by Melina Grace
“I’m sorry.”
“He is not someone close to me, but someone I respect mightily. He has lived a long joyful life and enriched the lives of many. I am sad that we will lose his wisdom, but it is his time.”
After that, they rode in silence.
The morning progressed slowly and when they stopped for a quick midday meal, Caris was dismayed to discover it would be three days before they would meet with Janen. When Adanair told her they would be joining them, Caris’ excitement had been such that she had expected to see them almost immediately. She looked at Crispin and wished he would heal more quickly.
They travelled through a part of Telvendor that Caris had not visited on her former wanderings. It was beautiful and Caris suspected that if she weren’t so impatient to see Janen she would have thoroughly enjoyed the leisurely journey through breathtaking scenery with the joyful elves for company. She couldn’t properly appreciate it though, and whenever they stopped to give Crispin a break, Caris was filled with the desire to jump on Indira’s back and gallop off through the trees to find Janen.
Despite her impatience, Caris was delighted that Jeniel was travelling with her. Jeniel was continuing to teach Caris about plants as they walked amongst the mighty trees. Bored with Caris’ distraction, Jeniel had turned gathering into a game. Under Jeniel’s direction, the two of them would run ahead to a spot where Jeniel knew of plants she wanted to gather. They would then leisurely collect what they needed to fill out the holes in their supplies while Jeniel taught Caris about their uses. When the others began to get too far ahead they would run to catch up with them and Jeniel would again lead them forward to another likely location.
Caris sat in a green mossy clearing, collecting purple roots that she would later dry by the fire and ground into a fine powder. When needed, she could dissolve the powder in water as a cure for fluid-coughs. Jeniel worked beside her, digging the roots out of the ground.
“Jeniel, why are you making this journey? You have such a good life with your family amongst the trees. Colden said you would be one of the greatest healers the elves have ever had. Why would you leave that behind?”
Jeniel stopped what she was doing and moved over to make herself comfortable against a tree. She took out her flask and had a long drink before she replied.
“It is hard to know how to answer you. I love my family, I love the trees, I love my people.” She paused before finally saying, “I am not at peace with staying here. I do have a great gift, one that at present my people do not need. It would be selfish of me, and my people, for me to stay. The King is at war, there will be many wounded and I will be needed. As will you. The knowledge that I must sometime leave and go to The King has been growing within me for years. Since your arrival with us I knew the time had come.”
Jeniel’s words rang a chord with Caris. She had left her village for very different reasons, but she understood the need to do something more. Caris had never had an awareness of gifting as Jeniel had; she had not even really had a place in her village. She had always thought her discontent was due to her circumstances but Jeniel’s words made her aware that there had been something more to it.
“I’m probably not making any sense to you,” said Jeniel.
“No, you are. I think I kind of always felt the same, though I didn’t know what I was feeling or where I was supposed to go. I remember how I felt when Crispin first accepted me into The King’s Horse. I had just lost my whole family and most of my village, my life was destroyed, but when Crispin said I could go with them to The King, I was filled with hope. It felt like a missing piece dropped into place within me, I just felt right, in a way that I’m not sure I ever did before.”
Jeniel smiled at her. “It is good when you know you are on the right path”.
Caris nodded in agreement, but she secretly thought it was more than just that.
CHAPTER EIGHTEEN
It was the second afternoon since the small party had left the elven homes. Caris and Jeniel’s packs were bulging with herbs and plants. Jeniel was keen to gather as many different varieties as possible while they had opportunity, and Caris was glad to have something to think about other than seeing Janen. She had begun to get nervous about reuniting with him. She knew it was wrong for her to have such strong feelings for a man who would one day be someone else’s husband. She knew she was only letting herself in for more pain down the track, but she didn’t know how to curtail her affections.
It will just be good to see him, hear how they regained the pendant, and make sure he is okay. I do not need to spend a lot of time with him. I will have Jeniel with me; I will spend most of my time with her.
Jeniel interrupted her contemplations. “Are you ever going to tell me what has had you so preoccupied for the last two days?”
Caris looked at her startled. She felt herself going red as she hunted for an answer. Jeniel stared at her, not letting her off the hook.
“I am just looking forward to seeing my friend, they followed the grey people and I have been worried about them.”
“Your friend? A man?” Jeniel asked with a teasing smile.
“It’s not like that. He was my friend from my home village, one of the few survivors. He is special to me for that reason and because we have known each other such a long time.”
“No, I’m sorry. That explains why you would be happy to hear he is okay, and why you would be excited to see him again. It does not explain your jitteriness, your impatience, your total preoccupation. You haven’t stopped thinking about him since you heard we were to join up with them!”
“No, it’s not like that. It can’t be like that.”
“It can’t be like that?”
In an effort to ward her off, Caris spoke of what she had barely admitted to herself. “Before we met the Revealer and The Singer, I kept seeing pictures of Janen in trouble, fighting. I felt he must be in terrible danger. That is why I am eager to see him, to make sure he is okay.”
Jeniel looked at her dubiously. “So you admit you do have a gift?”
