We went through several more corridors, and she led me into a room with four elves including the prince sitting at a table. There were also four other elves standing against the wall, a group which Saida walked over to and joined. The queen looked up at me and smiled, and it reached her eyes so I felt immediately better about things. But when I felt the deep feeling of hope, and welcome in her emotions, I had to fight the urge to cry as the tenseness left me. I’d been more afraid I’d be fighting their disgust of humans as much as I would whatever was wrong, much more than I’d thought I had been.
I’d have done it anyway, but it was a relief.
The queen said, “Welcome to Gwienidd Katrina, and thank you for coming to assist us. My name is Aleisia Jorieth,” the queen had the same light blonde hair as the others, and dark blue eyes. She was dressed in a slightly less risqué way than most of the women I’d seen, but not even close to as covered as I was.
She continued, “This is my husband, and prince consort Alduin Jorieth, and you’ve already met my son Prince Vaeril.” Alduin looked exactly like the prince, just older, and was obviously who the prince had gotten his emerald green eyes from. He wore a similar set of leather armor as well, but a bit more worn. His father’s emotions were much different though, he felt cautious, as if he hadn’t made a judgement yet. I’d take it.
She smiled at the only other woman at the table, “This is my sister, Ayda Ravadan.” Ayda had on a similar dress, and looked very much like her sister the queen, except her eyes were a few shades lighter of blue. From her all I felt was curiosity, and a little confusion, she also seemed rather meek, as if she wanted to escape notice. She was probably wondering why I was such a big deal or why her sister had sent for me, as for the meekness I sensed, I had no guesses.
I wanted to ask why the queen had sent her son for me, but held it back.
The queen continued, “Please sit and eat with us, don’t stand on ceremony here in this room. Treat me as you would Danielle, for in a way we are sisters. Normally there would be two more to meet you, but we’ve had an emergency of sorts. My niece Edea, Ayda’s daughter, wasn’t able to be here, and neither was our Seneschal and close family friend Eloen Ulara. You’ll meet them tomorrow at breakfast before we show you what the problem is and just how bad it’s gotten. The blight is hard to make out after dark.”
I wondered how she knew Danielle, but didn’t ask. I wondered if the goddess’s people in all the lands were more connected than I knew, staying out of politics, but at the same time transcending borders at the top? Instead, I chose to ask about something else entirely.
“Blight?” I asked as I slipped into the chair.
The queen froze at my question, and then glared at her son, “What did you tell her? Anything?”
He replied indifferently, “I told her the forest was in danger, and we’d fill her in when she got here.”
The queen sighed, “We will speak of this later. I am disappointed in you.”
I felt really uncomfortable hearing that, but put some of each dish on my plate. I wondered if my super metabolism could even handle a vegetarian diet, but there were a lot of nuts and other high protein foods, so maybe? I took a bite, and it was very tasty, but I knew if it went on too long I’d need to supplement somehow.
Queen Aleisia turned back to me, “The blight is a poison of sorts, which has invaded the heart of the forest. If it overcomes the heart, the whole forest will die. So far, the only solution has been to cut it out, which is weakening the heart, and we haven’t the slightest clue what or who is doing it, or why. The two times we tried to heal it or remove it with magic, the elf was infected, and died shortly after. You will see it tomorrow, and I’ll answer more questions then.”
I nodded, “I’ll do whatever I can to help, forest heart?”
The queen replied, “It is what it sounds like. It’s where we feed magic into the forest, and teach it. All elves are connected to the heart through their magic, the rest of the forest is like a body, it can’t survive without the heart.”
I had so many more questions, but didn’t want to be a nuisance, and saved some for later. It might be better to ask Saida, my assigned servant and helper, and just bother the queen with the questions she can’t answer. She’s been graceful and welcoming, but I didn’t want to strain that too far.
“The forest is truly amazing, I loved the ride through it.”
It was the right thing to say, because Aleisia beamed at me. Luckily, it was also the truth. Well, it could be worse, one welcomed me, one hated me, and two were withholding judgement. Three including Saida.
