Elf World Shadows Rising

by Matthew Pequegnat

  “Any chance we can turn or at least purchase his ability?”

  “Doubtful, Frost Elves being unreliable and volatile as a blizzard, with a tendency toward the erratic and unstable, makes working with them problematic.”

  “Well at least they worship Alagos Hîr the Storm Lord and not Gûr Rhien, but you are right Myst, they do tend to the chaotic and unpredictable.”

  General Mars Trendel was very glad and relieved to see Colonel Myst. No other military intelligence officer in his command had his skill and deadly ability, and he needed his services. It was widely held in the Intelligence and Security Service, I.S.S. for short, that Myst was the most deadly Elf in the Empire of the Sun. No one could come close to his overwhelming skill with the sword, or his talent at exploiting the enemy’s weaknesses. Mars also just happened to like the young officer. He had also been friends with his father, Lord Pedar Sunstar, since they had been at the Imperial Military College together nearly five hundred years ago.

  “How’s your father these days Colonel?”

  “He’s fine sir, still in Surin.”

  “I do miss him, life around here is boring without him. Hum, well I guess it's good that you are back my boy, but things are quiet for a change”, General Trendel confided.

  “Why don’t you take annual leave and go see him. You look like hell. Are those bite marks on your shoulder?”

  “Thank you General. I do miss him, I’ll leave in the morning sir. With your permission, Sir.” Myst asked permission to leave before the general asked again about the bite marks. And waiting around GSHQ to long and they would forget about his vacation and find him more work.

  “That will be all Colonel, dismissed.” responded General Trendel.

  Quietly he laughed at Myst's back as he left, knowing full well the particulars of the bites, he was Chief of Intelligence and Security after all.

  Elise was waiting for him in the lobby of GSHQ as he came down the stairs; she looked good in her uniform, snug dark green pants, tucked into black riding boots, and the dark green uniform half vest that female solders wore. The uniform vest stopped at her ribs, leaving about a four or five inch gap from the top of the pants, exposing Elise abdomen and bellybutton. Female elves never seemed to cover up their bellybuttons as far as Myst could tell, it was apparently seen as most unfashionable to do so.

  “You look sharp, the dark green goes well with your red hair Elise,” Myst complimented as he came down the steps.

  “Complements will get you everywhere Colonel,” Elise smiled in delight.

  “That is to be hoped for… Shall we go get something to eat”?

  “Great, then how about a nice bath, it’s wonderful that you live so close to Lussandbourg,” she replied as they walked down the steps and headed back towards Myst’s home. “Did you enjoy your chat with the General? I think he missed you, the old softy.”

  “More or less, we are lucky to have him for a boss and not some other Generals I know…”

  They strolled along the cobblestones to Lussanbourg Gardens and the Spa. It had once been a palace, a lovely four stories of pale stone capped with the grayish blue roof, but the palace had been converted into a elegant Spa complex.

  They entered through the domed entry house into the courtyard, crossing the packed gravel where one of the carriages of the wealthy was disgorging a group of younger elf girls. Up the wide set of steps into the grand entry hall done in red and gold silk with pale marble walls, a vibrant ornate painting covered the inside of the grand dome, a scene of water nymphs and satyrs, Gods and Goddess frolicking in the waves... They headed to the right and started at the restaurant that took up much of the west wing of the palace. The large floor to ceiling windows overlooked the 57 acre garden of Elm trees and the massive outdoor pool. The maître d' seated them at a round white table clothed table with an excellent view of the grounds.

  “What are you having,” Elise asked as she perused the extensive menu.

  Myst was looking out at the fountain in the middle of the pool, steam seemed to becoming off the water bubbling out the top. The pool, as usual had dozens of people bathing in its warm water, and dozens more relaxing around its edge. Popular was an understatement as it was still early and most people had not got off from work yet. “The duck,” Myst replied to Elise, “I always get the duck here.”

  “Witch one”?

