“I am certain,” the largest said, “he looks just as Solas said he’d look. Nyever mind the trees for nyow, ve have something more important to deal vith.”
“Tie him to the sled,” piped the leftward one. “Half-folk like him deserve such disgrace.”
“You go do that. I must deal with my nyose bleed.” He ripped some of the rim off his sleeve and began to shove it into his nose.
I struggled to get out of the mob’s grasp, but they were too strong put together. My resistance was, however, treated by being redirected to a path next to a tree. The Agrian holding my left arm pulled hard as I tried to at least touch the tree, but I managed to grab onto a branch. It was worth a shot, and I only had a moment to try before I lost my grip.
It was difficult to find the energy in the tree. That energy was then faint as an ember from dormancy, but it was there. Trying to brush this energy out of the branch wouldn’t be possible, so I tried to pull it to me. My captors yanked on me at the same time I drew the energy out. With a loud crack, the first thing to release its grip was the branch from the tree; the entire thing broke off at the base.
Life force from the branch arced into my hand and caused a terrible reaction. Starting from farthest away from me, the branch began to explode and spit splinters and mulch in all directions. My captor and I were all peppered by this shrapnel and they released me out of surprise. I also wasn’t expecting this to happen and I began to fall. In this brief moment, I took notice of my hand. An aura of autumnal colors radiated from it and the branch was where it was drawing it from. The trail of the explosion was headed straight for my arm. With but a moment to react, I let go and let it burn itself out away from me. Alas, it was too late. My hand was embedded with enough wood chunks to make a glove.
If the stinging of the splinters weren’t enough, the energy couldn’t hold itself in my arm and shot straight out with a scream that made my ears ting. The bolt of tree life rushed back to its old home, though it might have been better if it didn’t. The rest of the tree shared the same fate I brought upon its limb, erupting into a halo of destruction, starting at the stump and ending with the end of every twig.
I had to close my eyes as I looked at what I did, sawdust falling to earth like snow. One of the Agrians coughed. “Vhat are you? Nyo Shaloor could harness magic like that.”
I ignored him. I was in too much pain to answer.
A chipper voice called out, “There you are.” It was an alf’s voice. I could tell by how chirpy it sounded. I was then helped to my feet by, again, what felt like the nimbler hands of an alf. “Play along, don’t ruin the fun,” the same voice said to me in alf tongue.
Now I could tell who it was, only Ahrad would think of fun at a time like this. Surely enough it was him, that long, upward curved nose mixing perfectly with a squiggly smirk to appear elite and unwaveringly amused at the thugs scattered on the ground.
“Vhat are you?” the goon asked as he spat his chewing substance out.
Ahrad stood up straighter and looked him in the eye. “Why, I am an elf”—he wrapped his arm over my shoulder and pulled me close—“and this is one of our young folk. Maarika is the child’s name.” I bit my tongue and resisted the urge to punch Ahrad.
“Maarika, eh?” he asked while pulling a chunk of wood out of his already bloody nostril. “She’s very tom-boyish, is she nyot?” It was a good thing Ahrad was holding my shoulder then, or I would have gone and done what every good Shaloor would do with the given context and belted the Juusto.
“Funny you should say that. You see, red hair is how we elves tell the difference between genders.” He messed with my hair. “So you all look rather feminine to me with that hair color of yours.” Ahrad gave them all a wink to which they all looked awkwardly at. “Regardless of how pretty you all are, I would like it if you do not attack our children any more. We only attack yours if they strike first or whistle off key, so please follow our example from now on please?”
The brute clenched his stomach as he stood up. “Okay, I suppose ve can do that.” He muttered something to himself. “Sorry for the mistake, ve’ll be heading home to heal our injuries.” The others were already up and packing to leave.
“Just one thing last thing before I go.” Ahrad pointed over to the axe the Agrian was carrying. In just a second, a massive vine erupted from under the snow and dragged the axe down. Ahrad maintained his smile and didn’t say a word. He didn’t need any to make his forbiddance clear. The woodsmen left with their sleds empty, and Ahrad and I stood sternly until they were out of earshot (something that happened very quickly when Ahrad asked them where they lived). Once they were that far, Ahrad made a coo of a laugh and snapped his fingers. The mist of magic swirled up from where the axe had vanished, revealing Ahrad had merely used one of his brilliant illusions.
