The Chosen of Anthros

by Travis Simmons

  “Well, we are certainly going to see what we can see, but for now let’s just enjoy ourselves.”

  “Let me get dressed,” Leona said. She motioned to her blue robe. “I don’t really want to be seen out and about in this.”

  Leona came back down in a pair of brown trousers and a gray tunic. Abagail hadn’t had to change, so she threw her cloak over her shoulders, handed Leona her wool jacket and they were headed out the door.

  “Tonight I don’t want to think about any of this,” Leona said. She looked around the third level, and Abagail knew her sister meant the dreams, the hammer, the rising darkness, all of it.

  “That sounds like a good plan,” Abagail said. “I thought a trip to the elves’ city was in order. I haven’t been there yet, and after the night we had…” Now that the ravens’ were gone it was easy to imagine their visit was nothing more than a crazy delusion. Wouldn’t the end of the world be more dangerous? More ominous. Were things really all that bad?

  “It looks like you’re thinking about those things we aren’t thinking about,” Leona said. She jabbed Abagail in the ribs and her sister laughed. “Maybe we can find Skye.”

  At the mention of Skye, Abagail felt her face flush. Thankfully it was dark with few torches along the switchbacks between landings. Leona didn’t see her discomfort. “It has been a while,” she agreed. But just thinking about the elf’s violet eyes on her made Abagail’s heart race.

  “Do you think he’s around?” Leona asked. “Maybe Skye is on guard duty tonight?”

  Abagail shrugged as if it didn’t matter, even though she felt it mattered very much. “We will just have to see.”

  There wasn’t any of the normal sounds of music and laughter coming down from New Landanten that night, and Abagail started to wonder if it was too late. Maybe no one is there tonight?

  But when they reached the top level the lights were all shining in the marble and gold buildings. Tavern doors stood open creating pools of light in the snow-churned cobbled streets outside. The great tree stood high in the center of town, lights from surrounding buildings illuminating its higher branches. In the tall official buildings, lights shined through stained glass causing the snow on eaves and roofs of lower levels to shin in a myriad of colors.

  Despite all the promise of life, there was a kind of hush that had fallen over the city. There were braziers here and there lit and billowing their flames high into the air. Elves and harbingers alike gathered around the fires, drinking and chatting, but even the briefest of laughs that echoed from their gathering was cut short and seemed hollow.

  “What’s going on here?” Leona asked, coming to a stop. Suddenly she seemed on edge, her gaze shifting here and there as if she expected to see something that might only exist in a dream.

  “Do you think the darkness is spreading?” Abagail asked.

  “That’s most definite,” a voice called behind them.

  Abagail smiled, knowing it was Skye before she even turned to see him. His hair was messy, as normal, but not in the intentional way. It stuck out here and there at odd angles that would only be made from him running his hands continuously through his hair. The disheveled hair only accentuated the dark rings around his eyes. His eyes weren’t as vibrant as they had once been. But the smile that ghosted across his full pink lips still did a number on Abagail’s nervous system.

  She blushed and looked to her feet.

  “We shouldn’t talk here,” Skye said.

  “A tavern?” Leona asked.

  “You’re too young for that,” Abagail said.

  “She’s not too young to be served here,” Skye said. “But no, taverns are out too. Here, over here.” He led them to a brazier that had burned down to coals. The crowd was no longer around this brazier, they must have moved off to more social bonfires.

  Skye produced a bottle and took a quick drink. He handed it to Abagail. She might have wiped off the lip of the bottle had it been anyone else, but all she could think of as she raised the bottle to her lips was Skye’s mouth had been on that bottle. It was almost like she was kissing him.

  Abagail could have kicked herself for acting like a fool, but she couldn’t help it. Just the thought tightened her stomach and made the butterflies that lived there swirl up into her chest.

  The wine was thick and sweet. She only drank a little before passing it on to Leona.

  “What’s going on here?” Abagail asked, her chest warmed by the liquid. The wine seemed to dull the swarm of insects in her chest brought on by the proximity to Skye.

