“Nearly there.”
“If you live this far away, why were you in the woods where you found me?” I looked into the dark night wishing I could see. It was disconcerting to have absolutely no idea where we were.
“I told you. I had a vision.” He spoke calmly and succinctly. It was nothing like the panic welling inside me.
I wanted to scream and flail my hands around. I wanted to make someone understand how out of control my life had become, but I couldn’t. Instead I took a deep breath and asked a question. “A vision of what exactly?”
He slowed down the horse. Maybe asking him questions was a mistake. “It was of a girl lost and in danger.”
“So you knew what you were going to find.” I wasn’t surprised to learn that his appearance wasn’t random. Nothing seemed to be random in Energo.
“I did not know who you were.”
“But you knew that I was human.”
“Most other creatures are more adept at protecting themselves.” His voice held no judgement, but that didn’t mean it didn’t annoy me.
“Gee, thanks.”
“That was not meant as an insult. Your kind is different. Instead of all members of the species being given power, only the select few are. That is not how it works for my kind.”
“And what is your kind?” I wasn’t quite sure if I wanted to know, but on a logical level I knew I should find out.
“You will see soon enough.”
“Is it obvious physically?” That would mean it was different than the wolves. You couldn’t tell while they were in human form.
“I would think so. That is if your parents read you fairy tales.”
“Yeah, not too many of those read in my house.” My mom was a realist through and through. My lack of a princess phase wasn’t entirely of my own making.
“Really? I thought the stories were still wildly told in Belgard.”
“I’m not from Belgard.”
“Then why did you ask to be taken there?”
“I asked for help finding Icentris actually.”
“So you could find a guide to Belgard. I am cutting out the middle man.”
“But I never said I was from Belgard.” I wouldn’t have volunteered that sort of information even if I was.
“Where are you from? We are hundreds of miles from the nearest village.”
“That’s a long story.”
“Another long story?”
“Kind of part of the same one.”
“Your speech is unlike any I have heard before. To be truthful, I doubted you were from the walled city.”
“I get that a lot.”
He laughed deep enough his entire body shook.
“Before you say it again, I’m not entertaining.”
“Why does it bother you if I say it?” he asked.
“Because it was my quest for a more exciting life that got me into this mess to begin with. I was tired of boring.”
“You admit you are unhappy with your present situation?”
“Did I seem happy to be lost in the woods?” I didn’t bother to hide the edge in my voice. I didn’t have the energy.
“You claimed to be doing just fine.”
“I can claim a lot of things.” Especially when it meant saving face.
He kept the horse at the same slower speed. “Was it a man who left you out there?”
“Isn’t that a personal question?”
“I am taking you to my home. Is it wrong to ask you a question like that?”
“Wait.” Panic seized me. “I thought we were going to your house for dinner. I didn’t agree to have sex with you.”
He laughed. “I realize what you agreed to. Although agree is probably the wrong word. I cajoled you to come with me.”
“Ok, good. Making sure we are on the same page.”
“But I want to know what sort of trouble I have walked into.”
“Major trouble. So if you want to drop me off that would be fine.” Not that I actually meant what I was saying. Now that I got the guy to take sex off the table, I was probably safer with him than out on my own. Besides, I might actually make it to Belgard with his help.
“Who are you?” He slowed the horse further and then came to a complete stop.
“Ainsley. I already told you that.”
“Ainsley from where?”
“From Charleston.” That was the most recent place I was from.
“And Charleston is where exactly?”
“A few hours from Belgard.”
“I have never heard of it.”
“I get that a lot too.”
He jumped off his horse and offered his hand. Not that I could see much of anything in the darkness.
He led me away from the horse and up to a doorway. He unlocked the door and stepped inside. I waited nervously until he lit a sconce. “Welcome.”
I took him in. He looked like an ordinary enough man at first. Handsome face. Long blonde hair. But then I noticed something off. His ears were longer than normal. The sight of them brought me back to old fantasy books.
“You’re an Elf?”
He grinned. “You did read the old stories.”
“Interesting.”
“Interesting good or bad?”
“I am trying to figure that out.” I remembered Elves usually being good, but I was sure in some stories they were bad.
“I assure you I am not a danger to you. I would not hurt an innocent.”
“Which is great to know.” Although what assurances did his word really give? All I could do was blindly go along with it and hope he was safer than whatever else waited outside.
I glanced around at his neat and sparsely furnished home. The dim light from the sconces made it difficult to see everything, but there were two paintings on the otherwise bare walls.
I walked over to look at them. One was clearly Elron sitting next to an absolutely beautiful elf girl. “Is that your girlfriend?”
He shook his head. “My sister.”
“Oh. She’s gorgeous.”
“She is.”
When he didn’t say anything else, I moved the conversation. “Nice place.”
“It suits my needs for the present.”
