“I have learned some of Daniel’s magic like the rest of you and when I saw the Baron walk out with Daniel’s rifle, it occurred to me that I had made no promises regarding the use of magic.”
They all sat quietly for a moment before Aldon asked, “Did you push or pull?”
“Pushed, why?” Beylvar asked with surprise.
“Because Durbin and I pushed too and we might have cancelled each other out.” Durbin nodded in agreement.
Beylvar looked at them for a second and began to laugh and they all joined in.
“There is no telling where that bullet could have landed.”
“Lucky it didn’t hit one of us.” Alan added joining in the mirth.
Beylvar stopped laughing and pointed to each in the room and said, “Remember, we swore an oath, Daniel must not know I, we, intervened.”
Suddenly Lissette appeared in the hallway door wrapped in bed clothes and Beylvar’s face fell. He quickly turned back to the others and said, “Why didn’t you tell me they were here.”
Durbin and Aldon shrugged sheepishly and it was Eliana who answered, “Did anyone hear him ask?”
Innocent faces were feigned and heads shook from side to side. In a low voice almost a whisper, Lissette chided them. Her face was stern. “Nobody tells Daniel, and I mean nobody.” Her eyes met and held each other pair in the room. “He doesn’t understand us yet or our concept of family. Until he does, if you let this slip, he will never trust any of you again.”
“You mean all of us?” Alan corrected including Lissette in the conspiracy.
“No, I mean you. He is my match, we have to trust each other.” She gave them a wink and slid back around the corner.
They all exchanged looks and then let out a collective sigh. All save Eliana, who only smiled. Lissette had learned well.
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Elves: The Rising
Part Two of the Book of Daniel
The new world wrought by Daniel and Lissette is beginning to have repercussions across the land as Elves struggle to regain their place and England struggles to survive and unite its various petty kingdoms.
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Jason strode to the Baron’s former quarters and found the letters left for the King. Since Daniel made him caretaker and overseer of the day to day management of the castle, no one questioned him. His former status as an aide to the Baron, made him a natural choice to keep things running within the castle; staff seemed relieved that a familiar face was in charge. What Daniel had accomplished, or destroyed, depending on who was asked, left little doubt about who was really in charge, but Jason found himself pleased at the new status, however temporary it might be.
Jason looked at the letters momentarily, as if considering whether or not to read them. There was never really a question. It was more of a choice as to why he should read the, falling between necessity and curiosity. Necessity won, but the match was close.
Jason nodded his head at the Baron’s descriptions and assessments. He laid the blame clearly at the feet of Daniel, though the Baron had not known his name, calling him an evil elven rebel trying to undermine the King’s authority. Jason appreciated the Baron’s move. It was calculated to get even with any and every one he distrusted - which was indeed, everyone. Jason commented with a slight shake of his head. The Baron had described him as a useful tool, but like a tamed wolf, could not be completely trusted. Better than a sheep, Jason mused.
Nevertheless, the Baron’s missives would not make it to the King, at least not before Daniel saw them.
Jason pulled out fresh parchment, ink, and quill. He stared at the wall in front of him for a moment composing his thoughts. He began writing, stopping to think and compose his next line as he dipped his quill in the small ink jar. He had filled the first page when he heard a knock at the chamber door. The noise broke his concentration, pulling him out of his thoughts as Captain Tayler entered.
The Captain surveyed the desk and the stacked letters. “Thought I might find you here,” Tayler stated flatly. “What do they say?”
Jason smiled and handed them to Tayler to read for himself. “In summation, you are a competent Guard Captain lacking in the fire to keep the peasants in line, Daniel is an elven rebel, Lissette is a turncoat conspirator, and I am a tamed but untrustworthy wolf.”
Tayler nodded and read the letters quickly. He looked up and smiled at Jason. “Well, in all fairness,” he began, “from his perspective they are all true. I admit I rather like the image of the tamed but unreliable wolf.”
There was a one second pause before they laughed together and the Captain continued, “Jason, we are all going through adjustments to this new thing Daniel has created. About the only one of Daniel’s decisions I truly understand, is him and Lissette disappearing for a week.”
Jason smiled in good humor at the young couple who had turned everything on its ear. “Yes,” he replied they should be fully bonded by now, but I doubt Daniel is much closer to understanding what he is in.”
“How does that actually work?” Tayler asked. “I mean if it’s not some dark secret only elves can know.”
Jason tilted his head slightly. He was only half elf, but the kind that had some magic and looked mostly elf. At only an inch or two taller than the captain, it was the eyes that clinched it; almond shaped. Seeing them removed any doubt as to his mixed blood.
“It’s no real secret, it is just hard to describe. I haven’t felt it myself and may not have inherited it, but when the right two elves meet, it is almost impossible for them to resist each other. Some say the gods did it intentionally to keep elven families together over the centuries they live. It may just be the way things are. All we really know is that there is no real choice; the pull is so strong, there is no choice to make.”
“So why is everyone hedging about with Daniel and Lissette? He is full on elf, isn’t he?” The Captain asked.
Jason paused. He wasn’t trying to hold back from someone he felt was becoming a friend, but the words were hard to find. “What I think I know, and this is hearsay because the elves are guessing, too, is that Daniel has the trait but is operating under some set of rules and beliefs from the other world. He thinks like a human and sees things like a human, but is elf and is bound by the laws we, they, all have.”
The correction and self-exclusion did not go unnoticed by Tayler but he held his tongue as Jason continued. “Perhaps it is best to compare him to swan chick raised with poultry. It learns to act like a chicken even though to any eye, it is obviously a swan. I think that Daniel is an elf who thinks he is human.” With that Jason shrugged a little helplessly, not knowing how to go on.
Tayler nodded slowly and smiled. “It has not gone unnoticed, Jason, who the swans and chickens are in this story, but I am more interested in why you corrected yourself as not to be part of the elves.
Jason was quiet for several moments, his eyes unfocused and then, slowly coming back from where he was in his thoughts, he smiled and said, “If I may stand with my metaphor and provide no further insult, when you see me you see a swan. When the elves see me, they see a chicken. Daniel apparently only sees birds.”
“And what do you see?” Tayler asked quietly, his face intent on Jason’s.
“I am hoping to become a bird at home with swans and chickens.” The seriousness and the straight face with which he said it, caused both men to be still for a moment before they laughed out loud together.
“I suppose,” Tayler said finally, “we need to get these to Daniel and his counsel to see how to proceed.”
“True enough,” Jason replied. “If it were me, I would burn them now, but if I were running things the Baron would probably have won.” They sat quietly for a moment recognizing how much change had come upon them.
“What are you writing about? Don’t you intend to deliver those to Daniel?” The Captain was looking at the full page of parchment in front of Jason.
Jason smiled. “King Athelstan’s father was the first to use scribes to record everything that happens in and outside the Witan. There are stacks of scrolls and bound books. Daniel told me that the scribe is the most important person in every meeting because what they write becomes fact when everyone else is dead. People in the future look at the writing and, unless there are other scrolls with a different story, people believe it to be true. So, I decided to write down everything that has happened. It will take a while, but I want our side recorded. It may be important one day.”
Jason looked at the last line he had written, ‘I will show no partiality to either side as they showed none to me.’ While that was true in the beginning, he now wondered if he had picked a side, or if, perhaps, it had picked him. In that moment he made a vow to record as objectively as he could. At least there will be two stories to compare, he thought.
Tayler watched him put away the parchment. “I will make arrangements for us to leave at first light,” the Captain said and then nodded and rose to be about the business.
Elves- the Book of Daniel Page 33