The Elven Alliance

by J. A. Culican

  “How?” I shook my head at the sight of the two of them. How did they get back here so quickly? Gaber only just left.

  “There is much to your tilium you have yet to figure out. Once we retrieve the Golden Dragon, I will continue your training,” Gaber answered.

  “One question has been answered,” Evander stated. “The eldens did help the farros. We are now in a battle against both.”

  “My guess is they have more fallen on their side,” Gaber said. “Taking the Golden Dragon would, no question, start a fight. They are prepared.”

  “Battle.” Jericho shook his head. “This is a war.” He began to pace. “Prince Zane tried to convince me of this fact. My judgment was clouded.”

  “We’ve been at war for a hundred years.” Gaber looked wryly at Jericho, who didn’t notice. “That’s old news.”

  “It seems the dragons have finally joined the war.” Evander’s eyes followed Jericho’s restless movements across the room.

  “Yes, but how long will they stay?” Gaber asked, looking between Cairo and Jericho.

  Jericho glared at Gaber. “Enough. We stand with you and all true beings.”

  “As do the fairies,” Annabelle added.

  “And the trolls,” Evander chimed in.

  “Dragons, fairies, trolls and elves oh my,” Prince Gaber sang. “This ought to be fun.”

  “Fun?” Cairo shouted.

  Gaber held his hands up to ward off Cairo’s anger, raising his eyebrows to show off his bright orange eyes. “Let’s get the Golden Dragon back, shall we?”

  “Where would they take her?” I asked. I prayed they hadn’t hurt her; unsure how I’d survive if anything happened to her. She was the one person I had always been able to count on, my closest friend, the only family I truly had in this crazy new life of mine. As it was, we’ve barely had time to spend with each other. Ever since Eva arrived at Ochana, our lives had been stuck in fast forward.

  “The swamp.” Gaber rubbed his face. “It will no doubt be a trap.”

  “The swamp? Where exactly is that?” I was pretty sure I wouldn't like the answer.

  “Zulia,” Gaber answered, walking to a nearby window. “Venezuela.”

  “We’ve never been successful in gaining entrance into the swamp,” Jericho stated. “The energy they have protecting them is one we’ve only seen there.”

  “Neither have we. Eldrick has found a way to harvest his tilium.” Gaber softly touched the snow on the windowsill. “We recycle ours.”

  “What do you mean?” I walked closer to Gaber as he continued to gaze at the snow, which should have melted by now in the heat.

  “When an elf passes on to the next world, their tilium is left behind.” Gaber turned to face me. “The streams that crisscross throughout Paraiso contain the tilium of my ancestors, and all past elves.” He looked to the ground. “Used to, anyway. It’s what kept our protective wards strong.”

  “The amount of tilium Eldrick would’ve needed is incomprehensible,” Evander said with a shake of his head.

  “Our mahier is strong, and with the tilium of the elves and fairies…” Jericho paused his pacing. “Together. Together we might be able to break through the elden’s barrier.”

  Gaber’s amber gaze landed on me. “Did any of you wonder where the smoke disappeared to?”

  “It left with Eldrick,” Queen Annabelle answered.

  “No.” Gaber moved closer to me. “The fear inside our Keeper dissipated it.” He tapped my chest. “The energy that flows through you is much stronger than the energy that flows through any other being, including Eldrick. Because yours is pure.”

  “But the farro’s tilium is dark,” I stammered. “It's not pure.”

  “No, but you are, and the tilium resides within you.” Gaber turned towards Jericho. “Even if Tana is able to pull the tilium out of the Prince, it will be no good to her.”

  “If what you're saying is true. Eldrick has an abundance of tilium. Wouldn’t he have shared the wealth with the farros?” I asked.

  “No. I’ve felt no shift of tilium to any being. Eldrick hasn’t and won’t share,” Gaber answered.

  “Why? I mean, I can only imagine the damage they could cause together.” A shiver of fear raced through me.

  “Power,” Gaber whispered.

