“Father,” El curtsied as she met his silver eyes.
“Sit.” Her father motioned to one of the chairs.
El did as she was told, taking a seat in the closest chair before the large desk, her eyes defiantly holding her father’s stern gaze.
Logan followed Lan’thor past the guards into Lean’thor’s private chamber and he took a moment to gaze in wonder at his surroundings. The large desk and chairs grew out of the floor and walls of the room in what he’d come to understand was the traditional Elfin way. It always amazed Logan how casually the Elves used their magic. Weapons of various sorts decorated the walls of the chamber and light came in from the lattice ceiling high above them, similar to the main throne room. Lean’thor sat behind the desk and sprawled back in his chair with his feet up. As Lan and Logan entered, the big clan chief bounded to his feet and came round the desk at a rush. Most members of the race were tall and thin, but Lean’thor was the exception, he was very tall – nearly 7 ft – but he was also wide through the shoulders. The old warrior gave the immediate impression of strength and he moved with explosive power.
“Logan!” The large Elf boomed. “Welcome back, my lad. Welcome back.”
Lean’thor grabbed Logan into a bear hug and pounded his hands against his back in greeting, before thrusting him out at arms length and studying him critically.
“You look well,” he finally pronounced. “A few more scars, but none the worse for wear from your journey, I’m glad to see. And women like scars!”
Releasing Logan, Lean’thor stepped back to greet his son.
“Father,” Lan’thor said as he bowed to his clan chief.
“Save that for the ceremonies, boy,” announced Lean’thor before clasping his son in hug. Logan remembered how much he genuinely liked Lan’s father.
Lean’thor finally released his son and motioned for them to be seated.
“Logan, we will eat, we will drink and you will tell me of your adventures,” Lean’thor announced before calling for ale.
“You honour me. If I might make one request?”
“Of course lad, what is it?”
Logan produced a bark case from his travel bag.
“Would you be able to see that Taelen’thor gets this?” asked Logan, referring to the clan chief of the Elfin merchants. “It’s the map he gave me when I was first here. He asked me to add what I could to it.”
“Of course, I’m sure he will be excited to see what additions you’ve made.”
“Daddy,” El began.
El’s father raised his hand, stopping her before she could get started.
“No El! I don’t want to hear it,” he announced sharply. “You left the village despite my express wishes against it. You hadn’t even passed your coming of age yet. You broke all the rules and traditions of our people and then you just disappeared into the wilderness with some wandering stranger on some ridiculous quest, leaving nothing but a note telling me you’ve gone and that I shouldn’t worry. It doesn’t work that way, El! I am your father and I’m going to worry! No Hades damned note is going to change that!”
Aerlian’thor was on his feet now, pacing behind his desk, growing angrier and more emotional as he moved. Finally he turned back to face her.
“We’ve received no word from you for over a year! We’ve had no way to know where you were, whether you we’re okay or not. And then, when I finally did hear from you, you didn’t even have the common courtesy to come to me in person. You sent me a message, another thrice cursed note.”
“A Hades blasted message, El!” he bellowed, slamming his hand down on his desk. “What on Tir’an were you thinking, El?”
El opened her mouth to speak but her father didn’t give her a chance.
“And then, when I do finally find out where you are and send someone to bring you home, you disobey me again! You refuse and, to make matters worse, you put our own people in harm’s way in the process.”
“You sent Ar’n’tor to drag me home like some wayward child!” snapped El, her own temper rising. “You knew that wouldn’t go well! Any harm was as much your fault as it was mine. What were you thinking, father?”
“What was I thinking?” His eyes bulged as his face grew red. “Like some wayward child?” His blood pressure rose with his voice. “Of course I sent someone to bring you home. You’ve been acting like a spoiled brat, so that’s exactly how I will treat you! Don’t go trying to blame any of this on me, El’dreathia, using your magic against your own people, how could you?”
“Father!” El yelled as she bounded to her feet. “That idiot you sent tried to kill my friend, of course I used my magic!”
“Ah yes, your friends,” continued Aerlian’thor, his voice taking on a dangerous calm. “Ar’n’tor told me of the company you’ve been keeping. You’ve been cavorting with Trolls, our sworn enemies, no less, protecting them instead of your own people.”
“No Father, not Trolls, one troll.” El called on all her reserves of calm, for one more attempt to explain herself to her father. “His name is Smash and he aided us in our fight in Tael. He could not bear to return to his own people so he stayed with us. He is a good man, capable of honour and respect. Ar’n’tor openly attacked him, with no warning and no provocation. If Logan hadn’t returned when he did, I have no doubt that Ar’n’tor would have killed him and likely Logan’s sister, Tanel, as well. His behaviour was completely disgusting and inappropriate.”
“To my understanding, it was Logan who almost killed Ar’n’tor, and apparently tricked him.”
El’s temper flashed again.
“Logan did not trick him! Ar’n’tor blasted Logan with lightning for Hades sake, so yes, Logan was going to kill him! But he didn’t, he stopped.”
Aerlian’thor blinked in disbelief before taking a deep, calming breath and seating himself back in his chair.
