ELO

  She remembered tracing the book with her fingers, her ancestor's bloodlines—all the way to a female saint. Bree took a deep breath. She felt it; she saw the elfin words appear. Bree blinked in disbelief. Was she delirious? Green letters appeared dancing around her. They were the same ones she had seen beneath the diagrams that Faelorn's had shown her. She could barely read elfish. She had gotten familiar with the language patterns.

  Before Bree could rejoice, she saw him in the corner of her eyes. It was the monster, his rotten skin bloated; he was gloriously fat. The creature giggled. Bree closed her eyes. He's not really there; it's in your head. When Bree pushed her fear aside, her memories of her life became clearer. The mask, she recalled. Wasn't it the mask she had seen on the day she died? Bree's headache increased. She focused on the pulsing, the green letters began to spin around her. Yavi and Elo were far away; she heard Elo say softly, "you're doing it, Bree," Yavi spoke guiding her, " Let it flow, follow your instinct. If you are a saint, if you have power, your instinct will guide you." Bree moved her hands; she ignored the presence of the monster. His tongue was out, she was terrified he would touch her. He's not real, not even in your dreams. Bree focused and focused sweat poured from her forehead.

  Then she felt it. She signed the words for plant and flower. It was all in elfish, but she knew the words. All the practicing, all the work. She signed the letters with her fingertips, and green light like ink hovered over her.

  Yavi jumped up and down. Elo's jaw was to the floor.

  The monster pressed in on her; he was in her mind. She experienced flashing memories—an icy eyed man, pulling her from her cage. “Yes, this wild one will do nicely. Are you sure she is the chieftain's daughter? You're sure of it?" He smiled coldly. He had been an old man then, a noble lord, to be specific. "She does bear the mark in her throat, but she wasn't planned. It was the hag. Yes, the dead one."He stroked Bree's face, she tried to bite him. He punched her. Bree got back up, nose bleeding.

  He grinned, "Your spirited, we'll work on that." Bree ignored the memories; the pain inside her heart made her ache. SHUT UP, Bree hissed. She pushed the memories aside.

  Bree pictured herself with the bow Tharin had given her. She shot him, in her mind, she imagined the monster's fall. She imagined it with all her strength. She stared at the seedlings; she felt their pain, their illness. Grow the plants; magic is real here. My magic is real. Here dreams and reality can become the same. The seedlings were hovering, and suddenly, the glass balls exploded. Bree dropped to her knees. She couldn't focus anymore. She pushed the monster away,

  She thought “No, It's just in my head; I don't care if it's really there. I will save my new home. I will save Faelorn."

  He was gone, the monster had left her. Bree's head was clearer. She relaxed, realizing she was on the floor. She looked up, she was covered in sweat shaking. The seedlings had not only sprouted, but they had also outgrown their containers.

  Elo stood up. "Bree, you really do have magic." Bree had tears in her eyes. She looked at the seedling.

  "Are they still sick?" Yavi bent over the seedlings. They cradled them tears in their eyes. "The miasma is gone, healed. Bree, you did it. Just like you did for me."

  Bree cried, she signed, "can I heal the forest?"

  Yavi's eyes leaked sap. "I believe we can, I've been stable since I've been awake. If these seedlings stay miasma free, then we can use you to make a cure." Bree sobbed, covering her face. Elo gave her an enveloping hug. She said, “Bree, you're brilliant..." Bree signed, "I did something for once, I can help." she signed her hands shaking with joy. A tall shadow entered the room, and with a cold voice, it said. "What are you doing?" Bree turned; it was Tharin. Yavi stood up, still clutching the seedling.

  They cried, "Tharin, Bree did it. She healed the miasma. All these weeks of guessing, of trying your theories, we did it..." Tharin was wearing his blue robe this time. His hair tied back, Feanu on his shoulder. Bree stood up on wobbly legs. She signed, "I can explain..." Tharin towered over them.

