Kestrel managed to open his eyes in surprise, and looked at the assemblage of blue bodies. “Reasion, you’re throwing quite an event, aren’t you?” he said aloud, and listened to the tittering of the sprites, amused by his comment.
“Would you and the sprites do one thing more, please?” he asked. “Go back to Center Trunk and go to Lucretia’s home and bring her here? She needs to feel the waters here.”
“I need to go back anyway to get some instruments,” Alicia agreed. “I know where she lives. Will you be alright here without me?”
“I’ll be fine,” Kestrel agreed.
“Since you promised the sprite their baths, I’m going to put some in the water before I go; do you think that will be alright?” Alicia asked, as she looked over at the eager phalanx of blue.
“They will cherish you forever,” Kestrel answered with a smile, not bothering to open his eyes. He heard Alicia splash out of the water, and heard activity nearby, as he drifted off to sleep in the water.
He awoke in the morning, as Lucretia and Alicia were trying to gently turn his body so that Alicia could see his injuries better. He awoke with a start, wild-eyed for several moments, confused by his surroundings, until Lucretia stroked his cheek with a shushing sound. “You’re okay, Kestrel,” she told him.
He tried not to stare at her naked body in the water, so close to him, and instead looked up at her face, where he saw much less strain than had been evident when he had visited her in her home. “Have you been here long?” he asked.
“Most of the night, and I feel so much better,” she said. “Thank you both for bringing me here.”
Kestrel raised his head and looked over at the sprawling mass of blue bodies that lay against one another in the shallow part of the spring. “Reasion brought a lot of friends, I see,” he commented mildly.
“I think they kept coming even after we started putting them in. I didn’t remember there being that many when we started,” Alicia commented. She was holding a knife and a slender pair of tongs, Kestrel saw. “Are you ready for this?” she asked as she saw his recognition of her tools.
He nodded his head and closed his eyes, then rested his head on Lucretia’s leg as Alicia moved around behind him. Lucretia grabbed his hands in hers, and he squeezed them tightly, crushing her fingers he was afraid, as Alicia quickly cut his flesh and popped out the first of the arrows in his hamstring.
“There, that was a quick one,” she said comfortingly as she held the broken shaft over where Kestrel could see. “This one will be just as simple,” she announced, then cut him again as she withdrew the second arrow from his leg, as he grunted in pain.
“What were you, the target in a practice session?” Lucretia asked.
“I was at the reception in the palace. Sir Chandel was angry because I killed his monster lizards earlier, and he attacked me with his sword. He had archers around the reception, and they fired too,” Kestrel answered.
“I’m surprised you didn’t take any shots to the chest,” Lucretia answered.
“I did,” Kestrel told her. “But this vest has yeti hide inside it. It turned their arrows away.”
“What happened to Chandel?” Alicia asked, at the same time Lucretia asked, “How did you get yeti hide?”
“I killed Chandel, and Strab, and two archers at the reception,” Kestrel answered.
“At the reception?” Alicia asked in stunned amazement, still holding the second arrow head in her tongs. “Right there in the palace?”
“And I talked to an officer named Elder Miskel,” he added.
“Did he bite your head off?” Lucretia asked. “I’ve heard he’s a piece of work.”
“He was Silvan’s supervisor,” Alicia added. “Silvan always felt he was fair.
“This is going to hurt,” she added as she moved her attention to his shoulder. “What are we going to do when we get back to Center Trunk? Are we going back to Center Trunk?” she asked as she started to probe around the shaft embedded in his joint.
“This is going to hurt? Meaning the others didn’t?” Kestrel asked. “I’d like to suggest you try being on this end of the exchange,” he grunted, then squeezed Lucretia’s hands tightly, and pressed his face against her leg again.
“Hold still!” Alicia commanded, and then pulled the last dart from his flesh. “There,” she held it up. “Just rest in the water for a while now. I’m going to go start pulling the sprites out of the water. They’ve been there all night; I’m surprised they haven’t turned into water imps!”