We all kept to small talk for the rest of the meal, including fashion. It turned out my guess was correct, the elves saw their bodies as just another beautiful aspect of nature, and their dresses were to showcase that beauty as art. As for the serious stuff, I guess I’d find out in the morning.
After dinner, Saida led me back to the room via the same corridors, and after turning down my bed said she’d see me in the morning and left. Sleep was elusive that first night as I let myself feel the grief and disappointment from the last few days. All the usual stuff, parents, fiancé, worries about the future. I still had a lot to learn.
I was also free to be myself on this world, it wasn’t all bad. I wondered if I’d still be that shallow girl who feared to be a hero, if I hadn’t saved Omega that day, and changed my life forever. Eventually though, I ran out of tears, and wondered if the pain of losing my parents would ever truly go away.
Sleep found me.
Chapter Nine
A beautiful garden, creeping blackness, the elven city abandoned as a tomb with over half the elves dead, the rest were long gone. The forest I’d already come to love from its puppyish emotions, was dead and rotted. The blight didn’t stop there, I saw dying trees near Bellmeadow. Human mages cast awesome spells that created storms of fire. I watched them burning and sterilizing the forests for hundreds of miles to prevent further spread. It was horrifying.
I gasped as I woke, and sat up in bed, my body was soaked with sweat, and I was wide eyed. I wiped the tears from my eyes, and took several deep breaths until my heart stopped racing.
“Got the message,” I said under my breath, as I got up and ran a bath. The images were horrible, and burned into my mind. I was already here, and committed to stopping it, so I wondered why Arella had bothered to send me the horrific dream of the future that would happen if I didn’t help to stop it. What worried me was I was sure she’d had a reason, one more thing to figure out.
After the bath I summoned another dress, this one burgundy, and pulled it on. I didn’t have to wait long before I felt Saida arrive outside my door, but I waited for her to knock and paused before opening it.
Saida smiled, but her emotions were indifferent, “Excellent, I feared I’d have to wake you this morning. I know you must have been tired after your trip. Are you ready for breakfast?”
“Yes, thank you Saida.”
She led me back to the same small private dining room. This time there were four women sitting down, and none of the men were there. I recognized queen Aleisia and her sister Ayda. I assumed the older looking one with a stony face was Eloen. She had to be at least nine hundred, though her sky blue eyes looked clear and sharp. The other woman who I guessed was Edea, Ayda’s daughter, was very young, looked younger than me even, a teenager. Though, I was still one too at eighteen, I just didn’t feel like one anymore. Plus, she looked closer to fourteen, maybe fifteen.
I also reminded myself the girl that looked younger than me was probably a hundred years old, and five times my age at least.
“Good morning,” I said lightly, as I sat down across from Edea, and then froze in shock. Edea looked remarkably like her mother and aunt, except… her ears were smaller, and she had soft brown eyes. Half-elven? After what I’d just read in the history of Gwienidd on racial purity, I had to admit to shock.
The young elven girl smirked at my reaction.
“Sorry, you ju
st startled me.”
Edea laughed, “I have that effect on everyone.”
The queen was looking at me curiously, obviously measuring my reaction.
“It’s nice to meet you Edea,” I nodded at the Seneschal, “You too Eloen.”
Eloen merely nodded back, not speaking at all.
The queen and Ayda seemed pleased, I felt shock and pleasure from Edea as I’d obviously meant it, and absolutely nothing from Eloen. I didn’t know why she was shielded, but I couldn’t ask either, and her face was a cold mask. I wasn’t going to lie about my abilities, but as usual I didn’t want to advertise them either. The explanations were awkward and tedious.
Queen Aleisia said, “Let’s eat, and then show Katrina our problem.”
I felt the urge to tell Aleisia to call me Kat, but suppressed it. They didn’t seem to use shortened names here. I wondered if the cute nickname even fit me anymore, I’d changed a lot in the last two and a half weeks.