  Myst frowned and opened up his menu, “Hum, they have more than one duck now do they…, damn I don’t remember. The orange one I think, but the mushroom one sounds good…”

  They spent the next hour eating and sharing the ducks, and drinking Champagne, catching up on the last year, and of course people watching, a favorite pastime of elves.

  Myst paid and they headed down to the Spa, “I just want to soak, lets skip the full treatment,” Elise told him, “I have other plans for you this evening,”

  “No argument from me,” Myst paid for two lockers as they went into the changing room. They found adjoining lockers and quickly shed their uniforms and weapons, wrapping big white fluffy towels around their waist they then headed past the various sauna’s and treatment rooms. Outside they stopped at the showers to rinse of quickly, as elves are big on sanitary and getting in the pool without doing so was an immense faux pas.

  Elise, found them two lounge chairs to drop off their towels, before heading to the pool, hand in hand. Elise was aware that most of the hundred or so elves where “people watching” them, not that she minded, well she actually rather enjoyed the attention, but she wanted all the other female elves to know she had a claim on the handsome male with her and to stay back…

  Myst appeared oblivious of the attention, “but you could never tell with him” she thought as they stepped into the warm pool and floated into the warmth together, her arms wrapped around his neck. Nothing to frisky as Sun Elves don’t endorse higher levels of public displays of affection, certainly not what Moon Elves will engage in, but Elise always like to push boundaries, having a Moon Elf father and a Sun Elf mother gave her an unusual perspective of society, or maybe it was just her.

  “What a lovely evening,” Elise whispered in his ear.

  “Just wait the night is still early….”

  ~

  Next morning Myst got back to his flat from a light breakfast at the corner café with Elise and packed for his annual ninety days leave. Elves, who maintain a constant body temperature regardless of the air temperature, do not usually feel the extreme discomfort of the weather. An Elf caught naked in a blizzard would not quickly freeze to death, only feel somewhat chilled for the first hour or so, and an Elf in the noon day tropical heat only feels pleasant warmth on his or her skin, or at least that is the claim, Myst had spent plenty of time shivering with cold in the far north and sweating in the blazing tropical sun to fully ‘buy’ this story, better protected than dwarves or gnomes sure, but then that was a low bar to get over...

  This makes packing a relatively easy task, at least for male Elf’s that is. Females tended to make what should be a simple chore, into a time consuming job. How many pairs of sandals or how many intricately designed silk loincloths or stylish kilts does one need? Especially if you don’t have to worry about the weather.

  Myst changed into a gray and silver sleeveless tunic and trousers. Pulling on a matching snug long coat, usually worn for more formal attire or when it got colder, but Myst found it helped him blend into the shadows more that the short jacket did. He pulled on his soft leather military boots, and was ready to go.

  It had been amusing to wear his uniform, even for just a day or two. Now he looked like just another well dressed Elf. It was not forbidden for intelligence officers to be in uniform, though they tended to not wear them very much because the uniform changes the way a person walks and stands. If a person, who wore a uniform most of the time, suddenly needed to work under cover, they would stand out like a sore thumb. Other professionals would make them out, “Why is that officer trying not to look like an officer, he must be
a spy,” and your cover would be blown.

  Myst finished packing his small shoulder bag, throwing in his uniform at the last minute. “What the hell, why not.” he thought, he might just need them.

  He slung his kit bag over his shoulder and walking out the door, turned and locked it, and headed down to the first floor apartment that the landlady lived in and dropped of the key.

  “Away, so soon,” Madam Delvay the silver haired elder-elf asked?

  Giving her a cheery smile he handed her the key, “Thought I would stop in and see father for a bit, Madam Delvay.”

  “Give him my best Cavalier, let him know we are maintaining full occupancy of the building.” His father owned the five story white stone building, with the ubiquitous grayish blue slate so common with many of the better buildings of Palantar, so he would be glad to hear about the rent.

