by Quil Carter
I’m sorry, Teal…
“We will find Ben.”
Malagant didn’t believe his own words, but he would be strong for Teal. Teal wasn’t looking for honesty, he was looking for reassurance. “My father says we’re all connected, one way or another. The jewel is split, but it’s still one gem. We are split, but we’re still joined. Ben is our sapphire pendant carrier, he’ll return to us.”
Teal fell into silence again. “What is yours will return to you.”
Malagant looked at him quizzically. He knew Teal could see him; his hibrid eyes had excellent night vision.
“Anagin said that to me, and Kaul Avahlis did as well. That must apply to Ben too… he’ll return to us, right?”
Hiding the doubt inside of him, Malagant made himself smile. “He will, Teal.”
“I miss him so much, Mel. I had – I had finally gotten the nerve to tell him,” Teal said. He sniffed and Malagant could see him wipe his eyes. “He forgave me, did you know that? He forgave me for lying to him about Tav. He held me too when I was crying, he comforted me.”
Malagant shifted around uncomfortably. “I know.”
“You know?”
Malagant looked up at the ceiling. “I may have listened in a bit.”
Teal gasped; he looked at Malagant in shock. “You eavesdropped on us!?”
“I knew you two probably wouldn’t be able to speak of it for a while, since it was such a heavy topic… I was, well, gods-be-damned, I was curious! I have been following your hibrid drama since the riverside. I have a right to know!”
Malagant couldn’t see him as well, but he could see enough to know Teal was giving him a withering glare.
Suddenly Teal grabbed his pillow and smacked Malagant right in the face.
Malagant shielded his face from the second smack. He couldn’t help it, he started to laugh. “My counsel comes at a cost, and the cost is eavesdropping. I regret nothing; it was adorable; you two were such little adults. Finally.”
“You horrible cretin!” Teal exclaimed, beating Malagant some more with the pillow. “How much did you hear!?”
Malagant let out a laugh. “I heard that you want us to buy a holdfast and raise goats. Goats? Really? Their eyes always scared me. How about rabbits? Or giori? Or nothing at all; Korivander and Calin will be throwing covis at us until we’re old elves.”
Teal paused; he tucked the pillow under his chin and looked at him. “We’ll still be together when this is over? All of us? You want us to buy a holdfast?”
Malagant shrugged; he had never really thought about it. Cruz and his father had had their falling out, and went their separate ways. His other knight friends had all become brainwashed. He didn’t know what he was planning on doing after. Usually at the ends of incredible journeys, everyone went back to their holds, their families. Teal and Ben didn’t have families though, he was their family.
“What else would I do? Gotta take care of the hibrids, lest they become even more feral and more songs get written about them. You especially, Midget of the Woods.”
Teal smiled; he shifted over and yawned. “Thanks, Malagant. The song was The Throateater though.”
Well, that made sense, of course it was the Throateater mask who had robbed the merchants and killed the bandits. It seemed obvious now.
“Of course it was.” Malagant smiled back and then he narrowed his eyes. “Don’t think I didn’t hear that kiss either.”
Malagant could practically see the redness come to Teal’s face. “That… that was more of a goodbye kiss… you heard him say goodbye to Tav.”
“Still, he was your first kiss, wasn’t he?” Malagant’s smile only widened, especially when the silhouette of Teal cowered down.
“Maybe… even if it wasn’t for me – it was for Tav.” Teal sighed.
“Still though, I don’t think it’s fair. Where the hell is my damn kiss? You can’t leave me out of your little love affair.”
“Malagant!” Teal exclaimed, his voice full of shock. “Nothing like that has happened! Oh my gods.” When Malagant started laughing Teal cowered down further and hit him on the shoulder. “You… you can’t torment me with things like that! You know very well…”
“I still want a damn kiss from both of you. Just to keep it even,” Malagant said with a shake of his head.
There was more silence before another sigh from Teal broke the still air. “Do you think… that will eventually happen?” Malagant could practically hear his heartbeat speed up and something told him this was a question Teal would never be able to ask in the daylight.
