by Tristan Vick
“I see.”
“So, is it?”
“Is it what?” Lisette, asks, sounding distracted. She keeps glancing over her shoulder back at Leif’s room. And as Alegra keeps her distracted, I grab a second blanket and wrap myself up in it like a bath towel as I sneak up over to the door, keeping just out of sight. I hold a finger up to my lips to signal Alegra to keep my presence a secret. She does.
“Is everything all right?”
“Oh, yeah…well…everything is…it’s great. Wonderful. Couldn’t be better,” insists Lisette. She rattles off all the words that pop into her busy little head and then, growing self-conscious, she leans in to Alegra and whispers, “Please don’t tell Arianna about this.”
“Tell me about what?” I say, jerking the door wide open.
Lisette looks at me with wide eyes, as though she were a deer startled by an inexpert hunter. She glances reticently over her shoulder at Leif’s door, then back at me. “Um…”
I laugh and then throw my arms out and pull her into me tight. I wrap my arms around her and give her a firm hug. “It’s about time,” I tease.
Self-conscious, and as naked as the day the stork dropped her on her parents’ doorstep, Lisette takes a few steps backwards and stammers, “Is it…um…all right if I go get dressed now?”
“Oh,” I say, apologetically, feeling that I’ve detained and embarrassed her enough as it is. “Yeah. Go right on ahead, sweetie.”
She smiles timidly and then scurries off, covering herself as she goes. She only pauses to look back at Alegra and me when she gets to her door. Her face is flushed pink from modesty. Then, like a field mouse scurrying into its hole, she disappears into her own room and shuts the door behind her.
I turn to Alegra, hands on both hips, grinning like a fool. After a moment, I notice she’s eyeballing me suspiciously. Although I have no idea why. Growing stern, I ask, “What?”
Alegra nods at the floor. “You do realize…your um…”
I look down at myself only to discover the blanket has slipped off me and is lying in a heap at my feet. In a fit of embarrassed panic, I try to cover every part of my body all at once. “Oh, dragon’s feet!” I lament, and then I rush back into the room. I plop down onto the sofa and bury my face into the cushions. “I’m such an idiot!” I say into the pillow, chiding myself for my indiscretion. The pillow muffles my traumatized voice.
Suddenly Alegra is by my side caressing my back. “Yes. Yes, you are. But you’re my idiot,” she says in a consoling tone that lets me know she’s not in the least upset.
I know I shouldn’t make a big deal out of it. It’s not the first time Lisette has seen me naked. But this time I feel more vulnerable somehow. More self-conscious. Probably because it happened in front of Alegra.
I roll over onto my back and stare up at her. After a brief pause she leans dangerously close, our lips practically hovering over one another’s. I grow heated, my breathing gets heavy, and my heart begins pounding in my chest.
I’m ready for another round of playtime with my girlfriend, but rather than indulge me, she says in her softest voice, “I’ll get the bath ready.”
“Oh,” I say, trying to shake the spell of infatuation off and get my heady thoughts back in order. “Yes, of course.”
After we bathe ourselves, we dress each other in what turns out to be one of the most sensual experiences either of us has ever shared. It’s strange, I think, how when you love someone so completely even the little moments spent with them, like getting dressed, somehow become more meaningful.
There are three knocks at the door and Lisette peeks her head into the room. “Is it all right to come in?” she asks, scanning the room to make sure we’re both decent. We are.
“Always,” I laugh. I don’t know why she’s being so mousy.
When she enters, she’s wearing a lovely pink dress that has silken gleam to it. It hugs her petite form like a tight-fitting chiffon. I’ve never seen anything like it. It’s almost metallic.
After she enters she wanders over to the sofa and sits on the arm. It’s clear she doesn’t want to worry about trying to get back up from such a soft chair in such a tight-fitting dress. Her cheeks are still flushed.
As Alegra braids my hair in the elfin way, I look into the mirror and make eye contact with Lisette’s reflection. “So…” I begin, not particularly having anything important to say.
“So…” Lisette echoes, as she diverts her eyes and twiddles a strand of hair nervously between her fingers.