  The “Cavalier” part was in reference to the lower level of hereditary untitled nobility, basically a knight, that Myst was entitled to, as a result of being knighted for valor. Normally he would have only been entitled to the rank of Ecuyer as his father who was still living, was also an untitled nobleman of the Knight Class, but a bloody war got Myst the full knight title without having to wait to inherit it. “Doing it the hard way…”

  “I will, Madam, good day.”

  “Good journey Cavalier,”

  Off to the Andre Javal docks, about a 3 mile walk from the Lussanbourg Garden area that was Myst preferred area to live. The Lussanbourg Garden was serene and beautiful and all, but the baths at the Spa had the well deserved reputation of attracting the most beautiful women in the city was his primary reason, well that and the rent was free in the family owned building…

  He really liked this city, so different from the dry oak woods and bushvelt where he spent his early career, on the eastern continent. Here were green plants with bright flowers, the sparkling blue giant lake surrounding the island, and most of all the view of the Twilight Mountains and Mount Snow rising up over sixteen thousand feet and dominating the skyline far to the west, it what was the most exciting and elegantly luxurious cosmopolitan city in elvendom.

  Even the weather was pleasant; known for its frequent showers, which tend to pass just as quickly as they arrive. It is not unusual to witness bright sunshine one moment, then a quick shower followed by a return to sunshine — all within the course of a few minutes' time. Thankfully, snowfall is somewhat of a rarity in Palantar. Although there is at least a dusting of snow about dozen days a year, even the rare accumulation generally disappears quickly.

  But he was leaving again after a just more than a day...

  Myst found the old High Kingdom, the ‘heart of the Empire’, to be a beautiful and fey land of dense enchanted sylvan forest, and with a pleasant mild continental climate. Heavy mixed forest predominated throughout the country; oak, beech, willow, birch, poplar, larch, pines, spruce and furs.

  Solara, or the Empire of the Sun as it is also known as, is a constitutional monarchy with the “Emperor and High King” as head of State, head of Government, and Commander of the Armed Forces. The Emperor is assisted by his cabinet of Ministers in the daily operation of government. Laws are passed, and taxes levied by the High Council which is made up of the ten top nobles, the Archdukes. The High Council may overrule the Emperor by a two-thirds vote, and is the only court that has jurisdiction over titled nobles, untitled nobles like Myst and commoners were just out of luck.

  The Solaran Empire is made up of ten semi-autonomous principalities; the central Old Kingdom was the original four principalities. The principalities are ruled by the Archdukes who operate as both head of state for the principality and as the governor general for the Emperor. The position of Archduke is for life, but is not hereditary, the Emperor appoints each new Archduke, and the ten Archdukes are the most powerful Elves after the Emperor; they are above the law, answerable only to the Emperor and Council.

  The Empire and principalities are further divided up into two hundred sub-districts called counties. The counties are ruled by local hereditary Lords, both male and female, who are nobles of the rank of Baron or higher. The Lords govern under the authority of the Archdukes and in the name of the Crown and by the Imperial command.

  As much as he loved the four provinces that made up the Old High Kingdom and it was nice to be back even if for just a short stay, Myst reflected he loved the each of the ten principalities, each different yet somehow similar.

  Distant, Surin where he was headed, with the dry mountain air, vistas that stretched as far as the eye could see, the simple and elegant cottonwoods and sycamores, the thickets of scrub oak, and the old great Valley Oaks guarding the grasslands. But most of all he liked the rugged beauty of the mountains at sunset with the sunlight playing a spectacular dance of shadows on the canyon walls. His father having retired there as a Vice Governor, now ran the families far flung business interests.

  But it was Drakar and the blue coast that he loved best, his families homeland, but it had been years since he had been back… Maybe he could stop there on the way back...

  He approached the harbor office to look for passage on a boat down the river to the sea port city of Bordan, principle city of Drakar Province, but only to change boats. Stone flowerpots surrounded the light gray stone ticket building, and hanging baskets filled with light blue flowers, and it was busy with passengers and merchants. He went over to a free counter and a couple of lovely toe-headed elves with flashing blue eyes, sold him a ticket on the next boat heading down the river.

