The Chronicles of Lumineia: Book 01 - Elseerian

by Ben Hale

  Startled, he looked at the elves standing outside the gates, waiting for them. Their rigid posture and darkening expressions told him exactly what she meant. In fact, they appeared to be inching towards the hidden doors and there was no doubt in his mind that once they were closed . . . they wouldn’t open easily.

  They hurried their way through the secret doors and wound their way around the training circles. Without stopping, the trip up to the third tier was considerably shorter than their way down. Liri only paused as they arrived at another strongdoor.

  “We are about to enter the bowl of the third level . . . and Le Runtáriel,” she told him, her eyes bright. “This tree is sacred to the elves, so watch yourself.”

  He nodded, trying to contain his excitement, and followed her through the door. As he stepped out of the artificial light of the corridors and into the lower bowl, Taryn’s eyes were drawn toward the most enormous tree he’d ever seen. From the exact center of the half-circle, the massive tree stretched over five hundred feet skyward. At its base the trunk grew thicker than fifty feet in diameter and its branches had grown so large they spanned the western and eastern sides of the city. These incredible living arches created walkways at every level, with multiple smaller branches shaped like stairs between them. A huge spiral staircase wound its way around the central trunk to further connect the different levels. The breathtaking tree's beauty could only be matched by the wide garden at its base.

  Lush gardens, at least a mile across, contained thousands of smaller trees, plants, and flowers of every kind. Water came to the grove by way of several waterfalls that cascaded down from the upper levels. The water wound its way through the garden via numerous small streams and ended in a large pond to his left that covered the entire space between the two sides of the cliff. Startled, he realized that the pond didn’t have an opposite edge at all, creating an illusion that the pond must form a waterfall on the cliff face—which he knew didn’t exist. He would have seen it from the outside. The invisible edge pool of water shimmered and danced with the light of the sun, reflecting the garden and tree to any passerby.

  Liri spoke softly beside him, cutting into his reverie. “Le Runtáriel is the pride and joy of the elves. It was brought with two other trees when the ancient ones migrated to the city. This is the one that survived and flourished. Centuries of elves have nurtured it with their magic and have shaped every inch of growth. It is a living legacy of the elves’ ancestral homeland.”

  “It’s stunning, Liri.” he replied in awe. “I’ve never seen anything like it. I mean, I saw it from outside the city, and again from above it when I entered the higher level, but I never dreamed that it would be so intricate!”

  Suddenly he couldn’t help himself: "How does the pool not have an edge? Where does the water go? How old is the tree? What are the gardens called? What—"

  She flashed a broad grin and interrupted him, "Hold on a second, let me answer those questions first. The pond is called Mirror's Edge, and it doesn’t have an opposite side because the water runs over a small ledge and into a trough. Then it drains into the barracks below. The tree is at least ten thousand years old, probably far older. I don't think anyone knows when it was first planted. I do know it was already a tree when it was transplanted here, and what was your last question?" Before he could answer she continued, "Oh yes, the gardens are called the Céius Gardens." She smiled a soft smile and caught his eye. "It means ‘Light and Enlightenment’."

  He nodded, satisfied for the moment, and asked, "Mind if we take a look around?"

  Liri's smile widened and she nodded. “Let’s go; there are a few places I wish to show you.” And with that she led him into the wondrous grove.

  For twenty minutes, the two of them, followed by their guards, strolled through the labyrinth of hidden walkways. Every few minutes they would cross a small bridge over a gurgling brook, or duck under low hanging fruit trees with their fragrance hanging heavy in the air. Paths frequently branched away from theirs and each walkway hid ensconced benches of both ornate stone and living trees, many of them occupied by elves seeking peace or knowledge in the gardens of Light and Enlightenment.

  During their exploration, a peaceful silence stretched between them as both considered the beauty around them. Taryn found himself wishing he could come here every day, and for the first time wondered what he would do after he found his heritage. Would he settle into a home? For some reason that thought caused him to glance at Liri. He’d always harbored strong feelings for her, but had never noticed anything to indicate she favored him . . . had he? That train of thought occupied his mind until Liri reluctantly cleared her throat.

