Winter of Elves

by Joanne Vruno

  “I want to save as many as we can before the hate takes them over. Plus the world can always use more light elves to save it.”

  “That was smart thinking,” said Agda. “Koppor has done wonders teaching the other new light elves how to heal things. They’ve quickly become part of the village and have made many friends. Peder just told me yesterday how happy he is. He never felt right hunting other creatures with the dwarfs. He even thought about running away, but he knew he’d then become the hunted. Such an unhappy, fearful life he had lived before he became one of us.”

  I smiled at Agda as I started to eat a turkey sandwich. My stomach was suddenly feeling extremely full, but I knew I had to keep eating. I could already feel my strength rebounding inside of me.

  When I had one hour left before Mom arrived, I made myself stand up and change back into my regular clothes. I also splashed water on my face to wash off any wolf scent. I was pretty sure I could make it through the evening, but to be sure I asked Emily, “You’ll cover for me if I go to bed early tonight, won’t you?”

  “Of course, Aly. I have your back.”

  Chapter 18

  Mom asked us how our day had gone and we told her it was fine. We only had two more days at Grandma’s before New Year’s Eve. Our break seemed to be flying by. As we turned down our street, Mom let out a gasp. “We left the garage door open? I thought for sure I closed it. This is odd. I’ve never left the garage door open.”

  We pulled into the garage as I telepathically explained to Emily that Alf couldn’t shut the door.

  “Girls, wait in the car. I want to make sure the house door is locked and nobody’s been inside,” said Mom as she got out and tried the door, which was still locked. She looked around the garage to see if anything was missing and then looked at the driveway.

  I panicked a bit but realized she wouldn’t see creature footprints. Only people with the power to see creatures would be able to see them.

  “Everything looks fine. We can go in now. I wonder if the snow by the bottom of the door made the door reopen and I just didn’t notice it as we drove away,” said Mom with a sigh. “I guess we’re lucky most people stayed home today so our garage was left alone.”

  Chica was overly excited to have us home when we entered. I guess our visitors really shook her up. I knew the tomtes must be waiting patiently for news on what happened. We had never had this close of a visit from dwarfs.

  “How would you like to have fried chicken and potatoes?” asked Mom as she looked in the fridge.

  “Sounds good. Can I help you today?” asked Emily. “I know Aly has some homework she wanted to work on tonight.

  “Well, that’d be great. It’s so nice seeing how close you two have become. It seems like a special bond has grown between you two since this fall.” Mom smiled at both of us.

  “We just have more in common,” replied Emily. “You know, music and books and other stuff.”

  I smiled before turning to go to my room. Elsa and Enar were sitting on my bed waiting for information on the dwarfs. I turned on the music to drown out my talking as I plopped down between them and quietly started to tell them about it. “It was really strange,” I started. “Dolph, Agda, and I were speaking to the wolves when Fir told us he had tried to escape the dwarfs but they kept tracking him because he was bleeding. I knew there was wolf blood under the tree in the front yard and I needed to send it away. I think Lunt had the same feeling I had, that we needed to do it immediately because the dwarfs were close. We never thought they had already arrived. Grandma transported us to the backyard, where Alf shooed us into the garage. We could hear Chica barking as soon as we entered.”

  “We couldn’t calm her down,” said Enar. “We didn’t want the dwarfs to see us so we couldn’t pull her away from the window. If they noticed us they may have decided to come inside. Dwarfs will eat tomtes and gnomes if they’re hungry enough and they might link us to the light elves. We had to stay hidden.”

  “Well, they’re far away now,” I said with a yawn. “I sent three dwarfs and one rock elf away. Koppor came and transformed two rock elves into light elves. Tomorrow I need to check on them, but tonight I’m exhausted. I collapsed after transporting the last dwarf and rock elf. Lunt ran to Grandma’s and had her transport me to her house. The only problem is that the garage door was left open.”

  “We didn’t know or we could have shut it,” said Elsa. “We didn’t want to venture out. I suppose poor Alf couldn’t get to it on the wall,” she added.

  “Do you think the wolves are attracting more and more dwarfs? Is it safe to keep them here?” asked Enar.

  “We don’t have any choice right now. Fir isn’t strong enough to leave. Today we found out Queen Elin sent them to protect the light elves, so they could refuse to leave. They definitely wouldn’t be easy to hide in the woods because of their size and the fact there are no wolves in this area. When someone spots a coyote in the Cities it gets in the news. A wolf would make the front page. Can you imagine the news coverage one of the brother wolves would make on size alone?”

  “They can’t stay here is all there is to it,” said Elsa, shaking her head.

  “I think we all know it, but where do we send them? Queen Elin has a large pack of wolves to hide and nobody knows where she is. Fen said they’ve all been hidden from humankind, so they do not know anything about the world outside of Murkwood. The dwarfs are patrolling Murkwood trying to find any signs of light elves right now. In time, the wolves may be able to return there, but for now where they should live is the question,” I said as I started yawning again.

  “How about where you went last summer?” asked Enar.

