Wanderer

by Nancy E. Dunne

  “Correct,” Raedea said, slipping behind him and heading for the gates.

  The common lands outside of the west gate were bustling with activity. New arrivals to the city were running errands for citizens, taking on quests, and getting used to the terrain. Raedea wandered along the wall, watching for signs that someone recognized her. One of the militiamen seemed to be following her, and when she heard him bark at another traveler, she recognized his voice. Sir Hanvers, one of the cruelest and most sadistic of the Calder’s Port militia, was just a few feet from her. Sir Hanvers had taken her on outings alone a few times, and she had invariably returned with bruises and cuts that healed with spells before re-entering the Temple. One of his favorite games was to take Raedea to the river’s edge and shove her off the bridge into the water. Raedea was not a good swimmer at first, and Hanvers would stand on the shore and laugh at her as she flailed about, trying to keep her head above water as well as avoid the biting fish and other creatures that swam freely through the city’s waterways.

  Finally, he would stride into the water and yank her up by her neck, dragging her to an out of sight area under the bridge. At first, she would try to get away from him, but finally she learned that the more she struggled the more she would have to heal before returning to her guild master.

  As Hanvers grunted and strained on top of her, Raedea would let her mind wander to the cool nights of her youth back home, playing tag with her twin brother under the moon’s watchful gaze. She squashed thoughts of slitting Hanvers’s throat with his own blade and instead tried to remember the feel of the grass under her feet and the sound of her brother’s laughter as they played.

  Now, many seasons later, her throat still tightened and her stomach twisted at the sound of his voice. She pulled her cloak up tighter around her face and moved closer to the wall. Raedea inched along the wall, feeling her way with her hand as she kept her eyes on Hanvers.

  Seven

  “That was TOO close,” Nelenie hissed in Elysiam’s ear as she dragged the wood elf along toward the elven citadel. “Do you not realize the danger we are in, or that what we are doing is forbidden?” She spun the smaller female around to face her, the frightened look on the Elysiam’s face giving her pause. “I’m sorry to snap at you, Elys, but this is not allowed. Wood elves do not become knights! Do you understand? We could both be banished if I was found teaching you what I know.”

  “Not good enough to be knights like you, are we?” Elys said, the bravado in her words belied by the tremble in her voice. “Ginny was right, you do all grow up to think you’re better than we are.” She tried to free her arm from Nelenie’s grip, but the older and taller elf held Elysiam fast.

  “It isn’t that at all,” Nelenie said, releasing the druid and sinking down to sit, her back against a tree just outside of the main gates. “There are rules, Elys, rules that the Gods have set down for us, which we have to follow. One of those rules is that the only elves to become knights are those of my race. Can you imagine if one of those horrible dark elves from the underground citadel of Kairen could learn my magic and possess my strength?” She shuddered. Elysiam studied her mentor, her blonde head cocked to one side.

  “Rules, huh? Well, as a druid, I’m supposed to be a follower of Sephine, but I chose to follow Kildir. He came to me once when I was sleeping rough in the canyons near the common lands, and said I was to be one of his soldiers.” Elysiam stared Nelenie in the eye as though daring her to comment on the vision. “I know to some that makes me crazy, but it is the truth. What else could that mean, soldier, other than a knight? But don’t you see? This is the best of warrior and healer, Nel. This is why you have to teach me!” She bit her lip. Nelenie smiled down at her.

  “And so, I will, Elys. We just have to be more careful, is all. I mean, I trust Ben, but it would just put him in an awkward position if we are found out and he is questioned. Does that make sense?” Nelenie smoothed an unruly piece of hair back behind Elysiam’s ear. The smaller female was the little sister that Nelenie had wanted. She barely even saw Tairneanach anymore, and when she did, the exchanges were not pleasant. In contrast, Elysiam longed to be like her and soaked up everything that Nelenie could teach her. She smiled at her protégé. “You understand, don’t you?”

  “Don’t patronize me,” Elysiam said, pushing Nelenie’s hand away. “Of course I understand. It’s just not fair, is all.” Nelenie smiled sadly at the younger female.