“So…?” I say, letting her know it’s a question. “You and Leif, huh?”
“Yeah,” she says, both cheeks turning bright pink. “It just sort of happened.”
“Sweetie,” I say, “You’ve been drooling all over the poor man since you first saw him.”
“Yeah,” she confesses in an embarrassed tone. Then, with a reserve of giddiness, she confesses, “I kind of pounced on him.”
“I’m sure he enjoyed it very much,” Alegra says in her usual literal tone.
“Not as much as I did,” Lisette admits.
There is a long pause and, unable to help ourselves, we all begin laughing aloud. Our joyous moment, however, is cut short by a second rapping at the door.
This time it’s Zarine who enters.
We all gasp when we see her dress. It’s stunning. It’s see-through for the most part. I can even see her nipples through the translucent black fabric. Her cleavage is pressed tightly together in the heart-shaped opening of her dress. Starting at her sternum and wrapping around the back of a high-neckline is a plume of raven feathers. Her hair is done up so that it accentuates her neck and as she enters I can’t help but notice the sensual swivel of her hips.
Inadvertently, I let out a gasp. Everyone turns to me. “You look…”
Alegra raises an eyebrow at me, which causes me to pause.
“Wouldn’t you say she looks stunning?” I say, turning it into a question to take the pressure off me.
Alegra looks at her up and down. “Yes, she appears quite lovely in that dress.”
“Quite lovely,” I repeat.
“Yes. Quite,” Lisette says with a laugh. Leaning over, Lisette whispers into my ear, “Nice save.”
“Thanks” I whisper back.
“I appreciate all the flattery. You all look lovely as well.”
“Sorry I’m late,” a man’s voice says from over Zarine’s left shoulder.
Zarine steps aside to reveal Leif, who’s fiddling with his open collar as he tries to adjust it so it will show off the medallion he’s wearing around his neck. No doubt a gift from Lisette.
“You wore it!” she says excitedly.
“Of course, I did,” says Leif, smiling up at her.
Unable to subdue her emotions, Lisette leaps up into Leif’s arms. He laughs and staggers back. “Whoa there tiger,” he says.
Zarine looks at Alegra and me and asks, “Something I should know?”
“They had sex” Alegra states in her matter-of-fact like tone.
“I prefer to say we made impassioned love to one another,” Leif informs us.
“Thank you,” says Lisette, looking glad that someone helped to clarify that they didn’t just hook up but that they are quite serious about one another.
Leif leans over toward me and puts a hand up to my ear and whispers, “We totally had sex though.”
I merely punch him in the arm, which elicits a muffled giggle from Lisette who watches him with her big doe eyes.
“Ah, I see.” Zarine’s eyes stay fixed on me and I can’t help but feel slightly intimidated by her lingering gaze. “Well, we’d better get to the dining hall before our food gets cold. There’s someone I’d like you all to meet.”
“Right,” I say. Then, motioning with my arm, I take a slight bow and say, “Lead the way, milady.”
Zarine shoots me a peculiar look and then swivels around and glides through the doors. “If you’ll all just follow me.”
“I don’
t know about you gals,” Leif says as he stretches out his arms. “But I’m starving.”
Lisette and Leif head out after Zarine, and I look at Alegra. She looks back at me with her amethyst eyes. Taking her hand in mine, I smile, and we head off together.
18
A large round banquet table with several exotic dishes, many of which I recognize as cuisine which hails from all corners of Valandra, awaits us when we arrive at the dining hall. There’s even a rare dwarvin dish called Mek’largthrum pie, which I remember trying once as a little girl. It is a lot like a rhubarb pie but with more rum in it than you’d expect to find in a pie. And, coincidentally enough, more meat in it than you’d expect to find in a sweet pie. It’s sour and sweet and chunky and has been known to, on occasion, get a person drunk.
“By the goddess,” Lisette gasps. “I’ve never seen so much food before.”
“Me neither,” Leif says, hardly able to mask his excitement. Just then his stomach growls and we all laugh.