  “It’s a great spot if they could stay hidden,” I said, smiling at Enar. “They’d have to search the area to find a completely remote area. There are other wolves around, so they might have to figure out how to be accepted into another pack. It could be possible. I’ll talk to Grandma about it. Thanks for the idea.”

  Emily opened the door and waved hello to the twins and told me it was time for dinner. I followed her to the kitchen. The smell made my hunger return. It was a wonder I didn’t become fat with all this eating to regain my strength. I guess somehow it was needed because I must burn calories when I transport.

  “Mom, this chicken is the best ever!”

  “Thanks, Aly. I think it’s because of the new spices Emily added to the flour,” Mom said, smiling at Emily.

  “Whatever you did, Emily, write it down. Aly’s right, this is so good,” said Dad, taking another bite and licking his lips.

  Emily beamed with pride.

  “How about a movie tonight? The roads aren’t bad, but why travel? What new movie did we get that we haven’t watched yet?” asked Dad, taking his plate to the sink.

  “We haven’t watched the new Night at the Museum,” Emily said.

  “Well, let’s quickly clean up and do just that!”

  I fell asleep before the movie was half over and was woken up after it was finished. Emily tried to keep my sleeping hidden from my parents as long as she could, but I was told they laughed when they noticed me.

  Chapter 19

  I woke the next morning feeling fully recovered and ready when Mom wanted to leave for Grandma’s. When we arrived, I told Grandma about the close call with the garage door and how I was glad that dwarf footprints were not noticeable to the average human because the prints were all around the yard. Mom would have totally freaked out if she knew what happened.

  While Emily headed outside to see the wolves I asked Grandma if it was all right to visit Beck and Agda’s village. Grandma was happy I was heading there. It was good for a village to see their guardian.

  When I arrived I saw that the hustle and bustle of the elves’ daily duties did not slow down just because it was winter. Healing crews were heading out to check oxygen levels in
the nearby ponds and lakes. Scouts were flying out on their birds for daily patrols. It seemed like everyone was on a mission. As I scanned the village, I finally saw reddish hair popping out of a hat. Koppor, with her five new recruits in tow, was getting ready to go into the woods.

  “Koppor!” I called across the village. “Can I join you today?”

  “Sure, Aly. We’ll meet you on the south side of the village when we get our supplies.”

  I walked to the south side and waited a few minutes, visiting with different elves as they walked by me. Soon Koppor and the new elves arrived with some baskets on miniature sleighs.

  “What are you six up to today?” I asked.

  “Just gathering and teaching. First let me introduce everyone to you and vise-versa. Do you guys have any idea who this is?” asked Koppor.

  “Aly, our guardian,” quickly answered Peder.

  “Peder is correct,” said Koppor. “Our village has a human guardian for extra protection from unfriendly creatures that may come our way. You may have wondered what happened to the dwarfs you once rode. Well, Aly sent them away and erased their memory of being here. She also sent away the few rock elves that did not have any sign of light left in them. As I have been teaching you of late, light elves try to not harm creatures unless there is no other way. We value life of all beings and plants. So it makes sense our guardian follows our way of living,” said Koppor. “Why don’t the rest of you introduce yourselves to Aly?”

  An elf huskier in size than most stepped forward. “I’m the newest light elf, Stig.”

  “I’m Pia,” said the next elf. “I also just joined the village yesterday.”

  “You two were tracking the wolf,” I said. “May I ask how you found him?”

  “Our dwarfs were sent a message from a rock elf scout. See, along with the dwarfs and rock elf riders, there have been scouts out on crows searching for light elves,” said Pia.

  “Have they discovered the light elf village?” Koppor questioned, as shocked as I was at that news.

  “No, as far as we know none of the scouts have spotted a light elf, just the giant wolf.”

  “How many more scouts are out there? Are there more dwarfs around or did we move all of them away?” I questioned.

  “There are two more groups from our band of dwarfs that we camped with a week ago far down the river. As far as I know they did not know of the wolf, but they may now after all of our group disappeared. The scouts will keep searching for them and wonder what happened when they don’t find them,” said Stig, looking nervous. “Are we in trouble?”

  “No, no,” I said. “You just arrived and we haven’t had a chance to question where you have been yet. Instead of going with Koppor, I’d like you two to stay and tell Beck, Agda, and me all you know about the scouts and dwarfs. Would it be all right with you, Koppor, if I took your new recruits for a while?”

  “With this new information, absolutely,” answered Koppor. “These three have already been questioned,” she added, indicating the first elves she turned.

  I had the two new light elves follow me to Agda and Beck’s home. With them, we walked to the edge of the village, so as to not to alarm any other light elves before we knew all the facts.

  “Pia and Stig, can you tell us where you came from and what your orders were?” asked Beck.

  “King Helmar gave out orders for bands of twelve dwarfs with a rock elf rider on each to search various areas. We were sent north of here and were told to split up into three groups as we scanned the land,” Stig explained. “The scout rock elves were our way of communicating or finding the others in our band. We’ve been traveling that way for more than a month now. It’s been a rough life. We’ve seen so many horrible things done to animals by the dwarfs, haven’t we, Pia?”