“I think we have too much going on to even go there yet, Tee,” Malagant said honestly. “Who has time to even think of such things? Ben’s still missing, our prophecy in shambles. The last thing we should be thinking about is our lives after.”
“I’m just…” Malagant was surprised to hear a sniff. “I’m afraid everything will change after the war, like what happened between Anagin and my father. I… I’m afraid you two will leave me.”
When Malagant heard Teal sniff again, he sighed and shifted close to him. He put a hand on the side of his head and gently wiped away the tears he knew were forming on the corners of Teal’s eyes. “We’ll never leave you. It won’t be like Cruz and Dad. I promise.”
To Malagant’s surprise Teal moved closer to him. He didn’t know quite what he was doing until he felt Teal put his own hand to the side of Malagant’s head.
Then Teal leaned in and gently kissed Malagant’s lips.
“Thank you, Mel.”
Captain of the Guard Pontis was exactly how Malagant had remembered him: straight to the point, slightly paranoid, and an elf that rarely smiled. He was a unique elf, an Evercovian crossed with a Darcovian, middle-aged with auburn hair and ocean blue eyes, and a small beard covering a square, firm jaw. If there was anyone to help him find Ben, Pontis Meikil was the elf to get it done.
To Pontis’s left was Malagant’s old friend Melesch, who had trained with him in Fort Greybane, but had been stationed as a guard instead of deployed around Alcove like Malagant had been. And finally to Pontis’s right, the second-in-command, a ladyelf taller than Malagant was, with fierce steel-coloured eyes and short brown hair, Tiercel’s aunt, Suana.
Pontis rolled out an old dog-eared map in front of them and placed an oil lamp over it to hold it down.
They were in the guard tower, a cylinder room made of grey brick, decorated in banners and maps, lined with armour and weapon racks, and a single ladder going all the way to the top, passing through several floors. Malagant had spent years sleeping in towers the same as these. Needless to say he didn’t miss them, there was nothing worse than dorming with half a dozen elves who smelled to high heaven and found pissing contests to be the best way to pass the time. They were all the same, dimly lit, stuffy, and always smelling of sweat and hay.
“Well, as it comes I can spare five,” Pontis said. He stroked his short beard and glanced at Suana. “With my five, Melesch, Suana, Josiah, Malagant, and Teal that makes ten. I’ll split you up into three parties; the one with four can take on the east. The plains are flooding near there so I want strong elves who know the area. Two guards at least.”
Malagant looked at the map. It was disheartening seeing how big the plains were. He kept telling himself that the area Ben would be found in was only a fraction of the vast expanse of grasslands, but even still it was many leagues. Many leagues of rocky rolling hills, sheer ridges, clusters of trees, and small rivers. Lots of places for a hibrid to hide, and for a former human to get into a lot of trouble.
“I’ll knock on some doors. I have coin; I’ll hire some sellswords,” Malagant said. “I want as many elves out there as I can.”
“Feliene, Tamsi, and Daesy will be more than happy to go.” Suana nodded. They were Suana’s children, Tiercel’s cousins. “Knock on Ros’s door too, Malagant… you know she’ll want to see you. Kindell might want to go as well; he knows the plains as well as you do.”
M
alagant felt a knot in his throat. Tiercel’s mother always asked him the same thing, and he always had the same answer for her.
Suana saw the hesitation on his face. “Please, Malagant?”
Malagant didn’t answer, but he managed a slight nod. The lady guard gave him an appreciative look back and turned back to Pontis. “I’ll take Josiah and Melesch. We’ll grab some food for the journey and head out right away. If the poor hibrid is still alive, we shouldn’t be wasting time pouring over a map.”
Pontis stuck several needles into the map, Malagant watched as he pointed to each one. “If you recruit more elves Malagant, mark it with an additional needle and write their names down on the parchment, colour-coded with the appropriate needle of course. We’re going to do this properly, so we don’t overlap. On the third day hopefully we’ll have scoured four leagues in every direction.”