  "We should probably get going,” she said. “There is quite a bit more I would like to show you today."

  He nodded with a sad smile, disappointed at the short visit.

  "We will come back, I promise," she said earnestly.

  Taryn grinned at her easy reading of his expression and sighed. "OK, what's next?"

  She matched his grin. "We go up." Then she turned towards the center staircase several hundred feet away. Arriving at its base, they began to climb. As they ascended, Taryn took the opportunity to view each facet of the wondrous city as they slowly rotated around its midpoint. At each separate tier, multiple paths separated themselves from the trunk and arced over to the city. Railings had been shaped and woven out of smaller branches growing out of the larger ones. Taryn looked from one wonder to the next, stunned by the sheer grace and beauty that Le Runtáriel gave to the city.

  "Hang on, we have a stop to make," Liri said, interrupting his fascinated study of the elven city as she turned onto one of the massive branches that spanned several hundred feet. She lead him down the gently sloping wood until they came to the end of the branch and stepped off at the point where it had been grown into the path of tier four, the first level above the gardens.

  "Where are we going?" Taryn asked, smiling when he realized that despite the subtle feeling of unease and fear that dominated the city's inhabitants, he felt wonderful seeing the magnificent city with Liri.

  "You'll see," she replied, but her expression carried an odd contrast. At the same time she looked amused and . . . disapproving?

  Before he could ask her what she meant, she stopped in front of a stone structure that boasted very little greenery. With mostly tan stone walls, it appeared odd and out of place. Glancing up, Taryn saw a battered sign hanging above the door.

  "The Drunken Elf?" Taryn read aloud, surprised at the name. Now he understood Liri's disapproval. Elves didn’t drink much, only light ale or fruit drinks. It was rare and frowned upon for an elf to be inebriated. He glanced at Liri and caught the wry smile.

  "It's the one of the few taverns in Azertorn, and the only one that serves hard liquor."

  "Why do we need to stop here?" he asked, incredulous.

  "We need to speak to Aléthya, and before you ask who she is, I will tell you." She paused for effect and said, "She is the greatest healer the elven race has ever seen."

  "And we will find her here?" Taryn asked, shocked that a healer would frequent such a locale.

  "She owns the place."

  And now he understood her amusement.

  Chapter 16: The Drunken Elf

  Taryn stepped through the door and into the well lit tavern. It was still early in the morning, but there were quite a few elves in the room, drinking and talking. It felt odd to be in such an establishment with elves all around him. Liri surprised him further.

  "I believe this crowd is actually the group from last night."

  He looked at her, shocked that elves would behave in such a way, and by her expression he could tell she was enjoying this far too much.

  "They will clear out in an hour or so; then it's pretty much quiet until evening when the party begins again."

  "This place is that popular?" he asked, lowering his voice in an effort to hide his surprise. He didn’t want to get into a fight . . . wait, what was he thinking? A
bar fight with elves? That thought was too strange for words.

  "It's surprisingly one of the favorite places for the soldiers . . . and others . . . within the city." Her tone left it clear she didn’t want to talk about the others. Perhaps it was someone in her family?

  Taryn snorted and shook his head, trying in vain to understand. "Which one is Aléthya?"

  Liri nodded towards the bar. "She's the one with brown hair."

  "Brown?" he asked, surprised again.

  "Her mother was a human, and she has the brown hair and brown eyes from her. Everything else about her is elven." Her lips twitched in a suppressed smile. "She is part of the reason many of the soldiers are in here."

  Taryn spotted her right away and immediately understood what Liri was talking about. An impossibly beautiful elf worked behind the bar, bustling back and forth while serving drinks and witty remarks with equal measure. Her brown hair had been pulled back in a human style ponytail. Dark brown eyes set in a pixie face burned with subdued fire that hinted of an unyielding spirit. He found himself staring until a sharp elbow in his side brought him back. Glancing at Liri, he shrugged an apology, a little abashed. "She's pretty," he mumbled.

  Liri snorted derisively and looked back at the bar. She seemed like she was about to start forward but stopped. She nodded towards the bar, "Watch this."

