by Terry Spear
Sendal scoffed at her. “It's Lady Sendal to you. You’ll never see him again, but if you’d had the chance, you could have asked him about Lela, the river elf he’d grown attached to. If Balen is inclined to tell you the story, ask him. You see, Viator has done this before. Not once, not twice, but three times, he has fallen in love with a woman he cannot have. Convenient, isn’t it? But he will marry only me.”
8
Was Sendal lying? Eloria wished it was so, but she suspected Sendal was not. Her father had warned her of men like that. He’d profess his undying love to a woman, whom he could never wed for whatever reason. Then he’d terminate the relationship and start anew. If Lela was a river elf, what were the other women he couldn’t have? Eloria was dying to ask, but she couldn’t. Then Sendal would know she’d gotten under her skin. Not that this really meant anything to Eloria, but still, it did make her see him in a different light.
“Pleasant dreams,” Sendal said, then hurried out of the room with her maid.
Pleasant dreams indeed. More like she wished Eloria would have nightmares. Which she could very well have. But they were of her own making.
Viator knew what his father was going to say before he even said it. Both Barons Crawford and Tal stood nearby, waiting to be dismissed from the king’s throne room, but he motioned for them to stay.
That was a bad sign. It meant his father wished his word to be recorded in stone. Whatever he spoke to Viator about, would be common knowledge by morning meal.
“You won’t see the human girl any further, my son. Balen will escort her to the cliffs and cleanse the water. As we speak, our healers are working on a cure from the droplets remaining in the river elves’ flask for those who have already been poisoned. You will go to Neferon, where your next mission awaits you, as you have already mentioned you sense this is so.”
Viator stiffened his back. He wouldn’t let his father or his advisors know how defeated he felt. “Yes, my lord father.”
He had never disobeyed his father in any ruling he’d ever made concerning him before. But this time, he knew his father was wrong. It was every elf’s right to come of age on his own terms. That was part of becoming a full-fledged adult, after all. Still, his stomach knotted with annoyance, knowing he would have to disobey him.
“What did she say?”
“My lord father?”
“Come, come, Viator. You do not think I allowed you time alone with the girl to…to…well, I only left her alone with you so you could find out how she summoned the dragon. And I know you desired to know this, as well as you wish to be the one to tame him, when all other quests are completed.”
He was surprised his father would have realized this. Most young men had given up the notion anyone would ever tame Talom, but then again, Viator wasn’t just any man. He was to be ruler someday, and he had to prove he was worthy above everyone else.
And yet, Eloria had entrusted him with her story. He wasn’t about to betray her. “She doesn’t know anything about Talom, Your Majesty. She hadn’t even known dragons were real until she saw Prince Zorak riding one.”
The barons both chuckled.
His father wasn’t treating the situation lightly though. “And the crystal she wears about her neck? Where did it come from and what powers does it possess?”
“A cave possibly. She has no idea what powers it possesses.”
His father stroked his gray beard, and Viator knew he was contemplating the matter further. He turned to Baron Tal. “You will speak with the girl. Return to me when you have word.”
Viator took a deep breath, trying to calm his anger. He didn’t want Tal or anyone else questioning Eloria. They had no right. He had a difficult enough time getting her to speak to him without her being interrogated by the Chief of Information.
“That is all, my son. When your wings are healed, you will go to Neferon.”
Viator bowed, then hurried out of the throne room after the barons. Catching up to Baron Tal, he said, “You must be careful with Eloria.”
He smiled. “Prince Viator, I believe as you do, you are the only one who can extract the information from the young lady. But the king worries about the powers she possesses and believes, as I do, that she will unduly influence you. Therefore, I will do as the king bids and question the young lady, but I won’t threaten her, nor will I force the answers from her. If she doesn’t know anything, or doesn’t reveal anything to me, I will let the king know this. Nothing more.”
“But you won’t let me witness your questioning of her?”
“No, Prince Viator. The king doesn’t wish you to see the lady any longer, and I will have to ensure this as well.”
Viator shook his head. “Very well. I will see how the physician is doing with finding a cure for the water in the meantime.”
“As you wish, Your Highness.”
It wasn’t at all as Viator wished. He stormed off toward the potions room.
Baron Tal smiled sweetly at Eloria as he entered the bedchamber with a maid. “My lady,” he said, bowing slightly.
Eloria knew it was time for the questioning. When the meal was interrupted by the appearance of Talom, that pretty much ended any chance Baron Tal had at interrogating her. But now, it was time. He glanced down at her necklace, then over at her open window. Was he dying to know if he touched her necklace again, would Talom return?
Eloria was curious, too. “Did you wish to examine my necklace again, my lord?”
He cleared his throat and ran his hands through his hair. No, she guessed he did not.
“Prince Viator says he has asked you about the crystal and where you got it from.”
“Yes.”
“He said you found it at a cave.”
“In a dream.”
Baron Tal motioned for her to take a seat on the bench. This meant he was going to take some time, she assumed. She sat down, then took a deep breath.
“What powers does it possess?”