“El’dreathia, it is clear that you’ve been keeping company with some extremely disreputable people. That stops now!”
“What?”
“You will be confined to your room until I feel you can be trusted to re-enter our society!”
El gaped at her father for several moments.
Uncomfortable Truths
Logan was well into the telling of his tale when he felt El’s anger rush through their link. Jumping to his feet and reaching for Leveller, Logan moved for the door. Lan’thor and his father, caught by surprise, followed a step or so behind. As they entered the main hall, they saw El storming out of her father’s chamber.
“You’re out of your mind if you think you can order me around like some child!” El yelled back through the door at her father.
Storming through the hall she caught sight of Logan.
“Logan, we leave now!”
“EL’DREATHIA! YOU WILL GET BACK HERE RIGHT NOW!” bellowed her father as he came through the door. “YOU WILL NOT DISOBEY ME AGAIN!”
Energy flashed and everything seemed to happen at once. Suddenly, Logan couldn’t feel El anymore. And as she turned to face him, her face white with terror, he knew it was the same for her. She tried to move towards him, but something held her. She tried to bring her magic to bear, but she couldn’t find the strength. It was then that she realized what had happened. In his rage, her father had called on the old magics, powerful Elfin magic that was rarely used. He had separated her from the source of magic, from the world itself, confining her and in the process severing her link to Logan. Had she been prepared, had she been expecting to fight it never would have worked. But this was her father. She’d never imagined that she’d have to fight him, and now it was too late.
The shock from the sudden loss left her weak. Without her magic and without her link to Logan, she didn’t know if she would survive. She had when she’d lost Logan before, but then she’d had her magic to bolster her reserves, now those were gone as well. She collapsed to the floor, light-headed and dizzy, fighting to keep her eyes open, blackness threatening to engulf her as she began to lose consci
ousness. Lying there on the floor, she watched the angry storm cloud that was Logan charging toward her.
“EL!” Logan screamed in rage as he felt her ripped from him.
Shock and anguish tore through him as his body and mind struggled to compensate for the sudden loss. He watched El collapse to the floor even as the wave of weakness washed through him, threatening to overwhelm him. He wasn’t sure what to do. Somehow, throwing Leveller through El’s father seemed like the wrong thing to do. Reaching the unseen barrier that separated him from El, he swung with all his waning strength. The blade of the runic weapon bit deeply into the magical barrier, energy blinding as it flared. The impenetrable barrier was not so impenetrable, Logan thought with grim resolve as he felt the invisible wall give slightly. Dizzy, he pulled Leveller back, nearly collapsing to the ground as it came free, and prepared for another swing. His strength was leaving him quickly, a grey cast clear on his skin. Struggling under the weight of the heavy battle-axe, Logan called on all his reserves, managing a second swing. Again the runic blade bit into the barrier, though in his dramatically weakened state it did significantly less damage. As Logan pulled the weapon free a second time, he finally collapsed to the ground. His gaze fixed on El as he fought the unconsciousness that threatened to take him.
“The link!” yelled Lan’thor. “Father, he’s severed their link.”
Lean’thor looked as his son and a flash of understanding passed between them.
“Aerlian’thor! Stop this!” Lean’thor bellowed at the other clan chief who didn’t seem to hear him. Aerlian’thor stared in apparent confusion at the two figures collapsed on the ground.
Lean’thor didn’t know if the clan chief was overwhelmed to the point of dis-function or simply too preoccupied with the scene before to acknowledge anything else.
Ripping the staff away from the nearest guard, Lean’thor sent the weapon hurtling spear-like through the air. It smashed heavily into the wall next to Aerlian’thor and caused the mage to tear his gaze from the spectacle in front of him and focus on Lean’thor striding angrily towards him.
“You are killing them!” Lean’thor yelled. “Can’t you see they’re linked?”
“Linked?” Aerlian’thor blinked in confusion.
“Yes! Linked! Now release her before you kill them both.”
With the magical barrier dispelled and their link re-established, El and Logan recovered quickly. They regained consciousness lying on the floor facing each other. A shadow passing over El, one of the guards checking on her was greeted with a low rumbling growl from Logan as his fist reflexively tightened on Leveller.
“Easy Logan,” Lan’s voice was calming and reassuring as he knelt beside his friend. “They’re just making sure she’s okay.”
“How is he, son?” Lean’thor’s voice was filled with concern.
“I think he’ll be alright now.”
“Good, lets get him back to my chambers and give him a chance to recover in peace.”
Lan’thor, with the assistance of one of the guards, gently lifted Logan to his feet, bracing the shorter man’s weight across his shoulders.
“Ugh, I always forget how heavy you are for such a short man.”
“El,” Logan muttered when Lan tried to get him moving.
“All right, Logan, I’ll see what I can do,” murmured Lan’thor to his friend. “Da, he won’t leave without her.”
Lean’thor gave a deep, exhausted sigh.
“Of course he won’t,” he muttered under his breath. “Aerlian’thor, we’ll take El’dreathia back to my chambers to give them both a chance to recover.”