“You asked what we’d do when we go back to Center Trunk,” Kestrel commented as he rolled away from Lucretia to let his shoulder soak directly in the spring water, while he gasped and recovered from the pain. “We have to go back there, or at least, I do, sooner or later.” “And what do you think can be achieved there?” Alicia asked. “Do you want to go back?” Kestrel countered.
“What other choice do I have?” she asked, looking at him as she lifted a small blue sprite from the water.
“Do you,” Kestrel paused, “would you like for me to take you to Oaktown?”
She put the sprite down gently, then squatted as she stared at Kestrel. “And do what there? That would be so complicated, it might be worse that Center Trunk.”
“If you want to go to Oaktown, you could do whatever you think you should,” Kestrel answered. “The other option is for me to take you up to Firheng, or even Estone, to keep you safe from Center Trunk. There’s a gnome village in the mountains where I know you’d be safe, for that matter.”
“Lucretia, do you want to stay in Center Trunk, or would you like for me to take you to your hometown, to Karbeen?” he turned to ask his other companion.
“You’re good to remember the name of my speck of a village. If your sprites can take me to Karbeen, I’ll go at the drop of a hat. I want to go home; I want to go to a quiet place and forget about all that I’ve seen – all but you, that is,” she reached over and tousled his hair affectionately.
“The sprites can’t take you there, Lucy,” he said. “They’ve never been there to know the place. We’d have to travel the normal human way, with a horse.”
“My dad used to call me Lucy,” she dabbed her eyes. “If you can take me home Kestrel, I’m ready to go.”
“Alicia,” he called over to the doctor, “you and I could take Lucretia home, then ride down to Oaktown and meet Silvan and Giardell, and see if they’re ready to come back to Center Trunk. We need to set things back in order here among the elves before doing anything else, and there’s a lot to do. I need to talk to Silvan at the very least, to make sure my plans make sense.
“Everything will work even better if Silvan is back in power here in Center Trunk. Miskel said he wants Silvan back,” Kestrel said. “I can go talk to him today, and then we can leave tonight.”
“Kestrel,” Alicia looked at him with a pleading look in her eyes, “I just don’t know if I’m ready for that encounter with Silvan or Giardell yet.”
“I could take you up to Firheng, and then Lucretia and I can run the errand to the east. I understand it would be difficult for you,” he told her as he stood up gingerly, then walked over slowly and stepped up out of the spring water, “to face those men. I have to bring Silvan back though. The nation needs him to be in power, and I need him to be where I can reach him.
“And as we both know, I need you,” he saw her look at him with startled eyes, as he slowly bent and lifted Reasion out of the water. “I’ve come to trust you. You know more about me than anyone else in Center Trunk. You get along well with the sprites – they like you and that’s important for my purposes. And you are the only one I trust to cut my ears and shape my eyebrows.” The quizzical, hopeful look in her eyes changed to one of relief, and perhaps sadness at his last words.
“Go without me, Kestrel. Just take me someplace away from here where I can rest and come to grips with the future, while you run your errands. And then when you’re back in Center Trunk and Silvan is back, a
nd perhaps Giardell is back, bring me back and I will face the consequences of the decisions I’ve made.
“What will you do then Kestrel?” she asked, as she lifted the last sprite out of the water, while Lucretia stepped up onto the land as well and began to get dressed.
“When I know that things are secure here in the forest, I’m going to ask you to clip my ears, and then I’ll go back to Hydrotaz to make sure Yulia is safely on the throne. After that, I’ll go back to the manor in the Graylee mountains to see Margo, to make sure she is safe, and then I’ll go to Graylee to do my part to help Philip overthrow the prince and to dispel the ambassador from Uniontown, so that Graylee can be a free land again.”
“Just that simple,” Lucretia said. “Last spring you didn’t know your way around an archery tournament, and now you’re ready to go change the people who sit onthrones to satisfy yourself.”
“I know,” Kestrel agreed. “It seems preposterous, but the goddesses have spoken to me so many times. They’ve given me so many tools. They expect me to help save their peoples, to really even save them as well,” he said. The first sprite began to stir.