“Since when did you learn to speak Norse so well? Last time we spoke, you couldn’t say you were sorry without starting a fight,” I said with a chuckle.
“Hm? I always have, I just needed to practice. I have to now, on account of how many Agrians have waltzed into this little grove.”
“And how would you know this?” I raised an eyebrow.
“It’s a rather funny thing really, somehow the trees here got cross-pollinated with the Nooa tree. Since that makes these sacred too, I’ve been given the task of keeping them from becoming firewood.” He bent down and picked up a chunk of wood. “So, what brings you here, destroying what I’m sworn to protect?”
“Reokashothi wouldn’t let me sleep.” I actively evaded mention of Alodia. I didn’t think a secretive society would appreciate contact with Agria like that, even if I was talking to the most lax member of that clan. “She said something about others tree topping her or something, but she—”
“Tree topping.” Ahrad looked up at the sky and gave a mystified sigh. “I haven’t heard that term since I was young.” He just stood there for a moment, entranced by memory.
“Yes, but what does it mean?” I asked, ignoring how he implied now having maturity.
“Oh? Tree topping means you out-pranked someone. The silent rule is that the person pranked can’t pick on you for a short while…” He rubbed his chin. “Or was it…No, no, can’t be that.” Ahrad chuckled.
No wonder Reo didn’t want to tell me what that meant. She didn’t want to lose her last source of sadistic pleasure. I had to tree top her and Ahrad would certainly help out; jokes were a specialty of his. “Could you help me tree top Reokashothi?”
“Her? She’d certainly be a challenge for me. The game of childhood pranking far exceeds my skill. Not to mention how you and I would have to outdo her…But it’ll be fun,” he chirped.
“So you’ll help me?”
“Yep, but I’ll need to go get some mead first.”
“Mead?”
He nodded and walked in the direction the Agrians went. “Alcohol does a terrific job at amplifying illusions and we’re going to need as strong of illusions as we can get for what I have planned,” he cooed. “She won’t be able to pull a prank on you until the Ragnorok brings the end of the world when we’re through.”
I sat there and thought about it for a moment, he must be heading to Elderbear, and that meant I could see why Alodia didn’t appear as she promised. I ran over to Ahrad, but not before scooping the hatchet out of the snow. I may have been trained to work with shields, but having a weapon of any sort would be welcome.
As the moon vanished and the sun rose, he continued to mess with my hair, almost like he was looking for something. “That was definitely not what tree topping means,” he muttered.
The town became apparent on the horizon, the red light of dawn making it look like that cursed place was still burning from the ritual at the pier. It was also apparent there had been much logging done here as well. Stumps of many once-proud trees sat like tombstones all around me and Ahrad.
I asked, “Do you think they are trying to do some kind of sacrifice? One of th
ose woodsmen said something about being sent there specifically.”
Ahrad gave no response. He just stayed engrossed in that golden mist of magic that swirled about his hand.
I gave him a quick nudge, and as always, he flailed his arms around as he was brought back to reality. “A sacrifice? Well, that wood does have some magic to it, but it doesn’t seem like they’ll kill something right now.” He looked around, seemingly surprised at how far we had travelled. “So, speaking of magic, I heard you messed up very well at a simple healing technique.”
I hung my head. “Reokashothi was pestering me. If she weren’t there to break my concentration, I could have done it, though. That’s kind of why I asked you to help me get back at her.”
“Oh, and I suppose your focus back there was ruined because of the Agrians, too?”
“They had nothing to do with that tree. I was frightened and wanted their filthy hands off of me and that’s all.”
“That’s all, isn’t all it seems to be, Erland. It seems to me you were frightened and wanted their filthy hands off because you don’t like them and you let that sneak into your actions.”
“And that changes how I did the magic how?”
