by Lara Ann
“The Jaega still works!” I exclaimed. “How did you know? None of the other lights worked in Ava’s darkness.”
“I wasn’t sure, but I suspected that it might still work. The Jaega is special. I need you to use it to guide the others through the tunnel.”
“What will you be doing?” I asked worriedly.
“I’ll be with the other fighters making sure we all get out safely. Don’t worry Ash, I’ll be fine.” Wyn bent down and gently kissed my forehead before heading into the darkness.
I couldn’t help but worry. I had the only source of light. How would Wyn know if anyone was coming? Most of the remaining Elves had gathered around me and the Jaega. It was eerie in this complete artificial darkness. I was glad I had the locket with me. It felt reassuring to have its weight around my neck.
“This way,” I said, in an overly bright voice. I led the Elves to the tunnel entrance and pushed aside the heavy green curtain.
“Is it a long way to the other side?” A small Elf in the lead asked.
“Not far at all, just keep your head down and don’t expect to keep your feet dry.”
The Elves quickly headed into the tunnel, most giving me a smile or a word of thanks as they filed past. Soon Vashti came with Ava. The young Elf looked tired, I wondered if using her power was wearing her out.
“Are you alright?” I asked Ava.
“I’ll be fine, I just need to rest soon.”
The other Elves came into view; it looked like we hadn’t been discovered yet. Callum and the other Elf helping my father, laid him down on the ground. I watched as Finnan knelt down and placed his hands on Dad’s head. In a moment he stirred and his eyes opened.
“Dad!” I raced over and dropped down by his side. “Are you okay? What are you doing here?”
“Ashlee, thank goodness you’re alright. I was so worried when Wyn came back from the dance without you.” Dad sat up and enveloped me in a fierce hug.
I tried not to cry out as my shoulder protested at the contact. He pushed me back gently as if to make sure I was unharmed. I looked at him closely for the first time and could see immediately that the ear that was not covered by the bandage came to a distinct point.
“You’re an Elf!” I exclaimed. I had begun to suspect, but seeing the proof still came as a shock.
“I’m sorry I couldn’t tell you before...”
“I hate to break up this reunion,” Finnan said. “But we still need to get to safety, explanations will have to wait.”
“Of course,” I said jumping up. I pulled Dad to his feet. We approached the tunnel entrance. Only Wyn and Finnan were left waiting. Everyone else had gone through.
“You go first Dad, I’ve got the only light.”
Dad glanced quickly at Wyn. Reassured he hurried through the tunnel.
“You next Ashlee,” Finnan insisted.
I hurried into the tunnel, not caring this time about the muddy water that filled up my shoes. The slippers Vashti had lent me were even more useless than my sneakers for climbing through muddy tunnels. I tried to hold my dress out of the murky water. I could feel Wyn’s presence close behind me, which was reassuring. The tunnel ended abruptly and I gratefully jumped down into the muddy pond. Wyn came out behind me and easily lifted me up onto the bank. I was immediately sur-rounded by chaos. Elves and horses milled around in confusion. Before I could make sense of it, a familiar nose nudge me gently.
“Thunder!” I exclaimed happily. The horse always seemed to know where he was needed. Un-like the other horses, he didn’t have a saddle or a bridle on. I suspected he’d made his own way here. Wyn leapt nimbly onto Thunder’s back and reached down to pull me up behind him.
“That feels much better,” Wyn said cheekily as I put my arms around his waist. “You have no idea how worried I was about you.”
“I think I have some idea,” I replied. I hugged him tightly never wanting to let go again. I looked around to check on Dad, he was riding double with Argus. With so many extra people, there were not enough horses to go around. I hoped we wouldn’t have to try to outrun any Dark Elves.
“Where to now?” I asked Wyn.
“Back to our base, the plan is to travel in small groups. We’ll be less conspicuous that way.”
As I watched, groups of five or six riders began heading off in different directions. Thunder followed Finnan along a small alleyway. Our group consisted of Finnan on one horse, as well as four other single horses and riders. I didn’t know any of the other Elves.
