by Terry Spear
“Yes, well I wouldn’t have thought so many would remember my costume from so long ago. I guess more pay attention to me than I realize.”
“Now they are paying this unwanted attention to me. Do you not think they are suspicious? First, you and Balen return. And now this strange woman arrives, wearing your cloak?”
He took a deep breath. “Luckily, my father is not here at the moment. Seems he is seeing a cousin who lives east of here. Otherwise, I would worry that he’d do away with protocol and ask you to reveal yourself. Still, my mother has been keeping a close eye on you since your arrival. I have never disobeyed my father, so she may not believe I would return you here. On the other hand, you are thought to have cast a spell over me, so she might believe you made me bring you here again.”
Eloria smiled. “You are saying she thinks I am a bad influence over you.”
“You are. I have never danced this close with a woman before, and in reality, should not unless I am married to her.”
Eloria’s whole body heated with the notion. She tried to distance herself from him, but he wouldn’t allow it.
“Your crystal is glowing. I am trying to keep anyone from seeing it as the light is filtering through the cloak.”
“I think the light is glowing because you are so close to me.”
He chuckled under his breath. “Well, we cannot be sure. If I move away from you, and you are incorrect, others may see the light and then everyone will guess who you are.”
She smiled. “And here I thought you only wished to hold me close.”
He smiled.
She glanced down to see if the amulet really glowed or if he only said so to keep her close.
“Troll’s dung,” he said as he looked over at his mother. “My mother just spoke to Lord Tor, and he’s on his way over here to either dance with you, or speak with me.”
“Can you not tell him to get lost?”
“No. I’m afraid it’s just not a viable option.”
“He won’t be like Lord Ren who spoke nonstop and never gave me a chance to speak. As your Minister of Information, Lord Tor will question me as before.”
“Yes, unless he wishes to speak with me instead.” Viator stiffened and nodded at the gentleman as he approached.
The man bowed to Eloria, then said to Viator, “Prince Viator, your mother wishes to know how your mission went in Neferon.”
Viator walked away from Eloria. She quickly glanced down to see her cloak dark, and the amulet not glowing, to her relief.
Lord Tor motioned for the prince to leave the dance floor, but Viator shook his head. “Lord Tor, you know at a dance like this, everyone is to participate. Business can be discussed later.”
Eloria noticed Lord Ren had headed in her direction while the prince was occupied, but before he reached her, Balen grabbed her hand and swirled her on the dance floor. He winked at the prince as he turned to watch them, then continued in his steps with her.
She frowned at Balen. “What is going on?”
“The queen is trying to separate you from her son. I must get you out of here as soon as I can. Everyone is talking. They cannot understand who the prince could have fallen in love with. It’s the only thing they can surmise with the way you two danced so closely on the floor.”
“My amulet was glowing. He tried to keep it hidden.”
Balen looked down at her cloak, then grinned as his gaze shifted to hers. “So that’s the excuse he used, eh?”
Her cheeks burned with embarrassment. “We must return to the library. I found the right book. The symbols that I have seen before glowed at the same time as my crystal.”
“Somehow, I must get you out of here, but everyone is watching us. Before long they will attempt to separate me from you as they have done with the prince.”
Her breathing quickened. “I must get out of here then. But how? Your people fear me.”
“You cannot wander off alone. And yet I cannot have a woman escort you out of here. A man cannot do this either as men are not to be left alone with a single female, though in your case it has often been done.” He glanced at the prince who watched them as Lord Tor stood next to him, his arms crossed. “I’ve been trying to figure out what to do since I saw Lord Ren escort you into the hall.”
“A diversion? Can you think of something to distract your people?”
“Other than you calling your dragon friend, no.”
“What about if I just removed the cloak? Maybe everyone will run from the room.”
“I’m afraid you will be arrested.”
“That wouldn’t do.” She considered the prince and his long face and furrowed brow. “Take me back to Viator. Maybe he will think of something while we dance.”
“You will dance too closely.”
“Take me back there.”
“Lord Ren is heading this way.”
“Quickly, before he gets too close.”
Balen did as he was told, his turned-down mouth showing his displeasure. Before they even reached the prince’s side, Eloria extended her hand to the prince.
The conversation and music ceased at once.
Viator grinned at her and took her hand, then pulled her close. “Thank you for taking care of the lady for me, Lord Balen.”
“Yes, Your Majesty,” Balen said, bowing.
Viator again pulled Eloria close.
She shook her head. “It is not glowing.”
He laughed. “You have stirred up the elf-kind, my lady. A lady never offers her hand to a gentleman, unless she wishes him to accept it forever.”
“Oh. Well, had I known…”
“Then you do not have the same custom in your world?”
“No.”
“You offered. I accepted. The first part of our engagement is done.”
20
Eloria smiled at Viator, thinking he was funny for telling her that offering her hand to him, meant they were engaged. “Ah, for elven kind. They won’t believe anything would come of this so-called first part of an engagement when they know who I am.”
“The ritual is not taken lightly.” He kissed her cheek.