“We’ll tell our sweet blue friends what we intend to do, and then get to work,” Kestrel said. “Lucretia, they’ll take you back to your home in Center Trunk. Wait for me there. I’ll ask the sprites to take Alicia and I north to some safe place, and then I’ll be back. I’ll talk to the palace, and then I’ll come to get you, probably tomorrow or the day after, and we’ll go to Karbeen.” He sat down to massage his arm as they waited for the sprites to rise.
“I’d like to go to Estone,” Alicia said. “I’d like to see a city of the humans.”
“You don’t speak human, do you?” Kestrel asked.
“No,” she agreed. “But there are humans and elves there who speak our language.”
Kestrel felt a number of reactions to the thought of taking Alicia to Estone, but chief among them was relief at the confirmation that Alicia didn’t speak the human language; something irrational in his heart did not want Alicia to meet Merilla, to be able to converse with his almost-lover.
“I’ll take you to Castona’s and let him arrange a place for you,” Kestrel said.
Minutes later Kestrel said farewell to Lucretia, as did Alicia tearfully, and then a trio of sprites whisked the war-weary elf guard back to her home in Center Trunk. Kestrel gathered up his staff and his knife. He still felt sore in both spots where he had suffered injuries, but he knew that the long amount of time he’d spent bathing would allow his body to carry out its healing process quickly and effectively. “Take us to the room where you found me when Jonson needed help,” Kestrel instructed Reasion. There was a risk that the hotel room would be occupied, but he didn’t know what other spot in Estone the sprites knew to translocate to.
His luck held, as he and Alicia arrived in an empty hotel suite on a cloudy morning in Estone. Kestrel took Alicia by the hand and led her out, past the startled employees of the inn, and onto the bustling street, where morning markets were drawing numerous shoppers and sellers together.
“It’s so crowded,” Alicia remarked, her hand climbing up Kestrel’s arm to link their two arms together more firmly. “I don’t see any other elves at all,” she said as they started walking through the light drizzling rain that fell.
“There aren’t many that live here. We mostly come up here to trade, it seems to me,” Kestrel answered. “I never saw another elf in Estone while I was here.”
He considered whether to go visit Merilla after he introduced Alicia to Castona and made arrangements for her lodging. He’d like to see the human woman again, but at the same time he realized that it would be an awkward reunion, constrained by her husband’s presence, either physically or morally. It was better for him to leave that relationship to rest quietly in the vaults of ‘might have been’.
“Here’s the trader’s shop,” Kestrel told Alicia as they arrived at the door of Castona’s. “Are you sure you want to stay here?” he asked as they stood on the threshold.
“No, I’m not sure,” she said candidly. “But let’s go inside and see if I have the courage to stick to this plan.”
They entered the store, where a pair of clerks Kestrel didn’t recognize observed their entrance and approach to the counter. “Is Castona available?” Kestrel spoke human as he asked one of them, who nodded his head and disappeared into the back hallway that Kestrel remembered so well from numerous trips along the corridor. The merchant emerged a few seconds later. He looked at the elven couple at the counter without recognition, then suddenly understood that he was seeing Kestrel as an elf.
“Kestrel? Kestrel, you’re back!” he said in human as well. “And you’ve brought a friend! Is this your wife?” he asked.
Kestrel smiled. “No, not my wife. This is Alicia; she’s married to someone else. And she doesn’t speak human, so we should switch to Elvish if we may?”
“I will certainly speak the language that charms the young lady,” Castona said with aplomb, looking at Alicia and bringing a smile to her face as she finally understood something that was being said. “Especially if she is traveling with the preeminent champion of Estone.
“I am Castona, a merchant here in Estone. It’s a pleasure to meet you Alicia,” he told her.
“Thank you; it’s an honor to meet such a good friend of our people. I’ve heard many good things said about you,” she answered.
“What brings the two of you to my humble shop?” he asked.