  “No, it isn’t. Why do some get to learn spells that will take them far away from the forest by just saying a few words, and I had to fight tooth and nail to get any magical training at all?” Nelenie sighed. “It is just the cards we are dealt, Elys. Now, shall we get on with your training?”

  “Yes, Nel,” Elysiam said, grinning. From behind a nearby tree, Taeben was doing anything but grinning.

  “Sharing our secrets, our training, and our skills with wood elves?” he hissed under his breath. Catching himself, he remembered that he was under an invisibility spell so he bit his lip to stay quiet. Nelenie had looked around when he spoke, and he feared that he had given himself away.

  “What did you hear?” Elysiam asked, tugging on Nelenie’s arm to get her attention.

  “Nothing,” Nelenie said, grinning. “Let’s get going though, just in case.” They got to their feet and headed down the path toward the high elf citadel’s main gate. Taeben stayed as close as he dared. He knew that while most druids had magic that would allow them to see the invisible, he doubted that Elysiam would. She seemed far too bloodthirsty for mundane magic.

  “A female after my own heart,” he muttered, grinning to himself as his long strides easily brought him in step with Elysiam. Lovely to look at as well, he thought as he studied her. There was something about the other elves that was appealing, but he knew it had more to do with their subservience than their appearance. He kept his eyes on her as he dodged trees and tried not to run into the guards at the gate. Soon his prey was inside the main gate and headed for Nelenie’s home in the barracks, so Taeben let them get a bit ahead of him lest they see him materialize. Once they were out of sight, he dropped his invisibility and sped toward the barracks. It would be fun to watch a bit of the training before he alerted her guild master. Nel will not doubt my power now, and I will be all she has to lean on, he thought, a malevolent smile crossing his features. She will be a fine bodyguard. Images of her upturned face, her petulant smile, and finally her complete submission spurred him on to find the knight’s guild master. “Not long now, pet. I will have Tairn as my companion and you as our watchdog,” he murmured as Nelenie’s blonde ponytail came into view in the arena.

  The two females began to spar, and Elysiam matched Nelenie blow for blow. “Very good!” Nelenie exclaimed. “You’ve been practicing!” Taeben watched, fascinated, for a moment before slipping away to find the guild master.

  Elysiam beamed a wicked smile at her mentor. “Yes, yes I have,” she said. The druid spoke ancient words that caused roots to grow inexplicably from the tile floor and wind around Nelenie’s boots. A flick of her wrist and a swarm of stinging insects bore down on the other female’s head. Nelenie swatted them away, cursing, as Elysiam sprang at her, raining blows on the knight’s head, just as she had been taught.

  “Enough!” At the shout from the knight’s guild master, both of the women fell silent. The bees dissipated and Elysiam was left panting, having used up most of her energy in casting the magic. “What is your business here, wood elf?” he called out, looking down his nose at her.

  “Master, she is a friend of mine, we were merely sparring,” Nelenie said, stepping between Elysiam and the guild master.

  “That, sadly, is not the tale I was told,” the guild master replied. “Move aside, Nelenie. Now.” She did as he asked and he snapped his fingers. Four large members of the citadel’s guard entered the room and surrounded Elysiam.

  “Master?” Nelenie said, the panic in her voice rising.

  “Take the wood elf and remove he
r from the city. She is no longer welcome inside our walls for choosing to attack one of our own holy knights,” the guild master said. The four guards picked Elysiam up and began carrying her out the door. She kicked and screamed in protest until one of them rapped her soundly on the head, knocking her unconscious.

  “Stop! Stop!” Nelenie ran around in front of the guards. “She was not attacking me! We are friends and we were sparring… I told you!”

  “No need to defend her now, Nelenie, my dear.” The guild master took her by the elbow and pulled her out of the path of the soldiers. “She will answer for her treachery in her own city, with her own kind.”

  “But there was no…” Nelenie took a deep breath. “I was training her. I was teaching her the skills I have been taught.”

  “You WHAT?” The guild master’s face went from alabaster to crimson. “You know the rules, Nelenie!” She hung her head. “You are lying.”

  “I am not,” she said quietly, meeting his gaze as she shook her head. The guild master sucked in a sharp breath.