  "What are you doing in here. Yavi, I told you no strangers in this house." Yavi crossed their arms over their flat chest, they coolly said. "Tharin, you know they are your friends. I don't care what time you think you're in. We found a solution." One of their roots picked up a seedling, and they shoved it in his face. They said, "Bree healed it…” Tharin knocked the seedling out of Yavi's hand. "That's not the point... your so reckless, Yavi.” Yavi shot back, "then maybe you should be honest with Bree, or are you going to let your pompous prideful attitude do the talking?" Tharin rubbed his forehead. "Everything and I mean everything must be controlled; we don't know if her magic is natural. Humans are rarely magical, Yavi. She not normal; there has to be a catch.'' Bree wandered to where the seedling had fallen. She picked the plant up gently by the root. It had dropped by the backroom curtain. The great curtain shifted when she pulled the seedling that had gotten stuck on to it. The curtain opened just enough for Bree to see what was inside. She pulled the rest of the curtain back in fear. It was a slaver machine, its dragon-like face grinning, its belly a terrible cage.

  Bree shook all over. She made a horrified sound. Bree looked at Tharin, and the room spun. She ran, she ran for her life stumbling downstairs, flashes of slaver cages, screams, and fire overlaid the corridors—women and children taken by machines, men being torn apart by terrible claws.

  Tharin yelled, chasing her, "Bree, wait, I can explain."

  Bree ran to the door; it was locked; instead of stopping there, Bree headed up the staircase on the other side. She had never been in that area of the castle, but she wasn't about to let herself get caught. Elo called for her, but in her hastiness, she forgot that she wasn't very good at walking up the stairs as a deer. Tharin was trapped behind her. “I can explain," He said. Elo kicked him in the head.

  She hissed, "I've had enough…" She transformed and climbed up the stairs. Bree was already gone, running down the corridor in full sprint. She scanned the room and found herself in a large room full of paintings and artifacts and endless staircases. Elfin bows and weapons decorated the hall. Bree pulled an elfish bow from a rack as she passed. She didn't care there where no arrows, she would find one. She leaped down the staircase as Elo called to her from a floor above. Tharin was still behind Elo, she elbowed him in the stomach. Elo yelled, “Oh no, you don't; I'm done with you anyways!" She blocked the staircase staring down the elf, who rolled his eyes and with an exasperated sigh. The elf did a flip as he scaled the arch over Elo's head and leaped so that he was in front of her. Bree was already down another staircase. She found a medieval armor set and a decorated set of arrows. Not caring what precious artifact that she was breaking, she notched the bolt on to her bow. Bree stood breathing hard, her face flushed.

  Tharin was down the staircase; the only thing keeping them apart was the stairs. Bree, in her broken voice, wheezed. "I won't be a slave," she pulled the bow back. Tharin was pale as a sheet, green letters floated above Bree's head, her fingertip glowed with the green light. She surged with magic, and her eyes flashed brilliant green.

  He said, "Bree, it's not what you think, I can explain why there's a slaver machine in my obs-aghhhhhhhh" Elo landed on top of Tharin. She had dropped from the staircase above.

  Bree lowered her arrow. Elo was a tremendous white deer sitting on Tharin's chest and neck.

  "Screw that elf. I've had enough. He almost killed Faelorn. Then he yells at us after the good we did. Now he harboring tools of slavery." She stood and kicked him; he groaned helplessly. "He's a racist blighter anyway. Looking down on humans like all the stuffy elves. I don't need an explanation; it's a working slaver machine. They're not allowed in the king's forest. I can't wait to tell Bakura what a fraud you are."

  Tharin couldn't talk. He just wheezed like a broken accordion. Bree shook all over; she held the bow; her fingers trembled. Tentacle like roots descended on both Bree and Elo. It was the nymph who tutted. They cradled all three of them like small children, liftin
g them off the ground and securing them in their roots. They yanked Bree's bow from her grasp. Scolding the nymph restrained a bleating Elo.

  They hissed, "Nobody ever asks me what I think…" They carried all three of them back to the glass garden as they ascended the wall with their roots.

  Bree and Elo fought their restraints. Yavi gently placed the slumped over Tharin's into his chair. After Tharin was attended to. They turned to Elo and Bree. Elo screamed with rage, chewing on the roots that restrained her. Yavi slapped Elo's nose. They snapped, "Stop that. It will only grow back anyways."