“Where are Vashti and Ava?” I asked.
“With Argus, Tom and Callum. It’s better if the Queen and I are in different groups. Less chance of us all being caught.”
“You mean like how the royal family travel in separate planes in case the plane goes down?”
“Something like that,” Wyn said grimly.
“How come you refer to your mum as ‘the Queen’?”
“It’s how I was brought up. When we are alone I’m less formal.”
I still had a lot to learn about royalty, not that I had any idea if I’d get to spend much time with Wyn after all this. I was beginning to suspect my Dad must have been one of the Elves that had been exiled from Alora. Why else would he be living on Earth? Would that make me an outcast too? I was sure it wouldn’t help my chances of having a relationship with the future Elf King.
We came out of the alley into a wide cobbled square filled with shops. Thunder reared suddenly as horses rushed out from the other side of the square.
“There they are!” someone shouted.
A band of about ten horses charged across the square towards us. Thunder spun quickly and turned down a side street heading away from the castle. I grabbed Wyn tightly praying they didn’t have any arrows this time. Thunder made a few turns in quick succession and I tried to grip firmly with my legs. I knew I would’ve been on the ground already if I hadn’t had Wyn to hang onto. He seemed to have some innate ability to stay on the horse’s slippery back.
“Can you see how many are following us?” Wyn asked urgently.
I carefully turned my head, I could make out four horses hot on our heels.
“At least four.”
“Damn, they must have recognised me.”
I had never heard Wyn say anything like a curse word before. He must be worried. Probably about me I guessed, I could imagine him being excited by the challenge of four opponents at once otherwise.
“What’s the plan?” I asked as we made another sudden turn down a side street.
“I’ll try to out run them first. I’d rather not stand and fight.”
“I could help you know.”
“I’m sure you would certainly try,” Wyn chuckled. “If it’s all the same though, I’d rather you didn’t.”
I looked over my shoulder; the pursuing horses didn’t seem to be getting any closer. Even carrying two, Thunder was managing to keep ahead. He wasn’t able to gain a lead though. Thunder made another turn, this time into a dead end street, the road ended abruptly in a brick wall that looked about five feet high.
“Hang on tight Ash.”
“What, you can’t be serious! Please tell me we aren’t going to jump that wall.”
“Thunder is confident he can make it and is not impressed that you doubt him.”
I held on tight as Thunder gathered himself and leapt. My stomach lurched as we cleared the wall. We landed in what looked like a backyard. There was a washing line, a vegetable garden and another brick wall. Before I could take it all in, Thunder was jumping again. We landed roughly, Thunder had just managed to clear a woodpile stacked behind the wall that he’d been unable to see, but it had caused him to land badly. Wyn was instantly off the horse, I slid off right behind him, desperately hoping the big stallion was okay.
“Check if they’re coming Ash,” Wyn said as he began inspecting Thunder’s legs.
I ran back to the wall and clambered up the woodpile. One of the pursuing Elves lay unmoving on the ground; it looked
like he’d been thrown from his horse when it refused to jump the wall.
“There are no horses crazy enough to follow. Just one Elf who must have been thrown from his horse,” I replied hurrying back to Wyn’s side.
“That’s good, it should give us some time. They’ll try to go around to find us, but we’ll have a few minutes head start.”
“How’s Thunder, is he hurt?”
“I think he’s alright, but we’ll have to run for a while to make sure. He says he’s fine, but I don’t want to take any chances.”
I hitched up my dress, so I could move more freely. Wyn glanced at my slipper shoes.
“Can you run in those?”
“I’m sure I can, I just hope the road’s not too rough, they aren’t really meant for running. I wish I had my sneakers.”
“Just let me know if you can’t keep up – we’ll work something out.”
Luckily there was a gate that led out of the yard, Wyn quickly unlatched it and let us through to the road. Wyn checked both ways before turning right along the street. I jogged along behind them, hoping I wouldn’t slow us down.
“Do you know where we are?” I asked.