“For the present?” The house seemed permanent enough to me.
“I am here as a watcher. I will return home and unite one of these days.”
“So you aren’t from here?” I left the question of what a watcher was until later.
“No. I am here to watch.”
“Hence the term watcher.” Maybe something was straightforward for once.
“I suppose I should not laugh. You might grow upset again.” His eyes twinkled.
I glanced at an arched doorway that appeared to lead to a kitchen. “I assume you want to eat dinner now?”
“Are you in that much of a rush? Not long ago you implied you were not hungry.”
“I’m not hungry.” Not really. “But I’m anxious to reach Belgard.” I wasn’t sure how much time I had away from James, nor what was happening to him. I didn’t want to believe he could change completely, but I knew it was possible. Anything was possible.
“Would you like to clean up?”
“Do I look like I need to clean up?” I looked down at my dirty clothes. “Ok, maybe you have a point.”
“I will go get us some water.”
One of the things about Energo that was hard to get used to was the lack of modern amenities. I’d never take a toilet or sink for granted again. Or a hot shower. That one for sure.
With my hands washed, I helped Elron bring over a couple of containers to the table. I wasn’t particularly hungry, but I helped myself to some fruit. “Thank you.”
“Are you thanking me for the food?” He made a sandwich out of bread and some sort of meat.
“For the food, but mostly for getting me out of that forest. I was lost.” There was no reason to pretend otherwise now.
“So you admit it?” He took a bite of his sandwi
ch.
“Yes.” I cracked a smile.
“I assumed as much.”
“All I want to do is get to Belgard.” Then back to James and hopefully to some normalcy, but I‘d start with Belgard.
“What is in Belgard you need so badly?”
I took a bite of a bright red fruit. It was juicy, and as I didn’t have a napkin I used the back of my hand to wipe my chin. “The Essence.”
He exhaled loudly. “You seek out the Essence?”
“Charlotte?” I took another bite of the fruit. “Yeah. I need her help.”
“And you assume you will get an audience with her?” Elron set aside his sandwich.
“I guess you could say we’re friends of friends.”
“Have you met her?” He watched me with interest.
“Yes.” And my initial impression had been a good one. Nothing about her had scared me, yet some things had changed, and I wasn’t sure if I was ready to face her.
“What is she like?” He resumed his eating.
“I take it you haven’t met her?”
He shook his head. “No. I met the Essence that came before the one before her.”
“Ok, that’s a confusing line, but I take it you mean the one before her mom?”
He nodded.
“What was she like?”
“I asked you about the current one first.”
“Ok.” I considered how much to share. “Charlotte is sweet. Beautiful of course.”
“Of course?” He finished off his sandwich. “Do you assume that all powerful people have beauty?”
“No. But she is.” She had an ethereal beauty to her, and I had assumed she was just as beautiful inside and out, but now James was making me doubt it.
“Ok. Sweet and beautiful. I would think there would be other words to describe the Essence.”
“She seemed like a normal girl to me. But maybe that’s because she was from the same wo—”I stopped myself.
He smiled. “What was that you were going to say?”
I sighed. “You already know, don’t you?”
“That you are not of Energo?”
“Yes.”
He shook his head. “I know you were not raised in Energo, but you are of this land.”
“Um, nope.”
“You are.”
“That’s impossible. I hadn’t even heard of it until a week ago.”
“But your parents must be from here.” He folded his hands in front of him on the table.
“My mom definitely isn’t.”
“And your father?” He leaned forward.
“I never met him.”
“Then that may be your answer.” He leaned back in his chair.
“How would you know anyway? It’s not like you can tell where someone is from just by looking at them.” I tried not to let his words unnerve me.
“It is one of the gifts of my people.”
I pushed around the food on my plate. It looked fine, but I had no appetite.
“Have you ever wondered who your father was?”
“Of course. How couldn’t I?” It was only natural to want to know who the man was, but my mom wasn’t interested in sharing, and I respected her enough to drop it.
“Then why not find out?”
“You make that sound easy. I doubt they do DNA tests on everyone here.” I wasn’t going to explain my mom’s reservations. That seemed too private to share.
“DNA tests?”
“Forget I said anything.” I looked down at the remaining fruit on my plate.
“I may be able to determine your lineage.”
“I’d rather you didn’t.” I ate an orange colored fruit in one bite. It took me a few moments to chew which didn’t bother me. It saved me from further conversation.
“You do not speak truthfully. You want to know.”
“I have more important things to deal with.”
“More important than discovering who you really are?”
I looked up. “I know who I am. My father’s identity doesn’t change that.”
“Those are wise words for one as young as you.”
“How much older are you?” I studied him in the dim light. He didn’t look much more than thirty.
“Far older than I look.”
“Oh.”
“Oh? What kind of reaction is that?”
“My reaction.” I shrugged.