  They looked from Bree to Elo. "Stop acting like savages, all of you. Tharin, that means you too." They placed Elo and Bree down still retraining them, guarding the door. They said, "Tharin's has a good explanation. He has taken an interest in you, Bree. I promise he isn't a slaver. Let us discuss this like civilized beings." They released them. Bree, with no weapon and no way out, clung to Elo. The doe transformed and put her arms around Bree protectively, giving Tharin the evil eye and a few rude hand gestures to follow. Tharin groaned; he shifted and changed, his robe changed colors, and a much younger looking Tharin stared back at them. Feanu flapped downward and began whispering in his ear.

  He straightened then, pulled his glasses out from his desk. He stared at Bree and Elo. With a wave, he pulled the purple curtain down with his magic, blue energy crackled on his fingers. He turned to both Bree and Elo. He said, “yes, Bree...it is my fault that you were a slave..."

  Bree shook, tears running down her face. Tharin stood composing himself. “A long time ago, a millennium ago, I was a young elf. I was naive. I was studying at university to become a mage. You see, I had been gifted by the elfish God's with magic. Not all creatures have it; some do, elves usually have it. It was only natural that I pursue this path." He cleared his throat and sipped his tea. The side of his face was purple, were Elo had kicked him. He said, "this castle was once the pride of the sages. It was a university for elves and other magical beings. Wizards, you could say, but human mages are rare in my world." He ran his hands, through his hair.

  His expression was cold. He said, "after a millennium, the student body dissipated, less and less magic possessing beings were born. The population dwindled; there were a few great masters left to run the facility with me." He took a deep breath. He took a sip of tea, calming his trembling nerves. He said, "It didn't matter that we lacked in students. I was a mechanical master, specializing in creating artificial life and studying time. My masters and I studied the very forest right outside of its barriers. ..." He stroked Feanu's crest gently, continuing, "I was selfish, I didn't care about preserving my history. I only cared about what new inventions I could make. It was so long ago, and yet it was yesterday…" Elo snapped, "I don't care about your life story, elf." Tharin stood pacing the room, he walked up to the mechanical beast. He muttered, “I always loved animals—more than people, more than elves. You see, I saw terrible crimes in my world and in other worlds. This castle could observe other dimensions, even take people to other worlds. Worlds like yours Bree."

  He looked at Bree and Elo with disgust. He hissed, "I hated your kind. I thought that I was better than everyone. I was tired of seeing my animal friends killed by poachers and slavers. You see, Bree, I would stand for hours watching the forest, watching other worlds. I saw magical creatures dying in many worlds. I wanted to create a sanctuary, one for all creatures. I wanted to preserve the worlds and all the magic inside them." He touched the mechanical dragon, running his hand over the tusks on it's head. "I decided I had enough. I created a machine that was both organic and mechanical. I infused it with magic, I trained it to hunt humans. Humans were poachers; they were always the slavers. The lesser beings that brought evil into existence, no better than orcs, goblins, or trolls. It was humans that more often served the darkness. They were so easily bought by gold, a mineral that could be dragged from the earth under their feet..."

  He growled, his face flushed with rage. "Humans still fight over rocks and dirt, and which filthy ape gets to own them. They kill each other's children only so that their grandchildren be killed by someone else's. I didn't even think that the human saints that I had met were worth the trouble to speak with." Tharin looked at her tears in his eyes. "I was wrong, selfish, stupid. I'm a hypocrite." He cleared his throat, walking back to his desk. Bree and Elo clung to each other. Bree silently sobbed into Elo's chest. Tharin said, "one day, it was reported to me by a human saint that mechanical machines were kidnapping people in his world. I thought he was lying. No machine of mine could be in another world. My machines were alive; they were for the elven world and its territory. They hadn't been in use for more than a year—all of my machines were for capturing poachers or human slavers. I had only created eight of them, after all. I knew were they all where..."

  Tharin's voice was tight. “I had only shared the blueprints with one other. My own teacher, a fellow elf." Tharin was shaking, "I went to this saints world, and saw that it was true, somehow my design was being used. It was being used for slavery, and for poaching." Tharin shook white as a sheet. The elf's ground his teeth, spittle on his lip. He said, "you see, Bree. I had unknowing design a machine that would be used as the bastion of slaver for the next millennium."