Now that we were in a conversation, Ahrad sat down on one of the stumps. “Well, magic isn’t very different from telling a joke, Erland. You can’t just say a joke while laughing, even if it’s a very funny joke. If you do, you just bore your audience, or worse, you annoy them by wasting their time. It doesn’t have the right impact.”
I rolled my head to ease my stiffness. “And that relates to magic how? What’s your point?”
“My point? Oh, my point! Hmmm…Oh, right. My point is you can’t let your feelings influence what you want or you won’t get what you want. Reokashothi and those Agrians made your attempts at magic fail like holding a torch in your armpit because you let them get to you and affect your actions. Magic is extra sensitive to how you feel, so you have to be careful.”
So it was as Kaihar said, I needed to not let Reokashothi get to me. That made me wonder whether it was right for me to be doing this. I only felt that way for a moment before it departed. I needed to find Alodia and even still needed a way to get Reokashothi off my back. “But you’re going to teach me how to use illusions, right?”
“But of course. You couldn’t really tree top her if you’re not involved in the prank. Still, I would like for us to get that mead.”
I could certainly agree to that, if not for my own reasons. In this entire month, I hadn’t had any fermented drink in my entire time with the alfar, only the water I’ve been able to purify from the lake. Mead may make for a better illusion, but it would be just as good for quenching my thirst. “So, I assume we’re going to take from the community vat?”
Ahrad nodded.
“How are we going to get it?”
“For that, we’ll act with the footfall of a cat, the far-sightedness of a falcon, and the flatulence of a unicorn.” He ignored my odd look. “Well, let’s go. That mead isn’t going to tap itself.”
The hall where the mead was stored was uphill from the rest of Elderbear and sat at the edge of the coast. There weren’t any guards out or even servants doing their morning chores, but still we went around to the back. At a large patch of underbrush, I gave Ahrad a boost so he could see over the fence. Despite being lanky, the alf was heavy and I had to prop myself against the fence to keep the bush leaves from scratching me.
“No one’s here.” Ahrad squirmed his way to the top of the fence and helped me up. I kicked my legs around and tried to find little footholds in the rocks as I ascended. A puff of steam surprised me when my head got over the wall. Oddly enough, it was from a small pond. We leapt down and Ahrad went for the exit to this room, but I was stunned by the murals. Unlike the outside, the inner walls were smooth and had the shapes of dozens of fish carved on them. The closer I looked at them, though, the more offended I grew. Upon closer examination, the font and finesse of the carvings were Shaloor, but they lacked even the artistic originality to have their own style. Worse yet was the hypocrisy of it; everything Shaloor is evil but Shaloor art style was okay? I crouched down to the pond and dipped my hand. “Why is the water warm?” I asked, concerned that I might have stuck my hand into some king of Agrian toilet.
“Don’t worry, it’s only a hot spring. There’s lots of them around here. Now please be quiet. This isn’t the first time I’ve done this, so that’d mean it would be worse for us if…” Ahrad paused and glanced over into the hallway. As the room fell silent, I also listened to what Ahrad had heard, the steady tip-tap of foot on stone. “Hide,” he hushed.
I looked around for somewhere to hide. The only barrier in the room was the rack of towels against the wall. It was my only hope. This was, frankly, my first time learning the dangers of running on wet stone, and I went tumbling into the pool. Water stung the insides of my nose and head, but I was able to get a quick breath of air before plunging in. My first thought was that I needed to surface and get the water out, but my second thought was to stay under. Through the ripples made by my splash, the figure of an Agrian emerged, scanning the spring for what fell in no doubt. My sinuses may have burned, but I had to bide my time and hope Ahrad would do something. As the Agrian looked at the still unclear water, my clothes soaked through and I realized just how hot the water was. Though it felt like minutes, mere seconds had passed and the water settled.
Much to my surprise, the Agrian who looked down at me now was Alodia, the blue skin betrayed it. Thanks to such good timing, I surfaced for air, finally able to choke out the water. So cold was the air compared to the water that steam and crystals of ice were forming on my coat.