She smiled again at him, then sighed and frowned. “I must get out of here. I thought maybe there could be a distraction.”
“I’ve been trying to figure out what to do. We cannot take the book from the library without setting off alarms. And somehow I must get you out of here safely too.”
Eloria knew this was going to be bad. But other than both she and Viator rushing for the nearest window so they could jump out of it, what else could they do? If she had to, she’d use her magic, but for now, she would do what she usually excelled at—being a motivational inspirer. Or at least, she was most of the time.
“Let me talk to your mother.”
Viator whispered to her, “Are you sure?”
“Yes.”
He escorted her to see his mother, and she curtsied to the queen.
“Come with me. I’d tell my son to stay, but I doubt he’d obey me. We’ll talk in my solar.” The queen motioned for Balen to join them.
When they arrived at her sitting room, the queen took her seat on a chair, then motioned to them to take separate chairs. But Viator led Eloria to a couch and sat next to her as if to give physical and emotional support. Balen sat on one of the other chairs.
“You can remove the mask and cloak—or not—but I do know who you are,” the queen said to Eloria.
They all removed their cloaks and masks.
“It’s a good thing your father isn’t here.” The queen looked at Viator’s wings. “At least you’ve made some progress. Slowly, but surely.”
Viator inclined his head to his mother. “She recognizes certain ancient symbols, my lady mother.”
“Which is why you’ve risked our wrath to bring her back here? To learn what they mean from a book in our library?” His mother was scowling.
Eloria didn’t think this was going over too well, but part of being a motivational inspirer wa
s to wait and observe and then direct the proceedings again.
Viator cleared his throat. “Yes.”
“Okay.” The queen smoothed out her red gown. “So what do the symbols mean?” She directed the question to Eloria.
“I don’t know. I couldn’t read the language. But they were symbols I’ve seen in my dreams. When I looked at the book in the library, my crystal glowed and so did the symbol in the book,” Eloria said.
The queen frowned. “In our prophecy, it states a human took a young girl to a world none of us know. If you were gone, far away, it wouldn’t come to pass. If you are the one. We worried the other one—”
“Persephonice?” Eloria asked.
“Yes. That she was the one. But she’s brought peace to many who have squabbled among themselves forever. And she has done nothing to change anything with how we live. Now here you come. And you have changed much here already for our people. Both of you are like the sirens of the sea, only in land form. You have used your magic to ensnare the unsuspecting.”
“My lady mother—”
The queen held her hand up to Viator, ordering him to remain silent. “The woman from the prophecy comes from a long line of dragon keepers. Their babies sleep in the nests with the dragonlings. They treat one another as dragon mates. To them, the elf baby is a litter mate and they will protect her. I'm wondering if Eloria was one of the dragons’ litter mates. Others raised in the same cave are also considered litter mates. Cousins, as well. The elves who protect the dragonlings have magic. Just like the dragons do.”
“Like high elves,” Eloria said.
“Exactly. And they train the dragons and make companions of them like we do. Except it’s different for us because we can fly too. And we don’t have inherent magic.” She turned to Eloria. “In your belongings, you had a sword and something else our guards believe could be a weapon. What was it?”
“From the world I’m from, it’s called a stun gun. It can put someone to sleep, or give them an electric charge that takes them down temporarily. I’m not an elf, as you very well know. I’m not from this world.”
“Your mother was human? Your father?” the queen asked.
“I don’t remember much about my mother, only that she had blond hair and blue eyes. My father had red hair and green eyes like me. He was human. My mother died when I was only four. I was on my home world with my father until he died and I ended up working for a commander of a…uh, ship.” She didn’t tell the queen about the spaceship. She was sure that even talking about another planet would be too much for these primitive elves to understand.
“You know too much of our world not to be from here. Your mother, maybe, was an elf like us. A high elf, maybe, with powers?”
“Uhm, my father did say my mother was the one with magical abilities. I never knew where she was from.”
Then the queen changed the subject. “Can you replicate this…stun gun for us?”
“No. I wouldn’t know the first thing about making one.”
“But you know how to use it.”
“Yes.”
“Viator, bring the book here, won’t you?”
“It will sound an alarm.”
His mother gave him a key. “Now, go and bring it. We’ll figure out which symbols seem important to Eloria.”
Eloria hoped they’d finally know something about all of this, but she couldn’t believe her mother was an elf from this world. How would her father have met her? Had he been on the planet at some point, fallen in love with the elf, her mother, and stayed with her until she died? He’d been an ambassador to different planets, but she knew they didn’t have an ambassador for primitive worlds that couldn’t understand about other planets or space travel. If he had been here with her mother, then had he taken Eloria to their home world after her mother died?
She tried to think of everything that her father had told her before he'd died, but not once had he said her mother had been an elf from this world. Nor had he said where her mother had actually been from, she realized.
“Then I must speak with the high elves and learn if they know anything about whether my mother was one of them, had a baby girl by a human, and when she died, he left with the young girl,” Eloria said.
“Yes,” the queen said, sounding eager to get rid of her one way or another. “My very thought. Maybe the problem you bring is to their kingdom, not ours.” She appeared hopeful.