  “I took my case to the elven council." He spat the words out, "They empathized, but it was not their business. What did it matter if man destroyed himself or his world? They where primitive, lesser. We would go on..." Tharin looked like a ghost. “My very near and dear human friend, slavers took him. Enslaved him until he was a husk. The other human saints had to flee. Magic was now controlled, and my machines were being modified as well. Eventually, my own people were not safe. Ultimately, my master admitted that he was the one to sell my blueprints to slavers..." Tharin bent over his desk, his hair frazzled. He knocked his books off his desk, then flipped it—his pupils were cat-like.

  He screamed, "He did it for riches. All the riches of the human world. Gold and money!" Tharin turned, his face twisted with pain. "Bree, you suffered because of me. I was the one to create the machine that tore apart your village. That put you in a cage. Every time I look at you, I feel a millennium of guilt."

  Bree was shaking; her feelings were wild. She felt nothing, she felt...blank. Yavi gently said, "Go on, Tharin, tell her the rest." Tharin shook his head. "The rest, there's too much to stay. I stole this castle from my people, I banished them. I took a literal piece of my world and brought it here using Yavi, one of the most powerful tree nymphs to ever exist. I used magic to marry it to the forest of lost souls, a forest that could transcend all the dimensions that existed in a warp of time and space. Where day and years were one. A place that all worlds lead to. I have been here ever since, Bree. So when I look at you. I see my past, I see the pain I have brought to you and countless others like you." Bree signed, "what does this have to do with healing the forest? "

  Tharin signed "Bree your magic, I have only seen one other like it. A saint that could grow and heal the earth. It must be by the will of the Gods that you came to this plane. You must descend from one of the great sages. Magic is like reading; if you don't teach the young about their gifts...they lose it. You alone might be able to push out the infection. In fact, the infection is not much different from your own magic; it was manufactured by someone. A curse, witches are on the move, their leader in the shadows. Bree, if you trained enough, you could stop it easily. I can teach you, I spent hundreds of years teaching students just like you, even human ones."

  Bree wiped her face, Tharin's said softly, "You can help the one you love."

  Bree covered her face, buried into Elo's soft bosom like a child. Elo glared at Tharin. "Then why did you yell at us? Why did you lie and hide the truth from Bree."

  Tharin looked away, then he met Elo's eyes. He said somberly, "The curse on her throat is unnatural. I've been doing ongoing research as to why and who put it there. There nothing...I can't trace it. Not unless I surgically cut open your throat B
ree." Elo yelled, "You will do no such thing," Tharin shook his head. "I wouldn't, I'm at a loss. I have one theory. I believe that the curse, the dark energy in Bree's throat, is actually a soul…." Bree looked at Elo, and Elo looked back at her.

  Elo said, "What?”

  Tharin said, "I believe that the user put a part of himself inside you, Bree. But when the spring brought you back to life, it's simply quarantined it in your throat. The curse was supposed to spread all over your body With my Sight, my magical vision. I can see it lodged in your throat, like tree roots. It was intended to spread so that you would have no control. You would be a husk like a bereaved, but you wouldn't look like one." It was too much for Bree. She needed Faelorn; she needed Joltrun. She needed to get out of the library. She signed to Elo. "I have to go, I can't do this right now." She cried, wiping her tears. Yavi bent down, touching her face gently, they said, "please stay."

  Elo yelled, "This is too much for her. She needs the herd, She needs Bakura, she needs Faelorn. We're leaving. You can't keep us." Tharin didn't argue. He was shaking, tears streaming down his face.

  Elo transformed, and Bree mounted her back. The deer leaped from the balcony of the glass garden and down and over the banister. She landed roughly by the door. Kicking it open, Elo galloped from the library and into the forest. Elo did not stop until they were deep into the woods.

  They rested for a moment, as Elo caught her breath. Bree washed her face in the pool that Faelorn usually met her at. Bree composed herself, realizing she had left her packs and scrolls at Tharin.

  “Do you want to talk?" Elo asked. Bree shook her head, signing, "Just take me home, Elo."

  Elo limped slightly. "I think I sprained my ankle when I tried to run down the stairs as a deer." She tested it wincing. "I was so angry I didn't even feel it until now." Bree bent down and looked at Elo's ankle. It was swollen, but not severely. She pulled out her handkerchief with salve and slathered the last of it all over Elo's injury. Bree patted her friend's nose. She signed, "We can walk."