by B. T. Narro
“I didn’t feel someone earlier,” Aliana whispered. “And I still don’t.”
A sense of danger prickled the back of my neck. I could’ve called out to let the person know we were here, but it seemed better just to leave. I was about to suggest that when the person lifted their hand. To my astonishment, all of the water rose out of the pond—a massive dense cloud of liquid just hovering there.
“Oh god,” Aliana murmured.
They swept their hand to the side, guiding the water out of the now completely empty pond, where they let it drop to splash loudly against the ground.
I was too astonished to turn away.
They reached out both their hands, and a sphere of water grew from nothing to the size of the small pond. They dropped it in, but they still weren’t done. They bent down to put the tips of their fingers into the now perfectly clear water of the pond. They crouched there for a little while until eventually steam rose out of the water.
“A master mage of fire and water!” Eden whispered.
Then they stood and dropped their cloak. I gasped. The woman was stark naked underneath it.
Suddenly Aliana was angrily pulling me toward the nearest tree, and I realized I had been staring.
I could count on one hand the number of times I had seen the posterior of a woman, but this by far was the loveliest one I had ever seen. What was surprising, though, was that Aliana and Eden appeared even more excited about the sight of it than I was. Eden was shaking Aliana’s shoulder as she spoke.
“Did you see that?”
“I know!” Aliana whispered back. “I can’t believe it.”
“Wait,” I whispered. “Why do the two of you sound so amazed?”
“Didn’t you see her ears?” Aliana asked.
“She had ears?” I jested.
Aliana’s mouth went flat while Eden slapped my arm with the back of her hand.
“Ow,” I muttered. “What is it about her ears?”
But Aliana made a face of fear as she put her finger over her lips. We fell silent. I heard the sloshing sound of footsteps coming toward us.
I told Aliana and Eden, “Stay behind me.”
They positioned themselves back defensively.
I came out from behind the tree expecting to see the woman, but there was no one there. I listened but heard nothing. I looked at where she should be given the sound of her footsteps earlier. The image of the forest blurred where she had to be standing. I could even make out tiny water droplets dripping around the illusion.
I wanted to draw my sword, but I knew that would be a mistake. The sorcerer was obviously powerful enough to beat me even with my best weapon out. Instead I showed her my open hands.
“We don’t mean any harm,” I spoke to the nearly invisible woman. “We just happened by. We shouldn’t have stopped to look, but we were curious. We didn’t know you would disrobe, and we certainly didn’t know you were wearing nothing underneath the robe.”
My eyes were starting to get used to the illusion. I could see the outline of her body against the blurred backdrop of the forest around her. She still seemed to be naked, with generous curves around her chest and hips.
A female voice emerged from the illusion. “Turn around.”
I turned and showed my back to her, now facing the backs of Aliana and Eden who had turned as well.
“We can leave,” I said.
“You will wait right there,” she commanded in a thick accent that added a melodic sound to her firm voice.
I could hear her walking back toward the pond. I started to see Eden look back over her shoulder, but I aggressively gestured for her to keep her head forward.
“Don’t be afraid,” the woman said. “If I was going to kill you, I would’ve done it by now. You can turn around.”
She had her robe on again, but her hood was down. She had long, pointed ears, the tips of which sprouted out from her hair. I had known elves existed, but they lived a thousand miles away. At least that was what my father had told me.
Her hair was not a color I had seen on any human head. It was nearly white but blushed faintly pink, like rosy white cheeks painted crimson from a rush of blood. It was difficult to determine her age. She was certainly older than me, wisdom evident in her large green eyes. But there was not a wrinkle across her creamy skin. She had a narrow face, with slender cheeks and a tightly pressed mouth. She was beautiful, but she also looked as if she was capable of great fury.
I was struck with fear as she walked up to me and wiped her finger across my forehead. It came back a little red. She smelled the blood close to her nose.
“Were you hunting a cantar, or was it hunting you?”
“Hunting us,” I said.
“I see.” She stepped close to my face. She was about Aliana’s height, considerably shorter than me, but I would be a fool not to be frightened. She took hold of my chin with one hand as she studied my face, turning it from one side to the other. Then she walked over to Aliana and studied her in the same way before finally checking Eden last. She came back to face me, then gestured at the two women behind.
“Stand here,” she demanded.
Aliana came up to my right side, Eden on my left.
“Who are you and what are you doing here?” she asked. “I sense some magical ability from all of you, but it is weak.”
The king’s rule still applied. We weren’t supposed to tell anyone who we were, especially not a sorcerer who was powerful enough to end our lives with hardly any effort.
“Tell us who you are first.” Eden spoke with what I felt to be an insulting amount of confidence.
The elf lowered her eyelids as she glanced at Eden. “Don’t test my patience. Tell me exactly why you are here.”
“We came into the forest to hunt small game,” I said.
“What else?”
No one answered her.
“What is your name?” she asked me.
“Jon.”