Viator returned with the large, leather-bound book, but Balen said, "Let me find the symbols that she drew in the sand. I know where they are." Viator handed him the book.
Balen opened it and began to flip through the pages. He first came to the symbol of the green wizard, Sarandan. Eloria's amulet glowed and so did the symbol on the page. Everyone looked on in astonishment, even Eloria, who just couldn't believe her mother might have been from this world. But why else would Eloria have an amulet that reacted to a book in the library of the darkland elves? And why would it seem to call on a dragon?
Balen slowly flipped pages and before Eloria could even identify the others she knew from memory, they would glow. Viator was writing all the symbols down. "That symbol is for poison," Viator said.
Balen turned some more pages and two symbols glowed. "A fishing net." And on the opposite page, he pointed to the other symbol. "It’s the symbol for water."
Frowning, the queen turned her attention to Eloria. "Who taught you these symbols?"
"No one did. I just…doodled when I was in school. No one who saw them thought they were anything more than—doodles, nonsense drawings that had no meaning and they knew I'd just made them up."
"An elf taught you these symbols. It's an ancient elf language, no longer used." Viator was frowning at Eloria too, and she wondered if he was disappointed in her.
The queen rubbed her forehead. "Would your mother have taught you them before she died? Or someone else in the family? When you were between the ages of three and four, she could have shown them to you though."
"I…I don't know."
"Okay, I don't know about the rest of you, but I see a pattern here," Viator said, sounding both worried and excited. "There seems to be too much of a coincidence that some of the tasks I've fulfilled appear to be aligned with the symbols Eloria knows and that her amulet reacts to."
"Nonsense," the queen quickly said. "Anyone could draw conclusions that are just utter nonsense."
Balen and Viator exchanged glances, and Eloria thought they didn't believe the queen, knowing that she had her own agenda—sending Eloria far away from their kingdom. Eloria was thinking that Viator was right.
"Taming the dragon is part of my quests because it is something I must do," Viator said, ignoring his mother's comment. "The poison in the river, the fishing net—we've all encountered those. I'm not sure about the green wizard, though."
"See? What did I tell you?" his mother said. "You can find reasons for all of this, which truly have nothing to do with anything."
"Okay," Balen said, "The shadow symbol could be that of the shadow elves. Maybe they need us to help them with a quest."
"Me." Viator gave Balen a look that told him this was his quest and not Balen's!
But both had been involved in all of it, so Eloria was thinking it meant they all had to do it together. She was eager to help, if she could.
"Maybe I'm supposed to see Persephonice and you're supposed to help me," Eloria suggested, hoping they'd take her up on her suggestion.
"I agree," Viator said and Balen nodded. "So we don't know about the wizard, except that Eloria is dreaming about him."
"About the wizard?" the queen asked, looking a little alarmed. "He is dead."
Viator rubbed his chin thoughtfully. "She shadow walks, my lady mother. Maybe she also has some…familial connection with him. Family. An uncle or grandfather."
"He is ancient. And dead."
"Maybe his spirt is connected to her for some reason." Viator didn't seem to be ready to give up on the notion.
E
loria wondered if the wizard had come to her in an effort to help her fulfill the prophecy. And leading her to locate the crystal had been the beginning.
"How would that be connected to you and your quests?" his mother asked. Then she dismissed her question. "Forget it. I know what you will say. What are the other symbols?"
They were getting near the end of the book. Eloria only remembered drawing ten symbols. Would there be only ten in the book that would glow for her?
"A dragon's lair," Viator said. "That's two references to a dragon. The dragon itself and its lair."
"An amulet," Baden said, turning to the next page.
Everyone looked at Eloria's glowing amulet.
That should have been the last of the symbols she had drawn, but when they turned to the last page of the book, a new symbol she didn't recall glowed.
"It's mist," Balen said.
Viator snapped his fingers. "Like the island that disappeared into the mist."
"What? That is no more than folktales and legends. There is no truth to it," the queen said.
Eloria ran her hand over the green gown she was wearing. "This gown came from the castle on the island cloaked in mist."
Frowning, the queen touched the fabric. Then she snapped at her son. "What were you doing on that island? You could have been lost forever!"
"Rescuing Eloria! And some other elves."
"Green wizard, dragon, dragon's lair, coiled-up rope, amulet, poison, water, fishing net, fire, shadow, mist. Eleven ancient elven symbols." Balen closed up the book.
Eloria stared at the book. "The mist symbol was the only one that I hadn't remembered seeing."
"Seeing?" the queen asked.
"In my dreams. Maybe my mother didn’t teach me the symbols but the green wizard did."
The queen scoffed. “Nonsense. He’s been dead for years. This girl is leaving to see Prince Zorak and his people to learn if her mother was one of them now.” The queen gave Viator a look like he better not even think of going there with her. “Lord Balen will take her there. If that is unacceptable to you, I’ll send Lord Ren to do the task. If she leaves, discreetly, I won't have to tell your father how you disobeyed him.”