  “Horrible. I was actually worried one day I’d be skinned alive, as half the animals were,” shivered Pia. “Some rock elves grow up with dwarfs, but not us. Instead, we were from the mining villages. We make the weapons. We’d still be there, but King Helmar ordered all young elves, those just past one hundred years of age, to report for his light elf hunt. The king is determined to find the lost prince, so every available rock elf was enlisted in the search.”

  “Was Peder’s group part of your band?” Beck asked.

  “No, there must be more of his band out there, too. I know there are nine more dwarfs and rock elves from our band out there. Our dwarfs were so excited about finding the giant wolf, they never even notified the others. Dwarfs are a selfish bunch, and they were in competition to be the one to actually kill the wolf. All they talked about was how they were going to display the skins and tail. I was so glad they never caught the wolf, though they did injure it. I do hope it survives,” said Pia.

  “I can tell you the wolf will be fine,” said Aly. “We found and have healed him, and now he is regaining his strength.”

  Pia and Stig looked at each other and then both asked simultaneously, “Are you magical, too?”

  Beck chuckled. “Aly has magical powers such as healing. You’re still very new here and need to know that Aly can heal us or others when we are injured. She also puts a magical shield around the village so nothing from the outside can see or hear us. The rock elf scouts would just see the forest and nothing else. Only when we leave the village does our guard need to be up. We also have sentry elves in nests watching for any activity in the area. But even with these safeguards, we have had dwarfs and rock elves very close to the village. So far we’ve been able to notify Aly, and she’s come and removed all the dwarfs.”

  “Where do they go?” asked Pia.

  “Well, it varies,” I said. “The dwarf you were on ended up on a deserted island. I saw all his skins and decided he could learn to wear fish skin for a while.” I smiled at Pia, who looked at me with happy surprise. “Stig, your dwarf was just sent as far away as the other dwarf. I have no idea of their true destination. The memory of the village and wooded areas here are erased. That doesn’t mean they may not return someday, but they won’t be seen for quite some time.”

  “So we may never see them again? Oh, that’s such good news,” Stig said with a sigh of relief. “Thank you for letting us become light elves.”

  “You were always a light elf. Being a light elf is your heritage,” said Agda.

  I looked at Beck and whispered, “I’m going back to let the others know what we learned today.”

  As Agda was still talking to the new elves I transported myself to Grandma’s.

  Grandma looked at me as I arrived. “By the look on your face you’ve found out some bad news,” she said.

  “Can you call everyone here? The dwarf situation is worse than we thought. I need to get some food in me. Is it all right I make a sandwich?”

  “Definitely. I’ll gather the others while you eat. How bad is it?” asked Grandma.

  “Pretty bad. I also learned some interesting things about rock elves that may help us.”

  I quickly ate a peanut butter and jelly sandwich and drank a glass of milk before joining the group in the living room.

  “Thanks for coming,” I began. “Beck and Agda are still speaking to our two newest light elves and will probably have more to add to this. King Helmar has ordered all rock elves a little over one hundred years old to team up with a dwarf. These teams are being sent out in groups of a dozen at a time. When they get to their designated area of the planet, they spread out in smaller groups to search for any sign of light elves. These groups communicate through rock elf scouts on crows.”

  “This isn’t good,” said Lunt, shaking his head. “They could easily spot a group of healers out doing their work, or the sentries.”

  “That’s not all,” I continued. “Peder’s group and the newest elves, Stig and Pia, are from two different bands. Pia told me there are nine dwarfs and rock elf riders from
his band still out there. He also thinks the others will be searching for the missing members of their band. It seems the three dwarfs I just sent away went nuts when a rock elf scout told about seeing a giant wolf. They immediately switched gears from light elf hunting to wolf hunting. They stopped all communication because they didn’t want to have another dwarf taking away their chances of killing the wolf. The competition overrode the orders from King Helmar.”

  “So there are eight left in one band and nine in the other,” said Berg. “Will they really search for lost members? Dwarfs aren’t known to be very loyal to other dwarfs. They don’t usually live in colonies.”

  “That’s true,” said Lina. “They’re basically selfish creatures and don’t like to share anything with others, but they’re not alone. We don’t know how connected rock elves are or how dedicated they are to their king. A light elf would keep up a search.”

  “Well, they also told me some information that may help us a bit with some of the rock elves. Pia and Stig aren’t used to dwarfs. They’re from the mines and their families are weapon builders. They were terrified of their dwarfs and hope never to see them again. Our newest light elves are very gentle elves put into a very foreign situation, which makes me wonder how many more are out there.”

  “That’s a good question, Aly. Unfortunately I don’t think we’ll ever know the answer to that,” said Silver. “With war, many soldiers—whether creatures or humans—have no idea how terrible it is until they live it.”

  I looked at Grandma, who had a smile on her face as though she knew what my next statement would be. That smile gave me the courage to share my thoughts. “I have an idea. If I were saved from a bad situation and put into a nice place like our newest light elves, I’d want my family to be given the same chance. Pia and Stig are so sweet they must have been raised by a good family. Would it be possible for us to bring their families here and see if some can join us? Koppor I think would love this idea, and we would be saving some more elves from a terrible life. After all, they’re really light elves, and it’d decrease King Helmar’s army.”