“I need to know more about the three of you, Jon, and you are going to tell me. Why else did you go into the forest?”
I couldn’t think of a lie that might protect us better than the truth. “To practice.”
The elf pointed at Aliana. “For you to practice earth and bow.” It didn’t sound like a question.
Aliana nodded.
The elf gestured at Eden. “For you to practice ordia.”
Eden nodded.
“And you…” She looked at me for a long while. “I’m not as sure about you. What I do know is that by practicing all of you must wish for more power, but what do you hope to do with more power?”
I didn’t know how I could keep from divulging the truth without a lie, but that was not something I wanted to do. For all I knew, a sorcerer strong enough to turn nearly invisible might be able to sense it somehow.
“Speak!” she shouted, startling us. “Or I will make you answer me against your will.”
“With more power, we want to help people,” I said.
“What kinds of people?” she tested.
“The people who need help the most.”
“And who are they?”
“Anyone who is treated unjustly.”
She looked into my eyes from so close that our lips were nearly touching.
“I think you know more about Lycast than you let on,” she said as she stepped back, to my relief. “I think you know what’s happening here…and in Rohaer. I think you swore to someone that you would not speak about it. And I think you are right not to say more.”
She paused. It was difficult not to nod in agreement as she looked so closely at me, but I managed to refrain.
She continued, “I will not force you to break your oath so long as I am given the same respect and trust. Do the three of you agree?”
We all agreed rather quickly.
“My name is Eslenda. When you are strong enough to face a cantar without risk, you will enter this forest again. I will make myself known to you. Only then can we discuss our
goals.”
“All right!” Eden said dismissively as she tossed her hands up and started walking away. “But I don’t think we’ll be seeing each other again. I’m sorry we disturbed your bath. Come on, Ali and Jon.”
“Wait.” I didn’t understand Eden’s tone. Was it that she didn’t believe anything the elf had said? It wasn’t that I trusted Eslenda completely either, but she obviously knew more about sorcery and this forest than we did. There was still so much she could teach us.
“I want to understand something,” I tried.
“I will not speak about myself because it might endanger all of you,” the elf told us. “That is why you will come back only when you are stronger, when you can face the same danger I do.”
I was beginning to realize she might be talking about people, not creatures. Perhaps she spoke about the same people who had tried to alter my mana with an essence of dteria, but I couldn’t ask anything about that without opening myself up more than I wanted to.
“At least tell me something about this forest,” I persisted. “I have hunted in the woods many times, but I’ve never seen an animal behave like the cantar. I shot it with two arrows, and it still charged me. I buried my sword in its face, and it did not back off.”
“The closer you walk to the center of the forest, the more the creatures are corrupted by dteria. They do not feel fear or pain. They seek only one thing: more power.”
“Why is that?” I asked. “Is there something at the center of the forest?”
“There is Gourfist. He sleeps for a hundred years.”
“All right!” Eden said. “Now we’ve definitely been here too long.” She took my hand and pulled.
I held my ground. “Wait. We feel stronger in the forest. Is that dteria corrupting us?”
“No. There is dteria in the forest, but the dvinia here is stronger. Dvinia of the land strengthens mana. It is strongest where it needs to be. Closer to the center.”
I knew I was pushing my luck asking yet another question, but I had to try. “If dteria is coming from Gourfist, then where is dvinia coming from?”
She shook her head. “You do not understand sorcery enough yet for these answers to matter. Train and stay clear of dteria. Return here later if you have not given up. I cannot help you if you speak of me to anyone. Now leave. I wish to bathe.”
I was the last to turn and go. I was starting to see that magic wasn’t only something that could be used by people. It also seemed to shape the land around Newhaven. She was probably right that I had to know more about sorcery for the answers to my questions to actually be useful. Leon, another powerful sorcerer, never seemed to indulge anyone’s curiosity either. But I couldn’t let go of mine. I had a wide range of mana. I wanted to know everything about sorcery before spending more time training.
Eslenda spoke about sorcery the other way around. She implied I had to train more before I could really understand sorcery. At least she’d made one thing clear. Dvinia was the reason the forest made it easier to train. But she’d specifically called it dvinia of the land. It seemed to be different than the dvinia I used. I tried to feel for dvinia around us, but I couldn’t sense anything.
We were silent for a long while as we walked. Eventually, Eden spoke first.
“Jon, you really shouldn’t trust anything she says. Elves are not known for wanting to help humans.”
“Yes, I know what supposedly happened after the Day of Death. The elves traveled south and made a home away from humans.”
“Do you know why, though?” she asked.
“No,” I admitted.
“Because of the war,” Eden explained. “They lived here in Curdith Forest before hairy and dirty humans started migrating from the north. The elves worshiped a god at the center of the forest, most likely Basael, who told them to welcome humans and allow them to live around the forest. The elves did at first, but soon the human population rose to be above the elven population. They started infiltrating the forest to hunt and kill many of the animals that the elves relied upon. It didn’t take long for them to start fighting each other. This was before the Day of Death. Elves believe it was Basael who caused a star to fall, the resulting explosion killing almost all humans and elves. They believe he had been enraged by the actions of the two races.”