“Not exactly, but I’m pretty sure I can find the way. As long as we don’t run into any more guards we’ll be fine.”
We made several more turns. The streets were quiet. I hoped no one was spying on us from the houses who would tell the guards we had passed by.
“Are many of the Elves loyal to Rothlyn?”
“No, most of the common people have been disadvantaged by Rothlyn’s rule. It’s mainly those seeking power who approve of his style of leadership.”
We came to a more open area surrounded by trees. It looked like a park you’d find in any city on earth.
“Is this a park?”
“Yes,” Wyn laughed. “We do have parks here too. Our worlds are not as dissimilar as you might think.”
We ran across the short grass and under the large green trees. The only difference between this park in Emmelion and some of the parks I’d been to in Sydney, was the flower beds here were a lot more natural looking. There were no formal looking garden beds, just abundant flowers, trees and grass. It was extremely beautiful, it would be nice to sit and relax here, in a less dire situation.
We came to a slow moving river in the centre of the park.
“We should be able to follow the river out of the city. Can you still run?” Wyn asked.
“Yep, still good. I could probably go faster if I take my shoes off. This grass looks soft enough to run on barefoot.” I quickly slipped off my shoes and felt the cool grass underfoot. Hitching my dress back up, I took off running down the riverbank. The breeze lifted my hair off my neck as I ran. It felt amazing, after having been locked up in a small room, running outside felt freeing. I felt myself going faster and faster, I felt like I could run all day. After a while the trees ahead became thicker and I slowed down, deciding I would need to put my shoes on again. I turned back to look for Wyn and was surprised that he wasn’t in sight. I hoped Thunder was all right. I felt guilty that I hadn’t thought to check earlier. I heard the sound of hoof beats and saw Thunder cantering around the bend in the river. He looked perfectly fine, but where was Wyn? The big horse came to a stop in front of me and gently pushed his nose into my hand for a pat.
“Well, I’m guessing Wyn is okay if you want a pat,” I laughed.
A wave of exhaustion swept over me, my legs collapsed and I fell against a nearby tree. How far had I just run? I hadn’t even felt tired while I was running, but now I felt exhausted. Maybe I would just close my eyes for a moment...
I sat up quickly and jumped to my feet, what was I thinking! With the Jaega back around my neck, falling asleep would mean returning home. I couldn’t leave now, I had to make sure everyone was safe. I needed to see my Dad and take him home with me.
“Don’t let me fall asleep Thunder,” I said imploringly to the big horse, not knowing if he could understand anything I said. “Should we look for Wyn?”
“No need,” Wyn replied running up behind me.
“I was getting worried, is everything okay? What happened?”
“Yes everything is fine, but I think we’ve confirmed your gift.”
“Really, you mean my running?”
“Yes – you have the gift of swiftness.”
“I thought that was one of your gifts?”
“I can move fast and I’m extremely agile, but my gift doesn’t extend to running the way yours does.”
“Did you know my Dad was an Elf?” I asked abruptly.
Wyn took my hands and looked into my eyes. “Yes. I knew as soon as I saw him that he was an Elf. You have to understand – he begged me not to tell you. I felt terrible Ashlee, it put me in the middle, but it wasn’t my secret to tell. It is his place, when and how he tells you about his past. Can you forgive me for keeping this from you?”
I looked down at my feet, but didn’t pull my hands away. I felt confused, I was kind of glad he hadn’t gone against my father’s wishes and I did agree that it was my Dad’s place to tell me about his past, but I still felt betrayed that Wyn had kept secrets from me. I felt like I could tell him any-thing and had thought or hoped that he felt the same.
“Look at me Ash, tell me what you’re thinking.” He lifted my chin.
“I don’t know,” I mumbled still not meeting his eyes. “I’m confused I guess. Logically I know it was the right thing not to tell me, but I’m still hurt that you kept this from me. Does that make any sense?”
“Yes – you trusted me and I betrayed that trust. I understand. I’m sorry. I hope one day you can find it in your heart to forgive me.”