Edea said carefully, “If it’s alright aunt, I’d prefer not to come along.”
I felt a surge of compassion from Aleisia, and she simply nodded her head in acceptance. From Aida I sensed deep pain, what the hell was going on here?
It grew quiet, but not uncomfortably so, as we ate our breakfast…
Aleisia, Ayda, and Eloen led me through the corridors, and my shadow, Saida, was following from about fifteen feet behind unobtrusively. I wondered if that would get overly annoying after a while, but it wasn’t bad so far. She was very good at feeling neutral emotions, and I wondered why that was, did that mindset help her to be unobtrusive? So many questions to ask.
Speaking of questions, I think I figured out why Edea wanted to stay behind. As we passed others in the hallway, I could feel disgust, anger, and other hateful emotions. At first, I thought it was about me, a human in their midst. But no, they were all giving sidelong glares at Ayda, who seemed to shrink into herself, and kept her head down. She was clearly shunned.
Then it hit me, Edea was half-elven, and I felt a surge of anger and compassion on behalf of the queen’s sister. I could imagine how hard it would be for Edea to pass by all these elves, who held racial purity so close to their hearts. I didn’t understand it, but was afraid to ask questions. Later, I’d sit Saida down, and get the true answers. But it was clear, Edea and her mother were shunned here, except for seemingly the queen, who was her family.
It made me wonder if they’d still be alive, if they didn’t have the support of the queen. Based on the ugly emotions I felt, I was guessing not. There was an undeniable malice about it, that tainted the elves in my eyes. I had half a mind to tell them off, and leave. Bigotry was such an evil stir pot of emotion, even more caustic than jealousy in my opinion. Which… was probably why Arella had sent me the dream last night, so I wouldn’t lose my temper and leave.
Screw the bigots, but I was saving the damned forest.
I took a deep breath and touched my holy symbol, jealousy and bigotry weren’t the only ugly emotions, self-righteous anger was kind of ugly too. Yes, it was hard to understand their racial anger about impurities, but otherwise they were just people, and in many ways, were better to the world around them than humans were. I’d ask questions later, and pushed it all out of my mind.
I kept my mouth shut, and followed them out of the west side of the large sprawling one story castle, the side I hadn’t seen yet. I recognized where we were immediately from my dream last night when I saw it, the heart of the forest. It was beautiful, and the emotions coming from it were the strongest yet. But mixed in with the joy and welcome, there was fear, and pain. There was also a much quieter emotion, almost drowned out, I felt hatred, rage, and a murderous fury. I didn’t like that at all.
Most disturbing of all, the emotions were close to the ones I’d felt pointed at the queen’s sister. Not exactly, but close.
It looked like a work of art though, as if every species of the forest lived here in a small fifty-yard square of forest, everything was arranged to look like it belonged, and somehow, they pulled it off.
“It’s beautiful Queen Aleisia.”
The queen nodded grimly, “Follow me, and I’ll show you the problem.”
I followed carefully on the small path, determined not to step on anything. The emotions were so loud it almost drowned my emphatic sense, and I tightened it further to let even less in. I didn’t like that, it made me feel cut off, but I didn’t have a choice, not if I wanted to think.
She led me close to the center, and the darker emotions got stronger the closer we got, but were still hard to sense. I wondered if they had similar trouble picking out the spot with their magic.
We stopped in front of an ancient tree, which was the source of the pain and fear I’d been feeling.
The queen pointed at the ground near it, there was a small dark brown twig coming from the ground, with several small leaves that looked black and oily.
“Most of it is below ground, a large grub with roots. We’ve pulled up over twenty of them so far with shovels to destroy them. But… a day or two later another one appears. Right now, it’s poisoning and infecting everything around it.”
I asked the most obvious question first, “How long has this been happening?”
The queen replied, “Almost three weeks now.”
I asked, “Can you tell if it’s a natural root at its core?”
Aleisia looked at me closely, “What are you asking?”