  Power. The last thing we wanted was for either of the eldens or the farros to have any kind of power. Their own hunger for control and selfishness just might be their downfall. I shook my head in an attempt to erase that thought; first we needed to find Eva.

  “Why would Tana stay with Eldrick?” I asked. “She must know then that he won't help them.”

  “Oh, I’m sure she does,” Gaber replied. “But I’m sure she has a plan to stab him in the back as well.” He shrugged his shoulders. “But Eldrick is smarter. He will see it coming.” Gaber turned back towards the window. “Fallen creatures never truly work together. That's what makes them unpredictable.”

  “And unstable,” Jericho added. “Which means we need to make a plan now on how to get the Golden Dragon back.”

  “Time isn't our friend,” Evander added. “That's how Eldrick wanted it.”

  “He wants us to rush to the swamp.” Gaber’s ears twitched in thought. “He expects us to be careless.” He rubbed his hands roughly across his face.

  Jericho stooped down to meet Cairo’s eyes. “We need you to get your head on straight. I’ve never seen you so-”

  “Emotional?” Gaber suggested as he cocked his head towards the two.

  “There is more to this,” Cairo whispered.

  “What does that mean?” Jericho asked as he stood to his full height.

  “Verum Salit,” Gaber stated. “Our ace.” He turned towards me. “Two aces.”

  Smoke steamed around Jericho as Gaber spoke. The flames in his eyes danced from Cairo to Gaber. “What do you mean?”

  “The elf is right.” Cairo shook his head. “It’s how I found her that day.”

  “That’s impossible,” Jericho barked. “The Golden Dragon is a dramon. You're a dragon.”

  Laughter spilled from Gaber. “And that means what exactly? The last set was many years ago. And as you know, they weren't of the same species, either.”

  Confusion wrapped itself around me. Verum Salit. What did that mean? And why was Jericho going into smoky dragon mode over it? Gaber continued to laugh as he turned towards Evander and Annabelle.

  “This is good. Eldrick will never see this coming!” Evander exclaimed.

  “And he has no clue how powerful the Prince is,” Annabelle said, pointing at me.

  Gaber hurried towards the table, as he passed by two chairs that had been tipped over, he stopped and picked them up. He tucked the chairs in around the table and plopped down on the larger of the two chairs sitting at the head of the table. Annabelle took the one to his left and Evander grabbed another to sit next to her. Revitalized energy zipped around the table as the three began to talk strategies.

  “Hold on.” I waved my hands in the air. “What does all this mean?”

  “It means secrets have been held,” Jericho stated. “Sit.” Jericho pointed to the table. “Tell us everything.”

  Chapter Sixteen

  Verum Salit. Those two words bounced in my head as I took a seat at the table next to Cairo. Jericho paced from one end of the hut to the other, stopping every few feet to huff out a growl then continue. The smoke that trailed behind him was light and airy, much different to the smoke Eldrick had dropped on us not too long ago. The snow that still lay on the table served as a reminder of the devastation he had left in his departure.

  “Verum Salit,” Cairo spoke from beside me. “True mate.”

  I pondered those two words. True mate. I knew from school that some animals—like wolves—mated for life. Were dragons the same way?

  “Mate? You mean like werewolves?” I asked as I closed my eyes for the ludicrousness of that question.

  Laughter exploded from the head of the table,
reminding me that we weren't alone.

  “And what do you know about werewolves?” Gaber asked.

  “Just what I’ve read in books.” I shrugged, feeling the heat from my embarrassment cover my neck.

  “Books,” Jericho echoed from across the room. He turned to face us in a swirl of smoke.

  “I mean I know they aren't real. I just-”

  “They’re real,” Gaber cut me off. “Just as every creature you’ve ever read about in your books is. Where do you think those ideas came from?”

  “I’m not a werewolf and neither is Eva,” Cairo said. “Verum Salit is a belief we learned from Aprella, but not many beings believe it to be true.”

  “It’s quite rare,” Annabelle stated.

  “You mean extinct,” Jericho growled. “How do you know this is the case?”