I smiled. I couldn’t help myself, Wyn was so melodramatic sometimes. I looked into his eyes. Was it really fair to blame him for such a sucky situation? “I forgive you Wyndelleu,” I said in my most serious voice, before I was overcome by a fit of laughter. “I’m sorry Wyn,” I spluttered, noting his shocked expression. “You were so serious and I was trying to be too, but it just all got too much and I couldn’t help laughing. But I really was serious about forgiving you. You were in an impossible situation. I know you wouldn’t deliberately lie to me for no reason.”
I reached my arms around him and hugged him tightly. To my relief he responded by wrapping his arms around me. We stood there silently, just enjoying the closeness of being together. I eventually stepped back.
“Aren’t we supposed to be in a hurry escaping or something?” I said jokingly.
“It seems I am too easily distracted where you’re concerned. Finnan was right to warn me, yet here I am, forgetting my duty again. Let us hurry. We’re nearly out of the city.”
Chapter 23
Wyn took my hand and led me quickly through the trees, Thunder was content to follow along behind. I was glad to see the big horse hadn’t suffered any obvious injury from jumping those brick walls.
The trees came to an abrupt end near a high stone wall that led to a bridge crossing the river. It looked like the bridge was only accessible from outside the city. The stone wall was too high to climb and no trees were near enough to offer any assistance, not that Thunder could climb a tree anyway.
“What do we do now?” I asked.
“Ah, this was the bit I wasn’t looking forward to telling you about. We need to swim under the bridge to get out of the city undetected. I’m sure all of the usual exits will be under guard. This will be the safest route for getting you out.”
I looked down at my long olive green gown, I wasn’t sure I could swim with it on, the weight would probably drag me straight to the bottom of the river.
“Do you have anything on under that dress?” Wyn asked looking embarrassed.
“Yes – it has a sort of shift thingy, and my underwear of course,” I said going red. Even though I had been to the beach at home with Wyn wearing a lot less, it somehow seemed different here. I hadn’t seen the Elves going around in anything like what we wore at home. I
hadn’t even considered if it was difficult for Wyn to be around all the girls on Earth who wore a lot less than they did here.
“Turn around please.”
Wyn obediently turned his back to me. I reached up to try to undo the laces at my back, but I couldn’t get to them, Vashti had helped me get the dress on in the first place.
“Actually, could you help me loosen the ties on this dress please?”
Wyn quickly did as instructed and then turned his back to me again. I quickly pulled the dress off and folded it up tightly. I tied the long ends of the shift around my thighs so I could swim un-restricted.
“Okay, I’m all set.”
Wyn glanced around quickly, but didn’t stare at my odd appearance. I just hoped we didn’t run into anyone else until I had a chance to get dressed properly again. He took my hand and let me down to the edge of the river. The water was cold, not really pleasant for going swimming. The bridge arched over the water, so at least we would be able to keep our heads above the water. Thunder quickly waded in up to his chest and then stopped.
“If we go on either side of Thunder, you can hold onto his mane and he’ll help guide you. If you get into any trouble you can climb onto his back, but he prefers us to swim alongside.”
“Right, got it,” I said nervously, edging further into the river.
Wyn quickly removed his shirt and boots and fastened them along with my dress around Thunder’s neck to try to keep them dry. I tried not to stare at Wyn without his shirt on; I wanted to ex-tend him the same courtesy he had shown me, but I couldn’t help noticing how nicely defined his chest was.
The mud from the river bottom squelched coldly through my toes as I waded out to where Thunder was standing. The water was chilly and I wished I had time to get used to it.
“Grab onto Thunder’s mane and let your feet float up, you don’t want to risk them getting trod-den on,” Wyn advised.
As soon as I did, the big horse lurched out from the bank. With Thunder swimming and the cur-rent of the river we passed quickly under the bridge, no one shouted or raised the alarm, so it looked like we’d escaped unseen. Thunder continued to swim downstream until we were safely around a bend in the river. As soon as we were near the bank, I let go of the horse and let him scramble out up the riverbank. I clambered out ungracefully with Wyn beside me.