“The heart, and elven magic. Elven magic enhances the natural inclinations of plants and trees right? Even gives it a rudimentary intelligence and allows for a symbiotic relationship between Elves and nature? I imagine you pass along feelings with your magic as well?”
Aleisia nodded, “That’s a simplistic way of viewing it, but essentially correct. Our magic can also protect, and extend life, even in ourselves. It’s why we’re so long lived, more than the other races.”
I was trying to find a tactful way of clarifying, but eventually gave up and just asked.
“So, my question is, some plants are naturally poisonous, and predators. Is that root naturally that way, and fueled by elven magic to be something much worse, or is it possible there was a witch involved that twisted and corrupted its original nature? Can your magic even tell, or is it too dangerous to try and figure out?”
I remembered her telling me last night an elf had been killed trying to handle the grub with their magic, or was that just the poison? I was also almost positive the answer was the former, I hadn’t felt any emotions, caustic or otherwise, from the tree that the witch had controlled to attack me. The grub was filled with a simple but malevolent intelligence. Still, I didn’t want to rule out it couldn’t be both. Perhaps the elven magic and emotions were just ignorantly feeding it?
I really didn’t want to believe an elf was doing this on purpose, someone had to be replacing the ones torn out, right? Or did the grubs leave behind seeds too small for the elves to sense?
I was hardly a detective. Surely, they’d already thought of these questions? I was surprised by her answer.
Aleisia frowned, “I don’t know, we haven’t been able to study it, and the one elf that tried wasn’t coherent enough to pass on what he figured out before he died. What makes you think elven magic has anything to do with it?”
I replied, “Because I can feel its sense of purpose, and its hatred and drive to kill. It’s like, a dark mirror of the rest of the heart. Do you know if witches are even capable of that?”
Aleisia said coolly, “It’s not possible. No elf would feed a poisonous plant hate, when feeding the heart, we are very careful to supply only encouragement. Our magic constantly connects us, but even if we feel anger or hate, it won’t change the nature of the plant or tree without intent behind it. It doesn’t even make sense because the grub would kill any elf that tried.”
Oh great, I just alienated the only elf happy to see me here. She also had a good point and had shot down my theory. I doubted very much now, that the prej
udice against the queen’s sister and niece had anything to do with this, not directly at any rate.
“So, a witch with a grudge against the elves you think?”
Aleisia smirked, and then sighed, “That too is doubtful, no witch could fool sixty miles of forest to get close to the heart. Even a hundred of them wouldn’t have the magic to get in and out undetected. So, in short, we don’t know the cause. That’s why you’re here.”
I nodded slowly, “I know, but I also know very little about elven or witch magic, which means I need to ask questions. I didn’t mean to offend you.”
The queen nodded, but I still felt her annoyance.
“So,” I dove back in, “Even if a witch probably couldn’t get here, that doesn’t mean a witch didn’t create the grub, right? I mean, if the taint can backtrack an elf’s magic and kill them, that must mean its magical in nature itself. A magically cursed blight. Do you know of any other natural plants with such abilities?”
Just another hair brained theory, like the others it sounded good to me, but what did I know?
She smiled, “It’s not proof, but yes. I don’t know of any other plants with magical defenses in its natural state.”
In other words, before the elves got to it and used their magic on it. Great, we’ve come full circle, and I decided not to ask any more questions for now. Whatever it was, it wasn’t a simple answer or solution. Right, dead elf, no pressure. What I did, didn’t involve magic at all, so I should be perfectly safe.
Then why was I so nervous?
I felt down under the surface with my mind, and could feel the grub, and several roots growing out quickly, relatively fast for a plant anyway, fast enough that I could track its progress. It already had two roots dug into the tree next to it, which explained the tree’s pain and drooping appearance.
I compacted the soil around the grub and roots, and even formed a small layer of soil up and around the twig coming from the ground, and its black tainted oily leaves. That had to be a witch, I’d never seen a black plant before, unless it was dead.
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