“By all means,” Zarine says, waving us all over toward the round table and motioning for us to take our seats anywhere we please. “Dig in.”
Leif barely manages to hold Lisette’s chair out long enough for her to sit down before he plants himself beside her and begins loading his plate up with as many dishes as possible.
Tearing into a turkey leg, Leif blurts out, “This is amazing!”
“Whoa, slow down there, big guy. Save some room for dessert,” Lisette says. She daintily unfolds her napkin and then gently sets it on her lap.
“Oh, don’t worry,” Leif says, chunks flying from his mouth. “I’ll have plenty of room.”
Brushing out all the creases in the napkin, she presses her fingers down in between her legs so that the napkin forms a dark hole right at her crotch and she looks up at him and says, “Not exactly the sort of dessert I meant.”
Leif looks at her and catches her meaning. The surprise of it causes him to choke on a mouth full of food.
Alegra gracefully strides up beside Leif and then slaps him across his back. Hard.
A piece of turkey meat shoots across the table and lands on the floor opposite everyone.
“Phew!” Leif says, letting out a sigh. “Thanks.”
“Any time,” Alegra answers.
Zarine puts her hand at the small of my back and guides me to a separate quarter of the table. “You’ll sit next to me,” she states. It’s more of an order than a request. But I oblige.
“Where will Alegra sit?” I ask.
“Wherever she’d like.” Zarine motions for Alegra to sit beside me and she nods stoically in response.
Once we’re all seated, Zarine raises a glass full of sparkling white wine, and taps on it with a fork. The clink catches everyone’s ears and we all turn our eyes toward her.
“I know you are all wondering why I gathered you here. So, let me get straight down to business. As you may or may not know, the evil sorceress supreme Daeris Darkthorne has returned.”
“Returned from where?” Alegra asks.
“Returned from the Nether Realm, where she was banished nearly five hundred years ago, at the dawn of the Age of Dragons.”
Leif gulps down his morsel of food nervously. A momentary distraction. Soon enough, all eyes are back on Zarine.
“In fact, it was the dragons who helped us seal Darkthorne away the first time around. But as you are well aware, there are no more dragons and we can no longer rely on their magic to help us stop the sorceress supreme from carrying out her plan.”
“And what plan would that be?” I ask.
Having met with Darkthorne briefly, I know she intends to remake Valandra in her image, whatever that means. If my visions of a scorched and barren wasteland that rains only ash is any indication of her ideal world, I can only imagine on what she’s planning.
Zarine looks at me and smiles in a way that reveals that she knows I’m merely testing her. “She wants to recast Valandra in her image. More precisely, she wants to reshape it into what it was during the Forgotten Age.”
“The Forgotten Age?” Lisette asks. “Forgive me, I’ve not kept up on my history lessons.”
“The Forgotten Age was a time when dark magic reigned supreme,” Alegra mentions. “Events which lead up to the Forgotten Age also are what caused the rift in the elf kingdom, forcing half my people to side with the light and the other half to ally themselves with the dark.”
“Then what happened?” Leif asks while chewing, flecks of food falling form his open mouth.
Zarine cuts in. “A demi-god called Vulcanus was set loose on the realms. It was told that his flesh was impervious to the flames and that he could command fire with just his thoughts alone. Daeris Darkthorne and Vulcanus were destined to be wed, when on their wedding day, an assassin skillfully killed Vulcanus. An assassin by the name of Demos Nun.”
Everyone around the table falls deathly silent.
“That is the forbidden name,” Alegra says, astonished that Zarine would use it so brazenly. “My people are not allowed to speak his name for fear of invoking his wrath.”
“An antiquated superstition, I’m sure. But I’m afraid Demos Nun was quite real.”
“How did he defeat Vulcanus?” I ask.
Zarine scans everyone’s faces and then settles on mine. “He consumed him.”
“He what?” Leif asks.
“He ate him.”
For the first time this evening Leif appears to have lost his appetite. He sets down the food in his hands and brushes off any flecks of debris which may have lodged themselves in his short goatee.