“Vhat are you doing?” Alodia gasped as she ran for a towel.
“What weren’t you doing at your retreat? You said we’d meet there on the first quarter.” I noted that there were splinters covering her dress, enough that there were ones falling off on the ground.
“I’m sorry for nyot coming. Solas has kept me too busy to snyeak out. Erland, you must take this coat off or die of cold.” She quickly changed topic as she saw me shivering.
I pulled my hand from out of the towel and picked up some of the wood chips. There was plenty of energy still in them. “Hold on, I want to try something.” With but a small amount of concentration, I was able to take the essence from the towel and used it to turn the water in the coat into steam. “Would you look at that, Ahrad’s tip worked.”
Alodia looked frightened at my now dry coat. “How did you do that? Who’s Ahrad? Vhat advice did he give you?”
“Why, I used magic. Ahrad’s the person over there that gave me some…” As I waved over where I last saw Ahrad, I paused when I realized there was now only a cat there, mewing at us. “…pointers.”
“The…house cat gave advice on how to vield magic?” Alodia spoke slowly, petting the cat as it rubbed up against her.
“Well, no, Ahrad was there just a moment ago.” I wiped the powder left over from the chips. “So, what are you doing up so late, and why are you covered in bits of wood?”
She picked up the cat. “I’ve been carrying firevood for a strange friend of Solas.”
“Strange? How?”
“He’s large, stands up to the roof of the hallvay, and has a purple tint to his skin. But that’s nyot all, he just sits in the hall doing something vith the hearth.”
I thought to myself, “That is strange.” I paced to the doorway. “Is anyone else awake?”
“Fortunyetly, nyo, I’m the only vone who is avake, besides the stranger.”
“Good, I’d like to see this man.”
“Erland, you can’t be serious,” she said, exasperated. “This man is immense. If he sees you, he’ll kill you.”
“He won’t, and I need more information. He sounds too curious to be ignored. Now show me the way or I’m going to find him myself.”
Alodia sighed. “Fine, then I’ll show you the
vay.” She led me over to the hall, and sitting there in the center of the room was the stranger. He paid no attention to us, he simply cast a massive shadow and waved his hands in the fire.
The cat leapt out of Alodia’s arms and darted under a bench like it found a snack. I thanked Alodia and began to crawl around, using the chairs as cover. As I got closer to the man, his figure looked more detailed. The purple complexion of his skin was mottled and blotchy, like his body was covered in bruises, and he wore a net over his arm. It also became more apparent what he was doing, just not exactly what it meant. He was grumbling something to himself and grabbing the flaming tongues with his bare hands.
He held them by the tips and was twining them together to form threads of flame. It looked like maybe magic, but certainly not that of the alfar.
“Curious now, aren’t we, Erland?” Ahrad started as he came up from behind. I gasped, but the noise was fortunately covered by a pop that came from the wood. “Don’t you know that curiosity killed the cat? I suppose it’s okay this time, since it was just an illusion of a cat.”
“You…” I calmed myself down so as to not yell. “You mean that cat was just an illusion?”
“Yep, was a real trick to make it feel like a real cat on the fly like that.” He scooted over to get a better view of the bonfire. “I had to make you look funny in the head so your friend wouldn’t think we’re real.”
I grunted in acknowledgement of Alodia. “Sorry for not telling you and the others about her. She’s the one that led me to the grove where I met you all. Besides, she’s the only Agrian I feel I can trust.”
“It’s okay, to be completely honest, I keep my little escapes to this place a secret too.” He bobbed his head back and forth. “There, now we both have the other’s secret, let’s keep them both.”
A second, louder pop erupted from the fire and spat embers and cinders all over the place, one of the larger ones landing right beside my arm. The man grunted as he brushed the ashes off his body. “Wonderful, now I will have to start over yet again.” He grabbed a log in each hand and threw them in the bonfire. They ignited swiftly and they made the fire grow bright enough to draw my attention to a tattoo on his arm, a tattoo that made my stomach churn with fury and worry.
Across the Kolgan Sea Page 7