  “GUARD!” he called out. Nelenie took a step back from him, and bumped into the guard that had come running into the room behind her. “Take her to the lockups. I will deal with her myself.”

  “No!” Nelenie screamed as the guard grabbed her by the arm. “I can explain, please!” Her guild master turned his back, his head in his hands in grief. That simple act was her undoing, and Nelenie was reduced to sobs. “NO….no no no…” Her voice echoed off the moss-covered walls as she was led to the cells, and soon there was no sound, save the clanging of the metal door and the click of the lock.

  “Elysiam, daughter of Elaith, your deeds have caused your mother such great pain that she has made a very difficult decision,” said Captain Silverwind as he glared down at Elysiam through the slits in his shiny metal helm. “You, the progeny of one of the leaders of the druid guild, should sneak off to be in cohort with a rebel daughter of Alynatalos! What did you think she would really have planned for you, foolish young one? Were you going to be her equal? Surely you know the high elves and their feelings toward those of us in the trees better than that.” Elysiam made no sound, but held his gaze with a ferocity that made him look away. “You are no longer a daughter of the druids, nor of Elaith. You are no longer a daughter of Sephine.” At that, Elysiam sucked in a sharp breath, but still did not respond. She was kneeling on the floor in the main hall of the guild of druids, with her mother in front of her and her many sisters and brothers to either side of the guild master. Elaith made no sound, and did not even shed a tear as she glared down at Elysiam. “Have you any final words for this wretch?” he said, addressing Elaith.

  “No.” That one word from her mother nearly broke Elysiam. She swallowed hard and forced her gaze over to that of her mother, her eyes burning with a white-hot mixture of anger and betrayal. Her mother met her gaze with one of equal fury, but Elysiam did not look away.

  “Have you any last words for this assembly?” Silverwind barked at Elysiam.

  “Aye.” She took a deep breath. “May Kildir’s breath be always at your backs.” Elysiam stood on shaky legs, her arms bound in front of her at the wrists. “You accuse our cousins in Alynatalos of looking down on us, thinking we are nothing but savages and simpletons. Yet what is this? What have you done to one of your own who wanted NOTHING more than to be able to better protect you?” Elysiam’s voice quavered with mitigated rage as she fought against screaming at them. “You have proven them right. I can only hope that you will one day see that the elitism that glimmers off the shining walls of that citadel echoes in the tree branches of our own city. If this is service to Sephine, you can bloody well keep it!” Silverwind growled and took Elysiam by the arm, and then dragged her toward the door. “Goodbye, MOTHER!” Elysiam hissed as the guard pulled her along to the edge of the platform.

  “If you tell anyone I did this I will deny it,” Silverwind whispered in Elysiam’s ear as he spun her around to face him and quickly took off her wrist shackles. He looked into her eyes for a moment. “I understand your motives, Elys. I understand you, better than you think.” She stared at him, slack-jawed, as he pulled her close to him for a moment. “Cast healing magic on the way down and when you land, run south east. When you see the forest flatten into the grasslands, head straight for that and you will be free,” he said, and then released her. “The Outpost will take you.”

  “But I don’t…what? On the way down what?” Elysiam said, and then horror-struck, she realized what he was about to do. “Silver, don’t, please…” She closed her eyes as he hauled her over the edge of the high platform and released her. Her stomach flipped up into her throat as she fell, and she barely remembered his instruction to cast a spell of healing before she crashed into the soft, mossy forest floor. She opened her eyes to see him, a tiny speck on the edge of the platform, salute her and then disappear. Elysiam wasted no time in getting to her feet, casting a bit more healing magic, and then beating feet southeast to find the grasslands and her new life.

  Across the forest in Alynatalos, Nelenie was brought before a tribunal of her own kind. Ben was sitting outside of the gate room that led to the great halls, watching the shimmering sunrise on the magical lake that surrounded it, when he heard the boots of several soldiers tromping toward him. He quickly cast an invisibility spell, and moved to the side of the great doors just before they opened and a quad of sentries led by the knight’s guild master marched past him with a bound and chained Nelenie in the middle of them. Her head was high and even though she squinted into the sun that reflected off the golden walls of the city, her gaze was one of authority. Just like the holy knight she is, Ben thought. He quickly and imperceptibly fell into step behind the cadre of military personnel, curious as to the punishment they would deliver for Nelenie’s crimes.