Aerlian’thor was still staring somewhat stunned at his daughter. Linked, he thought. With a human? Oh gods, how could she have done this?
“Aerlian’thor! Are you listening to me?”
Pulled from his own thoughts, Aerlian’thor looked at the warrior chief for a moment. Nodding sharply, he turned and retreated into his own chamber. He needed to think this through.
“Alright Lan, let’s get them moved.”
Lean’thor reached down and gently helped El’dreathia to her feet, carefully leading her to his private chambers. Lan’thor followed in his wake with Logan.
The Talk
The next twenty-four hours were ones of uncertainty for Logan and El. They had rested and recovered fully from the temporary severing of their link and they were still in each other’s company, which made everything better as far as Logan was concerned. Lean’thor had spoken with them both briefly, ensuring for himself that they were both recovering well and asking them to remain in the chamber while he spoke with El’s father to find out what, if anything, was going to happen next. And so, they waited.
Dinner was brought to them in the chamber and Lan’thor stayed to keep them company, but Logan couldn’t help but feel like they were imprisoned. Logan had never liked being confined, and his time as a prisoner in the mines of Tael had only made that worse. Not that he had a particular problem with small places. He just didn’t like not being able to move around as freely as he chose. That evening, after Lan’thor left he expressed as much to El.
“I know,” comforted El. “But what would you have us do? Escape from the village, harming gods knows how many of Lean’thor’s warrior’s in the process?”
Logan fumed. He knew that El was right. Lean’thor and Lan’thor were friends and he would never knowingly make things harder for them.
“Fine, we stay,” Logan finally conceded. “But, not for very much longer. If your father doesn’t free us soon, then I’m leaving with or without his permission.”
El smiled at him. “Fair enough.”
The next morning, after Logan was disarmed, they were led back to Aerlian’thor’s private chamber. El thought her father looked particularly tired, apparently hadn’t gotten much sleep himself, though El couldn’t bring herself to feel sorry for him. He quietly motioned for them both to sit.
“I’ve been doing a lot of thinking,” he began. “Honestly, my original intention had been to separate the two of you. El, lock you away in your chambers and Logan, have you banished from the village on pain of death.”
This pronouncement made El’s eyes narrow in anger and a low rumbling growl could be heard from Logan. Aerlian’thor waved them both off.
“The link changes all that. With a full bond in place, there’s little I can do. Elfin bonds are for life and the loss of one of the participants could be devastating, as you two so dramatically demonstrated yesterday in the throne room. Severing the link can be extremely traumatic,” he finished with an understatement.
Always the pragmatist, Aerlian’thor accepted the reality. The bond was in place and he would have to accept it, but he wanted to ensure that both El and Logan fully understood the magnitude of their actions.
“Traditionally, the bond is undertaken by two Elves who’ve spent years coming to know and love each other and who wanted to take their relationship to the next level,” he explained. “At the moment of bonding, if there is even the slightest doubt in either of the participants the bond wouldn’t take and the magical backlash could potentially kill both of them. But obviously, you’ve made it past that hurdle or we wouldn’t be here having this conversation.”
Aerlian’thor sighed and massaged his temples for a moment as he gathered his thoughts.
“The two of you are bonded for life. You’re destined to feel what the other feels, you’ll be able to speak to each other through thought alone, see through each other’s eyes and eventually, if you survive long enough, you’ll be able to draw on each other’s energy. Your two souls will become so entwined, that without proper instruction and precautions it’s possible for the two of you to lose your individuality completely.”
For the most part, Logan was already well aware of all this. Two years of living with the bond had taught him much, though the risk that they had undergone at the initial bonding was not something he had fully understood. He had already felt the beginnings of the lo
ss of individuality that Aerlian’thor spoke of. There were times when he felt that he was nearly lost in El, not that that was an entirely bad sensation by any means, in fact, it was just the opposite. Though as he thought about it, he supposed that was where the danger lay. It was so easy and felt so right that it took an act of will to pull free, and even then he was left with a sense of loneliness and longing.
Aerlian’thor’s other major concern for them came from the fear of death. He looked pointedly at Logan as he explained that when one partner passed the other was left empty. The loss of the bond was heart breaking, leaving such an ache that the surviving partner became listless and weak. If the death was sudden and violent and the partners had no time to prepare for it, as the incident in the throne room had simulated, it was akin to having half your soul physically ripped from your body. If that initial trauma was survived, the survivor was then exposed to incredible depths of anguish and despair, often leading to madness or death.
With even a peaceful end by natural causes, something extremely unlikely given the life Logan had led to this point, the effect could still be potentially devastating to the surviving partner. For this reason alone, the Elves were taught to never enter into the bond with members of other races. The Elves had one of the longest life spans in Tir’an. Bonding with almost any other race guaranteed a future of pain and depravation.
“Now that you’ve heard all of that, I want you to know that it might, just might be possible to sever the bond,” Aerlian’thor offered. “It wouldn’t be easy, but the bond is still young and with the right support you would both likely survive.”
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