  He looked back at the bar and noticed an inebriated elf trying to reach across and grab Aléthya’s arm. Before Taryn could move to intervene, Aléthya grabbed the elf’s hand and wrenched it over in a hold he knew well from his training, slamming his head down into the bar.

  Her voice was as sharp as a daggers tip as she said, "I think you should leave." Then without waiting for an answer she used her hold to shove him from the stool. He tumbled to the floor, and landed in a heap. Staggering to his feet he was helped towards the door by a couple of friends. One of them called out an apology.

  "Sorry Thia, it won't happen again.”

  "It better not," she stated as she watched them stumble away. Then she caught sight of Liri and her face lit up. "Liri! You're back." She bounded around the bar and rushed towards them, engulfing Liri in a huge spinning hug.

  "I knew you'd be coming soon, but I must have lost track of time. Has it really been thirty years?"

  Liri laughed her high tinkling laugh and allowed herself to be spun around. "It's good to see you too, Thia."

  She finally set her down and took a step back to look at her. "You look good, and I’m delighted to see you brought home a man." She looked meaningfully at Taryn and smirked in a fashion that made him flush.

  Swallowing, he reached a hand forward. "I'm Taryn."

  She smiled and offered her hand in response. Her grip was surprisingly firm as she flashed him a dazzling smile, her eyes sparkling. "And a strong man, too. Something tells me he knows his way around a fight." She eyed him in a way that made him feel like he was about to be eaten until Liri and he both shifted uneasily.

  She laughed out loud and released his hand. "And it's good to know the two of you are together as well."

  Taryn’s mouth opened but no sound came out while Liri began to sputter a protest, but she cut them both off, "Oh well, if not now then soon enough." Then she changed the subject before they could respond. "Come, let's have a seat and something to eat, shall we?"

  Taryn nodded, relieved when she turned around and walked to the bar, calling out for someone to take over. She was too beautiful to look at, and it made him extremely uncomfortable. He was well aware of his difficulty in talking with women, but it had been a while since he had felt so utterly frozen. Not since the first time he’d met Liri in fact. Just then Liri caught his eye in a way that suggested she could guess what he was thinking, causing him flush.

  She fought to hide a smile. "She has that effect on most males, so don't feel bad."

  He laughed off his tension, relieved that she couldn’t read his mind, and followed Aléthya into a back room furnished with a table and a few chairs.

  "I'll get some food," she said, and a moment later returned with three plates of steaming soup and hot bread that smelled delicious.

  Sitting down, they began to eat while Aléthya bombarded Liri with questions about Sri Rosen and her life there. Taryn found himself impressed at how skillfully she talked and ate at the same time. Then he realized she must have had training in etiquette and again wondered how a healer had ended up here.

  When the conversation shifted to him, her first question was how he'd gotten into the city. Although her eyes were innocent, her mouth twitched, so he suspected she already knew. Avoiding eye contact, he explained how he'd managed to cross the waterfall and enter the storeroom, secretly pleased at her expression. He found himself feeling glad at how easy it would be to try to impress her, but one look at Liri's knowing smile and he quelled the urge to embellish the story.

  When he finished, she leaned back and blew out her breath. "Unbelievable, Taryn. If I didn’t know Liri so well, I would have doubted your tale."

  "Er . . . it seemed the only way in—but I am curious about you. How did you end up here? Especially since you're a healer, right?"

  She made a face, "Was a healer—no more."

  His expression begged her to continue, so she settled into her seat with a frown on her lips—which were slightly more full than an elf’s— By Skorn, get a grip, Taryn, he told himself.

  "Do you know anything about healing magic, Taryn?" Aléthya asked.

  "Just that it is the only magic that can be found in any race, and that it uses the healing ability of the person’s own stored energy, weakening the sick or injured person but healing them earlier than the person would over time," Taryn responded, using almost the exact phrase that Daiki had taught on the island during his short lessons on magic.

  "Correct," she said with a sigh, and he realized she was reluctant to tell her story.

  "It's OK, Thia, you can trust him," Liri said, her expression soft.