  “You never questioned how I found Eva that day? The day of her first shift.” Cairo shook his head. “I was doing a perimeter check of Ochana, and yet I found her in Texas.”

  Jericho pointed his red gaze at Cairo. “Now’s your chance to explain.”

  Cairo rubbed his hands across his face and dropped them to his lap. “There was a light in the distance. One I didn't fear. It felt close. Much closer than it was.”

  “I don’t understand,” I said.

  Cairo’s eyes met mine. “The light within her sang to me. I followed without a thought.” He tore his eyes from mine and met Jericho’s. “I found her in a park near her school. She’d just begun a morning run.” He hung his head.

  “Four thousand miles.” Jericho placed his hands on his hips. “So you’re saying, for four thousand miles you flew without a thought? Towards a light in the sky?” He raised his head and stunned both Cairo and me with a dark red glare.

  “Verum Salit,” Cairo whispered. “I reached the park just as her first shift began. Her strength amazes me. She had no knowledge of what was happening to her. No idea she was a dramon, or even what a dramon was.”

  “What does it mean to be true mates?” I asked.

  “It means their souls are aligned. Just as the stars aligned the day the Golden Dragon moved in next door to you,” Queen Annabelle explained. “A much higher being has been preparing this for a long time.”

  “The Keeper of Dragons would come at a time of great fear.” Gaber pushed his white hair out of his face. “The fates knew the two of you would need the fiercest warriors by your sides.”

  “I was created almost 150 years ago,” Cairo stated, “which means they have known this time of fear would come for quite some time.”

  Cairo looked to be around 25 at most. His golden brown hair fell to his shoulders in a tangled mess. He constantly pulled at his hair in frustration, which he was doing as we spoke.

  “Have you explained this to the Golden Dragon?” Queen Annabelle asked.

  Cairo cleared his throat. “No. I am her protector. I will always be her protector. I need her to see me as such in order to keep her safe.” He looked to me. “And she is one half of the Keeper of Dragons. I must focus on aiding the two of you on your journey.”

  “So, the two of you are going to get married?” I asked.

  Cairo chuckled. “It’s a bit more complicated than that.”

  “Meaning?”

  “Meaning they share a soul,” Gaber chimed in. “I’m surprised the Golden Dragon has not sensed the connection.”

  “She has.” Cairo shook his head. “It took much persuasion on my part to chalk it up to her being my charge and I may have had to use my mahier a few times to block the connection.” He shrugged his shoulders.

  “But the connection’s there. Which means you can find her.” Gaber stood, his chair scraping indents through the snow. “We can use that connection to find her.”

  “But I thought you knew where she was?” I asked.

  “We know where the eldens live. But none of us has ever been able to get through their wards. It’s complex. They’ve managed to harvest more tilium than I’ve ever seen or has ever existed,” Gaber explained as he paced around the table.

  “Even if Cairo can locate the Golden Dragon, how do we get through the wards?” Evander shook the snow off his green hair.

  “Maybe the Prince will be able to get through. He wields the power of both mahier and tilium,” Queen Annabelle suggested.

  “That’s a big maybe,” Gaber said as he scratched his chin. “We need to have a back-up plan. My guess is that even the Keeper won't be able to get through.”

  “Why do you think that?” I asked even though I completely agreed with Gaber. Chances are I wouldn't have a clue how to even use the tilium and mahier to get through, especially without Eva by my side.

  “Somewhere around 1,000 strikes of lightning hits the swamp every hour of every day, almost every day of the year.” Gaber shook his head. “I have no idea how Eldrick did it. But that's how he has been so successful in not only hiding from us, but in harvesting their tilium.”

  “The wards are impossible to get through” Evander mused.

  “No one has noticed this?” A constant lightning storm. As cool as it sounded, it also frightened me to death. Lightning in a swamp seemed a bit dangerous.

  “Of course they have. Humans have blamed all sorts of different things on the lightning. Weather. Gods. It changes every hundred years or so.” Gaber shrugged and plopped back down in his seat.

  “The eldens go in and out through the wards unscathed. So, there’s a trick to it,” Jericho stated as his pacing continued.