She smiled. “Did Prince Viator not also tell you I have no idea?”
“He did.”
“Ahhh, then I must assume you are asking because you think, between the time I spoke with him earlier and now as I speak with you, I have learned something new. Rest assured, I have not.”
“Why would a commoner be chosen as queen?”
He was changing the subject. Why? “I have not been chosen to be a queen, a princess, or any other kind of royalty. I don’t intend to marry anyone here, or anyone else in these lands.” Or anyone at all, if the computer that decided the issue of lifemates had any say in it.
He nodded, then rubbed his smooth chin. “How did you meet Prince Viator?”
Now this was a different line of questioning. “He was…hunting.”
“So you lured him there?”
She raised her brows in surprise. What an odd way of putting it. “He took me hostage. I was going with Prince Zorak to his home, but Prince Viator stole me away.”
The man’s eyes rounded. “I see.”
Was this good or bad? She assumed the worst. She’d lured the prince there to the cliffs and for whatever reason, the elves felt she was evil. Did they think she was going to steal their prince away from them?
“Listen, Baron Tal, I have no intention of doing harm to any of your people.”
“You may have no intention, my lady, but you do not truly seem to understand the power you possess. This puts us all at risk.”
“Ahh, I see. A lowly human girl is very frightening, to be sure.”
He straightened his posture and wrinkled his brow at her. “You possess a formidable power I fear, and you have no knowledge of how to handle it. This alone makes you dangerous…not only to our kind, but I imagine to your own as well.”
He stormed out of the room with the maid trailing behind him in a hurry.
“Thank you for your help, Eloria,” Eloria said under her breath. “You have been so very cooperative. We must have another chat like this soon.” She rose from the bench, then cr
ossed the room to the window. Leaning out of the sill, she felt the cool breeze swirl around her. It was much cooler and the air lighter in the mountaintops. And then a stream of blue fire shot across the sky. “Talom?”
Late that evening, Viator slipped into Eloria’s bedchamber as she sat staring out the window in the direction of the place where she’d been dropped off. “Eloria,” he whispered. The green gem around her neck flickered with light.
She jumped up from her seat. “Viator, have you heard?”
9
Viator took Eloria’s hand and led her to a sofa. They sat down. “Balen and I have been discussing this all evening. Since my father is going to have you leave with Balen before my wings have totally healed, he will take you to the fairyland meadows. It’s safe for anyone there, as long as you cannot hear the fairies’ music. I will join you as soon as I’m able. Then we will take care of the poisoned water.”
“And the seacoast?”
“I’ll have to take care of that afterwards.”
“I was afraid I wouldn’t see you again.”
“Nothing doing. Why several of the elves I know who are trying to come of age have besieged me with questions of what you are like. I’ve always been popular among my people, but with you here, I’ve never seen anything like it. Whispered conversations in the hallways, fervent discussions in the dining hall, from the king to his lowest servant there is no other word than that which speaks of you.”
“And Sendal?”
He laughed. “Sour tangerines. I couldn’t even smile at a girl without Sendal turning two shades greener. Now with you here, she really shows what I would have to live with, should I marry her.”
“Have you a choice?”
“Certainly. Of course, it was always assumed I would marry her as she is a duke’s daughter and very nearly my age but ultimately, it is my choice.”
There was no more conversation and she looked over to see him studying her features in the pale moonlight with the soft glow of a candle shimmering against the wall. Was she just like the river elf he was infatuated with? And what were the other creatures who were not winged elves that he'd had fleeting feelings for?
“Sendal said you were interested in Lela, a river elf.” She studied his response. Just his hesitation made her believe Sendal hadn’t lied about Viator’s interest in the elf.
“Yes, well, I did care for Lela. But once the river elves broke away from having any good contact with the winged elves, Lela sided with them. I didn’t blame her. She is Lars’s sister and it was expected of her.”
“I see.”
“But I was only twelve when they moved away. We’re not the same people we were then.”
Weren’t they? If the river elves and winged elves repaired the rift, would Viator once again desire Lela…maybe even for his wife? She was an elf at least and royalty, too, though she did not have wings like his kind.
“Yes, we are different now.” Viator sat on the bench next to her. She figured he sensed she wasn’t sure he still wasn’t fond of Lela and wished to close the distance between them.
She hated asking, but she hated not knowing more. “And the others?”
He grinned. “I was young when I met the other.”
She couldn’t imagine Viator as an infant, ever. Not as tall and handsome as he was now. “Yes?”
She wasn’t letting him off the hook. She wanted to know everything about him…just as he wanted to know everything about her.
“A mermaid.”
She frowned at him. “A mermaid? How could you fall in love with a mermaid?”
He chuckled. “They have ways of luring the unexpected, Eloria. And to love one, means ultimate death. They lure the unsuspecting to their deaths…it is their way.”
“But you say you loved one.”