The tale sounded very familiar. I was certain I had heard it when I was young, probably from the same neighbors who’d told me about demigods.
“The surviving elves left Curdith Forest,” Eden continued, “because the demigods went to war with each other and were using humans to fight. The elves still believe humans are weak-willed, selfish, and other things, I’m sure. Eslenda could be trying to use us. It’s best to forget about her.”
“You can’t be sure that all elves still think that way,” I said. “But even if they do, Eslenda is clearly a powerful sorcerer. She understands magic and mana better than we do. I thought I might take advantage of that with a few questions. I don’t think of her answers as facts. Her information was just something I’d like to keep in mind.”
“I agree with Jon,” Aliana said. “It’s like listening to Kat…aleya speak about the demigods. It’s interesting and might be true, but I’m not going to take it as fact.”
“All right.” Eden shrugged. “I do agree that she had some good advice we should heed. There’s no reason to speak about her to anyone, just in case her warnings are true. She could have enemies, people who would hurt us for information about her, and we have no idea who those people might be.”
“Agreed,” I said.
“It will be our secret,” Aliana grinned. “A naked elf in the forest told us not to speak about her, or we would be in danger.”
“Yeah, I’m hearing how that sounds,” I said. “We wouldn’t be believed anyway.”
Eden added, “Now the incident with the cantar, that I can’t wait to tell everyone. Do you mind, Jon?” She tilted her head as she looked at me.
“I’d like to speak about it with Leon first. I need to know if he was aware how dangerous this forest could’ve been for us.”
“I want to hear his answer as well,” Aliana agreed.
“Do you mind if I speak to him alone at first?” I requested. I didn’t want Aliana, or anyone else, to see me angry, and I wasn’t sure I would be able to stop myself depending on what Leon said.
“All right,” she said.
CHAPTER SIXTEEN
We rushed back and made it before supper. Everyone seemed to be training in the courtyard like the day before, except Leon was laying in the dirt, supine, his arms and legs spread. He might’ve looked like he was dead, but I saw many people glance over and they were not alarmed.
I approached Michael as the two girls went over to greet Kataleya. Michael was practicing the spell Wind, no essence in hand. He gawked at me.
“What the hell happened?”
I knew he must be referring to the blood all over my shirt, with some probably still on my face. “I’ll tell you in a little bit. What’s going on with Leon?”
“You ever get dragged somewhere as a child and get so bored that you have to lie down or you might scream? I think that’s what’s happening here.”
“I see. Well, I need to speak with him.”
“Good luck.”
Leon didn’t bother sitting up as I walked over.
“Leon,” I said.
His eyes remained closed. Could he actually be asleep?
“Leon,” I tried, a little louder this time.
He groggily opened his eyes. He put his hand over them to block out the sun as he looked up at me.
“Is that blood?”
“Yes, from a giant, black cat.”
“Airinold’s taint, how far did you go? Are the two women all right?” He sat up and looked around frantically, then relaxed as he saw them with Kataleya.
“Why didn’t you warn us to stay near the perimeter?” I asked angrily.
“First of all, take a step back and change your tone.”
>
I eased off him a bit.
“Did you seriously slay a cantar?” Leon asked as he stood up.
“I did, but the whole exchange could’ve gone differently.”
“Nijja’s tit, I ask again, how far did you go?” He sounded perturbed, which angered me even more. This was not my fault.
I threw my hands up. “We just walked half the day before we encountered it!”
“No beast as large as a cantar is within a day of walking.”
“It was. Aliana sensed it ahead of us. We decided to turn around before we saw it, but it must’ve picked up our scent. It chased after us. We couldn’t outrun it, so I had to fight it.”
Leon looked at me as if I might be lying. “Are you sure it was a large black cat?”
“Yes, I’m sure! It nearly bit my face off!”
His eyes held shock. Eslenda hadn’t seemed too surprised about us finding a cantar, though, which did make me think of something.
“When was the last time you were in the forest?” I wasn’t sure if I would be able to hold in my rage depending on how he answered.
He rubbed his cheek. “One year, no…god. Has it really been that long?”
“Longer than one year?” I was almost shouting. “You sent us in there without going yourself in longer than a year? How many years are we talking about?”
“Jon, I’m warning you. Your tone.”
“The three of us could’ve been killed! I’m sorry if I’m going to sound a little pissed off about it!”
I realized the courtyard had gone silent, everyone staring. They had all heard.
“Get inside, now!” he yelled as he pointed at the apartments.
I stormed into the building with him right behind.
“Sit!” He pointed at the stairs.
I huffed as I took a seat. He stood in front of me and looked like he was going to yell, but he stopped himself.
Leon looked down for a little while as he seemed to be in thought. When he glanced up at me again, he actually looked somewhat sorry, if Leon was even capable.