  Aléthya nodded and her smile returned. "There is a school of healing called the Sheleiam in the southern human kingdom of Talinor that many of the healers are sent to. I was sent at an early age because I showed an aptitude for the art. Excelling quickly, it wasn’t long before I'd mastered all of the healing skills they had to teach. One of the reasons I learned so much was that I have a natural healing ability. Disease has no hold on me and wounds would knit and disappear in seconds. The leaders of the Sheleiam tried quite hard to duplicate it, but to no avail."

  "When their experiments started to become more . . . desperate, I escaped and returned to my home in Azertorn, and although my mother was a human I was accepted here. Soon after my arrival the queen got sick, and no one was able to heal her. I was asked to come. I was still young, and I wanted to remove the queen's disease so much that something awakened within me. In that moment I found that I had the ability to transfer the sickness to myself. I chose to do so, hoping that my own ability would destroy the disease. Despite the tremendous pain, my body healed and I survived. Everyone was more than grateful, and many began to come to me . . . but something had changed. I could no longer heal someone else unless I took their ailment upon myself. With all the pain and suffering I had to endure to help others, I . . . I decided to quit—to give up healing others."

  She paused and Taryn realized he'd become lost in the tale. After a moment she sighed. "I haven't healed anyone in many years, although I do teach and help other healers frequently."

  Silence returned until he asked, "So how did you end up with an elven bar?"

  Chuckling she said, "At one time this was my father's house, and after he died I decided to ask the Oracle what I should do with my life, live in Azertorn as an elf, or live as a human. She was very wise, but must have had a sense of humor. She told me it would be good to bring some human . . . culture . . . to the elves. I took her advice and turned my father's house into a pub." Then she laughed out loud. "The elven high council didn’t approve and tried to stop me, but I had healed
the queen, so I had too many supporters." Her eyes lit up when she talked about the disapproval of the governing body.

  Liri laughed with her and after a moment Taryn joined in. It was just too much to imagine the high council of the elves trying to stonewall the formation of a drinking establishment within their city.

  Liri suddenly stopped. "Oh, before I forget, I was wondering if you'd mind helping my sister. She needs to heal someone who broke their leg, but it seems to be a complicated break. Do you mind assisting her?"

  Already nodding, she said, "For your family, anything. I'll stop by this afternoon."

  Liri thanked her and stood up. "I'm going to show Taryn the rest of the city. I'm sure we'll see you later."

  The beautiful bartender stood up and embraced her warmly. "It was good to see you, and you had better believe I want to see the two of you again." Her eyes narrowed at Taryn. "I think you owe me a drinking game."

  Liri laughed. "Now that I would like to see, although you might have met your match, Thia."

  Taryn smiled and nodded amicably, hoping such a contest would never occur. "Thank you for the meal, Aléthya."

  "Call me Thia," she said. "All my friends do."

  With that they departed, leaving her to tend to other duties. As they walked through the door, Liri leaned over to him. "Well, what did you think?"

  "Of Thia or the bar?" Taryn asked with a grin.

  "Of both."

  “The bar is nice, and I would love to come back . . ." Taryn trailed off, letting her fill in the blank, but she refused to bite.

  "And her?" she asked with a smile, but he could tell there was something else she wanted to know.

  "She was great, and very pretty." He paused for a second. "I'm sure she'll be like a sister to me." The subtle tension in her body evaporated at his words, but Taryn couldn’t figure out why.

  "That's what she's like to me," she said, and then began walking briskly back to Le Runtáriel. "Come on, I want you to see the view from the top of the tree."

  Her humor was infectious, causing Taryn to grin as he hurried to catch up. Reaching the trunk, they began to climb. For a few moments she pointed out features of the tree or the city that were visible, but after they passed the next tier she fell silent, allowing him to look at the view unhindered as they ascended. For three hundred feet they worked their way up the wide spiral staircase, passing quite a few elves that hurried past. At some point between the third and fourth tiers—fifth and sixth tiers, Taryn corrected himself, he kept forgetting the two sub levels—an elf racing behind them caught up and exclaimed breathlessly, “Lady Liriana, your presence is requested by the queen—immediately.”