“Perhaps not so humble since you made the profits off that yeti last year?” Kestrel asked, wanting to remind Castona of the debt he owed Kestrel.
“Not so humble indeed, thanks to your great hunting skills,” the merchant modestly agreed.
“I killed another one during the winter,” Kestrel told Castona. “This vest has yeti hide within it. It’s turned several arrows. I was with gnomes, and they took the whole carcass somewhere to sell it.”
“There were rumors of yeti artifacts showing up in other markets this past year, but there was no authentication as there was with your first kill, so the sales were spotty. Who kills two yetii and lives to tell the story? Only you, Kestrel!” Castona said, and he reached over the counter to thump the elf’s shoulder, unfortunately choosing the tender one that Alicia had recently removed an arrow from.
“So why are you here? Are you going to take your lovely friend to see your room at the palace?” Castona asked.
“You have a room in the palace here?” Alicia looked at Kestrel in surprise. “You never told me that.”
“I forgot about it; I’m never here to use it,” Kestrel explained. “Would you like to tell Castona why we’re here?” he asked.
“I’d like to stay here in Estone for,” she looked at Kestrel uncertainly, “a few days.” He nodded his head in agreement.
“This will be a safe place for her,” he told the merchant. “Do you know of a place she could stay that will be clean and respectable?”
“Why not your room at the palace?” Castona suggested.
“She doesn’t speak human,” Kestrel said. I don’t know how well she’d manage.”
“I could come by to translate for her once or twice a day. How long will she stay here?” Castona asked.
Alicia looked at Kestrel. “You’re going to take Lucretia to her home, and then go to Oak Town. That’ll take eight or nine days. Then you’ll bring Silvan and Giardell back to Center Trunk, so that will take four or five days. I’d guess I’ll be here at least three weeks,” she estimated
“That’s a long time to spend in a place where no one else speaks the language,” she realized. “Will you show me your palace room, and let me see where I’m supposed to stay?”
“That’s something we can do,” Kestrel agreed. “I’ll come back and work this out withyou if she needs a translator,” he said to Castona, who bowed his agreement. The two of them chatted briefly for a few minutes more, then Kestrel and Alicia prepared to leave.
“I saw your friend recently,” Castona told him, speaking in human once again. “She looks even lovelier than before. Her life in the city seems to agree with her.”
“Merilla?” Kestrel asked, knowing who the merchant referred to.
“Yes,” Castona agreed. “She’s reported to have left her new husband.”
“That’s too bad,” Kestrel said after a pause.
“We better go to the palace,” he switched back to the elven language, and then he and Alicia said good bye as they left the shop.
“We’re heading to the palace now?” Alicia asked, as they started walking along the street.
“Yes, we’ll see how you feel there,” Kestrel answered.
“What was that you two were talking about at the end, the thing that you care about, judging by the expression on your face?” Alicia asked.
“A woman; a human woman,” Kestrel replied.
“Was it Merilla, the human you were infatuated with?” Alicia asked, as they crossed a busy street. Sheclung to Kestrel’s arm tenaciously.
“Yes,” Kestrel answered shortly.
“What was his news? What about her?” Alicia asked.
“He saw her recently, was all he said,” Kestrel replied. “There’s the top of the palace, up ahead,” he desperately switched topics.
They reached the gates to the palace, where Kestrel removed his shirt to display the crest on his torso. “I’m the Champion, and I’d like to speak to Moresond,” he told the guards. They looked uncertainly at his chest, then at his ears and at Alicia at his side, and told him to wait inside the guardhouse with them, out of the rain, while they sent a messenger to inform the palace herald that Kestrel was present.
Minutes later Moresond appeared, carrying an umbrella. “Kestrel, it is you!” the herald said warmly. “I recognize you even with those ears and eyebrows. Welcome home!” he held out his hand to shake Kestrel’s vigorously.
“And who is your guest?” he turned to Alicia.
“This is Alicia, my physician from Center Trunk. She doesn’t speak the human language,” Kestrel explained.
The Inner Seas Kingdoms: 02 - The Yellow Palace Page 34