“Demos Nun was also a demi-god. One they called him a Titan because he could change his size and strength at will. And he fed on power. Which was his nature. He always sought out the most powerful thing and consumed it, taking it into himself, perchance to syphon off its power.”
“So, let me get this straight,” Leif says, leaning forward. “This Titan fella ate the demi-god fella?”
“Demos Nun gained so much power, it took an allegiance between the mages and the dragons to open a portal to the Nether Realm and seal him away forever.”
“Ah,” I say, finally figuring out the real story here.
“What is it?” Alegra asks.
“I know exactly what Daeris Darkthorne is up to.”
“You do?” Lisette asks. She appears to be just as puzzled as everyone else.
“Yes. She wants to resurrect Vulcanus. Her paramour. And pick up where they left off.”
“Exactly,” Zarine says. She smiles at me and places her hand on my hand. This catches the suspicious eye of Alegra, who merely frowns, but says nothing. I pull my hand away, hoping it doesn’t offend Zarine. Why that should bother me right now, I have no idea.
“So, what is it you need of us?” Alegra asks, her tone growing suspicious.
“Arianna is what we call an Outlier.”
“What’s that?” Leif asks. By now he’s had time to digest the information and his appetite has come back to him. He picks a green olive off a nearby tray and pops it into his mouth.
“It means I’m impervious to magic,” I say.
Everyone turns their attention to me.
“You’re kidding. Right?” Leif asks. He glances around at everyone’s faces and then looks back at me. “But you drank the mystic water in the forest…you were compelled by it magical properties to speak the truth and only the truth.”
“I’m afraid that water is all natural,” Alegra informs us.
“What?” Leif asks, still confounded by all the twists and turns.
“Sassafras trees feed off the stream. Enough of the oils from their roots soak into the water, giving it truth serum abilities. It’s more nature than magic.”
“If I cast a spell, or an incantation on Arianna,” Zarine interjects, “there wouldn’t be any affect.”
“Aren’t Outliers extremely rare though? Elf history only has mention of two.”
“Extremely rare,” Zarine says, s
miling at me. “Only one is born in approximately every thousand years.”
“One in one thousand years?” Leif gasps, looking at me as though I were a precious gem he might be able to swipe and trade later.
“The rarest of rare,” Zarine adds, glancing at me briefly. “Which brings me to the reason I’ve gathered you all here. I need Arianna to enter into the Nether Realm.”
“What?! Why?” Lisette gasps. She looks at me then at Zarine, searching our faces for any clue that this might be some kind of practical joke. But it’s not.
“Because only I can pass into the Nether Realm and make it back out safely.”
“That’s precisely why it has to be her.”
“And do what? Go talk to Vulcanus and convince him it’s best to stay in eternal torment and anguish rather than break free and marry his one true love and live happily ever after?”
“No,” Zarine snaps. “Nothing like that. Arianna wouldn’t be able to break all the barriers necessary to even break Vulcanus out of his ethereal prison. But she could break one of the seals. And this would attract the attention of Daeris Darkthorne, who wants nothing more than to set her lover free.”
“So,” Alegra interrupts. “You want to use Arianna as a bait to help lure Darkthorne to you.”
“It is impossible for any of us to take on Darkthorne alone. There simply isn’t enough magic left in all the realms to contain her. But if we could trick her in coming to Koroth, we may be able to bind her in a similar seal.”
“I’ll do it,” I say.
“What?” Lisette asks?
“My thoughts exactly,” Alegra says.
I take Alegra’s hand in mine, and although I keep my eyes fixed on her, I address everyone’s concerns.
“It has to be me. I’m the only one who can enter, break the seal, and come back out alive.”
“It sounds awfully risky, if you ask me,” says Leif, munching on a dinner roll.
“It sounds an awful lot like insanity, if you ask me,” Lisette grumbles. She crosses her arms to show her displeasure.
“Oh, sweeties,” I say leaning across the table. I touch Lisette’s arm. “I’ll be fine. Zarine will make sure of it. Isn’t that right, Zee?” I turn my head and shoot Zarine a harsh look that says she could be a bit more tactful.