“When I was eight, my father and mother took me to Neferon. My ability to filter the songs of the siren were not strong enough back then. I had no trouble with the meadowland fairies and my parents assumed I would be able to block the song of the mermaids, but I wasn’t able to. She was a beautiful creature with ebony curls and eyes as azure as the sea. But she would have drowned me if my father hadn’t stopped me.”
“Oh.” Eloria looked up from her hands she’d been wringing absentmindedly to see Viator watching her. "Sendal said there was another."
"None other, unless she means you." He hesitated, then reached over and took her hand in his. “Goodnight, Eloria.” He touched his lips to her hand and kissed it. “I will see you again, tomorrow afternoon. You have nothing to fear from the other loves of my life.” Then he leaned over to kiss her lips, but the sound of women’s voices approaching made him jump from the bench. “Tomorrow, Eloria.”
He climbed through the window to her surprise and slipped along the narrow ledge to the end of the row of chambers as she watched him. When he reached the end of the building, he waved to her then disappeared around the bend. She smiled. Not that anything could exist between them, but she was wondering if this is how Persephonice had ended up with the shadow elf Dracolin.
That night, Eloria woke from her nightmare. She couldn’t sleep. She tried to think of anything that was pleasant. Instead, she kept thinking about her nightmare: falling into the pit in a cave. That had really happened to her when she had tried to inspire opposing forces to give up fighting. They did, after they threw her into the pit and she miraculously survived. Courtesy of her magic. But she continued to have nightmares about it.
Shaking her head, she sat up in bed. The elves had loaned her a long, soft gown for sleeping in, but she exchanged it for the white elven gown. If she couldn’t sleep, she’d take a little walk around the castle and do some exploring. Hopefully, everyone had turned in for the night. She assumed it was late enough.
She strode across to the door and peeked out. She hadn’t expected a guard, but when she saw his gold uniform, she quickly closed the door. He hadn’t seen her as he appeared to be half asleep. She should have figured as dangerous as the elves thought she was, they would post a guard.
She walked across the room to the window and peered out. Could she make the walk along the ledge like Viator had done and reach the other side? Sure. She could do anything he could do…except fly. She considered the jagged rocks below this. Taking a deep breath, she figured her own clothes would be better to wear. She changed into her britches and blouse.
Without hesitation, she climbed out the window this time. With a cautious step, she made her way in the direction Viator had taken. But halfway there, she spied a large, flying creature silhouetted against the full moon. Was it Talom again? She couldn’t tell, but she wasn’t about to hang around and find out either. She hadn’t done anything to summon him as far as she knew, and there was a lot she didn’t know about in Viator’s elven world: mermaids, dragons, winged elves, and river ones. High elves, blue elves, snow giants, snow dragons? What else lurked unseen in their kingdom? She wasn’t certain she wished to find out.
Viator seemed so sure footed when he hurried along the stone ledge, but her own feet slipped several times on the moss-covered path. Her heartbeat pounded in her ears as she tried to hurry. She glanced over at the creature as it grew in size while nearing her location. It was headed straight for her.
And then she finally made out its strange features: an eagle’s head and neck crowned with white feathers, and gray feathered wings, the body and legs of a golden lion and a long switching tail with a comb of fur on the end. She’d never seen anything like it, but its sharp beak coming ever closer made her try to move too quickly. Just as he shrieked a spine-jarring noise, her foot slipped, making her heart jump out of her throat in terror. She didn’t even have time to scream as she fell off the ledge.
10
Viator paced across the floor of his chambers, consumed with worry their plans wouldn’t work on the morrow. What if his father discovered what he planned on doing with Balen and Eloria? His father would confine him to his bedchamber with a guard. That was for certain.
He sat down on his bed. He couldn’t get Eloria out of his mind. What was the matter with him anyway? He’d never been so distracted by a woman in his life. And yet, he hated returning her to the cliffs. He didn’t want to hand her over to the shadow elves either. He knew they’d keep her. Prince Zorak too. But Viator was thinking of a couple of elves who had defied convention and who remained neutral. Maybe they would take her in until he could convince the king she wasn’t dangerous.
Though he had to accomplish his mission, he didn’t want to leave her behind. He knew his work could take him all over the various lands he’d never even seen, and he’d have no more time for silly interests in a human girl. The thought sickened him. He didn’t want to leave her with anyone. He spread his wings, but they were as opaque as before. He wished she was one of his missions.
And then he heard the cry of the opinicus. He knew very well what that singular screech meant. The winged creature nearly had its prey in its deadly grasp. But what would one be doing so close to the castle?
Viator hurried to his window. He couldn’t see a thing. It hadn’t come from his southerly room, but the wing where the women’s chambers were. He ran his hands through his hair. The archers would take care of him, if they were alert on guard duty this eve.
And then the half bird, half lion screeched again. It wasn’t usual for the swift moving creature to miss its prey like that. He could tell from the noise, it was still after something. Something close to the castle. Viator pulled on his tunic and rushed out of his chambers. Balen soon joined him.
“Sire, where are the archers who should be guarding the wall walk?”
“Who knows? I’ve never heard of one of those creatures missing its prey and yet it sounds as if it’s targeted it again.”