“I don’t know. I once saw a vision, if that is what you call it, that came true. It was horrible. I don’t know why it is considered a gift when it doesn’t help anyone. At any rate I don’t know how to control it or what to do with it.”
“Well, you’ve never been trained, though gifts are rarely things that you can fully control. As to its usefulness, the scouts always say that ‘forewarned is forearmed’ and I believe that is why seers are so highly esteemed.”
It was Caris’ turn to look at Jeniel dubiously. She turned back to her work believing she had succeeded in distracting her.
“The scouts said the people they saw only had minor wounds. Admit it Caris, you have feelings for this man from your village.”
Caris looked at Jeniel, overwhelmed by a sudden urge to cry. Taking control of herself, she quietly explained, “I will never marry, Jeniel. Among my kind, I am considered very ugly. Janen is a good friend who will one day marry someone worthy of him.”
“That makes no sense. You are beautiful!”
“You are an elf, you haven’t seen many people and don’t know what is considered beautiful. In my village, I was the only female who did not have blonde curly hair and blue eyes. Can you imagine what you would think of an elf who was born with black hair?”
“Well, it would be very unusual. I think there would be hopes that a seer had been born to us, though we have never had that type of seer before. But the colour of one’s hair cannot determine whether they are beautiful or not. Of course you were the only one with long black hair and green eyes in your village. There is only ever one seer in a generation and families with the gift do not live long in the same town before they move away to be of use elsewhere.”
“Well, in my village I was not considered gifted, I was not considered anything, except too ugly to marry.”
“I am sorry for your experience Caris, but you must not think that everyone will perceive you the same. You will meet
a man someday who sees your beauty, and if this Janen cannot see your worth then he is not worthy of you.”
Caris started at the words echoing the ones of her father so long ago. “He is more than worthy of me,” Caris mumbled to herself as she wandered into some bushes with the pretence of looking at some flowers. She stared blindly through her tears at the brightly coloured petals until she heard Jeniel resume her work behind her.
They stopped early in the afternoon, Jeniel judging that Crispin had had enough riding for the day. The scouts brought back a quillet and they all enjoyed the roasted meat with greens. When they were finished, they sat back with hot drinks and listened in awe to Kilew telling an epic tale of adventure, sacrifice, loss, and eventual victory.
When she finally settled for the night, Caris was amazed she could feel so drained after a day of relative ease. Her conversation with Jeniel kept doing laps in her head until she finally drifted off to sleep, unsure of how she felt about seeing Janen on the morrow.
****
Janen, Syngar, and Kalen had been riding through the woods for ten days since the volve attack without incident. The forest was beautiful and bountiful, supplying everything they needed. The track they followed was wide enough for two horses and bushes didn’t crowd the sides. They rode in single file though so the horses could canter comfortably. They covered as much ground as they could each day without pushing the horses too hard.
The farther they went, the more secure they felt that their tracks had not been discovered and that the Dark One was ignorant of their whereabouts. They were terribly aware though that there was only the three of them to protect possibly the most important treasure in existence, and they felt extremely vulnerable. They wanted to return the pendant to the protection of The King as quickly as possible and knew they were still a long way from their destination.
Janen was riding in the lead again; he had tried riding in the rear, since Kalen had led them to this trail, but Prince had objected the whole time, so eventually he had ceased fighting the stallion and allowed him to take the lead.
He began to feel the increasingly familiar sensation of being watched. He had mentioned it to Syngar and Kalen the day before but none of them had been able to detect anything in the forest around them and nothing had attacked, so he just continued to ride scanning the trees around him. It irked him that he could not discover the source of the sensation, but for some reason it didn’t feel threatening, so he had resisted the urge to push the horses to a speed they couldn’t maintain.
A movement to the left caught his attention; he turned his head just in time to see a man leap from a branch twice Janen’s height, landing nimbly on the ground. He began walking towards Janen calling out, “Ho, the Horse!” by way of greeting.
Janen heard Kalen and Syngar gasp behind him.
“Greetings brother,” said Kalen in reply.
As the man approached, Janen observed him with gaping jaw. He was clothed in soft pale green trousers and a long sleeved top that blended subtly with the green of the forest, but the thing that arrested Janen’s attention, was his strange pointy ears and large eyes that slitted at the sides.
The man neared them and Kalen and Syngar dismounted. Janen followed suit, his eyes never leaving the tall lithe man. Stepping up to them, the stranger bowed his head to Kalen respectfully, saying,
“Seer.”
“My name is Kalen, and these are my companions Syngar and Janen.”
“I am known as Élan and my companion is Alyn,” he replied.
Janen scanned the trees, but even knowing there was someone there, he could not find him. It was irritating.
“We are very pleased to make your acquaintance Élan; will you and Alyn not join us for a meal?”
Janen looked at her in surprise, it was mid afternoon, and they were supposed to be in a rush, protecting the pendant, not entertaining strangers.
“I am indebted to you for your kind invitation, but I cannot join you at this time. I come to deliver a message to you.”
“To us? From who? How did they know we were here?”