“Even farther north?”
Pontis nodded. “Get on the right angle with the Shadymir Hills, you’ll miss the walls. If the hibrid doesn’t know the area, he could pass Birch altogether.”
Malagant felt a surge of gratitude towards the captain. He didn’t have the will to organize anything nearly as well as the guard could. A real search party was a windfall for him right now. And a bit of good news for Teal, who was buying supplies for them at the moment with Josiah.
“No time to waste then,” Suana said. “I’ll get my children. Malagant, take a moment and see Ros, see if Kindell wants to go. We’ll meet back here within an hour and set off.”
Pontis nodded, writing down everyone’s names on a piece of hemp parchment. The ladyelf inclined her head and turned around. Moments later daylight flooded the room as she opened the iron-enforced door and went outside.
Malagant let out a breath and turned to leave.
“Malagant?” Pontis’s voice called after him.
“Yes?”
“No one?”
Malagant knew what he was asking. It was the same question everyone asked him when he came to visit his old home.
Have you seen them? The sons, daughters, mothers, and fathers who had trained in Fort Greybane and had been sent off into Alcove to eventually be brainwashed. Malagant had many names memorized in his head. Pleas from the townsfolks, elves he had grown up with, to bring news of their loved ones. It had been agonizing every time to have to tell them no, or even worse… yes.
Malagant shook his head. “No, Pontis… no one we would know.”
The guard nodded, his stern face unwavering. He put his steel helmet back over his head and turned to grab his shortsword, resting on a wooden table behind them.
“Anea thanks you… for what you are doing, Malagant,” the guard said quietly. “We will get your friend back. It is the least we can do.”
“Thank you, Captain.” Malagant didn’t know what else to say back, for some reason he always felt guilty for not bringing them the news he knew they wanted to hear.
Fort Greybane was Serpent-controlled now, but before Erick came it was one of the only ways out of the boredom of the plains. Most of the young elves ended up going into the service just to get out and see Alcove for a few years. A lot of sons and daughters from Birch, Arasbor, Goldsrise, and other surrounding towns had been lost after the invasion. Dead or brainwashed.
Pontis just nodded again as he belted his sword, and before he could say another word, Malagant pushed the wooden door open and left.
The sun was gone today, hidden behind thick cinereal clouds that blocked out any light that may have come through. It was nothing but a bright orb in the darkening sky, hidden away from the rains that drizzled down on them.
The clouds were deepening, as Malagant walked down the wet cobblestone street he could see that they had gotten blacker since he had gone into the small tower. He hoped the wind would stay away, and that this was as bad as the weather was going to get. The last thing the search parties needed was a storm. The last thing Ben needed was a storm.
I can no longer guarantee that Ben is alive…
The words had gutted Malagant. The grave look his father had given him threatened to snatch away the fool’s hope he had been holding in himself. He had come to Birch for answers but instead he’d just gotten more questions. Their mission was scattered to the wind. He felt lost, hopeless, and confused. The only solace he held to him was that he was well again, and his hands healed.
But what good would that do Ben? Ben was still lost, still gone from them.
Teal didn’t know. They all knew it would be best to not tell Teal what Anagin had confirmed. The last thing his friend needed was another reason to believe that Ben was dead. Teal could barely hold himself together. He needed rest, comfort, a warm fire and most of all… recovery for his head.
Malagant started glancing into shop windows, passing cloaked rain-soaked elves and armoured guards, and looked out for his friends.
He dreaded the day he would have to tell Teal it was time for them to continue on to Garas. If his father would let them that is… eventually they might have to sneak out. Though that was a far away possibility in his head, for now, he was more than happy to stay in Birch.
The prophecies obviously didn’t care either way right now. Or whatever you would call that false book.
Malagant noticed he was scowling, which probably had got him a few choice looks from the shopkeepers inside. He couldn’t help himself feeling jaded and bitter with the prophecies. All the build-up for these supposed godly events, including his father and Teal’s fathers having to survive the Black War and create them, and bringing a human back… all for the demigod to skimp during the last leg. If Kelakheva was a knight he would have been whipped and exiled long ago.