  She did not say a word all the way to the great hall, nor did she make a sound when the soldiers forced her to her knees in the middle of the marble floor. The guild master stepped out of the mass of armor and weaponry and turned to face Nelenie. “Will you have anyone here to witness, Nelenie?” he asked, his voice tight. She had long been one of his best pupils and a favorite of the entire guild, and this turn of events was clearly wearing on him.

  “No, sir,” she said, her voice loud and clear and absent of any intimidation.

  Ben dropped his invisibility. “In the place of her family, if it pleases you, General, I would witness for Nelenie? Perhaps this way it will save her family a bit of disgrace should the proceedings go in a way not befitting a long-standing family of such as hers?” Nelenie’s brave exterior crumbled as she spun her head around to stare at Ben. He met her gaze, smiling at her, and she smiled back before mouthing a thank you to him.

  “Taeben, were you not the informant in this matter?” the General replied coolly. “Do you have another agenda or do you truly wish to stand witness for this disgraced knight of Alynatalos?” Nelenie’s gaze rocketed back and forth between the General and Ben, her eyes saucer-like, but she said nothing.

  “I was merely concerned for the welfare of my fellow citizen,” Ben said, his countenance utterly calm and projecting concern. “It was my fear that the wood elf had gained entry under false pretenses in order to cause chaos within our fair city’s walls, and, worse even, to harm our Nelenie.” He smiled at her again, ignoring the narrowing of her eyes in his direction.

  “Of course, of course,” the General replied, much to Ben’s great relief. “We shall continue, then. Nelenie, daughter of Alynatalos and follower of the sacred path, you have been found to be teaching the ways of our people to outsiders, something you know to be forbidden.” He walked over close to Nelenie and looked down at her. “You are one of our brightest and best, Nel,” he said, his voice lowered. “Tell me that what you are accused of is not true. Please.”

  Nelenie sucked in a deep breath and held it for a moment before releasing it to speak. “It is with great regret that I must tell you it is true, General, sir,” she said, not me
eting his gaze but rather looking off to the side of him as she had been taught. “Though if I may be permitted, I did have the best of intentions and the security of all of the forest on my heart and mind when I made the decision to take Elysiam on in training.”

  “The best of…security of…” the General spluttered, his face rapidly growing crimson under his helm. “We, the high elves of the citadel, are the security and, in fact, the very support that keeps the forest safe from the dark forces that would overtake us. You have been trained in that way, Nelenie, and yet you somehow feel your training is lacking?”

  “No, sir,” she said quickly.

  “Then why would you think it necessary to include the wood elf Elysiam in this training? Have you lost faith in your race?” he bellowed. Nelenie swallowed hard, trying not to let her emotions rise to the surface and overtake her.

  “No, sir.”

  “You make no sense, child,” the General said as he turned on his heel and returned to the front of the hall. “While I have it on good authority that the information you imparted illegally to the wood elf known as Elysiam will go no further than her ears, I feel that you must be made an example so that others with similar sympathies toward our wayward cousins will not repeat your mistakes.” He turned to face Nelenie. “On your feet, soldier,” he commanded, all traces of emotion gone from his voice. Nelenie obeyed, though still shackled she managed to rise gracefully to her full height. Ben’s heart caught in his throat, awaiting the decree from the General.

  “Yes, sir,” Nelenie said, planting her feet and raising her eyes to stare into those of the General.

  “You will leave Alynatalos,” he said, his voice cool and even. “While you are not banished from our home here in the forest, you will make no residence within our walls. You are hereby relieved of your duties as knight in the service of Sephine, the All-Mother. You may earn your living as a mercenary, but you may not solicit work from anyone here in the citadel.” Nelenie stared straight ahead, no emotion visible on her face. Ben gripped the wall he was standing next to for support to keep his anger in check. This was NOT the agreement he had made with the General! “Do you understand what I have told you, child?”