“We have been aware of your presence on our borders for eight days now.”
“I told you someone was watching us,” growled Janen.
“And yet you didn’t see us,” Élan replied cockily.
“I am sent to tell you,” he said, once again addressing Kalen, “That Crispin and Caris are coming to join you and desire you to wait for them. They will arrive in time for an evening meal, providing Crispin’s wounds allow him to travel as quickly as our healers anticipated.”
The three companions all responded at once,
“Caris is coming?” asked Janen.
“Crispin and Caris are with you?” asked Syngar.
“Crispin is wounded?” asked Kalen.
The elf smiled, he nodded to Janen and Syngar in turn, saying, “Yes and yes.” Turning back to Kalen he finished with, “He has been in very good hands and is now fit to ride again, as long as he doesn’t overdo it. One of our finest healers rides with him.”
“We will wait for them,” Kalen replied with a wide smile.
“Will you not enter our lands? The Dark One’s lizards have been sniffing around these parts lately. Our lands are protected by an enchantment that will discourage them from entering.”
“With thanks,” replied Kalen.
Élan led them in amongst the tall trees to their left. It does indeed feel like a different land, Janen mused, wondering why he had done all his hunting on the other side of the trail. They rode a little way, admiring the beautiful trees that seemed to be taller the farther they went. They hadn’t gone far when Élan led them into a wide clearing.
“Please rest,” he said. “You are our guests; we will provide your meal tonight. You are welcome to gather our plants,” he once more addressed Kalen, “Though your need should not be great as, with your permission, a healer and apprentice healer will be accompanying you as you return to The King.”
He inclined his head to Kalen, and then with a skip, ran from the clearing.
The three made themselves comfortable in the beautiful moss strewn clearing, but Janen was up again and pacing almost as soon as he had sat down. Syngar lay back watching the leaves, dancing above, outlined by the blue sky behind them.
“I am so glad they are okay! It will be so good to see them again, and if healers are to accompany us then they will surely send an escort, which is very good news.” They had become very cautious about mentioning the pendant since they had regained it, and apart from the one time Syngar had taken it out to show Janen, they had kept it hidden for the duration of their retreat. They all knew, without Kalen saying so, that its protection was the reason she welcomed an escort.
“But who are these people? How do you know we can trust them? I suppose if Caris and Crispin speak well of them, that will be good, but what do we know of them?” Janen asked.
“Much and little,” replied Kalen, “They are elves, and we know they are loyal servants of The King.”
“And that’s good enough for me,” added Syngar. “Though, Kalen, why did we not seek their aid days ago if you knew we were skirting their lands?”
“I didn’t know!” she said, surprised herself. “I have walked that entire track before without ever being aware that it ran along the border of Telvendor. I knew there was a place called Telvendor and that elves lived there, I just had no idea it was here!”
Janen sat down; it was hard to know what to do given an afternoon to rest and no need to hunt. He couldn’t remember the last time he’d had opportunity to rest. He sat back and stared at the tree tops, letting the peace of Telvendor wash over him. He was so excited about seeing Caris again. A knot he hadn’t been aware of had loosened in his stomach when the elf had said she was okay. Not knowing whether she had survived the river, had been a constant worry to Janen. But she did survive and she rescued Crispin too, he thought proudly, there is nothing that woman can’t do.
He picked at the
acid holes in the shirt he was wearing; his other shirt had been ripped short to make bandages for Bek. He had never been overly concerned about his appearance, but he hated looking poor, I wonder which one looks better? He went to where he had draped his saddle bag over a rock and pulled his other shirt out, holding it up to inspect it. He shook his head in dismay; he would just look ridiculous in it, with it coming up to his belly button.
“Put it over the top,” Kalen called to him.
“Pardon,” he said turning to her. He couldn’t help but notice the big grin on Syngar’s face. With a blush, he turned and shoved it back into his saddlebag.
“Put it over the top of your other shirt,” Kalen repeated.
“You mean, wear both at the same time?”
She nodded, “If I had a needle I could use both shirts to make one good one, but if you put one over the top of the other, it will eliminate both the problems of holes and length.”
“It’ll look ridiculous,” mumbled Janen.
“It’ll look like you’re trying to stay warm.”
“It’s not cold.”
“I think it will look better, but suit yourself.”
Janen had never pretended to know much about clothes, happy if they fitted him and weren’t torn. Therefore, he acceded to Kalen’s superior knowledge and put his second shirt over the top of the first.
It would be so good to see Caris again, he wondered if she’d be happy to see him.
****
The day had dragged even more slowly than the first two. Jeniel and Caris had continued to gather and Caris had made a real effort to make more lively conversation, but as the afternoon wore on, she once again became lost in thoughts of Janen. She longed to see him, but feared it as well. She was nervous lest she betray her true feelings to him. She trusted Jeniel not to say anything but was afraid of her own emotions being too obvious.
Caris determined to keep her joy at seeing him contained, she would greet the others first and him with a hand shake. Though she made plans all afternoon, it did nothing to quell her agitation or make the dawdling day pass any quicker.