  “Wait.” Annabelle jumped from her seat. “We have someone on the other side of the ward.” Her wings began to flap quickly. “No one has ever been on the other side of their wards.”

  “Do you think we’d be able to project our thoughts to her?” I pondered out loud.

  “What do you mean?” Gaber asked. “Project your thoughts?” His yellow gaze lit up the table.

  “It seems many secrets will be revealed today.” Jericho sighed behind me. “Our mahier gives us the ability to speak to each other” He tapped his head. “In our minds.”

  “Real words?” Gaber asked. “I thought you could only send out feelings to each other. Like an alert for help or something.” He looked between us. “That’s so cool!”

  “Don’t get excited. Your wards were strong enough to block our thoughts. Chances are, so are the elden’s.”

  “Maybe. I mean we knew you could send signals to each other, or so that’s what we thought. Essentially, we designed ours in a way to block them. We just added that measure when we invited the Keeper of Dragons here.” Gaber rubbed his hands together. “There’s a possibility Eldrick hasn't even thought about it.”

  “What would we tell her? I mean, if we can actually speak with her.” I asked.

  “Maybe she has seen something, or knows of how they get through the wards. The lightning surrounds the swamp. So even if the wards are down, we still have the lightning to compete with,” Gaber answered.

  That thought transported me back to the time Eva and I attempted to dig a hole under our cabin to create a secret escape route. A small smile crept along my face at the memory. We spent days using little gardening shovels to dig up a hole big enough for us to fit through. At just 12 years old we thought this was the coolest idea ever. Until we hit the cinder blocks that held the cabin up. Our little shovels didn't stand a chance against the cement blocks. We attempted to dig under them but after about a week, we gave up. As a consolation, we ended up kicking out a piece of rotted wood in the back of the cabin. In its place, we tailored a secret door that was hidden by bushes on the outside. Every time it rained we ended up with a puddle of water in our cabin. That small hole still existed today, even though I'm pretty sure neither of us could fit through it anymore.

  I dropped my chin to my chest and sighed. The last few weeks I’d barely been able to spend time with Eva. The time we did spend together was in training or council meetings, and even before that, we had grown apart in our senior year. Eva was so focused
on college and graduating, and I had brushed her off when she tried to get me focused on the same. I wished I had done things different. I missed out on my last year of being human, of being a kid with no worries and no responsibilities.

  “What’s turning in your head?” Gaber asked, breaking me of my thoughts.

  I shrugged my shoulders. “Maybe there’s a hidden entrance or something?” It seemed such an elementary idea that they had surely looked into already.

  Gaber chuckled quietly and turned to Jericho. “Have the dragons looked for a hidden entrance?”

  “No,” Jericho huffed. “Most of our efforts were focused on seeing through their wards to find a chink or hole. We haven’t attempted to get through their wards in many years.” His head drooped in what I realized must be shame.

  “No surprise there,” Gaber shot back. “We always have eyes on the swamp. Unfortunately, we haven’t been able to get very close.”

  “Same here,” Queen Annabelle said. “A squad of fairies is always circling the swamp.”

  Jericho’s eyes shot to Gaber and Annabelle. “Have they seen anything? Can you make contact with them?”

  “Nothing's changed,” Gaber answered. “Bran has made contact. No one has seen an elden come or go from the swamp in years.”

  “Are you sure they’re there? Maybe they moved?” I asked.

  “Your hidden door idea is making more sense by the minute,” Jericho growled. “No one thought it was strange that the eldens never left the swamp?”

  “She’s there,” Cairo whispered. “And she’s scared.” His body trembled with each word.

  Eva was the bravest person I knew, so if she was scared, I hated to think what that meant for the rest of us.

  Chapter Seventeen

  The dragons were coming. All of them. Gaber was fit to be tied. The last thing he wanted was the dragons invading Paraiso, but with Eva kidnapped by the eldens, he had agreed on the condition that the dragons would have no contact with the elves or trolls. Most had gone into hiding underground, while the few that ventured out would be housed in Crowne Hall until the wards were back up.