  “A lot has changed since we came back,” Skye told them. He glanced over his shoulder to make sure they were alone. “Something’s coming, but I can’t tell what. Mari was always better with this kind of thing.”

  Mari was always better at wyrdings, Abagail thought. She didn’t know the elf long before she’d been struck down, but Abagail came to understand that Mari was the go-to elf among the small group of friends when it came to wyrd.

  “But it’s not good. There’s talk that Charissa is pushing Garth to go into the light,” Skye said. He raised his eyebrows as if that was something significant.

  “But Celeste said she thought it was time for him to do that,” Leona said.

  “Elves don’t go into the light often,” Skye said.

  “What is this going into the light?” Abagail asked. “Is it the same as dying?”

  “As you would understand it, yes. Really what happens when an elf goes into the light is they dissolve their physical being back into the stream of light that gives us all power. They go back to the energy that makes up the stars and the moon. They become one with the power that runs through our scepters.”

  “So why is this a bad thing?” Abagail asked. She accepted the bottle of wine back from Leona, wiped the rim, and took a deep drink.

  Skye took a long pull of the wine before he spoke again. He glanced over his shoulder to be sure they were still alone, but no one was moving from the buildings or their braziers.

  “The dark elves aren’t the type to share power willingly,” Skye told them. “With Garth gone, it could take ages before another representative of the light elves is chosen. With so many things happening right now, that’s a bad thing.”

  “A lot is happening,” Leona agreed. Her eyes were on the burning embers and miles away from their conversation.

  “And with so many things that will need to be decided upon, this is a really bad time for a dark elf alone to be in charge,” Skye said.

  “The Fey Forest…” Abagail looked to the east where the forest full of darklings stood.

  “Opening the scepters in the Fey Forest is just part of it, but it’s the biggest part. Without even the smallest setback from Garth, she could do a lot of damage.”

  “Yea, like destroy the nine worlds,” Leona said.

  What does it matter if it’s destroyed now, or at Ragnarok? Abagail wondered, but she didn’t say anything. It looked like their night of fun was quickly going south and into the realm of things they weren’t supposed to think about tonight.

  “What are the other parts?” Abagail asked.

  Skye shrugged. “Hard to tell, but a lot of dark elves have been sneaking off to the Fey Forest lately, along with a few harbingers that we’ve seen.”

  Could this be Leona’s rising darkness? She wondered.

  “Which harbingers?” Abagail asked, remembering how they were supposed to gather information for Fen.

  Skye shrugged. “Not sure, we can’t ever see them well. Oddly the light shifts around them irregularly. We suspect they’re masking themselves with wyrd.”

  Is that something all harbingers can do? Abagail wondered. She didn’t think she could do it, but maybe it was as easy and common as shielding was.

  “What do you think is going to happen?” Leona asked.

  “I couldn’t tell you that,” Skye said. “But each day it seems like this cloud of gloom is settling deeper and deeper over the city. Something needs to happen about it
. We can’t let Garth go into the light.”

  “How can you stop him?” Abagail asked. “What can we do?”

  A bark of laughter behind them made Skye jump. He peered in the direction of the laughter, and then took Abagail by the arm, steering her away from the brazier and toward the path to Haven. “There’s nothing you can do. This is elf business,” he said. His eyes were dark. “I will come see you shortly if I can,” he told her. “It might not be safe here long for either light elves or harbingers of light.”

  Abagail was painfully aware that he didn’t say harbingers in general. Harbingers of darkness. Why would they be in Haven?

  Where else would you least expect them? She asked herself.

  “Please,” Skye said. Leona had already started down the trail. He held both of Abagail’s shoulders in his hands. “Please be safe.”

  Abagail stared up into his eyes and for a moment she felt she might lose herself in his gaze. She nodded woodenly, enrapt in some elven wyrd that only she could feel. Skye leaned down and brushed his lips against hers.

