Floating lights were set to guard the valley, keeping the beast-elves in and all other animals out. But one creature escaped, perhaps with Vedvedsica’s help, and with illicit longevity spells kept himself alive so he might one day avenge the treatment of the exiles. That sole escapee was Faeterus, who loathed the elf race and plotted its obliteration.
With his chronicle complete, Favaronas had accepted a new role, that of tutor to the Speaker’s son.
“Come, sire,” he said softly. “It’s time for the child’s lessons to begin.”
Pulling his attention from the clouds that had swallowed his wife, Gilthas regarded him with surprise.
“But he’s only an infant.”
The scholar shouldered a large bag of scrolls. “Yes, sire. And he has so much to learn.”
* * * * *
At the empty volcanic shell that once had housed the Oracle of the Tree, an old man sat on the sand, his back against the black stone spire. He’d found the guise an excellent one. Being old-visibly old, like a human-conferred many advantages. Listeners were respectful. They didn’t fall on their faces and cower, nor did they expect him to perform impossible feats with a snap of his fingers. He came and went mysteriously, gave suitably obscure advice, and gently guided the affairs of mortals rather than directing them. It was a most satisfactory arrangement.
Was.
For his interference in the elves’ fate, he had earned a severe punishment. As autumn painted the forests of old Qualinesti in every shade of gold, russet, and red, he found himself plucked up and judged. The sentence was five hundred years’ banishment, the loss of his divine powers, and (a twist he considered particularly ironic) confinement in the feeble body he once had used only as a disguise. As of today, he had four hundred ninety-nine years and ten months to go.
He put back his head and laughed. The sound rang off the stone spire at his back and carried across the empty sands until distance consumed it. He was banished, confined to a weak and pain-riddled form, but the elf race would survive.
It was worth it.
FB2 document info
Document ID: bd-416ba0-0dc1-6b42-0294-ba08-50b2-83fe0d
Document version: 1
Document creation date: 31.08.2012
Created using: Book Designer 5.0, FictionBook Editor Release 2.6.6 software
Document authors :
Darlock
Document history:
v. 1.0
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Destiny ee-3 Page 31