low enough for Midnight to fly through. They are hidden and few people know they exist. Most of the eastern parts of the Elben Torrs are still unmapped.”
With a shuffle of wings, Midnight walked away from them so they could make camp. Once a distance away, the black dragon took to the air, the last rays of the sun sparkling off his dark hide.
“Let us make a fire. It will get dark quickly. Once the sun dips behind the mountains, it will be night, even though the sun has not yet set. There are wolves here, too, and not the friendly kind either.”
The landscape had changed as they flew south and west. Grildor was all about its pines and cedars, with oaks, maples and the like mixed into the forest. This far west, most of the cedars had disappeared and oak, maple, birch and walnut dominated the forest.
Maia was used to the giant trees of Grildor and for the average height of the trees to be only between twenty to forty paces seemed strange to her. It reminded her of the time she went to Rathaés with her father. There, too, the trees had been different, but then she had marvelled at it. Here, the short trees made her uncomfortable.
“I don’t like it here,” she said as she dumped an armful of wood by the stones they had laid for their fire.
“I would have worried if you did,” Blaid grinned. “I am sorry I did not tell you, but I wanted to see if you noticed.”
She glared at him. “What is this place?”
“Once, many millennia ago, settlers moved here from the south. The soil is fertile and ideal for farming. They established a small colony of about one hundred Elves and started to plough the land. All seemed well until, two Quarters after their arrival, Torr Wolves came down the mountain in hordes and killed every last one of them. The wolves have been called the Guardians of the Torr ever since and no one has ever tried to settle here again.”
Maia shuddered, now intensely aware of the deaths that had occurred here. “Torr Wolves?”
“Mountain Wolves. It’s what we call them in Elbendal. Big, brutish looking creatures.”
“Yes, I am familiar with them,” Maia said, looking up to the mountain.
“Do not fret,” he gently stroked her face, “we mean no harm to their lands and they will let us pass unharmed.
“I will still be happy to be on
our way in the morning,” she said, removing his hand from her now burning cheek. “How far is it to your city? Will we reach it tomorrow?”
“Aye,” Blaid said, bending to stack the wood and light the fire. “We live within the mountains on the westerly edge of the Elben Torrs. I reckon Midnight should reach it before dark if we get an early start.”
“You have told me so little about your city. What is its name? Will you not tell me more about it before we reach it?”
Blaid turned away from her. She thought she saw a look of embarrassment.
“Do you not trust me? What could be so bad that you cannot tell me?”
“I am sorry, Maia,” he mumbled under his breath as he hung a pot over the flames. “My family and I did not part on good terms. I do not like speaking about it. As for our city,” Blaid looked up now and the sparkle was back in his eyes, “it is the most beautiful place on this planet. I cannot wait to show you. Would you mind if we left it at that for now?”
Maia helped Blaid make dinner and set up camp for the night. She knew how hard it could be to talk about certain experiences, and did not push him. Yet, doubt gnawed at her. Blaid hid his Eläm so well, she could not tell whether he felt anger, sadness, or something else about what had transpired with his parents. She only hoped his standing within the community was still such that the king of Elbendal would see them.
She also wondered how far Blaid’s city was from Elbendal’s capital and if they would go there the very next day after their arrival. She hoped so. They had made up a lot of time flying with Midnight, but after what Blaid told her about the mountains, it would take Elbendal’s army a lot longer to get to Grildor that she thought.
Maia slept restlessly that night, dreaming of wolves. Even her thick, winter blanket could not ward off the cold of the night and when she woke a couple of hours before dawn, soft flakes of snow drifted down through the canopy of bare branches above.
Blaid sat by the fire, huddled in his blanket poking the coals with a branch. Lilith stood close by, a blanket draped across her back as well.