  If just seeing him made Abagail feel like she was going to lose all control of her faculties, the brush of his lips made her feel like she might fly apart in a million bloody pieces. He started to pull away, but she pulled him back and locked her lips tight on his. His lips were rough from the cold, dry, and sticky from the wine, but it was so much more than she’d ever expected.

  He pulled her tight against his hard body, and her figure molded to his. His breath was hot on her face, and a grunt issued from his lips and into her mouth. When they finally broke apart, Abagail was gasping for air.

  “Please,” Skye said, pulling away and stepping toward the shadows. “Keep yourself safe.”

  Abagail couldn’t speak. All she could do was nod stupidly.

  “Didn’t see that coming,” Leona said when Abagail finally joined her. She couldn’t tell if Leona was being sarcastic or not. At the moment, she couldn’t really focus on much of anything that took brain power.

  She was surprised her limbs were obeying her, or were they really just moving out of habit?

  “Uh huh,” was all Abagail could manage.

  They traveled in silence back to their home. Through the windows they could see lamps burning and candle flames licking the air.

  “Rorick’s home!” Leona said with a smile. She launched herself at the stairs so quickly Abagail thought maybe her sister had learned to fly. Leona burst through the door leaving it open to the cold night air.

  Abagail hesitated at the base of the stairs, not really wanting to see Rorick. She didn’t think anything could kill the buzz from the kiss, but this meeting just might do it.

  When Abagail closed the door behind her, Leona was prying herself away from Rorick, and the man was laughing at her.

  “Did you miss me much?” he asked Leona, and ruffled her short hair.

  “Where are you going?” Leona asked him, indicating that he was completely dressed to leave.

  “I told you earlier I had a thing I needed to do tonight,” he told her.

  “Oh, I thought you might be done early.”

  “No, it takes some time for them to arrive,” Rorick told her.

  “Them who?” Abagail asked almost against her own will. She poured herself some of the leftover milk and honey and placed the cup beside the fireplace to let it heat up.

  Rorick frowned. “There are these shadows that gather every night at the base of the mountain. No one knows who they are, or if they are even people. I want to know for sure. The guards never see anyone leave the settlement and never see anyone come back.”

  “Do you think that’s safe?” Abagail asked him, lowering herself into a chair. She was actually surprised her knees had held her all the way down to their house.

  “I will be safe,” Rorick told her, checking a knife at his waist. Abagail was aware that he wouldn’t meet her gaze.

  “Do you need someone to come with you?” Leona wondered. Abagail knew what her sister was thinking. The same darkness in New Landanten. The same darkness coming for Haven.

  “No. It would be best if I went alone. I don’t plan on being seen or making a scene. I’m going down to get information, and then I will be back.” He looked out the window to the sky. “I have to go,” he said. “I probably have just enough time to get there and get in place before they show up.”

  “Be safe,” Leona called to his back as the door closed behind him. “I need to see Fortarian,” Leona said. She sighed and grabbed her mug of milk. She sat it on the table and sat across from Abagail.

  “I don’t like you going there alone,” Abagail told her.

  “Then come with me.” Leona shrugged. “He knows something he isn’t telling me.”

  Abagail nodded. “Alright. Tomorrow after classes I will meet you there before lunch.”

  The figure was tall and cloaked in black; if Rorick wasn’t already on edge from what he was about to do he might not even have seen it. What was more, the figure was disappearing into the brush to the right of the switchback trail that led from the last level of Haven and down to the guard posts.

  Rorick couldn’t believe his luck. If this wasn’t a guard, then this might be one of the shadows that gathered at the base of the hill. Is Camilla right about harbingers of darkness? Rorick wondered. He still found it strange that she opened up to him the way she did. She seemed like such a closed off person, but maybe she sensed something in him. Maybe she could tell how much he hated the darklings.

  Rorick cleared the thought from his mind and followed the shadow deeper into the snow off the trail. He could hear guards to his left, and whispers of guards to his right. The shadow was taking him right down between watches.