  “All the way?” asked the shorter but more buxom (for an elf) of the two.

  “Don’t I wish,” Myst thought to himself. “Yes, thank you miss,” he answered out loud.

  “Three hundred and twenty silver crowns, sir.”

  He paid and headed over to the dock. Four or Five days or so on the river, then about ten more at sea, maybe longer to get to Surin. A long trip ahead as getting there and getting back would take a chunk of his vacation, “was it worth it”, he wondered...

  All around the hustle of busy elves was a contrast to the rest of the city’s sedate pace. He noticed that as usual, many of the people around were females. This was not surprising as nearly six in ten elven births are girls. In a society where there are more females born than males; the women take on many of the operations of daily life. Only in the sword professions do you see a preponderance of men. And that too is one of the reasons for the minority of men in the society; the much higher mortality rate. But then the abundance of beautiful Elf girls was not a problem in the least to Myst.

  He wandered down to the dock, carefully watching the people around the area out of professional habit as much as for people watching sport. Of the various types of Elves in Palantar, most by far were Sun Elves, about two thirds of whom where blondes, with their ‘twenty shades of blond’ hair. Which was really no joke, there were at least that many common shades of blonde, each with a particular name, that Myst could never remember but most of the women knew by heart. The other third had a mix of brown and black hair, but they all had the flashing blue or grey eyes, and silky lightly golden tan skin so common to Sun Elves.

  About twenty percent of the crowds were Moon Elves. They seemed to have a more 'peaches and cream' fair skin color, amber or hazel eyes, and as many shades of brown and reddish hair as the Sun Elves had for blonde. They tended to be more semi-nomadic, and much more clannish than the other ‘Civilized Elves’.

  Myst had spent many a fine night in their silken tent pavilions that they use when the clans travel throughout the lands. For some reason, Moon Elves, while having beautiful cities in their own lands, tend to spend a great deal of time traveling and exploring the wilds of the world.

  Here and there he also noticed a goodly number of Star Elves, the grand merchants to the world. They stood out in their luscious and exotic rich copper-bronze skin, their emerald green eyes, and their dark chocolate brown or sable black hair. They tended to be a couple inches shorter than the
other Elves, maybe five foot two for the females on average, and the males about five eight. The females were noted, even among the other graceful Elves, for their dexterity, moving with the exotic grace of temple dancers.

  The elves doing the more menial labor made up most of the Wild Elves in the crowed. Less well educated and certainly less civilized, the Wild Elf outcasts who could flee their homelands before tribal justice killed or enslaved them, seem to wind up doing the labor in the grand cites of the other Elven peoples. They tended to have dark hair and dark eyes, skin color varied from pale white to nut brown, depending on the climate their tribe came from.

  Thankfully, the one type of Elf he didn't see was a Shadow Elf. The evil fanatics who worshipped power and their demonic Goddess of Death. Deadly and dangerous were these elves, who held the poisonous snakes as a symbol of their god, and tried to emulate the viper in all things. The only nice thing about them was, they were easy to spot in a crowd. Their skin color was normally a uniquely dusty olive.. But since Shadow Elves and Sun Elves try to kill each other on sight, it was not too surprising not to see one in the capital of the Sun Elves.

  The ‘Silver Duck’ was boarding as he arrived and up the gang way he bounded. The sleek river schooner shone with the power of Water Magic. The Dwarven crew rushed to get her under way. The Water Magic of the dwarves, the best sailors in the entire world, would make this trip somewhat quicker than otherwise.

  Myst had booked one of the tinny cabins, normally these ships had anywhere from six to ten of these ‘closets with beds’, as well as a bunk room with hammocks for the more thrifty passengers. They also had a couple of nice staterooms, but as Myst was alone, for the time being, on this trip, he could not see spending the extra money.

  The crew slipped free the lines and set sail across the lake and for the sea. Myst had already looked around the passengers; no luck on this voyage he sadly thought. Mostly males, “who would have thought damn luck” and an older male Elf with his two wives. “Famine or feast,” Myst grumbled.