A smirk came to his lips. Kelakheva getting whipped in the square with three-score elves hollering and jeering at him was an amusing thought. He may just have to share it with Teal later. It might earn him a second kiss.
Malagant glanced into a textiles shop but there wasn’t a blond head to be seen. He did make eye contact with a rather jowly merchant though.
Malagant walked down a set of moss-rimmed stairs, leading to a lower level of the merchants’ square. On the second level they would find butcher shops, cheese shops, and wine sellers. The wine seller always kept a good stock of silverwine; he would have to stock up for Ben and Teal before they left. They always liked the stuff. Malagant never understood the appeal when you had perfectly good real wine nearby.
Malagant had almost made his way around the entire lower level of the square when he stopped. Feeling foolish for not thinking of it earlier, he turned around and headed down one of Birch’s side streets towards the apothecary and potions shops. Teal had his thing for apothecary and, of course, Josiah would be chomping at the bit to have Teal teach him a few things.
Malagant looked around as he walked down the side street. Tall two-storey houses were on either side of him, with a narrow street in between. The houses were close together, with only small alleyways separating each structure. The mid-class homes were wood and brick, like most of Birch, well-lit and full of life. Not many elves were out today in the rain.
Several cloaked elves passed Malagant as he walked down towards the small cluster of shops, built near a well like most potions and apothecary shops were. The two shops he was looking for were run by two ancient alchemist sisters, tiny little things, they had been old since Malagant could remember.
He remembered the first time he met them. He must have been six or so when Anagin had settled them in here permanently. They had tried to banish his father with a lit bundle of sage and lavender, and a handful of fox ash. Said he was of black blood and an evil spirit. Which, of course… in a way he was. Once Anagin had lied and told them it was merely from his time in Evercove being around sheomancers, they had settled down; though they always gave him and Malagant the stink eye. Josiah on the other hand they liked… everyone always seemed to like Josiah more. Why, was beyond him. Malagant had little magical ability and no ability for dark magic, unlike hi
s sunmage brother.
Perhaps it was just Malagant’s funny manner. He had always been the wild one, getting into everything and asking too many questions. His brother had always been quiet, clean, and polite; the precious sunmage, the golden child, just like his stupid hair. Golden like his fathers had been, before the sheomancy and exposure to the demenos had turned it black.
Malagant had to chuckle at himself, his deep down personal issues with his family, in the heat of all this chaos, never ceased to amuse him. He was on the cusp of losing the prophecy and he still managed to vent internally about old family wounds.
Malagant turned a sharp corner and looked towards two adjoining shops. He put on a smile when he saw Teal leaning up against a wooden beam with his arms crossed, his canvas bag on his back. Behind him, a wooden display of apothecary ingredients with a canvas overhead shielding it from the rain. Roots, dusts, animal parts, dried herbs; everything you could put into a bottle was there.
Teal looked at him. Malagant noticed he was looking rather hurt.
“What’s wrong?” Malagant said. He could hear his brother talking to the old elves inside.
“Apparently I’m an evil omen,” Teal said flatly. He dusted off some ash from his doublet. “I am of black blood, stinking of Shol smoke, and seeping with dark magic, and yet they let Josiah in and give him cookies? He was the demenos!”
Malagant started laughing. He helped Teal slap away what he assumed was fox ash.
“They did it to my father too. I don’t know how they don’t sense it on Josiah. Perhaps he just shines his pearlies at them and bats his eyelashes.”
Teal managed a small smile, though his face still showed a bit of hurt. “Well, I managed to buy what I needed before they smelled me. Josiah should be out soon. There were a few things I missed that he’s haggling on.”
“Oh? Did you get anything particularly disgusting? I saw congealed bat blood in there once, powdered raptorlizard teeth, dryder venom, dried bees…”
“If I tell you, you won’t drink the next serum I try to give you. It’s best you don’t know,” Teal said, giving him an actual smile.