  He knew that he would have to sneak by the guards, and so he’d been ready for that. Camilla said that people couldn’t get past the guards without them knowing, but it looked like the watches weren’t as attentive as she’d thought.

  Guards were stationed here and there down the edge of the mountain. The watches slowly dwindled down to nothing, but they were placed in such a way that time and again Rorick followed the figure before him across the trail between guard posts.

  Finally they were out of the clear and nearly down the mountain.

  But he’d lost them. Rorick stopped and looked around him, but all he could see was tall grass bogged down with drifting snow and an endless sky of inky blackness. He stilled himself, breathing shallow, hoping he could hear something of the person, maybe the crunch of their boots through the packed snow? Maybe see a glint of some wayward light off their cloak?

  “I know you’re there,” the figure said. Even now he wasn’t able to tell where they were, only what direction their voice was coming from.

  His breath hitched and he reached for the knife at his belt. He crouched low to the ground, ready to spring at the person.

  “There’s no need for that,” the figure said. It was definitely a woman’s voice, though she spoke low enough he could just barely hear her over the winter wind. “I can hear your thoughts. And right now, they are really loud.”

  “Are you one of them?” he asked. He could barely hear his own words over his hammering heart. He hadn’t thought to have an encounter just now, but if a harbinger of darkness was here for him, there would only be one of them leaving this meeting. Rorick intended that person to be him.

  The woman stepped out of the shadows to his right. He instantly recognized Rowan by the way her white hair gleamed above the shadows of her cloak. “Harbinger of darkness?” she asked. There was humor in her voice, but also an edge. “I assure you I’m no harbinger of darkness. But what makes you think there would be a harbinger of darkness around here?”

  Rorick straightened a little and relaxed his grip on his knife. “Camilla says she thinks there are harbingers of darkness here in Haven.” Rorick didn’t think anything of the comment until after he said it. How could he be sure that Rowan really wasn’t a harbinger of darkness? If she was, he’d jus
t ratted out his teacher.

  “Don’t fret,” Rowan said, folding her hands together in front of her waist. “It doesn’t run in the family. I’m not a darkling like my brother, Fortarian.”

  Rorick nodded. He felt as though he could trust her. Is that still worth anything?

  “You act like the final war is upon us,” Rowan told him. She studied the bearded man. He might have relaxed a little, but he still wasn’t at ease. “I assume you’re going down to see what those shadows are?”

  Rorick nodded.

  “That’s dangerous,” she told him.

  “And what are they?” Rorick asked.

  “What do you think they are?” Rowan asked him. Her eyebrow arched high.

  “You’ve known they are meeting there and you haven’t done anything yet?” Rorick asked. There was heat in his voice, but he did his best to keep it low so it wouldn’t carry to the shadows he suspected were gathering even now.

  “I don’t feel the need to justify the actions of the council to you,” Rowan told him. “But remember that our numbers are low, and whatever foothold we can get on what the darkness plots, the better.”

  “So they send you?” Rorick asked. “How long has this been going on?”

  “Again with the questions.” She sighed. “We just learned of the rising darkness. It didn’t take much to link the shadows at the base of the hill with what Leona saw in her vision. When the ravens told me about this, I decided to come down here and see for myself what the shadow was plotting.”

  “Why you?” Rorick asked.

  “I’m telepathic. We are wasting time. If you’re coming then do so, if you’re going to keep asking questions then leave. I have a job to do.”

  Rorick didn’t say anything, Rowan was already leaving him behind. He fell in line behind her. Rorick searched around them for any indication of tracks in the snow, but all he could see were their own. Suddenly a restraining hand on his arm pulled him up short.

  “We won’t be able to talk when we get there,” Rowan told him. “If these are harbingers of darkness, there’s a chance one of them might have some kind of mental ability, which could be dangerous for us. But if you have anything to say, do so mentally. I won’t be able to respond to you, but I will hear you.”