“Elves live long lives.”
“Forever?”
He shook his head. “No. Immortality is not a gift of ours, but we live far longer lives than humans.”
“Where are you from?”
“Curious?” He took a piece of fruit from the platter in the center.
“More interesting conversation than my problems.”
“Problems you will need to detail to me eventually.”
“After dinner?” I took a piece of the bread. Now that I had started eating I was getting hungrier.
“After dinner we sleep.”
“I thought we were going to Belgard?” We had no time to waste.
“You nearly fell asleep on my horse. And I need rest to. It will be a long ride.”
“Then maybe I should go on my own.” Waiting wasn’t part of the plans.
“You do not mean that.”
I sighed. “No.”
“What is your fear? Do you worry I will try to take advantage of you? I assure you I would never.”
“No. I’m apprehensive about sleeping right now.”
“Why?”
“Because I tend to sleep longer than I want to, and there is too much to do.”
“I will wake you up.”
“I’m not sure how easy it is.” James hadn’t told me anything about my weird memory and sleep things. He hadn’t had the chance, or he hadn’t wanted to.
“Either way I will sleep.”
I made a sandwich similar to Elron’s and took a bite. “Wow. This is good.”
“I have many talents.”
“Cooking is another Elf gift?”
He laughed. “No. It is something I enjoy.”
“I can’t claim the same.”
“No?”
“I’m more of the salad or sandwich variety.”
“Maybe I can teach you if we meet again under different circumstances.”
“Won’t you be back in your home and married by then? By the way, you never told me where that home is.”
“It won’t be for many more years, and I can’t tell you. It isn’t that easy.”
“Let me guess, you go through a gate?”
He shook his head. “No gate.”
“Oh… not a hole, right?”
“A hole?”
“I got here the last time through a hole in the ground.”
“And how did you end up in that hole?”
“Corpses pulled me down.”
He leaned forward on his elbows. “You were not kidding about the major trouble.”
“No. I wasn’t.”
“Does this have to do with the new gate?”
“New gate?”
“Yes. The one being built… I have heard whispers of it.”
“Where does this new gate lead?”
“To the lost world.” He took a drink from his cup.
“Then yes. Maybe I do know something about it.”
11
Ainsley
“I can sleep on a chair, or even the floor.” I eyed Elron’s bed warily.
“Nonsense. You are my guest. I will sleep in the other room. I only need a few hours of rest.”
“But you can have that rest in your bed.”
“I could never rest knowing my guest was less comfortable.”
I considered arguing further, but I was exhausted. Plus, the sooner he slept, the sooner he’d be ready to take me to Belgard.
“Fine, if you insist.”
“I do insist.” He nodded toward me. “Sleep well and please let me know if you need anything.”
I wait
ed until he left the room to try out the bed. It was plush and far more comfortable than I expected.I fought off sleep for as long as I could. I thought about anything and everything that would keep me awake, but even my worries weren’t enough to stop me from slipping into a fitful sleep.
“Trust him.” The voice was back.
Trust who? I didn’t bother speaking out loud. I knew this was all in my head. That knowledge was at once reassuring and frightening.
The Elf. He means well.
I assumed that much. At least I hoped so.
Trust him. Trust him with everything.
What everything?
Everything.
Could you be more vague?
The voice laughed. “Just like your mother.”
“Uh?”
“You have not figured out who I am yet?”
“Should I have?” I was growing tired of people assuming I knew things I didn’t.
“Maybe not. You will soon.”
“Soon as in today?”
I got no response. I sighed. Of course not. No one ever wanted to answer my questions. I wasn’t sure why I bothered asking them at all.
I opened my eyes and stared into the darkness. I missed James. I missed his touch, and I missed our connection. I missed how safe he always made me feel no matter where we were. But then the image of him strangling Gregor flashed through my mind. That wasn’t my James. That was Blake. There had to be a way to separate the two, and I was relying on Charlotte to help me. Of course Charlotte might refuse to help. According to James she’d refused him, but maybe there was a way to convince her.
I cleared my head of thoughts about James and Charlotte, and instead I thought of the voice. He knew my mother, and he was implying something I wasn’t sure I could handle.
Why would I have been hearing my father’s voice in my head? The possibility that he was from Energo was becoming more and more likely, but I didn’t want to accept it. It was easier to handle being in a different world when I was only a stranger there. It was so much harder knowing I was somehow part of it. But then again I was part of this mess no matter what. James was talking about hurting my world. Because even if my father was of Energo, I was from the lost world, and I would have to protect it.
I dragged myself out of bed. I changed back into my dirty clothes. I had only accepted borrowed ones from Elron to be polite since I was sleeping in his bed, but I felt far more comfortable in my own. Although those were borrowed from Samantha. Everything about my current situation felt off.
Forged in Fire (The Forged Chronicles Book 3) Page 7